Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 319 Zu Ting steals someone
Zu Ting sat at the bow of the boat again.

The big ship swayed slowly, and Zu Ting swayed his body along with the swaying of the ship. He took a sip of wine, shook his head, and his whole body swayed rhythmically.

The two clerks behind him were stunned.

They didn't know what Zu Ting was doing, but he seemed to be enjoying it.

These two clerks, one with the surname Xu, was arranged by the Xingtai, and the other with the surname Cheng, was arranged by Liu Taozi himself.

They followed Zu Ting with a simple purpose, which was to keep an eye on this unreliable chief historian to prevent him from doing anything wrong.

The Xingtai was afraid that Zu Ting would ask for a high price, so he kept an eye on the trade he discussed along the way. After all, he would have to pay for it in the end. Liu Taozi, on her part, simply kept an eye on Zu Ting and tried to persuade him not to let his old illness relapse.

However, ever since the ship left Taoqing Prefecture, they could no longer control this Chief Secretary, and Zu Ting directly used him as his own follower.

At this moment, Cheng Li, who was responsible for watching Zu Ting, directly became Zu Ting's exclusive wine pourer, and the wine jug in his hand was never empty.

Zu Ting raised the wine cup towards the sky, not knowing who he was toasting to, and then drank it all in one gulp.

"Climbing high and overlooking a huge valley, I don't know how many thousands of miles away~~"

"The cloud islands are connected, and the wind is endless~~"

"Sometimes I see wild geese flying in the distance, and suddenly I see startled gulls taking off!"

"Without waiting to see you off, you will naturally be hurt~~"

Xu Li was stunned for a moment, then asked, "Grandfather, whose poem is this?"

"its mine!"

"Can I still read other people's poems?"

"What's so difficult about the minor art of poetry and prose?"

Zu Ting's face flushed from drinking and he couldn't help laughing.

Xu Li exclaimed: "No wonder the officials in the Xingtai admire your talent."

Zu Ting glanced at him.

"Are you from the border?"

"He is from Beiheng."

"What do you do at the office?"

Xu Li said seriously: "I used to be the clerk of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Finance."

"Who did you offend at the office?"

Xu Li answered blankly: "I have never offended anyone."

"Oh, you were hired through assessment?"

A hint of pride flashed across Xu Li's face, and he nodded, "Yes, the first batch at the beginning of the year."

Zu Ting laughed, "No wonder."

"You stupid boy, you don't even realize that others are harming you. Do you think it's a good job to follow me out? You don't look like someone they arranged to frame me. Just wait. If no one takes care of you, you will suffer when you return to the office."

Xu Li's face changed drastically, "Grandfather, I don't understand"

Zu Ting ignored him and looked at Cheng Li who was standing beside him. He looked him up and down and said, "Young man, you are not yet twenty, right?"

"What did you do originally?"

Cheng Li lowered his head hastily, "I used to be the horse washer for the general."

Zu Ting suddenly put down the wine cup in his hand and looked at him again, "Green Lion?"

"Correct."

"You come from a good family? Who is your father, Cheng?"

"Grandfather, my father is Cheng Zhe, the Minister of Five Armies of the Xingtai."

"Oh, Cheng Zhe, Cheng Zhe, I know him. When the lord was an official in Dingzhou, he was his colleague. Later, when the lord opened his government, he followed him there."

Zu Ting took another sip of wine and said, "Xu boy, make friends with this Cheng boy. When you return to the office, if someone comes to punish you, ask him for help. Got it?"

Xu Li had no idea what mistake he had made. He was ordered to record the trade agreement, and he had not been negligent. But after all, the person in front of him was Zu Ting, so he could only nod and agree.

Cheng Li looked into the distance and asked, "Grandfather, do we really want to trade with those great monks?"

"Why not?"

“Others can do it, but we can’t?”

"But isn't this prohibited by law? What they want to buy are military weapons, and there will always be war in the future."

Zu Ting shook his head, "You're overthinking it."

"These monks definitely didn't buy these war horses to give them to the government for use in war."

"They want to show off and curry favor with the powerful."

