Occasionally, there were common people who could not enter the city at high places, and Wu Du would take them over with a pole, let them climb on the boat, and then send them into the city.
They turned from the city gate into the dark alley, and Duan Ling shouted to both sides of the alley, "Is there anyone else?! Did you hear it?"
An old voice was shouting from the depths of the alley, Duan Lingjian was an old woman, sitting on the terrace on the second floor, where it was close to the Jiangzhou lowland, and the stagnant water flowed over the second floor, leaving a small piece of floor. The old woman spoke a language that the rest of the people could not understand, and shouted down tremblingly.
"Are you all right!" Duan Ling said to the old woman.
Wu Du recognized the old woman and frowned slightly. The old woman also recognized Wu Du and was smiling at him. Wu Du leaned Penny aside and went to the balcony to carry her off the boat. The old woman was so grateful that she reached out to touch Duan Ling's forehead, Duan Ling lowered her head and let her touch it, Mu Qing smiled at her, and the old woman reached out and touched Mu Qing's forehead.
Just when he just passed the first stall in the world, the boss received the flour from the Heijia Army and gave them a box of glutinous rice fruit. Muqing opened the food box and distributed the glutinous rice fruit to the old woman.
"Her house is flooded." Wu Du said, "We have to ask the Heijia Army to take her to the highlands as soon as possible to live there first, don't take her away."
"Are you from Xianbei?" Duan Ling looked at the old woman and could roughly tell from her accent that she was speaking Xianbei, which he could only understand a little bit, including simple words such as "thank you" and "lai". , but not much to say.
Lord Changliu looked at Duan Ling as if he didn't know him, and said, "How many words do you speak?"
"I used to go all the way with my father." Duan Ling said with a smile, "Probably a little bit."
When he was out of the open field, a sampan passed by. The man standing on the sampan was slender, standing against the wind, carrying a sword on his back, it was Lang Junxia.
Duan Ling inadvertently confronted Lang Junxia, and subconsciously wanted to step back, but Wu Du put one hand on Duan Ling's shoulder, making him stand up straight.
"Wuluohoumu!" Mu Qing shouted.
Lang Junxia bowed his hands to them from afar, gave his subordinates a few words, and the sampan approached them. Lang Junxia said a Xianbei language to the old woman, and the old woman replied from a distance, smiling brightly.
"What did he say?" Wu Duchao asked Duan Ling.
"I'll pick you up." Duan Ling whispered, "Change the place, it's flooded."
"Thank you." Lang Junxia said without changing his face, stepped forward, bowed, and stretched out his hand. The old woman nodded to Duan Ling and others, and held Lang Junxia's hand. Lang Junxia carried her on his back and put her on the sampan. He turned around and glanced at Duan Ling.
A boat and a sampan were staggered, and each left, Duan Ling suddenly felt an inexplicable feeling in his heart, hindering the presence of Changliujun and Muqing, it was difficult to ask more. After a while, they came to the place they had made an appointment with the Heijia Army. Everyone had distributed the food. Although it was not much, it could at least support today's urgent needs.
"Let's split up here." Duan Ling said to Muqing, "The money is almost spent, let's look around, and if there is something that can be saved, save it."
Muqing and Duan Ling made an appointment to go back to the mansion for dinner at Youshi. He and Lord Changliu boarded another boat and separated again. Only Wu Du and Duan Ling were left. Wu Du propped up the boat and rowed across the calm water. When they got out of the city gate, the river water that had reached the city wall was not as turbid as the yellow mud in the city. Appears green.
At this moment, Duan Ling, Fang Chaowu asked alone, "Who is that mother-in-law?"
"His clan." Wu Du replied, "A Xianbei person, look, there is a dog there, do you want to save it?"
The surface of the river was a little white, and the one that floated and sank was actually a white dog that couldn't stop flapping. Duan Ling whistled at it, and the dog swam towards them. Wu Du cursed and raised his foot to kick it back into the river. The white dog hurriedly hid behind Duan Ling, stuck out his tongue and looked up at Wu Du.
A drowning dog, Duan Ling patted its head, and the dog squatted down and nestled beside Duan Ling.
There were a few birds parked on the boat, a cat and two rabbits in the corner of the deck, all of which were rescued along the way and sent back to the Prime Minister's Mansion at night.
