Chapter 8: People's Hearts (2)

"I said that you guys, one is the prince of the dynasty, and the other is in charge of the seven states, you don't enjoy good brocade clothes and jade food, and you come here to fight sandbags, and I have also served you. Just as the three of them were lying down beside the puddle gasping for breath, a silver-armored and white-robed general strode over, smiling and counting.

What responded to him was a big lump of slimy old mud. Hit the helmet directly, and along the edge of the silver helmet, the person's face was all over his body.

"Oh, I'm making a new brocade robe!" The Silver Armor General was suddenly furious, waving his fists to step forward desperately, "Zheng Ziming, you don't know how to kill a bad person." Gao is not finished with you today!"

"Bang!", "Bang!", "Bang!", "Bang!", "Bang!", several more clouds of old mud came in the air, beating it to the point that it was holding its head, and its armor was crooked. "Prince, Fu Fatzi, you, you two are actually in cahoots with the surname Zheng. Oops, stop fighting, surrender, Gao surrenders. If I fight again, I won't be able to see my family for a while!"

"I'll spare your life today, and I'll take it another day!" Seeing that he began to beg for mercy so soon, Zheng Ziming stupidly threw down the mud ball in his hand, pretending to be the overlord of Chu in the shadow puppet play, and crossed his waist.

"Since you have surrendered, come over quickly and salute General Ben!" "Prince Chai Rong also nodded at the Silver Armor General with a smile and ordered loudly.

Only Fu Zhaowen is "benevolent and righteous", and when he sees that the other party takes the initiative to admit defeat, he does not care about himself. Drop the mud, put his dirty hands on his mouth, and shout loudly: "Guna thief, since you have surrendered, come here quickly and get your name!"

"Phew! Good intentions are not rewarded. When Gao arrived in Qizhou, he didn't even breathe, so he rushed over to see you. If I had known this, Gao would have been hiding far away today!" General Yinjia complained loudly as he cleaned the mud and dirty water from his body with his hands. Although he said aggrievedly, his legs did not hesitate to step towards the three of them.

"Okay, since you have surrendered, it will not be difficult for you to give you a seat! Zangyong, you are not on the front line to guard against the invasion of the Northern Han and Khitan, how can you have time to run to Qizhou?" Chai Rong pulled a few straw woven bags and threw them over, calling the other party to ask.

"Thank you, Your Highness, give me a seat!" Gao Huaide caught the woven bag with one foot, and then gently picked it up and threw it into a mat. He sat down and muttered a series of regretful mutters from his mouth: "Where can the Northern Han Dynasty and the Khitan use me for defense? Those members of the Yelu family killed themselves in order to compete for the throne! Without the support of the Yelu clan, the Northern Han Dynasty and Youzhou have all become wild dogs with broken backbones, and they don't have the courage to invade the border! It's a pity that God is not beautiful, and even let our Great Zhou cause floods for two years in succession. Otherwise, otherwise, even if we can't take the opportunity to recover the sixteen states of Yanyun and enter Taiyuan City, it shouldn't be any problem to capture Liu Chong'er alive!

"Alas!" Hearing this, Chai Rong didn't know how to respond, so he could only tilt his head on the straw bag and sigh.

"Alas!" Infected by the emotions of the two, Fu Zhaowen also sighed.

Although he is a civil official, he is from the Fu family after all. is very concerned about the world's major affairs. As far as he knew, the Liao Emperor Yelu Ruan in August of the previous year, because he insisted on sending troops in the autumn and winter to find trouble in the Great Zhou in the autumn and winter, caused anger and resentment. As a result, when he walked to Huoshendian, he was cut off by Yelu Cha and Yelu Na Li.

Immediately, Yelu Cha was proclaimed emperor and ordered his ministers to pledge allegiance to him. Unexpectedly, less than five days after ascending to the throne, the Great Tiyin Yelu had already led the counterinsurgency army to kill. The two sides fought a fierce battle near Huoshendian, the rebels were defeated, and Jelu Chachai was captured. Yelu Wu took advantage of the victory to pursue, and cut the bodies of Yelu Cha himself, Yelu Nari, Yelu Pendu, Yelu Di, and other generals who might have participated in the rebellion, or who did not have a good relationship with him, all of them were dismembered for the crime of rebellion. Even Brother Yelu Liu, who had already been exiled to Zuzhou to guard the mausoleum for Yelu Abaoji, did not escape a glass of poisoned wine.

After clearing all political enemies, Yelu Wu supported Yelu Jing, the son of Yelu Deguang, as emperor. Yelujing "knows what is good and bad", and he is accompanied by wine and beautiful women all day long, and entrusts all the government to Yeluwu. The kings and ministers have their own place, but they are also at peace with each other.

However, this move aroused the dissatisfaction of other important ministers, and soon, Taiwei Kugu Zhen jumped out and accused Yelu Wuzhi of abusing power and misleading the country.

Yelu was furious and immediately killed Kugu for the crime of treason. Immediately after, other potential rebels were discovered, and the government ordered Yelu Louguo, Shizhong Yelu Shendu, Langjun Yelu Haili, etc., to send troops to arrest and kill all these people.

As the saying goes, pull out the radish and bring up the puree. When searching the mansion of Yelu Louguo, Yelu Wu found the correspondence between this person and Yelu Wan, the son of Yelu Lihu, and captured the Taiping king Yelu Gang Sage, Lin Ya Yelu Hua, Langjun Yelu Silla, etc., who were plotting to usurp the throne, so they were all arrested, killed or imprisoned, and the criminal code was clarified.

