Chapter 0030: Be patient
On April 25, the sixth year of Shengde, when there were still a few days left before Grain in Ear, the Zhenbei Army finally walked out of the west side of Taihang Mountain. Once they left the peaks and ridges of the plateau, the view in front of them suddenly opened up, and as far as the eye could see, there were no more mountains blocking their view.
As long as they crossed the Yellow River, they would reach Yuzhou, not far from Chenliu City.
If you look at the map, this distance is indeed not far, but the water level in each section of the Yellow River is different. They need to find a place with calm water level to cross the river, which means they have to take a detour.
Having completed the ninety-nine steps, why should we be afraid of the last step? So when the Yellow River comes into view, most people breathe a sigh of relief instead of taking another nervous breath.
The boat was prepared early on. It was disassembled and carried by the soldiers, and then assembled on site. This is one of the advantages of pure wood. There are few parts, and it is easy to make. There is no need to worry about losing one or two parts and delaying things.
While they were busy, Xiao Rong stuck his head out of the carriage and took a look. The wide river surface was sparkling, and the turbid river water was flowing quietly as always. It was so a thousand years ago, and it will be so a thousand years later.
Everywhere his eyes could see were gifts brought by the river. The vast impact plain covered almost all the major cities north of the Huai River. This was the birthplace of civilization and the original hometown of all the people in the Central Plains.
However, opportunities always coexist with crises. This place is livable, but also dangerous. River flooding is a common occurrence, and what is even more terrifying is the river diversion, which is as powerful as the heavy snow thirty years ago. But if a natural disaster of this magnitude really happens, it cannot be avoided by human efforts. Fortunately, Xiao Rong knows that such a thing will not happen in the next five hundred years. As for five hundred years later... who knows what the situation will be like in Chenliu.
Strengthening the levees, distributing sandbags, and trying to popularize some knowledge about self-help in natural disasters, this is the limit of what Xiao Rong can do. He cannot give up such fertile land because of a few natural disasters, and the people cannot leave their homes and abandon their roots because of a few natural disasters. Fortunately, people are strong after all. Born in such a difficult era, these people have survived well. They can even survive the war, so what else can defeat them? ...
After crossing the river, the Zhenbei Army stood within the scope of Guancheng. Here, it was a place where the Zhenbei Army's jurisdiction was relatively weak. Although the north of the Huai River now belonged to the King of Zhenbei, it was not so clearly divided. The area from the Huai River to the Yellow River was the area with the largest population and the most concentrated wealth. The people here neither recognized the governance of the King of Zhenbei like in the places further north, nor did they sneer at the King of Zhenbei and the Zhenbei Army like in Nanyong. Their attitude was ambiguous and it was obvious that they were still waiting and seeing.
When the Nanyong people migrated south, the noble families that followed them were mostly from Chang'an or places like Pingyang that were located very far north and were easily taken by the Hu people. The noble families that did not leave almost all lived south of the Yellow River.
The remaining aristocratic families, the powerful families that continue to operate, and the officials who are either nominated by them or take advantage of the chaotic times to profit, these three forces alone are enough to make the Zhenbei Army suffer. This start seems very difficult, but just like the richness on the plains, fertility and danger coexist, and the difficulty here also coexists with a breakthrough.
It is precisely because this place is in chaos that there is a chance to make it even more chaotic. The situation where the aristocratic families control people's livelihood and culture has lasted long enough. Xiao Rong is fed up with their attitude of wanting to bring everything into their homes and would rather hide it until they are buried in a coffin than let the common people take a look at it.
When you arrive at Guancheng, you will find it crowded. Walking on the official road, you can often see passers-by carrying large and small bags. The timid ones will lower their heads and turn pale and quickly avoid them, while the brave ones will run over and ask if there is a war somewhere again.
When they learned that the King of Zhenbei was going to move the capital, these people were generally hesitant. They were worried that the King of Zhenbei's move would mean a war, and they also envied the sense of security brought by the King of Zhenbei's presence. When they learned that the Buddhist son Mi Jing was also in this team, they did not hesitate, and immediately brought their families and joined the team of those people.
Qu Yunmie: “…”
Before leaving the plateau, Qu Yunmie hardly heard of such things, but after crossing the river, such things happened every day. Xiao Rong looked at his constipated expression, suppressed the ridicule in his heart, and then looked at Qu Yunmie with tenderness: "This is the advantage of being known as benevolent. It does not require a single soldier or a single word. Just hearing the name, the people will recognize it and flock to it. Not to mention the Buddha, has the king heard of He Tingzhi, the King of Dongyang? There are two thousand guests in his palace, and new scholars go to him every day. I think the King of Dongyang will never be short of manpower in his life."
