As Guo Ning proclaimed himself emperor, all the friends who had been wallowing in a pool of blood with him had become high-ranking officials. It is said that when the environment changes, the person's temperament and demeanor will naturally change. Not to mention that the easiest thing in the world is to be an official.
It is difficult to work as a cow or a horse for others, to bleed and sacrifice for others, but what is so difficult about standing above tens of millions of people and dictating what to do? Even if the finger-pointing is wrong, it will still be the blood of the people below. How will it affect the glory and wealth of the big people above?
Since ancient times, it has been easy to be an official, so everyone wants to be an official. Therefore, on the way to the rise of countless regimes, everyone worked hard to the death, but when the overall situation was determined to be rich and powerful, everyone became corrupted. Those who should be charging into the battle are all ashamed of having to do everything themselves, hiding in the background to point out the situation, and holding whips to convulse the buttocks of those who are doing things below.
Guo Ning hated this situation very much.
But he also knows very well that people's hearts are like this, and since he does not possess special political wisdom, he cannot solve what people's desires are at all.
He could only do his best to eliminate this negative influence in the military system.
At the grassroots level of the army, according to the system, each military household is integrated with its own family household, and each soldier is a landlord in his own right. There is no obvious class difference between soldiers and their immediate superiors, so as long as the spirit of bravery persists, basic economic conditions and promotion channels can always be guaranteed.
Among the higher-ups of the army, Guo Ning, the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty and the commander-in-chief of the army, was a ruthless man who often went into battle to fight the enemy in person. Not long ago, there was a problem on the sea in the Southern Song Dynasty. Guo Ning, with a command, sent a county magistrate who founded the country and a defense officer-level general to go south to deal with it.
The sea was very windy and the waves were high, traveling thousands of miles, and with his head tied to his belt, Shi Tianni's trip really showed his courage in the eyes of outsiders. Guo Ning used this to constantly remind his generals that the great Zhou Dynasty was full of glory and wealth, but one thing was that everyone must continue to hold their knives, keep their heads tied to their belts, and work hard for me!
Zhao Xuan and Shi Tianni were in danger together in the grassland, and they were friends. As a former subordinate of Monk Luo, Zhao Xuan was particularly sensitive to Shi Tianni's success in officialdom. He knows Guo Ning's preferences better than others, so in the past two years, the local soldiers and civilians in Jinshan or the leaders of the surrounding tribes that are attached to the Zhou Dynasty generally feel that the defense of Jinshan has made Zhao Xuan have no official air, no airs, and cannot be changed in his bones. That kind of small businessman running around.
From the grassland to Jinshan, here and there, he has to participate in everything and follow everything personally. What outsiders say is too much, Zhao Xuan is just a petty person and cannot stand on the stage.
Zhao Xuan is indeed such a person.
Therefore, the Jinshan defense envoy of the Great Zhou Dynasty, in the area of the recruiting headquarters on the northwest road facing the grassland north of Zhongdu, and the most important general second only to the recruiting envoy Qiu Huiluo, stood in front of the Mongols.
In the past two years, because the emperor of the Central Plains had changed, the Mongols had not experienced the joy of raiding southward for a long time. Occasionally, a few particularly bold tribes were quickly retaliated by the Zhou army's cavalry. Several thousand families in the core headquarters of Mongolia have been poor for a long time. As for the ordinary Mongolians under their command, they are even more embarrassed.
After all, the production on the grassland is too simple. No matter how many cattle, horses and livestock are raised, it will not become something else. The good things brought back from plunder a few years ago, whether silks, cloths or tea leaves, are no longer available after they are used up. Seeing that the enjoyment of the civilized world is gradually diminishing, everyone wants to return to the rough life, and there are people everywhere who are anxious and angry.
