Cao Weiming made a decision, and his mood was relaxed in the next few days, according to the agreement between him and the boy, he still maintained his original posture in the capital, neither taking the initiative to make friends with the authorities, nor keeping a deliberate closeness or distance from Long Lingxiu, anyway, everything was as usual, as if the boy had never come.

Half a month passed like this, Long Lingxiu finally summoned him again, the two met in the princess's mansion, Cao Weiming was still respectful to Long Lingxiu, and the whole person was prostrate on the ground, showing extreme humility and humility.

Long Lingxiu squinted at him, and after a long time, she chuckled: "General Cao, what are you busy doing at home these days?" I heard that you live in a simple house, and I don't see you coming into contact with other people, but I want to ask you what kind of state of mind you are now! ”

Cao Weiming said: "Your Royal Highness Princess, since Cao has already agreed to Her Royal Highness the Princess, he is ready to die generously!" I have a common enmity with Lu Zheng, this time I can lead the troops to attack Hebei, there is nothing to say, I have to open Lu Zheng's foundation, and I have to make Lu Zheng pay the price! ”

Cao Weiming gritted his teeth when he said these words, looking like he was going to devour Lu Zheng alive, I have to say that Cao Weiming's posture is very suitable for Long Lingxiu's spleen and stomach, but Long Lingxiu arranged Cao Weiming to go out this time, of course she secretly had the means, and immediately she said:

"General Cao, your expedition this time is a lonely battle, in order to make your army more combative, I have arranged two capable deputies for you, these two deputies are Zhang Zheng and Zhang Yi, come on, please come up with the Zhang brothers!"

Long Lingxiu spread the word, and the two Zhang brothers came to the palace in a heroic manner, and they were only in their twenties, wearing armor, standing tall and proud, and they were the leaders of the younger generation at a glance.

Cao Weiming secretly sneered in his heart, thinking that Long Lingxiu's actions were all in Lu Zheng's expectations, on the surface, Long Lingxiu asked Cao Weiming to lead the troops, but in fact, Cao Weiming was more of a disguise, and it was the Zhang brothers who really controlled the army!

"Zhang Zheng, Zhang Yi visited General Cao, and the two of us will be General Cao's subordinates in the future, and we should obey General Cao's orders!"

Cao Weiming laughed and said, "Your Royal Highness the Princess, you use the ministers but don't believe in the ministers, hehe, I'm afraid this is the way to cause trouble!" The use of troops in the Central Plains has never been a trivial matter, why did Her Royal Highness the Princess arrange it like this? Could it be that Her Royal Highness the Princess thinks that Cao really has to take on this errand? ”

After Cao Weiming finished speaking, he bowed down again, and said: "Your Highness, Cao is not talented, I'm afraid I can't take on this big responsibility, and please ask Your Highness to invite another master!" ”

Long Lingxiu giggled and said, "Cao Weiming, don't misunderstand the meaning of this palace!" This palace does not have the intention of letting the Zhang brothers empty you, this palace has always used people, since you have been enabled, then naturally this army will be dominated by you, where do you say to fight, who dares to disagree with the Zhang brothers and tens of thousands of soldiers?

But there is one thing that this palace can't be unguarded against, after all, you have just led the army, and this army turned out to be the Tan family army, in case there is a mutiny in the army, what should I do? In this case, where can you do without a competent assistant?

The Zhang brothers are good in the army, and at the same time they are loyal to the palace, and I can guarantee that they will definitely obey your orders, so this arrangement is reasonable, what does General Cao think? ”

Cao Weiming was originally a false mood, but now that Long Lingxiu explained to him so patiently, of course he got off the donkey down the slope and said, "Your Royal Highness Princess, since you said so, what else did Cao say?" In that case, I will share more of the burden of military affairs with them! When I returned to Hebei, I was only responsible for commanding the war, and the military logistics should be handed over to the two of them. ”

The Zhang brothers glanced at each other, Cao Weiming's statement was exactly what they meant, they followed Cao Weiming was actually just spying, because Long Lingxiu didn't fully believe Cao Weiming at all! In this case, Cao Weiming took the initiative to hand over all military affairs and logistics to them, in fact, he handed over the actual control of the army to them, how could they not be happy?

As for Cao Weiming's command of the battle, if Cao Weiming's meaning is the same as theirs, they will obey it, if Cao Weiming's meaning is different from theirs, they can use all kinds of different tricks to prevaricate, and they will still obey Long Lingxiu's orders in the future, and the army will definitely not fall into Cao Weiming's hands and become a tool in Cao Weiming's hands!

In this way, the monarchs and ministers reached a consensus, and Long Lingxiu's mood was also extremely comfortable, and he immediately did not hesitate to count more than 20,000 horses to Cao Weiming, these horses are all the Nanfu army subdued by Long Lingxiu, after training in Gyeonggi, this group of Nanfu troops has a little posture, of course, such an army is really a showpiece in front of the Liaodong iron cavalry that can fight well, and it is strange that such a frame can be successful in Hebei!

