The rise of the prince

Chapter 261 Time Doesn't Wait For Me + The Royal Family Of The Liao Kingdom
Clouds sell, blue sea and sky are boundless, and waves shake the golden mountains and the earth is about to float.

These two poems of Jing Chao are about Guazhou, Guazhou Ferry, the sun sets, the broad-leaved evergreen forest branches and leaves are swaying in the wind, ferocious like living things, the waves are rushing on the river, the dark green water and grass are abundant on the bank, and the fishing boats are coming and going. With the sound of the whistle, they began to come back one after another, untying the net and tying the boat, a scene of prosperity.

After more than ten days of mediation and hard work by Emperor Sun Pingnan Wang Li Xingzhou, most of the people in Guazhou have returned to their farms. Guazhou changed from the desolate scene when it first arrived and gradually restored its former prosperity.

Cauliflower perch in January, saury in February, mandarin fish in March, fishermen all know when to catch what fish.

Egrets fly in front of Xisai Mountain, peach blossoms flow in water, and mandarin fish are fat.Now is a good season to catch mandarin fish with nets. From time to time, fishermen will send him a few fat mandarin fish outside the gate of the camp. Ordinary people are limited by their cognitive level and are easily deceived and deceived by others, but they are pure and simple. , is monotonously less demanding.

Most people in Guazhou understand the principle of repaying gratitude, and they will send something to the Tenth Army's garrison from time to time.

Food is the most important thing for the people, and if there is food, it is not surprising. This is a biological instinct, and there is no need to reprimand or deny it. Because of this, when people overcome this instinct and nature to make choices, it is very valuable. .

"My lord, do you really want to go west?" Di Zhi asked in the military tent.

Li Xingzhou nodded. He told Yang Hongzhao, but Yang Hongzhao always objected.

He carefully polished the sword that Tieniu had made for him, and then put it away, "Yes, but this time I will only take the sword to Shenjiying."

Many things are human-made, and many things are actually a matter of probability.There are no absolutes in the world. All he can do is to seize opportunities. Seizing opportunities can increase the probability, but it does not mean deciding the outcome. There are too many variables in it, and it needs to be adaptable and flexible. These are the most challenging places.

Li Xingzhou has never been an indecisive person. Now that the rebels are afraid of Luzhou's grouping, they will not act rashly. This is the best time to save my sister-in-law. Once the internal struggle in Luzhou has a result, the stalemate will not continue, and the opportunity will be completely gone.

The opportunity is fleeting, he will not miss it, and he will not think too much. There are not many opportunities in his life.

"But my lord, there are only a thousand people in the Shenji camp." Di Zhi was still shocked.

Li Xingzhou smiled: "Don't worry, I'm not going to fight for my life, I'm going to save people." The moment is the rarest opportunity, chaos is the ladder to rise, the tool of the strong, once the internal friction in Luzhou is almost the same, and the rebels take Luzhou, then It's too late.

If tens of thousands of troops march slowly from Guazhou to Luzhou, it will take at least a month, but if they each have two horses and travel lightly, they can arrive within ten days. For Shenjiying, it is too much. Protection is cumbersome instead, they don't need heavy armor, and their marching speed will be greatly accelerated.

The Tenth Army didn't have that many horses, so Li Xingzhou asked Yang Hongzhao for them.

Yang Hongzhao naturally opposed this plan. Just as De Gong said, Yang Hongzhao knew how to use troops, but he was too cautious. He would never agree to such a risky opportunity.

In addition, if a county king had an accident in his army, he would not be able to get away with it anyway.

Li Xingzhou didn't talk nonsense, and directly used his status as the county king to force him to prepare [-] horses for the Tenth Army. This number was almost equivalent to the number of horses in Jing Dynasty's army with few horses.

Under pressure from his identity as King Pingnan, Yang Hongzhao reluctantly agreed to write a warrant to Ma.

But Li Xingzhou knew that Yang Hongzhao would not give it so easily, so the next day he personally led the sergeant of the Tenth Army until the fourth camp, and showed his Pingnan Wangbao book, plus Yang Hongzhao gave him Shuai's handwritten document Take two thousand horses.

There are war horses and draft horses among these horses, good and bad are mixed, but they are enough.

Seeing that he acted so decisively, Yang Hongzhao knew that he had made up his mind, so he tried to persuade him again the next night.

Li Xingzhou still did not give in, but told him that after 20 days, he would pretend to attack the west of Suzhou. As for whether Yang Hongzhao would listen, he could not decide.

On the third day, Li Xingzhou announced the marching plan in the Tenth Army, and the Shenji Battalion began preparations. In the early morning of the fourth day, the sergeants had already assembled.

