Delong

Chapter 204 Walking in the Snow (3)

When the time came to the end of the twelfth lunar month, the huge team guarding the central palace had already crossed Song City, the prefecture of Liang County, and this somewhat changed the mentality of some people in the team.

However, these changes in mentality depend on the person.

The people from Dongdu have one idea, and the people from Liang County have another idea.

Dongdu is also divided into people from Ziwei Palace and people from Jing'an Terrace. People from Liang County are also divided into officials who are parachuted from above and middle- and lower-level officials from local military affairs. There is even a distinction between county soldiers and garrison troops.

Everyone has a different mind.

If you think that's all there is to it, you'd be too naive.

It must be known that even if it is the same small group, the top, middle and bottom members of the team are not in the same mind at all, and the minds of individual people are also different.

This point can also be seen by looking at the mob of the Dragon Gang.

However, not to mention how mixed the minds of those middle and upper elite officials are, only the lowest ones, whether they come from Dongdu or the local lower ones in Liang County, whether they are palace servants or civilian sergeants, actually left the Song Dynasty. After the city gradually unified thought.

Without him, the road is getting harder and harder.

It was only slightly warmer for a day or two, and it wasn't too warm. It was still terribly cold in the morning and evening, but from noon to evening, with the accumulation of sunshine, the hard underlayer of snow began to soften.Then, as such a huge team drove past, often just the first few dozen cars passed by, the road surface could be covered with some strange mixture of snow water, mud water, and ice slag.

In a team of 3 to [-] people, not everyone has horses and chariots to ride on, and not everyone has moccasin boots. Even those who come out of the palace are mostly cloth shoes. I came here with straw sandals...cloth shoes and straw sandals are easily soaked, even cut by the ice, and the vehicles began to slip, fall, and be damaged more frequently.

And at night, not everyone is qualified to enter the city or enter the roadside market or rest in the manor. Most people can only try to drag out some cars, circle them in a circle as a windshield, and then light charcoal and firewood. Some people don't even have a car to block the wind... But anyway, they finally dried their shoes while pouring a bowl of hot soup, only to find that the shoes had already hardened with muddy water into a piece.

So early the next morning, the shoes were soaked in muddy water even faster, and even destroyed directly. Some vehicles parked on the road were frozen with muddy water, making it difficult to push and pull.

At this time, it is sick and tired, no matter how difficult it is to resist the severe cold, let alone walk.

The so-called non-combat attrition mostly comes from this.

There are no weapons, no invasion, no rain, snow, cold and heat, and you will have to reduce your staff if you walk abruptly, let alone this season, this road condition?

Therefore, when we arrived at Gushu City, no matter how unbearable the people below were, they begged to stop for a while and rest in Gushu for three to five days. The palace people help to wash and wash the shoes, and then mend them, so as to alleviate the pain, and then go on the road.

Due to the arduous journey, almost all grassroots groups have similar needs, and the pressure is transmitted to the middle and upper classes in almost all directions.

That night, even the queen heard a similar voice and was obviously moved, so she invited Duke Gao to come over again.

"No."

The exhausted Gao Jiang stood on the threshold, and after listening patiently, he almost blurted out the truth, but after he said it, he realized that his tone was tough, and immediately softened it up a little. "Your Highness, don't be moved by the words of these people, so that you miss your schedule..."

"But." The queen hesitated for a moment, and spoke sincerely. "The weather is getting warmer, so it's true that the road is completely different from when I first came out? I asked the female officer to get out of the car and walked for a while. Although only my calf was still wet, it was all muddy... How can I walk on this kind of road?"

Gao Jiang, who was going to be perfunctory, paused for a moment, then took a breath, and asked seriously: "I take the liberty of asking Your Highness, why can't I go this way?"

The queen was slightly taken aback, but still lowered her voice to answer: "Gao Dugong, I'm afraid that you will force people to leave, or even die."

Gao Jiang nodded, his face as usual: "Reporting to Your Highness, that's what I mean."

The queen was taken aback for a moment, but didn't understand for a moment.

"Forgive me for speaking bluntly. Since I entered the palace, among the projects, inspections, and ceremonies I have seen, there has never been a single one that has employed more than ten thousand people without death." Gao Jiang stood there talking to the queen, but tilted his head slightly, This is not to underestimate the queen, but to be a little tired and unable to hold on. "The life of the people below has never been fate. I didn't know it in ancient times, but it is true today... Even the time when I was favored by a saint and promoted a little, I almost froze to death because of my shirtless winter... Your Highness, saint I always only care about whether things can be done or not, regardless of human life."

