Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 1195 Patience
As soon as it was dawn, Pugu Cheng'en had already been busy for a while.

The sage held a great court meeting today, accompanied by all civil and military officials and local officials of Qizhou.After the pilgrimage was over, the sage would call a considerable number of officials to ask questions. At this time, meals should be provided, all of which were supervised by Pugu Chengen.

"Is everything ready?" Pugu Cheng'en stepped into the temporary wooden house, looked at the food being cooked, and asked.

"Come on, it will be over before the next court." The palace man replied.

Pugu Cheng'en nodded, but did not leave, but stood there, watching the palace servants and Huangmen busy.

The sage is a martial artist, who has been training his muscles and bones all year round, practicing endlessly with long spears, step bows, and heavy swords.From time to time, people gather to play polo, or go hunting in the mountains.

In fact, Pugu Chengen didn't understand.You are the master of the world, why do you still have to practice these things, aren't you tired?But he didn't dare to ask, he could only observe and guess by himself.In his opinion, the long-term martial arts career has made the saint used to these things, and he feels uncomfortable all over if he doesn't often dance with spears and sticks.

Li Tangbin, Duke of Lu, also had this problem.He practiced endlessly early in the morning, and sometimes practiced against his nephews, shouting and drinking, murderous, which was incomprehensible.

These warriors don't know how to enjoy themselves, they are born to work hard.Thinking darkly, they may all have a strong desire to kill buried in their hearts.As soon as I am free, this desire cannot be suppressed, and I have to divert my attention in other ways.

But then again, it's better than having nothing to do, cutting people's flesh piece by piece with a knife and eating it for fun, right?
The palace staff lifted the lid of the steamer, and a plate of fish was already steamed.

Pugu Chengen came back to his senses, and went up to have a look.

From Lingxia's time onwards, the sage's breakfast consisted of pork, fish, and chicken, plus corn porridge—sometimes physalis, cheese, and the like were substituted.

Today, after practicing martial arts and holding a court meeting, Pugu Cheng'en had a lot of energy exhausted, so Pugu Cheng'en specially asked someone to steam a big cod - the name was given by a saint.

In addition to cod, there is also totoaba (large yellow croaker), which is prepared for courtiers.

Pugu Cheng'en checked them one by one.He mainly looks at the size of the fish, which are carefully selected to ensure the same size.It is not easy for the courtiers to participate in the quiz. If someone gives you a big fish, someone will give you a small fish, and you will offend people inadvertently.

Footsteps sounded outside the kitchen, and after a while, a little yellow door came over, leaned into Pugu Chengen's ear and whispered a report.

"Okay, pack the lunch box immediately and enter the palace." Pugu Chengen waved his hand and ordered.

The palace people quickly packed the food, then carried the food box, and followed Pugu Chengen to the palace.

A lot of houses were built outside the palace, all of which were built last month, for all civil and military officials to live in.

It is not a day or two for saints to go on tour. Officials naturally need a place to live, so don't they have to cut logs to build houses?When it's cold, if the saint hasn't left, these houses will have to be repaired.

There is a stone step outside the main entrance of Taishan Palace, which is full of palace guards who came with them.They carefully checked the food boxes of the palace people before putting them in.

Pugu Cheng'en counted the time silently and carefully controlled his pace. When he arrived at the gate of the side hall, the saint, the prime minister, and the privy envoys had just taken their seats.

Shanggong Xie nodded to him, Pugu Chengen didn't dare to neglect, trotted, and led the palace people into the side hall.

"The Jin army generally has two groups of soldiers and horses. One is the army led by Li Keyong, who went to Luzhou and entered Xing Mingci. The offensive is very urgent. The second is from Youzhou, and Li Cunzhang stayed behind from Youzhou. Commander, according to Zang's recruiting envoy's report, there are tens of thousands of people, chasing all the way, and their morale is very high." An old but heavy voice sounded from the side hall, and Pugu Cheng'en knew it without looking, it was Chen Cheng, the servant of Zhongshu. say.

