The southeast gate of the county slowly opened, and Hou Dagui walked into the chaotic city with high spirits, and the first thing he saw was Qin Jinxiao who was standing on the side.

"The sinner general Qin Jinxiao has seen Mr. Hou Qian!" As soon as the two looked at each other, Qin Jinxiao did not hesitate, and immediately knelt on one knee, bowing his head and arching his hands. Hou Dagui's status, he knows very well that since he has come to Chu County, then in the absence of Zhao Dangshi, he will definitely be the commander-in-chief of the front line.

Hou Dagui originally had a lot of complaints about him, but he didn't expect him to be so low and small, he was really useful in his heart, and he thought about Zhao Dangshi's thousands of instructions when he came, so the resentment in his stomach disappeared instantly. He suffered a lot of losses in his early years because of his fiery temper, and after returning to Zhao Dangshi, he learned a lesson and became a lot more flexible. At this time, because of the big victory, he was in a good mood, and he also stepped forward with the momentum, helped Qin Jin and said: "Old Qin, what are you doing, you and I are not only colleagues in the first battalion, but also brothers who fight side by side." Such a big gift, the surname Hou can't afford it. ”

Previously, because of the injustice in his heart, Qin Jinxiao had little contact with other generals in the camp, and he thought that Hou Dagui was like him, and he was an unreasonable arrogant and domineering person. For more than 30 years, they have all lived in vain. Thinking like this, I can't help but regret even more for my private speculation and leaving Zhao Ying.

"How's going in town?" Han Gon came across the horse from the rear team, saw a few people, jumped off the horse as if nothing happened, threw away the horse whip, and asked Qin Jinxiao directly. That tone and demeanor seemed to be as if Qin Jinxiao's departure had never happened.

Qin Jin Xiaohao was ashamed of himself, and he was also a little moved, and cleared his throat and replied: "After Sun Xianzu and Xue Feixian left the city, I mobilized soldiers and horses to go to the Sun family's army camp in the city. The Sun family army was defenseless, and the dragons were leaderless, and after slaughtering a hundred and ten thorns, no one dared to move. Now there are about 1,300 people left, all under control. Speaking of this, he added, "How to deal with it, all listen to the instructions of President Hou Qian." ”

"Well, okay, advanced city." Hou Dagui was very satisfied with his attitude, and thought: "What the palm said is really good." Qin Jin's filial piety is strong, he can't fold it, he can only obey it. ”

In a blink of an eye, he saw two people standing behind Qin Jinxiao, he knew one of them, and said with a smile: "Oh, Miss Qin is also there." Will this trip go smoothly? ”

That person is Qin Shilu, he doesn't like Hou Dagui who is sometimes black-faced and sometimes red-faced, and is thinking about the sentence "How can you get in if it doesn't go well", but thinking that his brother is now in a weak position, and he doesn't want to cause him any more trouble, so he tilted his head and muttered: "It's okay." ”

Hou Dagui's ability to observe words and emotions is not bad, at first he thought that Zhao Dangshi would take Qin Shilu into the house, but later found that Qin Shilu was more likely to point out to Wang Laixing, and he was envious in his heart, and decided that Qin Shilu must not be offended no matter what, so he pushed it forward, and his attitude towards Qin Jinxiao was also a lot milder.

Since he knew that he was not likable, Hou Dagui was not entangled, so he laughed twice, and then looked at another person, but it was a tall and thin young man, with a bright face, and asked, "Who is this?" ”

The young man immediately stepped forward and saluted respectfully: "Subordinate Li Yanyi, I have seen President Hou Qian. ”

Qin Jinxiao said at this time: "This General Li was originally an officer and soldier in the county, abandoned the darkness and turned to the light, and brought people to the city to find me. The housemate relied on him all the way to meet me unharmed. After a pause, he added, "Now I am serving in the back camp." ”

"Oh?" Hou Dagui has a very high political acumen, and immediately saw some clues, and said in his heart: "At the beginning, there were people and horses in the county, there were front camps and left camps, since Li Yanyi was attached, he should have found an errand to settle down in these two camps first, how did he go to the back camp that couldn't be beaten by eight poles?" Yes, it must be that this person has good ability, or some background, so he specially put it in the back camp first, and then look for promotion in the future. ”

As the first person in Zhao Ying, Hou Dagui's position can be so stable not only because of his qualifications, but also because of his vigilance and self-improvement. Just like Xu Hui was in the limelight some time ago, he really felt that he was in danger, and now he seized the opportunity of Xu Hui's illness and difficulty in getting out, and made this merit, thinking that his position would be re-stabilized.

