In the second year of Zhaohua, Ming Xuan Emperor Su Bai died of illness, the empress was buried, and the eldest prince Su Xun ascended the throne. He was renamed Zhaoxin and called Emperor Mingde.
Su Xun was only two years old at the time, and the emperor was young and was raised by the Empress Dowager Xie in the harem.
The first thing Su Xun did after he came to power was to take back the army under the name of Wei Xiong in Qingzhou to the imperial court, and the imperial court allocated military salaries. After the army in Qingzhou was taken back to the court, Wei Xiong immediately began to increase his troops. The plan was expanded from the original 80,000 horses to 150,000.
As soon as the news of Wei Xiong's increasing troops was sent, Wei Lan went back and saw Xie Zichen reading a letter.
He frowned deeply, as if he was very distressed, Wei Lan took off his cloak, and said with a smile: "What is it that makes Mr. Xie so sad? May I help Mr. Xie to share some of it?"
"News from Di Jielai," Xie Zichen raised his head, and said calmly, "One is bad, the other is worse, which one do you want to hear?"
"It's bad." Wei Lan took tea from Ran Mo's hand, took a sip, and felt the heat pouring into her heart and lungs. It's just the beginning of spring now, the winter snow has not yet melted, and it is always chilly.
"Rong Hua's health is deteriorating. He is contacting the patriarchs of the various tribes in Dijie, intending to count millions of troops and come across the river to destroy Da Chu in one fell swoop."
Hearing this, Wei Lan's face froze.
Di Jie’s situation is much more complicated than that of Da Chu. Although it is a country in name, it actually manages many ethnic groups. Each ethnic group is exceptionally brave and good at fighting, but they have not been able to unite together. That’s why Da Chu has been able to fight Di Jie for so many years. . Although Ronghua was born in Dijie, he is so cunning that he doesn't want to be a northerner. If he wants to unite with Dijie's clans, it is indeed not something Da Chu can resist.
However, this is not the worst news. Holding the tea bowl, Wei Lan said calmly, "Worse news?"
"Rong Hua wrote to Huan Heng, telling him that you are a woman."
Wei Lan suddenly raised her head with a shocked expression. Seeing her expression, Xie Zichen said calmly, "Don't worry, I've already had someone stop the letter."
"Where did you get the news?" Wei Lan put down the tea bowl. Since Rong Hua already knew about it, he would definitely make good use of it. His letter was not delivered to Huan Heng, and it took a while, but not forever. If Huan Heng didn't give him the expected reaction, he must go to confirm whether Huan Heng really got the news.
Now she wants to confirm the source and specific situation of Xie Zichen's news, and take countermeasures as soon as possible.
"It's Cui Jie."
"Cui Jie?" Wei Lan was stunned: "Cui Jie, Rong Hua's number one adviser?!"
"En." Xie Zichen replied, "I saved him back then and sent him to Di Jie."
"You're lucky..." Wei Lan couldn't put it into words: "That's a little too good."
"It's not luck." Xie Zichen raised his hand and threw the letter into the brazier: "It's just that I have lived my whole life again. Of course, you must remember the amazing people in your previous life."
Wei Lan: "..."
Suddenly, she was very envious of this kind of person who had lived her whole life again, and she really wanted to live her whole life again.
Seeing Wei Lan's indescribable expression, Xie Zichen couldn't help but smiled, and waved to her, Wei Lan put down the tea bowl and walked up to him, Xie Zichen stretched out his hand to her, and said seriously: "Come on, give me a kiss." , I will tell you whatever you want to know."
"Tsk," Wei Lan showed a disgusted expression: "It's already at this time, what's the point of saying this? When I met you back then, you said that, I will kiss you as much as you want."
"At that time," Xie Zichen frowned, "You begged to kiss me, but I was not happy."
Recalling back then, Wei Lan felt that she was considered romantic and suave back then, so she couldn't help but said, "Is there something that makes you dislike it?"