He ordered the palace servants to take out the meals and put them one by one in front of each person's table, then he didn't dare to stay, and retreated after finishing the salute.

"The taste of the East China Sea is delicious, and the food is wonderful. Chen Shilang might as well rest for a while, otherwise the fish will be eaten by us and other monarchs and ministers." Shao Shude joked.

Chen Cheng also laughed, and said, "Shishou is a good thing."

The word 鲞 (xiǎng) is said to have been invented by Helu, the king of Wu, and the fish was served in a beautiful way. It can be seen that Helu also likes to eat large yellow croakers.Of course, as a sea fish with a large production in China's coast, it is normal for large yellow croaker to be sought after by people.

In the Song Dynasty, Fan Chengda also recorded: "If you raise fish with ice, you will be invincible." That is, some people insisted on eating fresh fish, so after the fishermen caught them, they had to sprinkle ice cubes and send them all the way to "Wu County". ".

To be honest, this is a bit extravagant, and I don't know who was an official in Suzhou at that time, and the requirements were so high.Normal rich and noble families can only eat the "coarse salt salted" and dried stone head carp hung on the mast.

Shao Shude concentrated on dealing with the cod in front of him.The sliced ​​cod was steamed just right, and he ate it with pleasure.

Because this fish lives in deep waters, it was difficult to catch with nets in ancient times.In Europe, since the Vikings, fishing has been at sea.There are dozens or dozens of fishing rods on a boat, which is also a wonderful sight from a distance.

The cod caught is often about one meter long, with a big round belly and tender meat.Europeans have been fishing for hundreds of years, and have wiped out the world-class Newfoundland fishing grounds. They have used all kinds of extinct nets, regardless of the interests of future generations. The "protein dividend" era.

During the industrial revolution, the height of Europeans increased by ten centimeters every hundred years, which is inseparable from the large intake of protein.In contrast, the population of the Qing Dynasty surged, far surpassing that of Europe, but everyone only ate sweet potatoes, and their height decreased and they became emaciated. This kind of low-quality population growth is really meaningless, and they are not qualified for soldiers.

"It's a pity it's not fresh fish." Shao Shude sighed: "I really want to go to the ships of the Ping Navy and go to sea with them."

"Your Majesty, no!" Pei Zhi immediately persuaded.

Shao Shude laughed, and said, "I'm joking."

Only then did Pei Zhi feel relieved, and said: "The situation at sea is unpredictable, and the Chishui Army may have accidents, but His Majesty must not."

It is no secret to the important ministers that the Chishui Army will board the ship in batches from Denglaiqing and attack Youzhou across the sea.Pei Zhi was really afraid that the sage would be interested, so he wanted to follow him on board, wasn't that just a joke?If something happens on the way, this new dynasty is over, and no one can control the situation.Even if everyone still remembers the kindness of the Shao family and barely protects a certain prince to ascend the throne, judging from the current atmosphere, there will inevitably be troubles, and the possibility of the death of the second generation is very high.

"Your Majesty, when it comes to going to sea, the Chishui Army has been waiting for a long time. I don't know when they can leave?" Privy envoy Yang Jue asked.

"Ge Congzhou is in charge of this matter, and I will not get involved." Shao Shude said: "Ge Congzhou is on the front line, and he knows the situation of the Jin army best. I'm afraid it's not good for me to intervene rashly."

The goal of the Chishui Army is very clear, which is Youzhou.

According to the information heard at this meeting, the main force of the Jin army in Youzhou has moved southward, heading straight for Cangzhou.For this matter, Shao Shude felt that he should praise Zang Dubao.The side coach who made his fortune as a pioneer in the attack on Lingzhou was very clear-headed.After learning that the Jin army was as large as the Lutai army, Wang Jianhe, the capital Youyi envoy, was sent to lure the enemy army, and retreated while fighting, all the way south, making it farther and farther away from Youzhou.

In order to be realistic, a lot of bait was indeed laid along the way.Once it even failed to operate well, and the false defeat turned into a real defeat, and a lot of manpower was lost.

