Several servants were carrying bundles and leading horses as they walked along the road.
Zhang Honglue glanced back and saw Zhang Hongfan following him, a trace of anger flashed in his eyes.
But after all, he is a well-educated son of aristocratic family. After a while, he stopped and said: "There is no need to send it off, Ninth Brother."
"Send Sixth Brother a ride again." Zhang Hongfan said, "Some things need to be explained clearly."
Zhang Honglue heard Zhang Hongfan's calm tone, and the anger in his heart subsided a little.
He took a long breath and didn't want to get angry with his brother anymore. He even forced a smile and said helplessly: "Well, I have been promoted after all, so I have nothing to complain about. You don't have to be afraid of me being angry. Go ahead.
From now on, just settle down and make contributions."
The reason why I say he was promoted is because Zhang Honglue has now been appointed as a senior official in the imperial court, working with the Ministry of Works, and also in charge of the Suwei Qinjun and Yiluan Bureau.
He has both civil and military titles, and they are all quite young.
But at the same time, Kublai Khan agreed to Zhang Rou's request to become an official, but he did not allow Zhang Honglue to take up the post. Instead, he specially promoted Zhang Hongfan to be the military and civilian commander of Shuntian Road, the marshal of all the marching households, and to wear a golden tiger talisman.
The power of the Zhang family's princes is still there, but it has just been transferred to one of the children.
How to deal with this matter? Zhang Honglue did not receive a message from Zhang Rou. He only saw Zhang Hongfan coming to Bozhou in person to take over the military power.
He has two choices, to follow or not to follow.
What if you don't obey? Follow Zhang Wulang's example and switch to another place? How is his father, and how is his family? Not to mention these things for now, all the soldiers and horses have turned from Shandong to Guanzhong, and Li Xia is in danger.
The imperial court had settled everything, and while seizing power, it left a way out, and at the same time, a large army pressed down on the border to block his way out of changing his residence.
In fact, there is only one choice.
At first, Zhang Honglue was really angry, but after thinking about it, going to Yanjing to live a peaceful and prosperous life... that was all he could do.
This is not an easy decision to make. It is equivalent to half a lifetime of hard work being wasted. If you only plan to be a wealthy and idle person, why bother studying and practicing martial arts since childhood?
But now that he has made a decision, he can quickly calm down.
"I'm afraid that Sixth Brother will misunderstand me." Zhang Hongfan said: "I know that my father prefers Sixth Brother to inherit the family business, but this time it is not that I intend to take Sixth Brother's power. It is just a coincidence..."
"I understand." Zhang Honglue said: "There was something wrong with my reply to Li Fen. I was young at the time and didn't think clearly. I thought that persuading Li Fen to be loyal would show that I was loyal. Ha, I was deceiving others."
"That's not the case. As long as Li Xia is eliminated, Your Majesty will still be able to trust Sixth Brother..."
Zhang Honglue raised his hand again, interrupted Zhang Hongfan's words and said, "Stop talking."
"Brother Six."
"Forget it, be so long-winded, just act like your little daughter."
After finishing speaking, Zhang Honglue flicked his sleeves and blurted out another sentence.
"Fame and fame belong to Duo Zeng, so just roll your sleeves and don't be alarmed."
As soon as the words came out of my mouth, my mood suddenly became more open-minded.
Zhang Hong took a few steps and then chanted: "The writing and sword are sluggish, the forest and spring are smiling proudly, and the poems and wine are flowing."
Having lost his fame and fame, he walked away and spent his wandering life with poetry and wine.
He shook his head, smiled casually, and was too lazy to fill in the following words carefully. He patted Zhang Hongfan on the shoulder and got on his horse.
"I'm gone...don't cry at the end of the road, don't pity your children in the new pavilion!"
With a wave of his riding whip, Zhang Honglue led a few riders straight to the north.
Zhang Hongfan watched his brother's back disappear, gradually becoming a small dot on the horizon, and finally disappeared.
He shook his head and threw away the distracting thoughts in his mind. He no longer felt guilty, but accepted everything calmly.
