Volume 1 Chapter 86: Flowing Light (Part 2)
On this day, Emperor Zhao removed the fuel from under the cauldron, used the opponent's force to defeat the opponent, and killed two birds with one stone... Well, in short, he used Li Gang, the prime minister who was far away in Yangzhou, to easily defeat the powerful "Shouzhou faction" and decided on Nanyang as the secondary capital. Then, he took advantage of the situation and decided on many major events within a stick of incense, which caught everyone off guard and made everyone sigh in admiration.
It can only be said that under the original system, the Zhao Song officials already had enough power, and in troubled times, an Zhao Song official who could win battles seemed even more uncontrollable.
However, what caught people even more off guard was Wanyan Wushu.
Contrary to what was imagined, the Jin army did not launch any revengeful counterattack. According to the scouts' report, when Zhao Jiu was holding a meeting at Bagua Mountain, the fourth prince of the Jin Dynasty, who had gathered all the troops, hurriedly crossed the Wo River and led the entire army to continue northward.
Aren’t you afraid of getting your butt rubbed by rushing so fast?
After Jin Wushu left, Zhang Jun, the newly appointed governor of Dingjiang, commander of the right army of the imperial camp and governor of the five prefectures of Huaidong, and Zhang Suo, the direct scholar of Longtu Pavilion and governor of Jingdong and Jingdong, joined forces to march north, recovering lost territory and carefully monitoring Jin Wushu's withdrawal. Accompanying them were the third brother of the Xin family, Xin Daozong, and some officials and their families from Jingdong and Jingdong who were lingering in Shouzhou, so the area near Bagong Mountain was immediately emptied!
A few days later, the Jin army continued to march northward, and then turned from Xuzhou to Yanzhou at the foot of Mount Tai. The entire army, with less than 20,000 cavalry, carefully organized and crossed the passage east of Mount Tai. In this regard, whether it was Zhang Suo and Zhang Jun who were far behind, or Yue Fei who had just received the imperial edict and was stationed in Jizhou, knowing that their troops and combat power were limited, they did not dare to easily provoke such a large and strict cavalry, but carefully guarded against the enemy crossing this traffic pass and returning to the occupied area of Jinan Prefecture on the banks of the Yellow River.
When the news came, Emperor Zhao did not delay any longer, but immediately issued an edict, taking the imperial camp that he had been working hard to reorganize in the past few days, and prepared to set off up the Huai River to Nanyang.
Among them, Han Shizhong, the military governor of Wucheng Army, the commander of the Left Army of the Imperial Camp, and the governor of the four counties in Huaixi, led the Left Army of the Imperial Camp (actually the so-called Han's Army) with about 8,000 people to march to the north of Huaibei;
Wang De, who had just taken office as the deputy commander of the imperial camp, temporarily commanded Qiao Zhongfu, Fu Qing, and Zhang Jing, who had just been promoted to commanders, and Xin Xingzong and other generals, with about 12,000 troops, to march to Huainan.
Then, the imperial guards and the Huyan Tong unit, which had the smallest number of troops, guarded the emperor's family, the civil and military officials, some of the officials' families, and a few lightly wounded soldiers, and they set out directly from the Huai River by boat and headed west.
Of course, Han Shizhong specially sent troops to the downstream to take his own property and the families of soldiers, the naval generals were dissatisfied with the handover of most of the sailboats to Zhang Jun, Wang De’s appointment as deputy commander of the imperial camp caused dissatisfaction among some generals, and Zhang Que, the prime minister and co-director of the Privy Council, fell ill as soon as he set out and had to stop in Chuzhou... and so on and so forth, there were all kinds of miscellaneous things that were bound to happen by chance.
However, as some people secretly commented at this time, the government held great power, the morale of the army and civilians in Lianghuai was greatly boosted, and the soldiers all obeyed the central government after this battle. The strange situation in the past where any slight disturbance would trigger a crisis was long gone.
Therefore, these trivial matters did not affect Xingzai's journey to the west at all.
On February 14, the camp officially set out. Emperor Zhao boarded one of the specially reserved large sailing ships and set out from the north and south by land and water, heading west in a mighty manner. On February 15, Emperor Zhao himself easily crossed the Xishi Mountain by water and arrived at Nanfeikou, where he stopped and waited for the troops from the north and south to gather here.
"Would you like to stay ashore for a while?"
