My Chinese ancestors

Chapter 419 Japanese aid

The war in Yaozhou continues with intense intensity, and battle reports are sent back from the front every two days.

The state of Wu was prosperous, and in Gu's mansion, the lotus leaves in the pond in the atrium were lush and lush, and the sunlight shone on the lotus flowers, giving them a unique blush.

Under the lotus leaves, schools of fish swim, fighting for the crumbs of steamed buns floating on the water.

August is almost over and September is coming. The temperature is getting hotter day by day. Gu Chongwen, the Prime Minister of Wu State, is sitting in the pavilion, leaning against the guardrail, listening to the annoying chirping of cicadas, tearing off the remaining pieces of steamed buns and throwing them into the pond. Feed the fish.

He had been waking up from dreams in the past few days. The dream was a battlefield with mountains of corpses and seas of blood. Thousands of people were fighting. The Xia army was marching toward Shengkang with banners flying to the sky.

The battle report came back yesterday. Two troops from the Xia Kingdom broke through the Huaijiang River. They had already reached the river bank and stabilized their position.

Various Wu armies are heading that way for reinforcements, and the battle situation is not so clear.

He has sent someone to deliver a letter today, asking the representatives of the aristocratic families in the city to come over quickly to discuss countermeasures. The time is still up and no one has come yet.

"There are only interests between countries, and the Emperor of Xia is really skillful in using them." Thinking that a few months ago, the Emperor of Xia had a 'sweet love' with him and sold a lot of weapons and armor. The next moment, he turned into a stranger. , Raise your troops and kill them.

The steward of the mansion walked through the corridor with his maidservant carrying ice-cold sour plum soup and came here.

After waving for the maid to put down the sour plum soup, the steward reminded him softly: "Prime Minister, the Taiwei and the others are here."

Gu Chongwen looked at the fish vying for food in the pond. He shook off the haze in his mind, took the soup bowl and took a sip. Then he stood up and walked out of the pavilion. On the corridor, the long eaves cast a shade of coolness, and there were lanterns in front of the corridor. The gentle shaking and the sound of cicadas in the trees come and go, and the maids and servants in the house come and go, bowing their heads.

The weather was too hot, so the maids in the front yard walked under the eaves with wooden trays and bowls of sour plum soup to relieve the heat, walked past the guards standing guard, and walked into the reception hall in the middle hall of the front yard.

Various voices were talking inside at this time, tending to a quarrelsome manner.

Gu Chongwen came over there with a frown on his face. He could clearly hear the words of everyone inside from outside, and he was in a bad mood.

When he pushed the door open and entered, he saw Taiwei Fan Li, Zhongshu Shilang Xiao Zhiyi, Weiwei Gao Changjue, and Grand Secretary Nong Zhang Chunshou sitting on both sides, drinking sour plum soup, or closing their eyes and letting the maid fan.

The people quarreling were Li Chengji, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice, one of the five ministers, and Chen Yao, the imperial censor. The two cursed for a while. Perhaps it got heated. The Minister of the Ministry of Justice also had a hot temper. He poured the soup on hand. The bowl hit the ground with a bang.

"...My family took a piece of hilltop, and you just murmured behind my back and filed a memorial to embarrass me! Your family acquired more than 200 acres of farmland from Liao's Village, why didn't you file a memorial for yourself?"

"That was sold to me voluntarily by the local people!" Yushi Chen Yao turned his face away and closed his eyes.

"Fart, who are we all? Who doesn't know who they are? They volunteer?! They're just fooling the common people below."

Facing Li Chengji who brought this matter up, Chen Yao quickly stopped talking, said something, and turned his head to the side. But the Minister of Punishment next to him had a hot temper. Seeing that he didn't speak, he felt even more uncomfortable. He stretched out his hand across the table and grabbed the other person's shoulders. He dragged him and made a fist to beat him, "Today, let's see if I don't beat you to death!"

"stop!"

Gu Chongwen walked to the door, slightly lifted the hem of his robe and crossed the threshold. He had entered the palace today and checked on the living conditions of Kang Zun's family in the palace, so when he came over, he was still wearing the official robe of the prime minister, and he suddenly opened his mouth to scold him, which was quite majestic. , the two people inside separated.

The Da Sinong, Zhongshu Shilang, and several others who were waiting around stood up and bowed their hands in greeting.

Gu Chongwen bowed his hands to everyone in return, then looked at the two people who almost fought just now, snorted, shook his wide sleeves, and went straight to the front seat to sit down.

