At the end of March, Liyang had just concluded a victorious, united, and exciting conference during the day. But as dusk fell and the conference ended, there was an undercurrent surging inside and outside Liyang City, which did not close the city gates and block the roads. People's hearts are filled with uncertainty.
This is not an exaggeration or slander, but a fact.
Because almost all the big leaders and leaders took the opportunity to test and communicate with each other privately in the dusk, and consciously or unconsciously formed small groups and factions. It can almost be said that after the conference, they immediately divided into groups and held small meetings. ...Among them, some can be called naturally formed groups, or official groups formed with the endorsement of job levels within the gang, but some are pure cliques.
For example, Dou Lide took Liu Hei? back to find his wife and brother-in-law, and also brought together Gao Shitong and other leaders in Jianglingxingtai to have a casual meal together. This is of course normal, but how did Shan Tonghai, the other leader, get involved? What's going on?
For another example, Dou Lide and his daughter ran outside the stable with student Li Ding to smell the fishy smell, look at the stars, and blow the evening breeze. It didn't matter where the young man and woman met by chance. It was legal and reasonable, but when they met Zhang Jinshu, Bing Yuanzheng, Chai Xiaohe and a group of They piled up documents and guards and walked over from the other side of the stable. As they walked, they discussed how to persuade Xiong Bonan and Chen Bin to closely monitor Li Shu and the second room Yi Cui, so they had no choice but to squat behind the horse's butt here and pretend that nothing happened. heard.
For example, Wei Xuanding and his deputy and former master Yuan Baocun went to drink arm in arm... At first they went two people, but Zhang Shizhao followed as they walked, talking about the old times in Hebei. Even Chief Zhang himself did not hesitate to give in. He put his arm around Li Ding's shoulders and followed Qin Er. After walking out, he called Niu Da and Lu Changheng. of.
Those who knew naturally knew that these were the foundations and upstarts of the Deposed Dragon Gang. Those who didn't know thought it was a gathering of the old and young of the Wei Dynasty. Everyone misses me, the Wei Dynasty.
Including Wang Chen, who followed Li Ding, suddenly went to Fang Yanshi in shock, which was also confusing.
In this case, Xu Shiying invited Wang Shuyong, Xu Shiren, and Ma Wei to have a drink; Xiong Bonan took Zhang Gongshen and Han Erlang, who had just joined, to have dinner; Huang Ping and Yuwen Wanchou followed Jia Yue to a place to chat privately; Chen Bin went back alone, but Xie Minghe took the initiative to lead several new supervisors, Huang Dalang, who was noisy, and Feng Duan, who was anxious, to follow him; Cui Erlang took Cui Erlang to find Cui Silang, and several King Kong gathered together. Eating duck together... actually seems a lot more reasonable.
Even when Fang Yanlang and Du Caiqian went to find Li Shu, they all seemed upright.
An old leader or old friend has been demoted, why aren't old subordinates allowed to comfort him?
"I, Li Shu, can't thank you enough for coming." Li Shu, who had been waiting for a long time, looked at the two people in front of him and was actually a little excited and grateful.
"Cui Silang was also coming, but he was dragged away by Cui Erlang and a few Cui's children. Twenty-nine Lang was also coming, but he was dragged away by Li Ding's people just now." Fang Yanlang paused for a moment. explain.
"It's natural. The Cui family has just suffered such a big incident. If Cui Silang follows me all the way to the dark side, the Cui family will not be able to sleep." Li Shu said with a bitter smile. "Twenty-nine Lang is even more lucky, and the line that Li Ding established when he established the Pu Tai Army happened to be connected... However, this shows that you two have come, I am really grateful. .”
Fang Yanlang immediately shook his head: "We came to see Mr. Li openly, what should we show or not?"
This is the truth. They waited for the following meeting to break up before coming here just to be honest.
"The gang is actually very generous and fair enough." Du Caigan sighed, as if to persuade him. "In today's situation, if Chief Zhang really wanted to kill Mr. Li and deal with a few of us, it would just be a matter of smooth flow... I was already thinking on the stage that I would not be able to come back to the city today. Who would have thought that he would really do it? A way out."
"It's magnanimous and fair." Li Shu said seriously. "But it's also more chilling and makes your liver tremble."
Du Caiqian was obviously stunned.
