Ruozhou is the seat of Xiahe County, sitting in the middle of Dahua, blocking the north-south trade route, and bordering the east-west official posts. Its importance to the country is self-evident.
Previously, Ran Jiangong originally planned to send Mei Yuanchen and his party to Chengguan. Unexpectedly, on the eve of his departure, he received a military report from Hanzhou: King Rui had led his Shenshao Battalion to Ruozhou one day ago, and they could arrive before noon tomorrow. Arrive.
Xia Chenghuan's visit here must be on business. In comparison, private matters such as seeing off his nephew and son-in-law are nothing.
Ruozhou has four city defense gates, which are located in the four directions. Mei Yuanchen passes through the north gate to the capital. Xia Chenghuan's Shenshao camp is temporarily staying in Hanzhou. It originally wanted to block Duanmuyu and others from going south. It's a pity that they didn't come after waiting for several days. Surprisingly, three days ago, Song Hongfeng, the leader of the Hanzhou branch of the Salt Gang, actually sent a secret letter. There were only nine words in it: The person you wanted to hunt has gone west.
Salt Gang?
Xia Chenghuan did not expect that they would send such secret information at this time.
The Salt Gang is a Jianghu gang. Although it has a close relationship with the imperial court, it has always been limited to business matters. This time it sent someone to report without concealing its identity, not only to increase the weight of the letter, but also to express its goodwill to the imperial court.
Although what Song Hongfeng said in his letter was unclear, Xia Chenghuan already knew what he meant: Jue Guo's group had already fled in the direction of Shatuo.
As far as Duan Muyu is concerned, going south is short and dangerous, while going west is far and safe. Considering the current situation, it is actually the best choice to abandon the near and seek the far. Xia Chenghuan doesn't know this truth.
However, Duanmuyu often behaves unexpectedly and cannot be judged by common sense. What if his military expedition is dangerous and he has to leave Xiahe County from Hanzhou? After all, he could even do extremely dangerous and absurd things like going deep into the hinterland of Dahua with a few followers, so what else is impossible?
To withdraw or not to withdraw? This problem has been troubling Xia Chenghuan, just like the snow that has lasted for more than ten days inside and outside the city.
"The emperor has been reducing the establishment of the Salt Transportation Department since he came to the throne, and the salt gang has gradually become a monopoly in the overall salt affairs. It is no accident that the one is declining and the other is rising. The power of the Jianghu has always been a trouble that the imperial court is worried about and difficult to solve. Containing the Jianghu forces is a strategy that has been discussed a long time ago. Thinking about the recent defeat of the Ruozhou Alliance and the Xu family... Most likely, Zhang Suiguang has surrendered to the imperial court and is secretly working for the emperor."
Xia Chengxuan would never tell anyone about this kind of thing, and Zhang Suiguang would not be able to bring it out in the open. Whether he could discern some clues depends entirely on his personal judgment and understanding.
"Fleeing to Shatuo? Huh, what a great idea!"
Without consulting his subordinate generals, Xia Chenghuan immediately issued a military order for the entire battalion to march north to Ruozhou. After making food to fill their bellies, more than 20,000 cavalry set off on the thick snow.
... ...
In the ice and snow, a series of footprints stretched to the end that could not be seen.
At the other end of the footprints is a team of tall, snow-white horses. Everyone on the white horses is dressed in snow-white clothes, and even the felt hats and scarves can't see the slightest bit of color.
The surrounding fields are completely white, and riding a white horse and wearing white clothes is the best way to hide your whereabouts. Regardless of the success or failure of the Ruozhou uprising, Duanmuyu and his party will leave quietly sooner or later. The only difference is that if the Xu family succeeds, they can retreat more calmly, but if it fails, they will inevitably experience some embarrassment.
The method was decided by Xu Qianmeng in Yinyang, and the materials were prepared by Chen Jinbei half a month in advance.
Before Duanmuyu arrived in Ruozhou, the "clairvoyant" had already sent a message to Chen Jinbei, asking him to purchase five hundred gray and white horses and riding accessories of the same color, and station them secretly outside the city. With the financial and material resources of Tongdui Bank, the matter was completed in less than ten days. The day before the Xu family's incident, they were temporarily moved by "clairvoyants" to several remote villages prepared in advance in the surrounding suburbs.
After Xu Hanshan, Gu Xiuping and Ran Jiangong took over Ruozhou's defense, they all immediately sealed off the city to prevent Duanmuyu and others from taking the opportunity to sneak out of the city among the crowd.
Locking the door behind closed doors can certainly trap a city of ordinary people, and it can also trap the 50,000 troops stationed in the military camp. However, if Xu Xiaoyu cannot even move a hundred or ten people out of the city, then he is too sorry for the Xu family who has been in charge of the family for more than thirty years. situation.
