After General Cao Shuang reported to Emperor Cao Fang, Cao Xi was finally appointed as the leader of the third rank, and was able to directly control the 30,000 imperial troops in the eight battalions inside and outside the capital.
The Central Leading Army is the head of the Forbidden Army, and the Central Protector Army is the deputy commander of the Forbidden Army. Now Cao Xi has jumped to the top, and his status is even above Xia Houxuan.
On the day he received the appointment edict, Cao Xi arranged for Yan Shi, the general's commanding general, to inform the commanders of the eight battalions of the internal and external imperial army to assemble at the Xuanwu Field outside Daxia Gate in the north of Luoyang City at Mao o'clock the next day.
Early the next morning, when Yin Shi was about to end, Cao Xi woke up.
He stood up carefully, for fear of waking up his wife Wei Yuan. After getting up, he carefully covered Wei Yuan with a brocade quilt, and walked out of the back bedroom quietly. When he came to the main hall, he began to wash and tidy up. stand up.
After Cao Xi put on the newly issued uniform of a military attaché of the third rank issued by the imperial court, he looked at it carefully for a long time with a bronze mirror in his hand. Only then did he realize that he, who was only thirty years old, had a few unnoticeable white hairs growing on his head and temples. .
The slightly raised moustache and thin sideburns, apart from adding a bit of prowess to Cao Xi, did not change his elegant temperament much.
At this time, two servants took Cao Xi's armor and dragon-scaled sword.
Cao Xi reached out and touched the cold scales, and the throb and tension in his heart dissipated a little.
Cao Xi, who was ready, looked at the hourglass and saw that it was still early.
Cao Xi did not wait any longer. He rode his horse to the Xuanwu Field early.
Not long after, the generals and officers of each battalion were assembled. Cao Xi looked around and asked the battalion commanders to check the number of people, and found that there were no absentees.
When the commanders of the battalions saw that everyone had arrived, they handed over the ten-day performance reports of the officers and officers in their battalions that had been collected in advance to the central leader's chief clerk.
After reading the work report, Cao Xi asked someone to fetch the newly drafted list of commanders of the various battalions of the Forbidden Army, and looked at it carefully:
The generals and commanders of the various camps within the Chinese Army are as shown on the left:
The "leading camp" is led by the central leader himself. Under his jurisdiction are 4,000 elite infantry and cavalrymen.
The "Middle Base Camp" is led by General Cao Ya. There are 3,000 elite infantry under his command.
The "backbone camp" is commanded by the backbone general Cao Ze. There are 3,000 elite infantry under his command.
The "Wuwei Camp" is commanded by Wuwei General Cao Xun. Under his jurisdiction are 5,000 elite tiger and warrior soldiers.
The "Fifth School Camp" commanded the fifth camp's school governor and kuang. It has five battalions with 5,000 soldiers. Sima Jun, the captain of the garrison cavalry school, was in charge of thousands of fine cavalrymen. Zhen Yi, the captain of the Yue Cavalry School, was in charge of thousands of Wu and Yue Hu cavalrymen. Bian Lin, the infantry captain, was in charge of thousands of officials in the northwest. Guo Zhi, the captain of Changshui, was in charge of thousands of Huqi troops in Xuanqu, Changshui. Zhen Chang, the captain of Shesheng School, was in charge of thousands of archers and crossbowmen of Shesheng.
The generals and commanders of the Chinese and foreign armies are as follows:
The "Hujun Camp" was personally controlled by the Central Guards Army, and Xiahou, the Marquis of Guannei, was appointed to lead it. It has 3,000 elite infantry and cavalrymen under its jurisdiction.
The "Xiaoqi Camp" was commanded by Xiaoqi General Yishou Tinghou Yu Huan. It has three thousand heavily armored cavalry under its command.
The "guerrilla camp" is commanded by the guerrilla general Yingyin Hou Chen Tai. Under his jurisdiction are three thousand light-armored horsemen, archers and crossbowmen.
The commander of the "Chengmen Camp" was Chengmen School Captain Zhende. It has twelve city gates and a thousand garrison guards under its jurisdiction.
After a while, Cao Xi learned about the changes in the leadership of the internal and external Forbidden Army.
Except for the fact that his previous position as the general of the middle base was replaced by his cousin Cao Ya and Cao Wenshu, and the position of the city gate captain was replaced by his nephew Zhen De, everything in the other battalions was as usual.
[Note 1: Uncle Cao Wen does exist, but Cao Ya’s name is fictitious. Uncle Wen is the younger brother of General Cao Shuang. After Uncle Wen's death, his wife Xiahou Lingnu refused to remarry and cut her own ears and nose with a knife. 】
The work report was over. Cao Xi walked up to the high platform step by step. He slowly calmed down his nervous and excited mind, and then shouted loudly:
"For the officers and men of each battalion, I have worked with you for more than ten years since I served as the deputy general of the Wuwei battalion during the Taihe period, and then I took charge of the Zhongba battalion in these years. We are all old acquaintances, so I won't say anything more. Without further ado, I just hope that from now on, we all will continue to work together, practice diligently, and do our best to protect His Majesty and defend the capital, so as to ensure that I, the Wei Dynasty, will not have any worries at any time!"
