Chapter 229: Soldiers from the East and Rescue from the West
Royal study room.
On this day, Emperor Changxing had a splitting headache.
The massage skills Changlu had learned were almost useless, so he had to call the imperial doctor in a hurry.
A long time passed before Emperor Changxing recovered slightly.
He picked up the memorial high up on Long's case and read it.
"Your Majesty, it doesn't matter if you read the book later, it's more important to take care of the dragon body..." Chang Lu, who had a bloodless face, quickly came over to stop him.
"It's okay! I'm fine." Emperor Changxing hurriedly took a sip of ginseng tea and continued to open the booklet he just sent.
The empire was suffering from internal and external troubles, and it was now the spring plowing season. All matters in Yun Hang were in urgent need of correction. Emperor Changxing did not want to be that foolish and unprincipled king, and could not stop at all.
Glancing at the cover, he couldn't help but frown.
This is an urgent letter from Laigu County in the west, written by Chen Xiujian, who led the troops to put down the rebellion.
Open it and take a look.
"My son, I, traveled westward from the first month of the lunar month and traveled twenty miles...
I saw an old woman holding a dead child, cooking it and crying.
Because he asked, "If you want to eat it, why do you need to cry?"
The woman said: 'I have abandoned my son to be eaten by others, so I would rather fill my belly and ears!'"
Emperor Changxing's expression changed with horror, and his hands holding the memorial trembled even more.
Because of the civil unrest, he could have expected that the lives of the people in the western counties would not be easy, but he had no idea that it would be so miserable.
The people actually cooked the seeds and ate them.
Although he had already gone to court, the emperor was angry and officials from the six ministries hurried into the palace again.
After reading Chen Xiujian's excerpt, everyone had complicated expressions.
Many people secretly looked under the third golden pillar.
There sat Yun Chui's historian, writing a special book with a large green pen.
As the saying goes, there is no news without blood.
It is boring for historians to record the trivial affairs of the palace every day. It is rare to encounter such a bloody note, and they will definitely record it with excitement.
Emperor Changxing rubbed his forehead and asked, "What do you think about the pacification of the three western counties?"
"Your Majesty," Cheng Enbo was the first to stand up.
"It is appalling that the people in the west cook and eat the food! I believe that the reason why such a cruel tragedy happened is because the people were driven to desperation by the insurgents."
"Therefore, it is better to put down an issue sooner rather than later, sooner rather than later. Since His Highness the Eighth Prince has asked for help, the empire should immediately increase its troop support to put an end to the chaos in the west as soon as possible."
"What Uncle Cheng En said is absolutely true." Others agreed.
The historian under the golden pillar waved his pen lightly, and the history was written easily.
However, with just these few strokes, thousands of years later there will definitely be descendants who read history and self-righteously scold these old men bloody.
Ancient people have always been most afraid of posthumous names.
Therefore, almost no one opposed sending more troops to the west.
"Yes!" Emperor Changxing made the final decision.
The only question is which additional troops should be sent to the west.
"Your Majesty," Uncle Cheng En continued to stand up: "The empire has a tradition, and it has always been the responsibility of the garrison troops in each county to quell civil strife. And His Highness the Eighth Prince also mentioned in his letter that the existing quelling army is insufficient."
"In this case, it is better to send more county soldiers with strong combat capabilities to support us."
...It would be best to take the opportunity to bring back Chen Xiujian, who is leading the army at a loss.
After pacifying Laigu County, he distributed all the fertile land previously occupied by Cheng'en's Mansion to the common people.
Uncle Cheng En opened his mouth, but did not dare to express his selfish thoughts.
A county with strong practical capabilities?
The ministers looked at each other and subconsciously thought of several county names.
Guangxin, Baihua, Xiyu and Canglan counties in the south; Pinghai and Guanlan counties in the east; Yanhui, Yumu and Jinghu counties in the north; and Xingluo, Yingchuan and Yunzhong counties in the central and west.
As for Dingxi County in the far west, forget about it. More than 500,000 troops from Xiliang are pressing down on the border, and it is still taking care of itself.
Emperor Changxing was also pondering and undecided.
The northern and southern borders are too far away from the west, and water far away cannot save the fire nearby.
The three counties of Xingluo in the central and western regions are relatively close.
