"The Change of Heaven"
Volume 2: The Edge of Heaven
Chapter 144: Snow Forest
After settling the salt and iron official, I hurried away because there were too many things to do. To be honest, I had a very good impression of this person. Although he was not tall, his eyes were bright and he looked very energetic and capable. But coincidentally, later that day, the teacher in Jingzhou also sent 300 chariots, large shields and tens of thousands of various weapons. Yuzhang Wang Lian, a military officer, led the troops to escort them here. They were just sent to me for delivery, but how could I let the teacher waste his time? I checked it out, thanked him repeatedly, and asked Wang Wei to look at it and discuss with the others to reward him. However, the teacher's gift and the salt and iron official arrived at the same time, which was not a very good thing after all. I don't know what the teacher's purpose is, or it's just a coincidence.
Anyway, I decided to go to Yulin, which was hit by the disaster. First of all, as a local lord, I have not been to Yulin in my fiefdom to check the situation. This homework must be made up eventually; moreover, if the people are in trouble, not going to care for them is called unobservant; not going to rescue them is called unkind; not going to care for them is called insincerity. How can a person who is unobservant, unkind and insincerity be a ruler
But these were just excuses. The actual situation was that I decided to go and see after reading the report. Dealing with these things myself was good for stabilizing the people's hearts and calming down the various unrest that had already existed, and I didn't think too much about other things. Especially since Yinling was back and my mother was gone, I felt much more relieved about this family. I had an unimaginable confidence in Yinling, but not in others. For example, if I just imagined leaving the house to the fourth child to take care of, I would break out in a cold sweat. Although he was also a smart child, I always felt that something would happen, and with his ability, it would never be a big deal.
Yinling advised me for a long time, thinking that I didn't have a successor to support me at my age and in my actual situation. If I went out at this time, if something went wrong, I was afraid that the internal situation would be unstable. Although Guo Pei didn't say anything, it was obvious that she would not stand on my side, especially when I went alone without them. When the successor was mentioned during the discussion, we all looked at a friend named Kong Ming next to us. However, this friend was smart and had a good temper. He rolled up the bamboo slips, stood up, rubbed his nose with his fingers and said, "Sister Yi Yue is not here." Then he went back to the inner room. The three of us were left staring at each other, and we couldn't speak for a long time.
However, although I am not the eldest at home, I am still the Marquis of Yue in the court, and I am the one who decides on this matter. Therefore, I decided to lead Liu Nan, Deng Mao, Gao Sheng, Hua Rong, and 500 elite soldiers to set off one day later, carrying food and other items. Yin Ling felt that I had brought too few people, and I, if I brought too many people, I would not be able to beat you, so she almost beat me. Guo Pei did not do anything all the time, and later she just quietly helped me pack my clothes, or watched us quarreling, then lowered her head and never looked over again, and later, we stopped. I also went to see Yi Yue, and saw that she was sleeping soundly, and her pouting face was very cute, so I rubbed her nose. She woke up, saw me, and smiled at me foolishly. This should be the first time she was nice to me, but she yawned again soon and went back to sleep. I also left quickly, feeling that I had gained a lot.
Thinking about the troubles in Yulin, there seemed to be fewer people, but I spent a lot of time thinking about it and felt that this was a bit too much. We still need to eat, and considering the heavy snow, and referring to the opinions of the team guide Yulin, I think 500 people will be more convenient. As for why there are so few people who oppose me coming out, especially with so few soldiers, I think it is more or less due to my status as the "Marquis of Peace and Wind and Cloud". No one doubts my ability, although I doubt it myself.
He was really unsure, and couldn't bear to watch his wife being silent, so he went out to wander around the palace. He also went to visit her. It was still the same here, a sunny day, no snow, no rain, and from time to time there was a gust of fog, which would make the tiles and stone steps look bright.
