"That's true!" Huicong nodded: "Could it be a trap set by the prince, the eldest brother?"
"A trap? I think it's unlikely, right?" Cui Hongdu said: "In the Battle of Baijiangkou, the Japanese captured many prisoners in our hands. The prince, the eldest brother, knows this. As long as the things the woman said last night are added to By confirming it, we can distinguish the authenticity. If I were sent by the Prince of Zhongda Brother, I would definitely not tell so much inside information. Secondly, if this is the strategy of the Prince of Zhongda Brother, what is his purpose? To seduce our people Ships come, and then set up an ambush in advance? Isn’t this not provoking a big country and seeking death?”
"That's true!" Huicong nodded: "It really doesn't seem like a trap set by the prince, the eldest brother. Why don't you go back to Sixian City and tell Wang Sima what happened here and let him make a decision? !」
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Baekje.
In a bamboo cage next to a tree at a crossroads, two dead men were rotting in the sun.
Wang Pu stopped under the tree to take a closer look at them.
"Who do you think they are? Brother?" The mule next to him was grateful for the rare respite and began to eat the brown and green hay on the roadside, ignoring the two wooden wine barrels on its back.
"Who knows, maybe he's a robber or a deserter, it's the same thing anyway!" Wang Peng covered his nose and turned his head sideways to stay away from the two corpses. He was much closer to the dead while riding a horse. Early in the morning He was soaked with sweat when he went out, and his light yellow coat turned black. The sky was blue, and the sun was scorching hot. Although it was still the end of April, it seemed like summer had already entered.
Wang Pu took off his straw hat and fanned it vigorously. Hundreds of flies were crawling on the corpse, and more were flying slowly in the motionless hot air, making a buzzing sound: "They must have done something bad. , to be locked up in such a cage!"
"You brat!" Wang Peng sneered: "Don't think that you know everything after studying in Dinglin Temple for a few days. There are always some people in this world who don't need many reasons to let others die!"
The bamboo cage was barely big enough to accommodate one person, but it forced two people into it. They stood facing each other, their hands and feet tied together, and their backs were fixed with iron rods, as if they were one person.
"Fourth brother, come and help me!" Wang Peng jumped off his horse and said, "Put these two guys down!"
"Brother, we don't know them either, why should we let them down!" Wang Pu came over and asked.
"Fourth, they are dead!" Wang Peng pulled out his sword: "No matter what they did during their lifetime, it has passed. Now they should get a pit and rest in peace! Come on, help!"
Brother Wang Peng wrapped his mouth and nose with his coat, then lowered the bamboo basket, separated the two corpses, and then began to dig a pit. They were working feverishly when they suddenly heard someone behind them whisper: "Amitabha!" Wang Pu When he looked back, he saw a wild tutuo.
"Master, you came just in time!" Wang Peng was very happy to see the wild tutuo. He pointed at the corpse on the ground and said, "You can recite sutras for these two people on the ground to avoid more wild ghosts!"...
Nayoutuo nodded: "The poor monk can only recite half a volume of the Universal Mantra. If the donor doesn't mind it, then the poor monk will recite it!"
Wang Peng didn't know anything about the Universal Mantra, so he hurriedly said: "I heard that the Bodhisattva's scriptures have supreme power when you recite just one sentence. I also asked the master to recite the scriptures, which can be regarded as a good deed!"
Nayoutuo nodded, walked to the corpse and began to recite sutras. When the recitation was completed, the three of them worked together to push the corpse into the pit and cover it with soil. Wang Peng smiled and said: "Finally we have done something. Master, our brothers are sending two large barrels of wine to the village in front. It is only ten miles away from here. Why don't you also go to the village, drink two glasses of wine, and eat Let’s have a meal, wash our feet and have a good sleep, then we’ll hit the road again tomorrow morning!”
The wild tutuo looked at the big wine barrel on the back of the mule, swallowed subconsciously, and showed a smile on his dark face: "Then you will bother the donor!"
"Master, you're so polite!" Wang Peng laughed when he saw Ye Toutuo agreed: "But we all have mounts, so you have to walk faster later!"
"none
harm! "Nayoutuo smiled and said: "I have good foot strength, I can definitely keep up!"
