When the news that the Hu army's more than 200,000 troops had been annihilated by the Northwest Army spread throughout Xinjing, the dignitaries and nobles living in the inner city were shocked and had mixed feelings at the same time.

Among them, most of them have surrendered to the Hu people in order to save their lives, and they are already considered to be people from the side of the Great Turk.

But who would have thought that in just a few days, the whole situation would be turned upside down.

Before the Hu army, which had just taken Xinjing, was hot in its chairs, the northwest army led by the Ning family suddenly approached the city.

Then, in just two days, the Northwest Army relied on powerful new firearms to force the Hu people into the inner city.

Now he has wiped out the army of more than 200,000 Hu people in one fell swoop, and the Hu people have been wiped out.

Such a Ning family, such a Northwest Army, is so strong that people are afraid and have to be afraid.

Now all the officials and families who have surrendered to the Hu people are almost huddled at home and trembling, completely unaware of what the Ning family will do with them next.

Compared with the fears and uneasiness of those dignitaries and nobles living in the inner city, the more than 100,000 people from the outer city who had only been rescued from the forbidden area by the Northwest Army not long ago all flocked to the side of Beimen Street to watch the tragic situation of the Hu people after learning that the Northwest Army had defeated the Hu people.

When they saw a large number of Hu corpses being pulled away by the soldiers of the Northwest Army on flatbed trucks one by one, many people could not help but burst into tears and wept bitterly.

What happened in the past few days has made these Xinjing people unforgettable for the rest of their lives.

Since the fall of Xinjing, these Hu people who killed thousands of knives not only robbed them of their belongings, but also raped the women in their families one by one.

Those who resist are almost immediately killed by their butcher's knives.

In the past few days, these hundreds of thousands of Xinjing people have tasted what hell on earth is for the first time, and they have also witnessed the hatred and horror of the Hu people for the first time.

In front of these wolf-like Hu people, all the people were slaughtered like pigs and sheep, without the power to resist.

Later, when everyone was locked up by the Hu people, someone learned from the Hu people who were guarding that the Hu people were preparing to eat them as two-legged sheep.

This news immediately frightened everyone, it turned out that the Hu people really could eat people.

Just when all the people who were locked up were feeling hopeless and frightened, things took a turn for the worse.

One afternoon, a group of soldiers calling themselves the Northwest Army burst in and rescued them all, and gave porridge to people who had been hungry for days in several locations.

It was only at this time that the people of Xinjing knew that the Hu people had been defeated by the Northwest Army led by the Ning family.

Now that they have seen the corpses of countless Hu people being dragged away by truckloads, these hundreds of thousands of Xinjing people feel relieved of their hatred, and at the same time, they also have unprecedented gratitude and shame for the Northwest Army that rescued them.

The reason why they feel ashamed is because not long ago, they were still accustomed to calling the Northwest Army the Northwest Barbarians, and regarded them as bandit traitors who were as brutal and rude as the Hu people.

However, it was such a group of northwestern barbarians who they regarded as bandits, who not only helped them defeat the Hu people, but also gave them free soup porridge so that they would not starve to death.

How could the Northwest Army's practice of repaying grievances with virtue not make many people in Xinjing ashamed.

Due to the large number of corpses of the Hu people, if they cannot be disposed of in a short time, it is very likely to cause a plague in the city.

Therefore, after the end of the war, Ning Zhiyuan immediately ordered a large number of soldiers to dig a number of mass graves used to bury the corpses in the desert outside the city, and then dragged the corpses of the Hu people outside the city and threw them directly into the mass graves to bury.

Just as the people stood on both sides of the street and watched excitedly as the soldiers in the northwest were busy transporting the corpses, there was suddenly a commotion ahead.

Immediately after that, the people saw from a distance that a general wearing silver armor and a majestic face was slowly walking over on a tall horse.

In addition to him, there were also a number of generals who were also wearing battle armor who followed closely behind with the power of the stars and the moon.

All the northwestern soldiers who saw the general immediately knelt down on one knee and bowed their hands: "Marshal Jin'an." ”

Soon, the entire street was filled with officers and soldiers half-kneeling saluting him, shouting in unison, "Great Marshal Jin'an." ”

In fact, since the Ning family defected from the imperial court, Ning Zhiyuan began to change the military etiquette to show that he was different from the Wei army.

In the Wei army, junior non-commissioned officers or non-commissioned officers were required to bow down when they saw a superior officer.

The so-called kneeling ceremony refers to the worshipper kneeling on the ground, pressing the left hand on the right hand, supporting it on the ground, and then bowing the head to the ground, leaving it for a while, the hand in front of the knee, the head behind the hand, and the forehead touching the ground.