Po Liu Han Lie Ya came to me on his own initiative, just before I went to find him. He asked me why I didn't take him with me, because I was getting married to you and Xue was almost old enough to call me daddy, so why did you go out? At this point, he seemed to be a little absent-minded, and I wondered if he had gone back to hug his daughter. He insisted on working without effort for a few more sentences, and then he wanted my heart to show his belief in staying behind. I patted him on the shoulder and asked him to listen to his sister, and he agreed generously. I don't know why, but when I saw him like this, I always wanted to kick him.
I always think I'm a bit too violent. Usually, the more familiar I am with someone, the harder I want to kick them, but this is limited to men. So when I saw Holland on the road, I politely told him, "Take a rest first. I'll have to arrange some things for you to do when I come back, but you should take a rest first... If you can't stay idle, you can go to Madam Yinling to talk about prison matters. She doesn't have many capable people, and those who do are all men. Sometimes it's inconvenient to do something, so you can go and help her."
Another person who I know well but I have never thought of kicking—Bōcai also found me. This big bearded general came with only a few followers on horseback. He wanted to dismount and salute, but I stopped him and told him to stay on the horse. According to this brother’s habit, he usually dismounted and finished his words: “There are not enough people.”
"Enough." I nodded sincerely. He looked at me, paused for a long time, and finally nodded to me and turned his horse back.
Han Xian is usually not much different from when Bōcai appears, so when Bōcai left, I waited for him for a while, and the Yellow Turban brothers came. Those who deserved a kick and those who were not familiar with me came to teach me. Those who went with me were not there, most of them went back to prepare their luggage. The rest asked to go with me, or asked if it was safe and whether they should be guarded behind. But I never saw Han Xian.
On the 17th day of the twelfth lunar month in the first year of Chuping, we left Cangwu from Liping Pass (this pass was an important pass in Cangwu during the Han Dynasty. The specific location is several. The author looked at the topographic map and located it in the text as the place where the ancient Lipu Wangtan is located when entering Liuzhou from Lipu today). From this time on, we could see the white in the distance, and as soon as we got on the snow, our speed slowed down immediately. I chose this route on purpose, and I thought about it for a long time before deciding.
As evening approached, this forest was much higher than other places, so we camped there. At this time of year, we were not afraid of fire attack or water shortage, so the sparse forest on this hill became our best camping place. The carts of food and fodder formed a food and fodder city, which gradually became a white fortress.
The snow was not heavy, and it fell slowly. At first, the trees here could still show a hint of yellow-green, but it gradually faded, and finally turned into a full white, with no trace of darkness or mottled colors anymore. Perhaps all kinds of troubles would eventually be slowly suppressed in this way, until next year, when the white faded and the new spring green would appear again.
The day before I left, I went to look for the people I thought I needed to look for. One was Zhang Jian. It was easiest to enter his house because he had few outsiders in the palace. So he gave him a new house, and he didn't do any repairs or set up guards. It was empty when I entered, and I could see Uncle Zhang's dark hall, which was very similar to the gloomy weather outside. In the dim hall, a man was busy reviewing documents. He didn't notice me at first, but when he saw someone coming, he casually called out, "It's dark, bring a lamp!"
I turned around and went to the maids who were waiting there. Several of them were talking about something. They were very excited, but when they saw me, they were startled. Some of them who knew me were so scared that they knelt down in panic, saying that they deserved to die and begged for forgiveness.
"Bring a lamp. Yes, two." My request was simple, and I didn't mean to punish them. I just wanted them to prepare dinner for two people.
"Well, why two? One... is enough... How did you get here?" Uncle Zhang saw me at this time and hurried out to greet me. I quickly supported him and sat down with him to talk about things slowly.
The dinner that day was extremely simple. I knew what Uncle Zhang usually ate. Uncle Zhang got angry at those maids, but I came out to be a good person, but I asked them to do it this way.
After talking for a while, I left. I still had two more families to visit. Just tell Uncle Zhang to take care of his health and eat good food. I would not deduct Uncle Zhang's salary, and he should not continue to live a poor life in the mountains as before.
