Volume IV. "Six Rituals Strike"

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The fifth day of the fifth month of May is the day when the daughter returns to her parents' home, and it is also the day when she travels to all kinds of diseases and welcomes the ghost boat. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

In the customs of many places, on this day, make a dry boat with paper straw, take it to climb the heights, parade the streets, legenda, most of the ghosts wandering in the sun are lazy ghosts, they live in the living people, are the source of all diseases, on this day, the weather is very hot, they see the dry boat, they will go on the boat to rest, take the cool, after the people swim in the street, they will take the dry boat to the outside of the village to burn, so that they are no longer a disaster to the world.

But this year's Dragon Boat Festival, before people had time to send away the hundred ghosts, they ushered in the flames of war. From the end of March barbarian invasion of China, north of the Huang River, first Jingzhou, Xuzhou lost one after another, and then, Luzhou Prefecture Mu Lu Chang, Shizhou Confucian general Liao Jinji gathered 500,000 soldiers and civilians, two sides of the attack, with the intention of recovering Jingzhou, the barbarian general Meng Yu first led the iron cavalry 10,000 people, thousands of miles to attack, breaking Shizhou 200,000 troops, and then through interspersed tactics, with 70,000 troops, defeated nearly 300,000 Luzhou soldiers, Luzhou Prefecture Mu Lu Chang was killed, the army was dispersed, and Luzhou fell.

Immediately afterwards, Mengyu divided his troops, one took Weizhou, the other took Jingzhou, invincible, invincible, and the Chinese army and people were defeated one after another.

At the same time, the rear subordinates of the barbarian Chunxin Falcon fiercely broke through many counties in Xuzhou and swept all over Xuzhou. Wen Chun, the Taishou King of Xuzhou, gathered 100,000 elite soldiers, fought with Xie Zhanlu in Quye, and was defeated at the first touch, and 100,000 horses were chased and killed by the barbarians, and only a few thousand when they fled back to Xuzhou.

In desperation, Wang Wenchun insisted on not coming out, allowing the counties of Benzhou to fall, and Xie Zhanlu drove the people to attack the city, and tens of thousands of Chinese people died under the city of Xuzhou, and the corpses were all over the field, which was unbearable. However, the city of Xuzhou was an impregnable barrier in the north of China, and Wang Wenchun was determined to let the people die under the city, so that the barbarian strategy did not work. Who knew that night, there were hundreds of strange soldiers, taking advantage of the fatigue of the guards, climbing the city, the knife could not be split, the spear could not be killed, these strange soldiers with white skin, snatched the city gate, Xie Zhan Lu Qin led the barbarians to kill, Wang Wenchun City broke and committed suicide.

Subsequently, the rest occupied the city of Lu Tucheng for three days, after resting, continue to go south, Yizhou Taishou fled before fighting, Yizhou fell, Luzhou military general Xia Delin wanted to take advantage of the mountains and rivers, blocking the enemy in front of the law wall, Luzhou Taishou was afraid that it would not be defeated, Xia Delin desperately asked for battle, and finally failed to make the trip. Xia Delin opened the city gate without permission, and wanted to save the people from entering the city, but was killed by the strange soldiers who mixed into the people, and the city of Luzhou was broken.

At this point, the barbarian "A bone soldier" began to be known to the world, and Xie Zhanlu and Mengyu also became a united trend, in just over a month, north of the Huang River, Shizhou, Jizhou, and Luzhou have been lost, and the barbarian tribes have slaughtered the Chinese people, the corpses blocked the river, and tears flowed all over the fields.

At the end of April, the tiger general Mu Bugu led his troops across the river from the upper reaches of the Changhe River, Xingyang Prefecture Taishou was frightened and surrendered to the enemy, Haojing went up and down, the government and the opposition were shaken, and the other, in the past year, a name that had begun to be considered deviant also entered the eyes of everyone again.

On this day of the Dragon Boat Festival, Song Shao, the son of heaven, was sick and summoned Han Xi, the right servant of Shangshu and the Pingzhang of Zhongshumen, the left servant of Shangshu to shoot Lu Zhisi, the important military affairs of Pingzhang, Xu Lao of Xu Xiu Province, Shangshu Zuocheng, Shangshu Youcheng, etc., to discuss matters in the palace.

At this time, Song Shao, since Mount Tai sealed Zen, the disease has become more and more serious, and it is even difficult to get out of bed, at this moment he was carried into the hall with a dragon bed, looked at the courtiers in front of him, and sighed: "How is the war?" ”

The right servant shot Han Xi pondered for a moment, and said: "Your Majesty can only be relieved, the enemy in the north has been pinned down for the time being and cannot cross the river, and the barbarians in Xingyang Prefecture in the west have been blocked by the Ningjiang River at present, and they cannot cross the Quarry Gorge, and Haojing is not in danger at present." Come to think of it, those barbarians will be difficult to control after capturing so many state capitals at once, and if the stalemate continues, they will eventually retreat. ”

At this time, Qiu De, the general of the left guard, had already led a large army to cross the Huang River, and adopted the strategy of the scattered cavalry and the Gan Yushu, while building fortifications, using the rain in April and May, blocking the main force of Xie Zhanlu, only defending and not attacking, while relying on the advantage of troops, sending cavalry to surround the enemy's rear, Xie Zhanlu attacked the city all the way, the rear was not stable after all, and was forced to shrink, and the north of the Huang River temporarily stabilized the defense line.

