Guotianxing Huideng Xiang and Mantianxing Zhou Qing are both from Qingjian, Shaanxi, although they are in the same township, but the relationship between the two is not very good. To put it simply, Hui Deng, who was born as a border soldier, looked down on Tu Qi and Zhou Qing. If it weren't for the fact that Gao Yingxiang and other giants left Shaanxi one after another, there would be only three families left in Shaanxi to rely on each other, and this Hui and Zhou Erren would not be able to get together.

In order to suppress Kou Jiao, under his full supervision, Zuo Guangxian, Cao Bianjiao, He Renlong, Sun Shoufa, Zhao Guangyuan and other officers and soldiers in Shaanxi all went all out.

Two months ago, Hong Chengchou sent his lieutenant generals Zhao Guangyuan and He Renlong Ziwei and Qianzhou to the south to attack Li Zicheng and others, who had just slipped out of the area of Wang and Long, and were defeated. Zhou Qing, who was full of stars, wanted to surrender the official army several times before, but he couldn't stop it because of Li Zicheng's obstruction, and at this time he understood that it was Li Zicheng who Hong Chengchou really wanted to rectify, so he was unwilling to accompany Li Zicheng to die senselessly, so he found an opportunity and broke away.

Hui Dengxiang also saw the trick and also left Li Zicheng. After that, they slipped from Qingyang Mansion to Gongchang Mansion, and they were really not strongly blocked by the official army - the official army in northern Shaanxi was now under the supervision of Hong Chengchou, one of them concentrated on chasing Li Zicheng, and the other was dealing with the scorpion block of the chaotic Shaanxi land to expand the cultivation of Kun, and could no longer draw manpower to control the surging Hui Dengxiang and Zhou Qing.

The relationship between these two people is not good, and in order to protect themselves during the extraordinary period, they can only pinch their noses and move together, they studied the situation, and think that now northern Shaanxi and Guanzhong are the focus of the eyes of the officials and soldiers, and if they want to get a chance to breathe and replenish their blood, Hanzhong Mansion in the south seems to be a good choice.

Because they have been hiding in northern Shaanxi for too long, the news is not clear, they only know that the old king Gao Yingxiang is gone, but they don't know the current situation of Zhao Ying, and when they arrived at Luoyang, the westernmost part of Hanzhong, they learned from the local pimpy that Zhao Dangshi is the first person in the current Hanzhong Mansion.

Zhao Dangshi?

Hui Dengxiang and Zhou Qing were quite strange at first, but after the strangeness, the psychological changes of the two were almost the opposite.

Unlike Zhou Qing, who is repetitive and undisciplined, Hui Dengxiang is still a very strong person. He has been a soldier and has seen the darkness and decay in the Ming army, so since the incident, he is sure that the Ming Dynasty is on the verge of death, and there is no reason to revive it. To put it more thoroughly, Hui Dengxiang believed in the Mandate of Heaven, and he believed that the next rotation of the Mandate of Heaven had arrived, but it was no longer controlled by the terminally ill Ming Dynasty.

A strong belief in a person's heart can influence a person's decision-making in many ways, and Whittenson is no exception. Because he no longer had much hope for the Ming Dynasty, no matter what kind of dangerous situation he had fallen into over the years, the first thing he thought of was to use his own struggle to break the shackles and turn things around. can be different from Wheden, Zhou Qing was the second pole in the township from the beginning, he had no vision and no faith, he was a thief, to a large extent, just to beg for food and continue his life. Therefore, he was able to let go of the so-called courtesy, righteousness and shame, begging to the officials and soldiers again and again in difficult times, and betraying and leaving again and again. There is often a proverb among the rogues "Master Hong in northern Shaanxi, Lord Zhou in Qingjian", which is to ridicule Zhou Qing for not spending less time under the official military system than when he was a rogue. This is also an important reason why Whitden disdains to be with Zhou Qing.

From Qingyang to Hanzhong, although the two were not attacked by the official army, Yu Lu was also attacked by local armed forces such as the fortress regiment training, and it was difficult to find food under the snow and wind, so it lost a lot of troops, and the total number of men and horses in the second battalion was only 3,000. There is not enough time to recover his strength, and with only such a few people, it is naturally difficult for Hui Dengxiang and Zhou Qing to have enough security, and therefore, after learning that Hanzhong Mansion is now a confrontation between the official army and Zhao Ying, Hui Dengxiang felt that Zhao Dangshi should be contacted, but Zhou Qing thought that he should submit a surrender table to Sun Xianzu.

