Great Han Empire

Chapter 272 The situation changes suddenly
Today is the sixth day since Li Hong arrived in Yecheng.

In the morning, Li Hong took Yan Liang, Zhang Xiao and other officers to inspect the camp.The soldiers are basically dressed warmly, and the food has been greatly improved. The guard battalion and Bingcao battalion have also been established under the supervision of Yan Liang. The artisans and medical craftsmen recruited by Wen Chou from the city have arrived in the camp one after another. They also lived in a temporary wounded barracks and received proper treatment.

"My lord has solved many difficult problems just after he arrived in Daying. We should thank you." Zhang Xiao praised sincerely.Lin Xun, Pan Ta, Liao Lei, and Ding Bo, who followed Zhang Xiao, also expressed their thanks respectfully.After they got in touch with Li Hong these few days, their attitude towards Li Hong changed greatly. At first, several people were very awed and wary of Li Hong, but soon, they were overwhelmed by Li Hong's every move, and they began to respect and respect Li Hong. Admiring Li Hong, even Liao Lei, who has always been as cold as ice, is smiling these days.

Li Hong was very pleased to see that the soldiers were warmly dressed and full of food. He smiled and said to Zhang Xiao, "I am ashamed, not only I am ashamed, but you should be even more ashamed." He pointed to Lin Xun and the others and said, "The soldiers shed blood and sweat, what do they ask for? One piece of clothing, one meal. If we can't even do this, what face do we have standing here and dictating?"

Zhang Xiao and the others looked ashamed and bowed their heads in embarrassment.

"I know your difficulties, but as a direct leader, you should consider your subordinates more than yourself..." Li Hong gradually became serious, and he said with a pun, "We are about the same age, all young, They are all in official positions, and they all hold the rank and salary of the imperial court, but ask ourselves, are we loyal to the Han Dynasty? Are we worthy of the salary we get? I don’t think so.” He pointed to the soldiers surrounding him and said, “They also They are loyal to the country, but what about their military pay? Why don’t we give them their military pay? Why don’t we pay them?”

Li Hong looked at Yan Liang, Zhang Xiao, Lin Xun and others, and said slowly: "Solve this matter immediately, it can be regarded as doing your best for His Majesty."

Li Hong saw Dahei and his comrades again, they were eating.

"Your Excellency is leaving the barracks soon?" a soldier summoned up his courage and asked.

"Yes, in ten days or so, His Majesty will leave Luoyang for Jizhou. There are many things to do." Li Hong said with a smile, "I can't delay any longer. I want to go to Hejian Kingdom. If there is nothing else, I will I won’t go back to the barracks anymore, so please take care of yourself.”

The soldiers in the military tent looked at each other in blank dismay, everyone suddenly became depressed, each of them looked gloomy and remained silent.

"What's the matter?" Li Hong smiled, "Dahei, tell me, is there anything else I can help with?"

"As soon as you leave, the military salary will definitely be gone." Dahei sighed, and said helplessly, "If the military salary is gone, it will be gone, and we don't count on it, but once you leave, we may not even be able to eat. .”

"No way?" Li Hong looked at the soldiers and comforted him, "Don't worry, I have already agreed with Lord Jizhou Inspector Wang Fenwang that I will give you three months' military salary first. Come back, I will ask for it for you, and I will definitely send it to you."

Dahei smiled wryly, shook his head, cupped his hands and said, "Thank you sir, you are a good person. You have been patrolling the camp for a long time, so why don't you eat something with us."

"My lord, just eat with us."

"Hurry up and serve the adults."

The soldiers shouted in disorder, very enthusiastic and looking forward to it.

While nodding repeatedly, Li Hong smiled to Yan Liang, Zhang Xiao and the others who were following behind him: "Everyone, let's leave. You each go find a place to eat, and I'll eat here, break up, break up."

