On the second day of the third lunar month in the sixth year of Xiande (the ninth year of the calendar), on a vast plateau south of Waqiao Pass, tens of thousands of horses and horses of the Northern Expeditionary Zhou Army lined up in formation to accept the review of their master, the Great Zhou Emperor. The Ma Bu Army from the Forbidden Army of the Front Division of the Palace, the Ma Bu Army from the Guards and the Pro-Army Division, and the Ma Bu Artillery Army of the "Shenji Army" who participated in this kind of large-scale review activity for the first time, all sent their most elite troops to participate.

On the north side of the school review ground, the soldiers piled up a tall earthen platform and temporarily set up a school reading platform on it. At the end of the day, Chai Rong, who was the protagonist of the school review, was surrounded by eight internal guards. Behind him, the military generals and the newly attached ministers of the Liao State who accompanied him on the expedition were also present, and watched this large-scale and extraordinary battlefield parade with their monarchs. And among the rows of guards on the west side of the school parade platform, Lin Xiaoyu, who was dressed in a guard uniform, also stood there with a gun and a knife, cheering for his husband in this obscure way.

Although the weather was gloomy at this time, and it began to rain lightly, it made people feel the characteristics of the cold and cold spring in the early spring in the north. But the successive victories made Chai Rong full of pride and enthusiasm, and he didn't take this coolness in his eyes. Second, before leaving the imperial tent this morning, under Lin Xiaoyu's repeated requests, Chai Rong had to compromise with his beloved concubine, not only wearing very thick underwear, but also putting on a fur coat over the dragon robe. Therefore, standing on the school reading stand, he did not feel much chill at this time.

After giving a speech to the tens of thousands of soldiers standing neatly in the audience, Chai Rong, the son of the Great Zhou Dynasty, left the school parade platform accompanied by the generals and the eight internal guards, and galloped back and forth in the phalanx of the team, and had close exchanges and interactions with the soldiers. Wherever his royal horse passed, all the soldiers shouted long live, knelt on one knee, and saluted and congratulated Chai Rong. For a while, the cheers of the entire school review hall rushed straight to Xiaohan, and the scene was extremely magnificent.

Such a grand parade naturally attracts locals near the parade site. Those ordinary people are naturally timid and afraid, and although they are curious about this kind of proofreading, they only dare to stand in the distance and crane their necks to look this way. And those who have some status, or the local squires and elders, are different from these little people. As representatives of the local Shili, in order to protect their own interests, they naturally paid close attention to the every move of this large army from the south. Chai Rong's side just decided to review the three armies, and they had already gotten the news from the inside line planted in the Waqiao Pass garrison. These sophisticated and practical guys will naturally not let go of this good opportunity to build relations and friendship with the new ruler, especially when the other party is the emperor of the emperor who is high above and can decide their life and death, and they can't easily let go of such a great opportunity.

So, the day before the school parade, they found Yao Neibin, the Waqiao guard, through their relationship, and expressed their willingness to give money and goods to reward Wang Shi. I hope that this parent official agrees to introduce you to the audience, so that all the villagers can see the sky. For these places, which control most of the resources, manpower, and material resources of Waqiao Pass, even a party chief like Yao Neibin would not dare to offend them openly - in this era when the scope of direct control of the government is very limited, without the assistance of the squires and elders in these places, Yao Neibin's orders are afraid that he will not even be able to issue Guancheng. Therefore, on the night when the local shili made this request to him, Yao Neibin asked to see Chai Rong and fulfilled the wishes of the squires of the common people.

As the saying goes, "those who win the hearts of the people win the world", and in this era when the people's wisdom has not been opened and the vast majority of people are illiterate, the so-called people's hearts are, to a large extent, the political tendencies and choices of these squires and elders, or the so-called landlords and gentry. Especially in a newly occupied area such as Youyun Sixteen Prefectures, it is the best way to stabilize the situation and consolidate the rule by gaining the approval of the local landlord and gentry class as soon as possible. Therefore, for such a good thing that can win people's hearts, Chai Rong naturally has no reason to refuse. On the one hand, he issued an order to praise these squires and elders, and on the other hand, he asked Yao Neibin to choose six or seven members of these people who were status, famous, and absolutely reliable, and at the same time came to the imperial court on behalf of the people around Waqiaoguan. After Yao Neibin received the order, he went to arrange it, and reached an agreement with the local squire and elders on the actual amount of wine, meat, and property of the labor army, as well as the specific selection of people to meet Chai Rong. ,

Of course, there are only more than 10,000 people in the Waqiao Pass and the surrounding area within a radius of dozens of miles, and it is said that it is to supply the 100,000 troops of the Hou Zhou, and even the more than 10,000 Zhou troops who participated in the school parade on the second day of the third month of the lunar calendar cannot afford to supply. The so-called reward for the three armies is just a rhetoric and a form, and there are only a few soldiers and generals who can really eat and use the wine, meat, and property offered by the people of Waqiao, and the vast majority of the soldiers and generals will still eat the food sent by the Zhou army camp -- if we really want to distribute the things offered by the people of Waqiao equally, I am afraid that none of the soldiers and generals participating in the school parade will not even be able to share a sip of wine and a piece of meat.

