Tiger Guards

Chapter 193 Reinforcements Arrive
The Fenshui River Basin has a stable southerly wind.

The fleet slowly shuttled through the drainage outlet of the Daze Lake, and after entering the lake area, it set off at full speed.

The nearby dock at Zhongdu Camp was temporarily renovated, and when the fleet arrived, 5,000 new soldiers were dispatched to prepare for the transportation of food.

The boats came to the shore one after another. Wei Xing was the first to disembark and went straight to where Zhao Ji was: "Minister."

Zhao Ji examined the guy and looked at his left leg: "How is the injury recovering?"

"It doesn't affect riding or walking, but it's hard to exert force."

Wei Xing demonstrated by walking back and forth in front of Zhao Ji, and made several attacking and exerting force postures, but his feet could not naturally extend and retract to push off the ground.

It’s not that he has lost his explosive power, but that he has not yet fully recovered.

Zhao Ji felt a little relieved and asked, "Zi'ang, what books did you read while recuperating?"

"Uh... I don't have the mood to read. My concubine knows a little, but not much. She can only read stories from the book, but she doesn't have any annotations, so I can't understand the stories."

Wei Xing changed the subject and said, "Yang Ji is a good man. He asked Madam Cai to copy a few volumes for him. He will find someone to study with him when he returns."

Yang Ji's ankle injury is quite serious and he has been traveling by car recently.

In order to make it easier for this guy to go to the toilet, Zhao Ji also invented a folding chair with a big hole.

Wei Xing then asked, "Minister, how is your relationship with Madam Cai?"

"Nothing, I admire her talent and she admires mine, that's all."

Zhao Ji looked at Wei Xing, who took out a stack of silk books and asked, "Why did she write such a large silk book for you?"

As he handed it over, Zhao Ji took it and saw that the silk book had been folded and sewn with needle and thread, so he put it away and said to Wei Xing, "I'm not asking you to become a doctor by letting you read. Even if you just listen to it as a story, it's better than not listening at all."

The meaning of the scriptures records the stories, and the annotations of various scholars are detailed expansions of the story background and reading comprehension.

Different people have different understandings of the same story.

Seeing Wei Xing remain silent, Zhao Ji pointed at his left leg and said, "If you were to lose your limbs, what would I do? Should I keep you in the marquisate? Or should I let you return home to herd horses and become a wealthy man? You should study hard in your spare time. As long as your head is still on your neck, even if you lose your legs, I will still help you become a county governor."

Wei Xing was moved by what he heard, but also felt a little awkward: "With a broken leg, what's the point of living? I might as well be dead."

"Tell you a secret."

Zhao Ji hooked his hand at Wei Xing, and the surrounding Hu Ben were watching. Wei Xing leaned over and heard Zhao Ji whispering.

Wei Xing was stunned: "Really?"

"What are you lying to?"

Zhao Ji punched him in the chest and asked, "Are you still going to die?"

"You definitely can't die."

Wei Xing replied with a smile, he didn't expect that having broken legs would have other benefits.

In fact, Zhao Ji was not sure whether it was true or not, he just made his own inference.

When the legs are broken, the human body's blood circulation path becomes shorter, the heart's pumping efficiency increases, and it is naturally beneficial for combat.

Seeing that others were curious, Wei Xing told them about it, and everyone burst into laughter.

Everyone was itching to take over, as everyone knew that after pacifying Taiyuan, everyone would have concubines, slaves and a small property.

If nothing unexpected happens, we will have a child by this time next year.

While they were joking, the subsequent reinforcements disembarked. They were the remaining volunteers led by Pei Xiu, with a total of more than 1,800 cavalry.

During this period, the Pingyang Marquisate resumed production, and under the organization and coordination of Jia Kui, Zhao Ji's own Yicong were also issued military uniforms.

In order to distinguish themselves from the Hedong knights or other Han cavalry and Xiongnu volunteers, this group of volunteers were issued purple uniforms.

There were families in the Fan and Wei manors who knew about purple dyes and cloth dyeing techniques, but the skills had been passed down from father to son, and the output was not high.

The Han army uniforms were mainly crimson, while some of the imperial guards in the capital camp wore purple uniforms.

Some county and state soldiers would also use blue, green or blue-gray as the main colors and wear red shawls.

It wasn't a question of regional separatism, but primarily of economics; and by now, with the chaos of war in Kanto and production in decline, black and white uniforms had already appeared. The Yicong troops, in purple uniforms, led their horses off the boats and lined up on the mudflats.

Pei Xiu also rode up to see Zhao Ji and jumped off his horse, saying, "Lord Zhao."

"Now that Seventh Brother and Zi'ang are here, I don't have to worry about anything anymore."

Zhao Ji stepped forward and grasped Pei Xiu's hand, feeling reassured. "I've already ordered the new camp to be built. Food, drinks, and beverages are all ready. Come inside and rest. Leave it to the new recruits to load up the food."

