Chapter 80 The fierce sandstorm (2)
The citizens that they had seen along the way were mostly yellow-skinned and thin, with expressionless and blank eyes. There were traces of looted shops everywhere in the town and weeds had grown all over the farm crops on the roadside. It could be seen how great the disaster caused by the Xiongnu was.
Lin Qing and Zhao Zimu rode their horse on one side. At this moment, they were passing a desolate small town. Dust appeared on the places were the army passed. The people in groups of twos and threes cowered to the side.
Don’t know if they had been infected by all they had seen along the way or that their mind was preoccupied by matters, the atmosphere around the two was very silent. After a long time did Zhao Zimu say, “We are almost reaching the border of Yanping now. What are the plans of Lord Qiansui?”
This plan not only referred to how to gain a foothold, it also referred to the soldiers of the frontier and the Xiongnu.
Lin Qing was silent for a while and then said, “Accept the officials of the northwest if they want to be accepted. If they don’t want, then kill them instead. As for the generals of the army, as long as they don’t cause trouble, let them be. I don’t understand about fighting a battle and going to war. So, I won’t bother with that.”
Zhao Zimu’s eyes darkened. Then, she looked at the desolate scene around her and said, “Like this, if the Xiongnu is not eliminated, how long will you need to stay here? The capital couldn’t not have you.”
Zhao Zimu’s worried were justified. The longer Lin Qing nestled in this place, it would not only be dangerous for Lin Qing, but he would also lose his advantage in the capital. If emperor Jinghui, the follower of wine and women, passed away accidentally one day and Situ Yaohua ascended the throne, then, they could only think about how they would die.
Zhao Zimu wouldn’t let Lin Qing die. After taking a deep breath, Zhao Zimu continued, “Does Lord Qiansui know why there had been a stalemate between the war of my dynasty and the Xiongnu? My Great Liang is getting weaker by the day. Is it that our soldiers are not enough? Or are the commanders-in-chief not stern enough? Or there were not enough army supplies?”
Lin Qing shook his head. He glanced at the expanse of the sky and said in a low voice, “The Great ancestor of my dynasty had been a military regent. He crisscrossed the land under heaven and created this country. The smoke of the fire of war accomplished the major undertaking of the task of establishing a country. If it was in the time of Great Ancestor, when the Xiongnu assaulted my country, the Xiongnu would definitely be so beaten that they wouldn’t be able to crawl back, kill them until they stayed in the far away grassland and wouldn’t dare to repeat the assault. However, after the Great Ancestor, the monarchs of Great Liang began to put high importance on literary and scorned the military and continuously suppressed the power of the military leaders. The monarchs wantonly let the civil officials help them govern the country. However, could the country be governed only relying on a group of civil officials who always spoke about virtues and only knew military tactics on paper? Therefore, the army of my country had slowly become weaker. The high-ranking military officers don’t have talent. Those who are talented couldn’t obtain the right assignment and would receive the suppression by the civil officials and be pushed aside. How can the army of Great Liang become strong like this? The Xiongnu were different. They were originally scattered tribes that herded sheeps and hunted on the grassland. Therefore, they were born naturally with the bloodthirstiness and fierceness in their bones. Such tribes would only grow stronger unless they perish. In the past hundred years, several outstanding leaders have emerged on the grassland, who continued to subdue those scattered tribes and finally won over the entire grassland. Our Great Liang is different. The Xiongnu constantly invaded in our territory and each generation of our emperor only knew how to preserve the accomplishments of previous generations. They had long lost the aggressiveness, determination and viciousness of the time of the Great Ancestor. The generations got weaker by each generation. They only knew how to drive out the Xiongnu when dealing with them, but how could it be enough to only drive the Xiongnu out? They were driven away time and time again, and they assaulted the frontier again and again. They got stronger and stronger with each round, but my Great Liang’s strength was used up and became weaker and weaker. Furthermore, there are no outstanding high-ranking military officer under such circumstances; how could Great Liang not be defeated?”
Zhao Zimu nodded after listening for a while. She didn’t expect the situation to be so complex.
Lin Qing lowered his head and said, “I didn’t work in vain at the Department of Supervision for so many years.”
Zhao Zimu laughed once and said, “Has no one thought about changing the situation?”
“Unless the emperor wanted.” Unless they meet a strong and capable monarch, otherwise, no one could change the situation.
The two continued to ride the horses. Zhao Zimu suddenly jumped from the horse and walked to a small tea shop on the side of the road. Lin Qing followed.
The small teashop was very small. The furnishings in the shop were very simple. A few tables and stools were placed voluntarily. In front of the teashop, there was also a steamer specially made by the boss, who made it specially to sell some steamed buns to earn a small amount of money from passersby. It could also provide him with customers for the teashop.
Zhao Zimu walked over. Fear showed in the boss’s eyes when he saw that it was an official dressed in a brocade robe.
Zhao Zimu asked him for a few buns and then gave him money, scaring the boss that he repeatedly said, “Don’t dare.” Nowadays, he had seen many officials who had ate without paying. It was that he never seen one that have money. So, the boss didn’t dare to accept.
Zhao Zimu didn’t bother with him. After giving him the money, she walked to a corner of the teashop and handed the buns to two little beggars.
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Ah common issue back then to modern times. Just a bunch of white collar head department chiefs that have no idea what the actual labour entails that they're in charge of and randomly sign off paper works that costs citizens extra tax money. Yeeeet