Yinling was leaving again, she had to go to Lujiang, that is, she would be the "guest". Brother Yan did not plan to see her off, and only asked me to go, because he would definitely talk a lot with us, and he would feel embarrassed to be next to us, and he was going to be the "bad guy", "very busy with many things", so he did not go to see her off.
For this trip, Yinling also returned to her Han Chinese attire. When I woke up in a daze that morning and saw her dressing up by the couch, I almost said, "Sister." But in the end, I still called her, "Sister—Yinling."
When she turned to look at me, she said with a hint of a smile, "Are you up?"
After changing her clothes, Yinling's personality seemed to have completely changed. She was no longer the unruly girl from the Yue family in the mountains, but the dignified and elegant sister from my hometown in Xiangyang in my distant memory. This was a little hard for me to accept at the time, but I had to accept it as soon as possible. Because if I couldn't accept it, I might face the following situations: first, divorce her; second, I would keep it to myself; third, investigate her to see if two people took turns pretending to be her. Obviously, the first option is only a way to plan secretly, and it is not even possible to discuss it. In practice, it is not feasible at all. From my heart to Yinling's temper, I will not let this pitiful idea of staying in the corner exist; and the second option, obviously, accumulating such depression is very harmful to the body, and I don't need to be happy at the expense of my body; the third option has two results: the first result is that Yinling is alone, of course, I have to either hold it in or accept it happily; the second result is that there are really two people, then I have to choose one and give up the other, but which one of the two can I give up? One is Xie Yinling, who I have lived with for eighteen years, and the other is Sima Yinling, who made me travel thousands of miles to find her.
The weather outside was much hotter than in the mountains. As the sun rose in the east, I could see the heat rolling down the horizon, which made me even more irritated. Yinling had to wear thick ceremonial clothing, which made me even more uncomfortable. I suggested that she wear something light first and change when she got there, but Yinling had to do this for etiquette. She had to do it thoroughly when meeting such an official family. Besides, if she changed at the last minute, she would probably get heat stroke if she didn't have time to adapt.
"Are you hot?" I was very worried that she might not be able to bear it, so I used my sleeve to wipe away the sweat on my wife's forehead from time to time.
"It's okay, just calm down and you'll feel better. I'll just fall asleep in the car later." Yin Ling said with a sigh.
"Hey, don't get a heatstroke." At this time, my mouth was not as clever as usual, even a little stupid.
"It's okay. But you, Zirui, you have to be a good person this time, otherwise my trip will be in vain."
"Got it. How many days can you expect to arrive?"
"Within three days, as long as it doesn't rain heavily."
"If you had made peace with them earlier, you could have come back earlier. Actually, I should have been the one to make this trip. Although I'm a commoner now, I think the reputation of Marquis Ping'an Fengyun is enough for me to enter the Zhou family." I was always a little worried about letting Yinling go alone.
"Don't worry about me. You don't know much about these noble families. Now that you are a commoner, you will inevitably be looked down upon by those children of noble families who value family background too much. And you are too straightforward and honest. I am really afraid that you will fight with those children of noble families who think highly of themselves but are often useless after you go there, and then nothing can be accomplished."
"I know you have to... These people will probably look down on me as a commoner, and it's normal for them to be disrespectful to me. However, we have to separate for a while, but we just got together, and now we have to separate again..."
"Zi Rui, it's okay, I'll be back soon, wait for me."
"Come back earlier."
"Well, take care of yourself and don't get too tired."
"Yinling, be careful all the way, come back soon."
"I know. I'll be back as soon as I'm done. Wait for me."
"Well, you've been paying attention along the way. Take care of yourself there."
