Chinese New Year

Chapter 662: Lub Feijie
The messenger entered the city from Kaiyang Gate and headed north along Tongtuo Street.

Tongtuo Street is very busy, with a lot of people coming and going, blocking the street.

Logically speaking, someone should have cleaned up the streets after the Lubu Feijie incident, but officials from Luoyang and Henan counties were not sure what to do. They were not enthusiastic and did not take any action.

Of course, there are reasons for this, but it would be impolite to delve into it further, after all, there are only a few people in the government offices of the two counties.

Why is there no one here? I can't even get enough food. I've been hungry for nine meals in three days. Why don't I run?

In the markets on both sides of the street, young and strong men were crying and bidding farewell to their families.

The men from Heyang who stayed behind in Luoyang urged them to set off impatiently.

"Why are you dawdling? It's not like you can't come back."

"Bai Chaowu is not as difficult to fight as Xin'an City. It's just that Wang Mi is reluctant to abandon the iron smelter and fights desperately. Don't worry, it will be over soon."

"After we take down Bai Chaowu, your family members can do business with peace of mind."

Hearing the Heyang soldiers urging them, some hot-tempered people in the city could not help but say, "You said the same thing when we attacked Xin'an City before. But after we attack Xin'an City, there is Baichaowu. After we attack Baichaowu, there is Xishibao. How many people will die along the way? When will it end?"

"Who was it that caused the collapse of hundreds of miles and lost all these dangerous places?"

"They've already started recruiting Latin soldiers, and they still say it's easy to fight! It's hard, my life is over."

……

Being retorted by the people in the city, the men in Heyang looked a little uncomfortable.

After all, they are not thick-skinned enough to lie with their eyes open.

The Battle of Baichaowu had lasted for three months. At the beginning of the war, the two sides fought several battles in the field, and the imperial army won few and lost many, and was pushed all the way to Xin'an City - that was the end of February and the beginning of March.

The General's Mansion saw that although the fighting capacity of the Imperial Guards had improved a little, that of Wang Mi's troops was also improving, so they mobilized more than 3,000 soldiers from Luonan Prefecture who had finished their farm work, and sent them to Xin'an together with their troops.

More than 3,000 heavily armored long swordsmen defeated Wang Mi under the city of Xin'an, beheaded more than 2,000 people and captured 2,000 people. The battle line was stabilized again and pushed to Bai Chaowu.

Bai Chaowu built a fort halfway up the mountain. The terrain was steep and difficult to attack.

There are actually two choices at this time.

One is to dig trenches and build walls at the foot of the mountain, and then leave it alone. The enemy will not be able to hold on, and will abandon their baggage and retreat into the mountain.

But overall it was still very dangerous because it was too close to the post road and the trenches and walls would probably not be able to stop it, so they chose the second method: a stormy attack.

This is basically what the Imperial Guards have been doing for the past three months.

By now, the fortresses in Henan and Xingyang counties were no longer willing to send out troops, because too many people had died under the city walls of Baichaowu. The several thousand troops sent out at the beginning of the year had basically been used up.

After the well-established families in Songshan Mi's Wubao, Shiliangwu Cao's Wubao, and Putianze Li's Wubao refused to send men, the court was unable to raise additional soldiers for a while. In the end, it could only find a solution in Luoyang City.

Business was bad, grain prices were extremely high, and life was really hard for the people of Luoyang. So they conscripted more than 10,000 people from the market and domestic slaves, roughly reorganized them, and sent them to the city of Baichaowu to continue grinding meat.

The young men who were conscripted from the Tongtuo Street market were the last group to set off.

"Lord Liang always thinks of giving up killing and treating people with leniency. However, he cannot tolerate those who commit suicide, and he dare not pardon those who should be executed..." The swift knight of Lubu waved his whip and made his way through the crowd with difficulty, shouting loudly as he walked.

Shouting is not just a one-time thing, but it needs to be repeated to ensure that more people can hear it.

