Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 417 Equalizing
"Your Majesty, everything is ready!" the lieutenant whispered.

"Very good!" Brother Zhong nodded. He leaned over and dipped his hand in some river water, raised it high, and confirmed the direction of the wind: "That's right, it's the west wind, which is good for us!"

"Gods and Buddhas bless you!" The lieutenant bowed his head reverently, "We will definitely win this time!"

"Let's go!" Brother Zhong's voice was a little hoarse. He looked to the northwest, and the flickering fire was particularly conspicuous in the dark night. It was the camp of Saitama's army. Every night he would stand on a high place and look at the enemy from a distance. The camp, and the camp is getting bigger every day, which means that the number of enemy troops is constantly increasing, which makes Brother Zhong feel mixed feelings.

At this moment, a thought suddenly flashed in his mind: the enemy soldiers who came to attack our camp that night must have seen the same scene, right?Thinking of this, he pulled out the Fudu Soul Sword hanging from his waist, raised it high above his head, knelt in the direction of the Shishang Shrine, and prayed devoutly.

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Four Tennoji Temple, scripture hall.

Yawn!

Wang Wenzuo covered his mouth, stretched his waist, and sat down cross-legged. Exhaustion was like quicksilver, seeping into the bone marrow. He beat his sore waist twice. Just as he was about to call a maid to massage him, he suddenly jumped out of his sleeve. Something slipped down, but when I picked it up, it turned out to be a letter. It was the letter from Jin Renwen that He Bayong handed to me when I was at the pier in the morning. Forget it when you are busy.

"Come on, hold the lamp!"

As Wang Wenzuo opened the envelope, he ordered that the maid at the door hurried in, turned on the oil lamp, and moved to Wang Wenzuo's side.He unfolded the letter paper and looked closely at the oil lamp.

"Bastard, how could this happen!" Wang Wenzuo threw the letter paper on the ground violently, and said angrily, "Mr. Liu is a minister with meritorious service. Even if he violated the prophecy, he would be exiled from office. How could he be exiled to Yaozhou (now Yunnan Province? Yao An) has gone, how is it different from killing him when he degrades his age to that kind of smoky place?" He paced back and forth in the room for a while, and shouted: "Come here, take Cui Hongdu, He Bayong, Yuan Ao Lie and the other three invited them here, and said that I have something to discuss with them!"

Soon, Cui, He Ba, and Yuan all arrived, and it was not difficult to see that their faces were full of sleepiness. Wang Wenzuo said in a deep voice, "Are they all my brothers? Come in and sit down, there is no need to be formal!"

The three of them heard something wrong from Wang Wenzuo's voice, and they all sat down holding their breath. Wang Wenzuo asked the maid to step back, and the oil lamp in the room was like beans, shining on his face, making his expression more stern, like iron.Seeing this, Cui Hongdu said in a low voice: "I called you late at night, what's the matter with Mr. Ming?"

"Hongdu, you guys should still call me Sanlang in private in the future, right? Ming Gongfu's name sounds like a birthright!" Wang Wenzuo took out the letter from Jin Renwen from his sleeve and handed it to Cui Hongdu: "This letter is for you Take a look at all three first!"

Cui Hongdu took the letter, read it for a while by the light of the oil lamp, and said in surprise: "Liu Dudu was exiled to Yaozhou? Who wrote this letter? Is this true or false?"

Wang Wenzuo didn't answer, but just motioned him to read on. It turned out that the letters were usually divided into two parts: the first part would have the name signed, but only some formatted content; and the important confidential content was placed in the second part, which Some of them have not been signed or looked up, so that even if they are shown to others, the source of the information will not be revealed, which is a good confidentiality measure.The same is true of Jin Renwen's letter. Wang Wenzuo only gave Cui Hongdu the second part. Of course, Cui Hongdu didn't know who wrote the letter.

After reading the letter, Cui Hongdu handed it to Yuan Aolie, and asked Wang Wenzuo, "Where is this Yaozhou? Why was Dudu Liu sentenced to such a serious crime as soon as he returned?"

"Yaozhou abolished the state and county system in Jiannan Road (the first year of Zhenguan Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty, and changed Yizhou to Jiannan Road. Its jurisdiction probably included most of Sichuan Province, the Lancang River in Yunnan Province, the east of Ailao Mountain, the northern part of Guizhou Province, and Gansu Province. part of the province)! As for why he was punished for such a serious crime!" Wang Wenzuo stopped talking when he said this, and just sneered a few times.

"Jiannan Road is already remote enough, and the southwest area is needed!" Yuan Aolie had finished reading, and handed the letter to He Bayong: "In my opinion, the imperial court wants Liu Dudu to die there!"

