Fenghou

Chapter 1179 Returning to the South
Chen Qing set off for the south the next day after Yan Jun's army returned. He had made an arrangement beforehand. The captured horses would go to the army, and the captured sheep would be divided into four equal parts. One part goes to the Taiyuan garrison and one part goes to the Taiyuan government government. The natural gold and other jewelry wealth seized are transported back to Jingzhao and handed over to the government treasury.

After finishing his inspection of Datong Mansion, Chen Qing left Datong Mansion and headed south after being sent off by the officials of Datong Mansion and the generals of the army. There were hundreds of carts with him, full of treasures such as jewels, gold and silver, and they followed the army. Go south.

Because of Chen Qing's illness in Datong, when he returned to Jingzhao this time, the soldiers did not allow him to ride a horse. They had already prepared a large and comfortable carriage. This was Qin Huairen's newly built carriage. He hadn't had a chance to sit on the toilet yet. When he was arrested, Chen Qing just sat in a cart and headed south.

The carriage is indeed very spacious, mainly because it is relatively long, about a dozen square meters, and divided into two rooms inside and outside.

Of course, Chen Qing didn't bring a tea boy with him, but only Yao Mei, a personal maid. In fact, there was a small space in the back, and there was a toilet in it.

The car is covered with thick carpet, which is so soft that people can sit directly on the carpet, and of course, they need to sleep with a layer of bedding.

There was a small table in front of the car window. Chen Qing leaned on the cushion to read a book, and his eyes fell on Yao Mei on the other side from time to time. Yao Mei was concentrating on practicing writing. This little lady is very smart. She has only been serving herself for a month, and she has already learned all the thousand-character prose. Yesterday, she started to learn hundreds of surnames, and the tadpole prose that she just started writing is getting more and more neat now.

Chen Qing admired her seriousness, she devoted herself wholeheartedly, her energy was very concentrated, and she was not influenced by the outside world at all.

"The carriage is so bumpy, can you keep writing?" Chen Qing couldn't help asking.

Yao Mei put down her pen, rubbed her hands together and said with a smile, "I'm not only writing, but also tasting poems?"

"Have you tasted the charm of the poem?"

"Of course there are. These two sentences, the cicada noise forest is more quiet, and the bird singing mountain is more secluded. It seems incomprehensible, but when I think about it carefully, it really is like this. It means that there are no other passers-by, and this Jingheyou refers to myself alone."

"What else?" Chen Qing asked with a smile.

"There is also the poem His Highness taught me yesterday. Birds fly away in thousands of mountains, people disappear in thousands of paths, a lonely boat and a hat, fishing in the cold river and snow alone. Your Highness asked me to appreciate the artistic conception. I closed my eyes and imagined those pictures. Every painting is very sad, boundless and uninhabited, but there are people fishing on the river, and it feels like there is a glimmer of life in the sadness."

"Not bad!"

Chen Qing praised: "Today, I will feel the artistic conception of 'the old man left the Yellow Crane Tower in the west, the fireworks will go down to Yangzhou in March, the lonely sail is far away, the blue sky is gone, and only the Yangtze River is flowing in the sky'. Read it yourself, and there is this poem below."

Yao Mei said happily, "I'll finish writing the words first, and then read the poems!"

Chen Qing smiled lazily: "You should make me a pot of tea first, from morning till now."

"Oops! I forgot."

Yao Mei let out a cry, and hurriedly got up to make tea.

This afternoon, the team arrived in Taiyuan. The team rested in Taiyuan for two days before continuing south.

Niu Gao rushed to meet Chen Qing and brought a piece of news that surprised Chen Qing.

"Does Your Highness know Wanyan Digunai?"

How could Chen Qing not know that Wanyan Digunai, whose Chinese name is Wanyanliang, is the next Jin Kingdom Emperor Hailing King in history.

"I know him, Wanyan Wushu subordinate Wan Fuchang, what's wrong with him?"

