A few days later, the arrival of the returning soldiers and generals from Jicheng was belated, and this official named Deng Gongming, who had previously been unknown, seemed to be the beneficiary of the Yan civil upheaval.

For Zhou Yuan, the former lieutenant of Dayan, Deng Gongming was extremely polite, "Taiwei, I was ordered to come to welcome Taiwei back to the court, Zhou Yu and Zhou Taiwei ask me to apologize to you, because the Qi army has been moving frequently recently, Zhou Yu Taiwei suspects that they have the possibility of invading Dayan, and they must deal with it, so they can't come to welcome Taiwei in person, and ask Taiwei to forgive their sins." ”

The corners of Zhou Yuan's mouth twitched slightly, Zhou Yu is a member of the Zhou clan, even if it is just a side branch clan, but it is always the Zhou family, it is because when he shows his talent above the military, Zhou Yuan will vigorously support it, if there is no Zhou Yuan's support, how can Zhou Yu sit in the army at this age, but what he never expected was that at the most critical time, it was this distant nephew who he regarded as the descendant of the lineage, and gave himself a knife ruthlessly.

So far, there is nothing to say, no matter what, he is also a member of the Zhou family, a descendant of his own lineage, this time I am afraid it will be difficult to escape the catastrophe, but the Zhou family will not decline because of this, without himself, and there is a Zhou Yu, the Zhou family will not be defeated and collapsed like the Ning family.

This is also a blessing in misfortune!

"State affairs are important, I am a general of a defeated army, a retired official, and I dare not work to meet the captain of a country." Zhou Yuan said lightly.

Deng Gongming was a little frightened, he had just been promoted, and there was still a fear in his bones for this previously famous captain.

"It's too serious. Taiwei detained Donghu, Zhou Yu and Zhou Taiwei were worried day and night. ”

Zhou Yuan snorted, but was noncommittal. Deng Gongming didn't dare to face him anymore, and turned to Meng Chong beside Zhou Yuan: "There is General Lao Meng, please meet General Gao Yuangao." ”

Meng Chong waved his hand with a big grin. "My governor has already left here, and the governor has every opportunity, and when he comes to see Taiwei Zhou, he doesn't know how many official documents he has accumulated, how can he be free to wait for you here. Someone come, hand over the military register to this Lord Deng. ”

Listening to Meng Chong's words, Deng Gongming was ashamed and annoyed, the meaning of Meng Chong's words was very clear, Gao Yuan came to see Zhou Yuan, but he won't see you, because you are not qualified. Don't look at him panicking in front of Zhou Yuan. Timid, but in front of Meng Chong, he felt that his status was much higher, how can he say that he is now also one of the doctors of Dayan, you are a small general, and you actually dare to say a big word, a waist cup, and was about to have a seizure, Zhou Yuan on the side interjected lightly. "Lord Deng, this is Liaoxi."

Zhou Yuan's words sharply made Deng Gongming reflect the current situation of the Eastern Army and the imperial court, and Gao Yuan did not urinate Jicheng at all. has even made it clear that a hostile posture has been made, if he doesn't know each other, he annoys these big-headed soldiers and cuts off his head with a knife. Jicheng's reaction was most likely to send another official to avenge himself.

swallowed this breath at the moment and took over the Yan Army's military register. As soon as he looked at the total number in his head, he couldn't help but because of the color, the total number of five thousand Yan troops had been changed to four thousand five hundred, and the ink bar that wildly crossed off the original number made Deng Gongming almost angry.

"General Meng, the Donghu people should have released 5,000 people, why are there hundreds less?" He held up the roster in front of Meng Chong and asked loudly.

Meng Chong raised his eyelids, glanced at them, and said disapprehantly: "What's the matter, it's dead!" ”

"How is this possible?" Deng Gongming roared loudly, "When the Donghu people released them, they were still five thousand, and after only a few days, hundreds of people died? How did they die? ”

Meng Chong coughed and gargled, snapped, and a mouthful of thick phlegm was directly marked on the ground, and the corners of Deng Gongming's eyes jumped wildly, "How did you die?" Swelled to death! ”

"What did you say?" Deng Gongming barely believed his ears. "How did you die?"

"I said swelling to death!" Meng Chong raised his voice, "Lord Deng, don't you know, these soldiers are all hungry to the bone, obviously they have never eaten enough, our family governor saw this, and he had compassion, these are all Yan people, they are all our robes, why are they hungry like this?" So he ordered us to kill pigs and sheep, and the meat was bowled up, and the white-flour buns were lifted up one basket after another, just to let these poor soldiers have a full meal, but who knew that these hundreds of people were so hungry that they ate too much, and they swelled to death! ”

Meng Chong said it seriously, but Deng Gongming was so angry that he went crazy, and when he opened the military register, his eyes were even blackened, and on the roster inside, most of the names that were crossed out one by one were grassroots officers, and there were dozens of people at the rank of captain, and other sentry commanders, and Bing Cao accounted for the majority, what was swelled to death, obviously these people were detained by the Eastern Army.

