From mid-September, the autumn harvest begins in all counties of Yingchuan County, harvesting ripe beans and rice in the fields.

When Xuchang County also began to harvest crops, at the request of Taishi Chen, Zhao Yu personally took the old man to the scene to inspect.

I have to say that it was really a spectacular scene, I saw that the farmland outside the city was full of people, that is, there were subordinate reclamation soldiers, and there were also people's earnest groups organized by Xuchang County, these people under the command of the field officials and county officials, cut down the beans and rice, and even the bean leaves and rice stalks, and filled the carts one after another.

The young leaves of the bean can be eaten as a vegetable, while the pods and rice stalks can be crushed and mixed with the chaff as feed for pigs and poultry such as chickens and ducks, which can be used and should not be wasted.

In the meantime, in the distance of the farmland, a group of people, mostly women and children, stood in the distance.

Judging by the way they dressed, they should have been refugees from the neighborhood or something.

When the 'officers and soldiers' had finished harvesting one piece of farmland and moved to another, the women and children quickly went to the harvested farmland and crouched down to look for the missing ears of grain or pods.

Seeing this, a county official came to Zhao Yu to ask for instructions on whether to drive these refugees away.

Hearing this, Zhao Yu turned his head to look at Taishi Chen who was standing beside him, but saw that the old man was looking at the women and children who were bending down to pick up ears of grain and pods in the farmland from a distance, and immediately said with a little melancholy: "Let them go." ”

"Yes." Zhao Yu nodded, and instructed the county officials who came to ask for instructions: "You go and tell Zhang Ji to ask him to maintain law and order, and those fields that have been harvested will be left to those people to glean, and they must not be driven away." ”

To be honest, there really isn't much to pick up, and it's estimated that there is only a handful of ears of grain after picking up a few hours, so why hurt the people's hearts for this little thing?

"Yes!" The county guard answered.

After watching the farmland outside Xuchang City for a while, at the request of Chen Taishi, Zhao Yu took him and Mao Zheng to Yanling to inspect the autumn harvest outside Yanling City.

There are many more refugees in Yanling County than in Xuchang, but fortunately, when the government harvests the crops, the refugees in the shelter just stand aside and watch, quietly waiting for the officers and soldiers to finish harvesting, and then go to the fields that have been harvested to pick up some ears of grain and bean pods.

Zhao Yu also sent an order to Chu Yan, ordering the latter not to drive away those harmless women and children.

During this period, Mao Zheng looked left and right, and asked puzzledly: "Why are there only women and children?" ”

Zhao Yu explained with a smile: "Qingzhuang went to the nearby mountains to catch wild animals, in order to prevent conflicts when the government harvested grain, I ordered Yanling and other counties a month ago, asking them to call on local refugees to go into the mountains to hunt wild things, and the wild things they hunted, they can keep them for their own consumption, and then sell their furs to the government......

"Yanling Mansion buys fur?" Mao Zheng was a little puzzled.

Zhao Yu nodded and said: "The purchased furs will be collected and transported to Kunyang, and the workshops in Kunyang will make winter clothes, blankets and other cold things, and then sell them to the government......

"Uh-oh." Mao Zheng suddenly realized.

From the side, Taishi Chen also glanced at Zhao Yu in surprise and nodded slightly.

Immediately, the old lady asked Zhao Yu: "There is only one or two months left before the beginning of winter, can you prepare enough things to keep out the cold?" ”

Zhao Yu shook his head and said: "There are too many of them, the only thing the younger generation can do is to reserve a large amount of firewood in advance, and when it is winter, tell those refugees to stay in the house as much as possible." ”

The houses he was talking about, that is, the wooden houses built by Yanling and other county officials to help the refugees during this period, were probably built on both sides of the official road to facilitate the transportation of food and other materials, which belonged to 'temporary buildings', and if those refugees could be persuaded to return to their hometowns in the future, these houses would have to be demolished.

However, Zhao Yu is not sure whether he can persuade those refugees to return to his hometown, after all, for the time being, his Yingchuan County is the most stable county, and those refugees are not stupid, and they may not be willing to leave easily.

"Hmm."

After listening to Zhao Yu's answer, Taishi Chen nodded slightly.

