Chapter 78: Feeling Uneasy
Zhao Yulin nodded and said affirmatively that it was true.
The generals began to talk about it. They all believed that it was the Lin'an court that was squeezing the Shenwei Army and causing trouble again and again. They were pissed off. So they went to Xinshi Town and occupied the mountain and became the king.
The prefect was uneasy to see these ruthless men in armor and armed with sharp weapons talking casually in front of him, not caring about his identity as the prefect at all, and not afraid of being labeled as traitors for talking nonsense. However, he still sat there calmly, looking at Zhao Yulin from time to time.
Zhao Yulin saw that everyone had almost finished discussing it, so he knocked on the table and said, "It's unpredictable. How do you know that there are fake imperial envoys? Brothers and sisters, please be careful in what you do. Safety comes first."
As for the army's march north, let's wait and see. Everyone go back and continue to prepare. I believe the officials in Lin'an will investigate the situation. We will take action after the court gives clear instructions.
Then, he asked the real master to give him a lecture.
Zhao Yulin looked at the real prefect.
The prefect cleared his throat, and first praised the Divine Mighty Army, and then talked about the incident of the fake imperial envoy, so that everyone could rest assured and perform their duties faithfully, and the court would definitely investigate the matter thoroughly.
Zhao Yulin asked his brothers to act according to the plan and to send the prefect out of the military camp together with Lei Man.
Lei Man turned around and said to him that his brother was scared to death, and dared to shoot the imperial envoy in broad daylight. He said that it was the guards who acted in a hurry, and the guards were there to protect our personal safety, and we must stand on the side of our brothers.
Besides, shouldn’t the imperial envoy be killed?
A duck man, in order to vent the Queen Mother's anger, came to Yibin again and again to make trouble and harm people. He was courting death himself, but it was unfair to his followers.
The two men returned to the big tent, and Zhao Yulin emphasized to everyone that they must strengthen their own security, especially for the next step of marching north, and they must pay more attention.
The useless people in the court don't care about our life or death.
Zhu Congwen waved his hand and the generals dispersed. Fire Phoenix stayed and said that she would continue to expand the Ninth Corps.
Zhao Yulin nodded and told her to just do what came naturally and she need not be afraid of anything.
In the evening, Lu Youpeng and Lei Man came to him for a drink.
It was early spring in February, and the weather was still cold. The three of them ate beggar's chicken and drank wine with chicken legs by the Jinsha River.
Lei Manzi said that this guy originally thought he could sleep well as long as he had a few thousand soldiers, but now he has tens of thousands of soldiers and still feels uneasy.
Lu Youpeng also lamented that he used to be a beggar, but now he lives in a big house and leads so many people to work, but he still feels insecure.
Zhao Yulin smiled and said there was nothing to be afraid of, at least he had so many brothers to help him.
He reminded Lu Youpeng that after the main force moved north, the imperial court would definitely come to Cuiping Mountain to cause trouble again, and he must respond with caution.
Lei Man said he was afraid of birds. This is our territory and we are the masters. Do you want to kill me?
No way?
Lu Youpeng smiled as he looked at the trembling muscles on Lei's face. He told Zhao Yulin that the four lay disciples of the Tian generation sent by Qingcheng Sect had come to investigate and were useful.
Zhao Yulin said that he would put him in his home as a guard.
He was worried that after he left, Lin'an would send experts to cause trouble, so he asked Lu Youpeng to restrain his family members, not allow them to participate in unimportant activities, and have them stay in Cuiping Mountain.
At West Lake in Lin'an, the emperor came out to relax again.
At this moment, he was rafting with Kuang Sisi in his arms. Kuang Sisi was smart now, she no longer wore the national costume, but changed into a long skirt and sat on the emperor, stroking his beard.
Seeing that the emperor was in a bad mood, she asked him in a coquettish manner what he was worried about.
The emperor said angrily that the abandoned child from Yibin had killed his imperial envoy, which was a heinous crime and he was about to rebel.
