"Father, my child's eyelids have been twitching terribly these past two days, and he is always in a bad mood. Do you think something will happen to Tuozhou?"
Shaoshan City, Zhanzhou.
In your home, in Ru Junmei’s study.
With an anxious expression on his face, Ru Heng stood in front of his father Ru Junmei's desk, lowering his voice and whispering his worries.
Zhanzhou is located to the east of Tuozhou. It is a fiefdom awarded to your family by Emperor Su.
In Dasu Law, the prefectural city can garrison 15,000 troops, the prefecture city can garrison 30,000 troops, and the main city can garrison 50,000 troops.
If it exceeds this number, the relevant officials will be punished for recruiting troops to rebel. This crime will be punished by the nine tribes and cannot be pardoned.
As a state city, Zhanzhou was only allowed to garrison 30,000 troops according to Dasu Law. However, because it was a fiefdom of your family and the founding general Ru Chengzhou was in charge, Zhanzhou could garrison 50,000 troops.
Just like with Su Hanju in Baiyun City, Baiyun City can only have 50,000 defenders, but Su Hanju can have 100,000 private troops.
This is the special edict of Emperor Su.
Without this special edict, Su Yang would not dare to recruit red-armored cavalry.
Seventy-two central cities surrounded the imperial capital.
At the outermost edge of these seventy-two central cities, there is a state city or main city like Zhanzhou at a certain boundary, all of which are commanded by famous generals.
This is equivalent to the second border defense line of the Great Soviet Empire.
If there is a major war and the first line of defense on the border is broken, the second line of defense will be quickly built to resist powerful enemies.
But in recent years, North Korean and Chinese civilian officials have become increasingly dissatisfied with this second line of defense.
Now that the dynasty is prosperous and the world is peaceful and peaceful, we should take back the military power in the hands of the generals and reduce the number of troops stationed in various states, thereby reducing the annual military expenditure and investing the saved money in the development of agriculture and animal husbandry to make the dynasty more prosperous and prosperous. More prosperous and prosperous.
Military power was the lifeblood of a family of generals. How could they agree if the civil servants wanted to cut off their lifeblood? So they argued endlessly with the civil servants in the court, stumbling upon each other behind the scenes and fighting fiercely.
However, the military generals were no match for the civil servants in terms of verbal and underhanded tactics. Therefore, in these years of fighting, they always lost more than they won, and suffered too many losses.
Fortunately, Su Hanlin was there to restrain him, otherwise the general would have been swallowed up to the point of being devoured by the scheming civil servants.
Of course, it was fortunate that Su Hanlin was there to restrain him, otherwise the civil servants would have been beaten to the point of being beaten by the generals, and they would not even dare to step out of the door.
But since last year, the generals who have suffered from cowardice for decades have finally made a comeback.
There was war in all parts of the empire, and the military generals all put on airs. They didn't even look at the civil servants in the court, they just looked at the sky and pointed their black nostrils at a group of civil servants.
The civil servants were so angry that they were blowing their beards and staring, but they did not dare to speak, because speaking was like "you can do what you want."
An old minister was dissatisfied and said, "If I go, I will go." He actually put on a cold and hard armor and led the troops into battle.
As a result, he died before he left the army. After less than thirty miles on horseback, he was knocked off his horse by a armor weighing forty or fifty kilograms and fell to his death on a flat official road.
The generals almost laughed to death in the court.
The civil servants were like birds that had their bright feathers plucked out. They were too shy to raise their heads and classified the matter as a taboo topic.
"Why are you panicking?" Ru Junmei looked away from the book in his hand, glared at Ru Heng with a solemn face, and scolded him displeasedly.
"Children are afraid of what might happen—what if—"
"There is no such thing as a chance!" Ru Junmei interrupted Ru Heng and said, "You just need to do what I told you to do."
"Everything you have told me will be arranged properly, and I guarantee that there won't be any mistakes." Ru Heng responded. After a pause, he couldn't help but expressed his worries: "My child is just afraid that if the matter is found out, it will be revealed to everyone. , the majority of people cannot bear the burden of surrendering us."
Ru Junmei looked at Ru Heng's sullen expression and felt that it was necessary to straighten out the matter for Ru Heng and make him feel better, otherwise this kid would scare himself when he saw the sky, so don't do anything wrong.
Then he put down the book in his hand and said, "You think too much."
