The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 186: White Night Walk (Part )
getting hotter.

Yu Ziyan wiped his forehead, strolled into the shade of the tree and sat down on the ground.

The summer in Bianzhou is even hotter than that in Lu. This is his biggest feeling after withdrawing to the capital.

While a peaceful life without fighting was beautiful, it was also too leisurely. And when people are idle, they tend to wander. For example, Yu Ziyan was currently pondering whether Daliang had a destiny, and whether Zhu Sheng could deny the Ding Universe.

If it were three years ago, he would never have had such evil intentions. At that time, the Bian army was invincible, beating and whipping the world, and its power was feared by all.

Even a year ago, he wouldn't have hesitated. True, he had suffered setbacks on the Western Front, but the process was merely more difficult, and he would ultimately triumph, just like the campaigns against Xu and Cai. But now, Yu Ziyan was forced to question those things he had once firmly believed in.

His transformation came from fear, and fear came from repeated failures. Yu Ziyan had personally experienced several of these. After escaping from the hands of the King of Hell several times, he began to realize that the Bian army was not made of steel and would fall down like wheat when stabbed by a bunch of spears. When the cavalrymen marched into the formation, the densely packed horse lances of nearly two feet long would sweep in like a storm, and they would also cry, howl, and dance like wild dogs when they were dragged out of the formation; the Bian army was not an invincible heavenly army.

The decadent Wei Bo Wu Yiji, Shi Renyu, Tian Heng, and Ashina Gaoyang could defeat them. The lax Ziqing Liu Xun, Song Chongtong, and Li Siye could also defeat them.

Yuncheng He Gui, Liu Cun, Cui Yang, Cao Yu, Cao Da, Yanzhou Zhang Yue, Li Hushu, Sun Hanjun, Kang Huaiying, Qi Xuanzhen, Xuzhou Liu Hai, Yuan Qingji were also able to compete with them. Even the weakest Li Ni defeated them twice.

The so-called invincibility of the Bian army is nothing but a stimulant to deceive oneself.

The Bian army is also made up of mortals, and as long as they are human, they will get hurt and bleed. If their heads are chopped off, they will not grow another one. They will rot into a pool of maggots crawling on them if they lie there. The most terrifying thing is that they will also be hesitant, panic, and afraid. Their calves will tremble and their cheeks will twitch. They will also have their own joys and sorrows. There are also ambitious people, cowards, wise men, and fence-sitters. If the situation is not right, their true colors will be revealed.

Just like Yu Ziyan, pessimism had already welled up in his heart, and his resistance to going to war had begun to erode his soul from occasional complaints before. Now, whenever he heard the military commander's transfer order, he would feel uncomfortable for no reason, and feel disgusted and resentful.

What good can such a warrior do?
Yu Ziyan believed that there were many people in the internal and external armies who were like him, but they just didn't show it for the time being.

And Your Majesty, not to mention the fact that you have tried so hard to take down Li Ni, even with an army of over 100,000 gathered in Qi and Lu, you are still unable to deal with Xuan Jin who has been beaten to a cripple.

This emperor is no longer useful.

According to Yu Ziyan's idea, he should simply replace him with someone wearing the yellow robe or appoint a military governor to submit to the Tang emperor and seek peace. But the other soldiers seemed to be thinking, "Let's wait and see."

"Oh, I really don't know when it will end." Yu Ziyan only hoped that the struggle for supremacy would end quickly. Victory or defeat, whether the Tang Dynasty fell and Liang rose, or Liang fell and the Tang rose, it didn't matter, it shouldn't keep people awake and restless.

"Zi Yan, I finally found you, it's a big deal! Okay..." A military school student hurried into the shooting range, looked around, and saw that there was no one around, so he lowered his voice and said.

Seeing that it was Tu Zheng, Yu Ziyan was stunned. What was going on?

"Is anyone causing trouble?"

Tu Zheng pursed his lips and said nothing until he came under the shade of a tree, then he stamped his feet and cursed: "You don't know yet? The traitor Li has conquered Jingxiang and sent Dengzhou Defense Commissioner Li Cunxiao and Shandong Jiedushi Zhao Kuangming to invade Ruzhou and Shenzhou. Caizhou is also in chaos. The two villains, the generals Wu Ziling and Xian Yumi, saw an opportunity and killed the governor Cui Hong, and killed more than 200 military officials including Jiedushi Zhang Quanyi. Wu Ziling claimed to be the governor of Huaixi. The court is furious and will send troops south. It is said that our army should go next."

