Zhang Yougong looked at a large pile of things sent by the court outside the door. Among them were two edicts from the emperor. He opened them and took a look. They were to confer Mrs. Xiao as the Princess of Qinghe, and there was another one to confer the Young Master as the Princess of Qinghe. The crown prince, Zhang Yougong, put the edict back to its original place.
Zhou Xu waited for Mr. Xie to calm down and said, "Let's bury them properly first, set up a memorial tablet, and offer everlasting lanterns to the deceased in Bailong Temple so that they can rest in peace."
He returned to his seat and looked at Xie Wanjun: "What happened in Luoyang some time ago, please tell me in detail."
Xie Wanjun tried his best to tell the story from the beginning, while Yang Dong and Hu Dali listened.
"Perhaps my Xie family was overly involved in the proton matter, or it may be that the grudges forged over the defeat of You years ago were discovered by people from the Duan Party. After Qi Shilang planned to kill Liu Hui, he has been worried that Wei Guogong will follow the clues to find him. He..." Xie Wanjun was immersed in grief: "Then Qingnu and I were taken to Luoyang Palace... Wei Guogong ordered me to bring the alliance relics to An Youzhou..."
Zhou Xu listened quietly.
"...When the princess came...Shilang Qi died..."
Zhou Xu's broad and rough palms rested on the armrests of the high chair. With a sudden movement, the thick bones and joints of his hands clicked. Hu Dali secretly glanced at the angry general and quickly stood up straighter.
"...Qingwu was imprisoned in Luoyang Palace, and I was the only one left. I took the imperial court's invitation to peace and these relics and hurried to Jinling. Then I learned that Zhou Youzhou was not here, so I rushed to Xiangyang." After Xie Wanjun finished speaking, he said to Zhou Youzhou Road.
"Today, the Jianghuai River is under the control of the general. The upper reaches of the Yangtze River already have the Jingxiang gate. The middle reaches occupy Shouzhou and Luzhou. Although Ruzhou has Dong Hun as a general, the general has so many talents that Dong Hun is not a concern. The lower reaches are more There are Jinling and Guangling, these three roads, if you occupy any one of them, you will have great potential."
Xie Wanjun urged excitedly: "General, now is the right time and place. Why not quickly send troops to attack Luo and advance to Chang'an? Otherwise, my Xie family will be in danger!"
Zhou Xudao: "Of course we have to attack, but the people I sent to Youzhou have not arrived yet at Jianghuai. When he comes, we will attack Luo as soon as everything is ready."
"Who does the general want to invite?" Xie Wanjun asked anxiously. You must know that the Xie family is in Chang'an. If Zhou Youzhou doesn't raise troops as soon as possible, what will the Xie family in Chang'an do?
Zhou Xudao: "The invitation is from Prince Bao's family. He has an old matter that he wants to explain to the world."
Not only does he want to occupy people and people, he also wants the righteousness of the world! The emperor is incompetent, the eunuchs in the court are dictatorial, officials are corrupt, the nobles are drunk and dreaming, the entrance to the imperial examination is blocked by the upper class, and the people are in dire straits. This world should be overthrown! Zhou Xu should be the co-owner of this world!
He, Youzhou, had raised Prince Bao for so long, so it was time for him to help out.
Xie Wanjun stayed where he was: "If you don't send troops, what will my Xie family do?"
Hu Dali said: "It's not that we won't come out. We will come out when Prince Na Bao arrives. The time has not yet come."
Xie Wanjun said angrily: "What about my Xie family?"
"The Duan Party belongs to Wei Yanshan, and your Xie family belongs to my Zhou Xu sect. Now that it has been brought to light, the Emperor has never dared to touch the Duan Party, how dare he touch me?" Zhou Xu comforted him with a few words: "Besides, Prime Minister Xie has been in the court for many years, so he should have no problem protecting himself."
Xie Wanjun finally looked at Zhou Youzhou: "You and I are allies. I hope Zhou Youzhou will not disappoint me when the time comes."
Xie Wanjun threw up his sleeves and left.
Hu Dali became more energetic: "Is Master Xie trying to show off to the general? Aren't you telling him that the time has not come yet?"
Yang Dong said: "Okay, please stop saying a few words. If your in-laws die, this will not be easy for anyone."