After more than two consecutive years of purges, more than half of the leading generals of the Liao State were washed away. The rest are either stupid and incompetent, or have little combat experience. It can be said that at this moment, it is the weakest time for the Liao State since its founding. If God didn't let the Yellow River break last year, if the Great Zhou Dynasty could unite the monarchs and ministers and raise troops for the Northern Expedition, I'm afraid Yan Yun would have it at his fingertips.

However, if after all, it is if.

Last year's and this year's rainy weather caused mourning on both sides of the Yellow River. The Great Zhou Dynasty couldn't even get together enough money and food to help the victims, so what could they use to support the Northern Expedition army? What's more, at present, the most heroic generals and the most warlike soldiers in the Great Zhou Dynasty were all dragged along the banks of the Yellow River by the floods.

"What's the pity, Taiyuan and Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures won't move places?" Among the four people, the only one who didn't sigh was Zheng Ziming. I saw him bow his head and groan for a moment, then suddenly smiled and said loudly. "Instead of using the power of the country to rob Taiyuan and Youzhou, I would rather spend my mind on water control and disaster relief like the imperial court is now. Otherwise, the people in their own family will starve to death, and what is the use of grabbing other people's two pieces of land and coming back? What's more, the Liu family has occupied Taiyuan for a long time, and the Han family is also quite popular in Youzhou, and even if our army can defeat Liu Chong and Han Kuangsi, there is not enough money and food to sprinkle out, and it will not be able to appease the people in these two places!"

"How can it not be appeased, they should know that the Han family and the Liu family are both lackeys of the Khitan people!" Although Gao Huaide admired Zheng Ziming very much, he resolutely did not agree with his views.

As long as there are fewer taxes, less forced labor, and the government handles things more fairly, and does not hold the war with open fire, everyone will be satisfied. As for who will be the emperor, whether it is the Khitan people who rule or the Central Plains, they don't care at all!" Glancing at Gao Huaide's face full of indignation, Zheng Ziming shook his head with a smile. It's as if he's been living for several lifetimes, and the other party is just a milky hairy child. "Don't believe it, do you count carefully? Count how many soldiers in the team that followed the Khitans south to fight the grass valley over the years, and how many soldiers were originally from the Central Plains?"

"You ......" Gao Huaide was so angry that his eyes were spewing smoke, but he couldn't find a word to refute.

was recommended by Zheng Ziming as the envoy of the festival, and in the past two years of guarding the border fortress, he has fought against the Liao Liukou who crossed the border to fight the grass valley. Every time I win, most of the captives captured are always the faces of the Central Plains. The remaining half is the Khitan, Xi, Mo, Muwei and other Hu. And those "two beards" with the faces of the Central Plains killed the people of the Central Plains, and they were no softer than the real Hu people.

This situation shocked him and hated the abnormal. However, no reason could be found, and no solution could be found.

"During the Warring States Period, the world was divided into seven points, Qi Chuyan, Han Zhao, Wei Qin, now, who still remembers whether their ancestors were Qi or Chu?" Knowing that Gao Huaide would not agree with his own point of view, Zheng Ziming was not angry, patted the other party's shoulder, and continued to add with a smile, "Since the Wei and Jin dynasties, the reason why our ancestors have all called themselves Han people is not that Liu Bang, the ancestor of the Han Dynasty, can defeat Xiang Yu. Instead, there is the rule of Wenjing, which allows most people to live a stable life. There is the Northern Expedition of the Han Dynasty, so that those who dare to offend our Han realm and kill my people will die without a place to be buried. If you are hungry on either side, and you are precarious on both sides, what difference can you make between being a Han or a Hu?"

"This ...... , this ......" Gao Huaide instinctively felt that this bullshit didn't make sense, but he couldn't find a loophole in it, so he was so angry that his face turned blue, and the green tendons on his forehead jumped around.

It was Chai Rong who had long been accustomed to the words of his third brother Zheng Ziming. Gently pushed Gao Huaide, and started the round with a smile, "Don't be serious with him, his mouth can be said to be alive by dead people." If you are more serious, you will lose. But ......"

Sighing softly, he added faintly, "Ziming's words are not necessarily unreasonable! How can they harshly criticize the common people for being willing to be subjects of the Liao State in order to live a better life? But I didn't think that some opportunities may not be opportunities!"

"Yes, when Emperor Yang of Sui personally conquered Goryeo, it seemed that he had a chance to bring Liaodong to the first battle. As a result, he didn't wait to take Liaodong, and he messed up Shandong first!" Fu Zhaowen read a lot and reacted quickly. Seeing that Chai Rong had vaguely agreed with Zheng Ziming's statement, he immediately began to solicit references.

"If only he really had the strength of Emperor Yang of Sui back then. The rice from the official warehouse of the Sui Dynasty was eaten until the early years of Zhenguan. Unlike now, the official warehouse is empty. If it weren't for Feng Shumi's sacrifice of his life in Jingchu, the Cangzhou army would desperately go to sea to fish, and the soldiers and civilians on this river embankment would not even have enough to eat after they were tired and half dead!"

"Indeed, thanks to Feng Shumi and Cangzhou Sailors. Fu Zhaowen thought for a moment and nodded slightly.

Just as he was sighing, he suddenly saw a fast horse hurrying up. On horseback, a messenger with a cyan flag on his back opened his throat and shouted, "His Royal Highness the Prince, General Gao, Qizhou urgent!"

"What's going on?" Chai Rong and the others were taken aback, stood up in unison, and asked in unison.

"Sigh, shhh......h Immediately after, a crying voice rolled down the saddle and fell to the ground, "His Royal Highness the Prince, General Zheng, General Gao, your subordinates can find you." King Qi, King Qi is seriously ill, please, General Gao should return home quickly!"