At the end of September of the second year of Tianqi, the Western Expeditionary Army shrunk in an all-round way. The cavalry in Henan, Shaanxi and other places received orders and gathered in the meander of the river. The Western Expeditionary Army completely gave up on intercepting the bandits in the Central Plains and gathered their forces in Hequ City in the northwest corner of Shanxi Province, preparing to fight Li Xianzhong in this small town in northwest Shanxi.
The various groups of bandits did not lead each other, and other bandits were busy looting in Henan, so Li Xianzhong knew nothing about the movements of Kaiyuan's army.
It wasn't until his nephew was attacked by a bear in Shijiashan that Li Xianzhong realized that the Kaiyuan Army was already under his nose and was preparing to defend the meander.
No matter what Kaiyuan's army wants to do, Li Xianzhong must conquer Hequ as soon as possible and destroy this lone army.
September 30th, Hequ County Government Hall.
After the Kaiyuan Army captured Hequ City half a month ago, the county government office became the main headquarters of the Western Expeditionary Army.
The exhausted Deng Changxiong summoned all the generals here to introduce to everyone how to fight the next bloody battle of Hequ.
Sitting on both sides of the hall were Sun Chuanting, Wang Zengbin, Cheng Liang, Wei Zhao, Wang Changzhi and other generals.
Half a month before the Battle of Shijiashan broke out, Deng Changxiong dispatched tens of thousands of manpower to reinforce the city wall, widen the moat, and introduce the Yellow River, which more than doubled the width of the moat. He also ordered auxiliary troops to raise the embankment of the Yellow River in the meander section. , accumulating floods above the county town. If defeated, the Kaiyuan army would dig up the Yellow River and die in the belly of the fish together with more than 100,000 bandits.
After the defeat of Ba Jingang, a large number of bandits were captured by the Kaiyuan Army, numbering in the tens of thousands. Including the surviving people in the city, the number of people exceeded 20,000. These people were completely sufficient to strengthen the fortifications and defenses of the city.
The training officer who came with the Western Expeditionary Army was Qi Meng, the chief training officer of the 12th Guards Army. His name sounded very fierce, but he was actually a tall and thin scholar. It is said that this person was the chief training officer of Kaiyuan, Senti. A high disciple, but this person seems to be very reserved and can only recite the Kaiyuan Military Code and the Military Drill Code. At first glance, Instructor He and Sen are completely different worlds.
The 12th Guards Army is like a big dye vat. All the old and junior members of the Kaiyuan Army gather here, so it is the last one.
In addition to reinforcing the moat and city walls, the trenches outside the city were equipped with iron thorns, and there was no shortage of anything that should be installed.
Deng Changxiong was greatly influenced by the Duke Protector in his military deployment, so he always marched in danger. In addition to these preparations, he also ordered the auxiliary troops to go out of the city to demolish all the houses within a ten-mile radius of Hequ County, and poison the wells and streams in the surrounding villages.
In addition, the woods around Hequ County were burned down by the cavalry, and the post roads and trails leading to the outside world were dug out by the auxiliary troops, leaving only one trail for the Shijiashan ambush troops to pass. After Wang Zengbin and others withdrew, the trail was also cut off.
~~~~~~~~~
The capital's Zuo'anmen gate.
Earth-shattering shouts were heard in the urn city. The recruits of the 14th Guards Army were practicing thrusting with spears. Qi Jin accompanied the Lord Protector to the urn city to review the new recruits who were about to form an army.
"If you have soldiers in your hands and food in your storehouse, you won't panic in your heart."
Liu Zhaosun nodded with satisfaction. In August and September, five more censors in the capital were reported and exposed for various crimes. After interrogation by Shen Lian and others, the Protector quickly ransacked their homes and exiled them to the border areas as criminals.
The income from trade of the Chamber of Commerce, the confiscation of homes, and the control of canals became the three pillars supporting the expansion of the Kaiyuan system.
As of early November, Kaiyuan's organized army had reached 110,000, and was still expanding rapidly.
Liu Zhaosun was about to ask Qi Jin when these new soldiers could reinforce Shaanxi, when he suddenly saw Qiao Yiqi running over with sweat on his head and said incoherently:
"Poisoned! Poisoned!"
Liu Zhaosun felt dizzy and almost fell to the ground. Pei Dahu quickly stepped forward to help him.
What was supposed to come finally came.
"Who was poisoned?"
"Mrs. Gaoming, I drank the flaming gift given by the emperor in the morning, and within two hours..."
