Zhu Nao

Luoyang.

Since Zhu Nao decided to move the capital back to Luoyang, Luoyang City has regained a lot of vitality. After hearing the news, many people who fled in the past began to move back to Luoyang one after another, and the people in Hanzhong and Shuzhong were also gradually moving to Luoyang.

At the foot of the old imperial city, soldiers were busy coming in and out.From time to time there was a rumbling sound in the imperial city, which was the sound of the old palace buildings being pushed down.Soon, a large group of people came out of the city carrying baskets of broken bricks and rubble.

They are demolishing the old imperial city left by the previous dynasty.

Although Zhu Nao proclaimed himself emperor, his surname was the same as that of the former royal family, and he used the banner of the royal family's children when he started the incident. Therefore, in the eyes of outsiders, he did not create a new dynasty, but saved the old dynasty. , he is the master of ZTE.Out of this consideration, after Zhu Nao moved back to the old capital, he planned to continue to place the palace on the old site, which also saved him the trouble of choosing a new site and moving the land.

It's just that after years of wars, the old imperial city was occupied and plundered by bandit troops several times, and it has long been dilapidated.When he was in Hanzhong, Zhu Nao didn’t do much construction work in order not to waste the people and waste money, but when he officially moved back to Luoyang, he couldn’t continue to stay in the poor and dilapidated palace. The palace was newly built on the old site.

In order to speed up the progress of the construction of the imperial city, the troops who did not need to go out for the time being had to undertake hard labor, and Xie Wuji personally took the command.At this moment, he was standing at the entrance of the old imperial city, but he did not face the interior of the imperial city, but turned his back to the imperial city, staring at the wide and dilapidated street scene in a daze.

When Wu Cong rode over, he saw Xie Wuji standing in the middle of the Imperial Palace Avenue.There were broken bricks and tiles all over the ground under his feet, and the bluestone road was covered with moss.Xie Wuji was standing in the ruins, his cloak was blown up and down by the strong wind.This scene makes people have two contradictory perceptions: it is desolate, but full of vitality.

Wu Cong came to Xie Wuji's side and jumped off the horse: "General."

Xie Wuji took a while to look away.

Wu Cong couldn't help looking forward along Xie Wuji's line of sight curiously.He didn't know why Xie Wuji was looking so fascinated, the streets were obviously just dilapidated buildings.But as he looked at it, he suddenly remembered that it seemed that a few years ago, when they first came to the imperial city, there were still a dozen princes working together as kings.In the chaos, people rushed to the imperial city, only Zhu Nao was standing on this avenue, standing in this position, overlooking the scene outside the imperial city.

Xie Wuji asked: "What's the matter?"

Wu Cong suddenly came back to his senses, and hurriedly said: "I just received the news that His Majesty is already on his way. He will arrive in Luoyang in about seven or eight days."

Xie Wuji nodded lightly: "Okay."

He didn't say any more, but his eyes softened a lot.

Wu Cong thought for a while and said, "Your Majesty is from Bazhong. He went to Shuzhong and Bazhong this time..."

Zhu Nao returned to Bashu at this time, apparently to see Yu Changming and Wei Yue.As for the purpose of his return, Wu Cong could probably guess some of it.

Xie Wuji glanced at him, and just let out a calm "hmm".

With Xie Wuji's attitude, Wu Cong didn't know what to say.After a while, he bowed to Xie Wuji and took his leave.

……

……

A few days later, Zhu Nao arrived in Luoyang again.On the day he came back, Xie Wuji personally brought a team to pick him up at the gate of the city.

After arriving in Luoyang, Zhu Nao stopped sitting in the carriage. He rode on his horse and went into the city with Xie Wuji surrounded by guards to see the changes in Luoyang in the past few months.

Xie Wuji asked: "Is this trip going back smoothly?"

Zhu Nao nodded: "Successful. Move half of the people here first, so that the court can start to operate first. After the imperial city is built, the rest of the people will be moved here."

