Chapter 29 Pingliang

  "Do we have to wait again? We've been waiting here for half a month already, and that XX prince hasn't even shown his shadow. Are we supposed to wait our whole lives just because he's not coming? He's not some loose woman who can't control himself...!" A coarse and furious voice echoed through the reception hall of the Pingliang Commandery, where a burly man in full armor stood upright in the middle of the hall, shouting loudly.

  A loud crack interrupted the shouting of the Great Han, and in the middle of the main hall sat a man in his 40s or 50s. He was the commander-in-chief of this reinforcement army, General of the Imperial Guard, Young Protector of the Crown Prince, Commander-in-Chief of the Western Capital Garrison, and Envoy to Pacify Qingyang Prefecture, Zhu Muhe, younger brother of the current head of the Zhu family, Zhu Muqing.

  At this time, Zhemo River's face was iron-green, his eyes staring dead at the majestic and unyielding giant standing in the hall, who was looking back at him without a hint of retreat. His words were almost squeezed out from between his teeth: "Duan Qibao, General has tolerated you for a long time already. Who knew you would be so arrogant? Not only did you interrogate the superior officer in public, but also insulted the Crown Prince. Alright, today I will take your head to sacrifice to the flag and let you know whether General's knife is sharp or not..."

  Before he finished speaking, the big man called Duan Qihao had already sneered and pushed back, "Heh heh, just afraid that Commander Zuo can't make up his mind, have to wait for that Crown Prince to come before he can be in high spirits?"

  "Good, good... ...good..." Although these words didn't contain a single swear word, the malicious intent was so strong that it could cut through steel and make seven orifices emit smoke. The originally pale face turned purple, and several "good" words were uttered from the mouth, revealing extreme anger.

  In the great hall, there were not only the two of them. More than a dozen high-ranking military officers sat on both sides in order of precedence, all with faces as calm as water, without any intention of stepping forward to dissuade. The current Pingliang City had become a large military camp, with people and horses gathering together. With 80,000 imperial guards and civilian laborers transporting grain, there were nearly 200,000 people crowded here. However, the Crown Prince, who was in charge of supervising the army, had not arrived yet. The commander-in-chief, Zhe Muhe, ignored everyone's suggestion to set off immediately, determined to wait for the Crown Prince to arrive before doing anything. These people were already dissatisfied in their hearts. If the time was shorter, it would be fine, but now they had been waiting for more than half a month. The news from Qingyang was that wave after wave of enemy troops had arrived, and the situation had become extremely dangerous. However, the commander-in-chief seemed to ignore this. Therefore, today in the great hall, General Duan Qihao from the Hezhong army finally spoke out. Although his words were harsh and somewhat offending, every sentence struck a chord in people's hearts. At this time, no one came forward to persuade him, and some even secretly cheered, hoping that things would escalate and replace the incompetent commander-in-chief with a new one from the capital.

  Chen Zu, the commander of Pingliang, was a bit more serious and worried that if things continued like this, not only would Muhe not come to terms, but even when the prince arrived, Pingliang would be in chaos. So he cleared his throat and said, "General Duan, this is the residence of the Commander of Pingliang and the temporary headquarters of the General-in-Chief. This is not your mansion by the river, so put away your arrogant attitude from the river and get out quickly to reflect on yourself. Are you also going to lecture the prince? I have taken note of all your words and will deal with you later. For now, get out immediately."

  Although the words were not polite, Duan Jizong was not an ungrateful person. Chen Zu's words were a clear rebuke, but in the end, he had indeed overstepped his bounds. His brother, Duan Jihou, had died unjustly at Tongguan, and the prince's faction had become sworn enemies with him. He also resented the fifth prince for failing to protect his brother. At this moment, he lashed out in anger, speaking without thinking, but he still didn't let hatred cloud his mind. He understood Chen Zu's intention to defend him, and as a veteran general of the Western Army over sixty years old, Duan Jizong had to listen to him obediently. So, he bowed his fist and paid respects to Chen Zu, then turned around and left the hall without looking back at the trembling Zhe Muhe.

  As soon as he left, two people immediately stood up in the hall and gave a distant fist to Zhu Muhe. They turned around and followed behind Duan Qihao without saying a word. It was as if they didn't put Zhu Muhe, the general manager of the army, in their eyes at all. This made Zhu Muhe's face turn from red to white, and then from white to red again, leaving him stunned for half a day before he came back to his senses.

