At the beginning of April of the twelfth year of Chongzhen, 15 days after Zhao Dangshi returned to the camp from the southeast, the deputy general of Shipingtu stationed in Shuanggoukou suddenly opened in the field, and heard that the direct reason was that Xiong Wencan wrote to Chongzhen and took the initiative to ask for "the withdrawal of the dragon in the field and the return of the troops to Yunnan", the reason was that he obeyed the will of the people because of "the dragon disturbed the place". However, according to the Secret Service Department, the rumors about the tyranny of the dragon in the field in Jingxiang came from a strange source, and it is likely that someone deliberately spread it. Considering that Long Zaitian was the superintendent of Zhao Ying and Xiying, and Zhao Dangshi did not mean to drive Long Zaitian away, this must be the result of Zhang Xianzhong's pressure on Xiong Wencan.

In order to appease Xiying and whitewash the peace, Xiong Wencan's compromise and cowardice shocked Zhao Dangshi, and after the shock, worries lingered in his heart. Recently, Xiying's actions have been frequent, and he is in the game, and as time goes by, Zhao Dangshi can personally feel the increasingly dull sense of oppression.

The soldiers did not move, and the military situation went first. During this period, Zhao Dangshi focused on explaining that Pang Jinming wanted to focus on the monitoring of Xiying in Gucheng County and Cao Ying in Fang County. However, before Pang Jinming adjusted the deployment of the division at night, he first discovered a suspicious person in the Hong'an Temple in the southeast of the county.

The first thing to feel different was the fire dwelling Taoist priest in the temple. In the evening of the same day, a group of three or four people came from the direction of Suizhou, settled in Guanli, and asked to rest for the night. It happened that the wife of the Huoju Taoist priest was about to give birth in a few days, and she could not be disturbed, so the Huoju Taoist priest refused to stay overnight and was only willing to provide food and drink. Who knew that the group was very arrogant, and threatened the statue of the god with a knife, and the Huoju Taoist priest was afraid of frightening his wife, so he had no choice but to agree. The group did not know that this temple was also a place where Zhao Ying, who patrolled the southeast, did not accept his permanent residence at night, and slept in his clothes in the middle of the night. The Huoju Taoist took the opportunity to lure Zhao Yingye to come and wipe out all of them.

Zhao Ying didn't accept the captured people at night, all of them were sturdy, with short soldiers and crossbows, I thought it was a wandering bandit, and I was about to interrogate, but I didn't want a few people to bite the poison and die immediately, only one was dying, and they were rescued, only then did they realize that things were not simple, and they were sent to Pang Jinming overnight. On the occasion of this eventful autumn, Pang Jinming was also cautious, and finally pried open the man's mouth with all his might, and did not dare to be arbitrary after learning that it was a person from Xiying, and brought the person to Zhao Dangshi.

The lucky person in front of him was tied up and knelt on the ground, Pang Jinming said to Zhao Dangshi: "This thief originally said that his surname was Wang, but his subordinates found a 'black' word from the handle of his sword, and he couldn't deny it, so he confessed that his name was Hei Bangjun." ”

"Hei Bangjun, but he is as his name suggests, he was born black enough." Zhao Dangshi sneered.

Pang Jinming shouted: "Thief, tell my lord what you said to me, otherwise I will break your tongue, and I won't be able to say it in the future!" ”

Hei Bangjun snorted a few times and said, "The villain is working under the account of the head of Xiying Ma, and he has been ordered to investigate the situation of thieves near Xiangyang Mansion in the past few days. As he spoke, he kowtowed to Zhao Dangshi a few times, "The villain offended the people in the adult's territory and did not harm him, but several brothers died." The prime minister of the adult can hold the boat in his belly, so let the villain go, and the villain will never say a bad word to the adult when he goes back. ”

Zhao Dangshi looked at him and said, "I haven't asked yet, but you said it first." Okay, let me ask you, what did your brothers do when they didn't do anything wrong, but they committed suicide by swallowing medicine one by one? ”

"Villain ......" Hei Bangjun knew that he was speechless, his black face turned red, he looked left and right for a while, and held back a sentence, "The villain and others are all doing the work of licking blood on the knife, and the way has fallen into the thief's cave, and they are all looking forward to repaying the country with death, and they can't embarrass the court." ”

"Let go of your mother's fart, our company won't talk about it at night, the first thing you do when you enter the temple is to show your identity, and your group of people suddenly burst into a fight and kill, so they tied you up." Pang Jinming scolded him angrily, and turned to Zhao Dangshi again, "Lord, this thief has instigated a few tricks, and Si Zhongye is already considered a first-class good hand if he doesn't accept his brothers, and he took advantage of the surprise, but in order to catch them, he seriously injured one and lightly injured three." ”

Hei Bangjun kowtowed again and said: "The matter is urgent, and the villain doesn't think about it so much......" said and glanced at Zhao Dangshi intentionally or unintentionally, and quickly moved his gaze elsewhere.