"... ugly jackals and wolves, dare to defy the will of Heaven... Wherever thunder strikes, the evildoers will be punished; wherever frost and snow fall, the evil thieves will hide their lair..."

"...Now we have captured 54 false officials including Cao Yi, and Qingzhou has been completely pacified...The news has been announced quickly and announced to the whole country and abroad so that everyone will know."

After the Rubefiend Knight, who was like a parrot, left, everyone in the market fell silent.

Qingzhou is gone!
Duke Liang sent out all his elite troops and pacified Qingzhou in a few months. Next, he will probably stay in Luoyang and supervise the wars in Hongnong and Henei.

Is there any way out for everyone?
Some people couldn't bear it anymore and collapsed to the ground, crying, "We have no food to eat and we have to go to the battlefield to die. Lord Liang, please come to Luoyang and become the emperor. We can't live like this anymore."

Everyone felt pity.

Yes, when Lord Liang comes to Luoyang and becomes the emperor, food will be shipped in continuously, and everyone won’t have to go hungry, and perhaps they won’t have to go to the battlefield to die - under the feet of the emperor, they should be treated more kindly, right?

Some people sighed, not knowing what to say.

Even today, there are people who dare to shout such treasonous words on the busy Tongtuo Street.

The Jin Dynasty is about to end, and the sacred artifact is gone. Alas.

In the military camp near Tongtuo Street, a group of people stumbled out of the camp gate, preparing to rush to Baichaowu.

These are the Chenliu Ruan family and the descendants and followers of the local nobles who are dependent on them.

After a long investigation into the incident of the emperor being robbed on Tongtuo Street, a conclusion was finally reached.

The soldiers searched Nguyen's mansion in the capital and found a large number of bows and crossbows, armor, and weapons. They then tortured the captured servants and got to know the truth.

Wang Yan also sent people to Chenliu Weishi County to investigate and captured several "assassins" who had escaped from Luoyang.

At this point, the confession, the murder weapon, and the criminal were all there, and the chain of evidence was closed. Wang Yan, as the military commander of the General's Mansion, issued an order:

The main culprit should be sentenced to death.

After being severely beaten, the accomplice was sent to the Baichaowu army to redeem himself.

Thousands of people including the Ruan family and their associated farmhands were incorporated into the army and rushed to the city of Baichaowu to fight.

In order to execute this order, Liu Shan personally mobilized 5,000 soldiers from Xuchang, and the Black Legion Army marched from Heyang to Bianliang overnight and then to Weishi.

After remaining silent for a long time, the Chenliu families were forced to send troops and food supplies, and marched together to Weishi County to uproot these families.

This was the third aristocratic family to be exterminated by Shao Xun in the past decade, following the He family of Chenjun and the He family of Runan. Needless to say, the Henan gentry would be saddened and have a bad opinion of Shao Xun. But to be honest, he was already very lenient, and the people he killed were those who happened to be in his hands, not unwarranted persecution.

this point is very important.

That is, everyone knew that Duke Liang had been both beating and pulling the gentry, and had been consciously cultivating political groups that competed with the gentry. Occasionally, he would use brutal force to destroy their families, but up to now, he had not acted recklessly and still abided by the rules.

As long as you don't cross his bottom line and don't commit suicide, basically there will be no problem.

Insisting on doing this actually calmed the panic of the aristocratic families to a certain extent, allowing them to deceive themselves and not take risks.

To speak in plain language is to draw a line and make it clear what can be touched and what cannot.

Shao Xun even allowed the various families to take back their women who had married into the Nguyen family, further reducing the risk of rebellion.

At this point, the Nguyen family members were incorporated into the army and sent to die in the battlefield. Few people spoke up for them - after the sudden waves, they slowly subsided.

After the news of Qingzhou's great victory spread, the risk of rebellion was close to zero.

People are always good at forgetting.

The Ruan family has brought this upon themselves. What has it got to do with me? I might as well continue to work hard and see if I can consolidate my family business...