Go south? Yu Ziyan knew what happened in Jingxiang and Huaixi, but he still couldn't believe it: "We just withdrew from Yuncheng. How can we go on another expedition after just two days of rest?"

In Yu Ziyan's value system, the Yamen soldiers are people who look down upon the common people and are ten times superior to others.

Not only did yamen soldiers not have to pay any green crop tax, land tax, or household tax (theoretically, they did, but whether they could collect it depended on the courage and means of the Jiedushi), they could also own land, businesses, and various other properties, and marry dozens of wives and concubines. They received their wages on time each month, received rewards according to the rules for changing commanders, and received corresponding expenses for marching to battle, fighting hard, winning, losing, dying in battle, and being disabled. Winter and spring footwear and uniforms were issued seasonally. Those on the battlefield were required to rest in batches after each period of fighting. They would not fight in extremely cold or hot weather, or in strong winds or heavy rain. These unspoken rules existed before a sage ascended to the throne, and they remained so after his ascension.

We have just rested for two days and now you are asked to travel far to Jing and Huai... Has Your Majesty been stunned by the Queen Mother?
Yu Ziyan reviewed the map, his eyes blank as he muttered, "Ruzhou is only a few days' journey from the towns of Shaanxi, Luoyang, and Hezhong. North of Shenzhou are Langshan and Yancheng, and a hundred miles further north and east are Xuchang and Chenzhou. The Cai people are rebelling, and the nearby Zhongwu Army is unwilling to mobilize, so they're sending troops from Bianliang instead of the nearby one..."

"They are frightened by the rebellious Yicheng Army. What if the Zhongwu Army joins forces with Wu Ziling and Xianyu Mi or even surrenders to Zhao Kuangming? The Zhongwu Army just doesn't rebel against the Zhao family, but it doesn't mean they won't rebel against him." Tu Zheng shrugged.

Zhu Wen controlled and vassalized the vassal states of Hua, Henei, Cai, Xu, Dongdu Ru, Zhao, Chen, Wei, Cang, E and Hezhong, Shanguo and two camps. At this time, Wei Bo broke up. Xuzhou was making trouble with Liu Hai and Yuan Qingji. Chengde and Henghai severed their relationship with him. Not to mention Eyue, the Jiedushi changed two. Yicheng Army had done something wrong, just like the time at the beginning of the year when they were jealous of the good clothes of Konghe Army and armed themselves to Bian. Huaixi had been quiet for several years under the power of destroying Qin, but this time, taking advantage of the Tang Lord's attack from the south, they also rebelled.

The Zhao family in Chenzhou seems to be normal at the moment, but judging from the current situation, the Zhongwu Army could abduct Zhao Chang and force him to rebel at any time. Zhao Chang could also find an excuse like "the soldiers are unruly and difficult to control" to refuse the call-up and wait and see.

"With three armies rebelling, tens of thousands of troops are responding from afar. It will take at least a year or two for them to return, and there is a high chance that they will die. I came here to discuss with you whether to go or not." Tu Zheng sat down next to Yu Ziyan and said with a sad face. "Which troops are being dispatched?"

"I asked the military headquarters, and found out that the main forces are Zuo Nei Ya, Zuo Jianrui, Zuo Tianxing, You Chongyong Cavalry, Gong Chendu and our Bashan Army's right wing. The seven armies of Personal Concern, Personal Cavalry, Tujiang, Jia Ma, Tabai, Bai Ma and Tingzi Cavalry each have 500 soldiers. The rest are just small fry. There are the infantry envoy of Zhengzhou Jia Sheng, the deputy envoy of Yingzhou militia Liu something, and a Bozhou Du Yuhou. The total number is probably 50,000 to 60,000, or maybe more. The Heyang Jiedushi Niu Cunjie will be in charge." Tu Zheng knew everything about them and was obviously very concerned.

Yu Ziyan remained silent.

More than 100,000 troops were assembled in the direction of Yan, Yun, and Hua. Zhang Cunjing, Zhu Yougong and others led tens of thousands of troops to blockade Pu and Shan. Zhu Chongjie and Huang Wenjing led 20,000 troops to attack Liu and Yuan. Zhao Keyu, Guangchengyi, Xiaopingjin, Heyin, Weishi, Chenliu, Yongqiu, Fengqiu, Songzhou, Zhongli... each had hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of soldiers stationed in the Hulao Pass. This time, when the internal army was successively deployed to Nanyang, Xinye, and Zhangchaicun to fight against the rebels, the active military force was almost exhausted.

