serious man in the red chamber

Chapter 323 Military News
Heavy snow is falling down one after another.

In the wind and snow, a group of Forbidden Army cavalry escorted a carriage and drove slowly towards the imperial city.

In the carriage, Wang Hetang, the chief minister of the cabinet, was sitting on a soft couch with a stack of official documents, flipping through them. He put down one official document, raised his head and thought silently, and after thinking for a moment, he opened another official document. His expression changed as soon as he saw it.

"Boom~"

Suddenly, a desolate bell sounded. Wang Hetang was startled, and then another bell sounded.
The Jingyang bell sounded desolately!

Wang Hetang came to his senses and opened the thick car curtains, "Hurry up!"

The coachman responded, and then the carriage ran quickly and disappeared in the snow curtain after a while.

The bells of the imperial city echoed over the entire capital.

Dragon Head Palace

In the palace, the Supreme Emperor sat silently on the soft couch, lost in thought.

Xia Shouzhong walked in hurriedly, ran to the couch and knelt down: "The Queen Mother, the Queen Mother is dead!"

A sad expression appeared on the face of the Supreme Emperor, and he closed his eyes.

Xia Shouzhong knelt in front of the couch and remained motionless.

After a long time, the Supreme Emperor slowly opened his eyes, let out a long breath, and picked up the tea bowl on the couch. Suddenly, he felt that his hands were not obeying his control, and they kept shaking, and the tea poured out!
The Supreme Emperor stood up suddenly and slammed the tea bowl onto the brick floor in front of the couch!
With a "pop" sound, the tea bowl was smashed to pieces on the ground!Xia Shouzhong, who was kneeling there, was frightened.

The air seemed to be frozen, and there was no sound at all in the palace.

After an unknown amount of time, the Supreme Emperor sighed and sat down on the soft couch again.

Xia Shouzhong got up, collected the debris and tea on the ground, brought a bowl of tea over, and said softly: "Your Majesty, please drink some hot tea."

"go out."

"Overlord"

"go out!"

Xia Shouzhong shuddered, put down his tea bowl, and retreated.

"Find me a copy of the Diamond Sutra!"

The Emperor's hoarse voice came from behind, and Xia Shouzhong responded and walked out.

The Supreme Emperor closed his eyes again and leaned back on the soft couch.

In the upper study room, Emperor Jianwu, who was wearing mourning clothes, was sitting in front of the imperial desk in a daze.

Dai Quan, who was standing aside, had a look of discomfort in his eyes. He walked to the compartment and picked up the copper kettle. He went to the imperial desk to pour tea and said softly: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, please take a sip of hot tea."

Emperor Jianwu didn't answer and still sat there motionless.

At this moment, Wang Hetang, the chief minister wearing a filial piety belt on his gauze hat, hurried in with an official document and said: "Your Majesty, the urgent delivery from Zhangjiakou, the grain, grass and military supplies that were supposed to arrive on the first day of the twelfth lunar month have not been delivered yet. Still no news, it’s already the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month.”

Emperor Jianwu's eyes slowly turned to Wang Hetang: "What did you say?"

Wang Hetang swallowed: "The Ministry of Household Affairs did not allocate grain and military supplies to the Zhangjiakou Forage Farm on time!"

Emperor Jianwu slapped the imperial desk with a slap, snatched the official document from Wang Hetang's hand, glanced at it hurriedly, and turned to Dai Quan: "Let the people from the Ministry of Revenue come here."

Before he finished speaking, the eunuch on duty at the Meridian Gate staggered in and said breathlessly: "Fight, fight. Jia Lian, the right minister of the household department, and Jin Shuqing, the left minister of the household department, started fighting outside the Meridian Gate." Wang Hetang asked urgently: " what happened?"

The great eunuch breathed a sigh of relief: "It is said that Jin Shuqing transferred the [-] shi of military rations allocated by the Ministry of Household Affairs to Shanxi for disaster relief."

As soon as these words came out, Emperor Jianwu and Wang Hetang were startled.

The chief eunuch continued: "Jin Shuqing also suppressed the official document from the Zhangjiakou Forage Farm. This morning, Jia Lian saw the official document in the duty room, and went to confront Jin Shuqing. Jin Shuqing said that the disaster was urgent. There were more than [-] shi of military rations in the Zhangjiakou Forage Farm, and Yesterday, [-] shi were allocated from the disaster relief grain that had just arrived in Beijing and transported to the Zhangjiakou forage farm.

Jia Lian said that he had ulterior motives, and the two started to quarrel.Jia Lian couldn't defeat Jin Shuqing, so he slapped Jin Shuqing in the mouth, and the two started fighting until they reached the Meridian Gate. "

Emperor Jianwu's face immediately became solemn, and he turned to Wang Hetang and asked, "How should we deal with this matter?"

