The Retired Emperor sighed and said,"The grace of a gentleman can be severed in three generations. Jia Daihua and Jia Daishan were brave and good at fighting back then, but their descendants were also a mess. Forget it, pass on my decree that Jia Yuan is allowed to lead his guards to fight freely.”
"Your Majesty is merciful," said the old eunuch.”
Since ancient times, marching and fighting had always been strictly enforced. The military camp had strict military rules. Not to mention fighting, there were clear military rules in all aspects of clothing, food, housing, and transportation.
The Retired Emperor felt that Jia Yuan was a scapegoat, but he couldn't bear to see the descendants of Jia Daihua, who had died protecting him, die tragically on the battlefield, so he simply issued an edict. What was called free combat? It meant that one just had to swim along, shout slogans, and mingle around. There was no need to worry about being sent by the general to carry out any dangerous military affairs.
When the news reached the Rong Mansion, the faces of Grandmother Jia and the others were not very good. They had thought that joining the army would be a narrow escape, but they had never expected the Retired Emperor to do such a thing.
The Rong Mansion had lost twenty thousand taels of silver and next year's farm income for nothing. They had also spent a lot of effort to help Jia Yuan run his official position, but at this time, they still could not say anything.
On the fifteenth day of the fifth month of the second year of Qianyuan, outside the Meridian Gate of Jingdou, the first-class uncle Niu Jizong of the Zhenguo Public House, the general who conquered Peking University, gathered an army outside the Meridian Gate to begin a sacrificial ceremony.
This expedition was of great significance. Emperor Zhou and the Retired Emperor had both arrived at the drill ground.
After the sacrifice to the heavens, Emperor Zhou handed the half tiger talisman that symbolized military power to Niu Jizong and said,"Minister Niu, the safety of the Great Zhou border is in your hands. I hope you can repel the Xiongnu and protect the Great Zhou.”
Niu Jizong knelt down and respectfully received the Tiger Tally."I will not fail my mission and will not let the Xiongnu step into the Great Zhou.”
After the tiger talisman was given, Niu Jizong led the sons and guards of the Great Zhou nobles and an army of 200,000 to set out from Jingdou in a mighty manner for the northern border.
As for the results of this battle, Niu Jizong clearly didn't have much confidence. Not only Niu Jizong, but the group of distinguished generals who went out with him were also not very optimistic.
Ever since the Retired Emperor defeated the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun, the war faction of the Great Zhou was extremely weak. The six ministers, except for the Chief of the Ministry of War, were all peace factions.
Even the Great Zhou Emperor and Retired Emperor could reach an agreement to send troops because they wanted to use the resistance of the army to make the Xiongnu retreat and pay as little price as possible in the subsequent peace talks.
From this point of view, the current policy of the Great Zhou was very similar to the policy of the Western Han Dynasty on the Blue Star.
It would take about a month to travel from Jingdou to the Northern Territory. During this time, Jia Yuan did not stay idle. After summoning 5,000 White Horse Servants, he ordered them to rush to the border to purchase beef, mutton, milk, and other items to make meat floss cheese.
This time, the Retired Emperor actually granted Jia Yuan the right to fight freely. This was simply a blessing from the heavens for Jia Yuan.
During this period of time, following Niu Jizong and the others, Jia Yuan also roughly understood the plans of the generals. They were nothing more than relying on fortifications to strengthen the walls and clear the wilderness, and defend as much as possible.
This was considered a very stable method. After all, Jia Yuan had seen the quality of this 200,000 strong army. Most of them were old, weak, sick, and disabled. No matter how he looked at it, they looked like cannon fodder. Niu Jizong could only choose to defend passively.
However, Jia Yuan had come out with the intention of making a great contribution. If he were to become a defensive soldier, Jia Yuan would feel sorry for Lu Bu's inheritance and the five thousand white horse followers.
The reason why Jia Yuan had Bai Ma Yi Cong rush to the border to prepare grain was naturally to make some big moves.
In the history of the Blue Planet, the reason why Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was so passive in his battles against the Xiongnu in the early days was because there was a problem with his overall strategic thinking. He only wanted to passively defend against the Xiongnu and never thought of going deep into the grasslands to fight against the Xiongnu.
It wasn't until Huo Qubing came out of nowhere and attacked the grasslands from thousands of miles away that the Xiongnu's rear became unstable. Even Chanyu's grandfather was beheaded. The entire Han Dynasty's battle strategy changed from passive defense to active attack, forcing the Xiongnu to retreat and submit.
A month later, Niu Jizong led a large army to the northern border. After the army set up camp, Niu Jizong, the general of the Northern Conquest, ordered his soldiers to gather all the generals for a meeting.
As the Commandant of Zhiguo, Jia Yuan was also a middle-level officer. In addition, the title of the son of the Ningguo Manor could still intimidate people outside. Naturally, he also received the summoning order.
In the main tent, Niu Jizong sat in the main seat, with Ling Marquis Cheng Shi and Ningyuan Marquis Gu Yankai on his left and right. The two were Niu Jizong's assistants for this battle.
Seeing that almost everyone had arrived, Niu Jizong looked at his trusted soldiers and said,"Is everyone here?"
"Reporting to the Great General, the guerrilla general Jia Yuan has yet to arrive at the main tent.”
"Is it Jia Yuan, the Di son of Ningguo Prefecture?" Niu Jizong asked.”
"That's right."
After receiving the answer, Niu Jizong did not say anything. Jia Yuan had received the Retired Emperor's grace and could fight freely. As the general, he had no right to mobilize him. Other than sighing at the Retired Emperor's deep favor to Ning and Rong Manors, Niu Jizong had no other thoughts.
On the other hand, the generals in the tent frowned when they heard that Jia Yuan was late, and some of them criticized him.
At this moment, a general in black armor was riding his horse toward the tent from afar. When he reached the tent, the general pulled the reins and the horse neighed.
The generals in the tent saw how valiant the young general outside was and turned their heads to look.
After the general dismounted, he walked into the tent and saluted."The guerrilla general Jia Yuan has been ordered to come to the main tent for a meeting.”
Everyone in the tent was very surprised when they heard this and could not help but sigh.
Ning and Rong Manors were both martial aristocratic families. The Duke of Ning Jia Daihua and the Duke of Rong Jia Daishan were both first-class generals in the world.
Many of the generals in the tent had served under the two dukes before. Although the Ning and Rong Manors had not received much, their days were still so comfortable. Other than the Retired Emperor remembering their old relationship, it was also related to the former disciples of the two dukes.
Otherwise, in the Ningguo Manor, Jia Jing was only a scholar, and Jia Zhen was only a third-grade mighty general.
In the Rong Mansion, Jia She was only a first-class general, while Jia Zheng was a councilor of the Ministry of Works.
How could these few people's official positions support the two Public Houses? It was all because of the blessing of the two old High Dukes.
All the generals present knew that the decline of the Ning and Rong Manors was a foregone conclusion, so they were naturally somewhat surprised that a dark horse like Jia Yuan had suddenly appeared.
Niu Jizong was also one of the founding fathers of the country, so he was very familiar with the situation in the Jia family. He had also heard about the Ningguo family's branch family, and had even complained about it, feeling that it had humiliated the founding fathers of the Eight Duke Families.
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