Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 28 Zhang Yong leaves Jinzhou (Special thanks to book friend Bai Xizhimu for his 2 monthly passes, 1 more chapter added today)
Zhang Yong and other six young martial arts practitioners followed Han Hui and led 5 imperial troops out of Beijing on March . Soon after, they were assigned to the state capitals they went to.

It was agreed that from April 4th to April 25th, they would be collected outside Bianjing City.

Zhang Yong went to the ten prefectures in the northwest of the Great Zhou Dynasty, including Jinzhou and Yanzhou.

Jinzhou and Yanzhou are located in the northern part of the Zhou Dynasty, and both share the border with the Northern Han Dynasty.

The first place Zhang Yong entered with a hundred imperial troops was Jinzhou. Along the way, I saw many desolate traces left over from the destruction of war, sparsely populated areas and deserted villages.

On March 12th, when I was camping at night in an abandoned village with a water source on the way, I heard waves of wolf howls coming from the mountains and forests beside the village. Many wild wolves looked at the people camping in the village with their cold yellow eyes. .

Zhao Jian, the captain of the personal soldiers, muttered:
"Zhang Du Yuhou, this Jinzhou has been at war with Han from time to time for many years, and there are not even a few strong men left alive. Where can there be any orphans?
There are so many tigers and wolves in this wilderness, it's too dangerous. We'd better go to the state capital to find a few random orphans and go back to life as soon as possible. "

Zhang Yong snorted, knowing that these soldiers under his command were afraid of wolves and felt that this trip was dangerous and hard;

Secondly, I and other six martial arts young men who killed Zhao Kuangyin in the Xingwu Palace. Although they had made great achievements and were promoted by Emperor Chai Zong to be Yuhou, the capital of the imperial army, and they were highly favored, but because they were still young, these soldiers felt a little contempt in their hearts.

He just thought that he and the other six were jesters who accompanied the emperor to practice martial arts and play.

Zhang Yong didn't say anything. He just ordered his soldiers to light a bonfire in the middle of the camp and fetch water from the village well. The whole team ate the dry food they brought with them.

The night was getting darker, the early spring breeze was blowing, and with the sound of footsteps, hundreds of wolves appeared from the mountains and fields, peeping from all directions towards the deserted village where Zhang Yong and others were camping.

The surrounding soldiers were shocked and stood up hurriedly. Zhang Yong took the three-stone hard bow placed at his feet, quickly took 5 arrows from the quiver with his right hand and put them on the bowstring. He raised his hand and aimed at the wild wolf more than a hundred meters away. Shooting, the movement is done in one go, and the arrow is as fast as a shooting star.

Five almost overlapping bowstring sounds were heard. In response, the alpha wolf in the pack outside the village and the four wild wolves behind him were shot by arrows in the neck, or in the eye, and penetrated into the brain. They fell to the ground almost at the same time as they howled. .

Zhang Yong said sharply:
"We are His Majesty's imperial guards and consider it our duty to bring down the world for Your Majesty. How can we be afraid of tigers, wolves and other wild beasts?!

All armies join me in shooting down the wolves! "

Seeing Zhang Yong's bravery, all the soldiers around him were excited. They picked up the bows and arrows beside them and started shooting at the wild wolves outside the deserted village.

For a moment, arrows fell like rain, scattering towards the wolves under the light of the fire. In a moment, a hundred personal guards had killed hundreds of wild wolves, and only one or twenty wild wolves that were farther away escaped.

Zhang Yong shot more than thirty wild wolves alone.

Seeing that there were no more living wolves, dozens of guards rushed out of the village with cheers, carried dozens of wild wolves back to the campfire, and began to skin and clean the internal organs of the wild wolves, wash them with well water, and put them on the campfire. Grill it up.

After a while, the smell of meat spread, and the guards took out the salt from the package and sprinkled it on the wolf meat, ready to eat.

Guard captain Zhao Jian used a short knife to cut off the fattest belly meat of the wild wolf, and handed it to Zhang Yong with respectful hands.

Zhang Yong nodded, took the wolf meat and started to chew it. The other sergeants took out daggers to cut off the wolf meat and ate it.

When they woke up the next day, Zhang Yong and others set off to the northwest and entered Jinzhou City two days later.

Wang Yan, the Jiedushi envoy of Jinzhou at that time, was born in the first year of Dashun in Tang Dynasty (890) and was a native of Teng County, Xuzhou.

Wang Yan was born in a peasant family and was a thief since childhood. During the reign of Emperor Zhuangzong of the later Tang Dynasty, he was recruited into the Forbidden Army and promoted to Fengguo Primary School, stationed in Shaanxi Province.