Xingyang Mansion in the west, but the situation is also bad, Bashu has long been occupied by Brother Xiling, Sibidong Pacification Division barely blocked Brother Bird, and it is simply unable to recover Bashu, Gwangju's troops have long been exhausted, and even the common people have been forcibly requisitioned. Xingyang Prefecture originally had the danger of geographical advantages, and the imperial court was counting on the soldiers and horses of Xingyang Prefecture to be able to block Mu Bugu for at least a month or two, but who knew that the north was lost again and again, and Xingyang Prefecture, which had lost its civility, did not have the courage to fight with the barbarians at all.

The troops of Chengzhou and Suizhou had already been withdrawn by Qiu De, the general of the Left Guard. Once the barbarians occupied Chengzhou, they either entered Haojing, or cut off the grain road behind Qiu De, and responded to Zhanlu. At this moment, the army led by Qiu De is already the only line of defense north of the Huanghe River, and even then it is only barely supported, if it retreats again, the entire Central Plains will completely fall, and Haojing is in danger.

At this time, last year's champion Lang Ningjiang, and the head of the Hengyue Sword Sect, Tan Ruhai, jointly issued a heroic order, calling on people in the martial arts to save the country and protect their families. Ning Jiang led a large number of martial arts people across the long river, with his name as the champion and the leader of the southeast martial arts alliance, gathered the officers and soldiers who were defeated from the north, and used the dangers of the mountains and rivers to forcibly block the tens of thousands of male soldiers and fierce generals of Mu Bugu, and the people in the rivers and lakes in the fallen places north of the Huanghe River were also inspired by the heroic order and rushed to the quarry gorge to support.

For Ningjiang, when he just won the championship last year, he was in the capital and had no reputation for a while, but later, he resigned and left, and caused trouble in Longhu Mountain, announced the Jiuyin True Scripture, and became the so-called martial arts alliance leader, above the court, he has begun to believe that this person is deviant, not a serious Confucian student, and some people even proposed to deprive him of his fame, but later, after Mount Tai sealed Zen, the world changed, and no one had time to pay attention to this matter.

Hearing that Ning Jiang led a large number of people in the rivers and lakes to gather the remnants of the defeated soldiers who fled in the north, and was really able to block the tens of thousands of barbarian soldiers who were not lonely, Song Shao was lying on the dragon bed, and his brows finally relaxed.

For this young man who was in the middle of the three yuan, but resigned and left Beijing because of Luan Mei's death, Song Shao's impression is still very good. Although he has done some things that have been talked about, but young people, it is normal to think that one is one and one is not thoughtful, and now that the capital is in crisis and the world is changing, he can stand up for the country and the king, which can be regarded as loyal and young.

He said: "It is really rare for Ningjiang to be able to protect the country and the people at the time of this national crisis, and I want to pass on the decree and award him to the army as a protector, so that he can collect officers and soldiers on the spot to resist the barbarian ......."

Han Xi bowed violently and said, "Your Majesty, this matter must not be done!" Although Ning Jiang had merit, he was scattered, befriending the bandits, and at this time, he was not recruited by the imperial court, so he took the remnants of the army without authorization, gathered the rangers and gangs in the rivers and lakes, supported the army and respected himself, and regarded the law and discipline as nothing. It is just that the court does not punish his crimes, and if he is crowned with martial honors, won't it attract everyone to follow suit? If everyone learns from him, collects the gangsters, sits on the ground and supports the army, and waits for the court to canonize him, how can he get it? ”

Song Shao said: "This ......"

Zuo Servant shot Lu Zhisi and said: "Han Xiang, I think that everything varies from person to person, and everything is urgent, Ning Jiang's move is always for the country to defend against the enemy, or can it be accommodating?" ”

Han Xi said abruptly: "The law and discipline of the country, how can there be any reason for accommodation, let alone such a major event?" If Ningjiang can be accommodating by supporting troops privately, then what will those bandits in the southwest do? What if someone takes this as an example in the future? ”

Chao Song Shao said sharply: "Your Majesty, the barbarian soldiers, is just a temporary trouble, the law and discipline are corrupt, everyone divides the land to support the army, is the fundamental matter that shakes the country, Your Majesty wants to seal Ningjiang, the minister can not be edicted no matter what, this is for my Great Zhou Dynasty for all generations, is for Your Majesty's foundation for a thousand years." ”

Shangshu Zuocheng, Shangshu Youcheng and several other officials also admonished in unison: "Your Majesty, what Han Xiang said is reasonable, and this matter must not set a precedent. "Not only is there no precedent to be set, Ningjiang has adopted soldiers and horses without authorization, and he also needs to be questioned afterwards." ……

Song Shao, the son of heaven, coughed sharply, thinking that no matter what, it was too much to ask for guilt. Behind him, two eunuchs hurriedly beat him on the back. He took a breath and said, "But now the situation is undecided, and Xingyang Prefecture is still relying on Ning Qing......"

