This year is the second year of Xianding in the Song Dynasty, Xinyou, the Year of the Rooster.
The fifth day of the first lunar month.
Lizhou.
In the early morning, when Pifeng woke up, he saw that his one-and-a-half-year-old son had been put on the bed by his mother-in-law Yu at some point and was crawling on his head.
He laughed loudly, picked up his son and shaved his tender calves against his beard, making his son giggle.
"Haha, I am Hu'er, little Hu'er."
Mrs. Yu was sitting aside picking up the soles of her shoes.
Because Pifeng is now the general of the Ningwu Army in Lizhou, he leads the soldiers to drill on the mountain roads every day, which is a waste of shoe soles.
"My man, I will return to camp tomorrow. Today is the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, and I will go to pay New Year's greetings to the pacifier?"
Pifon had already sat up and said: "My mother-in-law said this as if my barracks are far away. I can comfort him every day, so how can I go and cause trouble for him in this new year?"
"That's right." Mrs. Yu nodded and lowered her head to pick up the soles of her shoes.
Neither husband nor wife was talkative. Pifeng stood up and took a piece of pastry from the eucalyptus to eat. He felt that the house was not lively during the Chinese New Year, so he planned to say something.
"Life is easy today. There is food everywhere. When I was in Yunding City, there was nothing on the top of the mountain. Five years have passed since those days. Five years later, I never thought that we would be here today. That year, General Xiao was killed by Yao Zhusheng
He was killed, Marshal Li is here..."
Mrs. Yu has heard these words hundreds of times.
Pifeng could only talk about this. From the time Marshal Li entered Yunding City to the time he regained Lizhou, he could talk about it for a whole day.
"I never thought I would be able to marry my mother-in-law, but before the battle in Chengdu, Marshal Li told me to fight down the mountain and let us all marry our mothers-in-law. It's a pity that General Yi couldn't endure it. His armor was too heavy and he couldn't run..."
Mrs. Yu said: "It's a good thing that I am a man who can fight. I returned to Lizhou, but when I was choosing a wife, I was chosen as an ugly man."
"What are you talking about? I'm not looking at you... you have a big penis. Mother said, to marry a wife, you must marry someone with a big penis. Look at how strong I am."
As Pifeng spoke, he thought of something and said, "There is a big opera in the camp today. Can you take your two sisters to see it?"
"If you don't go, my man will have to send us back later. It will be a lot of trouble."
"Don't worry about it, the Chinese New Year is very lively and lively, but this house is so deserted."
"My man wants to be lively, how about we have another one?"
Five days had passed since the New Year, and Pifeng didn't want to bother with this anymore, and said: "Hu'er is in high spirits, so we'd better go to the camp to watch the big show, or I'll go burn the firewood in the courtyard."
He put down his son, put on his clothes and strode to the courtyard, picked up the ax and weighed it, feeling a little disappointed for no reason.
Of course, these days are good, I could only dream of them in the past.
But I suddenly felt that I was more energetic when I attacked Chengdu, Jianmenguan and Lizhou.
Nowadays, the military camp is full of fucking new recruits. After training a group, they are taken away, and another group is taken away... It's not like when they attacked Jianmen Pass, dozens of brothers followed Yang Ben and jumped across the abyss.
"despair."
A piece of firewood was cracked on the ground. Pifeng turned around and saw that there was not much new firewood. He thought of going to the mountain to crack some more, but then he remembered that his family had used briquettes this year.
In the end, my strength had nowhere to go, and I felt very bored.
"Winter, winter, winter..."
Suddenly there was a rapid knock on the door.
"General! General..."
"What's going on? The Mongolian Tatars are calling?"
"Look at what the general said, how can we reach Lizhou..."
When Pifeng heard what the soldier said, his eyes widened, his head suddenly raised, and he started to run away.
"Go find me a horse."
…
The sound of horse hoofbeats was rapid, and he led more than ten defenders out of the city and ran five miles straight. Pifeng pulled the reins and looked up, and saw smoke and dust billowing in front of him, and a group of knights came rushing along the Jialing River.
