When others asked him why he only brought such a small number of troops, he said with a sad face that although he was favored by the late emperor and became the King of Dongyang, he was no match for the King of Zhenbei in strength. Dongyang had been experiencing heavy rains in recent days, and he had left 4,000 soldiers there to help the people resist the river floods. The only 2,000 people left were all he could offer.
He wiped his tears as he spoke. It was really a disgrace to the Emperor Wu that the dignified King of Dongyang had ended up like this.
It was not enough to just play the victim, he also took the opportunity to mention that he failed to live up to the expectations of the King of Zhenbei because he brought too few soldiers. He knew that this was very shameful, but conquering the Xianbei was a responsibility that no man in the Central Plains could shirk, and he had to come, so he shamelessly joined everyone's team. However, in order to punish himself, he decided to eat and live with the soldiers and never set foot in Chenliu City, even though as the King of Dongyang, he should have entered Chenliu City and been treated as a guest of honor by the King of Zhenbei.
People were deeply moved by his righteous appearance, and kept persuading him that it was not his fault for the natural disasters and man-made disasters. As the King of Dongyang, how could he sleep in the open air outside the city? He should go into the city quickly and have a good rest. It would not be too late to come back when they were about to set off.
He Tingzhi kept waving his hands in shame. After waving his hands three times, he sighed and said, "Well, since you insist so much, I can only obey your orders respectfully." ...
Xiao Rong twitched his lips when he learned about this. He asked Song Shuo what King Dongyang was doing in the city. Song Shuo told him that since entering the city, he had never left the Baibao Street Square.
He had been chatting with those scholars all the time, and there was nothing out of the ordinary in his words. He was just praising them and then talking about his own affairs. Anyone with a discerning eye could see what he was doing, but it was this kind of overt conspiracy that made it difficult for people to stop him.
We are just chatting. You Zhenbei Army can't be so stingy as to not even allow this.
Xiao Rong didn't react much, but Song Suo was so angry that he gritted his teeth: "You are a pretentious peach picking villain."
Xiao Rong looked at him and chuckled, "Being pretentious isn't a bad thing. I actually hope that the king can be pretentious once in a while."
Song Suo glanced at him and said, "Then you can continue to hope. I don't think the king will be able to learn it in this lifetime."
Xiao Rong: “…………”
Others were also arriving one after another, but the Zhenbei Army would not wait for them. If they could not catch up, they would have to go to Yanmen Pass to meet up with them.
Xiao Rong only secretly paid attention to who the people brought by Prince Dongyang were, and asked someone indirectly whether Zhou Liang had come to him. After finding out that he had not, Xiao Rong no longer paid attention to this person.
The conditions for Prince Dongyang's rise are more stringent than those for Huang Yanjiong. As long as the little emperor is still alive, they don't have to worry about what Prince Dongyang can achieve.
As the collection of essays drew to a close, no one had yet come up with a perfect second line for the third question. This was normal, after all, this was a couplet that would go on to become the best of all time. Xiao Rong had deliberately placed this question at the end to ensure that it was foolproof. However, in just a few days, some people couldn't even come up with a perfect second line for the couplet with flaws.
Xiao Rong originally thought that the third question was useless, but it turned out to be useful because it helped expose some people's true nature.
Some people became angry and embarrassed after failing to come up with a couplet, saying that the person who asked the question was deliberately insulting them because the first couplet expressed the widow's feelings, and they were all men who had read the books of sages and were disdainful of making such couplets.
——Living in a Hakka family, I am lonely and widowed studying in a cold classroom.
This is the first couplet. It was indeed written by a widow, but her talent has defeated countless blindly arrogant scholars over the centuries. It really proves the saying that only defeated dogs bark wildly.
Xiao Rong was too lazy to pay attention to them. He asked someone to count their names, and then compared them with the top three they had chosen. When he found that there were no duplicates, Xiao Rong felt relieved.
No one answered all three questions, and the first two were highly controversial, so the ten thousand gold certainly could not be given out. However, in order not to dampen everyone's enthusiasm, Xiao Rong still ranked the top three and distributed rewards to them. Each person was given a house, and the first place was given two thousand gold, the second place was given one thousand gold, and the third place was given five hundred gold.
