The preaching of the six-character mantra on the prayer wheel on the top of the mountain is already very powerful, but it is a pity that ordinary people cannot see the larger phenomena related to the circulation of luck with their naked eyes. The passers-by near the restaurant, after being shocked by the sound of Xiaolanda Mountain, sneered because they thought it was absurd and funny. In their field of vision, there was an old monk sitting on the roof, and a young man begging for alms standing with one hand, After standing and sitting for half an hour, more and more spectators from outside the city who heard the news gathered under the restaurant, pointing and pointing, many naughty children bravely climbed to the nearby roof.
Soon, a team of fine cavalry from the inner city galloped to escort the big shots. The cavalry carried swords, bows and spears. The crowded crowd opened, and many innocent spectators who had no time to dodge were hit and killed by the horses on the spot. It was not that the people from outside the city who did not have their handles saw their friends killed, and they fought with blood and anger, even if there were cavalry in front They were knocked off their horses, and soon the cavalry behind took advantage of the huge inertia of the horse's charge, and stabbed them hard with a spear. The iron-headed and hardwood spears instantly stretched out between the cavalry's hands and the corpse. The pleasing curved moon curved, and the corpse was immediately knocked away two or three feet away. However, the hardwood used to make the spear shaft is not the kind of first-class wood that is priceless, and its hardness and toughness are still not enough to support this level. The cavalry pawn seemed to be unsatisfied, he abandoned his spear to change his knife, bent slightly, not a downward chop, but a horizontal knife that seemed to be careless, and aimed at a man from outside the city who was running wildly. The horse went away, no need to use force, just relying on the momentum of the horse, the tip of the knife easily pulled out a deep gash more than an inch long on the man's neck.
From this detail, it can be seen that these knights from the Western Regions, who were supported by the rich and powerful in the inner city, are all old soldiers who are very familiar with fighting on the battlefield. You need to know how to use the least amount of effort to get the most damage. There is no shortage of good horses in the Western Regions, but craftsmen and ironware are scarce, and the hardwood for making good spears is difficult to obtain under the strict constraints of the Northern Liang Frontier Army and the Liyang Court. Strength, although it is the next best thing, except for those with strong physical strength who can be equipped with fine iron spears, most of the rest are one-time spears. , certainly beyond our capabilities. As early as twenty years ago, there was a bloody lesson. At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, the city once had a cavalry army of 5,000 people, which was invincible in the Western Regions. A tyrannical overlord who intends to annex the three towns of Linyao as a source of food and grass, and then to attack the cold land, and then occupy the high ground in the world, he can covet the Central Plains. Unexpectedly, the Xu family who sealed off Beiliang at that time only sent 3,000 cavalry troops. The five thousand cavalry in the Western Regions were killed and almost all of them were annihilated. Only a few hundred cavalry escaped, and their casualties were less than five hundred. Those fugitives have been nagging for many years with lingering fears, saying that the Xu family cavalry army is really a motherfucker. The iron cavalry, those two thousand cavalry are well armored, not to mention human beings, even war horses can have visors, and the iron spears of the cavalry army are enough to support multiple back and forth charges. The so-called iron spears made are too soft in comparison.
So in the past 20 years, after the cavalry troops were established in this city, the few wealthy families in this city only dared to close their doors and make small troubles, and absolutely did not dare to trouble the Beiliang frontier army. It's not that there are no heroes who have eaten the hearts of bears and leopards. After the custom of forming a small army of cavalry in the Beiliang frontier army to enter the refugee land to practice martial arts and exercise in order to advance to white horse crossbowmen, some people took eight hundred elite cavalry to the present day. Liuzhou fished in troubled waters. At the beginning, he relied on the superiority of numbers to besiege and kill thirty or forty northern Liang barbarians, but he was soon met with brutal and vicious revenge. He and Liu Jinu, deputy general of Hutou City, led a thousand Qingqi each, entered Liuzhou, killed all the eight hundred riders from the Western Regions, hung their heads on the spears, and rushed all the way to this distance. In this city thousands of miles away from Liangzhou, the reason why many people in the city didn't know about this tragic event was because the guy who was arbitrarily advocating to go to Liuzhou to provoke quarrels had more than forty clansmen and nine hundred subordinates in the city. The rest of the inner city forces joined forces overnight to wipe out the city, and then took their heads out of the city for 30 miles to plead guilty with the Beiliang frontier army. I thought this kind of behavior was enough sincerity and enough to calm things down, but unexpectedly, that single hand created the Beiliang White Horse Hu Kui, a crossbowman, when the two sides were confronting each other, especially when Liu Jinu had almost agreed to lead his army back to Beiliang, he unscrupulously launched a charge without any morals, and killed the few Patriarchs who were just pulling out to embolden them. The three thousand cavalrymen in the city turned their backs on their backs. If Liu Jinu hadn't rushed into the battle and intercepted Hu Kui who was on a killing spree, I am afraid that the power in the city would be different now.
