Chapter 8: Saber Rattling Section 22

On the end of June, Luoyang.

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Taishi ordered Xu Shao to observe the celestial phenomena at night, and found that the guest star was like a three-liter bowl, out of the rope, southwest into the heavenly market, and disappeared at the end. Xu Shao was shocked and immediately took up the class. The next day, when the Son of Heaven heard the news, he urgently summoned Xu Shao and asked whether it was evil or auspicious. Xu Shaoxuan said: "Your Majesty, the entry of the guest star into the heavenly market is a sign of great mourning for the nobles, and the main thing is a great evil." โ€

When the Son of Heaven heard this, he was overjoyed. The noble people were mourned, and it seemed that the general He Jin was going to die. He immediately rewarded Xu Shao, ordered the guard captain Liu Bo, and Xiao Huangmen Jian Shuo to speed up the pace of army building, and asked them to build the Xiyuan Army by the end of July.

After He Jin heard about this, he was worried, restless in his sleep, and fell ill. He Hao was so worried that he hurriedly found Xu Shao and asked, "General, what kind of noble person is this nobleman?" โ€

Xu Shao's expression was sad and silent.

He Hao's heart suddenly became cold, and he said in disbelief: "How is it possible? Now that the situation in Luoyang is so good, everything is under our control, how can there be a reversal? Could it be ......" he stared at Xu Shao and asked in a low voice, "Is there a turning point in the war in Northern Xinjiang?" Can General Zhenbei defeat Murong Feng? โ€

Xu Shao looked up to the sky and sighed, "Boqiu, I'm leaving." โ€

"You're leaving?" He Hao was shocked, "You want to leave Beijing?" โ€

Xu Shao nodded lightly and said, "Mr. Cai sent me a letter asking me about the study of Yi. In terms of talent and learning, I can't hope that Mr. Cai's back is back, how dare I go back to the book casually, so I plan to go to Jinyang in person to discuss and exchange with Mr. Cai. โ€

He Hao's eyes showed a look of horror, and he was speechless for a while. Xu Shao's actions have a deep meaning in every step. At this time, the war situation in Northern Xinjiang was sinister, Yanmen Pass was in danger, and Jinyang was extremely dangerous. Did he go to Jinyang to avoid trouble? But at present, there is no turning point in the war in northern Xinjiang, even if Yanmen Pass is held, most of the border counties in northern Xinjiang have been lost, and General Zhenbei has no ability to raise troops to the south except for barely supporting, if the Son of Heaven does not have the backing of General Zhenbei's army, what will he use to deal with the general? Could it be that the West Garden Army is still in preparation?

He Hao was puzzled, he really couldn't see any way for the Son of Heaven to win, except for the great reversal of the battle situation in Northern Xinjiang, and the victory of General Zhenbei could free up his hands to raise troops to the south, the Son of Heaven did not have the strength to defeat the general at all. He Hao looked at Xu Shao, arched his hand and begged: "General, for the sake of the Great Han Kingdom, please be sure to give some advice." โ€

Xu Shao hesitated for a long time, and said slowly: "Boqiu, it's not that I don't say it, but I really don't know, I'm not a god, and at most I just use celestial phenomena to calculate what may happen in the future." The celestial phenomena will change at any time, and different signs will appear at any time, how can we, ordinary people, see through this myriad of heavenly opportunities? Today, there are countless people like me, and everyone has a different interpretation of the same celestial phenomenon, such as this spring in February, the comet came out of Kui, retrograde into the Purple Palace, and the last three came out, and more than 60 days were eliminated, at that time I said to Your Majesty, the comet removed the Purple Palace, the world changed hands, this is a great omen, but there are also ministers who said to Your Majesty, this is a celestial warning, someone wants to plot against you, conspire to codify the country, and want to seize Your Majesty's country. His Majesty then listened to the rumors and strongly advocated the formation of the Xiyuan Army, which made the situation in Luoyang even more chaotic. โ€

He Hao heard Xu Shao say that "the world has changed hands", and he suddenly had an epiphany in his heart, the celestial phenomena in February indicate that the world has changed hands, and the celestial phenomena in June indicate that the nobles will be mourned, doesn't that mean...... He Hao was ecstatic, jumped up suddenly, raised his hand and shouted, "The sky opens its eyes, the Han country is saved, saved!" He faced Xu Shao and laughed loudly, "Brother Zijiang, have a good trip, have a good trip, have a good trip......"

He Hao bowed respectfully, turned around and left, he wanted to tell the good news to the general immediately, and tell all his friends that the celestial phenomenon was warning that the great thing was going to come true, and the big thing was going to be done.

