When Ying Xiaozheng was called back by Zhu Xiang, he had already prepared a plan to scold his uncle for disregarding safety.
As a result, when he came back, he was scolded by Zhu Xiang for the whole afternoon, and he was completely unable to talk back.
Your uncle is still your uncle.
Ying Xiaozheng's eyes were lifeless, and his eyeballs were rolled back so much that they could not be seen.
But no matter how impolite Ying Xiaozheng's expression was, Zhu Xiang kept talking about it. From crossing the Yangtze River at night to riding a horse to the Huai River, Zhu Xiang brought out every single thing and repeated it over and over again.
When Zhu Xiang learned that Ying Xiaozheng had come to the battlefield, he was so frightened that his eyes turned black.
How old is my nephew? How can such a young child go to the battlefield
Li Mu!!!
Li Mu had already run back to the warship and pretended that he had not returned to Wujun yet.
He stood at the bow, with his hands behind his back, and sighed.
He didn't expect Xiang Yan's army to collapse so quickly, and he and Ying Xiaozheng went too far. If Zhu Xiang knew about it, he would probably be beaten.
When an army is defeated, the more people there are, the faster they flee. At this time, only a few people are needed to chase them.
However, we can only catch up with them. It is still difficult to eat up the defeated soldiers.
If you just chase them like sheep, the defeated soldiers will not cause any danger; if you want to swallow them up, they will rise up to resist, and then it will be "don't chase the desperate enemy".
The bottom line for the pursuit of the bandits is the Huai River. When the defeated soldiers reach the Huai River, their way forward is cut off and they become "destitute bandits".
Li Mu's calculations were very accurate. He dealt a heavy blow to the State of Chu, and Xiang Yan would certainly be neglected by the King of Chu after this battle. At the same time, he also gave Ying Xiaozheng enough military merits.
However, the 14-year-old Crown Prince Zheng personally led an army of 10,000 to pursue the 100,000-strong Chu army, crossing half of the Chu hinterland and only withdrew when they reached the Huai River. A Qin royal family member who had such a feat was worthy of being made a king.
But Li Mu knew that no matter how accurate his calculations were, Zhu Xiang would just "refuse to listen" and then get so angry that he would beat him up.
"Oh." Li Mu sighed again, thinking about whether he should turn the boat around and continue back to South Vietnam.
escape.
Zhu Xiang's current mood is the same as Li Mu guessed.
When he learned that Li Mu had been disguised as a guard and accompanied Ying Xiaozheng, and only left when Ying Xiaozheng came back, he knew that Li Mu was confident that he could protect Ying Xiaozheng's safety.
But what if!
Zhu Xiang was so angry that his hands were shaking and everything in front of him went dark again.
Ying Xiaozheng, who was performing the art of rolling his eyes, was so scared that he jumped up from his chair and quickly patted his uncle on the back to calm him down.
"Water! Bring me some warm water!" Ying Xiaozheng said anxiously, "Uncle, take a sip and take a breath. Don't be angry, don't be angry. There won't be a next time. I won't go to the battlefield again."
After Ying Xiaozheng had his fill of being a general, he gave up the idea of going to the battlefield.
He knew that his own safety was the most important thing, and as a prince, he didn't need to gain any military merits. This time he just encountered it, so he took advantage of it to gain some military merits.
"I didn't want to, but the teacher said this was a great opportunity, so I went. I couldn't disobey the general at that time." In order to appease his uncle, Ying Xiaozheng immediately "sold" Li Mu, "Uncle, when you see the teacher, you should scold him. It's really too dangerous!"
Zhu Xiang almost choked on the water.
He glanced at Ying Xiaozheng speechlessly.
Ying Xiaozheng's face was full of innocence.
Zhu Xiang had a slight headache, and he didn’t know if it was because of anger or depression.
Is there something wrong with the way he raised his child? When he didn't know Ying Xiaozheng's temperament, Li Mu was only 50% wrong at most. It was definitely because Ying Xiaozheng had to go to the battlefield that Li Mu thought of a way for him.
It's like I asked Li Mu for help...
Zhu Xiang's anger towards Li Mu suddenly disappeared.
There is indeed something wrong with the way he raises his children. Why does his housekeeper have the same temper as him
Thinking about it this way, Li Mu seems to be quite innocent.
"Forget it, as long as you're not hurt, there won't be a next time." Zhu Xiang said, "I'll just let it go, at most I'll scold you. Have you thought about how to explain to your aunt?"
Ying Xiaozheng's face turned pale.
He stammered, "Uncle, what name do you think I should give to the osmanthus cake?"
Zhu Xiang was puzzled: "What?"