Wang Hetang thought for a while and replied: "According to military regulations, Jin Shuqing should be executed. However, this batch of military rations was not transported directly to the frontline camp, and there was a reason for the incident. Therefore, I would like to discuss the matter with the cabinet before handling it."

When Emperor Jianwu heard this, he felt relieved and turned to Dai Quan: "Go to Wenyuan Pavilion to invite the Second Assistant and the others." He then said to the eunuch: "Tell Jia Lian and Jin Shuqing to return to the Ministry of Household Affairs and wait for disposal."

The great eunuch said, "I obey the order." He bowed and left.

Seeing Wang Hetang's hesitation, Emperor Jianwu asked, "What's the matter?"

Wang Hetang said to Emperor Jianwu with a solemn face: "Your Majesty, I would like to convey my heartfelt words!"

Emperor Jianwu: "Say."

Wang Hetang gritted his teeth and said: "Jin Shuqing and other officials with Enke background are so ridiculous! They are making trouble in the court by relying on His Majesty's favor. First, the sixth-rank head of the Ministry of Etiquette and the Minister of Rites scuffled in public, and then the sixth-rank head of the Household Department questioned The cabinet's document now targets the military. If it is not dealt with severely, it may cause disaster! At that time, our great Zhou Dynasty will soon be turned upside down." After saying that, he faced Jian. Emperor Wu fell to his knees.

Emperor Jianwu stared at him closely and said for a long time: "Okay. Since you have spoken, I will not hide it from you. The current court is a pool of stagnant water, and the six yamen are controlled by various forces. I need these people who dare to Young officials who tell the truth need to keep an eye on those people for me."

Wang Hetang was anxious: "They dare to tell the truth, but they are just trying to be honest, and they don't know how to consider the overall situation! As for the [-] stone army rations, it is clear that they can allocate more grain and rice from the Tongzhou army ration depot. What is he doing? Testing the bottom line of the military has ulterior motives!"

Emperor Jianwu waved his hand: "This is a serious statement. But it does have a bad impact. Let's just let Jin Shuqing and Jia Lian change their seats."

As soon as these words came out, Wang Hetang's mind went blank and he was confused.

At this moment, there was a sound of footsteps outside, and Dai Quan ran in holding an official document with chicken feathers on it: "Military report from Ulyasutai!" He handed over the military report.

Emperor Jianwu grabbed the military newspaper, tore open the seal and read it, and his expression immediately changed.

At this time, Yang Cifu, Zhao Zixun, Shi Guangzhu and Li Shouzhong rushed over panting. They were stunned for a moment, then walked to and stood behind Wang Hetang, who was still kneeling on the ground.

Emperor Jianwu read the military report and looked at them: "King Rakshasa personally led an army of 17 to Uliasutai. On the seventh day of November, the Rakshasa army launched an all-out attack on Khovd. A war broke out in Khovd. By the [-]th, the two armies fought nearly thirty battles involving more than a thousand men on a front line spanning dozens of miles.

Because the Rakshasa cavalry's horses had a great advantage, our army suffered heavy losses on the left and right wings. A 5000-man cavalry force from the Yike Zhao League was completely wiped out, and a [-]-man cavalry force from the Mobei Mongolian cavalry was defeated. The losses of the troops and the Mongolian coalition forces outside the Pass were not small, and more than [-] people were killed one after another.In addition, due to the annihilation of the cavalry of the Yike Zhao League, a firearms battalion of the Yongwei Battalion fell directly into the encirclement of the Rakshasa cavalry. The entire army was annihilated, and the guerrilla general Jia Chang was killed in the battle. "

After a pause, "There is also a younger brother of the Jia family who died in the battle."

Everyone was shocked!
Emperor Jianwu: "Our army has gained a great advantage on the main battlefield. The main cavalry led by Li Si defeated the vanguard cavalry of the Rakshasa people and beheaded more than [-] people. The Monan Mongolian cavalry defeated the two wings of the Chinese army while guarding them. The Rakshasa cavalry who came to attack them beheaded more than five thousand people.

Three battles broke out in succession between Jia Hu's Chinese army and King Rakshasa's main force on the eighth, ninth, and tenth day of the lunar month. Both sides suffered heavy losses.At [-]:[-] pm on the [-]th day of the twelfth lunar month, the old camp defeated the Rakshasa Fire Gun Soldiers from the front. Then the Rakshasa Central Army was defeated. The cavalry of Datong and Xuanfu took advantage of the situation to cover up the attack. The Rakshasa King Canghuang retreated. The Rakshasa people retreated more than [-] miles. . "

After hearing this, everyone's expressions relaxed and they all looked at the emperor.

Emperor Jianwu cleared his throat: "Jia Hu also said that the two sides are likely to have peace talks in the end, and I hope the imperial court can send an important minister there."

As soon as these words came out, everyone was startled for a moment, then looked at each other, and then fell silent.

(End of this chapter)