The queen must start from the head

Chapter 125 lack of heart
After the alliance strategy failed, the Northern Qi monarch immediately sent people to the Tianxia Wushuang faction to ask Mu Sheng for advice.

The other party only replied with a simple six words - raise troops first, then wait.

wait?What are you waiting for?Waiting for Daqin to attack the city all the way?

Li Tianming stood in his bedroom, walking around restlessly.He already felt that things were in a hurry, but the Mu Sheng did not appear to be in a hurry.

He even began to think, should he use the promise made by the other party first and ask her to make a move first?
But this idea was quickly rejected by him.His father had told him before going into seclusion that he must not ask Mu Sheng to act unless it is absolutely necessary.

He stopped walking around, made a fist with his right hand and smashed it into the palm of his left hand. Judging from his expression, it seemed that he had just made a major decision.

The next day in the court hall, the king ordered the whole country to recruit troops to defend the Qin Dynasty.

Prime Minister Bi Ying has been "unwell" at home for several days.Now that there is no prime minister to oppose it, the monarch's policy of conscription was quickly implemented.

On the outskirts of the city, in a small courtyard of a hut, a little girl wearing a double bun and wearing a floral jacket is happily running around in the courtyard, playing hide-and-seek with her friends.

A group of men gathered in the yard to drink and eat meat, and the women were busy in the kitchen. Some tears fell from time to time, and they quickly wiped them away.

The children played hide-and-seek until they ran out of energy, so they climbed onto the pile of firewood in the backyard to bask in the sun.

"Sanya, I heard from adults that we are going to war in Northern Qi."

As he spoke, a little boy looked at the little girl on his right who was wearing a floral jacket.

"War, what is war?" She had never heard this word before.

Another older child said, "When you become a soldier, you have to go to war. In war, you will die, and many people will die! This is what I heard from Grandpa Liu in the village. He said that he went to war when he was young. On the battlefield, I even fought against the tortoise grandchildren of Zhao Kingdom!"

"Grandpa Liu? Is he the one with a lame leg in the village? I remember he still has scars on his face. He looks so fierce!" Another child interrupted.

A group of children started chatting away.

Only then did Sanya understand a little better. She looked at the little boy who called her at the beginning and said, "What they said would kill people? Is it just like the grandmother Hua next door who closed her eyes and never looked back?" not coming?"

After seeing the other party nodding, Sanya became a little unhappy.

Because she heard from her mother that grandpa gathered everyone together for dinner today just to see them off as soldiers.The father who loves her the most is also a soldier.Doesn't that mean her father is also going to the battlefield?
In the yard, after the men were full of wine and food, they began to get ready to go.If you miss the time to go to the military camp to report, you will be dealt with according to military law.

Sanya's grandfather, that is, Lizheng of this village, was looking at his son standing in front of him in military uniform, with tears in his old eyes.

He stretched out a pair of hands that were as old as pine, adjusted the turban for his son, patted the latter's shoulder and said, "At home, I will take care of you. You don't have to worry about anything. When you go to the battlefield, Don't just remember to kill the enemy, hide when you need to hide, hide when you need to hide, life-saving is the most important thing!"

Sanya's father pursed his lips, did not say a word, but nodded heavily.

Then Rizheng took a few steps forward and stopped in front of a man with slightly gray hair.

"Lao Xu, you actually don't need to go this time..." Li Zheng was hesitant to speak.

Back then when Northern Qi was at war with Zhaoguo, the young and strong Xiao Xu was selected by officers from the barracks, and he was the one who personally sent people out of the village.

Now decades have passed in a flash, Xiao Xu has become Lao Xu, and he still lives alone.This time the monarch enlisted troops from all over the country, so he took the initiative to sign up and go to the war.

Hearing Lizheng's words, Old Xu smiled and said, "Don't try to persuade me about this matter. Daqin is no better than Zhaoguo and Songguo. If I can fight with their soldiers, I just went underground and saw For those old friends from the past, there is something to praise."