"In fact, at the beginning you did beg to kiss me, but I refused."
Wei Lan recalled seriously, and then said: "No, I still remember the way you were so weak from my kiss! It's the peach blossom tree..."
Before she finished speaking, Wei Lan was pulled down by Xie Zichen and kissed her head-on.
This person has been honed for so long, and he has known her for a long time. He was pulled by her and lay flat on the ground, hanging on her body, and said in a hoarse voice: "Who kisses softly?"
Wei Lan gave a low laugh, her voice was hoarse, which made people feel completely relieved. She pushed him, with coquettish eyes and eyebrows: "Don't make trouble at this time, let's finish Di Jie's matter first. Wei Xiong's army is still recruiting, and the fight must at least wait for him to finish training. Disband the army."
"I know this even if you don't tell me," Xie Zichen lowered his head, kissed her earlobe, and said hoarsely, "I have already sent lobbyists to lobby and sow discord among the various clans. There are many conflicts of interest among these dozens of clan leaders. Rong Hua It was only for them to negotiate a peace for a short time, and now I have people deliberately provoke troubles, and there will be no peace for a while."
Wei Lan felt his kiss, so she let go, feeling his movements, and said: "Since Rong Hua has already noticed my identity, I need to find a chance to let the whole world know that I am indeed a Men are."
"What are you going to do?" Xie Zichen lowered his head, Wei Lan tried his best to maintain his rationality, and grabbed his hair: "Xie Zichen, can you finish talking about the business before doing this?"
"Huh?" Xie Zichen raised his head and smiled brightly, with a hint of teasing in his eyes: "What's the need? The way Alan said serious things made me very moved. As Alan said, I listen."
"Xie Zichen," Wei Lan looked at his wild appearance, closed her eyes, gritted her teeth and said, "How did I feel that you were too reserved?!"
Xie Zichen let out a low laugh, pressed on her, and continued, "How are you going to let people know that you are a man? Mrs. Xie?"
"I plan to invite my brother back."
"Wei Hua?" Xie Zichen frowned, "You plan to let him go to court on your behalf?"
"You only need to prove it once," Wei Lan panted heavily, "Everyone will no longer have doubts. When the time comes, what Rong Hua said, I can say that he used it to provoke Huan Heng."
"Wei Hua is now Huan Heng's favorite general. It may not be easy for you to recall him."
Xie Zichen thought about it seriously, Wei Lan squeezed his hand, and said slowly: "Wei Xiong has an army, and it's only a matter of time before Huan Heng and I break up. I plan to let my brother come back secretly."
"Alright." Xie Zichen nodded and said, "Then call him back."
Wei Lan sent out the letter recalling Wei Hua that night, and it was rushed to Youzhou in two days. When Wei Hua got the letter, Lin Xia was squatting by the fire to warm up. Lin Xia is now a military doctor, and he and Wei Hua claim to be good friends. The two eat and live together, as if they are really good brothers, but no one doubts it. Seeing the letter from Shengjing, Lin Xia knew it was Wei Lan's letter. Seeing Wei Hua frowning, she couldn't help asking: "Your Majesty has encountered difficulties?"
"She asked me to go back and help him," Wei Hua threw the letter into the brazier, and said with some anxiety, "I'm afraid something happened. But now the war is tight, I'll go back..."
Wei Hua pursed his lips and looked up at Lin Xia: "It's not a good thing to change temporarily."
"I understand." Lin Xia nodded.
Youzhou borders Dijie and Chen Guo at the same time, and small-scale battles often break out in normal times. In the past two years, because of the alliance with Di Jie, Di Jie has settled down a lot, but Chen Guo has not been very quiet. Now that Su Bai has a new funeral and Chen Guo got the news, they gathered at the border, looking like they were going to fight. Huan Heng had already made preparations for the deployment. Wei Hua was the striker of this battle, and it had already been decided. Wei Lan let him sneak back, which meant that it might be during the war that Huan Heng would find out that he The striker is gone.
