After dawn, Deng Ren and Wu Niu quietly descended the Black Tiger Mountain under the cover of the Black Tiger Crowd, preparing to return to Ma Gai to die.

Some people may say that returning to Margai's side at this moment will not arouse suspicion?

In fact, Ma Gai had already prepared for this: he instructed Deng Ren and Wu Niu to meet him in the name of 'county government envoys', on the grounds that the Kunyang County government wanted to know why the officers and soldiers of the five counties suddenly left the city last night and went north to attack Heihu Mountain.

This excuse is still very convincing, even if it is Yang Ding, he can't find anything wrong.

When he handed over his order to Ma Gai, Wu Niu conveyed the sentence that Zhou Hu, the leader of the black tiger thieves, asked him to convey: "County lieutenant, 'that person' asked the little one to tell the county lieutenant, saying that he understood the meaning of the county lieutenant, so let the county lieutenant not worry." ”

What not to worry about?

Don't worry about Black Tiger Village being attacked by Yang Ding? - This kind of relief is meaningless at all, where does Ma Gai need Wu Niu to convey this sentence at this moment?

So it is conceivable that the meaning that Zhou Hu wants to express is: Don't worry about Ding Wu, the captain of Luyang County.

"Sure enough......

Touching his chin, Ma Gai showed a slightly relieved smile on his face.

Last night...... To be exact, after the failure of the sneak attack on Heihu Mountain this morning, Yang Ding summoned their five county lieutenants to discuss countermeasures, and afterwards Yang Ding left Ding Wu alone, which Ma Gai could see clearly.

Obviously, Yang Ding wanted to verify from Ding Wu's mouth whether he Ma Gai was suspected of colluding with the Black Tiger Thief.

But so far, Yang Ding has not taken any action, Ma Gai suspects that Ding Wu secretly protected him, otherwise like his passive attitude when he attacked Black Tiger Mountain last night, Yang Ding must have blamed him, and even pushed the guilt of the failure of the sneak attack on him, you must know that the failure of the sneak attack on Black Tiger Village last night is a big responsibility, after all, he is related to the safety of Liu Yi and Wang Yong.

While Ma Gai was pondering, Wu Niu said in a low voice: "County Lieutenant, that person asked the little one to tell the county lieutenant that if the county lieutenant wants to stop that Yang County Commander from acting recklessly, he might as well contact the Western Governor Xun Yi......"

"Well, that's a good idea."

Ma Gai knew that this was Zhou Hu's instructions to him, but he also thought it was a good idea.

So he immediately instructed Wu Niu: "You immediately return to the county seat, tell the county magistrate what happened last night, and then ask the county magistrate to report this matter to Xun Dujiao." ”

"Yes."

According to Ma Gai's order, Wu Niu immediately went straight to Kunyang County and told Kunyang County Commander Liu Bi what happened last night.

Although it was already noon when Wu Niu arrived at the county office, Liu Bi had no idea about it, and he still thought that the officers and soldiers of the five counties were still stationed outside the city at the moment.

"What? Last night, Yang Ding led people to attack the Black Tiger Village? ”

After listening to Wu Niu's communication, Liu Bi was shocked, shocked that the county order of Ye County actually ignored the negotiations between Yingchuan County and the Black Tiger Thief, and disregarded the safety of Liu Yi and Wang Yong, and launched a sneak attack on the Black Tiger Village on his own initiative.

This Yang Ding...... What the hell is going on? Did he think that because of his illustrious status, he could ignore the safety of his two colleagues and their families?

Puzzled, he accepted Ma Gai's suggestion and sent someone to invite Xun Yi, the western governor who lived in the post house, to the yamen and told the latter what had happened last night.

As he expected, Xun Yi was also shocked and angry when he learned about this.

Furious, he immediately came to the north of the county and accused Yang Ding of making unauthorized claims in person, and even the five county lieutenants Ding Wu, Ma Gai, Huang Ben, Zou Bu, and Gao Chun were severely reprimanded by him.

Ding Wu and Ma Gai didn't care about this, but Huang Ben and Zou Bu were bluffed by Xun Yi's reprimand.

It's no wonder, after all, after calming down, Huang Ben and Zou Bu quickly realized that their behavior last night was very likely to put Liu Yi and Wang Yong in danger.

Afterwards, Ma Gai secretly said in his heart: With Xun Yi's reprimand, Huang Ben and Zou Bu should no longer dare to support Yang Ding, which means that Yang Ding is isolated, and it is difficult to pose any follow-up threats to Black Tiger Village.

