The sky was getting darker, and the sunset was hanging on the branches, and a sunset was red and stained most of the sky.

At this time, Qingcheng County has been completely reduced to purgatory on earth, except for a few small Zheng soldiers near the east gate who are resisting in formation, the rest of the place has been completely lost, the roaring Jing soldiers opened the city gate, and countless Jing soldiers rushed into the streets and alleys of Qingcheng County with torches and cheers.

The women and girls who had no time to escape were dragged to hidden corners, and the children and old people were killed with swords or hung with ropes, and this kind of blood and killing made all the soldiers of the Jing Army feel as if they were releasing their instincts.

Killing people for pleasure, abusing people for pleasure, all the punishments and tragic words that the world can think of cannot describe the atrocities of the Jing army at this moment.

Cries, pleas for mercy, and grues poured into the world, and as the sky was dark, the light of the world became a rich black.

The city was in flames, and a few satisfied Jing soldiers slashed the disheveled Zheng woman into the house, and then threw the torch into the house, and the faces of several people were in a trance between the raging fire, and only the devil's carnival could be heard.

Xiao Rugui stood on the tower of the east gate and looked at the sea of fire below, and some muddy tears flowed from the tiger's eyes.

Next to them are the men who are struggling to support themselves and the enemy troops who rush up.

Xiao Rugui knew very well in his heart that if the outer city was lost, the inner city alone would not be able to defend it, and the panicked people's hearts would not be able to condense the strength to resist the enemy.

Moreover, there are less than 2,000 soldiers who have survived these days, and more than half of them are wounded, and the rest are basically young and strong people and families from major families.

It is difficult for a well-trained soldier who has never seen blood to beat a veteran who has killed people, let alone an ordinary person who wields a sickle, axe, and club at most on weekdays.

How many people can there be in the inner city?

A brigade?

Xiao Rugui shook his head, the soldiers in the entire Qingcheng County are basically on the city walls, and it would be good to have a full regiment of more than 300 people in the inner city.

Rely on more than 300 people to resist these hundreds of thousands of orcs?

Qingcheng County, the largest city in Huizhou, is about to fall.

"Your Majesty! The minister is incompetent! ”

Xiao Rugui looked up to the sky and sighed, like a lion king in the twilight who roared unwillingly in the face of a herd of hyenas.

"The minister has the grace of God, and the only way to repay the country is to die!"

Xiao Rugui tore off the gauze on his arm, and the sudden movement made the wound a little painful, and there were still a few subtle openings on the straight knife in his hand, the broken armor page on his armor and the banner of Huizhou Wei that could no longer be raised above his head.

"Soldiers, follow me to death! Kill! ”

There seemed to be a hint of helpless relief in the shouting.

Zhang Xiyang has no way of knowing the tragedy in Qingcheng County, Cao Kehe is still praying, and many people in the tea stalls and wine shops in Pingjing City do not take it seriously, Jing and many ordinary people in Pingjing City know that adults are not as tall as teenage dolls, and besides, the Son of Heaven has sent hundreds of thousands of troops, and even Long Xiangwei has moved, so isn't it easy to capture.

The storytellers are spitting, although the glory of Da Zheng has dimmed but has not dissipated, many Zheng people will hate to say that the wolf ambition of the countries, it is really not easy to sit firmly in this wealth, you say that the years are quiet, then I will give you a soldier, why my people can't eat enough and dress every day, your people still have leisure and elegance, listen to a little song and walk around the building?

The Zheng people hated and despised this idea of the surrounding countries.

There have been a lot of battles and defeats over the years, but there are also a lot of talks about Pingjing City, the beheadings outside the noon gate, the unwilling officials of the criminal department and the official department, and the liveliness of Wufenglou's boasting of entering the city.

The sword soldiers are only in the frontier, at most they are not as comfortable as when they were children, what should everyone do or do, what should be discussed or what should be discussed.

Jinyi Weiquan commanded Yu Xiangming, the original second-in-command of the entire Jinyi Wei has finally taken off the word power on the top of his head as he wished, and has become a veritable leader, as for the former Gao Yeyong, who has now been assigned to the northwest as a battalion commander, although it is not a one-time stroke, it is difficult to turn over.

Now the courtier's color has changed and the living king of Yama is standing in front of Cao Ju with a flattering face at the moment, Yu Xiangming is very clear about his position, Jin Yiwei is the eyes and ears of the Son of Heaven to put it bluntly, and his status is similar to that of the inner court, and the only ones who need to be guarded against and weighed are those eggless goods in the inner court, and those eunuchs are used to currying favor with the emperor and are the only competitors. The inner court is the slave of the Son of Heaven, and the Jinyi Guard is the Son of Heaven's family, and the family must have a much higher status than the slave, at least the Jinyi Guard thinks so.

