The Book of Han says: When the Yang Qi rises during the winter solstice, a gentleman will be at peace, his body will be quiet, all officials will do nothing, they will not listen to politics, and they will choose an auspicious day to save trouble.
It's not just that all the officials have to rest, the border fortresses are in seclusion, the business travel is closed, and even the army has to stop training, or the two sides temporarily suspend the war and let the soldiers rest for a day.
This is what happens under the border wall today.
Two days ago, as if they had agreed, the two parties would return to the village without waiting for sunset, and those who went down the wall would hang out the war-free flag in unison.
It’s not surprising, after all, it’s cold in the winter, and a layer of hoarfrost can form on your beard with just one breath, not to mention having to stand in the field or on a city wall for five or six hours holding a knife and arrow and tightening the bow string?
As long as a reasonable and suitable excuse can be found, both the enemy and ourselves will make such incredible moves in a tacit understanding.
…
The wind is biting outside the village, but inside the tent it is as warm as spring.
A huge stone kang was placed in the tent, like a high platform. Four soldiers guarded the kang hole and filled it with firewood, burning the stone slabs as hot as fire.
There was a smell of burnt fur lingering in his nose, and Xi Kangsheng felt extremely hot. He first took off his outer shirt, and then took off his middle coat completely, revealing his hairy chest.
But it is white hair.
Li Shao's eyes looked strange: "Shang Shu is also old, but his beard is white?"
"fart?"
Xi Kangsheng rolled his eyelids and said, "This is a natural phenomenon, I was born like this... If my memory is not bad, you are twelve years older than me, wouldn't you be even older?"
Isn’t that what it is?
Looking back on this winter, I will be celebrating my birthday. If I had not led the troops outside, I would have celebrated my birthday at home.
Seeing him looking melancholy, Xi Kangsheng sighed sadly: "Don't blame me. There have been dozens of letters asking for a memorial to withdraw the troops, but the Queen Mother just refuses. What can I do?"
These words are a bit treacherous, but Xi Kangsheng did not shy away from others and said them openly. This shows the depth of resentment?
Li Shao just smiled: "Thunder, rain, and dew are all your kindness. How dare I complain?"
You said you didn’t complain?
Just these two sentences, "Thunder and rain are all for your kindness", do you know how angry Li Shao was towards the Queen Mother and the princes in the court?
This sentence has its origin: At that time, Li Chengzhi pacified the fertile fields, destroyed Du Lun, and defeated the 100,000-strong coalition army of Nanliang and Tuyuhun, which was an unparalleled feat. However, he was concealed by Gao Zhao and was suspected by Yuan Ying and Yuan Cheng.
Therefore, not only was he not rewarded, but he was oppressed in every possible way.
Li Chengzhi responded to the Queen Mother and the princes with this sentence at that time.
When the Supreme Court broke out and the traitor was revealed, these two sentences became even more popular. All the officials who were convicted used this to mock themselves and insinuate the injustice of the court.
It's really unfair.
When requesting an order to recruit troops in Guanzhong, the imperial court agreed to all the requests of the Guanzhong families: all the food, grass and armor for sending troops would be borne by the imperial court, and Guanzhong only needed to send men.
But seeing that the new year was approaching, the imperial court could not even fulfill its promise. It could not even provide food rations for tens of thousands of soldiers. Even winter clothes to keep out the cold were sent by Li Shao, asking the states and counties to come up with them one by one.
What's more, last month, the imperial court sent Yang Jun to the pass as an envoy to recruit troops and raise food supplies again, but the same rhetoric continued.
Even if the Guanzhong family is a group of pigs, it is impossible for them to be fooled twice. Naturally, Yang Jun was in trouble...
"Grandpa, why can't I understand that although not everything has been smooth sailing these past few years, dozens of states across the country and 80% of the states and counties have had more good years than famines, just like in Guanzhong: there are two million households, and each household has rent adjustment
Just one item of corn is enough for 20 dan per year, and 2 million households is 40 million dan...
