Xiliang country, the capital of Liangzhou.

The Xiliang people who live in pursuit of water and grass have never had a fixed residence, the so-called capital is only a nominal capital, and occasionally when there is a major event, the tribes come here from all directions, and the rest of the time, they are where the water and grass are.

During this time, the city of Liangzhou was very lively, because there was a major event in the country, and several princes fought several battles for the position of the crown prince, with more than 10,000 dead and wounded.

The Western Liang Kingdom is still a tribal system, unlike the countries of the Central Plains, which have long entered the bureaucratic system of the world. Dozens of tribes formed an alliance, and it has always been led by the most powerful Ma tribe. In recent years, King Ma Tang of Xiliang has become very old, but he has not yet established a successor. At this time, the four princes were eager to try, trying to please their father and make their brothers stumble.

In the king's tent.

"For my father......" Xiliang Wang Ma Tang sat on the top, his wrinkled face full of tiredness that could not be concealed. looked at the four sons sitting at the bottom of the head: "Father, I heard that you often read Han books, and I also heard that what the Han people despise the most is the farce of fratricide, you ...... Did you read all those books in the dog's belly?"

"Father, it was the second brother and the fourth brother who made the first move, they set up an ambush in the restaurant where I and the third brother frequented, and wanted to put us to death, father, you have to make the decision for us!" The eldest prince Marin was full of hatred and pointed to the second prince and the fourth prince.

"Father, the eldest brother is spewing blood. I was drinking with my fourth brother in the restaurant, but I didn't expect the eldest brother and the third brother to send someone to poison the wine and food, and the eldest brother was going to kill us to get rid of the trouble!"

The four princes were divided into two camps, the eldest prince Ma Lin and the third prince Ma Yuan, and the second prince Ma Teng and the fourth prince Ma Chao.

The eldest prince waved his hand and said loudly: "Father, the princes of the Han people in the Central Plains are all established and eldered, I am the eldest son, and I should be made the prince, but I heard the prime minister say, you like the second brother, you are a bad rule." ”

"Yes, father, the reason why the people of the Central Plains are so powerful is that they have established their succession. "The three princes helped.

The second prince immediately stopped his tears, and also said loudly: "Father, when you fought with Dawan Kingdom, your son suffered more than a dozen knives for you! Besides, the eldest brother is not in good health, and he is sick all the year round, how can such a weak person inherit the throne, and please think twice about my father." ”

"That's right, father, besides, how can the eldest brother's body be able to work on state affairs, in case something happens, how about putting the ancestral inheritance!"

If Chen Letian was here at this time, he would definitely laugh off his big teeth, the custom of the Han people in the Central Plains is indeed in principle to establish a long and long, but throughout the ages, there are too many examples of abolishing the long and the young. Besides, when my father was still alive, I said stupid things like 'Dad, you should make me the prince', I'm afraid that these barbarians like Xiliang dare to say it so openly.

But fortunately, these Xiliang people do not have the cultural heritage of the Central Plains, and speaking directly is also a characteristic of their Xiliang people. Therefore, Xiliang Wang Ma Tang did not get angry because his sons shouted, 'Stand me up', but just swept his eyes over the faces of his four sons one by one, and then sighed.

Xiliang Ma has dominated Xiliang for 500 years, Ma has always been the leader of various tribes in Xiliang, Ma Tang's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather are all single transmissions, and to Ma Tang's generation, it is already the fourth generation of single transmission. Ma Tang knew that a single transmission was a very terrible thing, and if Dumiao died unexpectedly, then this huge family would immediately fall apart. So Ma Tang married early before he succeeded to the throne, and married eighteen ladies in a row. The customs of this Western Liang Kingdom are different from those of the Central Plains, which is polyandry and concubines, and the status of wives is the highest. And the custom of Xiliang is to have multiple wives and concubines, as long as they are married by the Ming media, the nominal status is the same.

Ma Tang worked day and night with the twelve wives, and finally, the wives gave birth to him four sons and more than twenty daughters. Ma Tang is happy, since he was a child, he has offered his four precious sons as shrines, and he is reluctant to beat or scold, and he wants to give anything.

Now, Ma Tang, who has a big head, misses their family's single pass, how good the single pass is, no one fights for it.

There was silence in the big tent for a while, and Ma Tang spoke again: "General Li Rongsheng of the Song State has led an army of 30,000 to our Liangzhou City, saying that he was ordered by the Emperor of the Song State to mediate our dispute. ”

"Ah!" the four princes were taken aback and looked at each other.

"Then where is Li Rongsheng here to mediate, it is to take advantage of your internal strife to rob, you are still arguing here! If we continue to fight, our Xiliang Kingdom will become the Chinese food of his Song Kingdom!" Ma Tang stood up, worried, touched the heads of his four sons, and continued: "Li Rongsheng invited me to meet in his military camp tomorrow, how can I meet with the courtiers of Song State, the four of you have discussed and decided to send two people to go for me tomorrow." ”

After saying that, Ma Tang left the big tent, leaving behind the four princes who looked at a loss.

"Big brother, you are the elder brother, this kind of thing is naturally for you to take the third brother to show the importance that my Xiliang Kingdom attaches to the Great Song General. ”

"Second brother, you know, my health has been bad for my brother, and I can't sleep at night these days, cough cough... The cough is terrible, and the headache is terrible, so you should go with the fourth brother. ”

After some bargaining, it was finally decided that the eldest prince Ma Lin and the second prince Ma Teng would go to see the general of the Song State together.

The next day, Ma Lin Ma Teng opened the gate of Xiliang with dozens of guards and came to Li Rongsheng's camp.

Inside the big tent.

