The next day, February 22, Li Meng, the governor of Henan, led 50,000 Henan troops to Xianping.

Soon after, Xue Ao's brother-in-law and later general Wang Tan also led 50,000 troops to Xianping, accompanied by 5,000 Taiyuan infantry led by Xue Ao's deputy general Wei Xuan.

At this point, Xue Ao's side increased its strength by 105,000 troops, bringing the total strength of the suppressed rebels to 130,000.

Compared with the about 70,000 troops led by Chen Miao to flee into Chen County, the Jin army has shown a huge advantage in strength at this time, but Xue Ao did not immediately pursue Chen Miao, on the reason, first, the rebels have retreated to Fugou County at this time, and the Jin army will not be able to catch up for a while and a half, and secondly, Xue Ao and Wang Tan's father-in-law Chen Taishi is about to lead the army to arrive.

In the next two days, all the armies of the Jin army were stationed outside Xianping County, waiting for the arrival of that Chen Taishi.

It wasn't until the 24th of February that Zhao Yu suddenly received a message from the brigade wolf, and learned that a large army from the north was slowly coming towards Xianping County, and he immediately realized that the Chen Taishi was coming.

Sure enough, not long after, Xue Ao sent someone to remind Zhao Yu, and the meaning was very simple: The old man is here, you go out with me to greet him.

As soon as the people sent by Xue Ao left, Li Meng, the governor of Henan, also came to Zhao Yu's barracks in person and invited Zhao Yu to greet Taishi Chen.

Of course, this is a sign of friendship - whether it is Xue Ao or Li Meng, after getting along with Zhao Yu, they both feel that Zhao Yu is a person who can be befriended.

Of course, compared with Xue Ao, Zhao Yu and Li Meng have a closer relationship, after all, Li Meng is in the same position as him, so it will not bring too much pressure to Zhao Yu.

"Brother An Yuan, I wonder if that old lady is easy to get along with?"

When he walked out of the barracks with Li Meng, Zhao Yu asked Li Meng with a little trepidation, and the An Yuan in his mouth was Li Meng's expression.

As if he had seen through Zhao Yu's thoughts, Li Meng smiled and said with relief: "Brother Zhou, please rest assured, the old lady has never asked people about their origins, and they will not care about Brother Zhou's mistakes, not to mention that Brother Zhou has made great contributions after abandoning the dark and turning to the light......"

Speaking of this, he glanced at Zhao Yu with some envy.

Indeed, Zhao Yu's achievements so far are really not small, such as defeating Guan Shuo's 80,000 Changsha rebels in Kunyang, and then preventing Xiang Xuan, Zhou Gong and other rebel generals from seizing Xuchang, and then helping Xue Ao to hold Liangcheng, and even two days ago, he and Xue Ao broke more than 100,000 rebels with 25,000 Jin troops, captured and killed 30,000 enemies......

As soon as he thought of this, Li Meng was a little annoyed, annoyed that he hadn't caught up with the Battle of Xianping.

Otherwise, not to mention that his Jin army can wipe out more than 100,000 rebels, he can also get a meritorious service, which is like now, he has rushed a distance of 14 or 50 miles in vain, but he has not caught anything.

During the chat, Zhao Yu and Li Meng, with a number of guards, rode their horses north for several miles, and on a dirt slope, they joined Xue Ao, Wang Tan, Wei Bi and their party, waiting for the arrival of the Chen Taishi.

After waiting for nearly an hour, with the Taiyuan cavalry coming one after another to pray, the 100,000 troops led by Chen Zhong, the Taishi of the Jin State, finally appeared in front of everyone.

"Come with me and say hi."

Xue Ao signaled to everyone, and immediately took the lead in riding his horse to meet him.

Seeing this, Wang Tan, Wei Xuan, Zhao Yu, Li Meng and his party also followed.

At this time, the 100,000 Jin troops on the opposite side also noticed Xue Ao and his party, and after a while, a veteran general in the army rode out, followed by two middle-aged men dressed as generals, who were almost forty or so.

Seeing this, Li Meng whispered to Zhao Yu: "That is the old lady, the general behind him, the eldest son of the Taishi, the brother-in-law of General Xue, and the general Zou Zan ......."