******
The emperor hasn't held a court meeting for a long time. He stays in the harem all day long, not wanting to go anywhere, and just lies there and does nothing.

On the tenth day of June, Wang Yan and others entered the palace to meet the emperor.

The emperor was drinking in Zhaoyang Palace and originally did not want to meet them, but was finally persuaded by the eunuchs to invite them over.

Queen Liang Lanbi was reading a letter in the bedroom next door.

Her current appearance was completely different from before, her face was gloomy, her eyes were sad, and her body was lifeless. Sima Chi was even more disgusted when he saw her like this, and scolding her was the least of his worries, while beating her was the most common thing.

Liang Lanbi often sat in the yard, staring at the shadows cast by the treetops, motionless, like a sculpture.

Everyone who knows her well knows that when she first entered the palace, she had a carefree laughter like a silver bell, was kind to everyone, and her eyes were full of her husband, the emperor.

As for now, perhaps I only feel a little bit of anger when reading letters.

"You have just conferred ten counties, and now you want to expand the territory. Can't Shao Xun wait?" The emperor's furious voice came from next door.

"It's just the three counties of Jiyang, Yangping and Xingyang." Wang Yan's voice also rang out: "Recovering Qingzhou and forcing Cao Yi to surrender has consolidated your majesty's revival. Such a great achievement, how can I not reward you?"

"Then you can't reward these three counties."

"What reward does Your Majesty want? The Nine Gifts? A sword and shoes for the palace? A compliment or a name?"

“That’s not possible!”

Liang Lanbi seemed to be deaf to the words and just stared at the letter with her endlessly deep eyes.

After looking for a while, her empty gaze gradually showed a hint of thirst and sucking, as if she could draw something from the paper to fill her extremely empty and lacking inner emotions.

"Your Majesty, there are still doubts about the robbery on Tongtuo Street. I think there may be thieves hiding in the Forbidden Palace..."

"shut up!"

"The famine in the capital is getting worse. If we don't reward those who have made contributions, it will only make knowledgeable people regretful and make loyal officials feel disheartened. If this continues, the imperial court's lack of food may happen again."

"Shut up!"

There was a loud noise coming from next door, but Liang Lanbi's attention was not there at all.

She had no interest and didn't care about anything. She was content to be able to be free and blank for a day.

She had a dream last night.

She dreamed that more than ten years ago, when they were outing in Qilijian, she and Yu Wenjun met Liang Gong Shao Xun and had a very pleasant conversation with him.

After returning home, her father observed the celestial phenomena at night and calculated that Mr. Liang had great fortune, so he went against everyone's opinion and married her to Mr. Liang, who was penniless at the time.

After marriage, the couple loved each other. She managed the family business for Mr. Liang, and when she summoned the ladies to have fun, everyone gathered around her, like the moon surrounded by stars.

The only thing that made her sad in the dream was probably that Yu Wenjun went to Jiangdong in disappointment. When they were about to leave, the two hugged each other and cried bitterly.

Dreams are nice, but they are not real.

After waking up, Liang Lanbi recalled the remaining dream, covered her face with the quilt again, and burst into tears.

She didn't know why she was sad until her personal palace maid said something like thunder: Dreams are caused by wishes.

So today she took out the letters one by one and read them again, trying to find her deepest wish.

"Since Your Majesty has approved it, I will supervise this matter." Wang Yan's voice continued: "The thirteen counties of Liang State are the pillars of Luoyang. The more prosperous Liang State is, the safer Luoyang will be."

"One day I'd better give Luoyang to Shao Xun as well."

"Your Majesty, why do you have to say such angry words? I will take my leave."

"Crash!" That was the sound of porcelain shattering all over the floor.

Liang Lanbi put away the letter and looked outside.

The weather was not too hot, and it was even cool under the shade of the trees, so she could sit there for half a day.

This half day is a beautiful time that belongs to her alone.

No one could stop her thoughts from flying, she could imagine anything.

(End of this chapter)