Zu Ting narrowed his eyes. "Buddhism is highly valued in the world today, and it is most valued in the South. The monks in the South are so wealthy and extravagant that they cannot be compared to those in the North. When Liang was still in existence, whenever the temples were short of money, the emperor would become a monk and ignore state affairs, and would only leave when his ministers gathered money for the temples."

"what???"

Cheng Li's eyes widened.

Xu Li shook his head. "I heard about this once in the Xingtai. They said that the Liang Kingdom was destroyed by Buddhism."

Zu Ting glanced at him and then laughed, "Liang people?"

"Hahaha, do you two know Chen Baxian, the founding emperor of the Chen Kingdom?"

"know."

"He did it too!"

Zu Ting pondered for a moment, "Less than ten years, I can't remember clearly."

"Chen Baxian was able to ascend the throne thanks to these great monks who helped him gain credibility. He used the Buddha's tooth to ascend the throne, and after he ascended the throne, the number of temples in the southern kingdom increased instead of decreasing."

"In short, we need food now, but only for a few years. After the autumn harvest next year, the treasury will not be so short of food. They don't want stallions, so just give them to them. As for ironware, the same goes for it. They don't care whether a broken knife is good or not, they only care about how it looks. They want a reputation, don't you understand?"

The two nodded slowly.

Xu Li asked, "Grandfather, since everything has been agreed upon, why don't we go back and continue heading south?"

Zu Ting took another small bite and looked into the distance.

"I heard from the monk that in recent years, their merchant ships can no longer come in and out freely like before. The governor of Yangzhou often sends people to intercept and block their business. He wants us to find a solution."

"So, I have to go find this Yangzhou governor and have a good talk."

“That’s part of the deal.”

Xu Li and Cheng Li both frowned, and Cheng Li said, "I don't think it's appropriate to harm loyal people just to make a deal."

"Who said I was going to harm others?"

"They are leading the army. Why would I bring a few of you to cause trouble for them?"

Xu Li asked, "What is the grandfather going to do?"

"I want to conquer this man for my lord."

Zu Ting narrowed his eyes and murmured, "General of the Cavalry, the Grand Master of the Imperial Court, the Governor of Yangzhou, and the Duke of Kuaiji, Wang Lin."

The two young men looked at each other. They obviously didn't know much about this person, but they could tell from his prefix that this person was definitely not an ordinary person.

Zu Ting was extremely excited at this moment.

This Wang Lin is no ordinary person.

He used to be a famous general in the South and took part in suppressing the rebellion of General Yuzhou. Later, Chen Baxian attacked him several times but failed to gain any advantage. He even captured Hou Andu and Zhou Wenyu alive at one point. Later, he was defeated by the State of Chen and fled to the Great Qi. At that time, Emperor Xiaozhao was in power. Emperor Xiaozhao also valued him very much and wanted to use him to deal with the people of Chen.

This person has good morals and is deeply supported by the military and civilians. He also has strong combat capabilities.

And the most important thing is that he is proficient in naval battles. Although he was defeated by the State of Chen before, in the Great Qi, there is probably no general who is better at naval battles than him.

There are indeed many generals around our lord, but there are really few generals who can fight ship battles and naval battles.

Wang Lin was ostracized by everyone in Qi State. He couldn't get along with his colleagues, and both superiors and subordinates looked down on him.

Isn’t this a good opportunity?

Of course, Zu Ting was not going to the southern border rashly. Lou Ziyan was also on the ship with him. Lou Rui was the Grand Commander in the south. As his son, it was not difficult for him to protect Zu Ting to Yangzhou to meet Wang Lin and then send him back.

Even if these cowards in the south knew that I came here alone, I'm afraid they wouldn't have the courage to attack me.

Zu Ting and his group moved forward along the coast under the leadership of Lou Ziyan.

They traveled a long, long way.

By the time they started to get off the ship and change cars, it was already early winter.

Fortunately, Lou Ziyan was well prepared and wore thick clothes, so he was not afraid of the cold wind. The group continued to move forward, and in January of the following year, they finally arrived at their destination.

Yangzhou, Shaobei. On the clear lake, warships are parked one after another.

