Chapter 1047 Meeting

Chapter 1047 Meeting

Chapter 1047 Meeting

The rhythmic sound of horse hooves came from far away, which was pleasing to the ear.

When approaching the Ru River, they were intercepted by a group of soldiers wearing yellow scarves.

The Yellow-Headed Army consisted of only fifty men, who stood behind the barricades. After carefully examining the document, they sent someone back to report.

The cavalry filled the road, and there was no end in sight.

There are flat farmlands on both sides of the road. Some of the crops have grown very tall, which are wheat, and some have just sprouted, which are spring millet.

The horse snorted and lowered its head to nibble on the seedlings, but was soon stopped by the cavalry.

It’s not that they have good military discipline, they just don’t dare.

When they were in Huainan, they were looting with great enthusiasm.

Even in places like Ruyin in Yuzhou, they sometimes accidentally trampled on the seedlings while galloping, but they didn't care.

But the closer they got to Luoyang, the more restrained they became.

Luoyang is in Henan County, and Guangchengze is also in Henan County. This is the center of the world and we cannot act rashly.

After a long time, someone finally came.

The barricades were pulled aside, and several clerks checked the documents again before leading them forward - the large army turned to station in Xincheng and Luhun areas, and Dai State's General Da Xi Heruo, the Northern Guardian, led his personal entourage to the Su Yu Palace to meet the emperor.

The next morning (March 1st), they arrived at a village at the foot of the mountain, dismounted and waited for the call.

The further we went, the more numerous, denser and more elite the soldiers became.

There were many soldiers wearing yellow turbans on the periphery, and further inside there were many government soldiers with various weapons. When you reached the foot of the mountain, there were dense crowds of iron-armored warriors everywhere.

However, even with the large army stationed there, the villages and farms at the foot of the mountain were still in good order, and they did what they were supposed to do - most of the people in the villages were free-range farmers, and the people on the farms were basically all laborers serving in the fields, receiving salary, or receiving pensions.

Da Xi Heruo took off his military uniform and put on a robe commonly worn by scholars.

After thinking about it, she took off the gold earrings again, but she couldn't change her hairstyle, so she could only wear a hat to cover it up.

When the personal attendants, who were the sons of the clan leaders, saw this, they were stunned.

Do you want to be a Liang person?

Some people followed suit.

Some people are unhappy and unwilling to change, and some even continue to wear fur coats.

It's not that they have any opinions about the Liang people, they just subconsciously don't like it. The Xianbei have their own customs, which have been passed down from generation to generation. If they suddenly change them, they will always feel uncomfortable and easily resentful.

This subtle psychology is hard to explain, but it is real. However, nothing can defeat time. Over time, everything will change, not only their customs will change, even the customs of the Liang people themselves will change.

While walking in the village, Da Xi He Ruo and his group watched carefully.

As the General Zhenbei, he spent a long time in Dongmugen Mountain in his life.

In his impression, apart from some millet fields at the foot of the mountain and the riverside, there were weeds and sand everywhere, and the scenery was unremarkable. When the sun set over the western hills, loneliness and sadness surged into his heart, almost making him cry.

After arriving in the Central Plains, the scenery suddenly became colorful. The mountains, plains, rivers, forests, grasslands, villages, cities, and all kinds of people and their culture fascinated this man whose spiritual world was extremely empty in the first half of his life.

After the hustle and bustle of the war, he used to like the bustle of Pingcheng and Shengle, but these two cities were just like the crowds in the Central Plains. Even though the population of Pingcheng and Shengle was large enough, the monotonous life, scarce goods and less colorful culture always made people feel that something was missing.

This is probably a backward area.

The group quickly passed through the village and climbed up the mountain path.

Birds are chirping in the morning. Outside the pavilions and towers, there is a calligraphy piece called "Yichun", which has faded a little in the spring breeze and drizzle.

On the gentle slopes on both sides of the mountain path, some vegetable plots have been opened up, and the lush garden vegetables are growing vigorously.

The sound of axes chopping came from not far away. It seemed that the palace guards and servants were pruning branches.

Da Xi Heruo had seen it in the area around Sanggan River. It was called a mulberry tree. It grew very tall and produced mulberries, which were delicious.

The trees can be used to make bows and carts, and the leaves can be used to raise silkworms. Unfortunately, there are not many mulberry trees in the area of ​​Sanggan River, and the silk is also very poor. Gradually, few people use it. Anyway, the silk in the Central Plains is not expensive.

When they approached the mountainside, they saw a group of guards digging a ditch on the hillside to divert the mountain spring into a pond on a gentle slope.

The swallows flew low, their tails almost brushing the pond, and ran happily into the distance.

A few lazy yellow cattle were strolling by the pond, eating grass leisurely.