"It's just a little food. Is it possible that Yancheng can send hundreds of thousands of city defenders here just for this little food?"
"At most, we can send 10,000 to 20,000 horses. The problem is that Yancheng has no navy, so the only ones sent are cavalry. But what is the use of cavalry? Can cavalry deal with water thieves?"
"cannot."
"If they want to deal with the water thieves in Wangyuan Lake, they can only turn to Guang Jingshuo for help. At that time, as long as Guang Jingshuo sends troops to wipe out the water thieves, and then collects food from the water thieves' lair, this matter will definitely be a water thieves. It’s done.”
"As for why there is only so little food in the water pirate's lair? Where did the other food go? If you want to know the answer, you can only go to the bottom of the lake and ask the water ghost."
"Look, it's that simple. It's not as complicated as you think."
"Even if there is a chance that Guang Jingshuo is found, what evidence do they have to convict Guang Jingshuo?"
"Guang Jingshuo and his people had no involvement in this matter from beginning to end, so even if they dug up the ground in Tuozhou, they still couldn't find any evidence of Guang Jingshuo's crime. Could it be possible to rely on a few words from the water thief leader? Then Isn’t it funny?”
"The only line that can be investigated is the sack line, so as long as you cut off this line, they won't be able to find out the reason even if they investigate."
Ru Junmei stroked his goatee lightly, his eyes flashing with a cunning light.
"Don't worry, everyone related to the sack has been arrested -" Ru Heng made a gesture of wiping his neck.
After his father's analysis, his hanging heart finally returned to its original position, and a cold smile appeared on his face, saying: "Although the loss of this batch of food will not be a fatal blow to Qi Wuwei, it will definitely be enough for him to drink." It’s a pot. It’s a pity that we can’t tell him in person that we did it, otherwise it would be fun to see his wonderful expression.”
"Haha, if he is smart enough, he will figure it out sooner or later, but without evidence, what can we do? We can only be dumb and eat Coptis chinensis, and we can't tell the pain. Haha -" Ru Junmei laughed happily, feeling in his heart Feeling the thrill of revenge.
He suffered great shame and humiliation in Yancheng, but he didn't dare to settle the score with Zhang Xiaopou, so he blamed everything on Qi Wuwei, so he thought of this way to get revenge on Qi Wuwei, and by the way, he could also help your family's private army. A batch of military rations.
It can be said that the father and son are extremely bold, because if this matter is found out, it will definitely be a serious crime of beheading, and may even implicate the entire family.
But they have done a lot of daring things, not least of which is this one.
"Report!"
Someone announced loudly outside the courtyard gate.
This courtyard is the center of Ru Junmei's study. There are guards guarding the entrance of the courtyard. No matter how important something is, it can only be reported to the hospital with Ru Junmei's nod and permission.
Therefore, non-urgent matters are generally not reported here. Even if they are, they are mostly guarded at the door, waiting for Ru Junmei to come out of the yard before reporting.
And those who report loudly like this are mostly important matters.
"Come in!"
Ru Junmei frowned slightly and replied. The voice was not loud, but it was just enough to reach outside the courtyard gate.
Soon a soldier pushed open the door and entered the study, took three steps forward, knelt down on one knee, and reported: "General, the water thieves in Wangyuan Lake have been wiped out, and four water thieves leaders have been captured alive."
Ru Junmei was not surprised when he heard the first half of the sentence, because this was what he expected. The water thieves in Wangyuan Lake would definitely be wiped out, and no one would be left alive.
But when he heard the second half of the sentence, he stood up from his seat in shock and asked anxiously: "Who did it?!"
The reason why I ask this is because if it was the water thieves that Guang Jingshuo suppressed, they would definitely not be left alive. Even if they were to be left alive, they would definitely not be the leader of the water thieves.
So as soon as he heard that the leader of the water thieves was captured alive, he immediately knew that the water thieves were definitely not killed by Guang Jingshuo.
"It was done by Yancheng soldiers." the soldier replied.
Ru Junmei frowned and said, "Tell me everything in detail."
The soldier went on and on and told the story in detail.
"Do you know who the four people who came out halfway to turn the tide of the battle are?" Ru Junmei asked.
"I don't know." the soldier replied.
Ru Junmei's eyelids suddenly twitched a few times, he looked at Ru Heng and ordered: "Go and check what I told you to do again, and make sure there are no mistakes."
"Yes!" Ru Heng put it back and his heart suddenly became anxious again. His father's gloomy face told him that something was not going well.
