Emperor Taizong's Growth Plan

Chapter 208 It's not easy to meet
Xia Guo, Fengzhou City.

Fengzhou City is located on the Yangtze River, and most of the goods and materials of the counties in the southwest of the Xia Kingdom pass through this city. Therefore, Fengzhou was one of the largest cities in the southwest of the Xia Kingdom before, prosperous and prosperous.

It's a pity that it was the Shao family in Fengzhou that caused the military turmoil that spread to the entire southwest of Xia Kingdom this time.The old head of the Shao family was short-sighted and didn't think of retreating, so the local people were the worst hit in the entire Southwest.

In the past, the water transport pier, which was extremely prosperous and where boats kept coming and going, was burned to the ground by a fire, and the local Xia Guo government has not cared about repairing it.

In Fengzhou City, the bustling past can be vaguely seen on the wide streets. On both sides of the streets, there are still scattered pots and pans, but no one picks them up and cleans them up.

On both sides of the road, a few shops were vaguely open.But on the street, there are only a few pedestrians with pale faces, miserable faces, and hurried footsteps, who have no intention of patronizing them at all.The image of the decline of all industries is particularly bleak.

The captain of the Xia Guobian Army, who was wearing armor, marched on the street with a group of soldiers under his command.

Looking at the resentful eyes cast by the pedestrians on the side of the road, and the attitude of avoiding snakes and scorpions towards them, the faces of all the soldiers were a little ugly.

The head lieutenant glanced coldly at these common people, his face was livid, and he hummed:

"I don't know what to do!"

These Xia troops are a group of generals under King Qi's command.It was they who, after retreating from the northern border of Yunguo, directly attacked Fengzhou City and slaughtered all the generals who had harmed the people.

He was originally the person who came to rescue them from the fire and water, but now as long as he came out in military uniforms and official robes, he was met with cold eyes and full of hostility.

The military came forward to organize the common people to repair the water transport terminal and provide relief with work.This is a good thing, but no one in the city came.Even when the soldiers stationed in the city went out to buy, no merchant was willing to sell things for the money.

Such treatment naturally made all the soldiers unhappy.

But the ordinary people in this city don't know which soldiers are the private soldiers of the Southwest Generals, and which soldiers are under King Qi's command.In their hearts, they only knew that the people of the imperial court killed the common people, leaving Fengzhou City empty, like a hell on earth.

In the current situation of people's grievances, Fengzhou City has not expelled government officials like some cities, and it is still in the hands of the Xia Kingdom court. There are two main reasons.

One reason is that these large troops stationed in Fengzhou City were transferred from other places by King Qi.Therefore, I have never seen the tragic situation in my hometown like those frontier soldiers who were born in the Southwest. The army's morale was scattered, centrifugal, and even fled secretly.

Secondly, more than half of the people in Fengzhou City were slaughtered, and the ten rooms were empty, and the people's power was weak, so they really couldn't gather much strength to fight against the army.

Seeing that his captain's face was livid, the officers and soldiers behind him seemed to be furious, and hurried forward to hold him back, persuading him:

"Captain, forget it. What happened to the people in this city is really that bad..."

When the captain heard the words, he was still indignant and cursed loudly:

"Everyone is tough now. Why didn't you fight with those beasts when the army was in chaos? Didn't you even have a kitchen knife at home? Oh, now that you know how to throw your face at us, isn't it because you look at us? They are so bullying! If it weren't for the command of the commander-in-chief, I would have hacked them to death with a knife. Bah, a bunch of cowards!"

While speaking, the captain put his hand on the scabbard around his waist, looked around viciously, and said murderously:

"If I get angry, I will be punished by military law at worst, and I will vent the evil fire in my heart for my brothers!"

The captain's attitude made several pedestrians panic when they heard it. They quickly lowered their heads and didn't dare to look any more, and ran over quickly.

Seeing this, the captain let out a long sigh of relief, haha ​​said:

"Hahaha, brothers, look, they are just a bunch of cowards!"

The soldiers behind saw this, and many followed behind, laughing and swearing obscenities.

There are also some soldiers who did not open their mouths to insult, but could not bear what happened to the people in the city.

But these people also know that their colleagues are cold-eyed to the people, and there is a lot of unhappiness in their hearts.Anyway, it's just a verbal threat, and it won't make the situation they are in worse, so they didn't speak out to dissuade them.

At this time, a soldier suddenly pointed to the side alley and said:
"Captain, there is someone over there."

The head lieutenant's hand holding the handle of the knife tightened suddenly, and he looked vigilantly in the direction pointed by the soldier.

But in the alley beside him, a ragged figure curled up on the ground, trembling constantly.

Seeing this, the captain glared at his subordinates angrily.

