Chen Ping, who was about to shoulder the heavy responsibility of the northwest border defense of the empire, needed warriors, adventurers, craftsmen, rather than robbers and ogres. Cossacks had to make a change in their identity. From Shahni becoming the first-class Taiji in the empire, they entered a new system, a new order, and they had to adapt to and maintain this system and order.

July.

It was the hottest time in the empire's hinterland. Otherwise, people would not have mistakenly thought that the July fire was describing the heat of the weather. On the coast of the North Sea, the plants and trees had begun to turn yellow. The emperor of the empire walked on the grass along the coast of the North Sea and felt the bleak autumn wind blowing from the jungle not far away. Under the setting sun, the calm North Sea had golden ripples. Aside the emperor, an elderly man holding a barbarian whistled out of the clear and desolate wilderness. In the thick and simple tone, there was a sound of thunder hooves and gold and iron. It was melodious outside the border, which was probably like this...

"Is this the Beihai where Su Wu shepherds? Throughout history, we are afraid that we will be the first Han army to conquer this place......" Li Mingxun's voice was a little desolate. His calloused hands stood on the endless coast of the North Sea. Looking back on the five thousand years of history in China, his heart was already desolate.

Li Junhua leaned back and looked at his father's back in the sunset, his eyes full of unbearableness. The back, which was once as majestic as a mountain, is now only the hero's twilight. And the man in front of him, looking at the thousands of years of Chinese civilization, only a few people can stand shoulder to shoulder with him. Perhaps as his son, I should help him with one more help and go further and become the first person in the ages.

"Father, from here for more than a thousand miles northwest, Yenisek, the heart of Tsarist Russia. While it was not cold and the weather was just right, we could raise troops to advance north, flatten the place, and put the imperial flag to the end of the continent......" Li Junhua said firmly.

"Forget it..." Li Mingxun shook his head slightly and refused. But Li Junhua clearly saw a hint of eagerness in his father's eyes, and Li Mingxun said: "Your brother has sent several memorials. It has been half a year since the Northern Expedition, and hundreds of thousands of troops have spent like flowing water. It is not worth it to be more military for the history books. If you continue to fight, you may have to issue national debts again. You can't just let the country's debt be heavily buried, so let the successor pay off my debts for me.

And I am nearly forty years old, and the bones pressed on my body rattle, so I can't struggle in the snow and ice."

"Brother is really harsh. Now is the perfect time for the father to achieve great achievements. If not this time, I am afraid that there will be no chance in the future. How can I leave my father with a lifetime regret?" Li Junhua said.

Li Mingxun patted the prince's head: "How do you know your elder brother's difficulties? Even if the king of the country is helped by the king, he is still unsatisfied. As for regret..., human desires are endless, and the emperor is the same. At this moment, I regret not being able to travel all over the beautiful rivers and mountains in front of me, but if you go further, I will expect a further journey. Where is the end? Fortunately, I have you three brothers. One day, you will fulfill my unsuccessful ambition......

Let’s go, Junhua, how can the prosperity of the world be conquering and winning? The sky is high and the ambition is far away, where can we achieve great achievements?"

Under the sunset, the emperor slowly disappeared into the night with a line of writing.

The camp set out from Beihai City and headed south. First, he went to Kulun, then turned back to Beijing. On the way of the marching, Li Junhua rode a horse to guard the team on both sides, occasionally passing by the dragon chariot, and always heard laughter and chatting inside. He also heard the sound of Hu Zuo's zither and zither crowing several times. He observed secretly and found that the old musician who was accompanying Beihai that day was still by the emperor, but he was not like a person who was just a music player. The emperor was very polite to him and always called him Mr. Shang, but Li Junhua had never heard of such a Mr. Shang by the emperor.

"Old Wu, who is Mr. Shang?" Seeing Wu Yifeng coming out of the dragon chariot, Li Junhua couldn't resist the desire to know and asked carefully.

Wu Yifeng smiled and said, "Mr. Shang's name is Shang Rong. He was originally from Jiangnan. He was sent to the south of the country when the country was settled in the early days."

After hearing this, Li Junhua was even more puzzled and frowned and asked, "How can a person with punishment accompany the king?"

Wu Yifeng shook his head: "I don't know about this Beizhi. When Mr. Shang appeared in front of the imperial court, Beizhi was at Kulun to serve you."