Obviously, Yang Ding also realized this, and after Xun Yi left angrily, he said to his hometown general Wei Dong: "This Xun Du Post will definitely return to Xuchang immediately and report our behavior to Li Junshou, instead of letting him accuse me, I should take the lead in admitting my mistake to Li Junshou and persuade him to use troops in Black Tiger Village." ”

The old general, Wei Dong, nodded: "What the young master said is extremely true. ”

So, Yang Ding immediately wrote a letter and sent it to Xuchang to hand it over to Li Min, the warden of Yingchuan County.

The speed of the messenger was naturally faster than Xun Yi's action, but two days later, the messenger sent by Yang Ding arrived in Xuchang and handed Yang Ding's letter to Li Junshou.

At the beginning of this letter, Yang Ding wrote: I beg the county guard to forgive me, seeing that the black tiger thieves have repeatedly delayed the release of Liu and Wang, and there is a conspiracy, I planned to attack the Black Tiger Village on the fourth night of the first month of June, aiming to kill the thief Zhou Hu and rescue the two county commanders Liu and Wang and their families......

When he saw this paragraph, Li Junshou was really startled, and after reacting, he scolded Yang Ding angrily: "This Yang Ding, is so good at making claims?!" ”

After scolding angrily for a while, Li Min calmed down and continued to read the following.

I saw that Yang Ding wrote again: As far as Yang knows, Zhou Hu has reached an agreement with the county guard, promising to release Liu and Wang, the two county orders, but he has repeatedly delayed the release, I am afraid that there is some conspiracy in it. …… In view of the raging rebellion in the south this year, Zhou Hu may have heard about it, and wanted to delay until the rebel army invaded Yingchuan, so as to submit to the latter, otherwise it would not be possible to explain Zhou Hu's repeated use of the strategy of delaying the army and deliberately delaying it. I thought that the county guard should make a decision as soon as possible, and would rather sacrifice Liu and Wang's two county orders to eradicate Zhou Hu, otherwise once Zhou Hu defected to the rebels in the future, the rebels would be like a tiger.

After seeing this paragraph, Li Min fell into deep thought.

Standing in his position, he certainly knew that the rebel army south of the river had launched an offensive, and even knew that the rebel army had already invaded Runan County.

What's worse is that most of Runan County is a plain terrain, and the county area is vast, under the multi-faceted attack of the rebel army, Runan County is difficult to take care of one or the other, so that the battle situation is very unfavorable.

A few days ago, Li Min received news that the rebel army that had invaded Runan County from Jiangxia County had been divided into three routes, not to mention the remaining two, at least its western army had clearly come towards his Yingchuan County, and the number was said to be hundreds of thousands......

Of course, Li Min did not believe this alleged to have hundreds of thousands of 'Western Route rebels', after all, in his opinion, whether there were hundreds of thousands of the entire rebel army was still two words, and he personally guessed that the 'Western Route rebels' that were coming towards his Yingchuan County should have a strength of around 100,000.

One hundred thousand, this is not a small number, although Li Min is already actively preparing to resist the rebel army, but whether he can stop this rebel army, the county guard has no bottom in his heart.

In this case, Yang Ding said that Zhou Hu, the leader of the Black Tiger Thief, may have secretly defected to the rebel army, which made Li Min really anxious.

As the so-called embankment of a thousand miles was destroyed in an anthill, it would not be a joke if Zhou Hu had really secretly defected to the rebels and stabbed them in the back when he was struggling to resist the rebels in Yingchuan County.

Of course, Li Min was not as sure as Yang Ding said about whether Zhou Hu had secretly defected to the rebel army, but the black tiger thief's delay in releasing Liu and Wang's two county orders in the past two months did make Li Min feel uneasy.

After thinking about it for a long time, Li Min finally made a decision: no matter whether Zhou Hu defected to the rebel army or not, such a restless guy who was not controlled by the government should be exterminated before the rebel army attacked, so as not to collude with the two and cause disadvantage to the official army.

And just as he was about to contact the two thousand Yingchuan soldiers stationed in Yingyang, Xun Yi finally rushed to Xuchang, asked Li Min to see him, and accused Yang Ding's behavior to the latter's face.

After listening to Xun Yi's words, Li Min said in a deep voice: "I already know about this matter, and I received a letter from Yang County Order yesterday...... In the letter, he explained to the government the reason why he attacked the Black Tiger Village. ”

"What?"

Xun Yi's face changed slightly, he didn't expect Yang Ding to actually tell this Li Junshou about this in front of him, he calmly asked, "What is the reason?" ”

Li Min didn't hide it, and said truthfully: "Yang Ding suspects that Zhou Hu, the leader of the Black Tiger Thieves, has repeatedly delayed, and it is very likely that he secretly defected to the rebel army and wanted to delay until the rebel army invaded my Yingchuan County......