Further away, there was a faint sound of thunder.

Huge herds of horses galloped through the water and grass, one group after another, covering the sky and the earth.

It’s such a good place, no wonder the Emperor of Daliang didn’t want to go back to Luoyang.

"General Da Xi." Under the blue-gray gate, Xun Xu, the chief clerk of the Honglu Temple, bowed and said, "The attendants can rest in the side hall. General, please follow me inside."

Da Xi Heruo returned the greeting and then gave some instructions in Xianbei language.

The followers wanted to say something, but were intimidated by the tall gate and the densely packed armored soldiers, so they obediently went to the side halls.

Da Xi Heruo took off his weapon and handed it to the guard. After the search was completed, he took a deep breath and followed closely behind Xun Xu, with a more solemn expression on his face.

After passing through the gate, what comes into view is the vast courtyard and the palaces scattered around in an orderly manner.

Soldiers were on duty outside the palace, and the palace was crowded with people and many desks. From time to time, people came in and out, heading to another small courtyard, and after a while, they hurried back, often holding a wooden box full of official letters in their hands.

These are all officials accompanying the emperor who are busy with their work. They probably belong to various departments and there are all kinds of people.

I walked through three courtyards in a row, and most of them were office buildings.

Occasionally, a few old men with extraordinary demeanor were seen, either sitting idly under a tree or chatting and laughing at a stone table beside a bamboo forest, but no one knew who they were. Anyway, Xun Xu kept bowing to him, and Da Xi Heruo was forced to follow suit.

The Su Yu Palace was probably the most powerful place in the Daliang Dynasty at that time, even more powerful than the Luoyang Palace.

"General Huang."

"Master Xun."

Another courtyard wall appeared ahead.

Da Xi Heruo looked up and saw that the walls, which were made entirely of stone, had been eroded by the mud applied in the early years and were gradually covered with vines. There were even a few small flowers blooming on the top of the wall, which was very beautiful.

Under the gate tower, Huang Zheng and Xun Xu finished their greetings and exchanged a few brief pleasantries.

"General Huang hasn't set off yet?" Xun Xu asked.

"After Blind Tong finishes preparing breakfast for His Majesty, I will hand over the seal to him." Huang Zheng said.

Xun Xu smiled and said with emotion: "Tong Qianjin has finally made it."

"Yeah." Huang Zheng also said with emotion: "Actually, I don't want to leave either."

Xun Xu smiled and said nothing more, then turned to invite Da Xi Heruo in.

There is also a courtyard behind the gate.

There is even a small bamboo forest in the yard, with stone tables and chairs. A teenager is placing food, plates, bowls and chopsticks on the table.

Xun Xu introduced him in a low voice: "This is your Majesty's adopted son Shao Zhen."

Da Xihe seemed to understand.

"Sit down and share some." A deep voice came from not far away.

Da Xi He Ruo was startled, and immediately knelt on the ground and said, "Greetings, Your Majesty."

"Does Dai State want to kneel down?" Shao Xun said with a smile, "Stand up."

The Central Plains also had the ritual of kneeling, but it was not practiced in all occasions. On ordinary days, when the emperor and his subjects met, a simple ceremony was enough.

Shao Xun just came back from the toilet. Ugh, I have a big appetite.

Tong Qianjin has recently researched a new recipe, which involves cutting spring bamboo shoots into thin strips and stewing them with newly harvested cabbage. The taste is quite good, and there are several plates of it on the stone table at the moment.

Shao Xun sat down and said, "Spring bamboo shoots are very cheap in Guangchengze. You can buy a basket with a few coins. Put them in a clay pot and steam them with rice. They are very delicious."

There was some mud on his shoes and boots, as if he had been out that morning.

Xun Xu knew that the Queen said she wanted to eat spring bamboo shoots last night, so His Majesty got up early in the morning, picked the tender bamboo shoots himself without telling the Queen, and then made a fire and cooked by himself without asking anyone else for help.

After the Queen got up, the Grand Chamberlain reported the matter to her. The Queen, who had not smiled for many days, finally smiled.

At that time, Xun Xu secretly sighed: There is a reason why Your Majesty can be where he is today, he is good at coaxing women.

At this time, Shao Xun also asked everyone to share the steamed rice with spring bamboo shoots.

After eating, as usual, Yi Yang tea, which has a strong sense of selling goods, is served for rinsing the mouth.

After all the dishes were cleared away, he looked at Da Xi Heruo and asked, "What do you think after being in Huainan for a few months?" Upon hearing this, Da Xi Heruo immediately said, "If Your Majesty wants to take the land of Huainan, you must advance by land and water, and by infantry and cavalry. It is extremely difficult to rely on cavalry alone."

To put it bluntly, it requires coordination of arms and a considerable scale of military force. Relying solely on cavalry would be a waste of lives.