Yang Hongzhao persuaded again with a dark face, but he was still unmoved, and finally Yang Hongzhao left in a hurry.

In the camp, the [-] soldiers of the Shenji Battalion had assembled, and the other soldiers of the other battalions were watching from a distance. Many eyes were looking at him, most of them were timid and confused. If possible, no one would be willing to go to the battlefield.

Li Xingzhou asked everyone to lead the horses first, one for walking and one for carrying. They did not need superb riding skills, because they were not cavalry, and the horses were only used for carrying. Looking at the nervous faces, he felt a little nervous. There are waves, but we must not retreat.

Li Xingzhou didn't know what the specific situation would be. He could analyze the macro situation, and he had made a detailed plan for this action.

But one thing can be confirmed, it is already the best situation.

In the afternoon, after the flag sacrifice, the Shenji Battalion set off amidst many puzzled eyes and discussions.

Li Xingzhou wore a casual soft leather armor and rode Meixue, with a sword made of iron ox hanging on his waist, a quick-fire gun on his back, a bullet bag and a powder pot of ox horn on his belt, and his riding boots were well polished Bright.

This time the troops were dispatched very suddenly and swiftly. From preparation to departure, it took only four or five days. The troops were extremely fast.

The dispatch of the Tenth Army is not complicated, because the Tenth Army can be self-sufficient and does not need to mobilize supplies from the camp warehouse, so Yang Hongzhao can't get stuck.

As for the rest of the Tenth Army, Li Xingzhou asked Shi Gong, the prefect of Guazhou, to help take care of them. The sooner the better, if he brought more than 3000 people, it would definitely slow down the march.

Yang Hongzhao rushed back to the big tent angrily, raised his hand and told the surrounding officials: "Grind the ink, and immediately write a memorial report. Regardless of dissuasion, Li Xingzhou, the king of Pingnan, insisted on going his own way, regardless of the overall situation, and sent troops to the west."

The subordinate officer dressed as a scribe next to him was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly began to write.

Yang Hongzhao was so angry that he paced around in the camp. The commanders and adjutants of the chambers all bowed their heads and did not dare to speak. At this moment, there were dense sounds of horseshoes outside, the ground shook, and a lot of dust fell from the tent.

Yang Hongzhao was already angry in his heart, and he was even more angry when he saw this: "What's going on! Get out and have a look!"

The adjutant quickly raised the curtain and went out, and came back in a short while to report: "My lord, it is King Pingnan from the east of the camp who has left the camp with his troops!"

"What!" Yang Hongzhao was startled, and before he could get angry, he hurriedly said, "Prepare the horse, prepare the horse for me!"

He really didn't expect that Pingnan Wang Li Xingzhou would act so decisively and quickly at such a young age, he would do what he said, act vigorously, without delay, and did not look at other people's opinions!

He originally thought that King Pingnan was young and had no experience in organizing soldiers. At least he would have to prepare for five or six days, and he would be able to persuade him!

Yang Hongzhao quickly got out of the tent, and through the wooden fence, he could see a long dragon in the mud in the distance heading northwest.

The people at the front have slowly disappeared into the woods, and the people behind are still following. Looking closer, this army seems to be a little different. There is no noise, no chaos, and it is not the dead silence of low morale, but more like... It was so orderly, Yang Hongzhao was a little dumbfounded.

He has been fighting for decades and has never seen such an army
Just at this time, the horse boy brought the horse, and the subordinate officials also wrote a report for him to see.

Yang Hongzhao hesitated for a long time, glanced at the report written by the subordinate officer, and then looked at the army in the distance that was still leaving the camp in an orderly manner.
"Take the horse to feed some fodder," Yang Hongzhao said.

The horse boy was taken aback, "I just fed the general."

"Then take it to drink water."

"I also ate the water." The horse boy asked for credit, but the adjutant suddenly gave him a slap in the face: "You ignorant bastard, go as soon as the general asks you to go, why are there so many words!"

The horse boy was bleeding from the corner of his mouth, seeing the fear in the adjutant's eyes, he hurriedly led the horse away.

Seeing him walk away, the adjutant said again: "General, he is just an ignorant child, so don't worry about him."

Yang Hongzhao was expressionless and didn't say anything. He took the officer's memorandum and looked at it. After reading it for a while, he stopped and didn't know what he was thinking. The princess's family letter is also copied and sent to the capital."

The subordinate officials nodded, then stepped back and began to rewrite the report.

Yang Hongzhao seemed to think of something again, and rolled his eyes, "Let Jianye come back, and he will personally send the report to the capital."

