On that day, Zhao Hongrun stayed one night in a bamboo shed in Fenyinjin, which made the officials, Wei soldiers, and civilians on the dock so excited that they almost burst into tears.
Come to think of it, the dignified prince of Wei State sleeps in a ventilated pavilion like them at night. Is there anything more morale-boosting than this?
Yes, that is, when he gets up early in the morning, Zhao Hongrun drinks porridge and chews pickles like the common people.
While Zhao Hongrun was eating porridge and swallowing pickles, Kou Zheng brought his classmate Mu Ziyong, the treasurer of Fenyin County, to the shed.
Yesterday, Mu Ziyong was not here, but in Fenyin County on the other side of the river. Therefore, when he learned that Zhao Hongrun slept in the pavilion last night and was eating pickles now, he repeatedly accused Kou Zheng.
Then, he said that he would use his own money to prepare a better meal for Zhao Hongrun.
At that time, Zhao Hongrun actually wanted to nod.
It wasn't to eat a decent meal, but he wanted to see if Mu Ziyong was really as interesting as the rumors said when he spent money.
Zhao Hongrun was deeply impressed by Mu Ziyong. He was Kou Zheng's classmate and a talented person, but he was a little greedy for money.
However, this person's greed for money is very special. He is reluctant to eat or wear clothes. His only hobby is to save money and count it when he has nothing to do.
But having said that, if he encounters someone like someone who sold his body to bury his father, or a woman or child who can’t afford to eat, Mu Ziyong will give away money for free no matter how distressed he is - although when he takes out the money, his expression may be
It hurts like my own father died.
To put it bluntly, this is a very kind-hearted money addict.
Zhao Hongrun felt sad for those Fenyin County officials when he thought that this money man was now in charge of Fenyin County's treasury and revenue and expenditure.
"How was your Highness's resting place last night?"
When Zhao Hongrun waved his hand and rejected Mu Ziyong's hypocritical proposal, Kou Zheng raised his hand in greeting.
When he looked at Zhao Hongrun at this time, his eyes were completely different from before.
If before this, Kou Zheng was subdued by Zhao Hongrun who treated him like a courteous corporal, then now, Kou Zheng looked at the Crown Prince as if he saw a confidant. After all, Kou Zheng himself was a fellow citizen.
The father-in-law official who lived and ate together had a different concept of being an official than the vast majority of officials in the world.
In his opinion, Zhao Hongrungui is the current prince, but he is willing to put down his dignity. Like many civilians here, they live in bamboo sheds and eat pickles and porridge. Even if His Highness the prince does not mean it sincerely, this kind of behavior is also unacceptable.
Extremely valuable.
As if he had seen through Kou Zheng's thoughts, Zhao Hongrun said jokingly: "Kou Zheng, you are looking down on me. Do you think I am a pampered person? I remember when I led the army to go on an expedition, I lived in a tent.
Eating pickles is a common thing...I still remember the worst time, it rained heavily, the tent above me kept leaking, and the water under my feet rose up to more than a foot high..."
After listening to Zhao Hongrun's words, Lu Mu, Mu Qing, Zhou Pu, and Chu Heng all showed expressions of reminiscence.
After hearing these words, Kou Zheng, Mu Ziyong, and the civilian husbands present were in awe, imagining in their minds that the Crown Prince was in a tent under the heavy rain, ignoring the leakage above his head and the accumulation under his feet.
Water is as stable as Mount Tai.
Only then did Kou Zheng realize that the Crown Prince in front of him was not a pampered person, so his eyes became even more eager.
To be fair, Kou Zheng has never regarded himself as a manager of the people of Fenyin County. He believes that the duties of officials are to punish evil, guide good people, and mediate private grievances among people. As an official, he should not compete with the people for profit.
We should not act arrogantly and try to gain benefits from the people.
It has to be said that although Wei's national conditions in this regard are much better than Chu's, this kind of thing is still not uncommon. However, Wei's officials, even corrupt officials, care about his face. Therefore, it is not necessary to
As for doing something outrageous and resentful, that's all.
Kou Zheng deeply abhors this kind of behavior.
But having said that, Kou Zheng's integrity is a little too much, such as "wear and tear"-in the official system of Wei State, there is a special subsidy for "wear and tear", such as repairing county offices, sewing official robes, as small as county offices
The imperial court had some leeway in dealing with the tea used by the government to entertain distinguished guests. As long as it was not excessive, the imperial government would agree to the losses reported by the local county government and allow the local county government to withhold a small portion of the tax.
