Sima Yi's Three Kingdoms Collection Collection

Chapter 296 The Ups and Downs of the Imperial Family (5)
As soon as he said this, the tent immediately fell silent—it was so quiet that everyone's breathing and panting could be heard clearly!
After a long time, Fei Shi stood up tremblingly from the seat, the expression on his face was mixed and inexplicable.With a "plop", he kowtowed directly to Zhuge Liang, and murmured: "Fei has not been bent by others for a long time! Your Excellency, the Prime Minister, is willing to sacrifice everything for the great cause of the Han Dynasty. Fei sincerely admires you! Although he disagrees with the Prime Minister's political views, Fei can't help but wish the Prime Minister the success of this Northern Expedition, restore the Central Plains, and revive the Han Dynasty! I hope that the Prime Minister can take good care of himself..."

After speaking, his voice gradually choked up.Finally, he reached out to wipe his cheeks, wiped away a lot of tears, got up and backed out slowly.

It wasn't until Fei Shi walked far away from the tent that Zhuge Liang coughed lightly, covered his mouth with his robe sleeve, and when he bowed his head, tears flowed from the corners of his eyes.

At this time, Yang Yi stood up and said, "Prime Minister, Fei Shi is too stubborn! Don't look at how moved he is now, maybe he will still go to the table to impeach you after he goes back! To impeach him as 'disrespectful', lest he damage your dignity..."

"Well... Yang Jun, what you said is not right!" Zhuge Liang slowly raised his head and stared at him when he heard the words, "As the saying goes, 'A thousand gold is hard to find straight advice.' Doctor Fei's kindness , is exactly what all the members of the Han Dynasty urgently need! As long as we are dedicated to the public, we have to respect him, respect him, fear him, and submit to him! Since Liang is sitting on this position, he should be worthy of you The scolding of everyone! Narrow-mindedness and impetuousness will ultimately fail to achieve great things—you have to remember it!"

"This...Prime Minister, you have taught me the right thing." Yang Yi blushed and hurriedly answered with her head bowed.

War is coming
After a moment of silence, Zhuge Liang gently shook his goose feather fan, turned to Jiang Wan and asked, "Have the 13 million shi of grain for our 360-strong Han army been prepared for this Northern Expedition?"

Jiang Wan clasped his hands together and said, "Report to the Prime Minister, 360 million shi of food has been prepared, enough for our army for eight months."

Zhuge Liang's complexion darkened slightly: "It's really hard for the elders in Sichuan! Eight months... Thank you everyone for trusting the truth, and giving the truth eight months to do everything possible... The truth is only 'Dedicate yourself to death and die'!"

When Jiang Wan, Jiang Wei, Yang Yi, Qiao Zhou, etc. heard this, they couldn't help but change their colors: "Why did the prime minister say that? The prime minister has wisdom in the world and seeks to win the past and the present. This Northern Expedition will surely be successful and smooth sailing!"

A faint wry smile appeared on Zhuge Liang's face, and he asked Yang Yi again, "Have those four thousand 'wooden ox' carts ever been built?"

Yang Yi respectfully replied, "Everything has been built."

"What about the [-] 'Liu Ma' chariots?"

Yang Yi replied again: "Prime Minister, don't worry. In the past three years, our army has cut down tens of thousands of trees, and according to the design pattern you gave, Prime Minister, these [-] 'Liu Ma's" have also been produced in a hurry. "

Zhuge Liang nodded slightly, turned his eyes to Jiang Wei, and asked, "How are the five thousand 'serial crossbows' made?"

Jiang Wei clasped his hands and replied: "My subordinates have supervised it day and night, and it has been completed."

"Well...you take it out and try its efficacy."

Immediately Jiang Wei left the table and stood up, quickly took out a bow and crossbow from behind, and held it in the palm of his hand.

Qiao Zhou, who was sitting at the end of the mat, looked intently, but saw that the crossbow in his hand had a strange shape: its handle was more than two feet long, and the quiver in the middle protruded like a hump. The spread of the bow wings on both sides is more than three feet wide, but the stretched bowstring is as thick as a little finger!On closer inspection, it can be seen that the crossbow seems to be made of hardwood, and the bow wings inlaid with a layer of copper skin are polished black iron!