So, I rode the horse and Yinling sat in the carriage. Later, we were both in the carriage. The horse took us along the road to the west. In this way, the sun slowly caught up until the red light of the sunset was cast into the carriage. During this period, neither she nor I proposed to separate. I was reluctant, and she was reluctant too. I have heard that some people, men and women, are just like that. They live a plain life, get together and separate, and pass their lives in a muddle without any meaning. How could he know that we can't bear to be apart for a moment, how can we bear to be apart for a few days
But I eventually had to get off the bus and say goodbye to her. When we said goodbye, I found that I was crying and she was crying too. Maybe someone would laugh at me, laugh at us, but what could I do
The place where I got off the carriage was eighty miles away from where I started in the morning, a journey of five hours. I bid farewell to the carriage carrying my beloved girl in the sunset until it gradually disappeared into the vastness of the night.
I began to think about the current situation. Since there was an official road that went east without any forks, a fast horse should be able to get back within an hour.
But I was not in a hurry to go back at this time, because I suddenly saw smoke all over the sky in the northwest, and I knew I had arrived at the military camp in Tianmu Mountain.
Because I have seen the map, I know there are two Tianmu Mountains, East Tianmu Mountain and West Tianmu Mountain. Now I can only see one, which should be East Tianmu Mountain. At least I haven't seen another mountain as big as this one on the east side. It's just a small bumpkin at most. If my Mrs. Pei came, she would probably be interested in the origin of the name of Tianmu Mountain and immediately do some research; if my brother Po Liu Han came, he would be interested in the wild animals in the forest of this mountain, and by dinner time, he would probably have to carry a shoulder load of game down the mountain; but for me now, I am only interested in everything in this military camp.
But what was different this time was that I was questioned by the patrolmen before I even entered the camp gate, and was eventually led to the center of the camp under the double-teaming of the crowd.
As soon as I dismounted from my horse and saw the people in front of me, I immediately said, "You have managed the army very well, and these soldiers are very dedicated."
"Brother Zirui, why did you come to our place? Brother Yan came on horseback this morning to report that you and Sister Yinling had gone to his place. I didn't expect you to come here in the evening."
"Yùdong, you know our plan, right?" He was too embarrassed to say the reason for coming here, so he could only get to the point.
"I know. I also know that it was Sister Yinling's idea. Brother Yan specifically noted it in the letter."
"I guessed that this person would not want me to be the only one to take credit for this matter." After saying this, I laughed out loud with him.
That night I met with Sheng Bin, Song Yudong, E Huan and others. We talked about business for a moment and chatted and joked with each other for an hour.
At midnight, I hurried back to the Yuhang military camp. I rode fast all the way, and my horse almost collapsed from exhaustion when I entered the camp. As soon as I entered the camp, I saw what I thought, Brother Yan had been looking for me.
His big tent was still brightly lit. When he saw me, he said, "I'm so busy with so many things, where have you been?"
"I'm here to deliver Silver Bell, right? So I'll go to the western military camp to check out the situation."
"Oh... Are you ready for your business?"
"Are you ready?"
"I've been busy all day, of course I'm ready, how about you?"
"You are ready, should I be ready too?"
"You... uh... really, you bastard, you got the upper hand again. How's the situation over there?"
All that remains is for us to discuss what to do in the next few days.
The ninth day of the fifth month of the first year of Chuping, I wrote down this day just because of one thing. I felt the loneliness of the first day after Yinling left. I didn't shave the new beard on mōmō's chin.
On May 10th of the first year of Chuping, the third day after Yinling left. In a tavern outside Wukang Town, Wu County, there was no army within a few miles. I sat in the tavern, and besides a few guards behind me, there was a group of so-called local "famous people" around me. I still remember that Brother Yan assured me very seriously: "They must be real 'famous people'." After that, he laughed with me.
The time I spent with these celebrities was not easy to pass. First of all, as celebrities, they generally had no respect for me. They mostly glanced at me sideways, then bowed politely, and then sat on the side with their heads held high; but this was exactly what I wanted, I was just happy to be idle; but the following, it was not very comfortable, especially one of them, almost from beginning to end, he had been trying to show off his talent in an attitude that I hated extremely, and he always proclaimed that he was the smartest person in the world, and that there was no other person in the world who could be considered knowledgeable and wise in his eyes, and he showed deep disgust for the corruption in the officialdom and the incompetence of officials, so that such a genius and a great sage could only live in the countryside.