And what is this money used for? In fact, the officials in the county government divide it among themselves to subsidize their families.
Although this can be regarded as enriching one's own pockets, the court allows this matter. As long as they don't say that they want to repair the government office every now and then, the court still doesn't care about this small amount of money.
But Kou Zheng never reported it to the court. Even if the county government in Fenyin County was breached by the Korean army, he did not take any money allocated by the court, but used it all to hire farmers.
Reorganize the destroyed farmland outside the city, including reclaiming wasteland.
The terrible thing is that Kou Zheng not only sets an example himself, but also requires his officials and government servants to be as honest as him. Fortunately, this era still pays great attention to reputation. If it were an era of materialistic desires, stingy officials like this would not only have
All the people below him have fled, and I am afraid they will be kicked down by those who covet his official position.
To put it bluntly, Kou Zheng is smart, but what makes him smart is his IQ. As for his emotional intelligence, that’s fine.
For example, at dusk yesterday, Kou Zheng asked Zhao Hongrun where he would stay at night. Seeing that the dock was still very busy, Zhao Hongrun said casually, "Arrange as you like." As a result, Kou Zheng seriously dismissed Zhao Hongrun, a member of the Wei State.
The prince and heirloom were arranged to stay in a bamboo shed.
Fortunately, Zhao Hongrun and the Zongwei, including the concubine Zhao Que, are all people who have endured hardships and don't care. The majestic East Palace can accommodate them, and the simple bamboo shack can also accommodate them. But if it were someone else, I'm afraid
Even if you don't fall out on the spot, you may still have a grudge in your heart.
It has to be said that as Zhao Hongrun's most relied-upon adviser, Jie Ziyu did things much more tactfully than Kou Zheng.
Jie Zizi was born in the Chu State, and later followed his sworn brother Wen Shaobo to travel around and do business for several years. Therefore, Jie Ziu seemed to be straightforward, but in fact he was a very smooth person.
Smooth is not a derogatory meaning, it shows that Jie Zizi is a good person. For example, in today's Chui Gong Palace, Jie Zi is the youngest, but in essence, he has the highest status. In this case, he quickly followed Lin Yuyang and Li
Liang, the Minister of Rites, Du You, and other colleagues of his father's generation established good relations with him, and made these colleagues praise him full of praise. This is called ability.
Kou Zheng, on the other hand, was as upright as ever. He only wanted to be a good official for his parents, but he didn't know much about other officialdoms and didn't bother to understand them.
It is no exaggeration to say that Kou Zheng has a strong backstage and the prince Zhao Run is standing behind him. If not, such a stupid young man in the officialdom will definitely suffer.
At noon, Kou Zheng ordered his men to take some pickled mutton from the warehouse, cook it and distribute it to the Wei soldiers and civilian husbands on the dock. In addition, each person also received a bowl of strong liquor produced in Shangdang.
.
This made the Wei soldiers and civilians on the dock even more excited.
As dusk approached that day, the convoys carrying food slowly set out on the road. Zhao Hongrun asked about the destination of the food transport team, and then he learned that Yun was given to General Shao Hu's Wei Wujun.
Zhao Hongrun originally thought about going on the road with this team transporting grain, but considering that the team's pace was too slow, he gave up.
On the morning of the third day, Zhao Hongrun and his party obtained several horses originally used to pull carts from Kou Zheng, and then embarked on the journey to "Heshang (Shangjun)".
About three days later, Zhao Hongrun and his party, secretly accompanied and protected by dozens of Green Crows, arrived at the "Diaoyin" on the "river".
"Diaoyin" is the rear defense of the Wei army's current attack on the entire Shangjun. It is guarded by General "Long Ji", one of the imperial guards of King Yu Zhao Yuandai.
As the commander-in-chief of several Wei armies this time, the reason why General Shao Hu left Long Ji in "Diaoyin" was mainly to guard against the "Yi Canal" to the west of "Heshang". After all, Yi Canal is close to the river. If it is blocked by
He attacked the grain road secretly, and the hundreds of thousands of Wei troops who were now deep "on the river" would probably suffer.
Like Kou Zheng in Fenyinjin, when Long Ji heard that Prince Zhao Run had arrived at Diaoyin and was outside the military camp, he was also startled and hurriedly led his soldiers out of the camp to greet him.