"Uh-oh." Zhao Yu nodded slightly, and then asked, "What about the other person?" ”

Li Meng frowned and said, "I don't know the other person. ”

Just when Zhao Yu and Li Meng were discussing in a whisper, Xue Ao, who was in front of the group, had already rode his horse to the Taishi Chen, and was greeting Taishi Chen with a big grin: "Yo, old man, you look good." ”

As soon as the words fell, he saw Hu Ben Zhonglang General Zou Zan frowning and scolding: "Second brother, how can you be so rude to your father?!" ”

However, Taishi Chen didn't mind Xue Ao's attitude, waved his hand and said with a smile: "Okay, okay." ”

After that, he turned over and got off the horse, beckoned Xue Ao to step forward, patted the latter's arm and asked with a smile: "Seeing that you are in good spirits, the old man is relieved." ”

As if he had guessed the old father's thoughts, Xue Ao pursed his lips and said, "How can you hurt me?" ”

"Hahaha. …… By the way, Zhongxin, this time you led the army to pursue the rebels, how was the battle? ”

"Zhongxin? Could it be Xue Ao's words?"

At this time, Zhao Yu had already dismounted with Wang Tan, Wei Xuan, Li Meng and others, stood aside and listened, and couldn't help but be stunned when he heard Chen Taishi's address to Xue Ao.

He didn't know until today that Xue Ao's expression was called Zhongxin.

And here, Xue Ao listened to Taishi Chen's inquiry, raised his right hand and pointed at himself with his thumb, and said with a little pride: "Old ...... Well, if I go out myself, how can I be invincible? Three days ago, Zhou Hu, the commander of Yingchuan, and I chased the rebels here, led 25,000 people, defeated more than 100,000 rebels, captured and killed more than 30,000 enemies, and caused the remnants of the rebels to flee in panic......"

Looking at his smug appearance, it was quite a bit of a child showing off to his parents, and Zhao Yu was secretly speechless.

After all, in his opinion, this Xue Ao is also in his thirties and almost forty, in this era, he already has children and grandchildren at this age, and he may even have grandchildren in a hurry, it is difficult to imagine that Xue Ao at this age still has this childish nature in front of that Chen Taishi.

"Good, good."

Taishi Chen nodded with a smile, as if he was a kind old father, and immediately, he asked with a chuckle, "Yingchuan Commander Zhou Hu...... The old man did hear that Yingchuan County had a new lieutenant......"

With that, his gaze swept across the crowd behind Xue Ao.

Seeing this, Zhao Yu realized that it was time for him to come forward.

In order to show his respect for this Taishi Chen, he hurriedly stood up, clasped his fists and said, "Humble duty, Zhou Hu, the commander of Yingchuan, meet Taishi Chen." ”

“……”

Taishi Chen turned his head to look at Zhao Yu, looking the latter up and down.

And Zhao Yu also secretly observed the Taishi Chen in front of him.

According to Zhao Yu's visual inspection, this Chen Taishi's physique is similar to Xue Ao, although it is said that he is seventy or eighty years old, and even his hair and beard are gray, but he still looks strong and strong, especially the spiritual head, which can be called old and strong.

"Why is Captain Zhou wearing a mask?"

Suddenly, Zou Zan, who was standing behind Taishi Chen, asked nonchalantly.

Seeing this, Zhao Yu respectfully explained: "The end of the Taishi is strange, General Zou is not strange, it's not that the lowly position does not show his true face, but because the lowly position has been burned and ruined, and I am afraid that your ......eyes will be dirty."

As he spoke, he raised his right hand and grabbed the mask, moving it down slightly, only under the mask, a piece of red rotten flesh above the right eye above the forehead was shocking, so that everyone on the side immediately looked away.

"I'm sorry." Zou Zan immediately apologized, but his expression was still serious.

Seeing this, Zhao Yu put the mask back on, feeling relieved.

He had already guessed that there would be people who doubted that he had been 'burned' today, so he made some preparations in advance, rubbing human blood into rice noodles, sticking them to his forehead one by one, and after drying them, he looked like scabbed rotten meat.

Although there is still a risk that this move will be seen through, Zhao Yu believes that ordinary people will basically not stare at this kind of thing.

Sure enough, whether it was Taishi Chen, Zou Zan, or Xue Ao, Wang Tan, Wei Xuan, Li Meng and others, Fang Cai only glanced at it briefly and immediately looked away—it can be seen that these people are all moral gentlemen.

I don't know if it was Zhao Yu who took the initiative to show the 'old injury', which made Taishi Chen feel a little apologetic, and his tone became more and more kind and kind: "I'm sorry, Duwei Zhou, this kid Bozhi is sometimes too serious......"