"Didn't the son specifically say what it is?" Lin Xia thought for a while and asked, Wei Hua nodded and said: "She didn't say."
"That's not a worry," Lin Xia looked up towards the direction outside the city: "After finishing this battle, you and General Huan will take a leave of absence, let's go."
Lin Xia's statement was actually on Wei Hua's mind, he nodded and agreed.
Huan Heng is not a good man, in Wei Hua's heart, he is a man who has failed his sister. But what I have to admit is that Huan Heng is a good general. He cared about the life and death of every soldier, and regarded the Huan family army as his own brothers, and the common people as his own family, so he had a lot of influence in the north. Even Wei Hua couldn't help but praise him.
During these years in the north, Wei Hua had many brothers, even if his own sister passed on the letter, but he couldn't do it if he put so many brothers in danger for his own affairs. So he could only reply to the letter again, and after telling Wei Lan what he thought, he went back to train again.
More and more soldiers were released outside the city. The next day after the letter was sent out, the soldiers began to attack the city. The first battle in the first year of Zhaoxin took place in Tusu City.
Huan Heng took Wei Hua to the battlefield to fight, and he didn't come back until midnight. Both Wei Hua and Huan Heng were soaked in blood. Huan Heng patted him and said calmly, "After taking a bath, come back to drink."
Huan Heng had a habit. When he got off the battlefield, his nerves became tense and it was always difficult to fall asleep. The same is true for Wei Hua, so after each battle, they often drink together, and after drinking, when Lin Xia comes to find Wei Hua, they each go back to sleep.
Wei Hua nodded, went to take a bath, and when he went back to find Huan Heng, he was sitting on the roof, wearing a white robe, with his hair tied up with a headband, looking like a wanderer, like a teenager.
It's just that now he is tall, with straight and handsome eyebrows, and he has already shed his youthful childishness, like a mature wild wolf, galloping on the grassland.
Wei Hua jumped to the top of the building and came to Huan Heng's side. Huan Heng threw the wine jar to him, he took it and took a sip.
"Su Bai is dead." Huan Heng looked at the south and said calmly, "It should be Wei Lan who did it?"
Wei Hua didn't speak, he didn't like to discuss Wei Lan's matter with Huan Heng, he was afraid that he might accidentally say something that shouldn't be said. But I don't know if it's because Huan Heng thinks he's from Changxinhou's mansion and always likes to talk about Wei Lan with him.
Huan Heng got used to Wei Hua's silent state, and slowly said: "Wei Lan is raising Qingzhou's soldiers by herself, and sooner or later she won't be able to. Now that Su Bai dies, she and Xie Zichen will assist the government. The first order is to let the treasury go Raising Qingzhou, Su Bai's death will benefit her the most."
"En." Wei Hua responded, and took another sip of wine.
"You said that one day, she will separate from Xie Zichen?" Huan Heng looked at the lights in the distance, his eyes were a little blurred: "The two of them will co-administer the government, and one day, their interests will violate each other, will they?"
"What do you think?" Wei Hua asked back, Huan Heng thought for a moment, and slowly said: "She once told me in the past that she hoped that one day, I could become the sword of the north, and she would guard the south. The Han dynasty."
"If Xie Zichen really loves her, he probably won't."
Huan Heng smiled wryly: "After all, they have a common enemy. When there is a conflict, it's good to just keep fighting against the enemy."
"Alan's heart," Huan Heng raised his hand and took a sip of the wine in the wine jar, and said with some emotion, "It's not something that a big Chu can tolerate."
"En." Wei Hua responded without saying anything, Huan Heng thought for a while, then turned his head and said, "You say, when I destroy Chen Guo, how about I go back and ask His Majesty to add Jiuxi?"
Wei Hua froze.