He thought just now that the dirty words he uttered out of a moment of anger really annoyed someone.

"The people in Fengzhou City haven't died yet, why is it so strange to see someone?" the captain snorted.

Speaking of this, the captain paused slightly, his tone softened a little, and said:

"Go and have a look, if there is still rescue, take it back to the barracks!"

"Yes!" A soldier answered immediately, trotting forward to check.

The soldier leaned forward to take a look, and suddenly his face changed drastically.One staggered and fell to the ground, pointed at the man, trembling all over, his lips trembling so that he could not speak.

Seeing this, the captain frowned, walked towards that side, and said:

"what happened?"

"Don't, don't, don't come here, it seems like a plague!" The soldier who fell to the ground said with a faint cry on his face.

The army is most afraid of the plague, and has always been extremely vigilant against similar illnesses.Therefore, ordinary soldiers also know some symptoms about the plague.

When the captain heard the words, his face changed drastically. While preventing the soldiers under his command from approaching, he covered his mouth and nose and walked forward.

But he saw the skinny man on the ground, with a sickly rosy face, profuse sweat on his forehead, but trembling all over his body, and there was still yellowish-brown feces under his crotch.

All kinds of symptoms immediately shocked the captain, and he dared not say anything:
"Impossible. As soon as I waited for the army to enter the city, I had already cleaned up the corpses in the city. It is winter again, and the corpses have not rotted yet. Why, why is there a plague?"

The frontier troops who entered the city were all carefully trained by King Qi, and they could be called elites. Naturally, it is impossible for them not to know how to prevent the plague.As soon as he entered Fengzhou City, he cleaned up the corpses in the city.It was winter again, the weather was cold, and the corpse had not yet rotted. Logically speaking, there should be no plague!
The soldier on the side trembled all over, pointed at the man's hand, and said in horror:

"Meat, meat..."

When the captain heard the words, he looked at it immediately.

In that person's hand, he was still holding a palm-sized piece of rotten flesh with yellowed fat and blackened.

The captain staggered, his legs went limp, and he almost fell to the ground, gritted his teeth and said:

"Hurry up and report to the army!"

"Yes!"
-
Only the muffled sound of "Boom Boom Boom" could be heard, the ground seemed to shake, and some small stones scattered on the official road also trembled.

Pedestrians on the official road heard the movement, looked up, and saw thousands of cavalry in the distance, with solemn faces, riding war horses, roaring like huge black waves.

In the battle formation, the "Cheng" flag and the "Zhenbei" banner fluttered in the wind, hunting and hunting, attracting attention.

Seeing this movement, the passers-by on the official road hastily moved out of the way, for fear of blocking the way of these cavalrymen.

In the blink of an eye, the cavalry roared past, and among the crowds on both sides of the official road, there were cheers and cheers, and some even waved towards the cavalry.

A man dressed as a businessman, seeing such a scene, couldn't help being a little dazed, turned his head and grabbed the person around him, and asked puzzledly:
"What happened to you?"

The faces of the people walking by the side flushed a little with excitement. Seeing him holding him, he leaned over and said in a loud voice:
"What did you say? There was too much movement, I didn't hear clearly!"

The merchant had no choice but to raise his voice and ask loudly:
"I said, who is this, why are you so excited?"

"Did you see the big banner of General Zhenbei? This is Cheng Zhenbei! Turning the tide in the northern border, defeating Xia Guo, and conquering the lost land, General Zhenbei Cheng does not know!" He blushed and said excitedly. .

Hearing this, the merchants frowned as they looked at the cavalrymen going away, as if they were a little unhappy, and said in a low voice:
"It turns out that he is Cheng Bushi!"

At this time, the cavalry had already roared away, and the surrounding area was no longer as noisy as before.The merchant thought that he had lowered his voice, but his colleagues still heard it.

Hearing this, the people in the same company frowned, looked at the merchant, and said unhappily:
"Your words are very disrespectful. Cheng Zhenbei is trying his best to turn the tide. He is my famous general in Dayun. Why... are you from Xia Kingdom?"

His words were immediately heard by the pedestrians on the side, and everyone immediately cast their eyes on him.

The merchant faced everyone's gaze, and his scalp went numb.

He rolled his eyes, sneered, raised his hands quickly, and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"General Cheng Zhenbei is heroic! I, Dayun, lead the soldiers wherever they go, and I am invincible!"

When everyone on the side heard the words, they looked away in satisfaction.

Seeing that he had been fooled, the merchant breathed a sigh of relief, and turned his head to see the expressions of contempt implied by his fellows.His face turned red immediately, and he couldn't help cursing:

"What are you looking at, my Dayun soldiers have all left, so hurry up and set off!"

