The royal horse was lost, and the people below were trembling with fear, but they did not dare not to report it. However, unexpectedly, although the saint was angry this time, he unexpectedly did not come up with any tricks. He just asked people to find the royal horse.
This task fell to the accompanying Third Patrol Group of Jing'an Station.
It was only then that Zhang Xingfang realized that three patrol teams had actually come to Jing'antai... But it didn't matter, half of the court and half of the palace were brought, and there was no shortage of princes, princesses, concubines, and eunuchs. Naturally, there is no shortage of four Jingan Taiwan patrol teams.
However, after all, it was the old department he had worked in before. After Zhang Xing learned about the arrangement of the matter from the group of people in Beiya during the day's march, he couldn't help but be curious, so as soon as the military city stopped to set up camp in the evening, he went to Eunuch Yu's office to inquire more about it. After a while, I found out the specific situation.
"The three patrol groups... are naturally the first, second, and third." Eunuch Yu was very cooperative, even unusually cooperative. Zhang Xing just asked casually and poured the beans out of the bamboo tube. "The first patrol team is Luo Fang, the second patrol team is Zhang Changgong, and the third patrol team is Xue Liang... Xue Liang handled this matter and left in the afternoon... I guess they are all acquaintances of Deputy Chang Inspector Zhang?"
Zhang Xing nodded and laughed on the spot: "Of course we are all acquaintances. The only change is that of Xue Zhushou... Others have changed from patrol inspection to regular inspection, but he has changed from regular inspection to patrol inspection, which is also interesting. "
Eunuch Yu couldn't help but be curious: "Is there any explanation for this?"
"No." Zhang Xing answered honestly. "Inspection inspections and regular inspections have always been at the same level. However, generally speaking, inspections are more difficult, while regular inspections are more stable. Therefore, people with less qualifications often do inspections, and those with more seniority do regular inspections. But There is absolutely no rule... As for Xue Zhushou coming to inspect, it may be because there is a temporary shortage of people, or it may be because he is the adopted son of Zhongcheng like Luo Zhushou, so you can feel relieved when he is sent."
Eunuch Yu nodded repeatedly without saying much, which was in sharp contrast to his previous active compliments... Obviously, these people don't want to touch anything sensitive now.
Zhang Xing didn't wait long, just chatted a few more words and walked out directly.
At this time, it was still bright outside, but there was already a hint of darkness on the horizon, and the huge military city was also in its most chaotic moment... Those who set up camps, those who set up camps, those who made fires, those who fetched water, the soldiers The soldiers and civilian workers are exhausted to the extreme, but they still have to grit their teeth and do the hardest work... The military city is also full of holes, because the holes must be opened at this time to allow the civilian workers behind to transport supplies in, and if you want to get something good The sergeants also need to take the initiative to leave to get things.
Zhang Xing looked at the sky, hesitated for a moment, and then slowly walked towards his nearby camp - as the Fulong Guards who were extremely close to the imperial front, they could still get the head of the million people no matter how bad they did. The treatment and camping conditions are incomparable to soldiers and civilians in peripheral military cities.
However, before they could get there, they met Qin Bao and Qian Tang, who were setting up camp with some Fulong Guards. Among them, Qian Tang was setting up a tent, while Qin Bao was digging a cesspool downwind.
The three of them met each other. Before Zhang Xing could say anything, Qin Bao spoke first and asked: "Third brother, you have to take care of it. In the past few days, even the Jinwu Guards around us have gradually slackened off, and they don't even dig cesspits... ...They only go to the stables, which is not good because the horses can easily get sick and can easily infect people."
Zhang Xing nodded immediately: "It's indeed not good, but we can't talk about it directly... because the Jinwu Guards are also very tired, and they don't report to us... Tomorrow I will talk to some father-in-laws in Beiya and let them do it. Some restraints.”
Qin Bao nodded immediately, and Qian Tang stretched his head to take a look, and then continued to work.
At this time, Zhang Xing walked to the mule next to the yellow gelding as if nothing had happened, took out the golden awl wrapped in silk from the package on the side of the mule, hid it on the heel under his trouser leg, and then suddenly turned around and led the yellow gelding. Go outside.
