readx;? Chapter 1: Chinese New Year (1)

Spring in the plains always comes earlier, in time, and in a gorgeous and colorful way than in the mountains. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

After a drizzle, the wheat sprouts rose more than two inches from the ground. Red apricots, pink peaches, white pears, and purple begonias are vying to bloom on the branches. It seems that if there is a slight delay, you will miss this moment of spring.

In the fields, by the riverside ditches, the shabby clothes of farmers and peasant women took up hoes, pulled up plough sticks, and eagerly planted millet, millet, beans, and peppers, and then made ridges and top dressing, weeded and caught insects, and waited with hope for the day of harvest.

Last winter, the snow fell so thick that enough pests froze to death. This spring, the rain came again frequently, and the earth drank deliciously. Looks like it's going to be a good year. What is even more gratifying is that the war that has lasted for many years is finally showing signs of an end.

Several marshals in the scourge river were captured by the imperial court one after another. At the beginning of the year, the Liao army, which went south, was also beaten by the three marshals of the privy deputy envoy Guo Wei, the envoy of Hedong Jiedu Liu Chong, and the Duke of Wei Fu Yanqing. After this battle, the vitality of the Liao State was greatly damaged. At least for the last two years, it will not be possible to invade the south easily. If the ordinary people don't hurry up and dig a few stones of grain from the soil, marry a daughter-in-law and have a baby, they will simply be sorry for God's grace!

As for the three marshals of Guo, Liu, and Fu, why they did not take the opportunity to recover the sixteen states of Yanyun after winning a big victory, it is not something that ordinary people can guess. Anyway, when it comes to national events, there are naturally meat eaters who seek it. People who don't even have enough bran dumplings to eat just take care of themselves and their wives and children, and the rest of their hearts don't need to be at all!

In the midst of a peaceful spring, several stagecoaches from the south are particularly eye-catching.

The messenger on horseback was exhausted, lying on the horse's neck, and at any moment he could fall and break his tendons. However, they did not dare to stop and rest at all. Follow the official road that has fallen into disrepair for a long time, and run wildly all the way. From Anzhou, Shenzhou, to Caizhou, day and night.

Fortunately, in order to cope with the war, the privy deputy envoy Guo Wei built many post stations on several important official roads connecting the north and south. This allowed the Courier to replace his mount with a new horse in time before he could tire it out to death. And this way of changing horses without changing people was adopted, and the alarm signal was sent to Bianliang in time.

Shi Hongzhao, the minister who was sitting in Bianliang, received the warning and did not dare to delay. As soon as possible, he summoned the remaining three ministers, Su Fengji, Yang Wei, and Wang Zhang, to enter the palace to face the saints. And Liu Chengyou, the second emperor of the Great Han Kingdom, was furious after seeing the letter, and drew his sword on the spot to cut off the imperial case, and vowed to put on armor and personally conquer the two small countries of Southern Tang and Jingchu, who did not know how to obey and rebel, in one go!

"Your Majesty, the Son of Heaven is the Ninety-Five Supreme, and he should not be taken lightly. Zhongshu Ling, who is also the secretary of the Ministry of Shangshu and Tongping Zhangshi, immediately frowned and exhorted loudly, "The Southern Tang Dynasty and the Barbarian Chu joined forces to commit crimes in the north, although the crime is unforgivable. However, it is the duty of the privy council to conquer the four directions. Your Majesty only needs to issue an edict to let the people of the world know that the war was not provoked by our Great Han Kingdom. The rest of the matter can naturally be resolved by Shi and Guo, the two privy councillors. ”

On the way to the palace, he and the other three ministers had fully understood the content of the warning. It turned out that the monarchs and ministers of the Liao State were unwilling after suffering the defeat, and actually sent people to take the sea route to the south of the Yangtze River, and at the cost of heavy money and war horses, they tempted the Southern Tang Dynasty and the Southern Chu countries, joined forces with the northern attackers, and stabbed the Han State in the back.

