Today is the beginning of spring, but for Shengle City in the north, the shadow of spring has not yet been seen, and the tail of winter still lingers here.
Shengle City is located in the north of the Jin Kingdom, almost under the Tianduan Mountains. Hundreds of years ago, when the savages were still jumping around and causing trouble to the three Jin Dynasties from time to time, Shengle City once served as the bridgehead of the Jin Kingdom.
However, that was all a long time ago. Nowadays, in the middle section of the Tianduan Mountains from the western section to here, savages have become insignificant. Only the eastern section and the snowfields further north still carry Due to the pressure from the savages, the Situ family was responsible for that area.
In the eyes of people from Sanjin, Shengle City is a poor place.
Firstly, the geography is too remote, and secondly, it is too far north. The climate seems a bit extreme to most people of the Yan and Jin countries who live in the north all year round.
But Shengle City is not unlived. In the early years, this place was a battlefield. In the past hundred years, with the continuous decline of the savages, this place has become a trade transit station. Before the war, it was said that this place was The busy traffic is a bit exaggerated, but there is absolutely no desertion at all.
Right now, there are five people sitting in a private room on the second floor of a restaurant in Shengle City.
The person sitting at the head of the table is the patriarch of a large clan in Shengle City - Bald Hair Succession.
On his left hand side is a scholar, about thirty years old. Although he is dressed as a scholar, his face is weathered and has the appearance of premature aging.
His surname is Zhou Zhengwen. He was once an adviser to the Helian family. He was arranged by the Helian family to manage their business here for seven years.
The person sitting on the right side of the bald man is a big man covered in fur. The big man has many braids on his head, which hang down and are exposed on his skin. It is full of tattoos. This is the standard. Dressed as a savage, his name was Xiong Lie.
War is the cruelest way of integration. In the Tianduan Mountains in this area, many savage settlements have changed their surnames and gradually become "Jin-jin". They will also go down the mountain to do business.
Sitting opposite are a man and a woman. The man is wearing a cloak, and the woman is young and beautiful. They are both the bosses of two major local business houses. It can be said that the five people here are They are considered to be the five most prestigious people in Shengle City.
After drinking for three rounds, Bald Hair continued to talk:
"Oh, I thought I could continue to watch the fun, but who knew that this Yan man could actually be so good at fighting."< /p>
Zhou Zhengwen nodded in agreement:
"Indeed, I thought that the Yan people were fighting against the Qian Kingdom. The old family master and the Wen family master jointly wanted to take the opportunity to cut off a piece of flesh from the Yan people. , who knew that instead...sigh..."
Tian Wujing's 200,000 cavalry took advantage of the road to enter the Jin Dynasty and wiped out two major families in one fell swoop. It was like a hurricane that directly swept through most of the three Jin Dynasties.
The people below seemed to have not recovered yet. When they suddenly looked up, everything changed!
Zhou Zhengwen was originally supported by the Helian family. In this Shengle City, it can be said that Shengle is an indispensable figure.All forces in the city had to humble themselves in front of him.
Now that the Helian family has been destroyed, Zhou Zhengwen has become a younger brother in an instant. Fortunately, he still has some power in Shengle City, and he has accepted some refugees from the Helian family, so his strength has been supplemented. Otherwise, I really have no right to sit at this table.
"Speak directly if you have anything to say."
Xiong Lie urged while chewing on the leg of lamb.
The bald-haired successor didn't mind the rudeness of this barbarian. In fact, hundreds of years ago, they might have been the same ancestor.
Whether it is the State of Yan, the State of Chu, or the State of Jin, the beginning recorded in their own history books was that the ancestors led their troops to the feudal country to resist the barbarians, savages, and The invasion of Shangyue.
The fact is that the Chu State was actually very small when it first became a feudal state. That area was basically the territory of the Shanyue tribe. As a result, after hundreds of years of pioneering and conquest, the original owners, the Shanyue people, could only Fighting guerrillas in the rainforest swamps.
The original savages were not born to like climbing mountains and living in the mountains. They were the true masters of the original Sanjin land.
However, it took the Yu family hundreds of years ago to forcefully break into the Tianduan Mountains.
As big as the Helian family and as small as the Bald-haired clan, they were originally from barbarians, but they have been assimilated into Jin for hundreds of years. Naturally, they do not regard themselves as barbarians, but as Jin people.
The Helian family is considered the best among the naturalized clan, and they began to "whitewash" their origins very early.
Learning from the Chu royal family, he began to make up fairy tales for his ancestors.
