It was late spring and early summer when Chen Yin left, but in the blink of an eye, several months had passed and it was almost autumn. The atmosphere in the army became visibly tense.
The southward plundering of the Hu Lu people was related to the climate and seasons. In spring and summer, when there was abundant grass and water, they naturally did not need to go south. But in autumn, when everything withered and the grass and trees gradually died, and they had to store enough grass for recuperation in the coming winter, it became inevitable for them to plunder southward. Therefore, there has always been a saying of "autumn defense" in the Central Plains.
However, unlike the increasingly tense Beiding Army, Lord Chai from the court seemed much more relaxed than before.
Although the living conditions of this imperial envoy were much worse than when he first arrived, except for a separate tent, the rest of his food and accommodation conditions were almost the same as those of the soldiers in the Beiding Army.
To be honest, Chai Duo had never eaten such coarse meals or lived such a miserable life in the first half of his life. But compared to staying alive, what did such a "little bit" of hardship matter?
Chai Duo soaked the hard biscuit that he had been biting for a long time but couldn't tear off a piece of in the porridge, while trying to find joy in the midst of suffering.
All right.
This "bitterness" was indeed more than "a little bit" for the pampered Lord Chai, but compared to living in fear every day, fearing that one day he would wake up and find his head hung on the saddle, Lord Chai felt that this meal was not something he couldn't eat.
——At least there’s no need to worry about some kind of poison being put in here!
And what does his current treatment mean?
This means that General Xie didn’t treat him as an outsider!
...Does this count as a successful "surrender"?
Chai Duo felt that he had taken a historic step forward.
After cheering himself up a bit, he took another bite of the pancake that had been softened a little by the porridge and began to think about his next step.
In general, Lord Chai is indeed a very "motivated" person, otherwise he would not have climbed to a high position in the court of Dachang.
Now that his life safety was guaranteed, he naturally began to think about how to get to the top.
He knew that, as he had just betrayed the imperial court, he would not be given any important position. Moreover, because of this, the new master would be very resentful of him, and it would be extremely difficult for him to gain trust again...
But "trust" can be cultivated slowly, and it must first be "useful".
Chai Duo originally thought that the latter was not difficult at all. After all, he had studied hard for many years and had served as an official for many years. He was much more useful than a group of illiterate people in the army.
But he soon discovered that his idea was too simple.
Not to mention the senior generals beside General Xie, even the ordinary soldiers in the army, although they could not read many words, did know a few words, and they could even write a simple letter home.
This discovery made Chai Duo more confused than surprised.
The current situation broke his usual cognition and even made him a little overwhelmed.
What does this person want to do?
Chai Duo is an expert at dealing with human relationships and scheming for fame, but when it comes to these aspects, he is really not very accomplished. The vague sense of crisis caused by his aristocratic family background is suppressed by the more imminent fear, and he is more eager to find his own position here.
At the very least, he cannot become "useless"...
So he got his current job of going out to purchase goods.
Of course not buying food.
Military rations are so important that it is no exaggeration to say that they control the lifeline of the entire army. If this job is really assigned to him, he might suspect that the other party is planning to take this opportunity to find an excuse for not doing his job well to kill him.
What he wanted to buy were just some unnecessary sundries, and the transactions here were not conducted with gold, silver or copper coins, but directly with grain.
Beiding - in order to fit in, Chai Duo changed his name without hesitation and followed the people in the army - the army was not short of food, and Beiding followed the military settlement system of several generations.
Dachang also had this system in the early years, but later on, due to the trend of annexation, the land gradually fell into the hands of aristocratic families. Even the military fields disappeared, and military settlements were naturally out of the question. But now, the aristocratic families have all fled to the south of the Yangtze River to avoid disaster, and the system of military settlements has been re-established, and there is even surplus food to exchange for other needs with nearby people.
Although the task currently assigned to him is not an important one, it is the first task assigned by his superiors. Whether he can be trusted depends on this one move. Chai Duo is determined to do it well.
Besides, he didn't seem to be deliberately embarrassed.
Although he did not have a thorough understanding of the prices in the north, Chai Duo could also realize that the budget given by the army for this grain-for-food exchange was fair enough. As long as he did not encounter any trouble from the unruly people, he could easily achieve his goal.
If you really encounter someone causing trouble...
Chai Duo's expression turned cold. Since he was a "troublemaker" who refused to obey discipline, he would be punished.
It was also because of this consideration that when he was selecting the escort guards, he deliberately chose a few particularly fierce ones... There was no need to "pay special attention" anyway, in Chai Duo's opinion, no one in the army was easy to deal with, even the smiling and most literary Deputy General Cheng was not ambiguous when it came to beating people...
Chai Duo knew that these people were called "guards", but in fact they also took on some of the responsibility of "monitoring" him, but that didn't mean he couldn't use them in return? With this group of soldiers following behind him, he didn't believe that anyone would dare to cause trouble.
…
…………
Chai Duo never expected that the problem he encountered -
Surprisingly, the price was too high? ?
When Chai Duo was in the court, he did a lot of immoral things like stealing other people's credit and cutting off others' work, but to be fair, he was also a rare person in the court who did practical things. For example, when it came to collecting taxes, conscripting soldiers, and levying corvée, although he didn't have to do it himself as a leader, he still saw a lot of scenes. Everyone cried and begged for more money as if it was their life.
He had never encountered such a willingness to give something away for free in his life!!!
Who doesn’t want something that they picked up for free?
Chai Duo almost nodded in agreement, but as soon as he turned his head, he caught a glimpse of the military commander next to him who looked ferocious even though he had no expression on his face.
Chai Duo: "..."
He didn't dare to nod, as he felt that if he nodded his chin, his neck would be twisted off if he raised it again.
Soon, he discovered to his horror...