…
Guang Jingshuo's eyelids were also twitching.
Chu tu tu tu——
It was as if there was a big flea hiding under each eyelid, constantly jumping around.
He returned to Tuozhou City in a hurry. He didn't even return home before rushing into the military camp.
Then Mou gathered enough momentum and waited for Zhao Quan to come to his door, preparing to refuse to admit his guilt.
He was the military envoy of Tuozhou and commanded the 30,000 troops defending the city in Tuozhou, so hiding in the military camp was far safer than hiding at home.
With an army of 30,000 men in hand, he was not afraid that Zhao Quan would dare to use force.
It would be great if Zhao Quan used force. He could be charged with leading troops in rebellion and be killed in Tuozhou City, and all would be over.
However, Guangjing Shuomo waited hard for three days, but Zhao Quan didn't come to his door, which he didn't expect.
He didn't believe that the leader of the water thieves could grit his teeth and not let go. He would be so loyal that he wouldn't confess him even to death. He was afraid that even if Zhao Quan had a knife on his neck, they would just tell the whole story without even asking Zhao Quan.
But why is there no movement at all from Zhao Quan?
Could it be that you are afraid?
Knowing that the strong dragon will not suppress the local snake, he walked away in despair?
Or have you already sent a request for help to Yancheng and wait for the army to come to help before you come to him to settle the score?
Or is there some other unknown plan?
After three days, Guang Jingshuo had lost half of his strength. He was in a state of confusion and had trouble sleeping and eating.
What made him most uneasy was that all the spies he sent out to inquire about Zhao Quan's movements never returned.
Fear comes from the unknown.
Of course, the main reason was because he felt guilty, so guilty that he felt ashamed to look at himself.
Zhao Quan led his troops to exterminate the water thieves and eliminated a great harm to Tuozhou. As the governor of Tuozhou, he should not be overjoyed. He welcomed Zhao Quan and a group of Yancheng warriors into Tuozhou City, expressed his sincere gratitude and gave him Generous rewards and thanksgiving gifts?
What's the point of hiding in the military camp like a shrunken turtle and not coming out?
Isn’t this the three hundred taels of silver that are missing here?
After Guang Jingshuo calmed down, he realized what a stupid thing he had done.
But he really didn't have the guts to see Zhao Quan, fearing that he would be chopped alive by Zhao Quanyang's knife as soon as he met.
While Guang Jingshuo was suffering from anxiety, Zhao Quan led 17,000 soldiers to appear outside the southern city of Tuozhou City.
They didn't do anything in the past three days, they just stayed in the water thief's village to rest for three days. Everyone ate and drank heavily to build up their strength and prepare for a big fight.
More than 21,900 of the 40,000 soldiers were killed in the battle, and more than 800 were left disabled.
This hatred is irreconcilable.
Zhao Quan is not ready to go back to Yancheng, he is too embarrassed to go back.
He will lead the remaining soldiers to fight Guang Jingshuo to the death, and will not give up until Guang Jingshuo's head is cut off.
Seventeen thousand soldiers carried swords, straddled war horses, and wore white scarves on their heads, showing murderous intent.
"Stop the incoming troops immediately!"
The guards on the city wall saw the army appearing and rushing straight to the city gate with great momentum, and immediately issued a warning.
But they were answered by a cavalry charge.
Before the Tuozhou defenders had time to react, Zhao Quan had already led his troops into the city gate and headed straight for Guang Jingshuo's mansion along the streets in the city to kill him.
All the officials in Tuozhou were confused. They only knew that something bad was going on, but they didn't know why it happened.
But Zhao Quan had already led his troops to step on their faces, and no matter how scared they were, they had to bravely go up and ask what happened.
The answer was: Jiedushi Guang Jingshuo was a spy from Daya who colluded with Wangyuan Lake water thieves to rob the southern army of food and wanted to disrupt the order of the southern territory.
They were all so frightened that their calves were spinning, because the water thieves in Wangyuan Lake would honor them during the New Year and festivals. They had a guilty conscience and immediately stayed away from Zhao Quan, for fear of involving themselves.
Zhao Quan led his troops to surround Guang Jingshuo's mansion, and tied up all his family members. He also sent troops to tie up all three clans of Guang Jingshuo.
Some people resisted and refused to be arrested, but were beheaded on the spot by soldiers wrapped in white scarves.