Li Junhua looked at Wu Yifeng with a smile, feeling a little unyielding. Wu Yifeng said helplessly: "I know that I just heard from my colleagues that his Majesty went to Langjuxu Mountain to worship the sky first, and then went south to Yanran Mountain to observe the remains of Yanran stone carvings. It was also at the foot of Yanran Mountain that I met Mr. Shang Rong by chance.

Mr. Shang was originally an official slave of a slassak, an official slave of the Yunzhong Appeasement Zone. You also know that in the Northern Expedition plan, there was a constitution for the slassak of the Monan directly under the control of the north to guard the border. The first one to set off was naturally the slassak. Mr. Shang was in Helin in April. Mr. Shang was a scholar-official, well-versed in the past and present, and was more proficient in the history of the Han Dynasty. Speaking of Yanran stone carvings and the Han-Hungary War, they were well-versed in music theory and Mongolian language, so they were left by the emperor to serve the horse."

"So, Mr. Shang came to the imperial court just by chance." Li Junhua asked with his eyes narrowed.

Wu Yifeng smiled: "If it weren't for chance, how could an official slave come to serve in the imperial court? But during this period of time, he saw that the emperor was very polite to him and said that he would send someone to investigate his family's case back then, and might be able to be rehabilitated."

Li Junhua asked quickly: "Then was his family's case wronged and wronged?"

Wu Yifeng looked at the prince with a smile and said, "My prince, how can I answer your question? You walk to the official slaves Zhasakri, and no one of the guys inside did not shout for justice."

Li Junhua thought about it, but he was not as indifferent as Wu Yifeng. He knew that there must be some wronged inside, but it was definitely not the time to pursue the matter. The two were laughing and talking, Shang Rong also came down from the dragon chariot, walked to Li Junhua, bowed to present a list. Li Junhua opened it and looked at it. They were all unfamiliar names, but it seemed that some of them had some impressions, but they could not think of them.

"Mr. Shang, is this?" Li Junhua asked simply.

Shang Rong said: "Your Highness, this is what Your Majesty has asked the people to hand over to you. They are all official slaves who have made contributions in the Northern Expedition. Your Majesty wants you to investigate in detail and verify it and reward it after verification."

"So many?" Li Junhua looked at it and knew that there were no less than four or five hundred people. The official slave Zhasak was the main human resources provider unit for the Northern Expedition of the Empire. It was often used in dangerous places, but he served as a groom, coolie, etc., and how could these people make contributions when facing war? It would be impossible to say that there were only a few, but so many people felt a bit incredible.

Shang Rong said: "Most of them participated in the Weng Jinhe defense war."

Li Junhua immediately understood that the vanguard troops of the Western Route Army were the first to arrive in the northern desert during the Northern Expedition. They crossed the vast sea thousands of miles away. Among the accompanying baggage troops, there were many horses provided by the official slave Zhasak and transported by the official slaves. On the banks of the Wengjin River, the vanguard troops were trapped for nearly two months and were besieged by the Qing army. They were almost out of ammunition and food. The people in the army, from generals to grooms, had already participated in the war. Those official slaves were naturally no exception. Those who survived were those who were meritorious.

"Mr. Shang also participated in the Battle of Wengjinhe?" Li Junhua asked knowingly that even if he chose official slaves as baggage personnel, he would not choose a veteran like Shang Rong. Moreover, in the information Wu Yifeng informed, the Zasak where Shang Rong was located was at the foot of Yanran Mountain, which he did not know even if he asked for a reward. If he asked for a reward, even if the emperor had to return to the capital, he would not have such a thing on his way back to triumphantly.

Shang Rong had no intention of lying, so he shook his head and said, "I was old and could not serve in the army. After the battle of Weng Jinhe, I was able to follow my subordinates to the foot of Yanran Mountain. It was just that I was well versed in medical principles and was ordered to take care of the injured official slaves and understand the inside story, so I got this list."

After hearing this, Li Junhua felt that the old man was really extraordinary. After asking carefully, he learned the inside story. It turned out that the emperor arrived at the foot of Yanran Mountain and observed the stone carvings of that year. When he accidentally met Shang Rong, he was very prone to talk about it. He left him by his side. Shang Rong also explained the injustice of his family in detail. The emperor knew that he had taken care of the meritorious slaves and was grateful to him. He agreed to a special pardon for rehabilitation. However, Shang Rong was stubborn and would never pardon him. He was sure that his family was wronged and wanted to clear the injustice and let the truth be revealed. So the emperor sent guards to investigate the matters of the Shang family. Since he did not have a special pardon, the emperor was willing to agree to one of his requests. In the end, Shang Rong asked for meritorious slaves on the banks of the Wengjin River, and the emperor arranged it.

