Eagle-eyed and wolf-watching

Chapter 1578 The Twin Pillars of Daqian!

Although Yuan Song is nine years older than He Jingyun, he has always admired He Jingyun very much!
Back then in the Imperial Guards, when Yuan Song was still eagerly accumulating experience, hoping to be promoted from a captain to a sentry leader, He Jingyun had already become a rising star in the Imperial Guards, a sixth-rank commander of thousands of men. At that time, He Jingyun was truly in high spirits and was a prominent figure in the 200,000-strong Imperial Guards of the Great Zhou!
In fact, in Yuan Song’s heart, there is an event related to He Jingyun in the past, which he has never mentioned over the years!
Yuan Song's superior commander in the Imperial Guards was a man named Shang Haibo. Many Imperial Guards generals attended the full-month banquet for the son of a general, including Shang Haibo and He Jingyun. Yuan Song saw with his own eyes that Shang Haibo kept flattering He Jingyun at the banquet, but He Jingyun ignored him!

When Yuan Song saw this scene, he was particularly envious of He Jingyun. When he followed Shang Haibo, he was not welcomed by Shang Haibo because he did not know how to flatter Shang Haibo, and he was also short of money and had no money to honor Shang Haibo. He could only do dirty work such as covering the rear and blocking the enemy, and he did not get any benefits after going through life and death.

So Yuan Song was very resentful towards Shang Haibo at that time. Although he did not dare to fall out with Shang Haibo on the surface, he often greeted Shang Haibo’s family members in his heart...

Although Yuan Song was known for his calmness and kindness in the Fengwu Army, he also held a grudge in his heart. Even though Shang Haibo was injured by a stray arrow during the Imperial Army's attack on Sichuan and Shu, he died of illness half a year later.

However, Shang Haibo's family members were still alive, so when Yuan Song led the Fengwu Army to break through Guanzhong, he also sought to settle accounts with Shang Haibo's descendants. He secretly instructed a trusted subordinate to disguise himself as a defeated soldier of the imperial guards, and led people to kill all 37 members of the Shang family, and even dug up Shang Haibo's tomb!
Although Yuan Song acted very secretly, he was still discovered by Yue Qing, the chief officer of the army, and reported to Ye Mingsheng. However, the matter was suppressed by Ye Mingsheng!

Back to the banquet at that time, Yuan Song saw that He Jingyun was full of contempt for Shang Haibo and ignored him, but Shang Haibo was still flattering him. He felt very relieved and envied He Jingyun very much. He also had the idea of ​​joining He Jingyun's team!

But at that time everyone thought that He Jingyun had a bright future. Many people in the imperial guards wanted to please He Jingyun, work under him, and then wait for He Jingyun to come to power so that they could follow him to success. Therefore, people like Yuan Song, who had neither background nor money to smooth over relationships, could not even see He Jingyun.

So although Yuan Song wanted to join He Jingyun, unfortunately he had no way to do so, and in the end the plan ended in nothing.

Just when Yuan Song was feeling regretful for not being able to join He Jingyun, the famous Omga incident in Luoan happened...

This Omga was a famous warrior of the Golden Horde, known for his bravery and cruelty. During the war between the Great Zhou and the Golden Horde, this Omga behaved very ferociously. He led the Golden Horde cavalry to charge the Great Zhou army many times and even cut off a Great Zhou army flag!
In addition to his bravery in the war, what made the Great Zhou most angry was that Omga was extremely cruel. At that time, both sides had prisoners of war, and the treatment of the prisoners of war was definitely not good. However, after the war, both sides would exchange prisoners, so at least their lives were guaranteed to be safe!

But this Omga was different. He enjoyed torturing and killing the prisoners of war of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Chopping off hands and feet was a piece of cake for him. Some of his actions sounded chilling, but he enjoyed talking about them. According to incomplete statistics, Omga tortured and killed at least dozens of prisoners of war and civilians of the Great Zhou Dynasty!
When the news came back, the imperial guards were extremely excited. The Prime Minister Shangguan Hongyuan was also very angry. He offered a reward of five hundred taels of silver for his head, but later increased it to one thousand taels of silver. However, no one brought back Omga's head!
Later, the war between the Great Zhou and the Golden Horde came to a stalemate. Neither side could continue fighting, and they began to send envoys to each other to consider peace talks!