All the officers and officers in the Xuanwu Field heard Cao Xi's words clearly and responded loudly together:
"The final general will definitely live up to His Majesty's expectations and fulfill his duties to defend the capital!"
"Okay!" At this moment, Cao Xi felt his blood and energy surge, and he loudly ordered: "Every general, listen to the order and return to the camp to practice garrison!"
"I accept my order from my humble position!"
After the nine commanders of the internal army and the hundreds of officers under their command shouted loudly, they went back to the camp to patrol.
——————
Taiwei Jiang Ji was originally worried that Ruan Ji would not come to his Taiwei Mansion to accept his appointment, but that day he suddenly learned that Ruan Ji had arrived at Duting, so he was very happy and immediately sent someone to greet Ruan Ji.
Ruan Ji, who had no intention of serving Sima's party members, reluctantly came to serve in the Taiwei Mansion.
Ruan Ji had just been in office for about ten days, and his colleagues in the Taiwei Mansion began to criticize Ruan Ji's drinking habit.
"This Ruan Sizong, I think he has wasted his reputation! He has been drinking all day long, and he smells of alcohol. How can he look like a lieutenant?"
"That is to say, he always turns his back on others, which is really abominable!"
In this way, after being ridiculed and ostracized for more than a month, Ruan Ji finally couldn't stay any longer. Determined, he resolutely submitted a resignation form to Taiwei Jiang Ji.
Jiang Ji valued Ruan Ji previously because he coveted Ruan Ji's status as a famous scholar. Now he also disliked Ruan Ji a little more, so he did not try to persuade him to stay.
After Cao Shuang learned about this, he could only arrange for Ruan Ji to be the deputy minister of the general shogunate in order to make further arrangements.
——————
It’s already December in the blink of an eye.
On a winter morning, the wind is cool and chilly.
Today is Xiahou Xuanxiu's holiday, so he doesn't have to attend the court meeting or go to the school to assess the sergeants.
Although it was a holiday, he got up early in the morning and went to the study.
Li Huigu knew that her husband was recently compiling a collection of essays, and he had already thought of the name, which was called "Xiahouzi".
Since ancient times, only great writers and historians can be called sons, such as Confucius, Mencius, Lao, and Zhuang. However, my husband smiled and said to himself that he named Jizi such a name just to sound good.
She also got up early in the morning, personally prepared breakfast for her husband and children, and helped her husband add a brazier in the study, so she did not disturb her husband again.
In the study, Xia Houxuan is writing and thinking, adding, deleting and revising his draft of "Xiahouzi".
"When a boat is capsized, no one is wet; when a horse is driven away, no one is unmoved. Therefore, all things in the world are one and the same."
"There were people from Lu who were good at looking at horses, so they traveled with me. I was asleep at night and heard horses walking. People from Lu were startled and said: 'It's seven hundred miles away.' This darkness has struck my ears."
"A flight of white hair, a flight of mosquitoes, all saints know this."
…
[Note 1: This is selected from the remaining original text of "Xiahouzi" in "Preview". 】
At this moment, Gu Ting walked into the study.
"Jun Hou, a brother and sister came outside the house. They looked like refugees from Hebei. I went to the warehouse to get some silver coins for them, but they didn't want anything. They said they were your old friends and took one. Give me the jade pendant, and I will name you to see the lord."
"Refugee? Old friend?" After hearing what Gu Ting said, Xiahou Xuan began to think about it.
A few days ago, I heard about the earthquake in Wei County, so it was not surprising that refugees came to the capital. However, Xia Houxuan couldn't figure out when he had an old friend in Wei County.
"In that case, Uncle Gu, please take them to the main hall to wait, and then ask the servants to prepare a table of hot food for them. I will go over and see for myself later."
"Okay." Gu Ting rubbed his hands, which were stiff from the cold, and got ready to go out.
Xia Houxuan looked at the jade pendant in his hand, and seemed to suddenly remember something.
Could it be Brother Lu Zhongxiong and Yan Zi who they met by chance in Yanzhou? But aren’t Brother Lu’s family in Chenliu County? How could they become refugees?
Xia Houxuan put on his big cloak and rushed to the main hall immediately.
―――
Behind the screen, Xia Houxuan looked at the sallow-looking brother and sister sitting in front of him, eating ravenously. For a moment, he did not recognize that the two people in front of him were the energetic elder brother Lu Zhongxiong and the lively and lovely girl Yanzi.
He couldn't help but feel a little sad, what on earth is going on?
He wanted to rush up to the brother and sister and ask for clarification, but he was afraid that he would not be able to eat if they saw him, so he stayed behind the screen until the brother and sister were full before coming out.
"Brother Lu, Yanzi, are you guys..."
The two brothers and sisters, who had just finished eating and had suffered a disaster, could not help but burst into tears when they saw their long-lost old friend, and Yanzi burst into tears.
―――
Xia Houxuan and Li Huigu asked Gu Ting to bring some hot food and soup, while brother and sister Lu Zhongxiong and Lu Yan talked about their experiences in the past thirteen years while eating.