======================
After listening to Xu You's narration, Wang Fen said with a smile: "Li Hong has a lot of ideas. I handed over the military funds to you in front of tens of thousands of soldiers. To put it bluntly, it's just to give the soldiers an excuse to make trouble. Okay, It’s good to make trouble, I was worrying about how to get Yan Liang to be fooled, now it’s all right, we don’t need to try to recruit, Yan Liang will be sent to the door.”

"Yuanshan, should we properly pay the army for one month to calm down the morale of the army?" Chen Yi suggested, "Now the soldiers know that the military funds have been handed over to the state capital. Passive."

"No money." Wang Fen said indifferently, "It's the army of the bitter chieftain, he will find a way." He looked at Xu You and asked, "Ziyuan, after Li Hong left, how many people did Yan Liang bring to stay in the Dalai Lama?" camp?"

"As your lord said, two thousand black leopards will obey." Xu You smiled, "Li Hong was probably worried that we would find out about Yan Liang, and he discussed with Yuan Shu yesterday that he should keep Jiang Wu in the Xiangyu Mountain Camp, Yuan Shu rejected all the parts of the northern army that were recruited."

"This Yuan Shu is not bad, he is quite trustworthy." Zhou Jing laughed, "If he hadn't said a few words at the critical moment, our plan would have been very difficult to succeed."

"Your Excellency gave him money and beauties, and Yuan Gonglu must do his best." Xu You said with a smile, "He is a well-known chivalrous man in Luoyang, so of course he has to be faithful."

Chen Yi snorted coldly with disdain: "It's okay not to mention the people who bully the world. I heard that Yan Liang's nickname is Hutou, and he is a brave and bloodthirsty person. We should be careful and not be too careless."

"Don't worry, Boyan, we have our own plan to capture and kill." Wang Fen said with a smile, "You immediately accompany Master Xiangkai to the south and bring the King of Hefei to Jizhou as soon as possible. If there is no accident, in ten days or so, His Majesty will I left Luoyang and went north to Jizhou."

"Shu Yang, go to Xindu City yourself and arrange things properly." Wang Fen pointed to Zhou Jing and said, "You will take the money paid to Yuan Shu with you. Changshuiying will do its best to deal with Xindu. , so you don't want to offend Yuan Shu, you must serve him well, understand?"

Zhou Jing nodded with disgust on his face.

=======================

Xiang Kai was pleasantly surprised when he saw Zhang Ju.

He held Zhang Ju's hand tightly, and said with a smile, "Zhengyuan, why are you here? How is Boyun?"

"Bo Yun went to Liaodong and hasn't come back." Zhang Ju said with a smile, "I received a letter from the master, and suddenly remembered that I haven't seen the master for eight years, and I wanted to meet you very much, so I came here. "

"Zhengyuan, thank you." Xiang Kai said emotionally, "You are getting old too, and your temple hair has turned gray a lot. Have you always been in good health?"

"It's okay, it's okay." Zhang Ju sighed, "Eight years have passed, and the master's hair is all white. Time is not forgiving."

"Come into the house, come in." Xiang Kai took Zhang Ju's hand and said as he looked into the house, "It's too hard for you to come all the way from Yuyang in such a cold day. Since the great virtuous teacher We have not been in touch since the death of the immortal. A few years ago, I heard that you served as the prefect of Taishan County, and these few years, I heard that you run a school in Yuyang, and you have thousands of disciples, right?"

"I went back to my hometown directly after I resigned from the prefect of Mount Tai." Zhang Ju said with a smile, "I opened a small Nanshan Academy in Yuyang East City. I have indeed taught many disciples in the past few years. Smart."

Zhang Ju is in his 50s, tall and thin, with a long face and long beard, elegant temperament, and his speech and demeanor show the demeanor of a famous artist.He is a great Confucian in Youzhou. He was famous in Yuyang for his erudition when he was a child. After he became an adult, he worshiped Yang Bing, a great Confucian of Hongnong in Guandong, as his teacher, and studied in "Sanyu Academy".Yang Bing was the father of Yang Ci, the teacher of the emperor.Yang Ci took good care of this little junior and tried his best to recommend it to the emperor, so Zhang Ju was able to work as a doctor in Taixue for several years.When Yang Ci was a Situ, he was enlisted to serve as the chief historian in Situ's mansion, and was soon released as an official.