However, Fang Yanlang shook his head slightly, as if he knew what the other party meant: "Li Gong, with all due respect, he is the chief, and his name is justified. It is normal for Zhang Shizhao and Bing Yuanzheng to choose which side... We did not lose unfairly in Xuzhou. "
"The key to this matter is not in Xuzhou, but in Hebei." Du Caigan was also a little helpless. "Li Ding has surrendered. Chief Zhang might have wanted to go around from the north, and it might take half a year from March to come back, but he turned around... This battle was caused by the grain release. Hebei and the east border The leaders of your background all think that as long as Bai Hengqiu leaves, it will be worthwhile and even a win. With his reputation soaring and everyone relying on him, how can anyone follow you?"
"So I don't blame him." Li Shu's expression did not change. "I don't blame Zhang Shizhao, Bing Yuanzheng, Chai Xiaohe, let alone Du Pozhen, Zhang Jinshu and others... I have to say something superfluous, even if you are just like those people, I don't blame you, I just feel sorry for myself. I chose the wrong path from the beginning... I have been walking the wrong path for most of my life."
Fang Yanlang and Du Caigan looked at each other. Although they did not dare to explain clearly, they roughly knew what Li Shu meant, because they happened to accompany Li Shu on the wrong path... They were all involved in the Yang Shen Rebellion. The perpetrators and the victims, and now... So, there are some things that get annoying when you hear them too much.
To put it mildly, they came to see Li Shu. Wasn't it just to listen to these complaints so that the other party could feel comfortable and avoid going to extremes?
"I have taken the wrong path three times in my life. The first time was when I was young and young. I thought that I could rely on my talents, learning, cultivation and hard work to become a powerful Wei Zhongchen and revive the family." Li Shu's beginning surprised the two people opposite him. They really I didn’t expect that the other party would take the wrong path so early. "In the end, after years of hard work, just because I took a peek at the new emperor Cao Che while standing guard, my future was ruined. I had no choice but to seek refuge with the Yang family in the world, hoping to rely on them to revive the family. In the end, you also Everyone knows that not only was he defeated, but his family was gone, and even his personal friends and business influence west of Longqianguan were wiped out. At that time, he almost wanted to die, but when he came down in one breath, he thought about this life. I will have no regrets if I can see the Great Wei collapse... But now that the Great Wei is gone, I am empty too."
"That's wrong." Fang Yanlang corrected seriously. "You may have embarked on the third path for the purpose of cutting off the violent Wei Dynasty, but as you go along, everyone will know that the Wei Dynasty will surely fall. This path is actually to take the path of replacing the old with the new. These days We have been together for years, how could I not know? Do you want to go your own way and create your own world? When you are alive, see if you can become a holy king. After you die, you will transform into a dragon and be picked up by the four emperors. The worst is to let yourself be written into the gods as a protagonist, and be written into the history books as a brag..."
"Yes, you are right...the way to depose the Dragon Gang was to eliminate the violent Wei at first, but now it is to fight for the world and create a foundation." Li Shu's face turned pale. "But I really don't expect to be a holy king, and I don't expect to transform into a dragon and be picked up by the four emperors. I have met the late emperor and know how difficult it is to be a holy king. By the time of the Three Expeditions, I will be older than Zhang Xing, Li Ding, and Xu Shiying. There are many people in the National People's Congress, and at most it is the pattern of the late emperor... Therefore, I also just want to learn from the late emperor and create a situation. When someone writes in the future, count me as the protagonist so that people can remember... But now, the protagonist Let others do it! Let others walk the road!"
At this point, he actually felt a bit sad.
Fang Yanlang felt a little uncomfortable when he saw this, and couldn't help but comfort him in a low voice: "The matter has come to this, why not just relax and just sit in Hebei to see the future..."
"That's right, let's stop for a moment and see the road clearly before walking on." Li Shu nodded hurriedly.
Fang Yanlang was waiting for these words and couldn't help but feel relieved when he heard the words.
On the other hand, Du Caiqian, an old friend who had known Li Shu for a longer time, was listening to this conversation and wanted to speak for a moment, but in the end he did not speak.
At the end of the month, the twin moons are almost gone, and as the night gets darker and darker, the evening wind blows, and it seems to be a dark and windy night. Fortunately, by the end of spring, the stars were shining brightly, and with the torches and lanterns on Liyang City, Liyangcang and the roads between them, and of course the soldiers and horses, people, warehouses, and fields here, there was still a bit of humanity. The color of peace.
