The long-awaited dragon in Tianbe finally arrived at the boundary of Xiangyang Prefecture in late July. The purpose of Long Zaitian's visit was to supervise Zhang Xianzhong's department in Gucheng County and Zhao Dangshi's department in Zaoyang County, and his stationing place was chosen in the northeast of Xiangyang Prefecture, between Gucheng County and Zaoyang County.

There are about 2,000 people in the field, and they are good at handling birds and elephants, "and they are quick and sharp with shotguns, and they can take people a hundred paces away, and they can penetrate all of them." The toast of the department is a one-toothed elephant, and the thief and horse cannot be a thief." On the third day after Long Zaitian arrived at Shuanggoukou, Xu Bingchun, the capital of Shiping Camp, was responsible for handing over to Zhao Ying, and Long Zaitian himself accepted the invitation of Zhu Yiming, the king of Xiang, and went to Xiangyang to attend the banquet.

Although the banquet was in the name of King Xiang, the behind-the-scenes planners were Zhao Dangshi and Chen Hongfan. Zhao Dangshi has been paying attention to the movements of the Shiping camp, and on the first day that Long Zaitian led the army into Xiangyang Mansion, he asked Fu Xunyu to visit the camp as a gift. Surprisingly, the envoy of Xiying actually saw Long Zaitian one step earlier, and also carried a rich gift.

Fu Xunyu did not act rashly at that time, and inquired secretly, knowing that Long Zaitian had received the gift of Xiying, but politely declined Zhang Xianzhong's invitation to set up a banquet in Gucheng to wash the dust for himself. He kept an eye on it, changed his course temporarily, and when he met Long Zaitian in person, he only gave gifts, and his earlier plan to invite Long Zaitian to Zhao Ying's banquet was not mentioned.

Zhao Dangshi expected that Long Zaitian shouldered the responsibility of monitoring the West and Zhao Second Battalion, so he deliberately avoided direct contact with the Second Battalion, so as not to teach the truth. But he was bent on marrying Long Zaitian, and he never wanted to fall behind Xiying, so he sent someone to find Chen Hongfan overnight, hoping to raise the flag of King Xiang to create an opportunity for Zhao Ying to contact Long Zaitian.

Sure enough, as soon as Zhu Yiming and Chen Hongfan came forward, it was difficult for Long Zaitian to refuse. If the Shiping Battalion wants to live smoothly in Xiangyang Mansion, it cannot ignore the influence of the local snake Xiang Fan and the friendly army Chen Hongfan. Zhao Dangshi took the opportunity to attend, Long Zaitian was still a little uncomfortable at the beginning, but after a few glasses of wine, his mentality calmed down. Although there were many dignitaries and dignitaries at the banquet of the Xiang Domain, in just a few glasses of wine, Long Zaitian could clearly feel that the protagonist of the banquet was Zhao Dangshi. Even if he was a little unhappy with Zhao Dangshi's deliberate trapping, he was also clear in his heart, and Zhao Dangshi, who could get King Xiang and Chen Hongfan to give him enough face, must have a very good status in Xiangyang Mansion, so his attitude towards Zhao Dangshi became more important.

Unlike Zhang Xianzhong, Zhao Dangshi had a relationship introduced by the Zuo family, and later had business dealings with Long Zaitian, coupled with the constant praise of Chen Hongfan and others at the banquet and Zhao Dangshi's own sworn assurance, Long Zaitian's mind inevitably began to tilt towards Zhao Ying. At first, Long Zaitian, who was given the task of monitoring the second battalion of Xi and Zhao, was very worried, although his subordinates were fierce, but there were only 2,000 people in the sky, and once there was a change, it would be impossible to deal with the tens of thousands of soldiers of the West Battalion and Zhao Battalion, who were known for their fierce death. Since Chengtianfu went north, all he thought about all the way was to weigh the strategy of the second battalion in the future.

It is not possible to take into account, but can only be emphasized, especially after contacting Zhao Dangshi himself, Long Zaitian basically set the tone of pulling Zhao Ying to suppress Xiying for the time being. The change in his thoughts was not spoken, but how could people like Zhao Dangshi and Chen Hongfan not see the clues, and through the subtle expressions and movements on his table, they were clear.

Only because of Chen Hongfan and Zhu Yiming's help, Zhao Dangshi can be regarded as a line with Long Zaitian, and throughout late July and early August, Zhao Ying treated Long Zaitian as a small gift on three days and a big gift on five days, and was courteous. But in order to avoid arousing Zhang Xianzhong's suspicion, Zhao Dangshi himself and Long Zaitian did not meet again.

