Changes in the sky
Volume 2: The Edge of Heaven
Chapter 164 Incident
I stood quietly in the snow, letting the snowflakes fall. After a long time, I finally found something unusual in my memory.
I have accompanied my mother to the tomb to pay homage to the deceased. The tomb was very small, very small. Just looking at the outside, I thought there was only a pitiful coffin inside. I never thought there would be so many precious burial objects.
Since the tomb robbers dug this first, it is very likely that they already knew that there was a lot of treasure buried there. But the burial took place twenty years ago. When my father left the country, the place was no longer heavily guarded, and the tomb robbers took action. It must be said that these thieves were patient and seemed to have been waiting for this opportunity. It seems that those burial objects must have a great appeal. Twenty years, how many twenty years are there in a lifetime!
"Coincidentally" this period of time is almost exactly the same as my age, with a difference of a few days at most. After a while, I suddenly remembered that this matter could not be a coincidence - that was originally "my" tomb.
I have grown up from birth to my current age, and it has only been a dozen years since I began to remember things. I can still remember the first scene of my life when I pulled Yinling's sleeve on the streets of Xiangyang, looked up at the then unusually tall "sister", and asked questions in a daze. Yinling always smiled and patiently answered me, and praised me for being studious. I remember that I was always very happy at that time.
Several years before I could remember, I was buried, along with many exquisite and luxurious burial objects. From then on, they fell into the eyes of thieves, making them wait for twenty years.
It seems that we are not afraid of thieves stealing, but we are afraid of thieves thinking about it.
I can't remember how to deal with the crime of digging up people's ancestral graves. Since the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty in Luoyang, the criminal law has been more lenient than before, which is conducive to recuperation. When I was the lieutenant of the Sili Army, I paid attention to reading the etiquette standards. I didn't have time to read the rest before the incident happened in Yue State. I only know how to deal with it in Jingzhou. But I don't plan to treat this group of people in the same way once I capture them. The Liao Hua brothers are just children. These thieves who have waited for twenty years should be old gangsters.
There must be something strange here. Although I have not been with my parents for a long time, I at least know that they don't like luxury. When my parents recognized my body and bones, it was not a pretense. Besides, the evidence is there, so I should be Shen Gongshe. But the question immediately jumped out, who is that child? They just found a dead baby and buried it as a substitute for me, but they felt that there was no need for it. A cenotaph would be enough, why bother with a body
Besides, there were so many buried with the dead, and I let that unknown brother live there. After all, it should be mine, and I always felt that that brother was a bit of a cuckoo in the magpie's nest. Naturally, I don't care about that residence, at least not now.
So, I feel like I haven't grown up yet, and I still feel a little indignant when I think about this matter. Although I absolutely don't want to trade with him.
I also vaguely remembered that my tomb was a little far from the graves of other ancestors, at least from my great uncle and great aunt. And it seemed that the direction of the tombstone was slightly different from the others, which allowed me to turn around and see the front of the tombstones of my ancestors in the distance without having to move hundreds of steps horizontally to see. I began to think about the direction that the tombstone was facing in Shanglin Garden. As my body turned, I kept thinking about the surrounding mountains and the location of Shanghe City as a reference. Finally, when I heard a sharp horse neighing, I was sure that I was facing the east. This seemed to be a problem, but I didn't have time to figure it out.
At that time, I was facing east, which was the direction of the horse farm. But the neighing sound did not come from that direction, although theoretically it should have come from that direction.
I turned to the south, which was the direction the sound came from. The lights of the horse farm rest house and the Solitary Tree Pond Pavilion reflected the snow light, outlining a blue-white snowy road. A line of horse hoof prints gradually faded with the wind; and a group of cavalrymen, dressed in neat armor, came against the wind.
The last prince actually sent someone, but I think he was not sent, but ran away on his own.
There is no need to guess, you can tell from the time.
It doesn't make sense for a father to suddenly get up in the middle of the night, pull his son out of bed, say something like: "Go and die" - of course not like that, but something to that effect, and then throw his son out of the house into the snow.
So there was only one possibility, that he had sneaked out. Judging from their well-prepared posture, it seemed more like he had obeyed his father and came out, but the timing was not right.
But I was really wrong. Maybe it was because I never grew up under my father's supervision.
This heroic young man only brought about a dozen people with him. He seemed to have seen me, so he rode his horse up to me, supported the saddle with his hands, and without waiting for the horse to stop, he dismounted very swiftly, saluted in front of me, and said: "Ye is late. I didn't expect that Marquis Yue was still waiting for you."
