More than thirty miles southwest of Jiangning City, under a series of hills, there is a huge cemetery.
Tens of thousands of new tombs have been erected here, and there are tombstones in front of all the tombs. Some of them have their names written on them, while others only have the words of a certain clan written on them.
This is the tomb that Zhao Tong built for the dead nobles, as well as the guard and servants. They were all buried in coffins and buried in the ground.
It's nothing to worry about after death, don't worry about it while you're alive, just enjoy peace and quiet.
There are tens of thousands of coffins, as well as shrouds and tombstones. The broken body requires the labor of thousands of stitchers, tens of thousands of Taoist monks are required to perform rituals, and tens of thousands of labor are needed to transport and bury it.
This is an extremely huge project that consumes countless amounts of money and food.
Zhao Yu couldn't afford this money, nor could the Jiangning government. No one on Jiangnan East Road, which had been trampled by Fang La's army, could afford it. The required expenses were too much.
But how can we let these noble men expose their bodies in the wilderness? This was absolutely impossible, so Zhao Tong had no choice but to open the noble mansions in the east city of Beicheng and move some money out from each family.
No one can say anything about using their own money to bury their own family members, not even the family members of those nobles who were officials in the court.
You can't let the family members go to mass graves even though they've just rolled up their mats, right? No one can bear the reputation of being unfilial, and even that kind of behavior will be punished.
They also had to be grateful to Zhao Tong. After all, it was wartime, and it could be said that they were doing a favor by burying their clan members decently.
Human life is as cheap as grass in wartime, so what about the nobles?
It's just that the inner treasury was burned to ashes, and the prince's bones were trampled on in the streets!
In times of war, how can one have any status at all? Once the building collapses, it will be full of ants.
Not to mention burial, isn't it normal that no bones remain?
By doing this, Zhao Tong protected the most important face of the Jiangnan nobles. As for these people all dying in Jiangning, that is another matter. Fang La's bandit army entered the city and was lucky that they did not massacre the entire city. This account must be recorded On Fang La's head, there were two alive in the North East City, and some evidence of thieves was also captured in the Mingjiao branch.
This matter has nothing to do with him, Zhao Tong! He did a great job in killing thieves and defending the city!
Whether the noble officials would move the tomb away or keep it here in the future was not his business. He had already done everything he needed to do.
No one knows how much money Zhao Tong pulled out from the families of the nobles in the two northeastern cities for this matter. The matter was carried out at night. The ninth and tenth commanders of the Dragon Guard Army watched over the entire process and did not allow any other people to approach. Green Liu Zhuangke and the believers under Zhao Tong were busy carrying it all night long.
No one among the officials dared to speak, and they couldn't. After all, there were tens of thousands of corpses waiting to be buried. No one dared to risk such taboos and do such stupid things, which would not only delay the burial of these dead people, but also damage the reputation of the living in power. All kinds of things are fatal, and officials are probably quite ignorant and incompetent, but they can still handle this kind of thing clearly.
What's more, there are still many boxes left in the gentry's mansion, and not all of them have been moved away. Judging from the number of boxes, most of them should be left. In this case, let's just forget about it and just praise King Qin's good deeds. .
More than a month had passed since the war, and the weather was gradually getting hotter. Just after noon that day, a group of vehicles and approximately two to three thousand people came to the cemetery.
Zhao Tong got out of the car first, and then a girl in snow-white plain clothes got out of the car. The girl was beautiful and looked extremely sad at the moment.
The group of people came to a large tomb somewhere. When the girl saw the name on the tombstone, she walked away and knelt down in front of the tomb, bursting into tears.
Zhao Tao looked at her from behind with his hands behind his hands. The girl was Zhu Xiuniang. After Zhao Tao left that day, she seemed to have forgotten her previous pursuit of death and survival. Instead, she ate on time, slept on time, and no longer beat things. Seven or eight days passed like this. , she asked someone to find Zhao Tong and said she wanted to pay homage to her family.
