From the end of March to the beginning of April, when the war between Chen County and Nanyang County was still in full swing, Yingchuan County, which had completely recovered the lost county seat, began an intense spring ploughing.

Under the orders of Yingchuan County, each county organized more than 10,000 people to plant rice in fertile fields, beans in poor fields, and even more, Yingchuan County also ordered the county army to continue to open up new fields for growing grain.

Among them, Shuyanling, Linying, Yuncheng, Fugou, Dingling, Wuyang, Zhaoling these counties are more special, in the past, the county magistrate, county magistrate and other officials who governed the county either died in battle to resist the rebels, or surrendered to the rebels, and then fled at home with the full retreat of the rebels, which made the county's official system collapse.

In view of this matter, Zhao Yu, as the lieutenant, proposed to the county that when the spring ploughing was coming, the county army would temporarily take over these county seats.

Just as Taishi Chen hoped, the field disputes in these counties were put aside for the time being, and the grain was planted first.

Li Min, the commander of Yingchuan County, approved Zhao Yu's proposal, so Zhao Yu temporarily ordered Chu Yan, the commander of the department, to sit in Yanling, and Wang Qing, the commander of the upper department, to sit in Zhaoling, and then sent Tian Qin, Liao Guang, Cao Wu, Ju Sheng, Qin Wei and others to Linying, Yuncheng, Fugou, Dingling, and Wuyang counties respectively, and gave them the right to organize and order the local county army.

During this period, more than 6,000 rebel prisoners led by Zhou Gong, Xu Lian, Han Gu, and Gao Ning were also organized by Zhao Yu as the 'Xuchang Reclamation Army', becoming the second subordinate reclamation army in Yingchuan County, commanded by Zhang Ji, to assist Xuchang County in spring ploughing.

Of course, Xuchang, as the largest county in Yingchuan County, will definitely not be able to rely on the more than 6,000 subordinate reclamation troops alone, so Cheng Chen Lang of Yingchuan County also organized the refugees from Henan County who had previously been sheltered and organized a 'people's reclamation group' with nearly 10,000 people to participate in spring ploughing.

As for the third reclamation force, that is the civil team in Xuchang County.

Together, these three groups of people may have more than 30,000 people, which made the city of Xuchang once crowded with people, and the liveliness was no less than when Xiang Xuan, Zhou Gong and others besieged Xuchang last year.

During this period, the newly surrendered rebel general, Zhou Gong, wielded a hoe in the field like an ordinary farmer.

To tell the truth, farming is no stranger to Zhou Gong, after all, Zhou Gong is also the son of a farmer, not to mention when he was young, when he was fifteen or sixteen years old, he also helped the family with farming, until he joined the righteous teacher in his twenties.

I didn't expect to stay in Yishi for many years, but now I am carrying a hoe in Yingchuan County.

"The spring ploughing over there in Jiangxia, I'm afraid it's almost over, right?"

Barefoot wielding a hoe in the field, Zhou Gong thought secretly.

The time of spring ploughing, mainly depends on the climate, the earliest in the south of the Yangtze River, the beginning of February to start spring ploughing, the later the time to the north, even to May and June at the latest.

Considering the difference between Jiangxia County and Yingchuan County, when Yingchuan County began spring ploughing, Jiangxia County was almost over.

Thinking about it again, Zhou Gong thought of his family in Jiangxia County.

At home in Jiangxia County, he still has an old father, an old mother, and a younger brother, but since he defected to the righteous teacher, the family has cut off contact with him - of course, it is not really cut off, but forced by the situation, forced by the pressure of Han Yan, the general stationed in Jiangxia back then, so as not to implicate Zhou Gong in his family.

Obviously, this kind of severance of contact is a bit of a cover-up and stealing the bell, but Han Yan, the general stationed in Jiangxia back then, was very well-behaved, even if he actually knew that the local people secretly had dealings with the righteous master, but he did not poison those people.

Of course, it is precisely for this reason that Han Yan has never been able to completely exterminate the righteous teacher led by Chen Miao, and even slowly let the righteous teacher grow stronger.

It's a pity that his righteous teacher still failed to shake the Jin Kingdom after all......

"Whew-"

With a long breath, Zhou Gong took a breath with his hoe, turned his head and looked around.

I saw that in this field as far as the eye could see, at least one or two thousand people were engaged in farming.

These are all soldiers under his command, some were born in Jiangxia County like him, and some were recruited by his righteous division after capturing Runan County, of course, in Zhou Gong's opinion, these are all soldiers under his command.

"Over there, don't be lazy!"

On the ridge in the distance, two county guards shouted in this direction.

