Chapter 384 Three Thousand Travels
Days continue as before.
Cheng Yaojin also went out of Beijing to Hebei. As one of the scheduled Northern Expedition chiefs, he will go to Hebei to start preparations.
Before departure, Lao Cheng went out to drink with Qin Qiong.
After a few glasses of wine, Lao Cheng was slightly drunk with his face flushed.
"Shubao, actually I don't envy you. Although you were named Duke earlier than me, and you were awarded the honor of Shangzhu Kingdom, it's nothing. I am also Duke Lu now, and this time I can finally lead the army to the Northern Expedition. From time to time, there is also a chance to earn a stake in the country."
Breathing alcohol, he stared at Qin Qiong, "I don't envy you for marrying a prostitute with five surnames. My old Cheng is going to marry a woman from Qinghe Cui. I don't envy you either. Prince Taifu. Anyway, as long as I, Old Cheng, don’t die, I shouldn’t have any problem living another thirty or forty years. Are you afraid that I won’t be able to get a big cavalry general by then?”
While talking, Lao Cheng turned to look at Qin Lang.
Qin Lang quickly poured him another glass of wine, "Uncle eats melons, it's so hot in this room, it's easy to get angry. The watermelon in my greenhouse is very good, sweet and refreshing, and it's made of sandbags."
Old Cheng took the melon and ate it in two bites, then wiped his mouth.
"What I envy the most is your Saburo!"
"Uncle Bao, Huaiyu and Huaiying of your family were originally two good children, but unfortunately Luoyang was murdered by Wang Shichong's thief, and only Sanlang was left. When I was in Wagang, I didn't think this kid was so outstanding. But looking at it now, I really missed it at the beginning, even if Huaiyu and Huaiying's two children are there, they are far behind Huailiang."
"If you compare goods, you must throw them away, and if you compare people, you must die. Compared with your Saburo, those in my family are all beasts."
Qin Lang thought to himself, how could he say that about his own child.
"Uncle Cheng, Chumo is now in Shengzhou, but he has great prospects. Sima of Shengzhou, envoy of the Zhenwu Army, and a guerrilla general of the fifth rank. Uncle Cheng, when you were at Chumo's age, I'm afraid you haven't reached this position yet? You That was the era of heroes in troubled times! Chu Mo is very good."
Old Cheng shook his head, "Then you have to see who you compare with. If you compare it with Zhang Liang and Guo Xiaoke's children, it's not bad, but if you compare it with your Saburo, it's far behind. He is the son of my family. The eldest son, but he is only a fifth-rank now, and you have to support him, Sanlang, otherwise he is still just a thousand bulls."
"Sanlang, Chu Mo is far worse than you, let alone Chu Bi, I am going to Youzhou this time, and I won't be able to come back for a year or so. At Chang'an's house, I still count on Sanlang to take care of you. One or two."
Old Cheng was going on and on, but in fact he still wanted Qin Lang to take care of the family for him.
After all, the Cheng family is not a well-known family. He and the Cui family have made a few little bastards, and even some old housekeepers in the family are dissatisfied.
"See what Uncle Cheng said, what is the relationship between our two families?"
"Okay, Saburo's words are enough for me, come on, let's drink!"
Drinking the wine to the end, Qin Lang took out a few letters to Cheng Yaojin.
"Uncle Cheng is going to Youzhou. Help me bring a few letters to Uncle Niu and my Aunt Dou, and also send letters to General Su and General Li."
Old Cheng put the letter away with a smile, patted his chest, and said thank you.
He knew that Qin Lang was using his relationship in Hebei to give him some help. Although Niu Jinda is his old subordinate, he has a basic plan to go to Youzhou, but he is not familiar with Dou Hongxian and Li Jinxing, the leader of Mohe. They, Qin Lang has a good relationship with them, not only because Qin Lang once inspected the governor of Youzhou.
Old Cheng knows that Qin Lang has had a deep influence on the border city of Youzhou in the past few years, and Su Dou, Li and others have made a lot of money along the way, so his face is very big in Youzhou.
It would be much more convenient for Lao Cheng to go there if Qin Lang said hello. Qin Lang's so-called carrying a message for him was actually helping him. Lao Cheng is so shrewd, how could he not know.
"Sanlang, you have stayed in Youzhou before, and you have a lot of connections there, and you have a lot of face. Tell Uncle Cheng, if I want to make meritorious service this time, I will also make a fortune in the Shangzhu Kingdom. What should I do?"
In the emperor's plan, Lao Cheng went to Youzhou this time, and the Youzhou Hebei Army under his command was actually just there to stand on the field, not the main attacking force. He didn't even arrange a plan to go out of the border, and he was only asked to guard the eastern border , to prevent Xieli from fleeing eastward.
According to this arrangement, Lao Cheng definitely has no chance to make meritorious deeds, let alone earn a fortune in the country.
Shangzhu Kingdom needs real military achievements. Although it can record former honors, as a general in the army, it is impossible to have no solid achievements. Unless it is a meritorious service, it is not my own credit, and it has no gold content or glory. to speak of.
Old Cheng is also very courageous, but if he blatantly violates the order and crosses the line, this is also a big taboo.
"Uncle Cheng, in such a big battle, all six parties have their own missions, so you must not easily violate the deployment, otherwise it is easy to cause serious trouble." Qin Lang reminded Lao Cheng, don't just think about taking credit, in case something happens , destroying the pre-war deployment, causing Xieli to run away and other accidents, that would be a serious crime.
"Then is there any opportunity to make meritorious service without violating the deployment?"
"Of course there is." Qin Lang smiled and mentioned two names, Dou Hongxian and Li Jinxing.
