The windows of a private room were bright and clear, and the scattered morning light shone softly through the tulle on a large square table, and at the same time reflected the faces of the five people sitting around.

But the atmosphere in the room is not so soft.

"Why hasn't Lao Cao come yet, he saved the bureau, but he left the guests here!" One of the people in the row on the left complained loudly and dissatisfiedly, this person with broad shoulders and a thick back and a head like a fence bucket was Zhu Hualong, the chief soldier of Songpan Town. He is a native of Chenxi County, Huguang, and he speaks with a strong accent, but fortunately, his voice is clear and he can distinguish words. There was still an empty chair above him.

"Today's protagonist is not us, but the person Lao Cao went to pick up. If he doesn't come, it won't be settled. Sitting next to him was a middle-aged man with a beautiful beard and a national face, that is, Yang Zhan, the current Guangyuan garrison.

Sitting opposite Yang Zhan was the bearded general Deng Ruoyu of Long'an, who grabbed a handful of fried watermelon seeds and knocked them in his hand, and said with a smile: "Don't forget to dig wells, Lao Zhu, what are you anxious about." If it weren't for the blessing of that person, it would be rare for our brother to have leisure to gather together for a few hundred years, right? ”

There is also an empty chair at the top of Deng Ruoyu's right, but there is also a deputy general Long Fuhuang in Baishui Pass in the middle. Long Fuhuang is a native of Yunnan, his face is dark, he looks very old, and he smiled and said: "Old Deng, it doesn't seem right to use this word here." ”

"Ahem, it doesn't matter if it's right or not, a few people can understand what it means!" Deng Ruoyu spit out the watermelon seed peel all over the sky, and looked at a young man sitting at the bottom of the right side diagonally, "Lord Hou, the elder brother can't wait, you are close to the door, do you want to take a look outside?" ”

The young man replied with a gloomy face. He is Hou Tianxi, the son of Hou Liangzhu, the former Sichuan commander-in-chief, and Hou Tianxi, the general of Yongning Town, although he inherited part of his deceased father's inheritance, but regardless of age, seniority or seniority, he was at the bottom of all the people present. Fortunately, he has quite a city government, and he thinks about his own affairs, and he doesn't care about such small details.

Without waiting for Hou Tianxi to get up, the door suddenly opened, and two men dressed as military attaches appeared one after another, and the first man in front had long and short legs, and he was very strong, and he was the convener of today's meeting, Cao Xun, the general of the camp in Chuanbei Town. Everyone in the room stood up at the same time and bowed their hands to each other, and the man in the back walked around to the front and said, "Zhao is very ashamed to keep you waiting." How to settle the nobles into the city, I was really in a hurry, so it was delayed. ”

The word "noble" came out, and everyone was chuckled in their hearts. Deng Ruoyu threw all the watermelon seeds in his hand to the ground, and said with a smile: "Where does Lord Zhao say, business is the mainstay, and we are not so ignorant people." As he spoke, he pulled the empty chair on the upper right side of the Emperor Long Fuhuang, "Come on, Lord Zhao is coming from afar, you are working hard, hurry up and sit down and rest!" ”

"Zhao Guangyuan thanked you brothers!"

The one who spoke was Zhao Guangyuan, the governor of the Right Army and the general soldier of Hanqiang, who was different from the others here, he was a general in Shaanxi, and he had been stationed in southern Shaanxi before, and he had only recently led his army into Sichuan.

After Zhao Guangyuan sat down, Cao Xun instructed the servants to watch the tea, and then sat opposite Zhao Guangyuan. At this time, the square table in the room was sitting, Cao Xun, Zhu Hualong, and Yang Zhan on the left, and Zhao Guangyuan, Long Fuhuang, Deng Ruoyu, and Hou Tianxi on the right. The seven of them can be regarded as the strongest Ming army forces in northern Sichuan at present.

"I don't need to say more, I'm afraid my brothers also know about the affairs of the south during this time." Cao Xun said slowly.

"The thief who doesn't stop, the Zhao Dangshi who kills God." The corners of Hou Tianxi's mouth twitched, and his face was not good.

"One was missed, and Long Wenguang who didn't know what to do." Deng Ruoyu winked at him and picked up a handful of fried watermelon seeds.

The three sentences directly summarized the three main points of the meeting of the seven people.

