Winner in life

Time flies. In the spring of the next year, Wei Zhenhong, who was far away in Yanjing City, ranked seventh among the middle school students. In August, he took the college examination and was admitted as a scholar. In the same month, Gu Huaiyu took the provincial examination and passed the exam with great expectation and anxiety. If you are famous, you will be selected as the winner. In the autumn of the same year, Gu Huaiyu and his fiancée finally set a wedding date, and he quickly wrote a letter to Suicheng.

"Next year in April." Ruihe smiled when he received the letter, wrote a reply, and went to the market to pick out gifts during his free time. His work in Suicheng was going quite smoothly. He was from a good background. In the Wuxun family in the capital, he was far less popular than the literati. However, in the border town thousands of miles away, the reputation of the prince of the Hou family was quite impressive. human. The original Xuanfu Ambassador was old and had been re-elected for eight years. He finally died of illness while still in office. He was an old man who was very responsible in his work. Under his management, the Xuanfu Ambassador Office had a good reputation among the people of Suicheng. Inheriting his legacy, Ruihe encountered little resistance after taking office.

He used the Xuanfu envoy as a springboard, but was not satisfied with this and looked for opportunities to intervene in military affairs.

The commander-in-chief of the garrison in Suicheng was named Guan, and Rui He shamelessly called him Shibo through the family tree, and the other party was happy to pick him up and call him nephew.

Ruihe has been in the army several times due to work. Some generals are still strictly trained, while some camps are very lazy. However, there is a common problem, that is, the ordnance is old and the horses are of average quality, and the soldiers' mental outlook is quite good. Lazy. General Yongding, who was stationed in Sanyu City, said to Ruihe: "There is no war in the border town, how can the court be willing to invest money? We marching soldiers do want merit, but if we can make the country peaceful and the people safe, and the border is stable, we will not be promoted. It’s not a pity. Don’t be discouraged. The post of Xuanfu is a good position to hone your skills. You will definitely gain something from your first term, and you will be able to use these experiences when you serve as an official elsewhere.”

The shortage of military supplies has been a problem for many years. For example, the supply of military supplies at the end of last year was delayed due to the storm caused by the Eighth Prince's Household Registration Department. It was not until the second day of the Lunar New Year that the military supplies arrived, and the soldiers in the border towns were able to wear the new uniforms. Cotton coat. The second is that it is difficult to get promoted and there are few rewards. It can be said that it is a corner deliberately forgotten by the emperor. It's true that the border town has been peaceful for decades. There is no war at all, and they can only survive the qualifications. No matter how ambitious and passionate you were when you first came here, after more than ten years and decades, you will be left with only discouragement and muddle along.

These are all words from the bottom of my heart, and Ruihe accepted the advice.

But in a few years, the Xijue cavalry will invade the border towns, and Sanyu City will be the first to bear the brunt. Zhuangyu will die in the first round of siege battle.

If he wanted to attract the imperial court to pay attention to the border troops, he would have to find evidence that Xi Jue had evil intentions. Otherwise, if he was just claiming that the Xi Jue people would invade, everyone would think that he was blown away by the wind and sand in the border town. To this end, Ruihe spent a lot of energy, money and manpower. In two years, he not only sent out multiple groups of people, but also personally went deep into the Xijue territory seven times to track down the whereabouts of the seven tribes who had moved deep into the grassland, and gradually obtained some evidence. .

When the evidence was presented, General Suicheng thought it was nonsense and thought Rui He was just looking for trouble.

"The seven tribes who moved back from Xijuena have not even been to the market in these years, which shows that their lives are quite isolated and backward. As for the traces of horse breeding? Their tribe has the talent of raising and taming horses. Don't we, Dayan, still have the talent to raise and train horses? Do you often buy high-quality horses from them? The grassland is so big and they raise so many horses. As for ironware, it is even more nonsense. We Dayan does not sell ironware to Xijue at all. Who dares to disobey the Iron Order that was banned during the time of the late emperor? There are no iron mines in the Xijue territory. No matter how many horses are raised but there are no iron tools to make harnesses, what will happen to Xijue? "

They refuted Ruihe's report one by one and pushed Zhezi back. Rui He stretched out his hand to hold down the folding book and said with a smile: "Listening to what you said, it seems that I am worrying too much, but I think Xi Jue has a deep hatred for me, Dayan, and he will definitely show his fangs towards us if given the chance. You should be more careful and be careful about counterattacks. Do you think you should send someone to investigate in depth——"

The commander laughed loudly and said that this was absolutely impossible: "They have been beaten and scared for a long time! When their country was destroyed and their clan was almost annihilated, how could they dare to be thief again? The Xijue royal family has been completely annihilated. In these years, eleven They were scattered and failed to reunify and establish a country. The eleven tribes were working on their own. How much threat could the scattered Xijue people pose? Ambassador Wei Xuan, you are just too young. You will know after you stay in the border town for a few more years. There is nothing to fear from the Western Jue people!”

