Chapter 431 Brothers, do you want to be named a marquis?
"Where is this?"
"Isn't this the Japanese island?"
Zhou Shengzhi looked around with some confusion. He took off his shoes and wrung out the water on his clothes. As for the armor, he had already given it to the soldiers on the side to hold. He looked around with vigilance, and the soldiers kept on keeping on.
They stepped onto the land, and the big ship began to dock at the shore.
During the chase, in order to get rid of the Han army, the big ship began to throw things away. At first, it was all kinds of money. Zhou Shengzhi almost caught up several times, and saw boxes after boxes of coins being thrown from the ship.
After going out, those people began to throw other sundries, such as beds, cloths, wood gums, etc. Seeing that they still could not get rid of the Han army, they began to throw food, but after throwing a few bags, they did not dare to do so casually.
Lost.
After a while, they started throwing women away.
Zhou Shengzhi was dumbfounded as he watched the exquisite women being thrown off the ship screaming. At this moment, Zhou Shengzhi could probably confirm that there must be a noble nobleman from Mahan on this ship, and it was very likely that he was King Mahan himself!
To break a country and capture a king is the highest honor in the Han Dynasty. At the same time, it is also the way to obtain the highest military merit. Let's put it this way, if Zhou Shengzhi captures this guy alive today, then when he returns, his title, food, and estate will be several times higher than that of him.
The younger brother of the leader, although Ma Guoguo is not a big man, he is a recognized foreign king after all, and his contribution is much greater than that of defeating the Dian Kingdom.
Zhou Shengzhi has always been eager to do something that would impress his father.
Zhou Shengzhi is very similar to Liu Ruyi in some aspects. They both admire their father and imitate them intentionally or unintentionally. This is different from Zhou Yafu. Zhou Yafu and his father are relatively rigid and have many different military concepts.
They always disagreed with each other. Every time they met, they always stubbornly believed that they were right and quarreled like crazy.
But just like Liu Ruyi, he studied over and over again but never learned the most fundamental thing. He learned his father's tactics and used them in a decent manner, but Zhou Bo never used other people's tactics. He had his own unique tactics.
However, Zhou Yafu learned from his father's inner thoughts and had the possibility of going further.
He doesn't resent his younger brother, who is talented, but as the older brother, he just wants to prove that he is not weak and that he can also obtain military honors!
Fueled by this emotion, Zhou Shengzhi began an endless pursuit. Even if a ship sank due to wind and waves, he did not stop.
The escaping ship couldn't bear it. After leaving the woman behind, it actually started losing soldiers.
One after another, the soldiers screamed and were thrown from the bow of the ship.
After three soldiers were thrown away in succession, the ship was calm for a while. Suddenly, a man in gorgeous clothes was carried to the bow of the ship. The man yelled angrily and was immediately thrown off.
Zhou Shengzhi was shocked and hurriedly asked people to find a way to fish the guy out.
Fortunately, these yellow heads were all capable, and they managed to rescue the guy, and then found a way to make him spit out the water, and then he woke up.
When the man woke up, his eyes were filled with fear.
He is King Ma Han.
Ji Miao cursed angrily: "How dare these rebels do this to me?!"
The translator beside Zhou Shengzhi hurriedly explained to him. When Zhou Shengzhi heard this, he immediately knew what happened. He laughed, "Your ancestors were overthrown just because they abused the people. Now you are repeating what happened to your ancestors."
It's like falling down twice in the same place, what a stupid behavior!"
The yellow heads grabbed Ji Miao and prepared to return, but at this moment, a storm came.
They could only continue to follow the Mahan ships in the distance to avoid the storm behind them.
Zhou Shengzhi ordered King Ma Han to be brought over. Even though he encountered a storm, Zhou Shengzhi was still very happy and was very polite to Ji Miao. After all, in his eyes, Ji Miao was like a moving town with a thousand households. How could he
Why don't you pay attention to him?
"These people have thrown you overboard, why are they still unwilling to stop and surrender?"
Ji Miao looked at him suspiciously and asked, "Aren't you Zhou Shengzhi?"