Xu Zheng's family lives outside the palace, so they have more etiquette. So, I paid a lot of attention to my dress today. Although it was casual clothes, it was clean and tidy. I admired myself in the mirror for a long time at home, and I felt that I looked very sanctimonious. I asked Uncle Zhang for his opinion, and Uncle Zhang also thought it was good.
The guards at the gate did not dare to stop me, but I still stood at the gate obediently, with my head raised, and asked someone to inform me. I saw him rushing out to greet me, and then I went in. I had to exchange some polite words with him.
"How is Xu Situ's health these days?" I asked with concern at the beginning. If you want to know what I am thinking, God knows.
After just a few words, I asked for what I wanted. I had been enduring for a long time. If I didn't, I would be suffocated to death.
"Thank you for your hard work, Si Tu. Among the people I brought with me, there are few civil officials and many military officials, and many of them are from the grass roots." (The word "Lulin" comes from the Lulin and Chimei uprising in the late Western Han Dynasty. Most of the Lulin army later joined Liu Xiu, who defeated the Chimei army with this army. Therefore, Chimei did not become an everyday term in the future, but Lulin and the heroes agreed. Author's note)
I sighed, "The duty of Si Tu is to educate people, but...ah, he yells all day long, and usually has nothing nice to say...I'm sorry for wasting Si Tu's efforts. I'll have to rely on Lord Xu for important matters in the future. Now I'm going to quell the disaster and provide relief. I hope you can help me stabilize the overall situation in the court." This over-praised him, but belittled my brothers. I'll have to treat them to drinks when I have time in the future.
As I expected, he showed great gratitude and repeatedly expressed his willingness to serve. I talked to him about some things and then left. He saw me out and finally bowed to me.
It was almost dusk, but the sky was still bright. I had nothing to do, so I walked around the camp. I was so excited that I opened my palms and watched the snow slowly fall on me. The snow here was different from that in the north. It was like white fine yarn, round particles, slowly falling down, piling up on my hands, and not easy to melt away. The snow in my hometown was mostly flocculent, and the good ones were hexagonal, but I couldn't do that. I wasn't that good, and I could only see a ball of snow dripping from my hands.
Nan was a man with sharp eyes. He came over and pretended to stand next to me, and whispered casually, "Someone is watching us, under the tree over there."
Although I was a little worried, I wasn't afraid. If there wasn't someone like this by my side, I would be even more worried. In my heart, I was still concerned about the snow in my hands. I watched and warmed it in my mouth until it finally melted. During this time, I had already gone to Lao Si's house that day. I went there under the pretext of visiting my goddaughter. I held Xue for a while, and watching her gradually fall asleep, I gave a few instructions to Lao Si, then handed the child to Liu Wan and left.
I was still leisurely looking at the snow, and I said softly, "When were they there? How many people were there?"
"It seems like there are two. They should have been there when we set up camp." He noticed my expression and relaxed. His lips moved slightly and he spoke quickly while taking a breath.
"Keep an eye on them quietly, don't alarm them, don't let them run away, let's eat first." I rubbed my hands and brushed off the snow that had piled up. "Freeze them for a while. Once everyone has eaten their fill and has enough energy, it will be easy to catch two more frozen ghosts."
After saying this, he turned around and went back to his tent.
In fact, I was far from being as relaxed and contented as I appeared to be. Who were those people? What were they doing here? How many more were there? I had no idea, or I didn't know which one to choose from among the many ideas.
However, I always try to solve the problem quickly, at least to solve the indecisiveness in my heart: I took out the long spear from the tent, held it in my hand, and wondered whether it would be better to bring Tianlang. A few steps outside, I started to show off in front of the camp. I learned all my tricks from Lelong and the brothers Guanyu and Zhangfei. I have been practicing martial arts diligently every morning recently, and I am very skilled in the tricks. This time, it was just right to use them. It also let the soldiers know for the first time that their Yuehou was not just an empty shell. After all, an iron spear, dancing in the wind, was quite scary, and the soldiers cheered and cheered continuously. In this way, my confidence came. I must admit that I am not a good commander, even very bad, at least I have the disease of deceiving myself.