Zhang Xing seldom drinks alcohol, but he still drank a few drinks today, as did the others. He couldn't be called a wild man, but he did talk a lot.
Of course, he always talks a lot.
"You just let Li Shu go like this." In the small courtyard where Niu Da stayed, Li Ding looked at the starry sky above his head and finally no longer concealed his disdain. "Defection in the middle of battle, but still able to save one's life, how merciful a woman is!"
"That's also the benevolence of the women who deposed the Dragon Gang." Zhang Xing disagreed.
"Third brother, as long as I push this matter to the big bosses today, Li Shu will definitely die." Niu Da was also a little depressed. "When the time comes, all members of the Dragon Gang will be deposed and strict military discipline will be enforced."
"The gain outweighs the loss." Zhang Xing's tone softened a little. "You and Li Si sincerely wanted to kill him. When Li Si was building roads in the Ministry of War, he always regarded himself as the marshal of an army, and he was very particular about being kind and not in charge of the troops. As a general in the army, you have fought in many battles. You are the one who leads the troops and serves as the flank for the hard battle, so I feel resentful towards these people who are delaying the war... But what about the others? Do Gao Shitong and Li Zida really want to kill people when they raise their hands?"
Niuda woke up for a moment, but his mind couldn't turn around.
"They are surrendered generals and hostages of the vassal outside. They saw that the situation was settled and used this to show their loyalty." Seeing Niu Da stunned, Lu Changheng suddenly put down his wine glass and replied on his behalf. "In fact, they are most afraid of Li Shu being executed... If they can't even protect Li Shu, but also involve other leaders, how can they feel at ease?"
Niu Da understood, but was completely stunned, and Li Ding was also in a daze.
Because they really didn't expect this.
"Mr. Xie probably didn't really want to kill anyone. He just had to follow Mr. Chen." Qin Bao also said. "It's good that there are many heroes in the Deposed Dragon Gang, but they are all from the hometown of Dong Qi, mainly from Henan and Hebei... The third brother even said this specifically today... and Mr. Chen is a southerner doing the paperwork The General Manager, who deposed the Dragon Gang clerks and governed the fifty-sixth battalion of the Eighteen Counties, was actually the pattern of the Nanya Prime Minister. If even General Manager Xie, the nearest southerner and old friend in the gang, could not follow him, the others would only Even more dissatisfied."
Niu Da and Li Ding didn't speak for a long time, they could only lower their heads and drink.
"For a person of Li Shu's level, politics should be considered more than military affairs when dealing with him." Zhang Xing responded quietly and gave his final explanation. "So, the order of handling this matter is as follows. First, bring him back with the soldiers and horses he took away, to ensure that there is no internal strife within the Deposed Dragon Gang; then, he cannot be killed by the people of Du Po Zhen outside; And then make sure that he is voted down by the gang... In other words, the decision about his fate is the most important thing in itself, not what the outcome should be for him."
"But how did Li Shu end up like this, where life and death are insignificant?" Qin Bao had a new question. "I remember at the beginning, he was the one who led the troops to advance eastward. Even a few months ago, he was the most powerful leader in the gang."
"Because he is short-sighted, looking at the future and looking for a route, and he can only do one thing but not two, let alone three; and he also has flaws in his character. On the surface, he is modest and sincere, but in fact he is arrogant, stubborn and intolerant; but this is not what he fell into. The root of the current situation is that I actually have the shortcomings mentioned earlier, you also have them, Li Si also has them, Sisi also has them, we all have them, but they are all different. His problem is that he cannot always cover up these shortcomings. , or that you can’t stick to what is right!” Zhang Xing talked with a drunken spirit. "Everything in the world is in such a state of failure. No matter how good Li Shu is, or no matter how good anyone in the world is, can he still be as prominent as the saint who just died when he came to the throne? Is that saint as promising as he was then? Then What happened to that saint?!"
Qin Bao nodded heavily.
Li Ding, who was standing by, finally laughed: "Your question and answer session is very similar to what it was like when we were at Chengfufang in Dongdu...even when I was watching, it looked the same."
Qin Bao couldn't help but smile awkwardly.
Zhang Xing was stunned for a moment, then smiled: "Time is gone and will never come back. Who would have thought that all our old friends are safe?"