Xu Fengnian ignored the onlookers on the street, picked up the chicken soup monk's body, begged for the bowl with one hand, and flew towards the little Lantuo in the center of the inner city, and then buried the old monk near the hut at the foot of the mountain, and put the Buddha bowl on On the grave.
Xu Fengnian began to wait for someone who was coming.
Tuoba Bodhisattva.
…
In the second year of Xiangfu, at the end of the spring when the sun is getting warmer and people are sleeping in spring and their minds are getting heavier, the capital suddenly held two ceremonial ceremonies and sacrifices to the Taimiao in one day without warning, which made the Ministry of Rites He and the Supervisor of Rituals, the Supervisor of Duzhi, the Supervisor of the Commissioner who relied on his duties, and the Supervisor of the Shrine who was in charge of the affairs of the Taimiao, were in a hurry, and everyone was exhausted. Anyone who is interested will find that besides the emperor, besides the heavy-faced Zhongshuling Qi Yanglong, there are also several strange teenagers wearing Qin Tianjian's clothes, and their faces are even more gloomy. After the two heavy ceremonies, near dusk, the emperor still did not let go of the group of exhausted central ministers, and moved the Xiaochaohui to the military aircraft hall of the Ministry of War in the six departments. fall.
When the emperor and Qiyang Long Huanwen entered the hall hand in hand, a huge sand table covering the lower reaches of the Guangling River was placed on the main table. In addition, there were more than a dozen exquisite models of warships. , the hurried young emperor waved his hand to show his excuses without waiting for everyone to salute, and went straight to those models. Lu Baijie, the Minister of the Ministry of War, gave Gao Tingshu, the head of the Qing Dynasty Officials Department of Wu Xuan, a wink. The noisy No. 2 man hurriedly moistened his throat secretly, took two steps forward, and introduced the strength comparison of the two Guangling water armies to the emperor, "Your Majesty, at this time, King Guangling has 80,000 sailors under his command, and there are 80,000 large-scale ships. There are three types of Huanglong, Fengyi, and Fuyao, with thirty-five ships; seven types of medium-sized warships, including Jiji, Maotu, and Xiandeng, totaling more than one hundred and forty; small ships, Chimazhou, and scouts, twelve types. There are about 400 ships. The Western Chu Navy has more than 56,000 people, and the number of warships is about 700, but there are only 18 large-scale warships, and there are no more than 70 medium-sized warships such as Mengyue Maotu. There are no less than two hundred rough and improved fishing boats among them, and their military strength is not superior. Moreover, the 40,000 Qingzhou navy was also led by King Jing'an himself, and began to go down the river. The vanguard of the navy has successfully controlled the Guangling River and the The Baotaji area where Bailu Lake intersects will soon be able to double-team the Xichu Navy... "
Emperor Zhao Zhuan kept silent. He was not a slack emperor. He was very familiar with the Guangling Dao battle. Now there is only one thing that really makes him difficult to choose. It is to let the first and last navy "delay the opportunity" and help them first. The 100,000 tigers and wolves in southern Xinjiang crossed the Guangling River in the north, and seized the opportunity of the Western Chu Navy to take the initiative to fight the Guangling Navy, so that the Qingzhou Navy could quickly enter the blank area at the west end of Bailu Lake, so as to fight a battle in the east of Bailu Lake. A more secure pincer battle, so as not to fall into the situation of being defeated by the Xichu Navy. Of course, as long as the Southern Xinjiang soldiers and horses successfully cross the Guangling River, and Song Li, who just entered Beijing not long ago, has already wiped out most of Xie Xizhen's troops, then on the land of Western Chu, the 100,000 Southern Xinjiang elite soldiers will surely be as powerful as a broken bamboo, and even There is hope to surround the capital of Western Chu in one breath. However, the battle against the rebellion in Guangling was not a battle for pure victory from the very beginning. Once the 100,000 troops in southern Xinjiang were able to surround the capital of Western Chu without losing a single soldier, the outcome on Bailu Lake would change. It