Do you know: I am Xu Jiazi

Chapter 378 Si Xiang [Thank you! Goodbye! Five thousand words owed]

fourth day

morning
The east was gleaming with paleness,
Outside Ansu Gate
The sound of cars rumbles.

Willow
The convoy consisting of carriages from the Xu, Zhang, Cao, Hai, Sun and other families had already set out in advance and was heading north.

The area between the city gate and the Hulong River,
Gu Tingye, Changbai and Qi Heng, who had already finished talking to Xu Zaijing, stood aside. Among them, Changfeng even yawned.

Mrs. Bai was supported by Nanny Chang and stood at the back. Nanny Chang wiped her tears with a handkerchief and whispered:

"Madam, how old is Jing'er now? How could Madam Sun be so cruel as to let a child like him go to the battlefield?"

"From now on, our brother Ye, he..."

Mrs. Bai looked at the scene in front of her and sighed with emotion.

Mrs. Wu on the side shook her head, as if to say that no matter what, she would never send her youngest son Liang Han to the battlefield.

Mrs. Sun, the wife of Marquis Yongyi, was wearing a cloak. She held Xu Zaijing's hand with her left hand, and touched the face of her younger son, who was much taller than her, with her right hand, and remained silent for a long time.

"Go."

After saying that, Madam Sun let go of Xu Zaijing's hand.

Xu Zaijing nodded.

Take a step back.
He bowed deeply to Sun and said, "Mother, I am gone."

After saying this, Xu Zaijing bowed and turned slightly, then bowed to Sun's sister Pingmei, eldest sister-in-law Xie, and second sister-in-law Hualan, who were holding children on both sides of the Sun family.

The three ladies, Pingmei, Xie and Hualan,
Pingmei and Xie can be said to have watched Xu Zaijing grow up, and Hualan also has a strong affection for Xu Zaijing like an older sister has for her younger brother.

Watching my mother-in-law, Ms. Sun, part with her youngest son, perhaps because they are all mothers, I thought that decades later, they would also have to face the separation from their sons in the same way.

There were tears in the eyes of the three people. When they saw Xu Zaijing bowing, they hurriedly wiped their tears with their sleeves and bowed with a smile.

Xu Xingdai and Gu Shixing, who had grown up, shouted "Goodbye, uncle".

Finally, Lu Zezong, who was beside the crowd, looked at Xu Zaijing and said, "Brother, when will you come back?"

Xu Zaijing looked into Lu Zezong's eyes and said, "I really can't say for sure."

Lu Zezong nodded.

Xu Zaijing smiled at Zai Zhang who was in a bad mood, turned around, walked a few steps, and nimbly mounted the little black horse.

Sun looked at her youngest son, and with the support of her two daughters-in-law, she took another step forward: "Qingyun, take good care of your son!"

Qingyun immediately bowed: "Yes! Madam!"

After Qingyun finished speaking, he waved at Hua Qing, who was looking a little pregnant not far away.

Seeing Xu Zaijing getting on the horse, Zhang Jiawu Niang and Gu Tingyi, who were standing by the carriage on the roadside, waved and shouted, "Brother Jing, have a safe trip!"

Xu Zaijing smiled at Wu Niang and Gu Tingyi.

On horseback, looking at Chai Zhengzheng who was looking at him generously and Rong Feiyan who didn't know where to look, who were standing next to Wu Niang and Gu Tingyi, Xu Zaijing nodded in greeting and tapped the horse's belly lightly, and the little black colt walked towards the bridge over the Hulu River.

After Xu Zaijing passed by the three noble ladies,
Rong Feiyan then bit her lips gently.

I stared at the receding figure with courage.
In her fair white hands hidden under her cloak, she was tightly grasping a headband.

Before I got on the bridge over the Hulong River,

There was a carriage on the side, and Hai Chaojie was standing beside it with Hai Chaoyun.
Hai Chaoyun looked at Xu Zaijing, who saved her life, with clear eyes, and said loudly: "Brother Xu, have a safe journey and return safely!"

Hai Chaojie also bowed and said, "Brother Jing, have a safe journey."