"I want to kill Zhu Youjian!"
Ever since Liu Zhaosun was promoted to Zhuguo, Emperor Tianqi would give rewards to the Protector for various reasons every now and then.
The rewards are very fixed:
One mouthful of fresh pig, one cavity of fresh lamb, sweet pickled melon, eggplant, two stones of white rice, ten bottles of wine, eighty taels of silver, two boxes of sweets, two boxes of dry snacks, and one portion of roasted rice.
Liu Zhaosun yelled and pulled out his Yanling knife, but he didn't know who he was going to kill.
"Master Thirteen!"
Pei Dahu howled and burst into tears: "If you hadn't left in a hurry today and missed the reward from the palace, I'm afraid..."
He didn't get along with Mrs. Gaoming for long, but he still had feelings for this woman.
Suddenly hearing that he had been killed, Liu Zhaosun's heart felt cramped and he vomited blood.
"Let's go back home! Kill!"
Liu Zhaosun's eyes were red and he walked forward with his Yanling knife. Qiao Yiqi pulled out his short flint gun and followed closely behind.
The people in the capital who heard the news along the way were as if they had seen the god of plague and stayed away from the Lord Protector and his entourage.
The bluestone road under my feet seemed to be much longer than before. After walking for a long time, people gathered in front of the Protector, and Mrs. Gaoming's maid, Jin'er, ran up crying.
"Where's Madam?"
"Here, inside, this slave deserves to die..."
Liu Zhaosun walked past Jin'er expressionlessly, opened the door, and saw several imperial physician maids kneeling on the ground, sobbing.
The ground was in a mess. Zhang Yan, with her hair disheveled, looked up to the sky and refused to close her eyes.
Her usually bright eyes became cloudy, her mouth and nose were bleeding, and her body was stiff. She had been dead for a long time.
"Lord Protector, please take care..."
The imperial doctor who was kneeling on the ground stood up without waiting for Liu Zhaosun to speak, and reached out to reveal the prescription to Hu Guo.
"roll!"
Liu Zhaosun suddenly shouted loudly and punched the ground with his fist. A deep hole the size of a bowl was made on the bluestone floor!
The old doctor was about to scream when he felt his feet dangling in the air and his body being lifted up.
"Spare your life!·····"
"Duke Protector, keep this man and find out who is behind it!"
Qiao Yiqi's sharp call seemed to reawaken Liu Zhaosun. After a while, his breathing calmed down, and his iron-like left hand suddenly released.
The imperial doctor dropped to the ground like a rubber ball, his whole body trembling, Liu Zhaosun looked back at his dead relatives.
Zhang Yan lay quietly on the bed, bleeding from her mouth and nose, her body twisted into a weird shape, her eyes staring up at the ceiling, refusing to close her eyes.
"No one of the eunuchs or eunuchs who are here to leave can leave, hold them all!"
Liu Zhaosun kicked away the imperial doctor who was still giving Zhang Yan medicine.
He turned around and gently picked up Zhang Yan, then looked back at everyone.
"Who sent the cutting and burning? Who is it!!!"
Everyone took a step back, only Qiao Yiqi's expression remained unchanged, he stepped forward and whispered:
"The eunuch committed suicide by taking poison a long time ago. He was from the Supervisor of Ceremonies. He has no details. His body is outside!"
Qiao Yiqi took a step forward and whispered:
"The Lord Protector is the emperor's man!"
Liu Zhaosun sat on the pillar of the main hall and looked at him coldly.
"Go, bring in the 14th Guards Army! I want to kill Zhu Youjian!"
The guards immediately took the order and left.
After the arrangement was completed, Liu Zhaosun raised the Yanling knife and put it on the forehead of the imperial physician who had just given Zhang Yan the medicine.
"Tell me, who sent you here?!"
The imperial doctor kowtowed quickly, but Liu Zhaosun didn't waste any time and hit his lower abdomen several times with the scabbard. The imperial doctor vomited blood.
"Ask me again, who sent you!"
The imperial doctor's face was covered with blood, and his neck was strangled tightly. He felt like his neck would be broken by the warrior in the next second.
"yes···"
At this time, Pei Dahu hurried in from outside, glanced at the ground quickly, leaned over and said:
"Thirteenth Master, Wang Chengen is here, bringing his servants with him, saying that he wants to help you catch the assassin. No one stopped you all the way!"
Liu Zhaosun looked at the corpse on the ground, punched the imperial doctor away, and said coldly:
"Well done, let them in."
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