Xue Yuan, a man of culture, would always sneeze a few times on the road these two days.
It was late, but there was still some afterglow in the northern part of the sky, and the marching multitude, after supper, started forward again in the light of the afterglow.
Xue Yuan pinched the bridge of his nose, and the adjutant general said with concern, "My lord, is everything alright?"
Xue Yuan shook his head and continued to lead his troops forward with an expressionless face.
The vice general looked at this cold and unfeeling look of his, looked sideways at the victims on both sides of the roadside who were watching them, and sighed secretly in his heart.
Once the army had traveled to the disaster area, it would occasionally see large numbers of victims.
These victims were starving and skinny, looking at their line of troops with timid and panicked eyes, but when they turned to see their provisions, those eyes turned into fiery greed.
These provisions were really piled up like a mountain. The army carrying the provisions was strong and powerful, while the refugees affected by the roadside were pitiful, and there were even young children and old people who were about to die of starvation.
The Daheng soldiers who were well-fed and well-dressed by the saint, many of whom had seen such a miserable situation for the first time in their lives, could not bear it in their hearts, and wanted to give out their own rations when they saw such victims for the first time, but Xue Yuan also gave an order on the same day after he saw the victims that no one was allowed to give out a mouthful of rations and grasses to the victims.
"Whoever dares to take out a mouthful of grain and grass," Xue Yuanna held up his greatsword that day, the look on his face one of appalling-to-shivering indifference, "will be dealt with according to military regulations, and his head will fall to the ground."
These words immediately suppressed all those who had a heart of gold.
But all the same, the Lord General's callousness sparked resentment in the hearts of many of the soldiers, and finally two days ago, a few of them couldn't stand it any longer and secretly took out a portion of their own provisions to relieve a group of victims who were about to starve to death. However, that very night, when the army was about to set up camp, they were surrounded by hundreds of starving and irrational victims, who ignored the soldiers' warnings and charged madly towards the grain wagons, and because the soldiers gave in to them, these victims even killed a few Daheng soldiers by holding up stones and sharp agricultural tools.
Such chaos did not subside until Xue Yuan led his men to kill all the victims that surrounded them.
After the turmoil calmed down, the soldiers guarding the provisions gasped for breath and looked at the bodies of the victims on the ground, the way these victims rushed up without a fight was still imprinted in their minds, that kind of madness to the point of madness in their eyes, making these soldiers still a little bit unable to return to their senses, the whole person was in a daze.
After Xue Yuan finished killing the men, his face splattered with the blood of the victims, his greatsword dyed a dull red, he turned around and, expressionless, lifted his sword and pointed it at the soldiers, asking, "Who gave them the rations?"
The three or five soldiers who had shared out a portion of their rations gritted their teeth and stepped out from among the crowd.
In an instant, the expressionlessness on Xue Yuan's face instantly became hideous as he plunged his greatsword into the ground, striding over to them, walking faster and faster, and finally punching them, pinning the three or five soldiers down and beating them hard, yanking at their collars and roaring, "They are the ones who are being killed by you, do you understand!"
His fists fell at once, and the soldiers gathered around him held their red eyes, but were silent, not knowing what to say.
The vice general's heart was sour, the beaten soldiers silently carried the beating, the blood of the victims and their own blood and tears woefully mixed with the dust, the vultures above the sky were attracted by the smell of blood, circling around the victims' corpses continuously.
"What did I say before?" The veins on Xue Yuan's neck popped out as he clutched the soldiers' collars, "You can't give them food!"
"You guys think you made heroes?" Xue Yuan looked horrible, "We are the ones who transported the grain, what does this mean! All this grain is for the border generals, you guys think this is a lot of grain? Then how many victims do you think there are in the entire disaster area!"
"A single ear of wheat, they will all come up and grab it without even caring about their lives, who cares how many soldiers you have, who cares if you are imperial soldiers or not, hundreds of people can be killed, what about thousands of people, what about tens of thousands of people? Rushing to the northern border this way, because you give these food, they can follow you all the way, all the way to find the opportunity to rob and seize," Xue Yuan suddenly tugged a soldier's collar and led him to stagger to the soldiers who were attacked by the victims with their heads broken and bloodied, pointing at the wounds on these people's heads and said, "See? Open your eyes for me and see clearly, this is the consequence of your kindness."
These injured soldiers looked up in silence and stared at the three or five soldiers. Those soldiers who had taken out their own rations to go out and provide relief to the victims were gritting their teeth in death, the muscles on their faces trembling.
Xue Yuan took them to see the bodies of several suffering soldiers who were caught off guard and did not want to take action against the victims but were killed by them instead.
The tears in these people's eyes could no longer be held back, they knelt down and whimpered in pain. Xue Yuan let go of them and pulled his sword out of the mud, resuming his expressionless look, "Ignoring the military rules, you shall be beheaded according to the law."
"My lord--"
"General!!!"
Many people stopped Xue Yuan, they persuaded him to spare these soldiers once, believing that no one would dare to listen to military orders after this time, and if they did, it would not be too late to behead them next time.