Kuang Sisi was startled, but soon smiled and said, "How can such a small matter stop the emperor? If he sends 50,000 imperial guards, they will flatten the small Yibin."
This time Sisi learned her lesson. She no longer dared to say a good word about Zhao Yulin and only used ruthless moves to attack him.
The emperor was very happy. He pinched Kuang Sisi's face and said, "Women know nothing and are not capable of wielding swords and guns casually."
Kuang Sisi continued to act like a spoiled child, asking him if this was not okay and that was not appropriate. How could the emperor be happy?
The emperor listened to Kuang Sisi's sincere concern and was delighted. The heat in his body rose like a thermometer inserted into molten iron. He picked up the beauty and walked into the cabin, muttering to himself: This makes me happy...
In Changshou Palace, Shi Xiang sat at the bottom, watching the empress dowager getting angry. This time, she used the imperial envoy to enter Sichuan to insert Jia Gong, who was beside her, into the matter, hoping to take the opportunity to deal with Zhao Yulin, avenge Wang Gong, and save face for the Shi family. Unexpectedly, the abandoned child was killed in the name of pretending to be an imperial envoy.
The old empress was angry, but also marveled at Zhao Yulin's courage.
Who has the courage to kill the imperial envoy with justification?
The Queen Mother said viciously that she would bring up this matter at court tomorrow and would execute the entire family of the abandoned child.
In the Zhao residence at Cuiping Mountain, a baby was born, Ma Ling'er. Zhao Yulin's mother was so happy holding her grandson that she couldn't stop smiling, and the whole family gathered in the yard to talk.
Zhao Yulin looked at Chen Xiaomin's slightly protruding belly and said, "See? This is called a natural birth. The more time passes, the more you need to walk."
Ma Linger looked at them happily and asked him to name the child. Zhao Yulin said, let's call him Ma Yuan. There was such a brave man in the Han Dynasty who led his troops all the way to Champa. I believe our son is not a coward.
Ma Linger nodded.
Fan Zheng came in to report that Mr. Zhu wanted to see you.
Zhao Yulin came out and saw Zhu Congwen sitting in a wheelchair outside the gate, smiling at him. The two of them went to the riverside to drink, and Zhu Congwen said, "I'm so happy. I have a son now?"
Zhao Yulin said happily that of course, and he would hurry up and find a wife.
After three rounds of drinks, Lao Zhu said with emotion that he had conquered such a large piece of land in a blink of an eye, and began to tell him how he had come here.
That year, Lao Zhu participated in a border patrol along the southern foothills of the Himalayas. The Indians set up an ambush and attacked the patrol team on the pass at an altitude of 4,800 meters. According to the agreement between the two countries, they were not allowed to use guns. In the melee, they were pushed off the cliff and fell into the glacier.
Old Zhu was washed into a blue underground river by the rapids and soon lost consciousness. When he woke up, he found himself lying in his yard.
Zhao Yulin knew that they were going to separate; this was what Lao Zhu confessed before he left.
He said that he was conducting a night training with Miao Gui at the time when he saw a blue beam of light reaching from the Cuiping Mountain to the sky and earth. He immediately led people to look for him and brought him home.
Zhu Congwen raised his glass and said cheers.
Zhao Yulin said that he would have plenty of time to avenge himself later, so now he should be the chief of logistics and take control of Cuiping Mountain and Ma Lake, and make sure they did not fall into the hands of the bad guys.
Old Zhu told him not to worry, even though he was missing two legs, he could definitely move more agilely than those with all four limbs intact.
Zhao Yulin said that he had entrusted his family to him, and the two of them drank a glass and walked back.
In the Lin'an court, the emperor holds early morning court.
As soon as the ministers stood still, the prefect of Lin'an came out and requested that Zhao Yulin, the governor of Xuzhou, be punished. He held up a newspaper in his hand and wanted to present it to the emperor, saying that it was clearly written in the newspaper that Zhao Qi'er actually killed the imperial envoy in the street, and how could the people be convinced if his entire family was not executed.
