On the day Liu Xiaohong returned to Zhaoying, it rained heavily. But the pouring rain did not affect Zhao Dangshi's mood, Wu Dading was willing to cooperate with him, he was naturally happy, and what made him even happier was that Liu Xiaohong finally let go of his ideological baggage, and through this mission, he officially integrated into Zhao Ying.

Overjoyed, he gave Liu Xiaohong many rewards, but without exception they all refused to return. Liu Xiaohong didn't care about the gold, silver and jade silks, but only hoped to continue to look for books that interested him in the seizure of Xu Hui's camp, and reminded Zhao Dangshi not to forget his previous promises about military discipline.

Zhao Dangshi respected his character and didn't say anything more. Now that the cooperation with Wu Dading has been finalized, the next thing to do is to drive the little red wolf and others to the northwest according to the agreement. With this strategy as a guide, the major military objectives of the southeast are also a matter of course. The next day, Zhao Dangshi sent an order to Hao Shaoqi, who was stationed in the east of Yangxian County, and asked him to immediately go south to join Qin Jinxiao and Meng Aocao of Buckwheat Mountain. At the same time, the middle and rear second battalions of Hou Dagui and Wang Laixing, as well as the remaining horse army of Han Gon, were all summoned and assembled together with Xu Huizuo's battalion here.

According to the plan set in the previous military meeting, a day later, Qin Jinxiao and Hao Shaoqi of Buckwheat Mountain completed their army and began to march westward. After Zhao Dangshi received their movements, he also began to spread his forces along the Han River and slowly advanced southward. At the same time, in order to prevent the official army of Hanzhong from taking advantage of the fire to rob, Zhao Dangshi asked Han Gon to take the horse army to Baocheng and Hanzhong to intersperse as suspicious soldiers.

In the Hanzhong Mansion in October of the ninth year of Chongzhen, with the arrival of Zhao Ying, the war clouds were suddenly thick.

Under the same rolling clouds, in the south of Zhengcheng, the main force of the Zhao camp in Chenggu County, in the south of Zhengcheng, the governor of the southern province of Guannan, the face of Liu Yuyang, a sub-inspector of the Guannan Province, was as ugly as the dark sky.

Liu Yuyang, who is not confused at the age of life, has never been so uneasy in his life as he is today, he was born in Mianyang, Sichuan, and became a jinshi at a very young age. And his two younger brothers, Liu Yuliang and Liu Yulie, are now the right attendants of the Ministry of Officials, and the other is an official in Denglai, and several brothers of all clans are also holding official positions in the central or local government. The official career is like a broad road for him, and he can go on smoothly with his eyes closed. However, in recent years, the thief rebellion in Shaanxi has plunged him, who has always prided himself on his steady progress, into infinite sorrow.

Since he served as the Taoist of the Guannan Branch of Shaanxi, the pressure from both the military and the political side has made him almost like a cow. Hanzhong is not better than other places, it is the core of the entire southern Shaanxi, and it is the key way to control Sichuan and Shaanxi. At first, the thieves were not very powerful, and he could still deal with them, but later, the rogue became stronger and more numerous, and his strategy changed from clearing to self-preservation. Moreover, from the beginning, they could barely unite with the nearby county towns and forts to echo each other, but when they arrived, they only sat in Nanzheng, and they were beyond the reach of the whip chiefs of the counties under their jurisdiction, like a small boat in the stormy waves, isolated and helpless.

Originally, Hanzhong, where the "Four Relatives Domain" Rui Fan was located, was the object of key defense and protection of the official army. However, after Chen Qiyu, the governor of the five provinces in the seventh year of the Chongzhen campaign, was deposed, the officials and troops of Shaanxi were constrained by the situation and began to tilt their focus to northern Shaanxi and the border between Shaanxi and Henan, and the strength of Hanzhong Prefecture was empty for a time. So much so that last year, even a rogue like the little red wolf came up with the idea of conquering Hanzhong.

However, what made Liu Yuyang feel the most chilling was not the pressure brought by the rogue, but the attitude of the other three heavyweights in the Hanzhong Mansion towards the battle situation. These three people are Zhu Changhao, the king of Rui, Sun Xianzu, the chief soldier of Lintao, and Liu Shaozong, the chief soldier of Gansu.

As the King of Rui, who is more important than Hanzhong City, Zhu Changhao seems to be blind to the wanderers outside the city. A few months ago, Gao Yingxiang entered the Kou and besieged Hanzhong, Liu Yuyang begged for thousands of beggars, but he couldn't say that Zhu Changhao, who was like an iron rooster, took out a penny of silver to fund the army. In the end, it was not until the critical moment when the city was almost broken that Zhu Changhao became nervous, and he was reluctant to allocate some money and food as the cost of temporarily recruiting villagers in the city. And as soon as Gao Yingxiang retreated, the Rui Wangfu was impatient to release a large number of domestic slaves, and began to look for the people who received the recruitment fees throughout the city, and extorted the money back. How many assets Zhu Changhao has, Liu Yuyang can't think of the specific amount, but he is used to seeing the Rui Fan spending a lot of money to build a large number of Buddhist temples, so he is sure that the money and grain allocated during the war are definitely less than a drop in the bucket of the Rui Wang's family business. Therefore, Zhu Changhao's stinginess shocked him.

