Like Suzhou, Bozhou is also a city with its own heritage.
Its heritage comes from its history. Before Xia Shi, there was the Yu family in the northwest of Bozhou. Shun was named Chonghua, also called Yu Shun. He was one of the five emperors in the Eight Classics of Zheng'er. His descendants were the sons of Yu who ruled the world. After becoming Jia Tianxia, most of them were moved to places such as Taihu in Jiangsu and Zhejiang. It is said that Yu Ji and Hua Mulan are both descendants of this clan.
To the southeast of Bozhou is the Tushan clan, where Dayu became his son-in-law. Shang Chengtang destroyed Xia and established the Shang Dynasty. In 190 Bo, the Jifang Kingdom was established in Bo; until the time of Cao Pi, Bozhou It has been called Qiaojun, and it is one of the five capitals alongside Xuchang, Chang'an, Luoyang, and Ye.
Coupled with the blessings of Laozi, Zhuangzi, Chen Tuan, Hua Tuo, Cao Cao and other people, this place can really be regarded as a place where many talents are born. However, the country has been in chaos in recent years. Before the Jin people came, there were already people everywhere. They are the unruly people who rebelled. After the Jin people came, the turmoil became even more severe. Bozhou is only more than 400 miles away from Kaifeng. Everyone just wants to survive. They are lucky to be able to fill their stomachs, and there is no time to spare. Do learning.
The schools in the city have long been abandoned, and the people in the temples and Taoist temples have long since fled. If Li Qiong hadn't arrived here and worked hard for several years, and then gradually restored some of the city's vitality, I'm afraid this place would be the same as that one. Like Sizhou, it has become an empty city.
That's why Li Qiong became excited because of Xin Zan's words. After all, this is the land of Chinese dragons, and he really feels sad that it has declined to this point.
So if the people in Bozhou City don't think about Li Qiong's good things, who should they think about?
It is said that spring rain is as precious as oil. This year's spring rain did come a little earlier. He arrived here with the Emperor of Song Dynasty... Li Qiong did not want to hide the news at all. The people in Bozhou City were either The people he brought over from Lianghuai back then were either locals from Bozhou City, and they had no feelings for the Song Emperor at all.
If I must say that there is, then it may only be disgusting.
Suzhou and Bozhou are not that close, but Linhuan in the middle is now in the hands of the Song Dynasty. Linhuan to Bozhou is very fast, but the distance is more than a hundred miles. If it is from Linhuan to Chengfu, it will be even longer. It's almost here, only fifty or sixty miles away.
So Li Qiong has been waiting in Chengfu, waiting for the person who sent him a letter.
I waited from Shen Shi to Yin Shi. It was almost dawn the next day, but no one came.
He thought there was an accident, or that he was being tricked, but a moment later, someone came to report from outside:
"Marshal, here we come."
Although he didn't sleep all night, he was not too sleepy. Although he had been looking forward to it all night, it was okay for him to come or not.
He might even be happier if he didn't even come.
"Mr. Xin, are you up?"
The soldier who delivered the order replied: "Sir, like you, you have not slept all night. You should have gone to the city gate by now."
"How do you know, sir?"
"Sir's entourage has been waiting at the city gate, and he just left with the young general."
He patted his face with cold water and became more energetic. He didn't need anyone to lead the way and hurried straight towards the city gate.
When he left the house, he realized that many old faces were there, as if everyone had heard the news.
When they saw him coming out, they all stepped forward to salute and shouted: "Marshal."
Li Qiong nodded: "Now that we know everything and we are old acquaintances, let's go and meet him together."
Everyone had always listened to his words, but today they were a little hesitant. Then Wang Shizhong stepped forward and said:
"Marshal, what kind of temper is Yasha? You know, I know, everyone knows... He is a man who won't ask for mercy even if his head falls off. How can he come to ask for surrender?!"
"What if this is not a scam! Marshal must not miss his old feelings and fall into the trap of Wang Yaksha!"
Wang Shizhong's words were approved by many people. For a while, echoing voices rang out one after another. Even Jin Sai, who never liked to express opinions, said:
"Yaksha just suffered a big loss a few days ago and lost one of his eyes. He should have wanted to chop us into pieces, but now he has come to surrender. They say, 'When things go wrong, there must be monsters.' If he doesn't surrender sooner, it will be later." I didn’t want to vote because Emperor Song wanted to vote after he arrived in Suzhou... We know that the Marshal is merciful, but at this juncture, you must not be as kind as a woman."
"The kindness of women..."
Li Qiong murmured the word again, then patted Jin Sai on the shoulder and said:
"I asked you to study. You really put in the effort, and now you have even learned the word... But I still have to test you. Do you know where this word comes from?"