"What's the meaning?"
"My aunt is the training envoy of the Hebei Metropolitan Regiment. Li Jinxing is the leader of Mohe and the governor of Yanzhou. They are all under the control of the governor of Youzhou in name. Now you will be the chief of the army, so you can temporarily control the transfers from various prefectures in Hebei. There are soldiers and horses in the camp, so they are also subject to your control in name, but they are not regular soldiers."
"Oh, I see."
Old Cheng laughed.
Since they are not regular soldiers, these local soldiers and foreign soldiers actually have a lot of freedom. At critical times, Lao Cheng can let these people go out of the border.
"If uncle really wants to make meritorious service, I still recommend that Su Dingfang choose two or three thousand Mohe cavalry and Hebei Tutuan, and wait at the border first. Once you find Xieli going east or north, hurry up and intercept or ambush him. It's really difficult to capture, as long as Jieli falls into the hands of your soldiers and horses on the Hebei side, won't it also be blamed on uncle?"
"Yes, that's the reason!"
Lao Cheng got a good plan and returned satisfied.
After a round of adjustments, the armed forces of the Eastern Palace now have 3,000 princes' pro-army.
Because Li Shimin was very satisfied with Qin Lang's previous attitude, during this adjustment, he specially selected the Three Guards of the East Palace.
Three thousand pro-army, all of them are brothers and nephews of military generals of the fifth rank and above and honored officials. All the generals are from the martial arts family, and they are all young men between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four.
Prince's personal guards are uniformly subordinate to the seventh rank, Prince Xunwei is uniformly subordinate to the eighth rank, and Prince Yiwei is uniformly subordinate to the ninth rank.
The head of the 3,000 pro-army squadron and the brigade commander were all selected and dispatched by the emperor from the military officers trained in the lecture hall.
The 3,000 people are divided into five rounds, one round every two months.
There are six hundred people in the first division, two hundred in each of the three guards, and they are on duty for two months at a time.
Early in the morning.
Chengqian had someone put on armor and prepare his horse early on.
This prince, who is only ten years old, usually practices martial arts diligently, and his riding and archery skills are not bad, especially his arrow shooting is very good.
For Chengqian, the three thousand pro-army is under his direct command. A ten-year-old child has already begun to be interested in wars and the army.
When Qin Lang arrived, he found that the custom-made armor on Chengqian's body was very good. The whole set weighed 30 jin, and the weapons and arrows of various lengths weighed about 10 jin.
But it doesn't look difficult for him to wear.
Although the main reason for this is that the armor design is better, and the load is shared by the whole body, it also shows that Cheng Qian has a good physical fitness.
"Teacher, is Lu Ben's army ready?"
Chengqian said a little excitedly.
Originally, among the ten ranks of the East Palace, the six ranks of the commanding troops originally had their own military numbers, and Lu Ben was the rank of the left and right Qing Dao ranks, but this time the emperor gave this rank to the pro-army.
Eastern Palace, Three Guards and Three Mansions, collectively known as the Prince's Brigade Ben Army, has a pro-Xunyi Mansion, a Zhonglang General's Mansion, each under the command of three Zhonglang Generals, and obeys the control and dispatch of the Prince Zuowei led by Qin Lang.
Qin Lang also changed his armor.
I didn’t choose the emperor’s imperial armor, which was too flamboyant, and wore a plain version of Mingguang armor, but the full armor also weighed sixty catties.
Walking, it is also clanging.
"Today's military parade in the East Palace, all three thousand brigades have arrived at the Bashang playground in the south of the city to wait for orders."
"Then let's go."
Three thousand soldiers, this is not a small force, so although this is the first time to show up, the Ministry of War did not dare to be careless, and did not allow these three thousand soldiers to inspect in the East Palace, not even in Chang'an City.
Instead, they designated a piece of land near Baqiaoyi in the south of Chang'an City, allowing them to temporarily camp there for review.
Chengqian stepped on the back of a Donggong Qianniu and rode on the horse, while Qin Lang watched from the side and frowned slightly.
The East Palace Qianniuwei guards from the brigade sent the party out of the East Palace, away from Chang'an City.
After riding for about an hour after leaving Chang'an City, we could already see flags waving in front of us, and the crowds were buzzing.
Chengqian rode all the way, and his mental state was actually very good. Originally, Qin Lang said that there was no need to ride in armor, but Chengqian said that he wanted to experience a full-armed march.
Far away, the Baqiao Donggong Luben Barracks is just ahead.
"It looks like there are more than three thousand people?"
So Liu Rengui, the prince Zuowei who came to meet him from afar, led the army and explained, "Three thousand Luben perform here and accept inspections. Because they are all the children of honorable officials, everyone has entourages and servants, and there are many Family members and others came to watch, so there are more than ten thousand people here today!"
Close to the military camp, Qin Lang also found that it was unusually lively.
In the barracks surrounded by fences, the tents are connected one after another, which is relatively neat, but outside the fence, it is very lively.
Countless carriages were parked, and there were many mule and horse mounts.
The noble lady, the officials and ladies, brought their servants, maids, housekeepers, and many merchants and peddlers came after hearing the news, and set up stalls everywhere to sell.
It's the same as a spring outing.
The three Zhonglang will go out of the camp to welcome them together.
"The last general, the crown prince, traveled to the east palace of the Ben army, the general of the Zhonglang, the general of the Zhonglang, Liang Jianfang,"
"The last general, Gao Zhensheng, the middle man of the Donggong Xunfu!"
"The last general in Yi's mansion, Gao Kan!"
"Greetings to His Royal Highness, the Duke of Wei!"
(end of this chapter)