Linru Town is an important place between Ruzhou and Luoyang. In history, it was sometimes established as a county and sometimes abolished as a town. During the Xiande period of the later Zhou Dynasty, Linru County was abandoned and became Linru Town, which was under the jurisdiction of Liang County, and the Song Dynasty followed suit.
This area is also the watershed between the Yellow River Basin and the Huaihe River Basin. Going towards Luoyang, most rivers merge into the Yi River and then into the Yellow River. Going towards Ruzhou, most rivers merge into the Ru River and then into the Huai River.
Luoyang is a special place. Although it belongs to Henan Province, most places in Henan Province, except Luoyang and Sanmenxia, do not belong to the Yellow River system. There are always some differences between Luoyang and other places in Henan.
The origin of the name of Henan, except for Henan Road in the Tang Dynasty, most of them come from Henan County in Luoyang. From one of the earliest Three Rivers, to later Henan Prefecture, until it was changed to Luoyang area in New China. The puppet Qi Dynasty abolished the Jingdong and Jingxi roads of the Song Dynasty and changed them to Shandong Road and Henanfu Road. This is where the names of these two provinces come from. Therefore, Shandong Province does not appear opposite Shanxi, and Henan Province does not appear opposite Hebei Province. The reason why Henan is called Henan is because Luoyang is the capital of Henan, not because the province is south of the Yellow River.
Linru Town is here in the Huaihe River Basin. Further west into Henan Prefecture is the Yellow River Basin.
Today coincides with the Linru Town Market. People from all over come here, and the snow on the road has been trampled hard.
Zhai Xing and Zhai Cong arrived outside the town, stopped their horses and said, "This town is so lively! Let's take a break, drink two bowls of wine, and rush back to Yique in the afternoon. It's been snowing heavily these two days, so it's best to get there before dark. Come back."
Zhai Cong agreed, dismounted his horse with his soldiers, and led him into the town.
Wang Xiaolie unanimously requested that the market be a separate area and not be on the main street of the town. Zhai Xing and others followed the flow of people and soon saw an open space in front of them filled with people.
Looking around, I saw a watch hanging in front of a shop on the roadside, and a big flag standing next to it: "Wang's Sheep Soup." There is an endless stream of customers at the entrance of the store, and business is very good. Zhai Xing said: "I think the food here tastes good. Come on, let's go in and have a bowl of mutton soup."
The soldiers went to tie the horses, and Zhai Xing and his son arrived at the door of the store. The boy saw him and hurriedly came up to greet him.
Zhai Xing said: "Do you have a private room here?"
After hearing this, the waiter hurriedly said: "Yes, yes. Guests come here!"
Leading Zhai Xing and others, the boy quickly walked to the door at the back of the lobby and asked Zhai Xing and others to come in. He said: "The last room on the east side is the best. You can see the pond outside the window. It is clear after the snow, so guests can enjoy the snow."
Zhai Xing smiled and took Zhai Cong to the last room and entered. I saw that it was very clean inside, with a screen set up in the corner and water next to it for washing my face. I opened a window to the south and looked out onto a pond covered with heavy snow.
Looking at the names of the dishes hanging on the wall, Zhai Xing said: "Bring a pot of good wine, two kilograms of mutton, and a plate of crispy lotus roots. If there are good sesame cakes, come and serve seven or eight. I will serve as companions, and each person will have a big bowl. Mutton soup, four sesame seed cakes."
The waiter said: "Sir, I wonder if you want to drink white wine or ordinary wine?"
Zhai Xing said: "In this weather, I need to drink some white wine to regain my strength!"
The boy agreed and quickly went out.
Not long after, a plate of tender lotus roots, some dried fruits, and a jug of wine were served. Zhai Xing and his son were eating, and the sesame seed cakes and meat came quickly.
After a few glasses of wine, I slowly started to feel drunk. Zhai Cong said: "This time I went to Wentang to see Wang Jieshuai. Although I can't tell it, I feel that he is a lot different from before. Dad, do you think so?"
