[Comprehensive Martial Arts] The Road to Powerful Ministers

"Brother: Seeing the letter is like meeting you. Everything is fine with me in the clouds. The weather in the Northland is cold but there are also magnificent and open scenes. I received the fiery red fox fur cloak you brought me last time. It is very warm, but it is only on the battlefield Too obvious, or a taupe buckskin-trimmed cloak would be more appropriate."

"The [-] cavalry led by Lie Ying have been marching deep into the desert for a month. They have already crossed the grassland and entered the Gobi desert, and the transportation of logistics and supplies is difficult. The climate in the desert is extremely extreme, with yellow sand blowing on the face and cold wind biting the bone. Now the capital is still in autumn, and the sky is full here. Flying snow. A large number of soldiers began to get sick, vomiting and diarrhea, shortness of breath, fatigue, and the military doctor could not detect any problems. Please send some imperial doctors who are good at surgery and diseases, I am very worried about the health of the soldiers."

"Rou Ran's defeat is very strange. I feel deeply uneasy. I'm afraid it's a trick to lure the enemy. The operation of going deep into the desert should probably be terminated. Do you think so?"

"The government is busy, and the harem is busy. Elder brother, take care of your health. I enclose a sachet with the letter. It is winter plum from the northwest. I hope my elder brother will be safe and healthy."

"Brother: Yuan Yan."

This is Yun Weijue's letter to the emperor. Yun Weijue's letter writing is not like the people of the time who like to use difficult words and phrases, just like speaking in ordinary times. Reading his letter is like communicating with you in front of your eyes. It is plain but warm .

The emperor took the letter and scanned it roughly, then read it carefully, thinking in his heart whether he should order the troops of Lie Ying's army to withdraw, and worried about Yun Weixuan's recent situation, he picked up the letter and read it again .After the contents of the letter could be memorized, he reluctantly folded the letter paper and put it in the gold-painted box on the dragon case.

"Call the Minister of the Ministry of War and the Minister of the Ministry of Household to come here." The emperor said lightly.

Tieshan retreated respectfully, went to the gate of the main hall to recruit a young eunuch, and asked him to summon him.Tieshan has been serving the emperor since he was a baby. Although he was just a rough envoy and eunuch at that time, he never dared to relax in trying to figure out his master's intentions.Tieshan replaced the incense in the palace with the cold wintersweet incense newly made in the palace, and replaced it with hot tea for the emperor, and massaged the emperor's shoulders himself.

The emperor leaned forward slightly, his right hand was often hanging in the air during the review, and his shoulders were a little sore. Tieshan's workmanship was good, and the emperor let out a comfortable sigh.

"It's still comfortable for you to serve." The emperor sighed, "Those individuals with a handful of strength, whether they should be light or heavy, are not as good as you."

"Being able to serve His Majesty is the blessing of this old slave, and the youngsters have to practice." Tieshan echoed with a smile.

"Hehe, there is a saying that clothes are not as good as newcomers. Yuan Yan has been in Yunzhong for almost a year. I always feel that those ministers are not easy to handle. They talk a lot without skills. There are old-fashioned people who can do something, and no one is caring." The emperor. complained.

"Prince Zhaoye is naturally good." No one knows more about Yun Weijue than Tieshan, including his life experience, his relationship with two generations of emperors, Tieshan never dared to comment on Yun Weijue, just couldn't get around Yes, I only dare to say good things.

The emperor took a short rest, and the two ministers came.

"Don't be so polite, I'm going to ask you if all the food and salaries in the Northwest have been paid." The emperor said with a straight face.

The two adults knew in their hearts that the emperor was talking about the northwest, but he was definitely referring to Yunzhong, where such a distinguished person as Prince Zhaoye was.The Minister of the Household Department went up to the first two steps and said: "Your Majesty, the military salary is paid every season, and the winter food salary has already been sent. Every year there will be additional rewards during the festival. This part is still being raised. It was originally scheduled for ten years. Send it to the border in January." This is already very generous, if there is no strong relationship in the past, the Minister of the Household Department would not pay such a salary to any general.