However, adhering to the motto of being prepared for danger in times of peace, Hou Dagui believes that in order to take root in the army for a long time, the safest way can only be to cultivate cronies and henchmen. Of course, Hou Dagui did not dare to do it for the time being, and the bloody lesson of He Shihui showed Zhao Dangshi's deep hatred for this kind of behavior. All he wants is a bunch of younger brothers who he thinks can be trusted. Guo Hutou and Bai Wang's respect for Xu Hui made him red-eyed, but he couldn't successfully win over Bai Jiaolong and Wu Mingfeng, who joined halfway. After thinking about it, he could only personally promote some low-level officers and give them favors, so that they could die with their hearts.

Of course, it's not just a cat or a dog that can get into his eyes, he is struggling to find a suitable candidate, and then he suddenly realizes that this person may be far away, or it may be close in front of him.

Han Gon also looked at Li Yanyi, and didn't say anything to him, but just turned to Hou Dagui's side and whispered a person's name to him, Hou Dagui suddenly realized, Qin Jinxiao saw his expression and asked: "Mr. Hou Qian?" ”

Hou Dagui came back to his senses and said with a smile: "When I saw General Li's young talent, I felt emotional, and I didn't slow down for a while. ”

Qin Jinxiao knew that he was talking nonsense, but in this situation, he was too busy to take care of himself, how could he have time to take care of Li Yanyi's affairs, and said: "There are many things in the city, and it is still necessary for President Hou Qian to decide." ”

Hou Dagui nodded, didn't say anything else, and said loudly a few times first: "I Zhao Ying entered the city, forbidden killing, robbery, forbidden prostitution, those who dare to offend, regardless of the level of the position, will not be forgiven!" This is also Zhao Dangshi's words before he left, he originally disagreed with these words, but when these words really popped out of his mouth, Hou Dagui actually felt a proud and glorious pleasure.

"His grandmother's, I didn't expect Lao Tzu's dog to spit out such ivory from his mouth one day!" He strode forward, looking forward to the wind, and the eyes of others seemed to be filled with respect and fear, "No wonder the palm plate likes this set, it's really different." ”

Not long after Hou Dagui and Han Gon entered the city, Hao Shaoqi also rushed to the county with his men and horses out of breath. Hao Shaoqi was in a very bad mood, and kept shouting that he wanted to fight with Hou Dagui. Because in the original plan, it was supposed that after the two of them met, they would take the county together, who knew that Hou Dagui was eager to swallow his work, and knew about Qin Jinxiao's internal response, so he didn't wait for Hao Shaoqi and them to arrive, so he took the lead in taking the county. Fortunately, nothing went wrong inside and outside, and the city was taken as originally planned. But Hao Shaoqi, who was released for some reason and lost his credit, was of course unhappy in his heart.

Fortunately, Han Gon reconciled in the middle, and Hou Dagui reluctantly gave Hao Shaoqi some merits, and the discord between the two came to an end. After Hou Dagui entered the city, he first controlled the city, and then began to deal with the more than 1,000 Sun family soldiers who were imprisoned.

Although the number of the Sun family army is small, it is well-equipped, and in the cold winter years, almost everyone has a layer of cotton armor and a layer of fat jackets, and most of them are also equipped with warm leather boots and felt hats. Such a ability to withstand the cold is afraid that only the elite of the middle camp carried by Hou Dagui can be compared. Sun Jiajun's weapons are also mainly firearms, and Hou Dagui has long seen that Xu Hui is invincible with firearms, so he also wants to make a batch of firearms into the camp under envy. At this time, he was unceremonious, and took hundreds of guns and more than ten cannons for himself. Although Qin Jinxiao and Hao Shaoqi met, they were afraid of him being tyrannical, and they had nothing to say.

As for these thousands of Sun Jiajun, Hou Dagui disliked them for doing things for Sun Xianzu for too many years, and it was difficult to change their oiliness, so he didn't want to stay, but under the persuasion of Han Gon, he still left about 500 people, and they were added to each ministry separately, and the others were either slightly higher or had some connections with Sun Xianzu, and they were all killed.

Hou Dagui and other troops stayed in Chu County for five days before things were roughly settled, at this time, it was the first month of the ninth year of Chongzhen, and the wind and snow suddenly decreased somehow in this month. The snow, which had been hard to walk, began to melt slowly under the sunlight.

With Chu County and Baocheng County in hand, Zhao Ying's situation in Hanzhong regained its advantage, especially the collapse of Sun Xianzu and the Sichuan army, which greatly dealt a blow to the fighting spirit of other officers and troops in Hanzhong. Sun Xianzu, who was lucky enough to escape back to Hanzhong, never showed up again except for sending his cronies to ask for two prisoners in a low voice. And Liu Yuyang and Liu Shaozong were also shocked, and they fought in Hanzhong City without saying a word.