Wu Du sat down with his knees crossed, thought for a moment, and said, "Her name is Fei Lian, her daughter once had a marriage contract with Wuluohoumu, when General Zhao Kui sent people to Wuluohoumu's hometown, in the village After inquiring for a long time, I finally brought her back."
"I've never heard him mention it." Duan Ling replied.
"General Zhao used the Fei Lian clan as a hostage to threaten Wuluohou Mu." Wu Duchao said to Duan Ling, "Let him go to Shangjing and take your head."
Duan Ling remembered the moment when Lang Junxia appeared in Beijing.
"Then, of course, it didn't kill." Wu Du continued.
Duan Ling nodded and murmured, "Is that so?"
Duan Ling didn't have time to think about it. Someone in the distance came over with a boat and shouted, "Who is it?! Help! Do you have a doctor? Find a doctor quickly!"
Wu Du and Duan Ling looked up at the same time, and without waiting for Duan Ling's order, Wu Du rowed the boat towards the boat where the visitor was. , the armor was tattered, he leaned against the boat, and seemed to be seriously ill.
"What happened to him?" Duan Ling asked.
"He's ill, who are you?" the person asked Duan Ling.
Duan Ling hurriedly stepped forward to check the pulse of the soldier. The soldier developed a high fever and was unconscious. According to the person who sent him, this was a messenger from the north who brought a letter from Yecheng, which was of great importance and was to be presented to the emperor, but this man seemed to be wandering all the way, and it was raining heavily in the south of the Yangtze River. Suffering from the cold, he developed a high fever, and finally passed out.
The rain stopped, Jiangzhou officially entered the summer, the sun was shining on the khaki flood water outside Gongmenkou Street, the cicadas cried out at some point, which was disturbing, there was always a damp smell in the East Palace, lingering, It was as if something was decaying and moldy inside.
"It's impossible to do anything to him in Jiangzhou." Lang Junxia said, "Not to mention that you can't avoid Wu Du and Changliujun's eyes and ears, you can't touch him. If you take the risk, Your Majesty will definitely be suspicious, that's what I said. If you don't believe it, and send a shadow team out to try it out, only after being killed by Wu Du and corpses all over the place, and alarming the court and the opposition, will you just confirm his identity."
Cai Yan said: "Lang Junxia, you are lying to me."
Lang Junxia pondered and drank tea by himself.
Cai Yan: "There are too many ways to kill someone. I don't believe you will be helpless. That night, you didn't intend to kill him, did you?"
Lang Junxia still didn't answer.
"You talk!" Cai Yan was furious, almost out of control.
"Yes." Lang Junxia finally answered.
Cai Yan gasped, like a dying fish exposed to the sun, he said intermittently: "Very good... you... I knew... you've been lying to me... "
"I've thought about it a hundred times." Lang Junxia said, "There is only one way, and I don't believe Feng Duo didn't think of this way."
Cai Yan suddenly seemed to see a glimmer of hope, and said in a trembling voice: "How to do it? Tell me, how to do it?"
Lang Junxia raised his eyebrows slightly at Cai Yan and replied, "It's time to go see your people, Your Highness, just now I came from the main street and saw the prince of a kingdom outside, saving people with the prime minister and the prince, and delivering food to the people everywhere. ."
Cai Yan was stunned on the spot, Lang Junxia was polite and nodded to Cai Yan, and at this moment, Zheng Yan came again.
"Your Majesty has sent the prince to discuss affairs in the side hall." Zheng Yan said, "There is an emergency military situation in Yecheng."
This is the third time Li Yanqiu has seen "Wang Shan".
The imperial doctor was treating the soldier, while the ministers were talking loudly. Li Yanqiu hadn't slept well last night. At this moment, he was having a headache from the noise. The sunlight came in from outside the hall, forming a dazzling light.
Under the dazzling light, Duan Ling stood behind Wu Du and looked around. This was the first time he had come to this kind of occasion. Although the civil and military officials were not all there, nearly half of the six ministers had also come. The imperial doctor was giving needles to the soldiers, while Wu Du was watching.
When he sent the soldiers over earlier, he said a few words in a coma. Wu Du was busy looking for someone, only Duan Ling heard it. After Mu Kuangda heard it, he asked Duan Ling to stay with him. If the soldiers could not wake up, Just for convenience.
When Cai Yan came, the courtier was silent for a while.
"Speak." Li Yanqiu ordered.
Duan Ling stepped forward and tried the soldier's forehead - it was burning hot.
