Five years later, the Northern Yi troops invaded the border again. General Fan and Qingdai led their troops to resist the enemy tenaciously, but they had no choice but to have insufficient food and grass and low morale. General Fan asked Vice General Zhang to personally bring a letter back to Beijing to ask for help from the imperial court, and was responsible for escorting the grain and grass.
The new emperor was shocked when he received the urgent document. He hurriedly summoned all officials to discuss raising food and money, and ordered the Minister of Household Affairs to take full responsibility for the matter and must raise the required money and food within ten days.
After many rounds of recruitment, the Minister of Household Affairs finally raised enough grain and silver, and Deputy General Zhang escorted them to the border.
Vice General Zhang hurried on in a hurry, seeing that there were only a few dozen miles left from the border pass. He relaxed a little and asked the soldiers to park the carriage carrying grain and grass by the side of the road, bury the pot and make rice on the spot, and then continue on their way after eating.
Everyone had just finished eating and sat beside the carriage to rest. Suddenly, there was a roaring sound, and a group of men in black emerged from both sides of the road.
Before Lieutenant General Zhang and the soldiers escorting the grain and grass could react, they attacked with hidden weapons. Lieutenant General Zhang and his soldiers were all seriously injured and fell into a coma. Tens of thousands of taels of grain and silver were missing.
After Vice General Zhang woke up, he took the remaining soldiers back to Beijing to plead guilty. For the sake of General Fan, the new emperor did not criticize him more. He only asked Vice General Zhang to go back to his residence to recover from his injuries, and then return to the border to perform meritorious deeds after his injuries healed.
In the next few days, the new emperor ordered the Minister of Household Affairs to re-raise grain and grass, and then convened hundreds of officials to discuss and re-recommend candidates to escort the grain and grass.
All the officials heard about what happened to Vice General Zhang. They all looked at each other and did not dare to say a word, for fear that this dangerous task would fall on them.
The new emperor was very angry when he saw this and severely criticized the officials in the palace. The officials were so frightened that they remained silent, but still refused to take on this difficult task.
Seeing this, the new emperor was helpless. After all, the law does not punish the public. If I take action and offend all these people, there will be no one to use in the future.
He knew very well that rectifying officialdom was not a temporary matter, but had to be done step by step, to change this "lazy administration" bit by bit, and to clear up the lifeless official atmosphere.
The new emperor was frowning in thought. The eunuch Zhang Yi whispered a few words in his ear. The new emperor was overjoyed and ordered the eunuch to summon Su Qiqi, Qin Chuan, and Yan Ruoyu to the palace.
The new emperor issued an edict to appoint Su Qiqi, Qin Chuan and Yan Ruoyu as escort officers to supervise the transportation of grain and grass, taking over from Deputy General Zhang to escort the grain and grass to the border. In order to ensure nothing went wrong, the new emperor allocated another 3,000 troops for Su Qiqi and others to dispatch.
After Su Qiqi and the others received the order to express their gratitude, they returned to the Escort Bureau to bid farewell to their families. Mrs. Nangong was worried about her little daughter traveling far away, so she burst into tears. Nangong Qin comforted her with some kind words, which made her feel a little more at ease.
Nangong Qin and his wife went to Lingying Temple in person to ask for some peace charms from Su Qiqi and others, and gave Su Qiqi an ancestral Yin-Yang breast mirror. Let Su Qiqi wear it on her body to protect her body and life at critical moments.
Nangong Yu and Nangong Yue also said that they would go with their sister so that they could have someone to take care of them on the way.
Although Nangong Qin and his wife and Qin Hannian were reluctant to leave their children to travel far away, they still put the overall situation first and sent several capable bodyguards to accompany them to help.
Before leaving, Su Qiqi sent people to purchase a large amount of gunpowder and equipment, drew model drawings himself, and developed a batch of new weapons and hidden weapons with Qin Chuan and Yan Ruoyu.
Zheng Miao and Ouyang Qi also requested to accompany the army. On the way, the two cooperated tacitly and developed some new drugs, which were copied into a book by Ouyang Qi in order to better promote them in the military and treat more injured and sick patients.
Everyone arrived at the border military camp smoothly. Zheng Miao tried new medicines for the injured soldiers and helped them nurse them back to health. The wounded soldiers recovered quickly. Everyone praised Zheng Miao's medical skills and praised her as the reincarnation of Hua Tuo and the best female doctor in the world today. Zheng Miao was so happy for several days.
