"Zhongcheng is back!"
At noon on February 6th, Li Qingchen was sitting on the manger in the backyard of a small house in Chengfufang, looking at the spring rain outside the shed, and said something earth-shattering. "But dying."
After saying that, he looked at Qin Bao who stopped. The latter was shirtless, but had a bunch of gauze wrapped around his shoulders behind the shoulder blades on both sides. There was even blood seeping out at this time.
Qin Bao was stunned for a moment and asked seriously: "Then what do you mean? Do you want me to see him, or do you want to take me back?"
"It doesn't matter whether he arrests you or not. As long as he doesn't kill you, I will release you anyway." Li Qingchen answered calmly.
"So, you are the one who calls the shots in Dongdu City now?" Qin Bao continued to lower his head to mix the horse ingredients. As he moved, blood seeped out from the side of his shoulder blades again. "Where did you put the husband-in-law and the two eunuchs in Nanya?"
"My husband has his own place to go. The two eunuchs are also very upset right now." Li Qingchen looked at the wound location of the other party again and replied seriously. "In short, the criminal law and public security are under my control. The first eunuch went to seize the last few city defense soldiers, and the second eunuch went to the palace..."
"What else is there in the palace?"
"A few Jinwu guards, a few chamberlains, a few concubines, a few princesses, and of course a few little princes, as well as all the documents in the world, there are also some utensils in the Xiyuan, and there is inevitably a pile of weeds and dust."
"That's true." Qin Bao woke up. "It's just me being shallow."
"Shallow or not..." Li Twelve said seriously. "These things are the least valuable at this time, but they are still useful and will be valuable in the future. You must always take them into account."
Qin Bao said nothing: "So what do you want from me?"
"Go and see Zhongcheng!" Li Qingchen said seriously. "After all, it's a game. Even if I wear your lute bone, Zhongcheng will not be sorry for any of us... When people are about to die, Zhang Xing and Sister Sisi are here, and they will go."
"Brother Zhang may not go, but let's go. I'll go."
Qin Bao paused when he heard this, then poured the horse feed into the manger, but it turned out to be mostly meat and eggs, which made the knobby-spotted beast burst with joy, and he couldn't wait to eat it, splashing all over his master and guests.
Li Twelve Lang immediately stood up from the manger, glanced at the horse material, and then at the weapons wrapped in oilcloth under the stable. He didn't say anything, but carefully moved to the front yard with his mouth covered.
Qin Bao followed.
"Don't you want to eat at home?" Yueniang asked directly in the kitchen without going out.
"Wait for me to come back." Qin Bao put on his clothes and lowered his head and replied. "I have something to say tonight...don't worry, mother."
"If you can't come back, should you go find Twelve Lang?" Yueniang rushed out of the kitchen.
"Look for me." Li Qingchen had already walked to the door with his sleeves rolled up. He turned around, panting. "Just find me."
Qin Bao nodded, put on his clothes, and followed out in the rain.
After leaving the door and turning to the main road in the square, the two of them did not ride horses, but got on an oilcloth cart, and then hurried along the road to the gate of the square, escorted by a dozen knights.
"There are actually so many people on the street... Although it is depressed, there are a lot of people." While walking on the street, Qin Bao couldn't help but be surprised when he looked at the people queuing up to buy food in the drizzle.
"Of course a lot." Li Qingchen still held up his sleeves. "Where can they go? Is there any place in the world that is more safe and peaceful than Dongdu? There is endless old grain here, and there are countless gold, silver, pearls and jade. If you want to be an official, there are many vacancies. There is no war, no famine. The tall city walls protect it, and the square walls protect it, so the world is united!"
Qin Bao sighed: "This is why I am determined to rebel. All these grains are shipped from Hebei, Dongjing, and Jianghuai. They are obtained by the sweat of the people all over the world every day. They did not appear in Luokou warehouse out of thin air." But in Hebei, when I saw Liyangcang being released, I realized what kind of life the people there were living..."
"What was your day like?"
