lcionline Chapter 339 The Young General of That Year
Chapter 339 The Young General of That Year
"Our master..."
Ding Qiao sat up, her eyes sparkling.
“My master was actually a very naughty boy when he was young.
General Xiao specially hired eight teachers for him, but he made them run away.
In the end, there was no other choice but for General Xiao to teach himself.
The young master was not interested in the things in books and liked to wield swords and guns the most, so General Xiao taught him various martial arts.
At that time, the three of us were clearly learning together, but the young master always learned faster than me and Zhang Qian.
Later, General Xiao simply gave the moves to him first, and then he taught us. The young master taught seriously and often dragged us to practice until midnight..."
Ding Qiao became more and more engaged as she spoke, as if she had returned to that original time.
Zhang Qian, who was outside the carriage, listened to everything Ding Qiao said. Looking at the moon in the sky, he began to miss his childhood life.
"So he was an arrogant and domineering person when he was a child?"
Ye Xinran made her judgment based on Ding Qiao's description.
This seemed completely different from the Xiao Huaian she had seen.
"Yes, he is a bit arrogant and very courageous."
Ding Qiao said.
“At that time, everyone commented that the eldest son of the Xiao family was gentle and elegant, while the second son was unruly, but the old housekeeper of the Xiao family said that the second son’s personality was most similar to General Xiao.
The eldest son's behavior is a little too calm."
"Has Xiao Huaian never studied hard?"
Ye Xinran asked again.
She once thought that Xiao Huaian was quite bookish, but she never expected that he was not a book lover when he was a child.
"How could that be? The master later became a good scholar."
"Did he change his personality later?" Ye Xinran was curious.
"I have forgotten the specific reason." Ding Qiao murmured and began to recall.
"How could I forget?"
Someone suddenly answered outside the carriage.
Zhang Qian's voice rang out.
"The master was surrounded by the barbarians during a campaign. If General Xiao hadn't arrived in time, he would have been captured.
From that day on, the master began to study military books quietly. Later, General Xiao invited Mr. Fan to be his teacher.
Mr. Fan even praised his master for being smart and studious! "
"I remembered it as soon as you mentioned it!" Ding Qiao said.
“That time was really dangerous!”
The two of them seemed to have opened the floodgates of memory.
They recalled the past events one by one.
There were good things and bad things, and slowly, Xiao Huaian's past became concrete in Ye Xinran's mind bit by bit.
He doesn't like to stick to the rules, but the soldiers he trains are the strongest.
At the age of 16, he led a dozen people to the tribe's camp and captured two of the other generals alive.
"Is their station unattended?"
Ye Xinran was surprised.
"Why is there no one guarding it? They guarded it very strictly at the beginning. The general tried twice but failed to break through."
Zhang Qian said this with a somewhat proud tone.
"It's just that the master took a path that ordinary people wouldn't think of, so he was able to achieve a surprise victory."
"What way?"
"It's the ditch where they discharge sewage." Zhang Qian was very emotional.
“The master is usually very particular and picky about his food and daily necessities, but that day he jumped directly into a stinking ditch full of maggots without even blinking an eye.
Seeing him like this, no one dared to complain. They walked along the sewage ditch for two miles, all the way to the outside of their main tent, and directly tied up the general.
That battle destroyed one of their strongholds effortlessly, and everyone said that the master will definitely become a great general in the future."
"What happened next? Did he become a general?"
There are some things Ye Xinran has never asked.
Even when asked, neither of them would tell.
But now they are about to meet again, it seems that all restrictions have been broken. Ye Xinran wants to keep asking, and Ding Qiao and Zhang Qian also begin to tell her everything they know.
"No."
The two men's moods visibly dropped.
“At that time, many people said that the eldest son had a steady personality and was more suitable to be a leader, so most of the old general’s subordinates supported the eldest son.
But some disagree.
They felt that the eldest son was too bookish and tended to be indecisive during battles, thus losing the initiative. They thought that the second son was more suitable to be the leader.
The two voices were making quite a noise at that time.
Later, the master seemed to want to avoid suspicion on purpose and began to stay away from the military camp more often.
When there was no war, he neither trained his troops nor participated in government affairs. He was either out hunting or drinking.
Soon some people began to complain, saying that the second young master was idle and brought shame to the general. "
Ye Xinran couldn't imagine that Xiao Huaian had such a past, and asked:
"What stimulation did he receive?"
"He wasn't provoked." Zhang Qian said in a heavy tone, "The Second Young Master just didn't want any disagreements to occur within the Xiao Family Army, so he took the initiative to step back and resolve this internal fight."