"Everyone is safe wherever they come from. What's going on with Sanniang?" Li Ding immediately refuted it. "Isn't this too unexpected no matter how you think about it?"
"To put it simply, we encountered a wind disaster, a real wind disaster." Facing these people, Zhang Xing did not mean to hide anything, but he was concise and to the point. "And if you tell me more clearly, this may be her fate... Someone told me that the Red Emperor Empress regards her as a personal property and wants her to start her own career!"
"Then you will let the Red Emperor take her away?"
Li Ding should have asked this, but he said nothing. He knew that Zhang Xing was not such a person, and Qin Bao also knew that.
"After this battle, I will go find her no matter what. Yu Si, that's my wife, Yu Gong, that's the five battalions of my Deposed Dragon Gang, many leaders... But I always feel that Sanniang doesn't need help. She can unshackle the person herself, and maybe she can directly greet him." Zhang Xing was still magnanimous. "I can trust her."
It was hard for a few people to say anything.
Because few people who know Bai Sanniang have no confidence in her.
"I roughly understand what Shan Dalang means today. Do you want to say that our chief will definitely succeed, and we people must prepare in advance?" Time continued to pass, and in the dark night, several banquets inside and outside the city had ended. , but in the biggest part, the two most important attendees were still sitting opposite each other in the courtyard. They were the two newly appointed leaders Dou Lide and Shan Tonghai, but they didn't know what they were connecting with.
"It's already done." Shan Tonghai sneered. "Even in the end, the Dragon Gang will be deposed. Based on the current achievements of the gang, our chief will be like the Dragon Prime Minister in his favorite "The Legend of Li Yue"... As for the future, in the future Regardless of whether it is Bai Hengqiu or Xiao Hui, as long as the Deposed Dragon Gang does not win, what does it matter to us? Can we abandon our own situation in Hebei and Henan to be his dog? Or with the prestige of the current chief, we Can you start a new one?"
"That's the truth." Dou Lide seemed to be a little distracted after drinking too much wine, but he still nodded after a moment. "That's the truth. How to prepare?"
"Actually, just one sentence, you must abide by the rule of raising your hands." Shan Tonghai responded solemnly. "I don't know whether Chief Zhang is doing this as a temporary measure to unite people or because he really wants to do this... But this rule is the foundation of our existence. If we stick to this rule, our family will not be killed if we make mistakes; If we don’t make mistakes, we can make some restrictions and implement our own strategies!”
"If it's him...if it's him..." Doulide nodded, but then shook his head. He seemed a little hesitant, but he finally spoke. "What if he is really just a stop-gap measure, and in the end he can no longer be the Supreme but becomes the Emperor instead? What if he wants to change the rules?"
"Then he has to change first, right?" Shan Tonghai figured it out. "It won't disappear all of a sudden, right? Besides, there should always be an old rule left and we can change it back in the future."
"Not bad." Dou Lide also smiled. "It's still free and easy with a single faucet."
"What are you talking about free and easy?" Shan Tonghai paused for a while before answering. "But to be honest, sometimes I also think that we still have luck. No matter what happens to the Deposed Dragon Gang in the future, or whether Chief Zhang will fall out in the future, these four years are always not empty, and we are always lucky. Otherwise, you don’t need to look at other places, just look at Hebei two or three years ago... I just came to Hebei and saw your misery, the murderous people here, and the withered fields. , only then did I realize how valuable the previous pattern of the Eastern Territory was, and how rare it was to depose the Dragon Gang’s rules.”
Dou Lide stopped talking, but his eyes were wandering. He didn't know whether he was simply drunk, or he was thinking of the situation in Hebei he encountered before joining the Deposed Dragon Gang... Or to be more specific, it was the Qing who dumped his body beside the official road before the Three Expeditions. strong? Are they the killed Dou clan elders? Or the family members of various rebels who froze to death and starved to death in Gaoji Po?
Who knows?
Entering April, the military situation in Huaishang continued to spread. The newly reorganized and mobilized Dragon Gang were nervous for a while - because the Jiangdu Forbidden Army mobilized too fast! And judging from the intelligence, they are too united! Even the strength is almost intact!
Not to mention, as the Deposed Dragon Gang shifted its intelligence capabilities to focus on the Forbidden Army, and the Forbidden Army moved north, the relevant intelligence cycle became shorter. Soon, it gave people a feeling that the situation was accelerating the collapse of the situation.