In his opinion, Zhao Yu and even the officials of Yingchuan County have really done a very good job.

After being satisfied, he instructed Mao Zheng: "Zizheng, send someone to Fancheng, so that Zhongxin can cross the river, and be sure to capture Jingdi before winter and exterminate the Jingchu rebels." ”

"Yes." Mao Zheng replied solemnly.

Just when Yingchuan County was starting the autumn harvest, on the north bank of Fanshui in Nanjun, Xue Ao and Wang Shangde were ready to cross the river to attack Jingdi.

In fact, they had already been able to attack Jingdi as early as a month ago, but because they considered that there was not enough food to stabilize Jingdi, they could only temporarily stop crossing the river and wait for the news of the autumn harvest of Yingchuan County and Henan County, as long as the autumn harvest of these two counties was not unexpected, they were sure to capture Jingdi.

On September 22, several cavalry sent by Mao Zheng quickly arrived in Fancheng and reported to the cavalry general Xue Aoyu about the progress of the autumn harvest in Yingchuan County, and at the same time conveyed the order of Chen Taishi.

Although Xue Ao always looks like 'I don't even pay attention to the old man' on weekdays, he actually listens to Taishi Chen's words, and as soon as he received the order, he found Wang Shangde.

The two who didn't like each other were arguing and discussing the strategy of crossing the river, and Li Meng, the governor of Henan, who was suffering from him, could not afford to offend either of them.

The next day, September 23, nearly 100,000 Jin troops launched a river-crossing operation, Henan Governor Li Meng led 50,000 Henan troops to cross the river in the Fancheng area and attack Xiangyang on the other bank, while Wang Shangde, the general of Nanyang, waved his army south, crossed the river in the area of Yanxian County, and attacked Yicheng on the other bank.

The Jin army was two-pronged, and the Jingchu rebels were unable to resist, and in just eight days, the Jin army captured Xiangyang, Zhonglu, Yexian, and Yicheng before and after.

At the beginning of October, the Jin army led by Xue Ao and Wang Shangde continued to move south, capturing Jingmen and Dangyang all the way, and Xue Ao personally led the cavalry to Jiangling.

During this period, Jingchu Yishi Qu Shuai Yang Tong led the righteous division to resist desperately, but the righteous division was defeated before and after the two main battlefields of Liangjun and Nanyang, and the soldiers had little morale, so they were defeated and retreated by the Jin army.

Around October 15, Wang Shangde, Xue Ao, and Li Meng joined forces in Jiangling City and began to storm the capital of the 'Jingchu State'.

Jing Chuyi's division held out for eight days, but was finally broken through by the Jin army.

Seeing that the general trend had gone, Yang Gu, the king of Chu who was nearly sixty years old, was angry and committed suicide by taking medicine, and his prime minister, Cai Xiu, the former county guard of the southern county of the Jin Dynasty, also committed suicide by taking medicine.

The rest of the officials of the Chu State surrendered to the Jin army one after another.

During this period, Yang Tong, the commander of Jing Chu's righteous teacher, took several sons of Yang Gu, the old king of Chu, desperately broke through the siege, fled south, and fled into Wuling County.

In order to prevent the rebellion in Runan County from happening again in Jingdi, Wang Shangde and Xue Ao did not chase after them, after all, in their opinion, the defeat of the Jingchu rebels was decided, and even if Yang Tong and others escaped, it would only be a matter of survival.

After some discussion, Wang Shangde and Xue Ao made a decision, Wang Shangde temporarily sat in Jiangling and even Jingdi, while Xue Ao and Li Meng retreated and returned, and by the way, brought back the bodies of the old Chu King and Chu Prime Minister Cai Xiu to Taishi Chen to see if they wanted to bring them back to the imperial court or something.

As the leader of the world's righteous teachers, Jing Chu was crushed by Xue Ao and Wang Shangde in this battle.

It was also during this time that Wang Shangde's brother Wang Yan came to Xuchang on the order of his brother to talk to Yingchuan County about 'borrowing grain'.

I have to say that when Wang Yan saw Zhao Yu again, he was really a little embarrassed.

