On the road to Lulongsai, Cai Que followed Zhang Chong on a puma.
Perhaps it was because he was able to ride with the king on the battlefield again that Cai Que's depression in recent days was relieved a lot.
One year has passed since the decisive battle of Zhongrenting. During this year, the Taishan Army has developed very smoothly.
While the princes in the south were still in intense turmoil, the Taishan Army had firmly occupied Hebei and cleared away the bandit troubles in the territory.
With the support of Hebei alone, our king's name is already quite confident.
Not only that, the various units of the Taishan Army also developed a lot this year. Now the five field armies have a total of 70,000 or 80,000 soldiers. Plus more than 10,000 cavalry, it can be said that there are truly 100,000 people, running rampant all over the world.
.
But this year, Cai Que was not satisfied with everything. What depressed him the most was that the king seemed to care too much about those scholars.
Since the king became king, the king has spent more time in Taiji Hall than in the past in the army.
And he was no longer surrounded by old brothers like him and Guo Zu, but by various scholars and literati.
Cai Que couldn't understand that someone like Ju Shou, who was just a defeated dog of our army in the past, was now able to become a disciple and yell at them, the old brothers of the Taishan Army.
Not only Jushou, but also Cai Que himself saw that in recent years there have been more and more scholars in the army. In the past, Changshi was selected from the army, but now they are also taken away by those scholars.
Those literati didn't know how to fight, and they told them slanderous words all day long, which I really didn't like to hear.
Cai Que himself knew that he could only fight, and others would be blind, but he could also see that those scholars who took refuge in the Taishan Army were not pure.
These people said that they recognized the ideals of the Taishan Army and that they also wanted to establish a life for the people. But Cai Que wanted to ask why these people didn't recognize it when he and the king were fighting in the Central Plains. He and the king were trapped in Dongpingling.
When he was about to die, these people didn't recognize it either.
How come they have established a foundation and conquered Hebei, and then these things just started to spread out?
So, who doesn’t know this yet?
Moreover, Cai Que also discovered something, that is, most of these scholars came from the Han Dynasty. After betraying the Han Dynasty, they surrounded the king and vigorously advocated that the king should achieve great things early. They talked all day long about beating Yuan Shao.
.To destroy Cao Cao, we must attack the two capitals.
Wasn’t this group of people the most fiercely opposed to the Liao campaign?
What are their plans, we old brothers really don’t know?
Isn't it just that in the future, in order to have the merit of serving the dragon, he will become a minister of meritorious service, and be granted the title of marquis and prime minister? The title of wife and son?
So, again, who doesn’t know this?
But the problem is, our Taishan Army was defeated by the king. We will fight whoever the king wants. Is this what you losers can say?
You really don’t care about your identity!
Besides, we military men are fighting life and death on the front line, not so that you literati can get rich!
Thinking of this, Cai Que couldn't help but sigh and said to himself:
"It's better to get over it. We old brothers are of the same mind."
But just as Cai Que sighed, Zhang Chong in front of him suddenly turned around and asked:
"Ah indeed, the war is coming, why are you sighing? Are you missing your bride in Yecheng?"
Cai Que suddenly became embarrassed.
He had just married a wife at the beginning of the year, and he knew her well. His elder brother was also an old brother who had fought alongside Cai Que. With such a wife, he could sleep well at night.
He didn't want to be like Ding Sheng and find a Han official's daughter as his wife.
I really don’t know that Ding Sheng has so much blood of Han officials on his hands, so he doesn’t worry at night?
Because he is very satisfied with his bride, Cai indeed misses her a little bit, but he is not a coward who is obsessed with drunken women. He will continue to fight with the king!
So in response to the king's teasing, Cai Zhizhi immediately shook his head and said in a low voice:
"Your Majesty, I think it would be happy to fight with the King together!"
Guo Zu couldn't stand hearing Cai Que's words. He said bitterly:
"Are you not happy with your bride?"
That's right, Guo Zu is sour because he hasn't married a wife yet! He just can't understand, isn't he more handsome than the iron beast Cai Que? He Guo Zu feels inferior to Zhao Yun, but what about our looks?
of?
But it doesn’t mean that Guo Zu can’t find a wife. If Guo Zu bumps into the right colonel in front of the military palace, I don’t know how many people want to send a daughter to curry favor with him!
But Guo Zu refused, because these people were all the daughters of officials in Hebei. Like Cai Que, he only tended to find them among his old brothers!
However, the old brothers generally come from the lowest level of society, and they are also the group most affected by the phenomenon of female murder among the people, so these people have relatively few sisters.
