After Liu Jian and Li Xiaofei repelled the messenger, they continued to talk in the direction of the back hall, and the two talked about the current situation along the way, Liu Jian's face was full of sorrow: "Now what I am most afraid of is that someone will come to report the news, and it is strange to say that it has been more than a month since we withdrew from outside Huaiyang City, and there has been no news from the front line." ”

Li Xiaofei comforted him: "No news is not bad news, we can have more time." I have a bold idea, since those officials suspect us of conspiring with Pharmacist Zhu, we might as well really conspire with him! ”

Liu Jian stopped and looked around: "You are really bold enough to let the prince conspire with the traitor who killed the emperor."

Li Xiaofei said softly: "Murong and I went to find out the truth and buy time for the prince, if there is a possibility, we might as well persuade him to go to Jiangnan to sweep away the remnants of those families!" ”

Liu Jian smiled: "This is seeking skin with the tiger, I am Pharmacist Zhu", Liu Jian stopped here, as if he had thought of something

Li Xiaofei was about to speak, but Liu Jian waved his hand: "Let me think about it"

After a while, Liu Jian put his hand on Li Xiaofei's shoulder: "You are really my lucky general." I've always looked at things from my own side, but I've never looked at the general trend of the world from the perspective of my opponents! ”

Li Xiaofei was a little puzzled: "What does the prince mean is that it is possible for Pharmacist Zhu to cooperate with us?" ”

Liu Jian put his hand down: "Cooperation is impossible, but if I were Pharmacist Zhu, I would definitely not gnaw Liu Jian's difficult bone first." The remaining elites of the Liang army are in the hands of Liu Jian, and Xiangyang is easy to defend and difficult to attack, not to mention that if it is defeated, it can retreat to Bashu. and Liu Jian worked desperately but left the remnants of the family in Jiangnan to survive, and Pharmacist Zhu would not do this loss-making business. In this way, Pharmacist Zhu must take Jiangnan first, and besiege Xiangyang in the last few ways! ”

Li Xiaofei nodded: "The prince's analysis is very true, and Pharmacist Zhu's hometown is far away in Fanyang, I believe that once the Mobei people on Fanyang's side make a move, Pharmacist Zhu will divide his troops to save him!" ”

Liu Jian swept away his previous sorrow and pulled up Li Xiaofei: "I can finally sleep well tonight, let's wait for Murong and them to come back without getting drunk!" ”

Let's talk about Zhu Yaoshi's side, the army of He Wuji on the north bank disappeared 30,000 horses inexplicably, and the angry He Wuji didn't eat for two days, and when he went west to Suizhou City, he couldn't advance anymore. Since Suizhou City blocked the army of the Black Flag Khanate a few years ago, the city walls have been strengthened a lot, and the soldiers and civilians in the city are even more handy in defending the city. The most important thing is that Qin Zhong and Qin Gou'er also arrived in Suizhou with their yellow-clothed internal guards one after another.

Qin Zhong and Qin Gou'er were originally going to find Liu Jian, but before they arrived in Xiangyang, they heard the news that the Wuchang Huimeng had elected the little prince as the new emperor.

He Wuji attacked for ten days in a row, losing nearly 10,000 people, and retreated for fear of being punished by Zhu Yaoshi, but the siege was repeatedly defeated.

He Wuji was at a loss, and offered suggestions left and right: "Marshal He is now trapped under the fortified city, and after a long time, the grain and grass will not be enough, and the soldiers and horses of the rear army have disappeared for no reason, indicating that there are still enemy troops between Huaiyang and our army!" ”

"Marshal He might as well send a letter to Marshal Wang, ask him to go with him to conquer Wuchang, and then go west to Jiangling!"

"Abandon Suizhou, we will walk on the front foot, and the enemy army on the back foot will cut off our army's food route to the east"

"It's better to besiege Suizhou for two months and fight steadily! Our soldiers are numerous and are not in a hurry! ”

Everyone gossiped, which made He Wuji upset, and He Wuji slapped the table: "The eldest husband dares to act, send someone back to Huaiyang and Jinling to report the news, and let the emperor send troops to search for the enemy's cavalry between Jinling and Huaiyang!" You will go to Jiangnan for me again, and ask Marshal Wang to send troops to the west to support our army! The army surrounded Suizhou, dug ditches and cut off roads, and trapped him for several months! As for grain and grass, send a grain collection team to the surrounding counties every day to collect grain and come back! ”

The right marshal Wang Tiezhu relied on his own bravery, sweeping Yuzhang, Fuzhou, Yunzhou, Yuanzhou, Jizhou, Hengzhou, Tanzhou and other places all the way, and was preparing to go south to capture Chenzhou, where Cui Ju was located.