This made me feel very uncomfortable, especially because it was just him who was bragging, but it happened that some people around him really praised him, regarded him as a local celebrity, cheered for him everywhere, and thought he had talent and should be one of the three highest officials; then he also praised this one, thinking that this one could be a general, and praised that one, thinking that one could be a governor; I thought in my heart that if the world was handed over to these people, my Han Dynasty would be destroyed. This kind of mutual flattery made me very uncomfortable, but what made me feel that I couldn't stay here was that if someone thought he was just a few words, he would immediately use all kinds of words to severely criticize the person, and belittle him to the point that everyone had to mediate and mediate.
But the worst part was not yet here, because I had to be the "good guy", so for the sake of Yin Ling's clever plan and the peace here, I could only bear my temper and listen to his nonsense, but in my heart I wanted to twist him into a ball and throw him into the lake dozens of times. But to be honest, what he said was not completely nonsense, some of it was still nonsense.
After enduring like this for a long time, I finally calmed down and suddenly realized that my temper could still be improved. But if it weren't for this situation, I would still like to say: "It's okay to be proud, but you can't be arrogant. If you can't listen to others' honest opinions, even if you have talent, you can't use it. What's more, you only know a little bit."
Then this person began to talk nonsense, of which he knew a little, and of course, he spoke in a didactic manner, as if I had made a very obvious mistake on a very simple issue.
"This place is adjacent to Taihu Lake in the north, and there are no waves on it. There are more than dozens of islands that can be used to hide troops. It would be better to station troops on each island, and when the time comes, we can move together and attack them from behind, and achieve extraordinary success. If you follow my plan, you don't need to show weakness and negotiate peace with them. We can pacify them within half a month. Speed is the essence of war! If we keep our troops here and give them time to prepare, it's like a fire on firewood. It's better to put it out early. If you wait until it's raging, there will be endless troubles."
It was not convenient to refute at this time, so I could only: "Let me think about it." Then I stayed quietly by the side pretending to be thinking, but my mind was wandering.
In fact, even if we discuss this man's strategy separately, it is very clear. Since we cannot determine whether they have navy in Taihu Lake, we will discuss it separately: First, the other side has no navy in Taihu Lake; then we may be able to do this, but the most difficult thing is how to coordinate these dozens of troops well and gather them together in a timely and accurate manner; and if we fight alone, with our strength, there can only be dozens of people in one direction, so throwing ourselves into the thousands of others can only satisfy others' itch. Second, the other side has navy in the lake, so doing this is completely suicidal. Once our warships cannot control the lake surface and the battle fails, we may only be able to watch the other side encircle and annihilate our troops one by one without any way to deal with them.
Moreover, his example was inappropriate. In the first half of this year, it was peaceful here, and most of the people had planted their seeds in the fields. It was midsummer, and we tried not to cause any trouble so that the people could focus on the summer. Because of the flood last year, taxes were exempted this year, and the people now had absolutely no intention of rebelling. Otherwise, there would be no harvest this fall, and people would starve to death. The people would not cut off their own livelihoods like this. But when I think of this, I have to mention Brother Pei who left. Without him, I don't know how long this place would have been in turmoil. I felt a little sad, and when I looked at that man's face, I really wanted to run over and tear his mouth.
But I must admit that his words made me suddenly realize the importance of the navy. I can still remember the predicament of the Po Liu Han tribe on the water. They were such a powerful group of barbarians, but they were not familiar with the nature of boats in the water and were helpless. The water network in the south is dense, and the transportation of troops, food, and even the survival of the people cannot escape from the crisscrossing waterways. Without a strong navy, we will be controlled by others and can only be manipulated everywhere. Just like Xiang alone in the water can make us all on the boat almost helpless. Between the water and the sky on this great river, we must have the strongest navy, which can ensure that Jiangdong will definitely be ours. Even if the opponent comes, block all his sources of food and supplies, no matter who you are, you can only passively take the beating.