Zhao Dangshi's heart moved at the moment and asked, "Lao Pang, are they coming from the direction of the state?" ”

Pang Jinming nodded and said: "There is only one avenue from Suizhou to Zaoyang, and the Huoju Taoist priest met them on the official road east of the temple, so there will be no mistake." ”

"The thieves on the ground in Zaoyang have their own battalion to deal with, what kind of thieves does Manager Ma want you to investigate?" Zhao Dangshi's face changed sharply, and his eyes were as sharp as knives, forcing Hei Bangjun to raise his head.

"Mr. Ma takes care of him......" Hei Bangjun swallowed his saliva, but he couldn't speak, and his breathing became heavy.

Zhao Dangshi then said: "Lao Pang, you go and call Lao Zhou." Waiting for Pang Jinming to go out, he took a few steps back with his hand in the back and said coldly, "I'm afraid that you are not ordered to investigate the thief's situation, but to take my life, right?" ”

Hei Bangjun said in a panic: "Whatever the adults say, they will give the villain a thousand dares and dare not move such thoughts." ”

Zhao Dangshi no longer paid attention to him, and Zhou Wenhe entered, Zhao Dangshi said: "Lao Pang, where is the knife of this black guy, take it out and show it to Lao Zhou." ”

Pang Jinming did as he said, took Hei Bangjun's knife from the shelf, and handed it to Zhou Wenhe. Zhou Wenhe was puzzled at first, but after sweeping his eyes back and forth, he suddenly said, "Lord, this is the knife!" "After that, he untied the other saber on his waist and handed it to Zhao Dangshi together with Hei Bangjun's knife, "When Yingjianglou was in distress, his subordinates kept a knife from the assassin at that time, and he always carried it with him, not only to remind him to be diligent and unremitting, but also to keep evidence. Although the outer sheath carving of these two knives is different, the style of gongbi is very similar. The non-official arsenal is not a knife, nor is it an imitation of a Japanese sword. Subordinates and subordinates can't tell where they came from. ”

"You don't know what to expect, these two knives are self-forged by Xiying." Zhao Dangshi placed the two knives side by side on the desk. There is such a comparison, under the light, the two knives are surprisingly consistent regardless of their width and length, "Xiying began to make iron and make blades in April and May last year, and these two knives are the finished products. ”

Zhou Wenhe was stunned for a moment, then he was furious, kicked Hei Bangjun and kicked him over, Pang Jinming hurriedly stepped forward and hugged Zhou Wenhe and said, "Old Zhou, what are you doing!" Looking at Zhao Dangshi again, there is no intention of hindering.

"Let go of me, this thief has repeatedly harmed the lord along the way, if it weren't for the lord's blessing, it would have almost ruined him!" Zhou Wenhe looked like a mad tiger, using his hands and feet together, as if he wanted to kill Hei Bangjun on the spot.

Pang Jinming was stunned after hearing this, and Zhao Dangshi said at this time: "Old Zhou, just keep him, I still have something to ask." ”

When Zhou Wenhe heard this, he immediately put away his fists and feet, gritted his teeth and stood aside. Zhao Dangshi said: "The shopkeeper of Yingjiang Building once told me that the person who held him hostage was black-skinned and Beiyin, it was you, right?" ”

Hei Bangjun's face was as white as earth, his back was wet with sweat, and his lips trembled and he couldn't speak. In this case, not speaking is equivalent to acknowledging.

Zhao Dangshi immediately said: "You want to kill me, I don't want to kill you." ”

Hei Bangjun asked: "My lord, the villain was also ordered by the superiors, and he had to do it as a last resort. ”

"Yes, you're not more than a knife when you're told. Murder is always the one who asks the knife, who will look for the trouble of the knife itself? ”

"What do you mean?"

