The southern border of Taiyuan Province, Tuanbai Valley.

This is located at the junction of Taiyuan, Fenzhou and Liaozhou, guarding the throat of the south of Taiyuan, at the beginning of the Jin Gaozu Shi Jingjiao's army, the Tang army was conscripted, and the troops were gathered here. Since then, there have been soldiers and horses stationed to defend Jinyang.

Zhao Kuangyin led people to transit from Luzhou, and not long after, he was "warmly welcomed" by Li Ang, the general of Hedong Ya, who opened the way, led the way, and escorted, and did "meticulously".

Passing through Tuanbai Valley, temporarily camped in villages and towns outside the valley. Night has fallen, and in the camp of the forbidden army, Zhao Kuangyin is alone, strolling in the camp, looking around and contemplating.

"Du Yu Hou!" Han Lingkun, dressed in military armor, ran to him, glanced at Zhao Kuangyin's knife-like side face, and asked curiously, "What are you looking at?" ”

Han Lingkun and Zhao Kuangyin belong to the small hair and have a deep relationship, this time they were ordered to go north on an errand, Zhao Kuangyin specially ordered this general, and Liu Chengyou also agreed.

Han Lingkun originally served in the Holy Protector Army, but after the Southern Expedition, Li Chongjin and Wang Yansheng were rewarded and punished, and the commanders and colonels below were treated favorably, rewarded and promoted, and were not treated lightly. Han Lingkun was transferred to the small army of the front division of the palace because of his meritorious service, and served as the left lieutenant of the right wing.

For a long time, the military has a mixed organization, and the titles are very complicated, and from top to bottom, the generals are all called commanders, which is extremely inconvenient. After returning to Beijing this time, through the rectification of the forbidden army again, Liu Chengyou made a brief arrangement of the establishment.

Ten people and one tithe, five tithes and one team, two teams and one song, five songs and one battalion, five battalions and one lieutenant, two lieutenants and one army. And Han Lingkun, the left lieutenant of the small army, became a lieutenant general who commanded five battalions and 2,500 soldiers.

Zhao Kuangyin pointed to the Tuanbai Valley not far away, and said lightly: "It is said that there is a silver mine in the mountain, and the Taigu County government opened a mountain to mine here, but it has not been reported, the provisions are not complete, and there are no court supervisors. During this period, you can get 50,000 catties of silver per year, you say, how much of this silver is dedicated to Tokyo, and how much is dedicated to Jinyang? ”

Han Lingkun was stunned for a moment, and he didn't understand what Zhao Kuangyin meant by this.

Zhao Kuangyin said again: "Is there any reward for the hardships suffered by the people who conscripted the mines?" Was there too much enslavement? ”

Listening to Zhao Kuangyin's words, Han Lingkun couldn't help but say: "I said Du Yuhou, how can you still care about the people of this silver mountain, we are already surrounded?" ”

Zhao Kuangyin's eyes swept around, and said, "You mean those Hedong soldiers?" ”

"I don't believe you didn't see it, this Hedong Ya soldier led by Li Gang is called greeting, but it is actually surveillance. You see, the east is the valley, we are in the middle, and the Hedong barracks are in the north, west, and south. Han Lingkun pointed around and said, "I see, we have to be prepared!" ”

"How to respond?" Zhao Kuangyin asked rhetorically.

"Let the soldiers be on guard against the enemy and be ready to kill at any time!" Han Lingkun said.

"You remember, the officers and soldiers outside are all soldiers of the Han Dynasty, and they are also our comrades!" Zhao Kuangyin said solemnly.

"But!" Han Lingkun pulled Zhao Kuangyin and said in a low voice: "Duyu Hou, this Hedong Army is obviously wrong, across this fence military flag, I can feel the murderous aura!" Looking at the movements of the Hedong Army, there are clear changes! ”

Zhao Kuangyin glanced at Han Lingkun, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Don't be nervous!" Don't worry about it! We just need to do the errands that His Majesty has to do with the court, and choose some elite soldiers with our hearts! ”

"Go, tell the brethren to rest in peace and sleep well tonight!" Zhao Kuangyin had a smile on the corner of his mouth, and said: "There are two thousand tooth soldiers, guards and guards, this kind of treatment, but there are no barracks in Tokyo, are you still afraid that you will not be able to sleep well?" ”

"This ......" Han Lingkun was full of hesitation.

"Go!"

Zhao Kuangyin returned to the military tent, his expression gradually became serious, and the "greeting" of the Hedong Ya soldiers made him feel a trace of pressure. With his shrewdness, he had already seen danger in this unusual aura.

Of course, the more dangerous it is, the more opportunity it is. Holding some information about the Hedong garrison given by the Son of Heaven in his hand, Zhao Kuangyin propped his forehead and pondered, his eyes were a little bright, and he muttered in his mouth: "Collect its elite soldiers and control its authority......"

"Marquis Duyu, someone broke into the camp, saying that he was ordered by Wude to come and visit!"

got retribution, Zhao Kuangyin rose up and hurriedly ordered someone to summon him. Looking at the messenger in ink in front of him, Zhao Kuangyin first asked, "Have you ever avoided the eyes and ears of the Hedong Ya soldiers?" ”

"Please rest assured! The little one wandered outside for a few hours, and chose to ask for a meeting at this time, just to avoid people's eyes! The visitor replied, quickly took out a letter, and presented it: "Let you have a letter and hand it over to the Marquis of Duyu!" ”

After a quick reading, Zhao Kuangyin's expression was only a little more solemn, and he said: "Now Jinyang's side, let's not be stable!" ”

"The little one is only responsible for delivering letters!" Someone answered.