Xue Yuan gave these officers who kept pleading for mercy for the soldiers a face and spared these people's lives. However, from two days ago until today, Xue Yuan had maintained this extremely cold look.
No one knew if he was angry for the suffering soldiers or for being forced to kill those hundreds of victims.
The Vice General had a vague feeling in his heart that he always felt that Lord Xue had never meant to kill those soldiers in the first place, and in the end, going along with it might just be a means to appease the soldiers as well.
Not only that, even if these days the expression on Lord Xue's face is getting less and less, appearing to be exceptionally indifferent, but the naked eye can see that the entire army's soldiers' trust and dependence on Lord Xue rises up, and when they meet the victims again, even if they have a heart that can't bear to do so, the entire marching soldiers can also put on a stern face, and rush on day and night without looking askance.
The more sensible the general-in-chief is, the more he looks after the big picture, the more the soldiers fear him, and the stricter the military discipline becomes.
The Vice Admiral was thoughtful and sighed in his mind.
Lord Xue was only twenty-four years old now, but how did he maintain such sober coolness when dealing with the victims who could not help but have pity rise in their hearts at first glance?
Or is it that what Lord Xue experienced in the past was even more brutal than this scene today?
Between the adjutant general's rambling thoughts, Xue Yuan looked up at the sky and said succinctly, "Inform the army to rest here tonight."
The order was commanded and the rear was noisy. Today it was hard to find a clean river, the water that was prepared some days ago was running low, Xue Yuan arranged for people to take turns to go to the river to fill water supplies, the scattered sentries rushed over, "General, the number of victims following in the rear is getting bigger and bigger."
Xue Yuan said, "Let them follow."
What the main general said then go and listen to it, not only the vice general sighed in admiration of Xue Yuan, these sentries were also obedient, they cleanly answered yes, turned around and rolled onto their horses, and continued to go and scout the four directions for movement.
Fortunately, these victims were afraid of the majesty of tens of thousands of soldiers and only dared to embellish far behind them and did not dare to come forward to provoke.
The closer he got to the northern border, the less Xue Yuan's words became, his complexion was sullen, and only by chance would he reveal a few moments of softness, but those few moments of softness were fleeting, and the miss in his eyes had not yet risen up, but had been dispersed by the inches of grass and grass that had been destroyed by the disaster land.
The lieutenant general said, "My lord, let's go together to clean up a bit?"
Xue Yuan clapped his hands, "Go."
The vice general turned back and glanced behind him, the victims had rested their feet in the distance, because of the previous relief of the victims, the soldiers had begun to be wary of the victims as well, even from such a distance, these soldiers were still on guard. Already consciously ran to the side of the grain wagon, silently guarding the grain.
Xue Yuan followed with a glance and did not say anything. The Vice General smiled bitterly and said, ''Your Excellency's heartfelt wishes are known to my humble servant. These grains are rations transported to the border, we have no right to handle them, only Great General Xue has the right to use them to relieve the victims. If they can really hold out until they follow us to the northern border, they will still have a chance of survival."
After saying that, the vice general was a bit worried again, "Although our food is manageable enough, I am still worried in my heart, or else we will reduce the rations of the soldiers a bit and wait until after the northern border?"
As they spoke, the two had walked to the river, they washed their faces downstream, and Xue Yuan said, "No, just eat."
After several years of marching, Xue Yuan, who seldom had a full meal, did not expect that he would have a day when he would say something like this, he could not help but smile, the droplets of water on his face dripping down his sharp jaws, "With His Holiness at the back, food will definitely be enough."
This is no longer a few years ago, Gu Yuanbai, Xue Yuan believes in Gu Yuanbai.
*
Unbeknownst to the generals ahead, 100,000 ducks were on their way to the northern border.
Not only ducks, but also a portion of this year's harvest of rice and grain. In order to show their gratitude and loyalty to His Majesty, these magnates were self-conscious, and a few of them even threw away thousands of dollars, shelling out jaw-dropping amounts.
When the news reached Gu Yuanbai's ears, he sighed with admiration, and even personally put pen to paper, wrote several "for the country and for the people", and sent people to reward these self-sacrificing magnates.
What an honor it is to be rewarded by His Majesty. The rewarded magnates were so happy that they took the wind with them when they went out and were envied by others for nothing. Not only that, in this northern locust plague in the contribution of the powerful will also be in accordance with the amount of effort to get the court distributed copper, silver, gold three kinds of waist plate, name and place of origin will be recorded by the government in the book, and so on the locust plague, their names will be carved in the stone wall above, erected to allow the people to look up to.
When such a move was made, merchants of all sizes followed suit.
The Ministry of Household was busy for several days in a row, and when they came back to their senses, the ambassadors who had come to the capital to celebrate their birthday had already left, leaving behind only a Western Xia emissary who had a request for Daheng.
The Ministry of the household official Mr. Tang with Gu Yuanbai one by one reported after the important things, also said with the Western Xia debatable field matter, "the saint, with the Western Xia's mutual market to the present day has stopped for three months. The Western Xia emissaries are anxious in their hearts, and have already sent people to send gifts to the residence of the minister and the officials of the Ministry of Households."
