Deep into the night, there was a porcelain oil lamp in the upper left corner of the study, imitating the style of the old Western Shu porcelain lamps. The lamp was hidden in the lip orifice and could be filled with water.
The young man sat alone behind the table, reading a secret letter that he was already familiar with.
He had been to the rich Gangnam-do, where the rich and noble families lived. Their houses were tall and bright, showing a peaceful and prosperous atmosphere. He had also been to the Great Peace City. Every festival, every street in the capital would have lotus lanterns. The lights stretched out and the candlelight was like an army marching in the night. It was the most spectacular sight. He had also seen the twinkling stars in the small town at night, and the lights were still dim. When he passed by small and big villages, it was a pleasant surprise to see an extremely small light.
He put down the letter, got up, walked around the desk, came to the window, and gently pushed the window open. The letter was not an important military document, but a private secret letter that Li Yanchao had submitted to North Jiebei City. However, it did not pass through the military office of North Jiebei City, but was directly sent to the desk of the young king's study.
The First Deputy Commander of the Right Cavalry used a heavy brush, the ink seeping through the back of the paper.
Li Yanchao did not write any trivial words. He only wrote two simple sentences, "Lu Dayuan should not have died! No one in Beiliang can treat the death of the Left Cavalry as the humiliation of the border army! "
In reality, Li Yanchao did not even need to write this letter. Hsu Fengnian was more familiar than Li Yanchao with how Lu Dayuan used troops and how he was as a person. How could a general that Xu Xiao would mention so many times in the meeting hall of Mount Qing Liang be a normal person? Xu Xiao had left Liaodong with eight hundred old soldiers, forty years of military service, and in the end, three hundred thousand Beiliang cavalry. There were many generals under his command. There were many who died on the battlefield, but there were also many who survived. Lu Dayuan was a full-fledged cavalry general. Almost everyone in the older generation of the Xu family knew about him. From Yan Wenluan and Chen Yunchui to Zhou Kang and Yuan Nanting to Liu Jinu and Li Mofan, they all felt pity for Lu Dayuan who suddenly left the Beiliang Frontier Army. That regret was not inferior to the departure of Wu Qi and Xu Pu.
Before Lu Dayuan left the manor for the battlefield, Lu Dayuan privately visited Hsu Fengnian in the study and had a heart-to-heart conversation. After all, Lu Dayuan was not as relaxed and casual as he appeared to be when he assumed the role of commander-in-chief. On the contrary, Lu Dayuan, who had grown up with the Xu clan's cavalry, was more familiar with tough battles than Li Yanchao and Ning Emei, who had risen to prominence outside the Liangzhou Pass, and was used to the saying 'the Northern Liang Cavalry is the best in the world'. It could even be said that the pain and suffering of those years had been carved into his bones. Therefore, Lu Dayuan had to make everything clear in front of the young Lord. Lu Dayuan wanted to make Hsu Fengnian feel at ease, and also make himself feel at ease.
In that face-to-face conversation, Lu Dayuan believed that the two cavalry forces of sixty thousand would definitely not be able to safely roam in the increasingly narrow crevice outside the pass. Unless the left cavalry retreated to the north of Qingyuan Army Town, and the right cavalry went straight to the east of Grave Tomb Army Town, stretching out the battle line in the northeast and southwest, only then would they have room to breathe.
But in this way, although the sixty thousand cavalry would drag out an ignoble existence, what would happen to the north? Although the left and right cavalry would still be able to pin down a certain number of Beimang cavalry, but to put it bluntly, the Beimang barbarians didn't even need to send out their main force. They just needed to casually throw two low-level cavalry forces to us and when the time comes, we would have to lie on the back of our horses and watch the show. I, Lu Dayuan, am a big uncouth man. How to lead an army into battle, I learned bit by bit from the Great General. I also consulted people like Xu Pu, Wu Qi, and Yuan Zuozong, Chen Zhibao. But I always felt that in the end, it was neither like a donkey nor like a horse, and it was not as convenient as my original method. In the end, I only believed in one principle: once the cavalry entered the battlefield, they had to defeat the enemy's most elite field forces in one go. They absolutely could not lose the big picture for the sake of small gains and preserve their strength for the sake of the so-called overall situation. Otherwise, in a difficult battle with a great disparity in strength, the longer the battle dragged on, the more difficult it would be to fight. If it was a difficult battle, someone had to fight it. Otherwise, if everyone retreated again and again, all they could do was wait for death. How different would that be from that nest of old foxes and wolf cubs in the Bureau of Military Personnel of Li Yang?
Hsu Fengnian stood by the window. The autumn air filled the room, and the lone lantern was cold. After opening the window, the chill was even heavier.
Hsu Fengnian turned around. Back then, that man had been sitting on the chair in front of the desk. His appearance was ordinary. If he had not appeared in this study and instead stood on the fields within the pass, he would probably have been mistaken for a farmer with his face to the earth and his back to the sky.
"Your Highness, when I and the Right Cavalry set out at the same time, I will take the lead in breaking through to the north one day after the two armies have staggered, luring Murong Baoding's troops to gather their main forces. If nothing unexpected happens, Murong Baoding will definitely hear the news and request reinforcements from Wang Yong, the Prefect of Aquarius Province. It's even very likely that he will temporarily transfer the Rouran Cavalry to support Dong Lei's private cavalry. Your Highness, please be at ease. Even if my Left Cavalry is heavily surrounded, we will still kill at least forty-five thousand of the enemy's elite cavalry!"