As the main ship issued various orders, the warships kept going back and forth, merging, and dispersing.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, Sun Shuao, the prime minister of Chu, built Shaobi and diverted water to form a lake. Since then, this place has played many important roles, such as irrigation, disaster prevention, and training of navy.

A high platform was set up on the shore.

A middle-aged man wearing armor stood on a high platform, looking into the distance.

He did not look that stern, with gentle eyes and elegant temperament. He looked at the ships that were training in the distance, examining them one by one, lowering his head and recording something.

Behind him stood two officers.

One of them had burn marks on his face, which were very obvious and scary to look at.

He said slowly: "My Lord, there are only three days left. If we don't go back, the man surnamed Lu will make things difficult for us again."

Wang Lin seemed not to hear and did not answer, continuing to concentrate on his own work.

The two men stopped talking.

After a while, Wang Lin looked at the officer next to him and said, "Send the signal to change the formation and ask them to change the formation again."

"only."

The officer didn't waste any time, he immediately raised the flag and began to wave it.

The warships in the distance began to change their formations again. At this moment, a cold wind blew in Wang Lin's face. He froze all over, stunned for a moment, and then continued to write.

This wind is Wang Lin’s lifelong pain.

Especially the changeable wind.

While they were still busy, a group of people slowly approached here from a distance. Of course, they were quickly stopped by the surrounding soldiers.

The officer on the platform looked back at the people in the distance, his eyes full of anger.

After arriving in Qi, these people did not have a good life.

At that time, Gao Yan was extremely respectful to them. He gave them various rewards and military pay. He allowed Wang Lin to devote all his energy to collecting his former troops, let him train them himself, organize them into an army, and even rewarded him with a full set of Qi military drums and music.

But after Gao Yan died, their lives changed.

The military salaries of the temple were simply stopped and no more supplements were given to them.

Local officials, on the other hand, opposed and made things difficult for them at every turn.

When Wang Lin's navy practiced patrolling on the river between the two countries, they were often able to intercept many ships carrying stolen goods.

Either the northerners secretly do business with the southerners, or the southerners secretly do business in the north.

Especially those bald donkeys in the south.

Because Buddhism was popular everywhere, there were no restrictions on monks' ships. Monks from the south could freely go to the north to carry out Buddhist activities. This led to them engaging in smuggling trade in the name of spreading Buddhism.

Other merchant ships could not sail to the enemy country openly, but the monks' ships could.

Wang Lin was a man who worked seriously. After Gao Yan asked him to garrison Yangzhou and take charge of military affairs, he began to summon his old subordinates, prepare for battle, and started rigorous inspections.

In addition, he was originally from the south and came here by surrender. He had a stubborn personality and could not get along well with the people of Qi. This made his relationship with his colleagues worse and worse.

He has almost no friends here, only enemies.

Lu Qian, the governor of Yangzhou, was quite opposed to Wang Lin's coming to train the army.

But Wang Lin ignored his order and came with his men anyway. Lu Qian then gave him a deadline and urged him to return within that time.

After the carriage stopped, a few people who looked like officials came out, pointed at him and said something to those around them.

The officer looked at Wang Lin again.

"My lord, Lu Qian has sent another person."

Wang Lin finally put away the documents in his hand and looked down at the people in the distance.

"Let's go."

Wang Lin led the two people down the platform and walked calmly in front of those people. The soldiers under his command were shouting something at them, but when they noticed Wang Lin coming, they quickly stopped talking.

Wang Lin strode up to them and looked at these strangers.

"Is Lord Lu so afraid that I will rebel?"

Lou Ziyan was stunned and saluted towards Wang Lin, "General Wang, we were not sent by Lu Qian."

Wang Lin was stunned. He looked at the boy in front of him again for a moment, "Lou Rui's son?"

Wang Lin had met Lou Rui, and Lou Ziyan looked somewhat similar to Lou Rui.

Lou Ziyan was somewhat displeased that Wang Lin called him by his name, but he still moved aside to allow Zu Ting to meet the prince.

Zu Ting walked forward with a smile and stared at Wang Lin in front of him.

Wang Lin was not angry either. He stared at Zu Ting with the same eyes, and the two looked at each other for a long time.

"My Lord, I have long heard of your great name. I have traveled for several months just to see you."

