This is a small town that is so ordinary that it cannot be more ordinary.
In this troubled world, the dilapidation of the town seems so natural. If there is any place in Jiangbei Province and Gyeonggi Province that has not been destroyed, it is only what is inside the high walls of Chang'an City. At the beginning, the emperors of the Sui Dynasty were all working hard for the same dream, building an unparalleled city wall in the world. They firmly believed that as long as there was this circle of city walls, Chang'an would not be breached from the outside. As long as the Yang family still controlled Chang'an City, the world would still belong to the Yang family after all.
It's just that they never thought that Chang'an City was breached not from outside the city but from inside the city. The dominance of the Yang family was shaken not because of outsiders, but because of their own members of the Yang family.
Relatively speaking, this dilapidated small town is more reasonable than Chang'an City.
The Black Banner Army's hundreds of thousands of troops, plus no less than 50,000 surrendered troops, camped around the town to rest. After crossing the Yangtze River, the soldiers' fatigue did not come from the battle but from the hasty march.
There is an east-west official road on the north side of this town. According to the Daoist division of the Sui Dynasty, the north side of this official road belongs to Gyeonggi Province.
Gyeonggi-do is huge.
If Chang'an City is the heart of Sui Dynasty, then Gyeonggi Province is the left chest of Sui Dynasty. Now this half of the chest has been riddled with holes from the rebellion, where is the solemnity it once had.
Someone once said that to see how powerful a family is, it depends on how many properties it owns in Gyeonggi-do. Not all big families are willing to live in the city of Chang'an. It is not bad for a family to have one person as a representative in the court. There are several people working in the court at the same time, then this is undoubtedly a super big family.
For those families who are officials in the imperial court, in order to provide support, the greatest convenience is that the family buys real estate in Gyeonggi Province, and there are a group of people who are dedicated to backing it.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that seven or eight out of ten big families in the entire Sui Dynasty had real estate in Gyeonggi-do. Moreover, you don't even know whether the big courtyard with blue bricks and red tiles in a certain small town is lived by dignitaries or not. These people may not all live in big cities, and they may not all live in big houses.
As Jiangbei Province, which is close to Gyeonggi-do, it is a thick armor on the outside of the chest. However, the armor didn't work as expected. When the war broke out, Luo Yao savagely cut and shredded the suit of armor, leaving half of Gyeonggi-do's chest exposed under the blade.
If there is no war, the name of this small town may never appear in the history books. If it wasn't for Fang Jie being here, even if there was war, the name of this small town would not have been spread. Of course, the aborigines in the town certainly don't want their residence to be famous because of the war. Of course, they'd have nothing against anything going on in town now, because they were dead.
Here, it has been raided more than once.
Luo Yao's team, later Shengtu's team, the imperial court's team, plus Wang Yiqu's Gao Kaitai's team, plus countless bandits made up of rebels and deserters.
This small town has a particularly interesting name called Yihe Town.
It is said that there were two small neighboring villages here at the beginning, and they often fought for the water canals to irrigate the crops. During the time of the Great Zheng Kingdom, the construction of water canals was not as developed as it is now. Whoever controls the canal can guarantee the defense of the crops. For this reason, the people of the two villages would fight with each other every once in a while.
Not less dead.
Those who died were all middle-aged men, so there were a lot of widows in these two villages.
There are many widows, and there are many right and wrong.
It's a bit far...
Later, the village chiefs of the two villages felt that it was not an option to fight like this. They robbed water canals for crops and food, but the people who ate the food died. Is it worth it? So the two sat down to discuss and decided that the canal would be used by the people of the two villages on a single or double day. That day, the village was full of gongs, drums, and firecrackers, and everyone was wearing red and ribbons. I don’t know how many people were drunk, and I don’t know how many widows’ doors were quietly opened...
Later, the two villages became bigger and bigger, and the houses built gradually joined together. The people of the two villages discussed it, and simply merged the two villages into one place, which was called Yihe Town.
People who thought of these two words at the beginning never imagined that many, many years later, this town would encounter a disaster, nor would they have imagined... In Yihe Town, two big men sat face to face, and one of them proposed a peace.
…
…
Gao Kaitai had met Fang Jie before.
Not in Chang'an city, but in the northwest. At that time, there was great chaos in the northwest, and Mengyuan wolves entered the country. If you dug the soil anywhere in the northwest, you might dig up a dead body. During the bloody battle in the Northwest, Fang Jie led his troops thousands of miles to rescue him. It was at that time that Gao Kaitai met the young man who had already been famous in Chang'an for the first time. Master Fang.
See you again after many years, Mr. Xiaofang is now a Duke of the state.
It is heard that Her Royal Highness, the eldest princess of the Sui Dynasty, is already preparing for Fang Jie's crowning ceremony.
Gao Kaitai had no choice but to sigh with emotion, the fate of people is really unpredictable. Even if he didn't underestimate Fang Jie at the beginning, he just thought that this young man would at most be like him in the future, becoming a great general. Or, stay with those old scholars in Chang'an City and become the youngest grand scholar in the empire.
Changes in the world are unpredictable.
Today's young man's face no longer had the immaturity of the past, and the deepness in his eyes actually carried a hint of vicissitudes. It's a sign of real maturity, not age.
"Mr. Zhen has a good demeanor."