"Your Majesty, Your Highness." Duan Ling said, "My lords, he is the defender of Yecheng. He came all the way from the north and brought an urgent military situation to report to the court."
Xie You asked, "What did you say?"
Duan Ling raised his head and looked at Cai Yan next to the throne. The sun shone in and illuminated Cai Yan's face clearly.
"Just now, he was chanting a few words over and over again. Based on this, it is speculated that a month ago, the Yuan people moved to the outside of Ye City and launched a surprise attack at night, which resulted in a great defeat." Duan Ling said, "General Hu is a heroic man. Sacrifice, Master Lu fell into the enemy's line, and his whereabouts are unknown."
Everyone began to talk in a low voice, Mu Kuangda pondered for a moment, and said to Li Yanqiu: "This matter has something to do with the arrival of the Yuan envoy last time. At that time, the Yuan people proposed to use the jade bi to close the 120 li land in exchange for the two cities of Yecheng and Hejian. The city. Now it seems that the idea of taking over was actually motivated by returning without success that day.”
An old man stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, the main force of the North Army is guarding Yubi Pass, and we can no longer be dispatched to support Yecheng and Hejiancheng. Besides, the large-scale disarmament has been carried out in the spring of this year, and Jiangnan and other places have suffered from floods. Strengthen the local military."
Cai Yan said: "Hejian and Yecheng are important towns in the north of our Great Chen, bordering the territory of Liao Kingdom to the west and Yuan Kingdom to the north, so we must not lose it. Why is there such a big incident at the border gates, and only now are we here to report it?!"
Everyone was silent for a while, Duan Ling glanced at the old man, Mu Kuangda took the initiative to say: "Wokuotai did not intend to have these two cities, Ye City is located outside the Great Wall, although the business exchanges are not prosperous, but they can still be self-sufficient. Lu Zhi, the prefect of Yecheng, sent a debriefing document, but there was still no change at that time. Most of the Yuan people changed their plans and temporarily mobilized the army to take the two cities in one fell swoop. Wang Shan, what else did the messenger say?"
Duan Ling shook his head and replied, "I haven't spoken any more, I have to wake him up and ask him in detail after he wakes up."
Most of the courtiers were smart people. From these two sentences, we can infer and restore the scene at that time. The Yuan army made a surprise attack, trying to make a quick decision, and suddenly launched an attack on Yecheng. The prefect of Yecheng and the general fought desperately to resist. The last one died heroically, and the other's whereabouts are unknown. They must have been captured and taken prisoner.
"How many soldiers are there now?" Li Yanqiu asked.
"Since the Qixi Festival of the previous year." The Su Clan stepped forward, bowed and said, "The military expenditure at the border has been greatly reduced. Since the beginning of the spring, the military salary can still support the needs of three thousand soldiers. There are 2,000 in Yecheng and 1,000 in Hejian. people."
The salaries of the 3,000 soldiers, after being exploited and deducted, as well as the prefects and the people raised in the general's mansion, have to be spent from it, and it is not easy to be able to support 2,000 people in the end. Last fall, Li Yanqiu gave amnesty to the world. This spring, he ordered the army to disarm and return to the fields. The 50,000-strong North Army had cut 30,000 people in just a few months, and they had to send troops to help.
"Lu Zhi should not be dead yet." Li Yanqiu said calmly, "If I were from Yuan, I would not kill him, just to shake the heart of Yecheng's army and torture some border secrets."
Everyone was silent, and Li Yanqiu said again: "Since this matter has been delayed for so many days, it must be delayed for another day, and the border will not be broken like this. Let's talk about it first."
Li Yanqiu got up, the ministers dispersed, and Cai Yan didn't even look at Duan Ling again.
After the civil and military officials left, Mu Kuangda and Xie You immediately set off for the imperial study and made plans with Li Yanqiu. Everyone had their own troubles. The remaining soldier with a high fever was still lying on the inside of the palace panting, so Duan Ling had to let Wu Du carry him and take him out of the palace.
Logically, it should be handed over to the Ministry of War, but there was a flood in the city, and all the troops were overwhelmed. The soldier was seriously ill. If he stayed in the Ministry of War, he was afraid that he would die without anyone taking care of him.
"Is it okay to take him back for treatment?" Duan Ling asked.
"It should be." Wu Du carried the soldier onto the boat, the water gradually receded, and it was no longer as menacing as before.