In order to keep the atmosphere peaceful for the time being, I just smiled and didn't make any judgments. Besides, none of us wanted to fight this battle, because once this battle started, we didn't know what kind of situation we might face. The other side might be increasing its troops, but Pan Xiang's navy still had to stay in Taihu Lake. (Note: Taihu Lake is much larger now than it was two thousand years ago. Of course, it is still very large now, but it is indeed larger than it was then. The same situation also includes Poyang Lake and Dongting Lake. In the past, Dongting Lake was known as the 800-li Dongting Lake, but now it is much larger. Without any human excavation, all lakes will eventually be blocked, it's just a matter of speed. The author, as a green pacifist, notes) Otherwise, I would be very interested in taking our warships to the sea to rob and kill their reinforcements. However, Brother Yan has recently sent more people to monitor the movements in places in Yuhang that are easy to land, which is very effective. I was in the big tent and heard the report from the spies, so I knew that at least they didn't have reinforcements or anything else joining them yesterday in Wucheng. But we have limited manpower, they will still think of and find a place to transport people and things in. Only by completely intercepting the flow at sea can we prevent this evil water. But they also have difficulties against us, and they may be even greater. Every time they come, the reinforcements are not many. I think this is because they have to transport a large amount of food and grass. The more people there are, the more food and grass they need. Due to our encirclement, their growing number will inevitably lead to a shortage of food and grass. Therefore, we all have difficulties now, but we do have an initiative, that is, we have not taken action yet, not to mention that we obviously don’t want to take action anymore, and we are even waiting for them to take action, and it is very likely that they will take action themselves.
Now we have invited Zhou Xin to come over to talk, but he won't come. So many "famous people" have testified that I really want to talk about peace. I didn't bring any troops except a few guards. I even ignored the "smartest man in the world" who wanted us to fight. If we fight again, we can't blame anyone.
But if it was just like this, it would be nothing special, and it wouldn't show how clever Yin Ling was. Everyone knows what it means to go to Zhou's house. I know what it means if I think about it, but it's the "bad guy" Yan Yan and Brother Wen Sheng that are the most interesting.
Yesterday, he gathered all the local celebrities and talked about today's events. His words revealed his admiration for Zhou Xin in various aspects. He said that Zhou Xin was worthy of being a descendant of a famous family, and he was talented and generous. Even if he led troops, there was no reason for him to be under Yan Yu. He must have been kidnapped by Yan Yu for some reason, and he had no choice but to temporarily submit to him. Soon, he would be able to make a career. His words were almost flattering. He laughed at Yan Yu and said that Yan Yu was just a stepping stone at most. He said that he was just a ruffian in Wu County and was no longer old, but he knelt in front of Yan Baihu and asked him to take him as his adopted son. It was just that Yan Baihu himself was embarrassed, so he took him as his adopted brother. He said that the one who took the carriage was the carriage servant, and he was willing to be driven by him. The other stories were also some obscene and disgusting. In fact, we only know that Zhou Xin is a member of the Zhou family and that Yan Yu has such a person. We don't know anything else. The reason why we dare to be so nonsense is because we are with such a group of "famous scholars today". We sent a lot of people but couldn't find out about all those dirty things, let alone them.
Therefore, Brother Yan became the "bad guy". In fact, he was not only a bad guy, but also a "stupid and foolish, as well as a cowardly, useless person who only knows how to complain". This is what these people said in private last night. We soldiers who went to monitor them wanted to go in and beat them up. However, Brother Yan heard it but didn't care. He confirmed that these people believed his nonsense. Privately, he even criticized Yan Yu and didn't care about Zhou Xin. He just laughed and said to me: "This group of beauties."
