In a blink of an eye, it’s hot summer again.
There was an atmosphere of mourning all over the Changlinghou Mansion in Jiuzifang.
Ever since the bad news of the second lady and Mrs. Sima Xia Houhui contracted the plague and died from the Wuyang Marquis Sima's house, Mrs. Cao Jue has been crying all day long. She doesn't eat much and rarely sleeps. Regardless of Li Huigu and Gu Ting No matter how others tried to dissuade him, the old man just couldn't listen.
After all, the precious daughter he has cared for and raised since she was a child has encountered such misfortune in just over twenty years of age. Who can bear it when a person with white hair sends a person with black hair?
Cao Jue would get up early every day and carefully clean the west wing of the room where his daughter once lived.
The servants and guards in the mansion couldn't help but feel distressed when they saw it.
Li Huigu did not spread the bad news to the north, because she knew that her husband must be shouldering heavy responsibilities when he went there, and she would not allow him to be distracted by anything at this moment.
After Li Huigu served a bowl of hot soup cakes to the big black dog 'Amo', she sat on the porch. While watching the big black dog eating with relish, she couldn't help but think of her husband far away in the north.
Life is full of unexpected blessings and misfortunes, and I really want my husband to accompany me every day.
——
Xia Houxuan, Cao Xi, and Yu Huan, who has grown into a tall, handsome young man with both civil and military skills, have been staying in Youzhou for more than several months since they went north in March.
What the three of them have to do is so important that they might even have to spend New Year's Eve this year in this freezing cold place in the north.
Youzhou, the seat of Jixian County.
In the past few months, Wang Xiong, the governor, with the help of Xia Houxuan, Cao Xi, and Yu Huan, has issued announcements throughout Youzhou in order to select and train warriors and dead soldiers for the mission as soon as possible.
The hard work paid off. Finally, at the beginning of Xia, Xia Houxuan, Cao Xi, and Yu Huan helped Wang Xiong find several warriors in Youzhou and Youbeiping County. After many layers of selection, they selected a surnamed warrior. The warrior of Han Minglong.
This Han Long is a native of Youzhou. He is a well-built and powerful man. He is also the master of the Youzhou Stone-Cracking Sect. For more than ten years, he has relied on his "Youyan Stone-Cracking Hand" which can crack mountains and rocks. The unique skills dominate the quiet and peaceful, and the leader is a resounding hero.
After examining this man's courage, courage, and adaptability, Xia Houxuan, Cao Xi, Yu Huan, and even the governor Wang Xiong all believed that this man was the best candidate to carry out the assassination plan.
After more than a month of running in, Han Long, Cao, Xia, and Yu already had some tacit understanding.
Therefore, in the following time, they chose to spend more time discussing with the governor Wang Xiong on the specific plan to assassinate Xianbei Lord Ke Bineng.
Youzhou Governor's Mansion.
The governor, Wang Xiong, withdrew his left and right sides and was having a banquet and discussion with Xia Houxuan, Cao Xi, Yu Huan, and Han Long.
"The three of you must have known for a long time that Ke Bineng's power has always been extremely strong. Back then, his subordinates controlled more than 100,000 horses. Now, although he has been defeated by the great Wei Dynasty, his vitality has not been seriously damaged, and he still fights against me head-on. The greedy wolf on the border of the Wei Dynasty is watching covetously.
Moreover, this man is cunning, brave, and capricious by nature, and has repeatedly caused harm to the borders of Bingzhou and Youzhou of Wei State. Killing the people of the Wei Dynasty and stealing the property of the Wei Dynasty is actually a major trouble for the imperial court. "
When Wang Xiong said this, he was quite angry. He punched the wooden case in front of him with his left hand. He raised the copper barracks with his right hand and drank a bottle of Western Rose Peach Wine brought by Xia Houxuan from the capital and personally given by His Majesty. Then he continued said:
"Even though Ke Bi is so cruel, you and I both know that the imperial court and His Majesty are actually unwilling to be enemies of the entire Xianbei tribe. Therefore, our best way is to get rid of this capricious Xianbei Fuyi King. , and establish a new leader of Xianbei. In this way, the source of all troubles will be eliminated, which will be of great benefit to both our countries. Therefore, our assassination this time is imperative and there is no room for error. I have thought about it a lot, but I have not thought of a specific time and opportunity to take action. I wonder if you all here have any good ideas?"