In the end, Ying Xiaozheng did not change the name of the sweet-scented osmanthus cake. He argued that he did not personally fight in the battlefield, but just rode with the team.
How can you be asked to go to the battlefield in person when there's not even any blood shed on the weapons
Zhu Xiang gave Ying Xiaozheng an indescribable look and told Ying Xiaozheng to explain to Xue Ji himself, and that he would definitely not help him.
He really didn't want to see the future First Emperor haggling over osmanthus cake.
But it could also be the future Qin II.
After secretly criticizing Ying Xiaozheng, Zhu Xiang put his nephew, the crown prince, aside and devoted himself to post-war reconstruction.
Ying Xiaozheng came up with two solutions: "arguing that he did not go to the battlefield" and "eating glutinous rice cake with sugared osmanthus in the future". He then helped Zhu Xiang manage Guangling City and threw Li Si back to Wujun to help his aunt.
"When I go back later, my aunt might forget about this matter." Ying Xiaozheng was very optimistic.
Zhu Xiang immediately wrote a letter to complain in Bao Ping'an's letter home.
Xue Ji replied saying that she knew, and then scolded Zhu Xiang and Ying Xiaozheng together.
She focused on scolding Zhu Xiang, saying that Ying Xiaozheng's character was exactly the same as Zhu Xiang's, and it was all because Zhu Xiang did not teach him well.
It is the father's fault if the son is not well educated, Zhu Xiang should take full responsibility!
Zhu Xiang looked at the letter written by Xue Ji, thought about it, and immediately added a paragraph to Zichu's battle report.
Xia Tong! Look at the son you gave birth to! If a son is not well educated, it is the fault of the father! A son of a rich family should not be allowed to sit in the hall, do you understand? If anything happens to Zheng'er, it is all your fault!
Ying Xiaozheng stretched his neck and took a look at the letter his uncle wrote to his father. He held back his laughter with difficulty and silently retracted his head.
Although he was wrong in taking the risk, weren't his teacher, uncle, and father more wrong than himself
Hahahaha.
Although Ying Xiaozheng didn't laugh out loud, Zhu Xiang still saw the arrogant smile on this boy's face.
Zhu Xiang poked Ying Xiaozheng's forehead with the brush and sighed helplessly.
Could it really be a problem with my own education
But Zheng'er is already fourteen years old, and he can still turn back into a gentleman... Never mind, it's better to be Zheng'er now. He can't imagine the terrible thing about his nephew becoming a gentleman.
When Li Mu finally came to get beaten after procrastinating, the people of Guangling had already cleaned up the battlefield and devoted all their energy to autumn ploughing.
Because the Chu army was repelled in just two days, there was still a lot of food left in Guangling City. There was no need for support from Wu County, and they could use it until the end of the year if they were frugal.
With the current water and heat conditions in the Yangtze River Delta, if we plant another season of soybeans or something like that, we can have three harvests a year.
Zhu Xiang originally planned to transport some grain from Wujun so that the people of Guangling could have a slightly better year after the war, but was politely declined by the elder representatives among the scholars and common people in Guangling.
They knew that they were now Qin people and needed Qin's protection. After a "betrayal", Guangling people were in urgent need of showing their value to Qin in exchange for Qin's protection.
Especially since they had been disrespectful to Changping Jun, but Changping Jun stayed to lead them to fight the enemy. If they continued to ask for benefits from Changping Jun, not only would the King of Qin and the Crown Prince of Qin be dissatisfied, the image of the people of Guangling would probably be bad in the hearts of people all over the world.
Zhu Xiang was very supportive of the ambitions of the people of Guangling.
Sometimes people just need to hold their breath in their hearts so that they can live a better life.
After Guangling City was defended, some escaped scholars wanted to come back.
They had originally given up their fields and houses, but now seeing that Guangling City was safe, they not only wanted to take the fields and houses back, but also wanted to ask Zhu Xiang for compensation for the losses caused by the demolition of their houses.
Zhu Xiang will not indulge them. The evidence is written in black and white, do you think it will work just by cheating? Do you really think my temper is made of mud
Zhu Xiang tried his best to scold these people in person, but he didn't even see them. Those who claimed to give up their property were driven away by a group of Guangling farmers with hoes and pitchforks.
You can come back.
Some people in Guangling City have also sent their families away. Now that the city has been defended, everyone is welcome to come back.
But you cannot take even an inch of the property you have given up. This is the price you pay for escaping Guangling City.
Still want to force Duke Zhu Xiang? Do you want to die
Some people's clans stayed in Guangling City, hoping to connect with each other. But at this time, although people only cared about their own interests, they also had a chivalrous spirit in their hearts.
