Chapter 344 Eye of the Storm
Across the river bend is a village.
After many wars, the houses in the village have not collapsed, but the population is already desolate.
A few old men carried hoes and went to the fields to weed numbly, seemingly not noticing the long line of people walking past them.
The team is very long and the discipline is good. When passing through the farmland, many people looked at the elderly people with their eyes.
People who do not evacuate war-torn areas often have various reasons.
The whole family of these old guys is probably dead, and it doesn’t matter whether they leave or not. Live one day at a time. If you can't live any longer, then die.
They understand this mentality very well, maybe they think so themselves.
After half of the army was over, a general left the team on horseback and, surrounded by his own soldiers, ran towards a house at the head of the village.
The house is quite large, with a huge gatehouse in front, a courtyard behind the gatehouse, and three houses behind it.
The houses and gatehouses are surrounded by high walls, which are so thick that people can stand on them.
This type of style has become more and more popular in recent years.
When He Lun came outside the house, he saw a hanging coupon hanging above it.
Read carefully, this house is for sale with a price of 100,000. There are also a few big characters written at the bottom: "The official input is estimated to be four thousand, and the buyer will pay."
"Pei Daoqi is very particular, and he did not forget the official family before leaving." He Lun smiled and sent After making some inquiries, people went straight inside.
When we arrived at the patio, we happened to meet Pei Shao coming out of the East Kitchen.
"Pei Changshi actually cooked the food himself?" He Lun was a little surprised.
"All the servants and maids have been dismissed. Only a few of them are old, blind and deaf, and have nowhere to go, so they are left to sweep the house. Let one day pass. General He is here today. Come, maybe there is something important?”
“There are thieves riding across the river from Yangping, trampling the seedlings and burning down the houses. Liu Wangqiao ordered me to lead the army westward to disperse the thieves.” Let’s take a look. Pei Changshi is selling his house. Where are you going?”
“Xuzhou, are you going?” Pei Shao glanced at him and asked.
He Lun laughed and asked: "Is it Xuzhou?"
Pei Shao also laughed: "Maybe. Where does General He plan to go?"
"I'm not going to Xuzhou. I'm afraid I can't compete with Wang Bing, let's see again." He Lun said.
Pei Shao nodded and said: "Even if you go back to the East China Sea, I'm afraid you won't be able to compete with Wang Bing."
The Wang family is the most prestigious noble family in Xuzhou, and its power is also maximum.
Wang Long is also the governor of Xuzhou, and Wang Bing still controls part of the army. With such a favorable time and place, why don’t we just let others slaughter us?
The old servant brought out a plate of steamed cakes and placed it on the stone table in the courtyard.
Pei Shao was wearing a loose robe, with black soot hidden on his forehead. He rolled up his sleeves and said, "General He is here, why don't we eat something together?"
" There is a fire of hunger in my belly, and I need this cake to quench it." He Lun smiled and sat down, grabbed a piece of steamed cake and ate it.
Pei Shao didn’t look good when he was eating, he was chewing heavily.
The two of them quickly finished the large plate of steamed cakes.
"I heard that the Xiongnu were hoarding supplies in the east of the river and wanted to invade Guanzhong in large numbers. However, the areas of Yangping and Dunqiu have not been peaceful recently. Bandits have often crossed the river and headed south. What does General He think?" Pei Shao took the picture comfortably. Patting his belly, he asked.
"Maybe it's a plan to attack the east and attack the west." He Lun thought for a while and said.
“Not necessarily?” Pei Shao frowned and said, “Shi Le, Shi Chao, and Zhao Gu stationed troops in Hebei and did not follow them to Hedong.”
“After I heard that the Xiongnu established the Set up forbidden troops." He Lun said: "In this attack, Shi Le and others may not be needed, right?" Pei Shao thought for a while and agreed with this statement.
Liu Han is no longer a member of the Caotai team. No matter what the level of its officials is, at least the supplies are in place and the entire court can operate.
Perhaps they want to conquer Guanzhong on their own, rather than forcing foreign forces to surrender their troops and generals.
"In this way, Henan is actually quite dangerous." Pei Shao added: "It seems that there are many soldiers, but in fact they are scattered. We must prepare quickly."
He Lun heard this and felt that There was something in Pei Shao's words, and he immediately looked at him seriously and asked: "To prepare troops and horses, you need to have a backbone. Now Xiangyang Wang Fan, Liu Wang Qiao and others are doing things, but they don't have enough prestige to command the shogunate's assistants and generals. What can be done? ?”
"Aren't Concubine Pei and King Si here?" Pei Shao said directly without covering up.
"But some people say that they are controlled by Shao Xun..." He Lun whispered.
"Who said that?" Pei Shao asked with his eyes twitching.
He Lun smiled and said: "The long history asked clearly, so why did he bully an honest man?"
After saying that, he asked again: "Where is Chen Hou?" "Juan City." Pei Shao said.
