The General Military Mansion of Huaiqing City is not far from the prefect's yamen, only separated by two main streets.

When the rebels invaded the city, Yu Jue had already fled with his family and soldiers, and the rebels did not encounter resistance when they occupied the General Soldier's Mansion, because the courtyard houses here were very well preserved, and the furniture in the mansion was not damaged.

Due to the looting of the rebels after entering the city, most of the shops in Huaiqing City are now closed, and none of the restaurants and restaurants on the street have opened.

At dusk, the sky was getting dark, and a row of red lanterns was hung in front of the mansion. And there are more than a dozen Eight Immortal tables in the lobby, just waiting for the leaders of the rebels from all walks of life to arrive.

When Hua Bushi, Gao Yingxiang, and Li Zicheng arrived on horseback together, Yang Jiangyi and Gao Wanrong were already waiting outside the door, and there was another beauty with them, but it was Chu Yiyi.

Seeing this eldest young master, Yang Jiangyi said: "Why have you been here for so long, I thought something happened to you!"

Hua Bushi smiled and said: "The younger brother talked happily with King Gao Chuang and Brother Li in the Shuai Mansion, and forgot the time for a while, which made my sister worried." ”

Chu Yiyi also stepped forward, but handed over a roll of paper and said, "What the prince ordered, the concubine body is ready!"

Hua Bushi stretched out his hand to take the note, put it in his sleeve without looking at it, and said, "This is Mrs. Lao Yiyi." ”

The lobby of the General Soldier's Mansion is dozens of zhang wide, and even if there are more than ten large tables, it does not look crowded at all. At this time, the four walls of the hall are lit with candles, and the three big characters of "Celebration Banquet" are written on big red paper in front of the hall, and firecrackers are set off, which is also quite atmospheric. It's just that many things for the banquet are all ready, but not a single plate of wine and food is served, even the tea and melon seeds are nowhere to be seen, and the tables are empty.

After the battle of attacking Huaiqing City, Li Zicheng's prestige among the rebels was not comparable to before, and he posted a treat, even Zhang Xianzhong could not help but give face, let alone others. The time is approaching, the eight immortal tables in the lobby are already full of people, the leaders of the eighteen-way rebels in Huaiqing City have all arrived, many people have also brought deputy generals and entourage, and there are more than 100 guests in the hall.

In front of a table in the middle of the hall, Gao Yingxiang sat on the main seat at the top, Li Zicheng sat beside him, Hua Bushi was at the bottom, and Yang Jiangyi and Chu Yiyi were separated on both sides of the eldest young master.

Just because there was no tea and wine on each table, everyone could only sit dry, but because they saw that the handsome Gao Yingxiang was also in the hall, although most people felt a little strange in their hearts, it was not convenient to protest. After a while, someone finally couldn't bear it anymore and shouted: "Hey, General Li Chuang, don't you invite everyone to eat and drink, why don't you bring anything out, do you want to make us drink the northwest wind?"

Li Zicheng raised his eyes and saw that the person who shouted was Liu Danian, nicknamed "Cupola Pillar", and also the leader of the righteous army all the way, he stood up at the moment and said: "Today, Hongji invited you here, and it is indeed to set up a banquet for everyone to eat and drink, but before the wine and food are served, Gao Dashuai still has something to announce, please don't worry." ”

He turned to Gao Yingxiang and said, "King Gao Chuang, all the brothers have arrived, please start talking!"

Gao Yingxiang nodded, stood up from the table, coughed lightly, and said: "Brothers, we have defeated the officers, soldiers, and horses and captured Huaiqing City, which is really the first big victory since the alliance of the 36th Battalion, and it is indeed time to celebrate! This celebration banquet should have been set up by this commander, but it is the same if Hongji preemptively placed it, everyone is their own brothers, so there is no need to care!"

He paused for a moment, and then said: "Taking the city, since we rely on the heroic killing of all the brothers here, but there is also one person who gives us advice and sets a clever plan to lure the dog official Yu Jue out of the city, which is also a great credit! This person is this Shi Xiao Gongzi who is sitting at the same table with Ben Shuai, he has now decided to join our righteous army, and we and others will do great things, and from now on everyone will be their own people!"

When Gao Yingxiang introduced, Hua Bushi stood up and saluted everyone in the hall.

The leaders of the Eighteenth Route Righteous Army sitting at each table, most of them had never seen Hua Bushi before, but seeing that he was thin, ordinary-looking, and dressed as a literati, he was a down-and-out scholar who came to join the Righteous Army, and he didn't even bother to do it, just wondering how Gao Yingxiang would let him sit at the first table for such a useless scholar.

Only a few two or three people, including the "Eight Kings" Zhang Xianzhong and "Cao Cao" Luo Rucai, heard Gao Yingxiang say that the strategy to lure the chief soldier Yu Jue out of the city a few days ago was the result of this person, so they took a few more glances at Hua Bushi.

Gao Yingxiang said again: "Shi Gongzi has made great contributions to our siege of the city, and this commander now appoints him as the general staff of our 36th battalion of the righteous army, and I will take the opportunity of this celebration banquet to inform you of it!"