On April 3rd, Tu Wanchanglun, the vanguard of the Forbidden Army, led 14,000 troops to cross the river from Huaming in Huainan. Du Pozhen arrived for the first time, but his footing was unstable. He did not stop him at all, and directly gave up on Xucheng in Huaibei... This news, deposed The Dragon Gang learned about it on April 7th;
On April 5, the main force of the Forbidden Army officially crossed the river from Shanyang, Huaikou, Canal, and easily captured the Surabaya River and entered Huaikou. The news reached Liyang on April 8;
On April 6, the main force of the Forbidden Army moved north along the Surabaya River and occupied the fortress of Huaiyang. The news reached Baima, East County, on the morning of April 9;
On the same day, Du Po Formation in Xuzhou City, just behind Huaiyang, fled without a fight and abandoned the main town of Xuzhou. The news reached Liyang late at night on April 8th... because Du Po Formation notified the Deposed Dragon Gang in advance.
Therefore, Zhang Xing immediately set off that night and came to the other side of the river. As a result, Baima, who had just arrived on the other side, had a meal on the porch of the East County Office and received the news.
The situation has developed to this point. Within three days, the Forbidden Army has fully crossed the river. Xuzhou fled without a fight. The entire Deposed Dragon Gang was awakened. The various members of the Deposed Dragon Gang were still immersed in the aftermath of the Hebei War and various internal affairs, reorganization, and military expansion news. All levels are clearly aware that a new military conflict is inevitable.
The originally confident senior management could not help but feel a little shaken.
The reason is very simple. Although the unity and speed of the Forbidden Army backfired, it could be considered that they had been imagined for a long time. The top management had long been informed and formulated a strategy... The problem was that Du Po Zhen abandoned the Xuzhou Administrative Office and the core county of Xiapi and fled to Donghai's escape... This matter was not planned by anyone in advance.
This is what Du Po Formation did on its own in order to preserve its final strength!
From April 7th to 8th, the main force of the Forbidden Army continued to cross the river in large numbers, but the forward Zhao Xingmi was not sure at what specific time he easily captured Xuzhou City.
For a time, all the eyes of the world were turned to Xuzhou, and everyone wanted to see how the two most powerful men in the world would battle it out.
But I stopped watching after only a day or two, because soon another news that shocked the world came out, and everyone looked to the west:
After the British Duke Bai Hengqiu defeated a Wu army on the Weishui River, he continued to march westward with a main force of 20,000. Wei Shengji, the owner of the hut stationed in Daxing, the Western Capital, came out of the city to meet him. Bai Hengqiu took control of the Western Capital City without any bloodshed, and then found the city that day. When a descendant of the distant branch of the Cao family arrived, he established himself as the new emperor, calling himself prime minister, granting amnesty to the world, and officially changed Daxing to Chang'an, and then sent envoys around.
This day is the ninth day of April.
Bai Hengyuan, the general manager of Jingxiang, who had been blocked by the owner of the hut in the southeast passage of Lantian before, received the message, abandoned the army, rode into the city alone, and professed his vassalage to Bai Hengqiu. This day was the tenth day of April.
Dulan Khan, who saw Bai Hengqiu's envoy, was not afraid at all. He did not hesitate to tear up the opponent's letter of persuasion to withdraw. Instead, he sent out golden arrows, asking all the troops to stop looting and quickly gather to the north of the Weishui River. At the same time, they invited reinforcements to the Wu clan territory in the north, as if they were going to have a big battle.
Relatively speaking, Xiao Hui took the opportunity to fetch Jiangning and Jiangdu, but it seemed calm.
It can only be said that the situation all over the world has become tense, and no one can care about anyone.
In fact, by this time, it had become difficult to depose the Dragon Gang, because the determination and speed of the Forbidden Army directly affected the attitudes of other people. It was natural that Dongdu would not say anything. Huaixi King Daiji had already communicated with Zhang in a private message The alleyways where people talk have become slippery now.
There were also some noises within the Deposed Dragon Gang, because everyone had realized that although Du Po Zhen's escape without a fight was his own initiative, it was obviously influenced by Zhang Xing's arrangements.
Not counting this, in the middle of the year, three other pieces of extremely bad news also came from Xuzhou.