Pei Xiu chuckled and said, "As the fleet sailed north, we saw Xiongnu cavalrymen coming north from the west bank and joining the Chanyu's camp. Does the Lord of Zhao intend to use the Xiongnu to defeat the bandits?"

"No, we will handle this kind of thing ourselves, and the Huns can just watch."

Zhao Ji also said to the nearby Huben, "If we rely on the Xiongnu to kill the bandits, we won't be able to hold Taiyuan securely. The Taiyuan rebels have already taken over the Pingtao clan bandits and joined forces with the Daling clan bandits, the Shang clan. They have over 7,000 infantry and cavalry, and over a thousand chariots, and are planning to march north to Jinyang."

Wei Xing immediately asked, "Should we intercept them?"

"No rush. Let them go for two days. We will go after they have established their camp in Jinyang."

Zhao Ji looked around and said, "If we don't defeat them, we will have to rebuild the camp to detain them."

Pei Xiu also knew that this was not the place to discuss such a decisive battle, so he laughed with everyone else, mounted his horse, and followed Zhao Ji across the embankment into the new camp.

Inside the camp, Yang Qi was enjoying the breeze on the watchtower, watching the Xiongnu volunteers in purple military uniforms marching in a line, stepping onto the embankment and heading towards the new camp, connected end to end.

The Tiger Infantry who came to reinforce wore red uniforms, armor, and carried bags on their backs, marching on foot.

Infantry and cavalry intertwined, and purple and red mixed together like a winding colorful ribbon.

After watching for a while, Yang Qi sighed to the people around him: "Evil purple takes away red!"

The several ministers around him remained silent, watching the reinforcements join the new camp. There were half infantry and half cavalry, about four to five thousand people.

Seeing them all enter the camp, Yang Biao said, "Li Jue's foundation has been lost. He will be defeated within two or three years."

Noticing that Yang Biao's tone seemed to indicate that he didn't want to go to Luodu, Zhang Xi and Zhou Zhong looked at him sideways.

Zhao Wen did not react, he actually liked Chang'an more.

If the imperial court was in Chang'an, as long as it could open up or win over Zhang Lu in Hanzhong and clear the road, it could bring down Liu Yan just by relying on imperial edicts.

The big families in Yizhou were also rebelling against Liu Yan, and Liu Yan's foundation for ruling Yizhou was actually not solid.

With a little external support, given Liu Yan's current age, he would be able to take Yizhou back during the transition from the old to the new.

But after what happened in Taiyuan, the people of Yizhou probably wouldn't overthrow Liu Yan easily.

But for Zhao Wen himself, Chang'an was very close to his hometown, which was conducive to him attracting scholars from Yizhou and expanding his influence.

Even if he resigned from office or died of illness, it would be convenient for his disciples, former officials, and relatives to welcome his funeral and bury him in his hometown.

But Zhang Xi was from Runan. When the imperial court moved to Luoyang, a large number of Yanyu scholars could be recruited into the court to strengthen Zhang Xi's influence.

For example, Xun Yu and Xun You. Xun You was too smart. He noticed the signs of eastward migration and asked to be sent to be the governor of Shu County.

Since Hanzhong was not an option, he took the imperial edict and went to Jingzhou, attempting to enter Yizhou from Jingzhou and escape from this chaotic world.

It is not known whether Xun You is dead or alive now. The same thing happened to Xun Yu. He took advantage of the chaos to escape when Dong Zhuo moved the capital.

As for Sima Fang, his position as governor of Hedong County was taken away by the Zhao family. He now stays by the emperor's side to serve as a lecturer on a daily basis. He has not become a minister and is not even in Yang Qi's group of five.

The five of them had worked together as stable managers, farm managers, and factory managers. What had Sima Fang done?
The shared experience of suffering actually strengthened the friendship between Yang Qi and the other four.

Yang Biao just looked at it tentatively, and seeing that there was no response to the topic, he simply stopped discussing Guanzhong.

Instead, he asked Zhao Wen, who was relatively knowledgeable about military affairs: "Has the reinforcements from Hedong arrived? Will Taiyuan be pacified?"

"It all depends on the battle of Jinyang. If Minister Zhao can defeat the clan bandits in one battle, the county will be peaceful and government affairs will run smoothly. Then, he can lead his troops to support the court in Luoyang."

Zhao Wen spoke softly, "I'm worried about Cao Cao. The battle in Runan is already decided, and Cao Cao has also been implementing military and civilian settlements around Xu County. His fierce troops are now looking in all directions, fearing they might come to Luodu. Without Zhang Yang's support, Dong Cheng might welcome Cao Cao into Luo, adding to the uncertainty."

He did not like the strong and fierce Cao Cao, because behind Cao Cao stood Yuan Shao.

Everyone was speechless and could only wait for fate to change.

(End of this chapter)