Someone once said that the dense posthouse roads of the Liyang Dynasty were paved by the hooves of a certain cripple's warhorse.
A mighty group of carriages stopped at the Little Beard Posthouse in Youzhou. The posthouse was not large, but it was cleaner and purer than the Central Plains posthouse. In fact, as the carriages traveled westward from Jizhou and Hezhou into Youzhou, which was under the jurisdiction of Beiliang, they found that there were many posthouses along the way. They often saw posthouse riders flying by. They had heard that the Beiliang Frontier Army was full of proud soldiers and valiant generals, especially the cavalry. The important figures in the carriages had more or less heard of border military affairs. It seemed that there was a cruel rule that posthouse riders were guilty of running over people on the road. Therefore, when the 60 or so cavalrymen in the vanguard entered Youzhou, they encountered a Beiliang posthouse rider riding from north to south for the first time. They found that if the posthouse rider in the north continued to head south, it was very likely that he would cut the entire group in half. It should be noted that the three or four carriages in the middle were all filled with nobles from the palace. What would they do if they clashed with the Beiliang posthouse riders? The 60 elite retainers from the capital immediately panicked. Although the officials in Beiliang wanted to worship them like ancestors on this trip to the west, the vanguard cavalrymen did not say anything and turned their horses to block the carriages behind them. They would rather jam together than let the posthouse rider pass unimpeded. The posthouse rider, who had been prepared to stop his horse, clearly did not understand what this powerful group of carriages was thinking. As he continued along the posthouse road, he could not help but turn his head to take a few more glances at the crossroads. His gaze was strange. He probably felt that the foreigners, who looked rather neat and orderly, were a bit too polite. Afterward, a lieutenant from the Armory Department of the Ministry of War explained that the posthouse rider had a feather proclamation on his back. It indicated that he was an ordinary posthouse rider in Youzhou and that the spy report he passed on was of the most common type.
However, the vanguard cavalry lieutenant who acted on his own initiative was not reprimanded. An old eunuch from the Directorate of Ribbon Insignia in a red python robe spoke the thoughts of everyone in the carriages.
"In Beiliang, it is better to be safe than sorry."
Now, most of the Liyang soldiers understood that there were three types of soldiers in the world: weak troops, strong troops, and the last type was called the Beiliang cavalry.
Last time, the new Prince Liang had led less than a thousand White Horses into an important area in the capital. The result was that he had entered a place where no one could stop him. This incident caused Great Peace City to lose face, and caused a general of the Imperial Family to resign from his position in the Imperial Clan Court. The Ministry of War did not interfere, but everyone in the Jingdou officialdom knew that this yamen, which held military power in the world, had not been kind to the generals from the Jingdou branch in the last half year. Every time they came to do something, it was like they owed tens of thousands of taels of silver.
Later, at the end of the battle of Guangling, the 10,000 Great Snow Dragon Cavalry suddenly came out of seclusion. The assistant minister of the Ministry of War, Xu Gong, who had returned from the two Liao, personally led the elite troops of the capital to intercept them. There were also the cavalry of Ji and Qing Zhou in the north and south. There were also the local troops who did their best to serve. Now, there was a rumor in Great Peace City that this time, it was Lu Sheng, who had experience in the Guangling battle, who stood out and not Xu Gong, who had merit in the two Liao border battle. It was because of that embarrassing interception that the Emperor was too disappointed in this Gangnam-do Confucian general.
The attitude of the Little Whisker Slope Inn to these Emperor's envoys was neither warm nor cold. They were not attentive and flattering, but they were not cold. The head eunuch of the Directorate of Credentials was not surprised by this and did not nitpick on this matter. First, the eunuchs of Liyang rarely left the capital. At most, they had some secret dealings with the weaving bureaus of the Central Plains and the salt and iron camps of the local officials. They would not publicly appear in the eyes of the officials outside the capital. Second, ever since the old Emperor of Liyang took in the eunuchs of the fallen countries, these eunuchs were deeply grateful to the Zhao Shi. No matter whether it was the old people who had experienced the fires of war or the younger generation eunuchs they had raised, there had not been any rumors of trouble in the internal court in the past 20 years. The matter of eunuchs interfering in politics had disappeared. Even the powerful cat Han Shengxuan, the head of the Ceremony Directorate, was only known as one of the three great devils of the Spring and Autumn Period. The Zhao Shi of Liyang had no doubts about his loyalty to the head of the eunuchs in the world. Later, the young Song Tanglu took over the Ceremony Directorate and was well known among the civil and military officials.
The Little Whisker Slope Inn was not big enough to accommodate the imperial eunuchs, the imperial bodyguards, and the elite cavalry of Jingji, totaling more than a thousand people. If it were anywhere else, the prefectural government of each province would have made appropriate arrangements and promised that they would not disturb the people. As for whether they really did not disturb the people, the head eunuchs of the Directorate of Credentials would naturally turn a blind eye. However, after arriving in Youzhou, there were many inns but not many. It was common for most of the imperial edicts to hide their meals and sleep in the open. On the other hand, the Directorate of Credentials took the initiative to discuss with the Youzhou inns on how to avoid disturbing the people of Beiliang as much as possible.
After the three eunuchs entered the inn, they gathered in the hall to discuss matters as usual. However, they were not in a hurry to speak. Instead, they drank a pot of tea prepared by the Little Whisker Slope Inn Deputy and waited patiently for news from a trusted eunuch. Very quickly, the young eunuch respectfully led a young scholar-looking figure into the hall. The young eunuch obediently left the hall, closed the door, and waited outside. When they saw the young man in green, the three heads of the Directorate of Credentials immediately rose to greet him. They lowered their voices slightly and said with a smile, "Greetings, Lord Chen!"
The term 'husband' was originally Old Li Yang's way of speaking out of respect. It was specially used to address the big shots in the army or the ministers who held the power of the court. In the entire dynasty, there were probably only seven or eight people who were addressed this way. However, at that time, the Eastern Wei, Southern Tang, and several other dynasties that stood side by side with Liyang still had national power. There was also the saying of "husband", but it was extremely indecent. It was said that those men with delicate and pretty faces had delicate and pretty voices that were not inferior to those of orioles and swallows. Jiangnan had a culture of nurturing children and had a reputation of being a distinguished scholar. Among these, there was more or less a hint of ridicule towards Liyang. In the Yong Hui Era after Li Yang swallowed up the Central Plains, the concept of the husband of Great Peace City gradually disappeared. After the Year of the Auspicious Talisman, it rose up again, especially in the internal court. It was highly revered. When the eunuchs of the palace met some of the Li Yang officials who were able to travel in the forbidden grounds of the palace, they all liked to respectfully call them husband. This time, of course, no one dared to confuse Jiangbei and Jiangnan. In the eyes of the eunuchs, among the civil officials, not even one of the six ministers could receive this honor. Only the head of the Hall of Secretaries Qi Yanglong, the assistant minister of the Hall of Secretaries Zhao Youling, the left servant of the Menxia Province, Huan Wen, and the left servant of the Scattered Cavalry, Chen Wang, were worthy of being called husband by their surnames.
The identity of the person in front of him was finally revealed.
Chen Shaobao, Chen Wang, was the best candidate for the next Grand Secretary of Li Yang.
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