The adjutant was stunned for a moment. Yang Jianye is the eldest son of the general, and he is also the commander of the army. He only reported it, but he was escorted by the commander of the army?But he naturally didn't dare to refute, so he quickly agreed, and then dispatched the command flag to let the messengers go outside the camp and transfer back to the army commander Yang Jianye.

On March [-]th, there was light rain in Guazhou. In order to rescue his aunt, Princess Qing’an, Li Xingzhou led his troops to ignore the Supreme Commander of Guazhou. Yang Hongzhao, the commander in front of the temple, stopped him and insisted on going west. He left Guazhou on the same day, and the people crowded in send off.

On March 21, the supreme commander of Guazhou, the son of Yang Hongzhao, the commander in front of the temple, escorted the memorial to the north and reported the situation to the capital.

On March 22, King Pingnan's army completely left the border of Guazhou, marched west along the official road, and then went south.

After Li Xingzhou, the eldest son of Prince Xiao, was appointed as King Pingnan's southern military governor in early March, the development of things was beyond the expectations of many people, and they couldn't think about it at all.

The Liao Kingdom, known as Bingtie, has a vast territory and millions of armour.

Different from the Jing Dynasty, the people of the Liao Dynasty were tough and strong, respected martial arts, had a large span from east to west, and the climate change was not obvious.

The Liao State has always been the old enemy of the Jing State. The two countries have fought for more than a hundred years, and each has its own outcome.

The Liao State has the famous Liao State cavalry on the battlefield, and the iron sword.

But the folk customs are tough, and there are disadvantages in advocating martial arts, that is, the people are uneasy and happy to farm, the strong are respected, the society is chaotic, the killing is excessive, and the people are in dire straits. When the order cannot be established, the productivity cannot be liberated, and the low living standard is almost a inevitable.

The people of Jing hated the people of Liao like wild beasts. They didn't know the etiquette, but only knew how to burn, kill and loot.Liao people looked down on Jingren's weakness and incompetence, and only knew that they were full of words.

The Liao people also envied Jingren, who were rich, rich in rice and noodles, flocks of cattle and sheep, and prosperous and extravagant.

The territory of the Liao State is larger than that of the Jing Dynasty, but the only rich cities are Shangjing, Tokyo, Nanjing, Zhongjing, and Xijing, while the territory of the Jing Dynasty is slightly smaller than that of the Liao State, but there are eleven prefectures, each of which is a rich and prosperous place. There are tens of millions of mansions, scaled houses, smoked willows and painted bridges, wind curtains and emerald curtains, and there are 10 homes.

Among them, the prosperity of Xijing and Nanjing in the Liao Kingdom is only because Xijing used to be the Yunzhou of the former dynasty, and Nanjing was the Youzhou of the former dynasty.

Most Liao people look down on Jingren, but they are extremely envious of Jingren in their hearts.

Shangjing, the capital of the Liao Kingdom, has been an important place for military strategists since ancient times. The Liao people were originally descendants of the Yuwen clan of Xianbei, and were defeated by the Murong clan and then by the Wei emperor.

Later, when the world was in chaos at the end of the previous dynasty, the family changed its name to Khitan to stand on its own feet, took Beijing as its capital, and then became bigger and became Khitan. Then the brothers usurped the throne, changed the name of the country to Liao, and became Liao. It reaches Jinshan in the west, Yinma River in the north and Baigou in the south.

In Shangjing City, the surrounding area is obviously much more depressed than the big city of Jing Dynasty, because the Liao people are warlike and don't know how to govern the country.

As a businessman traveling between Liao and Jing, Xiao Hongqi naturally knew the difference.

Neighbors and friends around him knew that he went to Jingchao to do business, and many people asked him whether it was better for Jingchao Kaiyuan, or for them to go to Beijing in Liao Kingdom.

He would often answer with a smile: "Naturally, it's good for me to go to Beijing in Daliao! I can't keep up with Kaiyuan's horse racing."

Everyone laughed and liked him a little more, but Xiao Hongqi knew in his heart that Shangjing couldn't compare to Kaiyuan, not even Jiangzhou City in Ningjiang Prefecture in the north.

Today he was drinking in a restaurant with his second brother. There is no exquisite restaurant like Kaiyuan "Tingyulou" in Shangjing, but it is not bad, wine and meat are cheaper than Kaiyuan.

Before, his father paid the brothers to do business. He was deceived by his friends and mistakenly bought the useless black stones as iron stones. The black stone is "graphite".

Afterwards, he continuously bought those black stones from Liao State at low prices, and then transported them to Jing State to sell them. He made a lot of money, and his father and elders in the family admired him.

"Brother, it seems that you are capable in our family, and my brother will rely on you in the future!" The second brother laughed boldly: "Come on, come on, my brother will pour you wine."

