Spring, March. An unprecedentedly large fleet sailed from the south of the Yangtze River to Geling. This fleet carried goods purchased from overseas.
The places we passed along the way attracted the attention of countless people. Even those who have been running boats for most of their lives have never seen such a large team.
Wherever the fleet goes, legends will spread. It is said that the Xie family's merchant ship discovered an island country overseas. There are many specialties on the island, which many people in the Central Plains have never heard of or seen.
The Xie family did not dare to neglect, and after purchasing a large amount of goods, they set off for Geling. They wanted to present these unique things to His Majesty the Jade Emperor, and by the way they brought the credential of the small island country requesting His Majesty's reward.
In this fleet, there is an envoy from this small country named Moss Dove. It is said that he has a distinguished status in the local area and is the king's brother-in-law.
From time to time, people from these small countries will appear on the bow of the ship, wearing strange clothes, attracting many people's attention.
There will be government inquiries wherever the fleet passes, but because of the presence of diplomatic missions, it still gets some attention. After all, this involves the etiquette of hospitality for big countries.
The people of the Central Plains are always so hospitable, even an insignificant envoy from a small country will be respected enough.
Especially since it was the first time for a small country like Mojiu to come to the Central Plains, Dayu naturally wanted to let people feel the enthusiasm from the upper country.
There's nothing unusual about this team at all. If anything, it's because it's too big.
However, the goods were carefully inspected and no prohibited items were found. The envoy of the small country of Mojiu is also real, that place is really called Mojiu, and the envoy is really the brother-in-law of King Mojiu.
And standing next to the envoy was Xie Pi, the head of the Xie family. Standing at the bow of the boat, Mu Mali's heart was filled with excitement.
Moss Dove has long heard that there is a powerful and prosperous empire in the Central Plains with unparalleled cultural heritage.
Therefore, the moss dove people had thought about making a pilgrimage to the Central Plains a long time ago. However, because the moss dove's national power was weak and the wood on the island limited the scale of their shipbuilding, they could not support a fleet that was large enough for a long voyage.
It is not known how many years the royal family of Mojiu Island have lived on the island, but according to the records left by their ancestors, it seems that they are not natives of the island.
Rumor has it that about a thousand years ago, a fleet encountered strong winds and waves near Mojiu Island. The fleet suffered heavy losses and could not continue its voyage, so it survived on Mojiu Island.
Many years later, these outsiders merged with the aboriginal people on Mojiu Island and taught the people on the island writing and etiquette.
Gradually, a rather primitive state form emerged. The moss dove's heart is to return to the Central Plains to see the greatness of its mother country, but the frustration lies in the fact that the trees on the island are not suitable for building sea ships.
Ever since Mumari entered the Central Plains, his eyes seemed to be not enough. The Central Plains people feel fresh when looking at their fancy clothes, while they only feel envious when looking at the Central Plains people's costumes.
Or because of the island, they were unable to make beautiful clothes. The fabrics of the clothes were obviously rougher, but fortunately they were more durable.
Without brocade clothes, they can only increase the color of their clothes. The more complicated and colorful the clothes, the more valuable they are. Just like the set of clothes Mumari is wearing now, ordinary people cannot afford it.
“Mr.
"We have another month to go!" Mumari's eyes widened. They have been walking for nearly three months since entering Dayu, from winter to spring. Along the way, they also saw different natural scenery and rich and diverse local culture.
"Dayu is so big." Mu Mali sighed sincerely. Xie Biguo said: "What the Marquis should know is that we have not finished walking to Dayu to get to Geling. Going further north from Geling to the border of Dayu will take another four months, even if we still take the waterway." Mu Mali opened his eyes. Mouth.
Before coming to Dayu, he had never recognized that Mojiu Island was not big.
"Terrible..." Mumari muttered to himself. Xie Bigu said: "I have sent people to Geling in advance to ask for a meeting with the court officials. The emperor must have known about the Marquis coming to Dayu to pay tribute, so if nothing else happens, the Honglu Temple officials who set off from Geling should arrive in the middle of the night. We will be picked up in a few months." Mu Mari nodded, looking a little numb from the shock.
Xie Bi said: "You don't have to worry, Mr. Hou. I will tell Mr. Hou as much as possible about Dayu's etiquette along the way. My people will take care of the matters related to dealing with the government." Mu Mali sighed with emotion. "If it weren't for Mr. Xie's help, we don't know what year and month we would be able to see the magnificent rivers and mountains of Dayu." Thank you mossy doves.
At the same time, in Yingdang Mountain, about six hundred miles away from Jingzhou, there is a stretch of water for hundreds of miles outside the mountain. In this season, the withered reeds look like a densely packed marching team.
It's just that he looks a little embarrassed. The reeds here are dense and have always been occupied by water bandits. Although the local government killed many bandits through several campaigns, banditry was still difficult to eradicate.
However, in the past six months, the government has become more practical. I don't know why the water bandits almost don't come out, as if they suddenly disappeared.
Although they didn't know what happened, the government and people were very happy that the water bandits were gone. But the people living near the water park still dare not get too close to Yingdang Mountain. Some people once tried to walk inside, but they never returned. People speculate that the water bandits are not gone but they are just too lazy to come out, but if you send it yourself Of course, people who come to your door will be happy to kill you.
