It was late in the twelfth lunar month, and the huge team guarding the Zhonggong Palace had already passed through Liang County and Song City, which somewhat changed the mentality of some people in the team.
However, these changes in mentality depend on the person.
People from Dongdu have one idea, and people from Liangjun have another idea.
The people in the eastern capital are also divided into those who came from Ziwei Palace and those who came from Jing'antai. The people in Liangjun are also divided into officials who were parachuted from above and local middle- and lower-level officials and military personnel. There is even a distinction between county soldiers and garrison troops.
Everyone has different thoughts.
If you think that's all, you'd be too naive.
You must know that even in the same small group, the top, middle and bottom members of the team have completely different thoughts, and individual people have different thoughts.
In this regard, you can get some clues by looking at the gang members of the Deposed Dragon Gang.
However, let alone the complicated thoughts of the middle and upper-class elite officials, let’s just talk about the lowest level, whether they are from Dongdu or local Liang County, whether they are palace servants or civilian soldiers, they actually left the Song Dynasty. After the city gradually unified their thoughts.
Without him, the road becomes increasingly difficult.
It was only slightly warmer for a day or two, and it was not too warm. It was still bitterly cold in the morning and evening, but from noon to before evening, with the accumulation of sunshine, the originally hard lower layer of snow began to soften. Then as such a huge team drives past, often just the first few dozen cars pass by, and the road is covered with some strange mixture of snow, mud, and ice slag.
In a team of twenty to thirty thousand people, not everyone has a carriage or horse to ride on, nor does everyone have moccasin boots. Even those who come from the palace mostly wear cloth shoes, and the civilian husbands who are temporarily recruited are even more so at the beginning. I came here carrying straw sandals...the cloth shoes and straw sandals easily got soaked and even cut by the ice, and the vehicles began to slip, sink, and be damaged more frequently.
And at night, not everyone is qualified to enter the city or enter the market or manor next to the road to rest. Most people can only try to drag out some cars, circle them in a circle to block the wind, and then light charcoal fires and firewood. They held livestock or leaned against each other to keep warm. Some people didn't even have a car to protect themselves from the wind... But no matter what, they finally dried their shoes while filling a bowl of hot soup, only to find that the shoes had already solidified with the mud and water. Became one piece.
So early the next morning, the shoes were quickly soaked with mud and water, and even directly destroyed. Some vehicles parked on the road were even frozen together with the mud and water, making it difficult to push and pull.
At this time, he fell ill and tired, and it was difficult to withstand the severe cold, let alone walk.
The so-called non-combat attrition is mostly caused by this.
There are no weapons, no invasions, not even rain, snow, cold or heat. Walking forcefully will reduce the number of people, let alone this season and this road condition?
Therefore, when we arrived at Gushu City, the people below could no longer bear it, so they all requested to stop for a while and rest in Gushu for three to five days. It would be best to leave after the New Year...but I wanted to take a foot bath. The palace people helped wash the shoes and repair them to relieve the pain before setting off on the road.
Due to the hard work of traveling, almost all groups at the grassroots level have similar needs, and the pressure is almost all-roundly transmitted to the middle and upper levels.
That night, even the queen heard a similar sound, and was obviously persuaded, so she invited Gao Du Gong over again.
"no."
The exhausted Gao Jiang stood at the threshold. After listening patiently, he almost blurted out the answer. However, after he said it, he realized that his tone was strong, and then he immediately softened it slightly. "Your Highness, please do not be so moved by the words of these people that you miss your trip..."
"But." The queen hesitated and spoke sincerely. "It's true that the weather is getting warmer and the roads are completely different from when we first came out, right? I asked the female officer to get out of the car and walk for a while. Although my calves were still wet, they were all muddy... How can we walk on this kind of road?"
Gao Jiang, who was originally going to deal with it perfunctorily, paused for a moment, then took a breath and asked seriously: "I take the liberty of asking Your Highness, why can't I take this path?"
The queen was slightly startled, but she still lowered her voice and said, "Gong Du, if you rush on like this, I'm afraid you will force people away, or even force them to death."
Gao Jiang nodded, his expression as usual: "That's what I mean when I report back to Your Highness."
The queen was stunned for a moment and did not understand.
"With all due respect, since I entered the palace, I have seen no projects, inspections, or ceremonies that employ more than 10,000 people, and there has never been one without a death." Gao Jiang stood there talking to the queen, but tilted his head slightly, This is not to underestimate the queen, but to be a little tired and unable to hold on. "The lives of the people below are never life. I didn't know it in the past, but it is indeed the case today... Even when I was favored by the saint and promoted a little, I almost died of freezing because I was shirtless in winter... Your Highness, saint I have always only cared about whether things are successful or not, not about human lives."
