Ayi knew that Yang Ran was held back by her inability to fight on horseback, but it was too late to admit defeat immediately.
"Sister Yang, don't try to be brave. If you can't do something, you'll be defeated. Just let them teach you..."
Yang Ran turned around and gave Ayi a smile, then charged towards Zhang and Zhang with her spear and horse.
Seeing this, Ayi did not dare to neglect, strengthened his confidence, and after a few breaths of delay, he also galloped out.
Zhang and Zhang were galloping towards them from the opposite side. They couldn't help but secretly rejoiced when they saw the two women coming to fight one after the other.
"You and I will work together to attack Yang Ran and try to capture Yang Ran before Ayi arrives!"
"General Zhuo, if the attack fails, don't relax, just leave Yang Ran and attack Ayi!"
The two of them responded to the situation, and after deciding on a new tactic, they each used their own methods to rush towards Yang Ran at the same time.
Yang Ran didn't know what the tactics of the two were. She just wanted to hold off the opponent with one against two, and buy Ayi time for a sneak attack.
Seeing the two men galloping towards them, Yang Ran held spears in both hands, clamped the horse's belly with only her legs, and faced them in a posture of "guarding the upper three roads".
The three horses intersect, Zhuo Ying is on the left, sweeping across with his sword, and passes by the wrong horse with Yang Ran.
Zhang Zuo thrust out his spear and struck Yang Ran directly from the front.
Yang Ran saw Zhang Zhang's momentum and did not dare to look down upon it. He hurriedly reined in his horse and raised his head, hoping to use his horse to trample Zhang Zhang's thrusts.
At the same time, Yang Ran freed up his right hand and stabbed toward the lower right with his spear, trying to force Zhuo Ying to switch from offense to defense.
Seeing how brave Yang Ran was, Ayi couldn't help but become more energetic. She galloped out from the right side of Yang Ran and swung her sword to take Zhuo Ying's horse.
Zhang Zhu saw that Yang Ran was risking his life to contain himself and Zhuo Ying, but he pinned his hopes of victory on Ayi, who got in behind.
I couldn't help but feel happy.
"Zhuo Ying! Right now!"
Zhuoying had already seen Ayi's attack, so he sidestepped to avoid Yang Ran's spear, then without any entanglement, bypassed Yang Ran and went straight for Ayi.
When Yang Ran saw this, she shouted "Not good"!
But at this time, the war horse had just come down after it had raised its head. The footing was not stable, but he could not get back on his horse to save Ayi.
When he was in a hurry, he reined in his horse and stopped suddenly, avoiding being trampled by his own horse, and thrust a spear towards his own horse.
Yang Ran knew she had made a mistake and couldn't help but regretted:
"It's over now!"
Before he finished speaking, Zhuo Ying had already knocked down Ayi's weapon, and took advantage of the situation to lift Ayi and place it on his horse's back.
Seeing that Zhuo Ying had won, Zhang Zhu also stopped his movements and stopped in front of Yang Ran.
“The two female generals have extraordinary skills and they do have the right to question us.
This time we just took advantage and won by luck, so you don't have to be discouraged. "
Hearing this, Yang Ran put down the weapon in her hand, crossed her hands on her chest, and bowed:
"The general is very clever, my little girl is convinced!
In the future, I will humbly ask for advice on battle formations, and one day I will discuss with the general again to avenge today's defeat. "
Seeing that Yang Ran had made peace with Zhang Zhu, Zhuo Ying gently placed Ayi on the ground.
"The little kid's martial arts skills are quite sharp, but he still needs a lot of improvement in horse fighting!"
Ayi was captured alive by Zhuo Ying. She was so ashamed that she did not dare to look at Zhuo Ying. She just lowered her head and said:
"My daughter has taken note of the general's words..."
After saying this, he took his horse and left the field silently.
Li Shimin saw that the victory of several people was decided, so he called them in front of him and said harmoniously:
"As the saying goes, there is always a bright future. Yang Ran and Ayi should not be discouraged. They should take advantage of their youth to hone themselves.
It won't take long for him to catch up with or even surpass the two generals Zhang and Zhuo.
Now that the winner has been decided, you should all humbly ask for advice from now on, and don't clash with the two generals again. "
The matter was over, Li Shimin officially announced the identities and positions of Zhang Zhu and Zhuo Ying to everyone in the Flying Cavalry Guard.
When the two of them are ready, they can officially start training the flying cavalry guards.
Chen Dao took the family letters with him, and when he returned in a few days, he ordered their families to move to Chengdu.
After settling Zhang Zhu and others, Li Shimin left the three governors Wei Yan, Jiang Wei, and Chen to have a secret chat in the Gold and Silver Palace.
At this time, in addition to the three governors, there were only three people in the palace: Zhang Yan, Chen Zhong, and Huang Hao.
Li Shimin waited for Wei Yan and others to take their seats, and ordered Huang Hao to close the door of the palace and guard outside the palace.
Then he said to Wei Yan and others:
“Now that the situation in Shuzhong has stabilized, my plan has also been on the right track.
There are three important things at present. I will tell you today.