"Northern Shaanxi didn't fall at that time, and now you have become a soft-footed shrimp, and you are not ashamed?" Hui Dengxiang held the chai door with one hand, full of contempt. His voice was extremely hoarse, somewhat like the sound of pulling rags, and it might be difficult for anyone unfamiliar to make out the words clearly.

Zhou Qing, who was black, seemed to have become accustomed to Hui Dengxiang's ubiquitous contempt, lowered his head, and said angrily: "In northern Shaanxi, there is still Lao Li to carry, and when you arrive in Hanzhong, you and I add a piece of less than 4,000 people, what do you take to fight with the officials and soldiers?" ”

Hui Dengxiang glanced at him coldly: "Zhao Dangshi, have you forgotten?" ”

"Zhao Dangshi?" Zhou Qing laughed dryly, "When I came out, he didn't know where to feed. ”

Counting, Zhou Qing's qualifications are older than Hui Dengxiang, he is the old man who rebelled in Guanzhong in the first year of Chongzhen, and at that time he was also one of the ten leaders of the camp in Dongshan, ranking eighth. He looks down on the "nouveau riche" Zhao Dangshi, and he does have some confidence.

Hui Dengxiang snorted and said: "But when the family was just starting out, he overthrew Cao Wenzhao, and Zhongdouxing and Fanshan Harrier were also defeated under him, and now they are evenly matched with officers and soldiers in this Hanzhong." Do you think he looks down on you? ”

Zhou Qing's head shook like a rattle: "I've seen a lot of this kind of person, and that one is also full of excitement...... Come and go as fast as you go. Don't look at him now, I'm afraid that as soon as the cold winter passes, he will be attacked by officials and troops from all walks of life, Sun Xianzu and Liu Shaozong in Hanzhong are not good at stubble, do you think he can support it? Speaking of which, I didn't forget to add, "I heard that he suffered repeated defeats some time ago, and his decline has been revealed, and befriending him is not a long-term solution." ”

Hui Dengxiang "haha" smirked: "What kind of long-term plan, you are too careful, and it will be a while." ”

Zhou Qing's white eyeballs rolled around on his dark face, and said: "I heard that Lord Sun of Chu County is eager to seek talents, and he has recruited a lot of rebels in the near future, so we can be regarded as a little famous, and if we go to demote him, we will have to be reused." ”

Whitden laughed loudly: "Old Zhou, you are really cute. Famous? That's when we are still a righteous army, put it in the official army, you are a fart! Then he said, "The matter in Shaanxi is urgent, Sun Xianzu naturally wants to recruit the righteous army as a buffer temporarily, and when the north is settled, Hong Chengchou and them go south, you see if there is a place for us to settle in this Hanzhong!" ”

Zhou Qingqing glanced at him innocently, and said to himself: "It's not that I haven't done anything about deception." As you said, if you have to get by, it is better to go to Sun Xianzu than to Zhao Dangshi. ”

Whitden waved his hand and disagreed: "It's just that you have repeatedly gone too far before, so you can't easily join the official army." Sun Xianzu is scheming, do you think it is so easy to get out of his middle school? ”

Zhou Qing insisted: "Don't think I don't know. Recently, Xue Feixian and those Qin and other people have all voted for him, and they are all very mixed. What is Xue Feixian? Am I worse than him? Sun Xianzu will never have eyes without beads to this point. ”

"Long-range and close-range, small and big. Xue Feixian is a small fish and shrimp, each of which is in its own camp, and it is difficult to become a climate, so Sun Xianzu is naturally happy to accept it. Like me, with a single shout, you can gather tens of thousands of horses, can Sun Xianzu not be afraid? You can't live a peaceful life under him. ”

The two argued for a while, but they didn't come to a conclusion. In the end, Zhou Qing became impatient and threw out a killer idea: "I won't hide it from you, Lord Sun has already sent someone to me a few days ago." I said yes right away. ”

Earlier, Tangma reported urgently, saying that there were thieves from Gongchang, called "Chaotianxing" and "Mantianxing", Sun Xianzu was playing chess with his staff at that time, and he was old, and his memory was not good, so he didn't understand the difference between the two, but only remembered the word "Tianxing", and afterwards he wrote a letter of resignation, and asked his subordinates to take it to recruit the two. The subordinates were influenced by him, and they thought that there was only one leader, and by mistake, they went straight to Zhou Qing's camp, and naturally forgot about Hui Dengxiang.

Whitden didn't expect this, first stunned, and then angry. He didn't know Sun Xianzu's mistakes, but thought that he had been slighted, thinking that if he really surrendered to Sun Xianzu with Zhou Qing, he would be recognized as Zhou Qing's horse, which he couldn't tolerate. At the same time, he was also angry that Zhou Qing did not inform him in time, it was obvious that Zhou Qing deliberately concealed the news, in order to give the other party the impression that Zhou Ying was the main person when he came and went with Sun Xianzu.

