Mingshenzong Zhu Yijun's heirs are not numerous, and there is nothing in the main palace, so his sons are all concubines, and many of them died young, and only five sons have successfully come of age. The eldest son of the concubine, Zhu Changluo, inherited the national unification for Guangzong, that is, Zhu Youxiao of Xizong and the biological father of Emperor Chongzhen today. The other four sons were each crowned kings, namely Zhu Changxun, the third son of Fuwang, Zhu Changhao, the fifth son of Rui, Zhu Changhao, the sixth son of Huiwang, Zhu Changrun, and the seventh son of Guiwang, Zhu Changying. Therefore, when it comes to intimacy, the four kings of Fu, Rui, Hui and Gui are all the uncles of Zhu Youzhen, the current Chongzhen Emperor, and their status is still prominent, and they are often called "four relatives".

In contrast, the relationship between the Xiangwang lineage, which was enshrined in Huguang Xiangyang Mansion, and Chongzhen is much farther. The Xiangwang line originated from Zhu Zhandong, the fifth son of Mingrenzong Zhu Gaochi, and the current attack is the eleventh generation of Xiangwang Zhu Yiming. According to the ranking of the names of "Gao Zhan Qi Jianyou, Hou Zai Yi Changyou, Cihe Yi Bozhong, Jian Jingdi Xianyou" after Zhu Di, Emperor Chongzhen still had to call Xiangwang Zhu Yiming "uncle and grandfather" - although in terms of actual age, Xiangwang was only a little more than one round older than Chongzhen.

The blood relationship between the Xiangwang family and Chongzhen is a little estranged, but it is still within the five suits, and the Xiangwang is known as a large domain, and the relationship with the imperial court has always been close, and the Xiangyang Mansion where it is located is also regarded as a key defensive area. At present, there are two troops stationed in Xiangyang, one is Chen Hongfan, the general soldier of Changping, and the other is Li Anmin, a guerrilla garrison in Xiangyang. Whether it is military strength or seniority, Chen Hongfan far surpasses Li Anmin, so Xiangyang's defense system is essentially dominated by Chen Hongfan.

Xiangyang has been an important town since ancient times, the city is high and the wall is thick, the ditch is thousands of times, and there are countless pheasants, and now there is Chen Hongfan, who has been reading the battlefield for a long time, how to say that it can also protect the door of the Xiangyang King in it. But everything is easy to solve external injuries and internal diseases, no matter how conscientious the officers and soldiers defending the city are, they can't stand the king of Xiangyang's own good wine and not eat brine. Chen Hongfan has advised King Xiang more than once that at this very time, he should try not to focus on external industries as much as possible, but if he is a military attaché, how can King Xiang, as an emperor, take it to heart, and he is still the same. This is not to mention, Chen Hongfan and others never imagined that Zhu Changfa, the third son of the king of Xiangyang, would have the audacity to go out of the city and wander in the chaotic northern Chu area.

Although Zhu Changfa is a concubine, he is smart and handsome, and he is quite favored by King Xiang. He was only eighteen years old and had not yet been ordained, so he did not receive much attention to a certain extent. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the discipline was abolished, and the rules of the ancestors were actually empty in many vassal kings, such as the size of the palace, the etiquette of clothing, and so on. Moreover, unless the people of the clan are too blatant, even the ban on the feudal kings not to leave the domain will have no effect. It is customary for the sects of the Rui Domain of Hanzhong to go out of the city to visit the Buddhist temples everywhere, and it is not surprising that Zhu Chang of the Xiang Domain will wander around.

Zhu Changfa has also been out of the city many times before, and each time he stays for a short time, and his nature is alert, so he has never encountered any danger, which is quite familiar. But this time, it was a capsizing in the gutter.

In the small gorge of Huyang Mountain, the sunset is getting darker and weaker, and the mountain breeze secretly brings some coolness, but Yang Zhaofeng is as hot as fire. Through the interrogation of the two entourages, he had basically determined that the young man who had not yet woken up was Zhu Changfa, the son of Zhu Yiming, the king of Xiangyang. This road is to have dates and no dates to play three rods, and I don't want to catch this big fish.

Meng Aocao was also pleasantly surprised, if Yang Zhaofeng hadn't stopped him, this Northwest man who had come up from the bottom would almost have to go around and pinch Zhu Changfa's face to take a closer look.