But once I was confident, I was like a madman. At dinner time, I took off my iron spear in the snow, took off half of my clothes, and exposed my left arm. But it was nothing serious. I just got a little hot from dancing. I ate dinner and drank some wine without the appearance of a monarch. After dinner, while everyone was talking and laughing, I suddenly stood up, pulled out my iron spear and shook the ground, and shouted: "Husali Nanguo, go!"
The young man immediately picked up his fork, mounted his horse and left the camp, and several of his personal soldiers followed him out immediately. The military camp was in an uproar, and no one knew what was going on. I waved to stop him, and a moment later, he brought back the two children.
It was a child, and he looked about fifteen or sixteen years old. It was an adult, and he was tall, but there weren't many tall people there, so I couldn't tell. Looking at his clothes, he looked like a local. Thinking of the last time I went to Jiaozhou, I thought it was impossible to get anything out of him, so I just asked, "Have you eaten?" and pointed to the stove with some fire still on it.
One of them, a handsome boy with big eyes, looked at me and shook his head. He didn't feel like he was being arrested, as if he was just a guest. He was very arrogant, but he didn't seem to be overbearing, so he was still somewhat approachable. However, he didn't say anything from beginning to end, just shook his head.
I turned around and asked someone to make room for them, then sat down and watched the two of them wolfing down their food. This made Deng Mao act like a silly uncle and say, "Don't eat too fast, you'll choke."
Nan squatted next to me, "What should I do?"
I thought for a while, then stood up and said to Gao Sheng, "Pack the food in bags, and let them take as much as they can."
Deng Mao sent them away. I asked everyone to tighten the grain carts, be alert, and prepare to rest. At this time, Hua Rong came up and said softly, "Two girls about twelve or thirteen years old."
"Huh?" I looked at him in surprise, and he smiled at me confidently.
I slept very uneasily that night. I got up from time to time to patrol the area, check sentries, and take out my armor and strap it on, as if a big battle was about to happen at any time. I was no longer worried about the two people who might be girls. I was more concerned about other things hidden in the snowy forest. However, nothing happened that night, and I don't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing.
On the road the next day, it snowed intermittently, and the surrounding mountains and forests were all gloomy. Nan came closer again and said, "Someone is following us from the right rear." But this sentence is mine.
"How do you know?" he asked in surprise.
"After yesterday, I kept keeping an eye on him," I said. "He followed us for three miles. He might be one of the two from yesterday. He should have no ill intentions towards us." Then, the image of the handsome "boy" appeared in my mind.
When we reached the foot of a mountain, it was almost noon. The order was given to rest and cook. I deliberately moved away from the group and only kept Nan with me. I thought he wanted to talk to me. Later, I sent Nan away and waited for him there with my back turned.
Suddenly, I heard a sharp whistling sound behind me. I thought it was not good, so I rushed forward and swept the tip of my spear behind me. I felt something stuck in my hair, and I pulled out an arrow without an arrowhead. I turned around and saw him standing in front of the woods. He didn't leave, holding the "evidence" - a bow in his hand, and smiled at me, even waving to let me come over.
I rode over, trying to slow down my horse to show that I had no hostility, but I pretended to be angry and shook the arrow and threw it in front of him. He raised his hand and took out an arrowhead to prove that he had no ill intentions, and smiled at me smugly.
I dismounted when I was fifteen steps away from him and looked at him. I didn't know if I could make him understand me, or let me understand him. But I wanted to try, so I said with my teeth and claws bared: "You... yù... what... are you... doing?"
I had to speak slowly and with actions, hoping that he could understand me, and use the same speaking speed as me and with actions to let me know what he wanted to do.