Zhou Gong was not the slightest annoyed, but waved his hoe again.

Now he is no longer a general of the righteous division, just a general of a defeated army.

It may be that seeing Zhou Gong's knowledge of current affairs, the two county guards did not come over, and shouted loudly to the subordinate soldiers who were working in the fields around them: "If you don't want to be hungry, don't be seen as lazy by me!" ”

As soon as the words fell, Zhou Gong heard a soldier not far from him curse in a low voice: "What is it!" ”

Hearing this, Zhou Gong wanted to laugh but couldn't, and he was very emotional.

Yes, the Yingchuan County Army was once beaten by them, but unfortunately after that man appeared, he never won again......

Captain Yingchuan, Zhou Hu!

"That Zhou Hu, what does he think of the righteous teacher?"

While waving his hoe, Zhou Gong thought of the conversation with Ju Sheng a while ago.

It was not the time when Ju Sheng came with Zhou Hu to persuade him to submit, but before that, when Wang Qing was requisitioned to attack Yanling, and Ju Sheng was temporarily in charge of the prisoner camp.

In all fairness, Zhou Gong had never thought of returning to the Jin Kingdom before, in his opinion, the eldest husband died for the righteousness, and if he died, he died, it was no big deal, anyway, the younger brother in his family had already married a wife and had children, which was enough to shoulder the responsibility of raising his father and mother and continuing his children and grandchildren.

Therefore, when Ju Sheng came to persuade him to submit, he scolded Ju Sheng instead.

Unexpectedly, Ju Sheng said: "Even if I submit to Zhou Duwei, it doesn't mean that I have given up righteousness." ”

Immediately, Ju Sheng persuaded him again: "If a person dies, then there is nothing, but if the general is willing to submit, or he will have a chance to make a comeback one day." ”

A chance to make a comeback?

Where is it? Is it in Yeongcheon-gun?

At first, Zhou Gong scoffed, but when he calmed down and thought about it, he suddenly felt incredible, because he found that the five soldiers under Zhou Hu, the commander of Yingchuan, namely Tian Qin, Liao Guang, Zhang Ji, Qin Yu, and Jia Shu, the generals who were born as righteous teachers actually occupied two full seats.

In addition, Xu Ma and Xu Shen were generals under the command of Wang Qing, the commander of the upper department, Ju Sheng served as the deputy general of Chu Yan, the commander of the department, and Cao Wu led a 'second battalion of the brigade battalion' with a scale of more than 5,000 people.

These people are all generals who were born as righteous teachers.

It is no exaggeration to say that the general who was born as a righteous teacher has already occupied a large seat in the Yingchuan County Army.

Zhou Gong really didn't understand, what the hell was Zhou Hu doing? Didn't he know that the Yingchuan County Army under his command was gradually infiltrated by these righteous generals?

Or is Zhou Hu sure that he is in control of the situation?

Although he didn't understand what Zhou Hu was thinking that day, Ju Sheng's suggestion to him still made Zhou Gong quite moved.

Yes, this time the uprising of the righteous teachers from all walks of life seems to have failed, Chen Miao and Chen Shuai have withdrawn to Chen County with the remnants of the army, but Zhou Gong felt that Chen Shuai might not be able to resist the counterattack of the Jin State, and they underestimated the Five Tigers of Chen Gate......

When they saw that Jiangdong Yishi had defeated Han Yan and Zhang Jing successively, they thought that the five tigers of Chenmen were just like that, until the Battle of Liangcheng, in Xianping County, Xue Ao let them see what it means to be invincible - this man, with only 5,000 Taiyuan cavalry, defeated more than 40,000 Yuzhang Yishi, and personally killed more than 10 generals.

It can be seen that Han Yan and Zhang Jing were defeated by Jiangdong Yishi before and after, which can only show that Jiangdong Yishi's military advisor and Mr. Ram are more strategic, and it does not mean that the Five Tigers of Chenmen can be underestimated because of this.

Not to mention, this counterattack of the Jin State not only sent Zou Zan, Xue Ao, and Wang Yan, the other three Chenmen Five Tigers, but also sent the famous general who had no trace of defeat - Chen Taishi Chen Zhong.

Considering these, Zhou Gong suspected that Chen Miao might not be able to defend Chen County, nor would he be able to defend Runan County.

He is a righteous teacher in Jiangxia and has already been defeated.

And after his Jiangxia righteous division, the Changsha righteous division and Jingchu righteous division who are currently in Nanyang County are probably the second and third righteous divisions that were defeated by the Jin army.

The only hope left for his righteous teacher may be Jiangdong righteous teacher......