If Li Keyong learns of the situation and marches south from Luzhou, if the Shaanxi and Puyang defense lines are breached or bypassed by Li, the Xiama bandits will once again sweep across the Central Plains...

Yu Ziyan closed his eyes and meditated for a while, then opened them again and asked softly, "Where is the Crane Control Army?"

"I don't know." Tu Zheng rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Besides, when have you ever seen those people on the Long March? What are you thinking?"

Although Yu Ziyan knew this was the inevitable outcome, he still felt uncomfortable after confirming it. As fellow soldiers of the old Ya army, why did the likes of Changjian, Changzhi, Luoyan, and Konghe only follow the sage on personal expeditions, and almost never on long marches? Could it be that these people were simply too precious?
"What do you mean, are you going or not?" Tu Zheng looked at Yu Ziyan eagerly, waiting for the words from this experienced and experienced soldier from a military family.

"My parents, wife and children are all in Bianliang, and have become his hostages. I have no choice." Yu Ziyan said expressionlessly: "Or you can pay money, pay a lot of money, bribe your superiors and important positions such as Du Yuhou, and then buy a sick child, a beggar, or a gangster to replace you in the market."

Tu Zheng's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly asked, "How much do you think it will cost? One hundred strings of cash?"

"The heart of a warrior is like a glutton. I'm afraid a hundred strings of cash won't be enough for them to turn a blind eye to you."

"Then tell me how much it is."

"At least this number." Yu Ziyan raised his hand.

"Hiss, five hundred strings of cash, this is robbery." Tu Zheng took a breath of cold air and asked in disbelief, "Is it really that much? My family has been farming for generations, I have little education, and I have not seen the world like you, so I don't want to suffer the fate of others."

"Not much, actually. I'm only talking about the most basic number. The instructor, the commander, the chief of the army, the soldiers of the same fire, and the familiar comrades all need to be taken care of. When buying people, you have to choose those with similar body shapes and accents, and who are sensible. It's best if they are orphans or fugitives. The price is not low..." After explaining the tricks, Yu Ziyan sighed: "You have been in the army for five years, you can come up with 500 strings of cash, right?"

"The family fortune that we saved with so much hardship..." Tu Zheng stared at the ants on the ground, speechless for a long time. After all these years of holiday rewards, money given for becoming an emperor, wartime rewards, additional gifts, spoils of war, and personal looting, there is still a few hundred strings of cash in savings. But if we give up all this wealth, how will the family live in the future? Eat wheat rice, swallow vinegar cakes, wear hemp clothes, and sleep with village girls?

He was used to wealth and luxury and would never be willing to return to the life of the lower class, working day and night to dig for food in the soil.

Seeing this, Yu Ziyan smiled and suggested, "There is another way. You can secretly buy a fresh corpse of comparable size and hide it at home. Then, find a dark and windy night as soon as possible, put your clothes on the corpse, get your wife drunk, and make her sleep with the corpse. Then, you burn down the house, take your property and leave overnight. The government will find two charred corpses and cannot verify them, so they will assume you are dead. When the storm has passed, you can return to Bianzhou incognito and settle down again."

"She is a poor person." Tu Zheng's mouth twitched a little: "Five hundred strings of cash is really a drain on her. For three hundred strings of cash, I can get a few sets of high-quality armor from my private collection, and a few looted lacquerware, which are also very pleasing to the eye."

"Stupid! You took out the lacquerware, and he thought you had silver and gold. Armor? Then he reported you for rioting, and raided your house, dividing your money, wife and daughter! Besides, how can you try such a dirty thing as bribery? If you don't give enough at once, what will you do if the other party refuses to accept it? If the news leaks out and the superiors hear that you want to desert the army, you will be dead or alive." After scolding, seeing Tu Zheng standing there, Yu Ziyan said dimly: "Are you still going to desert the army? Do you want money or life?"

"I, I."

Tu Zheng couldn't continue talking. As a warrior, can he only be one and not not be one?
Yu Ziyan patted his shoulder and said, "If what you want is nothing more important than your life, then what can't you use to save your life? You can't have your cake and eat it too. You have to be able to take it and let it go."

"Oh!" Tu Zheng closed his eyes in pain.

He has been fighting and killing for five years in pursuit of wealth and status. Now that he is rich and powerful, he wants to leave the army and stop fighting. As a result, he risks being beheaded and losing all his wealth. All those battles were fought in vain? What is the point of being a soldier and earning rewards? It's all in vain, and he is also labeled a thief.

He lives a hard life.

(End of this chapter)