Su Qiqi and others originally planned to deliver the food and grass to the military camp and then return to their hometown to continue running the escort business. However, the war at the border was much more severe than they imagined. Seeing batches of wounded being carried back every day, and listening to their painful and restrained groans, Su Qiqi, Qin Chuan, Nangong Yu, and Nangong Yue felt a little uncomfortable. Unable to bear it, he took the initiative to ask General Fan to join the battle.
General Fan refused to agree at first. After all, although Su Qiqi and others were highly skilled in martial arts, they lacked actual combat experience and did not want them to risk their lives. But Qingdai was very confident in the strength of Su Qiqi and others. With her persuasion and Su Qiqi and others' persuasion, General Fan finally agreed to let Su Qiqi and others accompany the army to fight.
Su Qiqi, Qin Chuan, Yan Ruoyu, Nangong Yu, and Nangong Yue lived up to expectations and followed General Fan into several battles. The Northern Yi soldiers were frightened and defeated. Especially in the Battle of Huangshagang, where the Beiyi cavalry was defeated, General Fan also saw the military talents of Su Qiqi and Qin Chuan.
One day, taking the opportunity to hold a celebration banquet, General Fan asked the two men privately if they were willing to stay in the military camp and serve. Su Qiqi discussed with Qin Chuan, Yan Ruoyu and her two brothers and decided to stay temporarily to help General Fan repel the Beiyi soldiers and maintain peace at the border.
Zheng Miao, who is good at the art of Qihuang, was also invited to become a military doctor, and Ouyang Qi worked as a medicine boy for her. The two worked together to rescue injured soldiers and border residents, and gained the love of the entire army.
After a few months, Su Qiqi and Qin Chuan, under the guidance and guidance of General Fan, quickly grew into mature generals. They independently led troops to fight against the Northern Yi soldiers many times, winning consecutive battles and victorious battles, causing a sensation in the border towns.
The new emperor was overjoyed when he received the good news. He issued an edict to promote General Fan to the rank of Grand Marshal of Jingbei, and specially appointed Su Qiqi and Qin Chuan as generals to protect the country. He regarded them as his confidants and asked General Fan to train and support them more.
General Fan has added two capable generals, and he is naturally overjoyed. Not only was a celebration banquet held to entertain Su Qiqi and others, but a temporary military lecture hall was also opened to teach Su Qiqi and Qin Chuan military theoretical knowledge and analyze practical cases. At the same time, an open space was opened as a martial arts performance ground, where Yan Ruoyu, Nangong Yu, and Nangong Yue taught the lieutenants of the Xi Army to conduct physical training and martial arts training.
Su Qiqi and others benefited a lot and admired General Fan greatly. In addition, after spending several months with Qing Dai and the army lieutenants, I also had some concerns. I was reluctant to part with this simple and lively life in the military camp, but I also yearned for the free and easy life in the world. Su Qiqi's heart was full of tangles, but she felt even more uneasy when facing the new emperor's vast favor.
For her, high-ranking officials and generous salaries certainly had a certain appeal, but she was used to being unfettered like Xianyun Yehe, and she really couldn't stand the various regulations of the court and the complicated officialdom. After much consideration, she still expressed her feelings to General Fan and asked General Fan to report to the new emperor on her behalf, declining this important appointment.
Qin Chuan also expressed his willingness to serve the court but not to be an official, and asked General Fan to report together.
Although the new emperor was a little displeased, seeing that the two of them had already made up their mind, he could not force it. They just asked the cabinet to draft a new edict and asked Su Qiqi and others to set up a special escort branch at the border. It was mainly responsible for escorting the court's money and important documents. It also allowed the escort agency to take on some private business in its free time. However, the client list and escort items must be registered and submitted to local officials for review.
Su Qiqi knew that the new emperor had made concessions and she could no longer refuse, otherwise she might offend Long Yan and cause unnecessary trouble. So, she discussed it with Qin Chuan, Fei Ge sent a letter to her father and Uncle Qin to explain the situation, and then started to prepare for the establishment of a new escort bureau.
With the support of General Fan and Ambassador Lin, Su Qiqi rented an idle courtyard of the government at a low price, hired carpenters and masons, and renovated it to serve as the office and living quarters of the escort agency.
In addition to strengthening the training of the several escorts he brought over, Su Qiqi also selected some young people with high understanding and generosity in the army to inject fresh blood into the escort team.