As of August, the situation in the entire eleven years of Chongzhen was a low point for Liukou. In Henan, Huguang and other places, Liu Guoneng, Zhang Xianzhong, Zhao Dangshi and other big Kou successively accepted Zhao'an, while Ma Shouying, Luo Rucai and others hid in Tibet, but they were just struggling to support them. Shen Wandeng, the king of Shunyi, was also under pressure not long ago and led his troops to surrender in Xinyang.

Looking at Li Zicheng in Shaanxi, he was also quite embarrassed in the face of the encirclement and interception of Hong Chengchou, the governor of Shaanxi, and Sun Chuanting, the governor of Shaanxi. At the beginning of August, Hong Chengchou even told the court that "all the thieves in Guanzhong" were exhausted, and the fatigue of the Shaanxi Liukou was fully revealed. The imperial court ordered the Shaanxi officials and troops to go out to aid Yu and Chu, and Sun Chuanting felt that Kou Ping's day was in sight, and he was extremely active, and sent people to contact Prime Minister Xiong Wencan and Henan Governor Chang Daoli, hoping that the combined forces would wipe out Yu Kou in one fell swoop.

But Xiong Wencan and Chang Daoli reacted indifferently to this, firstly, out of the desire to fight for merit, and secondly, they did not want the guest soldiers to enter and disrupt their own deployment. Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting therefore had to turn to continue to pursue and suppress Shaanxi, Shaanxi Supervisor Dao Fan Yixuan, Guyuan General Zuo Guangxian, Lintao General Cao Bianjiao, Ningxia General Ma Ke, Yansui Deputy General He Renlong and other troops in southern Shaanxi, in Wang Langkou defeated the camp, and cooperated with the Sichuan soldiers to control the key passes everywhere, so that the camp could not be re-applied to Sichuan to dodge, and then guarded the Shengxiankou and Zhuyang Pass, not to let it escape to Henan, Huguang, the camp was embarrassed, the old management team, Huang Yuer, Chen Hushan, Qi and other commanders were in charge of the plate or died or captured or surrendered, Li Zicheng had no choice but to hide in the mountains of central Shaanxi again.

Shaanxi, Henan, and Huguang are all in a hurry, so Zhao Dangshi is quite fortunate to accept Zhao'an's choice at the beginning. On August 14, on the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the inauguration ceremony was held in the small city of Zhaoying in the north of Lutoudian, although in addition to the soldiers' barracks, in essence, including the city gate, the city wall, the defense facilities and many other aspects were not perfected, but He Kewei thought that this city was a symbol of Zhaoying's self-reliance, and it was necessary to choose a good day and an auspicious day to be completed, so it was better to hold a ceremony in advance to Zhao Dangshi. Zhao Dangshi also believed that setting this matter early was conducive to stabilizing the morale of the army, so he readily agreed.

In the Ming Dynasty, it was strictly forbidden to build city walls privately, so that there were regulations on the choice of mud or brick for the city walls. But the actions of military leaders such as Zhang Xianzhong and Zhao Dangshi, who support the army and respect themselves, have long been ignored by the imperial court. What's more, Zhao Ying has always complied with the imperial court, and there are many people who speak for it, and in the name of defending against the attack of thieves, it is reasonable to build barracks for soldiers. Therefore, at the inauguration ceremony, there were many dignitaries of Xiangyang Mansion who were invited, and Xiong Wencan also sent a plaque to show encouragement. Zhao Dangshi took the local name "Fan River" and named the city "Fan River City".

Five days after the inauguration ceremony of Fanhe City, sixty miles south of Zaoyang County, the old city of Qingtan.

Qingtan City was founded in the Western Wei Dynasty, once a county governance, abolished during the Tang Wude period, and incorporated into Zaoyang County. Hundreds of years have passed, and most of the former city walls are in ruins, except for a chest-high rammed earth wall to the east, but it is also full of potholes and crumbling. This city and Suizhou ground junction, located in the passage of holes, so weekdays pedestrian traffic is not less, Zaoyang County also stationed here more than ten archers to maintain order.

Unlike in the past, these dozen archers today lost the domineering vigor of the past in the market, and they all squatted beside the muddy old city caves by the rubble pile. Just because there is an order in the county, from now on, the defense and security work near Qingtan City will be fully handed over to the people under the command of Zhao Dangshi, the general of Lutoudian. Thinking that in the future, there will be less money to exploit the past business trips in Qingtan City, where will the waiting archers still be in a good mood.

