Warrior in Turbulent Han Dynasty

The Zhou Dynasty Tokyo made some preparations... In fact, the preparations had already begun when they returned from the Battle of Jinyang last year; the attack on Shu at the beginning of this year was only a prelude, and it was even only a preliminary preparation for this war.

Xiang Xun was the first to be called back to Beijing; Han Tong was appointed as an internal and external inspection of the capital. The envoys of Wuyue Kingdom returned to the south, took away the imperial edict of the Zhou Dynasty, and ordered Wuyue Kingdom to mobilize its army to prepare for war and attack the Southern Tang Kingdom together; they also sent envoys to order Nanping Kingdom (Jingnan) to mobilize troops to join the war.

In mid-May, the emperor of the Zhou Dynasty decided to go to war against the Southern Tang Kingdom. Prime Minister Li Gu was sent to go first, and he was granted the deployment of the former military camp in Huainan and concurrently served as the magistrate of Luzhou and Shouzhou; Han Lingkun, Shi Yanchao and more than a dozen generals guarded the horse infantry and followed several troops. Ten days later, Chai Rong hosted a banquet in the Jinxiang Hall to celebrate Xiang Xun's achievements in the court, and rewarded him with clothes, gold belts, silverware, silk, and saddle horses. Then he took Xiang Xun as a stay-at-home in Tokyo, was sentenced to Kaifeng government affairs, and was given the power to guard the department. Appoint Wang Pu and Han Tong as deputy and stay in Tokyo.

At the end of May, Chai Rong listened to Li Gu's report that Zhou Jun had built a pontoon bridge to cross the Huai River. Shi Yanchao's vanguard attacked and defeated thousands of Southern Tang troops under the city of Shouzhou, and entered Shouzhou. Chai Rong ordered the deployment of various roads to dispatch soldiers and horses; since he led the elite troops of the Dianqian Division out of Tokyo, the troops from all over the country marched to Huainan in a mighty manner, mobilizing hundreds of thousands of troops.

Shouzhou became the opening for Zhou Jun to break through the Huaihe defense line. It is in the middle of the Huaihe River, southeast of Tokyo. Chai Rong sent people to urge Li Gu to attack the city, intending to occupy Shouzhou as a foothold for the army to attack Huainan.

Fu Shi got his wish and set off with the army. She was riding in a large carriage driven by four horses. The spacious carriage can reduce some bumps and the road is relatively smooth; but the weather is very hot, the sun is shining directly on the roof of the carriage, and the enclosed space in the carriage is like a steamer.

From time to time, she asked the female officer to open the curtains for ventilation. When the curtains were pulled open, she could also see the vast scene outside from the carriage. The Zhou army marched on the plain on horseback. Several roads in the field were lined up with troops. The continuous dust and mist covered the sky, and the people seemed to be migrating across the country.

Because of such a spectacular scene, Fu Shi's mind was also shifted to major issues, he pondered for a while, recalled some impressions of Prime Minister Li Gu, and thought: Let Li Gu lead the vanguard army, it is better to let the guard Ma Budu command Li Chong to go in. She thought about it, and gave up the idea of ​​speaking to the officials. Who knows what the officials think about Li Chongjin?

Suddenly a feeling of nausea surged up in my heart, Fu Shi came back to his senses, and retched for a while, Mu Shanggong next to him hurriedly took a white handkerchief and put it under Fu Shi's mouth. Fu Shi reached for the handkerchief and covered his mouth, his face turned pale.

Mu Shanggong was startled and said: "Empress, are you okay? This slave will immediately notify Cao Tai to find a doctor for you."

"Wait a minute." Fu grabbed Mu Shanggong, frowned and said, "I asked myself to go out with the army. If I can't stand sitting in this comfortable carriage, why do I come out?"

Mu Shanggong said: "You don't need to come out, the official family is a peerless emperor, and he will definitely win the Southern Tang Dynasty, so you don't have to worry about it."

Fu Shi shook his head, with a tired feeling in his voice, "Those soldiers outside walk under the scorching sun without complaining, so don't be surprised."

Mu Shanggong looked at the queen with concern. The queen's appearance was indeed very delicate, and the slightly pointed chin added a bit of natural delicacy to her appearance, making her look fragile. She is usually comfortable in the palace, and it is really hard to go out with her.

The Chinese army walked slowly with the emperor's guard of honor, as well as many civil servants and eunuchs. After being exposed to the hot sun for three consecutive days, the people and horses have not yet reached Chenzhou. After three days of heating in a square closed "steamer", Fu Shi seemed to be used to it, and the maid beside her felt a little relieved. But Fu Shi was listless all day long, saying that it was too bumpy... The road here is indeed quite flat, and the carriage is also wide, but the bottom is hardwood and naturally there is no shock-absorbing facility, so it is really bumpy to walk on. Relying on the soft cushions laid in the carriage reduces the vibration, but the soft blanket wool also makes the people inside feel hotter.

Just at noon that day, the sky was suddenly covered with dark clouds, and there were a few thunderclaps. After a while, I heard "cracking" raindrops hitting the roof of the car. The hot air on the ground evaporated the moisture of the rain, and Fu sighed softly: "It's finally cool!"

After a while, it began to rain heavily. The eunuch Cao Tai rode to the side of the carriage, got off his horse and reported while walking, "We will arrive in Chenzhou in two hours. The officials asked everyone to go on the road in the rain, and then stationed in Chenzhou."

The heavy rain was blown into the carriage by the wind, and Mushang Palace hurriedly pulled down the curtain of the carriage to keep out the rain. However, the rain was too heavy, and the silk and wool in the carriage were soaked in a short while, and the clothes of the two people in the carriage were also wet by the water splashed in from the gaps in the bamboo curtains.