"The commander-in-chief is really here? The pacifier didn't say anything."
Pifon saw from a distance that there were twenty people in the team, one person and three riders, all of them elite.
He recognized the person at the front.
"Lu? Lu Xiaoyou!" Pifeng couldn't help shouting.
He was not very familiar with Lu Xiaoyou. He was from the Luzhou Army and had only met him a few times during joint training after the battle in Chengdu.
But seeing each other again today, Pifeng felt his heart surge.
He tried hard to find Li Xia's figure, but finally saw Li Xia hugging a thin man and riding together. He couldn't help but be very confused.
It wasn't until the team came closer that Pifeng recognized that it was a woman dressed in men's clothing. He couldn't help but think that Mrs. Shuaifu was really a heroine.
…
"Uu."
"General Pifeng of the Ningwu Army! I have met the handsome man!" Pifeng clasped his fists and roared very loudly. After thinking for a while, he added, "I have met the handsome lady!"
"No need to be polite." Li Xia turned over and dismounted, looked up and down, and said, "You are a good rider now."
"Little man... I remember that the commander-in-chief said he wanted to train his cavalry and regain the lost territory!"
Li Xia listened to the bell-like voice, smiled, and said: "I haven't lost my energy, that's good. I didn't tell Kong Xian that I was coming, so why did you go out of the city to greet me?"
"If the commander-in-chief arrives at the gate of Lizhou City and the commander-in-chief doesn't know about it, then the commander-in-chief is not a good general."
"Let's talk as we walk and talk about the situation in Lizhou."
Li Xia stopped riding with Zhang Wenjing and climbed onto another horse.
Pifeng quickly rode up to catch up, half a body behind Li Xia, while talking about the recent events in Lizhou.
Occasionally Li Xia deliberately speeded up or slowed down his horse, but Pifeng could still maintain the gap of half a horse.
Gradually, Lizhou City is in sight.
Li Xia drove his horse straight into the city without hesitation.
Just seeing Pifeng's enthusiasm and listening to him talk about his current life, you can know Lizhou's choice and Kongxian's choice...
~~
Kong Xian stood at the north gate of Lizhou.
He also suddenly learned that Li Xia had arrived in Lizhou, still wearing casual clothes and his boots were still full of mud.
In June last year, Kong Xian went to Hanzhong to send his sister to get married. After Liu Yuanli made a surprise attack on Hanzhong, he had already met Li Xia;
At the end of the year, after he received a letter from Cheng Yuanfeng, he also received a letter from Li Xia, and he became clear about many things.
"The commander-in-chief is actually here. I thought he would arrive after the Lantern Festival."
"It disturbed Kong Fu that he couldn't have a good New Year." Li Xia stepped forward, exchanged greetings with Kong Xian, and said: "We have to go to Chengdu, Xuzhou, and Chongqing on this trip, so we can't leave early."
"Understood, the commander-in-chief has fewer manpower."
"It doesn't matter, there are too many people, and we have to carry a heavy carriage, so we can't go fast."
Kong Xian's eyes became more respectful, he raised his hand and said, "Commander, how about you follow me to the top of the city?"
"good."
After Li Xia responded, he looked towards the top of the city and saw the Lizhou defenders wearing armor and holding arrows.
A big flag is flying, with the word "Song" written on it.
Walking up the stone steps, you can see the Jialing River outside the city.
On the top of the city, a line of Song troops was escorting seven officials who were tied up with five flowers.
When they were still far away, Kong Xian pointed at them one by one.
"Zhong Xingxian, the general judge of Lizhou; Dai Xun, who signed a letter to judge the official affairs of the government; Jiang Zhengcheng, who recorded affairs and joined the army; Zhuang Yifu, who aided in the study and teaching of the state..."
"What did they do?"
Kong Xian asked Li Xia to walk a few steps, stand by the wall, and speak in a low voice.
