[Red House] The First Imperial Merchant

Chapter 89 Challenge

The prince is the Guozuo of Daqing, and now the prince is captured by Ximan, far away from the temples in the capital, the first thing to do is to consider how to rescue him or see the conditions proposed by Ximan, he must be rescued, and after he returns Whether he is securely seated in the crown prince is another matter.Because Xue Pan was close to the barbarian, Emperor Pingkang directly ordered that no matter what, the prince should be replaced first, and Zhou Qin, the minister of the Ministry of Rites, also came with him.

"My lower official, Zhou Qin, has met Master Xue." Zhou Qin saluted, his whole body was dusty, and the fine lines on his face had deepened a lot. It can be seen that this journey was not easy, whether it was physically or mentally.

Xue Pan hasn't laughed since the crown prince was taken into captivity. It's not that he feels sorry for the crown prince's safety, but he is angry that the crown prince's idiot will have an accident in the first half of the year and a year later. The battle is at the most critical moment. It's good to make peace now, and the time for more than 30 soldiers to go home has been delayed again.If Zhao Hongzhi appeared in front of Xue Pan now, Xue Pan might not be able to control himself and wanted to beat him up violently to relieve his anger.

"Your Majesty Zhou is very polite. It is reasonable for Mr. Xue to take over the dust and dust for Mr. Zhou, but the current situation is not right. Please don't mind Mr. Zhou." He handed the letter to Zhou Qin, "Lord Zhou, take a look, this is a letter from Ximan just two days ago."

After Zhou Qin finished reading the letter, resentment and resentment intertwined on his face, and he said angrily: "This barbarian is so arrogant! How dare you say this---"

"Why don't you dare to do so? The crown prince is in his hands." Xue Pan sneered.I don't want to say something to complain with Zhou Qin, it won't help to solve the matter.But when he thought of the contents of the letter, he wished to take Zhao Hongzhi's skin off, and his voice became much more serious, "The Holy Majesty asked me to replace the crown prince no matter what, but according to this condition, we can ask for such a condition at the beginning. Once we give Now, rare goods are available, the barbarians will not easily send the prince back, relying on a prince, the 30 army has fought in vain for the past three years, and now we have to raise troops to provide food and grass for others."

That's right, the letter asked Daqing to donate 100 million silver, 50 gold and [-] grain to Ximan.

Zhou Qin didn't dare to make this decision when he heard it, and his anger turned out to be angry, but the task of deciding whether to give it or not was kicked to Xue Pan, "Master Xue, I will listen to you."

"Listen to me?" Xue Pan sneered: "I said no, I can't take responsibility for the crown prince's accident, give it! Didn't your majesty say that the crown prince will be changed no matter what?! Feng sent someone to send the original copy to the capital, and said that I decided to change the crown prince." He decided to change the crown prince, and the money would not be able to cover the rations of the Fourth Army. If you want your son's life, the one who pays for it will naturally be this father. .

Zhou Qin naturally agreed, Xue Pan saw that this person was also holding the principle of not doing good, and couldn't make up his mind to stay here to be an eyesore, so he asked Xiaobing to take him down to rest, and he wrote a letter himself and stamped it , sent his own soldiers to Ximan to deliver a letter, and agreed to the conditions, but delayed as long as he could.

Two months later, Daqing met the conditions Ximan first raised.But as Xue Pan thought, Ximan saw that the prince was so easy to use, so he didn't even think about sending him back. He just sent a letter, saying that he would not treat the prince harshly, but he didn't mention sending him back.The Manzi didn't keep his word, and the army was furious. They wished that the Manzi, who was fighting with a weapon, fled. But when he thought of the prince in the Manzi barracks, he was angry and hated, but there was nothing he could do. It was really embarrassing.

After such a delay, winter came. Ximan now had the prince as a hostage in his hands, so he was confident, and he was not going to fight. Instead, he had the money and food from Daqing to recuperate and raise his troops in winter. Clothes were in short supply, and the living conditions were tight. Every day, soldiers would faint from cold or hunger. Xue Pan never relaxed his brows when he saw it, but even after several times of urging the grain and grass to Beijing, the grain and grass officer did not come.