You are all here, but please be quiet, everyone else is asleep. I am afraid that I will have to trouble the prince of Ba to wait for you tonight. But... does the prince of Ba know that the prince is here
I can't say I'm wronged. It's our duty to fight for the country and kill the bandits. I can't push it to others. I'm ashamed that my father didn't want me to come, and even didn't tell me about this. If the surrounding princes were taking action, I would still be at a loss when I heard this news. I argued with my father until midnight, but Ye was still determined to come, and my father finally gave in. I gave him a lot of instructions before coming, which delayed me. I hope the Yuehou won't laugh at me.
If I didn't make fun of him, I guess he would feel uneasy, so he said something like his father always did: Is there a sentence like this: I only have you as my only son... My father also told me so. But Zhi still has something to tell Ba Hou Shizi.
Liu Ye indeed put on a smile: You are too polite, please go on.
Liu Ye is indeed far from the young man he was a few years ago. I don't know what has tempered him, his speech and behavior are definitely not the same as a few years ago, it's like a completely different person. It was the first time I noticed that his eyes were so bright. I always think that eyes can express a lot of things about a person. At least I saw calmness and determination in his eyes.
Just like Yin Ling can tell if I'm hungry again by looking at my eyes, this sharp look can at least tell if a person is a glutton. I think that although I can't be absolutely right, the difference should not be too big. So, I didn't do anything to dissuade him. In fact, I really didn't plan to do so. Thinking about tomorrow's matter, I felt that one more person would give me a better chance of success. The snow was still falling, and these dozen people just stopped in front of me, not paying attention to the flying catkins, they all looked at me, and no one shook off the snow on their bodies.
We must not take tomorrow's battle lightly. We may all lose our lives. There are only a thousand of us, while the enemy may have tens of thousands of people.
Ye fought many remnants of mountain bandits in Wuling, and there were many fierce battles. Many times, the bandits attacked very quickly, and life and death were no longer important. Otherwise, how could my father let me go in the end. Although I dare not claim to be brave now, I am definitely not the child in Jiange in the past. Moreover, many of the cavalry under Dong Zhuo are Qiang people. Fighting against the Qiang rebels is just right to be familiar with their nature. When Yue Hou conquers Dong Zhuo in the future, Ye can also lead the Ba army to help.
It is a blessing to have you join me in defeating the traitor Dong.
He and I talked like old friends, perhaps because we were of similar age, perhaps because we shared the same hatred of the enemy, or perhaps it was just that I was prone to this kind of thing.
I felt a little ashamed. I felt that Liu Ye had surpassed me. This kind of persistence and determination seemed to be beyond my current state. But I didn't feel disappointed. My understanding of myself told me that by this time tomorrow, I would be even more persistent and determined than he is now, even a little extreme. But now, I can only feel calm. I was unusually calm. I knew something was waiting for me, but I couldn't get nervous.
I patted him on the shoulder: Go to sleep quickly, eat when you wake up tomorrow, then continue to sleep until nightfall and set off, and arrive in Chencang before sunrise the day after tomorrow.
It sounds like a pig in the beginning and a dog in the end, so he will be worse than pigs and dogs in the future.
Everyone laughed so hard that I had to hold back my laughter with my hands, but I couldn't help laughing myself. This sounded familiar, as if someone in our country of Yue had also experienced this.
There was nothing else to do, so I had to temporarily take over as their reception officer. Moreover, I had to ask them if they had brought their bedding rolls. They were not vague, and with a light laugh, they all unconsciously patted the bundles tied to the horses' buttocks. A dark-skinned but very handsome young man in front said: "Every time we fight bandits, we have to sleep in the mountains for a few nights. We are used to bringing them with us."
Well, that's great. You should be called Chen Bin. That one should be called Wu Gao. Well, eh? Where's that Ji Monkey
To be honest, the one I know best is Ji Houzi, because I have fought with him and was deeply impressed by his physical agility. He also bit me, which was very strange, and I really wanted to bite him back as soon as possible.
Ji Er Houzi didn't come, he and Wang Sanganzi were watching over the house in Wuling. The one who was talking was Wu Gao, who was still a handsome young man, but looked much older.
Are they too young? I felt a little regretful when I asked this question. If they were like this, the other teenagers with them should have been tempered and matured by now.