In addition to being a dime a dime, as the nominal largest leader in Hanzhong and the number one beneficiary in fact running Hanzhong, Zhu Changhao has no sense of ownership at all. Liu Yuyang originally thought that if he raised the call of King Rui as the defense of Hanzhong City, he would definitely be able to lift the spirits of the squires, soldiers, and people inside and outside the city and strengthen their fighting spirit. But even if he said it, Zhu Changhao was still not interested in this proposal. This prince even shamelessly said that he believed in Buddhism and did not want to get involved in the world, let alone participate in matters related to killing. really made the hot-blooded Liu Yuyang angry.

King Rui couldn't count on it, and Liu Yuyang couldn't force it, so he turned his attention to Sun Xianzu and Liu Shaozong. According to his initial thoughts, these two are both martial artists, and they are veteran generals on the battlefield, so the exchange of battle situations should be relatively smooth.

Unexpectedly, these two people's negative attitude towards the war was even worse than that of King Rui. Liu Yuyang believes that if it weren't for the clear responsibility of these two people to suppress thieves, their enthusiasm may not even be comparable to that of King Rui. Speaking of which, Sun Xianzu is also a fierce general who fought Tartars in Liaodong and chased Jukou in Shanxi. However, I don't know if it's because of his advanced age, Sun Xianzu has long lost his passion for Yukou, and every time he has a meeting, he uses old age and illness as an excuse to shirk it, Liu Yuyang himself estimates that in these three months, except for the car that bumped into him on the street at the beginning of this month, he has never met him again.

Liu Yuyang couldn't bear it, and once used the relationship between the DPRK and China to ask someone to impeach Sun Xianzu several times, but unexpectedly, Sun Xianzu's background is also very hard, and there are many people in Beijing who speak for him. Moreover, considering that there is a lack of generals in the northwest, and it is a tense moment, it will do more harm than good to temporarily change the generals. The courtiers were too timid to take responsibility, and the ball was kicked back and forth, and finally it was gone. Sun Xianzu later seemed to have heard that Liu Yuyang was saying that he was not, and his attitude was even more cold, and he simply did not even appear in the previous few sieges against the Liukou.

Liu Shaozong was commissioned by Hong Chengchou to lead Gan's troops to help a few months ago, and joined forces with the defenders to break the siege of the giant Gao Yingxiang. But although this person is younger and stronger than Sun Xianzu, he is a coward. Gao Yingxiang was able to defeat that day, but it was not good to break into the camp and reconnoitre, and all the soldiers and horses were thrown into the siege without leaving enough reserves. Liu Shaozong was lucky to win, but he was more afraid than losing, and as soon as he entered the city, he became a turtle with a shrunken head with peace of mind, and no matter how Liu Yuyang persuaded him, he refused to move a step. And made it clear that the "Master Hong" in the north would not come, and he would never fight.

They are unwilling to do things honestly, and if Liu Yuyang wants to pick and choose again, then there is really no hope for this Hanzhong. Fortunately, Liu Yuyang has a strong sense of responsibility and did not give up. Under his arrangement day and night, the current defense of Hanzhong City is still not a mess.

Originally, sticking to the city and ignoring the county seat, this state of not dying and not living could barely hold on, and Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting in the north won big victories one after another, maybe they would be able to come to support after a while. Who knew that there were unforeseen circumstances in the sky, and the camp was gone, and suddenly a "Zhao battalion" came from the north, and the soldiers and horses were still quite strong. This is no less than worse for Hanzhong Mansion, which had already caused a miasma for the little red wolf and others.

Zhao Ying is no longer the unknown Xiaokou a year ago, at least Liu Yuyang knows that this group of thieves has stirred up Sichuan, and the destructive power is amazing, in terms of strength, it may still be above the little red wolf and so on. And recently, Zhao Ying's soldiers and horses have been more and more persecuted to the city, which makes him even more anxious.

The car traveled and stopped at Xiangrui Lane, and the raindrops falling from the hazy sky hit Liu Yuyang's neckline with the wind, Liu Yuyang helped Che Shi to jump out of the carriage, and a servant next to him quickly held up an oil-paper umbrella to help him shelter from the wind and rain.