Jiuxi are nine kinds of musical instruments, which were originally used by the emperor to reward his courtiers. According to the etiquette system, courtiers of different grades can use different musical instruments, and Jiuxi is a special honor for courtiers. But the problem is that Cao Cao asked Han Xiandi to add Jiuxi, and Wang Mang and Sima Zhao also received it, so when a courtier asked for Jiuxi, in the hearts of everyone, he was not far from conspiracy.
What Huan Heng wants for Jiuxi is not the honor of being a courtier, but the power over everyone.
"I can't always stay in the borderlands," Huan Heng turned to look at Wei Hua with a half-smile, "These moths in Shengjing live happily in Shengjing relying on the blood of my borderland men. I should return no matter what." Sheng Jing, enjoy it, don't you think so?"
"General," Wei Hua said solemnly, "That's not how you joke."
"You think I'm joking?"
Huan Heng laughed out loud: "Xie Zichen robbed me, and still want to sit safely in Shengjing, in front of his secret regent?"
"General," Wei Hua said with a stiff face, "Missor Wei doesn't belong to anyone."
Huan Heng didn't speak, he took a sip of wine.
"Ah Hua," Huan Heng said slowly, "Do you know what I like most about you?"
"Um?"
Wei Hua's heart skipped a beat, fearing that Huan Heng saw something. However, Huan Heng didn't change his face, and said calmly: "No matter how good I am to you, when I say that Changxinhou's mansion is a little bit bad, you will stand up."
"General..." Wei Hua wanted to explain, but Huan Heng raised his hand and smiled: "You don't need to explain, I don't blame you. A courtier's loyalty should be like this. Even if you are no longer hers, I won't slander her either. Those who change their masters and then bite their original masters are worse than dogs."
Wei Hua didn't speak, he couldn't figure out what Huan Heng was thinking, so he didn't dare to say more. Huan Heng also saw his nervousness, and comforted him: "It's okay, don't be nervous. Someone is speaking for Wei Lan, actually..."
Huan Heng's smile was full of bitterness: "I'm still, somewhat happy."
While the two were talking, Lin Xia came over. Huan Heng looked at Lin Xia from a distance, and said with a smile, "Your brother is looking for you again, I'm really envious."
"What do you envy?"
"Someone cares about you," Huan Heng laughed out loud, "How is it like me?"
As he said that, there was loneliness in his eyes: "After she left, no one cares about me anymore."
Who is she, no need for words, everyone understands. Wei Hua pursed his lips, and finally said: "It's not that no one wants to take care of you, but the general doesn't want people to take care of you."
"Yes," Huan Heng raised one foot, put his hands on his knees, and looked into the distance: "But besides her, who can really control me? Others want to control me, and I don't want to."
After Huan Heng finished speaking, he glanced at Lin Xia and waved to Wei Hua: "Go."
Wei Hua responded and jumped downstairs. Lin Xia looked at Wei Hua and frowned: "Drink so much again?"
"Yeah." Wei Hua nodded, but said: "I'm not drunk, don't worry, I'll drink after weighing it."
The two babbled and went away, Huan Heng looked at the backs of the two, and slowly closed his eyes.
Two days later, Chen Guo launched a new round of attack.
This time, they seemed to be determined to attack Tusu City by force. They endured for three days in a row, attacking wave after wave without stopping.
Huan Heng closed the city, just let go. On the third day, seeing that the other party was on the decline, Huan Heng followed Wei Hua and rushed out.
The so-called all-out effort, then decline, and three exhaustion, Chen Guo's soldiers and horses have already lost their vitality. Huan Heng led his men to chase them out, and fled all the way east and west. Everyone chased the remnants of the soldiers and strangled them all the way. In the front, Huan Heng followed closely behind. It didn't take long for Huan Heng to sense something was wrong. When he looked up, he found that Wei Hua had rushed far away before he knew it. He subconsciously said, "Lin Hua, withdraw!"