"I don't even remember the life I lived in those days. I didn't remember the construction of Dongdu. I don't remember the preparation of the north-south ditches and waterways. But the first expedition to Dongyi and the second expedition to Dongyi were when I just came of age. At that time, I felt that everything was different. Young and strong is like the grain in the urn. It seems that there is not much left every time, but it will bottom out soon..." Qin Bao leaned on the side of the car and looked at it faintly. "And I am a member of Cheng Zhili and Cheng Dalang. I usually have more than a dozen companions who carry swords and draw bows. Those officials dared to come to me. It's ridiculous that I was still thinking about joining the army to gain a good career...I am always Going against the trend like this, my eyes can only see the most superficial things about myself."
Li Qingchen was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled: "It doesn't matter, you are still young, and your abilities are there. In troubled times, with the rise and fall of princes, no one can do without your natural talent of charging and breaking... There are many people who are hungry for talents. The thing is... If nothing else, just do something for me now. People in the entire Dongdu are in panic, gangs are running rampant and no one is controlling them. I don’t know how many dirty things they have done. Just clean up every shop for me. Three squares a day can be cleaned in a month. Millions of people in the eastern capital are counting on you."
Qin Bao was silent.
While the two were talking, the vehicle had already left the square gate, and beyond the square gate, across a wide sky street, was the Lide Square occupied by Jing'an Terrace... I don't know if Dou Lide has any hope of coming here in this life. This trip.
Just like that, when we came to Tianjie, Tianjie at this time was much deserted compared to the inside of the square... Although the inside of the square was also a bit dilapidated and lifeless, there were many people, and you could even occasionally hear ignorant children. We were having a lot of fun in the spring rain, but there were very few people on Tianjie Street. The only people coming and going were motorcades, porters, and those transporting old grain and supplies.
"It's just a dead city." At this time, Qin Bao suddenly said. "It's broken outside, and Guanlong is also broken... Bai Hengqiu took over, so it's not necessarily a bad thing."
Li Qingchen wanted to refute, but when he saw that after crossing Tianjie, he came to the bridge in Lidefang, he shook his head, got off the car first, and walked slowly inside.
Qin Bao had no choice but to follow.
When I came here, I saw another scene: a pool full of dead branches, a collapsed black tower, officials from Jingantai hurriedly going back and forth with their heads lowered, and the cracks in the bricks were so dilapidated that no one had cleaned the grass in the spring. Walking further inside, when I came to a small courtyard opposite the Black Tower, I saw many people who were not moving around. There were black and Zhu Shou, as well as some court officials and backbones of the rich families. They all looked solemn, and some even looked solemn. Relatively Qiqi.
Li Qingchen walked forward with his sleeves rolled up. When he saw a familiar older man coming out of the courtyard, he was surprised and asked: "When did Chai Changjian come back? Aren't you working as a general guard in Juoyang? Zhongcheng Called you back?"
"How is that possible?" Chai Changjian, who had not been Changjian for a long time, spread his hands and smiled bitterly. "It's just a coincidence that I was kicked back."
"Your cultivation and experience can't hold down a small county?" Li Twelve Lang was really shocked. "Didn't Du Po Formation go to Huaishang?"
"I was able to suppress the county, and I didn't see Du Po Formation, but Bai Hengyuan, the general manager of Nanyang, sent an army to the north, and everyone in the county responded. I couldn't go against the public opinion, but there is news here in the east capital. , saying that Bai Hengqiu and Zhong Cheng fell out in Hebei and suffered a big loss." Chai Changjian looked into the courtyard as he spoke, and his tone became desolate. "How could I pretend to be deaf and dumb? Then I just came back."
"Have you met Zhongcheng?" Li Qingchen continued to ask.
Chai Changjian nodded.
"How do you say it?" Li Twelve Lang continued to ask, and everyone around him also pricked up their ears.
"Inform me and let me stay here in Dongdu with peace of mind and supervise the distribution of food in the city." Chai Changjian said half hidden and half.
But Li Twelve seemed to have known something for a long time. He just nodded and turned back to signal Qin Bao to follow.
Everyone looked sideways, but no one stopped them. Instead, they watched the two young men with very poor expressions walking into the courtyard.
Under the inner corridor in the courtyard, an old man with an even worse complexion was lying on a raised couch. Uncle Cao, who was always energetic and energetic, seemed to have changed. He was lying there, motionless, with his chest covered. A small brocade quilt with saggy skin, pale complexion and closed eyes.