At that time, the Golden Horde may have wanted to appear stronger in the negotiations and gain an advantage, so they also arranged Omga into the negotiation delegation.

After learning that Omga also came to Yijing with the delegation, the imperial guards were all excited, and many people wanted to kill this bastard!

Yuan Song also had the same idea at the time. He had a very good relationship with a fellow townsman in the imperial guards. Unfortunately, he was captured in a battle with the Golden Horde. In order to allow him to come back in the prisoner exchange after the war, Yuan Song also used a lot of connections.

When things were being done, unexpectedly, the fellow villager was killed by Omga before the prisoner exchange, and it was said that his death was horrible. Therefore, Yuan Song was very angry with Omga, and he didn't know how many times he had hacked Omga to death in his dreams...

Although the Imperial Guards were excited, the top brass did not want to disrupt the peace talks for the sake of the overall situation, so they issued strict orders not to attack Omga.

As the saying goes, military discipline is as strong as a mountain. The army emphasizes absolute obedience to the orders of superiors. Therefore, under the orders of superiors, many people, including Yuan Song, had to give up the idea of ​​killing Omga!

But at this time He Jingyun appeared. He sneaked into the Cuman mission under the cover of night with a knife in his hand. He chopped off Omga's head in the room with a slash of the knife. Then he rushed out of the mission with Omga's head in one hand and a knife in the other. He used Omga's head to commemorate his two uncles who died at his hands!

As soon as this incident came out, the whole Luoan was in an uproar. The Cuman envoys directly stated that they wanted the Great Zhou to hand over He Jingyun. If He Jingyun was not handed over, the peace talks would be stopped and the two sides would continue fighting!
Some high-ranking officials of the Great Zhou who advocated peace talks were also very angry about He Jingyun's behavior of disrupting the negotiations, and some of them even wanted to hand over He Jingyun!

As for the middle and lower-level soldiers of the Imperial Guards, they very much agreed with He Jingyun's behavior. Thousands of them wrote a joint letter and put their fingerprints on it to protect He Jingyun. Yuan Song was one of them. Yuan Song still clearly remembers the grand occasion when He Jingyun brought Omga's head to the Beiling camp of the Luoan Imperial Guards!

He was also very excited at the time, and without thinking too much, he pressed his handprint on the joint letter from Bao He Jingyun...
He Jingyun's killing of Omga was a legendary feat among the imperial guards at that time. Although more than ten years have passed, this incident is still talked about with relish!

Because of all these, Yuan Song respected He Jingyun very much, and even admired this young man who was nine years younger than him! However, during the Fengwu Army period, Yuan Song and He Jingyun became colleagues, and Yuan Song's views on He Jingyun changed.

During the early days of the Fengwu Army in Fengzhou, Ye Mingsheng was the lord, and He Jingyun, Yuan Song, and Lin Huaiwu were all his subordinates. However, He Jingyun seemed more arrogant. Although he did not directly express that he looked down on you, his words and actions revealed this feeling intentionally or unintentionally!
Even though everyone knows that you, He Jingyun, are very capable, this feeling still makes people uncomfortable, so Yuan Song also wants to keep his distance from He Jingyun!

However, as the Fengwu Army grew stronger, Yuan Song, who had made outstanding military achievements, gradually accumulated reputation, and some people in the Fengwu Army compared him with He Jingyun!
Yuan Song was quite happy when he heard such remarks at first. Although his impression of He Jingyun had changed because of He Jingyun's arrogance, in his heart He Jingyun had always been a very powerful figure. Therefore, being able to be compared with He Jingyun and even be as famous as him was also a recognition of Yuan Song's ability...

Yuan Song was happy that the two were equally famous, but He Jingyun didn't think much about it at that time. Although Yuan Song also had great military achievements at that time and had performed very well in Youyan, Qilu, Jiyu, in He Jingyun's eyes, Yuan Song was still that ordinary and ordinary sentry chief of the imperial guards.

So He Jingyun was unhappy at that time when others compared him with Yuan Song. So at a banquet with friends, when someone mentioned this matter, He Jingyun also expressed his true thoughts.

Although it was a private gathering, there is no wall that is impenetrable, and Yuan Song still found out what He Jingyun thought of him.

Yuan Song was very disappointed about this, and at the same time, his opinion of He Jingyun changed completely!

