Chapter 146: Fighting for Hetao (11)

Under the reflection of the red fire of the blacksmith shop, Meng Shu's slightly black face added a little rosy, the corners of his tightly closed mouth slightly downward, the lines on his face seemed to be layered, elegant and hard, and strong self-confidence that could not be suppressed.

Hou Dayong hadn't seen Meng Shu for nearly a year. He keenly noticed the sudden change in Meng Shu's expression and appearance. When he first met Meng Shu on the small road in Dezhou, Meng Shu was still a weak and helpless scholar. After two years of military training, he had the experience of taking charge of Feiying Hall and a wealthy shop. His military position was also promoted to the commander of the infantry commander. These changes were subversive for Meng Shu. Otherwise, he might have to struggle for the title of a scholar. All the changes left a deep mark on Meng Shu's appearance and temperament.

Hou Dayong, Meng Shu and others quickly returned to the Hou Mansion. In the Hou Mansion Intermediate Courtyard, there was a cage covered with gray cloth covers and a cage covered with black cloth covers. The sound of pigeons "gu, gurgle" came from the cage.

Hou Dayong and Meng Shu looked at each other, and Meng Shu said softly, "It's successful." Meng Shu waved, and a disciple of Feiying Hall following Meng Shu quickly uncovered the gray cloth cover. There were three light gray pigeons in each of the two bamboo cages. Hou Dayong saw the six pigeons and came next to the bamboo cage to carefully observe these pigeons that might quickly change the communication status of the Black Eagle Army.

After Hou Dayong came to the Great Zhou Dynasty, he suffered from information inconvenience. In order to improve the communication situation, he implemented a system of information transmission step by step, a hierarchy system for information transmission, a secret message system, etc. in Feiying Hall. These measures improved the speed and security of information transmission. However, these methods did not essentially change the backward communication situation. The changes in the Daliang Dynasty and the orders Hou Dayong gave to Feiying Hall were all forced to pass through the Black Eagle Army or the messenger of Feiying Hall to run desperately to the other party's hands in the first half of the month. And half a month was enough to turn the news into old news.

These small pigeons may be the key to changing all this. Therefore, Hou Dayong stared at these elves like looking at his lover. Feng Sha, Luo Qingsong and other personal guards obviously did not understand Hou Dayong's feelings. They saw the Jiedushi looking at the pigeons over and over again. They were a little puzzled, but when they saw the Jiedushi's solemn appearance, they did not dare to interrupt, so they stood quietly behind them and kept asking Meng Shu with their eyes, while Meng Shu smiled and refused to answer.

After about a stick of incense, Hou Dayong pulled his eyes back from the pigeon and asked Meng Shu, "Have you tried it?" Meng Shu said confidently: "After the governor explained this, I sent people to look for such feather slaves who could return to the nest, and later found these best feather slaves in Haizhou." After hearing the name of feather slaves, Hou Dayong was stunned for a moment before he realized that feather slaves were referring to the pigeons, interrupting Meng Shu, "These pigeons are members of the Black Eagle Army, how can they be called feather slaves? They are called feather pigeons."

Meng Shu smiled and explained: "Zhang Jiuling, the famous prime minister of the Tang Dynasty, liked pigeons the most when he was young. He tied letters to the legs of pigeons specifically to convey messages. Zhang Xiang called pigeons a flying slave. Okay, he called these pigeons a carrier pigeon in the future." He also said: "There are many boatmen in Haizhou going to sea to catch fish. They like to raise pigeons on the boat. No, they raise pigeons and use pigeons to convey messages. It is the fastest and most accurate. These pigeons are the best pigeons in Haizhou. At the same time, they bought nine slaves who specially trained pigeons. This time I brought four to Lingzhou, and the other five were still training pigeons in Daliang."

"Yes, Menglang thought carefully."

"After I bought the pigeons, these nine people were specially trained. We tried to fly many times, from Zhengzhou to Daliang, from Haizhou to Daliang, and from Jingzhao Mansion to Haizhou. The success rate is very high, and these six pigeons have the best results."

Hou Dayong observed very carefully beside the bamboo cage. He asked: "I see that the carrier pigeons in these two cages are different. The front half of the pigeon with a black cloth cover is longer than the back half. Standing in the cage, the head is raised and the chest is raised, and the eyes are also flexible. The front half of the pigeon with a gray cloth cover is about the same length as the back half. He stands in a half-squat position. What is the difference between these two types of pigeons?"

