This general's mansion is probably the shabbiest place among the generals of the Sixteenth State of Yao, and the northwest corner of Binyuan City is far inferior to the street where Jinzhou officials gathered together. However, when Song Zhiwen came to Jinzhou to take office, he was surrounded by
However, with a few hundred-tael banknotes, I thought I could always save some money in a place that was not as prosperous as Wuhang City in Jiangzhou. I never expected that as soon as I arrived at Bingyuan City, I would be dragged to a banquet by the local officials.
When it comes to banquets, there must be a return. Doesn't he understand this simple truth?
Therefore, after several rounds of back and forth, the silver in Song Zhiwen's wallet shrunk by more than half. Although he was the only merchant in Jinzhou to open his mouth and let him choose from all the mansions in the city for free. But Song Zhiwen was not satisfied with this.
As a bright mirror, as long as he accepts the residence of these merchants that day, someone will come directly with banknotes the next day to try to clear the way. He has a lazy temper and is not willing to do such a thing.
As early as when he was a soldier, his teacher would always come to see him, and he would shake his head. It was like Yao's martial arts school. If he didn't read military books diligently and didn't practice martial arts, that's all. He just liked to play with flowers and plants, so he didn't look like a military attache.
like.
Even after sitting on the high position coveted by many people, such as General Jinzhou, in the eyes of his staff and soldiers, the newly appointed general was awe-inspiring only when he was planning the military strategy in his mind. The rest of the time, he was gentle and even polite.
He has no temper. The confidants cultivated by the former Jinzhou general have not been cleansed and they are still sitting in their original positions. All the officials in Jinzhou are wondering how the Ministry of War would send a good gentleman to Jinzhou to have fun in such a troubled year.
Waiting to die?
However, after Song Zhiwen personally led his staff and soldiers to visit the twenty-six cities of Jinzhou, the voice gradually became quieter. Anyone who is not blind can see that although the newly appointed Jinzhou general has a weird temperament,
They were not mediocre people who stayed in the yamen of their mansions all day long. All the magicians from the Qingnang lineage of the Jinzhou State Army were summoned by him and dispersed to various parts of Jinzhou to draw maps to replace those drawn by Yao when he founded the country.
After the old map was criticized for being poor and shoddy, the newly recruited states and counties were still divided into four camps: east, west, north, south and south after reorganization.
Among them, most of the North Battalion of the Jinju State Army are newly recruited soldiers, and the East and West Battalions have a mixed mix of new and old soldiers. Only the South Battalion did not suffer much damage during the war in the spring, and its organizational structure is still intact and there are many personnel.
He was an old pawn, so he became the most powerful battalion among the four battalions of the Jinzhou State Army.
"You can't survive this winter even if you stay in the greenhouse all day?" Song Zhiwen stood in the flower garden dressed as an authentic flower farmer. He took off his shoes and socks and wore straw sandals barefoot. He leaned down to look at the flowers that had lost their vitality on the ground.
Even the costly greenhouses could not allow these delicate flower species, which are already considered cold-resistant in southern Dayao, to live longer.
He recalled that when he was still serving as a soldier in Jiangzhou, Cao Shenjun, although his official rank was not as high as today's generals in Jinzhou, he had much more money. There was no war in Jiangzhou.
There are many more officials who have to deal with a bunch of trivial matters, so they have time to plant flowers and grass.
Choosing seeds, plowing, sowing, watering, fertilizing, and pruning branches and leaves. Only when I got started did I realize that everything was careless. I went to consult a famous flower farmer in Bingyuan City, but I forgot to change my official uniform.
Thinking that the leader of the family had committed something, he kowtowed and begged him for his life. After explaining for a long time, he was half convinced, but he did not dare to teach the Yao military attache the work of serving flowers and plants. Helpless, Song Zhiwen had to change his clothes and order Xun
When I wasn't on duty, I helped the flower farmer carry water, hoe, and prune flower branches.
Going back to planting flowers is already getting twice the result with half the effort.
At that flower farmer's house, Song Zhiwen was clumsy at first and was hit by the old flower farmer. However, the old man was very good at teaching Song Zhiwen his skills. Song Zhiwen stayed in Jiangzhou for six years.
, these six years gave him the illusion that he was going to die of old age in this bustling city with the flowers and bad-tempered flower farmers around him.
Maybe his teacher really didn't want his proud disciple to be buried in Wuhang City, or maybe he was getting old as a boss of the Ministry of War and wanted to have more of his disciples in Dayao before retiring from this position.
Therefore, it was only natural that General Jinzhou, a hot potato, should be taken over by his disciple who had always been uncontested in everything.
After learning the news, Song Zhiwen still had time to wait for the flowers in his garden to bloom and fade before heading out on the road. After that, the land would have a new owner, probably someone who also liked flowers and plants.
So when he left, he sowed more seeds in the flowerbed and waited for them to sprout again next spring, but he would not see them again by then.
When the old flower farmer learned that he was going to the north, he sent a bag of flower seeds, saying that they were the most cold-resistant seeds in Jiangzhou. After planting them in Jinju, some people might be able to smell the flowers even in winter.
"Since you know that I am Dayao's military attache, why are you not afraid at all?"
