The Miao people were retreating steadily and had returned outside the border. The reward given to him by Emperor Yu must be heavy.
The military commander position of this right army was originally said to be temporary. When he had achieved such great achievements, Cao Jiang did not believe that Emperor Yu could take it away.
Even if Emperor Yu thinks about it, he can't stop everyone from talking.
Victory is rewarded, this is the iron rule. Otherwise, if the emperor wants to win over people's hearts in the future, there will be no capable people willing to serve.
The Miao people withdrew from the frontier, and Cao Jiang was considered successful. Next, it was time to plan his return to the court.
"—Report, Commander, it's a secret report from Jiuchong City."
Cao Jiang was delighted. Emperor Yu's reward should not come so quickly. At this time, it should be a secret report from Yu An.
"Quick, bring it in!" Cao Jiang waved his hand to Yu Bing to retreat, and unfolded the letter by candlelight.
Sure enough, it was a letter from Yu'an. The letter stated that although Yuhuang was very satisfied with the battle situation these days, what he said most to Cao Jiang was verbal praise. As for substantive rewards, Yuhuang never let go.
Yu'an said that Cao Jiang would have to make one last major military exploit. With this military exploit, it would be best to drive the Miao people thousands of miles away from the northern border of the Yu people in one fell swoop, achieving an unprecedented achievement in the northern border of the Yu people. Only in this way can Gu Ming Let him put aside his grudge against Cao Jiang's family background and hand over his right arm to him with confidence.
Yu'an said that he had united the Miao generals, and they would cooperate with Cao Jiang again to stage the final battle. By then, Cao Jiang would have achieved great success and return to the court. However, in order to avoid Yu Huang's investigation, they would wait for a month before returning. original territory.
After Cao Jiang finished reading the letter, his whole heart was already trembling with excitement. Most of what Yu An had described had been realized. With only this last bit left, he could revitalize the Pingyang Hou Men Mansion and regain military power.
As a reward, Yu'an only paid attention to a piece of jade passed down from his ancestors, which was simply too insignificant for Pingyang Hou.
Although Yuan said that he had been searching for the jade for a long time and found it, and that it was a rare treasure. However, Marquis Pingyang did not play with jade, so no matter how precious the jade was, it was just a piece of waste to him.
To get such a big reward at such a small price, Cao Jiang felt that this must be his ancestors protecting him.
Yellow sand was everywhere. Zeng Minghai directed the carrying soldiers to move the grain and grass into the granary. He raised his hand to block the smoke and dust, grabbed a soldier, pointed to the sand dune not far away and asked: "Did this sand dune exist before?" Is that so? Why do I remember that there wasn’t such a dune before?”
The soldier had been in a haze since he entered the camp, drinking and punching all day long. He remembered to pay attention to the surrounding terrain and hesitated: "Back to Zeng Zhuqi, this... this may be... yes."
Zeng Minghai raised his eyebrows: "What do you mean maybe?! You spend all day transporting grain, grass and weapons in this area. Can't you remember even the most basic terrain?"
"Subordinate..." Xiao Bing frowned irritably, rubbed his hands together, and glanced at Zeng Minghai dissatisfied.
If Zeng Minghai was once the main minister of the Right Branch Army, everyone respected him, but now he is just a small flag in the baggage department, who is willing to be a grandson in front of him?
Without a high military rank, his management was stricter than others, and many people in the army complained about him.
Zeng Minghai waved his hand impatiently: "Forget it, let's go, let's go..."
The soldier gave him a perfunctory salute, turned around and left.
Zeng Minghai covered his chest in discomfort after he left. He used to have a tough temperament and offended many people in the army. Now that he is dead, they will take revenge. As long as they don't beat him to death, those turtles can be called Each strike is more ruthless than the last.
He was anxious just now, which caused his wound.
"Hey~ What's going on with Zeng Zhuqi? Why are you standing at the entrance of the transport department like this? Looking at the half-dead expression on his face, those who don't know may have thought that Zeng Zhuqi has some terminal illness. It seems that he is in the military. I have been in poor health for many years, so why not stop being a small flag like Zeng Zhuqi and go home to retire! Hahahaha..."
The visitor was from the Information and Communication Department, a dandy who was waiting for death and was most dissatisfied with Zeng Minghai's strict military orders.
"Deputy Liu doesn't have to worry about the general's health." Zeng Minghai puffed up his chest and answered firmly.
"Who cares about you?" Deputy Liu glanced disdainfully: "I am here to inform you that the commander will fight the last battle with the Miao people tomorrow. I want your supplies and supplies to prepare weapons and food. This battle will It’s very important not to lose due to external reasons.”
Zeng Minghai opened his eyes wide: "Tomorrow? We haven't prepared anything. Wouldn't it be too hasty to start the war rashly tomorrow? Is war a child's play? Every battle requires complete and detailed planning. The war will start tomorrow, and time is so tight. It’s just that our supplies are too full, and this is absolutely not possible!”
"Chi—" Deputy Liu sneered, with a fat face full of sarcasm and contempt: "Who do you think you are now? You can't do it even if you say no? Do you think you are still the main force behind one person and more than ten thousand people? Minister of the Army? It doesn’t matter what you say in this army now. You are just a stinky baggage transporter who pulls a cart. Why do you care about the big war? "
Deputy Liu looked at Zeng Minghai's face that instantly turned green, and continued to say with a smile: "You are not the one in Cao Juntong's army. They come from a family of generals who have been brave and good at fighting for generations. In just one month since they came to the north, the Miao people were scared to death. The army was defeated, but what about you? You have led the main force to fight against the Miao so many times, but have you won any of them? Ah? You even lost the vanguard, which is useless. "
Deputy Liu shook out Cao Jiang's military order, raised it, and said word by word: "You, you'd better do what you should do now. Master Zeng."
