Pick all the cold branches

Bai Haoren, the commander-in-chief of Shuozhou, crawled off the bed of his new concubine. He didn't even have time to put on his shoes and socks, so he hurriedly put on his robe and ran to the main hall.

Not long ago, the guard on duty reported that His Royal Highness Prince Jing, the Second Prince, had suddenly come to Shuozhou General Military Mansion and asked to see Bai Haoren by name.

At first Bai Zongbing slept in a daze, thinking that His Highness Prince Jing had gone to the south of the Yangtze River to visit the mountains and rivers, how could he suddenly appear on the border of the northern border, someone must have pretended to be sincere and teased him, Impatiently, he was beaten out of the door with sticks, and when he saw the guard handing over the famous post and stamped letter in front of him, he was so frightened that he woke up completely, and he was sweating profusely.

This His Highness Prince Jing is a formidable person.

A few years ago, there was a major case that shook the sky in the capital, and everyone in the government and the public were shocked and terrified by it. His Highness Prince Jing played the leading role in it.

At that time, there were relatives of the emperor in Beijing who smuggled soldiers and horses to fill their private pockets. All kinds of spearheads were directed at the relatives in the middle palace and the fifth prince born by Empress Zheng.

The emperor was so furious that he wanted to punish the fifth prince, but unexpectedly, the fifth prince cried out that he was wronged, and claimed that it was the second prince's henchmen who deliberately set up a trap to drag him and the queen into the water in order to scramble for the position of the prince, in an attempt to shake the relationship with his mother. The foundation of the eldest prince of the compatriots in the court.The fifth prince also kept claiming that his second elder brother had hated their mother and son for a long time because of the death of Empress Yuan Wang, and even the father had a grudge in his heart. The exotic incense from the Western Regions presented by the second prince on the emperor's birthday is actually poisonous, and if burned for a long time, it can cause people to slowly poison and die unconsciously.The emperor ordered someone to take the incense for inspection. Unexpectedly, it was found that although the incense itself was indeed non-toxic, it was indeed poisonous after being burned in the gilt censer. The emperor had headaches for several months because of this incense.

Originally, it was embarrassing for the queen and the prince to be involved in this huge corruption case, but unexpectedly, the farce of brothers fighting against the wall and murdering their father to usurp the throne was triggered. The other five princes were summoned in front of him overnight and asked them to report each other and face to face. If they confessed, they could be lenient. If they did not confess, they would all be handed over to Dali Temple for strict investigation by the third division the next day.

All the princes were frightened like beasts, and they really rushed to apologize and bite each other. Even on a certain day, a certain month and a certain day, whose wife and uncle made a slip of the tongue after drinking and offended Tian Yan, and so-and-so's servant said about how treacherous The nonsense and trivial things like this are all covered, how can there be any brotherhood, it is really ugly.

On the contrary, the second prince was alone, neither apologizing nor complaining, just knelt there quietly, except for the fact that the fifth prince raised the incense from the Western Regions, no one could say anything about him. To go, is nothing more than to punish the heart.

The emperor ordered the second prince to wait.

The second prince said three things:

First, do not admit to things that have not been done.

Second, since the fifth younger brother surrendered him to his father, and Xi Yuxiang really found out that something was wrong, he should be escorted to Dali Temple immediately according to the law, and he will be interrogated together with the Ministry of Punishment and the Procuratorate to find out the truth.

Third, believe that the father is wise.

So the emperor immediately threw him to Dali Temple, and ordered the other four sons to kneel in front of him and wait, and no one was allowed to get up until he found out.

The third division did not dare to be negligent after taking this hot potato, and checked it for three days without sleep, and reported it back to the emperor, because the incense itself is not poisonous, and there is really no evidence that the incense poisoning is related to the second prince, but it was the burning incense. The censer was personally urged by Empress Zheng to buy it, and the palace people who burned incense every day were all people in front of Empress Zheng.

Now the matter turned back to Zhonggong.

Empress Zheng's eldest son was cowardly by nature, and he was so frightened that he didn't know what to do, but the eloquent fifth prince was very dissatisfied, and he was still very stubborn, saying that this was all set up by the second brother, and he sincerely wanted to harm their mother and son. The emperor had to conduct a thorough investigation to understand it, and he still talked about it, involving some courtiers who were close to the second prince on weekdays, and there were many old courtiers among them.