When he went back this time, he selected several important government departments, and the first batch moved to Luoyang.The remaining people continued to stay in Hanzhong to deal with the aftermath. After all, the dilapidated Luoyang does not have much space for officials to work.When Luoyang is almost restored, the two teams will be able to merge into one.

Looking at the people coming and going on the street, Zhu Nao said, "I've been walking for a few months, and there seem to be many more people in the city."

"Yes," Xie Wuji said, "Recently, many people have been entering the city every day."

It has only been four or five months since Zhu Nao left, and Luoyang City is completely different from when he left.

Although the reconstruction of the city has just begun, the city has already shown its vitality.Houses that have not been repaired have begun to be occupied, and people have set up stalls in the streets and alleys to start business.The city is full of hawking, bargaining and laughter.

Luoyang was originally an important place connecting east, west, north and south. As long as the war stops, the city will recover as quickly as a spring meadow.And not only in the city, there are also many more people in the townships and counties around the city.There are people who have moved back, and there are also people who are eager to occupy the seat at the foot of the emperor after learning that the capital has been re-established.

Zhu Nao asked, "Is there any news from Xuzhou recently?"

Xie Wuji said: "Yes. You came back just in time, Ma Shu sent an envoy yesterday, saying that they are willing to lead an army to surrender to you, and asked you to ask for an official position."

Not far away, Jing Zhe heard this, and looked in Xie Wuji's direction in surprise: so fast? !

In fact, when Xie Wuji heard about the arrival of the envoy yesterday, he was as surprised as Jing Zhe.They all knew that Ma Shu was going to sell for a price, but they didn't expect that Ma Shu couldn't wait so soon.Raising soldiers is by no means an easy task. It not only requires the strong talents of the general, but also the right time and place.Anyone who dares to act recklessly will definitely pay a heavy price.

And Ma Shu will fall into internal and external difficulties so quickly, which is also inseparable from Zhu Nao's secret fueling.I think Tian Chou's old department planned to take back Xuzhou forcibly, but Zhu Nao stopped them. Zhu Nao made them keep putting pressure on Xuzhou, but prevented them from really attacking Xuzhou.This move seems ordinary, but the cleverness in it can only be understood by generals who have experienced many battles.

If the Xuzhou army was really allowed to attack Ma Shu, no matter whether they could regain Xuzhou or not, in the face of powerful foreign enemies, whether Ma Shu's Huainan army or the entire Chen country, they would unite as never before to jointly resist foreign enemies, and even Chen The imperial court of the country is likely to let go of their prejudice against Ma Shu and fully support the Huainan Army; but it will not work if the Xuzhou Army is allowed to withdraw. In a relaxed state, the enemy will be able to develop and grow down-to-earth.It will be difficult to deal with it later.Therefore, Zhu Nao not only exerted pressure on Xuzhou, but did not oppress too much, forcing Ma Shu to expose his flaws in a hurry, and also caused contradictions among Chen Guo's dignitaries.

Ma Shu and those Jiangnan dignitaries may not even realize that they have jumped into the trap that Zhu Nao dug for them.

Xie Wuji asked: "How? Are you going to meet the emissary of Ma Shu?"

As far as Xie Wuji was concerned, since Ma Shu had already surrendered on his own initiative, it might not be impossible for him to surrender.At this moment, Ma Shu was at the end of his rope, and he didn't dare to raise any more conditions, so it became easy to surrender the Huainan Army and conquer Xuzhou.More importantly, once Ma Shu surrendered, it would be a huge blow to Chen Guo, which would make Chen Guo's morale even more depressed.

However, he believed that Junao would have a better idea, so he didn't give any advice.

Sure enough, Jun Nao shook his head and said, "Ignore them and send them back."

Xie Wuji raised his eyebrows slightly.After a while, he smiled lightly and said, "Okay, then I'll send someone to send me away."

Perhaps, letting the Huainan army fend for itself can have the same effect.Moreover, this matter also gave the whole world a warning, so that the second and third Ma Shu would not dare to act recklessly again!

While chatting, the two went into the city.

……

……

At dusk, Jing Zhe was about to go back to rest after arranging the patrol of the imperial guards, when he happened to meet Wu Cong who was walking towards him.