At this point, the two people had the idea of ​​competing with each other. Although they had conflicts, under Ye Mingsheng's suppression, the differences and conflicts between the two did not turn into a vicious competition of tripping each other up, but instead became a healthy competition!

This led to Yuan Song's later achievements in destroying the Luoan court and defeating the Golden Horde!

He Jingyun also led his troops south, sweeping away Xu Zhaojie's Zhennan Army, Lu Jianchao's Jiangnan Army, and others, and took over a vast territory in the south.

Because both of them had made outstanding military achievements and made great contributions to the unification of the world by the Fengwu Army and the establishment of Daqian, there was a saying in the Daqian court that Yuan Song and He Jingyun were the two pillars of Daqian.

However, even at this point, the superficial relationship between He Jingyun and Yuan Song still did not improve at all, and neither of them concealed their conflicts with each other.

However, through some means, Yuan Song could feel that He Jingyun's view and attitude towards him had improved. He Jingyun no longer regarded himself as the sentry leader of the imperial guards, but truly regarded himself as a general of the same level. Yuan Song was very pleased with this!
Although the conflict between the two people has been resolved, both of them tacitly did not choose to reconcile, but continued to maintain the situation where their conflict was open!
They all know that doing so will benefit both themselves and each other!
After Daqian was established, the situation changed again. Yuan Song and He Jingyun, the two pillars of Daqian, were both put aside by Ye Mingsheng. Although Ye Mingsheng gave a high-sounding reason, saying that you two have worked too hard over the years, and now that the world is at peace, you should enjoy yourself!
But whether it was Yuan Song or He Jingyun, they both understood Ye Mingsheng’s true thoughts, and they both understood why Ye Mingsheng did this!
Yuan Song and He Jingyun also felt a sense of sympathy for each other, and Yuan Song felt even more sad for He Jingyun's experience!
He Jingyun, Yuan Song, and Cui Shao were the first three people in the Fengwu Army to be granted the title of marquis. After the establishment of Daqian, Yuan Song and Cui Shao were successfully granted the title of duke, but He Jingyun remained the Marquis of Changning!

At that time, the entire Daqian court was very confused about this. After all, He Jingyun was qualified to be conferred the title of Duke in terms of both seniority and merit. His title of Duke was also something that everyone expected, and there would not be any controversy...
Even though the fact that He Jingyun was not granted the title of Duke caused a lot of controversy in the court, Ye Mingsheng did not give any explanation, as if these criticisms did not exist at all.

Although many people were puzzled, the top people all knew that He Jingyun was not conferred the title of Duke because he had done too much in Jiangnan and made Ye Mingsheng very angry.

Although Yuan Song did not say anything publicly about this, he felt indignant for He Jingyun in his heart!

Although Yuan Song also felt that He Jingyun's behavior in Jiangnan was a bit out of line, he believed that this was just an excuse for Ye Mingsheng to deal with He Jingyun!

In his opinion, the biggest and most important reason why Ye Mingsheng dealt with He Jingyun and did not confer the title of Duke on He Jingyun was that the Fengwu Army had already unified the world. As the saying goes, when the birds are all gone, the bows are put away; when the rabbit is dead, the running dog is cooked!

The world has been unified, and his and He Jingyun's value to Ye Mingsheng has been greatly reduced!

The prestige and achievements that he and He Jingyun had gained from fighting on the battlefield over the years had already posed a threat to Ye Mingsheng!
Although he and He Jingyun had no intention of rebellion, for Ye Mingsheng as the emperor, it is a sin in itself that you have such prestige!
Therefore, it became natural for Ye Mingsheng to deal with He Jingyun. Yuan Song had no doubt that if the Luoan court was still there and the world was not unified, then even if what He Jingyun did in Jiangnan was ten times worse, Ye Mingsheng would turn a blind eye!
Just like how Yuan Song sent people to wipe out the entire Shang family and dig up Shang Haibo’s tomb!
Yue Qing has investigated the case thoroughly, and there is evidence and witnesses. What does it matter if the investigation report has been handed over to Ye Mingsheng?
Didn’t Ye Mingsheng just suppress the matter and pretend nothing happened?
Why did Ye Mingsheng do this? Wasn't it because the world had not yet been pacified, and a general like himself still had a place to use his talents?