As for how many of these two thousand guests were just eating and waiting to die, there was no need to tell Qu Yunmie.
Qu Yunmie raised his eyes and looked at Xiao Rong unhappily.
Why did Xiao Rong always praise others in front of him? At first, it was the Buddhist who praised him to the skies, then it was Sun Renluan, who also gave him a particularly high evaluation, and later he even praised that Huang Yanjiong, who was a jerk, how could he be compared with him. Now it's even more outrageous, even He Tingzhi, a villain who only knows how to flatter, is better than him!
Everyone knows that He Tingzhi obtained the throne by flattering others. He is the great-grandson of He Kui, the founding emperor of the He family. However, his grandfather's generation committed a crime and was driven out of Chang'an and directly exiled to Cangwu County. He Kui showed no mercy to his grandfather, making their family sinners for generations. He Tingzhi did everything in his early years, and because he was very good at talking, he was noticed by an old Taoist priest. He recognized the old Taoist priest as his master, but he did not really become a monk. He just changed his name from He Ting to He Tingzhi.
The old Taoist laid the foundation for him, and he continued to flatter his superiors, all the way from Cangwu County to Jinling. If the Yong Dynasty had not moved south, he would have probably moved to Chang'an. When the emperor moved south, everyone could see that he was a coward, and he was going to run away in a hurry. At that time, there were many people who stood up to accuse the emperor. At this time, He Tingzhi spoke up righteously, saying that the emperor had no choice, and the emperor was not wrong. You are all the people of the Yong Dynasty, so you should listen to the emperor.
This round of flattery made Emperor Guangjia feel happy both physically and mentally. He immediately removed He Tingzhi's status as a criminal and conferred him the title of marquis. When Emperor Guangjia was seriously ill, he didn't want to see anyone and just liked to talk to He Tingzhi. Seeing that He Tingzhi could do nothing but flatter, Sun Renluan acquiesced to his coming and going. But after Emperor Guangjia died, he immediately drove He Tingzhi away. In order to appease He Tingzhi, he also conferred him the title of King of Dongyang.
It sounds like the King of Dongyang is very powerful, but in fact, the imperial court at that time had broken the throne into pieces in order to curb the power of these princes. The previous thrones were the King of Yan, the King of Han, and the King of Zhao, and the current ones are the King of Dongyang, the King of Runan, and the King of Linhai. Each king's fiefdom has only one city, and some of the cities are very small.
Twenty-seven years ago, when Emperor Taining was in power, many princes revolted separately. At that time, twelve princes announced at once that they would no longer support the emperor. This would have been impossible in the past.
From this incident, we can also see what kind of status Qu Yunmie and He Tingzhi hold in Sun Renluan's heart. He conferred the title of king on the former in a serious manner, but conferred it on the latter purely out of perfunctory courtesy.
Xiao Rong was surprised to hear Qu Yunmie say that he despised He Tingzhi, and he was stunned.
He knew that Qu Yunmie and Huang Yanjiong had known each other for a long time, but he didn't expect that Qu Yunmie had also met He Tingzhi. It turned out that ten years ago, these people were all in the Nanyong Palace.
This made him feel very strange. It turned out that the gears of fate had tied you all together so early.
Thinking of this, Xiao Rong couldn't help but ask, "My king, do you know Han Liangru?"
Qu Yunmie paused for a moment and looked at Xiao Rong warily: "Who is this?"
Could it be that there is another person who is stronger than him?
Xiao Rong: “…”
It seems that he doesn't know her.
Qu Yunmie indirectly killed Sun Renluan and directly stabbed the little emperor to death. Huang Yanjiong killed Qu Yunmie, and He Tingzhi forced Huang Yanjiong to death.
This drama of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind, did not end at this time. He Tingzhi seemed to have won. He ascended the throne smoothly and sat on the throne for twenty years. However, no one could have imagined that in the last five years, he had turned himself into a puppet, and listened to a Taoist priest beside him in everything. The Taoist priest's name was Ruqing, and his secular name was Han Liangru.
Han Liangru controlled He Tingzhi's every word and action, and five years later he made him abdicate, but not to himself, but to his son. From then on, the Yong Dynasty ceased to exist, and the Han family ascended to the throne. After doing all this, Han Liangru waved his sleeves and left Jinling. It is said that he later lived for more than 200 years and became an immortal.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