Jiang Wei held up the crossbow and showed it carefully in front of Jiang Wan, Yang Yi, Qiao Zhou, etc., then pulled out a handful of feathered arrows from the quiver at his waist, and stuffed them into the arrows on the crossbow body one by one. In the arrow box.

After stuffing the feathered arrows, Jiang Wei picked up the bow and crossbow, aimed at an archery target on the training ground outside the tent, and snapped his fingers on the spring at the front of the crossbow's body ties—the bow's wings buzzed. In an instant, Qiao Zhou felt a blur in front of his eyes, and several beams of white light formed a stream of silver. There was a sudden sound of "bang bang bang", and a string of feather arrows shot out from the belly of the crossbow. Into the red heart of the target!

"Awesome! Awesome! So amazing!" Jiang Wan saw the power of this "serial crossbow" for the first time. One can count as ten, invincible..."

Jiang Wei introduced to them again: "In order to restrain the 'Spike Crossbow' of the Wei thief, the Prime Minister also invented the 'Hundred Stone Crossbow'.

Jiang Wan and the others nodded and bowed to Zhuge Liang together, saying, "Your Excellency's skill in improving ordnance can be described as 'ingenious'. Even if the puppet Wei has [-] cavalry, it will be difficult for the enemy!"

"You guys are overwhelmed—whether these ordnance are powerful or not can only be known when you face the enemy! It's too early to tell about your reputation!" Zhuge Liang gently slapped the goose feather fan in his hand a few times, Xu Sheng said, "During the past three years, my great man has been united as one, waiting for the day, planning night and day, and has made 'perfect preparations' for this Northern Expedition, waiting for His Majesty's order to go straight out of Hanzhong and fight Sima Yi has a showdown!"

Jiang Wan, Yang Yi, Jiang Wei, Qiao Zhou and others raised their voices in unison: "Prime Minister, don't worry—we are willing to devote ourselves to the great cause of the Northern Expedition and repay it with death!"

After hearing this, Zhuge Liang seemed very satisfied.He made up his mind, looked at Qiao Zhou who was standing at the end, and waved his sleeves to Jiang Wan and Yang Yi: "Jiang Jun, Yang Jun, you two go out of the tent and wait for a while. The truth is confidential and important, so I need to consult Dr. Qiao..."

When Jiang Wan and Yang Yi heard the words, they hurriedly stood up and retreated.

Only then did Zhuge Liang gently put down the goose feather fan, put his hands on both sides of the desk, and looked up at Qiao Zhou.Qiao Zhou hesitated for a moment, then glanced at Jiang Wei.Zhuge Liang would be pleased with him, so he just smiled faintly: "Bo Yue (Jiang Wei's character is "Bo Yue") is a disciple of this related sect, you can speak bluntly in front of him, Mr. Qiao..."

Qiao Zhou nodded, with a respectful expression on his face: "My lord, in the past few days, after repeated in-depth research by many star official warlocks in our Taishi Department, they believe that the prophecy on the 'Spiritual Turtle Profound Stone' is a natural miracle. Not a vain thing.”

"Then, what is the meaning of the prophecy on the mysterious stone of 'Great Discussion with Cao Yan'? What is good or bad for the Lord?"

"The so-called 'challenging Cao Yan' is self-evident - the puppet Wei will be robbed by swords this year, and will fall into ominous doom from then on!"

"Hmm... Since the puppet Wei has fallen into a terrible disaster, isn't it auspicious for me, a big man? Could it be that this year is a good omen for my big man's recovery?"

"This..." Qiao Zhou's face showed hesitation, and he hesitated for a long time before slowly answering, "This is exactly what Qiao and the princes of the Taishi Department are most puzzled..."

"What doubts? Why not tell me." Zhuge Liang picked up the goose feather fan and fanned it slowly.

"Prime Minister, please forgive me for being so blunt - I watched the sky at night recently and found that the sky is very strange - although the astrology of the false Wei Dynasty is gradually getting weaker, and the star energy over my great Han Xishu is not too strong... ..."

