Approaching the end of the year, every household inside and outside Nanjin Pass, Baoning Prefecture, Sichuan Province has begun to paste red paper and hang red lights in advance. On this day, there was a light snowfall, and the pavilions in the courtyard were covered with white velvet like matsutake mushrooms. The surroundings are all plain white scenery, and the vermilion couplets posted on the beams and columns of the eaves are particularly distinct.

The pool of blood soaked by the fusion of snow crystals on the edge of the front steps of the court added a touch of bloody cruelty to what should have been a festive 'red winter'.

Zhao Guangyuan slowly pulled out the bloody long knife, shook his head with a little regret and said, "Brother Cao, the world is unpredictable, I'm sorry." ”

In the snow, Cao Xun's corpse twitched by itself, and the wound on his chest foamed with blood and splashed all around.

"Cao Xun is rebellious, and intends to hold the prince hostage to do unrighteous acts, and the death penalty cannot be escaped." Zhao Guangyuan withdrew the knife from its scabbard and looked coldly at Cao Xun's companions, who were stunned. They followed Cao Xun out of the county seat of Langzhong County this morning, and braved the snow to come to Zhao Guangyuan's mansion in Nanjin Guancheng to drink and enjoy the snow. Speaking of which, this mansion is still a meeting gift given to Zhao Guangyuan by Cao Xun when he killed the original owner, but now he is dying here, which is really a great irony.

"My lord, the prince is here."

"Please!" Zhao Guangyuan trembled and immediately tidied up his clothes.

At this moment, the corridor was kicking, and Zhu Changhao, the indifferent Rui King, walked into the courtyard with his head held high. only glanced at the ground with slanted eyes, and said lightly: "It's quite quick to do things." ”

Zhao Guangyuan snatched the paper umbrella from the handmaiden, blocked the snow for Zhu Changhao with his own hands, pointed to Cao Xun's corpse and said: "Cao Xun has been extremely rebellious, and he is clever day and night, Zhao almost bewitched him, and he is very ashamed." Now change your mind and face, and get rid of this traitorous person with a clear will! ”

Zhu Changhao snorted coldly in his nostrils and said: "Mr. Zhao is righteous and thin, this king knows that he and Cao Xun are not all the way, and they can get lost and know how to return, and they are very good." At that time, the court will be there, and the king will speak according to the truth! ”

Zhao Guangyuan nodded and almost knelt down to thank him, but said: "Lord Wang's great grace, Zhao is unforgettable!" I am willing to redeem my life for the crimes I have committed in the past! ”

Recalling Zhao Guangyuan's previous behavior and the current judgment between the two, Zhu Changhao couldn't help but sigh secretly, and only thought in his heart that his son-in-law, who had never met before, was really reliable.

The reason why Zhao Guangyuan's attitude has been turned upside down is because the trend of northern Sichuan has been completely controlled by Zhao Dangshi.

In the middle of this month, Zhao Dangshi rested in Zitong County for two days, and then led 25,000 troops to continue north, heading directly at Jianzhou. At that time, the defenders of Jianzhou were Zhu Hualong, the general soldier of Songpan Town, and Long Fuhuang, the deputy general of Baishuiguan Town, with nearly 8,000 people. And Cao Xun, the general of the camp in the northern Sichuan town of Baoning Prefecture, which was expected to rush to the aid of Jianzhou, and Zhao Guangyuan, the general of the Han Qiang army, still did not move.

Zhao Dangshi, Gu Junen and others speculated that the Northern Sichuan Army in Baoning Mansion did not move, and it was likely that Cao Xun and Zhao Guangyuan deliberately used Zhu Hualong and Long Fuhuang as gunmen, and they were planning to ride the wall when they saw the opportunity. After all, although Jianzhou is strong, the sharpness of Zhao Ying's soldiers and horses is also obvious to all, and with Cao Xun's courage, they may not be able to make up their minds to bet their old capital on Jianzhou to fight to the death. If the situation in Jianzhou is not good, they may abandon their allies and retreat in advance, which is not uncommon.