After finishing speaking, he straightened his turban himself, and said with a smile, "When I left, you were the one who straightened my head. Now, I won't give you this chance."

These words made everyone laugh, diluting the sad atmosphere of parting a bit.

Under the leadership of Li Zheng, a group of women and old people in the village sent the group of young men out of the village all the way.

Seeing that her father was about to leave, Sanya who was standing in the crowd suddenly broke free from her mother's hand and ran towards her father.

"Dad! Daddy, don't leave! Stop being a soldier. Our family won't go to war, okay?" She opened her dark eyes wide and held on to her father's clothes with hope.

But her father just patted her little head lightly, and asked the child's mother to come and take the baby back.

"I will return."

After leaving these words in front of this woman who had been with him for 12 years, he turned and left.

The woman held her crying daughter in her arms and looked at the back of her husband leaving, two lines of tears flowed down uncontrollably.

On the one hand, the Northern Qi Dynasty mobilized a large army to march to the border, and on the other hand, the whole country recruited troops to expand the size of the army.The atmosphere in the entire imperial city became tense.

On this day, Zhou Jingshuang was practicing swordsmanship in the courtyard of the Wushuang faction, when Shi Tai suddenly came to her and said that what she asked him to do before was done.

She immediately reported the matter to the head.

Mu Lian asked Wu Mei to gather all the above disciples in the sect, and then began to train them secretly.

As for the content of the training, only a few people in the entire sect know about it.

Immediately afterwards, Mu Lian asked Chief Manager Wu Mei to take over the elixir pavilion and scripture library in the sect. She wanted to control the important resources in the sect during wartime.

The three factories in the gate that produce mirrors, soap and matches also shut down.All the equipment inside was replaced by Mu Lian, as if to produce something else.

It didn't take long for the wartime control policy to be pushed down, Wu Mei's face was livid, and Song Xinlan, the former steward of the Danyao Pavilion, was escorted in front of Mu Lian.

"Master, when I took over the elixir pavilion, I found that the remaining internal power pills were very few. I checked the elixir pavilion's account book and found out that Song Xinlan actually used false accounts to steal them out one after another. More than ten bottles of inner strength pills came out! I asked her who gave those pills, but she said that she was coerced by others and had no idea where the pills went! This matter all happened because of my poor supervision. Please take charge. Door punishment!"

As soon as Wu Mei came up, she explained clearly the cause and effect of the matter.

Back then, Song Xinlan brought her son and daughter and lived a life that was not as good as pigs and dogs at her husband's house. She rescued him and brought them to Luohuang Mountain.

Looking at it now, I was simply blind at the time, and the person I rescued turned out to be a white-eyed wolf!
Mu Lian, who was sitting behind the desk, raised her head and glanced at Song Xinlan, who was kneeling on the ground feeling uneasy and not daring to defend herself.

"Don't you have anything to say?"

Mu Lian's voice made Song Xinlan's body tremble, she quickly raised her eyes to look at the person behind the desk, then quickly lowered her head.

Maybe it was because he wanted to steal some pills, but in the head's opinion, it wasn't a big deal.

Song Xinlan finally spoke out, she pleaded with Mu Lian, "Master, this matter, I was fooled by my own lard. Thousands of mistakes are all my own fault, and have nothing to do with my two children , how you want to punish me, I admit it!"

Mu Lian casually glanced at the steaming tea in her hand, "I remember that your two children are already ten years old? If children of this age know that their mother has died, they will be sad and angry. Have a heart of resentment towards the murderer? From this point of view, we have to kill the grass and roots."

These words made Song Xinlan stunned. She didn't expect that she just stole a pill, and the head of the sect wanted her to die?

Until now, her understanding of Mu Lian is still at the stage of a good old man.

If it weren't for this woman's kind heart and stupidity and rich money, why would she be willing to spend money to support their group of old and weak women and children?Are you still willing to fight others to death for them?
It was also because she thought that after the sect master knew about the theft of the pill, she would at most just punish herself, and she hadn't kowtowed to beg for mercy since entering the gate.Now when she heard Mu Lian's words that seemed to kill her, her face turned pale.