But the family also needs to have the attitude of the family, and only when the head of the family is satisfied with the small life can he live a nourishing life.

Therefore, after Xiang Ming took office, in just over a month, the efficiency of the entire Jinyi Guard has come up visibly.

Cao Ju looked at the sorted information and nodded slightly, and Yu Xiang Ming's eyes swept the afterglow of his heart.

"Yes, there is no chaos in Beijing, and the people of the nearby states are also stable. Not bad. Cao Ju expressed his satisfaction, originally he was worried that the continuous war would make the people war-weary, but as long as the people were at peace, then he had a lot of leeway.

The relationship between the people and the monarch is actually a kind of consumables that are easily deteriorated, the people are the water, the king is the boat, and the world is your ancestors, but without the approval of the people, it can only be a rogue, the so-called emperor, the so-called co-lord of the world, to put it bluntly, is the patriarch recognized by the people.

Zheng Guo's royal family has always been careful to avoid the abuse of people's power and damage the prestige of the royal family.

"The next focus is on the border guards in various places, Huizhou and the northwest are the top priorities, you also know that the dynasty has made a lot of efforts to recover the northwest, if it weren't for Jinghe suddenly jumped out, now the guards are already on the way to the northwest. Therefore, the Huizhou side must be fast, and Jinyiwei must ensure the speed and accuracy of the intelligence. I may not be the first to know, but the commander in front must be the first to know. ”

"I know that Huizhou is probably in chaos now, and the military newspaper at the front said that the Jing army is cruel and murderous, and I am afraid that the hidden pile of the Jinyi Guard will lose a lot, and it will be a lot of difficulties, but since I have promoted you to be the commander of the Jinyi Guard, I believe that you have this ability, and you don't want to disappoint me."

Yu Xiangming felt that Cao Ju had finished speaking, and immediately knelt down on his knees and kowtowed, and said loudly: "Please rest assured, the situation of the various border guards has been preliminarily counted, and the Weichen in the direction of Huizhou has ordered Zhang Anping to personally lead the elite to the town, and must ensure the intelligence of the army." There is a deputy commander in the northwest direction, so that Shen Zhe can guarantee the news in the northwest. ”

Cao Ju nodded and said: "You guy, I am not mistaken, but in this way, almost all the main elites of Jinyiwei are outside, and at this time, the Jingshi and the rest of the states and counties cannot relax, and the burden of Jinyiwei is not light." ”

"Rest assured, if there is a mistake, there will be no complaints."

"Well, be kind, step down."

Cao Ju returned to the Yangxin Palace, where a huge map hung on the shelf, Huizhou and the northwest were dazzling blue, the southeast was bright red, and the surrounding borders were mostly yellow.

The situation is clear at a glance.

"Alas. Chen Daban, do you think I am a failed emperor? ”

Chen Zhong said with a smile: "Back to the emperor, the old slave didn't think so, if the emperor hadn't supported Dazheng for so many years, what would it look like." A few days ago, the old slave was ordered to go out of the palace in private, and all he heard when he passed by the tea stall was Shengping's words, if it weren't for the emperor, how could we, the Jingshi, be so comfortable? ”

"But the lineman is not at ease. You see, the northwest has been lost for ten years, the southeast has been lost for more than three years and has just been recovered, and now even Huizhou doesn't know how much is gone. ”

"In the more than 200 years since the founding of Dazheng, I have never heard of the abandonment of land, where is there a powerful country that has been captured by an enemy country? But in my hands, such things have happened one after another, do you say that I will not fail? ”

This can be said to be Cao Ju's heart knot, how can Chen Zhong accompany him day and night, looking at the snow-white back in front of him, the emperor Chen Zhong is a little distressed, the young man who is energetic and looks at the world is still old after all.

"Back to the emperor, Da Zheng really hasn't had such a thing before. But what does this have to do with the emperor. The tigers can't stand the wolves. The surrounding countries have risen up in trouble, and it is already a miracle that my Dazheng has been tough on more than ten surrounding countries with the strength of one country. How could there have been more than three enemies in the history of Dazheng? ”

Cao Ju sighed slightly: "At that time, Da Zheng was strong, and the countries didn't even dare to oppose it, but now Da Zheng is in decline." ”

This kind of topic......

Chen Zhong said that he was old and couldn't be frightened, but there must be answers to the questions, so he could only bite the bullet.

"Back to the emperor, I have never refused to study in any country, and now the surrounding countries have no students in the Sihai Academy, even if they learn a little, it is enough for them to be useful, for hundreds of years, even if they are stupid students, they will naturally prosper with talents, this prosperity will inevitably have a little different thoughts, no matter how good Da Zheng is to them, they will not remember, but remember the days when Da Zheng was strong and made them afraid."