"A saint is a saint." The queen glanced at the muddy spots on the opponent's body and the hem of the python robe that had almost changed color, her tone couldn't help but weakened by three points, but her position remained the same. "We are us... Can we reduce the number of deaths or reduce the number of deaths?"

"Then my servant can tell the truth a few more words." Gao Jiang stood there and continued to speak vigorously. "If there is a moment of benevolence and the delay of the journey, I'm afraid more people will die... Moreover, even those who come out of Ziwei Palace want to take a rest for themselves, I'm afraid they will also incur resentment, and it will be futile disaster."

The queen suddenly realized something.

And Gao Jiang further explained:

"The people in Jing'an Terrace are all cultivated and have horses. They came to escort us, just like sending off plague gods... It's not without kindness. I just heard from the people below that Fu Fu who lived in Xiyuan before Longwei Baishou, the current black shou, surnamed Qin, couldn't stand it, and asked an old man, Zhu Shou, to discuss with him, but was scolded back by the Taibao directly, saying that he was a dog and a mouse... Of course , The subordinates also felt that his good intentions belonged to good intentions, but it was purely a dog taking a mouse.

"There are also local officials, let alone the local officials. The sooner we left Liang County, they got rid of their ties. There are also those peasants and soldiers. To put it bluntly, we left Liang County , They can go to the New Year, and if we delay it, they will have resentment, anger, and mutiny may be possible.

"Other than that, I have never dared to tell His Highness that Zhang Xianggong and I were worried that the Dragon Clan thieves entrenched in Dongjun and Jiyin would collude with the Huaiyou League in the Jianghuai area ahead. It's related, the thief chief surnamed Zhang was the person who came out to establish the Huaiyou League on behalf of Jing'antai... If there are more troops, the possibility of casualties may be reduced.

"As for why we can't wait for people from Xuzhou Daying to come to Liang County to meet him, I think His Highness understands that when they come, Prefect Cao dares to swallow...so they dare not come.

"Finally, to put it more ridiculously, if you really want to procrastinate, the road will turn into muddy ground. It may not be easier to walk. Not to mention, the ice in the loose water will become thinner. more tired.

"Your Highness, this is all I have to say. Please trust me and let me continue to push the team forward... Speaking of this, I don't know if Your Highness has thought about it. Once your Highness publicly disagrees with your ministers, the following People will not listen to their subordinates, and it will only lead to more chaos."

After finishing speaking, Gao Jiang gave a heavy bow and bowed down.

After a while, it was the queen who couldn't bear it, and said first: "Gao Dugong, get up... I have been in the deep palace for a long time, and I take everything for granted, but if I don't say it, there seems to be resentment from everyone, and it will make you embarrassed gone."

"How dare a subject say it's difficult?"

Gao Jiang sighed and tried to straighten up. "It's really wrong of me as a minister to let His Highness suffer this grievance."

The queen nodded, but still couldn't help asking: "If the road is difficult, can you drive in the morning and evening, rest at noon, and avoid the mud?"

"Report to Your Highness, that will only freeze people to death." Gao Jiang smiled wryly. "It's still winter. The most important thing is to protect yourself from the cold. Those whose shoes are broken or who are tired, most of them get sick from the cold in the end."

The queen can only give up.

And Gao Jiang saluted again and turned out.

As soon as the people left, a female officer dressed as a man with a knife turned around, and she was furious for a while: "Your Highness, what Gao Dugong said seems to make sense, but if it were a saint here, just one sentence, no matter how difficult it is, he will suffer." If you can change it, how can you force His Highness half-softly and half-hardly like this?"

The queen sitting there touched the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, smiled wryly, but simply said, "Do you also know that he only listens to saints?"

The female officer was speechless.

The queen could only remain silent.

To put it bluntly, the queen has been a queen for more than ten years, and she has been a princess and princess for more than ten years before. How can she not understand the rules of politics?
These people in the officialdom have always been only responsible for their own sources of power.

When the queen met such a husband, she didn't share any power, and everyone in the palace knew that when it came to Duke Gao, only a saint could decide his life and death, so how could he really care about the queen's thoughts?

So what Duke Gao wanted was to pull the team over as soon as possible and give the saint an explanation, and since the lives of the people below counted as farts with the saints, they naturally counted as farts with Duke Gao.

The standards used by the two sides to measure the problem are different.