In addition, the bad thing is Guo Zu's handsome face. The old brothers still think that Cai Que is more reliable, but they dare not marry his sister to Guo Zu.
After hearing Guo Zu's sarcastic remarks, Cai Que replied seriously:
"Being with the bride is also happy, but this happiness is different from being with the king. Hey, I don't understand even if I talk to you, why should I talk to a man who has no wife?"
After saying this, Cai indeed looked annoyed.
At this time, Guo Zu couldn't hold himself any longer, and his white face turned red.
In this round, Guo Zu was completely defeated!
Seeing his second general Heng Ha acting like this, Zhang Chong couldn't help but laugh.
When he saw Guo Zu sometimes, he couldn't help but wonder if people with Zu in their names were all handsome.
Thinking of this, Zhang Chong almost wanted to name his youngest son, the child just born to Zhen family, Zhang Zu.
But Zhang Chong couldn't help but laugh. Does it matter whether his son is handsome or not?
Cai Que and Guo Zu's teasing eased the fatigue of working concurrently and allowed Zhang Chong to once again feel the freedom of being together as brothers in the past.
It seems that as the Taishan Army grows bigger and bigger, this feeling becomes less and less.
Things in the past were quite simple, who was the enemy, find the enemy, destroy the enemy, and then just keep repeating it.
But not anymore. The plate is getting bigger and bigger, and there are more and more Taishan troops, but this matter is becoming more and more complicated.
For example, the question of who is the enemy is very complicated. The external princes are naturally enemies. This is clear at a glance, but are there any enemies within the Taishan Army?
This Zhang Chong did not dare to give a definite answer. There are so many people in the Taishan Army now, and Zhang Chong has only seen a few of them. How can he make this judgment?
But Zhang Chong knew that as time went by, an enemy would eventually appear within.
Let’s talk about Guo Zu’s daughter-in-law. Zhang Chong naturally knew that a member of the Zhao family wanted to marry Guo Zu before, and there was a very large dowry. Guo Zu and Zhang Chong had been fighting for so many years, and the total rewards were not enough.
That's a lot.
But Guo Zu did not agree.
Of course, Zhang Chong knew the reason why Guo Zu disagreed. He felt that he was a high-ranking official beside Zhang Chong and his position was too important, so he wanted to avoid suspicion.
Although the clansmen of the Zhao family in Zhao County have divided their fields into separate households, the bonds within the clan will not end so soon.
The economic base determines the superstructure, but this takes time.
Zhang Chong knows that there are many examples like Guo Zu. Among them, Cai Que once came to him and said that Cai Yong's clansmen came to Cai Que and said that they wanted to confirm the ancestor's return to Cai and identify the Chenliu Cai family's genealogy.
At that time, Cai Que did not refuse, but instinctively felt that something was wrong, so he asked Zhang Chong repeatedly when he was on duty.
Zhang Chong said this to Cai Que at that time:
"We are who we are. You, Cai Que, are not the people you recognize as your ancestors, or where you are from. We must understand where we come from. Don't be a person for two days and just put your own
I completely forgot about it."
Cai Que did not dare to speak anymore.
Later, Zhang Chong knew that Cai Que returned to the mansion and beat up Cai Yong's clansman. Cai Yong behind him didn't know who was inciting him, and he even choked Cai Que several times.
So if you look at the old brothers in the Taishan Army now, they either married the daughter of a scholar's family, or they are in the family tree. And he can't say much about it.
After all, on the surface, these former gentry children are now just ordinary people under their rule. The reason why the brothers below love to marry gentry children is because these women are generally well-educated and more beautiful.
You can't let Zhang Chong marry Cai's daughter, Liu's daughter, and Zhen's daughter, and then not allow your brothers to find a good aunt!
That doesn't make sense.
And Zhang Chong also knows that the old brothers like to recognize their ancestors and return to the clan. In fact, it is because they have no memory of their ancestors and no genealogy. But after recognizing their ancestors, not to mention that they have become people with status, there will also be a person in the scene in the future.
Anaphora is not.
All of the above are the situations faced by the old brothers in the Taishan Army today. They cannot be dealt with clearly and become chaos.
Thinking of this, Zhang Chong shook his head and threw these troubles behind his mind again. He just wanted to chat with the gangsters around him.
But Zhang Chong didn't want to think about these things, so Cai Que started to take the initiative to give some advice.
He whispered to Zhang Chong:
"Your Majesty, I think your Majesty has spent less time in the army this year than in the past."
Because the sound of the horse's hooves was too loud, Zhang Chong didn't hear it clearly the first time. It was only when Cai Que shouted again at the top of his voice that Zhang Chong heard it clearly.