Zhou Shengzhi was overjoyed. He didn't expect that the foreign king actually knew his name. He couldn't help but ask: "Are they afraid of me?"
"You cut off heads everywhere and left no chickens or dogs behind wherever you went... How dare they surrender?"
Zhou Shengzhi said in surprise: "But I have been very restrained. Recently I only capture prisoners and no longer kill them."
Ji Miao lowered her head, looking uneasy and saying nothing. Zhou Shengzhi immediately realized that the co-authorship was promoted by yourselves!
"Where are you going?!"
"Japanese Island."
"Japanese Island??"
Zhou Shengzhi obviously didn't know about this place. After a period of sailing, they finally saw land. This made Zhou Shengzhi extremely happy. After stopping the ship, he immediately took the people to this strange land.
When he came here, Zhou Shengzhi was still very careful. He sent his soldiers to explore the surrounding area to see if the escaped Mahan people were here. After all, they were human heads and could not be wasted.
The rest of the soldiers were searching for water and food.
Zhou Shengzhi sat down, enjoying the rare sunshine, and asked angrily: "Do you think this is the fairy island in the rumors?"
"It's impossible...there are no gods here."
"What kind of military merit do you think it is to behead an immortal?"
Zhou Shengzhi suddenly raised his head, his eyes flashing red again.
The soldier's legs went weak and he said hurriedly: "General! Don't say such things. If it is really a fairy island..."
"What are you afraid of? We have eight hundred powerful crossbows. Not to mention overseas gods, even if Taiyi comes, I will behead you in exchange for military merit!"
Zhou Shengzhi suddenly became excited again at this moment, and his whole body was full of strength. He stood up suddenly and shouted: "Brothers! Capture King Ma Han alive! We can all be promoted to several titles! This is an overseas place.
, if we can catch gods and the like here and send them back to His Majesty, what a great military achievement it will be! This is an opportunity to become a marquis!
"
Huangtou has been following Zhou Shengzhi these days and has been infected by him a lot. In the eyes of outsiders, Zhou Shengzhi is a very vicious beheading maniac, but in the eyes of the soldiers, he is the Great Sage.
Anyone who can secretly behead prisoners and send them to his subordinates as military merit regardless of the king's orders is not a saint. What is this?
They didn't have a chance to appear in the first place. As the three standing armies of the Han Dynasty, their reputation was not even as good as that of the local county soldiers. This made them feel very frustrated. What was terrible was that their titles were not high, mainly because they had no chance to win military honors. But
Following Zhou Shengzhi this time, they only felt that it was the end of their hardships. During these days, they beheaded crazily and continued to gain military merits. Their titles were promoted one after another. This meant that Zhou Shengzhi knew what the emperor's bottom line was and did not take any risks.
It's a matter of merit, otherwise, they can still climb up the ranks.
Although he did not kill Liang Liang, Zhou Shengzhi always expected the locals to resist him. As long as there were resisters, he could treat them with an open and just attitude towards enemies and behead them to gain military honors.
This is exactly the same as Zhou Bo, a man of great merit.
Look at Zhou Bo, he even wanted to chop off the emperor's head in exchange for military honors.
Liu Ying's son Liu Hong was killed by Zhou Bo. He exchanged the emperor's head for the military merit of ten thousand households, five thousand gold, and the position of prime minister.
When the fourth brother he supported gradually gained real power, he threw this ruthless man who had pursued military glory all his life into prison and wanted to execute him. Zhou Bo was forced to sigh helplessly: I can't control millions of troops, but how can I be safe?
Do you know how valuable a jailer is?
After hearing Zhou Shengzhi's words, Huang Toujun couldn't help but look at the powerful crossbow in his hand.
Perhaps this powerful crossbow gave them great confidence, and they immediately shouted: "I am willing to follow the general!
"
Soon, the Han army expanded the scope of their exploration and started to capture the immortals with great interest. Zhou Shengzhi left some people to repair the ships and guard the prisoners and supplies. He also joined the exploration team. This kind of military exploits,
You just have to go and get it in person, otherwise you will be given a lot of money...
They explored along the shore for several days and finally found a clear water stream. Everyone was overjoyed and started exploring around the water source.
"General!
