White clouds floated halfway up the mountain, as if even they could not touch the majestic and handsome mountaintop.

Unlike the Tianxing Mountains, which have eight passages that communicate the east and west of the mountain, there are only two roads connecting the left and right in this Hualin Mountain since ancient times.

One is in Mo County, while the other is in Jiangcheng.

If the road in Jiangcheng is a gift from God to the people of Hedong County through the westward flow of water, then this road in Moxian County is a passage that can really be called a road opened up by hundreds of thousands of people living on both sides of the Hualin Mountains after a hundred years.

When Lihua led the army all the way to Jiangcheng through the dangerous road of Moxian, he really realized what it means to open the world and what it means to open mountains and split stones.

The danger of looking at the road along the way is often less than a hundred steps away, but it is necessary to hollow out the boulder and pass through the stone. Walking on the road, you will find that you can't see the top of the mountain on the cliff on the side, and you can't see whether the abyss under the cliff is a forest or a stone hill.

If it weren't for the fact that Da Lang Erlang was very excited on this way, every time the camp rested, he would force him to take them out for a swim to appreciate the magnificence of the rivers and mountains, I am afraid that if he walked on such a road for too long, he would be desperate and discouraged.

It's too small compared to man and nature. But people don't know how to conform to nature and appreciate nature, so they will naturally be desperate and discouraged when they see things they can't conquer. From this point of view, Lihua doesn't know such a simple truth better than Da Lang Erlang.

When passing through the Hualin Mountain Road and entering the Jiangcheng in the middle of the river, Yu Lihua looked back at the majestic mountains he had walked through, and layers of fine sweat oozed from his back.

looked at Da Lang Erlang again, but there was a hint of reluctance in his eyes, which made Lu Lihua smile when he looked at the partner he raised single-handedly.

When Lihua came to Huangyin, it was already the cold winter season, but even though the cold wind was howling and the snow was covered outside the city of Huangyin, the army of Rong people had launched a siege on Huangyin for more than three months.

The reason why Lihua did not go south along the Yellow Water and then eastward to reach Huangyin was because the Rong people had already occupied the five counties of Xieyu Guandong.

The Xieyu Corridor, which is located on the only smooth road between Xiaoshan and Huangshui, has been completely occupied by the Rong army, so if Lihua wants to reach Huangyin, he can only reach it by crossing Hualin Mountain and then going south.

This is also the route that Wei Huan led 40,000 Qi troops to support, and it is also the route where Lihua laid heavy troops all the way.

Defend Huangyin and Jiangcheng, then the Rong people from Xieyu Guandong will have no chance.

"General, Gu Zaizuka and Zhang Sikou have arrived in Yaoping a month ago. As soon as he arrived at the place, Master Gu immediately assigned the officials from Hexi County to each county to take over the civil affairs of the counties.

At the same time, he also asked Lord Zongbo and other clan ministers to go south to Wangji through Qi to pick up the monarch and the middle and greater people to return to Hedong County to settle down.

......”

As soon as he arrived in Huangyin, Lihua immediately summoned the guards to understand the situation in Hedong County.

At the beginning, in order to arrange the Longmen and the defense of the party, Zhu Lihua did not leave for Hexi County until a month after Gu Daoyuan and others escorted Mrs. Yin and Gongzi Hui to Hexi County.

So as soon as he arrived in Huangyin, he asked Gao Yunce about the movements of Gu Daoyuan and his party.

"Gu Zaizuka, so

Quickly send those officials to the counties? Could it be that he is not afraid of the nobles of the counties to obstruct him? After listening to Gao Yunce's words, Zhu Lihua muttered to himself with some doubts.

Gao Yunce laughed when he heard this, and said respectfully: "General, there is really no need to worry too much about this matter, because the matter of the nobles has been resolved. But this is not the credit of Lord Gu, but the credit of General Xizi. ”

"Oh?" Hearing this, Lihua looked at Gao Yunce with some doubts, waiting for his next step.

"General, as soon as Lord Xizi came to Hedong County, he gave the nobles of each county two choices and two months."

As soon as she heard Gao Yunce's words, she immediately asked with great interest, "What do you mean by this?" ”

Gao Yunce then said with a smile: "Every time General Xizi sends people to go to a city, he sends an ultimatum to the local nobles and asks them to make a choice.

He has always said that the Qin State newly occupied Hedong, and under the heavy responsibility of resisting the Rong people, they could not care about screening the people at both ends of the nobles, so they had to leave Hedong County within two months with all their family wealth except land.

Second, if you don't want to leave Hedong County, you must give up all your positions in managing the local area and become a rich man with peace of mind. Again, this must be done within two months. ”

After hearing this, Zhu Lihua smiled and said, "Will those nobles really do it because of a few words from Lord Xizi?" The hereditary nobility of Hedong County is not known, but the intricate relationship between them and the offices of Qi and Qin is different from that of other counties. The nobles here are all people with eyes above the top, and how can they listen to him. ”

After listening to Xi Zihui's wishful thinking, Lu Lihua was about to make fun of it a few more words, but found that Gao Yunce had an intriguing smile on his face. His brows furrowed slightly, and he asked in surprise, "Did he succeed?" ”

Gao Yunce nodded and said, "General Xizi not only succeeded, but also achieved unexpected results. ”

"Oh, tell me more about it, let me hear it." Lu Lihua hurriedly answered with great interest.

