Soldiers come to the world

The Hexi rebellion that occurred in May of the 22nd year of Jian'an was destined to be a tragedy. Zhao Yun led an army of [-] into Zhangye, and fought the final decisive battle with the [-] Qiang army under the city of Zhangye.

The ending was not unexpected. The Han army defeated the [-] Qiang army in just one hour. The defeat of the Jiuquan Qiang army on the two wings triggered the defeat of the Qiang army across the board. The corpses of the Qiang army were scattered all over the field, and countless surrendered. Ma Chao was seriously injured, and fled into Dadouba Valley with more than a thousand personal guards, and fled to Hehuang.

This battle wiped out the main force of the Qiang army. All the nobles and chiefs died before and after the battle. The Qiang people in Hexi have been severely injured since then, and they no longer have the will to split and stand on their own. .

Due to the heavy casualties of young and strong men from various tribes in the war, many tribes disappeared, herdsmen turned to rely on the government, and many herdsmen turned to farming and settled down. Hexi gradually became a half-pastoral and half-agricultural society. The supervisor of group herding specializes in herding horses and raising cattle and sheep to support the Central Plains.

Ma Chao led more than a thousand remnants of the army and fled all the way in the Dadouba Valley. After running for more than a hundred miles, they gradually stopped. At this time, Ma Chao was seriously injured and could no longer ride a horse. The guards found a place to rest and bandaged the coach to heal his injuries. .

At this time, Ma Chao already knew that the Dadouba Valley was cut off by Pound's army. His temporary resting place was located on a hill surrounded by Han army regiments. By himself, he was able to escape to Qinghai.

He asked a personal guard to bring his saber to plead with Pound. Pound was only two miles away from the place where Ma Chao was healed.

In a large tent, Pang De sat by the fire and remained silent. Although it is May, the climate in Dadouba Valley is changeable, and snowfall in midsummer is not uncommon. It is now dusk and the temperature is relatively cold. To keep warm.

Pang De has a lot of worries, he has always been a person who values ​​love and righteousness, Ma Chao is his old master, he was treated kindly in the past, and he was regarded as his right-hand man, especially Ma Teng was kind to him in nurturing him, which made it difficult for him to forget the old love.

But the king of Han trusted him, and let him guard the key battle of pulling the valley. This is undoubtedly the greatest trust in him, and it is also a test for him. It is impossible for him to betray the king of Han and his faith. , his soldiers may not agree.

This made Pang De tangled in his heart, making it difficult to make a decision, and he secretly regretted it. If he had known that he should not have taken the initiative to apply for this task and kept himself out of it, maybe he would not have suffered like this.

At this time, a soldier reported outside the account: "General Qi, Ma Chao sent someone to ask for an interview."

Pound wanted to say no, but hesitated for a moment, then nodded again, "Let him in!"

After a while, a soldier was led into the big tent. The soldier knelt down and raised his sword high, weeping: "My prince is seriously injured. I implore the general to save his life because of the old love!"

The sword in the soldier's hand was the one that Pound gave to Ma Chao back then. Pound thought about it when he saw it, but the soldier called Ma Chao a prince, which immediately made Pound furious. Without a trace, he scolded angrily: "Shut up! There are no princes here, get out!"

The soldier knew that he had made a slip of the tongue, and kowtowed desperately: "It's a villain talking nonsense. General Ma has long since dared to be king. General calm down!"

Pang De suppressed his anger in his heart, and said slowly: "If there is a cause, there must be an effect. It is entirely his own fault that he has fallen to where he is today. His Royal Highness the King of Han treated him kindly, but he did not want to repay the favor, but betrayed him. If he takes this step, he will be doomed to end today. I will not save him. Since he is a man, he should bear all the consequences. Tell him that I am a righteous person and a loyal general. If he still has a little conscience, don’t trap me in injustice again.”

The soldiers begged repeatedly, but Pound refused to agree. At this moment, he came to his senses. If he let Ma Chao go today, instead of repaying his kindness, he would put himself in a situation of disloyalty and injustice. Be firm.

Seeing Pound's resolute refusal to agree, the soldiers had to leave with tears in their eyes. Pound stopped him again, ordered someone to take some wound medicine, and gave him a tent to take back to Ma Chao. The soldier thanked him very much. up.

At night, the temperature dropped sharply, and heavy snow fell in the valley. The soldiers of the Han army couldn't bear the cold, so they lit fires to keep out the cold. The top of the mountain was also covered by heavy snow, trapping Ma Chao and his men on the mountain.

At this time, Ma Chao's food was exhausted, and the soldiers had to kill horses to satisfy their hunger. The soldiers went around looking for firewood, and many soldiers were frozen to death on the mountain.

Ma Chao was lying in the tent. His wound was already inflamed, pus and blood were coming out, the stench was pungent, and his whole body was extremely weak. Under the severe cold, Ma Chao was on the verge of dying.

In the middle of the night, he wrote a letter of confession with blood, begging Liu Jing to spare his son's life for the sake of his participation in the destruction of the Xiongnu. At dawn, the soldiers guarding him only heard him muttering, "If I knew today, why bother!"

The soldiers looked at Ma Chao again, and found that he had died. Ma Chao, a hero of a generation, had just died in Dadouba Valley.

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In late May, Zhao Yun led the army back to Beijing in triumph. Liu Jing personally held a ceremony outside the city of Chang'an to welcome the return of the soldiers from the expedition to Hexi, and rewarded the three armies generously. 5000 taels, Zhao Yun couldn't refuse it again and again, so he distributed the gold and colored satin to the soldiers under his command, but he didn't receive a penny. The soldiers cheered and were full of gratitude to Zhao Yun.

