In the dormitory of Jinyang Palace, it was late at night and no one was quiet. Emperor Gao Yang's furious roars mixed with a hint of pain were heard constantly.
Since the sixth year of Tianbao's reign, Emperor Gaoyang has become more and more sincere in worshiping Buddha. He not only builds temples and repairs Buddhist services, but also practices the precepts. Eating meat is a sign of cessation of kindness. Since the seventh year of Tianbao, the emperor has held a banquet in May every year.
We must eat vegetarian food for a whole month to respect the Dharma and promote kindness.
But May of this year was very painful for Gao Yang. Due to the invasion of powerful enemies from the Western Wei Dynasty, he had vowed in Yedu not to drink alcohol until he defeated the enemy army. After coming to Jinyang from Yedu, he also
I have been abiding by this agreement, and I seem to be energetic and working hard.
However, more than a month has passed since the war started, and the time has entered the middle of May. Not only has this war not ended, but the situation has become worse.
The dual torture of giving up meat and alcohol has made Gao Yang's mental state extremely unstable. As a result, bad news came one after another from the battle on the front line, which naturally made him more and more restless. Not only his mental condition, but also his physical condition was greatly affected.
This morning, another memorial letter was sent to Yedu. After reading it, Gao Yang's condition became worse and worse. He was in a coma in his dormitory all day and could not see anything. The imperial doctors and eminent monks who served in Jinyang Palace
One after another went into the palace to see the diagnosis and treatment, chanted scriptures and prayed for blessings. After struggling for a long time, the emperor's physical condition gradually stabilized. In the evening, he was able to get up and eat a bowl of rice, rice and several chickens.
But after nightfall, the emperor became manic again, shouting and running around in the palace, and no one could get close. All the palace people were also frightened, and gathered in a corner of the palace, not daring to come forward.
"The wine is here, the wine is here! I respectfully invite the Supreme Lord to drink!"
An eunuch rushed from outside the palace, holding a lacquer tray with wine and wine utensils in his hand. He walked into the palace and presented it to Gao Yang. At the same time, he said respectfully: "Your Majesty, the wine is here.
Your Majesty, please enjoy it!"
The familiar and haunting smell penetrated into his nose, and the mania in Gao Yang's eyes immediately subsided slightly, and he regained some clarity. He swallowed hard the saliva that came out of his mouth, and he couldn't wait to drink it.
He raised his hand to grab the rhinoceros horn cup filled with wine in front of him.
But when his fingers just touched the outer edge of the wine glass, he suddenly shuddered, slowly took his hand back, and said in a deep voice: "Gao Zijin, have you forgotten the shame of being forced by the Qiang thieves and being uneasy day and night? In one word,
If you can't keep your promise, how can you control the masses and defeat stubborn thieves?"
After saying this, the obsession and desire on his face suddenly turned into determination and perseverance. He pulled out his sword and knocked over the wine glass on the tray, letting the wine spill on the floor. He took a deep breath and turned
With a fierce look in his eyes, he leaned over to look at the eunuch who offered the wine and said angrily: "The dog thief did not obey my orders, but even offered me wine to seduce me! Who asked you to murder your master? Could it be that you are also a remnant of the Qiang thieves with five surnames?"
"Slave, I don't dare... How dare I, how dare I murder my lord! The master just shouted for wine, slave, my slave came out of the palace to look for..."
When the eunuch saw this scene, he was so frightened that he collapsed on the ground and defended softly.
Gao Yang naturally ignored the eunuch's excuse. He had just knocked over the drink that was brought to his mouth with great perseverance. His spirit was inflated. Then he pressed the blade against the eunuch's neck and continued to rage.
He shouted: "I have ordered the palace to ban all drinking utensils and drinks. Where did the dog thief come from to harm me?"
"My lord, have mercy on me, Your Majesty, please have mercy on me!"
The eunuch was so frightened that he couldn't help but kept crying and begging for mercy.