Xu Shao stood up, looked at He Hao's hurried back, and suddenly shouted, "Bo begs ......"

He Hao Huoran turned around, his eyes looked at Xu Shao excitedly, waiting for his amazing words.

"Beg, forgive and forgive......"

He Hao's heart was bright, and he laughed and said: "Brother Zijiang, I am going to Xiliang soon, I will not send you when you leave Beijing, you and my brother will have a period later." After saying that, he gave his hand again and walked away in high spirits.

Xu Shao was sad and muttered: "This farewell should be goodbye forever." โ€

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Xu Shao asked the Son of Heaven for his resignation on the grounds that his mother was old and had no one to support him. The Son of Heaven was helpless, rewarded him generously, and personally summoned him in the imperial study. The Son of Heaven said that it was a pity that the Great Han Kingdom was employing people, but Mr. could not contribute to the court. Xu Shao felt the grace of the Son of Heaven, bowed to the ground, and burst into tears, "The minister can no longer see His Majesty, and his heart is very sad." I implore Your Majesty to cherish the dragon body for the sake of the Han Dynasty. โ€

The Son of Heaven helped Xu Shao up and said with a little sadness: "What Mr. said, I keep in mind. Ever since I met my husband, I have always had a hidden worry in my heart, I wonder if he can solve my worries before he leaves? โ€

Xu Shao sighed, bowed his head again, and said: "Your Majesty's worries are nothing more than Princess Changping." Today, the minister is about to go away, and His Majesty is worried about it, so the minister has to say. โ€

The Son of Heaven looked concerned and listened attentively.

"In the future, if Your Majesty needs to send someone north for something difficult, the one who can take on this important task is the princess."

The Son of Heaven was stunned. The princess going north? What does Xu Shao mean by this? What I want to hear is the future fate of the princess, how did he get involved in going north? Why go north? Don't...... The more the Son of Heaven thought about it, the heavier his heart became, and he silently watched Xu Shao kneel down and leave, and he didn't even say a word.

Xu Shao's departure from Beijing did not cause much shock, and in recent times, there have been many celebrities and scholars who have left Beijing, and no one cares. Xu Shao took dozens of Taixue students, as well as tens of thousands of books purchased by Taixue Sacrifice Wine Horse Riyan entrusted by Cai Yongzhi, and left Luoyang on a stormy morning.

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The Son of Heaven was very concerned about the war in northern Xinjiang, and on this day, he went to Shangshutai to listen to Huangfu Song's report accompanied by Xiaohuangmen Jian Shuo.

Huangfu Song carefully explained the battle situation in northern Xinjiang, "At present, the army of Liyi has left the Great Wall fortress and is approaching Meiji, and the army of General Zhenbei has also left Jicheng to threaten Yuyang, and Wen Chou, who is sticking to the Flying Fox Fortress, has basically stabilized the crisis. Huangfu Song pointed to the map and said, "Your Majesty, please see, the Han army has been in full swing on both flanks of northern Xinjiang, and all departments have replaced defense with attack, firmly pinning down the Xiongnu rebels and Murong Feng. โ€

The Son of Heaven said worriedly, "Do you expect these ant thieves to do it?" Back then, you defeated them with tens of thousands of people, and Li Hong even beat them to the ground with 10,000 iron horses, is this okay? Isn't it too risky? โ€

The princess going north? It can't be that the Xianbei people occupy the state, and I want to use the princess to make peace, right? Otherwise, what else is there to send the princess north? The Son of Heaven was startled by the thought that suddenly came to him, and he touched his little face and felt a chill run in the back of his head. If the leopard loses the northern frontier, I will kill him and dismantle it in eight pieces to vent his hatred.

Huangfu Song didn't speak, and he didn't have a bottom. He really wanted to thank Xu Rong for his reticence now. Since Xu Rong received the imperial court's decree asking him to defeat the Xianbei people in Yanmen Pass, there has been no news, and he doesn't know how he is going to fight, how to fight, and how many Yellow Turban troops will be recruited to fight. It doesn't matter if there is no news, otherwise, the ministers of the DPRK and the central government will definitely blame it, and neither is the east nor the west, and several Shangshutai scholars are struggling to deal with it, so don't do anything, just accompany them to talk nonsense.

"Xu Zhonglang doesn't have a letter yet?"

Several ministers of Shangshutai shook their heads. Han Fu whispered: "Your Majesty, Xu Zhonglang handed over the seal ribbon of General Zhenbei to Zhang Yan, and asked Zhang Yan to act as the military officer of General Zhenbei and went to Yanmen Pass to command the battle. Xu Zhonglang did this, is it too rash? Moreover, he did not consult His Majesty beforehand, and made his own decisions, which is really a bit ......"

