The Child Emperor

It is difficult to travel at night, especially in winter, when the cold wind is howling and the ground is icy and slippery. Pedestrians and horses must be careful when walking. Fang Daye leads the horse and walks alone on the official road, constantly being overtaken by the people behind. People pushing carts, driving cattle and sheep, and possibly holding children in their arms, struggled to move forward, as if the Huns were following their buttocks.

Slowly, there were fewer and fewer people chasing after them, and they were not so urgent. A wife complained to her husband as she walked: "Just because you are in a hurry, many of your neighbors have decided to stay in the city. Let's see if we can go or not...I don't know what's going on at home. The dozen chickens and ducks haven't been fed tonight. Have you locked the door?"

The husband also regretted it a little, didn't want to admit it, didn't want to argue, just kept saying, "I see."

Fang Daye turned around and glanced at it. Facing the north wind, there was no sign of Shenxiongguan in the darkness. Although he came up with the idea of ​​stabilizing people's hearts, the young general Zhenbei seemed to have executed it well.

Behind a dilapidated wall on the side of the road, a bonfire was lit. Dozens of people gathered in a circle to keep warm. Someone shouted to the old man who was walking alone on the official road: "Don't go, there is no village or shop in front of you, come and bake the fire, Hurry up tomorrow."

Fang Daye found a place to tie the horse, took out a little bean meal to feed the horse, and then squeezed into the crowd to share a little warmth.

Most of the people around knew each other and were discussing "the general trend of the world".

"For decades, the Great Chu has never been defeated by the Huns, and neither will this time. We may have left too early."

"This is not what it used to be, young man, this is not what it used to be, when Emperor Wu was the time when the Chu army went out to chase the Huns to fight, how could the Huns approach the Shenxiong Pass? Well, I remember, until the few days in Hebei. There are Chu military posts a hundred miles away, and the people of Chu can come and go as they please, and graze cattle and horses. Since Emperor Wu ascended to heaven, I have never left the north gate of Shenxiongguan again.

"The new general Zhenbei looks good. He seems to be a general who can fight."

"Too young. When Emperor Wu, a young man like him, no matter how noble his background was, could only be a captain. After studying with a veteran for a few years, he was qualified to lead troops independently. No, General Zhenbei is too young. , not the opponents of the Huns. We are going right, just... a little too anxious, in fact, we can wait one night."

"Hey, I don't know if it's good or bad to return home in a hurry. I heard that there are riots in many places in the customs. I hope my hometown is fine, and don't let me meet."

"Hey, the most unfortunate thing is not encountering riots, but after returning home to catch up with the government's recruitment, and being sent back to Shenxiongguan."

Most of the people in Shenxiong Pass were merchants, so they were eager to leave the city and return to their hometowns, and they were afraid of being recruited for military and money. Everyone sighed and sighed. Brutal, just remember that the weather is good and everyone lives and works in peace and contentment.

"Father, are you from the north?" someone asked.

Fang Daye hummed, he didn't like chatting.

"How about Broken Iron City, can you defend it?"

Fang Daye pondered for a while, "Probably can hold it for ten to fifteen days. If the reinforcements in Guan are delayed, it will be dangerous."

"There are no soldiers in the pass. They are all going to quell the riots. Internal and external troubles have rushed to one place."

"Da Chu knows that there are internal and external troubles, but the Huns may not know it. They have been defeated for decades, and they must be guilty. As long as the Chu army shows fighting spirit, they may be able to drive the Huns back."

Fang Daye didn't speak like ordinary people. The people around him respected him and made room for him. Someone even handed over a pot of scalded hot wine. Fang Daye took two sips, and a warm feeling flowed from his abdomen. Limbs feel more comfortable.

"According to what you mean, should we remove the troubles first, and then settle the internal worries?" someone asked.

Fang Daye cherished words like gold in front of General Zhenbei, but he was able to talk freely in the face of a group of people, "The frequent riots in the customs are simply because the people's financial resources are insufficient. So I joined the bandit gang. Here, the burden is the cause, and the riot is the result, and the heavy burden is mainly for the decisive battle with the Xiongnu. The pacification of internal worries does not reduce the wealth, but defeating the Xiongnu can benefit the people, and the riot will disappear."

Everyone couldn't understand it, but they were more in awe. An old man asked, "Now the riots are scattered in the counties and counties. If we don't calm them down in time, I'm afraid that they will become one after the winter, and it will be useless to reduce the endowment at that time, right?"

"Of course you can't indulge the riots, but you don't have to destroy them. All the counties and counties should guard the gates and prevent the rioters from leaving their local areas. The only thing to be afraid of is that the Huns are far away from the fortress, the riots are close to the back, the court is afraid of the near and far, and the troops are used in In order to pacify the chaos, in the end the civil strife has not been pacified, but the Huns have already entered the customs, and it will not be easy to drive them out.”

The people didn't understand that much, but they thought that the old man was very reasonable. A middle-aged woman smiled and said, "If you can see so thoroughly, the imperial court will not make mistakes."

"Probably not." Fang Daye didn't want to scare the group of people. He didn't even understand why he said this, but the idea came spontaneously and he had to blurt it out. Unfortunately, there was no suitable audience in front of him.