Even to meet various expenses, there are still six to seven million dan left a year... Such a large amount of grain is stored in Changpingcang and is not used, but it is embarrassing to ask a noble family to borrow grain? You can tell me, this is
What’s the point?”
"The ministers can't understand it, how can the subordinates deal with it?"
Li Shao said something perfunctory, then picked up the wine cup and took a sip.
Xi Kangsheng really doesn’t know where the food has gone?
fart!
When he served as the garrison of Guanzhong for two years, was it a show-off?
Moreover, it has been more than a year since Xi Kangsheng moved to Luojing, and there are still many cronies left in Guanzhong. I dare not say it, but I can know it clearly, but the big movement of transporting grain and adjusting grain worth millions of stones,
How could it be hidden from his eyes and ears?
I'm just telling myself...
I won’t mention it before, but because all the needs of the six towns have been supplied by Guanzhong in the past three years, and in the past three years, Beizhen, Guanzhong, Beidi, etc. have been fighting successively, and a lot of people have been seconded, so the states have some food reserves.
Not much.
However, since the summer, the six towns have been at war, and the North has fallen into enemy hands. Naturally, there is no need to collect grain from Guanzhong, so this year's autumn taxes should be accumulated in the various states and county warehouses.
As Xi Kangsheng said, there are six to seven million shi left over from taxes in Guanzhong alone. Not to mention the more than 50,000 Guanzhong soldiers under Li Shao, He Xingluan and Cui Yanbo have a total of 150,000 soldiers and horses.
Ten years of chewing is more than enough.
But the reality is that if Xi Kangsheng had not captured Jinming and captured a lot of money, the soldiers would have almost run out of food rations.
What's even more strange is that just after autumn, the imperial court ordered the states in Guanzhong to hand over this year's taxes, and recruited civilians overnight and sent them to Luojing.
Why should we be sent to Luojing instead of the North Camp?
Ren Xi Kangsheng thought hard and couldn't figure out the purpose of the court's move. It couldn't be to force the 150,000 troops to defect in front of the formation and rebel on the spot, right?
He couldn't figure it out, and Li Shao couldn't figure it out even more.
However, both of them had a vague intuition: nine times out of ten, it was related to Li Chengzhi, and Xi Kangsheng's purpose was naturally the same.
But it was clear that Li Shao didn't want to talk in depth, and Xi Kangsheng couldn't force him. He could only snort: "You want to stay out of it, but you can do it?"
"What the Minister said is wrong!"
Li Shao was not panicked at all, "Is it possible that the imperial court still dares to ask me to lead the western expedition?"
What you think is bad, what if you switch sides in battle and join that little thief?
Xi Kangsheng's eyes widened, he passed the bowl forward and knocked Li Shao's wine cup: "Go ahead and dream!"
Li Shao didn't take it seriously and drank with him.
As soon as the wine was in my mouth, I suddenly heard a soft call: "Shang Shu, Governor, urgent report from the West Sea!"
Li Shao was stunned: "Where?"
The confidant glanced at the messenger behind him and saw him nodding his head again and again, and then said: "Captain Bing, it's Xihai!"
With a "pop" sound, Xi Kangsheng spurted out a mouthful of wine.
If Li Shao hadn't been caught in the tent, he would have jumped off the stone bed, brought the confidant into the tent and asked him.
Everyone knows that the West Sea is now occupied by the Li family, so where is the urgent report?
What's more, both the Six Towns and the Northern Territory have fallen into Gao Zhao's hands. How did this urgent report get through the blockade and be sent to the south of the border wall?
The two looked at each other, and Li Shao shouted in a deep voice: "Send it up!"
The confidant hurriedly responded and helped the messenger into the tent.
It must have been days of riding horses and running wildly in the wild. The messenger's face was covered with frostbite, his legs were shaking, he couldn't stand still, and he could only collapse on the ground.
