Chapter 676 Leisure
In the imperial city, apart from the imperial guards in the imperial palace, and the Fenghong Villa on the outskirts of the imperial dynasty, the four guards guarding the imperial city and the servants of the local yamen in the city possessed force.
These powers are not worth mentioning on weekdays. Not to mention far away, the 20,000 guards alone can smash the four guards to pieces, let alone the yamen servants in the yamen, are they used for fighting?
But weak is weaker, but it also takes time.
Whether the imperial guards speak or not depends on the emperor's will, and now the emperor does not say a word, and the imperial guards are like a pool of stagnant water, completely undisturbed by the outside world. Of course, no one dared to attack the imperial guards. That was the real suicide and brain failure.
Apart from the imperial guards, the nearest armed forces in the imperial city are only the guards of the four gates and the government servants in the city.
The "big test" of the past dynasties is not only full of blood, but also summed up a lot of experience and lessons for the latecomers, and even some very mysterious laws.
For example, the person who finally won the "Big Exam" was someone who had mastered the knives in the imperial city in advance. These armed forces are equivalent to the handle of a knife.
Because the "big test" is very likely to have an extreme situation at the end. At that time, if you are unarmed, you will almost die. Otherwise, you will have a huge chance of winning.
The competition became fierce from the very beginning.
First, two of the chief generals of the four guards saw that the situation was not right and reported directly to the Ministry of War, saying that they were ill and could no longer guard the imperial city for His Majesty, and hoped that they could return to their hometown to spend the rest of their lives.
The Ministry of War has always been very cautious about this kind of request for retirement, not to mention the request of the imperial city guard, which will usually be given after careful consideration before replying. And before the reply from the Ministry of War, if you dare to hang up the crown and leave, it will be AWOL, and you can have your head chopped off if you are questioned.
But this time the Ministry of War moved very quickly. It took less than five days to get a reply to the requests of the two city gate guards. Even the review procedures were just going through the motions, and there was no careful checking of the reasons for the requests as usual.
After the two resigned and retired people breathed a sigh of relief, they hurriedly went to the Ministry of War to make a handover, and then left the imperial city without stopping for half a moment, and went back to their hometowns, as if fleeing for their lives.
When the two are old, someone will fill the two vacancies immediately. People seem to have been prepared a long time ago, there is no time to grind, and there is no need to make adjustments. There is no window for "no general to be in power" at the four gates of the imperial city.
It looks better after that.
In two or three days, various scandals about the guards of the imperial city and the heads of the local yamen were exposed. Even the story of picking up ashes at home was spread by unknown people in the streets and alleys. In one month, five positions have been changed in a row!
What about the replacement? Either entered the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice, or committed suicide at home in fear of crime. Anyway, no one can settle down, and the end is described as miserable.
Shen Hao has been paying close attention to these news, not because he is meddlesome, but because Jiang Cheng ordered him to pay close attention to the troubles in the imperial city because of the black water in his hand.
It was also the fierce competition for the four gates of the imperial city that set off the intense heat of the "big exam" of the royal family.
These news are like a "novel", filled with Shen Hao's "leisure" life outside the battle. There are no flower houses here, no sweet and soft singers, and they dare not even drink alcohol. A group of energetic men are either competing in martial arts or bragging together. Those bragging can really "go to heaven" Yes, sometimes someone who can hear Shen Hao's three views is stunned and shouts.
And the intelligence of Heishui always gives Shen Hao new opportunities to use his brain. At the same time, he is also very fortunate that he is now in the army, far away from the ups and downs inside the country. No matter how the situation changes, the current It seems that it will not affect him. It's just watching a play with hands folded.
Judging from the timeline of the discharge of the black water, the time of the "big exam" of the royal family began when the seventh prince Yang Shu received the power of the money and food austerity plan from the emperor, and this time was in the middle of the "big exam" when it entered a white-hot stage. The time transition was very short, and it did not proceed step by step, but was directly affected by the war situation in the south.
Therefore, the white-hot node on the timeline of the discharge of the black water suddenly started after Jianchuan completely broke through the barbarian confrontation line.
Based on Heishui's analysis, they believe that the root cause of the sudden and intense "big test" is "time". As the war progresses faster, the process of the "big test" will also speed up, and it is even very likely that the two will be completed at the same time.
This does not mean that the princes have to decide the absolute winner at the end of the war, but that the time limit of the "big test" will be exhausted, and after that, the emperor will directly select the winner and announce the end of the "big test". Therefore, in order to avoid the uncertain factor of the emperor, for the seven princes, the natural and safest way is to wipe out all the other competitors, and then they will be left alone, and the victory will not escape.
Shen Hao had an idea, or a guess. Is there a possibility that because of the war in the south, the Ministry of War or the emperor in turn controls the progress of this "big test"?
Because Shen Hao also read a lot of history books of the old Jing Dynasty before, in fact, the "big test" of the royal family was named by a historian many years ago, and it has been used by later generations to this day.
Every "big exam" of the royal family recorded in the book lasted a long time, some as long as more than five years, and some as short as two years. Entering the intense stage, such as the competition for the "knife handle" of the imperial city, is usually in the middle and late stages of the "big exam", which is very different from this time. Even in the history of the old Jing Dynasty, it was the first time that the "big test" encountered a big battle.
Shen Hao, who was in the army recently, also received first-hand news that the military situation in the south has been adjusted again. The 30,000 people from the previous rotation will be deployed to Baitou Gorge again, and the prominent part of Jianchuan is also adjusting the center of gravity of its troops. The forces of the middle and lower military villages will be brought together and Chen Bing will be in the lower part, and the empty space in the middle will be directly contracted in the form of a military station.
In this way, Jianchuan's aggressiveness will be drastically weakened, and its functionality will be doubled. It became a pipe pierced into the body of the barbarians, and a steady stream of generals and supplies were sent to the direction of Baitou Gorge.
The total strength of the two sides has exceeded 150,000 people. The direct pressure on the barbarians can be imagined.
This did not give the barbarians any chance to breathe, and at the same time, it seemed to have less time to digest, which gave Shen Hao the feeling that he was rushing for time. I don't know if this is Zuo Yuliang's military strategy, or because the emperor gave him a deadline to force him to use troops like this.
Shen Hao felt that if his guess was correct, once there was any breakthrough in Baitou Gorge, the "big test" in the imperial city might cause even bigger waves.