In the same way, now that the emperor's uncle is based in Dongdu, Huang Huangran has another saying, and the people in Jing'antai naturally don't need to talk about bullshit, the Governor of the North Yamen and the Minister of the Nanya, and they are also too lazy to go to the Queen of Birds, they just want to go quickly Come back, settle this matter, and then follow Uncle Cao to get promoted and make a fortune.

But at this time, there is still one person who can say a thing or two, and that is Cao Wang, the prefect of Liang County.

Cao Wang's political stance is self-evident, and he definitely wants to support Uncle Cao. However, as a traditional powerful official in the frontier, with a surname from a distant country, plus his status as a half-master, he undoubtedly has enough energy to support the team. In addition, although it is subtle to say it, the fact is that it is hard to imagine that such a traditional feudal official would make any unnecessary rebuttals to the queen's suggestions other than military affairs.

After all, among the real ministers of foreign courts, their power largely comes from political tradition and ethics, and the identity of the empress happens to be part of this political tradition and ethics.

In other words, the queen has a way to make the team listen to her words. She just needs to gather everyone together, and the red belts and black belts of Jing'an Terrace, the governor of the North Yam, the minister of the South Yam, and the local civil and military officials will all come over. If you ask her seriously, there will naturally be people who will follow her statement and easily achieve her goal.

Even if Gao Jiang is really as he said, he will lose his authority because of this. To put it bluntly, isn't there still Zhang Shizhao?No tall butcher can't eat hairy pigs?

But it's a pity, I don't know if it's because of her husband's domestication for more than ten years, the queen seems to have no idea of ​​directly contacting the ministers of foreign courts.

And the other way around, when you are about to die of exhaustion, when you are about to freeze, how can you put all your hopes on a queen who has never gained power?

Where did the concubine know in the deep palace?
In this way, the petition that had been brewing for two or three days was easily dismissed at the highest level. The next morning, that is, the [-]rd day of the twelfth lunar month, the team continued to set off. There was a commotion in the middle, and some people tried to delay it. Killed seven or eight people, and then threw hundreds of unmistakable patients together with these seven or eight corpses in Gushu City, and then continued to escort the Zhonggong Brigade along the frozen Huan River.

At noon, the old problem came again, and the servants, palace servants, sergeants, and civilian husbands complained endlessly, but this time, Gao Dugong, who had been prepared for a long time, put out the ruthlessness of repairing the Tongtian Tower, but let a Wang surnamed from the Beiya The father-in-law gathered seven or 800 young servants, and distributed a bunch of sticks to each of them, and then released them uniformly, regardless of other places, only the servants and palace people in the core team, but those who stopped and cried, regardless of men and women, just slapped sticks around head down.

In the later stage, even those who whispered to each other, they just beat them up.

The palace servants and servants trembled and dared not say anything, so they could only hurry on their way.

Seeing this scene, even the surrounding Liang County officials and military officers all looked at each other in dismay, being more careful, and at the same time couldn't help but whisper to each other, complaining about the cruelty of these father-in-laws, only saying that they were not human.

However, this kind of road is so hard, and it has been hard for days, even if there are sticks as supervisors, how can they endure it?After walking for another afternoon, it was only [-] or [-] miles away from Gushu County. Seeing the sun gradually setting, as a large car on the West Bank Road of Huanshui got stuck in the snow and mud, the people in charge of the car around were completely out of control. He collapsed beside the car, unwilling to move any more.

A team behind also stopped to take a rest.

As expected, a team of seven or eight young servants came all the way, and finally found the culprit. One end was tilted, and few people could get in under the car. Many people were beaten with sticks with their buttocks outside, and there were even more ruthless servants with sticks, who only tried their best to beat the sticks under the car.

For a while, the servant in the car could only cry for his father and mother, begging endlessly.

At this time, a group of [-] or [-] patrolling horses from Jing'an Terrace passed by. The leader was a black ribbon named Qin Bao.

"You beating people like this, are you urging them to go on the road or just venting your anger? Is there any use?!"

The servants carrying sticks looked back and saw that they were black ribbons, so they didn't dare to say anything, they just stood there and sneered, and secretly assigned someone to call the boss.

It was the one who was beaten. At this moment, the servants under the car couldn't bear it anymore and shouted loudly.

First, someone shouted at Qin Baolai:

"The men at Jing'an Terrace over there, you don't know, they are not a supervising team, they clearly want to use the power in their hands once they gain power, and if they don't kill us, how can they keep up with them and show that they are working hard?"