The three of them set out on the road. As expected, Ye Toutuo had not lied. Although Wang Peng and his brother were riding on horses and mules, he followed four or five steps behind, barefoot, holding a wooden stick, and a short knife hanging on his waist. The straw sandals hung on the thick shoulders, the shabby coat was rolled up and knotted around the waist, the dark face was covered with whiskers, and only a pair of eyes were dark and bright.
The grave quickly disappeared behind him, but Wang Peng found that he could never forget it all. The three-year war of restoration was over, but that didn't mean the days of peace were coming. The kingdom is full of lawless people. The drought shows no signs of ending. The hungry people have to leave their homes and find a way to survive. Even a lord like him must hold a hoe in one hand and hold the handle of the knife tightly in the other. Defend your land and granaries.
"Brother, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling unwell?" Wang Pu asked.
"No! I'm just very thirsty! Just like them!" Wang Peng pointed to the field beside the road. The vegetables were withering on the vines, but the weeds were alive and well. Wang Peng licked his tongue, and this went on. But it won’t work.
"I remember there is a stream ahead! We can drink as much as we can!" Wang Pu said with a smile. Compared to the other brothers, he was much more energetic. His sling belt and leather bag with stone bullets were hung around his waist. There is a ring knife hanging, and a quiver and bow bag hanging next to the saddle, which looks a bit nondescript.
"I'm afraid you won't be able to drink anymore!" Ye Toutuo's voice was low, like a muffled drum.
"Can't drink anymore? How could that be? I remember it was right in front, behind the old locust tree!" Wang Pu pointed at the old locust tree not far away.
"You remember correctly! But the stream has stopped flowing!" Ye Toutuo said: "Several streams around have stopped flowing!"
The three of them stood by the creek and looked at the creek under their feet, or a ditch to be exact. There was only sand and stones under the warped wooden deck. This was very strange. There was water here two or three days ago. Indeed, there was water here. Not much, but at least there is flowing water.
"What the hell!" Wang Peng frowned: "Why did you work so fast? The crops in the field are ruined!"...
"There wasn't much water there in the beginning!" Wang Pu said: "It's not surprising that it's dry now, but fortunately this is not the only farm in our family!"
Wang Peng shook his head in disappointment and was about to continue on his way when he heard Yedutuo's voice: "The Silla people built a dam upstream. It's not far from here, only about twenty miles away!"
"What?" Wang Peng turned around and said, "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure!" Yedutuo said, "I passed by there yesterday. The Silla people cut down a lot of trees, tied the trunks together to form two fences, and threw them into the river. Then they threw the earth and rocks into the two wooden railings and pressed them down. The water overflowed the river bank and poured into a newly dug canal to irrigate their fields!"
"These bastards, they are stealing our water and our lives!" Wang Peng gritted his teeth, with murderous intent on his face: "Fourth brother, go back to the village immediately and issue an order to summon all those who can take up arms. Get up, I want to show those Silla people some color!"
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Sixian City, Dudu Mansion.
Wang Wenzuo climbed up the steps and kept chatting as he walked. He was very tired. He had been busy since dawn and had no time to take a breath. However, no matter how many things he had dealt with, there were still more things to do. Waiting for him. There is no way. For future plans, he needs a fleet, an expeditionary force that can be dispatched at any time, but now he only has a few old ships, a shipyard with insufficient craftsmen, and two thousand evil boys with incomplete armor. , there are too many things for him to deal with.
"Sanlang, you're here!" Liu Renyuan smiled and pointed to the seat next to him: "Sit down and talk!"
"Thank you, Mr. Liu!" Wang Wenzuo bowed and then sat down. He found that Fu Yulong was also there. This was a rare thing. This nominally the highest official of the Xiongjin Governor's Mansion seldom appeared on weekdays. Why was he here today? Could it be that an edict came from Chang'an? Or something else.
"Du Changshi, please tell Sanlang about the matter!" Liu
Renyuan said.
"Yes!" Du Shuang responded: "That's what happened. The Silla people came to complain. They said that three days ago, the Baekje people crossed the border and attacked their village. They killed many of them and burned their houses. They demanded We punish the perpetrators."
"The Baekje people crossed the border and attacked the Silla people? Isn't this impossible?" Wang Wenzuo laughed: "As far as I know, it was the Silla people who were encroaching on the border villages of the Baekje people! How could it be the other way around? "
"Wang Sima, after our verification, it was indeed the Baekje people who crossed the border and attacked several Silla villages. However, before that, the Silla people built dams and intercepted several rivers flowing into Baekje for their own use. There happened to be a drought in the area, so what happened next!”