Hearing this, Xun Yi was greatly surprised, after all, although Yang Ding didn't guess everything, he guessed at least half of it - Zhou Hu really wanted to 'self-respect' by disturbing the rebel army and forcing Yingchuan County to acquiesce to his existence.

Unexpectedly, Yang Ding pointed out that Zhou Hu secretly defected to the rebel army.

Xun Yi immediately retorted: "My lord, this is just the exculpation of the Yang County Order, Zhou Hu is just a thief in Kunyang County, where does he know what rebel army?" Yang Xianling believes that Zhou Hu's secret defection to the rebel army is nothing more than an attempt to shirk his responsibility for 'making claims regardless of the safety of his colleagues'......"

"Xun Yi, you are too prejudiced against Yang Ding." Li Min frowned and said, he vaguely felt that this subordinate was too close to the Black Tiger Thief, and he deliberately spoke for the latter.

Xun Yi arched his hand and said: "My lord, it's not that he has any prejudices against the Yang County Order, but that the Yang County Order's actions are not in line with the overall situation. …… If the rebel army is really menacing, then the county should win over Zhou Hu, this person's ability, you also know, even if it is a smart person like Yang County, there is no way to take him, but to repeatedly beg the county for help, if the adult can show favor to that Zhou Hu and win him over to fight against the rebel army, why can't you defeat the rebel army? ”

“……”

Li Min glanced at the post supervisor a few times and disagreed.

Wooing Zhou Hu can repel the rebels? So what is he doing in Yingchuan County actively preparing for the war?

What's more, he is the dignified Yingchuan County Guard, who is Zhou Hu? A thief!

He is a dignified guard of Yingchuan County, and he actually wants to surrender his identity to win over a thief to defend Yingchuan County?

Are you kidding!

Thinking of this, Li Min said in a deep voice with a straight face: "Okay, I have made up my mind, you don't have to persuade me anymore." …… Xun Yi, I order you to go to Yingyang immediately, return to Kunyang County with the 2,000 county troops stationed there, and force Zhou Hu to release him immediately! If you don't let go, encircle and suppress it immediately! ”

Xun Yi wanted to speak and stopped, and sighed for a long time.

Holding on to the last glimmer of hope, he asked, "What if Zhou Hu agrees to release him?" ”

Li Min didn't say a word, and responded to Xun Yi's inquiry with silence.

Obviously, no matter whether the Black Tiger Thief lets go or not, this Li County Shou has planned to completely eradicate the Black Tiger Thief.

In desperation, Xun Yi could only obey Li Min's order, go to Yingyang to join the 2,000 Yingchuan army stationed there, and then return to Kunyang County with these 2,000 soldiers.

On the day he returned to the north of Kunyang County, Xun Yi went up the mountain to meet the leader of the Black Tiger Thieves under the pretext of 'making an ultimatum to Zhou Hu'.

After seeing Zhao Yu, Xun Yi said with annoyance: "I was a step slower, then Yang Ding rushed in front of me and told the county guard about the night attack, and also persuaded the county guard to believe that you had secretly defected to the rebel army, and now, whether you release Liu Yi, Wang Yong and others, the county guard is ready to exterminate you." ”

Hearing Xun Yi's words, Zhao Yu was very surprised, and asked curiously: "You mean, Yang Ding suddenly attacked my cottage, is he suspected that I secretly defected to the rebel army?" How sure is he? ”

Xun Yi shook his head and said, "In the letter to Lord County Guard, he didn't give any explanation, just insisted. …… He did, however, see that you have repeatedly stalled in order to wait for the rebels to appear. ”

"But what does that have to do with him?"

Zhao Yu was also confused.

With Yang Ding's wisdom, he wouldn't naively think that if he broke through his Black Tiger Village, he would be able to wipe out his Black Tiger Crowd in one fell swoop, right?

Since Hengzhu couldn't wipe out his Black Tiger before the rebels entered, why did he risk being accused of 'disregarding the safety of his colleagues' to attack his Black Tiger Village? And now he persuaded the Yingchuan County Guard to send troops to encircle and suppress his Black Tiger Village again.

Just when Zhao Yu was wondering, Xun Yizheng said: "I questioned Yang Ding about this matter, do you guess that Yang Ding said that?" He said that you are the first evil, as long as he can get rid of you, he doesn't need to worry about whether the Black Tiger Thieves will join the rebels, and he doesn't need to worry about not being able to catch the Black Tiger Thieves. ”

"Huh?" Zhao Yu was stunned, and then suddenly realized.