  He didn't want to immediately execute these arrogant offenders, but the situation in Pingliang City was complex. It's said that there are all sorts of people here, and at this time, more than 200,000 people had gathered in Pingliang. Apart from the civilians, they were all soldiers from various places, each with their own background. As the overall manager, he couldn't convince everyone, it was truly unbearable to speak of. Just now, the few people who walked out were all from Hezhong, and the leader, Duan Qihu, was even the son-in-law of General Han Wei, the one-armed general of Hezhong. The reinforcements from Hezhong were led by this person, and Han Wei himself had a remarkable background. Although his connections in the army weren't as deep as those of the Zhao family, he was the youngest son of the late General Han Shizhong of Hezhong. It's said that people from Mizhi are all relatives of those from Suide, and Han Shizhong's hometown was indeed in Suide. According to legend, this person had a sturdy build, was extremely brave, and after moving to Hezhong, he had a great reputation among the Western armies at the time.

  Don't mention Han Shizhong, just talk about Han Wei. This man followed Ren Dejing on a western expedition, was surrounded and cut off, and Ren Dejing surrendered to Western Xia. However, he led 5,000 riverine troops to break through the encirclement of the Western Xia army, which had over 1 million soldiers, and killed his way out to return to Western Qin. When they returned to Western Qin, only 12 of the 5,000 riverine troops were left. Han Wei was shot with 27 arrows, had over a hundred wounds all over his body, and had one arm severed. He was critically ill when he returned, but managed to survive. However, he could never again take to the battlefield. This is one of the few highlights of Emperor Zhao Wu's campaign against Xia. Later, Emperor Zhao Wu personally awarded Han Wei the title of "First in Bravery" in Western Qin, and granted him the title of "Brave and Fierce Marquis". He was also allowed to garrison the rivers. At that time, the prestige of the Han family in the riverine region even surpassed that of the Zhok clan, a prominent military family. When people mentioned the one-armed general from the riverine region, they would give a thumbs up and exclaim, "He's truly a hero!"

  Han Wei was already in his seventies at this time, but he was extremely protective of his family and had a fiery temper that only grew stronger with age. If Han Wei were to behead Duan Qifei today, he couldn't guarantee that Han wouldn't dare to rise up and behead the people who killed him by the riverbank. Therefore, although he hated Duan Qifei to death in his heart, he didn't dare make any rash moves.

  Suppressing the anger in his heart, he glanced at the generals present and suddenly felt a surge of flames rising again. The remaining dozen or so generals all had an ambiguous smile on their faces, even those who were close to him turned their heads away, counting the willow leaves outside the hall, which was more painful for him than being slapped in the face. He secretly called out, "My prince, if you don't come quickly, I have no way to deal with these turtle eggs."

  He came from a military background, although he also held the title of General-in-Chief of the Left and Right Imperial Guards, and he often boasted about his knowledge of warfare. However, he had never actually been on the battlefield. In the capital, he was good at discussing strategies with the Crown Prince, grasping military power, and forming external alliances. The most important thing was to let the current Emperor see the Crown Prince's abilities and suppress the influence of the old fifth prince in the military. But thinking is one thing, and now the Crown Prince is walking slowly on the road, while he himself cannot control these unruly princes. Killing people to establish authority? It's a joke. If killing a few people could intimidate them, he would have started a massacre long ago. If the wrong person was killed, it might even trigger a military uprising. At that time, without waiting for the Emperor to behead him, he would have to commit suicide to apologize to the world. This general, who had mediocre talent and lacked decisiveness, was now in the same state of mind as Li Jin Hua, who was thousands of miles away. However, Li Jin Hua had an additional helper named Zhao Shi, while Zhe Mu He only had a group of generals waiting to see him make a fool of himself, without even one person willing to speak up for him.

  But after all, he had been in the officialdom for a long time. Although military affairs were rough and urgent, his city was not shallow either. He knew that getting angry at this time would not help, so he suppressed his anger immediately and changed to a gentle tone: "Generals, the prince has already sent a message saying that he will arrive tomorrow. With the prince's presence in front of the army, our soldiers' morale will surely be greatly boosted. At that time..."

  He thought that this would be the case, but these words were not meant to show weakness to others. Moreover, among those present, who had not fought on the battlefield? They didn't care about what the prince said, and some even thought deeply: when they went onto the battlefield, was it more important to protect the prince or to kill the enemy? From this point on, the little bit of prestige that Zhemo River had built up in the army through his family's influence was completely gone from these generals' minds.

  Before he could finish speaking, someone in the room immediately spoke up with a sarcastic tone: "General, the situation in Qingyang is unclear, you're not thinking about how to resolve the chaos in Qingyang, but instead you're worried about whether the crown prince will arrive or not. Is that really right? Will everything be fine just because the crown prince arrives? I don't think so. Our army has been delayed here for half a month, and it's said that rescue troops are like putting out a fire. General, you can't possibly not know this basic principle, can you? If something goes wrong in Qingyang, who will take responsibility for this huge matter - the general or the crown prince? Hmm, I don't think the crown prince will... Heh heh, when the emperor blames us later on, don't try to shift the blame onto us soldiers, okay? Gentlemen, isn't that right?"

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