"Is that so?" Gu Yuanbai said, "I look at their imperial son, and it seems like he's quite laid back."
The Minister of the Household cried and laughed, but had to admit that His Holiness had a point.
"Let's hang them out to dry a little longer and see what more goodies Western Xia can come up with," Gu Yuanbai smiled, meaningfully, "I don't have the time to bother with them right now. If you are sending gifts, you can just accept them, just to see how many things this batch of emissaries from Western Xia actually brought to Daheng."
Said, he shook his head, "Sent me such a thick gift, and as a result, there is still money left over to spend in Daheng, and there are still things to send to your mansion ...... Xixia can be really rich."
The Ministry of household secretary previously did not think of this layer, at this time followed the words of the saint only turned the corner, he thought carefully, also can not help but sigh: "Yes, Western Xia can be really rich ah."
After the two monarchs and ministers sighed, the Minister of the Household retired. Gu Yuanbai looked at the sky outside and suddenly said, "General Xue has been gone for three long months, and even Xue Yuan has been gone for more than a month."
Tian Fusheng counted the time and respectfully responded, "Exactly."
Gu Yuanbai sighed, "General Gate, Xue House's wife, daughter, and old mother are afraid that they are lonely in their hearts."
Tian Fusheng persuaded: "The saint usually prepared to take care of the Xue House, and mentioned the Xue old lady and Mrs. Xue's enjoinment, the capital Prefect also often sent troops from the Xue House door patrol and over, although it is full of women, but still do not dare to someone home to bully."
Gu Yuanbai nodded, his afterglow glanced at the two wolves lying beside the table, he pressed his forehead and said, "Arrangements will be made, I will personally go to Xue's mansion tomorrow, let the Secretary of the Ministry of the Army and the Privy Counselor accompanied by the side of the General Xue's usual relationship with those officials, but also to pick out two or three people together to accompany the line."
Tian Fusheng said, "Yes."
*
On the second day, the saint brought his courtiers to the Xue Mansion in person.
Both the Xue Palace and some military officials were relieved by this.
Gu Yuanbai arranged for Xue Yuan to go ahead and deliver the grain, firstly because he was suitable, and secondly, Gu Yuanbai wanted to tell General Xue to go ahead and do it, the fact that I can send your son to deliver the troops and grain to you means that I believe in you, and that I'm your strong backing.
But there are always some people who will think nonsense, this move will be guessed as the saint is jealous of the Xue House, and therefore want to take the opportunity to get rid of the Xue House father and son in one fell swoop to prove.
Such a person really underestimated Gu Yuanbai's capacity and broad-mindedness, but also really think of Gu Yuanbai as a wimp. Now, the saint himself with the important ministers door to appease, this move, these people know that the saint does not have that meaning.
Old Lady Xue, who was pacified by the Saint's warm voice, was even more tearful, "To be able to work for the Saint, even if they died, it would be the creation of their father and son."
Gu Yuanbai lost his smile and shook his head, saying, "Old madam's words are serious, this battle won't be difficult, General Xue's father and son will surely bring me a great victory."
His tone was light, but it was this tone that instead seemed chesty and extremely convincing.
After pacifying the Xue Mansion's family members, Gu Yuanbai was invited to take a look around the Xue Mansion. In the middle of the day, he suddenly remembered, "Where is Xue Jiuyao's room?"
Chang Yuyan had said that there were more books in Xue Yuan's room than in his entire study, and Gu Yuanbai was really a bit curious about this statement.
The Xue Mansion's boy hurriedly led the way ahead, guiding Gu Yuanbai to the front of Xue Yuan's room. The crowd stayed outside and Gu Yuanbai walked in alone, stepping into the room, he saw many neatly arranged books.
He slightly raised an eyebrow, walked forward and casually pulled out a book to look through it, only to see that the paper inside was clean and tidy, without the slightest hint of having been opened.
Gu Yuanbai put the book back, and even pulled out a few military books, the result is the same, not to mention what has read the notes and handwriting, these books still have the unique ink aroma of new books, as if with the same just printed out exactly the same.
Is this the legendary man of culture?
Gu Yuanbai sat down behind the desk and flipped the book in his hand through a few pages at random, thinking to himself that Xue Yuan wouldn't have read a single one of the books on this wall, would he?
Thinking back carefully, Xue Yuan seemed to have personally told Gu Yuanbai that he was a rough man and hadn't read many books.
However, listening to Chang Yuyan's words, Xue Yuan seemed to have become an unrecognizable character, not revealing the slightest bit on his face, but in reality, he was deeply hidden.
Which statement is true?
Gu Yuanbai flipped through a few pages and was about to put the book back when his toes kicked something. When he looked down, he saw a roughly made swallow kite sitting in the slot under the desk.
It was the same one that Xue Yuan had once put up for Gu Yuanbai to see.
Gu Yuanbai didn't have the slightest bit of self-consciousness about being impolite, he bent down and picked up the swallow kite, turning it over to take a look at it, and on the kite there was indeed a line of big words written in dragon and phoenix.
"If there is no five thunderbolts, then the Son of Heaven is in my arms."