Now we can be sure that with yesterday's nonsense, through these celebrities' nonsense, it won't take long for it to spread everywhere. In order to prevent them from spreading far, our soldiers also need to spread it while eating "everywhere" and patrolling "everywhere", and allow and encourage to add fuel to the fire, and make up nonsense, so as to achieve the effect of "three thousand people make a thousand tigers". (The irregular method is just Zi Rui's nonsense here, so don't learn from it. The author's note is that the original lyrics are three people make a tiger) Then within a few days, Yan Yu, who has many ears and eyes within a hundred miles, will definitely hear it. So imagine, if Yan Yu knew that we evaluated these two people like this, what kind of mood would he be in. Whether he knew Zhou Xin's purpose under his command or not, it would be strange if he didn't suddenly become suspicious at this moment. He must weigh it carefully, and if he thinks about it carefully, he can feel that something is wrong. A sense of crisis will make him more and more nervous. He may understand that the poor guy may be himself, so internal strife may only be a matter of time;
In fact, internal strife is just the best and most convenient way for us. In fact, after today's meeting, it's fine if we are in harmony, but if we are not in harmony, we will leave their determination to be in harmony, and then let this Zhou family prove to the celebrities that he is determined to rebel. When Yinling comes back with a good message, we still have to act quickly. After all, raising an army of 10,000 people in midsummer will consume a lot of materials. Thinking about this, I even laughed viciously, and suddenly found that the celebrities in front of me were arguing again. Sure enough, it was the "smartest man in the world" and the celebrity who was "useless" in his mouth.
I admit that I have a bad memory and it is hard to find an opponent in the world. Yesterday, Brother Yan, who knows my weakness well, told me to at least remember this number one smart man. But in the end, I still didn't remember it. So, watching the two of them arguing about the right and wrong of the strategy just now, I wanted to persuade them but didn't know how to address them. No matter what, I couldn't just shout "Hey, you!" at him.
But when I was in a dilemma, a young soldier suddenly rode his horse to the door, stopped, jumped off the horse quickly, and rushed in with a few big strides. Without even taking a moment to catch his breath, he hurriedly reported to me: "Report to the Marquis of Ping'an Fengyun, they have a group of more than 20 people... They are here. They are two miles outside."
"You've worked hard, take a rest..." I stood up, tidied my clothes carefully, and asked one of the celebrities if everything was in order. At his reminder, I even smoothed my beard: "Dear Jiangdong celebrities, please follow Zhi to the road to meet Mr. Zhou."
"Lord Ping An Feng Yun Hou, may I ask if you are going too far? They are rebels, but you are doing this and asking us to go and pick them up together. Isn't this damaging the integrity and dignity of us, the people who are important to us?"
"Everyone, listen to what I have to say." I was obviously already fully into the role, and my words were so passionate that I was moved. "I don't want to do that either. If it were those dirty, despicable and lowly people, even if I didn't care about myself, I couldn't humiliate all the noble men. However, their feelings are related to the stability of millions of elders in Jiangdong, and it involves the well-being of the eight cities in the radius. I can't help but notice it. Therefore, this time I only invite Mr. Zhou to come, and I will ask him to withdraw his troops and not hold grudges. This will be a blessing for the people and the country. Besides, Mr. Zhou is a descendant of a famous family. His great-grandfather (Zhou Jing, author's note) and uncle (Zhou Zhong, author's note) were once among the three dukes (both were Taiwei). It's not too much to go and pay respect to them for their family. But please follow me. I won't blame you if you don't come."
Everyone agreed, but the "most intelligent person in the world" and "high integrity" made people "sigh", so they could only "feel sorry" and give up the position. However, he did not intend to leave, and seemed to be waiting for Zhou Xin to come in, hoping to humiliate him and show his tricks. As for this, I was waiting to see the show.
My first impression of Zhou Xin was quite good. This was different from what I had initially imagined. I thought he was a "contemporary celebrity", but he was definitely not such a person.
This was a young man about twenty-five or twenty-six years old, dressed neatly, with his hair tied up in a bun with a light blue scarf. He was of medium height, and when you got closer, you could see that there was not a trace of beard on his fair face, his hair was neatly combed, his expression was calm and peaceful, his movements were elegant and free and easy. He was obviously quite different from the traitor in everyone's mind. Compared with the group of wretched and distressed images around him, this man was almost like a god, so I heard the whispers of the people next to him.