I drafted it casually and completed a few fragments of Zhang Liulang's sentences into a new poem.
"There is mist in the sky, and there are hundreds of rivers and mountains. For a moment, you will be crowned, but when you are old, you will be prosperous. Heroes should also be useless, imitating the wind and dust, and strive for thousands of miles."
"Who remembers youth and wealth?"
At the end of the draft, he asked himself this question, and then gave his answer
"Who remembers youth and wealth? It is for the sake of pity for the people all over the world."
Riding his horse back to Bozhou City, Zhang Hongfan no longer thought about these complicated personal emotions and focused on his official duties.
He ordered Zhang Hongzheng to temporarily station himself in Bozhou City, and then gathered all the troops in Bozhou, collected money and food, and prepared to assemble in Kaifeng City in two days.
This time they wanted to destroy Li Xia, and they raised an army of 100,000 to strike with the power of the whole country.
Li Xia has really been jumping up and down in the past two years, disturbing the Zhang family's original life.
The eldest sister, Zhang Wulang, both defected because of Li Xia, which has destroyed His Majesty's trust in the Zhang family, but just destroy him and everything will return to how it should be.
Zhang Hongfan thought of many small things.
He will stay with the eldest sister's and Li Xia's children and plead with His Majesty to spare the lives of the orphans and widowers, and then he will raise them himself; Wulang's family will also do his best to preserve them.
Along the way, thinking about how to put the family business back into order, they finally marched to the outskirts of Kaifeng...
There were snowflakes in the sky and mud on the ground.
All armies are gathering.
Minzhuang, who was pushing a wheelbarrow to transport supplies, seemed to be afraid of the cold. His body was shaking slightly under his thin and worn clothes. Every step he took made the ice and soil beneath his feet become worse.
Fortunately, Dong Wenbing, Xu Heng, Xu Shilong and other capable ministers arranged the logistics, and no one died due to the transfer of military supplies in the middle of winter.
The common people were extremely grateful, and felt that life was much better than before after the establishment of Zhongtong.
Occasionally, I heard complaints from soldiers.
"Ghost weather..."
Winter has its disadvantages, but it also has its advantages. For example, the water in the Yellow River is small, and the lower reaches of the Yellow River finally stop flooding in winter.
Probably at this location on the outskirts of Kaifeng, the course of the Yellow River downstream is already in a mess. The three kingdoms of Song, Jin, and Mongolia had dug up the Yellow River during the previous wars, but it has not been managed yet, causing flooding every year.
In the past, it was ignored. The affected areas downstream mostly belonged to Li Fen's territory, or belonged to the Song Dynasty, so it was okay not to manage them.
Now that Li Fen's rebellion has subsided and Lian and Hai prefectures have been occupied, someone inappropriately mentioned the management of the Yellow River...
"What?"
Zhang Hongfan had just set up camp and was greatly surprised when he heard what Guo Hongjing said.
"How about asking Jiulang to submit a letter together and ask Your Majesty to allocate money to control the Yellow River?" Guo Hongjing said again, and added after a moment, "Oh, I know, after Li Xia is eliminated and the war is settled, we can go ahead and control Henan."
Zhang Hongfan was still stunned, and looked at Guo Hongjing again, secretly thinking about choosing, could it be that he chose a nerd for his second sister?
I never found him to be so dull when dealing with him in the past.
"Jiulang? Brother Zhongchou?"
Zhang Hongfan came back to his senses and muttered: "I'm afraid... it won't work."
"Is this the wrong time to bring this up?"
"That's not to say that regulating the Yellow River is too expensive. Please stop mentioning it, okay?"
Guo Hongjing smiled bitterly and said: "I know that what I said is causing trouble for Jiulang. However, since Your Majesty has ordered me to raise the Henan Road Canal, put it in its place, and plan its affairs, if the Yellow River cannot be controlled, how can we call it water conservancy?"
Zhang Hongfan took two steps and said: "In his position, he plans his political affairs... The purpose of raising the Henan Road Canal is to increase grain. You must understand what the court needs you to do."