The right counselor said: "The minister thinks that it may not be, Your Majesty, just imagine, the elite soldiers in various states have failed to stop the barbarians, and Ningjiang is just a teenager in his teens, gathering some bandits from the rivers and lakes, as well as the remnants of the defeated generals who have been defeated from the north, most of them are a rabble, how can it be successful?" It's just because the barbarian army that entered Xingyang Prefecture was only at the end of the strong crossbow, and it came across the Huang River, which was originally for intimidation, and the reason why there was this crisis was purely because Xingyang was too brave and fell in the wind. If he was bolder, even Ning Jiang and those rabble could hold it, how could he not be able to hold it? It can be seen that the election is far more important than the others. The merit of Ningjiang is just due to the situation, but it is not appropriate to pin such a major event on him as a yellow-mouthed child. Only at this time, it is better to choose a good general, take the holy edict, go to replace him, and then straighten out his soldiers and horses, and he will be able to destroy the enemy soldiers. ”

Lu Zhisi hesitated: "Those people in the martial arts came at the heroic order of Ning Jiang and replaced him, how can those people still be willing to serve?" ”

Han Xi resolutely said: "If he is sincere for the country, he will cooperate, if he has ambitions, then how can we reuse them?" If he is willing to listen to the dispatch of the court, work as one, and be able to expel the barbarians, if he does not obey the court, then what is the difference between him and those barbarians? Aren't we raising tigers to drive wolves? ”

The Son of Heaven coughed sharply: "This ......" didn't know what to do for a while, so he looked at Xu Xiuxing, an important military affairs of Pingzhang who was sitting on the other side and had never spoken. Although the military affairs of Pingzhang are high, they actually have no real power, but they are used by veterans who have made great achievements to retire and show glory in a position.

The veteran Xu Xiuxing, when he was young, often went in and out of Helan Mountain to fight against the barbarians, and in this extraordinary period, Song Shaozi wanted to hear his opinion.

Under his gaze, Xu Xiuxing pretended not to see it, lowered his head, and did not look at it.

Song Shao, the Son of Heaven, was disappointed......

***

The sun hung high in the sky, and a barbarian sat on his horse, looking a little gloomily at the mountain gorge ahead.

This brute general has a burly figure, unkempt head, and a bulge on the back of his neck that is quite strange for Chinese people.

Barbarians, compared with the Chinese people, in addition to living in the wilderness all the year round, the figure is generally taller than the Chinese people, and other places are generally the same, although so, there are always some barbarians, there will be some strange characteristics, it is difficult to say this characteristic, what kind of bloodline is from, in fact, the vast majority of people generally believe that the barbarians and the Chinese people are also the descendants of Yan and Huang, but their ancestors, are the legendary "four fierce".

These four murderers are the Yellow Emperor's untalented son Hun Dun, Shaohao's untalented son Qianqi, Emperor Yao's untalented son Ludou, and the untalented son of the Jinyun clan, a descendant of Emperor Yan. Although in some biographies, they are recorded as fierce beasts, but they are actually four defeated tribes, banished to the barren land of the north, contaminated with the evil spirit of the ice and snow in the north, and after two or three thousand years, they slowly became different from the Chinese people.

Of course, whether the truth of history is really like this is not possible now. But it is undeniable that they live in the bitter cold land of the north, and always peep into the fertile land of the Central Plains, but in these eight hundred years, the civilized China is almost invincible, and they can only keep cowering between the poor mountains and bad waters, recuperating, waiting for the time to come.

This barbarian general is Mu Bugu, a general under the fierce general of the Chunqin Department, Xie Zhanlu.

In fact, this time, Huzun sent only the fierce general Xie Zhanlu under the back seat of the Chunqin Tribe, and the 100,000 horses led by Meng Yu, the righteous son of the "Divine Book" Zongbei, respectively, were more tentative in nature, but the Great Zhou Dynasty, which had basically lost its literary spirit, was too weak, unexpectedly weak, and the 200,000 barbarians alone had already captured a large area of land north of the Huang River, and this huge giant was far more fragile than they thought.

But now, Mu Bugu finally met his first opponent since going south, and he licked the corners of his mouth, as if he had smelled the other party's blood.

He knew very well that the bastard boy was on the opposite mountain, just the mountain gorge in front of him, like a beast with a huge mouth open, waiting for him to be automatically sent into the tiger's mouth, this feeling made him very uncomfortable, which he had never had since he went south this time.

He gritted his teeth as he looked ahead, at the various military buildings that had been built in just a few days, at the horses that had been scattered everywhere as if they didn't need money, and at the bronze chariots that could breathe fire and set fire to hundreds of his cavalry the previous two days...... What the hell is this? (To be continued.) )