However, it is a pity that Jiangdong Yishi, he is not a pure Yishi, it is not so much that he is a Yishi, but that he is the 'Zhao Army' in the skin of a Yishi - Zhou Gong seriously suspects that the Jiangdong Yishi's Qu Shuai Zhao Zhang and Zhao Yu brothers may just want to take advantage of the current chaos to achieve their own goals.

For example, take the opportunity to secede Shandong or something.

Thinking about it this way, maybe his righteous division has been completely wiped out.

But who would have thought that at the moment when his righteous division was wiped out, God gave him a glimmer of life for his righteous teacher, that is, Yingchuan County.

That Zhou Hu vigorously recruited righteous soldiers to expand the county army, which made Ju Sheng and Zhou Gong see the hope of 'the re-emergence of righteous teachers'.

Those of them who still hold the belief in overthrowing the violent Jin may be able to use the Yingchuan County Army to borrow corpses to return the ...... Well, it's a comeback.

Of course, Zhou Gong will keep his promise: when he rises again in Yingchuan County, he will support Zhou Hu as the commander of Yingchuan Canal.

『…… But is it really going to be that smooth?'

Zhou Gong wasn't sure about this, but he knew that this might be his righteous teacher's last hope.

In view of this, his top priority is to gain the trust of Zhou Hu as soon as possible, get rid of the identity of the 'subordinate army', and hide in the Yingchuan army as soon as possible like Ju Sheng, Cao Wu, and Qin Wei.

Only in this way can we keep the last spark of the righteous master and wait for him to burn the prairie one day.

"Dingding-ding-"

"Dingding-ding-"

In the distance, there was the sound of a golden cymbal, which was the signal to start eating.

Only then did Zhou Gong realize that it was already afternoon.

He walked to the distant meal with his hoe on his shoulder, and lined up to receive the meal like the others.

During this period, many soldiers under the command of the former offered to give up their front seats to Zhou Gong, probably because Zhou Gong had surrendered to Yingchuan County for the sake of their lives, so that these captives had a chance to live, but Zhou Gong politely refused one by one.

A moment later, Zhou Gong received a large bowl of rice, which was served in a wooden bowl.

I remember that when they were in the prisoner camp some time ago, although they were not tortured or insulted, they only had one supply of rice balls every day.

By the way, that rice ball is hard to eat.

Today, they finally had a decent meal of rice, topped with a broth mixed with some meat foam, and some chopped vegetable leaves.

"This is probably the rumored 'Kunyang rice'."

Zhou Gong thought secretly in his heart.

As far as he knew, the first group of righteous teachers to surrender to Zhou Hu were later reorganized into 'Kunyang Liken Army', and their daily staple food was this kind of gravy-dipped rice.

In the current situation, it is really good to be eating this kind of food.

Zhou Gong looked left and right, and sure enough, the group of soldiers under his command in the past were all surprised, either in place or squatting aside, eagerly eating the food in the wooden bowl.

『…… So be it for now.'"

Holding the wooden bowl, Zhou Gong thought secretly in his heart.

Compared with the rest of the righteous divisions who are still fighting against the Jin army, it is really good that their group of captives can get this kind of treatment.

A few days later, most of the farmland outside Xuchang City was planted with grain, and the rest of the people's reclamation regiment organized in Yingchuan County was enough to solve the problem, so Zhang Ji led Zhou Gong, a subordinate reclamation army, to the south of Yingchuan County to assist in Dingling, Yuncheng, Zhaoling and other places to cultivate.

Although the high-intensity work made Zhou Gong, the subordinate army, complain constantly, because Yingchuan County did not treat them badly in terms of food, and at the same time forbade anyone to humiliate and beat the soldiers of the subordinate army, coupled with Zhou Gong's assistance, the subordinate army did not resist at most.

During this period, the county army under Zhao Yu, led by four soldiers, Tian Qin, Liao Guang, Qin Yu, and Jia Shu, also undertook the agricultural affairs of the southern counties.

The strong takeover of the fields in various counties by the county army will naturally cause some misunderstandings and even disputes, but on the whole it is not a big problem.

During this period, Zhao Yu also inspected Yanling, Linying, Yuncheng, Dingling, Wuyang and Zhaoling, once again emphasizing that all counties must focus on 'grain' at present.

He has no doubt that this year may be the most food-tight yet.

Around the tenth day of the first month of April, when Yingchuan County was carrying out the 'replanting' link, Zhao Yu unexpectedly received a letter from Zou Zan, the general of the Tiger Ben Zhonglang.

In the letter, Zou Zan told Zhao Yu that he had captured Fule County and was leading his army to the hinterland of Chen County, during which time the people of Chen County might flee to Yingchuan County, hoping that Zhao Yu would take care of them.