Sure enough, when he arrived outside the camp, Long Ji saw the Crown Prince.
"Your Highness, you...why are you here?!"
Even though Long Ji was a more stable person than Shao Hu among the sect guards around King Yu Zhao Yuan'ai, even so stable that he was almost a bit stubborn and rigid, when he saw Zhao Hongrun, the Crown Prince, he was so shocked that he almost stamped his feet.
Before Zhao Hongrun could enter the military camp, Long Ji was at his side and was persuading him. The general idea was to remind Zhao Hongrun that Shangjun was currently at war and was really not a place where His Highness the Crown Prince should come.
Regarding this, Zhao Hongrun felt very puzzled and asked curiously: "Is the battle situation in Shangjun very stalemate? When I received the good news, the good news said that our army will conquer Shangjun soon."
"That's right." Long Ji nodded and explained: "The three or four big tribes here in Shangjun have been defeated by Shao Hu, Sima An, Pang Huan, Wei Ji and others. At present, the remnants of these tribes are
They are moving towards the north, but there are still some stubborn Hu Rong who are running around and attack our Wei Army's grain team when they see it...Currently, the Jiejiao Army is hunting and killing these people."
The "Jiejiao Army" he refers to is the 50,000 Jiejiao Cavalry of the original Jiejiao Tribal Alliance under the former Sichuan Northern Alliance, which has changed its clan name to "Jie" in Sanchuan. It is led by the current Jiejiao Army Commander Bo.
Commander Xile is Prince Zhao
The eagle dogs under Run's hands - the reason why I say this is because the unruly Jiejiao people did not actually surrender to the Wei State. What they feared was only the prince of Wei, Zhao Run, the master who once severely defeated them.
That's all.
Therefore, in essence, the Jiejiao Army has a vassal and cooperative relationship with the Wei State - it is a foreign mercenary army that takes orders from Prince Zhao Run.
"How strong is Hu Rong from Shangjun?"
After being invited to the commander's tent in the military camp by Long Ji, Zhao Hongrun asked carefully.
Long Ji thought for a while and replied: "The general has only fought once with the Hu Rong of Shangjun. However, the general has heard Sima An's evaluation of the Hu Rong of Shangjun, "They are stronger than the Qianghu of Hexi, but weaker than the Qianghu of Shangjun."
"The Jiejiao of Sanchuan".
Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun nodded, already having a general understanding of the strength of Shangjun Hu Rong.
After all, Sima An is the only general in Wei who has participated in the "Battle of Sanchuan", "Battle of Hexi" and now the "Battle of Shangjun". This person's evaluation is certainly more credible than others.
many.
Wei is stronger than infantry. Even though it is said to be a nation on horseback, it is still very difficult for the Hu people to defeat Wei's army. After all, Wei is no longer what it used to be, especially this time when Wei dispatched an army of 400,000.
It is unknown whether the Hu Rong tribes in Shangjun have such a large number of tribesmen in total. How could they be the opponents of the Wei army?
However, when these nomadic warriors used harassment and sneak attack tactics, it was really annoying. They came and went without a trace and ran away with one strike. If the Wei army had not been assisted by 50,000 Jiejiao cavalry, to be honest, it would have been really annoying.
It's hard to deal with these Hu Rong.
This made Zhao Hongrun more determined to establish the light cavalry.
It is worth mentioning that Long Ji also mentioned to Zhao Hongrun about Yiqu and the State of Qin: "Your Highness, in the past month, it seems that the State of Qin is going to war over Yiqu."
"Oh?" Zhao Hongrun was really stunned.
Although he was said to be the son-in-law of the king of Qin, he really didn't know much about it.
"It's like this." Seeing that Zhao Hongrun was quite curious, Long Ji explained in detail: "A while ago, the last general was ordered to sit in "Diaoyin" to guard against harassment by Yiqu. Therefore, the last general sent a thousand-man team
, ordered him to station himself at "Xishan (simply refers to the mountain to the west of Diaoyin)" to monitor Yiqu's every move. Unexpectedly, he saw Qin's army..."
"Qin's army?" Zhao Hongrun touched his chin when he heard this and asked curiously: "Have you ever clearly seen the flag of this Qin army?"
"It seems to be the Weiyang Army." Long Ji replied.
Hearing this, Zhao Hongrun nodded clearly: "This is the deployment of "Weiyang Lord Ying Hua"..."
Weiyang Jun Ying Hua, this person and Zhao Hongrun are not acquainted without fighting.