Thinking that Zhou Qing actually dared to stumble on himself secretly, Hui Dengxiang became more and more angry the more he thought about it, and when he did, he almost had to touch the saber on his waist and have a full martial arts with Zhou Qing. But in such a short moment, his mind turned, and he suddenly thought of another aspect.

Zhou Qing peeked at Hui Dengxiang, watching his Lian turn from red to white, from yin to sunny, in the process he was actually very nervous in his heart, and he was ready to fight with him at any time, but in the end he was relieved, forced to calm down, and asked, "What do you think about this?" ”

Whitden squeezed out an ugly smile and said, "Such an important matter, why are you only saying it now, Lao Zhou?" ”

He didn't get angry as usual, quite unexpectedly Zhou Qing, Zhou Qing was drumming in his stomach, but he thought, "Yes." The surname Hui has always been able to distinguish priorities, and when he sees that I am now completely in control, it will be useless to come to the strong, so he can only understand the current affairs and follow me. ”

Zhou Qing was very inferior in front of Hui Dengxiang, and this inferiority complex became an extraordinary self-esteem. He had never been able to find any aspect that could overpower Whitten, and at this time, seeing that Whitden had actually made one of the compromises, his heart was indescribably happy.

I only heard Hui Deng say: "I originally thought that uniting with Zhao Dangshi would be the best way out." I didn't want Master Sun to take the initiative to invite us, which shows that he attaches great importance to us. Now that the wood is in the boat, I won't slap Lao Zhou in the face. I only hope that when the time comes, in front of Lord Sun, you don't patronize your own performance. ”

Zhou Qing hurriedly said: "How can this be." You and my brothers, in northern Shaanxi, are in the same boat through thick and thin, and they will never leave this Hanzhong all the way. The surname Zhou is not without conscience, and if you have food, you will not give it to Brother Hui. ”

Whitden sighed and said, "At the beginning of the incident, how many brothers worked together for justice. Over the years, the sea of blood has been up and down, and there are a few people left, the world is hard, and if you want to continue to live, the assistance of brothers is indispensable. I have offended Brother Zhou in my words before, please forgive me. ”

Zhou Qing humbled again and again, and thought in his heart: "The surname Hui is really thick-skinned, and he turns his face as fast as the wind." He was afraid that I would suppress him in front of Master Sun, so he began to speak softly. "Think again," "Three thousand soldiers and horses, half of them are his people, if he changes, I am afraid that the matter of belonging to Lord Sun will be yellow." Now it's better to stabilize him first, settle down in the future, and it's not too late to get him slowly. ”

Hui Dengxiang said some good things, coaxed Zhou Qing to be comfortable, and said suddenly: "By the way, did Lord Sun mention to you when he was attached?" In this wilderness, the cold wind is like a cut, and if you stay any longer, I am afraid that you will not be blessed to last until the day you see Lord Sun. ”

Zhou Qing didn't think much about it, and replied: "Lord Sun only said that the surrender ceremony will be held at the foot of Dingjun Mountain at that time, and I also expressed my wish to return as soon as possible." I think Master Sun is not such an unreasonable person, and the official surrender is in these few days. ”

Hui Dengxiang had been to Hanzhong many times before, and he knew the location of Dingjun Mountain, thought about it, and said with a smile: "Master Sun is really sincere. ”

Zhou Qing was a little proud, and said: "That's nature, I won't look away." Master Sun is in Chu County, so it's very convenient for us to meet him. You said before that you were going to find Zhao Dangshi, and you had to pass through Chuxian and Hanzhong in the middle, and you got there, I'm afraid that our people should almost die. ”

Hui Deng responded and smiled at the same time, but inadvertently, when he looked at Zhou Qing, his eyes were full of fierce light.

Three days later, it was the first month. In the past two months, there has been little fighting, and the tense mood of the government and the people has gradually relaxed. For them who have been scared for a whole year, a new year means a new beginning, and a good start is more important than anything else. Therefore, even though Hanzhong Mansion is still shrouded in the oppressive war clouds, Hanzhong City and even Chu County still began to celebrate the New Year on a small scale. Looking at the city with colorful lights, red candles and a joyful and joyful atmosphere, it is really difficult for people to take the initiative to think of the cruel reality after the New Year. How people wish that the days would be as easy as this New Year.

That is, when Hanzhong Mansion and Chuxian were immersed in the joy of the year, from Baocheng, there was a group of people and horses, who secretly set off, braved the huge snowstorm, and disappeared in the flying white mang.