Guan Zou Zan called Zhao Yu 'virtuous brother' in the letter, and he probably also learned that Zhao Yu was awarded the table character by Taishi Chen, so the tone in the letter was very polite.

Of course, Zhao Yu didn't dare to slack off, after all, he also knew that not only Chen Miao, but Chen Taishi was also born in Chen County, and now the people of Chen County fled to his Yingchuan County due to the war, if they starved to death, Chen Taishi would not be able to explain.

Therefore, he immediately sent someone to inform Chu Yan, who was sitting in Yanling, and Cao Wu, who was sitting in Fugou, and asked them to take in the refugees from Chen County and take proper care.

Of course, Zhao Yu did not forget to send someone to write a reply to Zou Zan.

By 18 April, Hu Ben Zhonglang had regained Yangxia, Tuoxian, Wuping, and Xinping with Zou Zan and the later general Wang Tan, forcing the rebel army led by Chen Miao to withdraw into Chen County.

After learning of this, Zhao Yu secretly sighed, feeling that Chen Miao was unable to stop the two tigers of Zou Zan and Wang Tan, and was defeated and retreated.

However, this is not to blame Chen Miao, after all, the morale and fighting spirit of the righteous division under Chen Miao's command have already been exhausted in the 'Battle of Liangcheng' and the 'Battle of Xianping', if in this case, Chen Miao's can still block the 150,000 Jin army led by Zou Zan, then Zou Zan is not worthy of being the eldest son of Chen Taishi, and the eldest brother of the Five Tigers of Chen Gate.

I don't know if Chen Miao will retreat south or east next.

If he retreats to the south, Chen Miao actually still controls a Runan County, considering that he has more or less delayed Zou Zan's advance in Chen County, as long as he can recruit an army in Runan County in time, it is not impossible to resist for a while.

But if you want to defeat Zou Zan, this is a fool's dream.

You must know that the 150,000 troops led by Zou Zan, of which 100,000 are the troops commanded by Chen Taishi all the year round, which is called the 'Tiger Division' in the DPRK, and the people are called the 'Taishi Army'.

In other words, Chen Miao's retreat to the south can only be said to have delayed the rout, and there is almost no possibility of turning the tide of the war.

Not surprisingly, if Chen Miao decided to evacuate south, he would be defeated by Zou Zan all the way until he was beaten all the way to Jiangxia County.

As for evacuating to the east, it would be equivalent to abandoning Chen County and Runan County and defecting to Jiangdong Yishi.

The Jiangdong Yishi built defenses in Peijun, Pengcheng and Weishan Lake, and Chen Miao could join up with the Jiangdong Yishi and block Zou Zan's army by virtue of the geographical advantages of Weishan Lake and Surabaya.

It's just that in this way, Chen Miao and the Jiangxia Yishi led by him will inevitably become vassals of the Jiangdong Yishi in the future, and they need to obey the latter's orders.

In view of this, Zhao Yu was also very curious about how Chen Miao would choose.

On 25 April, Zhao Yu again received a letter from Hu Ben Zhonglang from Zou Zan, imploring Yingchuan County to urgently transport a batch of grain to Chen County to appease the people who were in turmoil in Chen County.

Zhao Yu did not dare to slack off, and immediately ordered Wei Shi Hanhe to organize a team to transport grain to Chen County, and he himself went to Chen County in person, which also showed his importance to Chen County.

Three days later, Zhao Yu arrived in Chen County, Chen County, and met with Wang Tan, the general who was temporarily stationed there.

Although Zhao Yu had met with Wang Tan a few times before, he couldn't talk about any friendship at all - among the Five Tigers of Chenmen, he only had some friendship with Xue Ao, after all, they resisted the rebels together in Liang County, although Zhao Yu was a 'traitor' at that time.

However, I didn't expect that when I saw Wang Tan this time, Wang Tan was quite enthusiastic about him, and called him 'virtuous brother' as soon as they met, which made Zhao Yu not react.

Zhao Yu vaguely remembered that Wang Tan called Mao Zheng and also called him brother, even if Chen Taishi accepted Mao Zheng as his righteous son, it would be after Wang Tan.

From this point of view, there may really be some differences between Taishi Chen's righteous sons.

After some greetings, Wang Tan introduced the current situation to Zhao Yu: "A few days ago, Chen Miao led the remnants of the army to flee to ......the east, although my brother and I expected it, but Chen Miao led the remnants of the army to break through, and it was too late to catch up."

At this time, Zhao Yu knew that Chen Miao had indeed evacuated to the east, and it was estimated that he had defected to Jiangdong Yishi.