"Huh? How could there be such a strange thing?" Zhuge Liang couldn't help but stop the goose feather fan that was shaking gently in his hand.

"Moreover, the most strange thing is that three strange stars have appeared above the night sky in the direction of Bingzhou, presenting a triangular confrontation, and their light is getting brighter and brighter..."

"Above the land of Bingzhou?" Zhuge Liang frowned slightly, "How come there are strange stars appearing there?"

"That's right! The land of Bingzhou is the state of Jin during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods! It is closely adjacent to Jizhou, the root of the pseudo-Wei astrology..."

"Oh... so it turned out that there were high stars shining above the land of Jin in the Spring and Autumn Period? But my current aura and dragon veins should have been in Yizhou... No! It should be that there are bright stars in the sky above Yizhou." It's normal..." Zhuge Liang himself was also proficient in astronomy and astrology, so he couldn't help muttering to himself.

Qiao Zhou could only keep silent when he heard his words.

After a long time, Zhuge Liang calmed down his distracting thoughts and asked Qiao Zhou: "So, according to Dr. Qiao's speculation, what is the prospect of our great man's Northern Expedition?"

Qiao Zhou saw that he was asking sharp questions, so he knelt down and muttered: "The officials are stupid, they don't understand military and state affairs, so they dare not talk about it."

Zhuge Liang said solemnly: "The job of doctor Qiao is to observe the sky and tell the time, divination of good and bad luck, and to explain doubts and doubts for the court. What can I say? I forgive you for expressing any opinions without guilt..."

Now that the prime minister has expressed such an attitude, Qiao Zhou naturally couldn't just refuse blindly, so he muttered and said slowly: "Recently, it is reported that the residents in the suburbs of Beijing have reported that the trees such as pines, cypresses, peaches, and bamboos in the Longquan Station are unexpectedly dead after nightfall. It sounded like a human being and wept endlessly, scaring the surrounding residents to sleep uneasy. Six days ago, under the bright daylight, there were thousands of white cranes flying over the Jinjiang River. They circled several times and threw themselves into the river to die... Our Taishi Office has repeatedly studied and judged, and believes that these are the omens of my big man's "state-owned funeral"! I implore the Prime Minister to rest assured and not to move lightly for the time being!"

"'State-owned funeral'? You are talking nonsense!" Zhuge Liang was slightly taken aback when he heard it, and after a while he couldn't help saying, "Your Majesty is in the prime of his life, how could something unexpected happen?" He said Just as he was speaking, his heart suddenly tightened, and he seemed to understand faintly, so he shut his mouth suddenly, and didn't say any more.

However, Qiao Zhou kowtowed repeatedly on the floor: "I want to report to the Prime Minister that the celestial phenomenon is such a warning. It is a fact that everyone can see. The officials don't dare to fabricate lies..."

When he was in a hurry to defend himself, he saw Zhuge Liang's face slowly softened, and he sat back on the couch, saying: "That's all! Doctor Qiao doesn't need to say any more. The truth is that I don't mean to blame you—you today What you have said in this account with the truth, you must remember to keep silent in your heart, and you must not let it out lightly!"

"Yes! Yes! Yes! I must keep this in mind!" Qiao Zhou kowtowed profusely in reply.

Zhuge Liang cast his eyes from the tent window long and far away, looked at the sky to the north, and said slowly: "Your Taishi Department is in charge of astronomical observation, yin and yang calculations, accounting for marquis pushes, and everything about the sun, moon, stars, and weather. , Prediction of earthquakes and mountain torrents. For our army’s Northern Expedition, we have to need a person like you, Dr. Qiao, who is well versed in astronomy and climate observation——this Northern Expedition, you will go with the truth!”

The red ball-like morning sun slowly rose into the sky, and the market places in Chang'an City gradually became lively.

Chang'an was a key point and was once the capital of the Han Dynasty. Although it has experienced many years of wars and wars since the last years of Emperor Lingling of the Han Dynasty, it has gradually recovered under the careful management of Zhong Yao, Cao Hong, Cao Zhang, Cao Zhen, Sima Yi and other governors in Guanzhong. The prosperity of the past.

(End of this chapter)