The First Great Ancestor of the Five Dynasties

Chapter 11 The Strongest Tea Seller in History
The Tianxiong army stopped a hundred steps away from Cangzhou City.

A young general wearing a red tassel with a tiger head and a pangolin armor with a long sword hanging on his shoulder, riding a black and brown horse, looked at the east gate of the city and smiled at the people around him: "To avoid panic among the people, the army will stay here for the time being. , Marshal Lao Shijie came forward with me to pay my respects."

A dark and thin man in his forties grinned and said with a thick Hexi accent: "You are the defense envoy, and I will follow your orders."

This person is the governor of Zhangyi (Jingchuan, Gansu) and Shi Kuangwei.

Chai Rong smiled, jumped on his horse and whipped his whip, and the men and horses were like dragons, galloping towards Cangzhou City.

Shi Kuangwei followed closely behind, and [-] strong and healthy warriors closely guarded Chai Rong.

"Haha~ We haven't seen each other in Yedu for more than a year, but Brother Chai is still as charming as ever!"

Liu Chengyou laughed loudly and stepped forward to greet him. Zhang Yanchao even smiled from ear to ear, his flattery undisguised.

Chai Rong hurriedly turned over and dismounted, knelt on one knee and clasped his fists, and saluted meticulously: "Chai Rong, commander of Tianxiong Army Ya Nei and inspector of Cangzhou Defense, pays homage to His Highness!"

"Hey~ Brother Chai, what are you doing? Please get up quickly! I can't stand Brother Chai's gift!"

Liu Chengyou hurriedly helped Chai Rong up as if accusing him, but did not turn aside to avoid him. He accepted this gift with a bit of pride in his eyes, which seemed to be very useful.

When he was in Yedu, he used to call Brother Chai "big brother" and "big brother Chai short" all day long, and deliberately made friends with Chai Rong.

Chai Rong was quite polite to Liu Chengyou because of the close friendship between Guo Wei and Liu Zhiyuan.

With Chai Rong's care, Liu Chengyou was very popular in Yedu.

Unexpectedly, a year later, the situation changed. Liu Zhiyuan became emperor in Jinyang, Liu Chengyou became the prince of the new dynasty, and Guo Wei and Chai Rong became Liu's ministers.

Chai Rong's face was calm. Although he did despise Liu Chengyou's character in his heart, he still abided by the rules of respect and inferiority.

"Who is this?" Liu Chengyou saw the unfamiliar face of Shi Kuangwei behind Chai Rong, and thought for a while that he didn't recognize this person.

Chai Rong introduced: "This is Zhangyi Jiedushi Shi Kuangwei, Shi Jieshuai! Since the Khitans went south, Shi Jieshuai has commanded five thousand soldiers and horses, and traveled thousands of miles to aid Hebei. After successive battles, Zhangyi's army was left with two thousand The remaining people are temporarily under the control of Tianxiong Army. This time, Marshal Shi Jie was also ordered to join me in reinforcing Cangzhou."

"Zhangyi? Isn't that far away in Jingzhou?" Liu Chengyou curled his lips and suddenly felt contemptuous.

In his opinion, a small military envoy far away in the northwest borderland was dispensable, not even comparable to the governor of Guanzhong.

"General Shi Kuangwei pays homage to His Highness!" Shi Kuangwei saluted respectfully with a loud voice and a strong northwest accent.

"Haha, thank you for your hard work, Shi Jieshuai." Liu Chengyou waved his hands perfunctorily, feeling that it was too hard to listen to this person, and he felt even more disgusted.

Mr. Shi Kuangwei looked rude, but his thoughts were delicate. He noticed that His Highness the Second Highness did not like him very much, but he was not annoyed at all. He smiled with a simple and honest face, stood up and retreated behind Chai Rong.

Chai Rong smiled apologetically at him.

Fu Jinzhan also led others to come forward to salute.

"Mrs. Li, there is no need to be polite."

Chai Rong looked at the heroic Fu Jinzhan with a hint of admiration in his eyes.

Fu Jinzhan was appointed in critical situation in Cangzhou, and her deeds of leading the Henghai navy to fight against the Khitan soldiers had spread. People praised her as a heroine, and her adoptive father Guo Wei also praised her.

"General Chai, please call me Mrs. Fu!" Fu Jinzhan said lightly, looking at Chai Rong calmly with his eyes.

This man has a heroic appearance and a strong figure. No wonder others say he looks like Marshal Guo when he was young.

Chai Rong was startled, and then he remembered the gossip he heard from somewhere, saying that Fu Jinzhan and her husband Li Chongxun had a bad relationship.
"Ms. Fu." Chai Rong cupped his hands and bowed slightly.

Fu Jinzhan smiled and introduced: "This is Zhao Pu who works under Liu Ci, the commander of Fengguo's right wing. He is now helping me handle state affairs. Thanks to him, Cangzhou City can maintain an orderly situation." .”

Zhao Pu bowed hurriedly, Chai Rong looked at him, smiled and nodded.

Shi Kuangwei also came forward to greet everyone.