Meng Shu showed an admiration and praised sincerely: "The governor observed it very carefully. If he was not an expert, few people could see the difference. The characteristics of these two pigeons are different. The long front and short back are typical short-range fast pigeons. Because of the body sinking forward, this type of carrier pigeon often has to raise his head and chest when standing. When flying, due to the different sense of balance between the front and back, there is a possibility of falling without flapping his wings. Therefore, the frequency of the wings flapping is slightly higher than that of carrier pigeons of other types. Because the wings are fast, the speed will be accelerated, and they can often return to the nest first. However, there are advantages and disadvantages in everything. The disadvantage of this carrier pigeon is that it consumes too much physical strength and cannot fly after a long flight time."

Meng Shu saw Hou Dayong listening very seriously. After a moment of pause, he said: "The muscle development of the pigeon with the same length of the front and back is appropriate in proportion to the length of the tail feather, which is conducive to flying at a high speed easily for a long time. However, this pigeon does not look like a pigeon. After experiments, this pigeon has a particularly strong memory and is the strongest of the nest-finding ability among several pigeons."

Following Meng Shu's explanation, Hou Dayong nodded frequently while observing the pigeons, saying, "Menglang is really mature and can see the problem from a global height. Short-distance pigeons have fast speeds and short flight distances, which are very suitable for the distance between Lingzhou City and Tongxin City or the connection between various military camps. I named this pigeon Flash. Several pigeons are called Flash One, Flash Two, etc. The other pigeons are smooth in lines and adapted to long-distance flights, so they are named Zheng He. The pigeons are called Zheng He No. 1 and Zheng He No. 2 respectively."

These two types of pigeons actually have their own names, but they were unable to kill people with one level. Hou Dayong made a speech, and the Flash and Zheng He officially became the official names of these two pigeons. Meng Shu could understand the name of the Flash, but the meaning of the "Zheng He" made Meng Shu very puzzled. Zheng He - not loud, not elegant, and not vivid, just like a depressed man's name. Meng Shu saw Hou Dayong's slightly intoxicated expression after he took the name, so he put his questions into his stomach.

After Hou Dayong left Daliang, he did not see Fu Ying for half a year. Fu Ying once brought a letter to someone in the autumn of the third year of Xiande. Since it was an ordinary family letter, the Feiying Hall urgent delivery channel was not opened, so the soldiers were asked to bring it to him on the normal route. As a result, Hou Dayong received this belated greeting in the spring of the fourth year of Xiande.

When Hou Dayong saw these pigeons, he said, "Prepare the four treasures of the study. The note is smaller and it must be tied to the pigeons. I want to try the flying ability of the pigeons to see if the Daliang Hou Mansion can receive this letter."

Luo Qingsong immediately went to the study to prepare paper and ink for Hou Dayong. After it was ready, Hou Dayong walked into the study and asked the pen to mention it, but hesitated: the victory in the northwest is suitable for writing in memorials, and it seems that it is not suitable for whispering between husband and wife; the marriage story of Tongxin City is difficult to explain in one or two sentences; the life is taken care of by himself, and the wife is taken care of, and this seems to be something that a man with an IQ of less than fifty; writing a few words of concern is too ordinary. It is somewhat disappointing to the hard work of "Zheng He No. 1" for nearly two thousand miles.

Hou Dayong's feelings for Fu Ying were quite complicated at this time. On the one hand, Hou Dayong took his teacher Gao Yueming by his side, and felt a little guilty about Fu Ying. For a moment, he was not sure what to write on this small note;

On the other hand, it is the longing for the wife and son. This kind of longing is extremely normal and not adulterated. Men and women are different in terms of emotions. There is a significant difference in space and time. Men can fall in love with different women in the same period of time. In layman's terms, men can fall in love with different women while their mentality is not divided. Women hate men's behavior. Women have different forms of expression. Women can fall in love with different men at different times. However, at the same time, most women can only fall in love with the same man.

This phenomenon is actually not divided into high or low, but is subject to the physical structure and social choice of men and women. For a child, the mother is fixed. However, if there are no certain social rules, the father may not even be able to accurately judge who the child is. This will be difficult to prevent close relatives from getting married. In the long run, it is extremely unfavorable to the health of a race. Therefore, after long-term natural selection, races that can develop healthily have all formulated rules to restrict women's sexual behavior, and the power of the rules is so strong that women cannot realize it. Under the rules, they gradually formed a psychological mechanism that will only fall in love with a man during a period of time. Men are not bound by this rule. Therefore, men have the ability to fall in love with different women at the same time, and every love is sincere (except for playboys). The most typical example is Duan Zhengchun in the classic novel "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" that was once popular in the 20th century.

