readx;? Chapter 2: Murder (1)

The rain stopped, and the clouds fell. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

Under the scorching sun of late spring, the four fields are verdant.

More than a dozen teenagers rode through the green fields, and everyone's face was sprinkled with sunlight.

Birds foraging on both sides of the official road were frightened by the sound of horses' hooves and sang incessantly in mid-air. The men and women who were bent down in the fields raised their heads vigilantly, and their faces were full of suspicion: "Whose son and grandson is this, who dares to come to Cangzhou to show off on the ground?

The people on horseback did not feel the danger of galloping in broad daylight without escorts. At the beginning of the year, the surging Liao army had retreated to the north of Hutuo Hebei, and the terrain of Cangzhou was surprisingly flat, and there were no high mountains for the green forest heroes to occupy, and at the end of this official road under their feet, about fifteen or six miles away, was Cangzhou. Once a battle breaks out outside the city, the officers and soldiers in the city can kill the scene within half an hour...... (Note 1)

The spring breeze is proud, and it is very appropriate to use this poem to describe the mood of the teenagers at this moment.

At the beginning of the year, the Liao army, which invaded the south in a big way, was dragged by this group of teenagers to Lijiazhai west of Dingzhou. And lost more than 20,000 soldiers and horses one after another, and several of them were generals of the rank of commander and above. As a result, Liao's entire southward plan was greatly affected, and he had to slow down his advance and divide his troops from the front line to rescue his right flank, so as not to cut the grain route and fight hungry at the critical moment of the decisive battle between the two countries.

And what Liu Hanguo needs most at the moment is to breathe, after a sigh of relief, all the elite soldiers and strong generals were killed to the front line, with the close cooperation of Guo Wei and Fu Yanqing, the two famous generals, quickly stabilized the defense line, and decisively launched a counteroffensive, forcing the Liao army to retreat, and finally had to flee back to Youzhou in disgrace!

After this battle, the names of the teenagers resounded throughout Hebei. Among them, the most prominent ones, such as Zheng Ziming, Han Chongyun, Zhao Kuangyin and Hu Yanzan, have been faintly able to compete with veterans such as Bai Wenke and Murong Yanchao. Although the latter is in a high position and has been famous for many years. But the people of Hebei only know who took the initiative to stand up and block the hooves of the grass valley beaters at the critical moment, but they can't remember who is an official in the Han Kingdom, and they can't figure out who is a few grades and how many levels!

Compared with the people's verbal praise for the teenagers, the rewards and promotions of the court of the Han Kingdom are a little too shabby. Despite the miraculous feats of breaking the enemy in the first battle, and despite the joint recommendation of veterans such as Guo Wei, Li Hongyi, Chang Si, and Fu Yanqing, Liu Chengyou, the emperor of the Han Kingdom, only gave the number one meritorious Zheng Ziming a fourth-rank official title of Cangzhou assassin and defense envoy, and did not mention the practice of setting up only jiedu envoys and not defense envoys in border states and counties, and the system that military generals must be rewarded for their military exploits when they are promoted.

Since the number one hero has only been promoted by one level, he has only been promoted from the patrol envoy under the fifth grade to the defense envoy under the fourth grade. The benefits that Han Chongyun, Zhao Kuangyin and Hu Yanzan got from the hands of the imperial court were even more chicken. Liu Chengyou saw the face of their respective fathers, and each of them was given a false position as a general from the fourth grade, and then gave some gold and silver. Anyway, this money doesn't need to come out of the inner treasury, and the little emperor Liu Chengyou won't feel distressed.

"Grandma's, with this little bit of open-mindedness, even the vegetable sellers in Taiyuan City are not as good. If the first emperor knew about it, he would definitely be so angry that he would have to do a backflip!" Rao is Han Chongyun has a gentle temperament, and after sending away the Qin Cha who came to deliver the decree, he couldn't help but scold.

"It's already good, I didn't cure us for the crime of leading troops across the border without authorization!" Hu Yanzan didn't have the slightest good impression of the emperor of the dynasty, pursed his lips, and sneered in agreement.

At the beginning of accepting Zhao'an with his father, he had a lot of expectations for the future of Liu Han's court and himself. And as time went by, he gradually came to a conclusion that in fact, the imperial court was only in the name of righteousness, and it was not cleaner than the green forest. At the very least, there is a clear set of rules to follow when sharing the spoils after the war. And the imperial court, hehe, from the emperor did not take the rules seriously.

"Forget it, we weren't originally here to get promoted and make a fortune!" Zhao Kuangyin was calmer than everyone else. Seeing that everyone was full of righteous indignation, he smiled and said something to explain. "Ziming, the defensive envoy, although the level is lower, it also saves a lot of trouble. If he really made the envoy of the Henghai Navy, he would nominally take charge of Jingzhou, Dezhou and Dizhou. The other two states are okay, but Nadi Prefecture is the food on the plate of Fu Lao Wolf. Ziming is guarding against the Liao people in front, and he has to be on guard in the back, and in less than half a year, he will have to vomit blood from exhaustion!"

"What's wrong with Fu Lao Wolf? I don't believe it, seeing Li Shouzhen, Zhao Siwan and others give heads one after another, he is still a little bold to fight in the same room!" Yang Guangyi likes to talk to people the most, and when he heard Zhao Kuangyin obviously suffering a big loss and comforting himself, he couldn't help but sneer and retort.

"Ziming's identity is special, if Fu Lao Wolf hacks him from behind, the emperor will probably only be happy to see it!" Zhao Kuangyin knew the friendship between Han Chongyun, Yang Guangyi and others and Zheng Ziming, so he didn't hide it, and dragged his true thoughts out.

In his opinion, the main reason why the imperial court treats everyone slowly to this group of meritorious ministers is probably because Zheng Ziming's background is too subtle. Although Zheng Ziming himself has completely given up the right to inherit the throne by changing his surname. Although Ziming's father, Shi Chonggui, once sent back a Zen edict at any cost, affirming the "justice" of Liu Zhiyuan and his descendants as emperors. But if anyone becomes an emperor, I am afraid that Zheng Ziming will not have the opportunity to grow into a prince. No matter whether his mind is wide or narrow, his surname is Liu or his surname is Wang!

This was originally a big truth, but in the ears of Yang Guangyi and Han Chongyun, it completely changed to a different meaning. Suddenly, Yang and Han turned cold, and pouted with a sneer: "Hehe, hehe, in this way, it is Ziming who is dragging you down! Who shouted just now, not for promotion and wealth?"

"After delaying General Zhao's future, our brothers are really unhappy. In this way, my father and Guo Yunming have some personal relations. It is better for him to write a letter to defend General Zhao. Although it is said to be a remedy, it may not be too late. At least the next time the emperor calculates his military exploits, he won't count you and me together!"

Note 1: Cangzhou was in the fifth dynasty, and the administrative office was located in Qingchi County, southeast of present-day Cangzhou City. In order to save trouble in the novel, the place name Cangzhou was directly used.