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The weather in the south of the Yangtze River in September was already a little chilly. Qin Mu held Qiao'er in his arms and said with a smile, "Tell me, what's so pitiful about Xu Yingjie?"
"First of all, I want to make it clear that I am not speaking for Mr. Xu this time. It is you who want to ask me." Yun Qiaoer stuck out her little head, and it was clearly written on her forehead: This is trying to cover up one's own mistake.
Qin Mu was amused by her again, and nodded repeatedly to clarify: "Yes, you are a goose slave, you are wronged, not a crane matchmaker, okay, tell me quickly."
"Hehe, I'm a wild goose slave." The little girl was very proud and sniffed, "In fact, the matter is very simple. Boss Xu has a lot of money. Out of kindness, he wanted to quietly donate some money to you, Brother Qin. But when everyone saw him donating, they followed suit. The matter got out of hand, and he was afraid that Brother Qin would get furious, so he had to beg the boss and run around, begging everyone to plead for him. Donating money and still getting punished, isn't that pitiful? But..."
"But what?"
"But it's also hateful. Why didn't he donate the money to me? If he donated it to me, and everyone else followed suit, I wouldn't blame him. But he just didn't donate it to me. Don't you think this isn't hateful? Brother Qin must punish him this time, hum!"
"With your small body, can you carry so much money? Aren't you afraid of hurting yourself?"
"I'm not afraid!"
Yun Qiaoer found that Qin Mu was not as happy as she had expected. She just smiled faintly and said nothing more.
She quickly stopped talking, then lowered her head and said softly, "Brother Qin... Brother Qin, are you hungry? I'll go get you something to eat..."
"I'm not hungry, girl, come here."
“Brother Qin…”
Qin Mu held her slender body on his knees, hugged her and said, "Girl, do you know why I don't let you call me King Qin?"
Yun Qiaoer's little head almost drooped to her chest, and she replied softly, "I know, Brother Qin, I'm sorry."
"Girl, you are sensible now. I will talk to you today. Big brother has more and more civil and military officials, more and more troops and lands, and his prestige is getting higher and higher, but big brother is getting more and more lonely. I need a home, and I need to keep a soft and warm corner. I don't let you interfere in military affairs, mainly because I don't want our relationship to be full of conflicts of interest and vigilance. I will agree to whatever you ask me for, and I will not punish Xu Yingjie anymore. But if there are too many such things, we can never go back to the days when we shared a pancake. Do you understand?"
"Brother Qin..." Qiao'er's bright eyes were instantly soaked with tears. She hugged him tightly with her arms and cried, "I swear, I will never do this again. Brother Qin, will you forgive me?"
"It's not about forgiveness, because I have never blamed you. This is the first time your father has begged you. Filial piety is the most important virtue. I understand your difficulties. Okay, girl, don't cry. Let's not talk about this matter. Let it go."
"Well, no one mentions it anymore."
At this time, a red shadow flashed outside the door, and Lady Hong hurried in and saw Qin Mu holding Qiao'er on his knees. The two looked very intimate, so she immediately stopped and showed a look of disdain on her face.
Qiao'er is already thirteen years old this year. In fact, it is not strange to get married these days, but for some reason, Hong Niangzi just can't stand Qin Mu doing this kind of thing to a little girl.
"Sister Ying'er, you are here. You guys can chat. I have to prepare dinner." Qiao'er wiped her tears, smiled prettily, and flew away like a light butterfly.
"Next time, please make a sound before entering the door." Qin Mu said calmly.
"Are you afraid that I'll catch you doing something ugly?"
"This is basic courtesy. Okay, take a seat. What do you want to talk to me about?"
"News came from Ma'anshan that an iron mine has indeed been discovered." Hong Niangzi leaned against the table and stared at him with strange eyes.
"Great!" Qin Mu couldn't help but snap his fingers. The iron ore in Ma'anshan was vital to increasing the national strength of the Qin State. Moreover, it was only a hundred miles away from Jinling and had the convenience of the Yangtze River waterway, so the mining cost would be much lower.
Lady Hong didn't care about that. She bent down curiously and looked at Qin Mu: "Did the First Emperor really tell you this in his dream?"
She was slender and fit, with a thin waist and towering breasts that were even more breathtaking when she bent down. That evening in Macheng, Qin Mu had forcefully kissed her by the river, and the relationship between the two was somewhat unclear.
"Want to know?" Qin Mu pretended to be mysterious, which made Hong Niangzi unconsciously move a little closer. There was no smell of rouge on her body, but there was a hint of body fragrance that was unique to women. For Qin Mu, who hadn't touched a woman for several months, it was very attractive.