General!
Got it!
Caught the fairy!
Someone come quickly!
!”
There was a cry of surprise in the distance.
When Zhou Shengzhi happily walked over, he saw a soldier pressing something, and everyone hurriedly gathered around to check.
The soldier stood up, and the object he grabbed revealed its true appearance.
That's a barbarian.
He was very short in stature. If he stood next to Liu Chang, the comparison... Zhou Shengzhi couldn't even imagine it.
And with his hair disheveled, his face painted with various patterns, and his body covered with things, he was simply a barbarian among barbarians.
Seeing this, Zhou Shengzhi became furious and cursed: "Fart! How can a god look like this? Your Majesty could slap him from here to Hexi Kingdom!"
The prisoner bared his teeth and screamed, but no one here could understand him.
"It turns out there are barbarians living here too..."
Zhou Shengzhi was a little disappointed, but he didn't know what he thought of, and he suddenly laughed again.
"I just don't know how many people there are..."
"Brothers, do you want to become a marquis?"
The prisoner looked at the greed in the eyes of the general in front of him and couldn't help but struggled wildly.
........
“You want to stay in Dahan??”
Liu Chang looked at Musis in front of him in surprise, not understanding what this guy meant at all.
Feng Jing followed Liu Chang's instructions and planned to let these people go back early to let the people in Daxia know the situation here, and sent more people to carry out propaganda work for the Han Dynasty for free. Daxia is now being
The Huns were pressing too hard. In such a critical time, it shouldn't be difficult to ask for something and let them do something, right?
Musis understood Feng Jing's hint. The big man would not help anyone for no reason, and the biggest military commander of the big man is behind the Huns. If you can satisfy the big man, you will give the Huns a hard kick.
The matter is not impossible, and there is no need to dispatch the Northern Army. All you need to do is recruit some people from the Western Regions and let Han Xin take them. No matter where the army is, in the hands of Han Xin, its combat effectiveness can be increased several times.
, anyway, the Xiongnu's center of gravity is in the south, and it is impossible to mobilize the army to turn around and counterattack.
Musis immediately expressed that Daxia was willing to become eternal friends with the Han Dynasty.
However, when saying goodbye, the envoy actually told Liu Chang that he hoped to stay in Dahan.
Liu Chang was confused, aren't you a member of the clan? Aren't you on a mission for the country? Your country is about to perish, and you still want to stay here? What does this mean?
Musis obviously did not agree with Liu Chang's view. He said seriously: "Our king asked me to come to Dahan to pay homage to His Majesty. Now that my duties have ended, I want to stay in Dahan, learn Dahan knowledge, and travel
All over the Han Dynasty, I hope you can agree."
"ah??"
Liu Chang couldn't understand his train of thought at all. Doesn't the rise and fall of your country have anything to do with you?
However, this is all their own business. Liu Chang did not refuse Musis's request. Musis, as a nobleman of the Great Xia Kingdom, is a useful person. Liu Chang never looks at his status when employing people.
Just see if he is of use to you.
"Okay, if you want to stay, then you can stay. I am also willing to be friends with your king, and I also want to meet him. However, I cannot accept the etiquette of sucking breast milk. I have to follow the etiquette of a man.
conduct!"
When the translator told Musis what Liu Chang had said, Musis was equally confused.
Why didn’t I know we had such etiquette??
He asked in surprise: "Why didn't I know about this? Did Your Majesty hear wrongly? Could it be that there was a mistake in the translation? If the two countries are communicating with each other, and even basic etiquette can be translated incorrectly, how can this be possible?
!”
The translator hesitated for a moment, and then translated: "Your Majesty, he said that they will modify this etiquette when they return. I wonder if envoys from Daxia will adopt the etiquette of the Han Dynasty when they come in the future?"
Liu Chang smiled and nodded, "This is the best! I allow it!"
The translator looked at Musis and said: "Your Majesty said that he heard wrongly. From now on, he will use the etiquette of a big man to pay homage to him!"
Musis immediately smiled and nodded.
The translator wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Liu Chang looked at the translator and said, "Your name is Qu, right?"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
"No surname?"
"No surname!"
