A powerful official of his generation

Chapter 41: 041 First love

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Qiu Yizi led everyone to the river to join the main army. Zheng Miao and Cui Nan had already crossed the river to reorganize the troops, leaving Wei Hu on the south bank of the Hutuo River to organize the troops to cross the river.

Yizhi had worked hard for days, so he had a good night's sleep before helping to command. However, Wei Hu had organized the army in an orderly manner, so Yizhi had little room for intervention, so he took Zhao Heizi and more than 20 other people to patrol along the coast. The Youyan army was naturally well-disciplined, but among the surrendered rioters, there were occasionally some who did not follow the order and tried to cross the river. Seeing this, Qiu Yizhi stepped forward to reprimand them and ordered them to obey the management of the government army.

This task was extremely simple and did not require much thought, so Qiu Yizhi did it easily and happily. Three days later, more than 200,000 soldiers and civilians had all withdrawn to Youyan. Only Qiu Yizhi led 300 personal soldiers and 20 to 30 newly subdued bandits to camp by the river, waiting for the two brothers Zheng Xin and Zheng Miao, and contacting the other side at any time.

It turned out that after Zheng Xin finished counting the money and property of Yuhuangdingshangtianzun Sect, he waited for three days before the governor of Henan, Li Xinru, came. Zheng Xin originally planned to hand over the account book after the inventory to Governor Li, and then set off to return to Youyan. However, Governor Li Xinru was extremely cautious and brought his own people to check the accounts, insisting on counting them in person.

Zheng Xin thought that if this continued, he didn't know how long it would last. He had just made a few comments when he heard Li Xinru speak a lot of words and bring up the laws of the Han Dynasty. Zheng Xin had no choice but to urge them to start counting as soon as possible.

Unexpectedly, the group of clerks who were checking the accounts had just counted one-third of the items, and when the sun set, they wanted to rest. Zheng Xin couldn't wait for them to waste time, so he wanted to negotiate with Li Xinru. However, his second brother Zheng Sen was already anxious, and he personally argued with the leading clerk. After being contradicted by the clerk for a few words, he became furious and whipped the man to death.

Zheng Xin had known that these officials were hateful, but he was the eldest prince of Youyan and could not get angry easily. Seeing his second brother beat them up, he felt happy. But the work had to be done, so he pretended to scold Zheng Sen and rewarded each of the officials with a few taels of silver. Then he recounted the property overnight and led the army north in the early morning of the next day.

Unexpectedly, before the army left the gate of Yuhuangding, they were stopped by soldiers sent by Wu Yan, the governor of Henan Province, who came with Li Xinru, saying that they wanted to check the belongings of the army. The Youyan army had extremely strict military discipline, and the daily military pay was very sufficient and never in arrears. Every battle was also severely punished and rewarded. Of course, no officer or soldier would risk his life to hide property.

It turned out that Wu Yan was just envious of the benefits that the officials of the prefecture secretly exploited when they took inventory, and thought that when he led the army to quell the rebellion, he would also allow his soldiers to plunder and steal property, so he came up with the bad idea of searching the baggage of the Youyan army.

When Zhongli Kuang taught everyone in Guangyang City, he often said that the corruption in the Han officialdom had penetrated deep into the bones and was difficult to reverse. Today, Zheng Xin finally felt that what his master said was not an exaggeration. He thought that if he really brought money secretly, he would only give half to the governor. However, he was not greedy for money. In addition to carefully selecting a Western Region sword on Yuhuang Peak to present to his father Zheng Rong, he did not bring any money. I don’t know when Wu Yan will pester him after knowing this. So he got angry and ordered the army to rush down the mountain.

The fighting capacity of the Henan government troops was originally very poor, and the Youyan army was humiliated and united in hatred of the enemy, so they broke through the obstacles and left Yuhuangding effortlessly. It was actually much easier than fighting against the Tianzun sect rebels.

Because of these twists and turns, and the need to gather the garrisons in various places, when Zheng Xin and Zheng Sen set off with their troops, it was four days after Qiu Yizi and Zheng Miao left.