"A saint is a saint." The queen glanced at the muddy spots on the other person's body and the hem of the python robe that had almost changed color. Her tone became weaker, but her stance remained unchanged. "It's up to us... whether we can kill fewer people or not."
"Then please tell me the truth." Gao Jiang stood there and continued to speak with force. "If a moment of benevolence delays the journey, I'm afraid more people will die... Moreover, even if we people from Ziwei Palace want to take a break, we are afraid that we will also attract resentment, and our lives will be in vain. disaster."
The queen immediately realized something.
Gao Jiang also explained further:
"The people in Jing'antai are all cultivated and have horses. They came to escort us, just like sending off the plague... It's not that they don't have good intentions. I just heard from the people below that Fu who lived in Xiyuan before Long Wei Bai Shou, the current black-shou man with the surname Qin, couldn't stand it, so he hired an old man Zhu Shou to discuss it together, but the chief eunuch scolded him directly, saying that he was a dog and a mouse... Of course , I also think that he has good intentions, but he is just a dog trying to fool a mouse.
"There are also local officials, not to mention. The earlier we left Liangjun, they would have got rid of the relationship earlier. There are also those civilians and soldiers. To put it bluntly, we left Liangjun. , so that they can celebrate the New Year, but if we delay, they will become resentful and angry, and may even mutiny and rebel.
"Other than that, I have never dared to tell His Highness that Mr. Zhang and I are worried that the bandits of the Zhulong Gang who are entrenched in Dongjun and Jiyin will collude with the Huaiyou League in the Jianghuai area. These two families are related. It has something to do with it. The traitor leader surnamed Zhang was the one who came out to establish the Huaiyou Alliance on behalf of Jing'antai... In other words, a military disaster is still a possibility. At this time, if you can take a step forward, you can welcome Xuzhou as soon as possible to support it. The troops will be less likely to have casualties all over the ground.
"As for why we can't wait for people from Xuzhou Camp to come to Liang County to take over, I think His Highness also understands that once they come, Prefect Cao will dare to swallow them... so they don't dare to come.
"Finally, to put it more ridiculously, if we really delay it, the road will turn into mud, which may not make it easier to walk. Not to mention that the ice on the Huanshui River has become thinner, making it impossible to sail boats and use mules and horses to drag luggage along the side. On the contrary, more tired.
"Your Highness, I have said this. Please trust me and let me continue to pull the team forward... Speaking of this, I don't know if your Highness has thought about it. Once His Highness openly disagrees with me, the following will happen. People will no longer listen to their subordinates, and it will only become more chaotic."
After saying that, Gao Jiang bowed his head heavily and leaned down.
After a while, it was the queen who couldn't bear it any longer and spoke first: "Master Gao, please get up... I have been in the palace for a long time, and I take everything for granted. But if I don't say it, there seems to be resentment from everyone up and down, and it will make things difficult for you." ”
"How dare you, my lord, to say something difficult?"
Gao Jiang sighed and tried to straighten up. "On the contrary, it is my greatest fault as a minister that His Highness should be wronged like this."
The queen nodded, but still couldn't help but ask: "If the road is difficult, can we walk in the morning and evening, rest at noon, and avoid the mud?"
"Reporting to your highness, that will only freeze people." Gao Jiang smiled bitterly. "It's still winter. The first thing is to protect yourself from the cold. Even if your shoes are broken or you fall down due to fatigue, most of them will get sick from the cold."
The queen could only give up.
Gao Jiang also saluted again and turned out.
As soon as the people left, a female officer dressed in men's clothing and wearing a sword turned around and said angrily: "Your Highness, what Gao Dugong said seems reasonable, but if it were a saint here, just one word would make it difficult for him to suffer. You can change things, so how can you push and hold back like this, half-softly and half-hardly forcing His Highness?"
The queen sitting there touched the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, smiled bitterly, and simply said: "Do you also know that he only listens to the saints?"
The female officer was speechless.
The queen could only remain silent.
To put it bluntly, the queen has been a queen for more than ten years, and before that she was a princess and crown princess for more than ten years. How can she not understand political rules?
These people in the officialdom have always been responsible only for their own source of power.
When the queen meets such a husband, he doesn't have any power. Everyone in the palace knows that in the position of Duke Gao, only a saint can decide his life, death, honor and disgrace, so how can he really care about the queen's thoughts?
Therefore, what Gao Du Gong wants is to pull the team over as soon as possible and give the saint an explanation. Since the lives of the people below are nothing to the saint, naturally they are nothing to Gao Du Gong.
