Chapter 70: Ascending the Altar to Worship the General
After Sun Xu and Wang Jin finished talking, Gongsun Sheng introduced the remaining people to him: Yang Zhi and Hu Yanzhuo, who were currently low-level officers after Jiangmen, Yumei and Bi Sheng, and several Marquis Yu.
With Gongsun Sheng's roll call, everyone bowed down to Sun Xu one by one. Sun Xu was not partial, and gave words of encouragement to each of them, and then returned to the Shuai case, and made bold remarks, encouraging them to contribute to the country and make meritorious contributions, and the soldiers responded to the promise.
The next day was an auspicious day for the Son of Heaven to ascend the altar and worship the generals. It happened to be a beautiful day, with clear skies and sunny days.
A high platform has already been built in a school yard in Bianliang, and hundreds of civil and military officials have also come here early, ready to watch the ceremony, but it is unknown how many of these people are concerned about the Son of Heaven.
No, many officials have been whispering to each other since they came:
"It's all come to this hour, except for a few colonels, there is not a single soldier, this worship will really make people laugh off their big teeth!"
"Hehe, the Son of Heaven wants to seize military power now that he is fledgling, but he doesn't know that the Empress Dowager and her old man are shining brightly, this Guangping County Duke can go out, but I'm afraid he won't be able to come back!"
"That's not necessarily, this Guangping County Duke has great powers, and I heard that there are often immortal methods, so don't take it lightly. ”
"I'm sorry, those tricks are just fooling the foolish husband and the foolish woman, how can Master Ding also open his eyes to that Sun thief?"
Although they were talking in a whisper, the worship platform was silent, and there were only a dozen generals and proofreaders who were to be reviewed, so that the voices reached their ears word for word.
They were only encouraged by Sun Xu yesterday, and it was when their minds were full of meritorious deeds, and they were all angry when they heard the ridicule of these people. But in the current situation, it is not appropriate to use force, so I have to grit my teeth and hold back, and secretly make up my mind that I am bound to make a name for myself on the battlefield, so that this class of rotten Confucians can see how powerful!
At this time, he saw that the Son of Heaven was wearing a crown robe, majestic and majestic, and ascended to the altar of worship surrounded by many ceremonial officials. When the Son of Heaven was established, another guide under the altar said loudly: "I respectfully invite the Duke of Guangping County to ascend the altar and salute!"
As soon as these words came out, Sun Xu walked out from one side. I saw that he was dressed in gold helmet and gold armor, with a plain robe covered by the armor, and a long sword at his waist.
Even the Gao Dang, who usually doesn't deal with Sun Xu, saw it at this time, and he also had a little admiration in his heart: "Don't say anything else, just talk about this appearance, Sun Jungong is already a leader in the world!"
At this time, a ceremonial official standing behind the Son of Heaven announced loudly: "Please take the seal ribbon from the Generalissimo!"
Hearing this, Sun Xu stepped forward and half-knelt in front of the Son of Heaven, raising his hands above the top.
The Son of Heaven took the marshal's seal and talisman from the hands of the officials on both sides, held it in both hands and handed it to Sun Xu, smiling, and said: "Marshal Sun, I will go to the altar today to pay respects to the generals, and I hope that the marshal can restore our land and revitalize our country's prestige!"
Sun Xu took the seal ribbon with both hands held high, and replied: "Your Majesty will not give up, Xu An dares to exhaust his strength, do his best to be loyal, and then die!" After speaking, he bowed again.
When the worship ceremony was carried out, the discussion of the high-ranking parties in the audience never stopped, which made this serious worship ceremony like child's play. Those people bowed their bodies, tilted their heads, covered their mouths with their hands, exchanged their heads and ears in twos and threes, and glanced at Sun Xu from time to time from the corner of their eyes, their eyes were full of banter and ridicule, and they decided that Sun Xu would be dead or alive if he went.
Suddenly, the people in the school field felt the ground shake slightly, and there seemed to be the sound of iron hooves. Following the sound of looking over, I saw smoke and dust billowing in the distance, and a group of black pressure was coming this way. Some people who had experienced the battlefield reacted and said, "Where did these soldiers and horses come from? Look at this formation, there are probably more than 10,000 people!"
At that moment, everyone couldn't believe it, and they all looked at the privy envoy.
Seeing this, the privy envoy was both dazed and angry, and shouted at the top of his voice: "There is no order to transfer troops today! Where did this group of people come from? Why did no one report these people when they entered Bianliang? What did the captain of the city gate do!"
