"The Seven Star Gate rebelled?"
Lu Yuan couldn't help but feel a little surprised when he heard Cui Changqing's words.
Qixingmen is one of the few first-class sects in Dongting County.
His sect has inherited the first-class Qixing Fist technique. It is said that if you practice this skill to the deepest level, you can open the seven stars in the body. When the fist is released, you can exert seven kinds of internal force. In an instant, it is like seven people exercising their skills at the same time. It is very powerful. Incomparable.
What is even more rare is that the Qixing Fist technique can be practiced to the third level of the Qi Sutra. It is a first-class technique and is at an intermediate level.
Relying on this skill, the Seven Star Sect has always played a leading role among several first-class sects in Dongting County.
When Lu Yuan first had the idea of snatching the skills, the Seven Star Sect was his first target.
However, this idea was gradually given up as he obtained the Chiyang Divine Art.
But unexpectedly, Lu Yuan did not try to influence the other party, but Qixingmen jumped out on his own and started a rebellion.
This is really...
After being speechless for a long time, Lu Yuan looked at Cui Changqing and finally asked: "Do we have to go to suppress the rebellion?"
Now, he has reached a critical moment in his cultivation. He only has the last two meridians left before he can completely convert the internal energy in his body into the red yang internal energy.
As long as he waits for another three or four months, his strength will be restored to its peak.
Therefore, at this time, Lu Yuan really didn't want to fight a counter-insurgency war.
After all, the Seven Star Sect is also a first-class sect. There are many masters in the sect, so it is difficult to deal with them.
Now they have mobilized 30,000 soldiers and horses.
Don't worry about whether these soldiers and horses are just a mob, at least they are scary enough in terms of numbers.
Lu Yuan only has 15,000 men in his hands?
If you go to fight the opponent, it's one versus two.
Even if the soldiers and horses on our side are well-trained and elite, they should have a good chance of winning against the opponent's newly recruited rabble.
But along with the war, the variables are endless. Who knows that this battle will be won?
What if there is a risk of losing?
Lu Yuan valued his life very much, and he didn't want to take any risks when he was weak!
"The county government has issued a death order. General Fenwu, you must send troops, otherwise an envoy will be sent to hold him accountable." Seeing his obvious evasiveness, Cui Changqing was speechless.
In fact, in the past few months, since Lu Yuan took over the position of General Fenwu, apart from recruiting troops and expanding the army, he has not been able to perform much of his duties.
The scene that the county government originally expected that Lu Yuan would recruit enough troops to fight against the rebellion and suppress the local rebels did not happen at all.
on the contrary.
After recruiting enough troops, the newly appointed General Fenwu retreated to the borders of Shaoyang Mansion and refused to move.
This behavior once made people think that he wanted to support himself with troops and separate the local area.
But when I looked at it later, I found that Lu Yuan neither interfered in local affairs, nor did he try to seize territory. He didn't even have much control over the military, and left all normal affairs to his subordinates.
This kind of behavior does not look like he wants to be a warlord.
So in the end everyone came to a conclusion.
This general Fenwu, who seemed to have great military exploits, was actually a lazy person, and he was probably a little timid and did not dare to fight for fear of death.
As soon as the results came out, everyone was naturally speechless.
The county government even issued orders several times, asking Lu Yuan to lead troops to attack.
But no matter what it says above, people just don’t move.
And in this troubled world, there is such a person who has no ambitions and is still strong at the same time. To be honest, it is not a bad thing for the court.
In addition, the county government was also afraid of forcing Lu Yuan to rebel, so in the end, after talking to him for a few times, and seeing that it was of no use, he stopped caring about him.
Therefore, following the previous examples, Lu Yuan still wanted to learn from past experience and directly put the matter down.
But now it seems that this behavior is difficult to work.
Cui Changqing looked serious in front of him and said extremely seriously: "Hengyang Prefecture is the largest grain-producing house in our county, accounting for more than 30% of the county's grain output. Now that 150,000 troops from Northern Xinjiang have been transferred to Xichuan, nearly half of the grain is required Supplied by our county.