Unexpectedly, Zhao Tong did not agree. He only said that she was weak and needed to be taken care of. After a few days, she asked someone to find Zhao Tong again, and Zhao Tong agreed to bring her over.
Zhu Xiuniang fell to the ground and cried bitterly. Someone next to her placed offerings, dozens of them, and lit ingots, candles, and various paper utensils. It was a grand moment.
Zhu Xiuniang looked at the bright fire, and everything from childhood to adulthood flashed through her mind. Now everything seemed to have been burned by the fire, all turned into smoke and dust. There were no relatives in the world, except for one clan brother. , she is alone in the world, and she will be so lonely and helpless in the future. Her life of more than ten years will be like a dream.
Zhao Tong stood behind her and said calmly: "Xiu Niang, please don't be too sad. Although I wish the Grand Duke suffered, I am still here, and I will avenge them and take care of you, Xiu Niang!"
It's okay if he didn't say this. When he said this, Zhu Xiuniang cried even more. After looking back at him, she even started wailing. In the end, she lost all strength and fell to the ground choked with sobs.
Zhao Tong asked someone to help her back into the car, and then stood in silence in front of the grave for a long time, until the sky turned gloomy and it seemed like a storm was coming, then he turned around and left expressionlessly.
A few days later, military reports from Suzhou came from time to time. The Western Army led by Tong Guan and Fang La had clashed more than ten times. Although they had some advantages, they still could not win in one fell swoop. The war was still going on. Continue to stalemate.
Tong Guan wrote a letter to Zhao Tong himself and sent one of his godsons to deliver it quickly. The letter asked Zhao Tong to send troops to assist.
The letter also made it clear that it was not that the Western Army could not defeat Fang La's rebel army, but that Fang La had too many men and horses. All the way from Hangzhou to Suzhou, there were already three to four hundred thousand people, and The Western Army only has 150,000 troops and has not yet been replenished. However, Fang La's army and horses can be replenished in situ through the Mingjiao. This gives Tong Guan a huge headache.
Tong Guan told Zhao Tao in the letter that he did not need to go directly to Suzhou. He only had to lead his troops south to recapture Hangzhou, Huzhou and other places and cut off Fang La's retreat. In this way, Fang La would naturally panic and have no intention of fighting in Suzhou. The war will end.
The relationship between Zhao Tong and Tong Guan is pretty good. He has no party in the court, and those in the court are basically members of the Three Kings Party. Even if Liang Shi becomes the leader, there are actually only a few people in the prince's lineage, and Tong Guan has neither. genus.
Zhao Tong knew what Tong Guan was thinking. He had been proud when he was young. Although he was older now, he was in charge of great military power and his pride had not diminished at all. Cai Jingdu looked down upon him and stopped him from being granted the title of Kaifu Yitong Sansi that day. , the two became enemies, but Cai Jing didn't know what Tong Guan really wanted.
This young Taoist wants to be crowned king!
Since the founding of the Song Dynasty, there has never been a king with a different surname. However, Shenzong's teachings say that the king of Yanyun will be restored!
This is a legacy, not what later generations would call a legacy. The "History of the Song Dynasty" does not include the imperial edicts of the Northern Song Dynasty. It is only recorded in the "Collection of Great Imperial Edicts of the Song Dynasty".
However, in the "Collection of Great Imperial Edicts of the Song Dynasty", the full text of Shenzong's imperial edict does not contain the words "Restore the King of Yanyun".
However, Song Shili said that Shenzong had mentioned it in his edict, and Tong Guan did indeed confer the title of king in the end, which meant that he confused the edict and his precepts.
However, the difference is not big. After all, the Daojun Emperor of this dynasty is the son of Shenzong. If someone can really regain Yanyun, he will definitely do it!
Tong Guan was proud by nature. The first sentence in "The Biography of Tong Guan in the History of the Song Dynasty" is, "Don't leave Li Xian's door."