Qiu Yizi waited anxiously by the Hutuo River, constantly sending fast horses to inquire about the news, only to find out that it would take three days for his elder and second brothers to reach the river. He was not a man who was content with his lot, and seeing the river rising higher and higher, he became more and more impatient, but he had no way to deal with it, and he spent the whole day fidgeting in his tent.

The heat was already rising, and there was no coolness even at night. Qiu Yizi regretted not taking a few books of the Tianzun Sect with him so that he could read at any time, and also regretted not leaving his third brother Zheng Miao to chat with him. Now, he had to lie on the bed alone, bored. He wanted to close his eyes and sleep, but a few mosquitoes that didn't know the time were circling around his head, making an annoying "buzzing" sound. He got up to catch them, but they disappeared in an instant. Yizi cursed a few words, and just as he lay down to sleep, this damn mosquito flew to his ear again, making endless noises, and took advantage of his unpreparedness to bite a bump on his left cheek, which was extremely uncomfortable. After a few exchanges, Qiu Yizi finally got angry, staring with bloodshot eyes, looking around for the mosquito.

But the mosquito disappeared again, and no one knew where it went. Qiu Yizi smiled bitterly and said to himself: "The ancients said: Those who are good at defense hide under the nine earths; those who are good at attack move above the nine heavens. This little mosquito has reached the pinnacle of military tactics..." While he was smiling bitterly, he saw a small black dot flying up and down around the light, so he rushed forward, clapped his hands together, and saw that the mosquito was stuck between his fingers, and its six legs were still waving and struggling.

When Yizhi saw this, he smiled smugly and said, "You greedily eat my blood, but don't you think that it will cost you your life..."

Just as he was pondering, he heard someone behind him say, "Wow! Your Highness Qiu Yi, the adopted son of Prince Youyan, won the first battle and captured the enemy alive. This is really cause for celebration!"

Yizhi turned around and saw a soldier wearing the uniform of the Youyan army standing at the entrance of the tent. It was this man who had just made a sarcastic remark. Qiu Yizhi was arrogant and of course unhappy to hear this. Just as he was about to scold him, he saw that the soldier had a graceful figure and was very strange. So he looked at the soldier carefully twice and suddenly called out: "Yiran! Why are you here?"

After hearing that, the soldier pursed his lips and grabbed the leather helmet on his head, letting his naturally curly dark brown hair spread out. This was Princess Ulin Yala Yibiruku Yalaran, the daughter of Dali Khan, the loyal king of Bohai. This Chinese name Yiran was given to her by Qiu Yizi.

Princess Yiran grew up with Qiu Yizhi since childhood, and they had fought together on the grasslands. They had a special friendship, so she was not restrained when she saw him. She threw her leather helmet on Yizhi's camp bed and said, "The helmets of your Youyan soldiers are too stuffy. The weather in the Central Plains is too hot. Look, I'm sweating after walking a few steps." Yiran had been raised in the Youyan Palace for five or six years since the Han Dynasty and the Bohai Kingdom began to pay tribute. She could speak Chinese very well, but her vocabulary was still a little monotonous.

Seeing that she was sweating profusely, Yizhi hurriedly asked her to sit down, poured her a cup of warm water, handed it to her, and said, "I was asking you, why are you here?"

Yiran took the cup of water and drank it all in one breath. With a sullen look on her face, she retorted, "Why can't I come? Can that evil witch from the cult come?"

Qiu Yi was still in love, so she had no idea what Yi Ran meant by the hidden meaning in her words. She slammed the table and said, "Don't mention her anymore. She has caused me so much trouble. I fell into her trap twice and was severely scolded by my adoptive father!" Then she told him in detail how she had planned to use a strategy of "luring the snake out of its hole" to catch the backbone members of Tianzun Sect in Henan, but unexpectedly she fell into the trap of "escaping from the shell" instead. She recounted her experience of escaping.

After hearing the last part, Yi Ran smiled a little, and said with a snort, "You usually brag about how resourceful you are, but how come you also fall for a trick?"

"You don't know this. As the saying goes, 'A wise man makes a thousand plans, but he will still make mistakes.' How can there be a plan that never fails? If that's the case, then wouldn't I be more powerful than the ancient sages and martial saints?"

After hearing this, Yiran pursed his lips and said, "You are the only one who has a lot of reasons!"