Some of the people passing by recognized them, and they all showed disdain. Many of them live in nearby villages and forts, and they come to the city to catch up with the market on weekdays, and they are not less oppressed by these archers on weekdays, although they don't know what the replacement of Zhao Yingjun is doing, but watching these archers in front of them who rely on the support of the Chu family, the archers of the fox and the fake tiger are leaving, everyone is also very happy in their hearts.

After a while, the sound of horses' hooves was heard on the road in the distance, and the archers looked up with their gloomy eyes open, and one of them asked, "Is it someone from Zhao Ying?" ”

Some people have the strength to respond, but others feel that something is wrong, stretch their necks, listen carefully to the north-south path, and frown: "The people of Zhao Ying are from the back country, and they should be on the north road, why do I listen to the sound of horses' hooves but come from the south road?" ”

When the archers heard this, they were suspicious, and they all listened attentively. Sure enough, the sound of horses' hooves from the south became more and more concentrated over time, while there was no sound from the north.

"The people of Zhao Ying were all horse thieves before, erratic, who knows where they are gone?" Some of the archers also put on a strange look, stretched their waists, and stood up, "No matter where he came from, don't we all have to go back to our hometown?" ”

The rest of the archers were in a heavy mood, and they felt justified when they heard him say this, and they didn't think much about it, and more than ten people all stood up.

In the moments of these few breaths, the sound of horses' hooves on the south side suddenly became heavier, and the archers looked at each other, only to feel that the earth seemed to begin to tremble slightly.

"Zhao Ying is here, come to ...... How many people came, and why were there so many? "The archers were more experienced than the others, and the sound of horses' hooves roughly estimated that there must be no less than a hundred horsemen. Not only him, but even the fledgling boy among the archers was stunned.

As he spoke, there was a cry on the south road, and the archers looked fixedly, but saw more than ten horsemen leaping out first, and countless cavalry followed by dense turns, shaking like a mountain ridge, and several people who could not dodge were knocked down by horses, and were instantly overwhelmed by the endless hooves of horses.

"Ahh It was the old archer who was the first to react, opening his mouth and shouting, and the archers who were dumbfounded and stunned were as if they had broken their souls by his voice, and they scattered at the same time as if they were electrocuted.

However, in the muddy water splashing everywhere, the iron cavalry arrived early, and the first three horsemen each planted a triangular flag behind them, and one horse took the lead, first opened a bow and arrows to shoot over the two archers, and then shouted: "Cao Cao saves the world, the obedient one lives, and the reverse one dies!" He shouted three times in a row, and the frightened archers and the people only wanted to flee and survive, so they just ignored them.

More and more cavalry poured into Qingtan City, and in a short time, the empty space at the old site in the south of the city was filled, and the ground gap between the horses' hooves was already covered with corpses and blood.

At this time, the soldiers and horses of the Zhao battalion who came to the north to hand over with the archers of Zaoyang County arrived.

Zhao Ying obtained control of most of the Guanjin Danger in Zaoyang County from the hands of Chu Xidi, as the farthest stronghold in the south of the county, the importance of Qingtan City is self-evident, and Han Gon, who led the Feijie battalion stationed in Houxiang, also sent Meng Aocao with men to explore the terrain with the handover soldiers.

Meng Aocao had been caught by the Chu family two months ago, and his body was fine, but he was mentally devastated. I was depressed for two months, and it didn't get better until the beginning of this month. Hangon wanted him to get back on his feet and kept arranging for him to do some small errands to adjust his condition. Meng Aocao is also shameful and brave, whether it is for people or affairs, he is a lot more low-key and cautious than before. Today, before he led his troops to Qingtan City, he had already sensed something wrong through the rangers, so he deliberately slowed down his troops to observe the situation. Later, the rangers reported again, and there was really a force that came from nowhere and raided Qingtan City from the south. He made up his mind and turned the original handover mission into a reconnaissance mission.

Only arrived at the north end of Qingtan City, the chaos in the city had already reached his ears, and there was a ranger who reported the cross slogan of "Cao Cao saves the world, those who follow the life and those who go against it die", he nodded and said: "I think it must be the people of Cao Ying, but who is the leader of the troops?" ”

The ranger replied: "I don't know who, but flags have been planted all over the city, with the words 'Pioneer General Li of the Pioneer Battalion of the Horse Army' and 'Pioneer Deputy General Wang of the Pioneer Battalion of the Horse Army' on them!" ”

Meng Aocao didn't speak, and rode away, but he knew in his heart that there were two people who came, one Li Rugui and one Wang Kehuai, both of whom were fierce generals under Luo Rucai, commanding Cao's cavalry, and they were very brave. Since the two of them have arrived here, it can be seen that Luo Rucai himself will definitely enter Zaoyang County sooner or later.