Qian Tang and others did not notice or care. Only Qin Bao was slightly moved in his heart and wanted to ask. However, he looked at the people around him and pretended not to know. Then he continued to dig holes with his head down... After a while, Qian Tang asked again. He just speculated about which acquaintance he should go to see.
In this way, by the time dusk arrived, Zhang Xing had already taken advantage of the chaos to get out of the military city, then galloped toward the southwest... and broke away from the large army that night, and then arrived at Lihu at night.
This place belonged to Jiyin County during the Eastern Qi Dynasty. However, when the Wei Dynasty destroyed Qi Dynasty, it had to do some tricks, but it was changed to Caozhou. It took more than 20 years. After that, the current saints often like to play some tricks when they are in power, so Caozhou was changed back to Jiyin County, and Lihu was inexplicably transferred to Dongjun last year.
However, people around the area are still accustomed to adding Caozhou to describe local well-known figures, or local people who call themselves themselves.
For example, Xu Dalang from Caozhou.
After Zhang Xing arrived at the well-known Xujiazhuang, it was already the second watch. The lights were brightly lit, the door was open, and there were many armed wealthy people riding on the road, coming in and out... This is of course understandable, because millions of people The crowd passed by more than a hundred miles away. Although the supply route and marching speed made it impossible for the army to sweep directly from here, the fleeing civilians, sergeants, envoys, officials, and small groups of troops, plus The recruitment of civilians in the earlier period would still cause the local people to fall into great panic and vigilance.
As for the Xu family, as the leading tycoon in the entire Caozhou and even the entire Jibei region, they couldn't help but raise their minds and be as vigilant and prepared as possible.
Because of one bad move, the family may be confiscated and exterminated at any time.
"Tell Xu Dalang that he came to look for him like a close brother and asked him to come out to pick me up." Zhang Xing, who was dressed in a dusty brocade robe but hiding a black ribbon, got off his horse and faced the several well-dressed men at the door. Pan Laiyan, and while speaking, he directly threw the reins to one of them and went in.
Several big men guarding the door looked at each other. Then, the man holding the horse's reins didn't move, but the other people suddenly caught up and surrounded Zhang Xing inside the door.
Immediately, the man holding the reins pulled the yellow gelding into the door, and calmly held his hands behind him, neither humble nor condescending: "Please stay here, sir. I don't know your name, so I really don't dare to go and report it without permission... Please make sure to explain." Identity, don’t make things difficult for us.”
Zhang Xing sighed, but he was not surprised... In fact, after entering Jing'an Terrace, he had already found out the details of Xu Dalang's family in Caozhou. His father had not yet become an official, and his grandfather was the prefect of Liang County in the Eastern Qi Dynasty, and his great-grandfather He is the prefect of Dongjun in the Eastern Qi Dynasty. Both places are nearby, and one is a major county in the center of the Central Plains and the other is a major commandery on the river.
What does this mean?
This shows that the Xu family is no longer an ordinary powerful family, but a proper reactionary in the eyes of the Wei Dynasty, a remnant of the Eastern Qi Dynasty. Even considering Xu Dalang's previous actions, there is no problem in saying that he is an actual reactionary.
As for "Princes, generals, ministers, would rather have the seed" that day, it seemed that they were just ogling the blind man.
Seeing Zhang Xing's silence for a moment, several people actually moved to support his waist.
Zhang Xing came to his senses at this time, and immediately calmly raised his head and said: "No need to name, about two years ago, after Yang Shen's rebellion was defeated, I and Xu Dalang were on the river to see Mr. Li Shu off eastward... I just want to say This way, he knows who I am."
Under the light, two of the several warriors were obviously surprised for a moment, and then they winked at the people around them. Then, one person hurriedly entered and the person leading the horse also changed his color. He held the horse with one hand and pointed inside with the other, smiling to invite them. :
"I don't know that the distinguished guest has arrived, but he is not welcomed from afar... It's just that the situation is so tense, and there is a reason for it. Please come in quickly with me. The master will come to see you soon."
Zhang Xing nodded and followed the other party to the inner courtyard.
