Before that, something else happened at the same time.
"According to the spies' report, the Yin family secretly sent people to have close contact with the Qianchi Kingdom on Liuli Island, and there is a hidden agenda."
There are countless islands of various sizes in the middle of the sea. The largest one is called Ryukyu Island. There is a small country on the island named Qianchi.
When the dynasty was at its most prosperous, it had strong soldiers and horses, and unified the entire continent in one fell swoop. It even formed a navy to attack the gate of the Qianchi Kingdom's palace.
At that time, the emperor of Qianchi Kingdom raised a white flag and surrendered, and he became a prosperous vassal state from then on.
Later, the dynasty changed several times, and the Qianchi Kingdom also muddied the waters from time to time, but the hozen was no match for the lion. As time went by, it seemed that it had accepted its fate. It offered sacrifices and special products every year and lived on a small island.
The emperor's face darkened slightly, "At this time?"
Liu Xiangzhi's eyes drooped and his expression became more serious, "Yes, I suspect that the Yin family has had different intentions for a long time. I am afraid that they are also preventing the emperor from sending troops to recover. Although the spies do not know the specific content of their conversation at the moment, they found that several large black boxes were transported by sea. , passing through Beiyan City and finally entering the territory of Mengzhou."
The emperor almost instantly remembered, "Nine Ox Crossbow?"
Although the Nine Ox Crossbow is an improvement on the ordinary crossbow, it is extremely powerful and can shoot as far as 800 to 1,000 steps, with a range of up to four or five miles.
The people of Qianchi are cunning and cowardly, and they are good at playing tricks on both sides. In their hearts, they covet the prosperous and prosperous land, but they dare not fight face to face with real swords and guns. They have to huddle on the island, and they always want to do it. Order something to disgust you and take advantage of it.
It's like a poisonous snake in a dark corner, harboring evil intentions, waiting for the right opportunity to pounce.
But the people of the Ning Dynasty cannot deny that the Qianchi people have some talent in making handmade things, such as weapons. They are not good at creation, but they are good at improvement.
A year ago, Qianchi Kingdom made the Nine Ox Crossbow, and specially presented one as a tribute. Later, people from the Ministry of War took it apart and reassembled it. They tried to make a few of them based on its method, but when they tried it, they found the range. If it is too long, it cannot hit the target and it is difficult to cause fatal damage to the enemy.
So the Ministry of War dismissed such things with disdain.
It wasn't until Nangong Zhi came back from his inspection tour of Jiehai that he saw the Jiu Niu Crossbow and said to the emperor with certainty: "The two are almost the same, but the buckles inside are different."
The emperor understood instantly and sneered: "Qianchi Kingdom did not bring the real Nine Ox Crossbow."
Liu Dezhong was in front of the palace at that time. After hearing what he said, he immediately said: "Little Qianchi doesn't take our Da Ning Dynasty seriously. Your Majesty, I think we should lead troops to destroy this island. How can there be any Qianchi in the future?" Not Qianchi, they are all from my Ningchao."
Liu Xiangzhi clicked his tongue and said: "Jehai is connected to Yancheng in the north and Lingcheng in the east. Ryukyu Island is in the middle of Jihai and has a special location. The people on the island often live on the sea and are very familiar with Jihai. We have no geographical advantage. What's more, The important thing is that if you hadn’t lived there since childhood, you might not have been able to adapt, so the Shengshi Dynasty considered many factors before deciding to make Senchi Country a vassal state instead of directly expelling the islanders and occupying Ryukyu Island.”
Liu Dezhong disagreed, "It's enough to keep the island. Those who are inhumane can be killed and exiled, no matter what."
Liu Xiangzhi smiled gently and said, "General Liu, the common people are innocent."
The emperor remained silent. In fact, the navy of the Ning Dynasty was not as powerful as the Heyday Dynasty. Especially after the pirates were cleared out of the sea, the navy suffered a lot and needed time to recuperate.