"Where did you die?" He Bayong sneered while reading the letter: "Out of Jianmen, there are mountains, and the surrounding area of ​​Chengdu is decent, and other places are full of miasma. I guess Liu Dudu will die halfway. .The imperial court’s trick is really insidious, it’s better to give it to death, at least you don’t have to suffer the hardships of trekking on the road!”

In the eyes of the people of the Tang Dynasty at that time, Chang'an and Luoyang were the places where the heavenly people lived, and then it was Guanzhong Sanfu and the surrounding area of ​​Luoyang; it was almost the area around Henan, Hebei, Bingzhou, Jianghuai, and Chengdu plains; if you went to Jiangnan, Jiangxi, and Hubei, you would be degraded. Meaning; Fujian and Guangdong are clearly telling you that there is little political hope, so concentrate on making money to prepare for retirement; being kicked to Hunan, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and other ghost places, most people in the imperial court hope that you will die early, but in the hands There is no suitable excuse, and we can only hope that acclimatization, infectious diseases, and local barbarian tyrants will do it for us.If it hurts a little bit more, I will let you change places in three months to ensure that you will always be on the road, wandering, and die early.Liu Renyuan is old and has been in the north all his life. He was kicked to a ghost place like Yaozhou all of a sudden, and his ancestors blessed him not to die on the way.

"Sanlang!" Cui Hongdu said: "I know that Governor Liu has a great favor for you, but He Ba is right, at Liu Gong's age, he is probably already dead now! It's too late for you to do anything!"

"Yes!" He Bayong said: "It will take at least half a year for this news to arrive here from Chang'an, how can Liu Dudu's body be tossed in a smoky place for half a year!"

"Did Sanlang summon us to avenge Liu Dudu?" Yuan Aolie asked.

"Revenge?" Cui Hongdu smiled and said, "It was the imperial court who sent Dudu Liu to Yaozhou. Who do you seek revenge? The emperor or the queen?"

"Liu Dudu has made great contributions to the country, but the imperial court did not give him a heavy reward but instead punished him. There must be treacherous ministers slandering him in front of the emperor!" Yuan Aolie said.

"The treacherous officials are by the side of the emperor, but we are thousands of miles away. It is obvious who is near who is far, who is close and who is far away!" Cui Hongdu said: "San Lang has elite soldiers in his hands and lives in a distant country, so we should be more cautious!"

"I summoned you here tonight, and I have no intention of avenging Liu Dudu!" Wang Wenzuo said, "It's just that Mr. Liu and I have a great kindness. If a man does not repay his kindness, how can he stand in the world?"

Hearing Wang Wenzuo's denial of revenge for Liu Renyuan, Cui Hongdu was obviously relieved, and asked, "How does Sanlang plan to repay his kindness?"

"Although Mr. Liu was exiled in Yaozhou, he still has his family!" Wang Wenzuo said, "From what I've seen, if Mr. Liu died halfway or in Yaozhou, his family would not stay in Yaozhou for long. I plan to Give a thousand pieces of gold to his descendants to repay his great kindness!"

"This—" Cui Hongdu hesitated for a moment: "According to the laws of the Tang Dynasty, unless there is an amnesty, Liu Dudu's family may not be able to come back for a while!"

"Then ask brother Jin or the crown prince to speak up and talk about it in front of the emperor!" Wang Wenzuo said, he knew very well that Liu Renyuan was exiled because of the prophecy, so as long as he himself died, it was a matter of time before his family was pardoned.Therefore, Wang Wenzuo is very sure that as long as someone can make a premise in front of the emperor, the emperor will go along with the flow and agree, and maybe he will convert Liu Renyuan's credit, dismissal, and title to his descendants to show his "benevolence".But the question is how long this time will be. If it takes three to five years, Liu Renyuan's family may die a few more people in the exile, it will be too miserable.

"What does Sanlang mean to let one of us go back to Chang'an?" Cui Hongdu asked.

"En!" Wang Wenzuo nodded: "Brother Zhong should have a decisive battle with us within ten days, otherwise there will be a famine in Asuka, and his army will collapse without fighting. After this battle is over, we will We must pick someone trustworthy to go to Chang'an and deal with this matter well!"

Facing Wang Wenzuo, Cui Hongdu, He Bayong, and Yuan Aolie did not speak, and from the bottom of their hearts, the three of them were unwilling to go to Chang'an.The reason is very simple. At that time, when crossing the sea and sailing, they tied their heads on their belts. Since the three of them took a big risk to come to the country of Wa, Yu Gong said that he wanted to make contributions and leave his name in history;If, according to what Wang Wenzuo said, you go to Chang'an after defeating Brother Zhong, you will take double risks (come once, go once), but you will miss the time to share the biggest cake, and no one would want to change it accept.