The concierge was obviously trying to speed up. He said he was going in quickly, but in fact he was going as slowly as he could, but he was full of polite words and it was hard to show off.
On the other side, a samurai who obviously knew what happened that day rushed into the back early. Within a moment, he passed through the third and fifth floors and arrived at the brightly lit lobby. He first nodded to the two people on one side, and then directly towards the person sitting alone on the other side. The host handed over his hand and told the whole story.
"Nonsense!" The host, Xu Dalang and Xu Shiying, laughed when he heard this and actually looked at the two people opposite. "Mr. Li, Brother Xiong... is there anyone else who will be on this journey with us that day?"
It turned out that the two people opposite Xu Dalang were actually Li Shu and Xiong Bonan dressed in civilian clothes. They didn't know why they were here, but they all laughed when they heard this.
Among them, Xiong Bonan simply laughed: "Where did the other heroes come from? At least there were only three of us on Xu Dalang's journey that day. If there were others, they were just a group of court hawks in Jingantai... Let me tell you, and If you arrest him and search him, you may not be able to find a black belt."
Xu Dalang, who had shed his youthful attitude two years ago, also laughed.
But after laughing, Xu Dalang turned serious: "My family doesn't recognize anyone who can tell that. I'm afraid he might really be an official figure at that time... And it makes sense to come here at this time and follow the millions of people on the river." Well... As for why he took the initiative to see me? It was nothing more than taking the opportunity to blackmail and beat Qiu Feng. It was impossible to meet him, but when I asked him why he came here, he would say: "Xu Dalang, you are in trouble..." If you do, you will be jailed, or if the worst is the case, your home will be ransacked'..."
As soon as he said this, Li Shu twisted his beard and nodded... He just felt that Xu Dalang, who had not been seen for two years, was very organized and easy to do, which was really impressive. He was indeed a rare local hero.
As for Xiong Bonan, he simply said: "I went from east to west, from north to south, Hebei, Jiangdong, Dongjing, and the Central Plains. Which of the heroes from all walks of life was not blackmailed by the Kansai people? It's really annoying."
Li Shu, who was born in a standard Guanlong clan, smiled and attracted a glance from Xu Shiying, but Xiong Bonan didn't notice it at all and just continued to express his position: "If you ask me, if there are so many people here, if there are not many people coming, they will just dig a hole and bury them." That's it...or I can do it, fly dozens of miles away, and throw the person to the roadside far away."
"I'm afraid I just need to tell someone before I come here." Xu Shiying shook his head in reply, and then went to see his confidants. "Haosheng, please come in...see if you can take care of me."
The family hurried away.
"It just so happens that if we are really old friends from back then, we don't have to avoid it." Li Shu spoke frankly and sat as steady as a bell. "You can also express your feelings about fate."
Xu Dalang just nodded.
After a while, several warriors came to attract Zhang Xing, and the four of them looked at each other. They were surprised for a moment... and they didn't know what to say.
After a while, Xiong Bonan couldn't bear the embarrassment and stood up first, but he still didn't know what to say.
As for Zhang Xing, when he saw Xiong Bonan stand up, he finally took two steps in with his hands behind his back, then cupped his hands from left to right, and laughed on the spot: "Everyone, what a fate."
"It's just fate." Xiong Bonan immediately returned the greeting, slightly embarrassed. "Why are you here, Brother Zhang? I haven't thanked you yet for the Huairong matter."
"What's that? I always keep Brother Xiong's kindness in my heart." Zhang Xing was neither humble nor arrogant, and he handed him over.
Xiong Bonan instantly relaxed a lot.
"Sure enough, it is a rare fate." Li Shu first saw the two of them speaking. When he did, he felt relieved and sighed. He stood up and returned the greeting. He seemed to be less arrogant than before.
"What a fate." Xu Dalang and the other two people all responded. After feeling the smell, they quickly stood up. "Brother Zhang, it's good to come."
Zhang Xing nodded in turn and sat down unceremoniously at the empty seat where Xu Shiying was sitting. Without caring about the distinction between host and guest, he became curious: "Mr. Li...didn't you go to Dongyi? If you came here? Could it be that you wanted to replace Dongyi?" Are you looking for information about the Eastern Expedition?"
