Volume 1: Entering the Tang Dynasty for the First Time Chapter 56
Li Yuan fell into deep thought while looking at the letter from Li Xiuning in his hand. Chang Bao, who had been standing by him, remained silent and could only look at Li Yuan cautiously.
"Chang Baolai, how much do you know about the Mohist family?" Li Yuan put the letter in his hand on Long's desk and asked Chang Baolai.
Chang Bao can be said to be the person closest to Li Yuan. Even the concubines and children did not spend as much time with Li Yuan as Chang Bao. During the Sui Dynasty, Chang Bao and Li Yuan had a very close relationship. This was because Li Yuan served in the Sui Dynasty.
The close relationship between Chang Bao and Li Yuan began at that time.
Later, the news that Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty wanted to destroy Li Yuan who stayed in Taiyuan was revealed to Li Yuan by Chang Bao. A large part of the reason why Li Yuan was able to raise troops in Taiyuan at the right time was, on the one hand, the relationship with the generals and advisers around Li Yuan, and on the other hand, I am afraid that
It has a lot to do with Chang Bao's advance warning.
Therefore, when the Li Tang Dynasty was established, Chang Bao naturally became Li Yuan's personal chamberlain and the chief steward of the palace.
Chang Bao himself was also good at martial arts and knew a lot about things in the world. It was said that Chang Bao helped Li Yuan set up the "Bad Man", so Li Yuan asked Chang Bao questions.
"Your Majesty, the Mohist family has been in decline since the First Emperor burned books and harassed Confucian scholars, and it has been hard to find a trace since Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty!" Chang Bao bowed to Li Yuan and replied.
"Oh!" Hearing Chang Bao's answer, Li Yuan nodded slightly, and at the same time glanced at the letter paper on the Long Bookcase again, "I don't know if the appearance of this descendant of the Moh family is good or bad. I hope it won't bring disaster to the Tang Dynasty.
!" Li Yuan pondered for a while.
"Chang Bao, keep an eye on Lu Chen and report anything unusual at any time!" In fact, as soon as Lu Chen appeared in Li Xiuning's army, a bad person had already sent news to Chang Bao, so Lu Chen had actually already
He has already registered with Li Yuan. As for what Lu Chen did in the army, Li Yuan knew about it, if not everything. However, what Lu Chen did was only to strengthen Li Xiuning's strength. Therefore,
Li Yuan just let it go.
Now in the letter Li Xiuning sent to him, he was asking for an official position for Lu Chen, hoping to keep Lu Chen to serve the Tang Dynasty. This incident made Li Yuan start to take Lu Chen seriously.
In fact, Li Yuan was also very curious at this time as to why Lu Chen came to Datang. If the time came, Li Yuan would not mind meeting Lu Chen.
In fact, Li Xiuning also concealed something from Li Yuan in the letter. He only mentioned Lu Chen's identity as a "heir of the Mohist family" and Lu Chen's master's order to "travel to his hometown". Regarding Lu Chen's self-proclaimed immortal "White Jade Capital in Heaven,"
The poem "Twelve Floors and Five Cities" is not mentioned at all.
"Yes! I understand!" Chang Bao naturally understood what Li Yuan meant, and Chang Bao would naturally arrange the execution.
Lu Chen rode Black Wind out of Weizhou City and ran forty or fifty miles in a flash. He didn't stop until he encountered a small town. Lu Chen dismounted at the entrance of the town and led his horse into the town. This town covers an area of
The area is not small. According to Lu Chen's estimation, this town has a population of at least 10,000 or 20,000. However, the entire town seems quite depressed at this time. Standing at the entrance of the town, Lu Chen sees people with their families and pushing carts from time to time.
Backpacked residents fled the town in a hurry.
There are only two roads in the whole town. The cross street connecting the east, west, north and south divides the town into four parts. Residential shops and houses are built on the street. The street that should be lively is now quite quiet, and the houses on both sides of the street are even more closed.
The doors of many shops are closed tightly, and the doors are guarded by iron generals.
The crisp sound of horse hooves in the black wind echoed on the street. From time to time, families with their families hurried past Lu Chen, heading towards Weizhou City outside the town. Of course, there were also many people passing by Lu Chen.
, all looked at Lu Chen with curious eyes.
After Lu Chen walked on the street for a while, he finally found a restaurant that was still open for business at the corner of the street. However, the lobby of the restaurant was quiet and empty. Two young men dressed as waiters were sitting there.
Chatting in front of the restaurant, shaking their heads and sighing from time to time.
When Lu Chen led Hei Feng to the two of them, the two stood up immediately and greeted Lu Chen with smiles. "Does this guest officer work as a supervisor or stay in a hotel?" One of the waiters, who looked thinner, was attentive.
One asked Lu Chen, while the other took the initiative to reach out to hold Hei Feng.
"Our store has good fodder to ensure that our guest's horses are well-fed!" Another waiter who was slightly fatter also introduced it enthusiastically.
Lu Chen raised his head and looked at the restaurant called "Fuweiju". He happened to be a little hungry, so he walked into the restaurant under the guidance of the thin waiter. As for Heifeng, he was led by another slightly fat waiter.