But having said that, once Zhao Ying really began to storm the Jianzhou Jiancheng Pass, it would inevitably take troops and time, and if Cao Xun and Zhao Guangyuan saw some chance of victory, they might temporarily change their minds and make up their minds to participate in the war, which would become a greater obstacle to Zhao. In addition, the whole of the Rui Domain is in the hands of the Northern Sichuan Army, the swords are ruthless, and no one can guarantee that the Rui King and others will be safe and sound in the chaos of the army, and Zhao Dangshi never wants to see Cao Xun and Zhao Guangyuan coerce the Rui Domain to run away. If this is the case, Sichuan will never have peace.

For the sake of saving time, reducing casualties, and preserving the Rui Domain, Gu Junen suggested to Zhao Dangshi that he should "take northern Sichuan".

The so-called "Wentori Sichuanbei" is taking the road of going to the army and plotting. It can be seen from the previous panicked retreat of Deng Ruoyu's abandonment of Mianzhou and the hesitant reactions of Cao Xun and Zhao Guangyuan that the alliance between the generals in northern Sichuan was very loose, which gave Zhao Ying the opportunity to obstruct and disintegrate.

Occupying northern Sichuan, Jianzhou is an important node that cannot be bypassed, and in Jianzhou City, the most important armies are Zhu Hualong and Long Fuhuang. Among them, Zhu Hualong has 5,000 people, and Long Fuhuang has 2,500 people, and in comparison, Zhu Hualong actually occupies an absolute dominant position. In a word, as long as Zhu Hualong can be dismantled, then Jianzhou will be self-defeating.

How to dismantle Zhu Hualong? Without him, it is the same as when dealing with Deng Ruoyu, and he will be saved if he attacks him.

The territories of Zhu Hualong, Deng Ruoyu and others are all in the northwest of Sichuan, and the area they are currently stationed in is completely in two directions. Deng Ruoyu was defeated and captured in Mianzhou, and the Long'an Mansion he occupied was empty. And Zhu Hualong's base camp Songpan Mansion is even after Long'an Mansion, Zhao Ying only needs to send a soldier and horse to the northwest day and night, at most five days, Long'an Mansion and Songpan Mansion soldiers can stand without blood.

Deng Ruoyu, Zhu Hualong, Cao Xun and others are cooperative relations, not subordinates, and they are not maintained by a deep blood feud like Hou Tianxi, so it is naturally impossible to give up their own territory and bring all their families to northern Sichuan, and cherish the belief that all jade and stones will be burned. It can be said that the lack of cohesion is the biggest shortcoming of the Northern Sichuan Army hastily formed by Cao Xun.

Zhao Dangshi and the others are all people who have fought for more than 10 years and are accustomed to fighting, and they are clear about what kind of enemy they should take to deal with what kind of enemy. Strategic deployment is like a game of chess, leading the whole body. In essence, from the moment Mianzhou was obtained, the flaws exposed by the entire defense line of the Northern Sichuan Army were irreparable, and Zhao Dangshi had already been prepared to capture the entire northern Sichuan.

Zhao Dangshi led his troops to garrison Qinglinkou in the southwest of Jianzhou, and sent thousands of horse troops to make a detour to the northwest, making a gesture of marching into Long'an Mansion. At the same time, he secretly made the secret service master as an envoy into the city of Jianzhou Prefecture and lobbied Zhu Hualong.

The envoy went straight to the point and analyzed the current situation for Zhu Hualong from three aspects.

First of all, it is about safety. This safety refers to the safety of the old base camp of Zhuhua Longsong Pan Mansion. The envoy said frankly that Zhao Ying's Ma army could go to Long'an Mansion at any time and go directly to Songpan Mansion to wipe out Zhu Hualong's family and family business that he had accumulated over the years. Even if Zhu Hualong, who was guarding Jianzhou, wanted to rescue, he had to face the Zhao Ying army waiting outside the city first.