It's okay, there are still a group of old ministers of my father to help deal with various affairs. Liu Yan's confidants have all gone to Chen State, so there will be no trouble at home. In addition, Xiang Jun, who was promoted by Yue Hou before he left, is also a talent. Now he has been promoted to two thousand stones by my father.
Oh, I really feel sorry for him. He was getting married when I dragged him out. Eh? No, I remember his name was Xiang Hong.
Oh, didn’t he become an official? Hong sounds the same as the emperor’s name, so he changed it to avoid taboo.
I was thinking about the taboos in my heart. I remembered that my father only mentioned Brother Hongwei as Yang Shuo, but not his courtesy name. Maybe Brother Yang has changed his courtesy name. It would be really troublesome to be an official. If there is an emperor named Zhi, Zhi, Zhi, Zhi, Zhi, Zhi, I can't call him by the name I have called him for so many years.
Only officials pay attention to this taboo. During the New Year, ordinary people don't care about buying things. They probably don't know about this taboo. Maybe there is something wrong with the emperor's name. Although it is written as Hong, the meaning is almost the same, but it is still very troublesome. It would be better if you find one dug out from a grave, engraved on an ancient tripod, and others can't recognize it.
Names are a way of remembering things. If I were to call myself Fu or Cai, then when I got lost and my sister was looking for me, I'd probably get 20 responses. Calling me Zhi would be much better.
However, I was so crazy that I could still talk about past jokes, and I was also thinking about separating General Yan Yan from them, otherwise nothing good would happen if they ran into each other. This must be my advantage.
I made up my mind and told them to tie the horses to the stable over there, and then I tiptoed in with them. It was not difficult to find an empty place to settle them. I helped them carry a stove from the kitchen and get some charcoal, which was also a piece of cake. They felt very embarrassed and thanked me repeatedly. I had to keep reminding them to keep their voices down so as not to disturb everyone's rest.
They did seem to have fought many battles. After staying in the wild for a long time, they could only hear snoring in the blink of an eye. They spread out a dozen or so camp beds around the stove. Liu Ye was not arrogant. He slept with his two brothers and chatted and laughed. He didn't care about the bloody battle that was coming the next morning. It seemed that Liu Ye was quite funny and liked to make jokes. In contrast, Chen Bin liked to laugh foolishly. Wu Gao liked to mix in some dirty words, which was somewhat similar to Yun Shu.
I gave them a brief explanation and told them briefly that the Wei River froze yesterday, so I had someone sweep the snow outside the Solitary Tree Pavilion and waited for everyone to rest here.
After telling them once again to get some rest, I tiptoed away.
Liu Ye followed me out and asked me where I was going. I didn't hesitate much. I had just seen him in Luoyang Taichang Mansion. This time he came to Shanglinyuan and lived with a female musician named Ren. This time I came back, I took him to find her.
He was a little hesitant and didn't say whether he would go or not, but he still nodded to express his gratitude.
Finally, I told Wei Xin that it was his job to guard the door and that we could take turns to rest. I returned to my room and immediately felt sleepy. I no longer cared about who the man who had occupied my grave was or what I would have to face tomorrow. I just fell into a deep sleep.
On the second day, I actually slept past noon. When I woke up, I was praised and flattered. The war was coming, and many people couldn't sleep well last night. They always felt that someone was coming in and out, and someone was talking outside. I was able to sleep so soundly and just woke up now. As expected, he is worthy of being the Marquis of Ping An Fengyun. If he is asked to sleep more, he can sleep so much longer. I asked them to be quiet and frankly admitted that I slept late last night.
He told the kitchen to prepare a sumptuous dinner for a thousand people in the evening, as well as dry food for a thousand people a day. He went through all the rooms, as the battle was about to begin, and he had to see his brothers who had fought alongside him into the enemy's camp.
Because when we come back, I don’t know how many of them will come back.
But it’s not intentional. I think I should consider more things, but some friends get too emotional and start a fire. In order to put out the fire, I, an old man, have to run around.
The first time I heard someone call me “old man” in prison was when I was in my old man’s territory—it was the first time I heard someone call me that in prison—and it was a real old man who called me that.
Originally, I just wanted to stay for a while at the place where the people sent by the teacher and Brother Meng De lived.
I just came yesterday, and everyone was busy, with people coming and going. Everyone could see which family I went to and which I didn't go to. In order to avoid discrimination, I didn't go to these places, and basically didn't talk to them. Today, I finally had a few words. After noon, many people continued to take a nap. The rest knew not to disturb others. With the heavy snow outside, they all stayed in the house quietly. If someone wanted to drink, many people would quietly dissuade them. There were almost no people walking back and forth in the corridor. The Solitary Tree Pavilion was just as its name suggests today. Even a thousand strong men living there felt a sense of desolation.