In the "Five Kingdoms Defeat Wei" campaign, Zhao Hongrun launched a surprise attack on Xianyang, the capital of the King of Qin, forcing Xianyang to mobilize the "Weiyang Army" under Weiyang Lord Ying Hua. But even so, the siege of Xianyang was still not lifted.
On the contrary, Weiyang Lord Ying Hua himself was almost shot to death by Wei's crossbow arrow.
The embarrassing thing is that Weiyang Jun Ying Hua is the biological brother of King Qin Hui and the uncle of Qin Shaojun Ying Ying.
On the battlefield, swords and swords are silent, and everyone has their destiny. Naturally, no one can say anything more. But when Zhao Hongrun and Qin Shaojun Yingying got married, Weiyang Jun Yinghua drank heartily at the banquet and untied his clothes.
Zhao Hongrun felt inexplicably embarrassed when the bandage still stained with blood was exposed inside the robe.
But having said that, Weiyang Jun Yinghua is a very straightforward man, the same kind of person as Zhao Hongrun’s fourth brother Yan Wang Zhao Jiang. Instead of bearing any grudge against Zhao Hongrun, he instead boasts about his great fortune and listens to the words at the banquet.
The guests laughed loudly - unlike the Wei people who were low-key and restrained, the Qin people seemed to have something to say, and even liked to brag about themselves. Sometimes even if they were lucky, they would brag that they were far-sighted.
For example, Ying Hua, Lord of Weiyang, apparently attacked the Wei army at night, was ambushed in the dark, and was shot by the Wei army's crossbowmen. He insisted on bragging, saying that he had actually sensed the crisis at that time, and that he was in the midst of the crisis.
He turned sideways on horseback and narrowly avoided the fatal blow to his head, but was accidentally hit by an arrow in the chest... Well, to be honest, Zhao Hongrun couldn't understand the Qin people's humor.
"Weiyang Army Ying Hua...is using troops against Yiqu at this time?"
Zhao Hongrun showed a thoughtful expression.
Seeing this, Long Ji asked puzzledly: "Your Highness, isn't this good? The Qin State uses troops against Yiqu, and the pressure on Wei Dynasty is less...otherwise, I'm afraid Yiqu will stop me in all likelihood.
Dawei."
Zhao Hongrun didn't feel strange about this statement. After all, even foreigners who were not accustomed to the culture of the Central Plains actually understood the truth of the death of lips and teeth. If the Wei State defeated the Xiongnu and Lin Hu, occupied Shangjun, Linzhong and the Hetao area, they would be with Yi from then on.
When the time comes, Yiqu will be bordered by two powerful countries, Qin and Wei. What's terrible is that these two powerful countries are still allies. In this way, will Yiqu have a good life in the future?
Therefore, even if there was a conflict between Yiqu and Hu Rong of Shangjun, at this time, they would definitely send troops to support the latter and would never sit back and watch Wei annex the Hetao area.
Because of this, Buyi Qu took action. In fact, Zhao Hongrun also felt a little puzzled.
Unexpectedly, it turned out that the Qin State had declared war on Yiqu and used troops, so Yiqu had no time to take care of him.
"It's not that it's bad, but..." Zhao Hongrun took a long breath and looked a little worried.
What to worry about?
Of course, I am worried that the Qin State has also taken a fancy to this fertile natural pasture in the Hetao area.
Although Qin and Wei are staunch allies with a marriage alliance, they will not turn against each other for the Hetao area. But on the other hand, if Qin suddenly comes out to "support" Wei at this moment, Wei should still divide this area.
Can an ally take a piece of the pie? - Although to be honest, Zhao Hongrun didn't want to do that.
"I hope King Yiqu can live up to his expectations..."
Until now, Zhao Hongrun could only pray secretly.
The next day, Zhao Hongrun, in the name of the crown prince, came forward to encourage the "Diao Yin" Wei soldiers.
Just like in Fenyinjin, when those low-status soldiers saw His Royal Highness Prince Zhao Hongrun appearing on the front line of the battlefield and encouraging and motivating them, they were so excited that they couldn't help themselves.
Seeing this scene, Long Ji joked with Zhao Hongrun in private that he hoped Zhao Hongrun would assist him in training his soldiers in the future - he didn't need to do anything else, just stand there so that the soldiers could see him, His Royal Highness.
That’s it.