After the two left.
Zhou Xu was sitting on a high chair, with his fingers intertwined and resting on his abdomen, his face expressionless. He was right. His wife was safe for the time being. Wei Yanshan had been hiding his wife's trump card. Zhou Xu deliberately tried not to think about his wife. How did Yu Zhong feel when he watched Qi Nanhua die? He even thought about Mr. Xie.
If the Xie family's in-laws die, the Xie family's main family in Chang'an may be able to protect themselves, but the other side relatives will definitely be hit. The township party disciples related to the Xie family will also be implicated, just like a big tree, the main trunk lives alone. , no longer flourishing.
Zhou Xu looked at the blood on the ground and thought without any fluctuation in his heart, but this is not entirely a bad thing. His wife's family and relatives are too strong, which is not a blessing.
After Zhou Xu finished thinking about it, he couldn't help but think of his wife again, and his heart broke.
After a while, Zhou Xu rubbed his face, which was covered with dust and frost and snow. For a person like him, whose hands were stained with blood, he probably lost all his humanity in his wife.
Chapter 318
Hot June.
Tuobamu happened to meet Yi Fan during his return trip. Tuobamu remembered clearly that he left Jinling on the seventh day of April. According to Qingxue, he gave himself an extremely generous time. Each trip would take one month. He should be there Return to Jianghuai before early June.
But as soon as he arrived in Langge, he found that Xiaoyaozi was ill. Gongsun Qi and Gongsun Luo had to explain the matters at hand, so they couldn't just leave. Tuobamu could only ask Qingxue's commander Jiang Daqiang to wait. He left first and wrote a letter to Jiang Da, asking him to hand it over to Qingxue in Jianghuai, while he waited for Xiaoyaozi, the Gongsun family and others.
During this period, General Jin's mother came over once, and Tuoba Mu told her that General Jin was guarding Xuzhou. Jin Hewan was surprised at first, and then asked the princess if she had any news. Tuoba Mu knew that the attack on Luo could not be kept secret. Then he said that the princess was in Luoyang.
Tuoba Mu still remembers that in the summer, General Jin Ben’s mother was still wearing a black dress. The woman was sitting in the corner, thin and cold and arrogant, with her downturned lips pursed tightly, downplaying her usual appearance. He was mean and seemed a little angry and...sad.
"I knew her temper was out..." The woman in black straightened her back, but because it was so straight, Tuoba Mu felt brittle. Her voice was erratic in the shadows: "Outside , will definitely suffer."
Finally, Jin Ben's mother left, followed by a visit from Lady Qingshan and a visit from Dou Dalang's family. Langge should have received news that they were going to attack Luo. These people still asked her one by one. Tuoba Mu finally stiffened. After bidding farewell to the children of the Qingshan family, and just as they were about to take a rest, Mrs. Xiao's friend Qi Jiujiu came again. The little girl asked her awkwardly, when will Qingxue come back?
In short, when Tuoba Mu returned to Jianghuai, there was a carriage behind him. In the carriage was Mrs. Jin and a horse. Immediately there was Miss Qi who wanted to be a chivalrous woman.
Saying farewell to the young master, he set out on his way back. The weather was hot and Xiaoyaozi suffered a lot. He asked General Tuoba to slow down and slow down again. His old bones were about to fall apart. The Taoist boy waited on Xiaoyaozi and told Jiangnan Very much looking forward to this trip.
The group of people could be said to be too many or too few. Half of them were women, children, the elderly and the weak. Before leaving, the young master specially assigned two hundred Red Flame Qingqi to escort them. The Red Flame Army was the young master’s personal army. , obviously attaches great importance to them.
When he arrived near Chouniuguan in Cangwu Prefecture, with Dai Prefecture in front of him, Tuobamu met General Yi Fanyi who was returning to Langge.
After both parties nodded, they each went to where they wanted to go.
Just after passing the Chou Niu Pass, Tuoba Mu received a report from the Red Flame Qingqi scouts, and there was the sound of horse hooves approaching quickly from behind.
Tuoba Mu was not worried that he was an enemy. He turned the horse's head. Qi Jiujiu, holding a sword, looked behind him. In the dust, Zhou Shiliu reined in his horse and stopped. Due to the rapid impact, Mo Yun stepped on the snow with his front hooves. Raising, with a long neighing sound, Zhou Shiliu tightened the reins, wiped the sweat from his face, and looked at Tuoba Mu without saying a word.