When you return to your station, you will implement these three things based on the local situation.
For quite some time in the future, I am afraid that there will be undercurrents in Sichuan, and various factions will extend their struggles from the court to all parts of Sichuan.
After that, the situation in central Shu will change, and whether the place is stable or not depends mostly on the governors! "
Wei Yan heard this and replied to His Majesty on behalf of Chen Dao and Jiang Wei:
"Now His Majesty has countless loyal ministers and good generals around him, not to mention our veterans, all of whom conquered the world with the late Emperor.
We have also seen the performance of many young talents. They are all excellent in terms of ability and virtue.
Only the Dukes of Yizhou and the Dukes of Jingxiang and Dongzhou who have impure thoughts may be able to restrain Your Majesty.
I think that as long as your Majesty takes care of these people, you can rest easy.
We will also try our best to cooperate with His Majesty, either to win over and appease, or to coerce and intimidate, in short, we will not let His Majesty's plan fail! "
Jiang Wei and Chen Dao all nodded in agreement with Wei Yan.
Li Shimin couldn't help but nod, feeling that Wei Yan's words were reasonable.
"Now that you are mentally prepared, I will tell you the three things one by one.
During the execution period, no matter what happens, as long as I don't give special instructions, you can act according to my attitude today.
Those who are alienated from the imperial court and have evil intentions in the local government and the central government will indeed suffer disaster this time! "
After saying this, Li Shimin picked up the wine glass, drank it all in one gulp, and then said seriously:
“The first thing is that I want to drastically reduce the number of officials in the DPRK, China and localities.
Of course, I will take this matter step by step and will not suddenly reduce the number of officials.
During this period, you need to do two things.
Try to be as discreet as possible and secretly investigate officials at all levels under your control or within the radiation range of the defense zone.
Finding out their reasons can even induce some mediocre officials to make mistakes.
Then put all the evidence into my hands, and I will handle the rest.
Of course, I will also send people from the imperial court to assist you in your investigation;
After collecting enough evidence, once I lay off officials, I will definitely arouse resistance from officials in the court and local areas as well as the nobles behind them.
No matter how they fight or resist, anyone who touches the interests of the imperial court or violates national laws, I allow you to kill them first and then report them, so as to eliminate the hidden dangers! "
Several people couldn't help but take a breath when they heard this.
“Your Majesty’s move will definitely cause an uproar.
Regardless of whether they were local gentry or not, they were all likely to confront the imperial court.
Is Your Majesty mentally prepared? "
"As the saying goes, there is no establishment without destruction. Nowadays, there is a serious redundancy of officials in the government, central and local governments, and most people are doing nothing in their positions.
Instead of spending the court's resources, they kept them secretly supporting the noble families in opposing the court.
It would be better to just find an excuse to remove them and let those who are capable and loyal to the court take their corresponding positions. "
"Now that Your Majesty has made up his mind and thought about everything, I will just do as I please.
When it comes to officials such as Jingzhou and Dongzhou, your Majesty also wants to deal with officials in Yizhou in the same way? "
“Originally, among the local middle and low-level officials, there are only a small number of officials in Jingzhou and Dongzhou, so they should have few people who come forward to oppose it.
If there is, then I should treat everyone equally, otherwise how can I convince everyone? "
"Your Majesty said, I have recorded it.
I just don’t know to what extent Your Majesty wants your ministers to use to eliminate hidden dangers? "
"If the deposed people follow the advice and choose to obey the court, there is no need to embarrass them.
If you encounter someone who is stubborn or inconsistent, you can be punished with a stick or jail, or in serious cases, your home may be confiscated and you may be executed! "
When Wei Yan and others heard this, they couldn't help but look at each other.
They have followed the late emperor and prime minister for a long time, and have long been accustomed to dealing with guilty people relatively gently.
Now His Majesty actually ordered a few people to execute the evildoers, which made a few people feel troubled.
When Li Shimin saw a few people hesitate, his expression relaxed and he said with a smile:
"Don't think of me as cruel and ruthless, as this is a helpless act.
Just imagine, if the imperial court does not use thunderous means to suppress those who oppose the decree.
Then the rest of the people who didn't dare to resist, don't they have the confidence in their hearts?
In this way, everyone tested the court's bottom line and knew that their lives were not in danger.
How can the imperial decree be implemented? Do I have to pray that their conscience is still intact and they can be influenced by me? "
"this……"
Wei Yan and others were speechless for a moment. Although what His Majesty said was true, the style of dealing with things that he had formed over the years made them unable to turn around for a while.
"You are really used to following the kindness of the late emperor and prime minister.
The ancients once said, "The crime of treachery is aggravated and the evil within the territory is stopped. This is why it is governed."
I don’t want you to impose heavy punishments endlessly. I just want to punish them with all possible thunderous means when someone dares to show up.
I believe that other people who intend to undermine the court's laws will retreat when they find it difficult.
Only by killing one person like this to serve as a warning can those who are lucky enough to be convinced be completely convinced.
Of course, if there are people who are really blind, they still don’t want to repent even after having examples.
Then you cannot tolerate it, you will definitely punish him severely! "