Seeing this, Ruihe said nothing more. Afterwards, Rui He went to see General Yong Ding. General Yong Ding thought Rui He's words made sense: "Those who are not from my race must have different minds. We should be on guard against the Xijue people, but the Xijue people are indeed not moving now."

Veteran generals like General Yongding naturally understand the principle of being prepared for danger in times of peace, but after decades of "safety", they will inevitably wear away their vigilance.

It would be fine if there were small-scale frictions between Xijue and Xijue over the years, but Xijue was indeed peaceful and bowed to Dayan. In the early years, Dayan purchased war horses from Xijue, and the price was very low. Even the price of the famous sweat-blooded BMW in Hexi was reduced by 50%, which did not make Xijue people jealous even once. General Yongding has been stationed in the border town for more than 20 years, and he has never had a conflict with the Western Jue.

"Even if there were quarrels and fights between the residents of Dayan Border Town and the Xijue people, it was a personal grudge. Before the guards could take action, the old Yinda of their tribe came over and slapped their tribesmen first, and then bowed and pulled them away. Xijue has even greatly reduced the number of horses raised in recent years, saying that the grassland has degraded a lot, the quality of fodder has declined, and many high-quality horses can no longer be cultivated. How famous are the Ferghana horses on the Hexi grassland? They are almost unavailable in the past two years, which is also a big loss for Xijue."

General Yongding believes that Xijue has completely declined, and even if there are really thieves, there is nothing to be afraid of.

Ruihe sighed: "Sixth uncle, maybe I am really worrying too much, but I am still on guard against Xijue, and I will definitely find evidence."

General Yongding likes that he is young and energetic. Young people should have something to pursue, so he encouraged him: "It's good that you have this intention. Let's do this. Next month, I will send people to the grassland for routine inspections. At that time, I will ask them to explore more deeply and notify you if there is any news." It will also comfort this cousin's heart!

Xijue's revenge was like a raging flame. The more submissive and humble he was on the surface, the more turbulent undercurrents he suppressed. The whole family supported the army and the whole people helped to cover up. How could the border patrol army, who did not take Xijue seriously, easily find out the truth through patrol?

Sure enough, there was no problem with this patrol. Ruihe collected the letter sent by General Yongding and looked up at the map hanging on the wall. The map was drawn in a 1:1 scale. He personally drew the map of Xijue's territory based on the information he had collected in the past two years through studying geography, customs and folklore, and various miscellaneous story books, visiting old residents and merchants, etc.

Xijue wanted to build an iron cavalry army, and it was inseparable from iron ore. After Xijue was defeated, all the iron ore was confiscated by Dayan, and it is still under the monitoring and management of Dayan's border army. So where did they get the ironware? Did they mine new iron ore, or did the border army secretly sell iron ore to them for their own desires? Or did they find other trading channels?

Ruihe pressed his nose. These days, he has been running around to find the general of Suicheng, the general of Sanyucheng, General Yongding, who is friendly with him, and the governor who is in charge of the civil affairs of the 18 cities in the border city, hoping that his investigation can attract their attention, but unfortunately, his investigation results are not convincing enough. They have lived and served in the border city for much longer than him, and have their own inherent ideas, which cannot be easily broken without definite evidence.

"I have to find evidence that Xijue has stationed troops or privately smelted iron."

