Su Yunzhong, the prefect of Linzhou, stood on the not-so-high city wall of Fengxian County. He looked at the gangsters outside the city who had gathered more and more since last night with a livid face. The anger in his eyes seemed to have substance.
"Isn't there any movement from Linzhou's second guard?"
"Not yet...not yet."
Cao Changjie, the magistrate of Feng County standing aside, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and replied tremblingly.
"bastard!"
Su Yunzhong punched the wall and cursed angrily.
"When the bandits disperse, I will definitely join those two ruffians who respect themselves as soldiers."
"Yes, yes, I must read one."
Cao Changjie echoed.
But seeing the endless group of bandits only three miles away from the city wall, I couldn't help but add this in my heart.
You have to live until then.
Su Yunzhong glanced at Cao Changjie with a look of ridicule in his eyes.
"Why, you're scared!"
"Xiaguan...Xiaguan..."
Cao Changjie subconsciously wanted to deny it, but his body was shaking uncontrollably, so much so that he couldn't even speak a complete sentence.
"fool!"
Su Yunzhong scolded him angrily.
But no matter how useless Cao Changjie was, he was still the only available person around him. Thinking of this, Su Yunzhong softened his tone again.
"Even if I keep my heart in my heart, even if I give the Linzhou bandits three more courages, they won't dare to take advantage of Sancheng."
"This lowly official is stupid, I hope you will make it clear."
Cao Changjie obviously didn't agree with Su Yunzhong's view. Is it possible that hundreds of thousands of bandits surrounded Fengxian, Tongcheng, and Yancheng just for fun?
Su Yunzhong glanced at Cao Changjie deeply, thinking that you are not stupid, but simply stupid.
"The reason why the imperial court has allowed the bandits in Linzhou to wreak havoc and ignored them for many years is not only because the bandits are endless and killing one group, but another group will appear soon after, which is a bit annoying. It is also because the two sides have reached a tacit understanding. , As long as they don't move the three cities of Fengxian, Tongcheng, and Yancheng, and safeguard the imperial court's fundamental interests and nominal sovereignty in Linzhou, they can let them go and mess around.
But if the bandits dare to have evil intentions towards the three cities, humph, they will force the imperial court to send out an army to pacify Linzhou. Although the Linzhou bandits are barbaric, they are not fools. They should know what they can and cannot do. "
After hearing the words, Cao Changjie thought about it for a moment and felt that what Su Yunzhong said was very reasonable. His heart, which had been hanging since last night, suddenly dropped.
"Your Majesty is wise, and I admire you. But there is one thing I still can't figure out. Since the bandits dare not attack the three cities, why are they besieging the three cities?"
"this…"
After pondering for a long time, Su Yunzhong did not answer, but turned around and looked to the west.
There was a cloud floating over there. The cloud was dark red in color, and the sunlight seemed to put a golden edge on the cloud.
Su Yunzhong is also a man of profound knowledge. When the knowledge accumulated in his chest reaches an indescribable level, he will possess some miraculous powers.
For example, predicting good or bad luck, or having a keen eye like a torch.
So that cloud seemed ordinary to ordinary people, but Su Yunzhong was able to see something magical about it.
The cloud was very light pink when it first appeared half a month ago, but it has turned dark red in the past few days, and I am afraid it will turn purple in a few days.
There is a naturally formed pool in the mountains dozens of miles away from Feng County. It is said that Taizu often went to play in the pool when he was young, so it was named Jinlin Pool.
Dayan founded the country eight hundred years ago, and since then the Golden Scale Pond has become a forbidden area.
And below that cloud is the Golden Scale Pond.
"Isn't the golden scale just a thing in the pond? It transforms into a dragon when the storm happens."
Su Yunzhong murmured.
"Sir, what did you say?"
The voice was too low and Cao Changjie didn't hear it clearly.
"It's okay, it's okay. Go down."
Su Yunzhong calmed down and walked towards the city wall full of worries.
Do the Linzhou bandits really not know how to attack the city?
In fact, Su Yunzhong was not sure.
As soon as he stepped off the city wall, Su Yunzhong saw his student and master Feng Youdao walking towards him in a hurry.
"Teacher, something happened."
Feng Youdao came over and did not avoid Cao Changjie. He swallowed and said.
"Last night, a group of merchants rushed into the city before the bandits closed the city. Just now, the students learned a piece of news from them when they took people to inspect the goods and assess the taxes. The old chief minister was assassinated on his way back home. Although he did not die on the spot, But now his whereabouts are unknown, and his life and death are unknown.”
"Asshole! Asshole!"
The examiner of Su Yunzhong's high school year was Liu Chuanfang, who was then the Minister of Rites, and the two had a teacher-student relationship. In addition, Su Yunzhong has also received a lot of care from Liu Chuanfang in recent years, and his official career has been smooth. So after hearing the news, he was immediately livid with anger and trembling all over.
"teacher."
Feng Youdao lowered his voice at this time.
"The students also learned from the group of merchants that there is a message circulating around Kyoto City. It is said that the assassin who assassinated the old chief minister is actually Dongchang fanzi in disguise. The person who wants to kill the old chief minister is not someone else, but the current majesty."
