The rise of the prince

Chapter 256 Ding Yi's Layout + Princess Qing'an + Entering Guazhou

That night, Li Xingzhou led the Tenth Army to the county seat on the border of Kaiyuan Mansion. Among the luggage were twelve cannons made by the Wang Mansion made of Xiaogang, with a caliber of 120mm, which slowed down the march very much.

The county magistrate personally labored the army and brought several pigs and sheep. Yan Shen was busy registering his name excitedly. , the commander of the Tenth Army of the New Army, etc., a lot of mess.

Li Xingzhou interrupted him amusedly, but Zhixian was really taken aback. He only knew that there was an army coming, but he didn't expect that the leader of the army was actually a young prince.

In the evening, facing the spring breeze, all the tents were set up, and the soldiers ate hot meals. These were sent by hundreds of people from the county magistrate. Except for the wind, the soldiers laughed, and occasionally the horses could be heard in the camp. Neighing, the counties around the capital are not too poor no matter what, they can provide these meals.

Standing in the wind, Li Xingzhou can see the river and the endless mountains in the distance. From a distance, there are still some orange-yellow gleams, shining under the night, supporting the vast starry sky.

In the era without the brilliant lights on the ground, the starry sky will stand alone, showing its splendor to the fullest.

Li Xingzhou ate something casually, thanked the county magistrate, looked at the bright night sky, and felt a little confused. After all, he has only been in this world for less than half a year, and this is the first time he has been so far away from Beijing. There are so many titles in the mix, and the biggest one is the King of Pingnan County.

King of the county.
He is not directly related to the prince, nor is he a brother of the emperor. Although it is indeed possible to be crowned king, he still needs to have outstanding achievements or outstanding performance, and he still needs to wait for him to become an adult.He never expected that the emperor would go crazy and make him the king of the county now. Although the warlord going south really needs status, then adding a military official like General Huaihua is also qualified, so there is no need to make him the king directly, it's too much scary.

You must know that the kings at his age are also very rare throughout the history of the Jing Dynasty, except for the early days of the founding of the country, they can't be found at all.

"Haha, son, no, it's the prince!" Yan Shen came over with a half leg of lamb happily: "My son, this roast leg of lamb is really delicious, do you want it?"

Li Xingzhou shook his head: "Xiang also eat less, I have to hurry tomorrow, and, from now on, I will call you the son, the prince sounds too old."

"How can it be done, the majesty of the prince!" Yan Shen said happily: "Young Master, listen to me again." He consciously shut up halfway through the speech: "Haha, let's call him Shizi."

There is still a long way to go, and the mountains under the stars in front of him are the road. Naturally, this road will not be easy, but he is ready.

Along the Lengfengqing River, lush trees block the scorching sun.

A few soldiers in Xu's military uniforms poured cold water from the stream into the crevices of their leather armor to cool down. Not far from the lower reaches of the river were two stripped and stinking headless corpses. Their skin was pale and swollen. One day, there were a lot of flies flying around, and the soldiers didn't bother to take care of them, they just wanted to stay away from the stench.

Ding Yi came from the south on horseback, followed by a large group of people, including Zhong Li.

Seeing an adult coming, a few lazy soldiers quickly stood up and went forward to report: "My lord, these two are spies from Luzhou. They came to explore the wind a few days ago, and we discovered them."

Ding Yi frowned: "Where's the head?"

"The head was chopped off by the commander."

"Hmph, you greedy guy." Ding Yi said in a low voice, and then ordered: "I've seen it, find a place to bury it quickly, the stench is unbearable, don't bury it by the river."

"Yes!" Several soldiers listened to the order, and then dragged away the two headless corpses holding their noses.

Zhong Li rode on his horse and said, "Luzhou is too courageous to invade our borders. In my opinion, Xu Guoxin has won and his morale is high. It is a good time to use troops. We should continue to send troops to directly pacify Luzhou to prevent future troubles." .”

When Zhong Li said that, several officials who followed him also chimed in to express their agreement.