But he can't pin all his hopes on external forces. Weijia Army... Ruihe flipped out a booklet, which recorded densely packed names, some of which were checked and some were crossed out. The Wei Family Army was disbanded since the generation of the original body's grandfather. After inheriting the title, Wu'an Hou had not even come to the border city. Over the past 20 years, some of the original Wei Family Army soldiers have died, some have been incorporated into other armies, and some have retired to marry and have children, living an ordinary life. Only the old stone tablet in Qingyue City is still standing there quietly telling the bravery and achievements of the Wei Family Army in those days. Ruihe sent condolence money to the original Wei Family Army soldiers who could still be found, and re-contacted a group of veterans. The descendants of some veterans also joined the army and are scattered in the border city army. If they are well won over, they will be natural resources.

In the previous life, Xijue attacked the border when the original body was 30 years old. It doesn't matter. He still has at least nine years to prepare.

When you focus on one thing, time flies by. When the four-year term is up, Ruihe went to the Ministry of Personnel to make connections when he returned to Beijing to report on his work, intending to stay in the border city. He also used connections to ask his colleagues in the Hanlin Academy to mention his name when they went to the palace to give lectures. Fortunately, after not seeing him for four years, the emperor still remembered him, so of course he summoned him to the palace.

Seeing his pale face and purple lips, he couldn't help but say: "You said you wanted to go to the border town to enjoy another kind of scenery. You have seen this scenery. You have been evaluated for your excellent performance during your tenure, and you have not disgraced your ancestors. You have made some achievements in the border town. Why do you want to stay?" He almost said that you only have five or six years left to live. Why are you still so reluctant to stay in the border town? It is better to return to Beijing to enjoy the family life. He only knew that Wei Zhenshan was back and wanted to go back to the border town. He was really curious and confused.

Ruihe said that he still had a lot of things to do and many places he had not set foot on. The emperor was puzzled. There were limited things that could be done in this position of Xuanfu Envoy, and there was nothing new to do. The border town is vast, how could it be possible to walk all of it? Even people who have lived in the capital for a lifetime dare not say that they have visited every corner of Yanjing City.

"I feel that the border town is not as peaceful as it seems. Your Majesty, please take a look at this memorial." Ruihe handed over a thick memorial. The eunuch came over to take it and handed it to the emperor with both hands. The emperor flipped through it carelessly and then sat up straight.

"During the four years in the border town, I have used various means to investigate Xijue. My efforts paid off and I finally found some clues. There are few mountains in the territory of Xijue, and those forests have been cut down for no reason in recent years. It is said that the drought in Xijue caused forest fires a few years ago, and all the forests were burned, so they frequently purchased charcoal from Dayan. I started with the charcoal trade and found that in the past ten years, the amount of charcoal traded between Xijue and Dayan has increased. There are eighteen cities in the border town of Dayan, and the people of Xijue went to the eighteen cities to purchase charcoal in a scattered manner. Although the demand for charcoal was a bit large, it did not attract attention. If I had not found the charcoal trading account books of the eighteen cities in the past ten years and found the old accountant who had been there for many years to check the accounts, I would not have known that Xijue had actually purchased so much charcoal from Dayan."

As Ruihe explained at a slightly faster speed, the emperor kept flipping through the pages.

"The amount of charcoal was so large that it far exceeded their daily needs. Wei Chen suspected that they were using the charcoal for other purposes, most likely for private iron smelting. ... There are abnormalities in these places on the plain, and outsiders cannot enter. , even the most popular silk merchants are no exception... The supply of Xijue horses in the horse market has been greatly reduced. It is said that the grassland has degraded due to lack of rain in recent years, but Weichen found the most experienced farmers to explore various places in Xijue The water, soil, and pasture have indeed deteriorated, but it will not be enough to supply the rations for the herding horses. Wei Chen suspects that they secretly hide high-quality horses..."

By the time he finished speaking, the emperor had probably finished reading the book. The emperor's face was grave: "Do you suspect that Xi Jue has disobedient intentions and is trying to attack the border town?" He clicked on the fold, "What you just said does not seem to be that convincing as what is written in this fold. Everything is just you." speculation."

Rui He raised his head: "Your Majesty, this is indeed the speculation of the minister. Although there is no ironclad evidence, there are signs that they are hiding something. Who knows how much ambition is hidden in it? If you calculate it carefully, the distance from that war to destroy the country is It has been forty years. There were indeed numerous casualties among the eleven young men of the Xijue. But after forty years, the gap in the population of the Xijue has long been filled, and most of them are in their prime. If they want to take revenge, they will have to take revenge in the past few years. It will be the best time!”

The emperor's breath shortened and his pupils tightened. m.,Please remember:,.