"To inform my father, I dare not live up to my father's expectations and must do my best to manage the city of Kaifeng. Today, I received a case of kidnapping of a young child at the Kaifeng Mansion Office..." Zhao Heng leaned over. Yili said.
Zhao Guangyi frowned when he heard this. He didn't know what his son meant by this. As the largest city in the world, Kaifeng City has a population of nearly one million. There are not even a thousand but eight hundred cases of large and small cases every day. It's just a small matter. As the governor of Kaifeng Why would the prince mention it in front of him.
Seeing his father's expression, Zhao Heng quickly continued to explain: "The kidnapped child is the daughter of General Xuanwei Yang Yanzhao..."
After hearing this, Zhao Guangyi was stunned, his eyes narrowed slightly, and he soon thought of the stakes involved, and asked: "Have you ever investigated whether it is ordinary abduction or a conspiracy of the Liao people?"
At this time, Yang Yanzhao was confronting the Liao army in Baozhou. At this critical moment, his daughter was suddenly kidnapped. Then, things became very delicate, and the matter could be big or small.
Zhao Heng bowed and replied: "According to the description of the soldiers guarding the Jujube Gate in Beicheng, a middle-aged man once led a seven or eight-year-old girl out of the city on a horse..."
"Father, I have sent a message to the Ministry of War and sent a team of cavalry out of the North City Gate to search northward along the avenue. This matter concerns the border guard. Do you want to make some arrangements in case something changes?"
After hearing this, Zhao Guangyi walked a few steps thoughtfully, stroked his beard on his chin, and said: "I will tell you a story. During the Northern Expedition to Yanyun in the third year of Yongxi's reign, I appointed the newly conquered Northern Han general Yang Ye as the commander of the Western Han Dynasty. Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Road Army, many ministers in the court at that time believed that it was inappropriate for Yang Ye to be entrusted with important responsibilities just after being conquered, and they all wrote articles to impeach Yang Ye. I packaged these articles of impeachment and sent them to Yang Ye, and asked him to rest assured that he would rule the country. I trust him when we fight with soldiers! In the end, Yang Ye really did not disappoint me. Even after he was injured and captured, he still maintained his integrity and went on a hunger strike to death..."
"My father's intention was to win over Yang Yanzhao with trust and kindness. My son understood that it is far more practical to control people with kindness than to control them with power..." Zhao Hengruo said with enlightenment.
Zhao Guangyi smiled noncommittally when he heard the words, then shook his head and said: "The way to be a king is to check and balance. Whether you use kindness to control people or use force to control people, there will be bias. Only by applying kindness and power can you rule the country together." Way. When I packed up the memorials to impeach Yang Ye and sent them to Yang Ye, you only saw my trust in him, but you didn't see that this was also a threat to him not to have second thoughts... If civil servants have second thoughts, At most, it can cause chaos in the country, but if the military generals have second thoughts, it will lead to the destruction of the country. In just over fifty years, the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms have changed more than a dozen emperors, just because the military generals used their power to cause chaos. You must remember this in the future! "
"Inform the people in the north to search the passing people closely and try to find Yang Yanzhao's daughter within the country. Tomorrow, you will ask the censors to prepare several memorials to impeach Yang Yanzhao. Go down!"
Zhao Heng felt a chill in his heart when he heard this. He hurriedly leaned over to salute and said that he had been taught. However, a trace of fear secretly arose in his heart.
The cold wind howled, and the setting sun did not bring any warmth to people's faces. In the land of Yanyun in the north, the vast land is covered with silver. A heavy snowfall a few days ago dyed the land into a white that makes it difficult to open one's eyes. In a remote dry river valley, Huo Ji was walking on the dry riverbed with his horse. Sitting immediately was a seven or eight-year-old little girl, who was Yang Yanzhao's daughter Li'er.
The little girl was wearing a black coat that didn't fit her body. It was wrapped around her body several times, but her face was still red from the cold.
"Uncle, I'm hungry..." the little girl said.
Huo Ji stopped, looked around, and said, "There are no stores nearby. Please bear with it a little longer. After passing this river valley, there is a village in front of you!" Huo Ji's voice stopped at the beginning. He was pleasant at first, but became a little stiff and impatient.
The little girl did not notice these changes, but said coquettishly: "But uncle, I am really hungry..."
Huo Ji helplessly tied his horse to an old tree, looked at the unmelted snow on the ground, and said, "Just wait a moment, I'll be back soon!"
The little girl grinned and nodded heavily: "Yes!"
A bonfire was lit on the side. Huo Ji skinned and cleaned a hare he had just caught along the tracks in the snow, and roasted it over the fire. The little girl on the side looked at the fat rabbit that was roasted and was sizzling with oil. Swallowing.
Huo Ji cut the roasted rabbit into pieces with a dagger, then tore off a piece of cloth to hold the rabbit meat, and handed it to the little girl aside.
"Uncle, you eat too!" The little girl handed the rabbit meat to Huo Ji while eating, but Huo Ji shook his head and motioned to the little girl to eat quickly so that he could go on his way.
Looking at the crackling bonfire, Huo Ji looked forward to his future future. Now Song and Liao are fighting in Baozhou. If he takes Yang Yanzhao's daughter hostage to the Liao army camp, it will definitely be a great achievement. If he can change the situation on the battlefield, he will be able to gain a foothold in Liao in the future. Thinking of this, Huo Ji smiled unconsciously.
"Uncle, you are a good man!"
Just when Huo Ji was immersed in the future, the little girl interrupted Huo Ji's thoughts with one sentence. Huo Ji was stunned for a moment, then sneered and said, "Little girl, I'm not a good person. I told you when I first left the Song Dynasty that I came to capture you and take you to the Liao Kingdom for reward, so don't I fantasize that with a few sweet words you can get me to let you go..."
After hearing this, the little girl did not stop eating rabbit meat. She just smiled, spit out a rabbit bone, and then continued to say: "You gave me clothes to keep out the cold and roasted rabbit meat for me. This shows that you Just a good person..."
Hearing this, Huo Ji sneered again and explained: "It's freezing cold here. If you die of cold and hunger on the road, I will suffer a big loss. So, little girl, don't think of me as a good person. I used to kill people." Without blinking..."
Hearing this, the little girl put down the rabbit meat without being surprised, and asked: "Wouldn't your eyes be tired if you kill someone without blinking an eye? Hehe..."
"You..." Huo Ji was speechless and angry at the little girl's thinking.
Looking back at the giggling little girl's big, twinkling eyes, Huo Ji felt a little dazed for a moment, as if he saw another girl of similar age in her. Unexpectedly, the corners of my eyes were slightly red.
That was a past event more than 20 years ago. Huo Ji was still a young ranger back then. He was killed by his enemies because of a grudge in the world. His wife and eight-year-old daughter died tragically in that vendetta. He was unable to save him at that time. Wife and daughter, from then on, Huo Ji began to pursue power and status in the world, hoping to prevent tragedy from happening again in the future.
Although more than 20 years had passed, Huo Ji still remembered his daughter's innocent big eyes, which were very similar to the little girl in front of him. In a daze, Huo Ji couldn't help but want to touch the illusion-like eyes with his hands. picture...
The crackling sparks from the bonfire bounced onto Huo Ji's hand. Huo Ji stopped his hand in pain, which also brought Huo Ji back to reality.