An official slave followed the instructions and tried to tidy up the other party's messy hair, but was stopped by the old man who opened his eyes slightly and stared.
This seems to be the same, his hair has never been as neat and clean as those of Bai Hengqiu.
"How is Zhong Cheng's injury?" Qin Bao stepped forward, bowed and asked calmly.
"My life is actually gone." Uncle Cao Huang's words were very clear, and his movements seemed to be agile, because he actually directly lifted the brocade quilt on his body, and then exposed almost the entire chest that was sunken, and the flesh and blood inside had been obviously lost. Living is just attached to it with true energy. "Hang your life, meet a few people, explain things, take one breath, hear the news, and die. It's like a fire, but it has actually been extinguished. The last red embers are hidden in the ashes."
"Can't even the Grand Master live for a few more years?" Qin Bao was really confused. "They are all land gods."
"Terrestrial gods are not real gods either." Uncle Cao Huang lay there, looking at the sky in the courtyard, his expression unchanged and his tone unchanged. "The world was in chaos, the three radiances suddenly opened, and the true energy overflowed. First, the sundries were infected and turned into true dragons, then hundreds of tribes were enlightened, and the four emperors were born to establish institutions. Starting from the Qing Emperor, the four emperors lived in the sky. With the protection and guidance of mortals from above, there are gods, and only mortals can live forever. However, even gods have to prove their status... But how difficult is it to achieve this? There are not even two or three great masters who can be touched. Most of them were born in a time of great strife without attaining the throne. No matter how great their abilities are, they are just ordinary people, just like ordinary candlelight cannot stand up to the stars."
After hearing this, Qin Bao was sure that his old boss, Uncle Wei Emperor, was really going to die.
Because this person would never express emotion about life and death.
At this thought, even though Qin Bao had already made up his mind, he couldn't help but feel a little sad: "Zhongcheng, do you have any words for calling me a common man?"
"Zhongcheng didn't call you, I asked you to come." Li Qingchen suddenly interrupted, but then looked at Cao Lin. "Zhongcheng, although Qin Erlang is a fool, he is simple in nature and has strong martial arts. It is better to stay and reuse him. Without him, we may not be able to gain a foothold in Dongdu in the future."
Cao Lin finally glanced out of the corner of his eye from the couch and glanced at Li Twelve Lang: "You are weak and cannot use this big iron spear."
Li Qingchen was silent for a moment, and then said seriously: "I'll do my best, and even if it's useless, he can scare people and reassure people even if he's here."
"Then let this gun be covered in dust." Cao Lin said with a sigh.
"If he leaves, won't he be covered in dust?" Li Twelve Lang didn't give in at all, even a little excited. "Is there a place for him in Hebei now? Zhang Xing is almost dead! Dongdu can survive, but Zhang Xing can't survive."
Qin Bao looked at the other party in surprise... He was picked up from the Dongdu army by the river and sent to the black tower. Then the black tower fell for several days before Li Qingchen fished him out of the underground prison. At that time, everyone was concerned about the collapse of the Black Tower and what happened to Uncle Cao Huang.
And now, just two days have passed, and the question and its answer are still the same, and few people want to go anywhere else.
In other words, the news was limited to a certain range, and Qin Bao didn't know about it anyway.
"Bai Hengqiu's goal was not Dongdu. At least he used cunning to deal with Dongdu and Hebei." Li Qingchen said frankly. "Now Bai Hengqiu, Duan Wei, Li Ding, and probably Xue Changxiong, with a combined force of more than 100,000, have rushed towards the Deposed Dragon Gang. It seems that they have already fought... It's hard to say whether Zhang Xinghuo is alive, but Deposed The Dragon Gang should have collapsed."
Qin Bao was not surprised, because he had already had a hunch when Zhang Xing invaded Liyangcang. The real enemy would not let the Deposed Dragon Gang do this. The only difference was that the person responsible for this task changed from the Dongdu Army to the After joining the Taiyuan-Dongdu coalition forces, Cao Zhongcheng changed from Cao Zhongcheng in front of him to Bai Hengqiu.
