Han Sui sat on the back of his horse, squinted his eyes, and looked contemptuously at the Tun Cavalry Camp five hundred paces away. Yuan Feng, the captain of the Tun Cavalry, is not familiar with military affairs, and now he can only sit on the viewing platform with the Son of Heaven, and it is Sima He Hao who really leads the troops. Before the exercise, Tai Lieutenant Zhang Huan and Sikong Yang Ci suggested that a few lieutenants would not need to go out to fight in person, but watch the troops on the stage, and the specific battle should be handled by Sima under his command. The Son of Heaven understood what they meant, among these five captains, Liu Xiu and Chun Yuqiong could ride horses and gallop, and the others were all decorations, and it was a shame to go up, Zhang Huan and Yang Ci were just to save some face for a few people, and not to do things badly.

Although Han Sui is a native of Western Xinjiang, he is no stranger to He Hao, a famous man, and even has a little admiration, but now that he wants to fight against He Hao, even if it is a drill, he is not willing to be soft.

Liu Xiu's Changshui battalion had 2,000 people, Yuan Shao led more than 600 people, Zhao Yun and Han Sui each led about 700 people, in order not to let people say that they were bullying more and less, Liu Xiu let their three Sima each lead the headquarters against the other three battalions, Yuan Shao against the infantry battalion, Zhao Yun against the Yue cavalry battalion, and he Han Sui had to face the Tun cavalry battalion.

In the previous exercise, Yuan Shao fought hard for most of the hour, paid a heavy "casualty", and finally succeeded in winning the infantry battalion, taking the lead, but then Zhao Yun more than 700 cavalry, and Zhang Ji outflanked on both sides, and easily defeated Chun Yuqiong of the Yue cavalry battalion, and Zhang Ji captured Sima Baohong of the Yue cavalry in battle. In the melee, Zhang Ji drove straight in, "cut down" Bao Hong's thirteen personal guards in one go, broke Bao Hong from the dust, and greatly raised the prestige of the Changshui camp.

"We're going to play better than them." Han Sui said in a sullen voice: "Don't show mercy to your subordinates, even if the casualties are a little bigger, we must win as quickly as possible, don't be underestimated by others Liangzhou people, and lose Duan Gong's prestige." ”

Duan Xuan nodded, although Han Sui didn't specify who they were, but he knew it in his heart. At present, there are three Simas, Yuan Shao represents the Ru Yingshi clan, Zhao Yun represents the Hebei people, and they represent Xiliang, and everyone does not mention this regional difference in performance, but this idea is deep-rooted, and no one dares to lag behind.

Yuan Shao defeated Xiahou Yuan and Zhang He, that was the victory of the Ruying people, and then Zhao Yun defeated Bao Hong, that was the Hebei people defeated the Ruying people, and now, it is time for the Xiliang people to defeat the people of Ruying, not only to win, but also to win more beautiful than the Hebei people.

What's more, they are Duan Cheng's real disciples.

The war drums of "dong dong" sounded, and Han Sui held the halberd in one hand, pointed forward at the tip of the halberd, and shouted softly: "Beat the drum, attack!" ”

Duan Xuan clamped his mount hard, and while urging the horse to run forward, he raised the iron halberd in his hand high, and shouted angrily: "Attack!" The herald who followed him sounded the small drum on his body, and the flag-bearer waved the banner in his hand vigorously, and as the speed of the war horse became faster and faster, the banner unfurled, the hunt sounded, and the long ribbon rolled in the wind.

Two hundred knights leveled their halberds behind him and began to gallop on horseback.

He Hao on the opposite side also ordered the cavalry to speed up.

This is an exercise, and the number of people is also small, there are not too many tricks, it is to test the basic skills of the knights on both sides and the conversion of formations, in addition, it is to see if the commanders of both sides can seize the opportunity and hit with one blow. Because of the small scale and narrow range, if one blow does not work, it will get caught in a grappling and turn into a chaotic battle.