As soon as the voice fell, Qin Bao still didn't know how to respond, and someone directly sent a harsh word:

"You guys are too bullying. You are all ordinary servants. It's just that you are assigned to the work of the supervising team, and we are assigned to drive the car. You will bully us to death. If you wait for the men to get up in Jiangdu, don't you If a few of them are killed, they deserve to enter the palace for seven or eight years."

As soon as these words were finished, there was another flurry of sticks coming down, and then crying and shouting again and again.

Seeing this scene, Qin Bao was finally furious, but he took off the iron spear behind him, let out a loud roar, and threw it out immediately.

Like thunder and lightning, the iron gun landed directly behind the group of people within a distance of only three or five steps. The second half was almost completely submerged in the slush, and there was still some strange crackling sound, which shocked the waiters holding sticks immediately. Abandoning sticks and hands, one is more honest than the other.

But soon, their reinforcements arrived.

A father-in-law from Beiya who obviously has some grades came over, looked around, and after finding out what was going on, he was not angry, but came to ask Qin Bao seriously: "Deputy Inspector Qin, you are not from Fulongwei, but from Jing Does the deputy inspector of Antai want to meddle in the affairs of the palace? Besides, do the regular inspectors of your family think it is okay to delay the schedule like this? Shall we go to the higher-ups for a review?"

"Eunuch Wang, don't use anyone to oppress me. I have seen with my own eyes that these people want to beat people to death just to vent their anger." Qin Bao was not polite. "Don't say anything about the superiors' judgments. Even if the saint and the emperor are face to face, I will say that you are so wrong!"

The father-in-law was silent for a moment, then stood there with his hands tied, and asked seriously: "Then they are wrong, how should we deal with it? Deputy Inspector Qin, tell me, I will do it, how about it?"

Qin Bao reined in the spotted leopard beast and took a long breath: "Old Wang, do you think I really care about Taichung in the palace?"

The prince was speechless.

"Okay, then you will follow orders." After speaking, Qin Bao got off his horse directly. "Pull out the injured person, put it aside to rest, wash the wound and bandage it, you and me, and these beaters, push the car out together, and then hold the car together, no one else Be lazy and push it off until it gets dark and camps today."

Everything is most afraid of being serious.

Hearing this, Wang Gonggong twitched his face, but he was honest: "As expected of Deputy Inspector Qin, he got out with that Mr. Zhang, I admit it...Your Excellency, just help us to carry the car out and go on our own." , I heard that there is something wrong with the front garden where camping is going, you just do your own homework, and I will take these bastards with me to push this car over there."

Qin Bao took a long breath when he heard the words, and then stopped making a sound, but stepped forward to help lift the cart, and then arranged the servants with bad heads and blood on the snowy ground beside the road, and then came back to run With Ding Lei's true energy, under the watchful eyes of Wang Gonggong and others, he slowly raised the big iron gun with a little flashing light, and then he rode his horse and led the crowd to leave.

After walking four or five hundred steps, they encountered a group of knights head-on, the leader being Li Qingchen.

When the two sides exchanged horses, Li Qingchen really gave a serious message: "Today's journey is neither awkward nor embarrassing. There is a corner of the rabbit garden left over from the previous dynasty in front of us, and we cleaned it in the palace as a place to stay. As a result, our people actually caught a thief... …At first I thought it was a spy, but he claimed to be a Dangshan bandit, and he had confidential military information to report! Ask him the specific situation, but he refused to tell, and if he insisted on seeing the queen, or the governor of the northern yamen, or the minister of the southern yamen, Luo Zhushou directly punished him. But he accidentally killed him, and the Beiya went to ask for it again after hearing the news, and they were making a fuss... But no matter what, they had to be careful that the Dangshan bandits were blocking them in front. What Luo Zhushou meant was that the escort team settled around the Rabbit Garden tonight. After that, our two teams went south overnight to find out the situation ahead."

Qin Bao was silent for a moment, but his heart had already set off a storm.

"I know that guy Luo Fang is sending us out again for no reason, but after all, he is escorting the Central Palace, and it's not groundless." Seeing this, Li Qingchen also misunderstood. "Let's just bear with it."

"That's not what it means." Qin Bao struggled for a while before he finally got it right. "The main reason is that I don't believe that the Dangshan bandit has nothing to do with Zhang Sange... The Dangshan bandit came from the south, so I'm afraid it's not a bait, or at least it's a north-south attack... Do you want to guard against the northeast as well?"

Li Qingchen hesitated to speak.