Gao Kaitai cleared his throat, and pulled his thoughts from the northwest back to reality: "When I first met Duke Zhen in Northwest a long time ago, I told people that the future of Duke Zhen is limitless. People are stupid, but they only saw this matter correctly. At that time, Duke Zhen's demeanor was impressive."
Such polite words are not even nutritious.
Fang Jie smiled: "General, you are being polite. I said goodbye to him in the northwest, but I never expected to see you again. Counting the days, it has been several years."
He called Gao Kaitai a general, not Gao Kaitai's self-reliant King Yu.
Wang Yiqu became king in Gyeonggi-do and claimed to be the king of Thailand. Gao Kaitai called himself King Yu. The two words Tai and Yu have good meanings. It's just that no matter how auspicious the name is, it can't influence the current situation.
After so many years of ups and downs in the officialdom, Gao Kaitai naturally understood the meaning of Fang Jie's address, so he smiled self-deprecatingly, but he didn't care much. Now that the situation is like this, he is at a disadvantage. Even if the outcome of the battle has not yet been determined, he knows in his heart that he has a certain chance of winning.
How powerful the current Black Banner Army is is something that is on the table, and anyone who is discerning or blind can see it clearly.
"That's right... At that time, the country was facing a crisis, and we were not able to get close to Duke Zhen. At that time, we parted, and we never thought that we would meet again in the future. I just didn't expect that when we met again, it would be in such a situation."
Gao Kaitai sighed for a while, glanced at Fang Xie and said, "Why don't you see Her Royal Highness?"
Fang Jie said: "Your Highness is tired from traveling and traveling, and is resting in the camp. If the general wants to see His Highness, I can send someone to ask."
"No no no."
Gao Kaitai shook his head: "There is no rush to see His Highness, some things are more important now."
What he said was unobtrusive, and he didn't care much about the eldest princess' attitude. In fact, these people now think differently. Seeing Fang Jie is far more realistic than seeing the eldest princess. Their superficial respect for the eldest princess is just a joke. If there is no strong military force of the Black Banner Army, how much respect would they have for a subjugated princess.
"I've always believed that there's no need to win or lose on the battlefield if you can sit down and talk about some things. You and I are all veterans of many battles, and it hurts to die."
Gao Kaitai took a sip of his tea, smiled and said, "Duke Zhen is willing to sit down and talk with me, because he is naturally concerned about the lives of his subordinates. So, since there is a possibility, I will simply speak more directly."
He beckoned, and a trusted entourage came over with a map.
Gao Kaitai took the map, laid it flat on the table and pointed: "Duke Zhen Guo has a strong army now, and I feel ashamed. This is the truth and I don't need to be hypocritical. I can't take down Chang'an City, let it be handed over to Zhen Guo It's not impossible for the public to fight. It's just that there are some things that must be explained in advance... "
…
…
Gao Kaitai pointed to the map and said: "Gyeonggi Province is so big that our troops can avoid it. I am willing to tear apart the siege of Chang'an City and give the capital to Lord Zhen Guo. However, my subordinates still have Hundreds of thousands of brothers looked at me, and I couldn’t let them down too much. If I want to raise soldiers, I need land. This is the same thing about growing crops. If you have 10,000 catties of grain seeds and you don’t have land, even if the seeds rot use."
Fang Jie nodded: "It's reasonable, you can continue."
Hearing what Fang Jie said, Gao Kaitai felt that there was still a chance to go further, and he drew a circle on the map: "Not only Gyeonggi Province, but Jiangbei Province, I can give up. Those who betrayed the lord before are now in Zhenguo I don’t have to pursue the actions of the Duke’s subordinates. As for the strength of their subordinates, it is my congratulatory gift to the Duke of Zhenguo who will be crowned king in the near future.”
"but… "
Gao Kaitai glanced at Fang Xie's face, saw that Fang Xie's expression had not changed, and then continued, "I have to think about my brothers, so... the east of Gyeonggi Province, Shuncheng Road, Tai'an Road, these two roads are not too much for me. Right. If Lord Zhen Guo nods, I will go back and gather troops to leave Gyeonggi-do right now."
"What a great place."
Fang Jie nodded: "Shuncheng Road and Tai'an Road, neither of these two roads have experienced wars, and they are the most prosperous and affluent places east of Gyeonggi-do. The place is impeccable.”
He glanced at Gao Kaitai: "but... such a good place, what do I want to do?"
Gao Kaitai's complexion changed, and after a long silence, he gritted his teeth: "Northwest! The tired land in the northwest may not recover in ten years. I only want the northwest, is this feasible?"
Fang Jie nodded again: "This request is really not too much. I also know how poor the Northwest is. The general is willing to lead his troops back to the Northwest. This is already a great concession. I am very moved. But... so The broken place, what do I still want to do?"
Gao Kaitai's face turned pale suddenly, he stood up abruptly, pointed to the map and said, "You have to give me a place in Jiangbei!"
Fang Jie picked up the map and folded it slowly and carefully: "I won't give you a place on this map, and I won't give you a place outside the map. You said you have hundreds of thousands People and horses need a place to raise, don’t be embarrassed, I can raise them for you. As for you, if you want a place to retire, I will not be stingy.”
The corners of Gao Kaitai's mouth trembled a few times, his fists could not be clenched any tighter.
"Duke Zhen is going to fight no matter what?"
He gritted his teeth and asked.
"No."
Fang Jie smiled: "You can also surrender."