He Hao didn't want such a situation to happen, although the soldiers of the Tun Cavalry Battalion under his command had undergone a major blood change, and although they had undergone his all-out rectification, their individual combat effectiveness was still much inferior to that of the Changshui Battalion, which was dominated by Wuhuan cavalry. Once caught in a struggle, the defeat of the cantonment camp is inevitable.

So he had to surprise and win.

He sent four hundred horsemen at once, led by the military marquis Wu Qiong, to meet Duan Xuan.

Five hundred steps, the opposite side, in less than a moment the two forwards began to contact, like two floods collided head-on, and suddenly the water splashed. Duan Xuan roared angrily, and the halberd in his hand flew up, picking off the horses one after another from the battle. Although they all use wooden halberds for exercises, it is still very dangerous to fall off the horse, and once they are stepped on by the war horses behind, the possibility of casualties is still very large.

Wu Qiong didn't look at him either, he didn't look down on this kind of bravery at all, he ordered the soldiers on both wings to speed up, quickly surround Duan Xuan in the middle, give full play to the advantage of being numerous, and strive to swallow Duan Xuan before Han Sui launched.

Although Duan Xuan was very brave, he still encountered trouble before Wu Qiong's dense defense, just like a flood hitting a boulder, although the momentum was amazing, knocking the boulder to a shaky wobble, but it was always the last breath, no matter what, the boulder could not be completely overturned, Wu Qiong's number was twice as large as his, making it difficult for him to swallow, but there was a danger of being swallowed by Wu Qiong.

Seeing that the momentum of the attack was blocked, Duan Xuan had no choice but to cancel his plan to break the formation alone, erected the banner of the Double Rabbit, and asked Han Sui for help.

Han Sui was carefully observing the formation on the opposite side, and he felt that there was something strange. The rules of the exercise are to win the opponent's Chinese army battle flag first, and now the Chinese army in the tuncai battalion is still behind, but there are only 300 people, and he has 500 people in his hands, so it is said that he should have enough strength to defeat the Duncai battalion in the first time, this truth It is impossible for He Hao not to know, so why did he send 400 people to intercept Duan Xuan? Could it be that he wanted to swallow Duan Xuan first, and then use superior forces to deal with him?

It doesn't make sense, the battle of the Tuncai battalion is not as good as the Changshui battalion, even if Wu Qiong wins Duan Xuan, he can't take any advantage, and he is tired after a long battle, and the overall strength is still inferior to him at that time, He Hao still has no chance to win, but he may be defeated quickly because the Chinese army's formation is not thick enough.

When Han Sui ordered the attack on He Hao's army, he suddenly remembered Duan Cheng's words, don't pin your hope of victory on the other party's mistakes, unless the other party is indeed an out-and-out stupid pig.

Is Ho Ho a stupid pig? Apparently impossible.

Han Sui made a miracle to modify the predetermined plan, and ordered the remaining 500 soldiers to send 300 people to reinforce Duan Xuan.

Three hundred Wuhuan elite horsemen galloped out.

He Hao let out a long sigh and ordered Wu Qiong to retreat to his own formation in frustration. Under the attack of the superior forces of the Changshui battalion, Wu Qiong had no hope of victory at all, although retreating at this time would suffer heavy losses, but it was better than the annihilation of the whole army.

Wu Qiong was taken aback and hurriedly ordered a retreat, but how could Duan Xuan let him leave easily, and after tearing off a large piece of meat and defeating Wu Qiong, they followed the rout and rushed straight to He Hao's main formation.

He Hao ordered Wu Qiong's defeated soldiers to go around the rear of the formation and line up, revealing the two hundred infantry hidden in the middle, these infantry were hidden behind the big shield, holding spears and halberds, and two rows of archers were behind, firing with all their might, and suddenly caught Duan Xuan off guard.

However, this was He Hao's final victory, and after Han Sui saw He Hao's hidden killing move, he immediately adjusted the direction of his attack, divided his troops into two ways, and attacked on both sides, easily defeating He Hao's own formation.