Before the words fell, I saw Xue Ao nodding his head: "Yes, yes, the old man is right, the boss is sometimes a child's nature......"

Of course, the general was immediately glared at by his brother-in-law, Hu Ben Zhonglang General Zou Zan.

"Bozhi? Is this General Zou's cousin?'

Zhao Yu glanced at Zou Zan silently.

He could see that Zou Zan, a man in his forties at first glance, had no reaction to being called a child by Taishi Chen, and just glared at Xue Ao with a displeased expression.

"How?"

With Xue Ao's fiery temper, he naturally glared back immediately.

Seeing the two brothers staring at each other, Taishi Chen, the kind old father, showed a helpless wry smile on his face: "You two, how old are you, why are you still like a child?" …… Don't make a fuss. ”

"Yes, father." Zou Zan immediately withdrew his gaze.

From the side, Xue Ao laughed, and was immediately knocked on the head with his fist by Taishi Chen with a loving face.

Immediately, the unparalleled general of the chariot and cavalry exhaled in pain, took two steps back, and said slightly angrily: "Old man, don't think you can teach me a lesson like you did back then, Lao Tzu ......"

"What? The wings are stiff, and you want to fight with your father? ”

Master Chen smiled and raised his right hand and clenched his fist.

Looking at the huge fist and the tense green tendons on the fist, Xue Ao, who boasted of being unparalleled in the world, involuntarily took half a step back.

Looking at his subconscious actions, it is not difficult to guess that he was not less cared for by Taishi Chen's fists when he was young.

"Hahaha, you're still far away, stinky boy."

Under Zhao Yu's incredulous gaze, Taishi Chen stepped forward, with a hearty smile, and reached out to rub Xue Ao's head vigorously, as if he cared for a child.

From beginning to end, although the invincible General Xue looked unhappy, he didn't dare to resist.

In other words, I didn't even think about resisting.

Looking at Zou Zan, the tiger general who had been with a straight face from the side, Zhao Yu found that he also showed a little smile at the moment.

"Perhaps, this is how the father and son of the 'Chen family' get along, right?"

Zhao Yu thought secretly in his heart.

After some fighting, Chen Taishi took the lead in going to Xianping County with Xue Ao, Wang Tan, and Zhao Yu, while Zou Zan, the general of Huben Zhonglang, stayed in the 100,000 army - probably he wanted to arrange the stationing of the army.

On the way to Xianping County, Taishi Chen summoned Zhao Yu to his side, and continued to say something that was interrupted by Xue Ao: "Duwei Zhou, how is the health of Li Junshou of your county recently?" ”

Zhao Yu knew that the Taishi Chen in front of him belonged to the 'Royalist Party' and was the most trusted courtier of the Son of Heaven of the Jin Kingdom, so he was very close to his Yingchuan County Guard Li Min and other Li clans, so Zhao Yu was not surprised to hear this Taishi Chen ask about Li Min's condition.

He replied respectfully: "Some time ago, the former lieutenant Cao Suo rebelled, defected to the rebels, and once held Li Junshou hostage......

"That's good."

Taishi Chen nodded and said, "In a few days, when the old man passes by Xuchang, I will go to visit him......"

"Passing by Xuchang?"

Zhao Yu didn't understand what this Chen Taishi meant for a while, but this did not prevent him from answering: "Send someone to inform the county guard immediately. ”

"Huh."

Taishi Chen waved his hand to interrupt Zhao Yu's words, and said with a smile: "The old man is going to visit him, if Zhou Duwei sends the letter back in advance, won't the old man cause trouble for Xu Changping when he goes?" …… There is no need to mobilize the people, and when the old man arrives in Xuchang, he will go into the city to visit Li Junshou. ”

"This ...... All right. ”

Seeing that Taishi Chen's attitude was insistent, Zhao Yu could only nod.

About an hour later, the group came to Xianping County, and at this time, Xue Ao had ordered someone to set up a banquet in the county office to pick up the wind and wash the dust for Chen Taishi.

may be due to the habits of the Chen family, Xue Ao did not prepare a table of tables, but just prepared a table of wine and food.

When everyone was seated, Zhao Yu suddenly saw Taishi Chen smiling and patting the position of his right hand, and said to the middle-aged general behind him: "Zizheng, come, you sit here." ”

"Who is this man?"

Zhao Yu was very surprised.

He remembered very well that this middle-aged general was one of the two people who followed Taishi Chen with Zou Zan.

