The Second Master of the Red Chamber

Chapter 365 Singing
Let's talk about the Zhanghetan camp. After Jia Lian left, Xiang He and others were still worried that the enemy would attack again.

It's just because Jia Lian and the princess have not returned, and they dare not withdraw to Ganning pass privately.

Moreover, the battalion is still far away from Ganning Pass. Once encountering enemy cavalry on the way to retreat, there is no danger to defend at that time, and the situation may get worse.

Therefore, we can only repair the fortifications, treat the wounded, and wait in anxiety...

Fortunately, early in the morning of the second day, reinforcements from Ganning Pass arrived as scheduled!

General Wu Shiwei personally led his troops to rescue him, and led the advance cavalry team into the camp.

When he learned that Jia Lian had led his troops to rescue Princess Zhaoyang but had not returned, he knew that Jia Lian and his wife had either been captured or killed, or they were in deep siege.

So Wu Shiwei sent people to contact Wala, and at the same time sent troops into the Gobi to search and rescue Jia Lian.

With the joining of the Ganning Pass guards, although the arrogance of the Tatars and the Third Princes of Wala was effectively contained, the whereabouts of Jia Lian and Princess Zhaoyang have not yet been found after a few days.

And because the armies of Wei, Wala, and Tatar were all in this chaotic area, the competition among the three forces began.Small-scale battles occur frequently.

Under Xiang He's deliberation, he knew that the situation here could no longer be hidden from the court, so he could only concentrate on conceiving, and wrote a letter:

"I congratulate you, and I am afraid to play Your Majesty:
Since the minister and others led the decree to leave Beijing, they have escorted the princess all the way westward, out of Yanmen, through Yulin, and even Ganning Pass.

Because the imperial envoy was envoy Jia Lian to plan well, and the rewards and punishments were clearly defined, the ministers and others gave their assistance. It took a total of two months and ten days to enter Ganning Pass on August 26 without any surprises or dangers.

However, ten days after leaving Ganning Pass, they traveled more than 230 li, and when they arrived near the Zhanghe River, a large number of Tatar cavalry suddenly appeared to harass them.Fortunately, Jia Lian was aware of it in time, found the convenience of the location, and led the soldiers of the three armies to kill the invading enemy.In this battle, a total of more than 330 enemies were killed and 150 horses were captured. Three of our side killed [-] people and injured more than [-] people. "

After writing this, Xiang He paused for a while.

Gein's memorial not only had to be presented directly to the emperor, but it was also the first urgent memorial to be submitted to the imperial court regarding the Zhanghe Bank Incident.

So he not only has to make things clear, but also pays attention to the wording.After all, this is related to the subsequent court's definition and rewards and punishments for this incident.

It seems inappropriate to blindly say yes...

Frowning and pondering for a while, Xiang He continued to write: "At this time there is Zhu Dahe, the general guarding the gate of Gan Ning. Although he fought bravely, he was aggressive and reckless. He didn't respect orders. Mulin was surrounded by enemy troops.

This is the enemy's insidious and vicious strategy, intending to use this to induce our troops to divide up our troops for rescue, to divert the tiger away from the mountain, and then join forces to encircle our camp.

Fortunately, Jia Lian, the envoy, was wise and decisive, and he found out the enemy's conspiracy, and he used all the tricks...

……

……

It is reported that this conspiracy is all about Bahamu, the third prince of Oara, who conspired with Tatar Yacha Hamong, intending to kill my envoys and kidnap my princess, so as to destroy the alliance between Wei and Oara...

Now, in order to save the princess, Jia Lian is leading a lone army deep into the enemy's position. For three days, there is no news.

The minister is incompetent and frightened, so he can only go to His Majesty Chen to ask for the holy order.

In the fifth year of Ningkang, September [-]th is unitary. "

After writing, he ordered someone to copy two copies, and after the official seal was stamped, he ordered someone to send an urgent report back to Beijing at eight hundred miles.

A few days later, the Forbidden City.

In the Daming Palace, when he received Xiang He's memorial, Emperor Ningkang's face turned purple, and he smashed his most cherished pen and pen on the floor of the South Study Room.