"I don't know how these royal relatives are different from us." Meng Aocao looked at the unconscious Zhu Changfa from a distance through the faint light through the gap in the leaves, "In the Shicai wine shop, I didn't expect this kid to have such a big background. ”

Yang Zhaofeng smiled and said: "Don't talk nonsense, it's all mother's raw meat, what's the difference." Lord Huaqing, haven't you seen it. ”

Meng Aocao said embarrassedly: "County Lord Tianyi, I can peek at will." To tell you the truth, even if I escorted her a few times, I didn't dare to raise my head except for the occasional glimpse of the fluttering plain clothes. ”

Yang Zhaofeng assigned two soldiers to untie the blindfolded and gagged Zhu Changfa from the tree, and said in a low voice: "This is a big deal, and the benefits are bound to exceed expectations." Let's leave the people to the lord to decide. ”

Meng Aocao nodded, raised his eyes to look at Zhu Changfa and the three opposite, and saw Zhu Changfa unconscious, frowned and said: "The body is also weak, and it looks like a girl." Then he pointed to the two soldiers and said, "Let him each have an entourage, and the boy will let me go." ”

Yang Zhaofeng agreed and said: "He is a prince and nobleman, no more than you and me, I will be less rude to him later, if he breaks it, the gain outweighs the loss." After saying that, he smiled, so happy.

At that moment, the four horsemen set off, two soldiers carried Zhu Changfa's entourage in front, and Meng Aocao held Zhu Changfa and Yang Zhaofeng in the rear. After more than ten miles, because it will be night, few pedestrians, everyone in order to hurry, turn back to the official road, do not want to go two miles, a team of soldiers appeared in front of them.

As the night fell, there were more than ten soldiers on the opposite side, and they were extremely vigilant when they saw Yang Zhaofeng and others galloping over. The leader of a goatee ordered his subordinates to block the road, and said in a distant voice: "Wait, where are you coming?" ”

Yang Zhaofeng and Meng Aocao glanced at each other, took the horse step, and slowly stepped forward to talk: "I am a subordinate of General Zhao of Lutoudian, who was ordered to investigate the surrounding situation. I don't know who the military master is? ”

The goatee said: "Zaoyang County patrols archers." ”

In the Ming Dynasty, there was no county lieutenant, and in addition to the inspection department, there were patrol officers in the county who were responsible for local security. The patrol officer does not belong to the official sequence, there is no rank and quota, and it is usually concurrently served by the county chief bookkeeper or the warden, and the Zaoyang County warden Chu Xidi has the sole power, so these archers are subordinate to him.

Yang Zhaofeng and the others were in a hurry to return to the camp, and they didn't want to make any extraneous branches, so they took the initiative to hand over the talisman certificate to the goatee for proofreading, and then said: "The military is busy, if there is nothing else to do, I will leave first." ”

The goatee found that Meng Aocao and the others were two people and one horse from a distance, and he was a little suspicious and asked, "Who are these people?" ”

Yang Zhaofeng explained: "They are all small thieves caught during the inspection, and they are easily carried back and dropped. ”

The goatee frowned and said, "It is my duty to catch thieves and traitors, so why don't you hand them over to me and take them back to the county for interrogation." When he said this, he was suspicious, and secondly, he also had the intention of picking up bargains.

Of course, Yang Zhaofeng would not agree, so he smiled and said, "How dare you bother you brothers with such a trivial matter." Then he said, "These thieves look inconspicuous, but in fact, they may have a lot to do with the giants in Henan, and they may be able to squeeze out a lot of information that is conducive to our army's battle." It's ......"

Although the words were euphemistic, the words "Jukou", "General", and "Our Army" popped up one after another, all implying threats. That goatee is not an ignorant chick, he has already heard of Zhao Dangshi's name, he is just a little archer in Zaoyang County, and he has a good life, but there is no need to provoke such a powerful person for a little meager benefit. Therefore, after a little thought, he beckoned back and signaled for clearance.

Yang Zhaofeng thanked him, and was just about to pass, but unexpectedly, Meng Aocao on the side suddenly had an accident. I saw that Zhu Changfa, who had been asleep, suddenly burst out at this time, and slammed it violently on the horse's back, Meng Aocao was defenseless, couldn't pull it, and watched Zhu Changfa roll under the horse.

Zhu Changfa thought that he heard someone in the distance, and tried his best to shout for help, but Yang Zhaofeng had already blocked the mouths of Zhu Changfa and the three of them with thick cloths beforehand, and now with his hands tied, the whole person whimpered and curled up on the ground, like a crucian carp struggling on a chopping board.