"Well, hurry up. The soldiers are working hard at the border, and you ministers in the bustling capital of the capital should also take the safety and well-being of the soldiers at the border into consideration." The emperor pointed out.

"Yes, I obey the order." The Minister of the Household Department knelt down.

"The Ministry of War will reorganize the ordnance and spare 1 people of excellent equipment. The war in the northwest is in full swing, so we must plan ahead."

"Yes, I obey the order." The Minister of War also knelt down.

"Well, the two Qing families are veterans of the two dynasties. I can trust you, so go." The emperor agreed lightly, and the two ministers bowed to thank His Majesty for his trust, and respectfully withdrew.

After leaving the hall, walking on the wide palace road, the two adults gathered together and whispered. "Your Majesty really trusts Lord Yun."

"It's still Master Yun, you should be honored as a prince, your mouth is always out of control." Hubu Shangshu hastily reminded.

"Warriors, I'm used to being careless." The Minister of the Ministry of War, who can't be more meticulous, likes to pretend to be rude to take advantage of it, and said: "The military salary of Yunzhong County is twice that of other military towns, and His Majesty often calls us to beat us." , Saying that the battle is raging, no one knows that it has been deep into the desert for a month, and there is not a single ghost."

"It's normal, Rouran people grow on horseback, come and go like the wind, extremely fast, it's normal not to be found for a few months." Hubu Shangshu still knows a little bit about military affairs, "Don't just leak the word ah."

"You really think I have a rough heart~" Minister of the Ministry of War waved his hands like chasing away mosquitoes, and said, "I don't know what to do in my heart!"

"It's good to know, I'm afraid that if there are another two or three months to go deep into the army, not to mention that the food and grass can't keep up, even His Majesty should have something in his heart... I'm afraid those people in the court will have something to say."

"Well, it's not something we should worry about. Just keep your mouth shut. If His Majesty gets angry, you can't find out that the news leaked from us." The Minister of the Ministry of War concluded.There is an in-law relationship between the two clans. In order to avoid taboos, they are not married in person, but they are all members of the direct branch clan, and the relationship is very close.The two also helped each other in the court, advancing and retreating together.

The ministers worried that the emperor was impatient. In fact, the emperor was more patient than anyone else.The emperor wrote back to Yun Weixuan, telling him not to worry, and then went deep into the desert. This time, if he mobilizes the army, he must take down Rouran, otherwise the next time he wants to send troops, the resistance he will encounter will be several times that of this time.The emperor comforted Yun Weijue. When Taizu founded the country, he fought with nomads in the grassland. The serious confrontation lasted only a few days, but the march took three and a half months.

Yun Weizhen received the emperor's letter, although he felt that it was not appropriate to go deeper, but he was persuaded, and continued to arrange food and grass to keep up with and information transmission, and only hoped that Lie Ying and the others would not have any problems.

Those who went deep into the desert did not meet the enemy, and they withdrew until the winter was too cold to march.Yun Weizhen was a little discouraged by this large army's group tour behavior. As soon as the army started, the money flowed like running water, but nothing came of it.

In March of the next year, when the weather is good enough for people to go out, His Majesty sent Lie Ying out again.With the experience of last year, Lie Ying led the team to walk faster, and wandered in the grassland and desert for two months and still had no news.

Yun Weixuan couldn't help being impatient. It had been more than eight months since they had fought a single battle, and they couldn't find the enemy. Falcon and Lie Ying couldn't help it.Faced with such a huge military expenditure and a war without any progress, the ministers of the DPRK and China became more and more tired. At the beginning, they were quite tactful. Dare to be too sharp. When May of this year is over and there is still no trace of the enemy, the ministers will start to be rude.

Yun Weixuan was under a lot of pressure, and the emperor was also under a lot of pressure. He sent a secret decree, telling Lie Ying to win a battle as soon as possible to boost morale.

It was June, and Yun Weizhen was so restless that he couldn't fall asleep. He finally fell asleep, but was woken up by the movement in the yard.Yun Weijue immediately jumped out of bed, walked out while putting on clothes, opened the door and asked: "What's the matter, it's Lie Ying who got the news, or I found Rouran."

