It was almost noon, and the sky in Henan was still gloomy. Since last night, it has been pouring light rain. Shao An took Ah Rui, plus Xu Qi, who was secretly protecting, threw off the guard of honor along the way, and hurried to the Huaishui River. The master and servant were dressed in robes and hats, and rode their horses along the embankment of the river.

The wind was strong on the river, and a gust of wind hit, and Ari was caught off guard by the rain and wet his face. While wiping his face, he complained: "Why doesn't the master go directly to the Yamen of Henan Mansion, and have to come to the river embankment to see first?" ”

Shao An explained: "In the past, there were often cases of local officials lying about the disaster. This year, the Huai River flooded, although Yingzhou was released in time, and other places were not affected, it is difficult to say. ”

"Oh, it turns out that the master is here to investigate." Ah Rui said with a look of sudden realization. Shao An looked sideways at Ah Rui, chuckled and shook his head.

The two rode lightly on fast horses, went all the way south, and soon came to the territory of Yingzhou. Arui dismounted and asked the local villagers where the flood was discharged. Those villagers looked at Shao An and Ah Rui, and saw a person wearing a moon-white shirt, standing by the river with his hands in his hands, his face sad and joyless. And the little guy who asked for directions was also dressed more than a hundred times stronger than them, and at first glance he came from a big family.

An old man stretched out his hand and pointed ahead, and said enthusiastically: "Walk more than ten miles to the east." ”

"Thank you, old man." Arisie said, and was about to leave, but was stopped by the old man.

The old man inquired, "Little brother, I don't have a Henan accent." ”

"yes." Ari replied vaguely, "I heard that there was a flood here, come and have a look." ”

When the old man heard this, he frowned and scolded, "If it weren't for Feng Yuxing, we wouldn't have rained so much." ”

"Feng Disaster Star?" Shao An listened for a long time, and when he heard their address to Feng Che, he said playfully, "How do you say this?" ”

The old man said in disgust: "The old man came from afar, so naturally he doesn't know. There is a rumor that says: 'Feng Chezhi, the flood is raging.' Feng Che left, the flood rested. You see, when he didn't come to Yingzhou, we had a good weather here, where did it rain so much. ”

It's really a sin to add to it, and there is no excuse for it. Shao An shook his head helplessly, there is a lot of rain in the whole country today, and even Jincheng can't avoid it, how can Feng Che be blamed?

Before Shao An could speak, Ah Rui couldn't listen to it at first, and jumped to his feet. He hugged and said, "Lord Feng offended the nobles and discharged the flood for you, do you still blame him?" ”

"If Feng Disaster Star doesn't leave, the rain will not stop." The old man looked up at the sky and said indignantly, "Look at this rain, it's still falling." Isn't it because of him? ”

"You ......" Ah Rui was about to debate again, but Shao An grabbed his arm. I only heard the master's sarcastic whisper: "Don't argue with the fools, let's go." ”

Ah Rui was dragged away by Shao An, and he scolded along the way. He complained: "Why are the people here so ignorant of good people. Lord Feng saved them, and they actually scolded Lord Feng. It's just that these days, good people can't do it. ”

"Those villagers were also fooled and couldn't tell the truth from the false rumors. You should dissipate your anger, otherwise you will be angry later. Shao An sighed, this Ah Rui is still so simple, he doesn't know that people's hearts are sinister and the world is difficult.

"Rumors kill people, who made up rumors, it's too hateful." Ah Rui rubbed his stomach angrily and said sullenly, "My stomach hurts when I'm angry." ”

"It's a stomach ache, it's hunger." Shao An looked at this little guy with a smile, "Let's go, find a place to eat first." ”

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The sky at the border is still so unfathomable. And the endless grassland outside Jincheng is still so vast and boundless. The ten-day deadline has arrived, but it has been raining almost all the time in the northwest for the past few days. Li Hongyi's face was gloomy, listening to the sound of the dripping rain outside, and what his younger brother said was indeed true.

Li Honghui was also observing the weather, but he still didn't look in the direction of Chang'an to see if any special envoys had come. From Jincheng to Chang'an, a round trip is exactly ten days. This is also the reason why Li Hongyi decided to wait another 10 days. However, ten days have passed, and there is no movement in the capital.