Wang Wenzuo saw the reaction of the three people. He was about to say something when suddenly the door was pushed open roughly, and Cao Wenzong rushed in: "It's not good, it's not good!"

"What's the matter?" Wang Wenzuo stood up: "The thief came here?"

"Offended!" Cao Wenzong grabbed Wang Wenzuo's arm, turned around and ran outside, went out the door and ran straight to the pagoda. The two climbed to the third floor. Cao Wenzong pulled Wang Wenzuo to the north-facing window: "Look !"

Wang Wenzuo stood in front of the window, motionless like a stone statue. The ships in the distance were moored, and flames were raging. At least half of the ships were already on fire. The kiss of fire turned the ships into funeral pyres, and the air was full of smoke and flames. .

The people standing on the shore, whether they were Tang or Japanese, watched the boat full of dry reeds coming down the Yamato River towards the pier. When the distance shortened to a certain point, flames rose from the boat.The long oars and penny on a sand boat swayed wildly, like a giant centipede, trying to avoid the oncoming fire boat, but to no avail, a fire boat hit its side, and the flames climbed up the deck along the long oars .

Wang Wenzuo looked at the sky. Tonight's clouds are very low, and the fire on the sea reflects the sky, showing a special crimson red, which has a strange and terrifying beauty.Wang Wenzuo couldn't help but think of the day when he sent troops to attack the Japanese camp at night, and it was so blazing. Brother Zhong watched the army collapse under the fire, would he feel the same as he does now?
The sea breeze lifted Wang Wenzuo's long sleeves and slapped him on the face. Wang Wenzuo could feel the scorching heat in the wind. He vaguely heard the screams coming from the wind. The faint sound penetrated into his ears, like a thin steel needle, Tear the skin and eardrums with a sharp sting.

Do you hear these screams?Wang Wenzuo?Do you see these burning?It's all because of your carelessness and stupidity, these ships, and those people who died, it's all because of you.Wang Wenzuo knew that Brother Zhong must be standing somewhere in the dark, watching all this, and he must be smiling happily, just like himself that night.

"Our ship!" came Heba Yong's voice from behind, hoarse and desperate: "Our ship was burned, bad, too bad!"

"It's nothing bad!" Wang Wenzuo's voice was as cold and hard as black iron: "The men and horses have come down, and the armaments have also been brought down. At most, a little cloth and copper coins will be lost. As long as you can defeat Brother Zhong, no matter how much cloth and copper coins you have We can also get it from the Japanese! Pass down the order, don’t save the ship, let everyone leave the dock, just keep the people!”

"Yes!" Cui Hongdu replied, and quickly ran to the pagoda.

"Look at it all!" Wang Wenzuo turned around. He Bayong and Yuan Aolie's faces were pale, their cheeks twitched slightly, and they were looking at everything in front of them: "Remember clearly! Never forget! One day, you will also command a Don't forget how much disaster the general will bring to himself and the country if he is indifferent!"

The next morning.

The pier was deserted, only mud and ashes, and the sea not far away was full of shipwrecks, like the bones of giants.Teams of soldiers cleaned up the ruins, and small boats floated on the sea, sawing off the keel protruding from the sea to clear the channel.Wang Wenzuo and Qiyu rode through the crowd side by side, and he could feel countless eyes falling on him: suspicion, coldness, and even disgust.But no one spoke, and no one dared to block his way——Cao Wenzong was dressed in iron armor, and he brought twenty iron armored guards to wrap the two of them.

"I can't see that you lost a big battle last night!" Saitama sighed: "Sometimes I think your heart is also wrapped in iron armor. No one can know what you are thinking at this time?"

"This is the first step to becoming a general!" Wang Wenzuo kept his eyes peeled: "As a general, you must be the last panicked person in the army!"

"The last panicked person?" Qiyu laughed when he heard this: "It sounds very interesting, what else?"

"Your Majesty, you can laugh louder. It's best to let the people around you hear your laughter!" Wang Wenzuo lowered his voice.

"Oh? Why?"

"It's very simple. If we win this battle for position, you will be the biggest beneficiary; if we lose, you will be the biggest loser. We suffered a big loss last night, and everyone was panicked , is there anything more calming than your laughter?"

"That's true!" Qiyu laughed, and his clear laughter was like a silver bell, which could be heard a hundred steps away: "No wonder you invited me out for a walk early in the morning. It turned out that it was for this reason that I was so happy One match!"

　Routinely ask for tickets, ask for subscriptions, ask for rewards!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)