"Wei Shang received a message from the beacon that Lie Ying and Rouran met." Guo Ping hurriedly said, "Wei Shang is waiting in the living room."

"Hurry up, let's go." Yun Weiping trotted over, eager to know the latest progress.After several centuries of inheritance, our dynasty has a complete set of beacon communication system. There is no beacon tower in the desert, but the terrain is open and flat. In case of emergency, it is still possible to send messages by gathering some cow dung, clothes, and dead trees. .When the nearby Great Wall guards see the beacon, they will pass it on step by step.

"Yun Shuai, Lie Ying may have met the main force of the royal court head-on. He sent a message saying that the opponent has more than [-] troops. You know, the people in Rouran are all cavalry. As the saying goes We have to hurry to help." Wei Shang was also very worried, Lie Ying took away a total of [-] cavalry, [-] were brought from Yanmen, and the remaining [-] were from Yunzhong. Some people were consumed last year. This year, it was added again to make up enough people.It can be said that the most elite troops were taken away by Lie Ying, and the good horses were also brought in by them. Now the remaining cavalry and horses in Yunzhong are less than [-].

"How to rush to help? General Wei knows the situation in the army better than I do." Yun Weixuan frowned and said.

"Then let's just watch helplessly, can't we help? That Lieying's signal is not white hair." Wei Shang said anxiously.

"Calm down! Wei Shang, you are a general, this is not the time to talk about your spirits!" Yun Weijuan stopped him sharply, and said slowly, "What if there is an ambush along the way? They sent falcons to scout and lead the way in the sky, but there was no news at all, whether they discovered our method of conveying news, or whether this pile of beacons were lit by Lie Ying is not certain."

Therefore, generals like Wei Shang hate Wenchen the most. For things that are clear and clear to him, Wenchen's twisted brain can always deal with many conspiracies and tricks.What's the use of Wei Shangji, he is not the supreme commander, and he has no soldiers and horses under his command, and he doesn't even have the capital to defy the military order and run to save people by himself.

Seeing the beads of sweat on Wei Shang's forehead in a hurry, Yun Weijue made a quick decision: "Wei Shang obeys orders!"

"The last general is here." Wei Shang stood up and said solemnly.

"Among the remaining cavalry, 100 people will be drawn out, and I will lead the troops to have a look." Yun Weixuan said.

"No." "No." Guo Ping and Wei Shang said in unison.

"Okay, Wei Shang, you go to prepare first, and leave in half an hour." Yun Weizhen dismissed Wei Shang first.As a subordinate, Wei Shang only had to obey orders, so he obediently withdrew.

"Guo Ping, there is a shortage of troops and horses in Yunzhong, and the situation ahead is uncertain. I thought about it carefully, and it is useless to go with many people. It is better to find out the enemy's situation with a small army. [-] horses, There are [-] elites, and the Rouran people will never kill them all. There must be a lot of noise when so many people come together. Supreme Commander, no matter whether they actually encountered enemy soldiers, were defeated and captured, or rebelled, I can't just read the black and white words of others, I have to see it myself before I can draw a conclusion. There are too many such conspiracy reversals on the battlefield, I I can’t let my subordinates be wronged.” Li Ling Yuefei is loyal, An Lushan Wu Sangui is villainous, the generals are powerful, but they often mistake the villain for a gentleman, he must see it with his own eyes.

"No need to explain, I just want to say one thing, I'll follow." After listening to Yun Weixuan's long-winded explanation, Guo Ping only had one sentence.

"Naturally." Yun Weixuan smiled, Guo Ping had such a high force value, she had to be by her side to feel safe.

"I've had people summon falcons just now, but there was no response. There were more than a dozen of them. I'm afraid they were shot down by the Rouran people. They are the masters of falconry. It should be true that Lie Ying encountered the Rouran royal army. Yes, you have to be mentally prepared." Guo Ping reassured.