"What a thief, An Gan!!"

After being angry, Emperor Ningkang inevitably questioned again.After all, this is a big matter, so of course you can't listen to Xiang He's one-sided words.

Therefore, there was no publicity, only two confidantes were passed on to discuss.

However, after the memorial of Gan Ningguan was presented, what he said was roughly the same as that of Xiang He, so Emperor Ningkang had to believe this incident.

Suppressing his anger, he shouted: "Come here, tell the ministers of the cabinet, the six ministers, the order of Lantai, the minister of Dali Temple, the general envoy, and... the minister of Honglu Temple to enter the palace to discuss matters!"

After a while, a group of ministers who were urgently summoned came to the South Study Room. Seeing the audible drop of needles in the hall, they all secretly tightened a string in their hearts.

"Read!"

According to Emperor Ningkang's will, Dai Quan, who had been standing by the side for a long time, with the same serious face, opened his mouth quietly, and slowly read Xiang He's memorial in front of all the ministers.

Although after a night of fermenting, some people have already heard about it, but hearing it with their own ears at this time, the officials still couldn't help but look at each other.

"Your Majesty, I don't know the news, can you provide more details..."

"Read more!"

Emperor Ningkang didn't answer, but asked Dai Quan to read Wu Shiwei's letter together.

This time, no one dared to doubt the authenticity of the news.There are those who are shocked for a while, and those who secretly think about the benefits.

This news is too shocking. It took so much effort for the court to form an alliance with Wala and make peace with the country, which turned out to be a conspiracy.

Unfortunately, all of them were played and applauded by a little foreign prince.

Once this matter is confirmed, not only will the imperial court lose face, but Princess Zhaoyang will also fall into the hands of the enemy. If word spreads, I am afraid that scholars will be indignant, and the reputation of the imperial court as incompetent will spread throughout the world.

Many people suddenly realized the seriousness of the matter.

"Every dear dear, what do you think after hearing this, huh?"

Emperor Ningkang slowly glanced at the ministers standing in the hall with gloomy eyes.

His eyes finally fell on Honglu Siqing.

If you remember correctly, this person was the first one to stand up and support the peace with Wala.

Seeing this, the minister of Honglu Temple trembled his legs, knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, forgive me, I really don't know that Prince Bahamu is a person with ulterior motives. The reason why I proposed a marriage at the beginning was, it was It was Concubine Li who asked someone to tell Weichen that Princess Zhaoyang was an adult and had never been married, but she was entangled with a courtier with a family, which hurt the royal family's face.

It happened that Prince Bahamu was very good-looking and proficient in Chinese, so it was rare for him to fall in love with Princess Zhaoyang at first sight, so he asked the humble minister to broker the matter.

This minister is also kind-hearted, and thinks the concubine's intentions are very good, but I really don't know that there will be such a change, please forgive me..."

In fact, Honglu Siqing felt faintly uneasy from the moment he entered the palace.

It was not the assistant ministers present, or the six divisions and nine ministers, and he was the only third rank, so he knew that something was wrong.

After figuring out what was going on, seeing Emperor Ningkang's eyes sweeping over, he didn't understand what Emperor Ningkang meant to punish him, so he immediately explained the matter in detail.

I thought that Emperor Ningkang might be able to spare him for the sake of his biological mother, the concubine.

But when he finished speaking, most of the other people in the hall shook their heads secretly.

At this time, let's not mention Concubine Li...

Sure enough, Emperor Ningkang looked colder, looked at him indifferently, and suddenly waved his hand: "The minister of Honglu Temple is dereliction of duty and incompetent, not only can't explain the evil, but instead covers up the evil for the thieves, helping the evildoers, causing the court to suffer huge losses.

Go into the sky prison, and after a detailed investigation by the Secretary, you will be severely punished according to the law! "

"Your Majesty, I know my mistake, please forgive me..."

Seeing Honglu Siqing being taken down, the other people in the hall only secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Being deceived by a villain would do too much damage to the court and even the emperor's face.

If you really think about it, the people who made the alliance and the marriage in the first place are inevitably suspected of dereliction of duty.If this is the case, at least half of the people present cannot escape the guilt.

