Across the river bend is a village.
After many wars, the houses in the village have not collapsed, but the population has become desolate.
A few old people carried hoes and went to the fields to weed numbly, seemingly not noticing the long line of people walking past them.
The team was very long and well disciplined. When passing through the farmland, many people looked at the elderly people with their eyes.
People who do not evacuate war-torn areas often have various reasons.
The whole family of these old guys is probably dead, and it doesn't matter whether they leave or not. They live one day at a time, and if they can no longer survive, they will die.
They understand this mentality very well, maybe they think so themselves.
After half of the army was over, a general left the team on horseback and, surrounded by his own soldiers, ran towards a house at the head of the village.
The house is quite large, with a huge gatehouse in front, a courtyard behind the gatehouse, and three houses behind it.
The house and gatehouse are surrounded by high walls, which are so thick that people can stand on them.
This type of system has become more and more popular in recent years.
When He Lun came outside the house, he saw a hanging coupon hanging above it.
After reading it carefully, it turns out that this house is for sale at a price of 100,000 yuan. There are also a few big words written at the bottom: "The official input is estimated to be 4,000 yuan, and the buyer pays."
"Pei Daoqi is quite particular, and he did not forget his official family before leaving." He Lun smiled, sent someone to inform him, and went straight in.
When we arrived at the patio, we happened to meet Pei Shao coming out of the East Kitchen.
"Pei Changshi actually cooked the food himself?" He Lun was a little surprised.
"All the servants and maids have been sent away. Only a few of them are old, blind and deaf, and have nowhere to go, so they are left to sweep the house. Let the days pass. General He is here today. Maybe he has something important to do.
?”
"There were thieves riding across the river from Yangping to attack, trample the seedlings, and burn down the houses. Liu Wangqiao ordered me to lead the army westward to disperse the bandit army." He Lun said, "I passed by the king's house and came to take a look. Pei Changshi put the house on sale for sale. This is
Where are you going?"
"Xuzhou, are you going?" Pei Shao glanced at him and asked.
He Lun laughed and asked: "Is it Xuzhou?"
Pei Shao also smiled: "Maybe. Where does General He plan to go?"
"I won't go to Xuzhou. I'm afraid I won't be able to compete with Wang Bing if I go. Let's see again." He Lun said.
Pei Shao nodded and said, "Even if you go back to the East China Sea, I'm afraid you won't be able to compete with Wang Bing."
The Wang family is the most famous noble family in Xuzhou and the most powerful.
Wang Long is the governor of Xuzhou, and Wang Bing still controls part of the army. With the right time, place and people, won't he be at the mercy of others?
The old servant brought out a plate of steamed cakes and placed it on the stone table in the courtyard.
Pei Shao was wearing a loose robe, with black soot hidden on his forehead. He rolled up his sleeves and said, "General He is here, why don't we eat something together?"
"There is a fire of hunger in my belly, and I need this cake to quench it." He Lun smiled and sat down, grabbed a piece of steamed cake and ate it.
Pei Shao's eating appearance wasn't very good either, he was chewing heavily.
The two of them quickly finished the large plate of steamed cakes.
"I heard that the Xiongnu were hoarding supplies in the east of the river and wanted to march into Guanzhong. However, the areas of Yangping and Dunqiu have not been peaceful recently. Bandits often cross the river and go south. What does General He think?" Pei Shao patted his belly comfortably and asked.
"Maybe it's a plan to attack the east and attack the west." He Lun thought for a while and said.
"Not necessarily?" Pei Shao frowned and said, "Shi Le, Shi Chao, and Zhao Gu stationed troops in Hebei and did not follow them to Hedong."
"I heard that after the Huns were established, they set up forbidden troops." He Lun said: "In this attack, we may not need to use Shi Le and others, right?"
Pei Shao thought for a while and finally agreed with this statement.
Liu Han is no longer a Caotai team. Regardless of the level of its officials, at least everything is in place and the entire court can operate.
Perhaps, they want to rely on their own strength to conquer Guanzhong instead of forcing foreign forces to surrender their troops and generals.
"In this way, Henan is actually quite dangerous." Pei Shao added: "It seems that there are many soldiers, but in fact they are scattered. We must prepare quickly."
When He Lun heard this, he felt that there was something in Pei Shao's words. He immediately looked at him seriously and asked: "To prepare the troops and horses, you must have a backbone. Now Xiangyang Wang Fan, Liu Wang Qiao and others are doing things, but they don't have enough prestige to command the shogunate.
General, what can you do?"
"Aren't Concubine Pei and King Si here?" Pei Shao said directly without covering up.
"But some people say that they are controlled by Shao Xun..." He Lun whispered.
"Who said that?" Pei Shao asked with his eyes twitching.
He Lun smiled and said: "Chang Shi asked clearly, why should he bully an honest person?"
After saying that, he asked again: "Where is Chen Hou?"
"Juancheng." Pei Shao said.