Shi Xianfeng is here. Hundreds of members of the Shi family dispersed into Geling last year, but Shi Xianfeng led a team of 24 people to Yingdang Mountain in advance.
These twenty-four people are the most elite warriors of the Shi family. With the full cooperation of other families, a group of rebels were sent to Yingdang Mountain one after another for training by Shi Xianfeng.
The composition of this rebel army is extremely complex, including elites selected by various families, deserters from Liu Tingsheng's rebellion in Jiangnan, local water bandits, and many Jianghu people from other places.
Here, this extremely chaotic group of people has changed after about half a year of brutal training.
Shi Xianfeng was ruthless enough. Since he wanted to train troops, of course he had to start with military discipline. Within half a year, more than 300 people were executed by him, and more than 60 people were killed by him personally.
Shi Xianfeng's attitude was very clear. He felt that he could challenge me without being obedient, or he could accept my challenge.
Beat me to death and you lead the troops. If I beat you to death, you won't have to listen to me anymore. It was impossible to manage this group of people at first, but the twenty-four warriors of the Shi family began to play a huge role.
These twenty-four people have a unique but powerful fighting style. They selected a group of people to maintain military discipline and used extremely powerful methods to renew the quality of the team within half a year.
The Shi family has secret military skills and is very methodical in training troops. In just half a year, although it is impossible to train an invincible army, it is still capable of fighting.
Shi Xianfeng was naturally dissatisfied. The time given to him was really too short. If he could be given two years to prepare, he would be confident enough to train an elite force. Unfortunately, everything could not go as planned.
This rebel team was only possible due to the full cooperation of all the major families. If not for this, the family alone would not be able to gather even half of such a team.
"Father." A young man who looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old walked up to Shi Xianfeng. Although he was young, he had the momentum to shake mountains. He was tall and strong.
"What's going on?" Shi Xianfeng asked, staring at the training team.
"A letter came from Geling City." Shique handed a letter to Shi Xianfeng. After Shi Xianfeng read it, he handed it to Shi Que, who then opened the letter and read it.
People from the Shi family scattered in Geling City sent a secret report, saying that the emperor's northern patrol was almost ready, and it had been confirmed that the Forbidden Army General Gao Qisheng would indeed lead his army to escort him.
Fengyu Temple is still closed to visitors, and even the people seem to be gradually forgetting this once glorious place.
Lao Zhangjiao has not returned to Beijing yet, and there is no news about when Lao Zhangjiao will return to Beijing. There are rumors that the Supreme Saint has returned to Zhenyuan Palace, and Concubine Wan Gui is always by his side, almost inseparable.
"Commander!" While Shi Que was reading this secret letter, a middle-aged man with a cold and tough temperament strode over.
This person is Shi Xianfeng's cousin named Shi Xianjue, and his strength is second only to Shi Xianfeng within the Shi family.
"Commander, I have summarized the secret reports sent from various places." Shi Xianjue walked forward and gave a military salute, then stood up and reported. At this time, his attitude was that of a soldier and a subordinate, not Shi Xianfeng's cousin.
"People from various places in Shangyang Palace have successively dispatched manpower to Dongbo. However, many of them did not go to Dongbo as agreed in advance, but hid halfway."
"There are still some people who came back quietly after leaving seclusion. This shows that Chen Weiwei still has some influence in Shangyang Palace." Shi Xianfeng nodded after hearing this.
Shi Xianjue continued: "The troops stationed in various places have been gathering for drills since last year. However, the teams are scattered. It is not easy to get to Geling in a short time."
"Also, people from the Xie family sent news that the Xie family's fleet is expected to arrive in Geling next month." Shique read the letter and handed it to Shi Xianjue, and then said to his father: "Father, With our current strength, it is extremely difficult to capture Geling." Shi Xianfeng nodded: "I know." Shique said no more.
His father has treated him with military skills since he was a child, and he has developed the habit of not asking questions without his father telling him.
"Give me the order to start knife-changing training today." Shique's eyes lit up when he heard this. In the previous military training, all the soldiers used were wooden swords and wooden guns. Even the soldiers thought it was child's play and all of them found it boring.
"From today on, no one is allowed to mention where they are from, where they come from, or what their name is." Shi Xianfeng looked at his cousin and said, "Each family had divided their weapons and armor three months ago. Send them in batches, you arrange the manpower to distribute them, so that everyone can become familiar with Dayu's standard armor as soon as possible, and... remember the serial number, if you can't remember it, kill it!" After saying this, Shi Xianfeng spit out long vomit
"Our goal is not Ge Ling. It's good if the family knows about this." Shi Que and Shi Xianjue were both stunned for a moment.
They had practiced siege tactics countless times before, but now the clan leader said it was not to capture Geling!
"Plan, I will inform you before I send troops, and the people below... don't let them know." After saying that, Shi Xianfeng turned around and left. Shi Que and Shi Xianjue looked at each other. They were all very curious, but no one would really ask.
At the same time, Ge Ling. Chen Zhuo was sitting on the top of a hill in Geling City, overlooking this majestic city. Mo Wutong stood beside him like a servant.
Chen Zhuo said: "Shi Xianfeng is a madman." Mo Wutong nodded: "We need such a madman now." Chen Zhuo hummed, looked back at Mo Wutong and said, "Go back and tell Chen Weiwei that we can start."