"Zhao Yin's kid...... Chen Miao, as the commander of Jiangxia Yishi, defected to Jiangdong Yishi, and may not be accepted by Jiangdong Yishi in the early stage, as long as Zhao Yin's kid shows favor a little, Chen Miao may take advantage of the situation to defect to his command......

Thinking secretly in his heart, Zhao Yu couldn't help but feel a little pity, after all, he also admired Chen Miao very much.

But it's a pity that Chen Miao is estimated to be taken down by his brother Zhao Yin.

Of course, regret is regret, but if his brother Zhao Yin can really subdue Chen Miao, Zhao Yu will still be happy, after all, today's Jiangdong Yishi is almost the only Zhao Zhang and Zhao Yu brothers, and Zhao Yin is more often in Jiangdong Yishi is just 'Zhao Shuai's nephew' and 'Mr. Ram's disciple', even if it is called a parasitic fence.

In view of this, Zhao Yu naturally hoped that his brother could master a force that obeyed him, and even replaced Zhao Zhang and Zhao Yu as the commander of Jiangdong Yishi.

In addition to sighing, Zhao Yu asked Wang Tan: "Brother Zou Zan, did he go after Chen Miao?" ”

Wang Tan smiled and said, "No, the eldest brother has recovered Runan County." ”

Rao is Zhao Yu was also stunned when he heard it.

Seeing this, Wang Tan explained: "In order to block the third brother and the fourth brother, the Jiangdong rebels have built a tight defense in the areas of Peijun, Pengcheng, and Weishan Lake. Therefore, Brother Zou Zan decided to give up the pursuit of Chen Miao and others, first recover Runan County and Jiangxia County, and then look at the battle situation in Nanyang County, and then decide whether to support Nanyang County or cross the river to attack the rebel nest south of the river. …… Nowadays, the Jiangdong rebels occupy Mount Tai and Shandong, which is more troublesome, and my father and eldest brother both think that it is better to solve the rest of the remaining rebels first, and then finally solve the Jiangdong rebels. ”

"I see." Zhao Yu suddenly realized.

In fact, even if it were him, he would make the same judgment as Zou Zan, of course, provided that he was truly on the side of the Jin Kingdom.

The reason why he was surprised was that he didn't expect that Zou Zan would be so calm.

How to say it, it is worthy of being the eldest son of Taishi Chen, the head of the Five Tigers of Chenmen, if he is replaced by Xue Ao, Zhao Yu has no doubt that Xue Ao will pursue Chen Ao all the way to Peijun.

"What about Brother Shaoyan?" Zhao Yu asked curiously, "Is Brother Shaoyan going to be stationed in Chen County all the time?" ”

"Not really."

Wang Tan said with a smile: "The eldest brother ordered me to be stationed in Chen County, because I saw that the current situation in Chen County was chaotic, and in a few days, when the imperial court appointed a new official, I will lead the army to the east, first join the fourth brother, and block the Jiangdong rebels on the line of Weishan Lake and Surabaya, and wait for my father and two brothers to defeat the rest of the rebels, lead the army to join us, and then take care of it." ”

"I see."

Zhao Yu nodded slightly.

In early May, Zhao Yu received news that the Nanyang Army led by Wang Shangde converged with the Taiyuan Army led by Xue Ao and the Henan Army led by Li Meng, the Governor of Henan, gathered nearly 100,000 people, and defeated the Jingchu rebels and the Changsha rebels in Jianyang, Yuyang, and Huyang.

Guan Shuo, the rebel commander of Changsha who has always been famous, was targeted by Xue Ao and was finally killed by the latter in the chaos, becoming the first commander of the righteous teacher to die in battle since the uprising.

After learning about this, Zhao Yu couldn't help but feel a little emotional, after all, Guan Shuo is also his 'old acquaintance', and although there are many shortcomings, he also loses his talent, if he has the opportunity, Zhao Yu will not refuse to recruit Guan Shuo, but he didn't expect that Guan Shuo's luck was really bad, and he actually bumped into Xue Ao and was killed by the latter.

"As soon as Guan Shuo dies, the Changsha Yishi will inevitably collapse, and with Jing Chu Yishi alone, I am afraid that it will not be able to stop Xue Ao, Wang Shangde, and Li Meng...... The righteous teacher is finished.'"

Thinking secretly in his heart, Zhao Yu sighed slightly.

He knew that the mighty and two-year start of the righteous teachers south of the river was probably coming to an end this year.

But will the world be more peaceful than these two years?

Zhao Yu doesn't think so.

On the contrary, he felt that the next was the most turbulent period in the whole world.

Perhaps among them, he also has a share.