The outer city's Chenzhou Gate and Nanxun Gate, as well as the inner city's Zhuque Gate, were all garrisoned by the right wing of the Huben Army; the inner palace's Xuande Gate was guarded by the troops of Du Chenggui, the commander of the inner palace, who was the empress dowager's man; the deputy privy councilor Wei Renpu was in charge of the imperial guards in the Privy Council, which was in the imperial city, so Wei Renpu also had to listen to the empress dowager's wishes; because Li Gu was in the Southern Tang Kingdom, the people on duty at the Political Affairs Hall were either Wang Pu or Fan Zhi
The eunuch Cao Tai spoke softly for a while, bowed slightly, and handed over a drawing.
Guo Shao took it, unfolded it and looked at it for a while, then looked up at Cao Tai calmly. Cao Tai looked a little excited, and Guo Shao couldn't help but think of his contact and cooperation with him during the Tokyo mutiny; this eunuch was to the empress dowager what Zuo You was to himself. Guo Shao thought again, now there are people who hold key positions inside and outside the country, and there are almost no people who have a problem with him.
"Okay, okay," Guo Shao replied casually.
He also moved his uncomfortable body. The carriage was shaking and bumpy. The only good thing was that it was spacious. He felt a little dizzy because he had been looking at pictures and texts for too long during the bumpy ride.
Guo Shao lifted the bamboo curtain and wanted to breathe in the fresh air outside, but he was suddenly greeted by a gray sky. In this era, all roads outside the city were dirt roads. Today was a sunny day, and a large group of people, horses and vehicles were traveling on the road, and the sky was covered with dust and fog. In the dust, figures were looming on another road not far away, and all kinds of noises were buzzing around. It seemed that there was nothing but people and horses and dust between heaven and earth.
He could also see a flag with a tiger pattern embroidered on it in the crowd. That was the flag of the Tiger Guards. It had been there for several years. The Tiger Guards were the foundation of the left wing of the Tiger Guards. Most of the soldiers in this group were very reliable. At least the generals had followed Guo Shao in countless battles. During the Tokyo mutiny, Guo Shao was able to mobilize the left wing of the Tiger Guards with a crude forged imperial decree. This was evident.
Guo Shao dug out something else, and Cao Tai stopped talking and just sat opposite him quietly.
A relatively simple map of the Great Zhou, but with a lot of words written on it. Guo Shao's eyes swept from the Northern Han Khitan to the location near Tokyo. On the north bank of the Yellow River, Fu Yanqing's forces were in Xiangzhou, Daming. Among them, Xiangzhou had Zhang Guanghan's troops in the left wing of the Longjie Army; the three towns of Heyang were Murong Yanzhao's troops; and in the middle was Li Yun, the governor of the Zhaoyi Army.
Fu Yanqing is a very reliable force; Zhang Guanghan and Guo Shao are not familiar with each other, but this man and the Long Jie Army have no need to rebel against the central government. They are the elite of the imperial guards, most of their families are in Tokyo, and their military salaries are paid by Tokyo; Murong Yanzhao and Guo Shao are not close friends either, but there is no need for them to be enemies. Only Li Yun, who is caught in the middle, is probably not very reliable.
At this time, the sound of horse hooves came from the side of the carriage. Guo Shao turned around and saw Li Chuyun and Luo Yanhuan riding horses to catch up. Guo Shao shouted: Stop the car.
The groom in front shouted and hurriedly drove the carriage to the side of the road, gradually stopping. Li Chuyun and others outside got off the carriage, opened the wooden door on the side and walked in one after another. Seeing this, Cao Tai bowed and said: There are too many people, so I will change horses.
Guo Shao said gently: Let’s set up camp tonight and then talk to Eunuch Cao.
General Guo. Li Chuyun and Luo Yan clasped their fists in greeting. Guo Shao casually pointed to the seat next to them and told them to sit down. Soon the carriage started again, and the creaking of the wheels and the crackling of the wooden boards were noisy again.
We will arrive in Songzhou in a few days, Luo Yanhuan said.
Li Chuyun said in a deep voice: If we take this route, we will probably guess that there are too many people in Songzhou who are planning to do great things.
Guo Shao stretched out his hand and patted the map and the things Cao Tai gave him, and said thoughtfully: There is no problem within the army, especially the soldiers of the Huben Army; if the soldiers were not so anxious, we would not have to rush to deploy.
Li Chuyun said: The commander-in-chief of the imperial guards, Han Tong, has remained silent, and I don't know what his plans are.
Guo Shao did not comment, and said seriously: I have thought about it many times, there is basically no problem inside, and people outside the country are out of reach. Instead of doing it secretly, it is better to let everyone prepare and do it openly.
At this moment, another horse approached from the side of the road. Guo Shao lifted the curtain and saw that it was Lu Chengyong and Qin Shitou riding horses.
The army continued to slowly approach Songzhou along the Bian River.
Yao Erniu was a member of the Tiger Guards, and was stationed in the center of the army. He walked during the day, and at night he picked thorns to pick at the blisters on his feet. He couldn't ride a horse, and during long marches, the infantry's horses also had to carry things, so the soldiers could only walk. He had already had experience that if he wanted to do this, he would have few opportunities to show his bravery on the battlefield, and he had to be able to walk.