In the sixth year of Xiping (AD 177), Situ Yang sent a letter to the emperor, asking the court to punish Zhang Jiao and his Taiping Tao.He told the emperor that there was a Julu man named Zhang Jiao who founded a "Taiping Dao" and claimed to be a great virtuous teacher. He used mantras and talisman water to heal people among the people.According to folk rumors, Zhang Jiao has boundless spells and rejuvenates his hands.For more than ten years, there have been as many as [-] followers of him, and they have spread throughout the eight states of Qing, Xu, You, Ji, Jing, Yang, Yan, and Henan in the Han Dynasty. bigger.But the bureaucrats in various states and counties were confused by him, thinking that Zhang Jue taught the people with good ways, which was harmless, and even had followers, including his junior brother Zhang Ju.Yang Ci believed that Zhang Jue and his Taiping Dao would harm the Han society, so he proposed to kill Zhang Jiao and disband the Taiping Dao, but the emperor ignored it.Soon, Zhang Ju and Yang Ci turned against each other because of this incident, and the two ignored each other, but Yang Ci admired his talent very much and did not impeach him for it.

In Zhang Ju's view, Taipingdao can solve many problems, including revitalizing the great man, so he joined Taipingdao without hesitation and became a good friend of Zhang Jiao, a great virtuous teacher.A year later, Yang Ci was dismissed for some reason, and Zhang Ju, who had been under the protection of the Yang Clan, was dismissed immediately.Zhang Ju hated the corruption and darkness of the Han court deeply, and went home to run a school to teach.

In Yuyang, apart from the Xianyu family, even their Zhang family is the largest.Among the Zhang family, Zhang Ju and Zhang Chun are the most outstanding. Both of them have successively served as high-ranking officials in the imperial court.Zhang Ju, in particular, has become a famous Confucian in Youzhou in the past few years because he has both ability and virtue, and has many disciples.

=====================

Xiang Kai and Zhang Ju sat around a brazier and talked for a long time. They talked about the people and things in the past, the great virtuous teachers and the Yellow Turban Army, and they were full of emotions.

"Zhengyuan, you are a famous contemporary Confucian with a respected status. You came quietly from Youzhou, so you can't just come to see me?" Xiangkai said with a smile, "Zhengyuan, our friend for many years, what's the matter?" , just say it."

Zhang Ju half-opened his eyes full of wisdom, silently watching the dancing flames in the brazier, did not speak, he was meditating, and seemed to be thinking about how to express his meaning better.

Xiang Kai stared at him and said, "If you are a day late, I will go south, so today we can meet again after eight years, which shows that we are still very destined."

Zhang Ju nodded slightly, and said with a smile, "The master's words gave me a lot of confidence."

Xiang Kai took a careful look at him and asked, "Did Shuai Anding persuade you?"

Zhang Ju smiled and said nothing.

Xiang Kai was slightly surprised and then asked: "Did he come to Liaodong in person just to convince Liaodong Karasuma Lord Qiao Wang Su Puyan?"

Zhang Ju nodded and said, "I came here just to ask the master personally, what are the chances of winning this matter?"

"Why did you listen to him?" Xiangkai asked, "Zhengyuan, you refused Zhang Jiao's invitation and did not join the Yellow Turban Army, saying that you didn't want to see the people in the world suffer. I admire you after hearing that, but now Why are you going down this road again?"

Zhang Ju's face was as still as water, and he didn't speak.

"I wrote to Boyun repeatedly, telling him not to repeat the same mistakes. Zhang Jiao and Zhang Niujiao have already tried this method, but it doesn't work. This method of conquering the world will only push the big man into deeper suffering. It is a sin to let thousands of innocent people in the world die miserably and helplessly in dire straits. Zhang Jiao's master and apprentice were all sent by heaven because of their sins. Could it be that Commander Anding hasn't learned his lesson and wants to go his own way? Do you have to go on this hopeless road?" Xiang Kai was a little excited, and his tone was more dignified.