And Ning Zhiyuan has been fighting in the northwest since he was young, and he regards all the northwest soldiers as colleagues rather than chess pieces. And he has always done things simply, and he hates useless showmanship the most.

Therefore, he directly abolished the kneeling salute in the military salute and replaced it with a one-knee half-kneeling and bowing salute.

In this way, not only can the Shangguan see the face of the lower official clearly, but the whole process of saluting is also much easier.

Although the military salute of the Northwest Army is different from that of the Wei Army, judging from this title, it is obvious that that person is Ning Zhiyuan, the general of the Northwest.

After learning that the general Ning Zhiyuan was present at the scene, all the onlookers were immediately excited and rushed in the direction where the general was.

In order to protect the safety of the marshal, of course, the guards could not let so many people get too close to the marshal, and immediately stopped the crowd of people from a distance of a few feet.

Although they couldn't walk to the general's side, the people still couldn't hide their excitement, and shouted loudly through the human wall: "Thank you for saving your life!" ”

"Thank you General, thank you General for saving us, thank you General for ......"

"General, thank you for killing all these Hu people who killed a thousand knives for us, my old father can finally look at it."

"Yes, my son can be blinded too. Thank you, General, thank you, General. ”

Words of thanks such as these kept coming, fully expressing the people's gratitude to the Northwest Army.

In the face of everyone's thanks, Ning Zhiyuan, who was riding on the horse, solemnly bowed.

Seeing the general's reaction, the people suddenly became even more excited.

At this moment, someone in the crowd suddenly shouted: "Long live Ning Gong, long live the Northwest Army!" ”

Hearing this, the people couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.

Can the word "long live" be shouted casually? Isn't this only the emperor who can call long live?

Before the people could react, several people in the crowd shouted: "Long live Ning Gong, long live the Northwest Army!" ”

The number of people shouting like this quickly changed from a few to a dozen, and then from a dozen to dozens or even hundreds.

Driven by these people, the people who were already emotional couldn't help but shout loudly: "Long live Ning Gong, long live the Northwest Army!" ”

Soon, the entire street, whether it was ordinary people or ordinary soldiers, all shouted the same sentence, "Long live Ning Gong, long live the Northwest Army!" ”

The sound grew louder and louder, deafening, and almost everyone fell into some kind of frenzy.

In such an overwhelming voice, even Ning Zhiyuan, who has always been self-respecting, couldn't help but be enthusiastic.

But after all, he was a well-informed old fox, and soon noticed that there was something strange about it.

Almost subconsciously, he turned his head to look at his little son-in-law Chi Fei behind him.

Sure enough, seeing this kid smiling at the corner of his mouth, he felt a kind of pride that his plan had succeeded.

However, when he found that his father-in-law was looking at him, he immediately sat with his head bowed and precariously pretending not to know anything.

Seeing that he was still pretending to be confused there, Ning Zhiyuan couldn't help but be angry and funny, and at the same time, a comfortable warmth swelled in his heart.

Sure enough, there are many things that he doesn't need to say, this kid has already helped him do it quietly, and even better than he imagined.

Zhang Wenxuan, who was walking in the crowd, naturally saw the clues, and couldn't help but show an appreciative smile on his face.

Mr. Su's fake trick is really good, and it really plays beautifully.

At this juncture when the Zhao royal family had just been exterminated by the Hu people, and many people in Xinjing who had been rescued by the Northwest Army were full of gratitude to the Ning family, they skillfully used this surging public opinion to build momentum for the Ning family.

At least the public opinion in Xinjing will be more and more inclined to defeat the Hu people and restore Ning Zhiyuan, the general of the northwest who recovered Xinjing.

With such an operation, the public opinion foundation for the Ning family to replace the Zhao royal family as the new lord of Great Wei has been decided.

Of course, the support of these hundreds of thousands of Xinjing people alone is not enough to influence public opinion throughout the country.

But as long as the Ning family continued to send troops to quell the unrest in various places, and to enforce benevolent governance in the provincial capitals as they did in the northwest and northeast, this trend would sooner or later sweep across the country.

However, if the Ning family wants to truly become the new lord of the Central Plains who leads hundreds of officials and is convinced by all the people, they must also have an orthodox reputation like the Zhao royal family that has been destroyed.

Zhang Wenxuan believes that with the shrewdness of the lord and Mr. Su, they must have already thought of a way to deal with it.

Zhang Wenxuan, as Ning Zhiyuan's mastermind, should have given advice to Ning Zhiyuan, who was the lord.

But only in the matter of succeeding the unification, he doesn't want to get too involved in it, because it's not something he should meddle in.