"You're welcome, Mr. Berqiu." Han Sui came with the personal guards, jumped off the horse, personally pulled out He Hao's general flag, fiddled for a while, handed it to the personal guards behind him, and then looked at He Hao's carefully prepared infantry position, and praised: "Mr. Boqiu's formation is well placed, but the response is insufficient." ”

He Hao was very embarrassed, he wanted to take a risk to lure Han Sui to attack his own formation, and then use the infantry to block Han Sui, and then use the superior cavalry to outflank him, but he didn't expect to be seen through by Han Sui. Once recognized, his failure was to be expected. Even if Han Sui didn't take away his battle flag, it would be wishful thinking for him to attack Han Sui's cavalry with these infantry.

On the viewing platform, the Son of Heaven was inexplicably excited, slapping the railing hard, and his pale face was flushed. Yuan Feng's face was very embarrassed, his cantonment camp was defeated, but he had to force his smiling face to cooperate with the sigh of the Son of Heaven, which was really uncomfortable.

Taiwei Zhang Wei was also very happy, he has been responsible for the task of explaining to the Son of Heaven. He has been using troops for many years, and he is condescending, and he has long seen the position of the two sides clearly. He was very appreciative of He Hao's plan to attack the strong with weakness, and he was also very satisfied with Han Sui's strain, and analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of the two sides to the Son of Heaven in detail.

"The combat strength of the Tuncai battalion is not as good as that of the Changshui battalion, this is a fact, and it cannot be solved in the short term. If He Hao wants to win, he can only be surprised, otherwise he will definitely lose, so his approach is right, otherwise he can't win. It's just that he was unlucky, Han Sui didn't fall for him, but used superior forces to encircle and annihilate Wu Qiong's troops first, and took advantage of the victory to pursue, forcing He Hao to expose the hidden killing moves in advance......"

The Son of Heaven heard this, and nodded again and again: "I have long heard that Shanxi is a famous general, and sure enough, it is true." ”

Zhang Huan's face darkened, he was originally from Xiliang, but now he is from Hongnong Huayin, I don't know if the famous generals in the words of the Son of Heaven include him. He was silent for a moment and reminded: "Your Majesty, Shanxi is a famous general because Shanxi has been fighting for many years. ”

The Son of Heaven frowned, nodded, turned his face to look at Liu Xiu in the distance and said: "Where a country has its own borders, without the bloodshed and sacrifice of the frontier, how can there be the stability of the inner county?" Captain, if you forget to fight, you will be in danger. When the courtiers agreed to abandon Xiliang, if it weren't for Yu Shengqing (Yu Xu), the people of Liangzhou would have become thieves, and Taiwei An could be a famous general in this dynasty? ”

Zhang Huan was excited and nodded again and again. However, although he was grateful for the weight of the Son of Heaven, he still reminded: "Your Majesty, although this year's drought is not as serious as last year, the harvest must be limited, and if you want to go north to Xianbei, this money and grain ......."

The joy on the face of the Son of Heaven disappeared, and his interest plummeted. He asked Liu Xiu to rectify the Northern Army, just to get fat in the autumn and go out to Xianbei, and to rectify the Xianbei people who had been harassing the northern Xinjiang, so that they could be at ease. Now that Liu Xiu's army has achieved initial results, Situ Fu has dragged him back, and he can't come up with the money and food that can support the Northern Expedition. He was very dissatisfied with Song Feng, but in front of Zhang Huan, Yang Ci and others, he couldn't blame Song Feng, so he had to hold these anger in his stomach.