Although Anyuan Jiedu made Wang Lingwen and Weisheng Jiedu make Liu Chongjin two, they successively resisted the ** and Chu armies of the northern invaders. However, the junction of the Great Han Kingdom and the Southern Tang Dynasty and Southern Chu is not only Xiangzhou and Anzhou. Especially in the Southern Tang Dynasty, as long as the soldiers and horses were sent to cross the Huai River, they could threaten the four prefectures of Cai, Ying, Su, and Xu, and if they succeeded in their sneak attack, the Great Han Kingdom would lose its salt production land, and the tax revenue would be lost at least a small half.

But no matter how critical the situation was, Yang Wei didn't think it was a good idea to drive the expedition in person. First of all, the responsibilities between the monarch and the minister are clear, and the emperor only needs to sit in the court and supervise the appointment and dismissal of civil and military officials. The matter of conquest is naturally solved by the generals. The civilian officials led by him were responsible for transporting grain and grass, providing sufficient equipment and military salaries, and solving the worries of the generals. If the emperor did all the military and civil affairs, then what was the need for the imperial court to exist? Everyone should go home as soon as possible to make fun of their grandson, and they would be able to save a lot of expenses for the country.

Secondly, Yang Wei didn't want to say it, but he knew very well in his heart that the little emperor Liu Chengyou was not the material to lead the troops to fight. Although as he grew older, this child looked more and more like the former emperor Liu Zhiyuan, and he was domineering and domineering. However, this man is a temple wax spear head - a kind of goods. If you really want to lead the soldiers to fight, a hundred soldiers can barely lead it, and although a battalion of soldiers has a little effort, they can deal with it if they make do. As long as the number of people exceeds 500, they will definitely be in a hurry and overwhelmed. If you can retreat with your whole body, you will burn high incense, and you may be able to win against any opponent.

It's just that you can't say it directly. After all, the little emperor is no longer a child, and he has to save some face. However, Yang Wei never expected that his kindness would not be reciprocated. After listening to his words, Liu Chengyou, the second son of heaven of the Great Han Kingdom, his face was suddenly gloomy so that he could seep water, threw the sword of the Son of Heaven to the ground, sneered a few times, shook his head and said: "Hehe, I have forgotten, everything is with you Aiqing! In this case, why do you bother to enter the palace to see me? Anyway, it's not the first time you've done this kind of thing!"

When the words fell, Shi, Yang, Su, and Wang, the four old ministers who took care of their lives, were all shocked. He quickly bowed down and said loudly one after another:

"Why did Your Majesty say that?"

"Your Majesty is cautious!"

"Your Majesty said this, and the ministers had no choice but to die!"

"Your Majesty, Weichen is old, I wish to beg for bones!"

When Liu Chengyou heard this, the smile on his face became colder, and he continued to pout his lips and added loudly: "Why do you say this? I just said something a little heavier, and you can't stand it anymore? Did you ask me for instructions about the transfer of the emperor's uncle's troops and horses to Hebei? And the Duke of Wei, Fu Yanqing, who allowed him to leave the garrison without permission and lead the troops north? Except for Guo Shumi, when he passed by Bianliang, he told me in passing. I didn't even hear the slightest letter from the other two armies beforehand. This time, the Southern Tang Barbarian Chu is coming, and you are waiting, of course I will pretend to be deaf and dumb as usual!"

"It turns out that His Majesty is angry about what happened more than a month ago!" Yang Wei, Shi Hongzhao, and Su Fengji all breathed a sigh of relief when they heard this. hurriedly pretended to be smiling and explained loudly: "Your Majesty is angry, the transfer of soldiers and horses in Hedong is not at the behest of his ministers. It was the Hedong Jiedu envoy who couldn't bear to see the lives of Hebei in misery, and sent Hu Yancong, the general under his tent, to the rescue. Afterwards, the envoy of Hedong Jiedu also specially revised a book to His Majesty to explain the matter. As for Fu Yanqing, the Duke of Wei, sending troops, it was the vanguard of the Liao army that had already hit his doorstep, and he had to fight back. It is rare that he is willing to take the initiative to contribute to the country, ministers, etc. The ministers felt that it was inconvenient to chill his heart, so they acquiesced to what he did. ”