In addition, he knew that Qianchi was slippery and definitely not as easy to deal with as he looked. So when the Jihai incident broke out, he immediately sent troops to suppress it, fearing that the pirates would collude with the Qianchi Kingdom and be attacked from both sides.
No matter how powerful a small nine-oxen crossbow is, its role in war is limited. A country will not become strong or destroyed just because of a weapon. But now Qianchi Country secretly sells weapons to the Yin family. What is the plot behind this? The emperor and Liu Xiangzhi figured it out almost immediately.
"You are really a snake and rat, acting like a villain." The emperor snorted coldly from his nose.
Since the Yin family and Qianchi are co-conspirators, it means that troops may be sent immediately here, and Mengzhou may dare to resist immediately. If Qianchi comes with troops at this time, the north and east will fall into the battlefield at the same time, and the Daning Dynasty may not be able to take care of both.
"The Emperor needs to be careful that although Qian Chiguo is cowardly, he is extremely cunning." Liu Xiangzhi crossed the Buddhist beads in his hand and said thoughtfully: "Since the death of Yin Subaru, the Yin family has not sent any other children of the Yin family to the royal capital. I think so. Be decisive.”
Having said that, it’s just…
"Master Dongyue said that this Taoist teaching is rare and is a good sign."
Liu Xiangzhi thought for a while, "A large-scale troop deployment will definitely alert the Yin family. There will be levies everywhere in the spring. Why not send 10,000 troops to Shajia City in the name of military training."
"west?"
"Yes, there is too much noise going north to Yancheng, and there is Jiehai to the east, leaving only the west. We can take a detour from Echeng to Shajia and reach the Gobi area."
It is vast and boundless, but the geographical environment is extremely harsh. It is deserted all year round. Let alone ten thousand people, tens of thousands of people are as small as ants in it.
The emperor thought about it and found that it was not impossible to cross along the edge of the Gobi and reach the border of Mengzhou, but there was a problem.
"Mulan tribe, it's the annual hunting day."
The Mulan people live in the grasslands of the northwest and are known for their ferocity. They are good at riding and shooting but not good at farming. They rely on burning, killing and looting, and they harass the borders all year round.
Back then, Xiao Zhan led troops to attack the seven counties of Mengzhou. Unexpectedly, the Mulan tribe also took advantage of the situation. As a result, Zi Sang Jiuxiu seized power and the previous dynasty was destroyed. Mengzhou was divided into four, each supporting its own troops.
Regardless of whether it was the previous dynasty or the Great Ning Dynasty, hearing the words Mulan tribe gave me a headache.
In the northwest, the snow melts in April every year, and it gets warmer in May and June, so they will be active on a large scale after June.
Liu Xiangzhi summed up: "If we march quickly, we can make it before June."
Outside the window, clouds were flying in the sky, and the flickering skylight covered the emperor's face, making his expression a little unpredictable. He tapped his finger on the dragon chair, neither saying yes nor bad.
—
When leaving, Xunqing wanted to go with Lu Anran and the others.
"Shameless, don't be unable to walk when you see your beautiful sister." Lu Taotao grabbed the tail of her braided hair and swept it across her face, "I don't like a brat like you."
Xunqing teased her so much that her cheeks turned red. She quickly shouted the Sanqing Dharma name several times in her heart, shook her head seriously and said, "That's not the case."
"Oh? What's that like?"
"Master asked me to watch for a hundred days. He said that within a hundred days a destined person would come to the door, so I would follow him out of the valley."
Several people present were very surprised. Could it be that the first observer of Sanyuan Guan could really figure it out?
Lu Taotao smiled and said: "Then there are several of us. Who is your destined person?"
Xunqing hesitated for a moment, "Master never mentioned this situation."
Nangong Zhi looked at the door lintel where half of the plaque collapsed and could fall off at any time. "This place is remote. It's really hard for a child like him to continue living here."