"In this case, coupled with the fact that someone has a heart to do something in it, then there will be a matter of horizontal and vertical."

"Oh?" Cao Ju was surprised, "The eldest companion can see it so thoroughly?" He smiled and quipped: "I never thought that my companion also had a talent for each other." ”

Chen Zhong is still the same, smiling, gray hair and well-maintained face are full of kindness: "The emperor is making fun of the old slave again, the old slave is a eunuch, how to serve the emperor well is the matter of the old slave's life." These words of the old slave are still the emperor who is now learning. ”

"Oh? Learned? Why don't I remember saying something like that a little later? ”

"Back to the emperor, you drank a few more cups when you were at the end of the year, and the old slave was waiting next to you at that time, you said something similar at that time, and also told the old slave, at that time, the old slave knew that the emperor was doing his best for this big Zheng Jiangshan, but the sky did not fulfill people's wishes, and it was a little out of time."

"You old thing, alas, you let me say what's good."

Chen Zhong didn't answer, just lowered his head and couldn't see his expression.

"I know, you and I have been together for decades, you know what I think, and I don't know how you think. It's just that there has been no balance in these years, and wars are raging everywhere, as if all diseases have recurred at once. ”

"Sometimes I think, is this really good? Isn't it too fast? Although Da Zheng is strong, how many teenagers can he recover after this toss? ”

Cao Ju stood up and walked to Yutu again and said: "Big companion, look at this country, the width is more than ten thousand miles, from Jiyou to Shuzhou Yizhou, from Yunzhou to Lingzhou, Dazheng 21 Prefectures, each state has more than ten counties, and each county has several counties or more than a dozen counties. This great river and mountain is composed of these dense counties on the map. ”

"It's easy to hang up a map here, but what about the people in each county? One of the points I saw here is probably hundreds of thousands of families in the actual place. ”

"It's been two hundred years, Da Zheng is strong, but strong is also the best soil for corruption, the matter of Luoyang County a few days ago was under Zheng's nose, and my heart really hurt."

"Da Zheng is already a strong outsider, maybe what you said has some truth, but I really have no way out."

Chen Zhong listened quietly, and as he grew older, Cao Ju's desire to talk became stronger and stronger, and he said more and more, even if he only said that he listened to it many times.

"The prince is weak, has a gentle personality, and is okay to keep the success, but what the current Da Zheng needs is to reform the old and make the new, and King Zhao is at the end of the year, and his blood is just impulsive, but he is too young, and it still takes time, so I have to do a lot of things, even if it is under huge pressure, I have to do it, if I don't do it, what kind of stall will the prince inherit in the future? Will he be able to hand it over to the next one? ”

"When I took it over from the first emperor, there were already a lot of hidden dangers in the world, the insects hiding in the shadows have become the climate, and the Northern Expedition and the Southern Expedition are a wake-up call for me, I am glad that I have seen clearly the instability under the victory, otherwise Da Zheng will not be as simple as beacons everywhere in the hands of the prince!"

Chen Zhong took a big coat and lightly draped Cao Ju and said softly: "Emperor, it's still cold." ”

Cao Ju turned his head and smiled slightly, did not refuse, but continued: "When Yasukuni is driven away, and I am given another year to cultivate, I can recover the northwest, and it will take three years. ”

"The emperor has ever been ashamed of the world, the world doesn't know."

Cao Ju waved his hand and said with a smile: "Give me a cup of tea, old man." ”

The little yellow door hurried away at the signal.

Cao Ju sat on the chair and said to Chen Zhong: "Companion, you and I have been for decades, in the end, I am sorry for you, I remember that you had an adopted son, but unfortunately he died in battle, and even the bones could not be recovered. ”

"Don't say that, the emperor must not say that, there are so many good sons in Da Zheng, the incense in the Zhongyi Temple is not lonely, it is his duty and his honor to be loyal to the country, the old slave misses him, but the old slave is also proud of him, the old slave once went to the Zhongyi Temple and pointed to the tablet and said that it was my son, everyone praised the old slave for having a good son, all the sons of the old slave are heroes, and the old slave is an incomplete person who can be like this is already very satisfied."

The tea came in, steaming hot, and getting into his nose made Cao Ju's spirit a little better, but the fragrance of tea could not hide the pain in his heart.

"Last time, that little guy, if you don't mind waiting for him to return to the court, you will recognize him as a son, I am gone, someone sent him, you can't be alone, otherwise how can I dare to use you?"

The hot tea enters the stomach and brings a warm current, which is very comfortable.