After Xu Zaijing thanked them with a smile, he took Qingyun, Alan and He Guan on horseback to the bridge. Behind them were two knights, both of whom had blindfolded falcons on their shoulders, which were sent by Hu Yanjiong.

After crossing the Hulong River,
When Xu Zaijing was about to speed up the little horse, he saw Qiao Jiulang standing with Liang Han by the river from the corner of his eye.

Seeing Xu Zaijing looking at him, Qiao Jiulang lowered his head in shame and bowed with Liang Han.

When Qiao Jiulang looked up, he saw Xu Zaijing waving the whip at him.

"Liu Lang, Jing'er greeted me. Can I treat him to a meal when he comes back?"

Liang Han nodded and said, "Of course."

Watching the figures of Xu Zaijing and others disappear in the distance, Pingmei hugged Gu Shixing and said to Sun: "Mom, let's go back!"

Sun nodded.

Soon, everyone outside the city gate dispersed.

Madam Bai and Madam Wu accompanied Madam Sun back to Quyuan Street.

Zai Zhang, Gu Tingye, Chang Bai and others did not enter the city directly. Instead, they rode their horses westward and then southward, heading towards the Sheng family.

Several girls were dragged by Chai Zhengzheng to go to the seed garden with Rong Feiyan to collect dew.

When Xu Zaijing decided to go to the northwest,
The news had already spread on the post road to the army of Marquis Yongyi.

Unlike the last time when Xu Zaijing led people to visit General Cao, Marquis of Tuoxi, this time Xu Zaijing and his party had quite a few horse-drawn carriages.

So this time the speed of travel is much slower than last time.

Depart at 7:00 am
The team had been traveling all day and took a half-hour break at noon.
At the beginning of the You hour (after 5 p.m.), everyone stayed in a post station on the bank of the Yellow River outside the city of Xifu (Zhengzhou).

Through the post roads and post stations leading to the northwest of the Great Zhou Dynasty,

Six days later in the afternoon,

In the misty autumn rain,
Xu Zaijing was riding on a horse, wearing a rain hat and a straw raincoat, looking at the tall city walls in the distance.
The steward of the Hai family in the carriage nearby said with a smile: "Wu Lang, the Taiyuan Prefecture is ahead!"

After walking for less than a quarter of an hour,

Xu Zaijing was riding on his horse,
He lifted the rain hat that was weighing down his forehead.
Looking at the three big words "Kaiyuanmen" on the city gate,

Xu Zaijing and Qingyun beside him looked at each other.

After entering the city,
A convoy of cars headed towards the residence of the Governor-General and Pacifier.

Although it rains,

However, Xu Zaijing and his group of knights were all extremely capable and strong, and Xu Zaijing's mount was so handsome that it attracted the attention of many passers-by.

Among them were many roadside merchants, pointing and talking at Xu Zaijing and his group.

He Guan rode his horse to Xu Zaijing's side, looked around at the people around him, and whispered, "Taiyuan Prefecture is an important town in the north of the Great Zhou. Among these people, there must be spies from Baigao, Northern Liao, or even the Jin Kingdom."

Looking at Xu Zaijing's somewhat surprised eyes, He Guan nodded to confirm what he said.

Then He Guan continued: "I hope your identity is not revealed to others, otherwise you will be in trouble on the road."

Taiyuan City,
The official residence of the pacification envoy,
In the backyard stable,

The little black colt and the dragon colt, without their saddles, stood under the slightly cramped stable and shook their necks vigorously.

In an instant, the water droplets on the mane flew to the side.

Not far away,
Alan and Qingyun were propping up a soft blanket on top of a large piece of red-hot charcoal in the brazier.

After the blanket became somewhat warm, the two draped it over Longju's back and began to wipe it.

After wiping it, he took good care of the little black colt again.

Finally, after putting extremely fine fodder in the troughs of the two handsome horses, they walked towards a courtyard under the guidance of the Hai family's steward.

In the reception hall,

The high official sitting at the head of the table, the head of the Hai family, the governor of Taiyuan Prefecture, was looking at the family letter in his hand with a smile on his face.

Xu Zaijing was in front and He Guan was behind. The two sat at the bottom, each holding a cup of tea to drive away the cold and drinking it slowly.

Put the letter paper back into the envelope and set it aside.