After all, Wang Yan is Yang Ding's friend, when Zhao Yu was still a county lieutenant in Kunyang, in order to force Zhao Yu to send troops to assist Ye County, he also threatened Zhao Yu, but he didn't expect to see him for a year, Zhao Yu not only became the captain of Yingchuan, but even got into a relationship with Chen Taishi, and became a big man who made Wang Yan feel jealous.

However, Zhao Yu did not take the opportunity to ridicule Wang Yan, first, 'Yingchuan lent grain to Nanyang', which was decided by Chen Taishi in order to encircle and suppress Jing Chuyi as soon as possible, and he could not stop it; second, he did not want to behave like a villain, which affected Chen Taishi's good impression of him.

As for the third......

Zhao Yu still has a good impression of Wang Shangde, thinking that a few years ago, Wang Shangde specially sent 3,000 Nanyang troops to warn him in order to protect the Luye Freemasonry.

Although the three thousand Nanyang troops once made Zhao Yu feel a great headache.

In late November, Li Meng, the governor of Henan, led 40,000 Henan troops to withdraw to Wancheng, preparing to spend the winter in Wancheng and return to Henan the following year.

At the same time, Xue Ao, the general of the chariot cavalry, led nearly 7,000 Taiyuan troops, with the remains of Yang Gu, the king of Chu, and Cai Xiu, the prime minister of Chu, and finally arrived in Xuchang after more than a month of travel.

At this time, Yingchuan County had already been covered by a piece of ice and snow, even if the soldiers under Xue Ao's command all had war horses to travel, they had suffered enough.

However, it was precisely because of the cold weather that the bodies of Yang Gu, the king of Chu, and Cai Xiu, the prime minister of Chu, were well preserved and had not yet begun to decompose.

Hearing the news that Xue Ao led the army back to Xuchang, Zhao Yu also took Chen Taishi and Mao Zheng out of the city to greet Xue Ao.

Seeing that Taishi Chen came to greet him in person, everyone could see that Xue Ao was actually quite happy, but he still had a disapproving tone on his lips, and even teased Taishi Chen: "Old man, you are all a lot old, what are you doing here?" Aren't you afraid of freezing out? ”

Taishi Chen chuckled, and then pressed Xue Ao's head with his hand, suppressing the latter to scream.

This may be how the father and son get along.

Zhao Yu, Mao Zheng and others watched from the sidelines, and they wanted to laugh but didn't dare to laugh.

After some jokes, Taishi Chen asked Xue Ao, "Where are Chu Hou and Cai Gong?" ”

Hearing this, Xue Ao also put away the joke on his face, and led Taishi Chen to the team, only to see that on a carriage in the team, there were two coffins, one of which contained the body of Yang Gu, the king of Chu, and the other was the body of Cai Xiu, the prime minister of Chu and the former county guard of the southern county of the Jin Dynasty.

Taishi Chen personally stepped forward to inspect the two corpses, and immediately sighed melancholy.

"The old man knows these two?"

Zhao Yu asked Mao Zheng privately, but unfortunately Mao Zheng didn't know it, and shook his head slightly.

At this time, Xue Ao walked towards Zhao Yu and Mao Zheng, raised his hand and greeted the two: "Yo, Juzheng, Zizheng." ”

Zhao Yu and Mao Zheng immediately bowed their hands and called Xue Ao as their brother.

After a few words of greeting, Zhao Yu asked Xue Ao privately: "The old man knows the king of Chu and the prime minister of Chu?" ”

"It's Chu Hou." Xue Ao corrected.

Zhao Yu immediately nodded again and again: "Yes, Chu Hou." ”

Seeing this, Xue Ao did not hide it, turned his head to look at the old lady, touched his beard and explained to Zhao Yu: "Yang Gu, the Marquis of Chu, is the eldest son of the Marquis of Chu, when he was young, he lived in Handan for a while, and he had a good relationship with the old man, and it seems that he was once called a brother...... As for Cai Ziwen, this person is a great sage in Jingdi, and the old man has met him a few times and admires him very much. ”

Zhao Yu was very surprised when he heard this, and asked puzzledly: "Why did the Marquis of Chu rebel against the imperial court?" ”

Xue Ao touched his beard and said playfully: "He is not against the imperial court, but against the ......."