"For some reason, he led [-] cavalry to the south, probably wanting to plunder Yangzhou, but as a result, he fell into the trap of the Song army after crossing the Huaihe River. Surrounded by a [-]-strong army, the entire [-] Jurchen cavalry was wiped out, and Wanyan Digunai was captured alive by Liu Qi in the Huaihe River, and sent to Lin'an, where the court is said to be elated."

Chen Qing sneered and said: "This Wanyan Digunai originally planned to sneak attack Xuzhou, but Xuzhou was impeccable, and he was unwilling to return without success, so he led the army to the south. This person came to the Central Plains last year, and he doesn't know much about the situation in the Central Plains. Maybe I still have the impression of the Northern Song army, thinking that my [-] cavalry can easily defeat hundreds of thousands of Song troops, and it is normal for the entire army to be wiped out if they underestimate the enemy."

"Your Highness, I heard that the court changed the reign name to Shaoding, probably because of this victory."

Chen Qing couldn't help laughing. Shao Ding was Song Lizong's year name in history, and it was used in advance. However, he also understood that the imperial court raised [-] troops. Except for the troops of Yue Fei and Wu Jie, it was almost impossible to wipe out [-] troops. The battles of the Jurchen cavalry, whether it is the Jurchen cavalry in a broad sense or the Jurchen cavalry in a narrow sense, such brilliant results are really rare for the court, and it is reasonable to celebrate the victory with a new year.

But what Chen Qing was worried about was whether the Son of Heaven would be overwhelmed by the war and would start the northern expedition to Shandong Road.

If the imperial court really decides to make a northern expedition to Shandong Road, then the first battle will be Haizhou, which will conflict with its own plan.

He must pay attention to this matter and closely observe the actions of the court. Chen Qing immediately wrote a pigeon letter, ordering Niu Gao to send it to Lin'an with a flying pigeon.

Two days later, Chen Qing's army left Taiyuan City and continued southward, marching toward Guanzhong in mighty fashion.

Lin'an is still immersed in the joy of the Huaihe River victory. This year's Shangyuan Lantern Festival also has a lot of related content. For example, each child holds a victory lantern in their hands, and the words "Triumph and Victory" are written on the lantern.

The celebratory lanterns were lit everywhere, vendors were hawking Desheng cakes, and the palace was full of joy and victory celebrations.

Under the background of the atmosphere of celebration between the government and the people, the emperor Zhao Gou inevitably became a little swollen.

Not only did he change the year name to Shaoding, but he also had the idea of ​​competing with Chen Qing. Of course, he didn't want to break out a war with Chen Qing, but to compete with Chen Qing. If Chen Qing can do it, he can do it himself. do it.

Chen Qing took back Henan Road, so why couldn't he take back Shandong Road?

This seed of competition was quietly planted in Zhao Gou's heart when he got the battle report last year, and it began to grow crazily in his heart in the past two months.

Beginning this year, Zhao Gou increased the salaries for the soldiers. He also learned from the Western Army and paid the soldiers’ salaries in the form of land in their hometowns, but he was not as generous as the Western Army soldiers. Well, the cheapest land costs five guan ren per mu, and the monthly salary of soldiers in the Western Army is actually seven guan ren, which is much higher than that of ordinary people, so ordinary people are willing to serve as soldiers.

It looks like a lot, but it’s actually not much. Twelve acres a year, and you can only earn [-] acres if you serve in the army for ten years. Soldiers in the Western Army usually have ten years of service. Rewards, so most soldiers of the Western Army have two to three hundred acres of land after they leave the army. Even if they are not small landlords, they can be regarded as rich peasants.

But Zhao Gou was relatively stingy. He only paid the soldiers their usual salary every month, and only gave them one-third of the land every month. It took three years as a soldier to earn ten mu of land.

But it's pretty good compared to before.

Since December last year, the grain harvest situation in various places has been gradually collected in Lin'an. Zhao Gou is very concerned about it. He wants to go north again, and grain is the most important thing.

(End of this chapter)