Han Sui and Duan Xuan walked to the stage with their helmets in their hands, He Hao also walked over with Wu Qiong, although Han Sui and they didn't have any smiles on their faces, but they were still a little happy in their calmness, but He Hao had a cold face, and said to Yuan Feng who went down to comfort him: "My lord, I am incompetent." ”

Although Yuan Feng was also a little depressed, he had no choice but to say encouragingly: "You have done a good job, victory and defeat are common things in soldiers." Taiwei has already said to the Son of Heaven just now, you are also the way to win in defeat, but it is a pity that Han Sui failed to enter the palace. ”

At that moment, Liu Xiu said to Han Sui and Duan Xuan with a smile: "The two of them are worthy of being Duan Gong's favored people, they respond in a timely manner, they are not greedy for small profits, and they are gratifying." ”

Duan Xuan grinned widely, but when he saw Duan Cheng's face, he quickly put away his smile and lowered his head. Han Sui didn't dare to slack off, and hurriedly asked Duan Cheng for advice. Duan Cheng criticized: "Your strength far exceeds that of the Tun Cavalry Battalion, and you should have won, but why do you think that you can defeat Wu Qiong with less?" If you immediately asked for help as soon as you saw Wu Qiong coming out, why did you delay it for so long? ”

Although he criticized Duan Xuan, Han Sui immediately blushed and bowed down to be taught.

Liu Xiu laughed, the prestige of Duan Gong of the Heart Dao is really not just based on qualifications, you look at the eyesight of others, the speed of adaptation, and the ability to grasp the fighter, we young people still have to learn.

Liu Xiu immediately asked the Son of Heaven that the autumn parade had been completed, except for the shooting battalion that was only a drill and no actual combat, the five schools of the Northern Army had shown their strength, no matter whether they won or lost, at least the training in the past few months had made progress, and they should all be commended. When the Son of Heaven heard this, he was very satisfied and ordered a banquet to be set up as a reward. Of course, he just gave a little money, most of the money was raised by Liu Xiu himself, and Cao Hong was the hero of the military market.

After the banquet, the Son of Heaven left Liu Xiu behind and asked him very solemnly: "Can you go on the expedition?" ”

Liu Xiu thought cautiously for a while: "Although there has been progress in the past few months, it is still far from being reborn, with such strength to fight Xianbei, the odds of victory are not great, but the soldiers are fought, and the soldiers who have not gone through the battlefield, no matter how well they are trained, they cannot be real warriors." The minister thought that the next step should be to train with battle, and use real battles to temper these people into real warriors. ”

The Son of Heaven's face was heavy, and he was silent for a while before he said, "Do you know the recent controversy in the court? ”

Liu Xiu nodded, although he didn't go to the court to discuss politics, he still knew the relevant news. The Son of Heaven appointed Zhang Jiao as the doctor of Guanglu, and during the court discussion, Zhang Jiao and the three princes and Jiuqing discussed the affairs of the displaced people together. Zhang Jiao believes that the fundamental reason for the rise of displaced people in the Han Dynasty today lies in land annexation, and if we want to solve the problem of displaced people, we must suppress annexation, crack down on those powerful landlords who are in the fields, and take out a large amount of land in their hands to distribute it to the people, so that the displaced people can return to their homeland, live and work in peace and contentment, and become the country's household and people, so that the taxes of the imperial court can be rich again.

His words were approved by many courtiers, including Yang Ci, and everyone agreed that what he said was right, but there was a disagreement on how to implement it, and Zhang Jiao believed that there was no other way for these powerful landlords who were competing with the country for profit, but to kill. However, Yang Ci and others believe that this can only provoke popular uprisings, and cannot solve practical problems at all.

The two sides quarreled in a mess, but Situ Fu, who was most responsible, remained silent, Song Feng did not say a word during the court discussion, and although Situ Peng Chen Yu, whom he dismissed, spoke, he also meant to oppose Zhang Jiao, feeling that he was too whimsical and would not work at all.

Chen Yu is a native of Yingchuan, has been the chief of Taiqiu, and is one of the so-called four chiefs of Yingchuan, and his name is very famous. Not only in Yingchuan, he is a celebrity, but also in the imperial court, he is also a celebrity second to none. Every time Sikong Yang Ci was appointed as the third duke, he felt very ashamed, saying that Chen Taiqiu had not yet been the third duke, how could I be embarrassed to get ahead of him. Song Feng recruited him into the mansion, which was a big deal at that time.