Speaking of this, he glanced at Zhao Yu and Mao Zheng, raised his finger and pointed to the sky meaningfully.

“……”

Mao Zheng obviously understood Xue Ao's hint, his eyes widened in surprise, and his breathing tightened: "Could it be ......?"

"Shh

Xue Ao made a silent gesture, and immediately, he glanced at the old lady who was still looking at the corpse of Yang Gu, Marquis of Chu, and said in a low voice: "I don't know the specifics, I was still young at that time, it is said that the prince of Chu went to Handan to meet His Majesty and pay tribute, during which he somehow had a conflict with the prince, and was taught a lesson by the prince, and as a result, the prince of Chu died...... After learning of this, the Marquis of Chu personally went to Handan and asked His Majesty to severely punish the murderer, but you also know that it was the crown prince...... In the end, His Majesty killed several people around the prince as an explanation, but the Marquis of Chu was not satisfied and left Handan angrily, and at this point, the state of Chu no longer paid tribute to the Great Jin. ”

"I see."

Zhao Yu nodded abruptly.

From the side, Mao Zheng asked puzzledly: "Brother Zhongxin, according to what you said, Chu Hou already had a grudge at that time, why did he ......?"

"Why doesn't the old man care?" Xue Ao seemed to have guessed Mao Zheng's thoughts.

After Mao Zheng nodded, Xue Ao chuckled and said, "What's the matter?" Tell the prince to kill people to pay for his life? ”

Zhao Yu glanced at Xue Ao in surprise and said tentatively: "Listening to what Brother Zhongxin said, it seems that the boss is on Chu Hou's side?" ”

Xue Ao glanced at Zhao Yu when he heard this, and said with a smile: "How do I know this?" But it's probably sympathy for Chu Hou, otherwise...... The old man of twenty or thirty years ago, even if his force declined, it was definitely not something that Jing Chu could stop? ”

"I see."

Zhao Yu nodded slightly.

Although Xue Ao did not answer positively, Zhao Yu could roughly hear that the old lady was obviously merciful in his treatment of the Chu State.

From the side, Mao Zheng asked in a puzzled low voice: "But why did the prince harm the prince of Chuhou?" ”

"Who knows." Mao Zheng shrugged, then turned his head and asked Mao Zheng: "Zizheng, haven't you lived in Handan for a while, haven't you seen that prince?" ”

"How?" Mao Zheng asked puzzledly, "Is there anything unsatisfactory about that prince?" ”

He could hear that Xue Ao didn't have any respect in his mouth when he mentioned the prince.

Hearing this, Xue Ao laughed and said, "If the prince has both talent and virtue, how can there be so many court officials who have tried to depose the prince and set up another prince over the years?" …… By the way, don't say this in front of the old man, the old man doesn't like anyone to mention interfering in the affairs of the royal family, even if he doesn't like the prince, especially us. ”

Zhao Yu and Mao Zheng nodded again and again.

After nodding, Zhao Yu suddenly thought of Yang Ding.

He remembered listening to what the old lady said a while ago, it seemed that Yang Ding's grandfather, the former court Situ Yang Tai, was questioned for being involved in the affairs of the royal family, so is there anything between Yang Tai and the prince and the matter of the Marquis of Chu?

Just when Zhao Yu was secretly thinking to himself, he suddenly heard Xue Ao reminding in a low voice: "Shh, the old man is here." ”

Hearing Xue Ao's reminder, Zhao Yu and Mao Zheng looked up, and sure enough, they saw that Taishi Chen had already gotten off the carriage loaded with the coffin and was walking towards them, so they had no choice but to stop discussing in private.

After more than ten breaths, Taishi Chen came to Xue Ao, Zhao Yu, and Mao Zheng, and said in a heavy tone: "Juzheng, you arrange for Zhongxin to station the army, Zhongxin, rest for a day, and you go back to the capital with the old man." ”

"Yes."

Zhao Yu and Xue Ao hugged their fists.

Immediately, Xue Ao asked again: "...... the bodies of Chu Hou and Cai Junshou?"

"Let's take it to Handan." Taishi Chen said with a gloomy face.

It can be seen that this old lady's mood at the moment is very bad.