The Great Song Dynasty had always been on guard against military generals, but how could he not be afraid of the appearance of an army out of thin air? He hurriedly summoned the head of the forbidden army who was in charge of guarding and asked them to transfer troops to escort him.
Seeing this, Sun Xu smiled and shouted on the stage: "The privy don't be nervous. This is the new army that Ben Shuai has recently trained, and he wants to go with me to conquer Western Xia!"
When the privy counsellor heard this, he breathed a sigh of relief. However, when a speaker heard this, his body straightened up, and he immediately came to his senses: Isn't this just the reason to use this as an excuse to impeach Sun Xu for recruiting soldiers bravely, and have a heart of disobedience! Seeing that he was so excited, the people next to him naturally knew what he wanted to do, so they hurriedly stopped and persuaded him: "The affairs of their ancestors and grandchildren, let's just watch them as courtiers." Don't be in a hurry to ask for merit, wait until the situation is clear!"
When this man heard this, he broke out in a cold sweat. But isn't it, he is the favorite minister of the Son of Heaven, the prince rumored by the outside world, no matter how much he is not treated by the Empress Dowager, he is better than his own identity. Let's better beat the water dog than bully the Pingyang Tiger! He shrank back at the moment and nodded gratefully at the person who stopped him.
At this time, the team has arrived at the school grounds.
This school was originally prepared for the review of the three armed forces, and it was very spacious. Just now, there are only a few small schools in the huge school field, which naturally looks a little funny. But now with the addition of these horses, there is finally some military atmosphere in the school field.
In a matter of moments, the people in the field had been put in order. Then a mighty man dressed in a wild goose armor strode forward, bowed deeply to the Son of Heaven and Sun Xu, sank into the dantian, and shouted loudly: "Qiao Feng, the pioneer officer under the command of the Generalissimo of Pingxia, led the people of the headquarters to meet the Son of Heaven, please review the Son of Heaven!"
A few days ago, Sun Xu ordered someone to bring the official documents and the seal letter, and quickly handed them over to Qiao Feng. Qiao Feng immediately selected a large number of armor weapons from the Luoyang arsenal with the seal letter and distributed them to the beggars who were willing to join the army with him. When everything was ready, they rushed to Bianliang non-stop.
Although all the people in the beggar gang are from the rivers and lakes, not a regular army, because they have gang rules to regulate themselves on weekdays, and they are on the front line of fighting against the Tanguts and Khitans all the year round, and they are experienced, so they are not much different from the soldiers. Now that he has put on his armor and put on his weapons, the aura of slaughter is even stronger than that of ordinary forbidden troops!
The Son of Heaven looked at Qiao Feng, and then at the group of sergeants behind him, he was overjoyed, nodded again and again, and secretly gave Sun Xu a thumbs up. Then he looked at Qiao Feng again with great satisfaction, and said in a deep voice: "Yes, General Qiao has worked hard! The soldiers have worked hard!"
Hearing the shouts of the Son of Heaven, the soldiers below couldn't help but be very excited, raised their weapons, raised their arms and shouted: "Long live the Son of Heaven! Long live the Great Song Dynasty!" They were all the lowest beggars in the eyes of others before, if it weren't for Sun Xu and Qiao Feng, how could they have today's glory?
And the Son of Heaven was also very pleased. On weekdays, he lives in seclusion in the deep palace, that is, he listens to politics every day, and he also has a curtain hanging by the Empress Dowager. The ministers have always been to the Queen Mother, with their backs to the Son of Heaven, and they have never turned around to report to the Son of Heaven. Therefore, every time they shouted long live, the Son of Heaven felt that the "long live" in the mouths of those ministers was the female Zhongyao Shun, not himself.
But today, the Son of Heaven came to the school in person, and what he saw and heard made his blood boil, and he couldn't wait to follow Sun Xu to conquer Western Xia. Of course, this is only a momentary thought.
Subsequently, the Son of Heaven stood aside, Sun Xu held up the seal letter, and announced loudly: "I am now under the edict to ask for no ministers." The edict ordered Qiao Feng to be the chief vanguard officer, and Yumei and Bi Sheng to be the left and right vanguards! Open roads in the mountains, build bridges when encountering water, lead 3,000 men and horses to go first, and set up camp for the army at the border of the Great Song Dynasty!"
Qiao Feng and the three of them stepped forward to promise, and then took the men and horses with them.
When they left the school factory, Sun Xu arranged for the official positions of the remaining generals, and was about to announce the end of the ceremony, but suddenly the sky changed greatly!