Zeng Minghai's face was dark and he was shaking with anger, but he couldn't say anything to refute.
He really couldn't understand why since Cao Jiang's arrival, the Miao army, which used to be as ferocious as wolves, suddenly turned into powerless rabbits, ready to be beaten and killed.
He felt that there must be a problem, but he couldn't figure out what the problem was.
Zeng Minghai ignored the proud smile on Deputy Liu's face and reached out to grab the military order paper in his hand, but Deputy Liu raised his hand to avoid it.
"You don't deserve to see this." After saying that, he opened the military tent and walked straight into the main tent of the Baggage Department.
Zeng Minghai's hand was almost bleeding. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to calm down the surging blood in his body. He stared at the war camp where Cao Jiang was with a sinister gaze.
Cao Jiang, the beginning of all his shame.
In the Jiuchong City Palace, the weather was gradually getting warmer. Yu An took this parasol and weakly covered Gu Ming's head, and said with a smile: "Your Majesty is in a good mood recently."
Gu Ming raised his eyebrows: "You are the best at reading people's faces, so guess why I am in a good mood?"
Yu'an wondered: "This... His Majesty cares about the world, and he must be happy for the people of the world. This subordinate doesn't understand what is going on in the court. I really can't guess what your Majesty is happy about."
"Didn't you tell me everything?" Gu Ming held up one arm and said lazily: "Good news has come from the border. The war situation at the border is good news. The war will be calmed down soon, and the master will return to the court."
"So fast?" Yu An was also surprised: "It's only been less than a month, and we can completely defeat the Miao people. Marquis Pingyang is indeed an amazing general."
Gu Ming neither affirmed nor denied, picked up a grape and threw one into his mouth.
Before sending the Marquis of Pingyang, he did not expect that the Marquis of Pingyang would be able to show his prowess and defeat the Miao in one fell swoop after being away from the battlefield for so many years.
Gu Ming groped with his fingers twice. Now, it seemed unjustifiable to take back the military power of the right army from his hands.
Yu'an was still happy and babbled: "Pingyang Hou Shenwu rescued the people of the northern part of our Yu clan. This is a great achievement. Your Majesty should give you a lot of rewards to compliment the Marquis' military achievements. If there is another battle in the future, they will see your Majesty." With the generous reward from Marquis Pingyang, I am not afraid that no other capable person will be willing to serve His Majesty."
Gu Ming still didn't speak. After a while, he asked Yu'an: "Today Mr. Ge came to talk, has he arrived?"
Yu'an replied: "Your Majesty, Mr. Ge has come a long time ago and is already waiting in front of the palace. I wanted to report when he came, but Mr. Ge said that the best time for divination has not yet come, so he asked me not to disturb Your Majesty first. Rest and come back to invite His Majesty after he has finished his calculations."
Gu Ming laughed and said amusedly: "His sacrificial hall doesn't count, but he has to do it in my main hall? You go and drive, and I'll go and see how he's doing."
Mr. Ge put away the yarrow that had fallen on the hall and sighed deeply. In the past few days, good news had been coming from the borders one after another, but none of his hexagrams were consistent, and not a single hexagram was auspicious. It's all bad luck, the next hexagram.
This is simply not true.
He truthfully reported the first few hexagrams to Gu Ming. Although Gu Ming didn't say anything, he must have disbelieved him in his heart. He just respected him as a veteran of two dynasties and gave him some face. He didn't say directly, "Don't forget it." , the calculation is not accurate at all.
The boss of the Gua Pavilion did not tell Gu Ming directly for the next few days. He only said that the celestial phenomena were unclear and he would figure it out next time.
Although Gu Ming still asked him again and again, he obviously didn't believe the calculated results.
Ge Lao originally thought that the true energy in the sacrificial hall could not suppress the luck, so he moved the hexagram to the emperor's hall to calculate it, but the hexagram was still the same when he just calculated it.
"This...what's going on? Could it be...that Heaven is no longer kind to me, and my hands are no longer worthy of being touched by Heaven's secrets?" Mr. Ge's voice was hoarse, and he slowly raised his hand. There are historical origins and the accumulation of each hexagram.
"How's it going, Mr. Ge, are you settled?" Gu Ming had a visible smile at the corner of his eyes.
The elder Ge quickly saluted him: "See your Majesty."
"No courtesy." Gu Ming took his seat and asked, "Mr. Ge said today is an auspicious day. How about it? How is the hexagram?"
Mr. Ge crossed his hands on his chest, hesitating and unable to speak.
Gu Ming sighed: "Mr. Ge, I have been overworked recently, which makes the hexagram unclear. Why don't I give you a few days off so that Mr. Ge can take a good rest?"
The old man in the pavilion lowered his head: "I am useless. I cannot share your Majesty's worries. I am negligent in my duty. To be loved by Your Majesty is a great kindness."
Elder Ge moved old and slowly, as if he had aged a lot overnight. He was supported by Yu An and was about to leave the hall, but he was knocked to the ground by the Yu soldiers who suddenly rushed in.
Gu Ming was furious: "What's going on?! Why do you ignore the palace rules and go on such a rampage?!"
Yu Bing's face was pale and he didn't even bother to look at Mr. Ge and Yu An who were knocked down by him. He just kept lying on the ground and kowtowed.
"Your Majesty - there is an emergency at the border! Cao's army has been killed in Tongli, and there is not much left of the right branch. The Miao army is attacking aggressively. A large part of our northern territory has been lost, and the Miao are about to approach the middle and upper reaches!"
"What?!" Mr. Ge suddenly stood up, shaking his hands, his eyes about to burst: "You...you cough! cough! What did you say!?"