"Don't worry, I'm ready." Yun Weixuan said with a smile, he had made all the preparations before the expedition.

Yun Weizhen handed over the command of Yunzhong County to Wei Shang, and asked him to strictly guard the door. I am afraid this is Rouran's plan to divert the tiger away from the mountain.The two also matched many secret signs and the like, fearing that Rouran would pretend to be Yun Weijuan to open the city gate.

Yun Weizhen took eighteen guards and two guards who were good at identifying the way, and a hundred elite horsemen from the army, with dry food and blankets, and rushed to the place where Lie Ying sent the signal.

Let go of the horseshoes and ran for two days before approaching. Yun Weizhen ordered to hide and asked the scouts to investigate first, and they slowly approached behind.

An hour later, the scout came back and reported with red eyes: "Shuai Yun, there are corpses all over the place, and there are vultures and wild dogs gnawing on them. It's too miserable..." The tall and strong man couldn't speak anymore. He turned his head and wiped away his tears and said, "I didn't see Rouran, it looks like he's heading northeast."

Yun Weijue got on his horse and galloped over with his people. What he saw was a scene of corpses strewn all over the field and blood-stained yellow sand.The soldiers' heads were all cut off and taken away, and the corpses were badly damaged. When they approached, they saw vultures hovering low over the dunes.When Yun Weijue and others came over, the vulture flew away in fright, and the jackals and wild dogs also ran away.The smell of blood and scorched earth is everywhere, as well as the remains of the beacon fire, and the nearby sand and soil are stained red.

"Using long-term ineffective marches to wear down the enemy's morale and logistics, wait until the enemy is led to his own territory, and wait for work to kill, the simplest and most classic tactic of nomads. I remember it!" Yun Weiyu said Angry, the more he likes to pull himself out to look at the problem, which can calm him down.Yun Wei looked at all this with red eyes, the more cruel it was, the more calm he had to be.Yun Weijue pinched her own palm fiercely, and tried to comfort herself, but she still felt uncomfortable.He felt powerless, just like Bixi died in front of him, he had nothing to do with death.Bixi's death made him understand the cruelty of the world, and the blood of the soldiers in front of him made him realize the cruelty of war.

"Go look for it, see if General Lie Ying is there, if there are any other high-ranking people, and if there are any living people." Yun Weizhen ordered.

Eighteen guards left four guards beside Yun Weijue, and even Guo Ping went to look at the corpse.It was uncomfortable for Yun Weixuan to stand aside, trying to identify the rank and general candidates of the soldiers from the armor.

There were 3000 corpses abandoned here in Dai Viet, and there were only more than 100 of them. It took two hours to find out. There were 300 people in the uniform of school captains, and about 100 people in mid-level officers. None of them were above the third rank, and Lie Ying was not among them.

"There is hope only when you live, and there is hope only when you live." Yun Weixuan muttered a few words, "Did Rouran go to the northeast?"

"Yes, the wind and sand buried many traces, but judging from the surviving traces, there are at least 3 people in Rouran, plus the prisoners...they must not be able to run far!" said the guard who was good at finding paths.

"Get on the horse, ten of you go back and report, and the rest of you will go with me to find out." Yun Weixuan ordered simply and got on the horse himself.

They delayed here for two hours to gather the corpses together, and set fire to them before leaving.It's not that Yun Weijue doesn't want to take their bodies back, it's just that there's no other way, the heads are gone; it's just buried on the spot, the sand is soft, and the smell of blood is so strong, sooner or later the wild beasts will dig them out and eat them, so it's better to burn them clean.The flames shot up high, and the air was filled with a burnt smell.

"Rouran people will definitely notice such a big movement. Let's hide behind the sand dunes in the southwest, tie the horse's mouth, and hide away, so as not to miss any traces." Yun Weixie ordered.A team of more than 100 people is much easier to manage than an army of tens of thousands. One order is executed in an instant. Yun Weizhen took them to find a large sand dune not far from the burning corpses to hide, and waited for Rouran Soldiers came to investigate.