"The thieves are still the same, and they are in chaos. It's just that the momentum is far greater than in previous years, and Chongqing Mansion has been captured ten days ago. Cao Xun said, "It seems that the combat power of the thief should not be underestimated. ”

"I really don't know what kind of battle Chen Shiqi fought, give me 500 people from Lao Deng, and ask him to sacrifice thieves to fly under the city!" Deng Ruoyu began to habitually brag as he spoke.

"Chen Shiqi was originally a mud that couldn't support the wall, who was a thief, that was an old oilman who had experienced a hundred battles, and he played a nerd like Chen Shiqi with his fingers. I had expected that Chuandong would be broken, but I didn't expect it to rot so quickly and so thoroughly. Not to be outdone, Zhu Hualong said loudly.

"Let Brother Zhu fight against the thief, what can he be?" Yang Zhan interjected coldly.

"Me?" Zhu Hualong's expression froze, and his voice turned much lower, "Total, in short...... Anyway, it's not that unbearable......"

Cao Xun continued: "The thieves have recently withdrawn from the Chongqing Mansion and began to flow westward, and the next target is in Luzhou Mansion nine times out of ten. "Chongqing is bordered by many state capitals in the west, but most of them are blocked by mountains, and the only way up the river is to reach the port of Luzhou Prefecture along the waterway. Since the Western Army entered Sichuan, it has been advancing by land and water, and I think this time is no exception.

"The thief wants to take the road of Waishui to Chengdu. Hey, wolf ambition. Yang Zhan said with a whisker. Take a boat from Chongqing Prefecture, pass through the Dajiang River and Minjiang River, and you can reach the south of Chengdu, which is an external water.

"The thieves are arrogant, the Chongqing Mansion has been defeated, do you still take the Chengdu Mansion in your eyes?" Emperor Long Fuhuang said at this time, "If you go to the outer water, only Luzhou Mansion will be blocked by soldiers along the way, as long as you hit Luzhou Mansion, you can sweep all the way to Chengdu." ”

"If I'm not mistaken, Luzhou Mansion is Luo Yuxin and Wang Wanchun guarding there." Zhu Hualong said thoughtfully.

"Yes, southern Sichuan is their territory, and I heard that Zeng Ying, who had previously lost in eastern Sichuan, also retreated there." Cao Xun replied, "However, the thieves are powerful, and with only three or four of them, I am afraid that it will be difficult to resist." ”

"Zeng Ying, Luo Yuxin, Wang Wanchun, etc. are all of the same heart as Chengdu Mansion." Hou Tianxi suddenly said, "Our northern Sichuan has never dealt with Chengdu Mansion, and southern Sichuan has been leveled by the thieves, what do you have to do with me!" ”

Since the former Sichuan commander-in-chief Hou Liangzhu, because of the huge profits and self-sufficiency of controlling the main roads in Sichuan and Shaanxi, the Sichuan generals guarding northern Sichuan have been separated from the Sichuan governor Yamen, either listening to the tune and not listening to the announcement, or simply turning a deaf ear to the instructions of the governor's yamen. Especially after the death of Shao Jiechun, Liao Daheng and Chen Shiqi were ruled by the two governors, and the division in Sichuan intensified. The western and southwestern Sichuan Tusi were originally disobedient, and the northern and eastern Sichuan basically formed a semi-independent pattern, and the Sichuan governor yamen could control only the area around Chengdu and a small part of southern Sichuan.

"By the way, Brother Long, Long Junmen and you are the same countryman, right?" Hearing this, Yang Zhan asked Long Fuhuang.

"Yes, there are still some kinship relationships, but they have long faded." Ryufu Emperor Road. During Chen Shiqi's defense of Chongqing Mansion, the imperial court had already dismissed him for his unfavorable crime of governing Sichuan, and promoted Long Wenguang, a political officer in northern Sichuan, to replace him. When the news of Chen Shiqi's death came, Long Wenguang had already entered Chengdu Mansion at that time.

"In these years, what relatives are not relatives." Deng Ruoyu shouted, "Look at Liu Jiayin's kid, he looks like a dog in front of us, and as soon as he climbs the big tree, he immediately kicks us aside." "Liu Jiayin was a martial artist in northern Sichuan a few years ago, in terms of seniority, he was not as good as Deng Ruoyu and others in northern Sichuan, but he would drill the camp and get close to Long Wenguang. Long Wenguang was appointed, and he also became the chief soldier of the Zhenyuan Battalion under the standard, escorting Long Wenguang to Chengdu. Before leaving, he didn't even say hello to a group of old brothers, so he was naturally considered a snob.