Hearing this, Wang Lin became more confused, "You are..."

"I am Zu Ting, the Chief Clerk of the General's Office! I am honored to meet the General of the Cavalry!!"

Zu Ting bowed and Wang Lin returned the greeting.

“It turned out to be Grandpa.”

Wang Lin's expression softened immediately. He explained, "I just mistakenly thought it was Lord Lu's man. I was rude. Don't mind it."

Zu Ting took a step forward and directly grabbed Wang Lin's hand.

"My Lord, please don't be so polite!"

"My general heard of your reputation outside the Great Wall and asked me to come and meet you!"

"It's been nearly half a year since I left Qingzhou, and I finally get to see you! You are really as fierce and powerful as the rumors say!!"

Zu Ting's expression was excited, and so were his words.

Wang Lin calmly withdrew his hand, "It is wrong for such a despicable man and defeated general to make Grandpa work so hard. I want to hold a banquet in the city to entertain Grandpa."

"well."

Zu Ting followed Wang Lin into the same car, and Wang Lin didn't want to kick him out.

Sitting in the car, Zu Ting said with emotion: "In such weather, the prince can still continue to train the troops. It is really admirable."

“This is just my job.”

"Many generals today cannot do this."

"My Lord, I am here to take you away."

Wang Lin's expression suddenly became extremely complicated, and he looked at the strange man beside him again.

"what did you say?"

"My Lord, I have heard about your situation here. These guys don't recognize heroes. Who is Lu Qian? He has been governing Jianghuai for so many years. I wonder how much money he has hidden for himself!"

"How dare he bully you?"

"You probably know the current situation in the court. The emperor has fled to Jinyang. It can be said that the court is in name only. The places south of the river are now in chaos. Ambitious people have begun to imitate the general, setting up their own official positions and establishing their own systems. They have even begun to fight with each other, snatching military power, and winning over the powerful families, hoping to stage a show of many heroes coexisting in Henan."

Zu Ting's eyes were full of disdain. "But, I don't need to say anything more. The prince also knows what kind of people these people are."

"These people want to play the game of separatism. When my king's heavenly soldiers arrive, none of them will be left alive."

"And you are here, with soldiers at your disposal, and you are a thorn in their side. They all want to get rid of you."

"If you want to go to the south, although you and the State of Chen are mortal enemies, I think given Chen Qian's character, if you are willing to surrender, he will definitely be happy to accept it. But the problem is, when I was about to arrive here, I heard from the great monks in the south that Chen Qian's health is very poor. It is difficult for him to handle government affairs at the moment. He is recuperating all day and it is said that he may not live beyond this year."

"If he is gone, there will be no one in the South who has the courage to surrender you."

"As for the Pseudo-Zhou, Yuwen Yong just killed Yuwen Hu, and he needs confidants. If you go there, you may become Yuwen Yong's confidant, but the only problem is that they have many military leaders, including the 24 military headquarters and the generals of the state. There are no vacancies. You are a southerner, and you want to go to the Pseudo-Zhou to realize your ambitions. Even if you are trusted by the emperor, it is difficult for you to grasp the real power. You may still be left in Chang'an with a nominal position."

Zu Ting actually analyzed the situation for Wang Lin seriously, as if he was Wang Lin's counselor at the moment.

He said: "In my opinion, whether you stay here, go to the south, or go to Zhou, it is not a good choice for you now."

"Therefore, only my king's place is your best destination!"

"My king attaches great importance to you. As the chief historian, I have many important matters to attend to in the country. My lord asked me to put aside these matters and come all the way here, which is enough to prove his importance to you. My lord also lacks generals who are good at naval forces. If you go, you will definitely be ranked above all the generals and lead the navy!"

"Finally, my king has made great achievements as a humble official. In just seven or eight years, he has conquered Hebei, defeated the pseudo-Zhou many times, and personally killed generals. His rise is obvious. If you go and surrender to him now, you will be his loyal minister in the future!!"

Zu Ting reached out and held Wang Lin's hand again.

"My Lord, I am different from those people in the south. I am always straightforward and I say what I think."

"Will the prince leave with me?"

(End of this chapter)