The person who spoke on the bow of the ferry was the supervisor of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Feng Yi, an old employee of Prince Kang's Mansion who now runs the Imperial Pharmacy. He had been sent to serve Li Gang and Concubine Pan in Yangzhou before, and after coming back, because Emperor Zhao did not allow these people to go to Bagua Mountain at will, they stayed in Shouchun on the banks of the Nanfei River. At this time, Fang returned with another minister of the East Palace, Xu Jingheng, and took over the daily affairs of the Forbidden City.
The official this person was referring to was naturally Zhao Jiu, who had just met with Mr. Xu Jingheng and came out to the bow to get some fresh air.
"Good, your Excellency will know." Seeing that the Emperor was puzzled, Feng Yaban explained earnestly. "Shouchun to the south of here was originally a big port, but during the Battle of Bagong Mountain, the north-south passage there was blocked by the army, so this place naturally became a key passage connecting the north and the south, and vaguely became a market. Xu Dacan took the opportunity to set up the Guandu, Shangkou, and Tea and Salt Offices here... I came back from here, and I know that although the market behind the ferry is small, it gathers countless new and exotic goods from the north and the south, and there are also singing and dancing restaurants. It is really lively. Even the civil and military officers on the march have gone down to take the opportunity to buy. Why don't you go to the shore to rest for a while to relieve the fatigue of the boat and the horse?"
Zhao Jiuli was standing on the bow of the only sailboat. He looked south when he heard the words. As expected, he saw that in the spring afternoon, the ferry market ahead, which had been quiet due to the arrival of soldiers on the river and the prime minister on the shore, had gradually become lively. There was even a hint of noise, which made him feel moved for a moment.
However, after thinking about it for a while, he slowly shook his head and said, "Forget it. If I go up, I don't know what kind of trouble it will cause. It's fine to be on the boat."
Feng Yi agreed carefully, and naturally did not dare to say much. Lan Gui at the side could not help but secretly curled his lips. Only Yang Yizhong seemed to be thinking about something, but did not say much.
However, having said that, Emperor Zhao was also extremely bored on the ship. He first returned to the cabin to take a few notes, and then sent someone to instruct Zhang Jun to send imperial censors to inspect both sides of the river and to support the troops on the left and right sides of the imperial camp to prevent the army from disturbing the people. Then he walked around the side of the ship a few times and shot to death a wild duck that for some reason dared to swim past the imperial carriage. In the end, nothing happened and he could only take a nap in the fragrant atmosphere of the spring afternoon.
But he did not sleep for long as he was woken up by the cold again because the sun was setting and the temperature difference between day and night was very large in spring.
However, this time when he got up again, Zhao Jiu finally had a different mentality. He turned to the stern of the boat, looking at the Xishi Mountain in the east with lush flowers and trees, thoughtfully... It was nothing else, this Emperor Zhao had just dreamed of Zhang Yongzhen again, and then naturally thought of the thousands of corpses left in Bagua Mountain.
Moreover, Zhao Guanjia, who came from an engineering background, had a bit of rational thinking of a straight man. He knew that the dead could not be resurrected, that war would inevitably involve sacrifices, and that in the future there would be more people like Zhang Yongzhen and the thousands of soldiers who died in battle who would never be able to return .
And now that things have come to this, this is the only optimal solution that will result in the least number of deaths.
However, having said that, the logic is clear, and Emperor Zhao himself acts decisively without any sentimental feelings. But today he is about to travel far away, and when he thinks of this, he still feels a little sad.
As the sun set, the sky grew darker. There were already sparks of fire in the distant market town. The accompanying boats were also well-lit because they had previously supplied the Baguashan camp with supplies from the southeast. Even some of the soldiers who had set up camp on the shore to guard the river began to light bonfires outside to cook food.
The bright moon rose, and the river was dotted with stars.
Dinner was ready, but Emperor Zhao still had no appetite and just kept looking at the mountains. The people around him probably guessed what he was thinking and didn't dare to disturb him... until there was a sudden commotion in the river. No one knew what had happened, which caused the people on the large ship with the sails lowered to rush to one side. Then countless soldiers holding torches came quickly in small boats and surrounded the starboard side of the ship.
After all, Emperor Zhao had been to the battlefield. After being awakened, he looked at it calmly, and then he couldn't help but smile.
It turned out that just now, two medium-sized cargo ships were sailing downstream from upstream. Perhaps because of the gloomy sky, they actually came to the bottom of the large ship carrying Emperor Zhao and the three prime ministers. After they took the initiative to talk to them, they aroused the vigilance of Ban Zhi on the boat, which then caused such a commotion.