However, for the local squires and elders in Waqiao, it is not important whether the soldiers can eat and use the things they send, the important thing is that the Great Zhou Tianzi can eat and use these things, and can see and talk about his own people. Therefore, at noon on the second day of the third month of the lunar calendar, as soon as Zhou Jun's school parade ended, the old squire of Waqiaoguan, who had been waiting for a long time, drove a cart and pushed a cart, and brought a group of villagers and about 100 people to greet him. The outer guard troops, who had already been instructed by Chai Rong, divided the ranks of the labor army into two parts according to the list sent by Yao Neibin. Under the guidance of the quartermaster officer of the field, who had a large number of people and a lower status, the battalions symbolically distributed labor and military supplies, while the remaining six people with higher status and a number of domestic servants who drove and carried the burden for them were personally led by Yao Neibin to the school review platform to meet the son of the day and have lunch with the son of heaven. In the face of such honor, those squires who were allowed to see the sky were naturally overjoyed, and one of the old men who had read books and worked as a petty official was even so excited that he cried on the spot. The old man was persuaded by his companions for a while, so he stopped, and saw Chai Rong with the support of his own servants.

Although the people who came to meet were all local figures with heads and faces, and they were all "local snakes" who spoke and counted on their own territory, but in the final analysis, they were just small people in small places, and when they saw Chai Rong, a real dragon, they were not nervous or timid, which was false. The six people were far away from the throne and knelt on the ground, and after performing the great salute of three kneels and nine bows, they did not dare to raise their heads, and still maintained the posture of throwing their bodies to the ground there, until Chai Rong ordered them to come close to speak, then they stood up tremblingly, and knelt down again in a place closer to Chai Rong.

Although the performance of the local squire and elders was also expected by Chai Rong, on the one hand, he summoned these people to show his pro-people style and win the hearts of the local people, but on the other hand, he also communicated with these people, so as to learn more about the local customs, the views of the local people and gentry on the Northern Expedition of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and their views on the Great Zhou Court. And the other party is now "eight zhang away" from him, and he only knows that the appearance of kneeling and kowtowing naturally cannot achieve Chai Rong's purpose. Therefore, after pacifying these six people, Chai Rong asked them to excuse themselves and stand and talk to him.

In the face of such an honor from the Great Zhou Tianzi, these six people didn't dare to believe it was true at first, and they also repeatedly shirked Chai Rong's seat, until Chai Tianzi pretended to be annoyed, claiming that if they didn't stand up, they would resist the order and disobey it, so they got up from the ground in fear, stood there with their hands down, and listened to Chai Rong's inquiry. And at the same time that the six representatives of the local gentry got up from the ground, the labor materials they brought were also carried onto the school reading platform by the Ouchi guards and placed on the imperial case in front of Chai Rong one by one. Of course, all the food had been tasted in advance by the servants who transported them, as well as by the eunuchs beside Chai Rong, to make sure that they had not been poisoned before they were allowed to be served—though the people on the review table might not even have looked at them.

Originally, the labor army mainly took a form, showing the local gentry to the court's welcome and surrender, plus the school review platform was just a temporary piled up of an earthen platform, only in the middle of the place where the imperial case was set up a small area of canopy, around the fence was not erected. At this time, this spring rain has a tendency to get bigger and bigger, and it is really not a suitable place to eat. Therefore, the wine, meat, and meals sent by the gentry and the common people were just used to put on a show on the imperial case, and neither Chai Rong nor a group of civil servants and military generals would really eat it. The reason why Chai Rong called these representatives of the people to him was mainly to understand the local people's conditions and show his pro-people style.

However, unlike in the past, when the local gentry and common people worked the army, everyone paid attention to the body of the person rather than the body of the thing, this time there was one thing in the wine, meat, and food of the labor army, but it attracted the attention of almost everyone present, including Chai Rong. I saw that it was cylindrical, with a thick bottom and a thin tip, and it was covered with small particles of golden color and crystal clear, like human teeth. Since it has just been taken out of the food box with good heat retention performance, the surface of the food box is still rising repeatedly, and there is a different aroma from other alcohol, meat, and rice.

Judging from the fact that this thing is placed on a plate, steaming hot, and smelling, it must be a food. But up to Chai Rong, the Son of Heaven, and down to the Ouchi guards, no one could name this food. This situation made the Great Zhou Junchen present somewhat embarrassed, and the atmosphere on the review table was a little cold for a while. Fortunately, this kind of cold field lasted for a very short time, and at the same time that the plate of food was placed on the imperial case, a fat man who was dressed more elegantly stepped forward, pointed to the kind of food and introduced it to Chai Rong respectfully: "Bixia, this is a kind of grain brought back from overseas by the villain's owner, called corn, it tastes sweet and delicious, please taste Bixia." ”