Seeing his bullying appearance, all the fellows couldn't help cursing inwardly, then yelled and pulled the truck to the official road again.

Among the cavalry who had just left, Cheng Bushi was dressed in armor, lying on the horse and galloping.

Looking at the looming city ahead, the guards on the side hurriedly rode over and shouted:
"General, it's getting late, how about repairing the front city today?"

Cheng Buzhi heard the words, raised his head slightly to look at the sky, and immediately said in a deep voice:
"Entering the city for repairs is suspected of nuisance to the people. The order is not allowed to enter the city for repairs, but to find a place to station! This place is only two or three days away from the capital, and it is only two or three days away from the capital. After returning to the capital, I will ask for an order, and I respectfully ask your majesty to reward the army. !"

When the soldiers on the side heard the words, they immediately responded, pulled their horses, and went down to deliver orders.

Thousands of cavalry heard the military order, even though they were exhausted, they had no complaints and responded in unison.Cheng does not know the strictness of running the army, so it is easy to reflect this subtlety.

And at this moment, the scouting cavalry in front did suddenly report back, and a troop in front, holding the flag of the Xia State, stopped in front of the army.

Cheng Bushi frowned when he heard the words, and immediately raised his whip.

The soldiers on the side immediately issued an order loudly, and the army stopped.

A moment later, under the military order, thousands of cavalry stopped their horses and stopped slowly.

On the high slope not far away, King Qi saw the well-trained and forbidden thousands of cavalry, and suddenly ordered them to stop, and the formation was not chaotic.

"Looking at Cheng's ignorance of the soldiers now, I can't help admiring, this king's loss is not wronged!"

In the battle of the Northern Territory in the past, Cheng Bushi relied on his strict and cautious management of the army, so he insisted on relying on an army stronghold and weak troops to resist the attacks of his tens of thousands of troops in turn, so he seized the opportunity. Turn defeat into victory.

Hearing this, Feng Chu slightly shook his head and said:
"I'm not good at military formations, but His Highness is such a veteran on the battlefield, he is also admired, which shows the ability of this Zhenbei general!"

King Qi chuckled, reined in his horse, and said loudly:
"Let's go, go and meet him! Speaking of which, this king has fought against him for several months, but he doesn't even know what he looks like. It's unreasonable."

After finishing speaking, King Qi rode his horse and galloped towards a direction that Cheng didn't know.

Cheng Bushi looked at the convoy of the Xia Guo Mission not far away, which was blocking the official road, with pensive eyes.

And beside Cheng Bushi, there were three young Mohist disciples in plain clothes and hemp shoes.

Seeing the motorcade with the flag of Xia, they couldn't help but glance at each other.

"Now the two countries, Yun and Xia, have signed a peace treaty. The flag of Xia's flag is planted on the convoy, it should be the return mission of Xia!" The leader of the Mohist disciples said to Cheng Bushi.

Another Mohist disciple heard the words and couldn't help but wonder:

"Why did the Xia Kingdom mission show up here on their way back?"

They followed Cheng Bushi and returned to Beijing from the northern border of Yunguo.Although this road can also lead to Xia Guo, it is undoubtedly a long way for the Xia Guo mission to return to Jinling City!

Cheng Bushi squinted at the small group of horses coming ahead, and said in a deep voice:

"Let's go and take a look!"

With the thousands of cavalry behind him as support, Cheng Bushi was not afraid that the people of Xia Kingdom would have any evil intentions.

The three Mohist disciples immediately responded when they heard the words.

Cheng Bushi led three Mohist disciples and a group of personal guards, drove out of the army, and met the approaching King Qi.

At this time, King Qi was not wearing the python robe of Prince Xia.But he was born in the royal family, with his own grace and nobility.Honed in the army again, his temperament is particularly conspicuous, and he is not a simple person at first glance.

King Qi rode on a war horse, looked at Cheng Bushi who was not far away, cupped his hands slightly, and said loudly:

"Cheng Zhenbei, in order to meet you this time, this king has waited in Zhongqing City for a while, and even led the mission to detour to Jiangyang County. It's not easy!"

Hearing the words, Cheng Buzhi immediately understood the identity of the visitor, and immediately bowed his hands slightly to King Qi, and said in a deep voice:

"It turned out to be His Royal Highness Xia Guoqi King. I am wearing armor and cannot fully salute. Please forgive me, Your Highness!"

　After reading several books, I have a lot of insights.

　　The main line in the dark is to develop national power.But it's not easy to string together, so I have to use other things to make the main line on the bright side, so I temporarily added something to the outline.

　　Well, the plague, in fact, in this special period, I don't really want to touch it, because the review level of the mother is really a little bit...

　　But this flash of inspiration can make the original story more reasonable, so it's a pity not to write about it.So, let's write and see...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)