Guo Shao and his companions were returning to the military camp, and happened to pass by the drugstore where Doctor Lu was practicing on the front street. Their wounded general Deng Fei was also with them, so they went to look for their acquaintance Doctor Lu.
Unexpectedly, just at the door, he heard a woman calling for help. People in the lobby also heard it, and an old man hurried in; Guo Shao thought it was the voice of Mrs. Lu, so he hurried in through the back door.
The old man stood under the eaves and called out:
Guo Shao heard some noise coming from a nearby wing room, so he hurried over. Seeing that the door was ajar, he stretched out his left hand and gently opened the wooden door. As expected, he saw a man and a woman arguing inside. The woman was none other than the wife of the Lu family, and the man was pressing her against the wall, grabbing her collar and trying to pull off her coat.
The old man in the drugstore stepped forward to take a look and cursed. Seeing the cold look on the face of Zhou army general Guo Shao, he hurriedly said: General, calm down, my son and the girl from the Lu family are already engaged.
Guo Shao was upset when he heard this, but he couldn't say anything. Since the young man was touching his fiancée in his own home, even an honest official would find it difficult to judge.
The wife of the Lu family broke free and ran out, grabbing her collar with her hands, her eyes tearful, she looked at Guo Shao pitifully, then lowered her head and walked out. The old man shouted at the young man in the room: "You evil beast, get out of here!"
The young man was extremely embarrassed, but he didn't say anything back, and hurriedly slipped out of the wing room. He walked out the back door and saw Lu Lan putting things into the basket. He suddenly said angrily: I heard that there is a general living in your house. Humph, I understand. Lu Lan choked up and said: What does it have to do with me? My father brought him back. He is much more gentlemanly than you.
When Guo Shao came out, he no longer cared about what happened just now. He asked about the treatment of wounded soldiers by Dr. Lu in the army, and then he took Deng Fei out of the pharmacy and sent another soldier to call Dr. Lu.
He also instructed Li Chuyun to send more scouts out to keep an eye on the movements of Xiao Siwen's men.
Li Chuyun said: "The northern barbarian cavalry is more difficult to deal with than the southern countries. Even if we can defeat them, it will not be easy to be effective. The barbarian cavalry will run away if they cannot be defeated, and we cannot catch up with them. If the two thousand cavalry of the Hujie Army chase them out, they will be counterattacked, so we dare not chase them out. It would be good if we can lure Xiao Siwen into the city."
After hearing this, Guo Shao thought of Li Chuyun's idea of feigning surrender to lure the enemy, and could not help but ponder: Brother Li's strategy is a good idea, but the approach is not satisfactory. Maybe Xiao Siwen will not be fooled.
At the Zhou army camp on the south bank of the Juma River, scouts also learned that the Liao army from Gu'an County was heading towards Zhuozhou. At that time, Chai Rong's palace was located at the Waqiao Pass in Xiongzhou, and all the generals gathered in the hall and discussed the matter.
However, the emperor did not come to see him, and there were only a few eunuchs on both sides of the official seat in the hall.
Some people discussed that the Great Zhou army could cross the Juma River again, reinforce Zhuozhou and intimidate the Nanyuan King Xiao Siwen's troops, and then force the Khitan leader to go south for a decisive battle. If the battlefield can be planned to the city of Zhuozhou, it may be possible to fight by attacking from both inside and outside.
Shi Shouxin, the general of the Iron Cavalry Army, said: If we rush to send troops now, Xiao Siwen might retreat. Unless we wait for the Khitan leader to lead the Liao army to Zhuozhou, we can then pretend to reinforce Zhuozhou and fight a decisive battle under the city.
Zhang Yongde and Zhao Kuangyin, who were standing in front, said nothing.
Since the emperor hasn't come yet, nothing we say now will have any effect.
Emperor Chai Rong was in the inner hall, his forehead was covered with beads of sweat, and the eunuch Wang Zhong was holding a hot towel and carefully wiping his face, his movements were very careful. Wang Zhong said: "Your Majesty, why don't you let the imperial physician come in and take a look?"
Chai Rong shook his head thoughtfully and said: Go outside and listen to what the civil and military officials are talking about.
Yes. Wang Zhong quickly put down the towel, walked to the door, and asked another eunuch to come in and serve.
While Wang Zhong was away, Chai Rong took out a handkerchief from his sleeve. The handkerchief was crumpled into a ball and faintly stained with blood. He threw the handkerchief directly into the fire of the clay stove that was boiling water next to him.
He was very upset and angry after losing the decisive battle in southern Youzhou a few days ago. He rode a horse for dozens of miles during the retreat, and the tossing inside and outside made his body unable to bear it. Today, he was so angry that he vomited blood. But Chai Rong didn't want anyone to know that if someone around him leaked the news of his illness, it would definitely affect the morale of the army and he would have to retreat.
Chai Rong was unwilling to give up the Northern Expedition. Although the first decisive battle was not smooth, and it was not as easy as taking three passes and five states including Yizhuo, the main force was not damaged. He wanted to rest and wait for another opportunity to fight again. What he needed now was to boost morale and get the support of more generals.
But he found that his body couldn't take it anymore.
So Chai Rong was very hesitant at the moment. On the one hand, he felt that he needed to recuperate and had reached the point where he could not show off his strength; on the other hand, since the Battle of Gaoping, his greatest wish as emperor for several years was to achieve the feat of recovering the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun. He had been longing for something for several years, thinking about it for countless days and nights, and preparing for it so much. Now that he had encountered setbacks, he gave up easily.
The Zhou army was slightly inferior in head-on combat strength, mainly because it had fewer elite cavalry, but Chai Rong believed that it was not completely hopeless and that they could make up for the gap through other efforts.