Hearing the answer, Zhao Kuangyin glanced at the messenger of the Wu De Division, with an ordinary face, numb and expressionless, slightly surprised. smiled faintly and ordered: "You stay in the camp, and tomorrow you will go to Jinyang with the army!" It's been hard all the way, let's go down and rest first! ”

In Li Shaoyou's letter, he only briefly explained the situation in Jinyang and urged him to go to Jinyang to select soldiers.

"There are tens of thousands of garrisons in Jinyang, even if it is the tiger's den in Longtan, I have to break into him!" Zhao Kuangyin muttered, thinking about the surrounding tooth soldiers, and couldn't help but say: "This tiger tooth is on the side of the couch, I really want to pull it out!" ”

......

Zhao Kuangyin arrived in Jinyang City on the evening of the second day, which was much later than the prime minister Fan Qian, who was light and simple. Upon learning of Zhao Kuangyin's arrival, Liu Chong sent a subordinate official to greet him.

"Xiaguan Weirong, I learned that Marquis Zhao Duyu went to Jinyang, and came to greet him on the order of the king! Nowadays, the king is holding a banquet in the palace to entertain Fan Xianggong, and specially invite the Marquis of Du Yu to the banquet! ”

"In addition, barracks have been prepared outside the city for the accompanying forbidden army to settle in!"

When Zhao Kuangyin heard this, his brows froze, he pointed to Jinyang City, stared at Na Wei Rong, and deliberately made a domineering gesture: "The generals and others are all soldiers of the forbidden army, and the Son of Heaven is pro-army, why, when you arrive in Jinyang, you can't even enter the city?" ”

"This!" Wei Rong looked weak, and arched his hand: "The king has an order, I am afraid that the army will enter the city and disturb the people, please forgive me, the Marquis of Du Yu can bring ten subordinates to the banquet!" ”

At this time, the general Li Feng rode over, looked at Zhao Kuangyin arrogantly: "Zhao Yuhou, please rest assured, the barracks outside the city are not shabby, and they will not wait for the brothers of the forbidden army!" ”

Glancing at it, Zhao Kuangyin said: "In this way, I will explain it first!" ”

Riding a horse to Han Lingkun's side, Zhao Kuangyin said loudly: "Han Duwei, you take people to the barracks outside the city with the officials, don't make trouble!" ”

As he spoke, he lowered his voice and quickly ordered: "I will enter the city, investigate the situation, remember, stay in the barracks, and do not act rashly without my order!" ”

In the lobby of the palace, the banquet is in full swing, the wine has been more than half, the case is in disarray, Liu Chong looks very happy, Fan Zhen sits at the bottom, does not move like a mountain, for singing and dancing, his eyes do not squint, only when Liu Chong invites him to drink, he should raise a glass and respond, which is particularly reserved.

Zhao Kuangyin was introduced into the hall, Liu Chong seemed to be particularly interested in him, looked up and down several times, and then said, "You are Zhao Kuangyin?" ”

"King Qiqi, it is the last general!" Zhao Kuangyin's face was as usual, and he responded.

"I heard that you were praised by the Son of Heaven as a general, and during the southern expedition, you have repeatedly made military exploits, and now it seems that you are really heroic and extraordinary, young and promising!" Liu Chong said with a smile.

"Thanks to the king's praise, the last general will not dare to be ashamed!" Zhao Kuangyin said.

"Come on, set up a seat and serve dishes and chopsticks!" Liu Chong stretched out his hand and signaled: "Please take a seat!" ”

"King Xie!" Zhao Kuangyin was not shocked.

However, he still saluted Fan Zhen first, and the two of them looked at each other, and before taking a seat, Zhao Kuangyin quietly observed the expressions of the people present, and could clearly feel that the subordinate officials in Hedong had a lot of unnatural expressions.

Liu Chong was in high spirits, turned sideways, his face was full of wine, and said to Zhao Kuangyin: "I heard that you once broke the Tang army by tens of thousands with 2,000 soldiers at the mouth of the vortex. In Gaoyou, he broke the Tang army of 30,000 with 4,000 soldiers. All of them are more with less, and stronger with the weak.

I just don't know, how many enemy troops can the five hundred forbidden army break in the hands of General Zhao? ”

Liu Chong's words fell, and most of the people present changed their faces, and Fan Zhen frowned.

Facing Liu Chong's gaze, Zhao Kuangyin calmly responded: "When marching and fighting, how can we judge victory or defeat by the number of troops, we still need to look at the sky, look down at the geographical advantages, and act according to the situation, and we also need to see how the enemy situation is, how the military spirit is, and how the combat power ......."

"Well said!" Liu Chong smiled and asked with interest: "General Zhao came all the way north, passed through my Hedong County, and should have seen the soldiers and horses of Hedong." If you take it as an opponent, how many enemies can you have with 500 forbidden troops? ”

Hearing this, Zhao Kuangyin's body paused slightly, and he arched his hand and said, "The king said that he was laughing!" ”

"General Zhao doesn't have to be nervous, Lone is just a little curious!" With a smile, Liu Chong looked at Zhao Kuangyin.

Seeing this, Zhao Kuangyin arched his hand and said calmly: "If the Son of Heaven has an order to set up 100,000 enemies, the last general will dare to charge into battle and go to the soup to fight the fire!" ”