"Okay, I'll give you the surname Liu! From now on, you will stay with Feng Jing and help him teach a group of people who can speak Daxia Mandarin!"
The merchants were overjoyed. The only people who could receive such treatment were the clan members of the original Chu kings and Liu Jing. As a humble merchant, he was able to obtain such a surname. It was simply worse than having him work as a pawnbroker.
The official was even more excited. He hurriedly bowed to see the emperor, and then walked out with Musis.
The two came out, and Musis also looked at Liu Qu gratefully.
"Thanks to you this time. Without you, there would be no way to communicate with His Majesty... Thank you very much!"
"Ahem, you don't have to be so polite. This is what I should do."
Musis took out some more gold and said, "I hope to learn Yayan from you, and I hope you can fulfill it."
Liu Qu accepted it with peace of mind, "Okay, I can teach you."
Musis laughed and said, "Let them go back and resume their lives. I will stay with you to study from now on. I really want to go around the Han Dynasty..."
Fellow artists also wanted to stay, but Musis refused. Musis was an unemployed nobleman. He was not a minister of the King of Great Xia and had no official position. He was only temporarily forced by Youzi to become the chief envoy. After completing his mission,
After that, you can stop working, but the artist is different. He is a palace painter and a minister who has sworn allegiance. If he is forced to stay, he will be regarded as a betrayal.
Feng Jing also told Liu Chang about this matter. Feng Jing did not want to let the artist go. It was not that Feng Jing admired this person very much. He just felt that after this person returned, if he could draw some maps of the Han Dynasty,
, secrets and the like, I’m afraid it’s not very good, that’s what he came here to do this time.
But Liu Chang didn't care. He waved his hand and said, "I'm not afraid that they will know, I'm just afraid that they won't know!"
Feng Jing was helpless.
At this moment, Liu Chang was sitting in the Hall of Houde, following Ji Bu to discuss the matter of the ship to go to sea.
Because of this incident, Liu Chang has been a little worried recently.
Scientific research really requires a huge investment of effort.
Especially shipbuilding, building a big ship is very expensive. What's more, they are still in the experimental stage, but they are not sure that the ship they build will be successful. In this case, the research of the shipyard is like burning.
Money. The ministers were very dissatisfied, thinking that His Majesty was doing useless work and wasting national power in vain.
Zhou Chang even came several times and directly insulted Liu Chang.
"Hunjun! The people in the world have just been able to eat two meals, and you want them to start starving again?!"
"How is your waste of supplies different from that of Hu Hai?!"
If Zhou Chang hadn't been too old, Liu Chang would have done it long ago because he was afraid of beating him to death.
But even the Queen Mother thought so, which put a certain amount of pressure on Liu Chang.
The Queen Mother also feels that Liu Chang attaches too much importance to these instruments. Shang Fang and the shipyard spend a lot of money on research every year, but only a few pieces are successful. If things go on like this, the treasury will be ruined before they are made. The Queen Mother thinks that you should first
Pay attention to people's livelihood, don't be so anxious, reduce investment, instead of spending huge sums of money to develop a large ship that can go to sea, it is better to use this energy to make 100,000 hoes and distribute them to the people all over the world.
In other words, Liu Chang had a tough mouth and managed to withstand all the criticism.
Ji Bu was one of the few ministers who did not dissuade Liu Chang, so his reputation was ruined. The ministers all said that he was a villain like Zhang Buyi who only knew how to flatter.
Liu Chang sighed and shook his head helplessly.
"Perhaps I am too anxious. Zhou Chang scolded me harshly, but what he said cannot be said to be wrong... Keeping the people fed is the most important thing..."
Seeing Liu Chang who was a little frustrated, Ji Bu said seriously: "Your Majesty, they are just worried that you care more about Shang Fang than the people, so they advise you like this. I am responsible for these things, and the annual expenditures are within the expected range.
If it doesn’t reach the point where the treasury will completely collapse, you can safely leave this matter to me..."
"Then you're not worried?"
"I am not worried, because I know that Your Majesty is so concerned about Shang Fang's affairs because he cares about the people."
"I didn't know what you said. I thought it was my wife who said it!"