In the marshal's main account, Xue Pan moistened his pen and ink, "Li Qi brings me my private seal." Li Qi is his personal bodyguard. In the past three years, Xue Pan has saved many soldiers, but Li Qi's background is the most pitiful and the most Loyalty, this Li Qi is a child born to a barbarian and a Han in Tata Town. When the two armies fought, the barbarian captured Li Qi's mother and took turns in front of Li Qi and Li Qi's father to punish such a lowly man. A barbarian woman, if she mates with a Han, she will no longer be a barbarian, so she will be happy to kill her, not to mention hanging Li Qi's mother's head on the flagpole to show the barbarian who mates with the Han.

Li Qi's father was distraught and contemplated, but he was dragged behind his horse by the barbarians and dragged along the rough road, tortured to death.And Li Qi became a toy for these barbarian soldiers, and brought them back to torture them every day without mentioning them, and castrated Li Qi's sexual belongings, which meant that Li Qi was a lowly hybrid blood, and such blood was not worthy of having the next generation.

It was a coincidence that Xue Pan rescued Li Qi. Before the battle, Xue Pan personally led a team to investigate the enemy's situation. He had already entered the Manzi area. A dozen or so people were very secretive, but when they saw the Manzi torturing Li Qi, they babbled. The barbarian language, the team that has been in the war for more than two years today can understand it. Although everyone resented the barbarian's cruel methods, when they heard that Li Qi was a combination of a barbarian and a Han, their resentment and sympathy faded a lot.Although Xue Pan sympathizes with Li Qi, he does not discriminate against such a marriage. He is a homosexual, and he is discriminated against in modern times. He himself has experienced strange eyes, so he will not look at others with such eyes.It's just that the group of them went deep into the enemy army through untold hardships, and they couldn't alarm the army just because they saved Li Qi---

When turning to leave, Xue Pan saw a pair of hateful but determined eyes.Hatred is understandable, but the hope of tenacity to survive is rare. People like Li Qi are very common on the battlefield. Many people are caught and tortured. Where is the light! ?

So Xue Pan rescued Li Qi and killed the eight barbarians who tortured Li Qi, which naturally alarmed the barbarian army, but Xue Pan had already returned to Lushawan with his people.Because of Li Qi's special status and physical reasons, living with the army is still unavoidable. Discrimination and ridicule, Xue Pan let Li Qi stay in his tent, study and study with the military teacher on weekdays, tidy up the tent, wash clothes and so on, and sleep with the military teacher at night in one account.Xue Pan also had considerations for keeping Li Qi in his tent. If Li Qi was a spy, he would be able to detect it under his nose. Li Qi didn't know, but since then he was loyal to Xue Pan. Foreigner's kung fu, I want to wait and see.

Li Qi took Xue Pan's private seal, there were only a few sentences on the letter paper, Xue Pan did not avoid Li Qi, Li Qi naturally saw it, saw it, and immediately said anxiously: "Master, the food, grass, pay, and silver for a 30 army is not a small sum. , how do you-"

The letter was written by Xue Pan to the younger sister, but it was just to tell the younger sister to hand over the letter to Mr. He, and asked him to prepare food, grass and clothing to keep out the cold and make up 50 silver, and send Xue's family guards to escort him over.

"I'm not as kind as you think. This is just an emergency. Winter has just begun, and the army can't hold on anymore. If the winter passes, these 30 soldiers will starve to death and freeze to death instead of dying on the battlefield." " Xue Pan sighed, he knew that he was too stupid to subsidize with the Xue family's money, but if more than 30 lives were delayed, some people would starve to death and freeze to death. Xue Pan's death is not worth it. "The Xue family is just waiting for food, grass, and military pay---" The military adviser's eyes turned red when he saw him, and he couldn't help laughing: "I don't feel sorry for my own money?! Don't cry, I look at it." I'm going to cry for a while."

After hearing this, the military master was not amused, but instead bowed his hands and praised Xue Pan for his righteousness.Next to Li Qi, his eyes were bright and dark, and he didn't say a word.This baby has undergone great changes, and his mentality is a bit abnormal, cynical, and only Xue Pan is in his heart. In his heart, even if the 30 troops are all frozen to death and starved to death, Li Qi will not blink. For the safety and comfort of all people, Li Qi felt sorry for Xue Pan.