"What difficulties did your department encounter?" Shao Xun asked.

"There are too many rivers and streams." Da Xi He Ruo frowned as he said this, "We just rode a horse and had not traveled a few miles when a river blocked our way. There was only a narrow wooden bridge over the river. If someone guarded the bridge, we would have to dismount and fight. Fortunately, the Wu people did not dare to fight at that time, so we were able to pass smoothly."

Shao Xun thought about it.

He remembered that in the 21st century, Jiangbei and Huainan had been developed very maturely, but there were still rivers everywhere in the countryside.

The two villages, one in the south and one in the north, are only a few hundred meters apart, and there is often a small river running east-west in front and behind each village.

There are even slightly larger rivers running north-south on both sides of the village.

There are several ponds in the village.

This is developed. If it had not been fully developed, you can imagine what it would look like.

In fact, the southern counties of Xuzhou were very typical at that time. Swamps were everywhere, and the people dug mud from the riverbed to raise part of the land, forming island-like highlands. The highlands were full of grain, and people traveled to various highlands by small wooden boats.

Or they could fence off a portion of the water area and then drain the water to create farmland.

As generations of people worked on it, the depressions gradually became higher and the swamps gradually disappeared. This is how the environment was transformed.

Therefore, in later generations, countless place names with suffixes of "墟", "埭" and "垸" appeared in the areas north of the Yangtze River and south of the Huai River - these three words all mean embankment.

To be honest, infantry is more effective than cavalry in fighting in such an environment, even in winter.

If there are infantrymen who dare to fight, they can use the terrain to encircle part of the cavalry, take the initiative to attack and destroy them.

Even if they dare not fight, they can defend the city first and let you attack them. They can suffer heavy losses on their own and pursue you during the retreat, and kill a large number of cavalry - even those "cavalry" whose horses have died of disease in large numbers and have to retreat on foot.

To be honest, Shao Xun was a little skeptical before, but now he basically believes it.

There is a reason why the Southern Dynasty was able to hold on to half of the country in history and repeatedly repel invasions from the Northern Dynasty, which was large in scale and had several times more military strength than theirs.

The Southern Dynasty eventually died in a war of attrition, and after the internal strife, it could no longer hold on.

"How strong are the Wu soldiers?" Shao Xun asked again.

"We can defend the city, but not in the field." Da Xi Heruo said, "If we fight in formation, I can surround and shoot them on horseback, and I will surely cause their entire army to collapse."

Shao Xun was very satisfied with his calling himself "the lowest general" and said with a smile: "It seems that we still have to besiege the city. If we take down their city, the Wu people will have no choice but to retreat step by step."

"Your Majesty, you still need to improve the navy." Xun Xu said, "When Cao Mengde conquered Jingzhou, the first thing he did was to improve the navy. If Your Majesty can take Jiangxia and Jiangling, you need to recruit local people and improve the navy."

In other words, the battle line had to be pushed to the Yangtze River, and then a navy had to be formed, so that it would be possible to capture Wu.

Shao Xun nodded, then looked at Da Xi Heruo and asked, "How are the Wu generals?"

Da Xi Heruo said helplessly: "They only know how to play tricks and schemes to deceive our soldiers. They are all used to being poor and cannot stand seeing so much wealth. They suffered a loss right from the start."

Shao Xun laughed out loud.

This tactic has been tried and tested since ancient times, and the poorer the enemy, the more effective it is.

Some people even threw gold and silver onto the battlefield, and the enemies really went to pick them up. In the end, they were killed and the gold and silver they picked up were gone, and they also had their heads presented as tribute.

Don't you know what throwing gold and silver is when two armies are fighting? But the generals know it's useless, and the soldiers can't help it.

"What do you think of Shan Xia?" Shao Xun continued to ask.

"I haven't seen him." Da Xi Heruo shook his head and said, "At first, this guy didn't know where to hide, and let my troops run wild. In the end, I couldn't help it anymore, and a leader reported that he saw a big flag with the word 'mountain' on it. He must have come."

"Where is the farthest you have been?"

"One group went to Chaohu Lake and saw Dongguan City in the distance. Chaohu Lake had been frozen for a few days, but only the shore was frozen, not the lake itself." Da Xi Heruo said, "One group ran southeast and rushed to the outside of Liyang City. The Wu people were panicked and closed the city gates, and did not fight. Another group broke into Lujiang and went deep into the border between Xunyang and Lujiang counties."

"They ran really far." Shao Xun exclaimed: "Did they come back later?"

"No." Da Xi Heruo shook his head and said, "When we went out with 10,000 cavalrymen and returned to Shouchun, there were only 7,000 cavalrymen left. The 3,000 who were gone either died, surrendered, or fell ill, that's all."