Looking at Taishi Chen's kind attitude towards this, it can be seen that this person's identity is not ordinary.

Zhao Yu turned his head to look at Xue Ao and Wang Yan, but found that the two had no objection to the middle-aged general sitting next to Taishi Chen, but nodded from time to time.

At this moment, Li Meng asked curiously: "Old lady, this is ......?"

Master Chen said with a smile: "He is the son of the old man's old friend, and he is the same as the old man's son. ”

As soon as the words fell, the middle-aged general also bowed to Zhao Yu and Li Meng with a little shyness: "Under Mao Zheng, the words are correct, and I have seen two captains." ”

『Mao ......』

Zhao Yu was slightly startled and immediately came to his senses.

He immediately guessed that the middle-aged general in front of him, who seemed to be a little shy, was the eldest son of Mao Gong, the county commander of Qianye County, that is, the son of the Mao family who went to Hebei to find Taishi Chen after his Luyang Zhao family was killed.

It is no exaggeration to say that it was precisely because this son of the Mao family followed his father's orders to find Chen Taishi that later Chen Taishi sent his third son, Zhang Jing, a general stationed in Jinan, to Luyang County to investigate the case of his Luyang Zhao family.

"This Taishi Chen just said that he would pass by Xuchang, could it be that he plans to go to Ye County to worship Mao Gong and visit Mrs. Mao by the way?"

Zhao Yu thought secretly in his heart.

Not long after, Zou Zan also came to the county government and went to this simple banquet.

I have to say that this Taishi Chen is indeed very low-key, just like his son Xue Ao picking up the wind and washing the dust for him, there are only a few people present at the banquet, Zou Zan, Xue Ao, Wang Tan, Mao Zheng, not so much a banquet as a family banquet, which makes Zhao Yu and Li Meng feel a little difficult to integrate.

Just when Zhao Yu secretly prayed that the banquet would end soon, he suddenly heard Taishi Chen ask: "Zhou Duwei, I heard Zhongxin say that Tong Yan, the commander of Liangcheng, was killed by Xiang Xuan of the rebels?" ”

Hearing this, Zhao Yu's heart tightened, and he hurriedly said: "We were attacked by a sneak attack that day, and I don't know the specifics of my humble position, but that Xuan admitted the matter, and there should be no false ......."

"Oh."

Taishi Chen replied lightly, stroked his gray beard thoughtfully, and saw Zhao Yu frightened for a while.

At this time, Xue Ao said disapprerovantly: "It's all dead, it's dead, anyway, that Tong Yan is not a good thing." ”

"Hmm......"

Taishi Chen was noncommittal or not, and immediately asked Zhao Yu, "Have you ever recovered the body?" ”

"Still looking."

Zhao Yu explained: "In order to prevent the rebels from fleeing that day, the body of Tong Duwei could not be found immediately in a hurry......

"Oh."

Taishi Chen glanced at Zhao Yu again, and Zhao Yu's heartbeat couldn't help but intensify.

After the banquet was over, after Zhao Yu and Li Meng said goodbye, Taishi Chen asked Xue Ao: "Zhongxin, this Zhou Hu, does he have any holiday with Tong Yan?" ”

As soon as he heard this, Xue Ao immediately realized something, and the fox asked, "Old man, do you suspect that Zhou Hu took the opportunity to harm Tong Yan?" ”

"You answer me first."

"This ......" Xue Ao thought for a while and said, "As far as I know, Zhou Hu and Tong Yan are not only not celebrating the festival, but the two are quite close. As for whether there is a festival...... Probably not, right? That Zhou Hu was a native of Nanyang, who fled to Kunyang because of the rebels, and once became a bandit, and then abandoned the darkness and defected to Kunyang County, and climbed to the position of the lieutenant step by step...... He and Tong Yan should have little to do with each other. ”

"Oh, that's probably the old man's guess." Taishi Chen nodded thoughtfully.

From the side, Zou Zan asked Taishi Chen: "Father, that Zhou Hu, do you think there is anything wrong with him?" ”

Taishi Chen shook his head and said, "This Zhou Hu, the old man doesn't know his temperament for the time being, and the old man just thinks that Tong Yan's death is a little strange...... You all know that there are many people in this world who want Tong Yan's life, and Tong Yan himself knows this. Now that he had died so easily under the surprise attack of the rebels, the old man always felt ...... It's a bit weird. ”

Zou Zan, Xue Ao, and Wang Tan all showed deep thought, but Mao Zheng was a little dazed, but he was embarrassed to ask.