"I think Master Zhong's words are very true."

"That's right, at this time, the other is weak and we are strong. Our country Xu has [-] armored soldiers. It is a good time to use troops. The Huaihua Mansion in Luzhou is vast, but has fewer household registrations. Although it is rich, it is not as good as our country. At this time, it is difficult to win in one fell swoop." Next, expand the territory."

"."

Everyone nodded in agreement, but Ding Yi just smiled, and while driving his horse forward, he said: "You all share the country's worries, I know it in my heart, but do you know the current situation in Luzhou?"

"Master Ding, please clarify." Someone asked for advice.

Ding Yi smiled confidently: "People in Luzhou are currently in a state of panic and discord. Many people say that Luzhou is volatile and untrustworthy. It is true that it is not credible, but thinking about it the other way around, the more vacillating, the more suffering, the more difficult it is. It's a time when everyone's opinions are difficult to adjust and they are not of one mind.

A country without foreign aggression must have internal worries.

Luzhou is now isolated from the imperial court, just like an independent small country. If we continue to exert pressure and station troops on the border, even if we don't do anything, they will naturally fight.If we make a move, they will instead unite and unanimously speak out, then it will be a big trouble.

Just wait, keep adding troops to the border garrisons, and let Luzhou know with great fanfare, and wait for them to fight on their own, and both sides will suffer, and we will send troops to clean up together. "

Zhong Li frowned slightly: "But what if the prefect of Huaihua broke the boat and fought us to the death?"

"Brother Zhong is worthy of being a smart person." Ding Yi praised.

"Haha, I'm overwhelmed, but some small strategies, although they can check for gaps and fill in gaps, how can they compare with Brother Ding's great wisdom." Zhong Li smiled triumphantly.

Ding Yi said: "Because I was afraid that he would jump over the wall in a hurry and fight to the death with me, so I supervised the prefect of Huaihua to suppress his two sons, and Qidong's two sons are in my hands. , but the internal worries are getting more and more serious.

Why do you think this palace asked Qidong to kill Princess Qing'an and spread it around? "

"To get rid of the remnants of the Jing Dynasty?" Someone answered cautiously.

Ding Yi shook his head: "Wrong! A princess who has been married for so many years and is far away in a foreign country can control what. What is the difference between killing and not killing? If you don't kill, you can get a good reputation for magnanimity. It’s all about finding a good reason.”

Zhong Li nodded, suddenly realized, cupped his hands and said: "Master Ding is brilliant!"

Everyone followed suit and nodded.

"It's Mr. Ding's trick that's better!"

"That's right, that's right, it's really a blessing for me, Xu Guo, to be far-sighted at a young age."

"."

In the midst of the crowd's praise, Ding Yi held his head high and rode his horse to the camp on the border of Luzhou. Behind him, soldiers lined up in a long line and marched towards the border of Luzhou.

At night, in the north of Luzhou City, Princess Qing'an's consort's mansion.

At this time, people were chaotic, the fire was bright, people were coming and going everywhere, people with torches and hatchets were everywhere outside the door, and many people shouted "Kill the demon girl, protect the hometown!"

The Luzhou Xiang army with hundreds of people in the distance only dared to watch from the corner of the street, and did not dare to approach at all.

Originally, when a wife married into a man's family, she would always be named by the man's surname. For example, a girl from the Zhao family who married into the Wu family could be called the Wu Zhao family after marriage.

But the princess is different, the princess is married and forms her own mansion, although it is still called the consort's mansion, but in fact the princess is the owner of the mansion, she is still called the princess title, not the man's surname, so the consort can also be regarded as a man who eats soft food.

Princess Qing'an is more than 30 years old this year, and half of her life is also fortune-telling.

At the beginning, she was the queen's daughter but married far away. In fact, many of them were out of political considerations.