has become a superfluous war that is icing on the cake. If it is said that Nanjiang just snatched the feat of destroying the country in front of the court, that's all. The worst result is far beyond the court's ability to bear. The division lost to the Western Chu Navy, which Cao Changqing personally sat in charge of. If Zhao Bing, who was the same border vassal as Xu Xiao, had an intention to misbehave, and under the general trend, he had a heart of disobedience, then the Nanzheng coach Lu Shengxiang had only tens of thousands of troops under his command. Can people and horses stop the battle-hardened jackals of Southern Border? The even more frightening situation is that Southern Xinjiang and Western Chu are linked together and go north together, so Liyang can only let Gu Jiantang divide his troops into two Liao frontier armies, and rush south to protect Tai'an City. , and there are nearly 200,000 permanent troops outside the two Liao defense lines. Is it true that Zhao Zhuan should stand on the top of Tai'an City and see the barbarians in the north and the barbarians in the south at the same time? However, all these deduction are based on the worst premise of the war situation, so Zhao Zhuan felt a little regretful in his heart. At that time, he listened to the opinions of Qi Yanglong, Minister of the Ministry of War, and Lu Baijie, Minister of the Ministry of War, and refused to send troops to Xishu. Was it wrong? up? After all, there were only 10,000 Shu soldiers, even if Chen Zhibao personally led the army, how much military exploits could he gain on Guangling Road? Can 10,000 people besiege the capital of Western Chu? Although it was the young emperor's original intention to disagree with the king of Shu going out of Shu, but when the battle situation became a little muddy, it was inevitable that there would be some well-hidden anger. The first emperor, let alone his grandfather who spent most of his life fighting on horseback himself.
At this time, Zhao Zhuan naturally felt more and more annoying to the Tangxi Sword Immortal Lu Baijie, who was so dissatisfied with his command. If it weren't for the two servants of the Ministry of War, Xu Gong and Tang Tieshuang, were new faces in Tai'an City, and Song Li's qualifications were too high. Qian, those veterans with meritorious service in the Spring and Autumn Period died in battle and died in battle. They really couldn't find a suitable candidate to replace Lu Baijie for the time being. The emperor had already let Lu Baijie leave the Ministry of War. Yuan Guo was already preparing to go to the vassal area to serve as the new Deputy Jiedu envoy of the imperial court. Lu Baijie should have been in the ranks, but the two chief officials, Qi Yanglong and Tan Tanweng, both expressed their inappropriate intentions. Only then did the delay come down.
Since he ascended the throne, Zhao Zhuan also had his own calculations. In his opinion, at that time, the late emperor should not have let Chen Zhibao go back to the mountain as Yuan Benxi and Zhang Julu wanted, but should have nailed him to the seat of Minister of War. The military exploits in the final battle of Guangling, if you retreat 10,000 steps, it is also tens of thousands of troops. The court does not believe that Lu Shengxiang can compete with the southern Xinjiang army. I am afraid that no one doubts that Chen Zhibao can easily block it. It can even be said that as long as Chen Zhibao stayed in the capital as the Minister of the Ministry of War, and Nanjiang would never have the heart to rebel. It's not that Zhao Zhuan didn't understand the original intention of the late emperor to place Chen Zhibao in Xishu, but Zhao Zhuan didn't blindly admire and trust the former emperor who was Xu Xiao's adoptive son. The new emperor had to admit that there was a love affair between the late emperor and Chen Zhibao. It is well known that the late emperor had no affection for the whole of Beiliang, except for Chen Zhibao. He almost wanted that young man to be crowned before he was crowned. The king with a different surname, and later let him replace Gu Jiantang as Minister of the Ministry of War. In the end, it was more than ten years late, and Chen Zhibao was still the king of Shu. After Xu Xiao died, he became the only king with a different surname. The only ones who have such a relationship with him are Chen Wang, Tang Tieshuang and Song Li who are not far behind the top civil servants and military generals.