At this point, the emperor actually didn't want to investigate anymore, but he had to have an explanation for the matter.

But at this time, the second prince begged to see his father at the Dali Temple, and asked his father to punish him to go to the imperial mausoleum to observe the filial piety for Empress Yuan. It caused a disaster, so let's put the matter on him to make an end of it, don't go into it any further, so as not to embarrass the emperor.

So the emperor followed suit and let the second prince go to the imperial mausoleum, but in a rage, he still punished the rest of the princes for one year's food, and specially grounded the fifth prince.

However, the fifth prince still insisted that he had been wronged, saying that all the incidents were planned by the second brother. Not only did he not stop and think about it, he even took his uncle's servants and guards to the imperial mausoleum to find the second prince without authorization. In the end, the emperor found out about his movements and sent Jin Yiwei to fetch him back.The fifth prince refused to give in, and was seriously injured in a fight with Jin Yiwei, and died within a few months after returning to the Forbidden City.

Although the emperor disliked this careless son for causing trouble and stabbing Lou Zi, how could he really want his life? He was sad and furious, and wanted those Jin Yiwei who had hurt the fifth prince to take their lives.

Unexpectedly, those unlucky Jinyi guards confessed in order to protect themselves, saying that before going to the imperial mausoleum, the eldest prince specially summoned them to ask them to bring the fifth prince back as soon as possible, "It doesn't matter if you use tough methods, let the fifth brother be punished." It’s good to learn a lesson.”…The Jinyi guards complained that they lost their sense of proportion because they obeyed the orders of the eldest prince.And the talkative and foolish eldest prince heard that his younger brother was so dead, he had been trembling in his house for several days, and couldn't help it, even ran into the palace to hold his father's leg and cry bitterly I have confessed all the crap that the guards in Jinyi confessed, and begged my father to be lenient.On the spot, the emperor was so angry that he vomited out a mouthful of old blood. From then on, he was imprisoned in the suburbs of Beijing, and he was not allowed to step into the capital again.

After this case, Empress Zheng lost the youngest son, but the eldest son could never see him again, so he became a little ignorant, holding two puppets every day, sitting in the Kunning Palace with no expression on his face, Don't eat, drink or talk.The emperor didn't want to mention sad things anymore, and he didn't want to see such an empress, let alone go to the Kunning Palace. All affairs in the harem were presided over by the fourth prince's biological mother, Concubine Wan Gui, and he just treated the middle palace as a decoration.

Three years later, the emperor recalled the second prince from the imperial mausoleum to Beijing, named him Prince Jing, opened the palace, and bestowed many rewards.

Many people said that His Royal Highness Prince Jing is filial and virtuous, and he is the only son of Empress Yuan, so it is a blessing to be rewarded after suffering.

But there are also others who say that everything the fifth prince said back then was the truth, and that it was the second prince who set up the situation from the beginning to the end. To avenge his dead mother.

Some people said conclusively that it was the news from the palace. On the day His Royal Highness Prince Jing returned to Beijing to receive the conferment, he went to pay a visit to the Central Palace and asked Empress Zheng in front of her face: "When you killed my mother, did you ever think about it?" Will you harm your two sons today?"

What happened in Jiuzhong, Bai Haoren thought that he was a martial artist at the frontier, he didn't understand and didn't want to understand. Half of the empress was crippled, and only His Royal Highness Prince Jing and Concubine Wan Gui, who raised her, benefited. Bai Haoren felt that His Royal Highness Prince Jing must be terrible.

Now, for some unknown reason, this terrifying His Royal Highness King Jing suddenly appeared, sitting in the meeting hall of his Shuozhou General Military Mansion, and was almost beaten out by his orders.

Bai Haoren was so frightened that his legs went limp all the way, and he almost peed in his pants. He crawled into the meeting room like chaff, and knelt down on the ground with a "plop" before he even had time to see what the person in front of him looked like.

Then he heard a strange voice laughing.

"Emperor Tai/Zu once had an edict that it is a great contribution for the army officers and soldiers to defend the country with blood. You can only pay a military salute when you meet the emperor, and you don't have to bow down. Isn't it a shame that Bai Zongbing made such a big salute to Xiao Wang? Little Wang?"

Although His Highness Prince Jing said this with a smile, it fell into Bai Haoren's ears, but he was actually scolding: "You, a man who doesn't even need to kneel like an emperor, kneels down on me like this. What kind of heart do you have?" No, I had to raise my head tremblingly.