Seeing the actions of the master of the Hai family, Xu Zaijing and He Guan hurriedly put down their teacups. The master of the Hai family, who was a frontier official, smiled and said, "Brother Jing, you two are not very old, but you have a lot of thoughts! Don't be so restrained here, drink more to drive away the cold!"

Xu Zaijing and He Guan stopped what they were doing, smiled at each other, and quickly responded.

After a while, when Xu Zaijing and the others had finished their tea, the head of the Hai family said, "Wu Lang, you can leave the things of the Duke of Yingguo and the Ningyuan Marquis family here. I will send someone to deliver them to Zhending Prefecture and Guangrui Army as soon as the weather is good."

Xu Zaijing smiled and said, "Thank you, sir!"

The master of the Hai family shook his head and said, "Wulang, this is too polite! Call me uncle from now on!"

Xu Zaijing bowed in response.

At this time, a steward of the Hai family walked to the door and bowed, saying, "Master, the meal is ready!"

The master of the Hai family stood up and said, "Let's go! Let's try Taiyuan's famous food."

When Xu Zaijing finished his dinner, he took a bath in the bathtub to relax.

The back door of the mansion is some distance away from the stables.
A man dressed as a servant came out from the back door.

After walking for a while as if he was familiar with the route, he entered a dark alley outside a street.

In a small courtyard in the alley,
There were faint sounds of conversation coming from inside the house.

"My master, I really just want to know where that extravagant person is from."

"You know my master loves horses."

"Ten strings of cash just to get some information so my master can ask for the price."

"With these ten strings of cash, you might be able to turn your fortune around in the gambling house!"

Another hesitant voice came: "Okay. I heard from the drunk driver that the man is the son of the Yongyi Marquis Mansion in Bianjing."

After a while, the man dressed as a servant walked out of the alley again.

He first looked towards the official residence, then towards the gambling house.
After hesitating for a while,
He weighed the heavy bag of money in his hand and walked towards the gambling house.

Second day

early morning,

The sky is slightly bright,

After a light rain,

A pigeon flapped its wings and flew into the sky from a small courtyard somewhere. After circling for a while, it flew towards the west.

When Xu Zaijing left Taiyuan City,
When I checked into the inn before dark,
The pigeon that flew out of Taiyuan City landed in the "home" in its memory.

A hand caught the pigeon, took the thin bamboo tube off its feet, and then walked hurriedly towards a solemn hall.

The light in the hall was quite bright with several candles lit.

The man stopped by the table and whispered:
"Minister, urgent news from the carrier pigeon in the Great Zhou."

As he spoke, a thin bamboo tube was placed on the table.

The shadow cast by the candle showed that someone was waving his hand.

The person who delivered the bamboo tube hurriedly left the table.

The candlelight shone on the table, and I could see a thin, open piece of paper weighed down by a paperweight. On it was written in white and high script, "The eighty-second youngest son of Xu Hou passed by Longde Mansion" (Changzhi).

A little further away from the long and thin note, there was another piece of paper with some blood stains on it.

Written on it in Da Zhou characters was "Xu Jia Wulang has set off and will soon arrive under the command of Yongyi Hou. All the troops along the way of the Imperial City must protect him. If he makes any mistake, he will be executed immediately."

further away,
It was a piece of paper with Northern Liao characters, and next to the Northern Liao characters there was a note in white Gao characters: "The two places of Shengzhou and Yunneizhou of the Great Zhou are urgently preparing fine horse feed, as it is suspected that a noble person from the Great Zhou is coming." (Today's Ordos and Baotou)
These messages and a pair of hands above the paper are pulling the paper out of the thin bamboo tube.

Looking at the information above, the owner of the hands said in Baigao language: "Well, we have arrived at Taiyuan Prefecture."

As he said this, he placed the note on the table.

The hands placed three more pieces of paper on the tray along with the latest news and weighed them down with a paperweight.

The tray was then carried away.

Bai Gaoguo

In the palace where the map is hung,

Liang Yiren, the crown prince of Baigao and the chief of Chuihuansi, stood beside Liang Yifu, the emperor of Baigao.
He nodded to his right-hand man, the Prime Minister of the Chuihuan Division, who came in.