"Do you dare to go again?" Shao Xun asked.

Da Xi Heruo hesitated for a moment and said, "If your majesty has ordered me to do so, I am willing to go."

Actually, I just don't want to.

"I heard that you also captured several hundred Wu soldiers?" Shao Xun asked.

Da Xi He Ruo was shocked.

"The people you captured are yours. I am not that stingy." Shao Xun said, "How did you capture them?"

"The raid dispersed a group of Wu soldiers." Da Xi Heruo said, "I plan to take them back to Dongmugen Mountain and use them as guards. It's not very peaceful there right now."

Shao Xun was surprised, but didn't find it strange.

The Wu soldiers are definitely better at defending the city than the Xianbei and Wuhuan people, but it always feels a bit weird.

But if you think about it carefully, it doesn’t seem too strange.

Isn't Mao Xiuzhi, Tuoba Tao's imperial chef of southern cuisine, the chef? He also led Wu soldiers to capture Helong and Liaodong, and to the northern grasslands to fight Rouran. If Da Xihe did this, he would be a pioneer.

"It's been a long battle for several months, and you've worked hard." Shao Xun said, "The other day, Madam Wang asked for a generous reward for the Xianbei warriors who had worked hard in the south. I approved it. I ordered 50,000 silks to be allocated for pensions and rewards. Fighting for me, you can't shed blood and tears."

"I would like to thank Your Majesty for the generous reward." Upon hearing this, Da Xi Heruo fell to the ground.

"Get up." Shao Xun personally helped him up and said, "This is all thanks to Madam Wang. From now on, you must obey her orders and you will be rich and worry-free."

Upon hearing this, Da Xi He Ruo immediately pointed to the sky and swore: "I will only serve your majesty's bloodline as my master."

Shao Xun was a little embarrassed. How did he know all this?

But he was still very happy and said, "If you have capable sons or nephews, you can send them to the Central Plains and I will employ them according to their abilities."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace." Da Xi Heruo was overjoyed.

"Let's talk about Dongmugen Mountain." Shao Xun said again: "I heard that people's hearts are a little scattered, why is that?"

Da Xi Heruo was stunned for a moment, then glanced at Shao Xun and said, "Most of them were seduced by Tuoba Yihuai."

After listening to this, Shao Xun did not comment.

Of course, he knew that what Da Xi Heruo said was very likely true.

At first, the reason why Wang was not allowed to hunt down Tuoba Yihuai and Helan Aitou was to keep a check on them. Now it seems that this was a misstep.

In the eyes of many more traditional tribes, the legitimacy of Tuoba Yihuai has gradually surpassed that of Tuoba Shiyijian.

After all, Yihuai is the real master, while Shi Yijian has become a puppet.

Wang also mentioned this matter, but Shao Xun did not give an answer at that time.

Wang was a smart person. She saw her own conflicted feelings and didn't say much.

"When you go back, spread your knowledge." Shao Xun said, "This fall I will send out 10,000 Dai cavalry. Maybe some people will not know the destiny and will complain. You must obey the orders of Madam Wang and Dai Gong."

"Yes, sir." Da Xi Heruo responded.

In mid-March, Wang Yinling led the Xianbei cavalry back to Dai State.

On the way back to Luoyang, Shao Xun issued an order: Hezhou, Liangzhou, Shazhou, order Tufa, Qifu, Yifu, Zheju, Lushuihu and dozens of other tribes to send out 20,000 troops, set out in mid-May, and come to Luonan.

He also ordered the mixed Hu people in Yong and Qin states to send out 10,000 troops, who would set out in June and march to Luonan.

The Di and Qiang tribes in the Guandong region, the miscellaneous Hu tribes in Youzhou, and the various Hu tribes in Bingzhou gathered together an army of 10,000 and set out at the end of June to march to Luonan.

Including the Xianbei and Wuhuan people of Dai State, there were a total of 50,000 Hu soldiers, who gathered in Luonan during the autumn harvest in August. When the cold weather came in late autumn, they joined the recruited Han soldiers and marched south to Xiangyang.

Of course, even if the order is issued, not all departments will necessarily come, and if things go wrong, there may be rebellion.

Some people find it troublesome, but Shao Xun is not afraid and just suppresses it.

Especially those local tyrants in Helong who live in the mountains and far away, he wants to see who will disobey his orders.

Zhang Jun had just been defeated. If anyone refused to obey at this critical juncture, he would order the surrounding tribes to divide the spoils.

I don't believe they would dare to take this risk given their mutual suspicion.

Moreover, if he cannot make these tribes obey his orders, wouldn't it be even more difficult for his children and grandchildren when they don't have that prestige?

Some thorns may be removed in advance for future generations through this opportunity.

(End of this chapter)