"Nangong Shaofu is so kind..."
Lu Anran nodded: "Yeah, it's too dangerous."
Yun Qi immediately rounded off his words, "...Then we can't just sit idly by and ignore it."
"Prince Yun wants to take Xunqing in?" Nangong Zhi said unexpectedly.
Yun Qi: "..." Did he say that?
Xunqing bowed his head to Yunqi and said, "I will trouble you from now on, my benefactor, Buddha Amitayus."
"Okay, okay." Yun Qi half-squinted his peach blossom eyes and cursed in his heart, Nangong Zhi was indeed a big-tailed wolf pretending to be innocent, and he was able to trick people with every trick.
"But don't worry, donor, I will leave as soon as I get in touch with Master's junior brother."
Yun Qi didn't really hate the little Taoist Priest, he even thought the kid was a bit interesting, but he was a little unhappy after fighting Nangong Zhi one-sidedly for so long and suddenly fell behind.
Several people came out of the valley to find the way. Nangong Zhi talked to him from time to time and asked about the situation in the valley. Yun Qi and Lu Anran fell behind.
"The child will live with you when you return."
Lu Anran frowned, "Why?"
Yun Qi gave you a look that he understood, "Don't you feel sorry for the child who has no one to raise him? Let's raise him together."
Lu Anran's heart trembled, and her steps were erratic. Nothing could be seen on the surface, but her voice was still faint, "My son's family is so rich, can't he afford to raise a child?"
"My prince is happy." Yun Qi tapped Lu Anran's forehead with the jade bone fan in his hand, "Who told you to talk nonsense?"
Lu Anran stopped and touched the spot on his forehead where he was hit. A faint smile appeared in his eyes, and he lowered his head to follow the person in front of him.
The mountains were so similar that Lu Anran, who was not used to such a landscape, would almost faint, but Xunqing was able to navigate it with ease, until he climbed up a hill and stood on the top. There were dozens of scattered families below.
"It's like this here." Xunqing explained to everyone, "Because there are many mountains and valleys, and villages of all sizes are scattered in the middle."
He moved his little hand from left to right, "It takes a day to walk from the Upper West Village here to the Lower West Village over there. It's already very close."
Lu Taotao patted a stone and sat on it, "It's so boring here. It takes a whole day to go to other villages. It's so boring."
"No." Xunqing pointed to a place, "One day is fast. It takes two or three days to reach many villages."
"Where is it? What's going on?" Nangong Zhi turned his back to everyone. What he saw was a slightly farther position, blocked by various trees and leaves on the mountain. He could only vaguely see a little corner of the house. There seemed to be a village.
Xunqing seemed to be very familiar with this area. He only looked at the approximate location and said with certainty: "It used to be Siyou Village, but now it is called Ghost Village. It has been abandoned for many years."
People think that if a house is empty and unoccupied, unclean things will move in and it will become a ghost village.
Nangong Zhi asked: "Abandoned, why?"
"Living at the foot of the mountain, you are afraid of heavy rains. The rain will be so severe that it will roll down the mudslides from the mountain, and the villages below will suffer. Some people are lucky enough to survive, but their homes and families are gone, so they have to go out to make a living, and the whole village is abandoned. Lost."
The people present were either rich or noble, and they couldn't imagine the hardships faced by the people at the bottom of their lives, but from Xunqing's words, they also felt a bit of the helplessness of the world.
Passing through two or three deserted villages along the way, I just looked at them and thought they were dilapidated, but when I thought about the lives or displacement of people behind each house, I felt a little sad.
It was already dark when we returned to the county seat. People from the county office were waiting outside, thinking that Qi Shang had discovered something, but the other party said: "Master Qian said that the dojo will be open tomorrow. Please go to Longling on time."
Everyone suddenly realized that they had killed people for Cha Yaksha and had forgotten the purpose of coming here - Diqiu Dojo.