"Then something happened in the General's Mansion..."
No matter what happened before, the topic finally came to this point.
Ye Xinran knew that the Xiao family had been wiped out, but she knew very little about the inside story.
Zhang Qian and Ding Qiao looked at each other and lowered their heads.
It seems that no one wants to mention that sad past.
"Since you don't want to talk about it, forget it..."
Ye Xinran said.
"It's okay to talk about it. Master, just listen to us," Ding Qiao said, "Just try not to mention it in front of the master."
After saying this, she slowly recalled the heartbreaking past.
"When the master was nineteen years old, the emperor suddenly issued an order for General Xiao to return to the capital to report. At that time, General Xiao's prestige in the northern border increased greatly. When the barbarian tribes heard of General Xiao's name, they did not dare to attack easily.
The emperor suddenly ordered General Xiao to return to Beijing, and everyone was surprised. "
Ding Qiao deliberately lowered her voice to avoid being heard by people outside.
But when she said this, she paused, and Ye Xinran immediately had some bad guesses.
"Is the emperor suspicious of the Xiao family?"
Ding Qiao nodded.
"General Xiao thought of this problem immediately, but at that time the Qiangyou tribe in the northern border was very rampant. Once General Xiao left, the war in the northern border would be affected.
But if General Xiao doesn't go back, it would be disobeying the order."
When Ding Qiao said this, she seemed to fall back into the same mood of resentment and hesitation that everyone had felt back then.
"and after?"
Ye Xinran became nervous after hearing this. Even if this issue was raised now, she couldn't think of any way to have the best of both worlds.
"Later, the master took the initiative to find General Xiao and said that he was willing to go to the capital in his father's place."
"Him? Will the Emperor agree?"
“The emperor wanted to recall General Xiao, so he would naturally not agree to the return of a son of the Xiao family.
However, this move made his attitude clear: General Xiao was not disobeying the order, but the situation on the front line was tense and it was not appropriate to leave at this time.
The master's coming to the capital is like a hostage to the emperor, and it is the first reassurance to the emperor."
"General Xiao agreed?"
Ye Xinran asked, but she already had the answer in her heart.
"agreed!"
Ding Qiao nodded.
“There really was no better option at the time.
The emperor has issued an edict, and there must be an explanation.
Just as the master said, the most suitable person can only be him.
So my master packed his bags and went to Beijing alone, with only Zhang Qian and I."
Although Zhang Qian didn't say anything outside the car, he was listening to the conversation between the two.
Thinking of the scene at that time, Zhang Qian's eyes became moist.
The master has been studying the art of war since he was young, and his favorite thing is to deploy troops. Unfortunately, some people within the Xiao family army do not want him to inherit his father's career. Now that he has entered the capital, he is afraid that he will never have a chance to fight on the battlefield in this life.
But Xiao Huaian didn't complain at all.
After arriving in Beijing, he responded to all the emperor's words of criticism one by one.
Originally, he wanted to take advantage of this trip to Beijing to say a few good words for his father and brother, but unfortunately, the emperor did not give him the opportunity to make any suggestions.
Three days after arriving in Beijing, the emperor said that since he came from the frontier, he must be good at raising horses, so he was directly arranged to work at a horse farm in the suburbs as a horse salt official.
The son of a general, a brave man who could lead troops to attack the enemy's lair at the age of sixteen, now could only work with horses. Many people in the court laughed at him in person or behind his back.
Zhang Qian felt very sorry for his master at the time, and even secretly thought that since Northern Xinjiang was so far away from the capital, it would be better for General Xiao to become the king of Northern Xinjiang directly to avoid the humiliation from the imperial court.
But Xiao Huaian himself didn't think anything of it.
Being the horse salt official was originally a means for the emperor to humiliate him, but he really started to raise horses seriously.
He even had an argument with officials from the Ministry of Revenue over the shortage of horse feed, which caused a lot of uproar.
As his thoughts gradually returned to him, Zhang Qian heard Ding Qiaohe whispering to Ye Xinran about their time raising horses.
“My master is actually very good at raising horses. He had a mount named Changfeng in the northern border, and he raised it himself since it was young.
During the past two years in the capital, each of the horses trained by their masters has excelled and is very popular among the royal nobles.
Because of this relationship, the master's treatment in Beijing was slightly better.
At that time, we all thought that there was hope for the future, and maybe the emperor would let us go back one day if he was happy.