In modern society, having a mistress is a behavior that is despised by the whole society. Of course, women's contempt comes from the heart, while men's contempt is because they are not qualified and capable of having a mistress, and they are despised out of jealousy. However, no matter what the psychology is, having a mistress is recognized as an immoral behavior in modern society. Shi Gao Yueming is essentially a mistress born by Hou Dayong. Although this behavior is extremely normal in the Great Zhou Dynasty. If a man in a high position has few beautiful women to serve by his side, it will seem abnormal and he will be suspected of being as good as Long Yang. However, Hou Dayong always feels guilty psychologically.

Hou Dayong wandered around the study for a long time, thinking about what to write. Women are emotional animals and liked sweet words the most. If they were romantic love words, they would attack weapons even more severely than Huang Hua crossbow. Hou Dayong turned around in the study and saw a collection of Tang Dynasty poems. This collection of Tang Dynasty poems was originally used to set passwords, but now the books used for military codes in the Black Eagle Army have become Buddhist scriptures. The Buddhist scriptures are as vast as a sea of ​​smoke and are extremely large in number. They can be changed at any time, so it is difficult for the enemy to decipher. After replacing various collections of poetry with Buddhist scriptures, this most complete collection of Tang Dynasty poems became a leisure book used by Hou Dayong as a pastime after dinner. Hou Dayong had a sudden inspiration and decided to adopt the tactic of avoiding the real and turning to the virtual, and used Zheng He No. 1 to send Fu Ying a love poem written by the Tang Dynasty back.

Hou Dayong selected a poem "Night Words to the North" in Li Shangyin's collection of poems, and carefully wrote the poem "You ask if you have a date when you return to the end of the period, and the night rain in Bashan rises in the autumn pond, why should you cut the candle in the west window together, but talk about the night rain in Bashan?" After writing it, Hou Dayong read it carefully and found that the word "cut" was written very ugly, so he tore off the small note and wrote another one again. Unexpectedly, the word "Ba" in this note was written very ugly again. Hou Dayong tore off again, and when he wrote the fifth one, he was finally satisfied.

When Zheng He No. 1 rose into the air in the Intermediate Courtyard of the Lingzhou Hou Mansion, he was just a little hesitant in the air and flew towards the direction of the beam.

After Hou Dayong finished writing the love poem, he wanted to send Shi Hu an order to send the Flash to Tongxin City. However, he thought that Shi Hu had not seen the Flash, Hou Dayong gave up his desire to send a letter to the Flash and still used the old method to issue the order.

Hou Dayong paced around the study, Feng Sha carried a pen, waiting for Hou Dayong's order. After walking a few times, Hou Dayong said briefly: "General Shi Hu, Deputy Governor of the Ruzhou Jiedu. Ask your troops to send a small army to Xiaoniuguan north to sweep the Dangxiang people on the banks of the Qingshui River, isolated Xihuizhou, trapped the house to the Hanhai, and Hou Dayong, the Ruler of the Ruzhou Jiedu.

Feng Sha was suddenly excited when he heard Hou Dayong's last two sentences with a strong murderous aura. He wrote like the wind. His beautiful calligraphy made Hou Dayong look beyond the reach. After writing it, Feng Sha stood up and read it neatly.

Hou Dayong waved his hand and ordered: "Translation of this order into a secret letter to General Shihu. At the same time, let the pigeon trainer go to Tongxin City immediately and let the Flash fly between Lingzhou City and Tongxin City as soon as possible."

Hou Dayong's order was quickly passed to Tongxin City.

Shi Hu was in charge of Tongxin City as the deputy envoy of the Rushizhou Jiedushi, and his main energy was placed on military affairs. All local affairs were handed over to Huo Zhixing.