Guo Ping prepared iron bullets in his hands, and if there were falcons or peregrine falcons probing the sky, he would shoot them down by surprise.With Guo Ping's martial arts, Rouran's scouts will not find out.

When night fell, there was the sound of cavalry approaching, and the scouts sent a message. Yun Weijue and others hurriedly extinguished the flames. They originally lit a fire to keep warm, because there was a big fire here, and it was not easy to be found, so they hurried to hide their traces.

What came was a team of ten people, wearing fur coats, waist knives, bows and arrows on their backs, daggers in their boots, and sleeve arrows tied to their arms. They were elites just by looking at their equipment and spirit.The little leader Rouran went in to look at the burning corpse, walked around in a circle, stopped in the direction of the reporting team sent by Yun Weixie, and lay down on the ground to observe.The little chief invited a few people to come and watch it together. The distance was too far, and the accents of those people were heavy. Yun Weijue could only hear a few words like "Han people... ten people... profuse sweat...".

The little leader led people around again, and then left in peace. Thanks to Yun Weixuan and his party hiding far away, otherwise, according to Rouran's cautiousness, he would be found for sure.Captain Rouran led his men back, and Yun Weijue motioned to Guo Ping to chase him.

The people sent back to report a few hours ago can be judged by the Rouran people. The Rouran people must have special skills in marching in the desert. If more than 100 of them follow up, they will definitely be exposed.Guo Ping is so skilled in martial arts that she can keep up with them without riding a horse.Although Yun Weizhen was worried, he still ordered their team to rest first, and just hid on the leeward slope, wrapped in a thick tent, and closed their eyes to rest their minds, smelling the disgusting burnt smell, and the next step was the tough battle.

An hour later, Guo Ping came back.

"They're ten miles to the northeast, and there's a large oasis there, with some hardened sand dunes on both sides, blocking the line of sight, and it's really hard to find without someone leading the way," Guo Ping said.

"With so many of us passing by, is there a chance to sneak in?" Yun Weixiu was most concerned about this.

"Impossible. The Eighteen Guards and I have this strength. The cavalry learns the skills on the battlefield. At most, we can bring two scouts with strong and agile skills." Guo Ping said bluntly. He is a master and there is no way to protect so many people.

"Okay. You two heard it too, take these people back first." Yun Weijue instructed the two cavalry captains. When Guo Ping spoke, Yun Weijue, the Eighteenth Guards and the two soldiers surrounded her. A cavalry squad leader, they also understand that they can't take everyone with them.

"Shuai Yun!" The two team leaders obviously wanted to join the battle.

"Okay, I know what's on your mind. When I find out the situation, you are the most elite troops when you go to battle to kill the enemy. You can't just die in vain. Go back first." Yun Weixuan said calmly.

The two captains hesitated for a moment, but reason prevailed, and they agreed in unison: "Yes!" The two captains saluted and took all the cavalry back.

It is now midnight, and the fire is very bright in the night. The hundred cavalry who returned did not hold up torches, and Yun Weizhen and others who went to investigate the enemy's situation did not dare to use anything to light it. Fortunately, it is September tonight, and there is moonlight to illuminate .

Yun Weijue and his entourage lurked close to the garrison of Wang Ting, leaving a few people on the outside to meet and watch the horses. Guo Ping led Yun Weijue in, and the other guards followed.When they arrived at the inner circle of the Rouran garrison, Yun Weijue ordered them to disperse in two or two groups to investigate the strength of the troops, stationing for defense, etc., and it is best to find the captured personnel and their horses.Yun Weijue and Guo Ping teamed up to check around Wang's tent.

Yun Weijue and Guo Ping were prostrate on the ground, because when they stood up, there would be shadows on the tent.When the singing, dancing and musical instruments became louder, Guo Ping seized the opportunity and cut an inconspicuous hole in the tent, and the two slipped in.

The king's tent was very spacious, and they were in the bedroom where they slept and slept. The two of them listened to the movement in front of them, only to hear a big man say softly: "General Lie, come and drink this cup!"

Yun Weizhen was terrified in his heart, could it be that Lie Ying...