He really expressed it sincerely, speaking at the same speed and using the same movements as me. However, this was not very acceptable: "I... want... you."
Then he pulled out two short scimitars from his waist and rushed forward.
This is not a joke, this guy seems to be serious. But my movements are usually faster than I think. When two blades reflecting the cold air flew towards me, I shook my hand and swept past them with a gun to block the two cold air. He also lay down, then cut the ground with his knife, exerted force with his arms, and rushed forward with the snow. Seeing the situation, I expected that he would fight me in close combat, so I did the opposite, using the gun to jump over from above. As soon as I landed, I didn't wait to stand firm, and swung the gun at him with the momentum of my falling body. Although this guy had his back to me, he heard the whistling sound of the tassel on my gun breaking through the air, and turned over to avoid it very cleverly. When he stood up, there was still a distance of more than two meters between us. At this distance, I had an absolute advantage.
When we both stood up and faced each other, we both laughed. I didn't know why he laughed, just like I didn't know why I laughed. But I suddenly saw my people behind him were surrounding him, shouting and cursing, and the first one was Nan, shouting: "Bold lunatic!" I raised my right hand and shouted loudly, this is a matter between me and this guy, no one else needs to intervene, just watch.
As expected, they all stood there, not moving forward anymore, and not saying anything. The child turned around and looked behind him, then turned around and smiled at me again. I tilted my head and stretched my neck, but didn't show any expression.
He started walking around me, from left to right, from right to left, a dozen steps each time. I knew he was looking for an opportunity, so I pointed my gun downwards and put it behind my arm, but my eyes were always on him.
He pretended to move forward, but I didn't move. My master taught me that if you want to see if someone is going to move, you must watch his waist. If the person moves, the waist must move. If his waist doesn't move and the person does, the person will fall; if his waist moves and the person doesn't move, the waist will be sprained. I saw that his foot rushed forward, but his waist was fixed in place, so I ignored him. He pretended to attack several times, but I didn't move at all. I just looked at him and smiled.
He was a little anxious, and it seemed like he was still feinting, but he released his waist first, and after a slight delay, he rushed out. I, however, took advantage of my leisure time. I placed the gun horizontally at my waist, swung the gun with one-third of my strength, and combined with my waist strength, it seemed as if I had ten points of strength. The gun head hit his waist with a whistling sound and swept past. I knew that the next action must be very difficult for him. His waist was in front and his body was behind. At this time, he was stretching his arms to stab forward, but saw an iron rod hitting him at the waist. He could not go up or down, and with his head rushing forward, it was not an obvious move. It was difficult to deal with, so he could only tighten his abdomen immediately and fall backward.
Guessing that this was his last resort, I immediately squeezed the remaining strength of the gun and turned it downwards to intercept and hit the guy in the waist, and then put him flat on the ground. The tip of the gun stabbed forward and swept the snow, and the gun barrel pressed on his shoulder, signaling him not to move. Looking at him, I really laughed this time, just like a child who beat his old enemy on the street.
He looked at me, still smiling. This made me feel excited, and I raised the tip of my gun. I motioned him to stand up. I immediately dragged the gun away and stopped pestering him. I had only taken two steps when I heard something strange behind me. I saw the people in front of me exclaiming in surprise, and I immediately pulled the gun handle back, but I saw him holding the end of the gun tightly with both hands, still smiling at me strangely.
This made me a little angry, and I pulled hard. He was much stronger than me, and staggered forward, still holding the gun handle tightly with both hands. Seeing that he was within the control of both hands, I dropped the gun and lifted him over my head by his collar and belt.
He held his clothes tightly with both hands, and the gun he thought he had taken was thrown away. Fear finally appeared on his face, and his usual inexplicable smile disappeared.