Looking at those hands again, there were cracks crisscrossing them, as if they had been cut dozens of times.
Impatient with his trembling efforts to get the letter, Xi Kangsheng shouted coldly: "Send it to him!"
The confidant quickly reached into the courier's arms, took out two leather envelopes, and quickly gave them to Li Shao.
Li Shao didn't hesitate at all, and handed it to Xi Kangsheng.
It was hard for him, because he was so impatient that he didn't rush to open the package, but patiently identified it for a while.
Any emergency report that is hundreds of miles away must be sealed with a seal, and each state, county and army is different. Therefore, after a little identification, Xi Kangsheng knew where the two urgent reports came from.
One of them is Wuchuan Town General and the military governor of Wuchuan, Huaishuo and Woye Towns. The second one is the governor of Xiliang Prefecture and Dunhuang Town General Yuan Zhi.
The strange thing is, why are these two people who are almost unrelated to each other, but the urgent report is sent by the same messenger?
Xi Kangsheng subconsciously exclaimed: "Three months ago, Luo Jian was defeated by Wuchuan, and he didn't know whether he was alive or dead. Why did he go to the West Sea again now?"
Without waiting for Li Shao to respond, he opened the envelope. After just a few glances, his eyes were as wide as bells, and he wanted to jump out of his eye sockets and stick to the letter paper.
His face changed rapidly, sometimes green, sometimes red, and sometimes white, as if he was performing a trick.
Really unable to bear his surprise, Li Shao turned his head and glanced a few times.
Then, it was like being frozen, and even his eyeballs couldn't move.
Half a month ago, Li Chengzhi first defeated the Yuan Dynasty and then Luo Jian, annihilated the Dunhuang Army, the Wuchuan Army exceeded 40,000, and captured nearly 100,000 households...
At this moment, no one cared whether they were being reserved or not. Xi Kangsheng slapped the letter on the case, jumped off the fire bed with his bare feet, lifted the messenger up, and shouted sternly: "Who sent you?"
It was very warm in the tent, and the messenger calmed down a little, and replied in a trembling voice: "Return to...Shang Shu, my humble position is to be the personal guard commander of General Yuan Zhi... Half a month ago, the general was unable to support his strength and was defeated by the West Sea.
Li Songyu lived on the bank of Yan Lake. When the general was seriously injured, he sent his humble duty to report to the Governor of Luo in Daqi...
But before approaching Daqi, they encountered a defeated army that fled north... Later, when I met Governor Luo, I learned that Governor Luo had also been defeated at the hands of Li Liang in the West Sea ten days ago..."
"fart!"
Xi Kangsheng roared violently and shook the messenger's collar: "Even if you came from Daqi, how did you pass through Changsun Road where troops were stationed in the fertile fields, and how did you pass through Xiazhou which had fallen into the hands of the Gao family?
?Are those hundreds of thousands of traitors all dead, or did you grow wings and fly here?"
"Shang Shu Mingjian..."
The messenger replied urgently, "When I bid farewell to Governor Luo, I was given a handwritten letter by Beizi. It was based on this handwriting. Beizi not only met Changsun Dao, but was also summoned by Gao Tai... um Gao Zhao. Because of this, not only
The journey is smooth, and each journey of about three hundred miles must have someone waiting to prepare good horses for humble duties, and food...
And there is another clear proof of the humble position: in addition to the urgent report from General Yuan and Governor Luo, there is also a memorial submitted to the court by Cui Shangshu, which is in the humble boots. You can ask the Minister to examine it..."
It was as if he had been punched head-on, and Xi Kang was stunned.
The imperial court sent Cui Guang as envoy and Wei Zijian as deputy to go to the West Sea to recruit people. Only the Queen Mother and the assistants knew about it. Even Li Shao, Xing Luan, Cui Yanbo and other leading generals were kept in the dark. How could Gao Zhao know about it?
?
Therefore, whether this messenger or the urgent report, it is definitely not Gao Zhao pretending to be Gao Zhao, but he really comes from the West Sea...