The teacher sent a man from Nanyang named Niu Jin. I like his last name very much, and I guess the common people like it too, because he looks like a wild bull. I was curious about when he joined the teacher. He was recommended by Master Yunshu, and it happened that the teacher returned Wancheng and more than a dozen places that had just been completely pacified to the court. His fellow villagers all felt that the teacher was not an ordinary person. So he responded to the call and went.
I am a little sensitive to "not an ordinary person". I guess the implication is: not an ordinary person who buys an official position. Most people who buy an official position do so in order to make more money in the future, but the teacher is not like that. On the contrary, he just keeps spending a lot of money to do things. How can the emperor not like such a person? Unfortunately, many scholars don't like him, but it seems that the rough people like him. Especially since Yunshu recommended him, it's even more interesting. But it makes sense. To be honest, if this guy can recommend a scholar who doesn't use dirty words, I will definitely pinch my tummy to see if I am having a nightmare.
Especially when Niu Jin was about to kill those damn traitors, I wanted to ask with evil taste: Are you appointed by Lord Fang Han
But when I thought of Fang Han, I felt happy. I asked him if Fang was still alive, and even made Niu Jin laugh. He is now the Minister of Rites of the State of Chu.
This is the biggest joke I heard today. I think if all the students line up to do diplomatic work, he will not be the last one - because he is not even within my consideration.
But I couldn't laugh loudly in front of him. Of course, this was mainly to avoid disturbing others' rest. However, I was so happy that even he thought I respected my teachers and was so happy when something good happened in Chu.
I was very happy, especially when I knew Yunshu was appointed as the Minister of Rites. No matter what I mentioned later, I would always think of this matter, and when I thought of it, I would laugh.
A scene unconsciously emerged in my mind: Fang Han sent his attendant to meet Yuan Shu and said: "You bastards, if you commit suicide and offend Chu, your father will kill you." I think this will ensure that Yuan Shu and the teacher will become a ragtag group in the near future.
When I left, I was still very happy. I even grinned when I saw Cao Cao's family.
Meng De does have a lot of people under him, and there are always new faces every time I see him. But they are not unfamiliar with me, especially when they see that I am so "happy" to come and see them.
One school principal even raised his voice on purpose, so I asked Fengyun Hou to come and see us.
It seemed that these words were meant for the others to hear. The leader was not confused and quickly ordered them to be silent.
Nearby were the houses of Yuan Shao's family. This school was a bit confused. But the leader was not confused. His name was Le Jin. After a few words with him, I felt a little emotional. How could any one of Brother Meng De's men be so amazing? It was really enviable. Before leaving, Brother Le even gave me some advice and suggested that I go to each house to have a look.
I looked at him and nodded: The most important weapon of the country. It must be made clear that the weapon I used was not the one from Xiangyang Academy, but I did not explain it to Brother Le. If I did, it would probably be worse. Imagine I smiled foolishly and said to Brother Le Jin: Brother Le, you are nothing.
Suddenly I wanted to laugh again. I really didn’t know whether I should go to war or to a banquet tomorrow morning.
I also said something to excuse that school: Every family of mine needs to read it, thanks brother for reminding me.
This brother's brain is similar to my former brother Zhou Cang, and he is still thinking about it: Fengyun Hou called me brother...
I don’t know if he will be able to be like my brother Zhou Cang in the future.
From the bottom, each family looked at them one by one. An hour passed in a hurry, but they still gained something. At least they could strongly feel that the army's morale was good. A sense of competition gradually spread among the families. Neighbors often deliberately promised loudly how many heads they would take. Basically, the latter would have a little more than the previous one, at least one, at most twice as many.
I did a quick calculation along the way and found that a total of more than 30,000 heads of the rebels had been reserved for me, an average of 30 heads per person.
I don't think the horses would be happy to help them carry such a heavy burden.
Therefore, I did not ask them to sign a military order, and just let them have a verbal battle.
During this time, I often asked: Is there anyone here who has never fought a battle? All the answers were mostly a counter-question: How can someone who has never fought a battle be qualified to escort the lord? Even the two children.