I felt somewhat proud and a little angry at the same time, so I raised my hand and said, "You are no match for me, stop fighting and let's go!" I gently threw him down, retrieved my gun, and returned to the crowd who were cheering. Someone in the crowd started to make a noise, "You are so stupid, don't you know the Marquis of Ping An Feng Yun?" This was polite, but there were also some who couldn't stand it any more, "You son of a bitch, you found the right master to seek death, didn't you?" Of course there were some things that were even more unbearable to hear, and I didn't even want to think about them anymore.
After he left, I suddenly felt a little guilty and didn't know what would happen next.
If I knew what would happen in the future, I would rather have shot her in the back and saved myself a lot of unhappiness in the future. But then again, if I had killed him at that time, I would not have known what would happen in the future.
The atmosphere at lunch that day was different from the previous days. Originally, it was always quiet during meals, but that day, it was like a holiday. Everyone was happily talking about what had just happened.
Although I am the Marquis of Yue, the "local emperor" of this area, I have always lived in the Yellow Turban Army, so naturally I do not have the strict barriers of the imperial army. There are several accompanying generals around me, sharing the stove with me, and the brothers are all around to cook. It seems that in Yue State, where I am, everyone is not too restrained. However, it was quiet at first, but now it has become a bit too much for me to handle.
In fact, I am not a person who cannot tolerate noise, but in that situation, with something on my mind and thinking about a problem, the sound becomes a little irritating.
"There's food, but it can't stop you from talking, right?" I was about to explode, but Deng Mao, seeing that I was getting out of control, jumped out and suppressed my voice with gestures.
Deng Mao was a young man with a round head and a beard. He had thick eyebrows and his mouth always seemed to be upturned. His beard was sticking out. His head looked like a frightened hedgehog. I patted the snowflakes on his head and smiled at him. He always kept the troops happy, including ours. Gao Sheng, who had a thin face and a long beard, was not like that. He always stayed quietly in a corner that no one noticed. I didn't know if he was thinking about something or just wanted to be alone.
The four people I brought out were all very interesting. It was fun to just look at them together. For example, the two older ones had shaved their heads and looked very similar to these two in outline. The handsome young Hua Rong seemed to be on a long journey. His sleeves were definitely a warehouse. It seemed that he often followed his benefactor and had various needs at any time. I remember that he took out chopsticks, cloth towels, and acupuncture objects from there. He even took out a kind of oil in a belt for Nan and applied it on the back of his dry and cracked red hands. Nan asked what the medicine was, but Hua Rong smiled but did not answer. Deng Mao seemed to know something and laughed, which made Nan suspicious. He put his hand in front of his nose and smelled it hard. It didn't seem to have any peculiar smell. Deng Mao wanted to divert attention. He laughed and asked Hua Rong why he put so many things in his sleeves. He used to carry a backpack, but it was not easy to carry this time, so he put everything he might need in his sleeves.
Before he could completely suppress his thoughts, such as shaving off the two old hairs to see what effect it would have, or what the medicine was, he had already started asking Hua Rong: "Your father sent you to me, so what has your old benefactor been doing recently?"
"Thanks to the care of the Marquis, my father is currently researching an anesthetic at home in Jingzhou." Hua Rong was very polite. I waved my hand and told him not to be so modest, but I really didn't know how to applaud him.
"Anesthetic? What is it used for?" Deng Mao was very interested, and everyone else on the scene turned to look at our doctor.
"There are often problems with lesions in the internal organs, which cannot be cured by ordinary acupuncture and decoctions. My father would use a sharp knife to cut open the lesions..." Seeing that the four of us were a little scared and wanted to hide, "Of course, the patient's pain was unbearable, so my father wanted to find a medicine that could anesthetize the patient in advance so that he would not feel the pain, and then he could remove the lesions."
"Oh..." Although the four of us were all confused, Gao Sheng and Deng Mao were looking at each other. Deng Mao said first, "With this thing, it might be helpful for Shengzi to confuse his lover and solve the problem as soon as possible."
"It's not as dirty as you think." Gao Sheng curled his lips: "I'm afraid you are against the bow..."