"Brother Xiahou, my mother died of illness not long after you left Yanzhou Chenliu. My brother and sister depended on each other for life, and life passed by smoothly.
I originally planned to run the farmland for a few years, save some food, and then find a good family to marry Yan Zi off to. Then I came to the capital to join the army and have a good future. But unexpectedly, something happened to the village soon after.
A group of vicious bandits came to the village. They not only robbed everyone of their food, but also killed people. There were not many men in our village, so we didn’t dare to mess with them. However, we didn’t expect that these bandits would go even further and come to the nearby areas every now and then. A village was robbing us of food and threatening us to prevent us from reporting to the government.
Just when we were desperate, a group of rangers came to the village, led by a young man named Su Mu. "
"Su Mu..." Xia Houxuan immediately thought of his old friend, Su Mu, who was now serving as a military commander in the Forbidden Army. However, he was not sure whether the person Lu Zhi was talking about was the same person, so he did not ask in detail.
Lu Zhongxiong continued:
"All of these rangers are capable, and they are all narrow-minded. Especially Su Mu, who has excellent light-weight skills. But even so, the number of bandits is still far greater than ours, and we are really outnumbered. That Su Mu Later, Brother Mu got a few sets of military uniforms from nowhere and pretended to be an officer one night. The group of bandits was a ragtag group and immediately dispersed as soon as they saw the "officers and soldiers". Su Mu also took the opportunity to capture the bandit leader and took him into custody. He went to see the official, and our village settled down."
Xia Houxuan nodded and asked, "Then, does Brother Lu know where this brother Su Mu is from?"
"According to what he said, he seems to be from Lihu County, Yanzhou."
Xia Houxuan had already confirmed at this time that the Su Mu mentioned by Lu Zhongxiong was the same person he knew. He continued to ask: "Since the bandits have been eliminated, why did brother Lu and his sister end up like this?"
"Well, it's a long story." Lu Zhongxiong sighed: "After the bandits left, the village gradually recovered. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. More than a year ago, County Sheriff Chenliu received an order saying that Setting up a military camp in the county allowed thousands of households along the river to move to Wei County in Jizhou."
Xia Houxuan suddenly realized: "Brother Lu and his family suffered the Weijun earthquake?"
Lu Zhongxiong nodded: "Yes, a month ago, there was a big earthquake in Weijun. Many houses collapsed and many people died. Yanzi and I were lucky. We did not die in Weijun, but we were homeless. , being hungry and cold, I suddenly remembered what Taichu said to me before leaving, so I took Yanzi all the way to the capital."
"Brother Lu took Yanzi all the way. It was not easy. Why didn't he let her stay at her husband's house? Could it be that her husband's family was not good to Yanzi?" Xia Houxuan was a little confused.
"Taichu's words are wrong. My little sister is not married yet, so how can she come to her husband's family?"
"Ah!?" Xia Houxuan was shocked after hearing Lu Zhongxiong's words.
A woman is supposed to get married when she is fifteen years old, but Yan Zi is now over twenty, and if she is not married yet, will she be alone for the rest of her life?
Xia Houxuan couldn't help but asked curiously: "But why?"
"Hi!" Lu Zhongxiong slapped his thigh and said with a frown: "Speaking of which, I have to blame that boy Su Mu. When he came to the village to suppress bandits, he met my sister and the two of them had a secret love and were in love with each other. This was originally It's a good thing, but Su Mu's stupid head said that he had to gain some fame before he could come back to marry my sister. Then he went to the capital and was never heard from again. Later, some people from the village came to my house to propose marriage, but they were all rejected by my sister. He refused. Later, the relocation of farmland and the earthquake happened."
Lu Yan did not speak, but kept shyly lowering her head and tugging at the corner of her clothes.
After hearing what Lu Zhongxiong said about this marriage, Xia Houxuan felt quite relieved. But he was a little worried.
This kid Su Mu has been working in the capital for two or three years. He has been promoted along the way and is now a military commander in charge of thousands of people in the imperial army. However, he has never mentioned this matter. Could it be that this kid has changed his mind and forgotten Yanzi?
Xia Houxuan thought to himself that he must make the decision in this matter.
"Brother Lu, Yanzi, don't worry, I will definitely help you with this matter. Just stay in the house for the time being. If you need anything, just tell Butler Gu."
Xia Houxuan patted Lu Zhongxiong on the shoulder:
"In a few days, I will find a way to find a job for Brother Lu. You can live in the capital from now on."
The Lu family brothers and sisters cried with joy after hearing this.
Li Huigu touched Yanzi's messy hair, smiled and said:
"Look at you, you are so thin. How can you meet your brother Sumu? Let's live well in the house first. After I make you fat, my husband and I will let you meet Sumu."
Lu Yan's ears turned red from embarrassment, and she lowered her head and said nothing.
Xia Houxuan was also amused by his wife's joke, but suddenly he felt worried again.
If he remembered correctly, the general should have personally assigned Ding Mi and Da Si Nong Huanfan to handle the issue of the military garrison in Chenliu County, Yanzhou. Now that there is an earthquake in Weijun, the victims have not been properly resettled. This is a matter that I have to take care of!