After the fall of the Later Jin Dynasty, he and the Forbidden Army generals Zhao Hui and Hou Zhang overthrew the rule of the Liao Kingdom in Shaanxi Province, surrendered to Liu Zhiyuan, the founder of the Later Han Dynasty, and was awarded the title of Jianxiong Jiedu Envoy and Tongping Zhangshi.

After entering the Zhou Dynasty, in the "Battle of Jinzhou" in the first year of Guangshun (951), he used a trick to lure the enemy and defeated enemy troops led by Liu Jun of the Later Han Dynasty.

When Zhang Yong and others entered Jinzhou, they saw that the people in the city were sparse, their clothes were in tatters, the streets were dilapidated, and there were many homeless people and orphans sleeping on the streets. Zhang Yong sighed and ordered to the guards around him:
"You go around the city looking for orphans who are more than ten years old, and you say that they are new recruits to the imperial army in the capital, and they have no worries about food and clothing.

As for the young orphans, regardless of gender, they were all brought here. It was said that Your Majesty took pity on my Dazhou orphans and brought them back to the capital to take care of them.

The attitude must be polite.

In the evening, collect them all at Jiedu Envoy's Mansion. "

All the guards agreed in unison and walked towards the city. Only ten guards were left to guard Zhang Yong.

Zhang Yong looked at the guards holding the orphans on the street for questioning, nodded, and said:

"Let's go to the Jiedu Envoy's Mansion in Jinzhou and meet the Jiedu Envoy Wang Yan."

Everyone looked at the tall building of Jiedu Envoy's Mansion. After walking along the street for about two quarters of an hour, they arrived at the gate of the government office.

A personal guard stepped forward and presented the name sticker of Du Yuhou Zhang Yong to the officer guarding the door.

The officer had an arrogant look on his face and glanced sideways at the guard who was handing him the name sticker. Then he casually reached out and took the name sticker.

When he opened the name tag, he saw the words "Former Secretary of the Imperial Palace of the Great Zhou Dynasty" and other large characters. The officer was startled and immediately stood up straight. He couldn't help but look at Zhang Yong and others who were standing in front of the mansion.

The officer cupped his hands and said: "It turns out to be Zhangdu Yuhou, the former secretary of the Forbidden Army Palace, disrespectful!
Zhang Du, Marquis Yu, please wait a moment. I will go into the house to report. "

Zhang Yong replied: "Thank you!"

The officer turned around and walked into Jiedushi's house.

A moment later, with the sound of footsteps, Jinzhou Jiedushi Wang Yan, accompanied by several sergeants, walked out of the house, saluted Zhang Yong and said with a smile:
"It turns out that the famous Imperial Guards Zhang Du, Yuhou, who killed Zhao Ni in the Xingwu Palace, came here, but I was not able to welcome him from afar!
Marquis Zhang Du Yu, please come in quickly! "

Zhang Yong returned the greeting and said: "Commander Wang has spoken harshly, and I am ashamed to be a subordinate."

Under Wang Yan's invitation, Zhang Yong and other eleven forbidden soldiers followed Wang Yan and walked towards Jiedushi's house.

Along the way, I saw the pavilions, strange flowers and trees in Jiedushi's mansion, just like a fairyland. There were many maids in beautiful clothes walking through the courtyard. When they saw Wang Yan and his entourage, they bowed to them.

After the guests and hosts sat down in the main hall, and after chatting for a while, Zhang Yong expressed his intention.

Zhang Yongdao:
"Your Majesty is benevolent, righteous and wise, and has mercy on me. Due to the wars in various places, there are many orphans in the Zhou Dynasty, so we set up a camp in the capital to take care of these orphans.

Xiaguan walked all the way from the capital and saw that the streets were sparsely populated, wild animals roamed freely, and the population was concentrated in big cities and state capitals.

This visit was to implore the envoy Wang Jiedu for assistance. He sent a letter to Jinzhou and ordered officials from various places to send local orphans to Jinzhou City for their subordinates to take them back to the capital. "

When Wang Yan heard this, he was surprised:

“What does the little emperor want these orphans to do in the capital?
These orphans are young and skinny. They cannot fight in the army or do any hard work. What is the use of them? It's just a waste of food.

Could it be that the little emperor was really benevolent and could not bear to see these orphans starve to death or freeze to death?
I have never seen an emperor who cared so much for the people. Instead, he often killed people and massacred cities in order to compete for territory among various countries and military leaders!

Anyway, these orphans will only cause trouble for me in Jinzhou, so it is just right to find them all and give them to Zhang Yong to take back to Bianjing. "

(End of this chapter)