After a long time, Wang Tan asked in a deep voice: "That Zhou Hu, will he have an affair with the rebels?" ”

"Not really, right?"

Xue Ao frowned and said: "A few days ago, Zhou Hu helped me defeat more than 100,000 rebels, not to mention that when he was in Kunyang, he defeated the 100,000 Changsha rebels in Guanshuo, and then held Xuchang, forcing the rebels to give up attacking Yingchuan County...... He has defeated as many as 200,000 rebels before and after, and he should not have an affair with the rebels. ”

Everyone in the room nodded: if this is still called having an affair with the rebels, then they would like to have more people like Zhou Hu.

After a long time, Taishi Chen nodded and said: "As Zhong Xin said, that Tong Yan is not a good person, there is no need to spend more energy to track down, it is imperative that we recover Yingchuan, Chenjun, Runan and other counties as soon as possible......"

As he spoke, he turned his head to look at Zou Zan and instructed: "Bo Zhi, in a few days, I will take my son to Ye County to worship his father and encircle and suppress the rebels, and I will leave it to you for the time being......"

"Yes."

Zou Zan hugged his fists and was about to agree, but Xue Ao was anxious from the side, frowned and said, "Old man, didn't you say that I would command the troops?" ”

Zou Zan said lightly: "You are too impulsive to take on a big responsibility." ”

"I ......"

Glancing at Taishi Chen, Xue Ao swallowed back some words, glared and said, "Huh? Am I too impulsive? I have just defeated the more than 100,000 rebels of Chen Miao by outnumbering them......"

"So what?" Zou Zan said lightly: "Didn't you escape 70,000 people?" If it were me, none of the rebels would want to escape. ”

"You're farting! …… I defeated more than 100,000 rebels in less than 25,000 numbers, what else? ”

"At least I can see through the rebels' tricks, so that Li Meng's 50,000 Henan army will not be diverted......"

"Hahaha, who wouldn't say such a big thing?"

Looking at the two arguing brothers, Wang Tan shrugged helplessly at Mao Zheng.

Mao Zheng couldn't cry or laugh.

He has been with Taishi Chen for a few years, so he naturally knows the contradiction between Zou Zan and Xue Ao - he knows that these two brothers are not actually in a bad relationship, but they both want to prove that they are the most outstanding sons of the old Taishi.

"Alright, alright."

It may be that there is really no way to be quarreled by the two sons, so Chen Taishi can only change his mind: "In this case, Zhongxin, you take Li Meng and Zhou Hu to recover Yingchuan County, sweep away the remaining rebels in Yingchuan County, and then go to Nanyang to help the Nanyang defenders defeat the rebels; Bozhi, you take Shaoyan to attack Chen County, and after recovering Chen County, you will also lead the army to Nanyang. ”

The Shao Yan in his mouth is the expression of Wang Yan.

Hearing this, Xue Ao raised his eyebrows dissatisfied: "Old man, why didn't I lead the troops to attack Chen Jun?" ”

As soon as the words fell, I heard Zou Zan say lightly: "This is called the order of the young and the old." ”

From the side, Taishi Chen also persuaded: "Zhongxin, Bozhi is older than you after all, it is your brother......

"I'll talk about it when he can beat him." Xue Ao pursed his lips.

Since he was adopted by Taishi Chen since he was a child, he has never recognized Zou Zan as his brother.

Zou Zan's face turned red, and he scolded after half a sound: "Reckless." ”

From the side, Wang Tan watched the quarrel between the two brothers with a smile on his face, after all, in his memory, this was also the daily routine of their family, but it was a pity that later the brothers grew up and held important positions in the court, so they may not always be by the side of this father-in-law, otherwise it will be more lively.

Thinking of this, Wang Tan seemed to suddenly think of something, and said to Chen Taishi with his fists: "Father, what about the rebels in Jiangdong?" Even the third brother and the fourth brother can't stop it, and the child thinks that the rebels in Jiangdong are the most dangerous ......"

"Gangto Rebel ......"

The old lady's eyes flashed a little solemn.

He also felt that the Jiangdong rebels were the most threatening, after all, the Jiangdong rebels were not only more threatening than the other rebels, but also because the leaders of the rebels were a pair of brothers named Zhao Zhang and Zhao Yu.

The Zhao brothers.

This reminded him of a certain rumor......