But that is the land of Longxing, and it is not easy to mobilize troops. Moreover, the epidemic was rampant last year and the year before last, and the entire territory has not recovered its strength yet, so it is not a good choice.
Finally, Emperor Changxing's eyes fell on Pinghai and Guanlan counties in the east.
Although the east is also very far from the west, the county soldiers only need to board the boat at the seaside, go west along the Xinglan Grand Canal, and then disembark in Hanoi County.
In fact, it is almost the same as starting from Xingluo County.
The most important thing is that there is a Laishui River in Laigu County. Most of the county soldiers along the coast are familiar with the nature of water, so they can attack along the waterway.
After receiving the news from the Ministry of War, Lieutenant Pinghai's face turned as dark as the bottom of a pot.
He lowered his voice and cursed angrily: "What a bad idea that bastard came up with? What a mess!"
Although there is an endless sea to the east of Yunchui, the coastal counties have never had anything to do with peace of mind.
In the past, there were Nanfeng in the south and Japanese pirates in the east.
Both countries are not big, but they are greedy the most.
From time to time, they would come ashore to kill, burn, and loot. Wherever they went, they were like locusts passing through, and they would never give the people of Yunchui any way to survive.
Moreover, Zhongyong Bo Xiaozheng had already taken away 20,000 naval troops last year, and now if he transfers the county troops to the west, the prosperous east coast will become a piece of fat meat that can be slaughtered.
If the Japanese pirates take the opportunity to land again...
The county lieutenant looked at the date of dispatching troops which was just around the corner, and his face became even more worried. However, no matter how helpless he was, he could only write a warning to Xingji City while dispatching troops.
More than ten days later, it was the last deadline set by the Ministry of War to send troops.
When he received no reply, Pinghai County Lieutenant let out a long sigh, gave some instructions to the county guard who came to see him off, and then led his troops to set off.
He raised his head and looked silently at the vast sea to the east.
At this time, the Qingming Festival has passed, and even the ice and snow on the Baekje Peninsula have melted and spring flowers are blooming. I hope the Japanese pirates will take care of the east coast of Yunchui.
In the south is Guangxin and Yingshan camp.
After months of hard work by Ren Ning and his party, the windmill communications between Guangxin and Xingluo have been connected as scheduled.
Under normal circumstances, it already took less than two days to send messages back and forth between the two counties, so fast that even Wei Junqian couldn't help but feel moved.
When he received the news that Pinghai County had sent troops to the west, he was speechless for a while.
It happened that Ren Ning was also in the Chinese army's tent. In the past few months, he had been crawling up and down the mountains between the two counties, and his whole body had become dark.
Putting down the tea cup, Ren Ning asked curiously: "General, who did you originally want to lead the troops to quell the chaos?"
Although most of the time Wei Junqian was in the distant frontier, many decisions in the imperial capital were made by him overtly or covertly. Ren Ning had long been used to it.
"What are you asking for?" Wei Junqian said angrily, "After drinking tea, go back and have a good rest. In a few days, I will take someone to the windmill between Lianhaoxingluo and Dingxi County to report."
"Yes!" Ren Ning had no choice but to leave.
He looked to the west.
Compared with Guangxin to Xingluo, the difficulty from Xingluo to Dingxi County is several levels higher. It is estimated that the next time they return to Yingshan Camp, it will be almost the end of the year.
Although Wei Junqian asked him to rest, Ren Ning went to Nanshu City first to receive the letter home from Yingpan.
After taking Lei Er and Xiao Gang into the General's Mansion of the Li family, they met a handsome and strange man.
"Are you General Xuanwu Ren?" The other party was overjoyed.
"It's me." Ren Ning looked at the stranger up and down in astonishment, "Who are you?"
"Sulan County Ling Family Caravan, Ling Yunsheng!"
Ren Ning suddenly realized, "It turns out to be Ling Shangshou. I have admired his name for a long time."
Because Yunchui and Xiliang were at odds with each other, the Ling family's caravan had to go east along the Desert of No Return, and finally returned to Yunchui after passing through Beixiong.
Ren Ning's eyes flashed.
This caravan not only met his uncle Tiele in the Xiliang prairie, but the two parties seemed to have an agreement.