When Emperor Liang Yi Fu wanted to urge the commander of Keyi Gate to send troops to fight a decisive battle, this Prime Minister of Chuihuan Division firmly stood on the side of Liang Yiren who was opposed to this matter!

The two of them also jointly figured out the plan of Marquis Yongyi of the Great Zhou and persuaded Liang Yi Fu to give up the idea.

Together with Liang Yiren, he gave advice to his father and worked out a brilliant plan of turning the tables and mobilizing the army on the southeast front to defeat the Zhou army first.

The minister held the tray, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, Your Highness, intelligence from the Chuihuan Division in the Great Zhou!"

Liang Yifu, with a worried look on his face, nodded and asked, "What's the news?"

"Your Majesty, Your Highness, God bless our Great Bai Gao Kingdom! Spies in the Great Zhou have reported that the youngest son of the Marquis of Yongyi in the north has left Bianjing and is on his way to join his father, the Marquis of Yongyi, and will arrive soon."

Liang Yifu said: "How can this be said to be God's blessing on our Great Baigao Kingdom?"

The Minister of the Chuihuan Division said, "Your Majesty, according to intelligence reports, I believe that the youngest son of the Marquis of Yongyi will go north along the route from Shengzhou to Yunneizhou, and after reaching Yunneizhou in the front-end region, go west to Fengzhou in the back-end region, and then go south to the Marquis of Yongyi's residence."

Liang Yiren, who was looking at the various messages on the tray, listened to Si Xiang's analysis and nodded continuously.

Wait until Si Xiang finishes speaking.
Liang Yiren said, "Prime Minister, should we wait until that little bastard from the Xu family reaches Houqu and before he joins his father's army? Then we can take the opportunity to send someone to kill him?"

The Baigao Emperor Liang Yifu said, "Those masters of my Liang Yi family were ambushed by the Imperial City Division in the home of this little beast?"

The Minister of the Chuihuan Division looked at Liang Yiren with approval, then lowered his head and said with hatred: "Your Majesty, yes! The Great Zhou Imperial City Division set a vicious trap in this person's home! Those masters were hit by countless crossbow arrows! Otherwise..."

Hearing Si Xiang's words, both Liang Yi's father and son showed pain on their faces.

Si Xiang continued, "Just as His Highness said, we will set up an ambush on the way and kill this little beast. On the day of the battle, we will throw this little beast's head in front of the battle, which will surely make the Marquis of Yongyi lose his mind!"

"The chances of winning the battle outside Keyi Gate in the north will increase by another 10%!"

"but"

Liang Yiren looked at Si Xiang who was looking at him with an expression that seemed to be hesitant to speak, and said, "Si Xiang, if you have anything to say, just say it!"

Si Xiang bowed and said, "Your Highness said that we should start the battle between Houqu and the Yongyi Marquis's residence. I feel that it is not appropriate because there are many troops gathered there. If there is any movement, we will be easily surrounded by the Great Zhou army."

Liang Yiren: "Hiss! Si Xiang is right. I didn't think it through! Then where do you think is good?"

The Minister bowed and walked to the map, pointed to a place and said, "Send people across the Yellow River tonight, along with the spies from the Chuihuan Division, to set up an ambush here!"

As he spoke, Si Xiang pointed to a place on the map and said, "This is within the Great Zhou territory, not in the newly occupied Houqu area. The Xu family must have let down their guard!"

Listening to Si Xiang's words, Liang Yiren nodded continuously.

"Since what you said is so good, let's do it according to your ideas!"

Liang Yifu said.

"Yes! Father/Your Majesty!"

Afterwards, Liang Yiren and Si Xiang walked out of the palace together.

On the way, the Minister of the Chuihuan Division whispered, "Your Highness, Lord Zhaijue, he sincerely thanks you for your recognition and help to their son Zhaijue Zhongding! He was able to let this child lead a team of iron kites and wash away the stain on his body in the war."

Liang Yiren waved his hand and said, "It's just a small matter!"

After talking, the two separated.

Looking at Liang Yiren's receding back, Zhao Taifeng, the Prime Minister of the Chuhuan Division of Baigao State and the top spy of the Imperial City Division of the Great Zhou Dynasty, remained calm.

(End of this chapter)