At the eastern foot of Taihang Mountain, Shahe, Xingzhou, and the once lively and noisy Xishan Town, are now empty, except for the half-human tall lush weeds, scattered among the bones that can be seen from time to time, all in a mess, no one pays attention.

The eastern foothills of Taihang Mountain, which once relied on coal, iron and copper mines, were inaccessible and deserted, and without exception fell into depression.

Naturally, it is very hot on the official road, but walking on this mountain road, it is not so hot. A team of thousands of people, all on foot, all of them in tattered clothes, unkempt, and weakly moving forward.

"Zhang Yi, where are you?"

"Dutong, it's already in Wu'an County."

Hearing the title of the general, Wang Yan shook his head with a wry smile, and there was a little embarrassment in his words.

"In the future, don't call everything unified, the general of the defeated army, just call him by his name."

"Then how can it be done, all of you, our "eight-character army" thousands of brothers, only obey you, but it can't be without you. Besides, although we were defeated, we also killed a lot of thieves, and the court won't do anything to us!"

Wang Yan nodded, his eyes seemed thoughtful.

Since the first year of Jingkang, he has been the king of soldiers, and then he was cast under the account of Zhang Suo, the envoy of Hebei Zhaofu. The city of Tokyo was relieved by Wang Song, and the righteous teachers of all walks of life were dispersed, and he founded the "Eight-Character Army" alone, and everyone engraved "Serve the country with a naked heart, swear to kill the gold thief", and led the troops to continue to fight against the Jin people in Taihang Mountain.

The Jin people were powerful, and after several tough battles, the Bazi Army suffered heavy losses and had to retreat to the south, temporarily avoiding the Jin people's edge, in order to move later.

"Dutong, the righteous army of more than a dozen villages in Taihang Mountain, Meng De, Jiao Wentong, we can all go, why do you want to go south?"

After fighting side by side with Wang Yan for two years, Zhang Yi knew Wang Yan's ambition, and only wanted to kill more Jin people, so that he would not have the energy to go south to invade the Song Dynasty.

Wang Yan scattered all his family wealth in order to resist Jin, dozens of bloody battles of all sizes, and nine deaths, naturally not for promotion and wealth, high-ranking officials are generous. What kind of medicine he sold in this gourd made Zhang Yi a little dazed.

"Zhang Yi, it is important to resist gold, but if you kill a thousand enemies and lose eight hundred, you only know one and you don't know the other."

Wang Yan looked at the remnants of the defeated army who were weak and slowly moving forward, frowned, and said leisurely:

"We have fought dozens of battles with the Jin people, and we have suffered heavy casualties, most of the Jin people killed and injured are Han'er, all of them are fur, and if we continue like this, we have not yet faced off with the Jurchen army, and our army has already been killed and wounded."

Although the "Eight-Character Army" fought bravely, it was not organized, it was just a righteous army, no money, no supplies, no roots, no source of water, after a long time, even if everyone was determined to fight and kill thieves, it was inevitable that their vitality would be greatly injured and fall apart.

"What Dutong said is very true, so if we go south this time, Dutong must have some plans. Listen to it, and let the brethren sum it up. ”

Zhang Yi suddenly realized that the general led the army south, and he had a plan, but he didn't know what it was.

Wang Yan withdrew his gaze from the walking bodies of the soldiers, looked at the generals beside him, and said with a smile.

"Stop the brethren, I have something to say."

Hearing the military order to rest, the soldiers of the "Eight-Character Army" stopped one after another, sat down on the mountain road, and set their eyes on their commanders together.

Wang Yan couldn't help but feel a little sad. These heroes who are loyal and courageous, and are not afraid of life and death, follow themselves, lack clothes and clothing, and suffer countless casualties.

"Brothers, let's raise troops against the thieves, countless brothers have died on the battlefield, the golden people are powerful, I can't let all the brothers die on the battlefield. Now we are going south to join the imperial army and kill the gold thieves, are you all willing?"