"Lord Han......" Lu Zhi interrupted Han Fu's words and said very dissatisfied, "The war situation in Bingzhou is critical, and the war is changing rapidly, if you have to consult the imperial court for everything, how can this war be fought?" Since His Majesty let the governor of the Zhenbei General's Mansion in the three states and two counties of the army, it is a trust in them, and he is willing to let them go and fight without fetters. The First Battle of Yanmen Pass is related to the overall situation of Northern Xinjiang, and as the main general, of course, he can cut it first and then play, which is the power given to them by His Majesty. โ€

Han Fu's face was ugly and he didn't refute. Xu Jing followed Lu Zhi's words and said: "It depends on what is going on, you can't do what you want, you can't do whatever you want, do whatever you want." Xu Zhonglang requisitioned 130,000 Tuntian soldiers in one go without the consent of the imperial court, and he didn't even say a word to His Majesty in advance about such a big thing, which seems to be too much, right? He only has one head, but I don't have millions of people in the state, doesn't he know which is more important? โ€

"I have already said that the war situation in northern Xinjiang is changing rapidly, and there is no room for hesitation and delay." Lu Zhi said coldly, "It is precisely because there are millions of people in Bingzhou that Your Majesty wants to give the Zhenbei General's Mansion such great power. The two adults were entangled in these little things, and they talked about it again and again, how did this help the Yanmen Pass war? Now we should work together to help Xu Zhonglang win this battle, instead of saying what law he violated here, what law he violated, did the two adults want to arrest Xu Zhonglang back from Yanmen Pass? โ€

The Son of Heaven glared at Lu Zhi. When the Yellow Turban Army was fought in the first year of Zhongping, the Son of Heaven listened to the slander of Xiaohuangmen Zuofeng and captured Lu Zhi from the battlefield of Guangzong. The Son of Heaven later knew that he had done something wrong, but he couldn't apologize to Lu Zhi, right? So the matter is closed. In order to apologize, the Son of Heaven deliberately put Lu Zhi in Shangshutai, which can be regarded as a kind of compensation. At this time, Lu Zhi suddenly said that he was arresting Xu Rong, obviously reminding the Son of Heaven not to listen to gluttonous rumors and make the same mistake.

"Forget it, I gave him all these powers, don't talk about them in the future." The Son of Heaven waved his hand and said, "Defeating the Xianbei people is the top priority, so let him do whatever he wants." Li Aiqing's subordinates, like Li Aiqing, are all temperamental and disobedient, and when I win this battle, I will reprimand them. โ€

The Son of Heaven pointed at Huangfu Song and asked, "According to Aiqing, when will Xu Zhonglang and Zhang Zhonglang defeat the Xianbei people?" โ€

Huangfu Song smiled bitterly: "It will be August at the earliest." To defeat 100,000 Xianbei Iron Cavalry, at least 200,000 troops are needed, and to let 200,000 troops fight a big battle, it is absolutely impossible to prepare without three to four months. โ€

"August? Where is the money in August? The Son of Heaven exclaimed, "Two hundred thousand troops? Last year, Li Aiqing defeated the Xianbei people with 100,000 people, why use 200,000 troops this year? โ€

"Last year, General Li had 55,000 iron cavalry in his hands, and most of these iron cavalry were Qiang people from Western Xinjiang, and they certainly had to fight bravely in order to protect their homeland." Huangfu Song explained, "Last year, we also had a terrain advantage, if there was no Liupan Mountain, how could the Xianbei people go south with 30,000 people as a team? It was precisely because of the disconnection between the front and back that General Li seized the opportunity to break through one by one with superior forces. โ€

"This time Xu Zhonglang has no iron cavalry, and he has no terrain advantage, if he wants to defeat the Xianbei people, he only needs to lure the Xianbei people into the pass, and then cut off the retreat of the Xianbei people, and force the Xianbei people to fight a decisive battle with himself. 200,000 people fight 100,000, it is impossible to annihilate them all, only heavy losses, fortunately, we only need to severely damage the Xianbei people, otherwise, 200,000 people are not enough in any case. โ€

"Lured into the gate?" The Son of Heaven pointed to the Yanmen Pass on the map and glared at Huangfu Song, "Put the Xianbei people into the Yanmen Pass?" Did Xu Rong say this or did you say it? โ€