Tuoba Mu felt a headache. If his eyes were correct, if his memory was correct...
"Did you steal your father's beloved horse?"
"I'm his son." Zhou Shiliu said stiffly, "What's wrong with riding his horse?"
Can I ride from Langge to Chouniuguan? If Deputy Envoy Zhou Jiedu finds out, he must not skin Zhou Shiliu? Tuoba Mu was silent for a while and said, "The general didn't tell you to go to Jianghuai."
"Uncle didn't say not to let me go." Zhou Liu gasped. In order to catch up with Tuoba Mu and the others, he had to rush all the way. Zhou Liu gritted his teeth and said, "I'm going anyway." When he gets to Jianghuai, he will be whipped by his uncle, so he wants to go too.
After that, he took the lead and rode forward.
Tuoba Mu asked the others to continue on their way. As a result, there was another tail in the team. Mrs. Jin was Jin Ben's mother. When he arrived at Jianghuai, he still needed to tell General Jin in advance in a handwritten letter. Tuoba Mu was thinking about something. After a while, I found that Zhou Shiliu and the young lady from the Qi family were riding side by side and fell to the back of the team.
"...How did you get through those famine victims?" Qi Jiujiu asked in surprise. They didn't dare to mess with this group of refugees. How did Zhou Shiliu get through those famine victims?
Now there is a severe drought, the spring wheat harvest has failed, and refugees are everywhere.
When she came from Chou Niuguan, a large group of disaster victims moved towards Youzhou. Even though they knew that they were soldiers of Zhou Youzhou, the hungry eyes that wanted to eat people still made Qi Jiujiu shudder.
Zhou Shiliu also had lingering fears: "I said that I was Zhou Youzhou's nephew, so the refugees got out of the way. Fortunately, the leading magistrate, Wu County, knew what to do, otherwise my father's horse, Mo Yun Taxue, would not have been saved."
"Is he from the government?" Tuoba Mu asked.
"Don't look at that old man who is dirty, short and thin, but he is a county magistrate who escaped from Cangwu Prefecture with the victims." Zhou Shiliu snorted twice: "He is still seeking talents on the golden platform. After losing his official title and seal in Cangwu Prefecture, he brought a large number of refugees with him to recommend himself. Those people in Cangwu Prefecture did not dare to touch him and let him escape here. If he goes further, he can take a boat to Youzhou. ”
"That old man is the first Dachu official to declare that he will follow his uncle, and he brings so many people with him. It won't be long before everyone in the world knows about it. I think he just brings the victims to beg for food and eat for free. ." Zhou Shiliu said: "Anyway, I don't see what talents an old county magistrate can have."
"Why did he, a county magistrate, take the refugees out of Cangwu Prefecture?" Qi Jiujiu asked curiously.
"I can't live anymore." Zhou Liu said bluntly: "Do you think any state is like Youzhou and is managed so well by my uncle?"
"If I can't survive anymore, a county magistrate can survive." Qi Jiujiu muttered.
"I have to ask the old county magistrate." Zhou Shiliu thought of something and his face darkened again: "I think my uncle's reputation for seeking talents at the golden platform will be ruined by the old county magistrate."
"Why?" Qi Jiujiu asked curiously.
"Do you know the surname of the old county magistrate?" On the 16th, he gave it a try. After Qi Jiu drank some wine to cheer him up, he sighed: "The old county magistrate's name is really not nice. His surname is Wu. use."
Qi Jiujiu was stunned for a moment, and then his expression became strange.
Tuoba Mu repeated it in a low voice: "Wu Yong, useless."
"That old county magistrate, I don't know what to call him. He is still a county magistrate in a remote place despite his age. I won't tell you if he is not talented." Zhou Shiliu didn't really care about this old county magistrate. He had an opinion, but he was worried that he would implicate the Golden Platform in Youzhou. Without even thinking about it, Zhou Shiliu could foresee how his uncle's opponents would ridicule the Golden Platform.