After this round, I felt a little solemn. After returning, I specifically woke up Yuan who was taking a nap, but I didn't let him get up. I decided to be an uncle for once. He didn't seem to be sleeping very deeply, and he woke up as soon as I called him.
He remembered and was held down by me. I sat next to him and said to him, "Uncle, I won't hide it from you. You are the only one among all of you who has never been to the battlefield."
"My nephew was so excited yesterday that he didn't fall asleep for a long time. He saw his uncle go out and come in again. He was afraid that his uncle would find out, so he didn't ask him."
I smiled, paused, and asked him to stretch out his hand for me to see.
His fingers are thick and his palms are covered with thick calluses, but he is a diligent and hardworking child.
"This kind of fighting is a long-lasting job, because the enemy is also human, and all these moves, smashing and bumping, are all physically demanding jobs. The enemy has more than 100,000 people. If we can't disperse and defeat the bandits, we will be surrounded. There are dozens or hundreds of times more people surrounding us outside. We are anxious not to break through, and this may take most of the day to fight." I paused again, sighed, and wanted to fight with him for the first time. But my first battle was a fake fight, and my opponent was Brother Pei. Brother Pei has gone away, and I don't want to mention it again. Maybe it was because of this first battle drill that I seemed to be able to adapt to the big battles later: "Your uncle's first battle... I don't know how to fight. In the second battle, I mostly watched from behind, and finally rushed up with everyone. In that battle, the entire north of Hanzhong City was red. The most disparate battle your uncle has ever fought was only one-on-ten, and it was defending the city. The city was broken in two hours..."
"Oh, Mingzi, we have all heard that you led five hundred old, weak, sick and disabled people and five thousand elite Xiliang cavalrymen to fight until the next day, and finally chased and killed the Xiliang rebels. Such a feat is incredible to think about." When he said this, he looked at me with admiration. This kid has been particularly close to me since I "took care of him". To be honest, he probably just thought I was scaring him.
"That's a rumor. I crawled out of a pile of dead bodies the next day. I was so sad about the departure of my brothers that I went crazy. It was only because the reinforcements happened to break into the city that your uncle was able to survive." I sighed again: "Don't think too much about war. There is no good war. There will be deaths in war. If the government and foreign affairs are well managed, there will be no war. But since things have come to this point, this war must be fought. It seems a bit too cruel to use this battle as your first battle. Remember what your uncle said, don't be the first one to charge. You are still young and your strength is not up to it. It is difficult for you to hold on for long. You can't be the vanguard of the army."
Yuan had nothing to say, but he finally looked at me. I asked him if he had any armor, and he did, pointing to a set on the table behind him. I pulled it up to have a look, and it was relatively big for him, and he would be able to fit when he was older, so I just had to tie it up a little more to prevent it from dragging out. The armor maker couldn't have made armor specifically for a man of his age, otherwise it would soon be unwearable.
Finally, I called the ** and summarized what I really wanted to say with them: "To be born at this time is unfortunate, and it is also fortunate; the unfortunate ones are often in war and unrest; and the fortunate ones can devote their efforts to pacify the world for future generations and use their talents to rectify the country. If you never go to the battlefield, you may just be a mediocre official who talks about military affairs on paper; I hope this difficult experience can beat you into a truly promising person."
Yuan jumped out of the bed and bowed deeply to me with a very serious and sincere expression.
It is worth reminding that his clothes are not sincere enough. He jumped into the bed again with a fright, and ** fell on the bed with laughter. The two of them got along very well. After a few words, they started to "wrestle" across the quilt.
At 3 p.m., the sky was already somewhat dark. Everyone seemed to be getting impatient and suggested setting off quickly. They should try to start the killing at midnight and cook in Chencang City the next morning.
I didn't follow them. You can let them brag, but you need to calm them down a little when they act rashly and impulsively.
I asked them to check whether their armor and weapons were complete, and to go to the kitchen after dinner to get some dry food, and then set off after dark.
I called everyone together again, mainly Liu Ye, and explained the whole process of the operation. How to act in the front, how to understand the deployment of the bandits after arriving, how to directly raid the camp of the rebel leader, etc. Everything was explained clearly, and I also helped everyone to clear the rice pile back and forth many times. I guess everyone had the image of a funnel in their mind, and Chencang was the mouth of the funnel.
It is not yet the hour of You, but someone comes to deliver a letter to me.
It was another bamboo slip. My father had sent me quite a few bamboo slips recently. The gist of this one was that I was asked to go to Sixian Palace. The emperor wanted to see me, and he also specifically reminded me that the emperor didn't know about the military deployment.