After a while, he lowered his voice to respond: "Qin Er, since you are in such a difficult situation, you accepted the job honestly and took the opportunity to hide in the south. Why do you have to say it?"

"A man should take his responsibility..." Qin Bao couldn't continue speaking halfway through. "However, to be honest, if Brother Zhang really set up a game, it would be too late. It's almost dark, and we don't know where to break the game."

"How could it be as mysterious as what you said?" Li Qingchen looked at him solemnly. "Zhang Ni also has one nose and two eyes, and he is also leading a group of mobs... Nine times out of ten, he still wants to join forces with the Dangshan Bandits to stop Qiao County... But the news leaked too quickly, and he deserves nothing. And come back."

"I hope so!" Qin Bao also cheered up. "However, I'd better go to the northeast first. Don't go to Luo Fang, just go to Xue Liang, Governor Cao, Duke Gao, and Mr. Zhang. Tell them that we have done our duty."

"Alright." Li Qingchen nodded, no longer entangled, turned around and left.

And Qin Bao also gritted his teeth, and led his troops across the Huan Shui ice that had gradually re-solidified, and headed for the snow field in the northeast.

That is to say, when Qin Bao was galloping away into the snow, the car he had lifted up might have had some problems when it slipped last time, but it slipped again shortly after he was on the road. After trying for a long time, the servants with sticks were unable to push it. Instead, their faces were covered in cold muddy water, so they had to sit down by the roadside.

This scene quickly attracted another group of young servants with sticks.

"Get up quickly, push the cart, don't delay camping ahead tonight!" The servants of Shubang shouted from afar. "The place to camp tonight is in the rabbit garden five miles ahead. No matter how tired you are, you have to walk there! See how much you have delayed the car? Everyone is still waiting for hot soup at night!"

"I really don't have the strength."

Probably because he didn't realize the reversal of his status, or because he felt that he had the support of the big stick leader, Wang Gonggong, or because he was simply tired, and the servants lay there motionless, just shouting.

"Even if you beat us into a puddle of mud, it's only here."

Those servants with sticks heard some people laughed and some were angry, but they didn't make a sound. When they came to the front, they suddenly changed their faces and swung their sticks, and beat them all over the face. , can only run around temporarily, in a mess.

"We are the same as you!"

"What's the same? We are the supervising team, following the prince, you are just pushing the cart!"

"The prince is here!"

"Do you still dare to arrange the prince? You also deserve the surname Wang?!"

"Don't fight...the prince is next to you!"

"Then let's fight together! Neither of you deserves the surname Wang!"

Calling and calling, the poor prince's face was covered with mud and water, his clothes were all covered with ice, and he had no choice but to hold back and crawl into the mud and water under the car, preparing to get in and catch his breath Let's talk again.

However, at this moment, some well-meaning people passing by the road couldn't stand it any longer: "You beating people like this, are you urging them to go on the road or just venting your anger? Is there any use?!"

The servants who were beating sticks stopped immediately.

The prince, whose forehead was already bleeding, took the opportunity to look up, and saw a familiar black ribbon, wearing a dark brocade jacket, with a standard scimitar, riding a yellow puma, standing beside the team, heading this way Stop drinking, and behind him there are dozens of similarly dressed knights in brocade, who are also curiously poking their heads.

"Vice Changjian Zhang, I'm sorry, I'll show you a joke." Although the prince, who was known for his alertness and calmness, was knocked out of his head, he actually called out his surname to the person who came, and thanked him with his hands.

Zhang Xing was surprised for a moment, poked his head and squinted his eyes, and then realized: "Is it actually Lao Wang? With your qualifications, you are second only to several governors and Lao Yu in Beiya, so why do you want to push a cart? Is Beiya so particular about sharing weal and woe now?"

Eunuch Wang smiled wryly: "Deputy Changjian Zhang is still here to mock? If Qin Er didn't follow your example and take me..."

In the middle of the speech, the prince whose face and body were about to freeze was cold for a moment, and felt that his whole body had fallen into the ice hole, and then he stood on the spot without saying a word, motionless.

After a long while, a servant with a blood-clad stick came over cautiously, glanced at the prince's face, then threw down the stick, knelt down with a sobbing plop, and broke the silence earnestly:
"Eunuch Wang, we men really don't know it's you! Otherwise, call back!"

Eunuch Wang turned his head to look at the ram, and wanted to kneel down and cry with him for a while, but felt that his face was already stiff in the north wind, and he couldn't squeeze a single tear.

PS: Good night everyone!
(End of this chapter)