His Majesty the Emperor remained silent for a long time, and there could only be silence in the hall.
Gao Tingshu eloquently spouted thousands of words, his mouth was dry, he really emptied his belly of those vertical and horizontal strategies that had been drafted early, and he didn't dare to talk about off-topic things in front of the central minister, and carefully looked at him, who is the backbone of the Ministry of War After seeing Lu Baijie, Gao Tingshu shut up after receiving a positive look in his eyes, and didn't add anything to the snake. The emperor finally broke the silence, and gave a few words of encouragement and praise to this upstart of the military department who had many stories in the capital. It can be said that simplicity is in the emperor's heart. Among the young people, only Jin Lanting, the servant of the Ministry of Rites, had dark and complicated eyes. The emperor then left Zhaojiaweng and went to the new site of the Hanlin Academy, which was neighbors to the two yamen under Zhongshumen. There was a tea party in the Imperial Academy today, and the emperor saw Chen Wang, Sun Yin, Yan Chiji, Fan Chang Hou, Li Jifu, and Song Keli six people, of course there are more than these six people in the compound, there are dozens of people from Huangmen, big and small, in the Imperial Academy, but no matter how they gather together, they still cannot be seen by the emperor at a glance. At this time, Sun Yin, a rebellious warrior, was discussing the match with Fan Shiduan and Fan Chang. Chen Wang and Li Jifu, the number one scholar, were standing side by side, whispering, while Yan Chiji, the uncle of the dynasty, was fighting with Dongshan's comeback The Song family youngster Feng Song Keli stood on the other side together. The emperor walked over to take a look, and saw that Sun Yin and Fan Changhou had a few rare and rare books near the chess jar. Sun Yin had four books, while Fan Changhou had only two books. Chess is the first prize. After seeing His Majesty the Emperor coming, not to mention the panic-stricken Huang Menlang in the courtyard, the expressions of the six people were roughly the same. The new little Huangmenlang, who raised his arm and twirled his son in thought, slowly put down the chess piece between his fingers to show respect. Both Yan Chiji and Song Keli gave way, especially Yan Chiji, who was most qualified to be indifferent. It turned out to be the most serious and solemn, with an expression that seemed to be more "forceful" than Song Keli, but Chen Wang stepped forward in small steps, and after two steps, he found that Li Jifu had not moved, and quietly reached out and grabbed the sleeve of the champion man, Li Jifu had a heart in his heart. Gratefully cast a glance, the two came to the emperor, Chen Wang smiled and explained the lottery to the emperor, "It was agreed a few days ago, Brother Yuetian let Sun Yin and his two sons, and together with them, there are six people in total, They will use the Gufangzhai books bought with their three-month salary as bets."
Speaking of this, Chen Wang's smile became wider, "This idea was proposed by Sun Yin, and it was obviously to trick me. Who doesn't know that my salary is the most among the six people."
Then Chen Wang moved slightly to make Li Jifu more eye-catching in front of the emperor, and joked: "Li Jifu always sends his salary back to his hometown, and he has some spare money on hand, so this time I bought the books on credit with me. When placing bets He is the most unhappy. He has been worried for a long time. He is afraid that the New Year will pass and he will owe someone another debt. Your Majesty, I dare to make a merciless request. If Li Jifu and I lose, or your Majesty Make it up for us? Your Majesty has a great career, and Weichen and Li Jifu are far behind."
The emperor smiled and said, "What's so difficult about this, but after all, my family has a big business, but your father-in-law Chen Shaobao's family has a small family business? The king of Chejun has not made a lot of money every day in the past six months, so I want to go It's autumn wind. So I help Li Jifu pay off the debt after losing, yes, help you, don't even think about it."
Li Jifu was caught between this pair of monarchs and ministers, and he had mixed feelings all of a sudden. He envied His Majesty the emperor's unique trust in Chen Shaobao, otherwise he would not have spoken out in front of the Chejun king's wanton wealth. However, Li Jifu was more against it in his heart Chen Wang was overwhelmed with gratitude for his secret support. After the emperor asked about the betting situation, he took off a jade pendant around his waist, took out the rare book of Gufangzhai that Li Jifu bet on, and handed it back to Zhuangyuanlang. After Li Jifu took the book, his eyes turned red for no reason, and he held the book in both hands , hurriedly lowered his head, his eyes were moist. The emperor patted this young courtier who had the best rank in the imperial examination but the lowest prestige among the Tai'an Eight Horsemen, and comforted him: "Isn't this still a loss?"