The enemies have become stronger, there are just more.
"Zhang Xing is not that easy to die, and the Deposed Dragon Gang is not that easy to die either." Cao Lin said slowly as he lay there, but he didn't know who he was talking to. "Zhang Xing actually has a lot of sayings about the Black Emperor and the White Emperor, which are not false. But the most important thing is that he understands a truth, that is, kindness may not necessarily lead to loyalty, and fear may lead to chaos. He has never been in Henan and Hebei. Random killings have never broken all kinds of order, and everything is going against Cao Che. Therefore, even if this thing is broken, there must be his die-hard loyalists in the Deposed Dragon Gang who are willing to help him get up again... Besides, Well, this battle may not be ruined. Isn’t there no definite news yet? If we win with one blow, I’m afraid Duan Wei has already sent Pegasus into the Eastern Capital to win over people’s hearts.”
Li Twelve Lang did not answer, but directly asked: "Zhongcheng, can you give Qin Er some information?"
"It's up to you." Cao Lin replied calmly.
"Qin Er." Li Twelve turned around and spoke seriously. "The Eastern Capital will not collapse. Sima Erlong has already led 50,000 elite soldiers from the Xuzhou camp back. They should have reached Shouchun by now. There is no way Du Po Formation can stop them."
Qin Bao was stunned for a moment and then nodded immediately: "Not even Li Shu can stop him."
"That's not what I meant." Li Qingchen took out his hands from his sleeves and said seriously. "I mean, the world is so big. If you want to protect the people, why do you have to go to Hebei? The Eastern Capital and the surrounding departments directly under it have more than one million people. Plus the world's personnel, geography, finance and military documents, what has happened since ancient times? The Imperial Dragon Monument is still here, and it also needs someone to protect it. When Sima Erlong comes back, he will never be unfair to you. Aren’t you and Sima Erlong the same kind of people? It’s time to fight side by side to protect the Four Seas Tianyuan.”
At this point, Li Qingchen finally reached out his hand from his sleeve: "Qin Er, Dongdu is not a dead city! This is the essence of the world, and it should not be poisoned by the disaster of war. If you stay here, you can do both public and private things, and you can do a lot."
Qin Bao obviously hesitated, but fell silent and did not answer.
When Li Qingchen saw this, he was about to say more.
Qin Er suddenly said: "In that case, you come to guard this Tianyuan, and I will build a new one with Brother Zhang. How about it?"
Li Twelve laughed angrily. He glanced at Cao Lin, who was sleeping with his eyes closed, and shook his head at Qin Bao: "Let's go out."
Qin Bao lowered his head and turned around. He had just walked out of the yard and came to the middle of the group of red and black ribbons. Li Qingchen's words came from behind him: "Zhongcheng had an order, but Qin Er persisted in taking it and sent him to the black prison under the tower. "
Qin Bao was not overly surprised, nor did he resist. Chai Changjian and Hu Yan were the first to catch him, grab him, and drag him to the dark prison opposite.
After the people left, Li Qingchen stood motionless in the rain, just staring at the backs of those people in a daze, and there were many old and new officials in Jingantai around him like this.
The spring rain kept falling, and gradually became a little more urgent. At this time, in the important town of Huaishang, which was hundreds of miles away, between Shouchun and Xiacai, just as Li Qingchen said, a war that could change the situation of the world was breaking out. Great war.
Sima Zheng led an army of 50,000 people upstream. In the morning, under the cover of rain, he quickly arrived five miles away from the main camp of the Dupo Formation. Then suddenly the flag was shown and the governor's army moved forward. At the same time, there were 3,000 people per battalion. With a big opening, the twelve groups advanced together, launched an all-out attack, and suddenly broke into the water and land camp of Du Po Formation.
Du Pozhen was in a panic. He couldn't figure out why the Xuzhou Army came? Why did Sima Zheng come? When he was escorted out of the camp by his personal guards and came to the preset hillside platform behind the camp, he was still puzzled when he saw with his own eyes the Xuzhou army pouring into the camp in the drizzle.
No reason? !