The two sides have different standards for measuring issues.
By the same token, now that the emperor's uncle is in charge of the Eastern Capital, Huang Huangran says otherwise. Naturally, the people in Jing'antai don't need to talk about bullshit Beiya Governor and Nanya Xianggong, and they are also too lazy to go to Bird Queen. They just want to go quickly. He returned home and settled the matter, and then he got promoted and made a fortune with Uncle Cao.
But at this time, there is still one person who can say something, and that is Cao Wang, the prefect of Liang County.
Cao Wang's political stance is self-evident, and he must support Uncle Cao. However, as a traditional powerful feudal official, with a surname from the Yuanzhi country, and as a half-master, he undoubtedly has enough energy to support the team. The itinerary was changed... In addition, although it sounds very subtle, the fact is that it is difficult to imagine that such a traditional feudal official would make any unnecessary refutation of the queen's suggestions outside of military and political affairs.
After all, among the real foreign ministers, their power comes largely from political tradition and ethics, and the identity of the queen is part of this political tradition and ethics.
In other words, the queen has a way to make the team listen to her words. She only needs to gather everyone together, the red belts and black belts of Jing'antai, the governor of Beiya, the husband of Nanya, and the local civil and military officials. If you ask her seriously, someone will naturally follow her statement and achieve her goal easily.
Even if Gao Jiang really does what he said, he will lose his authority because of this. To put it bluntly, isn't there Zhang Shizhao? Can't you eat pigs with hair on them without a good butcher?
But it is a pity that the queen seems to have no idea of contacting directly with foreign ministers. I don't know if it is due to her husband's domestication for more than ten years.
And on the other hand, when you are almost exhausted or about to freeze, how can you give all your hope to a queen who has never obtained power?
How did you know that I was in the deep palace?
In this way, the petition that had been brewing for two or three days was easily put back at the highest level. Early the next morning, that is, the 23rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the team continued to set off. There was a commotion in the middle and someone tried to delay it. Gao Dugong showed no mercy. After killing seven or eight people, he threw hundreds of unmistakable sick cases into Gushu City together with these seven or eight corpses, and then continued to escort the Zhonggong Brigade along the frozen Huan River.
At noon, the old problem came back. The servants, palace servants, sergeants, and civilians were complaining. But this time, Gao Dugong, who had been prepared for a long time, went out to build the Tongtian Tower and asked a man named Wang from Beiya The father-in-law gathered seven or eight hundred young chamberlains, each of whom was given a bunch of sticks, and then released them uniformly. He did not care about anything else, except the chamberlains and palace servants in the core team. If anyone stopped or cried, regardless of gender, he would use the sticks randomly. Head down.
Later, even those who whispered to each other were beaten up.
The palace servants and chamberlains were trembling with fear and did not dare to say anything more, so they could only hurry on their way.
Seeing this scene, even the officials and soldiers of the surrounding Liang County looked at each other and became more cautious. At the same time, they couldn't help but whisper to each other, complaining about the cruelty of these father-in-laws and saying that they were not human beings.
However, such a road is so hard, and it has been hard work for several days. Even if there is a stick to supervise the battle, how can it be endured? We walked for another afternoon, only seventeen or eight miles out of Gushu County. As the sun gradually set, a large car on the west bank of Huanshui Road got stuck in the snow and mud. The people in charge of the car around it were completely He collapsed beside the car, unwilling to move any more.
The team behind them also stopped to take a rest.
And sure enough, in a moment, a group of seven or eight young chamberlains called all the way. Finally, they found the culprit, and they rushed directly and beat them. The beatings left these companions with bloody heads, and they actually got under the car together, but the car happened to be unlucky. The head was tilted, and few people could get under the car. Many people's buttocks and bodies were outside, and they were beaten with sticks. There were even fierce waiters who tied the sticks and just tried their best to smash the sticks under the car.
For a moment, the waiter in the car could only cry for his father and mother, and begged endlessly.
At this time, a group of twelve or three Jingantai patrolmen passed by. The leader was a man with a black ribbon, called Qin Bao. He had always been a decent man, but he really couldn't stand it anymore, so he rode forward and shouted:
"Are you beating people like this to encourage them to go on their way or just to vent their anger? Is it of any use?!"
The waiters who were carrying sticks looked back and saw that they were all in black, and they didn't dare to say anything. They just stood there and sneered, and secretly sent someone to call their superiors.
But for the person who was being beaten, several of the chamberlains under the car couldn't bear it anymore and shouted loudly.