In addition, since "Diaoyin" was a transit station on the Wei army's food route, there was no shortage of wine and meat, so Zhao Hongrun took it upon himself to ask people to prepare wine and food to reward the three armies.
The wine was Shangdang's liquor, and the meat was Sanchuan's mutton. After the Wei State recaptured Sanchuan one after another, after Shangdang, Shangdang's liquor and Sanchuan's pickled mutton gradually became common food for the army.
Seeing these Wei soldiers in the "Diaoyin Wei Camp" drinking wine and eating meat, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but feel emotional in his heart.
I remember that when he first led his army on an expedition, the food in the army was so poor that the guards had to go up the mountain to hunt game to feed Zhao Hongrun. However, for the soldiers in the army, eating pickles was commonplace at that time and they only had the opportunity occasionally.
Eat a meal of pork that even the nobles in the Wei Kingdom would not touch. As for poultry, don't even think about it.
But now, looking at the meat and wine in the hands of these soldiers, Zhao Hongrun felt firsthand that his country, Wei, was gradually becoming stronger, which gave him an indescribable sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.
In the early morning of the next day, Zhao Hongrun, who had stayed overnight at "Diaoyin Wei Camp", said goodbye to Long Ji and prepared to continue his journey north and go deep into Shangjun.
Long Ji's efforts to persuade him failed, so he had no choice but to send one of his generals to lead 500 Wei Wujun infantry to escort Zhao Hongrun to the battlefield further forward.
Farewell to Long Ji, Zhao Hongrun and his party continued northward under the protection of 500 Wei soldiers.
There was no danger on the way. On the contrary, they encountered two groups of wandering Jiejiao Cavalry Hundreds. After Zhao Hongrun revealed his identity, these Jiejiao people were respectful and fearful, and insisted on following Zhao Hongrun to protect him life and death.
Refuse to leave.
Seeing this, Zongwei Mu Qing felt very surprised and said in confusion: "Aren't these Jiejiao people too humble?"
After hearing this, Zongwei Zhou Pu sneered privately and said: "You only see these Jiejiao people as humble as domestic dogs in front of His Highness, but you have never noticed how cruel these people are to other people..."
Looking in the direction pointed by Zhou Pu's finger, Mu Qing discovered that the two groups of Jiejiao cavalry had bulging backpacks on their horses. In fact, many Jiejiao cavalry were holding a horse.
The ownerless war horses carried on their backs some women whose hands and feet were tied with ropes and whose mouths were gagged with cloth strips. They ranged from a few years old to more than thirty years old.
"Hu Nu?"
Seeing that these women's hair was slightly curly and their skin was rough and dark and yellow, unlike the women from the Central Plains, Mu Qing touched his chin and guessed thoughtfully.
At that time, Zhao Hongrun just glanced at it from a distance and stopped paying attention.
Zhou Pu was right. The Jiejiao people were dogs in front of him, but they were ferocious wolves in front of others. In recent years, as the Wei State continued to attack Hexi, Shangjun used troops, and the Jiejiao cavalry served as an auxiliary army.
, I don’t know the Qiang in both places.
Rong, how many evils Hu Rong has done, but as long as these people do not harm the people of the Central Plains, especially the people of Wei, Zhao Hongrun chooses to turn a blind eye - he wants the horse to run but does not feed the horse, God
Where can anything be so cheap down there?
As we walked, we encountered a group of people in the distance. According to the reply from the Jiejiao cavalry, they were actually under the banner of the Shang Shui Army.
This makes Zhao Hongrun feel very puzzled. You must know that the Shangshui Army is currently assisting Lintao Lord Wei Ji. As Zhao Hongrun's direct army, this army is definitely the best among the best. Logically speaking, it should have been in the northern part of Shangjun, at the highest point.
Why are you still wandering around the southern part of Shang County on the battlefield on the front line? Even though you only encountered a hundred-man army.
Out of curiosity, Zhao Hongrun rushed forward.
As a result, before he even got close to the hundred-man troop of the Merchant Navy, he saw that the hundred-man troop of the Merchant Navy seemed to be escorting some men and women dressed as foreigners.
The men and women who were escorted south by the Merchant Navy Hundreds all had sad faces and slightly numb expressions. Some women even held a baby in their arms, but the strange thing was that the baby started crying for some unknown reason.
But those women, as mothers, were indifferent and continued to walk forward in confusion.
"These people are..."
Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but tighten his grip on the reins, feeling an unspeakable anger in his heart.