If his health had not collapsed at an inopportune time, with Chai Rong's willpower he would not have been as hesitant as he is now.
Not long after, Wang Zhong came back and reported the situation and discussion in the hall. After listening, Chai Rong said after a while: "Tell everyone else to leave." His voice was very low and a little weak.
The fat white eunuch dismissed the attendants as he was told. At this time, Chai Rong called him over and whispered, "Go and call Dr. Sun in to see me, and tell him not to disclose my condition for the time being."
Wang Zhong received the order and hurried out to find the imperial physician. Then he quietly led an old man carrying a medicine box through a small door to the palace. The palace was the government office of Xiongzhou that had been requisitioned. The matter was done quietly, but it was difficult to keep it completely secret, and there would always be a few people who would notice it when they came and went.
Imperial Physician Sun bowed and entered the room, first felt Chai Rong's pulse, then apologized and observed Chai Rong's face and facial features, and asked a few questions. Chai Rong truthfully said that he had vomited blood due to anger, and also described some other symptoms.
The imperial physician knelt down and pleaded: Your Majesty, please put your health first, return to the court first, and take good care of your body.
Chai Rong frowned and said: What disease do I have
The imperial physician said, "I dare not make a rash judgment on my own. It would be more appropriate to go back to the court and ask the imperial physicians to consult together. But in my humble opinion, your Majesty's noble body is coughing, and you can't delay working outside any longer."
Chai Rong was immediately annoyed when he heard the doctor's vague and hesitant words. In fact, he knew the condition of his body, but he was a little unwilling to accept it. Seeing the doctor's hesitation, Chai Rong realized the seriousness of the matter.
Suddenly Chai Rong thought of death
If I pass away, how will future generations judge my legacy? What should I do next
In that instant, some realization suddenly flooded into Chai Rong's mind, and he suddenly felt panic.
Chai Rong thought for a moment and said sternly: You are not allowed to reveal my physical condition, otherwise I will not let you off easily.
The imperial physician and the eunuch Wang Zhong hurriedly knelt on the ground and kowtowed in agreement.
Wang Zhong suddenly thought of the emperor's eldest prince, Chai Zongxun, who was only four years old. Then there was Chai Zongxun's mother, Empress Fu. He felt a chill down his spine. How could the emperor say no and it was no good
Wang Zhong thought about it and felt that it was hard to say what would happen in the future, but the queen was not easy to deal with, so he couldn't offend her too much. He then secretly wrote a secret letter and wanted to send it to Tokyo to take the opportunity to make a name for himself in front of the queen. But the letter had to be delivered by the most trusted person, so he found his godson, the eunuch Wang Jie'en, and told Wang Jie'en to secretly return to Beijing and hand the secret letter to the queen personally.
Wang Jie'en was a young eunuch in his twenties, with a round face, loose flesh on his face as if swollen, and a wide face with his facial features squeezed together. He was usually loyal, but when he received the secret letter, he did not return to Beijing immediately, but went to Zhao Kuangyin's camp to meet Zhao Pu privately.
Zhao Kuangyin quickly returned to his residence, and the three of them looked at the secret letter on the table.
I saw that the letter was sealed with burnt lacquer, and it was very stable. If it moved, it would definitely leave traces. Wang Jie'en was helpless and said: "Old man Wang Zhong asked me to return to Tokyo to deliver a letter to the queen. I saw Sun Yuyi in the palace before. Could this letter say that the emperor is ill?"
Unexpectedly, at this moment, Zhao Pu suddenly picked up the secret letter and rudely tore it open. Wang Jie'en was very anxious, his eyes widened, and when he stretched out his hand to grab it, it was too late.
Zhao Kuangyin looked at Wang Jie'en calmly and said: Do you really want to report this to the palace
Wang Jie'en was speechless after hearing this.
Zhao Pu read the secret letter for a while, then handed it to Zhao Kuangyin and said: Wang Zhong, the eunuch, is really playing both sides, and now he has to think about himself. After saying that, he glanced at Wang Jie'en.
Wang Jie'en said: I have no other intention, I am just afraid that Wang Zhong will find out that I did not send the letter, and my situation will be dangerous.
But now that things have come to this, the letter has been torn into pieces and there is no way to deliver it.
However, Fu soon heard the news. She did not get the most accurate information from Wang Zhong, but the minister Wang Pu still let his servants go back to Beijing to reveal some things. There were two main things: Guo Shao was transferred to Zhuozhou to guard the city, and the emperor had not been seen for several days and might be ill.
Fu felt very uneasy after hearing the news.
It was raining heavily in Tokyo recently, with heavy rain and wind. In the wind and rain, she felt as if the tall and majestic imperial palace was about to be overturned, and the lightning and thunder were terrifying.
The emperor is ill, so the troops should be withdrawn soon. This news may not have spread yet, and even the prime minister Wang Pu was vague about it; I don't know if Wang Pu will tell Guo Shao.
But Guo Shao doesn't care about the emperor now, he has to find a way to return to Tokyo.
Fu was also concerned about one thing: how serious was the emperor's illness? He hoped that the emperor could hold on and at least return to the capital first. Otherwise, the hundreds of thousands of the most elite troops of the Zhou Dynasty were all outside. Once the emperor passed away, who would those troops obey
If it came to that, would Zhao Kuangyin forge an imperial edict to summon Guo Shao to the central army to ambush and kill him without Guo Shao's knowledge? Even if he didn't ambush and kill him, the left wing of the Hujie Army in Zhuozhou would not be a match for the main force of the Zhou army.
Fu immediately called the eunuch Cao Tai and asked him to summon Jingniang from the Guo mansion to the palace immediately.