After the four of them pondered for a moment, Xia Houxuan seemed to suddenly remember something. He raised the copper jue filled with fine wine on the table and said with a smile:
"'Dawan uses Pu grapes as wine, and the rich store more than ten thousand stones of wine. The wine will not be corrupted for dozens of years.' It is said that this Pu grape wine from the Western Regions can be stored for ten years. It tastes sweet and is as strong as fire. It is true. A rare wine.”
The governor Wang Xiong, Cao Xi, Han Long, and Yu Huan were all confused and confused when Xia Houxuan suddenly mentioned the extremely precious Pu Taojiu in this case.
Xia Houxuan continued to smile and said:
"If we send dozens of warriors, in the name of the Wei envoy, to the Monan Palace of Xianbei on New Year's Eve, and then offer this extremely precious and unique grape wine to Xianbei, pretending to show goodwill to Xianbei, then Kebi will He will definitely let his guard down, so wouldn't we have an excellent opportunity to assassinate him?"
The governor, Han Long, Cao Xi and Yu Huan heard this and suddenly understood.
"This plan is very clever in Taichu, but..."
The governor Wang Xiong first clapped his hands and praised, with a happy face, but after thinking about it carefully, he frowned and said:
"It is rumored that Kebi Nengsheng is very powerful and has countless warriors under his tent. Although we can enter the desert in the name of giving wine, we are still not completely sure that we can successfully assassinate him. If the assassination fails by then, we will only scare the snake. But it’s very bad.”
"So, giving wine to the royal court is just part of the plan."
Xia Houxuan seemed to be sure in his heart, and he said without thinking.
"So, what are the second and third good strategies for Taichu?"
When Wang Xiong heard that the other party was confident, he immediately felt hopeful.
"Secondly, since you are in the north all year round, you should be aware of the internal conflicts among the Xianbei tribes."
"Of course, as early as the fourth year of Guanghe, Emperor Ling of the previous dynasty, Tan Shihuai, the leader who had ruled for a lifetime and unified all the tribes in Xianbei, passed away. Then his son Helian succeeded him. Helian had no talent and was greedy. , the law is unfair, and the soldiers under his command are all rebels, and half of them are down."
Wang Xiong nodded and said.
Xia Houxuan nodded, and continued Wang Xiong's words:
"Yes, in the last years of Emperor Ling's reign, He Lian was shot to death by the enemy again when he was in the northern county of Chaolue. His son Qianman was young, so his brother's son Kuitou became the king instead. Later Jianman grew up and competed with Kuitou. The Xianbei tribe fell apart again. After the death of Kuitou, his younger brother Bu Dugen was proclaimed king. At this time, all the Xianbei to the west of Daijun had rebelled, and all the Xianbei to the east of Daijun had rebelled. Xianbei was also divided into three forces. The first leader was Bu Dugen, whose tribes were distributed in Taiyuan, Yanmen and other places in Bingzhou; the second was Kebineng, whose tribes were distributed in Daijun, Shanggu and other places in Youzhou. ; The third is Xianbei Suli, Mijia, and Queji in the east, and their tribes are distributed in Liaoxi, Youbeiping, and Yuyang outside the Great Wall of Youzhou."
