Yue Fei walked to the iron pot and stirred it in the pot with the iron spoon next to him, and he used the spoon to lift out some of the soup. "Setsudo-sama!" Zhang Xian's face changed suddenly, and he shouted out in a lost voice. Yue Fei's face was slightly gloomy, and he sighed: "The soldier serves the country with all his heart, and he ends up like this, and he flies." He raised his hand and drank the soup in the spoon, frowned slightly, turned to face a few soldiers with shocked faces, and said coldly: "No matter how hungry you are, you can only cut the flesh of Hulu!" ”

"Yes!" Several soldiers subconsciously replied loudly. While his mind was still blank, the knots had already left. "You're in luck!" Yang Zaixing dropped this sentence and also lifted the tent and left. Walking around the life and death pass, the soldiers stood in the tent dumbfounded, some people's mouths were bitter, and some people's eyes were soaked with tears.

After inspecting the barracks, Yue Fei asked the soldiers who followed him to go back to their tents to rest, but he himself could not sleep, so he simply put on a big hat and looked at the situation of the enemy camp. At this time, there are still three hours before sunrise, the night wind is bleak, the moonlight is cold, and the sky is shrouded in thousands of miles of thin clouds.

"If the army is not fed, it will be defeated without a fight." He looked back in the direction of Ezhou, only to see a silence, and the evening breeze sent bursts of insects, "Reinforcements, when will the reinforcements and grain and grass arrive?" "Thinking of every major event, the court officials have always been arguing, and maybe the time has passed. Yue Fei secretly regretted it, and the dangerous move of seizing Shuzhou was too urgent. He took a deep breath of the cold river breeze, and the shadow of Zhao Xingde suddenly appeared in his mind, and the only reinforcements that Ezhou could send were the Baoyi Army.

"If reinforcements can't arrive in time, the only way to do this is to retreat." Yue Fei's face was unbearable, and he immediately thought of the Shuzhou fathers and elders who would rather starve to death than squeeze out grain and grass to supply the army, "Let's hold it for another ten days, and after ten days, arrange for Wang Gui to protect the people to go west, and then the army will retreat." He sighed slightly.

Under the darkness of the night, the soldiers of the Zhenguo Army looked at Yue Shuai's back, which was tall and burly, giving people great confidence.

............

Ezhou, the Yellow Crane Tower of the Yellow Bird Rock Head, originally for the Three Kingdoms Sun Quan built for the purpose of lookout, the years are long, the watchtower has now become one of the famous buildings in the world, outstanding and standing in the shade of green trees, the past merchants of Ezhou must travel here, the literati and scholars leave countless ink treasures. Cui Hao's "The people of the past have taken the yellow crane to go, and the yellow crane tower is vacant here" and Li Bai's "The jade flute is played in the yellow crane tower, and the plum blossoms fall in May in Jiangcheng" complement each other, adding to the reputation of the Yellow Crane Tower.

In an aquigo at the head of the Yellow Crane Tower, the guards are dressed in civilian clothes and stand in a ring with their hands down. Zhao Huan wore a light veil and looked out of the window, only to see warships and warships connected to the river, guarding the merchant ships loaded with grain and grass in the middle. Although the military discipline of the Baoyi Army was looser, there was no evil act of bullying men and women, stealing and plundering, and most of the soldiers were Jingxiang people, who usually went in and out of the market and had a lot of dealings with the people. In a short period of time, in the minds of the people of Ezhou, this Baoyi Army is no different from the sailors stationed in this state. After the instigation of the Science Society, even the teahouse guys knew that if Shuzhou was not protected, the Liao army could go straight against the river, and Ezhou, which was full of flowers, would be in danger. Therefore, everyone placed great hopes on the Baoyi Army's aid to Shu this time. Today, the Yellow Bird Rock Head is even more crowded with people watching the sailors send troops. Seeing that the Baoyi Army was at its peak, the crowd erupted in cheers one after another.

"Bodhisattva bless, I hope General Zhao will be victorious and safe."

Zhao Huan muttered silently in his heart, and there was a touch of piety in his eyes. After she arrived in Ezhou under the escort of the generals of the imperial city, she lived in seclusion. was the most favored by his father, but later he was placed under house arrest by his brother, and he never made his own decisions. Some time ago, she fled in a hurry with the guards, and when she had no time to think about the future, she heard that Zhao Xingde was in Ezhou, so she rushed to Ezhou. But after arriving in Ezhou, we couldn't see each other, so we could only live here temporarily. Ezhou is very calm inside and outside the city, not much different from before the Liao army entered the city. In order to attract merchants, the Quartermaster Office did not strictly check household registration in other places, except for important places such as near the city wall gate, Huanghushan fort, and Huanghuji wharf, which were classified as forbidden areas. At this time, the Liao army swept through Henan and Hebei, and even Jianghuai was not spared the ravage. Zhou He, Wang Chongyi and others fabricated an identity at random and froze.

After the fall of Bianliang, Shen Yun, the official of the Imperial City Division, did not know what to do. Li Ruoxu also persuaded several generals of the Imperial City Division to serve in the Zhenguo and Baoyi Army. But Zhou He, Wang Chongyi and others just shirked. The Imperial City Division is accustomed to seeing the battle between the DPRK and China, and it is not their style to bet before determining who will kill the deer. Besides, guarding His Royal Highness Zhao Huan, no matter how you say it, it is closer to Xiangyang.

Just a few days ago, Zhao Huan also wrote a letter to his brother Zhao Qi, asking the guards to take it to Xiangyang to report his safety.