Liu Jing immediately appointed Ma Dai as the left governor of Hexi, and led [-] troops to guard Dunhuang and Jiuquan. He also appointed Wu Lan as the right governor of Hexi, leading [-] troops to guard Wuwei and Zhangye. Go to Hexi to take office.

Hexi needs time to slowly integrate and heal, but for the Han Kingdom, it is not the mainstream of the Han Kingdom after all. It is like a tributary of a great river. After attracting attention for a short time, it is gradually forgotten.

The mainstream of the Han Dynasty is to recuperate, and to restore the national power exhausted by the Hefei War requires an increase in food and stability for the people, and the army also needs to rest and adjust.

Although the people are stable and recuperating, there have been many changes in the officialdom of the Han Dynasty. First, a large number of officials were appointed in the Jianghuai region and Hexi region, and a large number of job adjustments were made.

Secondly, there was a change in the court of Chang'an. The former Secretary Supervisor of the King of Han was changed to Zhongshu Province.

The Shizhong Temple responsible for reviewing government orders was renamed Menxia Province, and Fazheng was appointed as Shizhong. However, Fazheng is currently restoring Hefei's economy in Jianghuai, so Yin Mo is still temporarily acting as Shizhong.

Pingzhangtai was renamed Shangshu Province, with six departments under its jurisdiction. In addition to the original five departments of officials, civilians, soldiers, criminals, and workers, the Ministry of Rites was added. The former Wuwei prefect Du Ji served as the first Minister of Rites.

But these are just changes in the names of the departments. Officials are more interested in changes in power. Originally, the government affairs center of the Han Dynasty consisted of five ministers and one servant. Xu Shu, Jiang Wan, Dong He, Sima Yi, and Fei Guan were the five ministers. The middle is Yin Mo, but they have been in power for many years, and it is gradually time to replace and hand over power.

More importantly, these five phases were created to balance the various regions. For example, Xu Shu represents Liu Jing's direct line, Jiang Wan represents Jingzhou, Dong He represents Dongzhou scholars from Bashu, Sima Yi represents Guanzhong Sanfu, and Fei Guan represents Bashu.

When Liu Jing first captured Yizhou, it was indeed necessary to balance power in this way, but as time went by, the Han Kingdom had settled in Chang'an for several years, and there was no need to continue this narrow geographical balance.

Therefore, the reform of the power framework has changed the distribution of power. Pang Tong, Fa Zheng and Du Ji have entered the power center, which means that the five phases have to be adjusted to a certain extent, or power is redistributed.

This made Chang'an's officialdom more delicate. In addition, the imperial examination would be held in two months. These two matters became the focus of attention of Chang'an and even the entire Han Dynasty.

At night, Jia Xu was reading in the study as usual. Because Jia Xu was old, he no longer participated in government affairs and military counselors. He only served as Liu Jing's staff. He was called Ge Lao by Han officials and had a high status in Han , and Liu Jing treated him well. His eldest sons Jia Mu and Jia Fang were appointed as prefects or prefects, while the third son Jia Ji was appointed as the Ministry of Officials, responsible for the evaluation of county magistrates, with a little real power.

Jia Xu is also satisfied, and only hopes to spend her old age peacefully and finish the final life journey.

At this time, there were footsteps outside the door, and only his son Jia Ji said outside the door: "Has father rested?"

"Come in if you have anything to do!"

Jia Ji walked into the room quickly, knelt down and saluted, "My child is visiting Father!"

Jia Xu knows his son very well, he usually doesn’t come to disturb him, especially at night, if he comes, it must be something important, Jia Xu put down the book and asked with a smile: “What’s the matter, my son?” ?”

Jia Ji hesitated for a while and said: "I have encountered some troubles, and I want to ask my father for instructions."

Seeing that his son had a box in his hand, Jia Xu asked, "What's the matter?"

Jia Ji put the box in front of her father and slowly opened it. The light was dazzling immediately. Jia Xu's eyes narrowed suddenly. There were dozens of bright pearls in the box, all of which were plump and round, and they were all top-quality pearls. Asked: "What does this mean?"

"Father, this is given to the child by the head shopkeeper of Chang'an Baibaozhai this afternoon."

Jia Xu couldn't help but sneered, "Are you going to marry him? He actually gave such an expensive dowry."

Jia Xu has lived in the world for a long time, these dozens of pearls are at least worth a thousand gold, others will naturally not send them for no reason, they must ask for something, Jia Ji sighed, "Father doesn't know that the backstage of Baibaozhai is actually the Fei family. Chengdu Baibaozhai is the property of the Fei family."

Of course Jia Xu knew that the Fei family was behind Baibaozhai. Although it kept a low profile, it was actually the largest jewelry store in the world. There were shops in Chengdu, Chang'an, Wuchang, Wuxian, Xuchang and Ye all, specializing in high-end jewelry.

Did they send such an expensive gift to their son because they wanted him to take care of the children of the Fei family?

Jia Ji bit her lip and said in a low voice after a while: "This is actually only a small part. The children understand what they mean. These pearls are not for the children, but for the father."

"Give it to me?"

Jia Xu was stunned for a moment, and said with a smile, "What are you giving me? Could it be that they took pity on my shabby funeral and sent me to fill the coffin?"

"Father, my child guesses that this is actually a gift from Fei Shangshu to my father."

. . . . . . . . . .