In fact, he knew the news that Huankou was taken away by Xuzhou a few days ago, and it was Sima Zheng who sent an envoy to tell him, and the envoy wanted the Huaixi Army to withdraw... But these are the proper meaning of the title, which is to herd sheep. Things like mowing the grass when the time comes and drinking soup when eating.
In fact, it was precisely because the opponent did this that he relaxed a little and prepared to launch a general attack after the water rose in the spring and submerged the opponent's water stronghold in a few days.
As a result, it rained just a few days ago and no troops were sent out, but someone took advantage of it.
"Father!"
A horse was riding through the rain, and when it reached the hillside, it suddenly slipped and the horse staggered and fell. However, the knight did not dare to neglect and jumped up, but the horse rolled down the hillside, wailing and neighing.
After the knight jumped, he didn't care about the horse. He put away his energy and hurried forward, almost climbing to a recessed platform on the hillside. Then, regardless of the mud, he prostrated again: "Father, retreat quickly. Come on! There's no way to stop it!"
"Nonsense!" After coming back to his senses, Du Pozhen, who was standing here looking at the situation, became furious. "I can see here better than anyone else that I can't hold on elsewhere, but the four battalions of Taibao troops under your command are all blocking them. They even fought back just now. How can you persuade me to escape?!"
The knight, the Great Taibao Kan Leng, was startled when he heard this, wiped the rain off his face, and quickly explained: "Father! Only the Taibao Army and the battalion spears brought back by Fu Bo from Hebei can fight! And they are only borrowed. If they come to fight in the camp, the other soldiers and horses will not be able to stop them! If this continues, the rest of the camp will be trapped, and the twelve thousand Taibao troops and the spear battalion will also be trapped and die in the camp. It is better to kill these more than ten thousand soldiers as soon as possible. Take the foundation out and plan for the future..."
"What do you have in mind?" Hearing this, Du Pozhen became even more angry. "You said, the whole army is gone, what do you think of saving four battalions of more than 10,000 Taibao troops? Do you want to give your uncle his foundation?!"
Kan Leng was stunned, and his heart was even more astringent, but he could only kowtow in the mud nest on the spot.
"Leader!" At this moment, Fan Shiyong, the former deputy leader of the Huaiyou League and one of the so-called leaders of the Deposed Dragon Gang, hurried forward and almost hugged Du Pozhen. "Leader, don't be confused! The Taibao Army is not Kan Leng's base, but your base. Even he is your base! Even the deputy leader is your base!"
Du Pozhen seemed to have woken up, but he asked at a loss: "But what should we do now? Is it true that we can't fight?"
"How to fight?!" Fan Shiyong asked helplessly. "Why would Kan Leng prefer to fall rather than rise up? Now he just has people rushing towards him, but he can't hold on. What if Sima Erlong really presses him personally? Do you really want the whole army to be annihilated? There is also the Huainan Army on the other side. We are being rescued, so why won’t we come? What will we do then?”
Du Pozhen raised his head in confusion, and then instinctively looked at the other side of the Huai River, and then saw a situation that made him both angry and somewhat relieved - on the Huai River, the inland river navy that the Huaiyou Alliance was proud of had actually abandoned it. Shuizhai took the initiative to swim upstream from the side door, as if trying to escape.
Of course, it can also be said to be to seize the mouth of the river.
And when he glanced at the chaotic camp again, he didn't say any more words of scolding or complaint.
"Boss." Du Pozhen pushed Fan Shiyong away and stepped forward to help Kan Leng up. "I was frightened and confused by the situation... Now you go back and hold on a little longer. I will send reinforcements from here to see if we can hold on... If Wang Daiji sends troops, or Sima Zheng takes action, don't wait, follow the instructions immediately As you think, withdraw your troops to the west! Can't we not attack Huainan? Remember, don't take the nearest Feishuikou. We have a pontoon bridge. We can go to Yingshuikou or even Rushuikou to go home directly. Otherwise, it’s easy to be caught up.”
Kan Leng was relieved and kowtowed to the ground in the opponent's hands before leaving in a hurry.
As soon as the people left, Du Pozhen immediately sent an order. On the one hand, he pushed the boat along with the current and asked the navy to control the upper river channel and the nearest Feishui mouth to assist the retreat; on the other hand, he quickly dispatched other soldiers and horses to the west of the camp to provide assistance.
