In Zhou Shizhong's study, Zhou Yuanlang's face was not very good. He whispered: "This guy is from the Nanchendi Reporting Department and is the best at intelligence. It is impossible for him not to know that Nuo Yong has led his troops out of the city."
"You arranged it in advance, but you couldn't even make Nuo Yong suffer more than half of his casualties. It's really incompetent, incompetent!"
Facing his son's low roar, Zhou Shizhong frowned slightly and said, "This shows that Nuo Yong and the border army still have some abilities. If the border army can really drive away the southern thieves..."
He looked at Zhou Yuanlang and said slowly: "At least, our Zhou family can still rely on the big tree of Daqi and continue to enjoy wealth and honor."
The Southern Army was defeated two years ago, and the Zhou family should have been confiscated, but the Zhou family and his son had the power to support the dragon. Once the war was over, the court settled down.
Even if their family cannot continue to lead the army, there is no shortage of glory, wealth and honor, and Zhou Yuanlang does not have to inherit the family business. He can take the path of a civil servant, and maybe in the future he will be able to reach the extreme of being a minister like Yan Li.
Zhou Yuanlang fell silent.
After a long time, he looked up at his father and sighed slowly: "Dad, let me tell you something bold. Do you think the tree can continue to remain evergreen in this war situation?"
Zhou Shizhong was stunned for a moment, then frowned and said, "As long as we can drive Shen Yi back to Huainan and restore his past, it shouldn't be difficult?"
"What about the Tatars?"
Zhou Yuanlang lowered his head and said, "Not to mention whether Shen Yi can be driven away this time, even if he can be driven away, how long do you think it will take for the court to drive Shen Yi back to Huainan?"
"Half a year, or a year?"
"Or three years and five years?"
Zhou Yuanlang was silent for a long time and continued: "Father, the emperor has borrowed money from Zhu Lizhen's family members."
"In addition, the border troops from the north moved south. Although the imperial court temporarily recruited a group of people to serve as border troops, there was no difference between the north and the open door in front of the Tatars who were capable of recruiting and fighting."
"In addition, now that Shandong has been lost, Henan has almost fallen into Shen Qi's hands."
"Today's imperial court..."
He looked at Zhou Shizhong and said slowly: "Unless the Daqi cavalry reappears, unless someone can stand up and integrate Zhu and Han."
"Let the imperial court be united as one, and Zhu and Han be united."
"otherwise…"
Zhou Yuanlang shook his head slightly: "I'm afraid the situation will become more and more difficult."
"This is why, my son, I took the initiative to let you lead the troops out of Beijing. With the military power in hand, our family has a voice in the north. If the world changes in the future, our family can also have some room to protect itself."
Zhou Shizhong looked complicated and sighed: "But our family, except for you and me, father and son, everyone else is in Yandu."
Zhou Yuanlang took a deep breath.
"These can only be considered in the future."
Having said this, he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth and said: "The most important thing now is to try to preserve the troops in hand, and we can't let Nuo Yong waste it out of thin air like this anymore."
"I can only regret that this time, Shen Qi is too useless. If he can severely damage Nuo Yong's cavalry, cause the border troops to suffer a big loss, or even directly leave Nuo Yong himself, our family will not have to be constrained by him everywhere! "
Zhou Shizhong looked at his son with a complicated expression: "San'er, our family has been loyal for generations..."
Zhou Yuanlang clenched his fists and trembled slightly: "Dad, why don't children want to be loyal?"
"In the past few years, I have tried my best to save this country, but..."
He smiled bitterly and said: "It has been twenty or thirty years, and no one still regards our family as real Zhu Li."
Zhou Shizhong's eyes were dark: "Does San'er want to defect to Chen?"
"That's even worse."
Zhou Yuanlang shook his head and said: "Our family has an irresolvable blood feud with Nanchen. The death of the late Emperor Nanchen is inseparable from my grandfather. They wish they could dig up our family's ancestral grave."
"No matter what, our family cannot surrender to Chen."
At this point, he smiled bitterly and said: "Dad, if it weren't for this reason, the emperor might not be able to trust us two to lead the army. Do you believe it?"
Zhou Shizhong remained silent and did not answer, but asked: "Then what are your plans?"
"Preserve our strength for the future."