There was always a melancholy on his face, as if he had seen us, but it was the same as if he hadn't seen us, because there was no change on his face. When I could see his eyes clearly, I even felt that they were a pair of pupils without any spirit. When he was only twenty feet away from me, he didn't seem to react at all, and then I began to think that I saw something in his eyes.
He seemed to have a heavy heart, which made him breathless, and there was a kind of almost desperate strength displayed on his very handsome face. I didn’t know why I could feel these things, but at that moment, I suddenly felt some sympathy.
He dismounted and greeted us. This showed that he had a good upbringing. He was very polite and spoke Luoyang Mandarin, just like an official in the capital.
"I have heard of his fame for a long time, and today I finally get the chance to see the appearance of Marquis Ping'an Fengyun. I didn't expect that the eighteen-year-old hero would be such a suave and handsome man." What was surprising was that all the original expressions on his face turned into a kind of confidence and humility, and this transformation happened in just the time it took him to get off the horse.
"Mr. Zhou, you are too kind." His frank words made me feel light-hearted for a while, but I felt that it was probably just a polite remark for the occasion that made me feel calm again: "Mr. Zhou is truly elegant and graceful, and he is so calm. He is truly a rare beautiful young man in the world."
"Marquis Fengyun is exaggerating. Xinxu is already 28 years old, he is no longer a teenager." He smiled, and suddenly saw the unfriendly eyes around me, so I had to ask a question that I didn't want to answer in such a serious manner: "These are..."
"These are all the current... celebrities in the area." I turned around and made a respectful introduction gesture, but of course I didn't report their names one by one. First, I didn't know their names; second, even if I knew them, I didn't know which one to match;
Third, I really don’t want to get so involved with these people.
"I didn't expect... Marquis Ping'an Fengyun likes to deal with these... celebrities?" He was a little unsure, but I felt he was doubting something.
"Today, for the sake of the people of the world, we have invited these celebrities to represent the people and ask you for a solution for the people of Jiangdong. I am speaking to you here, and you are witnesses to the people's will." My words were a little cryptic, and I thought he could hear it, and I also hoped he could hear it. The people of the world, obviously, are all here for the world to see.
"Oh, I don't think it would require such a large scale." He seemed to be somewhat dazed, and his expression became solemn.
His words showed that he understood. He obviously didn't like these people. He used the word "things" to mean that these things were just used, or that these people would only cause trouble. So I smiled and politely invited him into the hall to chat. I asked the waiter to serve him some top-quality tea and started a formal conversation with him.
Meetings like this one with me are usually brief, and there was no reason for them to be drawn out this time, so my opening was extremely straightforward, but the result was somewhat unexpected.
"You are a descendant of the Zhou family of Lujiang, and your ancestors were among the Three Dukes. How could this happen?" I sighed, looking quite sad, but in fact I almost laughed to death in my heart.
"It is difficult for me to report this to Marquis Fengyun." His words had a high-sounding and ambiguous meaning, which made me feel that this call might be possible.
"Well, I don't want to mention the past anymore. It's better to abandon darkness and join the light, obey Yan Yu, and join the Han Dynasty." The word "Han Dynasty" is used here deliberately to indicate his rebellious nature.
"You may think these things are true, but in fact, things are not what you think. The county lord does not need to ask more questions. If there is nothing else, I will resign." I did not expect that he was more anxious to leave than me, and I did not expect that he would not talk to me about the reasons. This result was unexpected. Or to use his way of speaking and attitude, that is, he was more pessimistic than I thought, or more ambiguous, and should not be as optimistic as I imagined.
However, the famous scholar who was the smartest man in the world showed his extremely lovable side at this time. He said something that I thought someone else could do, and I couldn't do it myself. At that time, I saw this man staring with his eyes wide open, slamming the table and standing up: "Traitor! A real man stands between heaven and earth, how can he kneel down and live in a cowardly way? If you do this, won't you be laughed at by the world, and you will not be able to face your ancestors."
I thought to myself, this statement is absolutely correct and righteous, but coming from the mouth of such a vindictive and narrow-minded person, it is a bit funny to me, especially in the current situation.