A herald of soldiers announced: "General, the soldiers and horses are ready to set off at any time." ”

Outside the tent, the brigade was assembled and the whole army was ready to go. Li Hongyi looked up at the dark sky outside again, knowing that he couldn't delay any longer, so he ordered: "Go!" ”

The generals took orders, and everyone gathered around the coach to go out of the account. At this time, all preparations had already been made outside, wrapped in horses' hooves, and a piece in the mouth to ensure the success of the evacuation. Seeing this, Li Hongyi was very satisfied, rode a tall horse, and led the army to retreat to Yongjing. After Li Honghui's palace, he watched the army quietly withdraw in the night, until the last person. Then he glanced at Jincheng again, with a trace of remembrance in his eyes, and then flicked his horsewhip and chased after the front army.

Jincheng, with only a few thousand defenders left, bluffed there and staged an empty city plan.

However, at this time, none of them expected that a day later, a holy decree would arrive in Jincheng, prohibiting the withdrawal of troops. Unfortunately, at that time, the army had retreated, and everything was irretrievable.

After Li Hongyi withdrew to Yongjing, he began to actively prepare for war. He knew that he couldn't delay it any longer at this time, otherwise if he delayed for one more day, there would be more crises on the Jincheng side. However, when he and his younger brother Li Honghui analyzed the battle situation, they found that Nanshan was indeed a roadblock in the center.

Someone suggested bypassing Nanshan, but Li Honghui vetoed it, "This will not work, if you make a detour, it will take at least two days." And it is possible to encounter enemy scouts, and once the enemy is alarmed, how can the sneak attack be carried out? ”

"Are we going over the mountain? But Nanshan is so steep that it will take at least three or four days to climb the mountain. ”

"Although climbing the mountain will avoid the eyes of the enemy, it is too dangerous."

"Yes, yes, and the trees in Nanshan are sparse and can't be hidden. When the army came down from the mountain, it was the enemy's territory. If they are not careful, they will look up and notice that there are people on the mountain. ”

Li Hongyi sat silently on the main seat, and only then did he realize that there was a world of difference between commanding the whole army and being a vanguard. In the past, he only needed to rush forward, and he didn't need to think about any strategy and tactics. But now, the burden of the whole army is on his shoulders, so he has to be patient and think deeply.

"This matter will be discussed later." Although Li Hongyi had no idea in his heart, he remained silent on his face. When the generals saw this, they did not dare to go against their majesty, and got up and retired. And only Li Honghui looked at his eldest brother with admiration, and said in his heart that Li Hongyi's expedition this time was really honed a lot.

After everyone left, Li Honghui took the initiative to kneel on the ground and pleaded: "The last general is not thoughtful, so that the general will fall into a dilemma." The sin of the last general. ”

"That's it." Li Hongyi helped his younger brother up, "I don't blame you for this, I blame me for making improper decisions." I didn't expect it to be so difficult to unify the army, and now I can't go back, what should I do? ”

"We are not familiar with the terrain here, so now we can only send more troops to investigate the terrain of Nanshan. If there's a shortcut, it's the best. ”

Li Hongyi said melancholy: "It will take a few more days like this, can Jincheng hold on?" ”

"We can only hope that the thousands of defenders of Jincheng can hold out for a few more days." Li Honghui has no good plan now. He began to miss Shao An again, if Shao Xiang was here, he would definitely have a desperate plan to survive.

※※※※※

The Northwest Army is in a stalemate, but Shao An's side is making rapid progress. Shao An came to the place where the flood was discharged, looking at the turbulent river, Shao An was thoughtful. He found that the East River area was the narrowest and had the fastest flow rate, but the embankment of the East River was not firmly repaired, and there was the danger of bursting the embankment.

It seems that this matter is not Feng Che's fault, but the officials who repaired the embankment, filled their pockets and repaired the river embankment to a vulnerable blow, which forced Feng Che to discharge the flood. Shao An looked at the rapid river, and still felt afraid, but fortunately, Feng Che made a quick decision and released the flood in time, so that the danger did not happen. Otherwise, if there is another flood here, the government will have to consume a large amount of silver taels from the imperial court to help the people.