"There are so many warships, I don't know which one is General Zhao's ride, is it the big ship in the middle?" Wang Chongyi guessed with great interest that he was particularly interested in sending troops, and he was always the first to inquire about the battle situation at the front line among the guards.

Zhao Huan's eyes shrank slightly, and there was some bitterness in his mouth, but his gaze unconsciously fell on the big ship in the middle. The ship itself was a converted large merchant ship, with two low wooden warsheds in the bow and stern, and it is said that two barrel cannons were added to each of the warframes. The planks and hull were densely packed with thick wooden and iron ribs, making the whole ship look less clean and tidy, but very strong. Unlike the soldiers on other ships, who were still a little lazy, there were two rows of gunners with muskets standing neatly on both sides of the ship, and the building was full of hunting flags, like the sailor's ship paraded by Colonel Jin Mingchi.

In the shipbuilding of the big ship, Chen Dong and Cao Liangshi, the secretary of the military department, were seeing off Zhao Xingde.

"Magnificent military appearance!" Cao Liangshi raised a glass of wine, "I wish Brother Yuan a successful start this time!" ”

Originally, Chen Dong intended Zhao Xingde to serve as the secretary of the military department, but Zhao Xingde had pretended to be the commander of the Baoyi Army, and he insisted that he could not open up the bad example of being a civil and military official, so it fell on Cao Liangshi. The six Shangshu introduced by Chen Dong are almost all characters of the Society, and in the eyes of officials from the Society such as Cao Liangshi, Zhao Xingde is different from other generals. Before and after Chen Dong won the position of prime minister, people from all walks of life rushed to his door like a carp crossing the river. Others, such as Wu Zilong, Cao Liangshi and others, also have a group of henchmen to be placed in the yamen of various ministries. Only Zhao Xingde is famous, but he is deeply humble, except for the operation of his own Baoyi Army and Daye Tieshan military ordnance, he has never arranged a private person in the court. Although he has not been in the Central Plains for nearly ten years, he has stayed away from the disputes between various factions in the society and civil officials, and has won everyone's favor. Therefore, if it weren't for Zhao Xingde's resignation, almost all the civil officials of the Ezhou court would have been dispatched to see off the Baoyi army.

"Thank you, Brother Cao." Zhao Xingde picked up the wine glass, took a sip, and said in a deep voice, "After the Baoyi Army went east, Ezhou was empty, and I had to beware of the Xiangyang soldiers going south, which was a problem for my back." He paused, raised his glass and said, "The safety of Ezhou is in danger, so please ask Brother Cao." Cao Liangshi nodded and drank with him.

Chen Dong whispered: "At present, the Liao army is invaded from north to south, and Xiangyang and Ezhou are dependent on each other. The day before yesterday, I sent an envoy to Xiangyang, where I had promised not to take advantage of the situation to attack Ezhou. He shook his head and said, "If Ezhou is attacked by a sneak attack, the front line of Shuzhou will not be able to hold out, and even if Xiangyang captures Ezhou, it will also face the situation of being attacked on the back and being cut off from food." Cao Di and Liu Yanqing should still think twice. ”

Chen Dong's tone was also uncertain, no matter how he responded, with the existing strength of Ezhou, it would be difficult to withstand the attack of two strong enemies, and he could only temporarily use heavy troops to deal with the fierce Liao army in the east. And Xiangyang, can you really trust it? Zhao Xingde sighed slightly in his heart, I hope they don't take advantage of it.

On another big boat dozens of feet away, Ma Yuan and other officers were looking at the two sides of the strait, and the scene of the spectators being blocked and shouting like a tide of voices made these young officers feel high-spirited. Ma Yuan looked at the two rows of handsome flags on the big fighting ship in the center of the fleet, slapped the side of the ship heavily, and sighed: "Born in troubled times, peace in the world, save the people, the husband should be like this!" ”

Jia Yuanzhen smiled: "So you didn't go to the Quartermaster House, but came here instead." Otherwise, among the six departments, Ma Jun will be the first seat. Pretending to be regretful, "Although the Sixth Department is not as beautiful as the army, it has the authority. As Han Gaozu said, Han Peng is just an eagle dog. ”

Regarding the pattern of the DPRK and China, these too students are like mirrors. No matter how prominent the Zhenguo Army and the Baoyi Army were, in the end, it was only the Prime Minister's Mansion and the six civil officials who firmly occupied the center of the imperial court. Now that everything is in ruins, many scholars are seeing this, so they are desperately rushing to the position of the sixth department. Tai Student is an alternate official of the imperial court and has a great relationship with the Science Society. For example, Chen Dong, Cao Liangshi, Wu Zilong, etc., all vigorously recruited the Tai students who escaped from Bianliang as assistants. Because the saint is covered with dust, the imperial examination is temporarily abolished, and now the scribes of each ministry are appointed by Shangguan, once there is a good Shangguan cultivation, it is conceivable that the future will rise to the top. However, Ma Yuan, Jia Yuanzhen and others still politely refused the invitations of their mentors and classmates from all sides, and stayed in the Baoyi Army with all their hearts.

"Don't talk about me," Ma Yuan said with a smile, "You don't have a great place to go, but you are willing to nest here." ”

"Rather than being depressed and dying in the middle of the paper, let's live happily here." Liu Wengu sighed, "Following Mr. Zhao, I feel that there is no restraint, and the sky is high and the sea is wide and you can gallop." It's not like other places, it's always stuffy. ”