Even if it was not ten thousand gold, one thousand gold was a lot, not to mention that the three winners were invited to the Zhenbei Palace that night. Others had no idea what they had been through and could only see them walking out in a daze. They didn't even have to spend the night. The news that they had a feast with the Zhenbei King that night reached the ears of other scholars. It was said that the Zhenbei King personally toasted them, and Prime Minister Gao, Xiao Lingyin and many other important figures were accompanying them. The sound of stringed instruments never stopped all night. The Zhenbei King also made a promise on the spot that if the three of them were willing, high positions and generous salaries would be in their hands immediately.
Being directly invited to a banquet by the King of Zhenbei and being invited to a banquet after winning the game are completely different feelings. First of all, almost no one knows about the former, and secondly, the latter can give people a sense of pleasure of "I worked hard, this is the reward I deserve."
The vanity of these three people was greatly satisfied. On the second day, two of them came over to express their agreement. The remaining one was from Jinling. He came here just to join in the fun, but he didn't expect it would develop to this point. He was reluctant to refuse directly, but he didn't dare to agree to it alone. After all, he also had a family to consider.
When Prime Minister Gao learned of his mood, he immediately told him considerately that the invitation was always valid, and even if he rejected King Zhenbei, they would not blame him, but would only hope that he would change his mind.
The door of their Chenliu is always open to talented people like him.
“……”I’m so touched.
After he returns, he will definitely try his best to convince his family! …
These three people were happy, but the others were not so happy. There were many people who were jealous and unwilling to accept the result. Until a new official document was posted on the notice board, saying that the Thousand People's Literature Collection in xx year had ended, and the Thousand People's Literature Collection in xx year (next year) was being prepared. The prize was still 10,000 gold. King Zhenbei was looking forward to the day when someone would win the 10,000 gold.
Seeing that there is still a chance next year, this group of people became full of fighting spirit again. They were just not prepared this year, but they must avenge their previous defeat next year!
After swearing secretly in their hearts, these people all left, leaving only one person standing in front of the sign, staring at the handwritten xx year.
This is the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches calendar, but in fact people are still used to calling this year the Sixth Year of Shengde, and only when fortune-telling is needed will people call it the Year of xx. ... Gradually blurring the era names in people's minds, the presence of the little emperor Nanyong will also decrease a little.
Is it because she is born meticulous that she wants to correct even such a minor matter? Or is she, like him, determined to change the dynasty?
Once the collection of essays was finished, there were only two days left before the army set out.
The closer it got to the time of the expedition, the more uneasy Xiao Rong felt.
This time it was not the system's effect, but he was simply worried. According to official history, Qu Yunmie's rapid decline from being a powerful figure began with the attack on the Xianbei. All the accumulated negative influences broke out in this war, and after that he fell like a plane crash, with no possibility of getting up again, until he was smashed to pieces and completely defeated.
But he couldn't go with them. First, he didn't know how to fight. Second, someone needed to stay behind. Third... he didn't want the situation outside Huaiyin City to happen again.
Unable to help Qu Yunmie in any way during the war, Xiao Rong could only try his best to plan everything for him before the expedition, and take everything he needed, leaving only enough supplies for the battle to defend the city in Chenliu.
Afterwards, he asked Zhang Biezhi to call Jian Qiao over and told him his concerns earnestly.
Jian Qiao: “…”
He looked at Xiao Rong and felt that Xiao Rong might have forgotten what he said at the beginning.
At the beginning, Sen Wan was dealing with Xiao Rong because the king said that he would not take him to the war, and he was so angry that he jumped up and down on the spot.
At that time, he thought that the king would be courting death if he didn't take him with him. Why has he changed now?
Jian Qiao is not Zhang Biezhi, he still has some emotional intelligence, so he did not ask this question, but listened to Xiao Rong's words silently. As he listened, he suddenly heard something wrong.
Because Xiao Rong actually told him that if there was any change in the army, he should strike first and kill whoever it was. Qu Yunmie would not chop off Jian Qiao's head without even asking him a single question. By then, no matter what the problem was, Jian Qiao could put the blame on Xiao Rong and make a final decision after returning to Chenliu.
Jian Qiao was completely stunned: "Is there going to be a change in the army?!"
Xiao Rong: "Not necessarily, just preparing for a rainy day."
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