When Guo Hongjing was about to speak, Zhang Hongfan raised his hand to stop him.
"I'm not saying not to control the Yellow River, but when the four seas are unified, the world will be at peace. Do you understand? Okay, let's not talk about this anymore, just hand over the money and food."
Guo Hongjing was not alone. He neither touched Zhang Hongfan nor said anything more about the matter.
He was transferred by Dong Wenbing to take care of the luggage, and of course he had to do this part of the job well.
The two handed over money and food.
At the end, Zhang Hongfan patted him on the shoulder and said: "Don't think about the Yellow River for the time being. You can make a great contribution by transporting military supplies during this battle. When spring comes and we go north to get married, you and I will be a family."
"Thank you Jiulang for your advice." Guo Hongjing bowed meticulously and excused himself.
Zhang Hongfan looked outside the tent and thought that this young man was indeed a bit boring.
But it doesn't matter if it's boring, it's not like he wants to marry her anyway.
After setting up camp and settling down, the military affairs were discussed.
Zhang Hongfan had just left his camp when he saw Li Heng coming over.
Li Heng now took over part of Li Fen's surrendered troops. After reorganization, he led his troops to arrive two days ago. Hearing that Zhang Hongfan had arrived today, he came over specially to go to the Chinese army's tent with him.
The two of them were walking in the camp. Li Heng looked around and sighed: "Has Jiulang heard the news about Hexi? It has spread throughout the camp in the past few days."
"I just arrived with the troops, but I haven't heard about it yet."
"Li Xia has captured Hexi."
Zhang Hongfan was surprised.
He was coming from Shandong. He hadn't even received news about Li Xia's attack on Liangzhou before, so he couldn't help but blurt out: "So soon?"
"Have Jiulang considered that Li Xia would take Hexi?" Li Heng asked back: "You are only surprised that he took Hexi so quickly. You must have considered it?"
"I have considered it." Zhang Hongfan immediately made a deduction, "If Li Xia wants to take advantage of Li Fen's rebellion, it would be inappropriate to attack Shanxi or Henan. He does not have the strength, and Hexi is the best to attack... But I didn't expect him to have the courage.
, and so quickly.”
Only then did Li Heng explain the war situation in Hexi in detail.
"The king of Xiliang, the king of Yongchang, the king of Ganzhou, and the six queens... can be said to be powerful in Xiliang. The news spread among the army, which greatly damaged morale."
"Megatron?" Zhang Hongfan shook his head.
He thought about it and thought that he could do it by traveling thousands of miles in ten days and killing mediocre people like the Kuoduan family. It was really not that powerful.
"The soldiers don't know the details, so they just think that these sect kings are fierce generals."
When Zhang Hongfan said this, he lowered his voice and said: "I don't know that there are so many clan kings in Mongolia that they can't be killed all."
Li Heng smiled and said: "In short, morale has dropped. We need to boost it, but it will be delayed for a few days."
"I know." Zhang Hongfan said: "Li Xia spread the news on purpose, right? Otherwise, the news from Suzhou and Shazhou would not have come so quickly. This shows that Li Xia already knows that our army has arrived. In addition, the news can
If it spreads among the army, there will be detailed work in the army."
"Who does Kuro think he is?"
"I don't know who it is, but fortunately I came late, otherwise this matter would have been framed on my head."
"Li Xia is really scary. Think about it, Jiulang. Now if all the princes have returned home and heard this news, their hearts will inevitably be disturbed and they will wait and see again. Fortunately, your Majesty has mobilized a large army to attack."
"To deal with such an enemy, we must be extremely cautious."
…
While they were talking, the two of them had already arrived at the Chinese army's tent and checked the talisman in advance.
In the past, the Mongolian army did not have such red tape in its wars, but Shi Tianze looked back on Li Xia's several battles and was worried that Li Xia would send people to pretend to be Mongolian troops for a sneak attack again, so he ordered the army to strictly check the order symbols to prevent treachery.
