Chapter 30: Shaping

Chapter 30: Shaping

Chapter 30: Shaping (Additional chapter to send tears to the leader)
After the newcomers are incorporated, they naturally cannot be mixed in the same team with the old ones.

There were more than 240 servants and followers in the wealthy families, who were organized into five teams, each with its own leader - basically all of them were children of wealthy families.

Most of these people had seen previous battles and said they were emotionally stable.

Starting from the next day, Shao Xun gave them a simple training and sent people to various places in the south of the city to plunder food and grass, and transported them back to Biyong and even to the Imperial Academy next door for storage.

On the first day of October, many people moved in one after another, some were settled in Biyong, and some went to Taixue.

At first glance, they seem to be strong in both men and horses.

On the second day of the first lunar month, news came from the north that after Zhang Fang suffered a defeat, he allowed his soldiers to burn, kill and loot in the west of the city to boost morale. Tens of thousands of Luoyang soldiers and civilians died.

Afterwards, Zhang Fang led his troops to attack Ximing Gate, due west of Luoyang, but failed and retreated. Wang's army went out of the city to pursue them, beheading several thousand people.

On the third day of the first lunar month, the Grand Commander Sima Yi returned to the capital in honor of the emperor. A few days later, Qian Xiu led the Ye army to pursue the enemy to Dongyang Gate, but was defeated and fled in disgrace.

All of the above news was brought by Yu Liang.

He thought it through, persuaded his father Yu Chen, and moved his family to Biyong for temporary residence - in fact, he had no choice but to come, as all his troops were gone and he would have no way to defend himself.

"Since September, although the royal army has been retreating step by step, it has won more battles than it has lost, and has killed many enemies. It looks like we may be able to win the battle of Luoyang." Yu Liang found a map of Luoyang copied on silk from somewhere and talked about it in front of Mi Huang.

Mi Huang nodded repeatedly, looking somewhat excited.

Shao Xun leaned against the porch pillar and watched quietly.

As the de facto core of the Biyong garrison, although he did not speak, both Mi Huang and Yu Liang subconsciously paid attention to his attitude.

Mi Huang was fine as he had gotten used to it, but Yu Liang felt a little unhappy.

In fact, in this social environment, it is normal for him to feel unhappy.

There is indeed a gap between the nobles and the common people. Let's not talk about the South. Although the order in the North is gradually collapsing, not everyone can turn around quickly.

"Battle reports can be deceiving, but battle lines cannot," Shao Xun suddenly said.

Mi Huang and Yu Liang were stunned when they heard this.

"We win a great victory today, another great victory tomorrow, and another victory the day after tomorrow. Win, win, win, in the end, the emperor retreated to the palace, and the commander-in-chief withdrew to Luoyang. The battlefield became Ximing Gate and Dongyang Gate. Don't you think there is a problem?" Shao Xun asked back.

"Are these good news all fake?" Yu Liang said in disbelief.

"It's probably true. The king's army may have won a victory, killing many enemy soldiers, while our own casualties were relatively small. This is normal, after all, the combat effectiveness of the Luoyang Central Army can still be trusted." Shao Xun said: "But the Grand Commander cannot inflict decisive damage to the enemy, that is, to defeat the enemy's main force in one battle, capture and kill more than 50,000 people, and make them completely terrified. As the saying goes, it is better to cut off one finger than to hurt ten fingers. If you defeat one of them today, capture and kill thousands of enemies, and after the enemy retreats, you can gather the morale of the army, reorganize, and attack again, what do you think?"

"We have been winning tactically but have always been in a passive position strategically. This war is very problematic."

"Before, they were fighting in Gaoshi County, Yanshi County and other places. Now they have retreated to the city of Luoyang. I am worried that the nobles will have some ideas."

"The Luoyang Central Army is not directly under the Grand Commander. Will they really work hard for him? If the King of Hejian and the King of Chengdu offer a suitable price, what will happen if they sell the Grand Commander?"

"After all these years, Zhao Wang Lun and Qi Wang Jiong have been sold. What's the harm in selling Changsha Wang Yi? If I sell all the Grand Commanders sooner, Luoyang will be peaceful again sooner. Then I can walk in the snow to find plum blossoms and take stones to ascend to heaven. Wouldn't that be great?"

After hearing this, Mi Huang sighed silently, obviously thinking of this possibility.

Although Yu Liang was precocious, he was only fifteen years old and had not experienced much human cunning, so he looked pale as a ash.

After Shao Xun finished speaking, he turned around and left to check the placement of the newcomers.

In fact, he was also very upset.

This war was fought in a confusing manner, and my future became increasingly uncertain.

Sima Yi seemed to be winning battle after battle and had the upper hand tactically, causing Sima Ying and Sima Yong to frown secretly - to be honest, when they mobilized 300,000 troops to attack Luoyang, they never expected that they would be taught such a bad lesson. After all, their combat effectiveness was still a little weak, and now they could only win by relying on size.

But Sima Yi’s Achilles’ heel is also obvious: lack of stamina.

It has been a month since the fighting began. The elite main force has completely abandoned the suburbs of Luoyang and started relying on the capital and peripheral positions to try to launch a defensive counterattack.

But can a counterattack really be launched? It's hard to say.

There is no solution, no solution.

Shao Xun went to each of the buildings and checked them very carefully, especially asking if there were any harassment by soldiers. After receiving a negative answer, he was satisfied. He still had prestige and his words were more effective than those of Mi Huang, the real leader.

"Nice to see you again." Inside the hall, Shao Xun looked at the little girl whom he had met twice and said with a smile.

"It's you." The little girl put down the book in her hand, stood up and bowed, and her eyes narrowed again.