On the same day, under Zhao Yu's arrangement, the nearly 7,000 Taiyuan troops under Xue Ao were stationed in the military camp outside Xuchang City, that is, the prisoner camp where Zhou Gong's subordinate army temporarily lived.

Of course, it has now been converted into a military camp under the command of 500 county guards sent by Zhang Ji.

Seeing Xue Ao and the 7,000 Taiyuan army, Zhou Gong, Xu Lian and others were in mixed moods.

After all, Xue Ao was the main reason for their righteous teacher's 'rout in Liang County', and that day in Xianping County, if it weren't for this Xue Ao, the loss of his three-way righteous teacher would definitely not be so serious.

But hatred is hate, Zhou Gong and the others don't dare to act rashly, after all, they are now going to 'change their hearts and faces', gradually gain the trust of Yingchuan County, and use the Yingchuan County Army's Pi Dongshan to make a comeback, how dare they show any hostility at this time?

During this period, Zhao Yu invited Chen Taishi, Mao Zheng, Xue Ao, Wei Bi and others to his mansion, and set up a banquet for Xue Ao and others to wash the dust.

During the banquet, Xue Ao said to Taishi Chen: "Old man, I'll just go to bring the body of Chu Hou back to Handan, you are also a lot old, just stay in Juzheng Mansion for a few more days, and wait for my news." ”

On weekdays, if Xue Ao did this, the old lady would probably let this righteous son understand the old father's fist, but today, the old lady had no intention of joking, he shook his head and said in a deep voice: "You can't do this matter, you have to go to the old man himself......"

Hearing this, Xue Ao's eyes flashed with a hint of color.

With his current status, if he can't do anything, then it must be a matter involving the emperor and the prince of the Jin Kingdom.

He asked suspiciously, "Old man, what do you want to do?" ”

Taishi Chen was silent for a moment, shook his head and said, "You don't have to worry about this. …… By the way, what's the current situation over there? ”

knew that the old father deliberately diverted the topic, but Xue Ao didn't dare to ask, after all, don't look at him as an old man, but in fact, he really respects the father-in-law in front of him.

Immediately, he spread his hands and said, "The matter of Jingdi is handed over to Wang Shangde, and he will arrange it properly." …… As for the Jingchu rebels, there is probably no threat, although they were run away by the thief leader Yang Tong, and several sons of Chu Hou also ran away......"

Looking at his understatement attitude, Zhao Yu was very suspicious that the reason why the sons of Chu Hou Yang Gu could escape was because of this Xue Ao secretly releasing water, otherwise, with Xue Ao's force and the Taiyuan cavalry under his command, they would not be able to catch up with Chu Hou's sons? Can't catch any of them?

"Hmm."

Taishi Chen nodded and didn't ask anything more.

At dawn the next day, Chen Taishi took Mao Zheng and set off for Handan under the protection of Xue Ao's 8,000 Taiyuan army.

Zhao Yu personally took He Shun, Gong Jiao and others to send them off.

Seeing the figure of Taishi Chen and his entourage going away, Zhao Yu's mood was also a little heavy.

The defeat was like a mountain, this is true, Rao is Zhao Yu did not expect that the Jingchu rebels would be defeated so quickly.

It lasted two years, and the mighty volunteers from all walks of life rose up, and up to now, the two branches of Changsha and Jingchu have been destroyed, leaving only Chen Miao's Jiangxia Righteous Division, Cheng Zhou's Yuzhang Righteous Division, leading a small remaining force to the east to defect to the Jiangdong Volunteer Division.

"Next year, will this old man use troops against the Jiangdong righteous division? …… I wonder if the righteous teacher of Koto can stop it?'

Standing in the snow with his hands behind his back, Zhao Yu was in a melancholy mood, and secretly pinched a cold sweat for Jiangdong Yishi.

After all, what Jiangdong Yishi is about to face is Taishi Chen and his five righteous sons.

Koto Yishi ...... No, can his brother Zhao Yin resist these six tiger generals in the world?

In his mind, the confident smile of his brother Zhao Yin vaguely appeared.

"Uhh

After a long time, he let out a long breath.

『…… Absolutely.'"

He thought to himself.

Or rather, secretly looking forward to it.