"Tsk! You can say it if you want." Hongniang was very alert and did not fall for his trick.
"Wait..." Qin Mu grabbed her wrist.
Just as Hongniangzi was about to break free, she heard Huang Lianshan's voice coming from outside the door: "King Qin, I have something to report."
"What happened?" Qin Mu asked loudly outside the door.
"Reporting to the King of Qin, Bolo and Durde have fled to Huzhou Gui'an and have successfully reunited with Fei Yanggu. The number of troops has returned to 2,000."
"Let Huo Sheng take full responsibility for suppressing the enemy. Let him command all the troops and eliminate Bolo as soon as possible."
“Yes!”
Qin Mu took the opportunity to hold Hong Niangzi's hand tighter and pressed her whole body against the table. Hong Niangzi was furious, but she didn't dare to resist because she was afraid that the noise would be heard outside.
When Huang Lianshan's footsteps faded away, she could no longer hold back and shouted angrily, "You dare to take advantage of me? You're courting death!"
"Ying'er, Hua Mulan will eventually get married, and you are not young anymore..."
"Do you think I'm old? It's none of your business whether I'm old or not."
Qin Mu let her go, sat back in his chair and said with a sad face: "I've heard that there is a kind of bird that, once locked in a cage, will go on a hunger strike, staring at the sky outside the cage without eating or drinking until it dies. Even the most experienced bird trainers cannot tame them."
"You... ... ... you are the bird, not me!" Hongniang's eyes were inexplicably red, and her tone of rebuttal seemed a little weak.
"I hope you are, but I also hope you are not." Qin Mu said this and closed his eyes obviously tiredly.
Hongniang opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She sniffed lightly, turned around and was about to leave.
"I'll ask Qiao'er to make two more dishes tonight. Come and have dinner with us."
"Why... should I go?" Hong Niangzi stopped, turned around and glared at Qin Mu, but found that Qin Mu was still leaning on the chair with his eyes closed.
"You've always wanted to lead an army into battle, haven't you? Well, I'll let you fly to your own sky. This dinner is my farewell treat for you."
Hongniang moved her lips but said nothing and quickly disappeared out the door.
Huang Lianshan, who had just left, came in again and reported: "King Qin, Hou Chang was defeated at Feishui, and more than half of the 5,000 troops were lost."
"What's going on? Didn't they say that the Tartar army is in a state of panic and can't stand a fight?"
Having successfully captured Luzhou, Meng Ke took the initiative to attack and planned to capture Shouzhou and Fengyang Prefecture as well. If he could capture these two prefectures, the land south of the Huai River would belong to the Qin State. This military action was also reported to Qin Mu.
"Replying to the King of Qin, Duoduo's reinforcements have arrived. Hou Chang went north from Luzhou and was unstoppable all the way. When he was crossing the Feishui River to the west to capture Shouzhou, Ashan led 10,000 Qing troops to Bagong Mountain. Hou Chang was caught off guard and Ashan attacked him halfway across the river, resulting in a great defeat for Hou Chang. Governor Meng has urgently dispatched troops to Liancheng to support Hou Chang."
"Feishui... Bagong Mountain..." Qin Mu muttered to himself. This area is a strategic location in Lianghuai. The famous Battle of Feishui during the Eastern Jin Dynasty took place at the Feishui River under Bagong Mountain. At that time, the Former Qin Dynasty suffered a disastrous defeat. And this time, the Qin army was also defeated at Feishui. Could it be that all the Qin troops would be defeated at Feishui
"King Qin." Huang Lianshan called.
"Let Meng Ke decide this matter himself. I only have one request, to defend Luzhou."
“Yes.”
In fact, the battle plan proposed by Meng Ke at the beginning was only to seize the two strategic points of Luzhou and Huai'an. However, after the army moved north, the progress was unexpectedly smooth, so he intended to take advantage of the situation to seize the entire Huainan.
Although victory and defeat are common in the military, Hou Chang's defeat at Feishui was a major setback for the Qin army. Ashan's move southward may also indicate that the Qing army is about to make a comeback. The offensive and defensive positions between the enemy and us are different, and the Qin army will switch to a defensive position;
There was nothing that could be done about it. The situation in the south of the Yangtze River had not been sorted out yet, and an army of 200,000 or 300,000 was not made of iron. After fighting hard for several months, they had to rest and regroup, and there was no way they could launch another large-scale Northern Expedition.
However, the Qing army was not much better off, as they were also exhausted. I hope they would not be able to organize a large-scale counterattack for the time being.
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Please give me a monthly ticket!
Please give me a monthly ticket!
Please give me a monthly ticket!
.(To be continued..)
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