"On the way back, you obviously didn't expect that I would go ashore from Qizhou to take the land route in advance, and you didn't want to lose the last chance to make a move, so you have been looking for my whereabouts in Wuchang Mansion, so you have been postponing it until now. Now, you can't kill me after all, even if I let you go back, with the strictness of the laws of the Xiying camp and the tyranny of the temperament of the eight kings, there is no need to say much about what happened to you. ”

Hei Bangjun was speechless, and Zhao Dangshi added: "I'm afraid that I will give you a knife, which is better than letting you go back a thousand times." ”

Zhou Wenhe shouted: "Lord, reward him with a knife and cheapen him." Leave it to your subordinates! ”

Zhao Dangshi shook his head and said, "I won't kill him." ”

Zhou Wenhe and Pang Jinming were all stunned, and Hei Bangjun also looked up at Zhao Dangshi.

"Serve me, write off the old enemy, and only say that you are dead. If not, my Zhao Ying's methods may not be under Xiying. ”

A few days later, on the new Xiuguan Road to the west of Fan River City, several fast horses arrived unexpectedly.

"Gucheng Lu Yue, and the head of my battalion came to visit Mr. Zhao."

At that time, Zhao Dangshi, under the leadership of He Kejing, inspected the military affairs office of Fanhecheng, which had not been completed for a short time, and officially named the military affairs office the "three military offices" to show his responsibility of "taking charge of the important affairs of the three armed forces". The main organs of the three military administrations are divided into chambers for military councils at all levels, government decrees for the government decree halls, and military supervision departments for the preparation of orders.

Ma Yuanli and Lü Yue were guided by soldiers and climbed the stone steps to the Three Military Mansions located in the middle of the mountain. Before getting the main hall, look up and see, it is a large plaque of vermilion lacquer with the book "Newspaper Palace". After the large plaque, there is still a slightly smaller plaque, which reads the words "National Heavy Military Aircraft". Ma Yuanli said with a smile: "People say that Lord Zaoyang Zhao is loyal, looking at it this way, the act of being loyal to the country is really decent." It's commendable, it's commendable. ”

As soon as the words fell, Zhao Dangshi walked out of the hall and said, "What kind of wind, blowing the two of you." As he spoke, he clenched his fists, "Manager Ma, Supervisor Lu." "He had already passed the news that the tall and fat Ma Yuanli was the general of the humerus in Xiying, and Lu Yue's status was not low.

"I heard that Mr. Zhao Town has built a magnificent palace and built a magnificent palace, so I came to pay respects." Lu Yue replied.

Ma Yuanli sighed: "Mr. Zhao, you have built a good building, and you have spent a lot of money." ”

Zhao Dangshi said with a smile: "Ququ is a despicable place, it's not worth making fun of the two." Two people, please. Although he smiled on his face, he was alert in his heart. As Zhang Xianzhong's right-hand men, Ma Yuanli and Lu Yue came very suddenly, especially in this sensitive period, and Zhao Dangshi could not afford to pay no attention to it.

There are tables and chairs in the hall, and the three of them sit down, Zhao Dangshi said: "How are the eight kings doing recently?" ”

Lu Yue replied: "The spirit is very good, but I often mention Mr. Zhao with us, and I miss it very much." ”

Zhao Dangshi said dumbly: "Oh? There is also this matter, then I will be the east another day, and invite the eight kings and a few old friends of Lord Chen of Xiangyang to gather together. And asked, "Why didn't the Eight Kings come?" ”

Lu Yue said: "The Eight Kings can't leave. ”

"What's going on in the camp?"

"Outside the camp."

"What's going on outside the camp?"

Lu Yue was just about to answer, but Ma Yuanli twisted his big buttocks, leaned back in the chair, and interjected: "Mr. Zhao, let me ask you something first." In the past few days, I have sent a few small detectives to reconnoiter the situation of thieves around Zaoyang, and I forgot to greet you. Somehow there is no news, has Mr. Zhao heard of it? I'm afraid that I won't take it by mistake for someone in your camp. ”

Zhao Dangshi shook his head and said, "There is such a thing?" The eight kings and my brothers also, and the western camp and my camp have no distinction between you and me. I won't say hello, as long as I see the athletes in your camp in my camp, I will treat each other well. However, I haven't heard of any traces of people in your camp in Zaoyang, so I think maybe I went somewhere else. As soon as there is news, I will tell Mr. Ma immediately. "His words are not slow, and his expression is calm. Completely forgot about the previous interrogation of Hei Bangjun.

"Hmph......" Ma Yuanli stared at the two blistered eyes, didn't say much, and his face was much worse.

Zhao Dangshi didn't see it, and asked Lu Yuedao: "What is the important thing outside the camp, can you still work the eight kings?" ”

Lu Yue said solemnly: "Manager Ma and I are also here for this today. After a slight pause, he lowered his voice, "According to reliable sources, within a month, Cao Ying will be reversed." ”