The second is politics. The envoy was still blunt, the Northern Sichuan Army privately detained the Rui Domain, which seemed to be a clever move, but it was actually a move to dig his own grave, and Zhao Dangshi and the Sichuan Governor Yamen were all preparing to play the imperial court to impeach the Northern Sichuan Army with ill intentions. As long as the imperial court intervenes to put the matter on the table, the generals in northern Sichuan have no room for justification.

Finally, there is the military. In addition to the Zhao Dangshi soldiers in the south of Sichuan, the envoy made it clear that the Zhao camp army in Hanzhong Mansion would also go south to flank the attack. At that time, northern Sichuan was sandwiched in the middle, and there was no room for maneuver. The strength of the northern Sichuan army did not exceed 20,000 at the top, and there was no chance of victory in the field battle of Zhaoying, which was several times the enemy. And even if the Zhao camp is surrounded but not attacked, cutting off the trade routes and capturing various grain areas, it will be able to trap the armies of northern Sichuan to death.

Mianzhou fell, and the southern defense line of the Northern Sichuan Army suddenly collapsed, while the middle defense line Cao Xun and Zhao Guangyuan could not advance and could not be put in place, so that Jianzhou, which was located in the northernmost part, instantly became the front line against the enemy from the south. The situation changed so quickly that it was far beyond the limits that Zhu Hualong could accept. He was very dissatisfied and disappointed with the performance of his allies, coupled with the words of Zhao Ying's envoy, he thought that there was really no need to sacrifice his life for the "great cause of Sichuan" of Cao Xun and others. At the beginning, he agreed to Cao Xun to join the gang, just to fish in troubled waters and take the opportunity to make some benefits, but now that the additional benefits are not available, his own foundation is in danger of overturning, Zhu Hualong is of course unwilling to continue to work.

Zhao Dangshi's differentiation strategy has always been a carrot and a stick. After a few sticks, Zhu Hualong fainted most of the time, and then the envoy began to swear that as long as Zhu Hualong and others were willing to cooperate with Zhao Ying, Zhao Ying would ensure their vested interests, and there would be no reason to add guilt to the court in the future.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that northern Sichuan, which has lost the battle line, has lost the depth of its circulation, and is strategically completely passive due to the enemy's back. Zhao Ying is right, even if he does not launch a military offensive and only relies on cutting off the various passages in the upper and lower reaches of Shaanxi and Sichuan, the economic advantages of northern Sichuan, which is in the middle reaches, will be gone, and it will be difficult to hold on for a long time, and sooner or later it will be finished. Faced with a crumbling situation, Zhu Hualong thought about it all night, and took the initiative to send a messenger to visit Zhao Dangshi early the next morning, expressing his willingness to surrender.

Zhu Hualong then found Long Fuhuang to test his attitude, and at first he did not directly say that he was ready to take refuge in Zhao Ying, but only said that he wanted to return to Songpan Mansion. Emperor Long Fu was immediately shocked, but he thought that he only had two thousand five hundred people, no matter how tall and thick the walls of Jianzhou Prefecture City were, how could he block ten times the number of people in Zhao Ying on the opposite side.

Emperor Long Fuhuang also retreated, asking Zhu Hualong when he would leave, and he could follow. Zhu Hualong saw that the time was ripe, so he negotiated and explained the negotiation with Zhao Ying, but he didn't think that Emperor Long Fuhuang was overjoyed, and said: "The younger brother led the troops to fight against Zhao Ying, and he didn't sleep well for a day. Every night in my dreams, it was the scene of Zhao Ying breaking through the city. Northern Sichuan is tired, we don't need to follow Cao Xun's guy to bury ourselves deeper and deeper, now there is this good opportunity, we should get out of the sea of suffering overnight. Compared with Zhu Hualong, who had been thinking about it for a night, Long Fuhuang's "consciousness" was much higher.