"Cough, cough, cough..." Fu Shi covered his mouth and coughed a few times. Mu Shanggong was very anxious, touched her forehead with the back of his hand, and said immediately: "Oh, it's so hot! What should I do?"

Fu Shi snorted a few times, then took a breath and said, "Didn't you say that you will arrive in the town in two hours? When you arrive in Chenzhou, you ask Cao Tai to report to the official's house, saying that I am sick."

Mu Shanggong said: "Could it be that the empress is going to stay like this for two hours?"

Fu Shi forced a smile and said: "Come and see the doctor now. He has caught the medicine and has no place to make it. It's raining heavily outside, and he can't go to the village or back to the shop... The officials have ordered that they will only be stationed in Chenzhou."

Fu felt that he had no strength at all, and felt nauseated, dizzy, and the carriage was shaking again, as if the sky and the earth were spinning. The most uncomfortable thing is the headache and panic, which is much more difficult than just pain. She wanted to sleep for a while, but she was too flustered to fall asleep.

Seeing her appearance, Mu Shanggong didn't care about following her will, so he quickly called Cao Tai and asked him to report to the emperor. After a while Cao Tai came back and said: "Let the groom hurry up, drive the car to Chenzhou first, and then settle down for the imperial doctor to see. The straight horse soldiers in the inner hall will escort us."

A group of chariots and horses speeded up and rushed to Chenzhou to let the magistrate arrange the mansion, and hurriedly carried Fu Shi into the bedroom. Mu Shanggong took the maid to change her wet clothes again, and hung a layer of gauze in front of the bed to cover it. After a while, an elderly imperial doctor led his entourage and bowed into the house carrying a box. Ask someone to take out the queen's hand and feel the pulse. The imperial doctor carefully pinched her index finger on her wrist, and everyone did not dare to speak out, and waited quietly.

After a while, the imperial doctor said: "The pulse condition is weak, the body is too weak, and it has the poison of damp heat."

Then the imperial doctor walked out of the bedroom and sat down at the table outside to grind ink and write prescriptions. Cao Tai reminded from the side: "Your Majesty has a delicate body, you should prescribe the medicine properly."

The imperial doctor stroked his gray beard and said: "Even though you keep the medicine dregs, it's okay for people who are not sick to take these medicines. How dare I prescribe the medicine for tigers and wolves to the queen?"

Cao Tai said again: "But you also have to prescribe the right medicine. If you take it, it means you didn't take it. Wouldn't it delay your condition?"

The imperial doctor sighed, seemed unable to answer, picked up a pen and began to write carefully.

In the evening, when the army arrived in Chenzhou and stationed there, the emperor came to the mansion guarded directly by the inner hall and set up the Xingyuan here. Then he went to the inner courtyard to visit Mrs. Fu. He opened the gauze curtain and walked in. Mrs. Fu struggled to sit up seeing that it was an official family. Chai Rong quickly stepped forward to hold her down, and said kindly: "Don't move, lie down peacefully." He looked back at the eunuchs and maids standing beside him, and asked, "What did the imperial doctor say, what's wrong with the queen?"

Cao Tai hurriedly knelt down and said, "Report to the emperor, the imperial doctor said that the empress is weak and suffered from damp heat."

Chai Rong nodded, just about to say something comforting. At this moment, an eunuch outside whispered: "Your Majesty, Shouzhou sent people to say something urgent."

Chai Rong hurriedly said to Fu Shi: "You can rest easy and recuperate, I will come as soon as I go."

Fu Shi said with a carefree voice: "The important thing is, I just feel the cold occasionally."

After a while, someone outside hurriedly said: "A large number of Southern Tang troops reinforce Zhengyang and intend to attack the forward pontoon bridge with warships. Prime Minister Li ordered Shi Yanchao and other troops who attacked Shouzhou City to retreat and guard the pontoon bridge."

Then they heard footsteps, and the group left the inner courtyard.

Only then did Fu Shi remember that he wanted to think about how to imply that the official came, but his headache was splitting and his heart was flustered, so he couldn't calm down and think about it. Now that the officials are gone again, she has no choice but to give up.

After a while, she coughed again, and Mu Shanggong hurriedly asked the maid to turn her over and gently stroked her vest. At the beginning, Fu Shi's body was very soft, as if he had no bones, and he let his servants toss about him.

She whispered again: "Let Cao Tai go and serve next to the official's house, and see what the official's house is doing and how the battle ahead is going."

Mu Shanggong hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, don't think about those things, the most important thing is to take care of your body."

The palace lady brought out the boiled soup, and Mu Shanggong tasted the heat and cold first, then blew a few breaths, and then asked someone to help Fu Shi to drink the medicine. The palace people brought an hourglass to time the medicine, and every time they fed the medicine, they were meticulous and punctual.

Unexpectedly, taking medicine every day still didn't improve, but Fu's illness became more and more serious. After a few days, she passed out every day and passed out.

Chai Rong believed that the imperial doctors accompanying the army were not skilled in medicine, so he ordered to send a fast horse to Tokyo to summon other imperial doctors. They traveled quickly and arrived in Chenzhou in a few days. A group of imperial doctors diagnosed Fu Shi overnight, but they only said that he had suffered from heat, and they couldn't judge any serious illness. Everyone pondered over the prescriptions they had taken before, and carefully inspected the leftover drug residues, and prescribed some medicines for Fu Shi to continue taking.

She occasionally asked when she was awake, wondering where the emperor was. I vaguely heard Cao Tai say that the Zhou army fought a big victory near Zhengyang, defeated the reinforcements of the Southern Tang army, and beheaded tens of thousands of people; but Shouzhou and other important towns were still unable to attack for a long time. It seems that the officials are leaving Chenzhou and are going south to Shouzhou.