But in the end, Chen Wang, Li Jifu, Yan Chiji, and Song Keli lost the outcome on and off the chessboard.
Sun Yin, who lost chess, and Fan Changhou, who won chess, not only took back their own books, but also divided up the three books of the first four and the priceless jade pendant. Sun Yin took the first two rare books, and Fan Changhou He had no choice but to take a single copy and the jade pendant. Seeing this scene, the emperor couldn't help crying and said, "It's all right for Yue Tian to bet on himself to win. What a Sun Yin, so you bet on yourself to lose?"
Sun Yin smiled lightly: "Playing chess and betting are two different things."
The emperor looked at Fan Chang, the number one master chess player in the dynasty, and said helplessly, "Fan Shiduan, a dignified player, is willing to talk to this kind of rascal?"
Fan Changhou got up and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, let the two empresses, in fact, the strength of the two sides is evenly matched, and the next victory or defeat depends on God's will."
The emperor joked: "People in the world say that when you play chess, Fan Yue, you seem to have the help of heaven and man behind you. In this way, if you play chess with Sun Yin in the future, you must bring it to me. Place a bet on a book collection."
As dusk fell, under the emperor's personal instruction, the eunuchs brought many altars of tribute wine from the palace, but the emperor called Chen Wang, Sun Yin and his brother-in-law Yan Chiji, and the four walked out of the hustle and bustle together yard.
The emperor turned his head and asked Sun Yin who had lost the game but won the lottery: "I only heard a close comment, why did you give up the screwdriver?"
Sun Yin replied: "No matter how many posts there are, I can't beat Fan Changhou. The difference between victory and defeat is too great, so there is no gamble."
The emperor nodded and said: "The three things of drinking capacity, chess strength, poetry and quality, after reaching a certain level, it is as difficult as reaching the sky if you want to make further progress.
Chen Wang said softly: "This is just like the battle of Guangling Dao. If the remnants of Western Chu hadn't let the remnants of Western Chu place two pieces and three pieces on the chessboard first, no one would have fought in person or bet on others."
The emperor sighed, and said helplessly: "The reason why you two are drawn together is because you, Chen Wang, have always been optimistic about the Guangling Dao war, while Sun Yin is the complete opposite. Today, I want to hear your thoughts. The two of you Tell me, no matter how shocking your words are, I will calm down and think about it. Those quarrels in the court are inevitably mixed with all kinds of entanglements related to relatives and relatives, but you are different."
Sun Yin glanced at Chen Wang, who gently stretched out his hand, motioning for Sun Yin to speak first.
Sun Yin was also unceremonious, and said with a boldness that did his part: "Your Majesty is worried that after the army from the southern border crosses the river and surrounds the capital of the Western Chu Kingdom, it will form a trend that cannot be lost. The lion opened his mouth wide, so that he became the second Beiliang frontier army, right? Moreover, the same pattern and different situation, no matter what considerations Xu Xiao had in Beiliang, he did not plan to rule the river, but Yan Chi Wang Zhao Bing worked hard in southern Xinjiang After more than ten years, God knows whether he will make a different choice. Your Majesty doesn’t want to give up the initiative to others, to the illusory human heart and God’s will, does he?”
The emperor hesitated for a moment, nodded and said, "Yes!"
Sun Yin smiled, "There are three ways to break the game. First, His Majesty needs to publicly dissatisfy with the stupidity of the Ministry of War. He is furious and asks the current minister of the Ministry of War, Lu Baijie, to resign and leave Beijing. He can serve as the envoy of Southern Xinjiang or Guangling. Wu Chongxuan, the deputy commander of the 100,000-strong army, moved him with emotion, understood it with reason, and promised him with benefit. There is no need for me, Sun Yin, to say anything about reason and reason. I think it is enough to cultivate with the demeanor of Tangxi Sword Immortal. But The word "benefit" will cut His Majesty's flesh, and the pain is not comparable to that of a jade pendant on the waist."