Pan Mei huddled in the crowd, stared at Chai Rong with wide eyes, and muttered to herself: "She looks pretty good. Judging from her figure and steps, she also has some martial arts skills. But she shouldn't be as good as my old Pan! Well, it would be me instead." This Tianxiong Jun Yashuai must be more majestic than him!"

Pan Mei comforted herself, it's not that you can't do it, you just don't have an uncle who is a deputy privy envoy.Fu Jinzhan glanced at the Tianxiong army staying in the distance and asked curiously: "Why doesn't General Chai directly lead the army into the city?"

Chai Rong said with a smile: "The Tianxiong Army is a guest army after all. The war is currently raging. If they appear rashly, they may cause misunderstandings between the soldiers and civilians in the city, so they will stop for a while and wait until the resettlement is discussed before entering the city."

Fu Jinzhan was a little surprised. It seemed that Chai Rong acted cautiously and thoughtfully.

Zhao Pu nodded secretly, because it is not easy for a general to be considerate of the soldiers and civilians.

Liu Chengyou disagreed: "What are you worried about? Brother Chai just lead the army into the city, and stationed with my left guard in the Beicheng school grounds. If the army accounts are not enough, we can requisition a group of civilian houses."

Chai Rong frowned quickly and did not agree immediately.

Fu Jinzhan and Zhao Pu looked at each other, and Zhao Pu said respectfully: "The Beicheng Campus is already overcrowded with Left Guard troops, and most of the vacant houses nearby are housing refugees from prefectures and counties. I'm afraid there won't be enough room to house the Tianxiong Army.

Kongjue Temple, which is two streets away from the Governor's Mansion, occupies a large area. The humble post has estimated that it is enough to house Tianxiong's army. The abbot of the temple also agreed to requisition the land for housing.Let's ask General Chai to lead the Tianxiong Army and stay in Kongjue Temple temporarily! "

"Temple?" Chai Rong also frowned. It wasn't that he disliked the place, but he had always hated Buddhism and had never worshiped those clay statues, which in his opinion were useless.

Liu Chengyou said displeasedly: "Can't we just disperse all the refugees near the Beicheng campus?"

Zhao Pu smiled and said nothing, and retreated to stand behind Fu Jinzhan.

Liu Chengyou clearly wanted to win over Chai Rong and work with him to suppress Heng Haijun and control the power of Cangzhou.

Chai Rong thought for a moment, then cupped his hands and said: "Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. However, the refugees are also our Han people. They were affected by the Khitan army and fled to the city for refuge. If they are expelled without reason, I am afraid it will hurt people's hearts and be detrimental to the reputation of the court." . At the end of the day, the general will lead the Tianxiong army to station at Kongjue Temple, and trouble Zhao Zhi and Marshal Shi Jie to arrange their troops."

Zhao Pu said hurriedly: "General Chai just goes to the city to rest. I will definitely arrange the Tianxiong army properly."

Shi Kuangwei returned to the army to deliver orders, and Zhao Pu connected with him and was responsible for leading a group of state officials to lead the army to Kongjue Temple for garrison.

Chai Rong, Fu Jinzhan, Liu Chengyou and others returned to the Governor's Mansion. There will be a banquet at the Mansion Office tonight to welcome Tianxiong's army.

When entering the city, a grain transport convoy happened to pass by on the same street.

One of the mule carts loaded with grain suddenly broke apart on the left side. There was a click, and the mule cart overturned to the left. The heavy cart plate crushed a farmer, who screamed with pain on his face.

Three or four civilians rushed forward to help, trying to lift the truck board and drag out the trapped people. After struggling for a while, they could not lift the truck board, which contained hundreds of kilograms of grain.

"Pan Mei, go over and take a look." Fu Jinzhan ordered.

Pan Mei responded and strode forward: "Everyone, get out of the way!"

Several civilians quickly got out of the way. Pan Mei straightened her chest and lowered her abdomen. She put her waist and horse together and set her pace. She put her palms under the carriage board and let out a low roar to exert her strength.

Unfortunately, he was suppressing the blush on his face and could only lift the car board a few inches.

After trying several times, it still didn't work. Just as Pan Mei was about to call for help, Chai Rong jumped off his horse and walked over, smiling: "I'm here to help you."

Pan Mei was stunned, and before she could speak, the heavy car board was slowly lifted, and Pan Mei quickly helped.

The trapped civilian husband was dragged out in time, his leg was broken, and his life was saved.

Chai Rong patted the dust on his hands, nodded to Pan Mei, mounted his horse and left with Fu Jinzhan and others.

Pan Mei gritted her teeth secretly, her face turning blue and red.

To outsiders, it seemed that he and Chai Rong lifted the several hundred kilograms of car boards together.

But only he knew that Chai Rong had already finished the job easily before he exerted any force just now, and he was not needed at all.

Pan Mei's face trembled violently, feeling like she had been hit hard.

Didn’t it say that Chai Rong was a tea seller?

In this world, are even tea sellers so secretive?
Pan Mei wanted to cry, feeling that her future was bleak.

(End of this chapter)