Chapter 52 Chapter 52 Following the imperial carriage out of the city, east out of Taihang, ...
In Taiyuan City, Ji Yanlang was riding a tall horse and leading his subordinates to patrol the city.
The day before yesterday, there was a heavy snowfall inside and outside the city. The snow had not yet melted completely, and horses' hooves trampled the road back and forth, mashing the snow, dust and horse manure into mud. When the cold wind blew, the mud was extremely smelly.
Ji Yanlang couldn't help but raise his hands to cover his mouth and nose, his eyes fell on the houses on both sides of the road - before coming in, looking at the magnificent and indestructible city, who would have thought that the city would be like this?
The houses are dilapidated and crowded together. In such cold weather, there is hardly any smoke coming out of the chimneys. One can imagine what kind of life the people in the city are living.
Then he thought about the powerful people who had closed their doors on the way here just now. Their mansions were large and deep, with so many houses that they could not be seen from a horse. Their luxury was so great that no family in Bianjing City could match it. It was a bit like what he had seen in Jinguan City when he was a child.
Their cavalry came out for a patrol, originally to intimidate the soldiers and civilians of Northern Zhao. However, after a round of patrol, they found no living people except for an old man in tattered clothes, with a pale face and thin body, who was hiding behind the courtyard wall and peeking. There were only corpses lying on the roadside with no one to collect them.
Even so, the rulers and ministers of Northern Zhao endured for more than ten days and waited for no reinforcements from the Hu people before they were willing to leave the city and surrender. Ji Yanlang couldn't help but spit.
This is still Taiyuan City, the so-called capital of Northern Zhao. Ji Yanlang has followed the emperor in conquering cities and territories for the past two months, from south to north and from north to south. He has seen countless counties and cities with even worse scenes than the one in the city.
For the sake of his own wealth and glory, he would rather become a vassal of the Hu people, exploit his own people to death, and pay annual tribute to the Hu people in exchange for their protection, rather than follow the trend of the times, surrender to the State of Chen, fight against the Hu people together, and restore the prosperity of China. Ji Yanlang really felt that the government was still willing to treat the King of Northern Zhao with courtesy and confer the title of Duke of a County on him. It was too cheap for that bastard.
This creature is worse than pigs and dogs. It would be a waste of food to let him live one more day, yet he is allowed to enjoy wealth and luxury!
The more Ji Yanlang thought about it, the more unhappy he became. He urged his horse to gallop faster and soon led his team back to the Beizhao Palace City.
He went to report to his superior, then took his men back to the barracks, intending to rest and drink some hot tea. However, just as he was halfway there, he saw the generals, led by Zhou Guojiu, filing out of the inner palace.
Ji Yanlang and his subordinates stepped back and stood in silence, waiting for the generals to go ahead. However, they saw Zhou Guojiu and others coming along, all with tense faces and no smiles, as if something big had happened.
But we had just taken Taiyuan, what could be a big deal? Could it be that the Hu people sent troops again?
He muttered to himself as he watched the generals enter the office. After a moment's hesitation, he told his subordinates to return to the barracks. He turned around and went back to his superior, asking him a few questions in a roundabout way, but he found out nothing - he guessed that the news from above had not yet been conveyed.
Ji Yanlang felt uneasy and stayed there. Sure enough, after a while, the commander-in-chief of their cavalry sent someone to call all their officers above the rank of commander, and ordered them to go back and reorganize the army immediately, and follow the emperor out of the city early the next morning, go east through Taihang, and recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun.
Marshal Ma was delivering an imperial decree, and no one dared to say anything. However, on the way back after receiving the order, the commanders could not help but whisper about it.
"Without even a break, we're heading off to fight the Hu people—it's not that I'm afraid of fighting, but I'm afraid our brothers have no morale!"
"Yeah, the New Year is just a few days away, and everyone thought that after defeating Northern Zhao, they would be able to go home and have a good New Year..."
"It's time to wait until the New Year, when everyone's frostbite has healed and the mountains and rivers have thawed, before we can fight! Now it's freezing cold, and we're running out of food and fodder. No one is made of iron..."
Ji Yanlang became more and more resentful as he listened, and hurriedly reminded him, "Don't talk here, people are coming and going."
Everyone looked around, some shook their heads, some sighed, stopped complaining, and went back to gather their subordinates.
Ji Yanlang went back with Liu Quan, another commander of the Xiaoxiong Army, and delivered the military order. As expected, the morale of the subordinates was low. The two of them tried to appease them for a while, but to no avail.
Liu Quan couldn't help but pull Ji Yanlang out and said to him privately: "Can you go and find out what the rules are? It doesn't sound right."
"I'd like to ask, but unfortunately my father hasn't come to the city..." Ji Yanlang looked embarrassed. "Who should I ask?"
"Isn't His Royal Highness the Prince of Qin very close to you? He's also in this barracks. Go get some accurate information and report back to His Royal Highness about our brothers' lack of interest in continuing the battle. This battle has been going on for over two months, and our cavalry has marched thousands of miles. They're truly exhausted. Wouldn't it be better if we could delay it a bit and rest until the first month of the year?"
These words touched Ji Yanlang's heart. Taiyuan City was only just being captured near the end of the year. Not only did the soldiers under him lose the ambition they had when they first set out on the expedition, they just wanted to withdraw their troops as soon as possible and return to Bianjing to celebrate the New Year. So after a slight hesitation, he nodded and said, "Okay, I'll give it a try."
The so-called palace city of Northern Zhao was originally an expansion of the Jiedushi Mansion and was not very big, so the residences of the two princes were near the cavalry barracks. After Ji Yanlang left the barracks, he arrived at the residence of the King of Qin in a short while.
