marquis of jingan

Chapter 959
Conquer the southern army camp.

General Zhou Shizhong was flipping through a miscellaneous book when suddenly someone came outside and hurriedly said: "General, urgent military situation!"

After hearing this voice, General Zhou frowned first, and then said, "Come in."

Soon, a young man who looked 24 or [-] years old walked in with his head down, bowed to Zhou Shizhong and clasped his fists: "Father!"

Naturally, this young man was also surnamed Zhou, his name was Zhou Yuanlang, and he was also Zhou Shizhong's son.

To be precise, he is Zhou Yuanhu's younger brother.

Originally, the Zhou family was Zhou Yuanhu who had been stationed at Huaihe with his father all the time, and he was the default successor of the Zhou family, but there were many defeats on the Huaihe River, and Zhou Yuanhu made many stupid mistakes, so he was abandoned by Zhou Shizhong. He rushed back to Yandu to plead guilty.

After Zhou Yuanhu left, the Zhou family did not send anyone over. It was not until the end of last year that General Zhou was rewarded by the court for "defeating" the Southern Dynasty army. After a year passed, the Zhou family sent another young man over.

On the one hand, it is to expand the influence in the army. On the other hand, it is natural to cultivate successors for the family. After all, the big pie of the Southern Army has been regarded as a taboo by the Zhou family. Young people from the Zhou family came to take over.

But in comparison, General Zhou must have preferred his son Zhou Yuanhu, who had practiced martial arts since childhood and had been with him for many years.

Because the son Zhou Yuanlang in front of him is not particularly strong and thin.

Zhou Shizhong raised his head, looked at his son, frowned slightly and said, "What is it that makes such a fuss?"

Zhou Yuanlang lowered his head, and said, "Father, there is an urgent military situation. The southerners are in Xiangshui and Lianshui. There are a large number of ships gathering. Son... son suspects..."

Having said that, Zhou Yuanlang himself took a deep breath, and said in a low voice, "The southerners may be going north!"

General Zhou frowned, looked at Zhou Yuanlang, and asked, "If you have something to say, you don't need to doubt it."

Because the general snorted and said, "If you doubt it, I should be the one to doubt it."

"Yes."

Zhou Yuanlang hurriedly lowered his head and said, "Father, the scouts reported that there are ringing waters on the south bank, and there are a large number of ships gathering in Lianshui, and the two camps have been moving frequently recently."

Zhou Shizhong glanced at his son quietly, and said, "Aren't there always ships gathering in these two camps?"

Now, the Huai'an army has more ships, unlike before, when there is a large-scale military operation, it is necessary to concentrate the ships.

Now, on the Huaishui River near the two camps, there are ships, or sailors gathering all year round.

Zhou Yuanlang clasped his fists and said, "Father, although there are a lot of ships on weekdays, those southerners don't know how to carry gunpowder and artillery on the ships!"

Only then did Zhou Shizhong frowned, and said, "See?"

Zhou Yuanlang lowered his head and said, "Yes, a hundred households from the scout battalion saw it with their own eyes with binoculars."

Zhou Shizhong was silent for a while, and then said silently: "Send the order and prepare for battle."

Seeing that his old father was depressed, Zhou Yuanlang hesitated for a moment and asked, "Father, do you have something on your mind?"

"I am fine."

Zhou Shizhong waved his hand and said, "Send the order to go."

Of course he has something on his mind.

Last year, the Zhengnan Army was defeated and lost. Under the suggestion of Yaodao Yuzhenzi, he had the cheek to report to the court.

As a result, the document for rewarding merit was quickly approved, and the imperial court rewarded him a lot, gave him money and land, and planned to marry the unmarried son of the Zhou family to a princess.

But Zhou Shizhong was terrified in his heart.

Because he knows better than anyone that he did not win the battle last year.

More importantly, he also knew that His Majesty the Emperor also knew that he hadn't won the battle.

Therefore, the entire awarding process was done through the imperial court, and His Majesty the Emperor did not participate in the whole process.

Now, at the imperial court, Master Da Qi just crossed the Huai River last year and beat up the southerners, but this year has just started, if the southerners crossed the Huai River and beat them back...

Then how much credibility is there in the victory that was hyped up last year?

Will someone in the court pursue this matter?

What's more terrible is, will His Majesty the emperor, who is already a little angry, pursue this matter?

Zhou Shizhong felt more and more uneasy in his heart.

While feeling uneasy, she also hated someone Shen from Nan'an.

Seeing his old father like this, Zhou Yuanlang could only lower his head and cup his fists: "The son has gone down to deliver the order."

Just as he was about to turn around and go down, he was stopped by Zhou Shizhong.

General Zhou closed his eyes and exhaled a foul breath.

"Lang'er, you have been different from your family since you were young. You like to read more. There is a memorial for your father, and I want you to write it."

Zhou Shizhong's voice was hoarse: "Report to the imperial court, the southerners are coming to attack."