In any case, the Xu family can help Duan Muyu and others get out of the city safely. This is what Xu Xiaoyu asked Yu Lingyi to take back to his country before leaving Chenjiazhuang. Along with those words, there was a map that returned to Jue Kingdom, which recorded in detail the network of secret passages that the Xu family had dug inside and outside Ruozhou City over the past hundred years. The Xu family's plot has been around for a long time, and those secret passages were huge fortifications that took generations of people to complete. With them, Xu Xiaoyu dared to give it a go.
Before the leader of the Jue Kingdom set out, there were "clairvoyant" people who had verified the authenticity of the map. It was precisely because of this that several ministers of the Jue Kingdom reluctantly agreed to allow their lord to go deep into the enemy's territory.
The reason why Duanmuyu did not choose to leave the city through the secret passage from the beginning was actually to protect the majesty of the king and the dignity of the royal family.
The only consideration for the secret route is safety.
For the sake of safety, any decency, comfort, or dignity can be given up. Some of them interact with the sewage canals in the city, some use the tombs to abandon the tomb passages, and some go into the swamps to wade in the mud and water... After crawling and rolling around, not only yellow and white things will be stained on the body, but also some pickled things will be stuck in the mouth and nose. This is where the embarrassment mentioned earlier comes.
The secret passage is the last way to escape and should not be entered unless absolutely necessary. Even if Duanmuyu could endure things like climbing into sewage ditches, crawling into piles of dead people, and wading into muddy quagmire, Zhu Xiaochen and the others couldn't endure it. "The master humiliates the minister to death" has always been the official way of being a minister. Therefore, at first everyone still thought of sneaking out from the front of the city gate, until Zhu Xiaochen and Tong Gaoge died.
After a rough night, more than a hundred people including Duan Muyu, An Wuyu, and Xu Xiaoyu finally fled to the western suburbs of Ruozhou (the suburbs outside the city). After a day of reorganization, they headed west.
Riding a white horse and wearing white clothes, it is expected that there will be snow in the new year. With the vast snowy wilderness as a backdrop, more than a hundred people actually swam leisurely through the three states of Xiahe County, and this morning they entered the territory of Fanxi County.
Fanxi County is sandwiched between Xiahe County and Anxian County. Go northwest for 500 miles to Fuzhou Prefecture, where the Anxian Salt Factory is located; go further northwest for 800 miles from Fuzhou to Tianmen City; Tianmen City is in the West of Greater China The gate of the country is only separated from Shatuo by a mountain.
It is true that compared to when we came, the retreat this time was really far away, with thousands of miles passing through the remote Qiongzhou Prefecture. But it was precisely because of the remoteness that we were able to avoid the garrison locations in various parts of Dahua, and we were not pursued along the way. .
Now that the Shenshao camp has been temporarily stationed in Xiahe County, Duanmuyu's safety is considered safe as long as he does not encounter more than a thousand soldiers who are good at fighting.
The wind and snow stopped when we passed the border at noon. Now we have been walking for more than two hours and we are already far away from human traces. Seeing that it was getting dark, more than a hundred people divided into five groups and set up tents and small stoves in the wilderness, preparing to rest and eat. After a whole day's driving, both humans and animals are hungry and tired. If they don't rest, they won't be able to walk tomorrow.
Five groups of people were stationed in the shape of a "ten", with Jingji Camp, Zhaixing Pavilion, Xu Family, and Tongdui Bank guarding the small Duanmu jade tent in the middle.
Outside the small tent, Xie Tianyao, Mu Wei and others were warming up around the stone stove, turning the meat in the copper cauldron from time to time. For a while, no one spoke.
The aroma of meat overflowed, and everyone showed no expression.
"I was wondering how the Shenshao Camp suddenly went straight to Juheyuan." Duan Muyu finally started talking.
Although no one had said anything these days, Xu Xiaoyu still felt that Xie Tianyao and others were no longer as friendly to him as before.
Juheyuan is the residence he arranged for Duanmuyu and others, which is rarely known. But looking at the posture that night, it was obvious that the Shenshao camp knew what was going on. It's not that someone in the Xu family must have betrayed them, but the relationship is inevitable.
Xie Tianyao, Mu Wei and others thought so, and why didn't Xu Xiaoyu think the same way? "Suye, could it be you?" He asked in his heart more than a thousand times.
This matter is like a barrier. If it is not broken in time, resentment will arise over time.
Xu Xiaoyu was lowering his head and thinking about something, when he suddenly heard Duan Muyu say this, he immediately stood up and expressed his seriousness, but hesitated to speak.