For Qin Jinxiao, Zhao Dangshi did not criticize him too much, because he could see that Qin Jinxiao had reversed a lot in concept after this turmoil. A strong person needs to guide him more often and let him adjust himself, if he blindly pushes him, it will only backfire. Of course, for Qin Jinxiao's willful behavior, Zhao Dangshi mercilessly criticized in front of all the generals, and then opened the net, thinking that his merits could be worthy of death, not guilty, and finally beat him fifteen boards. Qin Jinxiao had no complaints, gritted his teeth and endured all this. It can be seen that he is convinced by Zhao Dangshi's punishment, and only when the punishment board really falls on him, will his lingering sense of guilt begin to dissipate.

Zhao Dangshi acted vigorously and resolutely, taking advantage of the fact that the officials and troops were in shock, and decisively redistributed the troops. It is roughly divided into three points: in Chuxian County, Hao Shaoqi and Huideng are stationed, and Hao Shaoqi is the main; In Baocheng County, Wu Dading and Qin Jinxiao were stationed, and Wu Dading was the mainstay; Chenggu, Zhao Dangshi and Zhang Miaoshou are stationed, and Zhao Dangshi is the mainstay.

The total number of men and horses in these three places is nearly 30,000, and they are in a semi-encircled posture against Nanzheng, the governor of Hanzhong Prefecture, which can be attacked and defended. In order to further put pressure on the officials and soldiers in Hanzhong, Zhao Dangshi also made a feint to attack Hanzhong City several times, which really made the officers and soldiers in Hanzhong City panic and only tried to protect themselves.

Although the weather has improved, it is still difficult to walk in Hanzhong Province, especially in the mountainous areas near the south. Zhao Dangshi had the lesson of the previous incorruptibility, and after discussing with Qin and Mu and the generals, he was still ready to wait for the snow to melt before entering Sichuan. Anyway, Liu Yuyang and Liu Shaozong in Hanzhong are not out of the door, Hong Chengchou in northern Shaanxi is still struggling to pursue Li Zicheng, who has just become the "king of Chuang", Sun Chuanting in Xi'an is busy with the continuous military rebellion in recent times, and Zhao Ying's situation in Hanzhong is very good, and he wants to stay until the day when the time is ripe to enter Sichuan.

However, several pieces of news came at the end of January, but the situation became sinister.

During this month, the Ming court was quite dissatisfied with Hong Chengchou, who had not settled Li Zicheng for several months, and in addition to the emergency in Hanzhong, Gongchang and other places, it ordered Hong Chengchou to put the matter of "suppression" aside for the time being, and first save the urgent need of southern Shaanxi. Hong Chengchou worked hard for more than half a year, and when he saw that he was about to destroy Li Zicheng, he didn't want to divide his troops at this juncture. Although he was unwilling, he couldn't bear the heavy pressure from above, so at the end of this month, he first divided Zuo Guangxian, Cao Bianjiao, Ma Ke and other departments to help Hexi, which was ravaged by scorpion blocks. At the same time, because the troops in northern Shaanxi were really insufficient, they temporarily found Sichuan and Henan to share the pressure.

Yufu Wang Jiazhen had a good relationship with Hong Chengchou, and sent Zu Kuan, who succeeded him to the north to aid Beijing, as the "Zu Ermadman" Zu Dabi, who was the "second madman" who aided the general army, immediately entered Shaanxi; Hou Liangzhu, the chief soldier of Sichuan, was also angry that his fierce generals Wang Xijia and Liu Gui were killed by Zhao Ying and died in Dingjun Mountain, and readily agreed to send troops to help again. In these two parts alone, there are seven or eight thousand hundred strong soldiers, and the vitality of Tuoyangkun has not recovered, so he must not be able to stop Zuo Guang from waiting, and when all the officers and soldiers of these roads come to Hanzhong, let alone enter Sichuan, it will be even more difficult for Zhao Ying to retreat with his whole body.

Do you want to enter the river early?

Not to mention that the snow in the mountains is difficult to walk, if you really go, I am afraid that I will also collide with Hou Liangzhu, who is entrenched in northern Sichuan. Zhao Dangshi's original plan was to go one-on-one with Hou Liangzhu, but now it seems that it is impossible, and he will face more than three or four Hou Liangzhu-level opponents.

The only good news is that with the efforts of not collecting at night, Zhao Ying recently got on the line with Yao Shitai, who had entered Shangjin from Zhen'an and Shanyang, and according to the Che family and Liulangguan, more than 10,000 long pole thieves were in charge, but this was good news before, and in the current situation, it is useless at all - these long pole thieves seem to be many, but in fact, as the name suggests, they are a rabble with long poles as their main weapons, and they can't help much.

What should Zhao Ying do? Zhao Dangshi was once again in a predicament.