"They are all high officials of the imperial court, but privately they are like street gangsters!" He knocked on the table, "Xia's soldiers and horses have already crossed the river, what are you still fighting about here?! Once Wu is destroyed, you guys will The prosperity and wealth that I have in my family, in my hands, and in these past few lives are all in vain!"

His words have the prestige of a prime minister, and he has been in the position of prime minister for many years. His family is powerful. No one here except Taiwei Fan Li dares to criticize him. What's more, Taiwei and the prime minister are in the same spirit, and their children are married to each other. , the two families almost monopolized the entire upper level of the court.

"What the Prime Minister said is that everyone gathered here is not here to settle old scores with you. If you want to settle old scores, once the Xia Kingdom's troops are defeated, you can do whatever you want!"

Taiwei Fan Li put down his soup bowl and said proudly. He looked at Gu Chongwen again, "Prime Minister, now the Xia army has reached the south bank of the Huaijiang River. Whether Yaozhou can hold on depends on the Prime Minister's hard work."

Although Gu Chongwen is over fifty, he is still tall and tall, with a fluttering beard. After many years of watching, the aura of a wealthy family has subsided, and he exudes official power instead. He tapped the table with his fingertips.

"When it comes to war, the Taiwei knows best. I'm just gathering everyone together to see what they think. I can't just sit back and wait for death, seeing the Xia Kingdom pushed to Shengkang City."

"Waging a war is the business of the generals. We are only responsible for providing money and food, not men!" Zhao Bi, the Minister of Household Affairs, explained that he was promoted by the Zhao family in Jiangdong. In the past, he only managed family affairs and had some achievements. Come to the front and become an official.

Regarding Xia Guo's attack, his thinking was relatively simple. Just pay the soldiers in time and prevent them from going hungry.

However, he never knew that war was not just about money and food. Gu Chongwen glanced at him and glanced directly past him to look at the others.

"Anyone who has any ideas can speak up now."

"I think it would be better to bribe the generals of Xia's army!" Seeing that the others were drooping their heads, Zhongshu Shilang started, remembering the effect of a good idea.

"Everyone knows that the Xia Kingdom has a strong army, but everyone loves money. I don't believe that these people who have been fighting for years will not like it. They give money to women and try every means to get them to accept it. Then, they turn around and send people to Luyang to spread rumors. The frontline generals of the Xia army collaborated with the enemy and accepted bribes from the enemy. Regardless of whether the emperor believed it or not, he had to stop the expedition and improve military discipline. In this way, we will have a chance to breathe and drive the Xia troops back to the north bank."

This is indeed a strategy, but to achieve such an effect, I don't know how big the gap between the monarch and his ministers is, and how incompetent the emperor is before I believe it.

However, the effect of Zhongshu's minister's suggestion was achieved. An official on the right said softly: "The minister's words are thought-provoking, but if you want to achieve that effect, I'm afraid the chance is slim. It's better to mobilize the Wuyue border and fight across the border." More than a dozen border troops have been pulled over to support the front line. Anyway, there is civil strife in Vietnam and five princes are vying for the crown prince, so they probably have no time to pay attention to border matters."

Taiwei Fan Li stroked his beard and nodded: "That's true. The state of Wu is short of generals and troops capable of fighting. The frontier army over there has replaced the weapons and armor sent by Lu Yang, and can fight the Yue state regardless of the outcome. It's true. Among the available soldiers, I heard that there was a man named Zhou Tiansheng, who turned out to be a Wu citizen in Yue territory. All his family members were killed in the conflict. He led a group of border people to fight with Yue soldiers in the mountains. Now he has He was transferred to the border army and led an army alone."

"That's the case." Gu Chongwen nodded and smiled gently, "I have also heard of this man. He is a rare general in our country of Wu. From a peasant to a general, it is extremely rare. Taiwei, Why not just use him and transfer the border troops there as well."

"Ah."

Amidst the chirping of cicadas under the dazzling sunshine, a group of officials in the side hall settled the matter. There were more than 20,000 frontier troops in this group. They did not belong to any of them. They were transferred to the battlefield to fight this tough battle. What were the casualties? , no one will feel distressed, and it is in everyone’s interest.

Gu Chongwen proposed, and Taiwei Fan Li nodded in agreement and did not object again.