Cui Ju and Shen De had already made plans - to flee to the mountains in the southwest. In the past three years, the two have built hundreds of villages in the southwest mountains, gathered people of all ethnic groups to cultivate and garrison, and prepared a way to retreat.

Several of He Wuji's aides came to meet Wang Tiezhu with letters, and Wang Tiezhu remembered his friendship with He Wuji, so he prepared to lead the army north to attack Wuchang.

Wang Tiezhu's subordinates immediately objected: "Cui Ju is still in Chenzhou, and now that we are leading the troops in the Northern District, Cui Ju will definitely fight back!" Shen De, the general under Cui Ju, can only be beaten by Marshal Wang, at this time, he should go all out to defeat Chenzhou, where can he go to Wuchang? ”

"It is a matter of time before Marshal He conquers Suizhou, we go to fight Wuchang and compete with Marshal He, and it will be difficult to explain in front of the emperor in the future."

"What's more, the emperor has not given an order, we have changed the route of the march without authorization, how can the emperor blame it when the time comes? Victory is useless, defeat is a felony! ”

Wang Tiezhu is a rough man, and when he heard what his subordinates said, he waved his hand: "Everyone is for the imperial court, in this case, a few envoys went back to tell Marshal He, after I take Chenzhou, I will ask the emperor for instructions, and then go north to meet Marshal He?" ”

Where did several envoys dare not say a word, so they had to promise to come down.

Wang Tiezhu won the battle, seized gold, silver, jewelry, grain and grass innumerable, and there were many beautiful women from all over the country, when entertaining the envoys, he drank a few cups and hugged a woman and said to the envoys: "Brothers, when we started the incident, we were in order to be able to eat meat and drink wine every day, and now there is really it, not only there, but also all good things, and there are things that I didn't dare to think of before!" ”

The envoys raised their glasses: "Marshal Wang is invincible, I will rely on Marshal Wang's care in the future."

Wang Tiezhu laughed: "As long as I go wherever this copper hammer goes, I will definitely be invincible, and I really want to find an opponent now!" Come, brothers, eat and drink well, I'm in a good mood today, don't dislike it, brothers, I still have some gold and silver here to give you to make entanglements on the road! ”

The envoys were overjoyed, they couldn't eat such a banquet in He Wuji's army for a long time, let alone reward gold and silver: "Thank you, Marshal Wang, for your kindness!" We must do our best to contribute to the marshal! ”

Wang Tiezhu raised the wine jar and took a sip: "They are all serving the emperor, they are all brothers, don't be so outside, drink a lot!" Eat meat in a big bowl! There are still good things to eat after eating! Haha"

As soon as the servants next to him clapped their hands, more than a dozen beautiful women came in, and they walked to the people who were eating and drinking at the banquet and sat down.

The envoys' eyes were straight, they hadn't seen a woman since they set off from Jinling City, and now Wang Tiezhu was serving a beautiful woman with a wave of his hand, and he immediately forgot He Wuji's instructions to the clouds.

One of the two generalissimos is trapped under the fortified city, and the other is overwhelmed. Zhu Yaoshi, the emperor and prime minister, Qiu Xingzhi, complained bitterly in Jinling City.

After Pharmacist Zhu became the emperor, in order to fulfill his promise of being diligent in government and loving the people, he posted an imperial list and told the people that they could directly beat the drum to find the emperor to avenge their grievances.

Zhu Yaoshi thought that he could use this to buy people's hearts, and he didn't want the emperor to come out, so the drums were broken on the first day.

Those who came to find Pharmacist Zhu either pulled the vegetables of the west family from the east family, or the south village cut off the water and roads of the north village, and even the husband and wife quarreled and came to beat the drum to find the emperor.

The next day, Pharmacist Zhu sent people to tear up the imperial list and withdraw the drum, but there were countless homeless people shouting grievances at the gate of the palace.