Chen Yu's speech represented Situ Mansion and Situ Song Feng, which made the Son of Heaven very dissatisfied with Song Feng, you can't take out actual money and food to support me, why don't you support it verbally?

"The minister knows that it is difficult for Your Majesty." Liu Xiu said very sincerely.

"It's really hard for me." The Son of Heaven supported his face with his hand and leaned weakly on the case, "I really want to use the method of opening my horns to kill all those people and take their land and distribute it to those homeless people." ”

"Your Majesty, by all means." Liu Xiu was taken aback and hurriedly spoke out to stop him.

"I know no." The Son of Heaven smiled bitterly, looked at Liu Xiu and said, "In that case, the Han Dynasty will die immediately, and there may be people who claim to be kings and emperors everywhere, but I don't have an army that I can trust to quell the rebellion." ”

Liu Xiu was silent, he knew that the Son of Heaven was in a hurry to let him go on the expedition, just to have enough counterinsurgency forces to deal with a possible—and very likely rebellion. It's just that now the Son of Heaven has no money, and if he wants to build an army, it is impossible to build an army without money.

"Your Majesty......"

"Don't be in a hurry, listen to what I'm saying." The Son of Heaven raised his hand and interrupted Liu Xiu's words, his face was a little flushed with excitement, and there was a hint of ruthlessness: "Without the army, it is useless for me to say anything, so no matter what, the matter of reorganizing the northern army cannot be relaxed." It's just that I'm very tight on money right now, and I can't give you enough money and food. I only have one million stone rice, and I will give it all to you from Jiaozhou. ”

Liu Xiu raised his head in amazement and looked at the Son of Heaven incredulously. After Song Qi sold rice in Jiaozhou last year, maybe he made enough money, and today he has been staying in Luoyang without moving his nest. The Son of Heaven did not arrange for others to go to Jiaozhou to sell rice, and seemed to have forgotten about this matter, but he did not expect the Son of Heaven to do it in secret.

The face of the Son of Heaven showed a little smugness: "This million stone rice was originally prepared for emergency relief, but this year is okay, the famine in Luoyang is not so serious, so I will give you all this rice." You ......" He looked straight at Liu Xiu: "Can you give me a victory?" ”

Liu Xiu didn't answer him immediately, he understood that the Son of Heaven was now eager to establish his prestige through a big victory, so as to gain the upper hand in the next contest with the courtiers, but he also knew that even if there were a million stone meters, if he wanted to use the current northern army to meet the powerful Xianbei, not only was he not sure, but even Duan Cheng was against it. Duan Cheng said that Xianbei is not Dongqiang, Xianbei has sandalwood acacia, they are enough to compare with the Huns back then, not one or two battles can be solved, even if Wei Huo is reborn, it is useless, because the current Han does not have the strong financial resources at that time.

In a word, I can't afford to fight.

Duan Cheng said, I pacified Dongqiang, there are not many troops, only more than 15,000 people, but Emperor Xiaohuan prepared more than 5 billion money for me, enough for me to fight for two years, can the Son of Heaven get so much money now? He may not be able to come up with 500 million dollars.

It's not that Liu Xiu didn't say these words to the Son of Heaven, but the Son of Heaven is recalling the old words at this moment, obviously not wanting to listen to Liu Xiu's opinion, but hoping to get a positive answer from Liu Xiu's mouth. He needs a little bit of support right now, and he's under too much pressure.

"Your Majesty, the minister can win the battle, but the minister does not dare to guarantee a big victory." Liu Xiu said cautiously. The Son of Heaven looked at him suspiciously, his delicate eyes blinked, and after a while, he tasted it. He thought about it carefully: "If you can win, you can win." ”

Liu Xiu breathed a sigh of relief and nodded in agreement: "That minister can use this million stone rice to recruit homeless people, and fight and fight, at least let the Xianbei people not be so arrogant." In three or five years, the minister may be able to reverse the current disadvantage. ”

The Son of Heaven nodded with satisfaction: "I know that you will not disappoint me." ”