Zhang Ju's expression changed, and his face changed slightly.In Xiang Kai's words, it is obvious that he has no confidence in their plan.

"What's the purpose of Handsome Anding? Does he want to be the emperor himself?" Xiang Kai calmed down and asked, "Is he very dissatisfied with my actions?"

Zhang Ju pondered for a long time, and said, "Bo Yun is very appreciative of the master's approach, but he thinks the master is too confident. The master hijacked the emperor and appointed the king of Hefei as the king. How many people in the world do you know will support and recognize the new emperor?" "

Xiang Kai's lips parted slightly, trying to say something, but after a moment of hesitation, he swallowed it back.

"Master wants to use Luoyang's eunuch to poison the eldest prince to death, bring down the great general He Jin, and then let them open the gates of the city to welcome the new emperor back to Luoyang to preside over the government, right?" Zhang Ju asked.

Xiang Kai stroked his long beard with his hand, smiled and said nothing.

"But what if the treacherous eunuch in the court fails? What about the general who reestablishes the emperor in Luoyang? Has the master thought about how to deal with the aftermath?" Zhang Ju looked at Xiangkai, who was downcast, and said slowly, "The master thinks that with the help of the Black Mountain Yellow Turban Can Yang Feng and Bai Rao of the army stop the northern army of the imperial court? You must know that Huangfusong, Zhu Jun, and Lu Zhi are all in Luoyang now, and it will be very difficult for Yang Feng and others to defeat any one of them leading the army."

Zhang Ju picked up the tongs, gently picked up two pieces of charcoal and put them into the brazier, and continued: "The master also got the promise from Zhang Yan, the commander of the Yellow Turban Army, right? But Zhang Yan is determined to occupy Taiyuan, and it is almost impossible for him to send troops to Jizhou." No, Master should know this better than we do. As for Mr. Xi Da in Xingyang, he is single and weak, and it seems a bit too difficult for him to count on him to stop the Northern Army."

"Our strength in Yuyang is not very strong, so we can't help Master, so..." Zhang Ju looked up at Xiang Kai, and said, "Bo Yun thought of using the help of Xianbei people and Karasuma people to ensure that Master's plan is foolproof. strength……"

Xiang Kai smiled wryly, and said helplessly: "Thank you, but I really don't need such help. Boyun is setting himself on fire and harming the big man. Zhengyuan, why didn't you persuade him? Why didn't you stop him?"

Zhang Ju sighed and said, "Will he listen to me?"

"How many adults in Wuwan people in northern Xinjiang are willing to help?" Xiang Kai asked, "His brother, Qiu Liju in western Liaoning must be obliged. What about Yan? What about the Xianbei people? I heard that Mijia, the master of Xianbei in the east, has been friends with him for many years, is it true?"

Zhang Ju nodded, and said: "In addition to the few people the master mentioned, Boyun also went to White Sandalwood City to meet Murong Feng."

Xiang Kai was shocked, and he blurted out: "Bo Yun, is he crazy? What does he want to do? Does he want to hand over Northern Xinjiang to Murong Feng?"

"Master misunderstood." Zhang Ju hurriedly explained, "Xianbei people on the border of Chen Bing will definitely invade the Han in the short term. Murong Feng, who is located on the border of Youzhou, has not recovered since he was defeated by the Han army the year before last. He thought it was just to meet Xianbei King Helian's invitation, and he estimated that Murong Feng would not take the risk of attacking Youzhou."

"But the problem is, if we want to go south to support Master, we have to raise troops in Yuyang, and Youzhou will immediately fall into war. At this time, who can guarantee that Murong Feng will not take the opportunity to invade Youzhou to fish in troubled waters? Starting from this point, he took the initiative to meet with Murong Feng to form a covenant..."