A situation immediately arose on the scene. A big round-headed man suddenly covered the mouth of another big thin-faced man with his hand and pushed him to the ground.
"Hey, get up, get up, get up... What are you doing?" I was angry, but also very curious: "What bow is... Ah! Bow Maiden?"
In the afternoon, I could already see the city wall in the distance. If the map is correct, it should be Pingtan.
The snow fell slowly from the sky, but the wind grew stronger, forcing the soldiers, who were not wearing very thick clothes, to tuck in the corners of their clothes. The soldiers on horseback also hugged their cloaks tightly, lowered their heads to avoid the wind and frost, and continued to move forward.
There were gaps in the clouds in the sky, and later in the evening, the moon came out.
Nan was the first to make this discovery: "The moon is out."
"I thought I would never see this part again." Gao Sheng looked up and studied it, as if he had seen a savior.
"It's covered by clouds again." Hua Rong said softly, as if feeling a little regretful.
"If there's really nothing left, we can ask Deng Mao to shave his head and carry it on his back for us as a monthly reward." Ever since I learned about this unexpected thing at noon, I've been wanting to make fun of him.
"It's not round, so just keep it for me." Deng Mao knew what I was thinking and quickly declined the "important responsibility" of acting as the bright moon.
"It doesn't matter. It's the eighteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, when the moon is just waning." At this time of year, on this occasion, no one in the world is happier than me.
After that, Nan Zong called Deng Mao "Chang Yue". I admit that this matter was caused by me.
"Why do you take this road?" I thought Nan would not be able to ask such a high-level question, and it was probably someone who lied to him, so in order to prove this, I decided to ask him: "Which road did you take?"
He was immediately stunned, and looked back involuntarily. He didn't have a map, and he was not good at these things. How could he know what Yulin looked like, and which roads to take to get to Yulin? The group of people I brought with me had just arrived, and they didn't know how many streets and city gates there were in Guangxin (the situation of Guangxin in the Han Dynasty has not been verified, so if I mention the number of city gates below, it is purely speculation, author's note). These people may not know clearly, let alone come out.
There is at least one person who knows at least one way to get to Yulin. This person is called Han Xian, the commander of my navy. So based on his personality, I can easily find the person who wants to ask a question among the people I lead: "Deng Mao... How come you are involved in everything?"
"Oh, you found me." He didn't think it was a big deal, he laughed and scratched his head: "Brother Han Xian mentioned that if you take advantage of the low water season in winter and travel west with the north wind for three days, you can reach Bushan, the seat of Yulin. Why did we carry so many things and travel overland for more than five days, but only arrived at the pond at the northeast corner of Yulin?"
"Now I've made some progress, but at the critical moment I still feel a little..." I couldn't find the words to describe it, but it wasn't serious, so I skipped it and continued, "Yu Lin Taishou is still in Guangxin today. It was when I arrived in Jiaozhou that he arrived in Guangxin because Yu Lin was in trouble. How big of a trouble could make a Taishou, a Taishou who could mobilize nearly 10,000 soldiers, abandon everything and run to me for refuge?"