Suddenly, the old general lost his temper, lowered his head, and concentrated on the fire.

Another person asked respectfully, "Sir, are you an official of the imperial court?"

"I'm a prisoner, just released."

As soon as these words came out, the surroundings of the bonfire suddenly became quiet, only the rustling of firewood and the whistling of the wind could be heard.

There was a sudden sound of hooves in the distance. It was a bit strange to dare to gallop on such a night and on such a ground. Everyone looked towards the official road. There were three knights coming, and someone shouted enthusiastically, "Come and bake..."

Before the words were finished, the three knights had stopped, wearing armor, they looked like generals and soldiers in the army. No one said a word. First, they were afraid of officials, and second, they did not dare to delay military affairs.

"Excuse me, has anyone seen an old man? About sixty years old, tall, alone, riding a horse." A knight asked loudly.

Almost without looking at it, everyone's eyes are on the newly joined old man.

Fang Daye sighed heavily, turned and walked towards his mount, the knight on the official road saw him, "That's not... General..."

Han Ruzi jumped off the horse, and was very happy. He finally caught up. It went better than expected. He prepared a lot of words and wanted to keep the old general no matter what.

Fang Daye took the horse to the official road, saluted General Zhenbei, and asked, "How many troops can General Zhenbei mobilize?"

Han Ruzi didn't expect Fang Daye to ask the question first, and was stunned, "I'm fighting for..."

"Let's ask another way, how many troops does General Zhenbei want to mobilize?"

Han Ruzi thought for a while, "I hope to mobilize all the Chu troops."

"Okay, I'll go back with you."

Fang Daye jumped on the horse.

Han Ruzi was stunned again, but the goal was achieved after all. He also got on his horse, drove alongside Fang Daye, and walked along the same road to Shenxiongguan. He soon talked about the current situation. Fang Daye was uncharacteristically, and his mouth was gushing endlessly. Han Ruzi only listened.

Around the bonfire on the roadside, an old man said: "I just said that this is not an ordinary person, it must be a high-ranking official who was in distress, and was invited back again, you all remember, I stopped him just now."

"Third uncle, you see everyone invites people over, not just him."

"Didn't you recognize the general who invited him? In the hall of Shenxiongguan is the document he issued to us."

"General Zhenbei? You said that was General Zhenbei? It's so dark, can you see clearly?"

"Absolutely right, how can there be such a young general?"

Everyone was silent for a while, and an old man said: "With these two people here, why can't the Chu army defeat the Huns? Let's go back to Shenxiongguan when it is dawn, and we won't have to travel far."

When he returned to the customs, he no longer had to gallop on his horse, but Han Ruzi felt that the time passed faster than when he left the customs. Fang Daye's analysis made him stunned, "Tomorrow I will send troops to support Broken Iron City, and go there in batches. In the afternoon, each group is small, but it will make the Huns feel that Guan Nei is constantly dispatching troops."

"Frequently dispatching troops can confuse the Huns, but the most important thing is food and grass. Shattered Iron City never thought that it would accommodate more than 20,000 Chu troops. If the Huns stand in Hebei, everything will be fine, if not, we have to set up a few strongholds along the way to ensure the supply of food and grass. If General Zhenbei doesn’t think I am old, he will send me there.”

Guarding the grain road is much more dangerous than guarding the Broken Iron City. Han Ruzi didn't want the old general to take risks, so he just arrived at the gate of the city and waited for the door to open. ?"

The city gate rattled, and Fang Daye said, "I need someone to listen to me." After a pause, he continued: "General Zhenbei is probably the only one who is willing to listen and able to follow suit."

Han Ruzi smiled, "To tell the truth, before I arrived at Broken Iron City, someone recommended General Fang to me."

"Oh? Someone still remembers me as an old guy."

The gates of the city opened, and a group of generals, including the master, welcomed them out. They were really afraid that General Zhenbei would never return.

"Shi Yang Feng, the former permanent attendant of the middle school and the current commander of the Northern Army, strongly recommends General Fang Lao to me."

"Yang Feng? I haven't heard of this person." Fang Daye was stationed in the frontier all the year round, and later went to Qi State as an official, so he didn't know much about the eunuchs in the palace.

It was in the second half of the night when we returned to the General’s Mansion. The soldiers from several military camps in Guan Nei were ordered to arrive. Han Ruzi and Fang Daye did not rest, and began to arrange the army to support Broken Iron City. With Fang Daye’s insistence, Han Ruzi finally Decided to send the old general out of the customs, but after asking him to stabilize the food supply, he immediately returned to Shenxiongguan.

In a hurry, Shenxiongguan could only summon a total of more than 5,000 soldiers and divide them into six teams to ensure that reinforcements would be sent to Iron Broken City in the morning and afternoon for the next three days. During this period, Han Ruzi had to find more reinforcements.

Han Ruzi spent a sleepless night at Shenxiongguan, and all the soldiers in the Iron Broken City on the other side were also sleepless.

The first batch of reinforcements had not yet left the border, and the Huns had already crossed the river.