The emperor frowned and said, "A Jiedu envoy, is that enough?"
Sun Yin laughed boldly.
The emperor said softly: "Promise Wu Chongxuan to enter Beijing to be Minister of War in the future?"
Sun Yin sneered.
The emperor asked: "Could it be that my Liyang will have another king with a different surname?"
Sun Yin asked back: "Why not? In the future, the king with a different surname can be compared with the king of Liang and the king of Shu? How can the court be in a position to handle it? Wu Chongxuan is already sixty years old, and the three sons under his knees are doing nothing. Wu Chongxuan can do it for a few more years Prince?"
The emperor nodded, but did not speak.
Sun Yin went on to say: "Secondly, after Lu Baijie resigned as Minister of the Ministry of War, he allowed the king of Shu to take 10,000 elite soldiers out of the country, and ordered him to take the title of Minister of the Ministry of War, and rushed to Guangling Road to suppress the rebellion. , give him half of the Qingzhou navy under the command of King Jing'an Zhao Xun. Chen Zhibao must not hold great power, but at the same time he must hold power. If the military power is too heavy, it will be difficult to suppress ambition, and if there is no military power in hand, it will be resentful Rebellion. Give Chen Zhibao a force of 30,000 to 40,000 troops, never more than 50,000. If the imperial court does not allow him to go out of Shu, do you really think that Chen Zhibao can only train 10,000 soldiers? Yang sent this person to Xishu, and he has made great achievements, and Beimang's million-strong army has overwhelmed Beiliang's western front, so it is time to bring Chen Zhibao back under the capital's nose."
The emperor hummed this time.
Sun Yin took a deep breath, "Finally, let Beiliang let go of his hands and feet, and fight Beimang to the death. The imperial court will not only let go of the Guangling Water Transport, but also suspend the replacement of registrations, and let Gu Jiantang and Jizhou on the eastern front send troops at the same time to exert pressure. , compress all the border fronts in Beimang, and drive away wolves and tigers! In this way, no matter how rotten the Guangling Road war is, it is a trivial matter of winning or losing for a while. In the end, Liyang will be able to clean up the mess, and at most only half of Beimang will be left National strength, Western Chu is even more dilapidated, at the end of its strength, Cao Changqing is just begging for death."
The young emperor fell silent and looked at Chen Wang, who smiled wryly, "I have nothing to say."
Sun Yin waited for the next sentence, but he didn't get the answer he wanted. He laughed and said, "I went back to drink because of the good wine. If I passed out in the Hanlin Academy, I'll trouble Chen Shaobao to drag me back."
The emperor looked at the back of this madman, and said softly: "Chen Wang, Chi Ji, I will take you to a place and meet a person."
This time, the emperor was not even accompanied by his guards and retinues. Only Song Tanglu, the chief inspector of ceremonies, carefully led the way, and made many detours to a secluded courtyard on the edge of the imperial palace.
After pushing open the courtyard door, under the lights, Chen Wang and Yan Chiji saw a pair of strange men and women sitting on two wicker chairs. The man seemed blind, and the woman was reading a book to him.
Given the closeness of Chen Wang and Yan Chiji to today's emperor, they were still left at the gate of the courtyard with Song Tanglu. The emperor walked in alone and had a short question and answer with the blind young man.
When the emperor got up and walked back to the courtyard gate, he no longer saw the previous heaviness, and his face was a little more relaxed.
Chen Wang smiled and said, "Congratulations to Your Majesty for gaining one more country-seeker."
The emperor said with a hearty smile: "Chen Shaobao is no worse than him, he is just a different person. Sun Yin is not a man of the world, but he practiced wild fox Zen, and the scholar surnamed Lu in the courtyard is a real outsider, a wild fox spirit. The world still depends on you, Chen Wang."
In the courtyard, the blind man Lu Xu was lying on a wicker chair.
The dead woman of Jing'an Palace, whose real name is Liu Lingbao, knelt in front of the emperor for not long, and was even more confused when she got up.
Lu Xu asked softly, "Are you wondering why I put Beiliang to death?"
The woman who was on the road with Mr. Lu smiled with relief: "Mr. has his own reasons."
Lu Xu "opened his eyes", as if he wanted to see with his own eyes this world where no one is free.