Not to mention Jin Sai, everyone was speechless. Is this the point of what General Jin said?
But maybe because he was used to his jumping out, he didn't worry too much about this matter. Jin Sai handed over his hand and said:
"I don't know what will happen next."
"This is what the Marquis of Huaiyin said about King Xiang. Han Xin defected to Liu Bang and asked Liu Bang: 'In your own opinion, in terms of bravery, bravery, kindness, strength, etc., how can you compare with King Xiang?'"
"Liu Bang told him: 'Not as good as anything'."
"Han Xin also said: 'In terms of kindness, King Xiang is indeed kind to people. He sobs when he speaks. If his subordinates get sick, he will be so sad that he sheds tears and shares his own food to eat; but when his subordinates have When his merits should be rewarded and knighted, he took the engraved seal in his hand and played with it until the edges were worn away. He was still reluctant to give up the reward. This is the so-called kindness of a woman.'"
Li Qiong looked at Jin Sai: "This is what women's benevolence means. I have never had any grudge against Yaksha. It's just that he looks down on me and I look down on him... Yesterday, news came from Suzhou that Yaksha and Zhao Mi started fighting. Emperor Song had just arrived and he was very partial to Zhao Mi... In fact, this was normal. After all, Zhao Mi was the person who stayed with Emperor Song all year round. As a parent, you can't be fair to your own flesh and blood, let alone someone like Emperor Song. Where is the villain?"
"Yaksha has resentment in his heart. This is the same as we did back then. Now he has no way out. We give him a way out. This is not the kindness of a woman. This is just comparing one's feelings with one's own."
"But..." Wang Shizhong wanted to say more, but Li Qiong suddenly changed his tone as if he was a different person:
"If you don't want to, it's not impossible to take his life!"
After saying that, he pulled out the knife from Wang Shizhong's waist. Everyone was puzzled and saw him turn the knife upside down, holding the tip of the knife between his fingers, and pointed it at Wang Shizhong with the handle:
"You go and kill, go and chop off Wang De's head."
After all, although Wang De had a bad temper, he was indeed kind to them, at least when they wanted to defect... Even a common man like Lu Pheasant noticed this. Would Wang Yaksha not notice it?
But he neither reported it nor stopped him. For this alone, the people here owed him a huge debt of gratitude.
So facing Li Qiong's questioning, Wang Shizhong struggled for a while, and finally sighed and refused to reach out to pick up the knife.
Seeing this, Li Qiong pointed the handle of the knife at Jin Sai again: "How about you go?"
Jin Sai lowered his head and remained silent, while Li Qiong pointed the handle of the knife at someone else. Wherever he pointed, everyone fell silent.
You can kill people, you can kill people from Song Dynasty and Jin Dynasty, but you really can't kill your former comrades.
Wang De was a straightforward man, and although his words were unpleasant, he was never harsh to others. Even if he did not believe that he really came to surrender, he could not be forced to accuse him.
They can't do this kind of thing.
Li Qiong also sighed, as if he wished Wang De would die:
"We are not willing to kill him, so if we drive him back and what he has done, can Emperor Song spare his life?"
"Even if there is only a 10% chance that it is true, Wang Yaksha cannot die."
After saying that, he ran towards the city gate without any hindrance. The generals looked at each other in confusion, but finally followed him.
What can be done?
The marshal is such a character, he just hopes that when this Yaksha comes, he will never bring everyone into a situation of no return.
When they arrived at the city gate, the guard just stood on the city wall with the gate tightly closed. When he saw Li Qiong coming, he quickly held his hands and said:
"Marshal...there are nearly a thousand people."
"If he can't even bring a thousand people, then he doesn't deserve to be called Yaksha."
As he said that, Li Qiong kept recalling the appearance of that Yaksha in his mind, took a gentle breath and ordered:
"Open the city gate!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the guard waved his hand, and the two men turned the reins holding the gate together... The scene outside appeared in front of Li Qiong inch by inch.
The person in front who looks exactly like Wang De is his eldest son Wang Qi, who is also a brave man. He was so affectionate when he called him Uncle Li, even though he was not a few years older than him.
As for the group of soldiers behind Wang Qi, many of them were acquaintances. They were Wang De's personal soldiers when they were in Zuohu Army. A few years later, seeing these people again was a very... Fantastic feeling.
Wang Yaksha... He was lying on the stretcher now and did not get up. He only pointed his bald head towards him, but even so, Li Qiong still recognized him.