I don’t know what else is going on, but the matter of His Majesty the Emperor and my godfather comes first, so of course I have to go.
I told the leaders of all the families that I needed to go to see the emperor, and arranged in advance for them to go to the stables in batches and each pick a horse for running, which they would ride during the raid, and change to their usual war horses when they were almost at the camp. In the plan, this was supposed to happen after dark, to avoid a group of people being picky during the day, and looking at each other and always feeling that others were taking advantage. By then it would be dark, so they could only pick randomly, and the matter was urgent, so they didn't have time to be too particular. But I didn't know when I would be back, so now I could only let them pick by themselves, and asked Yuan to pick one for me, and specifically told them to put on the saddle and tie the girth. He also ordered that straw be tied to the hooves of all the war horses to prevent slipping.
I ordered Brother Zilong, Xianyu Fu and Qin Xiaowei to be responsible for the order when the horses were divided. If there was any internal conflict, they would be subject to military law. The tone I used at that time was very unquestionable, and my face was not very good. In fact, I did not have the power to execute them, so I tried my best to put on a layer of vicious and stinky face, trying to pretend to be a domineering official who was very good at taking people's lives. I could feel that some people were indeed stern, and I felt that I had achieved some effect, so I said goodbye and left.
I did this because it would be helpful in the situation at that time. These are the most brave soldiers in the world, but they are also a group of people who are prone to trouble. In this regard, I am not stupid. Sometimes, too many nice words are really useless.
I still didn't bring any followers. Although this was the rule from my father, I never seemed to be a very good rule-abiding person.
The first step, naturally, was to go back to Pingle Pavilion to change clothes. It didn't seem appropriate to meet the emperor in armor, and it would lead to a lot of conversation.
There was snow all around. Although it would be dark and indistinguishable at this time of day, the houses and buildings were still clearly visible because of the reflection of the snow. **The wing room had not been repaired yet. Looking inside from the broken walls, it was all snow. Only a few old furniture could be vaguely recognized by the wall. After we left, it became even more deserted. The girls probably stayed in the house to keep warm. I didn't want to cause too much noise. If Old Master Xu saw me, he would inevitably exchange some pleasantries. I couldn't afford to delay today, so I hurried to change my clothes quietly.
Unexpectedly, the door was bolted from the inside, and I couldn't push it open. There was no light in the room, so I was afraid that Yinling had gone to bed early. I thought to myself that maybe she didn't sleep well last night and was still catching up on sleep. But I still needed to change clothes, so I had to wake up my sleepy wife quickly, even if I was accused of being a thief who disturbed her sweet dreams.
"Ling'er, it's me. Your husband has come back to change clothes and go to see the emperor." I knocked on the door gently, calling my wife: "Ling'er, don't sleep in."
I listened quietly, and suddenly I heard a hurried movement. Yiren woke up and seemed to have just hurriedly gotten up from the couch. I didn't know what Yinling was doing, but it seemed that she had to do something first. Then I heard panicky footsteps inside, which seemed to be bumping around everywhere. But this sound was not Yinling's. After being with her for so long, I can still recognize the sound of her footsteps. Especially when I got into trouble and hid in my room feeling uneasy, I knew how angry Yinling was from the sound of her footsteps approaching. Even when a group of girls walked by in the house, outside the corridor, or in front of the street, no matter whether they were barefoot or wearing socks, straw sandals, cloth shoes, or clogs, I dare to boast that I can tell whether Yinling was there or not just by listening.
So, when I saw Qiu Luan, I was not surprised.
"Why is Qiu Luan here?"
"My Lord, please allow me to report that my wife was invited to leave in the evening. She went to report first, and told us that you must come back to change clothes when you leave, so she asked us to leave one person here to wait. Because the wind was strong, we were afraid that snow would blow into the house, so we bolted the door. Please forgive me, Lord Yue."
"It's okay, it's okay. Thank you for your hard work, Qiuluan. Please help me change my clothes. I have to rush to Sixian Palace."
It is really troublesome for us Han people to wear this kind of formal dress, and the higher the official, the more troublesome it is. When I was a governor, I couldn't stand up straight in the car, but I could still wear it neatly. But when I became a regent, it became a troublesome thing for me to wear a set of neat clothes to attend court.
Qiu Luan is very experienced, so she took advantage of the time she was helping me today to ask me some questions to kill time while I was waiting.
"How many bandits are there?"
"Did you tell me?"