The two poor ship owners and several boatmen were swarmed by countless soldiers, tied up alive and thrown onto the ship. They heard words like "official", "prime minister", and "protecting the emperor", and saw countless armored soldiers surrounding them. They were scared half to death and could not even speak clearly for a while.
After a while, the three gentlemen came out, and one of the two boat owners, a young and smart man, figured out what was going on, and then quickly kowtowed and begged for mercy. According to him, the two were his uncles, and they were both merchants who came here to travel. They heard that Bagong Mountain had a great victory, the north and the south were open, and this place was bustling, so they loaded goods to sell.
However, they did not come here by accident because it was dark, but because they saw a large ship parked here from afar and thought it must be a noble person, so they came to the ship specifically to see if they could sell the goods here.
"I see, let him go!"
In fact, Emperor Zhao had already roughly guessed what was going on, and was just waiting for everyone to calm down. When he saw that the ship owner had regained consciousness, he simply gave the order.
The people around, from the three husbands down, all agreed, as if they didn't care about this episode.
However, just as this more meticulous boat owner kowtowed repeatedly to express his gratitude and was about to take his frightened companions and boatmen to leave this place and go ashore for shelter, the Zhao official was slightly moved and asked casually: "Boatman, what cargo is on your boat?"
"Let Emperor Zhao know that these are just two ships of oranges and should be presented to him as tribute!" The meticulous captain in the lead was startled and suddenly came to his senses, then bowed down on the deck again.
"How can I ask you to contribute?" Zhao Jiu couldn't help but laugh, but asked again. "How can there still be oranges at this time? I ate a lot of oranges in Bagong Mountain, but they only lasted until the end of the first month of the lunar year."
"Good instructor, the family knows," another slightly older but slightly timid boat owner gradually came to his senses, but he trembled and boldly peeked at the appearance of the official Zhao under the torch, and then spoke out directly like a bamboo tube pouring beans. "The secret recipe of my family and my brother-in-law's family is to take the best large oranges from the south that ripen in early winter, transport them back home, put them on wooden racks, cover them with pine branches, arrange them loosely, and put them in a ventilated cellar. Replace fresh pine branches every day, and the oranges can be kept fresh for a month longer than other families."
Zhao Jiu nodded repeatedly: "This way, I can earn a lot more than other vendors."
"It should be just as the emperor said!" The older merchant who had been a little timid before didn't see the look in his brother-in-law's eyes. He slapped his thigh in public and complained in front of the emperor and the three gentlemen in Huaixi accent. "Isn't there a turmoil in Jingkang? I heard that the two emperors went to the north to hunt. And the official Ding who was in charge of us before was still the same after the peace, so we dare not ship the goods at will, so the oranges that should have been cleared out in previous years have not been sold out this year. It is precisely because of this that we took advantage of the withdrawal of official Ding a few days ago and quickly prepared two large ships to sell the inventory and prepare to go to Shouchun to sell, but we didn't expect to meet the emperor!"
Zhao Jiu seemed to be thinking about something, but then smiled again: "In that case, it is I who delayed your family from selling oranges..."
"Don't dare say that!" The young and meticulous merchant could no longer bear it, so he grabbed his brother-in-law and kowtowed again. "My brother-in-law is ignorant and speaks nonsense, so please don't mind it, sir."
"No problem," Zhao Jiu laughed even harder, but he spoke slowly to the older merchant. "Your two boatloads of oranges must have several thousand, right? How much per pound? Maybe it would be a little cheaper if I bought the whole boatload?"
At this time, the older vendor also came to his senses and looked at his brother-in-law in a panic.
Emperor Zhao did not care at all, but sent people to the shore to find unrelated vendors in the market to inquire about the market price of oranges in previous springs, and also to find out the number of oranges... There were about six or seven thousand oranges, which far exceeded the number of soldiers... Then he asked Lan Gui to take the money to give to the two men, and asked the two vendors to help, and asked the soldiers to row the boats in teams to get the oranges, which were to be distributed to Banzhi and Huyan Tong's troops on the shore and on the boat, and the rest would be delivered to him.
After this order was issued, many soldiers in the surrounding area wanted to join in the fun and spread the word among the boats, saying that the emperor wanted to treat everyone to oranges. Soon, before many oranges were distributed, some people took the lead in rowing over, holding oranges in the river and shouting directly to the big boat, saying that they were thanking the emperor for the reward.
In response to this, Emperor Zhao simply sat at the bow of the boat and had a lamp hung on the bow to illuminate himself. Then he peeled oranges while nodding to the soldiers who came to express their gratitude.
The three gentlemen looked at each other, not knowing what to say.