There is only one topic. You can say that my ancestor was born from a phoenix, a sacred cow, or a condor. It doesn’t matter what kind of beast god he was. Just don’t mention to me that he was born as a savage. !
Bald Hair Succession said:
"I believe everyone has also received the news. Ten days ago, Yu Huacheng, the younger brother of the Sword Master, rebelled against the emperor. I want to They wanted to hunt down the emperor, but the emperor was rescued by the Yan people, and then the Yan people's Nanhou led his army to conquer the capital."
"I knew it earlier," Xiong Lie shouted.
The bald-haired successor pressed his hands and said:
"What happens to the Jin Emperor? It has nothing to do with us, but from beginning to end, the Situ family has not said a word. What is this?" Have you thought about it?"
"What do you mean?" Xiong Lie continued to yell.
In fact, this savage may look rough, but he is actually very careful. He has four or five settlements’ businesses that he is responsible for taking care of.
At this time, the woman named Ning Cuicui, the big shopkeeper of Ning's Trading Company, said:
"It means that although the Situ family founded the country and became emperor, they don't seem to have any peace with them. The Yan people are planning to start a war."
Xiong Lie chuckled, took a sip of wine from the wine bowl, and said disdainfully: "Then the Situ family is cowardly."
p>Zhou Zhengwen said: "That's the problem, the Situ family can be cowardly, we can retreat, we can temporarily avoid the sharp edge against the Yan people, but what about us? ”
Everyone sitting here was silent.
Yes,
The Yan people suddenly broke into the land of Sanjin, causing local snakes like them to panic. Lost their minds and fell into a situation where there are six gods and no one. Although Shengle City is poor, the people in Guizhou are suffering, and they are all full of food.
So, they instinctively want to keep their own. position, to protect the current situation of Shengle City, and the fear of the Yan people, they responded quickly when they learned that the Situ family had "succeeded" in founding the country. They took control of Shengle City and sent people to attack the Situ family.
The Situ family responded quickly, and the decree was immediately stamped with the seal of the Emperor of Dacheng Kingdom. Everyone was made a general and had an official status.
< p>Then, there was no movement from the Situ family.After the Yan people invaded the capital of Jin and killed Yu Huacheng, and the Situ family continued to watch, many powerful families reacted. Come here,
That’s not right!
They are having fun here, thinking that the Situ family’s army is about to move in, and there will be another fight to see who is in charge of the Three Jin Lands. Fight, let’s fight again!
But now they have seduced you, and you are sitting on the wall wearing a red apricot, and it turns out that they are just teasing you!
p>What the hell should we do?
"There are actually only two ways before us, one is to move into the Situ family's territory. "Zhou Zhengwen said.
"What are we if we leave Shengle City? "Ning Cuicui shouted immediately.
Here, they are local snakes, but after leaving here, they can only be a relatively large group of refugees.
Zhou Zhengwen nodded He raised his head and said: "The second thing is that we also take the initiative to send people to the Yan country to find out the situation. We can lower our attitude a little. What happened before can be blamed on a small family. After an explanation, let the Yan people send a city guard over to express their feelings. In this way, the Yan people will gain face, we will gain face, and everyone will be happy.
Actually, no matter what, whether it was when the old patriarch was here, the Situ family came, or the Yan people came, they must rely on us if they want to manage this Shengle City well. ”
“Mr. Zhou’s words are reasonable, but we have to look at the posture of the Yan people. If everyone is harmonious and the Yan people have no intention of coming, then we will give So what if Yan people just save face? Bald Hair said successively.
“Maybe the Yan people will leave us alone, hey. "Xiong Lie said, and then he laughed again and said: "It's just a matter of joy. At the beginning, it was you who gathered together to say that you would raise a banner to rebel against Yan and join the Situ family. Now it's you who are here to say that the Situ family can't be trusted. , the Yan people may be coming.
I asked, can you make a difference? "
The bald man snorted coldly and said:
"YouI'm not afraid. Anyway, if the Yan soldiers and horses really come, you can take your people and caravan and hide in the mountains immediately. What about us? "
Xiong Lie wiped the wine stains from the corner of his mouth nonchalantly and said:
"It seems that our holy race naturally likes to live in the mountains. Eight hundred years ago, this place was Our holy clan’s territory!
However, don’t be afraid. Don’t think it is too painful to live in the mountains to escape. Over time, you will actually get used to it. "
The barbarians claim that they are also barbarians, because in the eyes of the barbarians, the word "barbarian" inherently carries an affirmation of strength.