"That's because I'm right." Yizhi was aroused by her and continued, "Look, this time I led the army to quell the rebellion of Tianzun Sect, and the battle was fought very smoothly." Then he danced and recounted the deeds of the Battle of Bianzhou and the Battle of Seizing Yuhuangding. Fortunately, Qiu Yizhi had been eloquent since childhood, and Yiran was very focused. Finally, he stood up and took the precious sword that could cut iron like mud from the bedside, and said, "Look, this precious sword was secretly taken from Yuhuangding."

The Bohai Sea has always been rich in coal and iron ore, and the Bohai people are very good at iron smelting. When they were dependent on the Turks, they were responsible for making weapons for the Turkic army, and they were nicknamed "iron slaves". Yiran has been exposed to swords since he was a child, and he is very familiar with swords. He reached out and snatched the sword from Yizhi's hand, and pulled it out with a "swish", and chopped the wooden table casually, chopping off the entire corner of the table like cutting tofu. Yiran saw it and couldn't help sighing: "This is indeed a good knife. Even the best blacksmith in my Bohai country can't make it."

Qiu Yizi saw that Yiran's left hand fingers were wrapped with several layers of gauze, so he said, "How come you are injured again? I told you that you wield swords and knives all day long, can you be more careful? Well, you'd better give the knife back to me, so you don't hurt yourself again." As he said that, he snatched the knife from Yiran's hand, put it back into the scabbard, and hung it on the side of the bed again.

Yi Ran sighed and said, "I didn't expect this cult to have collected so many good things. Why didn't you remember to give me a few?"

This question really made Qiu Yizhi dumbfounded. At that time, on the top of Yuhuang Peak, he was busy looking for the books brought from the Western Regions by the Tianzun Sect. Even this precious sword was obtained by chance. How could he care about choosing a gift for Yiran? Although Qiu Yizhi didn't understand the love affairs of men and women, he knew that he must not tell the truth about this matter, but he couldn't think of any excuse. Suddenly, he remembered that there was a bronze mirror given to him by Wen Lingjiao. It was a woman's thing, and it was just right to give it to Yiran. But he felt that he was really reluctant to give it up, so he stood there speechless and at a loss.

Yiran didn't know what he was thinking, so she suddenly asked, "Have you... have you missed me these days?" As she spoke, a blush appeared on her cheeks.

"Yes, of course I do." Qiu Yizi paused and said, "It's okay when we are marching and fighting, but when I calm down, I can't help but miss you, and the people, things, and objects in Guangyang City, as well as Lulu." Lulu is a dog that Qiu Yizi has depended on since childhood. Later, he brought him from Henan to Guangyang City to raise. The dog has been raised to be fat and strong, and looks very spirited.

"Hmph! So in your heart, I'm the same as a dog! Believe it or not, I will kill Lulu when I get back?" Yiran didn't know what Qiu Yizi's words touched him, and he suddenly got angry.

Yizhi was puzzled and quickly comforted her: "How can you say that? I treat you as my own sister. How can Lulu compare to you?"

Yiran became even angrier after hearing this. He stood up suddenly, kicked over the chair, and ran out of the tent.

Qiu Yizhi was completely confused when he saw this. Just as he was about to chase after him, another person flashed in from outside the tent. Yizhi also recognized this person. He was Yelu, the Bohai warrior who always followed Yiran. Yelu handed a purse to Qiu Yizhi and said, "Your Highness, this was made by the princess herself and she wanted to give it to you. Now..."

Yizhi took it and looked at it carefully. He saw that the material of the purse was very exquisite, but the stitches were crooked and uneven, and the workmanship was really not good. But this foreign princess had never practiced needlework, and making such a purse was probably much more difficult for her than learning a set of swordsmanship. Qiu Yizhi suddenly realized that the wound on Yiran's left hand was not left by swordplay, horse riding and eagle fighting, but was pricked by an embroidery needle...

Yizhi thought of this, and kept stroking his purse with both hands, already infatuated... He only heard Yelu's deep voice ringing in his ears: "Alas~ The princess has been in the Central Plains for a long time, how come she has learned to be as shy as the Central Plains girls..." (To be continued)