Gao Yang soon lost his patience due to his noisy begging for mercy. He cut the blood vessels on the side of the eunuch's neck with the blade in his hand. The blood on the side of the eunuch's neck was gushing out like a spring. He was so frightened that he hurriedly raised his hands to cover it.
Seeing the bleeding wound, Mentou tried to run away from the palace, but he staggered and fell to the ground after only a few steps.
This fresh smell of blood stimulated the ferocity in Gao Yang's heart even more. He stood up with a knife and shouted loudly: "Liu Taozhi, get in here! With my warrant, we will quickly and thoroughly search the palace to find out if there is any private possession of alcohol or wine."
All tools will be severely punished without mercy, and a drinking fight will result in death!"
After hearing this, Liu Taozhi and several other imperial guards who were stationed in front of the palace hurriedly entered the palace to receive orders, and then led their soldiers to search the palaces and gardens.
Not to mention the turmoil in Gaoyang's dormitory, when Yujia returned to Jinyang for the first time a few days ago, because Jinyang's armor was not strong at that time, he recruited troops from various noble families to serve as bodyguards.
Although more and more people are gathering inside and outside Jinyang City, most of them are border troops drawn from the surrounding areas. Naturally, they are not suitable to serve as bodyguards. Therefore, the bodyguards of Jinyang Palace are mainly composed of nobles and nobles.
The family is responsible. Most of these distinguished officials are ministers who have contributed to the founding of the country. They share the glory of the country and are naturally loyal and trustworthy.
Although Su Wei's job is important, it is actually quite boring. Every day he just holds a sign with weapons, or patrols along a fixed regional route, and communicates internally and externally. He can persist in it for a short period of time, but it will inevitably become annoying over time.
Feeling very boring.
Especially now that the border war is tense, most of these noble disciples are also martial and aggressive, hoping to kill the enemy and make meritorious deeds. As a result, they are trapped in the palace and garden every day with nothing to do, and they inevitably complain frequently.
When there is no guard duty, these noble disciples often gather together to discuss the current situation and express their own opinions. Just two days ago, another battle report came from the south, saying that the Western Wei army successively occupied Qinshui and Qinshui.
With the establishment of the state, the front moved a big step eastward.
After learning about this incident, all the noble disciples were naturally anxious and angry. They were surprised by the ferocity of the Qiang thieves, and at the same time they couldn't help but cursed the frontline soldiers for their incompetence and burdening the country. When they talked about it with great interest, they naturally couldn't help but say:
I can't help but express various personnel opinions that I think can remedy the current disadvantage.
"More than 100,000 armored soldiers have been gathered in Jinyang, why not rush out of Queshu Valley in one go? This way we can not only rescue Jinzhou, but also defeat the bandit army!"
In an empty palace room, several noble disciples who had finished their duty as guards gathered here to take a break. When discussing the current border war situation, some people couldn't help but speak.
Hearing this, someone else sighed and said: "Queshu Valley and the Thousand Miles of Thousand Miles of Thousand Miles of Thousand Roads have been lost one after another. It is not easy to attack southward! This is why the Qiang thieves dared to ignore the Jinyang armored soldiers and go east to attack Qinshui.
Threatening the party."
"King Baishui is also the father of the country and has made great achievements in battle. He was intercepted by thieves when he went south. It's really disappointing!"
Hearing this, the noble disciples also started chatting one after another. The topic was nothing more than the many setbacks suffered by the distinguished kings during the war with the Western Wei Dynasty, and they were somewhat suspected of deceiving the world and stealing their reputation.
"You crazy people, you don't know how strong the thieves are, so you are just here making wild remarks!"
A general in his thirties who was an outsider came in. After hearing what everyone was discussing, his face darkened and he scolded. After hearing this, everyone shrank their heads and did not dare to refute, because this man happened to be in the right place.
It was Hou Mochen Jingui, the son of the prince of Baishui, Mochen Xiang, whom they were discussing.