It's funny to say that at that time, I spent all day with this man, and I disliked him for being rude and tight, like a savage; he also often scolded himself for being poor, and if he really had the ability, he would take the imperial examination and sell his literary talents in the military camp.
The two would quarrel almost as soon as they met, and even almost started fighting several times. Although Liu Guangshi used a check and balance technique on the two of them, both Li Qiong and Wang De understood each other.
There is actually no grudge between them.
He paused and wanted to go out of the city gate, but was stopped by several generals who caught up later:
"Marshal...be careful of fraud."
Li Qiong smiled, then stopped and shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Wang Yaksha, are you cheating?"
The person on the stretcher was originally motionless like a corpse. But after hearing Li Qiong's question, he suddenly sat up.
Only now did everyone get a clear look at him.
He still looked ugly, but now that he was blind, he looked even more scary. Moreover, he had lost a layer of skin on his head, so he simply shaved off all his hair. Now he was clearly bald.
If there is any difference, it is that there are many more wrinkles on the face.
"Yes, I'm here to kill you!"
Li Qiong couldn't bear it anymore and laughed loudly and said:
"Yaksha, Yaksha, you haven't entered the city yet, are you waiting for your emperor to come and give you a ride?"
Wang De replied: "I'm not here to surrender to you, I'm just here to borrow a place to stay temporarily! If no one invites me, I will go back!"
Before Li Qiong could answer, Wang Shizhong frowned and said, "Marshal, Yaksha is so grand, it's better to let him go and see what his plans are."
"Now that he is so powerful, we cannot let him establish it immediately."
I don’t know whether it was Wang De who had a good ear or Wang Shizhong who spoke loudly, but I could only hear shouts and curses coming from outside the city:
"Who said that? If you have the ability, just stand up!"
"Damn it, Wang Shizhong, right? When did you, bastard, learn to talk about other people's things behind their backs?"
"Establish prestige, what kind of prestige do I want to establish? If you are not convinced, then come out and challenge me to a duel! I was the one who led you when you went into battle for the first time. What's wrong, your wings are stiff?!"
Wang Shizhong only said one sentence, but Wang De cursed a lot. Seeing that Li Qiong didn't express anything, he didn't dare to speak anymore.
Speaking of which, no one in this world is not afraid of Wang Yaksha, especially after seeing his ability to kill people.
Li Qiong still smiled, but started to move again, and walked slowly towards Wang De. The soldiers could not stop him, and they could not show their weapons. They were afraid that Wang De would be offended and he would take notice of him, so he had to pay all his attention. Put it on Li Qiong's body, and if there is any movement on the other side, they will pounce on him immediately.
When passing by Wang Qi, this kid was quite sensible and saluted Li Qiong:
"Uncle Li, you are fine."
Li Qiong nodded to him: "You have made a name for yourself over the years, but if you don't learn anything, you only want to imitate your father. The nickname Xiao Yaksha is not a pleasant one."
Wang Qi looked very good, as if he were in front of the emperor, letting Li Qiong talk without even a word of retort.
Wang De was still scolding: "My son, if you don't imitate me, who can imitate me? Should I imitate you?!"
"You're a bachelor. You haven't even been a wife for so many years. If you have the ability, just give birth to one by yourself and teach it yourself. Don't show off your power in front of my son!"
Li Qiong ignored him and looked at the scars all over his body. After looking at the scars all over his body for a long time, Wang De almost felt like hair all over his body. Then he asked seriously:
"Do you really want to surrender, or do you want to enter Bozhou and be a pioneer to open the door?"
Wang De also became serious, but did not answer his question, but said:
"I have a lot to ask you."
"I also have many things that I want to tell you."
"liquor……"
"There is wine, but there is no woman."
Wang De sighed: "I won't drink anywhere."
The two looked at each other for a long time, and finally burst out laughing together, laughing so hard that tears almost came out of their eyes.
It's just unclear whether they were laughing at the same thing.
It's lively here, but it's even more lively in Suzhou City.
Liu Bang was in front of the Minzi Temple and called all the prominent people in the city over.
"I heard that there are two saints, ten philosophers, and seventy-two sons in the Confucian Temple. Since Liu Bang worshiped the saints of the Confucian family, I don't know how many emperors have passed and how many talents have emerged."
"But it's time for the people in this Confucian Temple to change! Some people have been there for so many years, and I don't think it's appropriate. I just happened to be here today, and Minzi is here, so I made this plan. Let's rank based on seniority. , Invite the right people in and receive incense from the world, and invite the unsuitable people out... After occupying the position for so many years, they should be content!"
No one knew what this crazy emperor wanted to do, but the people of Suzhou City did feel a little uneasy.
(End of chapter)