Only then did he realize that Yang Ding had organized a night attack that night, and it was for him......

Suddenly, he smiled and said, "I see." I said that why did Yang Ding know that he couldn't get rid of my Black Tigers, but he would rather take such a big risk to attack my cottage at night, it turned out that he wanted to 'capture the thief and capture the king'...... It's me who underestimated him, this prodigy who was famous in Handan back then, is not unwise, but should be praised for his courage......"

"You still laugh so far?"

Seeing that Zhao Yu actually praised Yang Ding, Xun Yi said slightly angrily: "Two thousand soldiers are already under the mountain, whether you let people go or not, they will attack ......"

Speaking of this, he sighed slightly, and said helplessly: "At this point, there is nothing I can do." ”

"Huh."

Zhao Yu waved his hand and said with a smile: "The post supervisor has already helped Zhou a lot, but Yang Ding is just stirring up the situation." …… As for the current situation, although it is indeed unfavorable, it is not a desperate situation...... It's a big deal to give up this cottage and retreat into the mountains, can Yang Ding and the two thousand soldiers still find me in the deep mountains with a radius of hundreds of miles? ”

Hearing Zhao Yu say this, Xun Yi gradually calmed down, and asked Zhao Yu after nodding slightly: "Specifically, what are you going to do?" ”

Zhao Yu thought for a while and said, "In this way, in order to show our sincerity, I am willing to release one of the county commanders and his family members first......"

Of course, Xun Yi understood what Zhao Yu meant, nodded and said, "If that's the case, I can persuade Tian Qin to wait and see for a while." ”

Then the two of them discussed again.

After Xun Yi left, Zhao Yu sent someone to invite Liu Yi and Wang Yong, and explained the current situation to them half-truthfully: "Zhou has been hiding from the two, in fact, in the past two months, Zhou has been negotiating with the envoy sent by Li Min and Li Junshou, hoping to borrow the two in exchange for the county's pardon for my Black Tigers......"

After hearing this, Liu Yi and Wang Yong didn't react much except that Yingchuan County was trying to rescue them, let alone feel deceived by Zhou Hu.

Seeing this, Zhao Yu said again: "However, now that the situation has changed, for some reason, Yang Ding did not hesitate to sacrifice two or two family members, but also persuaded Li Junshou to enter and suppress my Black Tiger people, and the bad thing is that Li Junshou has been persuaded by Yang Ding......"

Hearing this, Liu and Wang's faces changed greatly.

When Yang Ding attacked the Black Tiger Village at night that day, the two of them already felt that Yang Ding did not take the two of them and their families to heart, but they didn't expect that after the failure of the night attack on the Black Tiger Village, Yang Ding still did not give up, and he still had to press the Black Tiger Thief step by step - isn't this a disguised attempt to put the two of them and their families to death?!

Thinking of this, the two county commanders immediately scolded Yang Ding.

Seeing this, Zhao Yu pressed his hand to interrupt the two of them scolding Yang Ding, and said with a smile: "The two of you know that although I, Zhou Hu, have done some illegal things, I have never had the idea of fighting against the government, the county, and the court, and I don't know why Yang Ding wants to get rid of me quickly." In order to show Zhou's sincerity, Zhou is ready to release one of the two and his family members first, and after a while, the other one and his family members will be released, I don't know ......"

Liu Yi and Wang Yong understood what Zhao Yu meant, and glanced at each other with surprise and worry.

Of course, they hope that they will be the first to release themselves, but they can't wipe their face and mention it.

So Zhao Yu came up with an idea and said: "It's better to draw lots and decide, don't hurt the harmony." Anyway, Zhou promised the two that he would not harm them no matter what. ”

“…… All right. ”

Liu Yi and Wang Yong glanced at each other, although they hesitated, but finally agreed with Zhao Yu's idea.

And in the end, Liu Yi won by luck.

Glancing at Liu Yi, who was forced to endure and rejoice, Zhao Yu said to Wang Yong, who was obviously a little lost: "Since this is the case, please ask Wang Xian Ling to stay in the cottage for a while." ”

Glancing at Liu Yi enviously, Wang Yong nodded helplessly.

He didn't hate Liu Yi, after all, he was unlucky; He wasn't too worried about Zhou Hu's disadvantage for him, after all, if Zhou Hu really wanted to do this, he would have done it a long time ago.

He just wanted to be released as soon as possible, after all, this was the black tiger thief's lair, even if he became a friend of the black tiger thief and a friend of Zhou Hu, he couldn't completely relax here.