After hearing this, Li Junhua felt awe-inspiringly, feeling that this old man was extraordinary. Seeing that the camp was gone, someone led a short horse to help him get on the horse, and said, "Mr. Shang, if you don't dislike me, just tell me about the battlefield of Wengjinhe."

Shang Rong said with emotion: "Although I have not experienced it personally, I have buried countless corpses after arriving on the battlefield, and I have seen a lot of cruelty. What I hear and see is the heroic appearance of the soldiers of the imperial army, and the Han Feng general leads the way......"

Shang Rong was not polite. He talked about the story one by one. He could describe it in just a few words, making people think that he was a storyteller. However, stories never belonged to the same group, but had to have the protagonist and supporting role. Compared with the imperial soldiers who fought bravely, the appeasement general Xu Hanfeng of Yunzhong was naturally more like the protagonist. Shang Rong was originally under Yunzhong's rule, and when talking about Xu Hanfeng, he was familiar with him, which made Li Junhua understand him a little more.

"...... It's just that God is jealous of talent, and such a man will eventually die on the battlefield..."

"What did you say? General Hanfeng died in battle. How could this happen?" Li Junhua suddenly woke up. He clearly remembered that after the Battle of Cobbdo, Xu Hanfeng led the army to the battlefield to support. Although he could not catch up with the decisive battle, he crossed the river at the first time and pursued the Qing army. There were also reports of war, and there were quite a few gains. Later, Pei Chengyi led the brigade to come. Li Junhua handed over his errand and returned to Kulun. At that time, Xu Hanfeng led his army to fight on the front line.

"Don't your Highness know?" Shang Rong was confused.

"I don't know, how he died in battle?" Li Junhua asked hurriedly.

"It was not a death in battle. I heard that it was pursuing the Qing army to the border. It encountered heavy rain at night, and the weather turned cold, and it was infected with wind and cold, so I died without treatment. It was about the beginning of July, and it might be to stabilize the morale of the army, and to be secretly unanimous..." Shang Rong said, but when he saw the prince's confusion expression, he dared not hide the source of the information: "It was also what His Majesty talked about in front of the emperor a few days ago."

"Oh, I know, Mr. Shang, go to rest." Li Junhua looked at Long Nian deeply and chose to avoid talking. His head was filled with the drunken figure he saw in Guihua City, the noble child who struggled between ideals and ambitions and cold reality, the young general who hoped to die on the battlefield and at the worst not to die in prison in order to avoid tarnishing his family name.

But was he really dead? I still remember that when he broke the window paper, Xu Hanfeng's only request was to inform him in advance when he was asked to commit suicide. Although he had agreed at that time, Xu Hanfeng made outstanding achievements in this Northern Expedition. With this merit, his family had a deep background, and he could be said to be aware of his previous crimes and avoiding the legal responsibilities. If he really did this, he would have touched the principle and he would choose to ignore it. Who would have wanted to see a hero being questioned and insulted?

He should not be dead! Li Junhua thought so, even for the sake of military morale, there was no secret method. It should be the emperor who handled this matter privately, not only to protect the lives of his close friend's descendants, but also to prevent the prince from being embarrassed between law and love.

"Lao Wu, do you know about General Han Feng?" Li Junhua looked at the emperor's chief guard.

Wu Yifeng shrugged and said, "I only know that he went to the place he should go. Your Highness......"

Li Junhua blocked Wu Yifeng's mouth: "Stop talking, just pretend I haven't asked."

At this time, Chang Adai arrived on a fast horse and submitted the document to Li Junhua in front of him, saying, "Your Highness, this is a form sent by the commander-in-chief. You need to sign it yourself."

Military affairs are still Li Junhua's errands. When he saw that it was a confirmation form for military supplies transportation, the army had already checked it and it was defective. He signed it casually. When the officer left with the order, Li Junhua wondered: "Why did you send the order from the army?"

Chang Adei said, "Your Highness, look at the copy."

Li Junhua then looked carefully and found that it was the 200,000 shi of military rations and some tent supplies to transport to Hulunbuir and Kulun respectively. But now the Northern Expedition Army has retreated south before the Emperor's Veteran. What should we do to transport so much military rations? Chang Adei said: "The internal migration is really short of food. If we can have the 200,000 shi of help, this matter will be done."
Chapter completed!