Those who did such things were invariably exterminated from the clan. In serious cases, their tablets were even thrown out of the ancestral temple. Some people even came with swords to kill them.
Meng Tian was watching the show from the side, and when he saw the swords were drawn, he hurried to stop the fight.
The Qin people were quite docile outside the battlefield and rarely fought. Drawing swords and slashing at each other over a disagreement gave the Qin young general Meng Tian a little shock to the fierce Chu people.
After Meng Tian fought side by side with Zhu Xiang, his attitude towards Zhu Xiang became much more casual, and he finally treated him like a junior.
Meng Tian pulled Zhu Xiang to complain about this, and Zhu Xiang laughed and said, "Before Shang Yang's reform, the Qin people were also like this, and even more fierce than the other six countries. They are just enduring, not worn out. If they encounter injustice, they will pick up their blood again."
Liu Bang was lifted to the throne by the Qin people.
After the establishment of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang spent his later years suppressing rebellions, which was equivalent to destroying the six kingdoms again and reunifying the world.
It was the old Qin people who followed Liu Bang to conquer the six kingdoms again.
"Don't ignore the fire in their hearts just because they are gentle. Otherwise, when the fire starts, it will be too late." Zhu Xiang said.
Ying Xiaozheng knew that his uncle was speaking to him.
He recalled the memory of another self in his dream.
Was the fire burning in the hearts of the Qin people at that time
Although it was clearly a matter of another world, Ying Xiaozheng felt a real bitterness in his heart, as if he had really experienced it.
He shook his head to shake off the strange feeling in his heart and changed the subject: "The teacher is coming, uncle won't go to greet him?"
Zhu Xiang dragged out a wooden stick as thick as his arm from under the table.
Ying Xiaozheng: “…”
Meng Tian said: "I still have things to do!" Then he slipped away!
Li Mu knew that Zhu Xiang would not come to greet him, but he did not expect that when he met Zhu Xiang, Zhu Xiang would raise such a big wooden stick.
If this stick falls down, even he will have to lie down for a month.
Li Mu turned and ran.
Zhu Xiang chased after Li Mu, holding the wooden stick high.
Li Mu's deputy general opened his mouth very wide.
What's going on? Why is this happening? Shouldn't I follow the general to meet Lord Changping and the crown prince
Han Fei moved to Ying Xiaozheng's side.
Han Fei, who had used his willpower to overcome most of his stuttering, became a stutterer again: "Prince, this, this, you don't want to persuade me?"
Ying Xiaozheng spat out the melon seed shells: "Uncle is just threatening, how could he really smash the stick down?"
Han Fei asked: "Then why did Wu Chengjun run away?"
Ying Xiaozheng looked at Han Fei with doubtful eyes: "Of course I have to run, otherwise how can my uncle calm down?"
He continued to crunch the melon seeds.
Han Fei looked at Ying Xiaozheng, who looked like he had nothing to do with the matter, and could not help but admonish him, "Prince, this matter is mostly your fault. You should advise him."
The little tyrant Ying Xiaozheng ignored Han Fei's advice and said, "My aunt said that if a son is not taught, it is the fault of the father; if a disciple is not taught, it is the fault of the teacher. I am not wrong."
Han Fei: “…”
Madam Wujun! You can’t spoil your child like this! Your child is the future King of Qin! How can the King of Qin be spoiled like this! Will he not know what is right and wrong in the future? !
Han Fei decided that after returning to Wujun, he must persuade Lady Wujun not to spoil the prince so much!
Ying Xiaozheng glanced at the melon seeds in Han Fei's hand and said, "Don't you want to eat them? If not, give them back to me."
Han Fei immediately started eating melon seeds.
Han Fei loved to eat pumpkin seeds, and he often ate them while reading. He hadn't eaten pumpkin seeds for a long time, and he was missing them.
After a quarter of an hour of escape, Li Mu finally managed to make Zhu Xiang calm down.
I'm running out of breath.
Zhu Xiang threw the stick away, held his knees and panted, cursing: "At least let me hit you once!"
Li Mu walked back slowly: "You pick up the stick and hit me now?"
"Forget it." Zhu Xiang sat down on the ground and wiped the sweat off his face. "What were you thinking? You actually took Zheng'er to the Huai River."
Li Mu followed Zhu Xiang and sat on the ground, crossing his legs and said, "Since it's safe, why can't we go?"
Zhu Xiang reached out and picked up the stick, then tapped Li Mu on the shoulder: "Shut up."
Li Mu sighed. You asked me to answer, and then told me to shut up. You are really hard to please.