Her husband's family, the Liu family, was originally the largest family in Huaihua Prefecture, and their influence spread throughout Huaihua Prefecture, and even spread to the Jiannan Road area in the northwest of Luzhou. The Liu family was engaged in government and business, and almost affected most of the northwest of Jing Dynasty. The transportation in these areas is inconvenient. , is too far away from the capital, and it is difficult to control without the help of local clans.

Originally, the Liu family was famous, but when Princess Qing'an got married, she was in full swing, and her husband was also a well-educated and reasonable person. Even though it was a political marriage, he thought it was good at first.

Unexpectedly, in the second year of marrying in the south, at the time of the handover of summer and autumn, there was a heavy rain, which lasted for more than ten days. Lightning flashed and thundered day and night, the sky was invisible, and the mountain torrents and beasts screamed. At this time, the head of the Liu family rushed to Jiannan Road to see the new rice. On the way, people and cars were swept away by mudslides in the mountains, and the bones could not be found.

Once the head of the family died, several families fought among themselves, and the Liu family turned from prosperity to decline in just a year or two. It was fragmented and quickly declined. Only then did Princess Qing'an discover her husband's problem.

It is true that her husband is knowledgeable and reasonable, but his knowledge and reasonableness is based on ignorance of world affairs, liking leisure and hating work!

As soon as the head of the family left, his true nature as a legitimate son was immediately exposed. He didn't know how to deal with the world at all, and he just wanted to sit and wait for death. He has only learned to read since he was a child.
Encountering such a catastrophe, and her husband being so incompetent, outsiders still gossip about her overcoming the Liu family.

Under various circumstances, despite the grief and indignation, and as a woman, she also worked hard to improve herself, spared no effort, and worked tirelessly to support the whole family.

At that time, because of the newlyweds, Qing'an happened to be pregnant with her first child, and she was very weak due to hard work. Although the child was born, she was born with a handicap, and afterward she contracted a cold and did not keep it. She passed away only last year.

Princess Qing'an has been supporting the whole family alone, even when the situation in Luzhou was tense, she also thought about returning to Beijing, but there was someone she couldn't let go of in Luzhou, and her incompetent husband was naturally not in China, mainly her mother-in-law in her 60s, who was still in Beijing. There are many servants in the mansion.

The mother-in-law has always been kind to her and has helped her a lot. The servants also respect her and do everything she can. If she returns to Beijing and is thousands of miles away, what will they do?Angry at her husband's incompetence, she separated from her husband and moved to her mother-in-law's courtyard.

At the beginning of last year, due to pressure and persuasion from her mother-in-law, she went back to live with her husband for a few days, conceived a child, and then moved back to her mother-in-law's small courtyard.

As the mother-in-law said, she is a woman's family after all, and she is fine now, but if she has no children in a few years, how will she gain a foothold in the Liu family.Outsiders have long said that the son-in-law's mansion is governed by two women. When she gets old, without the support of the Liu family's children, she will not be able to live in peace in this foreign land.

Before this year, the child was born, it was a boy, and he was very healthy.

It's a pity that the good times didn't last long. Although the situation was tense before, at least there was no conflict. However, in the past few days, the consort's mansion was directly surrounded by angry people, shouting for the princess and the concubine to get rid of them and die.

She probably knew the situation. Suzhou rebelled, the imperial court was defeated, people in Luzhou were in panic, and people heard rumors everywhere that the newly rebellious "Xu Kingdom" in Suzhou demanded to hand over her head, otherwise a hundred thousand troops would be sent to flatten Luzhou City.

For a while, the situation in the son-in-law's mansion was tense. She and her mother-in-law had already prepared to recruit more than 800 nursing homes for more than a year, and they were on duty day and night.The magistrate also sent people over to talk to each other, asking them to write a letter from home and send it to the capital for help, but there was no news for a long time.

But in the past few days, more and more mobs gathered outside the Prince Consort's Mansion. Thousands of mobs had gathered outside the Consort's Mansion. The surrounding streets were blocked and blocked day and night.