As soon as he raised his head, he saw at a glance that His Royal Highness Prince Jing was flipping through the record book of his subordinates in Shuozhou.

What is the purpose of this great Bodhisattva?Could it be that he came to check the accounts in the middle of the night...?

Bai Haoren rolled his eyes round and round, unable to figure it out, and finally asked tentatively tremblingly: "My lord, you...?"

"Mr. Bai, let's get up and talk first." Jia Fei closed the recorder in his palm, and said with a loud smile, "Xiao Wang got a secret report a few days ago, and had to go north to go out of the customs. He needed to borrow Mr. Bai's troops for a big event. Yes. However, Xiao Wang is unclear about one thing, so I have to ask Mr. Bai to give some pointers—according to the laws and regulations of our court, what crime should be for concealing military information?"

As soon as these words came out, Bai Haoren's knees that had just left the ground suddenly softened again.

His Highness Prince Jing never said a word without smiling, but he never said a word that really made people laugh.Bai Haoren instinctively felt that something had happened to the prince, but he couldn't figure it out. He was so anxious that he immediately shouted: "My lord, what do you mean? Express it?"

Jia Fei's smile turned cold, and he threw the notebook in front of Bai Haoren.

"Four years ago, the Tatars occupied Yansui and killed and kidnapped the people of our Holy Dynasty. Why did Chief Bai conceal this matter?"

Immediately, Bai Haoren's body was covered in cold sweat.

It turned out to be for this matter.

Four years ago, there was indeed such a case of a defeated army that he suppressed and did not report it.

Back then, he was unable to cope with the iron hooves that had been harassing him for years. He posted a list at the city gate of Shuozhou to seek a military advisor, but no one announced the list for seven consecutive days.

This boy was born with red lips, white teeth, white eyebrows and clear eyes, except that he seemed tired and thin because of the rush, he looked like a son of an official who had just left home not long ago.In addition, the young man refused to tell him his real name and surname, and only called himself Jia Ming, which sounds like a fake name.

At that time, Bai Haoren thought that this must be a young master who sneaked out to play, he didn't take him seriously at all, and wanted to give him some money to send him down.Unexpectedly, the young man didn't take the money, but left him a map with a smile and left.

Bai Haoren opened the map and saw that it was full of signs, writing and drawing on it, annotating all the frontier defenses and earth forts belonging to the four towns outside Juyongguan, and using arrows to draw the countermeasures when the Tatars invaded.

At first, Bai Haoren didn't take it to heart, thinking that although the young man had put in a lot of effort to draw this map, it was a child's nonsense after all.

A few days later, the Tartars came again. When Bai Haoren was beaten so hard that he couldn't find his way, he suddenly remembered this map. He opened it and saw that the number of the Tartars' attacking routes coincided with the one drawn in the map. He was surprised. With the idea of ​​using a dead horse as a living horse doctor, he dispatched troops according to the strategy described in the picture.

As a result, this time Bai Haoren not only repelled the Tatar cavalry, but also recaptured the fallen Yulin and Yansui towns, which greatly increased his prestige. For this reason, the emperor sent an imperial envoy to reward him.

Bai Haoren's heart was greatly shaken, and he hurriedly ordered people to find the young man that day. After searching for three days, he finally found the young man pretending to be a storyteller in a restaurant in Shuozhou city.

Bai Haoren said that he did not dare to claim credit alone, and wanted to ask for a meritorious reward for the young man.

But the young man stopped him, saying that he didn't want to become an official, and he didn't want to make any achievements. He was willing to be Bai Haoren's doorman and advisor behind the scenes. whereabouts.

Although Bai Haoren couldn't figure out what the rationale was, he agreed.

So the boy stayed in Shuozhou General Military Mansion.He behaves very low-key, and he refuses to show his face on weekdays, hardly letting anyone know of his existence.