There were a few young ladies around her, but she didn't know which family they were from. They seemed to be hesitant to speak, pretending not to see Shao Xun, and lowered their heads to do needlework.

"Making something delicious?" Shao Xun asked, looking at the clay pots and rice steamers emitting fragrant aroma.

"You have taken away all the servants, so I have to do it myself." Yu Wenjun complained in a low voice.

Shao Xun laughed and said, "During this chaotic time, it's good to learn how to cook."

"I'm learning it anyway." Yu Wenjun picked up the book and waved it in front of Shao Xun as if showing off.

Shao Xun saw the title: "Food Notes". He thought that the ladies of the gentry were all well-to-do and had nothing to do with daily life. It seemed that he had misunderstood, or he really didn't understand the education of aristocratic women in those days.

"Women need to cultivate their duties as women, and must be accustomed to wine and food." Yu Wenjun recited the contents of the book by herself: "Serving uncles and aunts, and performing sacrifices in the four seasons, must not be done by servants, but must be done by hand."

The meaning is very clear. When serving the parents-in-law and holding seasonal sacrifices, it is best for the hostess not to rely on servants, but to prepare meals by herself.

You should also pay attention to your husband's diet from time to time, choose suitable dishes from "Food Notes", change the taste, and nourish his body.

Therefore, cooking is an important part of "women's work", and "women's work" is also a compulsory course for aristocratic women.

Shao Xun thought it was pretty good.

Noble women had to cook by themselves to please their parents-in-law and husbands. At least they were better than many fairies from ordinary families in later generations. This was truly a bonus of the times.

"You think a lot at such a young age," he said with a smile.

A faint blush appeared on Yu Wenjun's face, and she blinked her bright eyes as she lowered them.

"Is the fighting serious outside?" she asked, changing the subject.

"Have you seen it?"

"When I came here from the Imperial Street, the ground was covered in blood. The smell of it made me want to vomit."

"Are you scared?"

"This world—" Yu Wenjun suddenly raised her head and asked seriously, "Is it like this? Will it never get better?"

Shao Xun suddenly discovered that the little girl's gaze was quite complicated and contained a lot of meaning.

It seems that there is a vision of a better life.

The spring outing in March was probably her first time to travel far away. The intervals between wars gave her enough tenderness, allowing her to have too many unrealistic fantasies about this colorful world.

There still seems to be a lot of worry about reality.

The war since September was brutal enough. Especially the Guanzhong soldiers led by Zhang Fang, who greatly exceeded the bottom line. The messy corpses and smelly blood on the Kaiyang Gate Imperial Street brought her an unimaginable shock. This was a completely different picture from the beautiful March with flowers blooming and tourists coming and going. Some of the sisters who went outing with her at that time should have disappeared forever, right?

The chaos since Yongkang has really reshaped a generation. Even the little girl was not spared. Everyone was swept up in it, following the tide of history, rushing all the way into the darkness.

"As long as there is hope, there is still a chance." Shao Xun said, "If everyone loses hope and only thinks about escaping, then it will be difficult."

"Escape?" Yu Wenjun asked, "Are you saying that someone wants to escape the chaos in the south?"

Shao Xun was stunned.

Logically speaking, without having experienced the Yongjia Rebellion, the northern scholars would not have completely lost confidence. Could it be that some people now judged that the Eight Princes Rebellion would cause huge damage and irreparable losses, so they were pessimistic and disappointed and wanted to escape to the south?
Thinking of this, he had to admit that there should indeed be such people, and their group was growing, but it should not have risen to the mainstream yet, right?
Did the Yu family also want to move south? Not really?

How could he just abandon such a huge family business in Yingchuan? Zhang Fang had not yet wreaked havoc in Yuzhou, and the Xiongnu had not yet revealed their ambitions, so it was impossible.

"I'm going to cook." Yu Wenjun bowed again and walked back.

Her sisters held her back and whispered something to her. Some of them even glanced at Shao Xun secretly. It was probably not something good.

Shao Xun left the Xuan Hall and silently thought about the information he had just received.

Wang Que'er was sent back to review his lessons. Chen Yougen followed behind him carrying a heavy sword, scratching his ears and cheeks, not knowing what he was thinking about.

"When the elites betray this country, hey!" Shao Xun said something that Chen Yougen couldn't understand, and looked at the sky.

Why is it so difficult for time travelers to survive?
The feeling of not being able to control your own destiny is really terrible.

"Du Bo." Chen Yougen finally couldn't help it.

"Speak." Shao Xun turned around and looked at this bandit-like attendant.

"Although the young lady of the Yu family is precocious and can compose poetry at the age of six, she is still too young." Chen Yougen said: "Her mother Guanqiu is quite pretty. Du Boruo likes her..."

"Bang!" Shao Xun kicked him to the ground.

I don't refine copper, and I'm not a pervert. Is it necessary to make such malicious guesses?

Chen Yougen glanced at Shao Xun with some grievance, as if to say, when you killed people, you were a pervert, a very sick person, so much so that you scared away the Western soldiers who ate human flesh.

"Get up, why are you pretending?" Shao Xun kicked his butt again and scolded him with a smile: "I don't like what you said just now, but I am very pleased with the tone of your voice. You are fearless. Very good, keep it up."

Chen Yougen was confused. What did Du Bo mean by this?
Shao Xun left with a big laugh.

Chen Yougen didn't take the aristocratic families or the imperial court seriously at all. He was very contemptuous of these authorities and only truly recognized people who could convince him.

That's good.

Sometimes, choose the lesser of two evils.

Shao Xun used to think that this man was too bad-tempered and not suitable for being a soldier. But now it seems that at the critical moment, Chen Yougen is likely to stand on his side?
So, where can he find more Chen Yougen? This is a question he needs to consider for a long time.

(End of this chapter)