He Lun nodded, which was consistent with the information obtained by the military.
"How many more people do you have?" Pei Shao asked again.
"There are still seven or eight thousand." He Lun said: "A few beggars ran away with their men and did not pursue them. The rest are not stable, and they are all waiting for Ambassador Li to come."
By the time the governor Li Shu arrived, the meaning was clear enough.
Li Shu is a man of the Emperor, and taking refuge in Li Shu means taking refuge in the Emperor. No, maybe the word "take refuge" should not be used. The Emperor is the common ruler of the world, so isn't it right to serve him?
"Wang Bing's side is fine. There are no less than 10,000 soldiers. He wants to take this team away. But it is also a mess down there. Many soldiers from Yu Yan are unwilling to go to Xuzhou. If they really want to take them away by force, they can take away at most half of them.
.”
"There are more than 3,000 people in Liu Qia's corps and more than 1,000 brave cavalry troops. They are inclined towards the princess and the heir."
After He Lun finished speaking, he looked at Pei Shao quietly.
Pei Shao smiled and said: "At least half of the people have dispersed. King Xiangyang can't do anything, no one listens to him. The remaining 20,000 people have their own thoughts. I can't imagine that once
When Shi Le attacks, who can resist?"
"Shi Le is busy farming, so he won't be able to come for a while." He Lun said: "Furthermore, at the beginning of spring, even the Hu people have a lot of things to do, and the horses are losing weight so much that they cannot be raised.
?Now he can only send a small group of cavalry to harass and disgust the servants."
Pei Shao hummed, he really didn't know much about secret affairs in the army. At critical moments, these soldiers still have to be used.
"I heard that Chang Shi once served as an assistant in the shogunate of King Langya. I wonder what the scenery is like in Jianye?" He Lun asked.
"Oh? You also want to cross south?" Pei Shao asked with a smile.
"Someone in my family has crossed south." He Lun said, "I won't leave."
"It's normal for some people to leave and others to stay. If it hadn't been for Situ's conquest, I would still be building Ye right now." Pei Shao said, "King Langya is just an empty frame now."
"How to say?"
"There are no soldiers, no money, and no food." Pei Shao pondered for a while and then said: "The top advisor, Wang Maohong, is running around all day long, visiting the powerful nobles from all over the country. Well, don't underestimate those powerful people in Wu.
Although his family background is very low, or even has no family background at all, he has a large number of villagers, and he often sends out 10,000 or 20,000 troops. King Langya pays great attention to win over them, but in fact he just gets what he needs."
He Lun understood.
I heard that there are four famous families in Wu: Gu, Lu, Zhu and Zhang.
King Langya, however, had contacts with the lower-ranking powerful people in Wudi. It was obvious that he wanted to use these powerful people to compete with the old clan in Wudi.
Of course, the four families of Gu, Lu, Zhu, and Zhang were not left out. The officials did as they were told, and their lives passed. They just wanted to share some benefits with the newly emerging wealthy families in Wu such as the Zhou family.
This is a typical method of the Wang family. Wang Yan likes to use this trick the most, and Director Wang seems to be good at it.
"Actually, King Langya is very welcoming to northerners who are crossing south." Pei Shao added: "There are many benefits to crossing south now. When more people go there in the future, these benefits may not be available, and they may even be suppressed. Gein
No matter whether they are the new rich or the old people in Wudi, they actually don’t like to see too many northerners going south. They are competing with them for food. It’s bearable now, but it’s hard to say in the future.”
After hearing this, He Lun felt that Jiangdong was also quite complicated.
Various forces are intertwined, and it would be difficult to sort them out unless I had been an official there.
Moreover, the backbone of the army of the Jianye shogunate was actually a powerful Jiangnan power such as the Yixing Zhou family, which was surprising.
"King Langya may have sent someone this time," Pei Shao lowered his voice and said.
"Where?" He Lun asked in surprise.
"I don't know." Pei Shao shook his head and said, "I also learned that King Langya sent people to Langya Kingdom to move old things from the mansion after receiving letters from some old friends. What was said in the letter was unclear. These people may be other people.
There is a mission, but it’s just my guess.”
"Chaos! What a chaos!" He Lun sighed.
Fan County, a small county, has now become the eye of the storm.
Everyone has to make a choice, whether actively or forced.
After sitting for a while, He Lun stood up and left.
After returning to his army, he looked at his troops and felt slightly worried.
Most of these people were adapted from the begging army.
After Situ left town, he was unable to buy them too much equipment, and they even needed to farm some of their own military supplies.
The beggar army may not be of the same mind as them. Some people are clamoring to break up every day.
Fortunately, after the news of the princess and the heir king's visit to Fan County spread, people felt much more at ease.
Everyone is waiting for the next meeting.
They, the remaining disciples, faced the risk of being liquidated by the imperial court. They were like lonely ghosts and desperately needed a backbone to rally people's hearts.
No matter who it is, just keep them alive.
Chapter completed!