The southeast of Jiufeng Mountain was the fief of Li Zongxing, the king of Yunnan. The king of Yunnan is not hereditary, although there has been this system in all dynasties, and occasionally there will be cases of succession between the father and the son, but nominally, the king of Yunnan has to be appointed by the Son of Heaven. This is the case of Li Zongxing, the king of Yunnan today, shortly after Li Zongxu, the son of Zhaotian, ascended the throne, and caught up with the death of the previous king of Yunnan, so he sealed his younger brother to Yunnan.

"Yunnan is splendid, magnificent rivers." This is the scenery of Yunnan evaluated by the scholars outside the mountain. The scenery is naturally good, but if you live for a long time, the feeling is not quite the same. Yunnan is barren, there is no land and there is a mouth, and it is starving everywhere in a disaster year. The mountains and rivers are rugged, the mountain is not high, after all, it is out of the Jiufeng Mountain Area, but the slope is very steep, and the traffic is inconvenient.

"There is no way out of the mountains and rivers, and the willows and flowers are bright and another village." That's great, of course, but it's not a good thing for the residents.

In such a place, Zhao Guo would invest troops to garrison it every year, and also demarcate fiefs and set up princes for this purpose. The reason for this is the Miao country in the West. Miao was an alien dynasty west of Jiufeng Mountain and south of Changkashan. The history is also very long, and there is more than one dynasty, but due to the language barrier, not many people know the name of their home country in the Central Plains. Even the word "Miao" does not come from the Miao country, but a traveler who traveled to Miao and said that the sound "miao" often appeared in their language, so they were referred to by "Miao people".

Not long after the Central Plains and Miao communicated with each other, the relationship between Miao and the Central Plains was to fight and stop, you come and go, you retreat and I advance. By the time of the establishment of Zhao, due to the decay of the previous dynasty, Miao's territory had spread to the Tiange River, occupying half of the south of the Yangtze River. Fortunately, Zhaozu was eloquent and strategic, fought many times, recaptured the lost territory in the Central Plains, and drove the Miao people back to the west of Yunnan.

It is said that this huge defeat also caused a coup d'état on Miao's side, and as for the details, the people of the Central Plains do not know.

It's just that despite this setback, the Miao people still miss the Central Plains, and Yunnan has become a land of soldiers. Although it is said that there are also mountain passes north of Jiufeng Mountain that can be used with troops, for Yan State, it is a natural fortress, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and vice versa, so although Miao has troops stationed in the northern Xinjiang, it is difficult to use each other with the defenders of Yan State.

In order to deal with the Miao people, the Zhao State set up the King of Yunnan, which is the only prince in the world today who has a fief and an army.

Li Zongxing has had a good relationship with his imperial brother since he was a child, and once gave Li Zongxu a lot of support, but although he has talent, he seems to be wooden, and his imperial brother named him in Yunnan, which is not only to use his talent, but also to protect him and let him leave the whirlpool of the capital.

In the first few years of his arrival in Yunnan, Li Zongxing's main work was to renovate water conservancy, improve the administration of officials, and strengthen education. Unlike other magistrates, in other places, even if the governor has the heart, it will be difficult to rectify the atmosphere because of various things up and down. Li Zongxing is different, in this part of Yunnan, he is the Son of Heaven, the holder of the power of life and death, and this power is even more real than that of the Son of Heaven.

Another point is that the materials, money, and grain used in the rectification of Yunnan were all approved by the Son of Heaven. The Son of Heaven has never been very concerned about the affairs of Yunnan, which makes Li Zongxing's hand very open.

In short, Li Zongxing has only been king for three years, and this place in Yunnan has taken on a new look. Although the natural environment is difficult to change, the living conditions of the local people have been greatly improved. It was only at this time that the king of Yunnan seemed to remember the matter of military training.

He let the veterans return to the field, re-recruited the army, and then he inserted his own disciples into the army, each performing his own good duties. The disciples of the king of Yunnan are not mortals, there are all kinds of people in the three religions and nine streams, from the ethereal hermit to the merchant in the market, and there are also those who have committed serious crimes. If someone wants to come to eat the food of the king of Yunnan, they don't need a background, they don't need a source, they are meritocracy. As long as there are talents, the king of Yunnan will provide them with good wine and vegetables, and he is very respectful to them. After a long time, he has a group of talented people who are willing to die for allegiance.

In the second year of Wankang, Li Zongxing was entitled, and in August of the sixth year of Wankang, the Miao army marched eastward.

Li Zongxing personally took command and put on armor, and returned home with five victories in five consecutive battles within seven days, and the soldiers were like rainbows, chasing straight to the west of Jiufeng Mountain. Later, the Yunnan Wang army had no choice but to retreat because of the problem of transporting grain. Since then, the Miao army's vitality has been greatly damaged, and there have always been small fights, but it has not been able to organize a powerful attack for a long time.

After this battle, Zhao Tianzi trusted his younger brother even more. Although it is inconvenient to communicate because of the long distance, there are many correspondences between the Son of Heaven and the King of Yunnan, and most of the content is not official business, but a kind of approximate family routine.

In the thirteenth year of Wankang, the side affairs rose sharply. Not only did the Yan Kingdom advance southward, but the seedlings also began to have buds from the east. On the border, the wolf smoke is about to rise. This is also the reason why I heard that the king of Yunnan did not send elite soldiers to rescue when the Yan army crossed to the south. Both sides are tiger and wolf foreign enemies, and the Miao army is becoming more and more powerful, and the king of Yunnan has no reason to divide his troops.

