Ignoring the screams and begging for mercy from the Mongolians, Guo Ning slowly rode back to his team.
It only took half a moment for him to go up the slope and then back down again. The attendants moved quickly and had already opened the flag gate, laid out simple ceremonial guards, tables and chairs under the flag gate, and even lit the stove, boiled tea, and baked a few cakes.
Seeing this, Guo Ning shook his head slightly, but a smile appeared on his face.
He usually pays little attention to ostentation and even dislikes excessive ostentation. All because the pleasure brought to him by any scene cannot be compared with the enjoyment he experienced in his dream a few years ago. It would be better to be simple and simple. But when you reach this level, you have to face the opinions of people all over the world.
Many people feel that some things are part of the emperor's majesty and are too frugal, which is criticized; there are also many people who simply want to take better care of the emperor out of their closeness and love for the emperor.
"Your Majesty, drink water."
A young attendant came up with a tea cup and said attentively.
Guo Ning was an emperor on horseback. He had fewer eunuchs and more military attendants. The young attendant who was approaching had already changed to the fourth group by this time.
The first and second groups have all been assigned to military positions. They had suffered heavy losses in the fierce fighting in the past few years. The third group also received training in military academies. The candidates for the fourth group's attendants were no longer limited to officers in the army or the children of sacrificed soldiers, but were instead selected from the poor and well-off families in Zhongdu, Shandong, Hebei and other places.
Keeping these children around to urge them to practice martial arts is not only to cultivate the backbone of the army. Guo Ning hopes that their vision and mentality will be similar to his own, and they will not just focus on the land in front of them; perhaps many of them can enter the political arena in the future, and when they are in official circles, they can also be bold and less restrained. I will die digging into the meanings and poems of scriptures.
His idea is good. But constant rotation also has negative effects. For example, the young people around him always lack knowledge and occasionally act out of proportion.
For example, at this moment, Guo Ning took the tea cup, lowered his head and took a sip, and found that the tea cup was mostly high-quality products from the Southern Dynasties. The tea was fragrant, and the tea leaves that were not allowed to be used were also famous for their good quality in the Southern Dynasties.
In the military, why should we be treated like this?
Guo Ning came from a humble background and was unable to distinguish the quality of these tea cups and tea leaves. It was only thanks to Xu Ding's company during this tour of Hebei that he heard Xu Ding analyze the details.
It is said that Xu Ding’s daily favorite was Jian Tea from the Southern Dynasties. When this thing was sold locally in the Southern Dynasties, one tea tree produced three or four cakes, and one cake could fetch a high price of forty guan. It was a specialty product that Lin'an's rich and powerful people showed off in the market. However, in Zhongdu, Yidu, Kaifeng and other places, there are noble people who are arty and offer hundreds of dollars for a cake, but they still often don't get what they want.
This is the result of the development of maritime trade, the quantity and variety of tea transported northward have greatly increased, and the unit price has declined. In the past few years, this kind of tea was not measured in "cakes", but in the size of a "kua", and each kua could be sold for dozens of dollars.
Xu Ding, this king, was a prime minister for both his father and his son, and he had many ways to make money, so his reputation among the people was not good, and he was criticized from the Jin Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty. After the establishment of Dingding in the new dynasty, the laws of nature were strict and no wanton behavior was allowed. But first of all, Xu Ding's family was rich, and secondly, Guo Ning was somewhat extra generous to such talented former ministers, so Xu Ding's daily life was all luxurious.
Of course, this is also because the wealthy families in Zhongdu, including Xu Ding, have always been an important force in promoting business exchanges. Guo Ning did not take advantage of the change of dynasties to cleanse them all because he kept them as a continuous source of wealth.
The tea leaves used to brew the tea in front of Guo Ning's eyes were probably of the specifications used by Xu Ding on a daily basis.
Guo Ning's life in the palace in Zhongdu was certainly not bad. But he will not indulge in pleasure. Once he is in the army, he will turn prosperity and luxury into murderous intent. He never remembered that he had given such an order to bring such luxuries with the army.