"How can a person who likes flowers and plants be so bad?"
Under the eaves, the two of them looked at the flowerbed in full bloom, with the graceful deer and leek swaying in the breeze like a beautiful woman dancing with her sleeves.
Song Zhiwen missed that one a little bit.
In Jinzhou, he planted the deer and leek seeds selected by the old flower farmers, but he no longer had the splendor of those days in Wuhang. He was as short and frail as a poor girl, and died within ten days...
"General?"
Inquiring voices came from outside the flower garden. He patted the dirt on his hands and stood up. When he saw two people next to his personal staff, they were dumbfounded. He chuckled and said, "This general is not allowed to do other things outside of official duties? Otherwise, this Jinzhou general can't do it.
It’s a bit too boring.”
If this is seen by the scholars in the surrounding city, it means that the enemy is still free to take care of the flowers and plants, and it will inevitably be another crime that can be criticized in the article.
Although Wei Changpan and Liu Ziyi had seen Song Zhiwen wearing a green robe and wearing a belt while walking around the camp, their appearance today still opened their eyes. The dignified general of Jinzhou condescended to be a flower farmer? What a guy?
If this news spreads, it will inevitably become a joke in the entire Jinzhou officialdom.
"It'll be good to come back, it'll be good to come back." Song Zhiwen nodded to the two of them, then packed up the farm tools in the garden and walked out of the garden among the broken branches and leaves. He took off his straw sandals and scraped off the soil from the soles of the ridge.
, "Let's change clothes and go into the house to talk."
"Don't talk about you, even those of us on the staff couldn't believe it at first sight." Zhang Ziwen picked up a pair of scissors from the ground and laughed with Wei Changpan, "The general often told us that if Jinzhou General
If I can’t sit in my seat, it would be nice to go back to Wuhang City, Jiangzhou and make a living as a flower farmer.”
"Is this really what General Song said?" Wei Changpan scratched his head, "Shouldn't the general be determined to expand territory for the imperial court?"
"Maybe our generals are different."
Zhang Ziwen shrugged. It was never a good thing to talk about the general behind his back. He stopped talking, otherwise he might be too curious.
The heavy young man would ask what words to say, and after a moment he seemed to remember something, "Remember to take a bath before going to the general, and then change out of the rags you are wearing."
The two of them smelled as if they had been rolled in a pigsty. The sergeants who were boiling water in the kitchen boiled three large barrels of hot water for the two of them in the bathing pavilion. It was not enough. The turbid water that was poured out for the first time was dark. There were still oily flowers and unknown stains floating on it. The two of them soaked comfortably in the huge wooden barrel. They could rub off strips of old mud on their backs and thighs with their hands.
As a staff officer, Zhang Ziwen did not forget to hire a medical officer to watch the two of them after bathing. The medical officer poked the yellow blisters on the insteps of Liu Ziyi and Wei Changpan with his fingers, and turbid pus suddenly flowed out. They had just soaked in hot water. There was nothing wrong with them just because they were comfortable, but now both of them were grinning and moaning in pain.
"With frostbite like this, you should have had a good rest indoors." The medical officer frowned and played with their purple and black toes, "That means you two have strong bodies. If it were anyone else, these toes would have been long gone. I don’t know how many times it has been frozen, but whether it can be saved is another matter.”
Before leaving, the medical officer left a box of ointment and wrote a medicine list. He said that he should take the medicine according to the order and soak his feet, and see how it goes in three days.
"But the ugly story is ahead. You two have been sleeping in the open air for such a long time. It is inevitable that the cold poison will invade your body. Now you look like you are still alive and well. Maybe you will suffer the same fate when you are old." The medical officer said carefully. After the two explained the matter, they shook their heads and said, "You are still young, why are you so willing to risk your life?"
"Some things have to be done by someone, right? Thank you very much, doctor." Wei Changpan and Liu Ziyi straightened their clothes and saluted him.
"It can be seen that you all deserve to die on the battlefield, but it is still most important to take care of yourself. After all, the days ahead will be long."
The doctor shook his head and walked away. Wei Changpan and Liu Ziyi looked at each other.
"Brother Wei, Yu Gao Gao..." The latter weighed the box of ointment and whispered, "Actually, he just wants to survive."
"But I, Liu Ziyi, can bear it when he surrenders to the barbarians, but in turn harms his own people. Even if I, Liu Ziyi, can spare him, how can Mei Xiucai, who is underground, spare him? This is a deadly feud."
Even if the enemy is dead, no punishment in Yao's law seems to be serious enough.
In the steaming mist, Liu Ziyi seemed to have made some determination, "After the war ends this winter, I, Liu Ziyi, will take a few rangers I have made friends with in Jinzhou and go north, and I will pick off his head named Yu even from the ends of the earth. But before that time comes, he might send his head over by himself."
Wei Changpan no longer had any reason to object to this proposal. If Yu Gaogao was in Bingyuan City now, neither the government officials nor General Song's people would let him go, and Liu Ziyi was eager to eat his flesh.
Right and wrong have become very clear. Yu Gaogao is the target of thousands of people. Wei Changpan has no reason to let him live. He just thinks of this man sobbing and talking about his relatives in the middle of the night, and his heart aches.