I had expected that the official position of Ding Zhen Ding and the Advocate would not be so easy to obtain, but I did not expect that the Grand Tutor would be so eager, and I did not expect that the war in Taiyuan Mansion would collapse so quickly.
Gao Kan originally thought that he would deal with Tong Guan after he had the entire border between the two rivers under his control.
Now that he was suddenly so far ahead of time, he was caught off guard.
In the lobby of the Yamen of the state capital, the special envoy of the Grand Tutor, the fair-skinned little eunuch, was giving orders and standing in the middle with an arrogant face. He completely ignored that he was just a mere inner court servant and did not even have a rank. In front of me, Mr. Gao, who is the ambassador of Zhending and is at least a fourth-grade local official, looks down upon him.
Even after reading out the military order of the Grand Tutor, he didn't get an immediate response, and even urged him impatiently.
"Master Gao, to calm down the military emergency, you'd better not delay at all, and assemble the army as ordered to rush there as soon as possible, so as not to make the Grand Tutor angry."
With a smile on his face, Gao Kan just clasped his fists and said, "Don't worry, father-in-law. I have military orders from the Grand Tutor. I will do my best to fulfill my duties."
As he spoke, he rolled his eyes and added: "My father-in-law came here after a long journey to deliver the order. Please ask the official to arrange a place to stay so that I can entertain you."
The little eunuch glanced at him and said coldly: "You know what you're interested in, so let's leave it like that."
He waved his hand and turned to leave.
Seeing this, Gao Kan hurriedly said: "Father, please wait a moment. I have some small courtesy and filial piety here. Please accept my father-in-law and the special envoys for tea."
As he spoke, he waved to his servants to put the prepared gold and silver on a tray and bring it up covered with brocade cloth.
The little eunuch opened the brocade cloth and took a look, a look of surprise and greed flashed in his eyes.
He covered it again, and the color on his face softened a little, but he still said calmly: "Master Gao, you'd better organize your army and get ready to set off."
"Yes, father-in-law, don't worry. Your subordinate has ordered someone to send a message to Cao Qi, the commander of the city defense camp, and ordered him to order troops to clean up immediately."
With a smile on his face, Gao Kan answered respectfully.
"That's good." The little eunuch said, waving to the men who were traveling outside to come in, took the tray and left.
People were placed at Gaokan outside and led to their accommodation.
After watching the special envoy leave, Gao Kan's smile suddenly dropped and his brows furrowed.
Tong Guan's transfer order came so urgently that he had no time to prepare. There were too few Jin army troops stationed in Cigu. Even if he knew that his army was leaving the city, it would be difficult for him to have the courage to intercept them.
In the Zhending Mansion, he is the Zhending Envoy and has a large army, so he can naturally do whatever he wants, but if he goes to the Pingding Army, the situation will be completely different.
Not to mention that the Pingding Army had military and town commanders with titles of at least General Xuanwei and above, who were on an equal footing with him as the recruiting envoy.
It is said that there are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in the Pingding Army, all of whom are close confidants of others. It is difficult for his soldiers and horses to be included in them.
Probably when the time comes, they will definitely be called in to resist the main force of the Jin Army head-on. They will be no different from cannon fodder.
How could Gao Kan, who had worked so hard to accumulate this little wealth, waste it in vain to make wedding clothes for others.
Therefore, no matter what, it was impossible for him to obey Tong Guan's order, purge the troops, and rush to the pacification army to save lives.
It's just that I'm afraid it won't make sense if I just put it off like this.
Therefore, we must find a way, at least a reasonable excuse, to show that it is not that we are unwilling to be ordered to mobilize troops, but that we really cannot escape.
The good news is that there is no mandatory wording in Tong Guan's transfer order.
For example, something like "Within a few days of time limit, if the extension cannot be extended, military law will be engaged", which gives the opportunity to change the situation.
The light in his eyes flickered. After pondering for a long time, he finally had an idea in his heart. He still had to rely on the help of the golden army in Cigu Town.
So he quickly ordered people to go to the state prison and call Cui Zheng over.
Yang Zhi and the others had previously released some of the treasures they had captured from Cigu and Lingshou to go to Cigu to confirm the strength of the Jin army in the city. It was impossible for those to come back.
But some of them are still in the prison, and keeping them is to prepare for the current situation.
But the original calculation was that it would take another ten days and a half before the military order came.
I had planned so much in advance, so I had no choice but to be prepared. No matter what, I would give it a try before talking about it.
After waiting for almost a cup of tea, Cui Zheng hurriedly came from the prison in the state capital. When he saw Gao Kan in the hall, he bowed to him and said, "Young master, I came here late. Please excuse me."
"No need to be polite, I have something to tell you when you get up." Gao Kan waved his hand to Cui Zheng to get up and pulled him close to talk.
"Just now, Taifu Tong's special envoy came from Taiyuan Prefecture. He brought Taifu's military order and asked us to organize the army immediately and rush to the Pingding Army for reinforcements. If we go this time, we may never come back."
Cui Zheng's expression changed when he heard this, and he immediately said: "What does the master need from his subordinates?"
"Aren't there still a few details of the Jin Army from Cigu left in the prison of the state capital?"
Gao Kan's eyes flashed and he continued: "Go back and train them hard. Let them go out of the city at night. Be careful not to let others know. After letting them return to Cigu Town, they will report to the Jin Man. The Jin Man came halfway. Attack us!"
Hearing this, Cui Zheng hesitated and said: "Sir, if the gold thief really comes, our army will go out of the city to fight, I'm afraid we will suffer a lot of losses."
"It doesn't matter, I will ask General Cao to go down in advance and tell everyone below to be ready."
Gao Kan waved his hand and said.
After Cui Zheng heard this, he didn't give any more advice and just obeyed the order to go back to the prison to do things.
Tong Guan sent the special envoys and eunuch guards, and Gao Kan asked people to arrange entertainment for them. They spent the whole night having fun in the inn. He didn't know that someone in the prison in the state capital would secretly escape from the city.
At noon on the second day, the special eunuch sent someone to ask when the army in the city would be sent out.
Gaokan returned. The army had been sorted out and was about to inform the special envoy that they could leave the city in the afternoon.
After receiving the reply, those people went out to eat and drink again at noon, and it took them more than half an hour to get together in the afternoon.
The eunuchs all rode in luxurious carriages, and were surrounded by a team of cavalry guards.
Gao Kan and the army were on the other side. After the communication, he asked Cao Qi to lead the army in the vanguard and leave the city at the front. He asked the special envoy to be in the middle. He himself, together with Lin Chong, led the rear army to break up the rear.
The army left Lingshou City in a mighty manner and headed southwest.
From Lingshou to the Pingding Army, they had to pass Huolu and Jingjing along the way. After the army was sent out, they entered Huolu first.
It happened that there were still soldiers and horses on Huolu's side, so they would gather them together at that time.
Along the route of the army, Gaokan asked someone to report it to the special envoy eunuch in advance, and only made the decision after getting approval.
In fact, he was not worried about the little eunuch's disapproval. If the army was sent out, it would go straight to attack the Ding army. There would be many mountain roads in the wilderness along the way, which would be very difficult to walk.
That little eunuch is white, tender, and pampered. How could he endure all that hardship?