"Ahem, next time just change to the pottery bowls provided by the army. No need for tea, just boil it with spring water."
Guo Ning took a few sips and said sternly: "When I am in the army, I must be consistent with the officers and soldiers, and there is no need to be extra particular."
The young attendant felt aggrieved: "This is specially arranged by everyone, and the best tea is used..."
It also goes against Guo Ning's wishes. The people around him are treated better than the Mongolians, and they will at least have a second chance.
Guo Ning smiled and said kindly: "We just read the Three Strategies a few days ago, remember? The book said that before the army's well is reached, the general will not speak of thirst; until the army's defense is done, the general will not speak of fatigue; the army will not speak of fatigue. When the stove is not cooked, there will be no mention of hunger. It is safe for them, but it is dangerous for them, so they can be together but cannot be separated... Do you remember them all?"
When he spoke the last few sentences, his tone became slightly more majestic. The young attendant was horrified, and immediately understood what Guo Ning meant, and hurriedly knelt down to admit his mistake.
"Okay, okay, I didn't explain it specifically before. From now on, you do as I say and don't change it. Go ahead and take these things down first!"
Guo Ning patted the young attendant on the head and asked him to bring someone to clean up the tea sets.
The young attendants just bowed and retreated. Guo Ning listened carefully and found that there was no sound of killing on the slope. Shi Mo also went ahead and acted very neatly.
There were eleven Mongolian tribal leaders accused of resisting the emperor. For someone like Shi Moye, who was experienced in commanding foreign troops, killing these people was as easy as killing a chicken. I could vaguely hear some crying. It seems that these dead people have some reputation in the tribe?
Guo Ning didn't care about this.
The Great Zhou Dynasty would never invest huge amounts of financial and material resources like the Jin Kingdom and raise batches of white-eyed wolves that would bite back. Therefore, the Great Zhou Dynasty's control over the Mongolian tribes, on the one hand, constantly encouraged the exchange of materials between the grasslands and the Central Plains, and provided huge economic benefits; on the other hand, it frequently used punishment and death as a threat, which was extremely harsh.
This routine of severe punishment and generous rewards is the same as Guo Ning's policy of running the army and the country. In the process of execution, he will never be stingy with benefits or be soft-hearted.
This is a struggle in which I advance and the enemy retreats. Killings like today have happened several times before.
Kill a group of leading Mongolians, and the rest will keep their heads lowered; kill another group of leading Mongols, and the rest will lower their heads even more. After being killed several times and rewarded with good wine and meat from time to time, the wolves on the grassland slowly turned into dogs.
Now that Genghis Khan has turned his attention to the grassland again, and the time for the Central Plains court to recruit people on a large scale has arrived, perhaps some really smart wolves can take this opportunity to lose their wild nature and become a member of the human race.
At this time, someone hurriedly approached from the high slope. It turned out to be Sukhbalu, a Mongolian Qianhu who had followed Shi Mo and came here first. He rushed over and knelt down on one knee to salute.
"Your Majesty, kill all those who deserve to die. We will integrate their troops tonight, and all our troops will be dispatched tomorrow morning. In addition, I am very familiar with Belgutai's branch areas in Helanzhenshatuo and Ulughhuihe. ! Within half a month at most, there will definitely be an uproar and help General Shimo get Belgutai’s head back!"
When Sukhbalu spoke, his narrow eyes shone with eagerness.
Sukhbalu is very tall, more than half a head taller than an ordinary Mongolian, and has very lush beards on his cheeks.
Being able to become one of the ninety-five thousand households founded by Genghis Khan, and immediately switching to Dinghai when the Great Mongolia lost power, shows that he is a very shrewd Mongolian.
In the past two years, he has been serving in Datong Prefecture in Xijing. Since he only brought a dozen companions with him at first, he started from a senior position and relied on his merits in suppressing bandits in the north of Datong Prefecture. The Marshal's Mansion has written several articles to commend him. When Guo Ning visited Xijing last year, he met with him and chatted with him for a long time.