Hearing this, Zhou Yuanlang sat opposite to his old father, lowered his head and said, "Father, last year the Southern Army was defeated, right?"

Zhou Shizhong suddenly raised his head to look at Zhou Yuanlang.

"Why do you say that?"

"My son has been in the South Army for a while, and I can see some clues."

Zhou Yuanlang paused for a moment, then continued: "Besides, the southerners dared to fight so blatantly before spring began, which means that we must have suffered a bit last year when we recruited the southern army."

Zhou Shizhong nodded silently at first, and then said: "If you have anything to say, just say it."

"father."

Zhou Yuanlang bowed his head and said, "My son thought that if he really suffered a loss last year and gave credit to the imperial court, then this time when the southerners attacked, they would not be able to directly report to the imperial court."

General Zhou looked at his son whom he disliked because of his bookish air, and asked, "Then what should we do?"

"Write a secret memorial to His Majesty."

Zhou Yuanlang said in a low voice: "The direction of the matter should be left to His Majesty to decide."

General Zhou was silent for a long time, then got up silently, and said: "You sit here and write, go to the Huai River for your father, and patrol the battlefield."

Zhou Yuanlang bowed his head respectfully: "Yes."

.....................

Three days later, this letter from Zhou Yuanlang was sent to Yandu Imperial City, and to His Majesty the Emperor.

This year, His Majesty's health is even worse.

Except for showing up once on the night of New Year's Eve, he shut himself in the deep palace at other times, except for a few prime ministers, almost no one could see him.

On this day, after Emperor Yongping received the secret letter from the front line, he opened it and read it, and then sat silently for a long time, without speaking for a long time.

After an unknown amount of time, His Majesty the Emperor said slowly, "Go and call Yan Li into the palace."

The eunuch below immediately bowed to answer, and half an hour later, Han Xiang Yanli entered the palace.

All the systems of the Northern Qi Dynasty were imitated by Da Chen, so they also had a place similar to the meeting hall, called the meeting office.

In the Northern Qi court, only by adding the word "Bachelor" can one enter the meeting room to discuss matters. Adding a "Bachelor" is equivalent to paying homage to a prime minister.

Now, there are three prime ministers in the Northern Qi court.

Among the three people, there is only one Han Chinese, and that is Yan Li.

And Yan Li is not the chief.

According to Daqi's rules, the prime minister of the council must be Zhu Liren. Even if he entered the council later, Zhu Li's ranking would be a head higher than the prime minister of Han.

But Yan Li could work if he couldn't bear it.

Therefore, although Yan Xiang does not have the title of prime minister, he has already handled most of the affairs of the council.

As for the Prime Minister Zhu Lizhen who bears the title of prime minister...

It still has a name on it.

After Yan Li entered the palace, he soon saw Emperor Yongping. He knelt down on the ground, respectfully kowtowed and said, "Old minister Yan Li, I pay my respects to Your Majesty..."

His Majesty the Emperor was afraid of the cold, so the room was full of stoves. He looked at the gray-haired prime minister in front of him, and sighed silently: "Mr. Yan, get up."

Only then did Yan Li stand up, with his hands down.

His Majesty the Emperor winked at the eunuch next to him, and the eunuch immediately handed Zhou Yuanlang's letter to Yan Li.

After Yan Li finished reading, the emperor said expressionlessly: "The southerners are becoming more and more rampant. Can Prime Minister Yan give you a regulation?"

Yan Li looked at the emperor cautiously, then lowered his head slightly, and said in a low voice, "Your Majesty, the matter has come to this point..."

"By now…"

The old prime minister sighed, and said, "It seems that we can only guard for a while."

The emperor coughed twice, but did not speak.

Yan Li bowed his head and said, "Firstly, the treasury has no money to continue the war, and secondly, even if the treasury squeezes out money to increase troops in the Huaihe River, it is nothing more than repeating the story of last year."

Emperor Yongping was silent again.

The resentment was still hard to calm down in his heart.

In the sixth and 70th year of the founding of Daqi, how has it ever suffered such a loss?Have you ever been this angry? !
He coughed a few more times, wiped his mouth, and said, "I need Mr. Yan to raise some money for the military."

Yan Li immediately understood, he bowed his head and said: "Your Majesty's holy birthday is approaching, I would like to take the lead and honor His Majesty with 10 taels of silver..."

What this means is to pluck the wool of officials.

"You can't use my birthday as an excuse to raise money."

The emperor waved his hand and said in a deep voice: "This method won't work, you go back and think about it slowly."

"After thinking about it, come see me again."

"Yes."

Yan Li bowed his head respectfully and stepped back.

After the Lord Yan left, Emperor Yongping coughed violently again. After coughing for a while, he wiped his mouth with a white square handkerchief, and his eyes were scarlet.

Emperor Yongping looked at the blood coughed up from Fang Pao and clenched his fists tightly.

"Li Er!"

His voice was hoarse, trembling with anger, and roared in a low voice.

"Shen Qi!"

(End of this chapter)