So at this moment, when the Mongolian cavalry who raided the Kurdistan area drove groups of Han men out of the warehouse, and thought of the mountains of goods piled up in the warehouse, their nostrils dilated and they breathed heavily. Even the most uninformed Mongolians can understand that the supplies in any warehouse in this reservoir area are comparable to the hard work and plunder of a thousand households going south, which is enough to allow a Mongolian settlement to live a good life for a hundred years!
No wonder Yeli Yasi's green salt business is so prosperous, no wonder he has become so wealthy in the past two years!
These good things are all ours now!
When they arrived, their leader specifically told them that it was okay to rob, and it was okay to kill to establish authority, but not to kill too many people, and to limit the number of people to the actual needs of controlling the reservoir area. Those merchants are all chickens that can lay golden eggs. Even if they want to be killed, they must keep them to squeeze out the full benefits and kill them slowly.
But after so many Mongolian cavalry arrived in the Kurdistan area, they almost went crazy on the spot when they saw the gold and silver mountains. Their hands were particularly unmeasured. In just a few moments, they killed nearly a hundred people wantonly. If there is no one to stop them, they will kill everyone in the Kurdistan area without any mercy.
The leader also ordered that materials in the reservoir area should not be moved tampering with. Yeli Yasi will naturally be punished, but that doesn't mean that the wealth in his hands can be distributed to others casually. There are already high-status Yan Yans waiting to eat meat, so he can at most give the people below him some soup.
But at this time, many Mongolians had ignored the orders of the captains of ten and centurions and were rushing from one warehouse to another, tearing the silk and satin apart and wrapping them around themselves, and filling the wine bags with wine.
There was a man named Na Yan who was very dissatisfied with this and sent a lot of cavalry to maintain order. As a result, the reservoir area became more and more chaotic.
At this time, a Han'er emerged from the crowd, and his bold move immediately attracted the attention of several Mongolian cavalry.
Zhao Xuan laughed: "I am Zhao Xuan, let your leader come to see me."
What he spoke was actually Mongolian. To outsiders, it would sound like a gurgling sound, but to Mongolian ears, his words were perfectly spoken, and his accent was very close to that of the Qiyan tribe. And the name he reported surprised all the Mongolians.
what did he say? He said he was Zhao Xuan? Jinshan defense envoy Zhao Xuan?
In the past two years, the Mongolian tribes located in the eastern part of the grassland have suffered a lot from this man!
How did we get such good luck and catch this fat sheep?
Yeli Yasi must be colluding with him! This guy didn't tell the truth this morning! In the past two years, thousands of other households have all faced difficulties in facing the Zhou army's cavalry exploring the grasslands. Only the area near Gouluo where Yeli Yasi is is so stable... No wonder! He is colluding with the high officials of the Central Plains people!
The alert Mongolian knight immediately turned his horse back and headed towards the main entrance of the reservoir area. The Mongols were not merciless when killing their own people. There, a centurion stationed by Yeli Yasi was almost dead. The knight arrived in time, drove away his companions with a whip, and took the centurion among them to the reservoir area. Inside.
This centurion was put here by Yeli Yasi to manage the salt field and the foraging field. Naturally, he was a confidant and recognized Zhao Xuan's appearance. From a distance, he laughed bitterly.
Zhao Xuan was not nervous at all, and even raised his hand to say hello to him.
At this point, the Mongols were sure that they had captured the big shot. A knight dressed in that color shouted repeatedly and ordered the cavalry scattered throughout the Kurdistan area to gather together and set up a posture to surround Zhao Xuan and a group of people behind him.
There were originally many Han people running around inside and outside the reservoir area, attracting constant pursuit by the Mongols, but now no one cared.
After the encirclement was formed, the Mongolian Na Yan urged his horse to stand in front of Zhao Xuan and shouted: "Hand over your weapons! Kneel down and speak!"
Zhao Xuan laughed "ha".
He asked in Mongolian: "Who are you, dare to talk to me like this?"
Mongolian Nayan shouted: "I am the leader you want to see!"