On the contrary, Lu Haowen and Wang Boyan were more or less familiar with the official's unbridled attitude, so they simply took an orange each, thanked the official, and then sat calmly at the bow and slowly ate... In the end, the usually serious Xu Jingheng had no choice but to step forward and sit down awkwardly to eat the orange.
The oranges were distributed layer by layer. The soldiers and the civil and military officials only had about 2,000 oranges in total, so after the distribution was completed in a short time, there were still many left. Emperor Zhao was about to order the remaining oranges to be given to the families of the civil and military officials, but suddenly he heard a commotion on the shore. It was the news from the river that attracted nearby residents to come to the ferry to find Emperor Zhao, asking him to reward them with oranges to pray for good luck this year.
Official Zhao naturally had nothing to say. He waved his hand again and placed the remaining half of the oranges at the ferry on the south bank for distribution. Everyone, young or old, strong or young, could take one.
However, oranges were just miscellaneous fruits and were not considered precious in Huainan. Everyone just came to see Emperor Zhao for fun, and many people did not eat the oranges after receiving them. Instead, they kept them in their arms, hoping to get a reward.
Therefore, after a short while, Zhao Guanjia finished his pretense and was about to get up to have a proper meal. However, as soon as he looked up, he saw a bright moon hanging on the Xishi Mountain in front of him, like a bright lantern hanging high in the sky, and then shining down on the river. He was also slightly moved, so he sat back down. Then, on the river and down the river, everyone saw that the official sitting at the bow of the boat picked up another orange, carefully peeled off half of it, pushed out the fruit segments from the bottom, and then opened the lantern beside him, took out the remaining candle that was about to burn out, and put it into the orange, and then stood up again and walked to the side of the boat in front of everyone.
Everyone understood, and Feng Yi hurriedly called for a small boat to pick them up. He asked Yang Yi Zhong to help the official get off the boat carefully, and then released the orange lantern on the Huai River, letting it drift with the current and drift eastward to the Xishi Mountain.
In fact, such behavior is quite wasteful on the road, because one lamp is fine, but the official is doing this under the attention of the public, which may lead to imitation and waste the storage of the imperial palace. Therefore, the three officials and other important officials who came after hearing the news frowned secretly.
However, after Emperor Zhao had lit the lanterns on the river, he turned back to the big boat and looked eastward at the drifting sparks with a long sigh: "I came here in a hurry and was unable to wait for the Bagongshan Cemetery to be built for the sacrifice. The fleeting lights will only serve as a feast for the dead soldiers' souls."
The civil and military officials around, starting with the three ministers, became solemn.
Soon, the surrounding soldiers and civilians on the shore, some heard this and knew that the government was commemorating the comrades who died in the battle of Bagua Mountain, some did not understand why and thought that the government was having fun with the people, so they all followed suit... Those who did not eat the oranges naturally went with the flow, those who had eaten them went to borrow from others, those who had candles used them, those who did not have candles put some oil and stuffed some messy wicks in, and those who could not even find oil simply put some dry pine branches in the water, lit them, and pushed them into the water.
In the end, even Yang Yizhong, who was usually steady, ran down in person, lit a few orange lanterns in front of the officials, and threw something into the river.
In short, just a moment later, there were thousands of streams of light, like stars, swaying eastward along the Huai River, sometimes bright and sometimes dim, like a dream.
After waiting for a while, they saw the light gradually disappearing, leaving only the bright moon above. Many officials and poets who had previously felt that the government was wasting money now felt lost. A few even thought of the days before Jing Kang and felt like they were in a dream. They covered their faces and cried secretly, which was in stark contrast to the people on the shore who were still excited.
As for Zhao Jiu, the Emperor Zhao, he felt completely at peace at this moment. Without giving it any more thoughts, he simply picked up a big orange, put it in his arms, and went downstairs to the cabin to eat.
As the saying goes: Snow washes away the dust of the enemy, and the wind brings the clouds of Chu to stay.
Who wrote this tragic and heroic poem, crossing the city wall at night?
The lakes and seas have always been majestic, the rivers and mountains are now the scenery, sit down and wait for the toast.
Fortunately, when the cranes cried, the general defeated the enemy.
Recalling the past, Zhou and Xie, rich in Spring and Autumn.
Xiao Qiao was newly married, her perfume bag was still untied, and she enjoyed her achievements so much.
The sun sets on the rocky tip of Chibi, and the bright moon hangs over the Feishui Ferry, calling out to people’s sorrow.
I want to ride on the wind and see the floating light again.
(End of Volume 1)