"Madam asked us to cut strips of cloth and help you wrap the gun, so we guessed that there would be a war. Later, when Brother Song was planning with you, Qiu Luan sent water, so we knew. In fact, when Brother Zhang first came to us, we didn't believe it. He kept making a fuss and the sisters thought he was joking."
"Oh, Qiu Luan is still very careful. A thief might have hundreds of thousands of them, right?"
"Ah! How many people did Yue Hou bring?"
"one thousand."
I was holding my sleeves and stretching my arms waiting for her to send me the belt, when suddenly this one fell to the ground like my father's. Qiu Luan kept saying that she deserved to die, because she was shocked to hear one thousand versus hundreds of thousands.
"The other side is just a bunch of rabble. Even if there are tens of thousands of them, there is nothing to be afraid of." These girls are trouble: "We have fought more difficult battles than this one. Don't worry. Just take good care of Mr. Xu and your eldest brother."
"Of course, but... my brother went with my wife."
This time, something might really happen.
I was exhausted from the journey, but this was indeed a good horse. At least it took me to my destination steadily.
I patted him and told him—I really loved him, and I was very sincere—that after the battle I would give him to Captain Qin so that he could be reunited with his beloved "horse".
As we walked through the snow, the atmosphere around us was somewhat solemn. The guards from each family were now in Gushu Pavilion. The Sixian Palace became much more desolate as we walked in from the outside.
Someone shouted in front: "The Marquis of Yue is here, let me raise my head." Looking at the main hall of Sixian Palace, although the wind was strong, the door of the hall was wide open, and no one could be seen inside. There were only two guards who looked like snowmen standing at the door.
When I got to the door, the princes still hadn't dispersed, all looking at me. My father had come up to me and held my hand: Lord Zhong of Youfufeng sent an urgent report. The garrison of Youfufeng in the Eight Outer Armies attacked the rebels without orders. Unexpectedly, the rebels were very brave and good at fighting. After a whole day of fighting, almost all of them were wiped out. Lord Zhong took the opportunity to go out of the city to fight, and helped Captain Zhang and some defeated soldiers back to the city. He also sent a messenger during the day. Now Chencang should be surrounded more tightly. If so, should we cancel this night attack? We can't care about so much now. We discussed going to report to the emperor, get the tiger talisman, and mobilize all the Eight Outer Armies to go and suppress it. What do you think
After just one or two moments, I waved my hand and said, "No, this is just right."
The elders surrounded me, my wife and my husband were outside, and there were a large number of princes below.
"The emperor has summoned me and several other dukes including Benchu to have dinner with him." Father frowned and said, "It's a good time to report. Let's cancel this night raid!"
The teacher also stared at the ground and said slowly, "Yinling and Song Yudong also suggested to cancel it. Only Meng De thinks it can continue. What does Zirui think?"
"Father, teacher, brother, if this hadn't happened, perhaps it would have been hard to predict whether we would be able to go, but after this incident, I am much safer." I smiled and said, "The bandits defeated the Eight Outer Armies of Youfufeng, so they naturally thought that no government troops would attack in the short term. Because of the relationship between Shanglinyuan, Jianzhang Palace and Ganquan Palace, the other armies are either far away in Hongnong in the southeast, or north of Ganquan Palace. Since the other side has rebelled and entered Sili, they should naturally know about this. They should know that they have to wait for the other armies to be transferred. In this weather, if they want to rush to Chencang, It will take at least several days. If most of them are infantry, it may even take more than ten days. Considering the tiger talisman in the emperor's hand, he travels back and forth between the military camps, and the coordination of various parties, the supply of food, fodder, and horses. These armies cannot move for a month or so. So after defeating the Eight Outer Armies around them, the bandits must have thought that they could sleep well in the next few days so that they could capture Chencang. We will set out tonight, each with two horses, and change them when we are about to attack Chencang. Make sure we rush into the enemy camp before dawn tomorrow, catch the rebels off guard, and we will definitely win a great victory. I think this is why Brother Meng De thinks we can continue."
"In that case, Zirui, why don't you wait a few days and I can get you some elite cavalry from Zuo Fengyi, the prefect of Jingzhao."
"Father, we can't do it. The Wei River was completely frozen yesterday. It has been frozen for a day and is already solid enough today. If we wait any longer, the snow on the ice will become thicker. Yesterday, I learned that the Wei River was completely frozen, so I ordered people to sweep the snow around the Solitary Tree Pavilion. In fact, just by looking at the snow outside the Solitary Tree Pavilion, you can tell how thick the snow on the Wei River is. It is now almost half a foot thick. If it accumulates more than a foot, the speed of the horses will be greatly reduced, so we can't delay."