"No wonder, the Baekje people can't be blamed. It's the time when crops are growing, and the Silla people are blocking the river water, which is killing the people downstream!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "There are some lawsuits about this pen and ink!"
"Wang Sima!" Fuyulong, who had always had no sense of presence, finally spoke: "You may not know the seriousness of the matter. The Silla people have assembled a large army at the border, at least five thousand people, saying they are going to fight for this incident. Things take a revenge, and it’s all because of you!”….
"Because of me?" Wang Wenzuo was stunned. He glanced at Fuyu Long with contempt and said with a smile: "Whether there are 5,000 or 50,000 people in Silla, there is no need for Governor Fuyu to worry about it. I will wait for freedom." It’s up to the officials!”
"You——!" Fu Yulong was not deaf, so he naturally heard the sarcasm in Wang Wenzuo's words. He sneered: "General Liu, tell Wang Sima the whole story! I want to see what he does. Deal with it!"
Liu Renyuan coughed and whispered: "Sanlang, you should know Wang Peng, right?"
"I know!" Wang Wenzuo nodded: "He made great achievements in quelling the Buyeo Fengzhang Rebellion, so he was granted a lot of land. He can be regarded as a landowner in Baekje!"
"That's what he did. That night he gathered four to five hundred people, went to the Silla people, demolished the dikes, burned down four or five Silla villages, killed many people, and looted He came back with a lot of things! The Silla people want his head, otherwise they will go to war!"
"Hand over Wang Peng's head, or we will start a war?" Wang Wenzuo laughed angrily: "The Silla people are so brave. Does he know who he is threatening? This is the Xiongjin Governor's Mansion of the Tang Dynasty! "
"Wang Sima!" Du Shuang whispered: "At this moment, the situation in Baekje is very different from a few months ago. Our soldiers have been scattered to farm fields, and they all want to go home. There was no way to start a war. Before this, the Silla people kept provoking conflicts on the border, just to seize the land of the Baekje people. Of course they did not dare to go to war with the Tang Dynasty, but they would finish the war and then send envoys to Chang'an to apologize. !」
"Is this okay?"
"Yeah!" Du Shuang whispered: "Chang'an is very likely to be perfunctory. At the moment, the court is most concerned about destroying Goguryeo. If they break up with the Silla people, then the plan of attacking Goguryeo from the north and the south will completely fail. The Luo people grasped this point and continued to cause trouble on the border. A few days ago, the Andong Governor's Office also sent people to say, let us focus on the overall situation and not give Silla population the right to do so until Goguryeo is eliminated. Claim!"
After hearing this, Wang Wenzuo understood. After he returned to Baekje, he was only thinking about how to intervene in the Japanese archipelago and obtain the rich gold and silver resources there. As for Silla, which was just around the corner, he did not take it to heart, but he did not expect that the situation here had deteriorated to such a point. situation. Among the three kingdoms on the Korean peninsula and the Japanese kingdom at that time, the Silla people may not be the most capable of fighting, but they are definitely the best at diplomacy. The earliest Jin Chunqiu professed his tribunalship to the Tang Dynasty and sent all his sons as hostages, and finally received a generous reward. In return, Baekje, their centuries-old enemy, was eliminated. The next pair of father-in-laws, Jin Yuxin and Jin Famin, were not economical either. They adopted a strategy of kowtowing to the Tang Dynasty while pressing forward step by step. When they lost, they asked for peace, and when they won, they demanded peace. The Tang Empire, which was at the peak of its military power, chewed off a large piece of flesh, and its lifespan was almost as long as the Tang Dynasty. It really made giants like Goguryeo, Tubo, Nanzhao, and Uighurs cry.
"Wang Sima!" Fu Yulong became proud when he saw that Wang Wenzuo didn't say anything: "You divided the land before.
Temporary benefits are granted to these despicable villains, but they don't expect these villains to know how to manage the land and the people. When things happen, they just act recklessly, regardless of the consequences. In my opinion, not only should this Wang Peng be handed over to the Silla people, but other despicable people who were granted land should also take back their land. This is the right way! "
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Chris Webber