He specifically picked out these military officers to intimidate the "troublemakers", but in the end he was the only one who was intimidated.
Not to mention the old fathers and old women who came over and acted like they were looking at their own children and grandchildren, slapping and hitting their arms that were almost as thick as their thighs. Even children of three or five years old dared to pull their trouser legs and push candies towards them. Chai Duo saw with his sharp eyes that the candies were still sticky with saliva.
Chai Duo:? ! !
#PupilEarthquake.jpg#?#There's something wrong with you.jpg#
Although I have long heard that the people of the six states of the Northern Prefecture are tough and brave, and that many brave men have been born there since ancient times, but... but...
Isn't this too fierce?!
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Just as Chai Duo thought, the mission assigned to him was neither critical nor important. Chu Lu only wanted to make sure that this "too aware of current affairs" imperial envoy did not die outside and to avoid the court sending another troublesome person. He did not care much about other things.
He is currently writing a letter to Chen Yin in Beijing.
It was all thanks to Chai Duo's straightforward sale of the old owner that Chu Lu was able to deliver the letter to the capital, and as a result he received Chen Yin's weird and wrong reply.
Chu Lu also realized that after more than ten years of trying to correct his mental state, he was about to fall back into a dead end again.
Chu Lu: "..."
How long has it been? Is there something wrong with the capital?
The reason why he was sure that it was a problem of location was because Chu Lu was certain that there was absolutely nothing wrong with his psychological education policy.
After Chen Yin's experience, Chu Lu looked through the worlds he had been on missions to and could at least find similar situations starting in the double digits.
As a highly efficient tasker, how to effectively relieve oneself and quickly get out of the emotions of the task world - whether positive or negative - is a compulsory course. This time, it was just turning the emotion directed at oneself into that directed at others. Chu Lu had enough experience in dealing with this. After all, due to a boss who had given up, he had also led many juniors in the department.
Facts have also proved that, apart from being particularly obsessed with "revenge", Chen Yin's personality is not much different from that of a "normal" teenager of his age. He cries and laughs, and in his early years he did a lot of things like chasing chickens and teasing dogs. He is also very cunning and makes people want to hang him up and beat him but can't find any handle.
It’s nothing like now, when I can feel the other person’s deep hatred and bitterness even through the letter.
…
…………
Just as Chu Lu had put down the last stroke, he heard the voice of a soldier reporting from outside.
The person who came was actually one of the guards who escorted Chai Duo out.
His wounds had not yet been bandaged, and his entire body was covered in blood. He looked very miserable, and he knelt down to apologize as soon as he came in.
"I failed to protect you properly, please punish me, General."
Chu Lu frowned and asked him to explain in detail.
He knew the people he sent out. Unless they were ambushed deliberately, they would be able to escape calmly even if they encountered the enemy unexpectedly. However, there was nothing on that group of people that was worth setting up an ambush.
Although the person in front of him had many wounds, none of them were fatal.
Chu Lu suspected that he was let go on purpose and returned to the camp to inform the enemy.
His guess was correct. After briefly explaining what happened on the way back, the man presented a letter, "This was shot by the leader with his last arrow."
The personal soldier standing behind Chu Lu stepped forward and took the letter.
The man who came here obviously knew why he ran away in the end. He lowered his head in shame and said, "I am incompetent. If the other party hadn't deliberately left a gap, I would not have been able to escape."
Chu Lu didn't mean to get angry. The other side had more people and had ambushed them in advance, so it was understandable that they were caught off guard. He directly ordered people to bandage the wound first. As for the punishment for failing the mission, it would naturally be after they recovered from their injuries.
The personal soldiers over there also handed the letter to Chu Lu after checking and confirming its safety.
Chu Lu knew at first glance why the soldier was not seriously injured.
This is a "letter of alliance".
——This is strange.
This doesn’t mean that the northern barbarians will not form an alliance.
Because of the unpredictable wind and snow on the grassland and the harsh environment of fighting against nature, they respect the gods and have greater faith in God, and will hardly betray the oath they made to Changshengtian. In this respect, their covenant oath is much more effective than the various contracts and agreements in the Central Plains.
But they will not ally with the Han people.
Just as the Han people thought that the barbarians were uncivilized and ate raw meat and drank blood, these beings called "Hu" by the Han people also thought that the people in the Central Plains were despicable and often treacherous.
Chu Lu glanced at the letter of alliance.
Chu Lu didn't recognize the person who wrote the letter, but he was not a stranger to him either.
To be more precise, Chu Lu recognized his father, Barghtai, who once dominated the grasslands and led all tribes and was worshipped as the joint Khan. It was because of his existence that Dachang suffered the shame of losing six states and moving the court south. If it weren't for the sudden illness of this Khan, the court of Dachang might not have just moved south ten years ago.
After the other party recovered from his illness, he was blocked from going south because of the arrival of "Xie Lu".
Xie Lu had no sympathy for the Southern Dynasty that destroyed his homeland, and he had no intention of helping them. But wherever Balhatai went, there were rivers of blood, massacres and exterminations. Xie Lu knew that kindness was not the way to command an army, and he was never a merciful person when he was a general, but even if it was to establish his authority, Balhatai's actions were too inhumane.
…
A dream lasts a hundred years, and when you open your eyes again, everything and everyone has changed.
The country is no longer there, so there is no need to talk about the family.
The only thing that has not changed is the displaced people in this land, right?
It was so a hundred years ago, and it will be so a hundred years later.
How could he remain indifferent?
…
…………
The writer of this letter was Balhatai’s youngest son.
The overlord who once dominated the grassland is now in his twilight years.
The alpha wolf was old and frail, but he was no longer as strong as he was in his youth, so the little wolf cubs under him all had their own ideas, and this young cub was one of them.
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