When the sky was not completely dark, when he was on the horse, because of the distance between them, and there were horse necks and Meng Aocao to cover them, the goatee did not see Zhu Changfa's appearance clearly, and now Zhu Changfa fell off the horse, he looked at it fixedly, and suddenly noticed the beautiful silk satin.

"This ......" recalled what Yang Zhaofeng said about the "thief", the goatee with years of experience in catching thieves, and suddenly became suspicious, "You said that this kid is a thief, it's strange to look at the dress." ”

Yang Zhaofeng's heart tightened, and when it came to the juncture, he could only stubbornly say: "Yes, thieves are looting everywhere, and there are always some small ...... Mu Monkey and crown ......"

"Mu what?" The goatee obviously didn't understand Yang Zhaofeng's crepe words, so he didn't ask again, but subconsciously took two steps forward, wanting to tear open the rags in Zhu Changfa's mouth and ask what was going on.

"Something you don't know!"

Yang Zhaofeng's brain was spinning, and he was thinking of a solution, but Meng Aocao was already drinking sharply in the back of his head. He secretly screamed badly, and when he turned his head to look, he saw that Meng Aocao's eyebrows were raised angrily, and he had already raised a knife.

"Wait!" Yang Zhaofeng hurriedly stopped it, but as soon as the words came out, he saw a splash of blood, and the goatee had already broken his throat and fell to the ground on his back. At this point, he didn't have time to think about it, so he grabbed the horse's belly and trampled down an archer near his left first.

Seeing this, the remaining archers were shocked for three points, and then Meng Aocao and the other two soldiers clashed with each other, and the archers were in a panic. Although there were many of them, the leader was dead like a headless fly, and it was completely difficult to resist Meng Aocao and the others, who had been through a hundred battles. When only two or three brave resistors were slain, the rest scattered and fled.

After Yang Zhaofeng, Meng Aocao and others chased and killed for a while, the sky had completely darkened. The four horsemen reunited, Meng Aocao wiped his sweat and spat and said, "It's better to teach two or three people to jump into the forest and run." Turning to look at Zhu Changfa, who was lying a few steps away, and couldn't bear it, he said hatefully, "This kid is very good, he pretends to be dead in the morning just to wait for this opportunity to get out!" ”

The incident happened suddenly, Yang Zhaofeng's heart was in turmoil, and he had no time to accuse Meng Aocao of his reckless behavior, but said: "For the sake of today's plan, you can't stay any longer, and return to the camp as soon as possible, and the situation will be clear to the general!" ”

Calming down, Meng Aocao looked at the scattered corpses on the ground, and was also a little surprised, but only said yes. Turning back to the side of the horse, he grabbed Zhu Changfa and reprimanded: "The stinky boy pretends to be garlic less, and if he dares to play tricks, he blames grandpa for not giving face!" After that, he pushed Zhu Changfa on the horse. At this time, Zhu Changfa was the same as before, and he didn't say a word.

The four horses galloped into the night, and arrived at the Zhao camp of Delutoudian, Yang Zhaofeng took the lead in dismounting, he knew that Zhao was full of energy in the world, and this point must not have rested, so he went to the general's office without a little bit. Sure enough, after tossing and turning for a while, I looked up at the past in the distance, and the office was brightly lit.

Yang Zhaofeng took a deep breath, slowed down his pace, calmed down, and walked a few more steps, but a person flashed out of the shadows, stopped him and said: "Counselor Yang, the lord has important matters to discuss, I'm afraid it will be inconvenient to meet tonight." Looking at it, it was Zhou Wenhe, the commander of the pro-support command envoy who was in charge of the guard.

"Both of them are there?" Yang Zhaofeng asked, he was quite sensible, and did not directly inquire about the content of the meeting, but inquired in a different way. Chang Zeyu, the division of the left army, and Mu Gongchun, the division of the right army, were both strategists that Zhao Dangshi relied on very much, and if they were there, it would mean that the content of the meeting must be very important.

Zhou Wenhe looked serious and said, "Exactly, the two military advisors are here." About the battle report of the north. ”

"Battle report from the north?" Yang Zhaofeng probably knew that Guo Ruke had a situation over there, so after considering it for a while, he still said, "My situation here is also urgent, and I must face Lord Chen tonight." As he spoke, he whispered a few words to Zhou Wenhe. Zhou Wenhe's expression changed sharply, nodded solemnly to him, and turned to step away.

Inside the PCPD, the atmosphere was tense.