"Mr. Xu, sit down, don't get up." Duanmu Yu said with a smile, "Both you and Mr. Xu San are a little confused these days. It's my fault that Yu can't solve it in time." Yan Bi sat across from the cauldron and the cauldron. Xu Xiaoyu and Xu Xiaoyi bowed their heads to express their guilt. Seeing that Brother Xu Xiaoyu was about to stand up and salute again, he hurriedly waved his hand, shook his head and said: "You two don't need to be formal, Yu is also a half-Jade man, let's just be more casual."
After the two of them sat down, Duanmu Yu said again: "First of all, since Yu dares to go to Ruozhou, he has absolutely no doubts about your Xu, An, and Chen families. All three of them are descendants of the royal family of our Jue Kingdom. You have no doubts about the Duanmu family." It goes without saying that they are loyal. Furthermore, the three of them are all famous in the world, and they are so sophisticated in their actions that they will never make mistakes in this matter."
His words were a reassurance for Xu Xiaoyu, An Wuyu, and Chen Jinbei. Xie Tian invited several people to listen, and their expressions relaxed a lot.
Duanmuyu looked down at the charcoal in the stone stove, frowned and said in deep thought: "Don't you think Zhang Suiguang was too quiet during his stay in Ruozhou?"
Zhang Suiguang had the Salt Gang and the Nine Halls, and his strength was not inferior to that of the host Xu family. However, during the martial arts alliance, he did nothing but fight in a few matches.
"This is not his usual style."
In terms of ambition, Zhang Suiguang is even more ambitious than Xu Xiaoyu.
"Yes, Zhaixing Pavilion did discover that many people from the Nine Halls were active in Ruozhou City at that time. There is a Hell Hall among the four halls of the Nine Halls, and their ability to find people and track them is not as good as mine. If I knew the inside story in advance, , keep an eye on a few important people on our side, and follow the clues to find Juheyuan. An asked himself, it is probably possible to do it in Zhaixing Pavilion. From this point of view, people from Jiudian may also do it. I just don’t know... ..."
Duanmuyu interrupted An Wuyu's words and continued: "Zhang Suiguang was originally supported by Mr. Xu and I to deal with the Great China Court. Although we have never met him, he is somewhat aware of my temperament. .”
Chen Jinbei, Xu Xiaoyu, and An Wuyu were shocked by the news, which was obviously not expected.
"Zhang Suiguang is now powerful and has become a wolf obsessed with his master. It must be him who gave me my place of residence in the Shenshao Camp!" Duan Muyu categorically concluded the matter.
With strength, motivation, and the ability to benefit from it, it is not difficult to guess who the "evil person" is, but you need to find a suitable opportunity to expose it. Now that the group has left Xiahe County, there is no need for so many people to protect them, and Duanmu Yu has other unfinished matters for people to deal with, so now is a good time to expose him.
"Traitor!" Xu, An, and Chen (Xu Xiaoyu, Xu Xiaoyi) cursed almost in unison.
The four people's faces were ashen and they shook hands into fists, obviously very angry.
"Mr. Xu, Mr. An, we are out of danger after leaving the boundary of Xiahe. We are going to Shatuo. Yu wants to disguise himself as a leather goods trader and go out. It is enough to have Mr. Chen's people accompanying him." Duanmu Yu did not give them a chance to answer. Then he said, "Walking for a long distance, the more people there are, the more attractive you will be."
When Xu Xiaoyu and An Wuyu heard this, the look of disappointment in their eyes seemed to be true. However, everything Duan Muyu said was reasonable. They could not refute, did not dare to refute, and should not refute.
Just when the two of them looked sluggish and worried, Duanmuyu grasped the dead branch he picked up at some point in his hand and said in a deep voice: "I have a difficult thing for you two to do."
"Your Majesty, please speak!" Xu and An immediately stood up and bowed their waists in response, "We will fight to the death."
It's hard to explain to outsiders how the two of them felt when such a big errand went wrong. Now the Lord is still willing to entrust each other with something, which they really couldn't ask for.
The more difficult it is, the better!
Duanmu Yu stood up and said seriously to the two of them: "Yu wants the two of you to join forces to help Jue Guo get rid of Zhang Suiguang. Can you do it?"
If he were to count the people he hated the most, Zhang Suiguang would be at least second to Qing Xuan. Such people should not live in the world.
Xu and An looked at each other, held hands and replied, "I will definitely live up to my mission!"
The words are sonorous and the expression is firm.
"Crack!" The dead branch in Duanmuyu's hand broke into two pieces, and then, a cold sentence came from his mouth, "Those who betray me will die."