Zhao Xuan glanced at him with some contempt and shook his head: "You are not qualified."
Mongolian Nayan was furious and wanted to chop Zhao Xuan in front of him into a pulp with his knife, just like how he killed Han'er wantonly in the early years. But for some reason, Zhao Xuan's calm and calm look made him a little scared. He held the scimitar in his hand and didn't know what to say for a moment.
And Zhao Xuan said calmly: "I'm not that patient and don't want to wait. It's better to ask your leader to come out quickly and talk about business!"
Mongolian Nayan said angrily: "So what if our leader doesn't come out! If you don't kneel down, I'll kill you!"
Zhao Xuan raised her hand and pushed the tip of the knife away from the tip of her nose. Although he is not a general known for his personal bravery, he has been through life and death more than ten or eight times, so he is not intimidated by this kind of behavior. On the contrary, even if he is in full view of the public, he can still scare the Mongolians in front of him.
He raised the hand that pushed away the tip of the knife casually, made a special gesture and put it down again: "I'm not very patient, really. If you don't call the leader, you will suffer a big loss right now."
"Hahahaha..." Mongolian Nayan raised his head and laughed wildly.
He felt that this Central Plains man was really interesting. He was about to lose his life and yet he dared to brag. Is it possible that this man's reputation in Jinshan was all blown up by himself?
His wide-open mouth could not be closed, and a fierce light reflected in his smiling eyes.
On the grassland at dusk, the brightest thing should be the sunset. But what was shining right now was a warehouse facing Mongolia. The entire warehouse was on fire, and it burned instantly in a very short period of time.
The fire broke out so fast that the few Mongolians lingering in the warehouse were unable to escape in time and rushed out from behind the wall of fire screaming. They rolled around on the ground trying to put out the flames. One person rolled twice and then suddenly stopped moving, with smoke still coming from his body.
"Ahem..." Zhao Xuan raised his hand again and pushed away the blade against the tip of his nose.
"When I destroyed the Jin Dynasty in the Great Zhou Dynasty, I once suffered a big loss. An official from the Jin Kingdom set up a fire in the city and almost burned our general. After the situation spread to northern Xinjiang, please give me some advice. I woke up, so..."
Zhao Xuan stretched his neck to look around and asked, "Is your leader not here yet?"
Behind the densely packed Mongolian cavalry, a middle-aged man urged his horse to go forward. This man really looked like a Mongolian nobleman. He wore a dome-shaped eagle hat decorated with pearls on his head and a satin robe with a white bearskin lining. This middle-aged man was not as irritable as other Mongolians, and he looked at Zhao Xuan with curiosity.
He asked, "You go on, so what?"
"So when I was arranging the construction of this reservoir area, dry firewood and reeds were used in every warehouse, every fence, and every wall. There were many key places, and sulfur and kerosene were deployed in advance. .As long as I am willing, this Kurdish area will turn into a sea of fire at any time..."
Zhao Xuan looked at the number of cavalry behind the middle-aged man: "Nayan Belgutai, please ask your subordinates to stop. If you dare to kill anyone again, I will only give you an order. By then, all the supplies worth hundreds of thousands of guan will be gone." Hui, as for you, hehe, even if the horse is fast, at least half of them will be burned to death."
"Then you have to die first!" the Mongolian Yan from before roared angrily and pointed the machete at Zhao Xuan's face.
Zhao Xuan was too lazy to pay attention to him anymore, and instead stared at the middle-aged man.
The middle-aged man turned around and shouted a few words, then turned back with a bit of surprise. After hesitating for a long time, he asked: "How do you know I am Belgutai?"
"It's not hard to guess."
Zhao Xuan bowed slightly: "After Genghis Khan's Western Expedition, there were only a few thousand households with real power left on the grassland, and Yeli Yasi Nayan was the best among them. He could easily suppress Yeli Yasi without any scruples. The only people who killed his men were the nobles of the Golden Family.”