If the rebels from the Qixing Gate were allowed to capture this mansion, then Xichuan's 200,000-strong Shu army would be deprived of food.
Sufficient money and food are the top priority when it comes to victory in a conquest.
Without Hengyang Mansion, the shortage of food and fodder would most likely lead to the defeat of the Pingshu army.
This matter is related to the fate of the country. The court is keeping a close eye on it, and the county governor cannot bear this responsibility.
Therefore, if you delay this time, the county government may send another general to take over the military power of the 15,000 troops here. "
Cui Changqing's tone was faint and his eyes were fixed on Lu Yuan.
Based on his understanding of this person, if someone really comes to take over the military power, the other party will definitely not let him go.
Then there will be a conflict with the county envoy, and Lu Yuan may be forced to rebel.
And with Lu Yuan's strength, if he really wanted to rebel, Dongting County would really be doomed.
This kind of situation is naturally something that a good official like Cui Changqing who cares about the country and the people does not want to see.
Therefore, after receiving the order from the county government, he came to announce it in person in order to persuade the other party to agree.
'If my advice doesn't work, then you can only let a good son-in-law take over. With the relationship between the virtuous son-in-law and Lu Fenwu, they will definitely be able to persuade each other. ” Magistrate Cui is making other preparations.
Lu Yuan was a little frightened by this gaze. He quickly raised his hands and begged for mercy: "Okay, okay, can't you do it if I send troops? I will send troops."
The person who came to persuade me was my good friend’s father-in-law. He couldn’t help but give me some face.
Moreover, Lu Yuan also roughly understood that the court should tolerate him to the limit. If you still play the strategy of standing still at this time, you will really fall out.
He doesn't want to fall out with the court yet.
After all, the imperial court now has four innate masters and hundreds of thousands of troops, and its strength is not weak.
And judging from the operations seen during this period, it is still wooing those Xiantian sects in the world. If the court really gets it done, then Dai Viet, which has gradually become shipwrecked, might be able to survive for another few decades.
This is not a good time to fall out.
'That's all, isn't it just sending troops? The county government only asked me to rescue Hengyang Mansion, but did not say that I must suppress the Seven Star Sect.
At worst, I can just bring these 50,000 soldiers and horses to Hengyang Mansion and repel the invading bandits.
It's not really necessary to fight the opponent to the death. '
With this idea of fishing in his heart, Lu Yuan finally let Cui Changqing leave.
This old man is indeed a good official who serves the country and the people. What is rare is that he does not have the rigidity of ordinary old scholars and has a very open-minded personality.
In the past two years, Lu Yuan had gotten along with the other party, and their relationship was considered good.
Even in the past few months, when he was trying to catch fish, he had been given no less cooperation.
Therefore, the face that should be given at this time must still be given.
…
Although it has been decided to send troops, if the army wants to move, it cannot be done casually.
After Cui Changqing returned, he immediately began to write documents in the government and asked his subordinates to start preparing food and fodder for the army.
Fifteen thousand soldiers, even if they fight in the county, still need the same number of civilians to ensure supplies. Thirty thousand people need to eat horses, which is not a small number.
If we don’t prepare in advance, these tens of thousands of people will be hungry by then.
So in the next few days, everyone from Cui Changqing to the low-level officials had a great time.
The county government is busy, and Lu Yuan is also starting to take action.
Inside the military camp.
Soldiers who were on vacation were recalled by summons, and soldiers who were in training were also notified of going out for battle. The arsenal and weapons in the military camp began to be counted to ensure that there would be no problems during wartime.
The huge military camp became lively in an instant.
Five days passed like this. The county government collected the wives and provisions, and the military camp was finally ready for the expedition.
So Lu Yuan didn't delay any longer and directly ordered the expedition.
The army was vast, stepping on the flying dust, stretching for more than ten miles, and embarked on the journey.
Hengyang Mansion is right next to Shaoyang Mansion. Lu Yuan marched fifty miles every day and only walked for six days before entering the territory of this mansion again. After another four days of driving, we arrived at Hengyang Fucheng.
When he arrived here, he was a little surprised because there was no sign of the rebels from the Seven Star Gate here.