Xue Pan had already noticed that Li Qi was a bit crooked, indifferent to the outside world and not like a normal person, but he was really loyal to him, and he didn't do anything out of the ordinary, so Xue Pan felt that this child was actually good in his bones , Zhien Tubao isn't it? !

"Okay, don't think about it." Xue Pan sealed the letter with wax, "Hurry up and send it back to Xue's house in the capital."

Xue Pan ruled the army strictly, and soldiers were not allowed to rob the people of food and clothing. As a result, the army is so hungry that it has no choice but to violate the military regulations. It's just that the original awe of Xue Pan has been shaken, and he even took the opportunity to make trouble. The soldiers were mobilized, and the morale of the army was turbulent. Many soldiers and ruffians yelled that Marshal Xue was fed and clothed, and naturally said lightly. How have you ever tasted them? At the beginning, one or two people said this, and later, the more they yelled, What's more, he brought a large group of people to rob a village of people's food.

"The law does not blame the crowd." The leader said confidently to the trembling little soldiers.

Some of the soldiers remembered how the sixty-year-old man knelt on the ground and begged them to cry bitterly when they robbed the food just now. The food they ate was the only food left by that family for the winter. Now that they robbed it, will the family, old and young, starve to death ?

Those who came out to serve as soldiers were all children who grew up in the fields, with wrinkled faces and old people begging them to kowtow bitterly in their minds. They couldn't help but think of their parents. They used to hate officials like this at home. , as a result they have now become such people...

The leader naturally didn't know that some people blamed themselves and felt guilty, so he said beamingly: "Just now that old man hid two chickens. Let's go back after stewing and eating them. Marshal Xue won't be punished too much, brothers Don’t be afraid! For half a month, you’ll only have porridge and water twice a day, and the urine will disappear after soaking. What’s the point of fighting? This Marshal Xue was born as a businessman. He has never eaten or been hungry. Naturally, he can’t understand it. Maybe we will eat it underneath Porridge, the marshal is hiding in the tent and eating meat!"

Many people felt right when they heard it, and nodded one after another, so as to suppress the guilt in their hearts and find excuses for their actions.

Xue Pan got the news early, and he stood facing the wind on the stage of the martial arts field in a single robe. The cold wind condensed Xue Pan's eyebrows into hoarfrost, and his eyes were colder than the cold wind.The leader took 300 people back to the barracks after eating enough outside. As soon as he entered the barracks, he was tied up and overwhelmed the martial arts training ground. The 30 troops gathered early and formed a square team to wait for them. The little boss, who was still smiling and confident just now, saw this battle, his legs trembled in fear, and his heart was puffed up. With 300 people behind him, he didn't believe that Xue Pan really wanted to Three hundred heads were beheaded!There is a lot of thunder and little rain, but it is just a few army sticks. It is worthwhile to get a few sticks for a full meal!

"Liujiang leads a team to return food to the robbed villagers." Xue Pan said directly.His eyes glanced coldly at the 300 people below, braving the cold air, without talking nonsense, he said directly: "Are you guilty of violating military regulations?"

A hundred or so people have already regretted it. The food they just ate was tasteless. They alternated in their minds the painful faces of the robbed family and the faces of their own parents. With a plop, more than 100 people knelt down one after another. One of the [-]-foot-tall men had red eyes, "Marshal, punish me! I shouldn't have robbed the people of food."

The rest of the group looked at each other, and seeing that there were more than 200 people standing by his side, the leader couldn't help feeling confident, and said, "We have worked so hard on the battlefield to keep these villages safe and sound, and now we can't eat enough food every day." It’s not too much to borrow some food from them, without us, they might have died a long time ago, Marshal, you don’t have to worry about food and drink, you don’t know what it’s like to be hungry..."

Xue Pan listened coldly to the leader Yang Yang explaining a lot, but just listened quietly, the leader soldier's voice became smaller and smaller, but he still felt that he was justified, but he used some food, and it wasn't for robbing them Life!