Genghis Khan's half-brother Belgutai nodded and looked up at the warehouse where the fire broke out. Then he looked at the open space in front of the warehouse. A Mongolian who had died and a man who was still rolling on the ground, trying to suppress the flames. Two other Mongolians.
Anger flashed in his eyes, and the scar on his face twisted several times like a centipede. Finally, he said with some distress: "If you have something to say, this fire has burned too many things."
At the end of Belgutai's sight, in the deep grass behind the warehouse, Lu Wusi held a black pottery oil jar in his left and right hands, and bent down to walk from one shadow to another.
In his early years, Lu Wusi was a Han slave struggling deep in the grassland. Two years ago, he became a prison officer under the Jinshan Defense Envoy Department. A year ago, he was promoted to a seventh-level defense judge based on merit.
However, he was a different judge. He was nominally responsible for the production and sale of felts, but in fact he often sneaked into the grasslands alone to spy on the Mongolians or to capture and kill guilty people.
Lu Wusi has participated in or watched every aspect of this reservoir area from construction to expansion, so walking around the reservoir area feels as familiar to him as if he were at home.
Both jars were not small. Each jar contained at least twenty kilograms of kerosene. Together they were worth less than half of Lu Wusi's weight. Lu Wusi didn't have much strength. He hugged the jar and walked a few steps, then he gasped and sweated profusely.
As the sun sets in the west, the flames dance and the light and shadow change. It was obvious that Lu Wusi's footsteps were neither light nor fast, but every step he took made him fall into the shadows, under the cover of tall grass and reeds.
When he reached some open areas, he stepped out into a manually dug ditch as if he had planned in advance, and disappeared without a trace.
The terrain of the reservoir area is not complicated, but every bit of something that can be used to hide has been used to its maximum effect, hiding Lu Wusi's figure.
From time to time, Mongolian cavalry galloped back and forth, but no one noticed him.
This reservoir area in the old area of Changzhou was the hub that Zhao Xuan planned to use to infiltrate the grassland, and it often stored huge amounts of supplies. At least 30% of the supplies in the reservoir area belong to Han'er merchants, and the remaining 20% belong to government-run business in Jinshan. If the disaster of Zhurong really happened, not to mention Zhao Xuan, the envoys and envoys Hui Luo would have to worry.
For this reason, special attention was paid to fire prevention during the construction of the reservoir area. Four or five additional water canals were dug, and the distance between each warehouse was specially measured, just in case sparks spread. Therefore, it was Zhao Xuan's bluff that he had made preparations for arson in advance.
As for laying out sulfur and kerosene in advance, it is even more nonsense.
Lu Wusi was the only one who set fire to the warehouse just now. At this time, he was busy sneaking into another warehouse to prepare for Zhao Xuan to continue to boast, and he continued to cooperate with the fire.
Not long after, Lu Wusi arrived at another warehouse and ducked into a hidden side door.
The corner of the warehouse is dimly lit and surrounded by high piles of goods, making it completely difficult for outsiders to spot it. Lu Wusi breathed a sigh of relief, opened his arms, and with two thumps, the jar fell to the ground. He wiped his sweat and felt the smell of blood hit his nose. Then he realized that both of his palms were covered in blood, so it was very difficult to hold the jar just now.
I'm not injured. Where did the blood come from?
Lu Wusi lowered his head, thought for a while, and felt that it should have been accidentally splashed when he plotted against a Mongolian in the previous warehouse. The Mongolian was not completely dead at the time, but now the warehouse was on fire, and he should have been roasted.
Lu Wusi wiped the blood on his hands with satisfaction, a faint murderous look flashed in his eyes.
He stepped on the stacked supplies and climbed to the top beam of the warehouse. When building the warehouse, for the purpose of ventilation and drying, many transom windows were opened high on the wall. He chose a suitable angle to sit at where he could see Zhao Xuan, with a smile on his lips.
(End of chapter)