'Didn't you say that the 30,000-strong Qixing Sect's army reached Hengyang Mansion? Lu Yuan felt a little strange.
Later, when meeting with the prefect of Hengyang who came to greet him, he couldn't help but ask the questions in his heart.
"Back to Lu Fenwu, since the government's detectives learned about the Seven Stars bandits going north, they urgently mobilized militia groups from various places and gathered ten thousand people. Then they mobilized two thousand government soldiers, totaling 12,000 people, to go south to stop the enemy.
Now the army in the mansion, led by Commander Zhu, is blocking the thieves in Changning County in the south and keeping the enemy out of the realm. "
The Hengyang magistrate's surname was Jiang, and he and Lu Yuan were old acquaintances.
When he led his army to recruit troops last year, he once passed by Hengyang Mansion and helped them fight off a group of Miao people who were making trouble in the territory. They have known each other since then.
Therefore, when it was mentioned that the battlefield was in Changning County, Magistrate Jiang's expression was a little strange and he glanced at Lu Yuan more.
Lu Yuan also knew what the other party was thinking. It was simply that he had stayed in Changning for six years, and now that place had become a battlefield, so he was afraid that he would overthink it.
But this is obviously too much concern.
Although Lu Yuan lived in Changning County for six years, he was indeed very happy.
But his happiness was based on coexisting with Zhou Qing and Sun Siwen.
If these two people were lost, Changning would be just an ordinary small county town to him.
Now that all his friends and disciples have left Chang Ning, this place has no special significance to Lu Yuan.
Therefore, at this time, he just said calmly: "In this case, tomorrow the Japanese general will lead his army south to meet the thieves."
After driving dozens of miles today, it's already getting late.
Although it was not impossible to travel a little further, Lu Yuan felt that it would be safer to set up camp near Fucheng in this strange place.
Anyway, there are tens of thousands of soldiers and horses from Hengyang Prefecture in the south, and those Seven Star Rebels can't be defeated for the time being, so why are you so anxious?
At night, after rejecting Magistrate Jiang's banquet invitation, Lu Yuan hid in a hidden military tent in the military camp, instead of living in the general's tent in the open.
It is safer to go on an expedition than to stay in Shaoyang Mansion.
Considering that he still carries the deep hatred of the Five Poison Sect and the possibility of being assassinated by the Xiantian Grandmaster, he does not dare to be careless about his own safety at this time.
Therefore, in the entire military camp, in addition to the commander's tent on the surface, Lu Yuan also arranged five tents in the dark.
But the dark tent is only the first layer of cover left for the enemy. He didn't live in any of the five camps.
Instead, he chose the ten second-level dark tents prepared under the dark tents. Lu Yuan will randomly select one of these ten camps to stay in.
Even he didn't know where to live specifically before the moment of choosing.
With so much care and preparation, we strive to do our best in safety work.
Although judging from the current situation, no one is really brave enough to assassinate him among thousands of troops.
But be careful when sailing.
There is nothing wrong with making more preparations and finding more escape routes.
As an immortal with a long life span, Lu Yuan has racked his brains on his own safety and is extremely stable.
At this time, he was hiding in the random tent he had prepared. He felt completely safe and began to practice martial arts with confidence.
Although I was tired from going on an expedition and marching every day, I still couldn't let go of practicing martial arts to improve my strength.
If you can improve your strength, you will have more protection for your own safety.
In order to save his life in this troubled world, Lu Yuan also fought hard.
Thanks to his efforts, the transformation of the internal energy of the second strange meridian has progressed very smoothly, and is now nearly half completed.
At this rate, it is estimated that the transformation of this meridian will be completed in more than half a month.
The night was silent, nothing happened, and it passed in the blink of an eye.
…
The second day.
When it was almost dawn, Lu Yuan woke up from his short sleep on time, and then gathered his personal guards at the designated location in the camp.
At this time, the sergeants who had rested all night began to wake up and organize their tents and luggage, while the Huotou Army was cooking breakfast, preparing to let the soldiers eat and drink enough before continuing on their way.