The autumn weather was getting cooler, and even though the sun was shining brightly, it was not very hot. Zhu Xiang had someone spread a cloth on the ground, brought cakes, fruits and tea, and sat on the ground to chat.
Ying Xiaozheng wanted to drag a cushion to chat, but Zhu Xiang urged him to go to work.
Now not only is the autumn ploughing busy, but the people of Guangling are also demanding a comprehensive reform of the Qin law to implement the Qin law's distribution of land and granting of titles to commoners and soldiers. Zhu Xiang, the temporary magistrate of Guangling, has too much to do. Now everything is Ying Xiaozheng's responsibility.
Ying Xiaozheng sighed, and pulled Han Fei to work together, letting his uncle and teacher chat slowly.
Li Mu took a sip of the warm tea to replenish his water and said, "You look good."
Li Mu's words were incoherent, but Zhu Xiang knew what Li Mu was talking about.
"I couldn't sleep on the first day of defending the city, but I was numb on the second day." Zhu Xiang said calmly, "People adapt very quickly."
Li Mu said: "You will not have another chance to defend the city."
Zhu Xiang listened to Li Mu's confident tone and said with a wry smile: "In the future, it will be Qin who will attack others, and it will not be Qin's turn to defend the city, right?"
Li Mu said: "Yes."
Zhu Xiang raised his teacup and offered tea, saying, "Since Lord Wu Cheng said so, it must be so."
He never thought that there would be a day when he would have to defend the city.
Just as he did not expect Xiang Yan and Nan Chujun to be so ruthless.
However, fortifying the city and clearing the countryside is the norm in the world, and even the norm in the following two thousand years of war. He just didn't think about it that way.
Zhu Xiang said: "After the battle, I slept in the barn for one night, and I was fine the next day."
Li Mu smiled bitterly: "That's really your style."
Zhu Xiang smiled and said, "People should look forward and move forward. There is no need to complain about the past. It will only cause trouble for yourself and the people around you, and it will be of no use to anyone."
Even if you break down emotionally at that moment, you should cheer yourself up and move on the next moment.
"So don't worry, I'll be fine." Zhu Xiang said, "I still have a lot of things to do now, and I don't have time to complain. Are you planning to build a boat harbor in Guangling City?"
Li Mu said, "Yes. Sea vessels cannot enter the river, and river vessels cannot enter the sea. Guangling happens to have both the river and the sea, so we can gather all the fleets and warships here."
Zhu Xiang asked, "Aren't you afraid of being burned to death?"
Li Mu smiled and said, "What I want to build is not a dock, but the military port you mentioned. The Qin army will be stationed near the port for training and farming. If the Chu people can burn down the entire military port, the Qin navy will be completely wiped out. Lend me your people."
Zhu Xiang said, "Jiao Yun and the others? What are you talking about borrowing? They are all Qin people, you can mobilize them anyway."
Li Mu did not comment, and said: "Guangling City is now the only large city on the north bank of the river. The Chu people who are unwilling to move north may come to look for you."
For ordinary people, it is much easier to go east along the Yangtze River by land than to cross it. Guangling City will become their only place to stay.
Zhu Xiang half-jokingly said, "Come, as many as you want. You have no idea about the farming potential of the Yangtze River Delta."
Although the Yangtze River Delta is still small, and most of the land in the later international metropolis of Shanghai is still in the sea to raise fish, there are not many people in this era. The seven countries combined have a population of more than 20 million. The refugees taken in by Guangling City are less than tens of thousands at most. Zhu Xiang is confident.
Li Mu was puzzled: "What is the Yangtze River Delta?"
Zhu Xiang remembered that the Yangtze River was still called "Jiangshui" at that time, and said, "Look at how long this river is, how about calling it the Yangtze River? The Yangtze River Delta is the delta formed by silt accumulation at the mouth of the Yangtze River."
Zhu Xiang often mentioned strange names, but Li Mu didn't pay attention to it and continued, "After the military port of Guangling City is built, I will go west along the river and rebuild the original dock city."
Zhu Xiang smiled and said, "Using Guangling City to support the north bank of the Yangtze River? You really have confidence in me. Come, I'll give you something good to eat."
As he spoke, the servant brought in a plate of roasted sweet potatoes.
When Li Mu saw Zhu Xiang brought out new crops after many years, a look of nostalgia appeared on his face.
"What is this?" Li Mu imitated Zhu Xiang and broke the roasted sweet potato with his bare hands. The sweet aroma gushed out, making his throat move.
"Sweet potatoes. This kind of sweet potato is very sweet and suitable for roasting." Zhu Xiang said, "It has a high yield and is not picky about the soil. It is suitable for planting in the mountains and for famine relief."