Cao Xi nodded and said:
"Yes, among the three forces, King Bu Dugen of Guiyi is closer to us, the Wei Dynasty. In the middle of the Jian'an year, Taizu pacified Youzhou, and Bu Dugen and Ke Bineng were still in harmony, so they passed Wuhuan Colonel Yan Rou paid tribute to our great Wei Dynasty, and from then on we reconciled with our dynasty. From then on, until Emperor Wen replaced the Han Dynasty, General Tian Yu was appointed as Wuhuan captain, and he was responsible for supervising and protecting Xianbei. Bu Dugenbu got along with Kebi Nengbu As time went by, discord naturally arose, and they began to attack each other. Bu Dugen was slightly weaker and was no match for Kebineng, so Bu Dugen simply led more than 10,000 of his troops to defend Taiyuan County. Bu Dugen himself This wholeheartedly defends the border for Wei and does not harm the border.
Wang Xiong continued:
"What Uncle Zhao said is absolutely true. Later, in the first year of Qinglong a few years ago, Kebi Neng once again devised a scheme. First, he lured Bu Dugen to marry him, and then he raided and killed our border officials. The people really have the heart of a wolf. Therefore, Your Majesty sent the heroic cavalry generals Qin Yuanming and Changling Marquis to conquer them, and Bu Dugen was killed by Ke Bineng! From then on, the Xianbei tribe bordering the Wei Dynasty used Ke Bineng Bi Neng is so respected, so as long as Ke Bi Neng is still around, I, the Wei Dynasty, will be the enemy of the Xianbei tribe!"
"What you said is true, but have you forgotten that there is a Xianbei tribe in the east of Monan?"
"Did Taichu mean the Tuoba clan?"
The governor Wang Xiong looked a little surprised:
"But Tuoba Xianbei has never been close to me, the Wei Dynasty, and we rarely have any contact with each other."
Xiahou Xuanze smiled and said:
"Although this area has no border with our great Wei Dynasty, it does border with Ke Bineng's Monan. This is enough."
The Suotou Xianbei mentioned by Xia Houxuan was the Tuoba clan who later established the Northern Dynasties and Northern Wei.
The Suotou clan is currently led by Tuoba Liwei.
His father was the former leader Tuoba Jiefen.
His elder brother was the ancestor of the Southern Liang Kingdom during the Sixteen Kingdoms Period.
According to legend, Tuoba Liwei was the son of his father Jiefen and the goddess of heaven. He was the son of a god.
After Jie Fen died, Li Wei succeeded him in the 25th year of Jian'an at the end of the Han Dynasty, that is, before the beginning of the Wei Dynasty and the beginning of the Huang Dynasty, and the year before Emperor Wen Cao Pi succeeded the Han Dynasty.
At the beginning of his succession, the western Xianbei tribe to which the Tuoba tribe belonged was in civil strife. They attacked each other and the tribes were separated. Therefore, Liwei sought refuge with Dou Bin, the chief of the "Wuluhui tribe".
Dou Bin appreciated Li Wei and wanted to entrust half of the land to Li Wei, but Li Wei refused, so Dou Bin married his daughter to Li Wei.
Liwei also asked to lead his old tribe and asked to live in Changchuan in the north. More than ten years later, due to good governance, all the old tribes came to join him.
Today, the Changchuan Tuoba tribe has gradually shown signs of recovery under Li Wei's governance, but no one has noticed its changes.
Xia Houxuan continued: "This time we go north, we must contact the Suotou Tuoba tribe. We can make an appointment with Tuoba in advance and arrive at the Monan Palace in Kebineng on New Year's Eve this year. First of all, To paralyze Kebineng, let him think that the surrounding tribes have already surrendered to him. Secondly, we can also ask Tuoba to join forces with us to help us; in addition, we must also secretly send envoys to bribe Kebineng's people with heavy sums of money. Your Excellency, as well as Ke Bineng’s younger brother, when Xianbei is invaded by external and internal troubles, together with the three of us, we will definitely be able to successfully assassinate Ke Bineng!”
"Okay!" Wang Xiong, the governor, heard Xia Houxuan's plan and appreciated it very much. He held up his palms and said with a smile: "You will test Xiahou Boren first. Back then, he was known as 'the one with the best plans'. Now I see His son is indeed quite like your late father! I will arrange for messengers and gold envoys to go to Suotou and Monan Palace!"