"Don't you think it sounds good to you that there are no useless guests at the Golden Stage?" asked Zhou Shiliu. The old county magistrate was too high-profile. After getting involved with the Golden Stage, it is easy for people to think of this sentence. In addition, the old county magistrate He is not from a well-known family, and he has not achieved much in local political achievements, which further cements his reputation.
Tuoba Mu's expression remained unchanged: "Since Magistrate Wu is in the name of Golden Terrace, he will definitely come to Langge. This matter is the young master's business."
The group continued to walk away.
the other side.
With the arrival of Magistrate Wu, the states and counties under the jurisdiction of Youzhou naturally knew the origin of Magistrate Wu. Originally, they would not accept victims like those from other states. They were already in a tight situation due to the war.
But the banner put up by the old magistrate Wu is really embarrassing. After all, they are here for the golden platform. Since they are here for the general, it stands to reason that the officials in the jurisdiction should not stop them, but the key point is that magistrate Wu has brought too many people. ah!
The other people who came here were either one person, two people, or they were bringing their families. No one had ever brought so many people with them. However, the old county magistrate Wu still said plausibly that those refugees were his servants and family members. If he wants to go to Golden Terrace, he will naturally bring his servants and family members with him.
Hexi County Guard was watching the old county magistrate Wu who was taking the refugees across the river. The boat was borrowed. At a glance, they were all refugees fleeing the famine, and there were a lot more behind them. He suspected that all the victims in Cangwu Prefecture had gone to their side.
The leader, Old County Magistrate Wu, bowed to him, bowed again and again.
But what will happen to these refugees? Who knows?
After all, Youzhou is now the young master's head.
Since last year, many people have come to the Golden Stage one after another, all of whom were received by the young master.
When the old magistrate Wu and the refugees arrived in Taiyang County, they slept outside the city. When they passed by the magistrate of Cang County, the Dou Ming Mansion did not let them enter the city as if they were facing a powerful enemy. They just cooked some gruel outside the county town. , and then drove them away, otherwise Dou Mingfu would be rude to them.
Despite this, Magistrate Wu was still very grateful to the Dou Ming Mansion in Cang County. He was also trying to comfort the refugees and told them not to attack the county town, otherwise, the consequences would be very serious.
Fortunately, in the area under the jurisdiction of Youzhou, those officials opened warehouses and provided relief from time to time, allowing them to survive here.
The night is already dark.
The old county magistrate Wu couldn't sleep. Of course he knew that the young master of Youzhou was in charge of Youzhou now, but there was a severe drought in the Jianghuai River. If he didn't come to Youzhou, he couldn't bring the group of people behind him to a dead end, let alone , the Jianghuai side is more difficult because there is going to be a war.
The only hope now is with Young Master Youzhou.
When the old county magistrate Wu thought of his name, he hesitated even more. He had lived a dull life and had mediocre local political achievements. How could he be a great talent in the world?
"Dad, we will arrive in Taiyang County tomorrow." Wu Pingting walked to her father and helped her sit down.
The old county magistrate Wu looked at his only daughter who had a daughter, and felt even more sad: "Son, Lian Shiqing from Taiyang County is a famous corrupt official. How can your father and I have the money to communicate and let him say something nice for us? "
"This time I was able to enter Youzhou, but many officials turned a blind eye to us because I recommended myself to the Golden Platform. If the Young Master of Youzhou does not accept them, we can only leave the area under the jurisdiction of Youzhou. "
Wu Pingting's eyes were red: "Dad, after meeting the Taiyang County Sheriff tomorrow, my daughter admires Lord Lian and is willing to be his concubine in order to give everyone some way to survive."
"Son, you are killing me." Magistrate Wu hugged his daughter and burst into tears: "I'm useless! I'm so useless!"
Wu Pingting nestled in her father's arms with tears streaming down her face. She couldn't do anything to help her father, but if she could be useful, she would do whatever it took.
The next day.
Lian Shiqing twitched his lips and looked at Mrs. Wu, who was going to marry him as his concubine when they first met, and then at the old county magistrate Wu who couldn't hide his grief, and instantly knew what they were thinking.
Lian Shiqing smiled and said: "Mr. Wu doesn't need to be like this. If your daughter is both talented and beautiful, you will have a better son-in-law in the future."
It is true that when people sit at home, trouble will automatically fall away.