While Huo Zhixing was building the White Wolf Camp, he also had to take over the local affairs of Tongxin City. This made Huo Zhixing, who was devoted to the construction of the White Wolf Camp, was very unhappy. After he established the governor's office in Tongxin City, he planned to record military affairs and six officials and assistants of the six officials of the Caozhou area according to the local official system of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Hou Dayong reported to the Ministry of Personnel in the name of the Jiedushi Sima Ling, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Personnel who specializes in the Northwest affairs. He had long become a close comrade-in-arms of Hou Dayong, and the personnel who planned to report were always open. Therefore, although the official documents of the Ministry of Personnel had not yet been approved, Zhang Jinzao had already begun to perform his duties. Huo Zhixing handed over the affairs of all sizes to Zhang Jinzao, and he moved his family to Bailang Camp. Fortunately, there were not many local affairs in Tongxin City. Apart from the big-bellied women of Dangxiang, there were only soldiers, craftsmen and villagers of the grain transport team, and Zhang Jinzao handled it quite relaxed.

The fourth battalion of the new Black Eagle Army in Tongxin City. The Eagle Army, Wolf Army, Dragon Army and Leopard Army were deployed to the south of Xiaoniu Pass. The three thousand people of the Eagle Army strengthened the camp were stationed in Tongxin City. It is the largest mobile force and strategic reserve team among the Tongxin army. The two thousand people of the Wolf Army were composed of the Fengzhou Army and were deployed to the Bailang Camp. The two thousand people of the Dragon Army were mainly horse-riding infantry, and were deployed to the Xiaoniu Pass. The two thousand people of the Leopard Army were composed of the Lingzhou Army and were deployed to the Guyuan direction.

After receiving Hou Dayong's secret order, Shi Hu immediately recruited Wang Jiang, the commander-in-chief of the Eagle Army, and Tie Chuanyuan, the deputy commander-in-chief of the Eagle Army. Shi Hu handed the secret order to Wang Jiang and looked at the scenery outside the door lightly. Since Shi Hu got the Diamond Sutra, he took it out to study it whenever he had time. Recently, he suddenly had some insights and his understanding of the scriptures became thorough. Many places where he didn't understand were suddenly enlightened like a god's help, and he became more and more taciturn. In the eyes of the monk Kongjian, Shi Hu was solemn and had great Buddha roots. The abbot was much worse than Shi Hu.

Wang Jiang received the secret order and handed it to Tiechuanyuan after reading it. Wang Jiang was a member of the Black Eagle Army in Zhengzhou and a senior officer. However, he was a little awe of the deputy general. Shi Hu didn't speak, so he didn't speak. Instead, Tiechuanyuan, who was the youngest, spoke first. "The command of the Jiedushi was very clear. It was like the Tongxin City before, who swept the Qingshui River Basin, and made Xihuizhou an isolated city. Without foreign aid, the Dangxiang people would not be able to defend Xihuizhou for long."

After Tiechuanyuan made a speech, Wang Jiang followed: "There are 20,000 Dangxiang troops in Xihuizhou. These Dangxiang troops are strong and brave. If we send people to sweep the lower reaches of Qingshui River, we will inevitably have large-scale conflicts with the Dangxiang troops. This sweep is not easy, and the new army is not trained enough, and the big battle will suffer great losses."

After hearing the two talked for a while, Shi Hu spoke: "Xihuizhou is a poisonous fang, which is closely aimed at the throat of Lingzhou. The Jiedushi had long been determined to knock off this poisonous fang, but Xihuizhou still has 20,000 Dangxiang Army, and its strength cannot be underestimated. However, on the other hand, the 20,000 Dangxiang Army is also a heavy burden for Xihuizhou. The Jiedushi's intention is very clear, that is, trap the Dangxiang Army near Xihuizhou, and do not let them come out to grazle, farm, and do not let them do business with the outside world. Within half a year, Xihuizhou will be defeated without fighting." Shi Hu glanced at the two and said: "Iron Deputy Commander, starting today, we will increase the reconnaissance work on the banks of the Qingshui River. Within 20 miles north of Xiaoniu Pass, all the settlements of the Dangxiang people and the Dangxiang people in this area must be further understood. If we don't fight, we will have to fight an annihilation war, so that the Dangxiang people will not dare to go south easily."

After the three of them discussed some details of the action, Wang Jiang and Tiechuanyuan took the task out. Shi Hu sat closed his eyes for a while and comforted himself: I don’t know how many corpses were buried in the battle on this border. Now, only by completely defeating Fangdeng can the war be completely resolved. I am very compassionate. If I don’t go to hell, whoever goes to hell, let me become a sinner who picks up a butcher knife to stop the killing.
Chapter completed!