"Master, you, are you joking? I just stole some pills, it's not..." She began to try to defend herself.

Mu Lian interrupted her unceremoniously, "How much can you sell for an inner power pill?"

Song Xinlan paused and said, "One thousand, 1000 taels of silver...".

In the past, when she sold a healing pill to Tang Zhengqiu and his wife for 1000 taels of silver on Luohuang Mountain, a seed of greed quietly took root in her heart.

1000 taels!So much vain money, but even one tael could not fall into her hands. This kind of inability to get it made the greed in her heart grow day by day.

But she has been hiding it very well. No one knows what kind of heart is hidden under her smiling face every day.

Not long after the sect moved to the western suburbs of the imperial city, a mysterious person finally approached her while she was out, and asked her to find a way to steal some inner power pills from the sect, and the other party was willing to spend a lot of money to buy them.

She did not easily agree to the temptations.

But later, she discovered that stealing the elixirs was an easy task.That time, she exchanged 1000 taels of silver from the mysterious man with an inner power pill. Since then, things have gotten out of hand...

Wu Mei, who was on the side, was already blue and purple with anger. She pointed at Song Xinlan angrily and said, "Just for a mere 1000 taels of silver, you betrayed our Wushuang faction? You, you are simply a pig's brain!" Too angry to say anything.

Until now, Song Xinlan still didn't think it was a big deal to steal a few pills, so she stuck her neck and argued, "It's a big deal, I'll just return all the money I got from selling the pills to the head."

"Is this about paying back the money?!" Wu Mei wanted to speak again, but was interrupted by Mu Lian raising her hand.

The latter looked at the unrepentant middle-aged woman in front of him calmly and said, "Since you have made a mistake, you must pay the price. As for your children, I will decide how to treat them after conducting an investigation."

After Mu Lian finished speaking, Song Xinlan wanted to defend herself, Mu Lian waved her left sleeve, and the latter fell unconscious on the ground.

Then, Mu Lian stood up from her seat and said loudly, "Song Xinlan, the manager of the Pill Pavilion, colluded with outsiders, stole the pills, endangered the interests of the sect, seriously violated the rules of the sect, and showed no repentance or regret. Now. This leader announces that he has been sentenced to death! The death penalty will be executed by Chief Wu Mei himself!"

Although she was in the house, her voice spread to every corner of the door.

The others in the door were all in an uproar.

Song Xinlan is in charge, isn't she the middle-aged woman who laughs and laughs all day in the Pill Pavilion?She actually stole the elixir from our sect, and dare to collude with outsiders?Many people were taken aback.

Wu Mei took a few steps forward and picked up Song Xinlan who had passed out. After saying goodbye to Mu Lian, she went out to find a place to carry out the execution.

The Song Xinlan incident once again sounded the alarm for Mu Lian.

When she rectified the sect earlier, eight people from the embroidery team left. This time when the wartime control was implemented, another Song Xinlan was found out.Who knows if there are other moths hidden in the door, or spies sent by other forces?
The secret investigation department in the door has always been aimed at the outside world and used to collect all kinds of information.Now it seems that it is time to clean up the interior of the sect.

So on this day, there was a new institution in the Wushuang faction-the Supervisory Hall.Nanny Rong personally acted as the head of the hall, responsible for supervising everyone in the sect except the head, and was directly responsible to the head, and regularly reported to the head the situation of the disciples' violations and punishments.

As soon as the Supervisory Hall came out, it was like a knife hanging on the heads of all the disciples, stewards, and handymen, making them a little more cautious in their daily external actions.

The ethos in the sect also became solemn and clear, and it gradually took on the appearance of a famous sect.

　When I went, I was wrapping my head, and when I came back, my head was white and still guarding the border. — Du Fu

　　
　
(End of this chapter)