Soon, a large group of people knelt down in the hall, calling for Zhao Yulin to be punished.
At this time, the censor Hua Yue came out to defend Zhao Yulin. His reason was clearly stated in the newspaper: the imperial envoy forced the Shenwei Army to march out within three days, but received no response and drew his sword to kill people. He was then shot to death by Zhao Yulin's guards.
Here, he made three points of analysis:
First, who is this imperial envoy? The emperor is omnipotent, so how could he issue an order for the Shenwei Army to march out within three days?
They keep saying that they are the Queen Mother's people. Could it be that the harem is interfering in politics?
Second, because the captain of the Shenwei Army had suffered an unidentified attack, each of them was equipped with a ten-man guard. The imperial envoy stabbed Zhao Dujian in the back with a sword and was shot and killed by the guard. It was self-defense and the guard's duty. Where was his crime?
Third, the imperial court had just commended the Shenwei Army for its contributions in defending the country and in the Battle of Mahujiang, but now they are being forced to move out and march north within three days. If this is true, and people all over the world laugh at them, then who will still be willing to guard the border for the Song Dynasty court?
In the court, some people wanted Zhao Yulin to be killed, while others hoped that he would go to guard the border to defend the country. The argument had become a mess, but in the end, Prime Minister Shi's voice was the loudest, and he was determined to kill Zhao Yulin no matter what.
However, the emperor refused to speak, so Prime Minister Shi had to take action himself. He insisted that the imperial envoy was sent from Lin'an, and that killing the imperial envoy in Yibin was a rebellion. He asked the emperor to order the execution of all nine generations of Zhao Yulin's clan.
The emperor spoke at this time. His first sentence was that he did not order the Shenwei Army to march within three days, but to order the Shenwei Army to march north and supervise Jiazhou to prepare for the logistics and baggage supply.
There was an immediate silence in the court.
The emperor's statement meant that the imperial envoy had falsely conveyed the imperial edict and was plotting to assassinate the eunuch of Yibin. The plot took a big turn.
The emperor then said that he heard that some people in the court had accepted benefits from the Jin people and Mongolia and were advocating peace talks, but peace talks still require strength.
Can you get what you can’t get on the battlefield at the negotiating table?
In every negotiation, did the Song Dynasty not cede territory and pay compensation?
Seeing that there was no sound from the audience, the emperor went on to say that the news of the Shenwei Army's northward migration had become known to the world, and it seemed that the Song Dynasty had always treated soldiers as worthless. So he asked Prime Minister Shi to personally take care of it and ensure that the Shenwei Army moved safely to Hanzhong.
Then the emperor stood up and the eunuchs screamed and dismissed the court.
Zhao Yulin was able to escape danger thanks to divine assistance.
Last night, the Imperial City Department secretly reported that recently the Jin people and the Mongols have been carrying heavy boxes to the Shi family, all to persuade the Song Dynasty to provide food and troops, and to form an alliance to attack a third country.
The emperor was very upset. He was still hesitating about which country to ally with. Old man Shi, on the other hand, made a fortune in his own house by offering prices and doing business with the two northern countries. Another faction advised him to strengthen himself and let the Jin Kingdom consume the vitality of Mongolia before attacking and recovering the lost territory.
So, when discussing the Shenwei Army today, the government suddenly became motivated and wanted to send this team to help defend Shukou...
Ten days later, Chen Yun returned to Yibin and, as an imperial envoy, delivered an imperial decree, ordering the Shenwei Army to immediately set out for the north, with the Military Administration Office to provide comprehensive logistics support.
Zhao Yulin ordered the entire army to gather and set off.
Another half month passed, and the Chengdu prefect Ding came to Xuzhou in person to preside over the departure ceremony of the Shenwei Army. Zhao Yulin gathered 20,000 soldiers to accept the inspection of Prefect Ding.