But the barbarians do not Calling themselves savages, they instead call themselves saints, even though they know that the entire east and even the west call them savages.
After the bald inheritance, Xiong Lie stood up and said;< /p>
"You can continue to discuss, I will go back first. ”
He is a person with a way out, and he is also a confident person. The savage settlement has a goods yard in Shengle City, and there are hundreds of armed people in it. Other forces dare not provoke him easily. Yes, after all, everyone is seeking money. Offending him is equivalent to offending a savage settlement in the nearby mountains. How can this business continue?
After leaving the restaurant, Xiong Lie returned directly to himself. There are a lot of mountain goods piled inside, and there are many cages containing monsters. These monsters are not lethal. In future generations, they will be like pet dogs and cats.
Being Xiong Lie. When I entered the backyard, I saw a young man playing with his favorite blue eagle.
This is also a kind of monster with blue feathers. It is the incarnation of the legendary "blue bird". It can be tamed and is humane.
This green eagle is of excellent appearance and is Xiong Lie’s favorite. Ordinary people are ready to touch it, but this young man is holding a bamboo stick. He was pulling at me casually.
But Xiong Lie didn't feel angry at all. Instead, he knelt down on one knee and said,
"Master Zheng, please come back." . "
Zheng Fan turned around, looked at Xiong Lie who was kneeling on the ground, and said:
"I've told you several times, don't be so polite. We are all our own people. . ”
“The etiquette cannot be discarded! "
"Oh, then you have to at least wait until I really take Shengle City before you can salute like this seriously. Now you and I should pretend to be polite corporals, and we can ally with blood. , you’re jumping the gun on me, that’s not good. "
"..." Xiong Lie.
At this time, the blind man came out from behind Zheng Fan, looked at Xiong Lie, and asked:
"What's the attitude of those families? "
"Mr. Hui Bei, those families are now very afraid of you Yan people, and are ready to send people to surrender to you, but what they mean is that the Yan people can send a Officials come to rule here nominally, but the real managers are themselves. ”
The blind man heard the words, nodded and said: "It makes sense."
It is too difficult and unrealistic to ask those with vested interests to give up their own interests.
"They have a pretty good idea." Zheng Fan dropped the bamboo stick in his hand on the ground, picked up the tea cup next to him, took a sip, and continued: "Only children make choices, I don't care about my face. ,"
The blind man immediately gave a very perfunctory flattery:
"What the Lord said is absolutely true!"
At this time, Xiong Lie He opened his mouth and said:
"Master Zheng, Mr. Bei, the letter from the Sixth Prince just arrived in the morning."
"What did he say in the letter?" Zheng Fan asked.
No one knows how big Xiaoliuzi’s business was back then. Even if Emperor Yan issued a decree and all the business on the surface was handed over to the Ministry of Revenue, influence is not something that Just let it go.
For example, this Xiong Lie was originally a savage slave. He was sold into the Yan Kingdom and was taken in by the Sixth Prince. After some sorting, he was sent back to the Jin Kingdom and Shengle City to provide financial support. While contacting some savage settlements near the mountains, he also established contact with Shengle City. Over the past few years, he had become a very influential figure in Shengle City.
Before Zheng Fan was awarded the title of Shengle City Guards, Xiao Liuzi mentioned Xiong Lie in his letter and said that he could be used.
But there is a prerequisite. If you want to use it safely, you must have enough troops to shock him. Only with this as a prerequisite will he be willing to repay the favor.
This time, Zheng Fan had more than 2,000 regular troops in the countryside outside Shengle City, as well as more than 2,000 Jin puppet troops.
To be honest, if we don’t consider the losses, we can attack the city. Although the major trading houses and some local wealthy families in Shengle City can also recruit thousands of troops, how can they defend it in a fragmented state? Live in the city?
However, it is best not to attack the city if possible. The situation is about to turn over, and Zheng Fan does not want to lose too much capital before the dawn of hope.
"Master Zheng, the master said two things in the letter. One is to ask the slave to listen to Master Zheng's words and do things."
"What about the other thing?"< /p>
“The master said he was grateful to Mr. Zheng for sending him several carts of cornmeal to Yanjing more than a month ago. The master said he had been eating the cornmeal for a month.”
—— ——
PS: The surname Bald has existed since ancient times, so don’t laugh.
Thanks to Liu Xiaodao for becoming the 79th leader of "The Devil Comes", and thanks to Mo Ranxingye for being so popular.