But now I still feel grateful to him, because what he said was equivalent to telling everyone that it was useless, a traitor was a traitor, and you were powerless to change the situation.
But Zhou Xin was unusually calm. He said nothing, just looked at me with contempt, smiled, and turned away. I tried to persuade him to stay but to no avail. I could only sigh. In fact, I really sighed in my heart. This person at least looks good now, but he seems to have a great responsibility and cannot come out. So this is the only way.
I watched him leave, and also glanced at the smartest man, and smiled: "Sir... Hey... Although it's a bit abrupt, it's indeed reasonable. To you, it's the same sentence, how is it: 'A husband (native), a beautiful woman'."
He not only helped me, but also took on the trouble that I might have had to take on. From now on, if our plan goes according to plan, he will become the scapegoat for the war. It seems that he does not understand any of the three situations, so he is really a native three times.
"My name is Jia, that's quite appropriate." He was also very proud, thinking that he had severely humiliated that person, and he was very proud, not thinking about what I meant. But this made me a little bored, it would be better if he could feel that he was being laughed at and humiliated by me, but couldn't figure out why, but with such a fool, it was naturally boring to cheat. But his name is Jia, I really remembered this person's name, Brother Yan told me, his surname is Xu and his name is Jia, remember it, you will understand it later.
But I suddenly had an idea: "Mr. Xu Jia (deliberately named after the homophone "false", there is no such person. This is a fictional character. If there is someone with the same name, I can only apologize. It is not a shadow. You also know that I don't know you, so the author solemnly declares here to respect the owner of the name) only calls himself "Pie (疋) month, which seems a bit too modest. It would be better to call him "Pie (疋) day", and then he would be named Mr. Jia. No, no, Mr. is rich in youth, so it would be better to be called "Jia Gongzi". Haha..."
In the end, I was so happy that I had a great time talking to this "smartest man". It was only because time was running out that we said goodbye to each other. Afterwards, I suddenly thought of this incident and almost vomited.
On May 11, the first year of Chuping, Yinling still hadn't returned. That morning, Song, Ehuan, and I went to see the training and found that there were already quite a few bronze weapons in the team. After asking, we learned that they had just arrived. After lunching alone in the tent at noon, I asked the treasurer in charge of the military supply to bring various weapons from the reserve baggage. However, he asked me to write an IOU and clearly stated the purpose and return time, and he didn't mean to give in at all. This made me feel a little surprised, but I still agreed, wrote down the reason for testing the weapons, and the time limit for returning them after verification, and then let him go, who had always been respectful.
Then before he came back, I was thinking, I haven't watched the training for several months, someone must have taught these camp rules. And it's a kind of harsh rule, at least I think it's such a rule. They are now doing things in this way. Yesterday, I entered the camp in the twilight with the cold light of more than a dozen spears, and I was already surprised. At least before, I always rushed in on a horse. And before, whoever saw me would greet me with a long and short greeting, and no one would stop me. Usually, I ate what was in the pot, and lived where everyone else lived. But now, my account room is obviously better than others, and my lunch this day is obviously different from others, which makes me embarrassed to eat outside in the wind. The soldiers are also very polite when they see me, saluting me, giving way, etc., without a trace of the freedom I felt in the camp before. Frankly speaking, I don't like it very much, and I can't adapt to it. It's a bit cold, like an ice barrier suddenly separated me and the soldiers. But Brother Yan was still as honest as before, so I found Brother Yan after dinner. He was about to take a nap. When he saw me, he sat up. I tried not to disturb him, but I couldn't help asking this question. I left only after getting the answer.
This was not the result of light training. This was the military discipline of the camp promulgated by my third uncle. He gave me a copy of it and then said he wanted to take a nap, so I left.