"Nonsense, nonsense."
"Teacher, don't be impatient. Listen to the students first. It is now rumored that the succession edict left by the late emperor when he died originally designated the fourth prince at that time, who was later King Yong Zhu Cheng, to succeed to the throne. But in front of all the civil and military officials The imperial edict that passed the throne to His Majesty was actually forged by Concubine Xian and the old Chief Assistant.
Now that the old chief assistant has been implicated by the party and government, he has resigned and returned home. His Majesty was worried that the old chief assistant might leak the matter out of resentment, so he ordered the governor of the East Factory, Jia Shen, to send someone to assassinate him. In this way, what happened back then will no longer be remembered. Know. "
"Nonsense...nonsense...nonsense..."
Huchi...huchi...
It was just a few words, but Su Yunzhong used all his strength to shout them out.
After shouting, his clothes were soaked with cold sweat.
Is it really nonsense?
In fact, Su Yunzhong already believed it in his heart.
There have always been speculations and rumors about the improper position of His Majesty Zhu Sheng, but no one can produce strong evidence, so most people scorn it.
Can the imperial edict of succession be forged casually?
Do you really think that the Yong Party and the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty are idiots and blind people?
But now the assassination of the old chief assistant has caused a sudden change in the direction of the situation.
Feng Youdao and Cao Changjie supported Su Yunzhong's shaky figure, and Su Yunzhong raised his eyes to look at the western sky again. The dark red cloud seemed to have a different meaning in Su Yunzhong's eyes.
Chaos...is coming?
…
The grievances and grievances between the various bandit villages in Linzhou are so complicated that they themselves may not be able to figure them out. In order to avoid conflicts and troubles, Duan Hong did not forcefully arrange for each bandit camp, but allowed the bandit leaders to choose their own location between Feng County and Yancheng.
Therefore, when everyone in Xiangshan Village rushed outside Feng County City, they saw a chaotic scene.
"The positions near Feng County have been occupied. We can only look for camping sites in the distance."
Li Yun, who went to inquire about the situation, reported it when he came back.
Zhang Jun was about to nod when he saw Duan Yu riding towards him.
"Hahaha, Village Leader Zhang made it easy for my brothers to wait. Big brother has prepared the camp for everyone in Xiangshan Village. Master Zhang, please come with me."
After saying that, Duan Yu glanced at the two to three hundred good people in Xiangshan Village.
As expected, as rumored, there are mostly women in Xiangshan Village, and all of them are of natural beauty. Even those with scars on their faces or missing limbs still have a different kind of beauty to them.
Under the leadership of Duan Yu, everyone in Xiangshan Village walked straight through the scattered bandit camps on the periphery to a place closer to Feng County.
What he saw before his eyes were neatly arranged tents and clearly distinguishable flags of various colors.
Those stationed on the periphery are all small and medium-sized bandits who are unorganized and undisciplined.
This is where the real strength of the bandits in the southwest is represented, Huwei City and more than a dozen large bandit villages with more than 10,000 people.
"The city lord considered that your Xiangshan Village has a small family and a small number of people, so he left a place on the south side of our Huwei City. The tents have been set up, and the food and water are ready. You can just live in it."
Duan Yu pointed not far ahead and introduced Zhang Jun.
"I'm sorry, City Lord, for bothering me."
"They are all brothers, no matter what the two families say."
Duan Yu patted Zhang Jun on the shoulder and smiled.
"Big brother is waiting for you at the main camp. Let Brother Li Yun take care of things here."
"good."
Zhang Jun nodded to Li Yun and told him to look over here, and then followed Duan Yu to the main camp.
The arrival of everyone in Xiangshan Village caused quite a shock. Even if the bandits deployed here are more disciplined, bandits are bandits.
The fences of each village were crowded with people, whistling, saying strange things, and even taking off their pants and showing their buttocks towards Xiangshan Village.
Before coming here, Zhang Jun had told Li Yun that if there was anyone with evil intentions or provocateur, don't worry, just kill them directly.
Seeing that the onlookers' actions were becoming more and more excessive, Li Yun was about to take out his bow and arrow and teach them a profound lesson, when he heard a whooshing sound in his ears.
From the corner of his eye, he saw something flying out from the team behind him, and then he saw the gangster with his butt half-exposed let out a scream, and jumped up on the spot.
When he fell back to the ground, Li Yun saw clearly that half of the man's butt was bloody and bloody, and a fist-sized stone stained with blood fell on the ground next to him.
Li Yun guessed that it was the three people hiding in the team who did it. He felt very happy in his heart. He snorted coldly towards the bandits and led the team to continue walking towards the camp.
"stop!"
The fence of the camp over there opened, and a strong man with his bare chest covered with thick chest hair led hundreds of bandits to rush out of the camp and stopped everyone in Xiangshan Village.
"Whoever hurts my brother should stand up for himself as a man, otherwise don't blame me for being rude."
The strong man waved the mace in his hand and roared evilly.
"Fourth Master, you are wrong. There are no men here. They are all women and rabbits, hahahahaha."