On April 11, Fu Boshi, the leader of the Dragon Gang, the deputy leader of the Huaiyou League, and the deputy commander of Xuzhou Xingtai, openly led his troops to surrender to the Forbidden Army. Immediately, the Zhishi Army moved south from Langya and deposed the leader and general manager of the Dragon Gang. Zhishilang Wanghou, who was asked to stay in Langya to defend the Imperial Army from moving north, led his entire army to surrender to Sima Huada on April 13th. On the contrary, Wang Zhuo, the attendant, delayed for another three days, and finally surrendered on April 16th in accordance with the Imperial Army's persuasion. The reverse conditions are the so-called surrender of cattle but not horses, surrender to the east but not to the west... that is, it requires that it be directly under the command and control of Lord Niu, and that it belongs to the main force of the Forbidden Army rather than the avant-garde. But it was also surrendered.
It has been four years since the Dragon Gang was founded, and so far there have only been two traitors. This time, three big leaders have been demoted in a row. Although they are from outside the vassal, it is still shocking enough... Of course, because it is too shocking, you don’t need to ask to know that this is There must be Zhang Xing's "arrangement" in Xuzhou that day.
In a hurry, what idea could he come up with? It's nothing more than an eyeliner or something like that.
However, if his idea directly affected Du Po Zhen and avoided it without a fight, that was another matter.
"There must be spies sent by Zhang Xing here." Zhao Xingmi, who had just escorted a batch of grain at the top of Xuzhou City, concluded.
"It must be so. Which one do you think it is?" Sima Jinda frowned.
"Are you asking me?" Zhao Xingmi was speechless. "I've been out searching for leftover food and grass from various places in Cangcheng these days, and I haven't seen many surrenders."
"? Attendant should not be the one." Sima Jinda thought for a moment and gave his opinion. "We persuaded the Imperial Guards to surrender. Duke Niu is here... Isn't it better to go back to the east? Han Yingong has a grudge against them and it's not us."
"That should be the case." Zhao Xingmi nodded. "But it's not reliable to say the other way around. Anyway, people only listen to Governor Niu... Is it that Chishiro?"
"I didn't believe Wang Hou at first, but after meeting him, I believed it. Not only did I believe it, but everyone present also believed it." Sima Jinda explained, spreading his hands. "My eldest brother asked him, you were sidelined by the Deposed Dragon Gang and left alone in Langya. Everyone knows it. It's normal to have grievances, but you won't join us, right? Aren't you the first in the world to jump out against Wei?"
"What did he say?" Zhao Xingmi was stunned for a moment and responded with curiosity.
"He said that it was because he hated the Wei Dynasty and Cao Cao to the core that he was willing to join us, and he was extremely grateful to my brother. He joined the Sima family." Sima Jinda responded quietly. "It just so happens that he has been excluded for many years, so naturally he is not willing to give up this opportunity."
Zhao Xingmi was stunned for a long time and could not refute it.
After a long while, the man said: "That's the Fu Bo Stone."
"We should assist Bo Shi." Sima Jinda nodded. "But Fu Boshi only surrendered in name. No one came. He only stationed two thousand soldiers in the east... We can't deal with it now."
Zhao Xingmi thought for a while, but still felt something was wrong: "But if you say it like this, this is the reaction of serious surrender, right?"
Sima Jinda also fell silent, paused for a moment, and then asked: "Are they all sincerely surrendering?"
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Zhao Xingmi sneered and pointed out the key point. "Seventh General, right servant, let me ask you, what does the Deposed Dragon Gang need most right now?"
Sima Jinda immediately gave the answer: "Of course it's combat power. They suffered heavy losses in the previous battle, and there were also bizarre things like Bai Sanniang, who lost so many soldiers."
"It's combat power...but it takes time to restore combat power." Zhao Xingmi reminded. "He needs to capture strong men to replenish his troops, needs time to repair ordnance, and needs time to subdue the newly surrendered Li Ding and others. We, on the other hand, cannot waste time. If time is delayed, the Forbidden Army will cause trouble, and the supply of food will also be a problem. .”
"yes."
"Then think about it, how many days have we been delayed in Xuzhou City?" Zhao Xingmi continued to remind. "We crossed the river on April 5th and captured Xuzhou in three days. However, we were delayed in Xuzhou for seven or eight days. If they hadn't surrendered one by one, wouldn't they have set off long ago? Therefore, there must be Zhang Xing among these three groups. The spy sent... But this matter is not the most important. The most important thing is that we must tell Zuo Pushe and we can’t waste any more time."