It was quite hard to walk from the Yangtze River to the Yellow River. But Yao Erniu did not complain at all. He was very happy to conquer the Southern Tang Kingdom. The Zhou army robbed a lot of treasures and did not share some with his brothers.
Occasionally, he heard people muttering that Marshal Guo was planning to do big things, but Yao Erniu didn't care about that at all. It was none of his business who became the emperor. Because he had met Guo Shao several times, he felt that it would be better to let Marshal Guo be the emperor. At least a small soldier would not be pushed into the fire pit by the big shots above. Yao Erniu didn't know what use the little emperor in the palace was. What he cared about was when to divide the money.
Yao Erniu did not participate in the war to conquer Shu. He was still a soldier in Kaifeng Prefecture who was eliminated from the lower camp. But he could see and hear the money being divided in Chengdu Prefecture. Since the money could be divided after conquering Shu, it should also be divided after conquering Southern Tang. This is a simple experience.
Yao Erniu had already decided that he would make a fortune this time, and he was just looking forward to getting paid as soon as possible. Some people said that it was in Songzhou, because once they returned to Beijing, everyone would disband, and if they didn't divide the money in Songzhou, where would they divide it? So Yao Erniu was looking forward to reaching Songzhou. Although his feet and legs were very uncomfortable from marching for days, he thought the marching speed was too slow.
A few days later, the army finally arrived in Songzhou.
An ancient city stood on the plain beside the Bianshui River. Dust and fog were rising around it. There were many people moving around in the direction of the city gate. Yao Erniu could not see clearly. The army had stopped advancing.
Soon, a mounted soldier came over and shouted, "Everyone, go to the commanding flag and mark out your camp."
When everyone heard this, some of them simply sat down on the ground. Seeing this, Yao Erniu also stopped his horse and sat down not far away. He picked up a piece of grass and put it in his mouth, thinking: Damn it, when will the money be divided
At this time, another person came on horseback, holding a gong and banging it not far away, and shouted: The central army has ordered all troops to set up camp and rest, and we will judge their merits and appreciate them tomorrow morning.
When Yao Erniu heard this, he jumped up and laughed. The soldiers around him cheered and everyone was in high spirits. He was about to go home and take back a large sum of money. This feeling was beyond words. Yao Erniu smiled and said to the man next to him: I knew that we would have to divide the money in Songzhou.
Later, the chief of Bendu came back and marked out a campsite for everyone. Yao Erniu and the other five men set up the tent together. While he was working, he noticed that a group of people were pushing things down from the boat on the bank of the Bian River, which seemed to be property.
The money has been seen, but it will take some time to distribute it. Tomorrow morning, each commander will bring some soldiers to the central army to look at the merit list, make sure it is fair and acceptable to everyone, and then distribute it to each commander.
At this time, a lazy soldier took the opportunity to show off and talked about a topic that everyone was interested in. The man said: When we were in Shu, military merit was mainly calculated according to the merit of the entire command. For example, our second commander must talk about the merit of defeating Lin Renzhao in Cai Shi. When it comes to a person, it doesn't matter how much he has won. Unless he rushes to the front in the battle, the commander will get a bigger share when distributing the money, and everyone will have nothing to say; or if someone has made great achievements alone, then there is no money to be distributed, and he will be promoted directly.
When Yao Erniu heard this, he said: During the battle in quarrying, I didn't want to be at the front, but they forced me to be at the front, so I have to take an extra role this time.
Everyone happily set up tents, built toilets and trenches. That evening, officials from Songzhou City brought people out to get wine and meat to reward the soldiers. There was not enough wine, so the second commander, Yao Erniu, was given two pigs, so everyone worked together to slaughter the pigs and cook.
The army only had salt, no other seasonings or dishes, but the firemen still cooked many different dishes. Everyone sat around and ate their fill, and someone said: "Tomorrow we will not only give out rewards, but we have heard about that a long time ago."
Yao Erniu opened his mouth, but then he remembered the time when he had gotten into trouble by talking too much, so he said nothing and just listened.
Another soldier took over and said: We followed Marshal Guo from Qinfeng to Southern Tang. He took over the world and still treated us badly.
When the ten generals heard this, they shouted: Shut up! That's what the higher-ups are concerned about, it's none of your business.
Everyone was silent, and after a while, the ten generals arranged for the soldiers to bring buckets and collect the soldiers' iron cups and take them to the river to wash. Yao Erniu found a piece of grass and lay on his back. When he opened his eyes, he saw the sky full of stars.
The situation in the military camp was completely different from that during the expedition. No one was sharpening their swords or practicing archery at this time. Except for those who were still taking care of the horses and working, everyone else was relaxing lazily like Yao Erniu.
Yao Erniu reached into his bosom and pulled out a dirty purse. He thought to himself that he would make a fortune this time, and he would go back to give his aunt a big gift so that he could have a wedding night with his cousin. He had just finished his meal, and his mind was reminiscing about the moment when he went to war last year at the alley entrance, when the young woman blushed and stuffed something into his mouth. Yao Erniu felt a burst of heat in his body, and he was so focused on thinking about good things that he didn't even realize that the saliva was flowing from the corner of his mouth.
As for occasionally hearing about things like the change of dynasties, if someone talked about it in a convincing and interesting way, and the ten generals were not allowed to talk about it, Yao Erniu would be too lazy to think about it.