Hua Bushi hurriedly said: "Shi is immoral and incompetent, it is really difficult to take on this heavy responsibility, and please take back your life!"

Gao Yingxiang smiled and said: "Shi Gongzi is proficient in the art of war, wise and clever, enough to bear this responsibility, and he has already made great contributions, so don't shirk!"

In fact, letting Hua Bushi join the army was that the three of them had already agreed on haode in the Shuai's mansion earlier, and at this time, the eldest young master was just making a gesture, and he shook it respectfully to the ground at the moment, and said: "The tall handsome man trusts him so much, Shi Xiao has to be ashamed!"

Joining the army in the army is a position that can be big or small. To the big side, as a member of the army, he can play a very important role in giving advice to the commander-in-chief, whether it is governing the army or fighting, but in a small way, the position of joining the army cannot directly lead the soldiers, more like a bureaucracy, not a real general.

The "36th Battalion General Staff" sounds very majestic, but the so-called 36th Battalion is an alliance, and even Gao Yingxiang, the commander, can hardly command the volunteers from all walks of life, so Hua Bushi, the general staff, is naturally even more nameless.

Although Gao Yingxiang solemnly announced the appointment, most of the leaders of the rebel army remained silent, and only a few people casually arched their hands to show congratulations.

At this time, I could only hear the humane: "Gao Dashuai, are you done with your words? If you finish speaking, just serve all the wine and food, you are not hungry, but I am hungry!"

It was the rough man "Cupola" Liu Danian who spoke.

At this time, Gao Yingxiang had already sat down at the table, but Hua Bushi said: "Wait, I still have a few words to say!"

Gao Yingxiang said: "If Shi joins the army, please say it!"

Hua Bushi said: "In the past, Shi Xiao was not in the rebel army, and it was inconvenient to ask about the affairs of the rebel army, but now that he has been appreciated by the senior marshal, let me do the post of the general staff of the thirty-sixth battalion, and some things must be said." ”

He took a few steps forward, walked to the middle of the hall, and said: "As far as I know, the day before yesterday, Senior Marshal Gao had already issued a clear order that the 36th Battalion of rebels from all walks of life should not burn, kill and loot the civilian people, but early this morning, someone took his soldiers to Qingyang Town in the southeast of the city to loot property. ”

Hua Bushi's eyes turned, and he stared at the torture red wolf sitting at a table in the corner of the room, and said, "Punishment village master, you are the one who blatantly violated the commander's order, what do you have to say?"

The red wolf took the men and horses to Qingyang Town to loot in the morning, but was obstructed by this "evil dog boy", although he didn't get nothing, and he didn't get much, and he was very unhappy in his heart. King Li Chuang set up this celebration wine, he was not in the mood to go to the banquet, but when he heard that all the leaders of the rebel army were coming, it was not appropriate for him not to come, so he reluctantly came.

Just now I heard Gao Yingxiang introduce Hua Bushi and appoint him as the general staff of the army, the red wolf already had some ominous premonitions, and just wanted to shrink behind other people's backs, so as not to be seen by him and come to him for bad luck. Unbeknownst to him, it was still useless to do so, so Shi Xiao immediately found him and told him about the robbery he led the crowd to.

The red wolf's face was a little discolored, but he waved his hand and said, "What nonsense is Shi Senjun talking about? I have been staying in the city since this morning, when did you go to Qingyang Town to rob, you must have recognized the wrong person!"

He deserved to be the leader of a village, but his reaction was not slow, so he simply came to death and refused to admit it. Anyway, as long as he doesn't admit it, his soldiers won't admit it, Shi Xiao probably can't come up with evidence for a while, and Gao Yingxiang can't do anything to him.

Hua Bushi didn't expect this torture red wolf to have this trick, and said: "Is it? The looted property from Qingyang Town is still in your military camp, and there are not a few people who have been robbed by you.

The torture red wolf shook his hand again and again: "What we have in the 'Red Wolf Village' is property, all of which are my brothers, how can you say that it is looted, if you want to defile me, even if you find witnesses, you can't do it!"

In fact, if you want to give evidence to punish the red wolf and lead the troops to loot, Hua Bushi has many ways to make him irrefutable, but it takes some things to find witnesses and evidence. At this time, I suddenly heard someone say loudly: "The master of the criminal village took his men and horses to Qingyang Town to loot this morning, and I can testify that this is indeed the case!"

Everyone's eyes followed the prestige, but they saw that it was a big man wearing a cyan brocade robe, with a majestic figure and a dark complexion, who was Liu Zongmin.

Liu Zongmin, as Li Zicheng's general, was originally sitting at a table of eight immortals next to him with Li Guo, Tian Jianxiu, Hao Shaoqi and others, but when he saw him get up and walked into the hall, he pointed to the torture red wolf and said: "The master of the criminal village, just now you said that you stayed in the city all day today and never went out, but when you led the men and horses out of the south gate, the brothers of Biluoshan who guarded the city gate saw it, and there is your autograph on the record book of leaving the city, can you still rely on it?"

When the tortured red wolf heard this, he was so angry that his face turned red, and he stood up and shouted, "Mr. Liu, you ...... You actually betrayed the owner of this village!"