Looking forward through the rain curtain, there were two large stone lions squatting on the left and right not far away, and behind them, an extremely magnificent and majestic mansion was located. An old man in a scarlett robe hurried by, and the drooping child he was holding in his hand watched in amazement. In this child's memory, since he was born, I am afraid that it is the first time I have seen this wide and heavy door between the stone lions open.

Liu Yuyang looked back at the dazzling glass wall behind him, exhaled lightly, and walked towards the door. While walking, I still couldn't help but look up at this large-scale Ruiwang Mansion.

He still remembers the shock of being here for the first time. Just looking at the periphery of the palace, he couldn't help but be stunned at that time. Looking up, you can clearly see several watchtowers towering out of the house, about three zhang high, and there are family members on the watchtower who are always on guard. The exterior wall that separates the inside and outside of the house is nearly a foot high, not rammed earth walls, but stone walls with bricks inside and outside, which are very strong. Looking at the open green door, unlike the ordinary mansion, there are seven large bubble nails and forty-nine small door nails on the left and right doors, which is to prevent the thick iron plate on the outside from loosening the bottom of the hardwood door inside, and more importantly, to show the dignity and glory of the palace's status.

The side door on the left side has been in charge of receiving the family in the palace for many years, and it is often open, not like the main gate that has been closed for many years. Outside the gate there were also many wooden stakes for tethering horses.

There was already a steward waiting at the door, and when he saw Liu Yuyang, he stepped up to pick him up. Although the other party was only the first person in charge of the palace, Liu Yuyang did not dare to slack off, and after the other party saluted and said hello, he also returned the salute.

Entering the main gate and entering the outer courtyard, the first thing Liu Yuyang saw was a rather wide inner shadow wall, and then looked left and right, and the two watchtowers were symmetrically distributed behind the two screen doors on the left and right of the outer courtyard. The watchtower was built in the middle of the outer courtyard, and there were many side rooms around the courtyard, and I think these rooms should be for the family to live in. There are also symmetrical wings on the left and right sides of the main road, and the relatives of some side branches of the palace should live here.

Liu Yuyang followed the steward through the moon gate, turned into the corridor, and the carved walls of Junyu were endless along the way, and after walking for a while, he came to the lotus pond. This is the garden in the palace, built in imitation of the water town in the south of the Yangtze River, the pavilions of the water pavilion are exquisite, Liu Yuyang even heard that a few rockeries in the small pond are all purchased and transported from Suzhou and Hangzhou with great effort. Looking at this pleasant beauty, listening to the sound of the rain falling down the edge of the corridor at both ends, Liu Yuyang unconsciously felt relaxed and smooth, however, it was only for a short while, when he remembered the reason why King Rui invited him to come today, his heart couldn't help but tighten again.

has always "not asked about the world", how could King Rui, who lingered in Liangyuan, take the initiative to invite? Liu Yuyang once asked the slave of the palace who came to pass the word, but the slave didn't know anything. It happened suddenly, and he felt that something big must have happened.

Liu Yuyang, who was full of apprehension and had no intention of playing, walked into the small pavilion standing in the center of the pool, where King Rui had already put down the wine and food. To his surprise, in addition to Zhu Changhao, the king of Rui, there were two acquaintances in the pavilion who had not met for a long time, one Sun Xianzu and the other Liu Shaozong.

Sun Xianzu, who was covered with old brown spots and gray hair, stood up first and saluted Liu Yuyang with a smile, and Liu Shaozong also rose up, smiling at each other. Liu Yuyang didn't have a good impression of the two of them, although he was not happy in his heart, his face was still light, and he returned the salute.

At this time, Zhu Changhao, who was dressed in a jade robe and brocade clothes, clapped his hands and said, "Since the three adults have arrived, let's have a drink first as a feast." The four of them stood up, drank their glasses, and sat down again.

The maid filled the wine glasses of the four people, and brought side dishes one after another, Liu Shaozong was quick-eyed, grabbed a handful of peanuts, and ate them while peeling them: "Well, this thing from Luzon is really delicious, and I can't stop eating it." ”

Liu Yuyang looked at his vulgar appearance, and said angrily: "This peanut is not from Luzon." ”

Liu Shaozong sighed and asked, "Isn't it from Luzon and Boni?" ”

Liu Yuyang didn't want to pay attention to him, and turned to Zhu Changhao and said: "The prince invited, his subordinates are flattered, thank you here." As he spoke, he sat down and arched his hand. He knew that with Zhu Changhao's stingy temperament, he would never invite himself for no reason. And he also called Sun and Liu both over, and they must have encountered a thorny problem that can't be solved even if they spend money. It's not good to ask directly, so this sentence is tempting.

As soon as his words fell, Zhu Changhao shook his sleeves and stood up, and said with a sad face: "This king has a disaster here, and the three of them must help!" After that, he ignored his humility and bowed down to the three of them.