He lived in Shuozhou for three years. During these three years, he taught Bai Haoren and ordered all the soldiers and civilians in the cities and towns under the jurisdiction of Shuozhou to learn to "herd horses to know horses, raise dogs to hunt", and to "change the thinking of Han people and try to understand Mongolians. Habits", and taught the soldiers and civilians on the frontier to strengthen the Tucheng.In the past three years, the Tatars were no longer as arrogant and unhindered as they used to be, and they were repeatedly frustrated in the border town of Shuozhou.After Bai Zongbing changed his usual style of swallowing water warmly, he started to make great achievements. Many people half-jokingly asked Bai Haoren if he invited a fairy to hide in his mansion.Bai Haoren was embarrassed to take the credit for himself, so he said that he had indeed hired a military adviser, but he refused to disclose the rest.Even though he only missed such a small amount of word, the boy lost his temper with Bai Haoren, and almost left. Fortunately, Mr. Bai begged his grandpa to sue his grandma for a long time, and he almost cried for his father and mother to keep him.

Bai Haoren once curiously asked him, the immortal military adviser, why he came to Shuozhou to do these things.

The military adviser also refused to tell him, only showing a mournful expression on his face, saying that his arrogance, ignorance and fearlessness killed people in the past, so he had to find a place to save people and make atonement for his peace of mind.

What he said was profound, and Bai Haoren couldn't understand, and he was too embarrassed to inquire about other people's private affairs, so he let him go.

Then, just four years ago, a naturally brave little prince emerged from the Tatars. He was said to be a descendant of the Jinzhang family, and he went south to kill him aggressively.

Many of the earthen castles and earthen fortresses on the frontier of the Holy Dynasty have fallen into disrepair for a long time. Although the army and people of the border town have tried their best to repair them in the past three years, there are still some places that cannot be taken care of.

So one day the little prince rushed down like a wolf leading a pack of wolves, directly tore down the earthen wall at a corner of Yansui and occupied Yansui Town by force, and then threatened the lives of the people in Yansui Town, and forcibly took the military commander away .

Back then, Bai Haoren suffered from this matter for several months, tossing and turning every day, unable to sleep at night, restless in sitting or lying down.

It stands to reason that he should save this person.

But if it was reported in the newspaper that the Tatars broke through the wall and occupied Yansui, and finally captured a retainer of his house...Who would believe it?Even if he believed it, if his superiors found out that he let the Tartars rush in and take a town of people as hostages, he wouldn't be able to walk around.

So after thinking about it several times, Bai Haoren gritted his teeth and decided to just let this matter go.

Anyway, the Tartars came and went like lightning, and Yansui was still in his hand.The military division has always lived in seclusion, and few people know who he is until now.

For peace of mind, Bai Haoren also gave the military commander a longevity tablet at the mansion. He kowtowed three incense sticks every morning and evening and never dared to neglect it, only thinking that the military commander had already sacrificed his life for the country...

But he never expected that after four years, a prince from Beijing University would come to his door for this matter.

And it happened to be His Highness Prince Jing.

So that fairy-like military adviser is not only a son of a great family, but also a royal family?Then you guys came to look for it earlier?This person has been in Shuozhou for seven years, and it has been four years since he disappeared. You just came?Seven years, I will be soy sauce after giving birth to a child...

While secretly slandering, Bai Haoren carefully scrutinized His Highness Prince Jing's expression, trying to figure out how much His Highness Prince Jing knew about this matter, with an embarrassing smile, he hesitated to answer.

His Highness Prince Jing seemed to know that he didn't dare to speak casually, and didn't make it difficult for him to explain clearly immediately. Instead, he smiled and said for him: "Thinking about the fact that the Tartars came and went, in our town too It’s commonplace, not to mention that this matter is delicate and difficult to report.”

"Yes, yes, yes, my lord is sympathetic, my lord is sympathetic." Bai Haoren quickly climbed up, nodding with a stern face.

Seeing Bai Haoren's appearance, Jiafei showed a smile that was not a smile, and sighed softly, "But Zongbing Bai is a sensible person, he should distinguish clearly, there are some things you can control, and some things you can't control."

Bai Haoren was slightly taken aback, and before he had time to understand what the prince was referring to, he heard Jia Fei say again: "A few days ago, the Seventh Prince's imperial guards were raided and wiped out by the Tatars in your jurisdiction of Shuozhou. The whereabouts of my younger brother are still unknown since he was taken away, how long will President Bai plan to keep it a secret for such a big event?"

He didn't yell loudly, he just asked quietly, as if he was chatting about something ordinary.

Hearing this, Bai Haoren felt as if struck by lightning. He was stunned, held his breath for a while, and then roared out like a frying pan: "What? This, this... The Seventh Prince was taken away by the Tartars? When did it happen? !"