The soldiers on the mountain road were silent for a long time, and someone shouted out.

"General, those officials and soldiers of the imperial court, the brothers can't believe it. Let's go south, take a rest, turn around and continue north, and then you will lead your brothers to continue to kill thieves!"

"That's it, that's it! Our brothers all have a common enmity with the thieves, and those officers and soldiers are all wrecks and can't follow them!"

"General, let's put up the flag ourselves, and we will definitely be able to recruit a lot of brothers!"

The shouts of the soldiers came, and it was noisy and noisy, and Zhang Yi's eyes immediately widened.

"If you don't listen to the general's orders, do you want to rebel?"

Wang Yan waved his hand to stop Zhang Yi, who was glaring angrily, and continued to say loudly:

"Brothers, after you hear me say who the person we are going to take refuge with, you will definitely not object!"

The soldiers looked at each other, not knowing what Wang Yan was going to say, and the smart ones reacted immediately, and someone followed loudly.

"General, don't you want to take us to join Wang Song and Wang Xianggong?"

The mountain road was immediately quiet, and many soldiers stood up and looked at Wang Yan together, as if they were about to emit light in their eyes.

Zhang Yi's heart trembled, and he couldn't help but ask loudly: "...... Tong, do you really want to take your brothers and go to seek refuge with the prince?"

Wang Yan nodded heavily, with a smile on his face, and said to Zhang Yi: "In addition to Wang Song and Wang Xianggong, who else in the world is worthy of my brothers of the "Eight-Character Army" to take refuge?"

Zhang Yi let out a sigh of relief, and the stone in his heart finally fell.

"Brothers, Xianggong wants to take us to Wang Song and Wang Xianggong, do you think it's okay?"

Zhang Yi's face turned red and he shouted loudly.

"Good!"

The soldiers of the "Eight-Character Army" all stood up and shouted loudly.

The name of the loyal and righteous army moves the world, Wang Song is the ambassador of the two rivers, everyone knows, and now Wang Song is recruiting troops and horses in the two rivers, and going to take refuge, which is complementary to each other.

Seeing the soldiers rejoicing and the morale of the army, Wang Yan was also relieved, the soldiers finally had the backbone, and they could also kill the thieves again, killing two birds with one stone.

Moreover, I believe that under Wang Song's account, I will definitely be reused, recover the lost land, and make contributions.

"Dutong, the brother who explored earlier is back."

Just after a few sips of water, the scout came back to report, saying that he had met the sentinel of the Loyal and Righteous Army, and also found out the news of the Loyal and Righteous Army, Wang Yan couldn't help but feel refreshed.

"General, Wang Song and Wang Xianggong are recruiting troops in Hebei and Hedong, the Hebei Loyal and Righteous Army is in Xiangzhou, and the Hedong Loyal and Righteous Army is in Licheng and Longde Mansion, and both armies have 30,000 troops."

The scout was surrounded by a few people, the first one was dark-faced, athletic, and spoke decently, and Wang Yan also secretly admired.

Everyone took a breath of cool air, Lianghe is sixty or seventy thousand male soldiers, it seems that the imperial court is going to make a big difference.

"Lund House?"

Wang Yan was stunned for a moment. Lund Mansion is his hometown, and he didn't expect it to be restored by the Loyal Army so soon.

"This brother, what is your position, and where is Wang Xianggong?"

Wang Yan thought for a moment and finally asked.

"The Hebei Loyal and Righteous Army is under the command of Yue Fei, and Hedong has not yet formed an army. Wang Xianggong was not in Hebei, but went to Hedong. ”

Wang San also hesitated for a moment and said calmly.

"The iron mill in Guzhen, Wu'an County, is the property of Wang Xianggong, and it also provides weapons to the army. The villain is the guard of the ironshop, and he happened to be bumped into by the general's scouts, so he knows everything. ”

Wang Yan nodded, but it turned out to be the same thing.