"Let's walk along the embankment again." Shao An said to Ah Rui, and then the two stepped on the muddy riverbank, staggering forward with some difficulty. Not long ago, it was a vast expanse of fertile land, but at this time, it is a vast ocean. It's no wonder that those gentry beat their chests and swore to take revenge on Feng Che.

Ah Rui helped Shao An and asked as he walked, "Master, we have been here for the past two days, when are we going to see Lord Feng?" ”

"Don't worry, wait for the honor guard to come over, and see him again." Shao An still wanted to go around, and along the way, he heard all kinds of gossip about Feng Che, but most of them were abomination. Those seemingly righteous criticisms are unbearable even for bystanders like Ah Rui after hearing them, let alone Feng Che as a figure at the center of public opinion? Only a few people can distinguish between right and wrong and call him "Feng Qingtian". It's really the world is declining, and people's hearts are not ancient.

However, at this time, Shao An saw a young man walking around the river embankment, and seemed to be observing something. He motioned for Ari to go and have a look, and Ari went over to chat with the man for a few words, and then ran back excitedly and reported to the master: "Master, I have inquired." That person was a scholar from a nearby academy, and he came here to investigate the truth and speak for Lord Feng. ”

"A scholar has such ambitions?" Shao An was curious, so he also came to the scholar. Seeing that he was wearing a neat shirt and a square scarf, he observed the riverbank for a while, then found a place to sit down, took out a pen and paper, and recorded something seriously.

Shao An looked at it for a while, then suddenly walked up to the man and asked him, "Everyone said, 'Feng Chezhi, the flood is raging.'" Why do you have to defend him? ”

The scholar looked up and saw that the person who was questioning was wearing a soapy black collared Hangluo robe and a small crown on his head, and he looked like the son of a rich family. The scholar only thought that he was also the son of those big families, and he was on the opposite side of Feng Che, so he said angrily: "It's all rumors, it's superstition." It doesn't rain in the world, when will the flood come, what does this have to do with Lord Feng. Looking at the talent of Brother Tai, he should have also read books, how can he believe this kind of rumor. ”

"Naturally, I don't believe it." Shao An smiled, "It's just this brother, now that public opinion is one-sided, how can you turn the tide?" ”

"Brother, look, how do you think of this embankment?"

A trace of doubt flashed in Shao An's eyes, and then he said vaguely: "It looks like it's quite sturdy." ”

"Definitely. I've read some books about water conservancy, look at the material of this embankment......" The scholar stood up, invited Shao An to come to the embankment, and began to explain to him seriously. Shao An listened to it for half an hour, thinking that this person was just a scholar, and he would only talk on paper, but he didn't expect that he still had some real talent.

Shao An looked through the man's manuscript and saw that the scholar had almost sorted out the materials. If we defeat those corrupt officials in the future, these things will become favorable evidence. Shao An asked the scholar with a smile: "Under Liu An, dare to ask Brother Taizun's surname?" ”

"Under the surname Xu, Mingce." The scholar replied.

Shao An said again: "What you wrote is very reasonable, if it can be handed over to the imperial court, I believe that Lord Feng's grievances will be cleared up in a few days." ”

But Xu Ce shook his head with a wry smile, "I have no power and no power, I am dressed in white, how can I send these to the imperial court?" I'm afraid that these things will turn into ashes before they leave Henan Mansion. ”

Indeed, Henan Fu Yin would not let these manuscripts circulate.

"Since you think Master Feng is a good official, then why don't you give these to him?" Shao An gave him guidance, and now Xu Ce no longer trusts the local officials in Henan. However, Feng Che is at least a reliable and good official.

Xu Ce suddenly realized: "Thank you Brother Tai for the prompt, it is indeed the most appropriate to hand it over to Lord Feng." However, how could Lord Feng believe me? ”

"It's okay, I'll go with you to see Master Feng and help you convince him." Shao An suggested, "It's better to go directly to the yamen now." ”

"At first glance, you are not a local, who doesn't know, Lord Feng, I don't like to stay in the yamen all day long." Xu Ce guessed, "Recently, some disaster victims have gathered outside the city, and it is estimated that Lord Feng must be there, supervising the subordinate officials to give porridge." ”

"Disaster victims...... Shao An's face immediately sank, and he shook his head slightly, it seems that the flood is still inevitable, but I don't know how serious the disaster is.