Zhou Yuanlang whispered: "As long as we have troops in our hands, when the world is in chaos in the future, even if we can't defeat Shen Qi of Nanchen, we may not be able to occupy a place outside the northern pass."
"Be the master of your own country!"
Hearing this, Zhou Shizhong was silent for a long time, and then looked at Zhou Yuanlang.
"San'er, be honest, did Shen Qi tell you anything?"
Zhou Yuanlang was also silent for a long time.
"He told the boy that if our Zhou family is not prepared to die in retribution, we will have no choice but to die in order to survive."
In the study, candlelight flickered.
The father and son looked at each other with complicated expressions.
………………
Build Kangcheng.
Unlike the cold wind and rain in the north, Jiankang seems to be very lively as the New Year is approaching.
Because of the war, the "homeland" of Nanchen was not affected at all. In addition, two more provinces appeared out of thin air in the north. Every citizen of Dachen was happy from the bottom of his heart. This year's New Year's Eve was a bit more lively than before. .
The streets and alleys are decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, covered with red paper and hung with lanterns.
At this time, in Jiankang Imperial City, the emperor's eldest daughter Li Ying was playing with a child of her own age.
It is worth mentioning that although the two are the same age, the girl grows up faster. At this moment, the eldest princess is slightly taller than the boy. The two of them are playing Cuju and playing football together. They are chasing and playing happily. There were several eunuchs following behind, shouting "Princess, be careful" or "Little Marquis, don't fall", they were very busy.
At this time, the "little marquis" who can play with the emperor's eldest daughter in the palace is naturally none other than the eldest son of the palace, Shen Yuan.
At this time, these playmates, who were born in the same year, same month and same day, will soon be nine years old.
The virtual age is already ten years old.
The two people were playing in the palace, and no one dared to stop them. Unknowingly, they came to the vicinity of the Manna Palace.
The eldest princess took the hand of young Marquis Shen Yuan and said with a smile: "Father is here on weekdays. Let's go in and have a look?"
Shen Yuan rolled his eyes and shook his head: "No, my mother said that you cannot meet the Holy Spirit without His Majesty's summons."
The eldest princess looked at him and pouted: "That's my father, what are you afraid of?"
Shen Yuan scratched his head: "You are not afraid, but I am. If my mother finds out, she will punish me heavily."
Having said this, the young Marquis sighed: "Tomorrow I will go to Ganquan Academy to study with my grandpa. If my mother punishes me, I will have to memorize a lot more books."
"Why are you so timid?"
The eldest princess pinched her waist with both hands and looked at Shen Yuan.
"I heard people say that your father is a great general, but why are you not like him at all?"
"My father is not a general."
Shen Yuan shook his head and said seriously: "My father is a second-ranked Jinshi and a Hanlin scholar."
While the two little guys were chattering, a gentle voice sounded behind them.
"Eldest Princess, little Marquis, why are you here?"
The voice was gentle and the tone was very gentle.
The two little guys looked back and saw a purple-robed eunuch with some white hair standing behind them with a warm smile on his face.
The eldest princess Li Ying blinked: "Eunuch Gao."
Gao Ming knelt down, saluted her, and then said with a smile: "My young master, Your Majesty is receiving important guests inside, and there is no room for interruption. You are talking too loudly here, and you are noisy inside."
Although the two little guys were not very old, they both knew that Eunuch Gao was very powerful, so they did not dare to play here anymore and ran away quickly.
At this time, in the Manna Hall, a foreigner in strange clothes was standing in front of Emperor Hong De. He looked back at the outside of the Manna Hall. After he could no longer hear the voices of the children outside, he bowed his head respectfully and bent over. He saluted and said: "Your Majesty, our country is sincere and willing to help your country to eliminate Zhenren Zhu Li and save your country from seventy years of humiliation."
Emperor Hongde lowered his head to drink tea. After putting down the tea cup, he looked at the envoy in front of him and said lightly: "I believe that your country has this strength."
"What about your country's conditions?"
The envoy lowered his head slightly and said: "The capital of Yan must be given to our country to be used as the capital."
"Our country and His Majesty the Emperor are bounded by Yanmen Pass and Damao Mountain. From now on, the two sides will become brothers and will never invade each other!"
Emperor Hong De lowered his head to drink tea, but squinted his eyes slightly.
After putting down the tea, he looked up and looked outside the hall and murmured.