"The villain leads the way in front of the head, the general can rest for a while in Guzhen, replenish the grain and grass, or go to Xiangzhou, or go to Hedong to find Wang Xianggong, and the general will do his own thing."

Hedong has not yet formed an army, or go to Hedong to find Wang Xianggong......

Wang Yan couldn't help but feel moved, it seems that there are many stories in this loyal army.

"Dutong, should we go to Xiangzhou, or will we go to Hedong again?"

The army continued to move forward, and Zhang Yi asked softly on the side.

"Naturally, I went to Hedong, and Wang Song didn't vote."

Wang Yan replied in a low voice: "Hedong has not yet formed an army, and Wang Xianggong is in Hedong, if we don't go to Hedong, our hearts are not sincere."

Zhang Yi nodded, and understood a little in his heart.

In the west of Shaojiazhuang Village, there are more than a dozen raised mounds. Shao Ping and Shao Xing knelt in front of the grave, kowtowed a few times, picked up the baggage and guns beside them, and reluctantly left.

"The thieves invaded, and the people of Hedong were struggling to make a living, so we voted for the loyal army, killed the thieves, and took revenge!"

Shao Xing and his group traveled all the way east, all along the way were broken walls, barren fields, and corpses could be seen from time to time, until they entered the Longde Mansion, the situation changed greatly, the people were busy in the fields for the autumn harvest, and the loyal and righteous soldiers patrolling the official road passed by from time to time.

"How can there be so many crops?"

Looking at the rolling rice fields, Shao Xing and the others were dumbfounded.

"Easier said than done, so many tuntians, I don't know how much hardship it takes and how much manpower and material resources are invested!"

Shao Xing sighed with emotion, attracting the nods of the people next to him.

Everyone is from a peasant family, and they know how hard this farming is, and they can organize such a large-scale reclamation under the ring of golden soldiers, and the courage and self-confidence of the people who organize it are absolutely unmatched.

"Where are you from and where are you going?"

Seeing Shao Xing and the others holding guns and knives, a team of knights stopped and stepped forward to ask.

"This little brother, we are all from Jiezhou, I heard that the Loyal and Righteous Army is stationed in Longde Mansion, and my brothers and I are all here to join the army."

"It turned out that I came to join the army."

Hearing that it was a righteous man who had come to join the army, the look on the knight's face suddenly eased.

"Go along the official road, twenty miles ahead, there is a loyal army stationed, explain the reason, and someone will take you to Longde Mansion."

The knight patiently pointed the way, everyone was in good spirits, Shao Xing handed over a string of silver coins, but the knight immediately turned his face.

"Loyal and righteous military regulations, anyone who accepts bribes will be killed, do you want my head to hit the ground? Thinking that you are a first-time offender, you must not do it next time, otherwise you will be dealt with by military regulations!"

The knight beat his horse and left, Shao Xing couldn't help wiping the sweat on his head, shaking his head secretly and sighing.

The military regulations of this loyal army are so strict, no wonder they can fight against the Jin people!

He is also a person who has been practicing martial arts for many years, and his skills are good, who knew that when he saw these sergeants, the cold air emanating from everyone's body inexplicably made him panic.

Everyone was moving forward, the smoke and dust were billowing on the official road, and a large group of people and horses galloped over, and when they got closer, Shao Xing found that he was quite familiar with the man who was wearing a helmet and armor immediately.

"Big brother, little brother Shao Xing!"

Shao Xing shouted loudly, and the man on the horse reined in the war horse and turned his head, it was Shao Xing's eldest brother "Hornless Cow" Yang Jin.

"Brother, how did you get here, where are you going?"

Yang Jin was also overjoyed, and shouted loudly on the horse.

Shao Xing said happily: "Big brother, I'm waiting to join the army!"

Yang Jin laughed and said, "Different paths lead to the same end, you will go to Longde Mansion with your eldest brother and meet General Dong Ping!"