"I will eat whatever the army eats." Xue Pan refuted the rumors for himself. He is not the kind of good person who does good deeds without a name, nor is he a good person who is splashed with dirty water and does not explain. "Let's not talk about me. The generals of the Fourth Army are just like big guys. Don't use this as an excuse. Second, you are soldiers, and your bounden duty is to protect the people and protect the Daqing land. What's the difference?" Paused, "The fifty army sticks who just admitted their mistakes fasted for three days. As for the leader who had his head chopped off, the remaining one hundred army sticks were removed from the army and kicked out of the barracks. Since you don't regard yourself as Soldiers, if you don’t care about your own reputation, then go back and be that local ruffian.” The soldiers who were dismissed from the army and kicked out of the barracks will first be held accountable by the local county magistrate when they return to the countryside, and then the whole family and even the entire clan will be embarrassed because of him. This person will be useless for the rest of his life. He cannot be an official or do business, and he is not even worthy of a farm.

The leader shook his head, looked at Xue Pan in disbelief, and stammered: "Yuan, Marshal, can't you do this?"

Xue Pan sneered and said, "Execution."

The leader's legs went limp and he knelt down, kowtowed again and again, his face covered with snot, and shouted: "I didn't instigate it, General Zhang asked me to do it, it wasn't me, the marshal spared my life, General Zhang, didn't you say that?" Do you not blame the public? General Zhang--"

The head gurgled and rolled far away on the ground, and the thick neck of the bowl was sprayed with blood. Because of the weather, the blood stopped soon.The little soldier who was standing on the side performing the execution stared at the knife in Zhang Yong's hand, and couldn't help but shuddered. General Zhang was the first to strike cruelly in front of so many people.

The blood spattered half of Zhang Yong's face, Zhang Yong wiped it off nonchalantly, and said, "This man doesn't repent and still wants to frame me wrongly. I was so angry that I made a move, so I ask the Marshal to punish him."

Xue Pan stared at Zhang Yong with cold eyes, finally nodded and didn't bother to say a word.

This time the punishment was considered severe, and those who had the same thoughts in the three armies also cooled down after seeing this, but their dislike for Xue Pan became more indignant, but because of the severe punishment, they had to endure it, but they no longer respected and admired Xue Pan in their hearts. .Of course, there are only a small number of such soldiers.

After Xue Pan left, Li Qi stared fiercely at these little soldiers who didn't know what to do with his eyes like a hungry wolf. Seeing this, the military master ignored the rules and said loudly: "Half a month ago, the marshal wrote a letter to his family, and there were only a few sentences in the letter. , did not mention whether he is safe or not, whether he misses his mother at home, but only asks him to collect food and clothing to make up for the army's salary. The marshal also suffers from the hardships of the soldiers. Now, do you know that the Xue family abandoned the business for 14 years, and there were only mother and younger sister in the family. The three years of war, the marshal never went back. This time, the safety of the soldiers was exchanged for the money of raising the mother and sister. What did you do? How do you think about the Marshal? Although I am a literati, I have never been on the battlefield with the Marshal, and I have no friendship with the Marshal, but I also know how many victories the Marshal has performed in the past three years. War, how many scars you have on your body, Sun is not talented, but he wants to be used by the marshal for the rest of his life, so he will not hesitate to do anything!"

Sun Junshi's words were full of yin and yang and impassioned. Most of the soldiers were crying, feeling guilty, and the other half of the men had red eyes and couldn't help crying. For the life-saving grace, I felt that I was not worthy of being a human being for a while, but I thought of the marshal so much for food...

When Xue Pan heard the news, his heart was also warm. It is always warm to pay for something.Afterwards, Sun Junshi said bluntly: "What the Marshal has done is worthy of such gratitude and praise. Sun just doesn't want the soldiers to chill the Marshal's heart."

The next day, the food, supplies and military pay escorted by Xue's family arrived at Lushawan. The soldiers who cried bitterly yesterday felt guilty again when they saw this.Hearing this, Xue Pan went to the gate of the barracks in person. When he saw the person coming, he frowned and blushed furiously, but finally restrained himself.