On July 25, news came from the city of Cangzhou that the three armies of the Jin army, Zhuosheng, Jingsai, and Lulong, had entered the village twenty miles north of the city, and sent out cavalry to the south to harass the attacking Xia army.

Zang Dubao, the emissary envoy on the East Road, has ordered that all armies shrink and rectify, and fortify their camps to prepare for the Jin army.But the siege operation still did not stop. Wei Bo, Luoyang, Huaihai masters, servants from all walks of life and even the forbidden army took turns to attack and attack endlessly.

Knowing that reinforcements were approaching, the defenders' morale was boosted.Lu Kuang, the son of Lu Yanwei, spent all his family wealth and rewarded the troops to boost morale.As for the effect, it still looks good, and the defense of the city is even harder.

From a military point of view, defending the city is the most taboo.In the absence of external reinforcements, as time goes by, the defenders will gradually become depressed and their morale will continue to drop. After reaching a critical point, they will easily collapse.And if there are reinforcements, they will have hope and can maintain a relatively good morale, so it will be difficult to fight.

Cangzhou and Dezhou are two typical examples today.

The morale of the former was greatly boosted, and Xia Jun seemed hopeless to break through the city.The morale of the latter was getting lower and lower, and Xia Jun even adopted the method of encircling him from all sides. The defenders had no access to any news from the outside world, and they were under tremendous mental pressure. If you continue to stick to it, collapse will happen sooner or later.

As for the Nanpi guarded by Lu Yanwei.Ge Congzhou was short of troops and did not take a frontal attack.The two sides are currently mainly confronting each other. The cavalry of the Dingnan Army even went deep into the Chengde territory to plunder and plunder the enemy's morale.

In such a Northern Expedition situation, the Xia Army can only be said to have the upper hand, and the Cangjing Army is not in danger of collapsing in a short time.Perhaps it was this cognition that made the Jin army increase their bargaining chips and decided to do their best to rescue.

In Shao Shude's view, it is not yet time to execute the order to attack across the sea.

Li Cunzhang's troops had not yet assembled in Cangzhou, and the troops who arrived first were still relatively cautious. They went to the village twenty miles north of the city, and their morale was still in a strong state, and they had to sharpen it again.

"Your Majesty, Li Keyong has conquered Wu'an and is in command. Should I remind Generals Cai and Lu?" Chen Cheng asked.

Li Ke used the east to go out of Luzhou, and he brought a lot of soldiers and horses, but in terms of strength, it was still not as good as the Tiande and Wuwei armies, so there is no need to worry about it.But Shao Shude also understood what Chen Cheng meant. He was worried that Cai Songyang and Lu Huaizhong would rely on their strength and gather the main force to fight Li Ke for a decisive battle.

Compared with the best-of-three or best-of-five system, the winner of one round will be decided, and any fool knows which is more accidental.Li Keyong should be begging for a battle to set the world right now. Even if he has a bigger chance of losing, he still wants to make a one-shot deal and try his luck.What if the wind turned in their favor that day, or did something else happen?

Therefore, everything he is doing now is to force the German army and the Wuwei army to fight him.In the usual way, this is not a bad idea, because Shao Shude can afford to lose.But there is a bigger goal right now, so Chen Cheng strongly does not recommend doing this.

"Chen Shilang is right, but now the comparison is patience." Shao Shude put down his chopsticks, and said: "In the past, Li Shimin's soldiers were strong and strong, Qianshuiyuan was against Xue Ju, Hulaoguan was against Dou Jiande, and Mingshui was against Liu Heitai. , the strong wall can't get out, and it will take time for the most favorable fighter to appear. I also have this patience, but—”

Shao Shude thought for a while, and said: "I have discussed the strategy with Ge Congzhou in detail, and he knows it well. Cai Songyang and Lu Huaizhong are also stable people, and they will not be provoked by Li Ke with a few words and rush out of the city to fight. I can just wait and see what happens, as long as there is no big advantage, don't interfere in the frontline war at will."

(End of this chapter)