"Your Highness, I'll have to trouble you with one thing. When you go back, help me apologize to Old Marshal He. Tens of thousands of border soldiers have been entrusted to me, but I can only take them to their deaths. My conscience can't be at ease, but I have no choice but to do this. Lu Dayuan is waiting for Old Marshal He underground. However, it's best if I wait another eight or ten years. Haha, by then, Old Marshal He probably won't have the strength to beat people up. With just a little bit of mercy, I'll be able to reincarnate. "
After this man stood up, he looked at the young vassal king who had also stood up and said in a low voice, "If in the future it is proven that I, Lu Dayuan, was wrong, then no one needs to bring wine to my grave. Presumably, I won't be able to drink that wine with a guilty conscience … Of course, that is if I still have a grave."
The two of them walked to the door of the study together. Lu Dayuan suddenly asked, "Your Highness, do you think that in a few decades, there will still be people who remember us? Remember the battle that happened here? "
Hsu Fengnian had shook his head and said, "Not necessarily."
"Damn it … Haha, Your Highness, please forgive me. I'm just a crude person. Nothing good comes out of a dog's mouth."
"It's fine. Xu Xiao is the same. I've long gotten used to it."
Everything was still vivid in his mind. Those words were still echoing in his ears for a long time.
Hsu Fengnian pressed his hands on the window and leaned forward. Lu Dayuan, who had rushed to the battlefield with the heart of death, didn't leave any last words. If there were any, it would be too familiar. His Royal Highness had often heard it when he was young. It was just that he had changed his name.
Hsu Fengnian slowly turned his head and looked at the door of the study.
The man named Lu Dayuan had finally clasped his fist and said, "I am Lu Dayuan! The former cavalry general of Manjia Battalion, the current deputy commander of Left Cavalry! I request for a battle with you! "
Hsu Fengnian's lips moved slightly at that time. The two words were on the tip of his tongue, but in the end, he couldn't say it.
Allow a battle!
Hsu Fengnian's hands suddenly pressed down heavily. Under his ten fingers, the bricks on the windowsill shattered.
Hsu Fengnian took a deep breath. He waved his hand at the darkness outside the window, indicating that the men of sacrifice of the Fu Shui Room didn't need to pay any attention.
He walked back to the desk and pulled out a piece of paper from a yellowed military book.
The contents of the paper were the words of a man who had participated in the construction of North Resisting City. He said to his wife and children who had already left Lingzhou. The letter said that after autumn, the weather wasn't too cold. The thousand-layer cloth shoes sewn together were enough and didn't wear out too much. The clothes he brought to North Resisting City were also enough to keep him warm. He also met two fellow villagers from Lingzhou's Longqing County. When he was free, he would go to a small town outside the city to drink a few mouthfuls of wine. The price was cheaper than inside the pass. He heard that they had won the battle in Liuzhou. The walls of North Resisting City were very high. The Beimang barbarians definitely wouldn't be able to break through in a year and a half. He told her and her two sons to relax. In the future, as long as they still received the wages sent every month, it meant that the area outside the pass was very peaceful and that there was no war. In the end, the man told his wife not to worry about money and not to worry about it. The children's studies were the most important.
The letter was sent to a certain place in the Central Plains, the man's ancestral home.
This piece of paper was just a copy. The real letter had naturally been sent out a long time ago.
After the man arrived outside the pass, he didn't know how to read, so he couldn't write a letter. He had to find a nameless and poor scholar in the marketplace to help him write it.
Under the dim yellow light, Hsu Fengnian lowered his head to look at the thin piece of paper spread out on the desk.
When the last letter was sent out, it happened to be right after Lu Dayuan left North Resisting City.
The first day Lu Dayuan re-entered the border army, Beiliang's Fu Shui Bureau had already investigated this man's situation in Lingzhou's Longqing County town for more than ten years. They sent the information one after another to the North Resisting City governor's residence, and then compiled it and placed it on the desk in this study room. Later on, Lu Dayuan's every move in North Resisting City or the Left Cavalry was recorded by the Fu Shui Bureau's spies without any detail. Hsu Fengnian did not stop them. It was precisely by relying on these seemingly unreasonable and dark rules that Beiliang had reduced the number of casualties on the battlefield by a lot. However, on the matter of Lu Dayuan hiring someone to write a letter for him, Hsu Fengnian made a special trip to the torture chamber, and had the Fu Shui Bureau's chief in charge of related matters not to interfere.
It was only on this letter that Hsu Fengnian went back on his word. He had the Fu Shui Bureau's spies intercept the letter. Unfortunately, the old scholar who did the letter writing business had already followed the troops and left the border. If they really wanted to find him, with the influence of the Fu Shui Bureau outside the pass, they would be able to find him. However, Hsu Fengnian thought about it and decided to drop the idea. He felt that since he had the letter in his hands, with his calligraphy skills and skill, it wouldn't be difficult to forge a letter every month.
However, at this moment, Hsu Fengnian regretted it again.
Because he discovered that it was as if he couldn't pick up the brush at all. Even if he picked up the brush again and again, he didn't know how to write the contents of the letter a month later.
Hsu Fengnian stood up, walked out of the study room, and came to the courtyard.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
