In addition to grain and grass, the spoils captured in the Mirang River War also included hundreds of live sheep. Li Zhiyun ordered the slaughter of sheep to reward the three armies. The soldiers built a pile of firewood, lit a bonfire, and roasted the whole sheep on the firewood. Then the entire army had a full meal.
After resting for a day at Miragawa River, the army prepared to return to camp the next day. At Mao hour the next day, just as we were about to set off, a messenger came. The messenger was sent by the second brother, and he sent a letter to Li Zhiyun. Li Zhiyun opened it and saw that the letter was written by his father:
Shimin, Zhiyun:
I was shocked to hear that your cousin Li Xiaoji and others were captured. My father was very anxious and hoped to find a way to rescue them.
Abba
After Li Zhiyun finished reading the letter, he fell into deep thought. Abba does not issue edicts as an emperor, but writes family letters as a father. He can completely understand this. After all, rescuing his uncle was out of family affection and personal friendship. It would indeed be inappropriate to issue an edict as an emperor. This letter was probably sent to the front line by a fast horse from Abba. The second brother handed Abba's letter to him, apparently placing the burden of rescuing his uncle on his shoulders.
After Li Zhiyun became a member of the Li family, of course he had to understand the situation of the Li family. He knew that Abba had no biological brothers, only a few cousins, and that Lee Hyo-ki had the closest relationship with Abba. Abba asked his uncle to lead an army to attack Xia County. He originally wanted him to make contributions, but unexpectedly, his uncle was captured by Yuchi Gong. You can imagine the anxiety in Abba's heart.
Li Zhiyun traveled to this world due to a plane crash and was completely isolated from his original family. Fortunately, he still has many relatives in this world. In addition to his father, mother, brothers and sisters, of course, his cousins and other relatives are also included. He has already experienced the pain of losing all his relatives once, so he cherishes these relatives now. Therefore, it was his duty to rescue his uncle this time. Besides, the purpose of his trip was to rescue his uncle and others. Now, his uncle and the others were still being imprisoned, so his mission was naturally not completed yet.
Li Zhiyun called several generals over, showed them Abba's letter, and then said: "We are not going back to Baibi. We will go to Xia County first to rescue my cousin and the others and capture Xia County by the way. Everyone What do you think?" Upon hearing this, several people expressed their agreement. Therefore, Li Zhiyun ordered the army to set off immediately and head to Xia County.
After two days of march, the team arrived at a town called Gaoyang and stationed themselves in the open land outside the town. Gaoyang Town was still fifty miles away from Xia County. Seeing that the team was not leaving, Cheng Yaojin hurried to find Li Zhiyun and asked him why he stopped. Li Zhiyun frowned and said, "I haven't thought about how to attack the county seat yet."
"Then think about it slowly. After you think about it, don't forget to tell Lao Cheng. Lao Cheng is still waiting to make meritorious service."
That afternoon, Li Zhiyun asked Cai Hu to practice sword practice with him in the open space outside the military tent. Fan Shuxiang came over to hang out. She replaced Cai Hu and became Li Zhiyun's sparring partner. Fan Shuxiang's swordsmanship routine was unique, and Li Zhiyun was not used to it and was stabbed several times in succession. He threw away the wooden sword in his hand and said: "No more practice, let's take a rest."
Fan Shuxiang said proudly: "How's it going? Isn't it okay? Just call me master and I will come over to practice swordsmanship with you every day." Li Zhiyun did not call her master, but said: "Miss Fan, are you willing to go to Xiamen with me?" County seat?"
"Okay, of course I am willing. When should we set off?"
"tomorrow."
The main reason why Li Zhiyun went to Xia County County was to get a feel for the situation. When Yuchi Gong left Xia County, he only took away the loot and not the prisoners, so his uncle and the others should still be in Xia County. It is not yet known where they are being held, whether they are dead or alive. Therefore, in order to rescue them, we must first understand all this. Of course, he could send people to conduct reconnaissance in the county, but the reason why he decided to go there in person had deeper considerations.
Li Zhiyun led his army to Xia County. The main purpose was to save people, and the second was to capture Xia County. If he rushes into the army rashly, surrounds the county town, and forcibly attacks the city, and if he offends Lu Chongmao and kills the prisoners, then his plan to rescue Tang Shu and others will be ruined. Besides, according to the scouts, Lu Chongmao had four to five thousand men and horses, and the army he led, in addition to the soldiers who were killed and wounded in the Battle of Meiliangchuan, plus additional prisoners, now has about five thousand men, so he does not have an advantage in terms of strength. , if you attack the city by force, there is not much chance of winning. The Art of War says that the first step is to attack the enemy with troops, then the second is to attack the enemy, and the last step is to attack the city. But he didn't know how to plot or establish relations. He could only figure it out slowly after entering the city.
Li Zhiyun knew that it would be very dangerous to lead people into the city personally. However, there is no other good solution. Therefore, after careful consideration, he felt that in order to save his uncle and the others, he had to take this risk.
Li Zhiyun had been to Xia County before, and many people knew him. In order to prevent his identity from being discovered, he had to wear makeup. He asked the cook to make porridge with glutinous rice and made a paste. Then he cut off the fine hairs of the piglets as beards and applied the paste to his lips and chin. After finishing it, I took a look in the bronze mirror and found that my childish face had a sense of vicissitudes of life, and I suddenly looked several years older, even looking at it felt strange to me. It seems that the makeup effect is quite good.
Cai Hu also went to Xia County, and Li Zhiyun followed suit and put makeup on him.
I can no longer carry the flintlock pistol. It is too large to be concealed on my body. If he walked into the county town with a pistol on his back, he would definitely attract someone's attention. So, he brought a sword. Scholars in ancient times liked to wear swords. Regardless of whether they knew martial arts or not, they had to wear a sword to show that they were both civil and military.