Li Rongsheng sat on the top very casually, and said with a smile: "The two princes, please take a seat, this general is rude." ”

Ma Lin and Ma Teng stroked their chests and saluted, and said with their chins bowed: "The general came from afar, but I was too lazy." ”

Li Rongsheng said: "Our Majesty heard that your Xiliang Kingdom has not been peaceful recently, adhering to the principle of neighborly mutual assistance, and sent General Ben to take a look, if there is anything that needs help, just ask." ”

Ma Teng immediately said: "General, don't listen to the villain's words, there are several bandits in my Xiliang recently, and they are quite powerful, and we are trying our best to exterminate them." ”

Li Rongsheng sighed and said, "Really, how did I hear that it was a few of you princes who had a disagreement, so they fought a few battles and killed a lot of people." ”

Ma Teng said: "This is absolutely not the case! Our brothers have grown up together since childhood, and their brotherhood is deep, how can they fight in the nest, general, this must be a rumor." ”

Ma Lin also said: "It must be a rumor, and I also ask the general to learn from it." ”

Li Rongsheng was noncommittal, stood up, and Marin Ma Teng didn't dare to sit anymore, so he stood up. Li Rongsheng paced a few steps in the big tent and said with a smile: "I believe you for the time being." There is another thing, the second prince has always been solely responsible for the affairs of border trade, I often hear our people of the Song Kingdom say, your Xiliang tax is too heavy, is there such a thing?"

Ma Teng hurriedly said: "General, our taxes have been set a long time ago, once we cross the city gate, ten taxes and one." This is approved by His Majesty the Emperor of your country. ”

Li Rongsheng said: "On the surface, you are ten taxes and one, but when you pass through the city gate, in addition to collecting one, you have to add another one." Come, bring people. ”

A few moments later, a common man was brought up. Li Rongsheng said to the people: "Tell us what you told us before, and tell the two princes again. ”

The people were not so nervous, and said: "Prince, the villain has been doing cloth trading in Dingyang City all the year round, and the cloth transported from our Bianjing City for thousands of miles could have earned a little after adding one-tenth of the tax, but in recent years, since the new city gate order, every time we cross the city gate, the city gate order will let us pay an extra ten percent of the tax, otherwise we will not be allowed to enter the city." ”

Li Rongsheng waved his hand and motioned for the people to retreat.

Ma Teng immediately said: "General, if it is true at this time, I will definitely investigate it strictly after I go back, this matter is just the greed of the little officials at the city gate, not the original intention of my Xiliang Kingdom." ”

Li Rongsheng said: "The border is an important town, but you are not strict and inhuman, such negligence is probably not a trivial matter." ”

Ma Teng bowed down and said apologetically: "I, Xiliang, am willing to compensate 100,000 taels of silver to compensate the people of the Song Kingdom who have suffered losses." ”

Li Rongsheng waved his hand and said: "No need, silver is just a trivial matter, we value credibility more." That's it, I hope the second prince can take his part seriously in the future. After a pause, he looked at the eldest prince Ma Lin and said: "The affairs of the Ministry of Rites have always been in charge of the eldest prince, since the beginning of this year, the students of our country have come here to study, and they have actually been stolen in Dingyang City, although this matter has been resolved, but the responsibility of the Ministry of Rites of your country cannot be shirked!"

The eldest prince Marin hurriedly bowed his hand and said: "General, the thief is a habitual thief, and my country has been wanted for him, but that person's kung fu to escape is first-class." ”

Li Rongsheng said: "I don't care what kind of master that person is, what we need is that your Ministry of Rites can do a good job of protecting our students, send more people, send a few more masters, it's not difficult." ”

Marin nodded: "Yes, we must send more people, and this kind of thing will definitely not happen again." ”

After Li Rongsheng educated the two of them again, he said that he wanted to keep them here for dinner, but the two of them were naturally unwilling, so they offered the exquisite gifts they brought, and went back under the pretext that they had something to do. Li Rongsheng knew that they felt pressured to be with him, so he didn't force him to stay.

With a long sigh, Li Rongsheng walked out of the big tent, walked up a dirt slope, and looked into the distance.

Ma Tang, the emperor of the Xiliang Kingdom, has lived for a few years, and according to reliable news reported by the detective, Ma Tang will vomit blood a few bowls every few days, and I am afraid that he will die of tuberculosis. Although Ma Tang is not an honest person, he can still see the situation clearly and know how to surrender to the Great Song Dynasty. However, his sons, although they like to fight in the nest, are much sharper than Ma Tang. Especially the second prince Ma Teng, when he talked about the Great Song Dynasty in private, he scoffed. Once Ma Tang returns to the west, if Ma Teng succeeds to the throne, it will be too difficult for the Great Song Dynasty to control Xiliang as before...

Li Rongsheng thought of these things, looked back at the thousand armor soldiers who were cooking in the pot, and suddenly remembered that Chen Letian again. The last time I received a letter from the housekeeper Li Tong, I learned that the matter between the White Tiger Gang and Guo Yongchun had been properly resolved, and he also recruited a master of the Midsummer Realm of the Wei State. Li Tong also said in the letter that after Chen Letian saw the murderous artifact, he suggested that a research institute be established to specialize in the study of gunpowder that could be used in battle arrays. Li Rongsheng thinks this proposal is very good, although the imperial court now has an ordnance bureau in charge of ordnance, but the ordnance bureau is only responsible for purchase and maintenance, probably because the world is peaceful now, so research and development is basically in a state of stagnation. If a special research institute can be established, it will be worth it even if it takes a hundred years to develop a truly practical gunpowder weapon.

As the commander of the Northern Army, Li Rongsheng knew very well how significant the idea of making weapons from gunpowder was.

Looking in the direction of the capital, Li Rongsheng said to himself: "In the recommendation letter, I wrote sincerely, and the rest is up to you, I hope you will succeed in the exam..."