I paused, called all of them to me, and told them my thoughts: "The rebellion in Yuzhou is a civil rebellion. It's okay if it's a civil rebellion. If the common people follow suit, it's a big rebellion. A group of leaders who make trouble alone will cause trouble. As soon as they start a rebellion, I will take people to suppress them. This is adding fuel to the fire. The more people I bring, the more dangerous it is. The hot-headed common people will follow those who are really making trouble to fight with me. Even if I have five armies, it will be useless. But I will just ignore them and let them cool down first. They will find that everything is messed up and no one cares when something happens. When they hear that the situation is much better on our side, they will soften their hearts and it will be easier for me to accomplish things." I paused: "I'm new here. There are so many people, and we don't have enough food, fodder, soldiers and horses. It's still a problem how we are going to survive the winter! Several counties are still in rebellion. I If we force our way in, the supply from the rear won't be able to keep up, and we are not familiar with the terrain ahead. Not only will we lose soldiers and generals, but we will also lose the support of the people. This is not a solution. Let's learn to do nothing first. When the spring comes next year and each family starts to work on the farm, and some people start to think about the monthly aid, I will send our officials over step by step and take over everything quietly, as if nothing has happened. This is also why I chose to go from the side. Go to Bushan? The city wall there is more than 40 feet high. There are more than 10,000 people in the city. If one person sprinkles bubbles, we will be washed away. In the pond, there are less than 3,000 people in the city at most, and even fewer thieves. The city wall is less than 20 feet high and is rammed earth. It has not been repaired for many years. The moat is frozen at this time of year. Look at our food carts. The food bags are all 20 feet high. Standing on them, even the south can climb up the city... If we really want to attack, let the soldiers push the carts as shields and push all the way to the city, with Nan as the vanguard, and we can solve the problem in half an hour. "The last sentence was to make up for the possible damage caused to Nan by the slip of the tongue.
The golden color of the sky slowly faded, and the hazy moon became brighter and brighter, but the light it cast was getting colder and colder. I sent Deng Mao to question him, and I thought that the door would be opened for me. I came to distribute relief. Even if they were bandits, they would pretend to be good people and let us in to take the food before they started. Besides, I am the Marquis of Yue, their leader. If it doesn't work, I will cook outside in the wind and fumigate him with the fragrance all night.
The door actually opened. I took a breath and turned around to pass the message down. The whole brigade would be divided into groups of five to look after each other. Five groups would be assigned to one liang to patrol at night. Four liang would be assigned to one soldier to support each other. The whole brigade would be stationed together to prevent any robbery. (These are all ancient systems, which were also used in the Han Dynasty. They were often divided into different units under the generals, but the number of units varied. Some units were several armies, and some were only one brigade. It was difficult to count them clearly. Today, we all follow the ancient system to make clear the number of units. Author's note)
In the hall of the county government, I casually asked for the names of the county magistrate and the county lieutenant. This was what I asked Yulin Taishou and me to do, and I wrote them down. (The Taishou is a county-level official. I made a mistake before, and I wrote down the name of Cangwu Taishou as Guangxin Taishou. This is wrong. Author's note) However, the people in front of me have nothing to do with these names. The reason is that those people either dispersed or died of illness, and they were replaced by lower officials according to the system. I don't know the original situation, I can only say: "Recently, there have been a lot of deaths of county magistrates and county lieutenants, you guys need to be concerned." This seemingly joking remark made none of them dare to say anything back, and they just sat there with their heads down.
At least they were real officials, and they were not bad at showing the proper manners that a Han should have, and their attitudes were good, and they did what they should do. Yulin was different from other places, such as Cangwu. Most of the people in Cangwu were Luoyue people, also known as Li people, while Yulin was the hometown of Xiou people, also known as Nanman people, and there were also a large number of Han people from Li people. The two groups of people each had their own fortresses, each forming their own separate factions, but they were also intertwined with each other, and they were not always harmonious, and attacks were common. Near Pingtan, both families had several fortresses. According to them, they usually did not interact with the two barbarians, but just watched them fight and did not interfere, but sometimes the grain transport teams would be robbed, and there would be a food shortage in the city.
Talking about the disaster situation here, the situation is not that bad. After all, it is not the busy farming season and most people are at home. Although some are freezing and hungry, they said the situation is not serious.
I looked at them for a long time, but they didn't even raise their heads. I don't know how much time had passed. A strong wind blew outside the hall, and the cold moonlight slowly dissipated. But they were still sitting there, each of them very obedient. I finally arranged it. Gao Sheng distributed grain, Deng Mao was on guard, Hua Rong patrolled and treated the victims, and Nan followed me: "I want to see a few places, right away. The first one is the prison in Pingtan. The next one... I'll go there first and make a decision. You guys come with me."
That night, it was snowing heavily again.