Li Mu blew on the sweet potato, took a bite of the golden sweet potato flesh, and his eyes lit up: "So sweet and delicious! Is this the same as a potato?"
Zhu Xiang said: "Almost the same, but potatoes can be used as a staple food, but this cannot. It can only be used as a dish."
He talked about the advantages and disadvantages of sweet potatoes.
"Farmers are very smart. They will choose suitable crops after planting. I just need to promote this crop." Zhu Xiang said, "Wucheng's restaurants can serve sweet potato-related dishes."
The hinterland of Qin State was very agricultural and commercial, and the management of restaurants was very strict. But Wu County was different, with a strong commercial atmosphere, and many private restaurants had appeared, and people even bought wine.
Because Wu County had sufficient grain production, Zhu Xiang did not ban the sale of wine, but only imposed high taxes on the sale of wine to cut into the wallets of wealthy merchants.
Li Mu finished the roasted sweet potato in a few bites, washed his hands with water, and said, "Explain the habits of sweet potatoes more clearly."
Zhu Xiang explained in detail the environment in which sweet potatoes grow and the things that need to be paid attention to.
Li Mu said: "It's just right for South Vietnam."
Zhu Xiang smiled and said, "Yes."
Nanyue is more mountainous, with good water and heat conditions, and later generations also saw it become a major area for sweet potato cultivation.
Li Mu said: "With sweet potatoes, the land in South Vietnam is not completely useless."
Li Mu is just stealing things now and not actually conquering cities because they are of no use.
Except for a few small plains where cities could be built, other places were of no use to the Qin State and it could not develop even if it occupied them.
When Li Mu was training his troops in Nanyue, his main task was to draw maps to see where cities could be built.
After that, if the King of Qin wanted to attack Baiyue, he would basically only manage the cities. The other large mountainous areas would be beyond the control of Qin even if he wanted to.
In fact, this is still the case more than a thousand years later.
Although Guangdong was already a province at that time, government orders basically did not leave Guangzhou.
This is the case in large areas of the south. Even Sichuan only manages the Chengdu Plain, and most of the mountainous areas are vacuum zones.
If the Qin State wanted to occupy the Baiyue, it had to first choose a city that it could manage, and then "nail" its forces in this city to achieve the effect of ruling.
If sweet potatoes were available, even in the Baiyue area where there was little flat land, the population could be fed by growing sweet potatoes, allowing the cities built by the Qin State on the flat land to continue to exist.
Zhu Xiang listened to Li Mu talking about his plans for Baiyue one by one, nodded in agreement and poured water for Li Mu.
Li Mu was not only a talented general, but also a talented prime minister.
Zhu Xiang thought that if Cai Ze really couldn't stand being too busy and had to go back to retire, he would push Li Mu to be the prime minister of Qin.
As for Lin Li, well, he can only be a prime minister.
However, after Zheng'er becomes the King of Qin, I'm afraid he will no longer establish the position of Prime Minister.
These old guys should just step back and leave the future to young people like Han Fei and Li Si.
Zhu Xiang, who was obviously not much older than Li Si and Han Fei, was already considering retirement.
Even though he is still far from retirement.
The news that Lord Changping led 20,000 defenders to defeat the 100,000-strong army of Southern Chu led by Xiang Yan spread throughout the seven kingdoms after more than ten days.
The world was shocked.
Xiang Yan and Southern Chu sent out an army of 100,000, claiming to have 200,000 troops; half of the Qin army in Guangling City had withdrawn, claiming to have only 5,000 left, and the rest were able-bodied men captured from Guangling City.
So what reached the ears of the seven countries was that the famous Chu general Xiang Yan attacked Guangling City with ten times the number of troops, but was defeated by Changping Jun on the second day of the siege.
The first reaction of those who received the battle report was disbelief.
This would be understandable if Lord Changping had taken 20,000 men to defend Guangling City and wait for Li Mu's reinforcements.
But this was a rout! A great victory! The defenders of Guangling City rushed out of the city gate and drove the Chu army to the Huai River!
Is this something a human can do
Although they later learned that the Guangling defenders had chased for less than a hundred miles, the remaining long distance was pursued by the Crown Prince of Qin and the Wujun reinforcements - the Crown Prince of Qin originally came to support Guangling City, but after crossing the Yangtze River, he saw that Xiang Yan had been defeated, so he was fearless and chased all the way to the Huai River.
Prince Chu of Qin had a gloomy face and issued three edicts in succession, ordering Prince Zheng of Qin to go back to Xianyang and be scolded!
(End of this chapter)