"A traitor..." Xiang Kai patted the table angrily, and said loudly, "Bo Yun is a bastard, who is he, who is Murong Feng, he will casually agree to a traitor's request. To satisfy Because of Murong Feng's greed, Boyun will definitely agree to many shameless demands, and because of this, Murong Feng will quickly regain his vitality and send troops to invade our Han Kingdom at any time. It's really stupid for Boyun to seek skin from a tiger."

Zhang Ju smiled calmly, and comforted him: "Master, don't be impatient. Is Boyun that kind of person? You are very familiar with Boyun, and you should know what he is like. How could he betray the country and seek glory? It's just an idiot."

"Bo Yun is arrogant and self-righteous. He thinks that he is more capable than anyone else, but he is actually a madman." Xiang Kai scolded dissatisfiedly, "He uses barbarians, don't barbarians also use him? Bo If Yun does this, he will not only lose the hearts of the people, but will also be reviled by the world. You go back and tell him that I don’t need his help in the future, so as not to get stuck in his bad luck and lose my reputation in life. The same goes for you.” Xiang Kai Pointing to Zhang Ju, he said, "Zhengyuan, you go back immediately and teach your disciples to read at ease. Don't get involved with him, lest there will be a disaster of massacring the family in the future."

Zhang Ju smiled and asked: "What the master is doing now, isn't there the disaster of massacring the family?"

Xiang Kai was speechless, and he sighed, "I've given you all the money that should be given to you. What you do in the future is your business, so you can do it yourself. How about the matter I entrusted to Boyun?"

Zhang Ju said calmly: "Everyone has arrived in Yecheng, and they have already been handed over to Hanfang. Master, we haven't seen each other for eight years, let's talk about something else."

Xiang Kai said with a smile: "That's right. The matter of Jizhou will be decided soon. If you talk too much, you will be worried. Are you leaving tomorrow?"

===================

Jun Hou Machete fell in love with a camp prostitute in the military market.

He took advantage of the opportunity of patrolling the camp, greeted several subordinates, sneaked into the military city at night, and climbed onto the bed of the camp prostitute.The camp prostitute said something to him that caught Machete's attention.She said that one of her sisters died a few days ago and was beaten to death by a horse dealer named Ma.The horse dealer stayed in the military market for more than a month. He usually hides in the camp and plays with women, and rarely comes out for activities.Although he can't be seen doing business, he is very rich and spends a lot of money. He often recruits five or six camp prostitutes at a time to play all night.

Machete didn't believe it, he said how could it be possible, how could there be such a powerful man.The camp prostitute said, you misunderstood, it was not for him alone, but for entertaining several adults in the army.

The machete immediately became alert.He asked the camp prostitute, what kind of adult is he, does he come here often?

The camp prostitute smiled and said, "It's an adult older than you. They were drinking in that horse dealer's tent tonight, and several of my sisters were called away."

The more he thought about it, the machete became more and more suspicious. He hurriedly got up and put on his clothes, saying that he was going to have a look.The camp prostitute then pointed the way.

The machete had just lurked outside the horse dealer's tent when he heard Panta's voice.Panta speaks in a slightly high-pitched voice, which is very recognizable.He listened carefully for a while, and found that there were still a few people, but they were not familiar with them. They were probably the subordinates of some small officers or horse dealers.He lay in the corner and listened for an hour, but he didn't hear anything. Everyone inside was talking nonsense.The machete was shivering from the cold, but he couldn't hold on any longer. He guessed that Panta, like himself, had sneaked out to have fun, so he planned to go back.

At this moment, the horse dealer inside suddenly said something that made Machete very happy.

"Zi Zhong, tell them when you go back, don't come these days."

"What if we're in a hurry?" Panta asked in a high-pitched voice.

"There is no urgent matter these days, it is nothing more than instigating Yan Hutou to make trouble. If there is no result in tomorrow's matter, you must tell me immediately, and I will send people into the city immediately."

"Is there any other way?" Panta asked.

"It is estimated that your food will be cut off." The horse dealer said, "Once the food is gone, I guess that Yan Hutou will be furious, and he will go to the state capital with a big knife."

The machete outside the tent immediately slipped away like a ghost.

====================
(End of this chapter)