"By the way, Prime Minister. We still need to guard the coast!" At this time, the Minister of War said: "Sheng Kangdong is close to the sea. A few days ago, Kang Chengqian fled from the sea, and our four warships from the Wu Kingdom failed to stop it. It can be seen that the Xia Kingdom He is also very capable at sea. If a partial army comes from the sea and approaches Shengkang, it may cause big trouble, so we must be on guard!"

"I have already taken care of this matter."

Gu Chongwen nodded again and looked at the others to see if they had anything to add. Not long after, someone also said: "Prime Minister, the dwarfs from the four islands of the East China Sea have sent envoys here. It has been two days. I don't know if they have seen you or not?"

Four Islands is not four islands, but the name of one island. Wu State has a lot of maritime trade, and it still has some understanding of the islands outside the mainland.

There are islands in the East China Sea, namely Yunguo, Sidao, Jiushan, Hokuriku, Nantiao, Sanliang... These islands are very close to each other, and the people on the islands can paddle boats and rafts to reach the islands.

During this year, the archipelago suddenly exerted its efforts and built many warships. From time to time, people were sent to Wu to purchase warship blueprints, but they were all rejected by Kang Chengqian, and no wealthy family was willing to make this purchase with these dwarfs.

However, the warship blueprints were not for sale, but others could be traded. As time went by, more and more people came to Wu Guoshengkang Island.

You can often see dwarf islanders wearing Yuzhi robes at the dock in Shengkang, wandering around in small groups with knives, but most of them are on the ship, waiting for the needed goods to be filled, and then set off. The ship leaves.

The prosperity of Wu State is something that these people who leave the island miss. Gu Chongwen has occasionally heard some rumors, saying that the islanders are quite envious of the culture and prosperity of Wu State, and hope that the Wu State Shipping Department can relax some restrictions. More islanders can come to pay homage to Wu culture and see this prosperous scene.

Gu Chongwen was quite proud of this statement, and even asked Zhongshu Province to issue an order to the Shipping Department to inform the king of the Japanese island in the East China Sea that more people could be sent over.

Later, because of the war with Xia State, he forgot about it.

Now that it was mentioned again, he suddenly thought of an idea, "Since these dwarfs like Wu's warships, we might as well let them go out of the fleet to fight with Xia's warships at sea. We will devote all our energy to the Huaijiang River and mobilize the warships." Ships can intercept the waters and cut off their supplies!"

"This deal can be done." Taiwei Fan Li stroked his beard and closed his eyes. "Originally I looked down on them, but now with the help of these foreign troops, it can be used."

"Will it be criticized by the people?"

"Humph, the Emperor of Xia can ask the Xirong people to help conquer Qi Liang, why can't we?"

"But Xirong has already belonged to the Xia Kingdom, and the entire grassland belongs to the Xia Kingdom. And those Japanese people..."

"In emergencies, you should do extraordinary things!" Gu Chongwen tapped the table with his fingertips, "Let's do it this way. Let the envoy sent by the Japanese come over later."

After the matter was discussed, everyone dispersed and went back to their busy clans or delivered food and grass to the frontline soldiers and horses. However, the food and grass were delivered accurately. Each delivery would not take more than one day, nor would it be less than one day.

It can be seen that everyone has a defensive mentality. After all, some leading generals are not from their families.

After sending these people away, Gu Chongwen returned to the central hall and sat down again. He asked the maid to remove the sour plum soup from each table and give him a cup of hot tea.

"...a bunch of monkeys."

The thought of meeting those dwarfs finally made him feel a little uncomfortable.

Not long after, the steward came in from outside and whispered softly into the ear of Gu Chongwen, who was resting and resting with his eyes closed.

"Master's house, the Japanese are here."

"Tell them to come in."

Gu Chongwen opened his eyes, rubbed his cheeks, took a sip of strong tea, cheered up, then sat majestically at the front of the table and looked out at the open door of the nave.

Not long after, the steward who had gone out came back, flanked by two short men who only reached the steward's shoulders.

They wore robes called Yuzhi, and their heads were shaved cleanly, leaving only a crescent-shaped bun. In Gu Chongwen's opinion, they looked like bald men. Under the loose trouser legs of the other party, they stepped on wooden clogs, which clicked and clicked. Come over, there is a slightly curved thin knife hanging on your waist.

When they arrived at the middle hall, the guards asked them to take off their weapons. The two Japanese frowned at first, but they still obeyed.

Then he entered the central hall and learned to bow his hands in a salute, speaking in broken Wu Guohua.

"Changshan Bentada represents my family's Dr. Zukyo, Date Munemasa, who has met the Prime Minister of the State of Wu."

(End of this chapter)