"Hmph, if you leave northern Sichuan, don't think about coming back." Zhu Hualong was jealous and hateful of Liu Jiayin, "Now count with your fingers, in addition to Liu Jiayin, Long Wenguang's command also includes Zeng Ying, the general of the mighty battalion just mentioned, Luo Yuxin, the general of Luzhou, and Wang Wanchun, the commander of Luzhou Wei, and Xu Mingjiao, the general of Fubiao, Lu Yinchang, the guerrilla of military training, and Hao Xiwen, the instructor of the Shaanxi Commander, etc., ho, there are really a lot of people." ”

"That's why I said that this Long Wenguang doesn't know what to do!" Deng Ruoyu patted the table, "Sichuan originally stood in northern Sichuan, Chengdu, and eastern Sichuan. Eastern Sichuan is weak, there is no threat to us, and it was not easy to survive until Chen Shiqi died, I was hoping to take this opportunity to turn this Sichuan into the territory of our northern Sichuan system. ”

"Luo Yuxin and Wang Wanchun don't follow Long Wenguang, who else can they follow? The thieves have been killed under their noses, is it possible to follow the thieves? Yang Zhan said proudly, "If we said that we had a three-legged stand in Sichuan earlier, and the thieves made such a fuss, but it became a four-legged division again." Hmph, the more you fight, the more chaotic it gets, the worse it gets. ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone was silent. Four legs, one for their own northern Sichuan, one for Long Wenguang of Chengdu Prefecture, one for Zhang Xianzhong, and one for an unexpected variable - Zhao Dangshi, the governor of Huguang who intervened in Sichuan affairs from eastern Sichuan. How to deal with this four-legged situation is one of the main themes of their discussion today.

"Long Wenguang and Zhang Xianzhong are good to say, but this Zhao is in the world, and it is very tricky to deal with it." Emperor Long Fu shook his head repeatedly.

Hou Tianxi gritted his teeth and said: "Zhao Dangshi is opportunistic and wears an official skin, in the end, he is a thief, and his heart is unpredictable. He entered Sichuan twice in his early years, which one was a good thing? It can be said that the main purpose of Hou Tianxi's willingness to endure the cynicism of Deng Ruoyu and others is to sit here in Zhao Dangshi. His father died at the hands of Zhao Dangshi, and caused his Hou family's power in northern Sichuan to plummet, and he thought day and night that everything was revenge on his enemies. But he alone had no way to compete with Zhao Dangshi, so naturally he could only pinch his nose and join forces with the generals of northern Sichuan. Therefore, although he was a general of Yongning Town, he never returned to southern Sichuan, but was always stationed in Baoning Mansion to join forces with Cao Xun.

Cao Xun's face was also ugly, he was the hereditary guard official of Lizhou Wei in Guangyuan County, but he led the troops to serve abroad very early, even if his wife, children and parents moved to other places with him, there were still some relatives who stayed in their hometown. When Zhao Ying first entered Sichuan, he conquered Lizhouwei, and many of his left-behind family members were persecuted and violated, and they also harbored hatred, so they surrendered with Hou Tianxi.

Zhu Hualong clenched his palms into a fist, his knuckles clicked and exploded, and said: "A thief for one day, a thief for life." Zhao Dangshi is really an official thief, and when he enters Sichuan under the banner of suppressing thieves, he will have a bad heart. In fact, he couldn't tell what evil things Zhao Dangshi had done in Fuhou, but he decided that Zhao Dangshi led troops to Sichuan in order to get involved in Sichuan, and his interests were at stake, so he naturally hated it.

Not only him, but Yang Zhan, Long Fuhuang and others have claimed that this piece of fat in Sichuan cannot be coveted by others, whether it is a personal enemy or a public enemy, Zhao Dangshi is a powerful threat in the eyes of these northern Sichuan generals. For a while, there were different opinions, all of them were denouncing Zhao Dangshi's evil deeds, and many rumors without conclusive evidence were even fabricated on the spot, but no one investigated them deeply, and no one cared about the truth. For Zhao Dangshi, as long as he says it, he is willing to believe that it is true.