To put it mildly, what the Ning family did was indeed a heinous crime of rebellion for the Great Wei Imperial Court, and it was a great crime to punish the nine clans.

It's just that the Ning family is very smart and has been rebelling against the imperial court under the banner of Emperor Jing'an's relics.

claimed that he had to defect from the court because he was unwilling to accept the orders of Zhao Yufeng, the Shuntian Emperor Zhao Yanfeng, and Xie Mingshun, the Duke of Anguo, who were rebellious ministers of Shijun Shi's father.

But now the full-fledged Ning family still wants to usurp the throne in order to sit on that chair.

However, at this moment, things changed dramatically, and it became almost like a coincidence.

This earth-shattering change is that the entire Zhao royal family was wiped out by the Hu people.

In this way, the Ning family, who successfully defeated the Hu people and recovered Jiangnan, was not a usurpation, but obeyed the will of heaven and public will and won the world.

Zhang Wenxuan is a sophisticated realist, and he does not believe that this kind of coincidence is really predestined by God.

Recalling the various marching arrangements of the lord Ning Zhiyuan who was not in a hurry and was like a prophet along the way, Zhang Wenxuan had already vaguely guessed a few clues in his heart.

It's just that he doesn't dare to be sure, let alone say half a sentence to others.

Some things have to rot in the stomach.

Therefore, in the matter of the Ning family's succession to the unification, Zhang Wenxuan will neither ask nor interfere, and try to keep himself out of the matter.

……………………

After inspecting the battlefield near Beimen Street, Ning Zhiyuan immediately walked to the inner city with a large group of generals and staff.

For the first time since the Great War, they entered the inner city.

Unlike the scene of thousands of empty alleys and sandwich roads in the outer city, the inner city is obviously much more deserted.

Many homes were closed, and few people came out to welcome the arrival of the Northwest Army.

Most of the eyes that peeked out of the windows were full of uneasiness, fear, and even disgust.

The reason why there is such a big difference in the attitudes of the people in the outer city and the inner city is mainly because the people who were rescued by the Northwest Army were ordinary people living in the outer city, and many wealthy families living in the inner city were not imprisoned by the Hu people.

Thanks to the vigorous resistance of the Great Wei court over the years, in the eyes of the residents of Xinjing, the Northwest Army, which had betrayed the imperial court, was a bunch of barbarians, just like the Hu people.

It's just that the people living in the outer city have just been rescued by the Northwest Army, and they have also received all kinds of relief from the army, so their attitude towards the Northwest Army has changed 180 degrees.

However, these residents of the inner city, who are either rich or noble, have not been rescued by the Northwest Army, and they still believe wishfully that once the Northwest Army enters the city, they will definitely loot and kill people like the Hu people.

Therefore, the residents of the inner city who had just experienced the catastrophe would close the doors of every house, lest the Northwest Army would break in.

Regarding the indifferent attitude of the residents of the inner city, Ning Zhiyuan and the others didn't care, and they were even surprised.

Almost all the territories that were defeated by their Northwest Army were so panicked by the local people at first.

After they saw with their own eyes the strict military discipline of the Northwest Army, as well as the various good governance implemented by the Ning family in the days to come, they would naturally change their opinion of the Northwest Army.

Under the protection of thousands of guards, the group headed directly to the imperial city.

When I came to the front of the imperial city, I saw that in front of the main gate of the imperial palace, it was already full of people.

Most of them were Great Wei officials wearing official uniforms, as well as nobles of the family who lived in Xinjingli.

In addition to these officials and nobles, the most eye-catching are the two women in palace costumes standing at the front of the procession.

These two are none other than the eldest princess of Qingping and Princess Chunfang, who disappeared before.

The eldest princess of Qingping is the elder sister of Emperor Jing'an, with a respected status and high morality. In terms of generation, she is also the aunt of Princess Chunfang.

And Princess Chunfang is the concubine of Emperor Jing'an, the biological daughter of the former queen, and also has an extremely noble identity.

These two princesses are the only two remaining bloodlines for the Zhao royal family, which was almost wiped out by the Hu people.

It's just that the two princesses are both women, and they are both married and have families, so they have no right to inherit the throne in legal theory.

When he saw the eldest princess of Qingping and the princess Chunfang appear in front of the hundred officials, Mr. Zhang Wenxuan, who was the mastermind of Ning Zhiyuan, finally knew how the lord was going to "correct his name", and he couldn't help but show a smile on his face.

The lord and Mr. Su are really powerful, and every move can be said to be exhaustive and leaky.

Next, he should not have to do anything, just wait and watch the show.