The Prince of Qin's attendants all recognized him. When they heard him ask to see His Highness, they sent someone to report back while whispering, "His Highness has just returned."
"From the government?" Ji Yanlang couldn't help asking.
The attendant still whispered, "It should be."
As soon as he finished speaking, the person reporting came out to ask Ji Yanlang, "Your Highness, please ask Commander Ji to come in and talk."
Ji Yanlang followed the man quickly into the house, only to see the King of Qin sitting alone by the stove, with only a eunuch boiling water beside him.
"Liu Lang, come and sit down. You come at the right time. I was just looking for a few moments to drink a few cups of tea, but everyone around me is busy and no one wants to accompany me." When the King of Qin saw him come in, he smiled and waved to him.
Ji Yanlang took a few steps forward, bowed, and thanked the King before sitting down at his feet. He replied, "I've only had time to come out—Marshal Ma just delivered the military order..."
The King of Qin suppressed his smile and raised his hand to stop him, saying, "I am not in a position to discuss military orders. What kind of tea do you like, Liu Lang? I have some Pu'er and Wuyi black tea that I brought from the capital."
Ji Yanlang paused and replied, "I don't know how to taste tea. Anything I drink is the same. The guest should follow the host's wishes. Your Highness can drink whatever he wants."
The King of Qin asked the eunuch to make Wuyi black tea, and then remained silent until the eunuch brought the tea to the two of them.
He was the host, so he didn't say anything. Ji Yanlang had just started talking, but was interrupted. He didn't know how to speak again, so he picked up the tea and sipped it slowly. After watching the King of Qin finish his tea and put it down, he praised, "Good tea, fragrant and sweet."
The King of Qin was stunned for a moment, then shook his head and laughed: "You still say you don't know how to taste tea..."
"Your Highness, please forgive me for laughing. I really don't understand. I can only say this one compliment over and over again." Ji Yanlang said with a smile.
The King of Qin called him amusing, and followed up on this with a joke: "That's enough. As long as you're not a green tea, you can't escape these eight words."
"If we want to praise green tea, what words should we use?" Ji Yanlang acted as if he was eager to learn.
"Green tea is simple, too. It's nothing more than a vibrant green, fresh and timeless," the King of Qin said quickly before coming to his senses. He raised his hand and pointed at Ji Yanlang, smiling, "I've got you confused. You grew up in Shu, so you must be used to drinking green tea. Why do you need me to teach you?"
Ji Yanlang chuckled and said, "I did drink a lot, but I've been playful and naughty since I was little, and I've never been willing to study hard, so I only know how to drink and not praise."
The eunuch refilled their tea, and the King of Qin slowly drank the second cup before saying, "Then you really need to learn. Sometimes, being able to boast is also a skill."
Just from the tone of his voice, it was clear that he was not talking about tea at all, but the King of Qin stopped after saying this. Ji Yanlang didn't dare to ask further, as he had his own purpose in coming to see him, so he just said "I'm glad to hear your advice" and continued drinking tea.
"Your Highness, have you seen the Emperor today?" After finishing his tea, Ji Yanlang saw that it was getting late and could not help but asked directly.
The King of Qin raised his eyes and looked at him: "What do you want to ask, Liu Lang?"
"Does the emperor really want to recapture the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun?" Ji Yanlang blurted out.
The King of Qin was silent for a moment and nodded.
"But the soldiers have been fighting for over two months and are exhausted. It's also approaching the end of the year, the weather is freezing, and food and fodder supplies are difficult to come by..."
The King of Qin raised his hand and said, "The generals have reported all the difficulties you mentioned to the emperor."
Ji Yanlang frowned: "The emperor is unwilling to accept advice?"
"The emperor wants to take advantage of the great victory over Northern Zhao and attack You and Ji at once."
"One-shot?" Ji Yanlang's voice rose in astonishment. "I don't know how many drums there are, how can there be any one-shot?"
The King of Qin glanced at him and said in a deep voice, "It's fine for you to say this to me, but don't say it outside. The emperor is extremely ambitious, and this battle must be fought. It's getting late, so go back and make your preparations."
After being ordered to leave, Ji Yanlang saw that the King of Qin looked unhappy and could not stay any longer, so he had to get up and say goodbye.
The eunuch who had prepared the tea stood up to see him off, closed the door behind him, and whispered to him, "Don't take it to heart, Commander Ji. Your Highness said it all with your best interest in mind."
"I dare not."
The eunuch continued, "You may not know that Your Highness was reprimanded for disobeying the Emperor before him. It's really not appropriate to say anything more now..."
Ji Yanlang suddenly realized: "I see. That's my fault. I shouldn't have come to disturb His Highness at this time and cause him more trouble."
"Commander Ji, that's being a bit awkward. It's only when you come to have a cup of tea with His Highness and chat with him that His Highness starts to smile. How can you say you're worried?"
The two exchanged a few more polite words, and Ji Yanlang took his leave. Returning to the barracks, he told Liu Quan alone, "The emperor has made up his mind. No one can dissuade him. This battle must be fought. Let's go and talk to the brothers."
The two of them tried their best to persuade their subordinates to be less resistant, and when they were called to march out of the city the next day, they regained a little of the spirit and vigor that the Imperial Guards cavalry should have.
On the twenty-second day of the twelfth lunar month in the fourth year of the Longxing reign of the Chen Dynasty, Emperor Yuan Yu of Chen personally led a large army from Taiyuan to capture the Sixteen Prefectures of Youyun.
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