Zhu Yaoshi himself did not dare to see the people again, so he sent Qiu Xingzhi to deal with it, Qiu Xingzhi went to ask a few people, only to know how many counties in Huainan and Huaibei have missed the agricultural time, and now it is too late to plant rice, and every household has run out of food, and when he saw that there was about to be a famine, he came to the court.

Qiu Xingzhi almost collapsed to the ground, and hurriedly ran to find Pharmacist Zhu: "Your Majesty, all parts of Huainan and Huaibei have missed the agricultural time now, and the famine is imminent, we must make plans early!" ”

Pharmacist Zhu's eyes widened: "This kind of field thing, don't these people themselves know when to plant?" ”

Qiu Xingzhi shook his head: "In the past, the people of the imperial court's chief farmer and the pawn farmer went down to various places, and first arranged for the family to farm, and the people saw that the slaves of the family began to farm, so they followed the farming. Now that we have eradicated the family and changed the calendar, the people are still waiting for us to send someone to persuade the farmers! Alas! ”

Pharmacist Zhu almost vomited blood: "I thought that this people knew when to plant and when to sow seeds, but I didn't expect this to be so troublesome in the world!" ”

Qiu Xingzhi sighed: "There are still many troubles behind, it is difficult to fight the world, and it is even more difficult to defend the world." Let's find a way to deal with the famine in this place now! Otherwise, we won't stay in Jinling for long! ”

Pharmacist Zhu held his head and thought for a while: "Since they have no food at home, they will be organized into the army, and the rest of the old and young women and children in the family will distribute some food, and then find a way!" ”

Qiu Xingzhi looked at Pharmacist Zhu, and he really didn't have a better way: "I don't think this matter can be so hasty, let's gather everyone to discuss!" ”

Pharmacist Zhu waved his hand: "No need, they can't come up with a better idea, so let's do it first!" ”

Qiu Xingzhi was about to retreat, but there was a message from outside the palace gate: "Urgent report!" Urgent! ”

Qiu Xingzhi stopped and waited for the urgent report with Pharmacist Zhu.

The soldier who came to report the news knelt on the ground panting, and Qiu Xingzhi went to take the sweat-soaked letter and handed it to Zhu Yaoshi.

Pharmacist Zhu opened the letter and slowly trembled as he read it: "Who else knows about this letter?" ”

The soldier replied: "The villain took the letter in the hands of General Lingyun and went straight to Jinling to see Your Majesty!" ”

Pharmacist Zhu looked at the soldier: "How much do you know about things in the north?" ”

The soldier raised his head: "Your Majesty, there is only Liyang left in the north!" General Lingyun is looking forward to His Majesty sending troops to recover Hebei! ”

Pharmacist Zhu took a deep breath: "Come on, take him to the heavenly prison to be entertained with wine and meat, and no one is allowed to come to see him!" ”

The soldier was frightened: "Your Majesty, what crime have I committed, please spare your life!" ”

Pharmacist Zhu smiled bitterly: "I won't kill you, but now this news can't leak out!" ”

The soldier lowered his head and got up and followed a few guards, Qiu Xingzhi waited for everyone to walk away: "Your Majesty, this matter can't be hidden after a long time!" The main family members of our army are all in Hebei, if we can't recover Hebei as soon as possible, I'm afraid the army will be unstable! ”

Pharmacist Zhu almost had a infarction and hammered his chest: "If you dispatch He Wuji Wang Tiezhu and them, doesn't this mean that you will tell them that Hebei is lost?" ”

Qiu Xingzhi touched his white hair: "Now it seems that the only way to take the strong men of Huainan and Huaibei into a new army to the north to regain the lost land, but lack of training and no suitable commander, I am afraid it will be difficult to recover Hebei!" ”

Zhu Yaoshi thought for a while: "Dead horses should be live horse doctors, the commander has one person locked up in Liyang, and now the situation is urgent, I think this matter of recruiting new troops will be handed over to you, you take 5,000 people to various places to collect people and take them to Liyang, release that Zhong Zhiming, you and Ling Yun will protect him to recover Hebei!" ”

Qiu Xingzhi had to admire Pharmacist Zhu, and even released the general directly as the commander, but now looking at the entire Pharmacist Zhu's team, there is indeed no suitable person, unless Pharmacist Zhu goes into battle by himself. But Zhu Yaoshi is now the emperor, and it is not conducive to the battle situation to personally command.