Huangfu Song knew the mind of the Son of Heaven, the Son of Heaven was worried that once the Yellow Turban Army failed, or the Yellow Turban Army suddenly rebelled, the northern frontier would be completely finished, and he also had the same worries, but apart from this method, he really couldn't think of any better way for Xu Rong to defeat the Xianbei people. Huangfu Song's heart was flustered, and he even had some difficulty breathing, he gasped twice with difficulty, and replied in a low voice, "Your Majesty, this is the minister's opinion, not Xu Zhonglang's strategy to annihilate the enemy." โ€

The Son of Heaven suddenly looked back at Han Fu and shouted loudly: "Give Xu Rong an order and order him to stick to Yanmen Pass and not let a single Xianbei person in." โ€

Before Han Fu could agree, Taiwei Fan Ling suddenly appeared at the door of Shang Shangfang. Fan Ling was panting, sweating profusely, and his whole body was drenched in rain.

"Your Majesty, the Yellow River has burst."

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In mid-June, Luoyang.

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Due to the continuous heavy rains, the water of the Yellow River swelled, and the embankment of the Yellow River, which had been in disrepair for a long time, finally could not bear it anymore and burst the embankment, and the surging flood water poured down, inundating the seven counties of Jizhou, Yanzhou and Qingzhou, and the number of people affected reached millions.

The government and the opposition, the county governments of the three prefectures, immediately invested all their manpower and material resources to start the disaster relief, and the food and ordnance transported to the battlefield in northern Xinjiang were suddenly interrupted.

After hearing the news, Huangfu Song and Lu Zhi and other ministers were dumbfounded, it was really the death of our Great Han Kingdom.

The Son of Heaven doesn't care about the northern frontier. Now the top priority is disaster relief, there are millions of refugees in the Central Plains, one is not handled well, immediately there will be a series of rebellions, at that time, not to mention the northern Xinjiang, even their own country can not be saved.

The Son of Heaven summoned all the ministers to discuss matters all night, and one after another the holy decrees flew to various places, and fast horses galloped on the galloping roads leading to the county capitals in various places.

The war in northern Xinjiang came to an end due to a lack of food and salary support. The Son of Heaven ordered the Hun Zhonglang to immediately lead his troops to withdraw to the Great Wall Fortress, ordered the Zhenbei General Li Hong to lead his troops to withdraw to Jicheng, ordered Xu Rong to mobilize the Yellow Turban Army to hold the Yanmen Pass, and ordered the Commander Wenchou to hold the Flying Fox Fortress. At the same time, the Son of Heaven informed the generals of the unified army in the four regions that the food and salary had been completely cut off, and the grain of the army should be used sparingly, and the delivery would be limited in the next few months. The Son of Heaven also ordered that all the grain that had not been transported across the Yellow River should be sent to the affected county governments in various places.

Dasi Nong Yuan Peng cried to the Son of Heaven in the court, Dasi Nong's Mansion has no money, how can it be used for disaster relief? The Son of Heaven also knew that this time the problem was serious, and he could not be stingy. He ordered Shaofu to lose 2 billion yuan to Dasi Nongfu, and he also took 1 billion money from Wanjintang to donate to Dasi Nongfu, and at the same time issued an order that the 100 officials should be halved, and the wealthy people of all over the country with a wealth of more than one million yuan should donate.

Some ministers suggested that the Son of Heaven suspend the preparation for the establishment of the Xiyuan Army and take out the money for the preparation of the Xiyuan Army for disaster relief. The Son of Heaven disagreed, he pointed to the guard Liu Bo and Xiao Huangmen Jian Shuo and said, if you can't see the 30,000 Xiyuan troops at the end of July, I will take you to blame.

A few days later, the Son of Heaven issued an order to dismiss Taiwei Fan Ling. Fan Ling had only been a lieutenant for thirty-three days before he was dismissed for sin, which he had not thought of beforehand. Fan Ling's heart hurts, he sent 100 million money to the Son of Heaven for this captain. Fan Ling cried bitterly and scolded Cao Song, he was the dead fat man, in order to show off, he gave the Son of Heaven 100 million money, but he couldn't send it if he didn't want to follow behind, and lost 100 million yuan in vain.

No one in the court dared to propose to the Son of Heaven to be a captain. In order not to be this captain, Situ Xu Xiang hurriedly sent money to the Queen Mother and the Son of Heaven. At this time, whoever sits on it will be dismissed, and it will not be done well, and it will be shorter than Fan Ling's tenure, not only will he lose money in vain, but he will also bury his good career. Now, there are more than 100,000 Hu people rebelling and invading outside, and millions of refugees are mourning all over the country.

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