Who is Li Xian? He is the creator of the Sun-turning Needle martial arts and the leader of the first restoration of Xihe. Together with Wang Shao, he regained the Xihe Huangshui, which is of extremely important strategic significance. He has been supervising the northwest army for many years. Whether it is to expand the border or defend the city, his military exploits are too great. many.
In the fourth year of Yuanfeng, Shenzong launched a five-pronged expedition of 300,000 troops to conquer Xia, and directly appointed Li Xian as the marshal.
Led by Zhonge, Wang Zhongzheng, Liu Changzuo, Gao Zunyu, Yao Lin and other generals, this was the most gorgeous lineup at the time. After all, this could be said to be Shenzong's full blow.
That Li Xian could become the marshal of such an expeditionary force shows his ability to lead troops and command strength.
And Tong Guan is Li Xian's godson, almost following in Li Xian's footsteps step by step.
Tong Guan and Wang Hou reunited with Hehuang. He was Li Xian's godson, and Wang Hou was Wang Shao's second son. How similar was the lineup to the first reunion many years ago?
One hundred thousand soldiers broke through the Qiang to capture the Qingtang, and fought all the way to the Uighur border, opening up a territory comparable to two-thirds of Xixia in the Longyou Protectorate.
Tong Guan's famous story of disobeying Tibetan orders and going to the Qingtang Dynasty happened at this time.
He spent most of his life fighting, from west to north, and from north to south. With his temperament, how could he be willing to fall behind others? Not even my own godfather! He wants to escape from Li Xian's influence, but how can he escape?
Unless Yanyun is recovered and made king!
He also did this all the time. When he was on an envoy to the Liao Kingdom, he passed by Lugou and saw Ma Zhi recommending a strategy to destroy the Liao. The conversation was very interesting, so he recommended it to the court. Ma Zhi then presented the infamous maritime alliance strategy in later generations!
Unfortunately, the result was a defeat in the Liao Dynasty. He spent money to buy Yan Yun and reluctantly made him the king. Later, there was a record in the history of the Song Dynasty, which started with "Leave Li Xian's door less", and in the end he did not escape the shadow of his godfather.
Zhao Tong held Tong Guan's letter and read it over and over again. Suddenly he said to Tong Shimin who sent the letter, "Zhu Meng is still in Suzhou?"
This Tong Shimin was familiar with Zhao Tao. When he was in Tokyo, he would pass him around. Hearing this, he said: "Your Highness, this person has not left. He has been sitting in Suzhou."
Zhao Tong frowned. Logically speaking, he shouldn't. This Zhu Meng was not a loyal, filial, and righteous person. In the name of serving the Bureau, he monopolized the power in the southeast. He also fished for the common people and engaged in severe labor, which made the south of the Yangtze River a mess. , most of these people are greedy for life and afraid of death. They knew that if Fang La caught him, he would be killed by a thousand cuts, but why didn't he flee Suzhou?
He was inconvenient to ask Tong Shimin about this. After thinking about it, he just asked some military information. Both sides suffered losses in the battle, so he asked Tong Shimin to go back and deliver a message, saying that he would go south that day. Once he regained Hangzhou, he would copy Fang La from the rear and let Tong Guan Work steadily there, don't be greedy for success and rush forward.
Tong Shimin got the message and left. After Zhao Tao trained his troops for a few days, he felt that the time was almost up, so he decided to send troops to Xuanzhou and Guangde the next day, and then go south to recapture Hangzhou.
In the evening, he went to the guest room behind the office. Ding Daxie was still guarding the door. When he walked in, he saw Zhu Xiuniang looking good and reading a book, but what she was reading was the one she said she had never read before.
This "Shuo San San" compiled by Huo Sikuo is not a single volume, but a set of dozens of volumes, all of which contain romance stories adapted from the more attractive passages in the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms, which are lively, interesting, and fascinating.
At this moment, Zhu Xiuniang is reading one of the first volumes, titled Diao Chan Worships the Moon.
Although Zhao Tong had not read this book, he had heard it told by Huo Siqiu himself at the Dingjia Su Tea Shop. This passage tells the story of Diao Chan worshiping the moon and making a wish, Wang Yun plotting a estrangement, and Lü Bu's fight against Dong Zhuo.