Fortunately, Emperor Ningkang's anger had dissipated quite a bit on Honglu Siqing.

Therefore, he didn't intend to deal with people anymore, he just looked at the humerus of the court and asked: "The matter has come to this, what do you think the court should do?"

"Reporting to Your Majesty, I feel that I should immediately send someone to question King Wala, ask him to give an account of the Zhanghe incident, and hand over a group of people who conspired to kill me and send the mission to my relatives!"

"I still have to compensate for the loss of my court..."

Those who can stand here are all human beings.We all know that the most important thing right now is to save the court's face.

Therefore, most of the opinions they put forward were to blame King Oara and let the other party take responsibility for this incident.

The Minister of the Ministry of War observed his words and found that Emperor Ningkang seemed not interested in this kind of proposal, so he seized the opportunity and said: "I feel that the route of the mission this time has been carefully planned by the imperial court, and it is absolutely foolproof.

However, such a thing still happened, and it was still in the territory of Wala.

It can be seen that Wala must have reneged on the covenant.The minister boldly speculated, could it be that the two ends of the Nawara first mouse were teasing me, Dawei?
Therefore, I feel that in order to maintain the majesty of the court, we should immediately suspend all alliances with Oirat, and send troops to attack Oirat to teach other foreign countries that anyone who deceives and offends our great Wei will be punished by our great Wei! "

"Master Fan's words are too much.

Hugh said that winter was coming soon, and it was by no means a time of war.Moreover, we know that the Tatars are conspiring to unite with the western tribes and intend to invade our territory, so sending troops to conquer Oirat this time, is it not forcing Oirat to form an alliance with the enemy?
I think this proposal is inappropriate. "

"Exactly. Besides, judging from the news, King Navala was obviously deceived by his own son, and he should have no intention of offending my great Wei.

In this eventful autumn, for Wala, it should be Huairou who wins over..."

"I think our main focus should be on welcoming the princess back.

If the princess is kidnapped by the Tatars, how can we face the people of the world?
In this matter, perhaps relying on King Navala, it is really not appropriate to offend.

In my opinion, as long as King Navala handed over Bahamu, the chief villain, and returned the princess, we should ignore the past and continue to discuss the matter of alliance..."

Because Xiang He didn't know that Jia Lian had successfully rescued the princess, he naturally didn't know that Bahamu had become a ghost under the sword.

For the people in the court, since Nabahamu is a person with ulterior motives, it is naturally impossible for someone to insist on making a marriage.

It's just that most people still hold the attitude that they should continue to form an alliance with Oala.

After all, judging from the news sent back by Xiang He, King Oara is really innocent...

"Master Yan is right."

Emperor Ningkang silently looked at the people who were arguing in the hall, but his mind had already drifted away.

Although he didn't really agree with the marriage with Wala at first, he only agreed to it out of consideration of the overall situation.

But at this point, it is useless to say this.Once this matter is exposed, in the hearts of the people in the world, they will definitely think that he is an incompetent king, and he is not a good father, who will personally send his beloved daughter into the fire pit...

It is conceivable that if Zhaoyang cannot return to Beijing safely this time, he will never be able to wash away this stain for the rest of his life!
Thinking of this, Emperor Ningkang couldn't help but feel powerless and inexplicably angry even as the Ninth Five-Year Lord.

Suddenly he thought of his own biological mother, the concubine, if she hadn't insisted on mediating this matter, the court would not have fallen into the trap of thieves so easily.

Of course he knew that the Minister of Honglu Temple was not lying, he was indeed instigated by Concubine Li.

It's just that he was born as a son. At this time, he must maintain his mother's decency.

However, such a thing, only once is fine...

Thinking back on some of the things his mother had done over the years, he, who didn't want to judge too much, couldn't help complaining.

Perhaps, she is really old.

Sighing quietly, he didn't listen carefully to all the speeches of the courtiers, and finally issued an order: "There is a time limit of one day, after you wait, come up with a regulation on this matter, and I want to read it personally.