Who knew that something like that would happen later.”
"What exactly happened back then?" Ye Xinran asked.
Ding Qiao replied, "When we were in the capital, although we missed our relatives in the northern border very much, we seldom wrote to them.
Because I was afraid that someone would intercept me and find fault with me.
So, during those two years, we knew very little about what was happening in northern Xinjiang.
The only time we got the news was when the old general sent a few of his men to secretly protect their master. They said that the war situation in the northern border was stable, and the leader of the Qiangyou tribe had been forced deep into the grassland. With just a few more months, they could be wiped out in one fell swoop. "
Not long after they arrived in the capital, news suddenly broke that the Qiangyou tribe was colluding with the prince.
They found letters between the prince and the Qiangyou tribe in the prince's mansion.
The letter stated that the Qiangyou tribe pretended to be defeated and retreated deep into the grassland, allowing the Xiao family army to take advantage of this to gain merit and thus gain the emperor's trust.
When Xiao's army returned to Beijing to receive their reward, they took the opportunity to rebel and support the prince to succeed to the throne.
After this was accomplished, the prince would cede fifteen cities in exchange for the Qiangyou tribe.
"It was just a letter, and the emperor believed it?"
Ye Xinran thought of the emperor's attitude towards the third prince's collusion with foreign enemies in the palace before.
"The emperor didn't believe it at first. And the prince tried hard to prove his innocence, so the emperor was moved with sympathy."
"Then why did you believe it later?"
"Because of the subordinates of those generals who came to Beijing!"
Ding Qiao sighed.
Ye Xinran understood it in an instant.
She felt something was wrong when she heard this just now.
If the old general was really worried about his son, why did he send people to Beijing to protect him two years later?
What's more, the timing of the incident was such a coincidence, it happened right after they came to the capital. Isn't this clearly making you a target?
"They were not sent by the old general. In fact, they had already been bribed by others!" Ye Xinran expressed her guess.
"Yes!"
Ding Qiao's eyes flashed with hatred, and he gritted his teeth and said, "These people have made great contributions in the army before, and the master is very familiar with them, so he did not suspect them at the first time.
But later the owner realized that something was wrong, but it was too late.
The Ministry of Justice found physical evidence in the prince's home, and all those who returned to the capital were arrested by the Ministry of Justice and taken back to jail.
Under torture, they confessed that the prince and General Xiao had been secretly colluding with the Qiangyou tribe. The frequent reports of victory in the northern border were actually false, and it was the Qiangyou tribe that withdrew from the battlefield on their own!"
“When the master heard this, he was so angry that he almost vomited blood.
He fought bloody battles with the enemy countless times on the battlefield in the northern border, but in the mouths of these people, it became a collusion with the Qiangyou tribe. They simply trampled on the face of the Xiao family army!"
"Then he..." Ye Xinran almost couldn't bear to ask further.
Faced with this situation, Xiao Huaian must have been both angry and helpless.
"The master later went to the Ministry of Justice and killed them."
Ding Qiao said.
"he……"
Ye Xinran really didn't expect Xiao Huaian to do such a thing.
He didn't want to seem like the kind of person who didn't care about the bigger picture.
"After killing the man, the master went to the palace to confess his crime. He knelt outside the palace for seven days and seven nights without eating or drinking. He begged the emperor to send someone to the northern border to verify the true situation and not to listen to one-sided statements."
"How did the emperor deal with it?"
"The emperor said he disturbed the law and order, and he was punished with fifty strokes of the cane and taken to the Ministry of Justice to await punishment."
"Maybe someone pleaded for him." Ye Xinran murmured.
Otherwise, the emperor could have chopped off his head directly for the crime of killing someone in the Ministry of Justice.
"Yes, at that time, in addition to Prince Rui, there were others who pleaded for him, saying that the master was just impulsive. Please, Your Majesty, investigate the matter of the Xiao family army colluding with foreign enemies."
"Then why did it happen later..."
Ye Xinran continued to ask.
From what Ding Qiao said, the emperor didn't intend to deal with the Xiao family from the beginning.
Even when Xiao Huaian killed someone on impulse, the emperor only beat him with a stick and sent him to jail.
Obviously, there is no intention to catch them all at once.
"that is because……"
"Cough cough..."
Ding Qiao was about to continue speaking when Zhang Qian outside suddenly coughed twice.
"Deputy General Zhao, why are you here?"
Zhang Qian was talking to someone outside.
Zhao Yun lowered his voice and asked, "Miss Lu, are you getting used to it? Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?"