Fortunately, the Liu family has a solid foundation, and the consort's treasury has all the armor and weapons in the treasury. In addition, the guards are patrolling day and night, and the mob dare not act rashly for a while, but as time goes by, the situation will only get worse.

A few days ago, a daring and skilled mob came in by climbing a high wall in the dark, but when he landed, he broke his leg and was thrown out by the guard.Normally, she would have ordered people to be beaten to death with sticks, but now if Ruo Zhentu beats them to death for a while, she might arouse public anger.

"Princess, the next shift has been arranged, you'd better go to sleep." The strong head of the nursing yard reported.

It was already night at this time, and she couldn't sleep without patrolling her every day. The lantern lit by the maid followed her. , send a few more people, if the lights are insufficient, take the sign and ask the manager of the mansion to get it."

The head of the guard yard nodded: "Don't worry, princess, the bad guys can't get in with me, so you can just rest at ease."

Princess Qing'an nodded, and then, accompanied by two maids, she turned around the corner of the courtyard and looked up at the sky full of stars. Although it was not as bright as summer, it was still showing its brilliance at the beginning. Looking at it, she couldn't help but think of her elder brother, Prince Xiao.

If the majestic, brave and convincing elder brother of those years was here, the world would not be what it is now, and it would be the turn of those thieves to be rampant. Why should I have to suffer from fear? Thinking about it, my mind is filled with the voice and appearance of my elder brother .
When she regained her senses, she realized that tears were streaming down her face.

The marching process was smoother than Li Xingzhou imagined, thanks to four points.

The first point is that the weather is good, people are not as good as the sky, and the time of day is something he can never decide. Fortunately, the early spring is sunny and sunny, and even if it rains, it will only rain sporadically, which is not enough to hinder the march.

The second point is that the food is good, thanks to the flock of sheep sent by He Zhao, the morale is naturally high if the food is good, and the soldiers are high-spirited, and they can walk faster.

The third point is that because the former army opened the way, the third and fourth chambers of the Shenwu Army had [-] people, plus various servants and logistics personnel, a total of more than [-] people went south, carrying countless luggage, so they opened mountains and bridges all the way. Repairing the roads will naturally benefit them later.

The last point is that he had expected it a long time ago. It is estimated that it will take more than ten days to travel from the capital to Guazhou, but when the morale is high and the road conditions are good, they walked about half of the distance when they set up camp on the fourth day. The difference was reflected in the fact that some soldiers couldn't adjust their bodies and developed a fever.

And it was not a small number, there were more than thirty people. Fortunately, he had expected it long ago, and brought alcohol from the palace as a backup when he set off.

Alcohol not only has the effect of sterilization and disinfection, but also because of its low boiling point and volatile characteristics, it can also be used for physical cooling, which has a miraculous effect on fever.

Although in the end there were still two people who did not survive, and died on the road, so they had to be buried on the spot.But in any case, because of the presence of alcohol, the turmoil caused by the unacceptable environment did not spread, let alone slow down the march.

On March [-]th, they had already entered the outskirts of Guazhou. The jurisdiction of Guazhou stretched from east to west and bordered the river to the north, so even though they had already entered the border of Guazhou, it would still take some time to reach Guazhou.

Along the way, Li Xingzhou found that the villages around the road were deserted. He finally asked someone to find out that the villagers heard that the army was coming, and they were afraid to run to the mountains temporarily to avoid it.

They continued to move forward. On the morning of March [-]th, they broke camp and marched for more than an hour. They climbed over the mountain, passed through a large mountain with broad-leaved forest at the foot and coniferous forest at the top. Guazhou City at the foot of the mountain in the distance, and the Forbidden Army camp outside the city that occupies an area ten times larger than Guazhou City.

All of a sudden the soldiers cheered, and after a long and hard journey, Guazhou was finally here!
As the saying goes, Wangshan runs to death, and Li Xingzhou also knows that the next road is not close, at least it will take more than a day to walk, and there will be a peripheral county in the middle.

(End of this chapter)