After the military order was issued, he thought and thought and looked again and again. Instead of having answers to his questions, he had many more questions.
"Why did Sima Zheng come to attack us? Is it Jiangdu's order? Wang Daiji's order?" Panting Du Pozhen suddenly turned to ask General Fan Shiyong.
The generals were speechless.
"Also, if that's the case, why hasn't Wang Daiji sent troops yet?" Du Pozhen continued to ask. "Why not send troops? What is he worried about?! Didn't Sima Zheng tell him?"
On the other side of the Huai River, in the rain, Jiulang Jiulang, the king of the Huainan Wolong Dynasty, stood on Bagong Mountain, where eight immortals were said to have passed. Looking north, his heart was indeed full of doubts and fears.
Although he was rescued, he felt suspicious and fearful. Of course, it was not because of the rescue itself, but because Wang Laojiu was very sensitive to politics. As a person from Jiangdu, he knew very well that the Xuzhou camp was not allowed to be in the presence of the saint. This shield left the station without permission to come to the rescue, let alone come out in full force... In fact, he didn't ask for help at all. He still had some strength left, waiting for the opportunity to counterattack... In other words, Sima Zheng brought All the main forces of Xuzhou Camp came here absolutely on their own initiative and absolutely against Jiangdu's wishes.
So what does this mean?
What happened in Jiangdu?
Is the Sima family going to participate in the struggle for supremacy in the world?
A battle today, and then a annexation. Do you have the ability to resist?
Wang Daiji said nothing and stared for a moment. The more he thought about it, the more anxious he became. He almost felt a tightness in his chest. But suddenly, a gust of river wind brought rainwater and hit his face. This Dongdu Shiyu and Huainan Wolong immediately woke up.
Let's say that Wang Jiulang started from the lowest level of civil servants, and with a little bit of demon blood, he struggled to climb up despite discrimination. He climbed up with all his strength, and climbed up for the sake of climbing. Until now, he is in troubled times, and has already been because of As I climbed higher and higher, I had a specific thought.
But it was precisely because of this climbing experience that he still knew that the more this happened, the more cautious he had to be, the more he had to recognize the reality clearly, and he could not let go and walk into a dead end.
As soon as he thought of this, he immediately turned around: "General Wenren, led the navy to send troops, and Sima Gong attacked the Huaixi bandits! The victory or defeat will be today!"
When the former deputy leader of the Huaiyou League heard Xun'an's words, he bowed his hands and immediately turned down.
Two-quarters of an hour later, the Huainan army launched a massive attack from the water.
This move caused the Huaixi Army to lose its final confidence. Without waiting for Sima Zheng to take action, the entire army took the initiative to retreat. However, they, who had already been defeated, fell into a rout as soon as they left the camp.
The army collapsed, and Du Po Zhen completely sobered up... It was because his previous attack on Huaixi was so smooth that he became so arrogant that even when the news came that Zhang Xing was besieged by Dong Du and Bai Hengqiu, everything became a problem. This gave him the motivation to persevere.
If Zhang Xing was defeated in the north and Li Shu was unable to do anything, but he swept across Huainan, wouldn't he be able to do a lot in the rebel army, or in the Deposed Dragon Gang?
However, now that the army was defeated like a mountain, they could only suppress everything and grit their teeth and move forward.
When we return to Xuanpao City, we will regroup and discuss the future.
"Father!"
Here, Du Po Formation had just descended the mountain. Heading to the Hekou area to the west, among the chaotic defeated troops, a group of people suddenly rushed in. The first general was Wenren Xun'an's nephew and Du Po Formation's latest Taibao Guo. Congratulations, the person shouted in front of him. "The pontoon bridge at Feishuikou in front was broken! Sima Zheng personally led three thousand soldiers to go around the mountain and break it! In front of everyone, he cut it off with a knife! The bastard of the navy pretended not to see it and went straight over!"
Du Pozhen stopped and was stunned for a moment, then suddenly laughed and wiped his face in the rain... His fingers were rough and his face hurt.
PS: Happy Dragon Boat Festival ends everyone.
(End of chapter)