The waiter was tied to the hitching post next to the door. In front of Heifeng was the animal trough. The slightly fat waiter held a handful of straw and put it into the animal trough.
As Lu Chen walked into Fuweiju, the thin waiter shouted loudly: "I have a guest officer, please give me a tip!"
Lu Chen was the only diner in the entire hall at this time. Lu Chen casually found a seat and prepared to sit down. From this position, he could see Hei Feng at the horse-tack at the door. Hei Feng was eating straw with relish.
Before Lu Chen could sit down, the waiter who was following Lu Chen quickly picked up the towel on his shoulders and wiped the bench. The bench at this time was not the high-legged bench of later generations, but a small stool similar to a Mazazi.
The stool, as for the table, is just a wooden board padded with four wooden blocks. "Sir, please take a seat!" The waiter greeted Lu Chen attentively, "Sir, what do you want to eat?"
"Our specialty is mutton soup, steamed mutton..." The waiter introduced the dishes of Fuweiju to Lu Chen attentively, but to Lu Chen, they were just the same.
"Then let's have a mutton soup, a mutton, a pickled vegetable, and some steamed cakes!" Lu Chen casually ordered a few items.
"Okay! Wait a moment, sir!" The waiter turned around and walked toward the kitchen, announcing the names of the dishes as he walked.
After all, Lu Chen was the only diner in the entire restaurant, and the food was not served too slowly. Soon the waiter brought the food Lu Chen wanted.
"Xiaoer, let me ask you, why do people in this town seem to be running away from home?" Lu Chen asked the waiter knowingly.
"Hey!" Before the waiter could say anything, the shopkeeper who had been standing at the counter sighed and walked out from behind the counter. There was no one in the restaurant, so he could chat with Lu Chen.
"Why did the shopkeeper sigh?" Lu Chen still looked like he was pretending to be confused.
"Your Majesty, you don't know! Liu Heitai is about to attack. I heard he has led an army of 200,000 to attack Weizhou City!" The shopkeeper sat directly next to Lu Chen and sighed, "In this town,
A well-informed person said that Liu Heitai is only a few hundred miles away from here. If I hadn't been reluctant to leave this restaurant, I would have left long ago!" The shopkeeper couldn't help shaking his head and sighing when he said this.
"Oh?" Hearing the shopkeeper's words, Lu Chen raised his eyebrows slightly. He originally thought that it would take at least five, seven or six days for Liu Heitai to reach Weizhou City, but he never thought that he would arrive so quickly. A journey of several hundred miles would have taken Liu Heitai at least five to seventy-six days.
If Hei Tao marched in a hurry, it would only take two or three days to reach Weizhou City.
"We have only lived a peaceful life for a few days, and now we are about to go to war again. How will the people live?" Seeing that Lu Chen didn't answer, the shopkeeper couldn't help but shook his head and sighed again.
"Don't worry, shopkeeper, Liu Heitai can't stir up trouble. As far as I know, the imperial court has sent a large army to suppress the rebellion!" Lu Chen didn't know how to comfort the old shopkeeper, so he could only give the shopkeeper as much confidence as possible.
And Lu Chen also felt that he had to seize the time, but even so, I'm afraid this town would have to suffer some hardships first. After all, in Lu Chen's plan, Liu Heitai must die under Weizhou City.
Lu Chen felt a storm, paid for the meal, and then left Zhendian on Heifeng. Riding on Heifeng, Lu Chen couldn't help but look back at Zhendian, which was getting farther and farther away from him, feeling a little unhappy.
Forbearance, I really feel a little cruel to sacrifice such a town for my own plan, but fortunately, I learned from the old shopkeeper that there are not many families living in the entire town, which makes Lu Chen less guilty.
Before leaving, Lu Chen also persuaded the old shopkeeper to flee Zhendian, hoping that the old shopkeeper would listen to his advice.
After leaving Zhendian and walking a few dozen miles, we have already left Weizhou and entered Qizhou. The situation here is even more depressed than that of Weizhou. There are ten houses in the village and nine are empty, and all the roads are going to Weizhou.
Seeing these people fleeing from the Zhou direction, Lu Chen couldn't help but frown. If so many people entered Weizhou City, Tian Liuan would definitely be in a hurry, and Lu Chen felt that all this seemed to be planned by someone.
Lu Chen drove his horse directly into the mountain forest. His costume was too eye-catching, and many people would stare at him along the way. This made Lu Chen regret that he did not bring some Tang Dynasty clothes out, but fortunately in the forest,
The dense, dark wind was very suitable for mountain paths, so Lu Chen never encountered any trouble while walking through the mountain forest.
The advantage of riding alone is that when Lu Chen is hungry, he can enter the base and get individual soldier rations to eat. Black Wind's rations can be found everywhere. Of course, Lu Chen will occasionally bring some grains such as soybeans from the base to Heifeng.
Wind plus meal.
In the mountains and forests, Xiaoxing stayed overnight for two days. On this day, Lu Chen finally saw a large stretch of military tents. These military tents were set up on the road from Qizhou to Weizhou. There were patrolling soldiers in the military camps from time to time.
As the team passed by, there were people setting up pots and making rice. Standing on the top of the mountain and looking through binoculars, Lu Chen watched every move in the military camp. Lu Chen was looking for the person he wanted to find.