After Zhao Tong came in, Zhu Xiuniang didn't look at him or get up, she just read the book.
Zhao Tong said: "Does it look good?"
Zhu Xiuniang said: "Just for fun."
Zhao Tong motioned to the maid to go out, and then went to get a copy and read it. It said that there were many discrepancies between San San San and the famous book of later generations. In fact, after San San and before the masterpiece came out, there was also a book called Three Kingdoms. To put it bluntly, the book records that Diao Chan is from Lintao, Guanxi, with a surname of Ren, and Diao Chan is a nickname. In the Yuan Dynasty miscellaneous song "Lianlian Ji", it is directly stated that Diao Chan's real name is Ren Hongchang.
Zhao Tong looked through it for a while and suddenly said: "Xiu Niang, have a rest."
Zhu Xiuniang was shocked when she heard this, and the booklet in her hand almost fell to the ground: "Zhao Tong, what are you going to do?"
Zhao Tong smiled: "It's getting late outside, I said it's time to have a rest."
Zhu Xiuniang stood up in panic, stepped back, held her script in front of her, and said, "I don't want it, I want to read for a while."
Zhao Tong walked over, picked her up by the waist, put her down next to the couch, and then started to lower the silver hook curtain...
At midnight, Zhao Tong got up, turned around and said after getting down: "Tomorrow the army will go south, Xiuniang doesn't have to stay in Jiangning, just go out with me on the expedition."
After saying that, he went out and left, and a low voice came from inside the curtain: "Beasts, beasts are worse than..."
On the morning of the next day, Zhao Tong ordered 50,000 troops and went directly out of Jiangning. Among the 50,000 troops, more than 20,000 were Jiangning's local forbidden troops. The troops he brought from the capital actually did not suffer much damage. The first battle involved an ambush, and then a pursuit out of the city, so even though there were less than 30,000 at the moment, it was still about the same.
The army headed south to Xuanzhou first. Xuanzhou is a place with mountains and lakes, and the scenery is very good. However, there are no natural dangers around Xuanzhou City. Zhao Tong frequently sent scouts to investigate before, and he knew that Fang Qifu had suffered hundreds of thousands of defeats. The army did not stop here at all. At this moment, there were only three to five thousand soldiers barely guarding the place.
And Xuanzhou City is actually not small. Later, this place was promoted from a state to a prefecture. How could it be defended by only three to five thousand soldiers?
In just one day, Zhao Tong led his troops to recapture Xuanzhou, and then rested in the city for two days, waiting for the original magistrate of Xuanzhou to lead troops from Taiping Prefecture and take charge of the city again.
Then Zhao Zhidong went to the Guangde Army, which also fell into the hands of thieves. The situation was not much different from that in Xuanzhou. They also had thousands of soldiers and horses, and they captured it in one day, and then entered the city to continue resting.
At this time, he still did not find the shadow of Fang Qifu's defeated army. Zhao Tong had already determined that Fang Qifu's defeated army should be either in Huzhou or Hangzhou.
Originally, after defeating the Guangde Army, he wanted to go south directly to regain the important town of Hangzhou, but at this moment he felt that something was wrong. After all, Huzhou was also a big city and it was above Hangzhou. If Fang Qifu's defeated army was in Huzhou, then he would attack Hangzhou here. Over there, Huzhou stabbed the back from top to bottom, and something serious was going to happen.
Therefore, he set out from the Guangde Army and then headed east to attack Huzhou. Sure enough, there were some defeated troops in Huzhou, about ten or twenty thousand people, but they were all frightened and had no strong will to defend the city. However, Huzhou's city defense military was too weak. It was too strong, and it took seven or eight days to defeat it. The men and horses were also greatly damaged, and only about 45,000 of the 50,000 people were left.
After resting in Huzhou for more than ten days, Zhao Tong directly sent his army southward and sent troops to Hangzhou.
(End of chapter)