Wei Hua couldn't hear it, Huan Heng gritted his teeth, and said to the side: "Leave people with you, I'll bring Lin Hua back!"
"General, this is too dangerous!" The guard was stunned, but Huan Heng had already rushed over.
The other party also seemed to have discovered that Huan Heng had discovered the fraud, and came quickly to attack. The huge flow of people cut the team into two, and Wei Hua was besieged in the crowd. It was only then that Huan Heng noticed that soldiers were constantly replenishing from the surrounding area. It turned out to be chasing into a valley, and those soldiers seemed to have ambushed a long time ago.
In the past few days, although Chen Guo continued to attack, the elite force did not really go into battle, just waiting to trick them out.
Huan Heng's heart trembled, and he roared angrily, "Lin Hua, let's go!"
Wei Hua finally heard Huan Heng's roar, and after turning around to notice the situation, he immediately ordered the soldiers to form a pointed formation, and rushed directly out of the encirclement.
But the surrounding area was in chaos, Wei Hua fought desperately, but countless people rushed forward.
Huan Heng rode away, jumped over the crowd and rushed into the encirclement, heading towards Wei Hua.
At this time, Wei Hua was already surrounded by the crowd. He was the vanguard. Feather arrows shot towards him densely. Wei Hua blocked it with a long spear, but he was accidentally stabbed into the body.
Blood spattered Wei Hua's face. Wei Hua was picked off his horse by the spear and rolled to the ground. At this moment, Huan Heng arrived just in time, grabbed the others, raised the horse, and directed the people to break through, shouting: " Come with me, kill kill kill!"
Huan Heng's momentum was astonishing, his spear was like a dragon, and he led the soldiers to kill him.
He was very good at riding. The soldiers on the other side wanted to cut off his horse's legs several times, but he bypassed them, and then directly picked up the soldiers with his long spear.
He led the elite troops to open the way and fight, Wei Hua was tied to the horse by him, feeling the blood from the wound flowing all the way on his face.
He didn't know how long it had been, but he felt that the sky was getting dark, Huan Heng ran all the way, and the sound of horseshoes around him finally disappeared.
At this time, Huan Heng and the rest of the troops had gone to nowhere. Huan Heng stopped his horse, carried Wei Hua down, and said to the crowd: "Hurry up and contact the people in the city, and call Lin Xia over immediately, Wei Hua's injury can no longer be bumpy."
The soldiers responded, and everyone lit a fire on the spot, while others went to fetch water.
Huan Heng put Wei Hua on the ground, he always took care of his subordinates like this, everyone was not surprised. Wei Hua was dazed and almost passed out, Huan Heng saw that his face was covered with blood, he raised his hand to wipe the blood off his face.
However, after wiping his sleeve for a while, he sensed something was wrong, and immediately raised his hand to touch the joint between his neck and face.
At first, he didn't feel much difference when he touched it. However, Huan Heng is a person with extremely keen sense of touch. After a while, he noticed the unevenness. He was stunned, and then quickly tore off the human skin mask.
Wei Hua's own face was exposed in the air, Huan Heng looked at the face that was extremely similar to the person he was thinking about day and night, subconsciously trembling: "Alan..."
No one responded.
In Shengjing, Wei Lan sighed as she watched the distant battle report and Wei Hua's reply.
"I see."
Xie Zichen stood behind her, frowning: "Wei Hua won't come back?"
"Elder brother also has his own life." Wei Lan smiled and said nonchalantly: "Don't rush for a while, Ronghua is restrained by your people now, and he can't do big things for a while, so take this opportunity to take Chen It's good that the country is settled."
"En." Xie Zichen replied, looking to the north: "After the Chen country is settled, it's time for Huan Heng to come back?"
"He never," Xie Zichen said slowly, "is not a person who only wants to stay at the border."
In his previous life, after he destroyed Chen, he came back and asked the emperor to add Jiuxi to him.
In this life, with the revenge of taking his wife, he should come back earlier.