As a result, until General Gao stabilized the northern border affairs, there was no major movement in the Miao army. There are many scouts coming and going on the Miaozhao border every day, but most of them are just looking at the general information, and Li Zongxing really doesn't have much specific information in his hands.

"I'm a little panicked." The King of Yunnan muttered softly to himself.

"Why is this so, Your Highness? Why not be bold and continue the battle of seven years ago? The white-faced man holding a guqin in the midst of incense on the side asked.

"At this time and that time, we can't always expect everything to go well, seven years ago we can say that we took advantage of it, and this time Miao Guo is prepared, he knows me, I don't know him, I really have to take precautions."

The enemy is dark and I am clear, this can really be said to be a taboo for soldiers, but now Li Zongxing is powerless. He waved his hand, wanting Fuqin's doorman to go down and stay alone for a while. I saw that the man slowly took off the string, stood up from the seat, and arched his hand to Li Zongxing.

"The minister retired, but the heart of the retribution to His Highness has not retreated, His Royal Highness has thousands of capable people, when there is a way to break the situation, I hope His Highness will not hesitate."

"I see, go ahead."

As a result, Li Zongxing did not get the "stay alone for a while" he wanted, and as soon as the qin worker left, he walked into a post office from outside the hall, and he held a paper bag in his hand, which contained two letters, one written by Silk Emperor Jin, and the other was ordinary plain paper. Although the materials are very different, the two letters together are very telling. Li Zongxing didn't dare to slack off, and was busy opening the letter and taking a closer look.

That brocade letter is, of course, His Majesty's imperial letter, to the effect that in order to support the war in Yunnan, the north specially ordered Gao Wenyuan to lead 100,000 troops to merge into the subordinates of the king of Yunnan. Of course, there are also routine encouragements, similar to the king of Yunnan not to let down the widow or something, Li Zongxing is too lazy to look at it.

As for the signature of the plain paper letter, it was Ma Chengjiang, the general of Zhenguo, and the beginning of the letter was similar to the content of another letter, and in the middle was his analysis of this matter, saying that this was probably a political warning, and he was very helpless between the lines. Based on the understanding of the king of Yunnan about Ma Chengjiang, this is probably not the conclusion he reached, I am afraid that it is the reply he got after telling his son or cronies about this matter. At the end of the letter, Ma Chengjiang told Li Zongxing: Now that Miao Fang is unclear, he must be cautious and make the most adequate preparations.

The king of Yunnan sighed softly, took out a box from the drawer on the side, and put the two letters back. Of course, he was very worried about whether the battle situation on the side of the old general Gao Jinxia would be affected by this, but at the moment, he still had to defeat the Miao army first, and there was no place under his jurisdiction on the banks of the Tiange River after all.

Until then, though......

"Prepare the horses!"

……

A few days later

Cho (tiao) south county, Xia Mei teahouse

A heroic teenager stepped on this quaint wooden building. On the blackened plank, he stepped heavily. This young man's name is Gao Wenyuan, and his name is Wuquan. As a noble family, of course he knew that it was rude to make such a noise in such a building, but he couldn't help it, after all, he was now fully armed. With gold and iron armor on his body, if he wants to be light, it can almost be said to be a fool's dream.

As soon as the army arrived in the county seat of Chonan, Gao Wenyuan received the news that the king of Yunnan was in the city and wanted to see him. A prince wanted to see him, of course he didn't dare to delay for half a minute, so he walked into the Xiamei teahouse in armor. Fortunately, the teahouse was empty, so it was naturally chartered.

On the third floor of the teahouse, Gao Wenyuan saw people. The man was dressed in white, sitting by the window, holding a steaming teacup in his right hand and putting it in his mouth, his eyes were not on the tea, but looking out of the window with a slightly squinted face. His left arm was bent and he was outside the building indifferently.

Looks like an elegant swinger. Gao Wenyuan thought silently in his heart. However, Gao Wenyuan knew very well that this would not be the true character of the king of Yunnan at all.

At this time, the brother turned around and saw Gao Wenyuan coming, so he hurriedly stood up and made a gesture.

"Brother Wu Quan, there is a lot of neglect, please sit down, I don't know if you can enjoy a face and taste this so-called good Chonan tea with me?"

Before he finished speaking, the white-clothed brother had already poured tea into another empty teacup on the table.

"Since His Royal Highness is like this, then Gao is disrespectful." Gao Wenyuan pulled out a chair and sat opposite the prince, looking at the cup of tea that the king of Yunnan poured for him in front of him, and didn't know how to take it for a while.

"Brother Wu?" The king of Yunnan saw his hesitation.

"Ah, it's fine." Gao Wenyuan hurriedly picked up the teacup and took a sip. He has never been in contact with the tea ceremony since he was a child, and as a martial artist, he rarely goes to vassal some literati, and he doesn't know much about tea tasting, but now he is face to face with a prince, so he is naturally very nervous. I don't know if I'm doing the right thing.

Li Zongxing watched his movements and smiled. "Is the old general still healthy?"

Gao Wenyuan hurriedly stood up, "If you go back to Your Highness, you can still put on armor." ”

Li Zongxing smiled and nodded, but his face changed and he began to become serious. "You and I both know why the Son of Heaven transferred you, but I want to remind you that the current situation on the battlefield in Yunnan is not optimistic. At least, not as easy as you think, be prepared. ”

"Yes!"

……