He panted and looked at Meng Chong, Meng Chong also looked at him with an innocent face, and spread his hands, "Lord Deng, we did something wrong in this matter, but it is also kind, if you deplore the death of these people, you might as well go to their graves and pay respects!" ”

Deng Gongming glared at Meng Chong: "These people all have family members, I wonder if I can bring their ashes back?" ”

"Of course you can!" Meng Chong waved his hand, "Come on, go and dig up those Yan Army soldiers who were buried a few days ago, burn their bodies, and pick up some ashes for this Lord Deng to take back." ”

There was a loud response outside, and Deng Gongming was stunned all of a sudden, if these people were really dead and had been buried, because they were dug up again, they would be cursed by their ancestors for eighteen generations.

"Enough!" Zhou Yuan on the side roared, Meng Chong is shameless, this Deng Gongming is incompetent, since he understands in his heart that these people have been intercepted by Gao Yuan, can they still come back, the wisest way is to pretend not to know, it is rare to be confused, so as to save his face, only a few hundred people, really annoy Gao Yuan, and deduct all of them, what can you do with him?

"Let's go!" With a flick of his sleeves, he walked out of the house, Deng Gongming's face turned purple, followed behind Zhou Yuan, and walked out quickly, obviously, he also figured out the trick, but he understood it a little late.

Nearly 5,000 Yan troops began to pull out from the Niulanshan camp, different from when they were just released, in the Niulanshan camp, Gao Yuan gave each of them a winter coat, these things, originally prepared by the Yan army for the Eastern Expedition, and now give them some, Gao Yuan is not a pity. At least we can reap the gratitude of these big-headed soldiers, and it would be nice for these people to go back, whether they are returning to the barracks to serve as soldiers, or to retire and return home to farm, and to help spread their reputation for kindness.

The accompanying expeditionary army was a thousand cavalry led by He Lanjie, a general under the command of Helan Xiong, and this thousand cavalry, which was both protection and escort, must be a team of thousands of people, and if something happened on the way, it would be extremely troublesome.

Although the weather was cold, the road was covered by snow, but fortunately it was also frozen firmly, these soldiers who finally had to return to their homeland were in a hurry to return home, and they walked not slowly, at the end of the day, they actually walked nearly 100 miles, and they could already see the city wall of Fufeng in the distance, and seeing that it was almost dark, Deng Gongming ordered the whole army to camp.

It is impossible for the army to be put into Fufeng City, but a big man like Zhou Yuan will naturally not endure the bitter cold outside the city, and Liu Xin, the new county commander of Fufeng, who has already received the news, has already brought officials at all levels in the county to greet him and personally invite a group of senior officials to enter the city to rest.

In the city, in the post house that has been vacated, all the supplies have been prepared, a hot bath, and a sumptuous banquet, Deng Gongming returned to his room with satisfaction, the dragon in the house burned very strongly, as soon as he walked into the room, a hot air came to his face, Deng Gongming, who had just drunk a lot of wine, suddenly felt that his whole body was dry, took off the cotton robe outside, sat at the table, took a cup of tea, drank it all in one gulp, and drank it all in one gulp, and the dryness calmed down a little.

This Fufeng County Commander Liu Xin is a knowledgeable person, much more polite than Meng Chong's general, Deng Gongming secretly said in his heart, there are few people who know etiquette in the big head soldiers.

There was a soft knock at the door.

"Who?" Deng Gongming asked.

"Lord Deng, I'm the post house guard, and I've brought you hot water." A humble voice came from outside.

"Well, come in!" Deng Gongming is very satisfied, the service of this post house, compared to those post houses in Jicheng are much more thoughtful, knowing that the master is riding a horse all day, tired and tight, at this time, a good scalding of the feet, to go to the tired, a beautiful sleep, tomorrow, you can be energetic again.

This time out of Beijing, it was Lord Tan who personally ordered himself to come to greet Zhou Yuan and Zhou Taiwei, oh, it should be a former Taiwei, you have to be careful, you must not learn that Chen Maoyan, escort the Ye couple to Beijing, and as a result, the Ye family and his wife died in the car, so that the king, down to the Tan lord, are almost unable to step down, although Xu Maoyan saved his life, but the official position is pushed to the end, and now he has become Yan Lingwei's most ordinary spy, decades of achievements, once exhausted.

said that it was to welcome, but in fact it was an escort, which Deng Gongming also knew very well, how to deal with this Zhou Taiwei, the court and the central government have not yet decided, Zhou Yuzhou Taiwei and Lord Tan have remained silent, and the king has not said it explicitly, but the other people in the court and the central government have quarreled, and they have not come up with a reason until now.

But no matter what, I have to serve this former lieutenant carefully, even if he goes into the wilderness, even if he is guilty, but Zhou Yu and Zhou Yuan are also members of the Zhou family, which is now that he and Zhou Yuan have become strangers, but they can't write two Zhou characters in one stroke, something goes wrong, I am afraid that Zhou Yu and Zhou Taiwei will take the opportunity to find trouble for themselves, so as to give the Zhou clan an explanation, which one can be wronged to death. (To be continued......)