"What's there to find out?" Li Shu shook his head and smiled. "And what is Dongyi? How can I be a spy? To be honest with Zhang...Brother Zhang, the reason why I came here is indeed related to the Eastern Expedition, but instead I wanted to avoid this battle early and show myself here in the Eastern Territory. To save my face, the heroes from my hometown of Dong Qi thought that I actually helped the Dong Yi people in this battle?"
Zhang Xing suddenly realized: "Mr. Li is a noble man. It's ridiculous that the inspector Bai was so smart that day. I remind you not to make a mistake."
"Knowing people, knowing their faces, but not their hearts... Although I have a noble nature, but if I can't come here early, how can I let others know?" Li Shu said with a slight smile, and then suddenly asked. "Your Majesty, are you from the army?"
"yes."
"Then do you think you can win this battle?" Li Shu asked seriously.
"It would be better to say that it is a bit difficult to win." Zhang Xing said frankly. "Morale is too low, and no one wants to fight... Now I'm afraid that of the 300,000 troops and 600,000 civilians who have arrived in Dengzhou, 200,000 to 300,000 have already escaped."
"You can imagine what's going on." Li Shu smiled bitterly. "I have only been here with Xu Dalang for four or five days, and I have already seen it."
"Yes, we have all seen it with our own eyes in the past few days." Xiong Bonan also quickly interrupted. "There were not as many escapees as there were in the previous two times combined...it was as if everything collapsed at once."
"Over and over again, there are rumors in Yun Nei. It is normal for people to be overwhelmed." Li Shu sighed quietly and continued to ask. "May I ask who gave the saint the idea to march like this? Was it the new husband named Zhang?"
"It's Sima Xianggong." Zhang Xing smiled half-heartedly.
"It's actually him?" Li Shu was surprised on the spot.
"Where is your Excellency?" Zhang Sanlang suddenly asked. "Your Majesty, you came from Dongyi. Do you think you can win this battle?"
Li Shu was slightly startled, silent for a moment, and then slowly answered: "This is a good question... I actually don't think the Dongyi people can win."
The audience was finally completely stunned.
"You don't know that Dongyi used the weak to fight against the strong, and even the few big victories were extremely brutal... Of course, Brother Zhang should still know this... The key is that the country is too small, with only fifty states , How to contend with the Wei Dynasty, which has already won 80% to 90% of the world?" Li Shu explained seriously. "Since the late emperor, there have been three consecutive major conquests. It is said that the weak defeated the strong in Dongyi, but in fact, there were countless casualties in the country; and trade has been cut off for almost twenty years, and smuggling alone is a drop in the bucket; several times he called to protect the country and suppress the dragon. , causing the earth's Qi to be lost again and again, and although there was no disaster, it gradually became difficult to make a living... Under such circumstances, how can the Grand Governor do something against nature, no matter how talented he is?"
"Then this time, wouldn't both families be defeated together?" Zhang Xing was extremely surprised.
"It is inevitable that both families will lose together...compared to this, it doesn't mean much to see who wins in name." Li Shu became more candid.
Zhang Xing nodded and said no more, and the hall fell silent again.
After a while, Xiong Bonan suddenly remembered something and asked seriously: "Brother Zhang, why did you come to Xu Dalang?"
"Oh." Zhang Xing was stunned for a moment, then he came to his senses, and then spoke earnestly to Xu Dalang at his hand. "Xu Dalang, you are in trouble... In the past few days, a fugitive has stolen the saint's royal horse. The saint ordered the patrol team accompanying Jing'antai to deal with it. At least three groups of people from Jing'antai are in the military city. Come here The leader of the investigation is quite common. The key is that the leaders of the remaining two groups are all above Ningdan, and they have a source of explanation... I feel that this happened here and now, no matter how I investigate, it will be wrong. If we want to find out what happened to your family, you will be imprisoned at the least, and may be confiscated and exterminated, so I will fly hundreds of miles away and come here to give you a warning."
Xu Dalang stood up and wanted to speak, but suddenly he was sweating profusely.
ps: Good night.
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