After Dr. Xizi sent someone to bring the letter to the nobles of each county, those nobles naturally ignored the matter as the general said, and even wrote a letter of impeachment to the king of Wangji, and also specified that General Xizi should pass it on to the king on his behalf.

Isn't this a naked slap in the face of General Xizi.

Strangely, after General Xizi sent a letter, he never replied to the inquiries of the nobles of the counties, and even did not mention the matter again, and even ignored the provocations of the nobles until two months later.

When those nobles thought that General Xizi had retreated in the face of difficulties and was triumphant, General Xizi suddenly issued an order to the garrisons of each county.

Overnight, the patriarchs of the nobles of the 12 counties in Hedong County, which were in our hands, were all captured and killed by General Xizi. ”

"What? Kill them all? ”

As Lihua's smiling face gradually turned pale, his originally enthusiastic gaze when he looked at Gao Yunce gradually became cold. After thinking about it for a few breaths, Zhu Lihua said coldly: "General Gao is also involved in this matter." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, except for Wei Huan and a few other Qi generals in the hall, the rest of the Qin generals who came here from Hexi County of Qin State all left the table and knelt in front of Zhu Lihua.

Gao Yunce said solemnly: "General, General Xizi and I have discussed for a long time, and we all think that Hexi County can compete with the Rong army and still retain the hope of recapture.

In addition to the general's strategizing and being good at military affairs, the biggest reason is that the people of all counties support the general without reservation.

Therefore, the soldiers and horses we have lost can be quickly replenished, and even if we have to clear the wilderness, the people who have lost their homes have no complaints.

When the general left Hexi, the people of Hexi were like losing their parents, and the general said that he wanted to go to Hedong County, and the people of Hexi wanted to follow.

Could it be that the general really didn't know why?

The Rong people invaded the land of our Great Qin, and the people everywhere they passed regarded them as Bodhisattvas who saved the world, and the immortals who punished the evil, how could they have the slightest desire to return to my Great Qin, did the general really not know what those people wanted in their hearts and what the Rong people wanted?

Now, we only occupy one county in Hedong, and our peril is only imminent, so the brothers have discussed it, and we must not lose this last inch of foothold.

However, when I came to Hedong County and issued a notice to the counties to levy and change the army, the nobles not only did not cooperate with us, but also intimidated and obstructed the poor people who wanted to join the army, so that I could not recruit a single soldier capable of fighting in two or three months.

Back then, we sat on the land of eight counties, and the combined population of each county was only two or three hundred thousand people, but even so, we still grew from 3,000 soldiers to 780,000 soldiers and horses. It can really be said that every family has people who have joined the army, and every household has sent Ding to defend the country.

But what about Hedong County, nearly a million people, except for those ruffians and scoundrels, there is no one who has joined the army, if I hadn't sent someone to investigate, I would never believe that the nobles of Hedong County were so mad that they united to let us fight without soldiers and wait for the Qi army to return to Hedong County.

But they don't know that once we are defeated, the Rong people will kill all the nobles and give all their property and land to the people.

It is really a dream to let Hedong return to the country of Qi.

However, since they are unkind, they want to be loyal servants of the Qi people. So why should we be polite to them, so when General Xizi came to Huangyin, we discussed and came up with such a plan together.

If General Wei hadn't insisted on giving them a chance, then three months ago, these nobles would have been all killed by us, so why wait until today.

If the general thinks that what we have done is wrong, then I will have to bear the blame for it. ”

Gao Yunce said loudly, gritted his teeth and stretched his neck after speaking, and calmly looked at Zhu Lihua with a shocked face.

"When you killed the nobles of Hedong, I didn't receive any information about this matter in Shangdang, and I went from Moxian to Jiangcheng to Huangyin, and no one talked to me about it along the way.

It seems that everyone is quite unanimous in their opinions on doing this. It's just that I still have some doubts to ask you, and if your answer can reassure me, then I will not pursue this matter anymore. ”

When Gao Yunce heard this, half of his heart finally fell. There is obviously a sense of helplessness in Zhu Lihua's words, and there is even more helplessness in not being held accountable by the law.

The matter of killing the nobles of Hedong County behind his back was discussed by Xi Zihui with himself and Liang Qingshu, and it did obtain the consent of all the soldiers and officials.

Even, when Gu Daoyuan and Zhang Ziyu came to Yaoping, Gao Yunce also went to Yaoping City to explore the tone of the two adults.

But even so, Gao Yunce did not have the slightest confidence in whether his own main general, Zhu Lihua, would agree.