Zhao Guangyuan, who was listening, listened to the more outrageous they said, and became impatient, coughing lightly and reminding: "Brothers, no matter what Zhao Dangshi sent troops to Sichuan for, we also need to make an idea as soon as possible." ”

Cao Xun nodded, stretched out his hand to stop the rest of the people who were talking about the spittle, and said in a loud voice: "As the so-called 'snipe and clam compete for the benefit of the fisherman', the Sichuan Rebellion is all caused by the sacrifice of thieves. ”

Yang Zhan said: "What Lao Cao said is reasonable, according to the marching route of the thief, as long as Chengdu Mansion is not captured, my northern Sichuan will be peaceful." It's better to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, let the thief fight with Long Wenguang and Zhao Dangshi first, and we will recuperate and forge ahead. ”

Hou Tianxi said worriedly: "If Long and Zhao join forces, the thief may not be an opponent. ”

Deng Ruoyu nodded and agreed: "Yes, once Long Wenguang gathers troops to guard Chengdu in front, Zhao Dangshi's soldiers and horses are in hot pursuit, and the thieves are attacked, the chances of winning are not good." In the face of interests, friends and foes were redivided, and unconsciously, they actually began to worry about Zhang Xianzhong.

"This is not necessarily, the thieves have accumulated a huge number of years, at the beginning, the soldiers of the four provinces of Yang Inspector Guild were ambushed on all sides, and there was nothing they could do, even if they were at a disadvantage, Long Wenguang and Zhao Dangshi might not be able to completely wipe him out." Cao Xun groaned and said, "As long as the thief does not die for a day, there will be no peace near Chengdu Mansion, and Long and Zhao will be tired." The enemy is tired and I am sharp, and the strength is one and the other. ”

Yang Zhan said: "This is very true. There's another good thing here, I wonder if you think of it? ”

"What's the benefit?" Everyone knows that Yang Zhan has a strategy.

"Zhao Dangshi is still a guest general in the final analysis, and we all regard him as a jackal, not to mention the governor yamen who oversees a province. The sacrifice thief is strong, Long and Zhao Zi can work together to suppress the thief, but what if the sacrifice thief is weak...... Hey, there's a lot to do. ”

When everyone heard this, they nodded slightly, and Cao Xun said: "This is the art of checks and balances. How to turn four-legged into three-legged, and then three-legged into two-legged, and even my northern Sichuan is unique, you still need to hate the enemy and work together to plan. ”

Yang Zhanying said: "Exactly, this matter can't be rushed, we must take one step at a time, and come steadily." For example, if you hunt deer in the forest, you must be patient and observe and seize every opportunity. He added, "The top priority is to hope that you will reorganize your troops and horses after you go back and come to Langzhong as soon as possible." As long as we clench into a fist first, we can attack and retreat and defend. ”

Among several people, Cao Xun, Hou Tianxi, Yang Zhan, Long Fuhuang and Zhao Guangyuan are now stationed in the territory of Baoning Mansion, and it is convenient for the military mansion to govern Langzhong County, in addition to them, Zhu Hualong and Deng Ruoyu also agreed.

At this point in the conversation, Cao Xun looked at Zhao Guangyuan and said, "How many of our brothers know the southern affairs, and I don't know what is going on in the north?" I also want to ask Brother Zhao for advice. ”

Zhao Guangyuan cleared his throat and answered: "The south is a thief chaos, and the north is a thief chaos. ”

"I heard that the thieves have entered the gate?"

"Yes." Zhao Guangyuan sighed, "Sun Junmen didn't hold Tongguan, and thieves flocked into Shaanxi and attacked everywhere. The officers and troops of various departments in Shaanxi are scattered, where can they be stopped, and they just care about fleeing for their lives. And Shaanxi is a thief hole, this is good, the thieves responded, and the wolf smoke was everywhere. I was stationed in Hanzhong Mansion, and I expected that there would be difficulties sooner or later, and I was entrusted by the nobles to enter Sichuan first. ”

In the first battle of Tongguan, the army broke through the city, captured the superintendent Daxu and claimed to have killed the superintendent Sun Chuanting. Bai Guangen went to Guyuan, Chen Yong went to Qinzhou, and Gao Ruli went to Hanzhong...... The Shaanxi soldiers from all walks of life scattered and fled, and the rout was difficult to stop. The army took advantage of the situation to blossom in all directions, Weinan, Lintong and other places were lost successively, and when Zhao Guangyuan got the news, the army had already arrived under the city of Xi'an.