Surrounded by the army, Lu Yuan felt safe again.
After eating the carefully prepared breakfast brought by the army chef, I digested it.
He immediately grabbed his whip and led the army to continue southward.
After another two days of traveling, the army finally arrived at the battlefield in Changning County on New Year's Eve.
Although it is already the New Year's Day, the atmosphere here in Changning County is particularly chilly.
A large number of abandoned and burned houses can be seen in the fields, as well as stinking and rotting human bones. Every mile you walk, you can see a few on the road.
Some villages that were still a little populated were trembling with fear after seeing the army approaching. A few strong people who had barely gathered together, led by the older people in the village, tremblingly sent them. He bought some food supplies and prayed that the army would not enter the village to harass him.
Lu Yuan looked at them and knew without much thought that these villagers must have been harmed by soldiers and bandits.
When he led his troops to suppress rebellions in various places last year, he often saw those beast troops who pretended to be soldiers, but in reality were doing things worse than bandits.
Those militia groups brought out by local powerful forces are obviously the armed forces of the imperial court, but in fact they are completely private groups.
These guys don't have much restraint in what they do.
In order to gain benefits, he often does crazy things.
Sighing in his heart for these suffering people, Lu Yuan did not accept the military supplies sent by the other party. This little thing is a drop in the bucket for his army, not even enough for one person.
But for the village, it is probably the only food ration.
The villagers are also having a hard time in the cold winter, and now that it’s the Chinese New Year, it’s better not to push people to the edge and cause a tragedy of starving to death.
After appeasing the villagers and asking about the situation on the battlefield, Lu Yuan ordered the troops not to disturb the people and then moved forward.
The army continued to move forward for a while, and soon arrived at a small town.
This town is protected by a two-meter-high earth wall, and there are even several towers behind it, with people guarding them.
At this time, those people suddenly became nervous when they saw a large army coming. Fortunately, after seeing clearly that it was the imperial army, I felt a little relieved.
But even so, the town's gate was still closed, with no intention of opening it.
Just like the previous village.
In troubled times, sometimes soldiers are more vicious than bandits.
The town was probably afraid that soldiers would enter the city and cause something uncontrollable.
The people are so afraid of the soldiers that people really don't know what to say.
Perhaps I can only sigh and prefer to be a peace dog rather than a Li Luan.
When Lu Yuan arrived at the entrance of the town, there was already a man dressed as a gentleman in the town. He came down from the wall in a hanging basket and trotted over with two followers.
The gentleman was surprised when he saw Lu Yuan.
It was this person who had seen him.
Lu Yuan also thought about it, and then he remembered that this was one of the squires who had attended the military exercise at the school.
But it can only be said that he came from a scholarly family, and his family had poems and books passed down from generation to generation. He was not interested in buying an official and joining the army, so he and Lu Yuan only chatted for a few words at that time, but there was no friendship between them.
However, things are changing too fast.
Four years ago, Dai Viet was still singing and dancing, and there were banquets all over the country.
At that time, reading and literacy to test for fame was the best way for many people to get a bachelor's degree.
But today, four years later, Dai Viet is already full of bandits and wars.
Even Changning County was invaded by thieves, and Huo Huo became what it is now.
This situation is really sad and lamentable.
I chatted with this gentleman for a few words and listened to him talk about the changes in Changning County in recent years.
After learning that this place was also plagued by disasters, encountering Miao bandits several times, and even the county seat was broken down once, I sighed again and again.
But before the two of them could say anything more, a messenger from the vanguard hurriedly arrived.
After saluting, he said that the vanguard army had fought against the Seven Stars rebels and had now defeated a peripheral force of the enemy.
Then the scouts investigated and found that the enemy numbered about 20,000 and had surrounded Changning County.
However, there were still soldiers and horses of the imperial court camped outside the city, although the camp gates were closed tightly and they could not leave. But there are still people outside the city who are fighting each other, and they have not been completely blocked inside the city. The situation of the imperial officers and soldiers there should not be too bad.
After Lu Yuan heard the news, he didn't want to say any more.
After bidding farewell to the gentry, he led the army to join the vanguard.