Then Zhang Chong was stunned.
Why did he spend less time in the army? Zhang Chong subconsciously gave reasons. There were even ten or eight reasons, and even all of them made sense.
But Zhang Chong was still stunned as to why he spent less time in the army.
In the end, Zhang Chong didn't explain much. He just patted Cai Que on the shoulder and said seriously:
"Well, I will be walking around in the army more in the future. Not to mention, I haven't had the big pot of rice in the army for a while."
Then Cai Que smiled honestly and nodded vigorously.
Finally, Zhang Chong also laughed.
…
When Zhang Chong arrived at Lulongsai with three thousand cavalry and three horses, Zhang Dan, who had been waiting for a long time, hurriedly welcomed Zhang Chong into the fortress.
Before Zhang could rush into the city, Xu Huang, who was lagging behind, galloped over on horseback.
Perhaps the matter was too big, and Xu Huang's legs were a little weak when he dismounted.
He rushed to Zhang Chong and said as soon as he came:
"Your Majesty, Asao is sick!"
Zhang Chong was stunned, and of course he knew who the A Shao Xu Huang was talking about was his third brother Zhang Shao.
Since Zhang Shao joined the army, he has been brave and good at fighting and has experienced many military exploits. Therefore, despite his young age, he is very popular among the army's officers and soldiers.
As the commander of the Flying Tiger Army, he naturally followed the sudden cavalry to Lulongsai.
Then just when he was about to arrive at Lulongsai, Zhang Shao fell ill and began to act without warning.
At that time, Xu Huang was behind him and saw a group of people stopped on the military road to protect someone. The man was still lying on a gentle slope, so Xu Huang went over curiously.
When he saw that Zhang Shao, the king's third brother, had fallen to the ground, Xu Huanghun even ran away, but he knew that Xingjun could not take him with him at this time, so Xu Huang could only let someone with some medical skills stay to take care of him.
Zhang Shao, then Pegasus ran towards Lulong Sai.
When Zhang Chong learned that his third brother was ill and his condition, he immediately asked this question:
"Are there many people like Asao in the army?"
Xu Huang was stunned for a moment, and then immediately reacted:
"Not much. I saw Ah Shao falling ill along the way."
Upon hearing this, Zhang Chong directly ordered Zhang Dan:
"You ask for a team of chariots and horses from inside the fortress, and then go and pick up Asao to the nearby dock wall, and then take care of him."
Then, Zhang Chong remembered something again, and hurriedly walked back to his red horse, and took out a box from the trousers on the horse's back.
He handed this to Xu Huang and said to him:
"His sister-in-law gave this to me when I was about to go on an expedition. She said it was Liaodong old ginseng. You can use it and ask Lao Xu from the medical camp to go with her. He is good at this."
Xu Huang nodded vigorously, and then followed one of Zhang Dan's subordinates to Senei to use the carriages and horses.
Zhang Dan glanced at Xu Huang, and then saw Zhang Chong's eyes never leaving. Of course he knew that the king was very anxious at this time.
So, Zhang Dan said:
"Your Majesty, why don't you connect Asao to the fortress so that we can take better care of him?"
But Zhang Chong immediately shook his head:
"It's not yet sure whether Ah Shao has contracted the plague and cannot stay in the pass. Let's not talk about it. I am very pressed for time. How many of the raiders have arrived at Luronce now and what is their condition!"
Zhang Dan sighed secretly, and then returned his mind to the war. He reported to Zhang Chong:
"Now, there are 2,000 cavalrymen who have arrived in the fortress, and because the forage in the fortress is sufficient, the warriors and horses are well fed."
Zhang Chong said without hesitation:
"Give me all the horses in the fortress, and then I will provide ten days of dry food for the five thousand cavalry. Also, what's going on with the Wuhuan people in Liucheng now?"
Zhang Dan quickly replied:
"Recently, there was information from Wuyan, saying that the Wuhuan tribe, which has been nomadic in various places in the past few days, are heading towards Liucheng. Have they discovered the movements of our army?"
Zhang Chong shook his head, and didn't say that he didn't know or didn't know. He just replied:
"Anyway, the people in Liucheng don't seem to be restless. Since this man has so many thoughts, I will lead my soldiers over and ask him personally to see whose dog he is."
Seeing that Zhang Dan was still hesitant to speak, Zhang Chong cursed:
"If there is anything else, let's talk as we walk."
After saying that, Zhang Chong dragged Zhang Dan away again, but Zhang Dan suddenly said:
"Your Majesty, this general is guilty. The guide who led our army out of the fortress was assassinated just early this morning."