I opened the thick sheepskin scroll and read it line by line. This is not a military discipline, but a code of law. There are a lot of words as big as green beans written on the whole sheepskin, including rewards and punishments in the army, combat rules, marching methods, camping order, etc. I was dizzy and the more I read, the more I felt that the whole military camp seemed to be an invisible big network. Everyone must be linked to other people in it. If there is a slight deviation, several people will be implicated to varying degrees. This seems to remind me of the harsh laws of the Qin Dynasty mentioned by Yinling. Suddenly, Brother Yan ran out in slippers and told me with sleepy eyes that the sheepskin had to be returned to him quickly, otherwise if it spread to other places, even he would be punished. I asked him how such a harsh policy could work because it was too inhumane. But Brother Yan told me that this was only given to them by my third uncle, and only twelve of them were circled for implementation. The others were only used temporarily when there were abnormalities in the army that needed to be rectified.
When I returned to the account office, all the weapons had been delivered and the treasurer was waiting for me at the door. He just wanted to ask me if I had got everything and asked me to write a receipt for the list of items before I left respectfully.
I persuaded myself to put aside my doubts about the strict military discipline. I quickly studied these weapons that people had fought desperately on the battlefield a thousand years ago. I thought these things could only be accidentally dug up in the earthen cellar at the bottom of the state treasury. But at least one-third of the troops in front of me have begun to use these weapons that I think are almost primitive. But Uncle San is so serious, there should be no problem.
However, most of what was brought were handles and components, so I had to invite the treasurer back to ask him what these were. I knew most of them, such as the halberd heads, spear heads, etc., but there was a mechanism like this that was connected by rings. I felt that the structure was very complicated. I couldn't think of any weapon that would have such a complicated thing, and there was no edge at all.
"What is this?" I asked him while holding the thing.
"Reporting to the Marquis of Ping'an Fengyun, this is a crossbow trigger (also known as a trigger, this thing has many names, only one can be used, author's note)."
“Oh, does it have to be so complicated?” I felt very surprised and immediately asked him to bring the crossbow to me. I was still fiddling with the thing in my hand, trying to guess how it worked.
(The precision of the Chinese crossbow trigger is amazing. The bronze parts of this mechanism are preserved in the Terracotta Warriors of Qin Shihuang. The author stayed in Xi'an for three days to see it specifically, and drew many sketches of the force, and was amazed by it. It can ensure that a strong crossbow can be fired with a very small finger pull force and the simplest structure in almost the most physical theory. The crossbow can vibrate and shoot about 350 meters (1300 meters). I can't draw all the structures in the book, but please think about the Chinese more than 2,000 years ago, they were able to produce thousands of crossbows at the same time, and all parts can be interchanged on any two crossbows. Such superb skills and group-style unified specifications production are amazing. Frankly, as far as we are concerned, we have shamed our ancestors. Author's note)
(In addition: I suggest that when you go to Xi'an, you must visit the Shaanxi History Museum, the collection there is richer than that of the History Museum in Beijing, author's note)
Of course, I signed another list of items to be called.
This was a real heavy crossbow, so much so that even I had to use a lot of strength to open it. However, he told me that in real combat, one would use both feet to push the bow arm, both hands to pull the string to load the arrow, and then use the crossbow to shoot.
I have to admit that this is a delicate thing. When loading arrows, the crossbow automatically returns to its position, and when firing arrows, the crossbow body hardly trembles. Under his guidance, I used the protrusion on the crossbow and the arrow head to aim at things outside the camp. I shot an arrow and it actually hit a thin willow tree 300 steps away steadily. This is indeed much more stable and accurate than shooting with a bow. I sighed at such a fine weapon in my hand, and I decided in my heart that my uncle was very powerful. (Zi Rui is a rough person and doesn't quite understand the subtleties. What a pity, the author sighed)
Just as I was admiring it, the messenger suddenly told me that Brother Yan was in a hurry to find me, so I quickly asked him to put away all the other things, but I couldn't let go of the crossbow and even forgot to test other weapons. On the way, I suddenly thought of the purpose of this trip: Wucheng might have had an accident.
It was three quarters past noon on May 11th of the first year of Chuping. Looking at the short and thick shadow of the sundial set up in the camp, I suddenly felt that this was destined not to be a good time.