In this way, Zhao Ying only relied on one mouth to avoid the tragedy of the exchange of swords and soldiers, and successfully moved into Jianzhou. This is the "potential" that Gu Junen has been emphasizing before. He believes that everything in the world has power, and those who gain power are good, and those who lose power are against it, as long as they use the momentum well and stand on the momentum, it is like waiting for a fast ship to ride the wind and waves, and everything is invincible, which can greatly reduce the cost of doing things.

Now, after years of Taoguang's obscurity, Zhao Ying is in the stage of accumulation, and whether he can make reasonable and efficient use of this potential is directly related to the apex that Zhao Ying can touch in the future.

What is the apex of Zhao Ying? No one says it explicitly, but everyone knows it, and they will always subconsciously look up at the seemingly unreachable sky.

As the last iron gate of the main traffic in northern Sichuan, Jianzhou changed hands, announcing the collapse of the entire southern, central and northern defense lines of northern Sichuan. Zhao Dangshi took advantage of the situation, and then sent an envoy to visit Zhao Guangyuan, who secretly visited Baoning Mansion, because of the scene where Zhao Guangyuan killed Cao Xun on the spot in the name of drinking and appreciating the snow.

Three days before Chinese New Year's Eve, Zhao Dangshi led his troops to Guangyuan County, and Yang Zhan, the Guangyuan garrison stationed at Chaotian Pass, surrendered without a fight. Zhao Dangshi rectified the three armies, and ordered Zhu Hualong, Long Fuhuang, Deng Ruoyu, and Yang Zhan in the northern Sichuan army to integrate and select 7,000 people to join Zhao Dangshi's army with 3,000 people, and they must not be disobeyed. Therefore, according to the rough plan, the size of Zhao Dangshi's army that finally left Sichuan and entered Hanzhong Province would be 35,000 men. All matters relating to the reorganization of the armed forces must be completed before the third day of the Lunar New Year, and those who delay it will be punished by military law.

After the military, it was the political handling of the struggle with the Northern Sichuan Army. King Cheng was defeated, Cao Xun and Hou Tianxi died, and the charges of holding the vassal king hostage and taking the initiative to provoke were all transferred to them. As far as the facts are concerned, Cao and Hou were indeed the most active and contributors to the formation of the Northern Sichuan Army, and it is not unjust to bear the main responsibility. With the joint testimony of Rui Fan, Sichuan Governor Yamen, and Zhu Hualong, the "tainted witness" who rebelled against the water, there was no problem at all that Cao Xun and Hou Tianxi were responsible for a series of wars in northern Sichuan, so Zhao Dangshi was not worried that the imperial court would get the truth and blame himself.

These official matters are over, Zhao Dangshi Xun immediately did not stop, and went to meet his father-in-law Zhu Changhao, the king of Rui, and asked for warmth.

When the son-in-law saw Mount Tai, except for a few polite words at the beginning, he was speechless. However, Princess Rui asked about Huaqing and her granddaughter. Zhao Dangshi started from this reason and persuaded Rui Fan to temporarily migrate to Huguang to reunite with Huaqing, which could not only ensure safety, but also enjoy family fun.

Sichuan is basically under the control of Zhao Ying, and Wang Laixing army maintains the roads of southern Sichuan and eastern Sichuan. Zhu Changhao had no reason to refuse this proposal, and Zhao Dangshi discussed with the Rui Wang couple about spending Chinese New Year's Eve and other idle things, and left after a short stay.

Before going out, Zhu Changhao suddenly ran over in a hurry and held Zhao Dangshi's hand tightly. Zhao Dangshi also said that Zhu Changhao had any difficulties that had not been solved, and he was about to ask, but he didn't expect Zhu Changhao to say first: "Alas, I just said that I didn't mistake you at the beginning." ”

When Zhao Dangshi heard this, he secretly cried and laughed.