"Shang Shu...Shang Shu?"
Li Shao called out softly, and Xi Kang was suddenly excited and hurriedly touched the messenger boots.
Just looking at the handwriting, it should be Cui Guang's own handwriting: The imperial court sent Cui Guang and Wei Zijian as envoys to the West Sea to appease Li Chengzhi, but by mistake, it happened that Luo Jian and Yuan Zhibing were united and plotting against the West Sea?
As a result, not only did the plan of recruiting people fall short, but it also greatly increased Li Chengzhi's strength...
Increased strength?
Then I picked up Luo Jian's letter and looked at it carefully. I saw that Ren Xi Kangsheng had been through many battles and was still frightened.
More than 50,000 people were defeated by Li Chengzhi?
But an army of 110,000... Luo Jian's 80,000 and Yuan Zhi's 30,000!
Only 40,000 enemies were wiped out in the West Sea, and there were still more than 70,000 defeated troops, who were tired of running around Juyan Lake and Daqi. But now it was freezing cold, and the defeated troops had no food to live on, let alone tents to protect themselves from the cold.
Li Chengzhi only needs to show a little kindness. Is there any reason why these more than 70,000 defeated troops should not surrender?
What's more, there are still more than 100,000 households...
Luo Jian, a thief, is also not ashamed to say that he was forced by the situation and had no choice but to take this strategy, which would eventually lead to disaster...
Forced to be your eldest mother?
Knowing that Li Chengzhi did more harm than Gao Zhao, how dare you march westward alone and lead hundreds of thousands of people, as close as you can to the enemy?
That's all. He had an army of 80,000 people, so how could he be defeated so quickly?
According to what he said in his letter, Li Liang had less than 30,000 troops in total, but he won consecutive battles in just eight or nine days, and finally Luo Jian was defeated!
Even if he stood still, he would still have to kill Jinyue, right?
Taking a closer look, Xi Kangsheng's pupils shrank: Luo Jian repeatedly mentioned an unfamiliar word: artillery!
The sound is like thunder and the power is as sharp as a giant scythe. Every time the cannon fires, the iron pellets are like shining rain, which can be shot two hundred feet away. Wherever it reaches, there is no vegetation, and even the thick iron armor can be penetrated.
The cannon can even reach a distance of 500 feet, and only a dozen cannons can level the cliff to the ground.
And Li Liang's army alone has more than a thousand such artillery pieces...
Seeing this, Xi Kangsheng's hands couldn't stop shaking.
Li Chengzhi had heard that thunder could penetrate iron armor and explode mountains and cliffs that day. He had never heard of it. How could it be struck hundreds of feet away in an instant?
If so, who else in the world is Li Chengzhi’s rival?
Looking at Li Shao again, he seemed to be scared out of his wits, looking at him blankly.
After a long time, I found out that he murmured: "As soon as the two armies engaged in battle, Yuan Zhi Shang was sitting in the formation giving orders. Suddenly he heard a thunder, and the watchtower where he was was cut into two pieces...
The watchtower, Yuan Zhi, and its ceremonial guard collapsed. Yuan Zhi was crushed downstairs, and one of his legs was broken immediately... Then thousands of cannons were fired, and in just an instant, his subordinates were completely defeated..."
In an instant?
Haha, in an instant...
Xi Kangsheng wanted to sneer, but the corners of his mouth seemed to be made of iron.
Is this the case that God wants to destroy our country, Wei Dynasty, so he sends down such a monster?
Fortunately, I have the foresight...
"Eight hundred miles urgent, please report to the court!"
Xi Kangsheng endured his shock and said in a trembling voice, "As for whether this urgent report is true or false, you and I don't have to say anything. We just need to take it truthfully, and the Queen Mother will make a clear decision with all the princes..."
Li Shao nodded repeatedly, but thought in his heart: For the court, how is this different from a thunderbolt?