Zhao Dangshi was silent for a long time, and suddenly slapped the table and said: "This Guo Hutou wants to spoil me!" ”

The night before the case, he stood without putting his hands down, and Nuo Nuo said: "Commander Pang persuaded him several times, but Guo Tong did not obey, and he sent a messenger from the opposite side, but he was also beheaded on the spot by Guo Tong. ”

Zhao Dangshi was full of anger, his lips moved, and he stopped talking. Shaoqing, waved his hand and said: "I know the matter, if there is no other report, you can retreat first." "Wait until that night and leave, Fu frowned and said, "Zhang Xiongfei is a favorite general of the old Hui lineage." Killing them today is like killing the son of Lao Hui, and Lao Hui will not give up. After saying a word, he added, "Lao Huihui has always had a strategy, he is a giant in the world, I was going to send someone to contact him at a later date, but Guo Hutou, a reckless man, acted like this, and everything turned into yellow soup!" ”

Chang Zeyu said at this time: "The lord is safe, Zhang Xiongfei is dead, and it is difficult to recover from the water." Although Guo Hutou is good at advocating, the first thing to bear the brunt of now is to adjust the strategy of returning to the camp in time. ”

Mu Gongchun asked, "What should Guo Hutou do?" With what he thinks of Zhao Dangshi's character, the newly promoted Guo Ruke is afraid that he will have to make a big mistake.

Zhao Dangshi was angry and wanted to speak, but Chang Zeyu preemptively said: "My lord, my subordinates think that it is not appropriate to punish Guo for control at present. ”

"Why did you say that, sir?" Zhao Dangshi's eyes widened, and his body couldn't help leaning forward, "This guy is newly promoted, and he has committed such a mess and messed up my plan without authorization, how can I let it go." I think I need to give him a good beating. ”

Chang Zeyu shook his head and said: "Guo Tongzhi did not think about it well, but the lord also said that he was promoted not long ago, and now he is immediately punished." On the surface, he was punished, but in essence, it damaged the prestige of my Zhao Ying. ”

When Zhao Dangshi heard this, his gloom disappeared a little in an instant, and he leaned back into the chair again.

Chang Zeyu continued: "If Guo Tong does not convict, it is enough, and if he wants to be convicted, it is by no means a small crime. If we think that our battalion is Chen Xinli, and the foundation has not yet been stabilized, we will first exempt ourselves as generals, then the trust of the sergeants in the authority of this adjustment will inevitably be shaken, and everyone in the camp will perform their duties, and who can take over the vacancy left by Guo's command in a short period of time? ”

Zhao Dangshi was silent, and Chang Zeyu further said: "Besides, in the whole battalion, there are very few people who know our core strategy, and more generals know that Zhang Xiongfei has humiliated you. Such a domineering bandit, killing is very happy, if the lord kills Guo Tong because of this, I am afraid that I will lose the expectations of the public, and I will also lose my spirit. ”

"Hmm......" Zhao Dangshi held his chin in his hand and looked at the side of the table in front of him.

Chang Zeyu arched his hand and said again: "In addition, the lord killed the thief and won the battle outside, which is a great merit, and the court will have encouragement." However, if the news of the lord's punishment of the 'meritorious person' spreads, it will not be said that others suspect that the lord's reward and punishment are unknown, and it is difficult for the court to say that it will not directly doubt the relationship between the lord and the return to the camp. If it really arouses the suspicion of the imperial court, it will definitely hinder the direction of our 'shun the imperial court'. Please also think twice. ”

Zhao Dangshi nodded heavily at this point, and said with a sigh of relief: "Mr. Jinyu's good words are really pertinent and reasonable. If I am angry for a while, I am afraid that I will regret it later. ”

Chang Zeyu said: "That's the case, but Guo still has an arrogance in the end." He must be rewarded and punished openly. That is, to the public, praise and praise, but in private, the lord has to talk to him personally. Thinking that Guo Tongzhi is also a reasonable and loyal person, he will not be indifferent. ”

Zhao Dangshi sighed: "Such goodness, my camp is as good as ever, and it will not be in vain." ”

Chang Zeyu said: "As for the old man going back there, the so-called 'it's not too late to make amends', you can send someone to see you first, sincerely apologize, and watch his reaction." At the same time, however, it is necessary to prepare for both. ”

Zhao Dangshi should claim to be. At this time, Zhou Wenhe jumped to Zhao Dangshi's side from the outside, and ordered Yang Zhaofeng to ask for a meeting.