Jing Zhe stopped in her tracks: "Brother Wu."

Wu Cong asked, "Are you going back to rest? Have you eaten yet?"

Jing Zhe shook his head.When I first came back to Luoyang, I was busy with a lot of things. Only then did I realize that he had barely eaten all day today.

Wu Cong smiled and said, "Come and sit with me? Recently opened a store in the west of the city. It is a century-old brand. The shopkeeper escaped from disaster a few years ago. Recently, I heard that the capital moved back to Luoyang and just came back. There was a long queue as soon as it opened. I just asked someone to buy a few catties of beef and rice wine there in the morning, let's try it together?"

Jing Zhe hurriedly said: "Okay, let's go!"

Back then, Zhu Nao put Jing Zhe in Xie Wuji's army for a year to practice, Xie Wuji was busy with military affairs and had no time to take care of him, but Wu Cong took good care of him, and the relationship between the two has always been good.It's just that after Jing Zhe took charge of the imperial army, Wu Cong was always by Xie Wuji's side, and the chances of the two meeting each other were not too many.

When he arrived at Wu Cong's mansion, Wu Cong had someone heat up the beef and rice wine, and then ordered some appetizers to serve.Jing Zhe didn't drink much at first, because she couldn't bear the aroma of this wine, so she ordered a pot for a drink.

After two cups of hot wine and a few taels of beef, Wu Cong and Jing Zhe chatted about Zhu Nao's return to Shu a while ago.

Wu Cong said: "I heard people say that you went to Shuzhong and Bazhong a while ago, did you see General Yu and General Wei?"

Jing Zhe nodded: "Yes."

Wu Cong asked with a smile: "Why did you suddenly go back to the military parade? Does Your Majesty have any arrangements?"

Jing Zhe's hand holding the chopsticks paused in the air.He didn't make a sound, put down his chopsticks, and looked up at Wu Cong.

Wu Cong originally had a smile on his face, but under Jing Zhe's gaze, the smile gradually stopped.

The atmosphere in the room was so embarrassingly silent, Wu Cong's Adam's apple rolled, he hesitated to speak, and finally asked straight to the point: "Is Your Majesty planning to start disarming the army?"

After a while, Jing Zhe let out a soft "hmm", and said again: "Not so fast."

Wu Cong licked his lips, picked up the wine glass and drank it in one gulp, heaved a long breath after being choked by the spicy wine.

He put down the wine cup and said, "Don't get me wrong, it's not what the general meant, it's me. I just... just want to talk to you. I'm not at ease."

Jing Zhe looked at him silently.

Wu Cong said: "Over the years, the general has offended many people...many, many people. If he hadn't been surrounded by a large army, he might have been killed a thousand or eight hundred times... Do you understand? Maybe it's my unfounded worry. ...But the general has no way out..."

Although Xie Wuji has been committed to making his soldiers loyal to Zhu Nao these years, most of his soldiers were recruited before he joined Jun Nao's command. These people are still more willing to be loyal to Xie Wuji than to Jun Nao.Therefore, once the disarmament begins, even for the stability of the dynasty, these soldiers and horses cannot be left behind.

And for so many years Xie Wuji has led the army to conquer the north and south, and he holds great power, which is bound to harm the interests of many people.It is said that when he insisted on entering the capital to serve as the king, the princes all over the world regarded him as a thorn in their eyes and a thorn in their flesh.Some of those offended by him have been reduced to mud in the troubled times, but some still hold power, because Xie Wuji is in full swing, so they dare not act rashly.But once Xie Wuji's power is shaken, how many people will rush forward and tear him to pieces!

If it were someone else, there might be a family as a support.But the Xie family is most eager for Xie Wuji to die soon.Wu Cong didn't dare to think about what Xie Wuji would do when he had no military power in his hands.

Wu Cong's words aroused a doubt that Jing Zhe had long ago.It was inconvenient for him to ask in the past, but he didn't have the chance to ask later.

Jing Zhe asked: "Brother Wu, why did General Xie fall out with Jiangnan Xie's family in the first place?"