As the New Year approaches, there are still some days left. Standing in the Shuzhou Palace, overlooking the mountain peaks outside the city, they were already covered with snow, as thick as the makeup on a flower girl’s face.
"General Xu has woken up in the past two days. Doctor Chen, who performed the acupuncture, slept tiredly all day and night." Sun Xun, who returned to Chengdu, read the information sent carefully.
In order to do this job well, he has been putting in a lot of effort recently, and even followed a few other kids to rush into the school to learn how to read.
Not only Xu Mu, but also Jia Zhou next to him breathed a sigh of relief.
"Sun Xun, I will send some people later to transport the medicinal herbs sent by Shangguan Shu to the Yaolu first. In addition, a few large river fish presented by Wang Shenzhi will also be sent for Dr. Chen to replenish his body."
"Yes." Sun Xun ran out.
"My lord, Longbow is a born stranger and will surely survive the disaster."
"As Wen Long said."
Xu Mu didn't think that this little god who was born to be hesitant would stop here. A person like this who changed his destiny against the will of heaven should do something bigger.
"Wenlong, what's going on with Chai Zong?"
Chai Zong had already led his troops to Dingzhou before, and now, like Chao Yi, he was regarded as a rare soldier to conquer Liang in the coming year.
"Xin'er came here earlier. My lord, please be at ease. Chai Zong was originally from Dingzhou, and he was on good terms with Lu Xiu. There was nothing wrong with him. He was just pretending to be a Dingzhou army to help resist the horse bandits. Although he suffered losses in the battle, It’s not much, let’s just train troops.”
Lu Xiu, after Li Rucheng's death, became the largest general in Dingzhou. He did not become a mere wallflower, nor did he claim to be king. He could be regarded as a loyal border general. He insisted on following the arrangements left by Li Rucheng and guarded the Dingzhou border to block the barbarian bandits.
Of course, if the three states of Liangdi were conquered and connected with Dingzhou, not only Dingzhou but also Lu Xiu, Xu Mu would definitely have him under his command.
"There is nothing happening on Chai Zong's side, but Laizhou's side has started to make big moves."
"The false emperor Fang Ru? What is he going to do?"
Recently, due to the Gong Dog incident, the information on Night Owl has been handed over to Jia Zhou.
"It was said before that Fang Ru was eclectic, treated generously with Jing Dynasty's national gifts, and activated a military general."
"Yan's surname?"
Xu Mu heard about this from Shangguan Shu.
"It's Yan, and his full name seems to be Yan Song. He's nearly eighty years old, and I can't even guess how Fang Ru dares to do so. I heard that this person is a bit mysterious, and his face is infected with herpes. With a picture The tiger mask covers the face.”
"However, this Yan Song's body, judging from Night Owl's intelligence, seems to be unyielding and still very strong. As soon as he took office, he wrote a letter to Fang Ru for reforms. The 140,000 puppet emperor's army eliminated the old, weak and sick. There are only more than 70,000 young and strong soldiers left. In this way, the food problem of the two states of the puppet emperor has been improved."
"In addition, this Yan Song also persuaded Fang Ru to establish a 'Business Order' to welcome many large and small merchants with low state taxes."
"He is a man who has elite troops and simple administration." Xu Mu frowned.
"He is indeed a character. But I don't understand...why such a character would live under the false emperor."
Not only Jia Zhou couldn't figure it out, but Xu Mu couldn't figure it out either.
"Yan Song also has a son who is also skilled in military skills. Next year, Zuo Shiren's battle may not be so easy to fight. It is estimated that the 20,000 Lingzhou Army was chasing the hundreds of thousands of Jingguo Army. Not again."
Xu Mu nodded. Even now, the struggle for hegemony in normal troubled times has only just begun. After you sing, it's my turn to sing. In the future, he will have to face rising forces and characters one after another.
"There is another letter...not from Ye Xiao, but from Hezhou. Lian Yong sent someone to send it to Shuzhou himself."
"I don't know if it was a friendly letter or information, so I didn't open it and left it with the lord."
Jia Zhou took out a letter from his sleeve and handed it to Xu Mu.
"On the surface, Lian Yong is the border general of the King of Yuzhou. But in his heart, he also regards his lord as a companion."
Xu Mu took the letter, opened it, and read it for a while, feeling a little sad in his heart.
After some nostalgia, the letter only mentioned a few words. It was probably near winter this year and I was extremely weak. I feared that I might not be able to live for long.
No better than the rich man who sleeps in Wenrou Township. At the same age, Lian Yong spent his whole life in the army and suffered countless injuries, both overt and covert. He is already in his twilight years.
Once Lian Yong dies, Uncle Chang may be replaced by someone else. But no matter what, another person would never be like Lian Yong, standing at the top of the city with white hair and a pestle, guarding the rivers and mountains of the Central Plains.
"As I said before, once the young marquis left, he regarded the master as a companion."
"Wenlong, I understand."
The meaning of this letter is not only to reminisce about the past, but also to remind Xu Mu not to forget the incident at Beidi.
"My lord, what did you say in the letter?"
"Lian Yong's letter said that he was old and feeble, and he was afraid that he wouldn't live much longer. He also said that something was wrong with Beidi in the past two years, and he was afraid that there might be a conspiracy."
"We can investigate the matter in Beidi more carefully. As for the veteran Lian Yong, if not, my lord can write a letter to the King of Yuzhou, asking Lian Yong to come to Shuzhou to take care of himself."
Xu Mu sighed, "The King of Yuzhou may agree, but Lian will never enter Shu. I am familiar with him and know his temper. He has only two options in his life as a soldier. One is to die in battle at the border, and the other is to die in battle at the border." The first is to kill the Beidi people...otherwise, he will not leave and will always stay in the Hezhou Pass."
"My Lord, heroes emerge from troubled times."
"Who says it isn't?"
"We just have to wait for the spring to come, and my lord's army will conquer the cold, and it will be a heroic battle."
…
In Liangzhou, Dong Wen, who had been hungover for two days, finally walked out of the palace. He took the people and rushed to the largest horse farm near Liangzhou City.
With the bridgehead of the second city, it is a foregone conclusion that the Shu people will conquer Liang next year.
If you want to defeat the Shu people, the biggest chance of victory is to use Liangqi to charge into the Shu army in an encounter on flat terrain.
"My lord, this is not a steed, but a foal. If it is used for battle early, I'm afraid it won't be able to grow strong."
"Don't ask, let's gel it first and use it as a war horse. After another winter, it's almost done." Standing on the frosty snow, Dong Wen said coldly.
In the horse farm, the old officials from the horse administration department accompanying him suddenly screamed in shock.
"Lord, in this kind of weather, you cannot use water gelding. You can only use fire gelding. I'm afraid the horse will die from the pain."
"If you can't care, then use the fire gelding."
"Go quickly."
In the horse farm, several grooms quickly lit the coals, then put in the soldering iron, and slowly heated it to red. Not long after, the first frightened half-sized stallion was brought in. After the two of them held it down, another person took a wooden splint and clamped it down with bulging eyes——
"Quick, burn, burn off the spermatic cord!"
The red-hot iron was somewhere under the horse's belly, making it sizzling and smoking.
The half-grown horse began to neigh loudly in the smoke.
Dong Wen had no expression on his face and turned his head to look into the distance. The scenery of Liangzhou in front of them was shrouded in snow and fog, and although they were exhausted, nothing could be seen clearly.