As he spoke, he poured a big bowl of cloudy rice wine for him.

"Hahaha" Xiao Hongqi laughed triumphantly, and took a big gulp. To be honest, after tasting the rice wine brewed by General Xiaowangfu, the rice wine was like white water, but he was still happy, because the second brother who always looked down on him actually made it for him today. Pour wine.

In the Liao Kingdom, few people could have a surname.

There are only two surnames in the Liao Kingdom, one is Xiao, the surname Xiao is an aristocratic surname, and its status in the Liao Kingdom is higher than that of ordinary people, so ordinary people are not allowed to use it.

The other one is Yelu, which is the surname of the royal family of the Liao Kingdom, but anyone with Yelu as the surname is a nobleman of the royal family, above ten thousand people.

Their Xiao family is a small nobleman, and their fathers were city inspectors. In their generation, their fathers have no skills and they don't know many people. They can only rely on their fathers' savings to start a business.

The selection of talents in the Liao Kingdom is different from that of the Jing Dynasty. The Jing Dynasty mainly used imperial examinations, while the Liao Kingdom used "world elections". The system of world elections is actually to ensure that the nobility is hereditary.

Although their Xiao family is a small nobleman, but their fathers had officials, so their eldest son and eldest grandson must also have officials. Their elder brother went hunting in the mountains when he was young and was killed by wolves, which means that the second brother was an official.

But now, even the second brother envies him.

He, Xiao Hongqi, now only needs more than a month to go to Jingguo every time, and the money he earns is enough to buy a flock of sheep. Even if his father has been an official for two years, he only has this much salary.

The second brother has said a lot of good things recently, and he feels comfortable listening to him, and the neighbors around will say a few good things when they pass by.

He felt more and more that he was blessed by the Buddha back then, and thought he would starve to death in Jingchao, but let him meet a nobleman, the son of Jingchao!

The biggest person Xiao Hongqi has ever heard in his life is the Khan of the Liao Kingdom, the Generalissimo of the World’s Soldiers and Horses. The biggest person he has ever seen is the son of Prince Jing Guoxiao who bought his black stone. The last time he went to the Jing Dynasty a few days ago, the son has already been sealed He is the king of Pingnan County.

He just returned to Shangjing yesterday and brought back a lot of money. Today, the second elder brother invited him to drink and talked good things about him.

Xiaohong Qi was very proud, and drank one bowl after another, getting a little drunk.

This is when I suddenly heard a lot of noisy footsteps outside the door, then I saw figures swaying in a daze, there were countless figures in red clothes, then I heard the sound of sweeping the street, and then the sound of water sprinkling.
"Outside. What are you doing outside?" He asked a little confused.

The second brother laughed boldly: "It's nothing, let's continue to drink and eat meat."

Xiao Hongqi always felt that something was wrong, so he stood up staggeringly, leaned on the door frame and looked out, and saw many women in red clothes holding golden water basins to sprinkle water, lined up from the street far away to the end of the alley, casually There are hundreds of people watching, but they haven't seen all of them yet!
what's going on.
Xiao Hongqi's head was shaken, he became sober for three minutes, and then he suddenly realized that these hundreds of women in red were sweeping the streets and sprinkled water to keep the dust from rising up, this is a trip for the royal family!
Then there was the sound of rumbling horseshoes at the corner of the street in the distance!
More than a dozen Iron Buddhas in iron armor opened the way, their heavy horseshoes even stepped over the stone slabs, followed by several guards in blue and white horses holding up various banners, followed by prominent sons in gorgeous costumes riding tall horses, carrying bows, With a precious sword and an arrow pot tied, the horse galloped past proudly in the spring breeze, and people on the street knelt down wherever they went.

Xiao Hongqi also quickly knelt down, he understood that this is the Royal Spring Hunt of the Daliao Kingdom!
After the horses passed, there was a precious carriage, four snow-white BMWs running side by side, pulling a few luxurious carriages with gold silk curtains, driving slowly past, followed by Khan's bodyguards in green beast masks, covered in iron, and with iron swords on their waists.

Xiao Hongqi, like the passers-by around him, knelt on the ground and buried his head in the soil, not daring to breathe.

The team passed slowly, and at this moment his second brother suddenly shouted loudly: "Your Excellency, I have something to report. My younger brother has cheated on the Jing Kingdom and betrayed the Daliao Kingdom!"

Before Xiao Hongqi could react, the second elder brother had already passed him and ran to the side of the road. His mind suddenly exploded like thunder, and he was stunned for an instant. Finally, he suddenly woke up. No wonder his second elder brother invited him here for a drink today. !

(End of this chapter)