Zhai Xing nodded: "Of course. Wang Xiaolie now is different from before, and the feeling is certainly different. I remember when I first met him, he only had a few hundred people under his command, and it was Taiwei Lu who lent him troops. A few years later, Lieutenant Lu was killed by a gold thief, and Wang Xiaolie also had an army of 100,000. Don't underestimate this army of 100,000. No general in this dynasty has so many soldiers now. Moreover, in the past few years, Wang Xiaolie and Jin The armies fought several times and never lost. Think about it, with such an army, Wang Xiaolie should have walked sideways."
Zhai Cong nodded: "What Dad said is true. With an army of one hundred thousand, and an invincible army of one hundred thousand, Wang Jieshuai's strength cannot be matched by others. I think now, even the Jin Army will deliberately avoid it." Hold him."
Zhai Xing said: "Yes, even the Jin army did not dare to provoke Wang Xiaolie easily. So I said that if Luoyang is occupied, it is likely that the Jin army will force Liu Yu to send troops to help, and they themselves may not come."
Zhai Cong thought for a while and said: "If that's the case, I really can't figure out why Commander Ji would help us. If you are willing, wouldn't it be easy for Dengzhou's army to come north and swallow me up? They have food and money, so they can't use any means to do this. Disaster."
Zi Wang Yan of the state. No matter how things change around him, Wang Xiaolie has never had any conflicts with the surrounding forces. Even the court, although it does not trust him, will not doubt him. We are just a small force, how could Wang Xiaolie do this? Attack us? Not to mention that Luoyang is now in ruins, what use does Wang Xiaolie have? After we occupied Luoyang, the imperial army came north, and even made Luoyang the capital, then things could be done. If not, we would be in Surrounded by Wang Xiaolie. In a few years, I’m afraid he will be asking to be merged into Wang Xiaolie’s power. You heard what Wang Xiaolie said that day. Even Wang Xiaolie was unwilling to merge with Li Yanxian. , how could he be willing to accept us? If Wang Xiaolie wants to annex us now, it's not that it can't be done, but it will cost a lot. If I don't object and am willing to join his army, how will my status be arranged? It cannot be compared. Li Yanxian is inferior, right? Li Yanxian is now the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Army, and he also promotes a line of affairs. In fact, he is Wang Xiaolie's deputy position. How many deputy positions can Wang Xiaolie have? What if there are others? "
After hearing this, Zhai Cong lowered his head and thought for a long time before saying: "What my father said is that I thought too simply. It seems that Wang Xiaolie was too reckless in letting Li Yanxian be his deputy. If something like this happens again, It’s difficult to arrange.”
Zhai Xing said: "We can see it, but Wang Xiaolie's men can't see it? So no matter how powerful the rumors are outside, saying that Wang Xiaolie's army is coming north and will definitely annex us, they are very calm inside and no one mentions it. It’s because everyone can see clearly that this is impossible.”
After hearing these words, Zhai Cong was shaken and did not speak for a while. Raise your glass and drink slowly.
The current situation in the Central Plains is that Wang Xiaolie has developed, but other forces such as Zhai Xing, Dong Xian and others are becoming more and more difficult. The strength gap between the two sides is so large that they are not on the same level. During this Northern Expedition, there were widespread rumors that Wang Xiaolie wanted to integrate various forces and plot the area around Luoyang. In fact, Wang Xiaolie had no interest in annexing these forces, but only wanted to expand his territory northward.
To expand his power, Wang Xiaolie could recruit troops, so why should he take over from others? Generally speaking, the purpose of annexing other forces is to gain independent power and immediately form combat effectiveness. But Wang Xiaolie's habit was to reorganize and train the annexed armies, and then break them up completely before integrating them into each army. In doing so, these independent forces were completely unattractive to Wang Xiaolie.