Just remember, don't let the people of the world think that you are all incompetent ministers, and I am an incompetent king. "

Emperor Ningkang's gaze was stern and deep, which made all the officials tremble, and they all understood what Emperor Ningkang meant, let them find a way to save the court's face!

So Qi Qi should be the next one, and each went down to rack their brains, trying to come up with an answer that satisfied Emperor Ningkang.

After another few days, a piece of good news made Ningkang Emperor, who had been frowning for several days, show a little smile on his face.

At that time, Lantai ordered Lin Ruhai to play the right match in the South Study Room. Seeing this, he couldn't help but seize the opportunity and asked Emperor Ningkang what was the matter with a smile.

Emperor Ningkang looked at him carefully, and then asked someone to hand over the memorial to Lin Ruhai, and said with a smile: "You really recommended a useful talent to me."

Lin Ruhai probably understood something when he heard the words, and after reading the memorial, he found that it was indeed transmitted from the west.

It turned out that some of the people who followed Jia Lian to rescue him that day returned to the camp safely.Knowing that the princess did not fall into the hands of bandits, Xiang He naturally reported the news to Kyoto immediately.

It was really good news. When I saw what was said in the letter, Jia Lian led only a few hundred cavalry to rescue Princess Zhaoyang from the heavy siege, and also threw off the enemy's pursuit. Even Lin Ruhai couldn't help helping her. Must nod.

It's just that when I saw the news of Jia Lian's death of Bahamu, I was a little worried.

Sure enough, the imperial court did not give up its plan to form an alliance with Wala. Jia Lian's move was afraid that he would be criticized by the ministers of the imperial court.

Lin Ruhai clasped his hands together and said with a smile, "Your Majesty still knows people with his eyes.

But it was his duty to swear to the death to protect the safety of the princess.This time, if he can safely escort Her Royal Highness back to the capital, please Your Majesty, forgive him for his crime of insufficient protection. "

Lin Ruhai, as Emperor Ningkang's servant and confidant, thought that he was in poor health, and whenever he performed alone, he would let him sit down.

Hearing Lin Ruhai's words at this time, Emperor Ningkang inevitably squinted at him.

"If he can escort Zhaoyang back to the capital safely, I will not only forgive him for his crime of inattentive escort, but also reward him heavily!"

In Xiang He's memorial, Jia Lian fought the enemy twice and won both.As far as this is concerned, Jia Lian has merit but no fault.

After all, the rebellion of the third prince of Wala was a mistake in the court's decision-making, and it had nothing to do with Jia Lian.

If Jia Lian can successfully rescue the princess from the enemy's siege, then it goes without saying, it will definitely be a great contribution to saving her.

Moreover, Emperor Ningkang was most worried about Princess Zhaoyang falling into the hands of the Tatars.In that case, Tatar would definitely use Princess Zhaoyang to provoke and insult Wei, which he could not accept anyway.

Therefore, for Jia Lian to take back Princess Zhaoyang from the thief, for the entire Great Wei Dynasty, it can be said that it has saved the last fig leaf for everyone!

Don't look at it as just a small fig leaf, but it is what he needs most now.

Thinking of the day before yesterday when he went to visit the Supreme Emperor, the Supreme Emperor asked him about this matter lightly. At that time, he was so ashamed that he couldn't bear it, and Emperor Ningkang secretly swore in his heart.

As long as Jia Lian can successfully escort Princess Zhaoyang back to Beijing, he will definitely reward him heavily!

Thinking of this, Emperor Ningkang suddenly raised his head to look at Lin Ruhai again, "Ruhai thinks that Jia Lian is so brave and loyal, should the court reward him?"

"What does your majesty mean?"

"Come here, pass on my will..."

Emperor Ningkang felt that it was not enough to issue two reward orders to Rongguo Mansion and Jia Yuanchun.

"Order the Hanlin Academy to compile Jia Lian's deeds of fighting the bandits wisely and protecting the lord bravely into a book, and let the teaching workshop sing it!"

Hearing Ning Kangdi's strange order, Lin Ruhai thought for a while before reacting.

At this time, there should be some eye-catching things like this to reduce the influence of the court being deceived by thieves.

Your Majesty, you are indeed wise and enlightened, which is admirable.

(End of this chapter)