The peach blossoms outside Luoyang City have faded, and the willow trees are spreading their branches and blowing in the wind.
Xu Shiji was dressed in military uniform and stood beside the official road outside Luoyang City. Standing around him were his subordinates, most of whom had been with him for two years.
During the two-year campaign, most of their troops were cavalry, but their achievements were somewhat unsatisfactory. They were all fighting as a partial division to assist the main force of the army, so they lacked the ability to break formations.
But there is nothing to complain about. Who asked them to follow the prince-in-law? If you let the prince-in-law lead the troops into battle, what will you do if you are injured?
Fortunately, the Prince Consort was not an incompetent person. He entered the city alone and persuaded Qiu He and others to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, which was a great achievement. Later, he worked with Qiu He and others to attack Hulao and dragged the main force of the Xia army to Xingyang, which was not a small achievement.
What is depressing is that they had no part in conquering Hebei. Instead, they were sent to Xuchang to transport the surrendered troops to Luoyang for resettlement. Although they still had some merit, compared with the army crossing the river to fight in Hebei, it is hard to say which one was more important.
?
Therefore, several leading generals were a little listless. They all started out with military exploits, one was from Guanxi, four were from Daizhou, and two were from Turks.
Looking at this formation, you can see that they are not afraid of bloodshed and fighting, but they are afraid of being left behind in terms of merit. Following Xu Shiji, they all feel quite unlucky.
If Xu Shiji had not managed the army in a strict manner in the past two years, with clear rewards and punishments, and he could lead everyone here and there with nothing to do, otherwise these generals would probably have gone to serve in other guards.
Xu Shiji himself was fine. He was now in charge of the Zuowuhou Guards House and had gained some reputation in the army. In his opinion, everyone did take too much care of him, but at his level, he had many opportunities to display his martial arts.
The emperor has very few relatives. He is the emperor's brother-in-law and the emperor's junior brother. Sooner or later he will have the opportunity to take charge of his own affairs, so he is not in a hurry.
Moreover, he has been away from home for two years, and he is indeed a little homesick. Especially his eldest princess, who is not used to staying at home, wanders around, bullies others, and so on.
He just took this opportunity to return to Beijing to report on his work. The thought of meeting his parents, wife, and other military exploits soon made him forget about it.
At this time, someone came to report, "General Qi, the surrender has been ten miles away."
Xu Shiji nodded slightly, looked around and said: "Everyone, please be more energetic. Let's also take a look at what Dou Jiande is like. It won't be in vain to brag to others later."
Several generals laughed and agreed one after another. Only one Turkic man muttered, "After seeing Dou Jiande, you won't let me go back to Mayi to graze, right?"
Everyone was amused by his teasing. Xu Shiji hit him on the chest and said, "You can't go back to herding cattle. It would be great to be a general here, marry a few wives, and have a bunch of babies."
Everyone nodded one after another and looked at it as if the fight was about to end. In addition to being a little unwilling, everyone also looked forward to a better life in the future.
While talking and laughing, the long procession of descendants on the official road was also vaguely revealed.
……………………
Pei Ju was sitting in the spacious carriage, with the quilt spread under him and a few bear skins for his backrest. Two maids sat opposite, always paying attention to the owner's every move.
There were several healthy servants following the carriage all the time. If you have anything to do, just give them instructions.
Bu Qun and Li Nian really kept their promise and arranged his trip as carefully as if he were going out for an outing.
But a journey is a journey, and the carriage is always swaying while it is moving, which makes Pei Ju a little dizzy. As an old man in his seventies, he really can't bear this kind of long journey.
Seeing that he was almost reaching Luoyang, Pei Ju finally breathed a sigh of relief, but when he thought that he was less than halfway along the way, he grimaced again.
Because Pei Ju was a little motion sick, the curtains of the carriage were open. Pei Ju was also afraid of the cold. The weather in April was still a bit cold for him, so he was wrapped in a thick robe.
Pei Ju looked out and saw people on the official road. They were plowing the land, probably preparing for spring plowing. There were also some people who were preparing roads and filling in gullies.
That was all Duan Da's fault. He led his army back after being defeated and attacked Luoyang, but Wang Shiyun and others refused to leave the city. In desperation, he ordered people to dig many people's graves, threatening not only the soldiers and civilians in the city, but also the people in the city. You can replenish your military resources a little.
What he actually learned was what Cao Cao did, but apart from digging holes everywhere, he didn't make any decent noise. Instead, he left a bad reputation all over the place.
By the way, this former Sui minister who started his career in the former Sui Dynasty, held important positions many times, made great achievements, and later caused all kinds of disturbances in Luoyang, finally died of illness in Weicheng.
He lost almost everything he could lose and died alone in his mansion. Most of his close friends and relatives were dead. His heart and soul were all left in Henan. His wife and children left in Luoyang and Guanxi were not To be killed by Wang Shiyun was to have his head chopped off by Li Yuan.
This is a character who can almost stand shoulder to shoulder with Yu Wenhua and his brothers, but even if he is infamous, he is not as miserable as Yu Shiji and others.
But he did have a share of the credit for the war in Henan, but he still died on the bed. All I can say is that God is not long-sighted.
Of course, Pei Ju won't think about Duan Da at this time. He just hopes to stay in Luoyang for a few more days to relax. His arms and legs are not feeling well. If he continues, he will die. .
What's more, he returned to his hometown in Dongdu after many years. The closer he got to Luoyang, more and more things from the past appeared before his eyes.
He stayed in Luoyang for a long time. During the Daye years, except for traveling westward with Yang Guangdong, he spent almost all the rest of his life in Luoyang.
Is the old house where he once lived still there? Are the relatives living there still well? He liked to cool off under the old tree the most. He should be alive now, right?
Who are the people left in Luoyang? I heard a few years ago that Luoyang has almost become an empty city. I don’t know if it’s true or not. Wang Shichong and Li Mi really deserve to die.
Such a big city with hundreds of thousands of people turned into a gangster nest. The luck of the emperor in the whole city was destroyed by these bastards who acted recklessly.
It's a pity, it's a pity...
And those old friends...well, I probably can't see many of them anymore. Everyone followed Yang Er to Jiangdu, and the rest escaped and died...
When I saw Duan Da in Weicheng, I almost didn't dare to recognize him. He had been famous for many years, but he didn't expect to behave like that when the world was in chaos.
This man really knows people but not the heart...the longer he lives, the more he will see.
Luoyang Qigui, Wang Shichong, Duan Da, Yuan Wendu, Huang Pu Wuyi, Lu Chu... Who else is there? I can't remember. What a ghost. Except for Huang Pu Wuyi, Yuan Wendu also has some Looks like, the rest of them are also worthy of the nickname "gui"?