First, someone shouted to Qin Baolai:
"The men in Jing'antai over there, you don't know, they are not supervising the battle team. They clearly want to use their power once they gain power. How can they show their efforts to follow up without killing us?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Bao still didn't know how to respond, and someone else directly said harsh words:
"You guys are too much of a bully. You are all ordinary servants, but you are assigned the job of supervising the war team. We are assigned to drive the carriages, and you are going to bully us to death. If you wait until the men arrive in Jiangdu, you will not be punished. Even if a few of them are killed, they deserve to be in the palace for seven or eight years."
As soon as he finished saying this, another burst of sticks came down, and then the crying started again.
Seeing this scene, Qin Bao was finally furious, but he took off the iron gun behind him, roared, and threw it out.
The iron spear was like lightning, falling directly behind the group of people only three to five steps away. The second half was almost completely submerged in the snow and mud, and there was still a strange crackling sound, which shocked the waiters holding the sticks immediately. Abandon the stick and tie up your hands, one is more honest than the other.
But soon, their reinforcements arrived.
A father-in-law from Beiya who was obviously of some rank came over and looked around. After he figured out the whole story, he was not angry. He just came to ask Qin Bao seriously: "Deputy Inspector Qin, you are not from Fulongwei now, you are from Jing." Do the deputy inspectors of Antai still want to interfere in palace affairs? Besides, do your own regular inspectors think it is okay to delay the trip like this? Should we go to the superiors for comment? "
"Eunuch Wang, don't use anyone to pressure me. I have seen with my own eyes that these people want to beat people to death just to vent their anger." Qin Bao was not polite. "Don't say anything about the judgment from above. Even if the saint and the emperor's uncle face to face, I will say that you are so wrong!"
The father-in-law was silent for a moment, then stood there with his hands tied, and asked seriously: "Then what should I do if they are wrong? Deputy Inspector Qin, you tell me, and I will do it, how about that?"
Qin Bao reined in the spotted leopard beast and took a long breath: "Old Wang, do you think I really care about the palace in Taichung?"
The prince was speechless.
"Okay, just follow my orders." After saying that, Qin Bao turned over and dismounted. "Pull out the injured person, put him aside to rest, clean the wound and then bandage it. You and I, as well as these beaters, will push the car out together, and then escort the car together. No one will be allowed to leave." If you’re lazy, I’ll postpone it until dark and camp today.”
The most fearful thing is to be serious in everything.
Hearing this, the prince's face twitched, but he actually said frankly: "As expected, deputy inspector Qin got mixed up with that Mr. Zhang. I admit defeat... Just help us carry the car out and go on your own." , I heard that there is something inappropriate in the front garden where we are camping, just do your homework, I will push this car over with these bastards."
When Qin Bao heard this, he took a long breath and stopped talking. Instead, he stepped forward to help lift the cart, and then placed the servants with bloody heads on the snow beside the road. Then he came back and started running. Ding Lei was so angry that he slowly lifted up the big iron gun with a little flash of lightning under the watchful eyes of Wang Gonggong and others, and then he rode away and led the crowd away.
After walking no more than four or five hundred steps, they met a group of knights, led by Li Qingchen.
After the two sides exchanged horses, Li Qingchen indeed told a serious message: "Today's journey is not awkward. There is a corner of the rabbit garden left by the previous dynasty ahead, so I cleaned it in the palace as a place to stay. As a result, our people actually caught a thief... ...I thought he was a spy at first, but it turned out that he claimed to be a Dangshan bandit and had confidential military information to report! When asked about the specific situation, he refused to tell. If he insisted on meeting the queen or the governor of Beiya or the prime minister of Nanya, Luo Zhushou directly used torture. But he accidentally killed him directly. After hearing the news, Beiya went to ask for it again, and there was a commotion... But no matter what, be careful of the Dangshan bandits intercepting him in front. Luo Zhushou meant that the escort team would settle around the Rabbit Garden tonight. After that, our two teams went south overnight to explore the situation ahead."
Qin Bao was silent for a while, but there was already a storm in his heart.
"I know that guy Luo Fang is sending us again for no reason, but after all, he is escorting the middle palace, and it is not groundless." When Li Qingchen saw this, he also misunderstood. "Let's just be patient."
"That's not what I meant." Qin Bao struggled for a moment before finally being able to deal with it. "The main reason is that I don't believe that the Dangshan bandits have nothing to do with Brother Zhang... The Dangshan bandits came from the south, so they may not be bait, or at least they are a north-south pincer attack... Do you want to guard the northeast as well?"
Li Qingchen hesitated to speak.
After a moment, he lowered his voice and responded: "Qin Er, since you are in such a difficult situation, you just accepted this job honestly and took the opportunity to hide out in the south. Why do you have to say it?"