Hearing that Guo Ning wanted to dispatch six thousand Mongolian families to attack Belgutai deep into the grassland, Sukhbalu immediately understood what Guo Ning meant.
Obviously, just as Genghis Khan was gaining strength in the Western Regions and began to look back at the grasslands, the emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty had also finished recharging his energy and focused his attention on the grasslands.
Now the emperor has begun to make plans, hoping to defeat the backbone of the Mongols remaining in the grassland before the Mongol Khan returns. This move can not only weaken the strength of the Golden Family, but also truly use the six thousand families in the eastern part of the grassland for their own use, killing two birds with one stone.
No, it can even be said that it kills three birds with one stone. Because whether such a fuss succeeds or fails, it will cause a large number of Mongolians to be dissatisfied with the Golden Family, making the rule that the Golden Family has barely maintained in the past few years shaky.
What's even more interesting are the two missing people. Sukhbalu can bet that the impatience on Guo Ning's face is not fake. The identity of the two missing people is very special. In other words, if there is any trouble between these two people and Zhou's troops are fully mobilized, there will be no excuses.
Sukhbalu had long felt that even if he had ten more ambitions, he would not be as good as Han'er from the Central Plains, so he had consciously followed instructions in the past two years.
Anyway, there are many Jurchens, Khitans, Wanggu or various foreign races in the Zhou Dynasty. The superiors don't care about these and will not treat him differently.
With this understanding, Sukhbalu was the most prosperous among the thousands of households who had taken refuge in the Zhou Dynasty. His tribesmen were well taken care of, and he also had a military position, which he could pass on to his children. of fields. Knowing that he didn't know how to farm, the households assigned to him by the superiors were all good at farming. Last year, Sukhbalu discovered that the output of a hundred acres of fields is probably more than a hundred times of grassland.
Of course, he also knew that this kind of kindness was worth a thousand dollars to buy horse bones. With Sukhbalu's example, many other Mongolians, including the tribal leaders who have fled from the grasslands in recent years and been merged into various places behind the Monan Mountains, will feel a lot more at ease.
Of course, those who are too stable and have no self-awareness will be killed mercilessly by Zhou. Sukhbalu has long known this, but like Guo Ning, he doesn't care at all.
Among the eleven fools who dared to speak out against him, four of them were cut in half by Sukhbalu.
He bowed his head and reported to Guo Ning, but received no answer from Guo Ning.
He felt his shoulders sink. It was Guo Ning who patted him, and then hurried to the back of the military tent.
After a while, footsteps sounded again, and it was Guo Ning who turned back.
"Here, look at this!" Guo Ning said proudly as he walked away.
Sukhbalu raised his head in confusion, and Guo Ning thrust a thin bamboo square box in his hand: "Take it!"
"Your Majesty, what is this?"
"open to take a look!"
Sukhbalu followed his instructions and opened the thin bamboo square box. Inside was a small red lacquer box. Then he opened the small red lacquer box, and inside was a small piece wrapped in layers of yellow.
"This is the tea that the emperor of the Song Dynasty enjoyed every mid-spring in the Southern Dynasty. It has a name called 'Beiyuan Testing the New', which is very rare in the north."
Guo Ning closed the small red lacquer box and said with a smile: "I remember the last time I saw you, I heard you say that people are more fond of tea than wine, which is quite rare among Mongolians. It just so happened that this time I went north, so I took him with me I bought some good tea, take it and try it...if it doesn't taste good, tell me; if it tastes good..."
At this point, he shook his head and said: "Drink it if it tastes good. Don't expect more. Because I only have these. If you have more, I have to ask people in the Southern Dynasties to buy it."
Sukhbalu put the small red lacquer box back into the square box and put it into his arms solemnly.
He saluted Guo Ning again and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, please sit back and watch the grassland become chaotic."
Two days later, six thousand Mongolian families who surrendered to the Zhou Dynasty mobilized more than 5,000 elite cavalry and bravely charged into the depths of the grassland, denounced Belgutai with great fanfare along the way. This move broke the fragile stability in the eastern steppe for several years, and many tribes were in chaos.