"Your Majesty, the minister thinks that you can't forcibly cross the field." Liu Xiu continued: "Forcibly crossing the land will only provoke a civil uprising. Lao Tzu's so-called governing a big country is like cooking a small fresh, not that it is easy to govern the country, but that you should not act rashly, and you should try it slowly. ”

The Son of Heaven smiled, waved his hand and said, "You also talk about Lao Tzu, but it is very different from what Zhang Jiao and Lu Shi talked about, and I don't know which of you is right." Okay, I understand what you mean, you go and prepare well, if you can win a small victory this winter and next spring, I will have enough confidence to speak. By the way, I sent Jia Cong to Jiaozhou, let him stabilize Jiaozhou, run my granary, and I made Cao Ying the captain of Sosu, who was responsible for transporting grain to and from Jiaozhou, and supported your northern expedition. ”

Liu Xiu smiled, Cao Ying didn't want to enter the military at first, but now it's good, he has become the captain of the grain transportation brigade, and the commander of Sosu is an official position set up by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and Sang Hongyang once served in this position, specifically responsible for collecting military rations.

Liu Xiu couldn't help but laugh, and said: "Your Majesty, transporting grain for thousands of miles costs too much, so you can only save the emergency, not rely on it." The minister thought that it was the most important thing to immigrate to Tuntian. Gyeonggi has too many people and many floating eaters, so it is better to relocate some people to remote areas. The strong can go north to Tuntian, and fight and defend, and the weak can migrate to the south of the Yangtze River. There is still a lot of idle land in the south of the Yangtze River, and if you can manage it carefully, you can reduce a lot of burden. ”

The Son of Heaven agreed, and Liu Xiu made another request, he wanted to set up a school in Jinyang, with Cai Yong and Duan Cheng serving as doctors of Wenwu respectively. The text is mainly used to soften the Wuhuan people, the Xiongnu and the Xianbei people in the future, especially the Wuhuan and Xiongnu people, who have penetrated deep into the inner county, if they are not digested as soon as possible, once the Han civil strife occurs, they are likely to become the henchmen of the Han people. Wu is mainly used to train Han officers, only foreign people to fight on the border, and there is no strong Han army, which is tantamount to using wolves to guard the door, and sooner or later wolves will be lured into the house, but they will suffer.

The Son of Heaven scratched his eyebrows, pondered for a long time, and finally said, "Your idea is good, but it is a big matter, I have to think about it." You can do the Wen thing first, but Cai Yong doesn't know where to go now, and he has to spend some time looking for it. ”

Liu Xiu was stunned, isn't Cai Yong in Shuofang, why did he run away?

"In the amnesty in April this year, Lu Qiang Shangshu defended him, and I looked at his recital again, and felt that although he said something ugly, he was indeed out of loyalty, so I pardoned him. However, after he was pardoned, he did not return to Luoyang, nor did he return to his hometown, and he did not know where he went. ”

Liu Xiu was still puzzled, could it be that Cai Yong was ready to be a wandering poet? He couldn't care about this matter for the time being, and hurriedly raised another question: "Your Majesty, the ministers are sent out on the expedition, and I hope that Your Majesty can send a prison army." ”

"Overseers?" The Son of Heaven looked at Liu Xiu for a moment, the corners of his mouth were slightly raised, and his brows slowly relaxed. He knocked lightly on the table, and the "tuk tuk" rang for a while, "Are you worried that I won't worry about you?" ”

Liu Xiu scolded secretly, and said in his heart, you have to rest assured. "Your Majesty, the minister thinks that this is a common practice, and no matter who it is, he must follow it. Moreover, with the prison army on his side, if someone wants to frame the minister in the future, the minister will have someone who can help prove his innocence. The minister has only one request, hoping that His Majesty will send a more upright prison army, instead of a prison army who wants to use power for personal gain everywhere, so as not to miss a major event. ”

The Son of Heaven laughed, stood up and flicked his sleeves: "Okay, I will send you a good prison army." ”

(To be continued)