"A man should take his responsibility..." Qin Bao couldn't finish half of what he said. "But to be honest, if it was really Brother Zhang who set up the trap, the news would have leaked out. I'm afraid it would be too late at this time. It's almost dark, and we don't know where to break the trap."
"It's not as mysterious as you said?" Li Qingchen looked at him solemnly. "Zhang Ni also has one nose and two eyes, and he also leads a group of rabble... In all likelihood, he will join forces with the Dangshan bandits to stop Qiaojun... As a result, the news leaked out too quickly, and he deserves to be in vain. And come back."
"I hope so!" Qin Bao also cheered up. "However, I'd better go to the northeast first. Don't go to Luo Fang. Just go to Xue Liang, Grand Administrator Cao, Governor Gao, and Xianggong Zhang. Let's talk to them. It can be considered that we have fulfilled our duties faithfully."
"That's okay." Li Qingchen nodded, stopped worrying, and turned around.
Qin Bao also gritted his teeth and led his troops across the ice surface of Huanshui, which had gradually solidified again, and headed for the snowy field in the northeast.
That is to say, when Qin Bao was galloping away into the snow, the car he had helped up before, maybe there was something wrong with it when it slid last time, but soon after getting on the road, it became crooked again. The poor prince and his wife were driving. The previous group of servants who tied the sticks tried for a long time, but they couldn't push it. Instead, their faces were covered with cold mud, and they had to slump by the roadside.
This scene soon attracted another group of young chamberlains who were bundled up with sticks.
"Get up quickly, push the cart, and don't waste time camping out front tonight!" the attendants yelled from a distance. "Tonight's camping place is at the Rabbit Garden five miles ahead. No matter how tired we are, we have to walk there! Look how many cars you have delayed! Everyone is still waiting for hot soup in the evening!"
"I really have no energy left."
Maybe they didn't realize the reversal of status, maybe they felt that they had the support of Wang Gonggong, the big leader who tied the stick, or maybe they were just tired. Several of the chamberlains lay there motionless, just shouting.
"Even if you beat us into a puddle of mud, we will only end up here."
When the waiters with sticks heard this, some laughed, some were angry, but they didn't say anything. When they came up to them, they suddenly changed their faces and swung their sticks, hitting them all over the face. The original waiters and the princes were stunned. , I can only temporarily hide my head and run around, making a mess.
"We are the same as you!"
"What's the same? We are supervising the battle team and following the prince, and you are just pushing the cart!"
"The prince is here!"
"You still dare to arrange the title of Eunuch Wang? Are you worthy of the surname Wang?!"
"Don't fight...it's the prince next to you!"
"Then let's fight together! Neither of you deserves the surname Wang!"
After beating back and forth, the poor prince's face was covered with mud and water, and all his clothes were covered with ice. He had no choice but to hold back and crawl under the car into the mud and water, preparing to get in and take a breather. Let’s talk again.
However, at this moment, another kind-hearted person passing by could not stand it anymore: "Are you beating people like this to encourage them to go on the road or just to vent their anger? Is it of any use?!"
Several of the chamberlains who were playing sticks immediately stopped.
The prince, whose forehead was already bleeding, took the opportunity to look up and saw a familiar black man wearing dark brocade clothes, wearing a standard scimitar, riding a yellow gelding, standing next to the team, heading this way. He stopped drinking, but behind him there were dozens of similarly dressed knights, who were also poking their heads curiously.
"Deputy Chang Inspector Zhang, thank you for your work. I'm going to let you laugh." Although Wang Gonggong, who was always known for his alertness and calmness, was knocked unconscious, he actually called out the visitor's last name accurately and thanked him.
Zhang Xing was surprised for a moment, raised his head and squinted his eyes, and then he realized: "Is it actually Lao Wang? With your qualifications, you are second only to a few governors and Lao Yu in Beiya, how can you still push a cart? Is Beiya so particular about sharing joys and sorrows now?"
Eunuch Wang gave a bitter smile: "Deputy Changjian Zhang is still here to ridicule? If that guy Qin Er hadn't imitated you and taken me..."
Halfway through the words, the prince, whose face and body were about to freeze, felt ice-cold for a moment. He felt that his whole body had really fallen into the ice hole, and then he stood there silently and motionless.
After a while, a chamberlain carrying a bloody staff came over cautiously, glanced at the prince's face, then dropped the staff, knelt down with a cry, and broke the silence with sincere words:
"My lord, we men really didn't know it was you! Otherwise, please call me back!"
The prince turned to look at the man, and for a moment he wanted to kneel down and cry with him, but he felt that his face had already become stiff in the north wind, and he couldn't squeeze out a single tear.
ps: Good night everyone!
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