"Zhong Xingxian's brother served as a right-hand admonition official in the court. At the end of the year, Zhong Xingxian received a letter from him and asked me to test the commander-in-chief's intentions. After that, he contacted officials in Lizhou... Until the second day of the first lunar month, he contacted Jiang Zhengcheng, who joined the army.
, I really don’t dare to condone it anymore…”
Li Xia thought Kong Xian's handling was quite inappropriate, but didn't say anything.
"Where's the letter?"
"The commander has taken a look."
Li Xia took it, looked at it for a while, glanced at the seven people again, and stepped forward.
~~
It's windy at the top of the city and the weather is cold in spring.
Zhong Xingxian only wore a single coat and felt cold.
He squinted his eyes and watched Kong Xian talking to the tall and straight young man from a distance. He couldn't help but wonder who the other person was, who could comfort him and behave respectfully all the way.
But when he saw the other party gradually approaching, Zhong Xingxian suddenly came back to his senses.
"Li Jieshuai? Is he Li Jieshuai? Why did you and Kong Tuo capture the court official without authorization?! Don't forget that you eat the court's rice and receive great favor from the late emperor!"
"Li Jieshuai, you must not commit the crime of treason. Your unparalleled achievements will be wiped out in one day..."
As Li Xia and Kong Xian got closer and closer, some of the seven officials began to shout and curse.
"Li Xia, do you want to follow Wu Xi's example?! Kong Xian, do you want to help the evil tyrant..."
"..."
Li Xia had already stepped forward, reached out and untied the rope from Zhong Xingxian's body.
Several officials were stunned for a moment and looked at Zhong Xingxian, wondering if he had admitted his mistake.
Isn't this person in front of me Li Xia? But judging from his appearance, manners, and majestic demeanor, he is exactly what he was rumored to be like.
"Zhong Tongpan, although we are meeting each other for the first time today, I have heard about your political achievements. You have done a good job in rehabilitating the people. Dai signed a letter. Last year, there were soldiers who robbed people's property and killed people. You have sentenced them to death.
Very good, military discipline should be so strict; Zhuang Jiaoyu..."
Zhong Xingxian was stunned again, looked up at Li Xia, and his face darkened again.
"Li Jieshuai, you and Kong Fufu must give us an explanation for this matter..."
Li Xia didn't wait for him to finish speaking, raised the letter in his hand, and said, "It's time for you to give me an explanation. Why are you colluding with each other and accusing me of treason?!"
Zhong Xingxian did not expect that Li Xia would bring up the word "rebellion" so bluntly, and responded solemnly.
"What is said in this letter is not true? At that time, Wu Xi secretly had a different ambition and relied on Han Kuanwei to return to Shu. Privy Councilor He Xianggong noticed his intention and tried his best to obstruct it, so Wu Xi bribed You generously.
The Prime Minister can be appointed to Xingyuan; and you, occupying the entire Shu, bribing the officials' personal servants generously, in order to plan the affairs of Sichuan and Shaanxi, conniving the officials, and never being willing to speak out, how can you not secretly have different ambitions?!
The wealth of Shu was originally controlled by the clan princes. Wu Xi tried every means to make the wealth belong to the Xuanfu Division, which held military and financial power. But since you took office in Sichuan and Shu, you have always refused to delegate the wealth to the transfer department in the name of war.
The Secretary, the Chief of the Zhizhi Mansion, refused to transfer money and food to the court for two years. Instead, he kept asking the court for money and food.
You are similar to Wu Xi, in that you bribe soldiers, listen to orders but not propaganda, you treat the supervisory officials sent by the imperial court proudly, and you place confidants in the army... You are even worse than Wu Xi! You ban official money from entering Shu, and you do not tax taxes and gifts without permission.
To win the hearts of the people, he took the initiative to invade Longxi without permission, colluded with the Mongolian princes, and did so in every case. His rebellious intentions were clearly exposed, and he still pretended to be hypocritical. Are the princes of the temple and us blind?!"