Sima Jinda was stunned for a moment and woke up with a start. He just held his hand and hurried away.
"What Zhao Xingmi said makes sense." A moment later, at a mansion in Xuzhou, Sima Huada, who came to Zhan'er's mansion, was drinking and smelling of alcohol. "But I feel that I really can't leave immediately. I still have to stay in Xuzhou for a few more days."
Sima Jinda was stunned and asked for words.
"Listen to me, Lao Qi." Sima Huada raised his hand to stop him. "First of all, we are internally uneasy. As you said, there may be spies from the Deposed Dragon Gang among the descendants...and it is most likely that Fu Boshi...but the Forbidden Army is obedient? There is no such thing in the Forbidden Army. People who want to kill us? To put it bluntly, Fu Boshi's two thousand people per battalion, we are on guard, and everyone will be on guard, but what about that big roc bird, didn't you tell us to be careful? Let me tell you, he is already in tandem now. What if we set out now and find a flaw on the way and suddenly attack him? What if we join forces with another Zuopushe?"
Sima Jinda thought for a moment, then sat down and nodded sincerely: "Brother said yes, it's really time to take action... What should we do?"
"Simple, first find out the root of the roc bird, then tell Smadek and ask him to take action."
"Driving the tiger to devour the wolf?"
"It's also a matter of sitting on a mountain and watching tigers fight." Sima Huada responded proudly. "The biggest problem of the Forbidden Army is that it does not have an official head... The Dapeng bird's revenge for the faint king will inevitably be unpopular, and Smadeke will definitely win. But the Dapeng bird is capable, and Smadek will also suffer heavy losses. The time is right. I came out to clean up the situation, and by the way, I became the prime minister and decided on the hierarchy... The British Duke has already become the prime minister! Can't I, Duke Rui, do it?!"
Sima Jinda hesitated for a moment: "I'm just afraid of deposing the dragon thief..."
"You're so scared." Sima Huada sneered. "This is the second reason I want to talk about... If we cross the Huai River, they will swarm in to rescue me. I will be worried, but he can only let Du Po Formation avoid the battle and let Du Po Formation avoid the battle. His subordinates pretended to surrender, and so many people surrendered. Could it be that they all pretended to surrender? You see, Wang Hou was obviously dissatisfied, and the servants were even more shaken. This shows that although Zhang Xing is a powerful person, he still suffered heavy losses in the previous battle, which is true. You can't cook without rice. And judging from his behavior, I guess he has established his foundation in Hebei early and regards the tribes in Henan as foreign vassals, so he will not confront us head-on just because we are borrowing roads in Henan."
Sima Jinda thought carefully for a while and could only nod slowly: "What the elder brother said is reasonable, but I still want to remind the elder brother that if we delay for too long, chaos will inevitably occur. Don't forget our original purpose. What it is, just go back to Dongdu."
"This is natural." Sima Huada sneered. "I have to go back. Don't I want to go back? Otherwise, why would I let Zhao Xingmi collect food? But Lao Qi, since we are talking about this, I have one more thing to say."
"Brother, please speak." Sima Jinda responded solemnly.
"Looking at it now, it's no problem to return to the East. As long as you start moving, no one can stop everyone from moving." Sima Huada responded quietly. "But if I can't bring an obedient army back to Dongdu, believe it or not, my son still won't regard me as his father!"
Sima Jinda was speechless.
The city of Xuzhou was calm in April, and this year's rainy season was far away, and the overwhelming main force of the Forbidden Army naturally stopped for a while. Thousands of miles away in the Wei River Basin of Guanzhong, there are more and more Wu clan main forces in Weibei, but Bai Hengqiu has always stayed in Chang'an and has not made any attacks. Instead, he focuses on the reorganization of troops, appointment of personnel and awards... This It's actually very similar to the Deposed Dragon Gang.
In the first half of April this year, everyone thought that the whole world would be suddenly stormy, but unexpectedly, in the middle of April, it turned out to be calm.
PS: There were a lot of typos in the last chapter, I'm sorry... It's strange. It's not that the typos are weird, it's that when people are sleepy, they really make typos without knowing it. It's an obvious lesson.