He Lun nodded, which was consistent with the information obtained by the military.
"How many more people do you have?" Pei Shao asked again.
"There are still seven or eight thousand." He Lun said: "A few beggars ran away with their men and did not pursue them. The rest were not stable, and they were all ready to wait for Li Shijun to come. "
When the governor Li Shu comes, the meaning is clear enough.
Li Shu belongs to the emperor, and taking refuge in Li Shu means taking refuge in the emperor. No, maybe the word "take refuge" shouldn't be used. The emperor is the common master of the world. Isn't it right to serve him?
"Wang Bing's side is fine, with no less than ten thousand soldiers. He wants to pull this team away. But it is also a mess underneath. Many soldiers from Yuyan are unwilling to go to Xuzhou. We really have to pull them away by force. Go, take at most half of them."
"Liu Qia has more than 3,000 troops and more than a thousand knights, and they are leaning toward the princess and the heir."
He Lun finished speaking and watched quietly. With Pei Shao.
Pei Shao smiled and said: "At least half of the people have dispersed. King Xiangyang can't do anything, no one listens to him. The remaining 20,000 people also have their own thoughts. I I can’t even imagine that once Shi Le attacks, who can resist?”
“Shi Le is busy farming and won’t be able to come for a while,” He Lun said, “Besides, when spring begins, it will be difficult. The barbarians have a lot of troubles, and the horses are losing weight so much that they can't be raised? He can only send a small group of cavalry to harass the servants."
Pei Shao'en. He shouted, he really didn't know much about the secret affairs in the army. At critical moments, we still have to use these soldiers.
"I heard that Chang Shi once served as an assistant in the shogunate of King Langya. I wonder what the scenery is like in Jianye?" He Lun asked.
"Oh? You also want to cross south?" Pei Shao asked with a smile.
“Someone in my family has crossed south.” He Lun said, “I won’t leave.”
"It's normal for some people to leave and others to stay. If it hadn't been for Situ's conquest, I would still be building Ye right now." Pei Shao said, "King Langya is just an empty post now."
"How do you say that?"< br>
"No soldiers, no money, no food." Pei Shao pondered for a while and said: "The king's assistant, Wang Maohong, travels around all day long, visiting nobles and nobles from all over the country. Well, don't underestimate those people. There are powerful people in Wu, although some of them have low family status or even no family status at all, but they have many villagers and often send out 10,000 or 20,000 troops. King Langya pays great attention to wooing them, in fact, he just wants to get what they need. "
He Lun is clear.
I heard that there are four famous families in Wu, including Gu, Lu, Zhu and Zhang.
King Langya, however, had contacts with powerful men with lower family status in Wudi. It was obvious that he wanted to use these powerful men to compete with the old tribes in Wudi.
Of course, the Gu, Lu, Zhu, and Zhang families were not left out. The officials did as they were told, and the days passed. They just wanted to share some benefits with newly emerging wealthy families in Wu such as the Zhou family.
This is a typical Wang family method. Wang Yan likes to use this trick the most, and Director Wang seems to be good at it.
"Actually, King Langya is very welcoming to the northerners who are crossing south." Pei Shao added: "There are many benefits to crossing south now. When more people go there in the future, these benefits may not be there, or even They will be suppressed. Regardless of whether they are the new nobles of Wudi or the old clan, they don’t really like to see too many northerners going south. This is to compete with them for food now, but it’s hard to say in the future.”
After hearing this, He Lun felt that Jiangdong was quite complicated.
Various forces are intertwined, and it is really difficult to sort them out unless you have been an official there.
Moreover, the military pillars of the Jianye shogunate were actually Jiangnan powerful men such as the Yixing Zhou family, which was surprising.
"King Langya may have sent someone here this time." Pei Shao lowered his voice and said.
"Where?" He Lun asked in surprise.
“I don’t know.” Pei Shao shook his head and said, “I also learned that King Langya sent people to Langya Kingdom to move old things from the mansion after receiving letters from some old friends. What the letter said, It’s unclear, these people may have other missions, but it’s just my guess.”
“What a mess!” He Lun sighed.
Fan County, a small county, has now become the eye of the storm.
Everyone has to make a choice, whether actively or forced.
After sitting for a while, He Lun stood up and left.
After returning to the army, he looked at his troops and felt slightly worried.
Most of these people were adapted from the beggar army.
After Situ left town, he was unable to buy them too much equipment. They even needed to farm some of their own military supplies.
The beggar army may not be of the same mind as them. Some people are clamoring to break up every day.
Fortunately, after the news that the princess and the heir king came to Fan County spread, people felt much calmer.
Everyone is waiting for the next meeting.
They, the remnants of the Situ, are facing the risk of being liquidated by the imperial court. They are like lonely ghosts, and they urgently need a backbone to gather people's hearts.
No matter who it is, just keep them alive.
(End of this chapter)