The army went out, Long Lingxiu personally saw him off, outside of Gyeonggi, the flag was all over the sky, and Cao Weiming wore the official uniform of a military attache at the grand departure ceremony, and the whole person was lofty, he held a long lance in his hand, and swore to the Heavenly Alliance:

"I, Cao Weiming, led the troops to the Central Plains this time, and I will never return if I don't win, Your Majesty, Your Royal Highness the Princess, please rest assured, I, Cao Weiming, will definitely live up to the burden and complete the heavy task in this battle!"

Long Lingxiu laughed and said heroically: "Okay! If General Cao can make a meritorious contribution on this trip, this palace will give you a celebration, and then this palace and His Majesty will personally greet your triumph in the Fengtian Palace, okay? ”

Long Lingxiu gave an empty promise, and the army set off like this, Cao Weiming's army set off straight to Hebei, Long Lingxiu did not hesitate, and immediately let Tan Cheng lead all the other main forces in the capital to attack Henan directly.

The goal of this battle Long Lingxiu is very clear, he is to occupy Henan, open up the passage between Henan and Jiangnan, and give Jiangnan's army a chance to enter the Central Plains, so as to inflict a flank attack on Lu Zheng from both the north and the south.

In fact, there is a huge loophole in Long Lingxiu's plan, this loophole is that once she sends troops, Gyeonggi will be completely empty, what if Lu Zheng wants to send troops to take the capital?

The emptiness of the capital is easy to lose, once the capital is lost, where else can Long Lingxiu stay?

But Long Lingxiu also has her calculations, she is sure that Lu Zheng will not give up the two rivers, because the two rivers are much more important than the geographical location of Gyeonggi, Lu Zheng sits on the land of the two rivers, and occupies the granary of the Central Plains, with this foundation, Lu Zheng can raise 100,000 male soldiers.

Otherwise, Lu Zheng lost the two rivers and occupied Gyeonggi, and he would have lost the watermelon and picked up the sesame seeds, Lu Zheng would never have made such a decision! Long Lingxiu thought that he knew Lu Zheng, and in fact, Lu Zheng's current trouble was indeed like this.

Lu Zheng had just been recuperating in the Central Plains, and the biggest trouble that Long Lingxiu had brought to him was to damage the agriculture and environment of the two rivers, which he was absolutely unwilling to bear.

It was precisely because of this that he thought of using Sun Yu's strategy, so in fact, Lu Zheng also deliberately sold a flaw! Now the two sides need to battle their wits and courage......

It is said that Cao Weiming led 20,000 horses to Henan, and after arriving in Hebei, he ordered the army to camp, and then he was patient, and the Sun brothers were young and vigorous, they could still endure it in the first two days, where could they endure it in the back?

Immediately, Sun Yi said: "General, this time we were ordered to come to Hebei to cooperate with Her Royal Highness the princess to send troops, why are we waiting for the army to act for a long time?" How can you spend it here? ”

Cao Weiming sneered: "You don't know the mystery, you think, as long as our army does not move, it can contain the enemy." We have only 20,000 soldiers, only 20,000 soldiers, if we go on a rampage like a stunned man, once the opponent tears his face with us and directly fights us, what will we do after we have defeated 20,000 people?

Therefore, if we do not move, in fact, it is the best deterrent to the enemy, you don't understand this truth? ”

Cao Weiming said this, the Zhang brothers were speechless, and Cao Weiming immediately passed on his concept to the whole army when he saw this situation.

In fact, there are many smart people in the army, and many people know that this time the army may face great danger with Cao Weiming's expedition, and even more than lucky. Who is not afraid of death these days? But the military order is like a mountain, even if you are afraid of death, there is no way, and no one can disobey the military order!

In this case, Cao Weiming's arrangement is undoubtedly very in line with the people's hearts, everyone supports this matter, this time the Zhang brothers have been isolated, they are young in the army, although they are Long Lingxiu's cronies, but in the face of life and death, where do you care what their background is?

And Cao Weiming did not rush to kill them all, and some people below occasionally showed dissatisfaction with the Zhang brothers, but Cao Weiming came forward to comfort them and let them be generous, and put on various postures of maintenance to the Zhang brothers, this time the generals in the army were impressed with Cao Weiming, and the Zhang brothers were further neglected.

In Cao Weiming's military tent, the boy sneaked in quietly, Cao Weiming looked at the boy first, and said with a smile: "Sir, how do you look at my methods?" The two boys surnamed Zhang don't know how to lift, there are five or six people in front of me, and now that I use a little trick, their position in the army will be greatly weakened!

It's not that I, Cao Weiming, boasted, as long as I raise my arms and shout at this current army, I will definitely be able to respond like a cloud......"

The boy looked calm and said, "General Cao, Long Lingxiu is very cunning, and he must not be rash easily!" The Zhang brothers seem to have weakened their prestige in the army at the moment, but they must have other means, now we can't be in a hurry, you stabilize on the one hand, and wait for the Zhang brothers to make a move on the other hand, so that we can be invincible......"