On the tenth day of the first month of June, Liu Yi and his family, as well as his county Cheng Pei Sui of Runan County, were all released by the black tiger thieves, went down the mountain unharmed, and went to the official and military camp at the bottom of the mountain.

Upon learning of this, Yang Dingsui took the county lieutenants of the five counties, as well as Xun Yi, and Tian Qin, the county lieutenant of the Yingchuan County Army, out of the camp to greet Liu Yi and his party.

However, Liu Yi, who was released, didn't look at Yang Ding, and in front of the rest of the people, he held the hand of the post supervisor and thanked him loudly: "Thank you Xun Du Post for saving your life, if it weren't for Xun Du Post running back and forth these days, negotiating with the black tiger thief, even if he didn't die in the hands of the black tiger thief, I am afraid that he would die in the hands of his own people." ”

This secretly sarcastic remark made Yang Ding, Wei Dong, Wei Chi, Gao Chun and others all frown.

At this time, Runan County Lieutenant Huang Ben also came to Liu Yi happily to congratulate, but Liu Yi didn't appreciate it, and scolded with a straight face: "You still have me in your heart, the county order?" My wife and children and I were almost killed by you! ”

Huang Ben was speechless, and retreated to the side with a sneering face.

Subsequently, Zou Bu, the governor of Xiangcheng County, also came to Liu Yi and asked Liu Yi on the occasion of congratulations: "Liu Gong, I don't know if my family is okay in the hands of thieves?" ”

Liu Yi nodded and said: "Don't worry, Lieutenant Zou, Wang County ordered everything to be fine, he has a message for me to tell you, telling you to obey Xun Duyou's instructions, and don't be at the mercy of people with intentions." ”

Glancing at Yang Ding and the others who were standing aside, Zou Bu reluctantly agreed.

On the same day, Liu Yi didn't even pay attention to Yang Ding, so he took Pei Sui, the county magistrate, and Huang Ben, the county lieutenant who was scolded by him, to return to Runan County - Yingchuan County has not yet removed him from his official position, and he is still the county magistrate of Runan County.

Yang Ding was helpless about this, after all, it was indeed he who couldn't stop Liu Yi, including Wang Yong's family who were still in the hands of the Black Tiger Thief.

Liu Yi's release made Yang Ding completely lose the support of Runan County and Xiangcheng County, and also made the scholar Tian Qin more inclined to accept Xun Yi's point of view, that is, to continue to negotiate with the Black Tiger Thief and find a way to let the Black Tiger Thief release another county commander and his family, which was invisibly created by Zhao Yu's delaying tactics again.

In this way, Zhao Yu tried his best to drag on for ten days, until June 20, and lived up to his expectations, the 'Western Road Rebels' captured more than a dozen county towns such as Shenyang, Yang'an, and Shangcai all the way, and went straight to the area of Dingying and Zhaoling, which was about to invade Yingchuan County.

As the rebel army advanced aggressively, hundreds of thousands of refugees flocked to Yuncheng and Dingling.

The Yuncheng County Decree and the Dingling County Decree did not dare to open the city to accept refugees, so they hurriedly reported to Yingchuan County.

After receiving the precedent of the two county orders, Li Min, the warden of Yingchuan County, was shocked, and it turned out that the rebel army was advancing faster than he thought.

Even, one of the 'Western Road rebels' went straight to Zhaoling and tried to attack him Xuchang.

At this time, Li Min, where could he still care about encircling and suppressing the black tiger thieves, on the one hand, he ordered all counties to prepare to resist the rebel army, and on the other hand, he recalled Tian Qin's 2,000 people to Xuchang.

During this period, Li Min took the time to write a letter to Yang Ding.

After seeing this letter, Yang Ding sighed helplessly.

Indeed, Zhou Hu, the Black Tiger Thief, may not really fall to the rebel army, but he will definitely take this opportunity to absorb the displaced people and strengthen his power.

If he wants to encircle and suppress the black tiger thief in the future, it will not be so easy.

"Withdraw your troops."

On 22 June, Yang Ding disbanded the 'Four Counties Allied Army' and led the officers and soldiers of Ye County to return to Ye County to prepare to fight the rebel army.

The fifth encirclement and suppression of the black tiger thief came to an end.

On June 23, Zhao Yu released Xiangcheng County to order Wang Yong and his family.

On the same day, the rebel army broke through Dingling.

The capture of Dingling by the rebel army meant that Xiangcheng would become the next target of the rebel army, and it also meant that Runan and Kunyang counties fell into the scope of the rebel army......

And this is the opportunity that Zhao Yu has been waiting for!

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