After Hou Mo and Chen Jingui stopped everyone's discussion, he sat down and said: "In my opinion, the reason why this battle is unfavorable is not that the frontline soldiers did not try their best, but that the judgment was wrong from the beginning.
, which delayed the opportunity to fight. All the first divisions and brigade went to Heyang, and all the key points were empty. My father went south to guard the key roads a few days ago, and the number of troops he brought was only a few thousand, how can he be compared with the tens of thousands of thieves?"
After everyone heard this, they all nodded in agreement, not because they wanted to flatter Hou Mo and Chen Jingui, but because during this war, their strategic mistakes in Northern Qi were obvious. Now as the war progresses, the situation becomes more and more serious.
Due to the disadvantages, these people will inevitably feel dissatisfied and complain about those high-ranking decision-makers.
At this moment, someone else spoke up and said: "Now that the army has gathered, it is blocked from marching south. Why don't we start with the best soldiers and go south to rescue Jinzhou? After relieving Pingyang, the troops from the two places will join together and then join forces on the plain where the party is advancing westward.
In the King's Brigade, the thieves will not be as rampant as they are now!"
As soon as this statement came out, several people nodded in agreement. They mentioned the slow movement of military aircraft in Jinyang, Pingyuan King Duan Shao's reluctance to patrol in the Shangdang area, etc., which are one of the reasons for the current rampant thieves.
As this topic unfolded, even Hou Mo and Chen Jingui could not help but admit: "The current generals in charge of the army are indeed old-fashioned and not as open and enterprising as they were in the early years. For example, when King Xianyang attacked the enemy's rear, although he regrettably failed to win,
But I finally achieved great deeds and dared to fight hard!"
"In recent years, those who have led the army and controlled the people in the central government are magnificent and brave, and can win the hearts of the people. I would like to give my highest honor to the King of Shangdang! The King of Shangdang has repeatedly led the army to conquer the north and south, and has achieved many victories. If he had not retreated to avoid trouble in recent years, he would have been
I’m afraid today’s fame and prestige will be no less than that of the Qiang thief Li Boshan!”
Whether Zang is a person or not is a topic that many people like to discuss. Now that it is a private gathering, everyone is relaxed, so the topics discussed are naturally quite casual.
"Yes, King Shangdang is indeed a rare hero in the sect. Even the Supreme, his appearance in recent years is not as good as..."
However, at this time, someone else passed by the door. It was Xu Xianxiu who was leading his team on patrol. Hearing the discussion in the room, Xu Xianxiu immediately frowned and said in a deep voice: "It's time to stay on guard. Let's go back to camp and rest.
Don’t gather here to talk and talk!”
Everyone was secretly shocked when they heard this. Knowing that the topic could not continue, they hurriedly stood up and dispersed.
After Xu Xianxiu drove these people away, he patrolled the area and then led his team back to where he was staying. However, when he just returned here, he was swarmed by a group of armored soldiers who had been waiting here and captured him.
The person is none other than Liu Taozhi.
"May I ask Governor Liu, what crime did you commit?"
Xu Xianxiu was frightened when he was captured. He hurriedly struggled and looked at Liu Taozhi and asked quickly.
Liu Taozhi stepped forward with a cold face, signaled his entourage to bring out a few bottles of wine, and then said to Xu Xianxiu: "I was ordered by the Supreme Lord to search for prohibited items in the palace. All these drinks were found from General Xu's tent. Does the general know you?"
"
"I'm just drinking and enjoying myself. It's harmless. Please show your respect to the governor..."
After hearing this, Xu Xianxiu's face changed slightly. He did not realize how serious the situation was. He was still begging Liu Taozhi for mercy with a smile. He also winked at his subordinates, indicating that he could come forward and offer Liu Taozhi a small bribe.
However, Liu Taozhi turned a deaf ear to this and directly waved his hand and ordered: "Take them away!"