Li Zhiyun and Cai Hu went to Gaoyang Town again and bought several sets of clothes from the residents according to their sizes. He put on a green hidden-flower silk t-shirt with a round collar and large sleeves, and put on a sword. He looked like a scholar on a study tour. I bought Fan Shuxiang a blue floral skirt and she looked like a maid when she put it on. Cai Hu, on the other hand, wore a purple plain cloth and dressed up as a butler.
They also spent money to rent a two-wheeled carriage with a green cloth cover, and found a captain in the army named Wang Wenqing who could drive the carriage. Captain Wang's name sounds elegant, but he is dark and thick, and wearing coarse linen clothes, he really looks like a handlebar type.
After a lot of trouble, the four people drove the carriage and set off. The fifty-mile journey took just half a day. Arriving outside the Xia County town, Li Zhiyun, Fan Shuxiang and Cai Hu got off the carriage and followed the carriage forward. There are soldiers guarding the city gate, and they are checking people entering the city.
Several people walked to the gate of the city, and a soldier stopped the carriage and shouted: "What are you doing?" Li Zhiyun smiled and said softly: "Sir, we are from a foreign country and came to the city to visit relatives."
"Visiting relatives?" The soldier glanced at each of them and nodded, "Okay then, pay the money quickly."
"What do you need to pay?"
"City gate tax."
"We are not merchants, so why should we pay the city gate tax?" Cai Hu argued.
"The King of Wei has ordered that no matter whether you are a merchant or not, you must pay the city gate tax when entering the city. Each person is fifty cash, and for the four of you, the total is two hundred cash."
Li Zhiyun understood. The city gate tax was originally only collected from vendors, but Lu Chongmao expanded it to apply to everyone, effectively becoming a toll. Cai Hu still wanted to argue, but Li Zhiyun said: "Forget it, give it to him." Cai Hu took out the broken silver and handed it to the guard guard.
After paying the money, the four people entered the city smoothly. Li Zhiyun looked back and saw that these soldiers were guarding the city gate to collect tolls. Not only did Lu Chongmao arrogantly claim the throne, but he also imposed excessive taxes. He had to pay fifty coins to enter the city. Such exorbitant taxes and miscellaneous taxes would probably bring disaster to the residents of Xia County.
After entering the county town, they walked along the street. In just over half a year, the county seat has completely changed, making Li Zhiyun almost unrecognizable. Of course, it doesn't mean that the scenery on the street has changed, but that the people on the street have completely changed. In his impression, Xia County is a fertile land, and the people live a prosperous life. But in front of me was a different scene. Many people on the street seemed to be malnourished and disheveled. What puzzled him even more was that there were many homeless people scattered on both sides of the street. These people were in ragged clothes and had no fixed abodes. Some people spread some straw under the eaves of their shops with dirty and worn bedding on them. Others A simple shed was set up with tarpaulin in the open space. Children in rags chased passersby asking for coins, and some homeless people sat on the street in a daze, their eyes empty and their expressions numb.
Li Zhiyun didn't know where these refugees came from. Are they locals in Xia County, or are they fleeing from other places?
They drove the carriage to the posthouse. The post house was originally used to receive officials. After Xia County separated from the Tang Dynasty, it is now mainly used to receive passing business travelers. The postmen in the posthouse have all been replaced, and Li Zhiyun doesn't recognize any of the current postmen. It was better this way, lest he cover up and be afraid of being recognized. He was still living in the same guest room as last time. Fan Shuxiang and Cai Hu lived next to him. Wang Wenqing had to take care of the horses, so he stayed in a guest room closer to the stables. By the time they settled down, it was already dark.
The next morning, Li Zhiyun took Fan Shuxiang and Cai Hu to the street. They walked to a street with many shops beside it. When they passed a shop, they found the owner arguing with several soldiers. Li Zhiyun stopped and listened to what they were arguing about. It turned out that the soldiers were here to collect money, but the shop owner said that it was not open yet and had no money to give them.
The shop owner is an old man in his fifties, wearing a brown plain cloth jacket, with gray beard and hair, and a thin body. Those soldiers were very rough and brutal. When they saw that the shopkeeper wouldn't pay him, they got very impatient and punched and kicked him when they came forward. The shopkeeper fell to the ground, but a soldier stepped forward and kicked him.
These soldiers bullied the old and the weak so much that Fan Shuxiang couldn't bear it anymore. He rushed forward and kicked the soldier to the ground. When an officer next to him saw this, he led a few soldiers and walked towards Fan Shuxiang aggressively, shouting: "Hey, my little lady is good at martial arts, do you want to find someone to chat with?"
When Li Zhiyun saw that the situation was not good, he quickly stepped forward and stopped in the middle. He said with a smile: "Sir, misunderstanding, misunderstanding. How much does this shop owner owe you? I paid for him." The officer looked him up and down and saw that he looked like He was a gentle man and didn't want to make things worse, so he turned around and asked the soldier next to him: "How much money does this family owe?"
"One hundred coins."
Li Zhiyun turned around and asked Cai Hu for a piece of silver, handed it to him and said, "This is five taels of silver. The extra money will be used to buy wine for the brothers." The officer took the silver, weighed it twice in his palm, and said, "This is The young master is quite sensible." After saying that, he turned around, waved his hand, and led his soldiers to the shop next to him.
Fan Shuxiang walked to Li Zhiyun, stared at the backs of the soldiers, and felt unwillingly: "Why did you give them so much money? It's too cheap for these guys." Li Zhiyun whispered: "You spend money to eliminate disasters. Don’t forget where this is, and don’t cause trouble again.”