"Now I'm afraid Wang Guo hasn't thought so much." The father was still a little worried.
"A man who can instigate hundreds of thousands of people to rebel with him, and even attack Youfufeng and defeat part of the Eight Outer Armies, can't be a fool who can't think of anything. But there are some things he can't think of. If it weren't for the elite troops selected by so many princes for me, I wouldn't be so sure."
Several elders nodded their heads and smiled. Yinling just looked at me with her eyes and frowned slightly. I knew she didn't want me to go. But I could only smile at her and nodded slightly to show that I knew, but I had to go.
Brother Meng De noticed my look, and then secretly glanced at Yin Ling, and seemed to understand immediately. He asked his father and teacher to go in first, and he went downstairs to invite Yuan Shao and others, and also gestured to me to go over.
I walked over and saw the tears hanging in Yinling's eyes. Before I came to her, Song Yudong, who was standing next to her, said goodbye directly, and made some gestures to ask me to comfort Yinling. I could understand this, so I waved my hand at him, saying that it was okay. Song had just come up with an idea for me, and then he opposed me going. It was obvious that he was specially invited by Yinling to take advantage of this change. The audience was full of princes, and some seemed to be interested in watching me, watching Yinling, and watching me cry.
I pulled her out of the hall to the dark corridor at the back. I didn't say anything, I just hugged her.
"I must go. Once the snow is over, we will have to start farming. If we don't calm down, the granaries in the three prefectures will suffer from famine this year. It's natural that the emperor won't starve, but what about the people? You taught me this. Let me go!"
"Promise me that you won't act on impulse, won't be reckless, won't get into trouble... and will come back safely." Yiren cried even harder in my arms: "If Zirui is gone... I will have nothing."
"No... nonsense." I laughed at her nose, but actually my nose was sore, but I had to hold on: "I will come back naturally."
Near the hour of midnight, I hurried back to the Solitary Tree Pavilion, still buckling the loose buckle on my armor. I took the cloak from my father. I didn't ask about the tomb robbery. Compared with what I was going to do, everything was more important now. I didn't take the flute, but I brought back two swords, one on my left and one on my right. ** was waiting for me at the door. Seeing my look, he was a little hesitant. I told him that Qiu Luan was so worried about him that she cried, so she didn't help me fasten my armor and cloak. As long as he was worried.
**It was a rare occasion that she was smart and didn't fool him. He snorted and laughed: Qiu Luan is just like this. If she cries, it's probably not just for him.
I know that too, but that's all I can do.
The corridor was solemn, and no one spoke. They watched me walk by with a bag of things. The only sound was my footsteps. I stopped and said softly: Except for the fighting equipment and dry food, throw everything else away and get ready to go!
There was an immediate sound of footsteps and the sound of things being dropped inside and outside the house.
But no one said anything.
I walked back into the house and threw a set of armor to Yuan.
When I walked into the courtyard of the Solitary Tree Pavilion again, facing the people gathered in the corridors on all sides, Si Shengzhi, who had prepared it yesterday and even felt proud of himself, had completely forgotten about it. Instead, he changed his words to encourage the departure: Today, the bandits of the Western Liang Kingdom have besieged Chencang very urgently. Your Majesty caught a cold at night and is ill. He is resting and should not be frightened. The bandits are only more than 200 miles away from us. This is truly a critical moment, a moment of life and death. A real man should make achievements and establish a career in the Ming Dynasty. God has given you and my Han Dynasty. In this battle, we have gathered the most courageous generals and the most elite cavalry in the world. With less than a thousand people, we have trampled on the camp of hundreds of thousands of bandits. May God bless my Han Dynasty and help us win the battle. Your names will be recorded in history forever.
During the first few years of the New Year, natural disasters occurred one after another. I don’t know what the heavens were predicting. I was driven by these natural disasters, and I didn’t know what my actions today would bring.
So, I don’t know which day it was, because during those days the only thing in my mind was the line connecting the Wei River to Chencang.
I remember it should be February, but looking at the heavy snow all over the sky, I had to rethink the date, and finally I was sure it was still February.
That year and that month, I was 20 years old, Yinling was 24 years old, Xie Guang or Xie Xin was zero years old, and in fact some of my friends were also zero years old.