Stepping into the tent, Zhang Hongfan felt at the first glance that the faces of his superiors, Shi Tianze and Dong Wenbing, were a little too solemn.
After quelling Li Fen's rebellion, Shi Tianze did not take credit. Instead, he was the first to write a letter: "The power of the military and the people cannot be combined in one sect. Please start from the officials."
Zhang Rou has submitted a letter to become an official, and Shi Tianze is already the head of the princes. He took the lead in making such a statement, and the other junior princes have nothing to do.
In this way, Shi Tianze showed his loyalty and might not really suffer a loss. Kublai Khan was even more satisfied, but it was the other princes who lost their strength.
Of course, there are many opportunities to show loyalty in this battle.
As long as I can defeat Li Xia in the end.
"Recently, there are rumors in the army that the enemy has captured Hexi. The soldiers are panicking. You must boost morale as soon as possible after returning to camp. We have a hundred thousand troops on the eastern front, and the enemy cannot get them even if they mobilize troops from all over Sichuan and Shaanxi.
Half the number, why should we be afraid?!"
Shi Tianze's voice was as loud as a bell as soon as he opened his mouth, and then he immediately made arrangements for his strategy.
"This is your opportunity to make great achievements. Our army will advance in three ways. The main force will cross the Yellow River north, march directly on the ice to Guanzhong, divide the force all the way to attack Tongguan, and then attack Wuguan all the way..."
Outside the tent, the snow was falling more and more heavily. Looking around, the suburbs of Kaifeng were covered in white snow. However, upon closer inspection, one could see that there were military tents stretching for dozens of miles.
Chang'an.
The horse galloped to the bottom of the city. The horse's hooves slipped on the icy stone surface, and it could no longer stand firm. It fell to the ground with a mournful cry and foamed at the mouth.
Lin Zi fell to the ground and rolled a few times, then quickly stood up and ran straight to the Chang'an Prefecture without even looking at the horses on the ground.
We walked through the lively long street before the New Year's Eve and ran all the way to the government office.
"Xianggong Wu, is Xianggong Yang here?!"
That's why Lin Zi directly asked to see Wu Qian and Yang Guo by name. He strode to the second hall and saw two old men coming out to greet them.
"Has the news about the prince reached Chang'an?"
After more than ten steps, Lin Zi couldn't wait to ask.
He came from Tongguan, and he is not sure whether the letter from Liangzhou has reached Chang'an.
"Not yet, I should get a reply within the next two days."
"Reliable news, the Mongolian army is really gathering in Kaifeng. They are densely packed. Let me put it bluntly...Han Zhonglang, General Liu, and me too. We all think that we can't hold it. Guanzhong is not a Diaoyu City...this is not a Diaoyu City."
Lin Zi spoke quickly, licked his dry lips, looked up at the two old men, and asked: "Hasn't the prince ordered the withdrawal to Hanzhong yet? We think Hanzhong may be able to hold it."
Wu Qian didn't even look at Yang Guo, and said solemnly: "We have been prepared for a long time. As soon as we make a decision, we will start to evacuate south immediately..."
"..."
A few yards across the courtyard, a messenger also strode over, stepping on the snowy footprints in the forest.
Outside the second hall, several government officials were about to stop him, but the messenger had already raised a command talisman.
"Eight hundred miles urgent."
"Mr. Wu..."
The yamen servant was still making announcements, but the hall door had been pushed open.
Several people in the hall turned to look, and Wu Qian was the first to ask: "But is there news from Liangzhou?"
Before he finished speaking, the old body had already rushed forward to take the urgent document.
Upon entering, the first thing I saw was the last column of words written by Li Xia.
"Don't retreat and fight the Mongols."
－－－－－－Digression－－－－－
Thank you to the leader of "Shoumeimeishuancai" for another leader reward. This is already the third time. I am really grateful. The extra update has not been sent out a few days ago. I said before that I would try to adjust it, but because my schedule is too chaotic.
, I have just adjusted it in the past few days. I hope this schedule can be maintained for a longer time. There is also a reward from the leader. I will choose a day that is not stuck in the past few days to update. Thank you.