Looking at Li Xiuxiaosuo's somewhat clumsy figure, Wen Duqiao couldn't help but sigh and said, "Queen Li Jun, I'm afraid I want to be out of the crowd!" ”

Although Han Daoming came forward to protect the Li family, and then did everything possible to promote the Li family to exile Cai, Wen Duqiao naturally knew that Han Qian still wanted to use Li Xiu, but looking at Li Xiu like this, he was not only a little pessimistic.

Li Xiu was hit by this, and it was inevitable that he would be depressed. And if the Tangyi army goes north this time, if it can't reap considerable results, even if it doesn't suffer a crushing defeat, the offensive and defensive momentum between us and the Shouzhou army will also undergo a reversal, and Xia Cai will become the area where the two sides are fighting the most fiercely—the Li clan and the five or six hundred people of the family soldiers have all been thrown into this land that may be doomed to blood, and it is indeed difficult to cheer him up,"

Han Qian looked at Li Xiu's distant figure and said calmly,

"However, the will of King Li Junwang should not be so easy to smooth out, maybe he still has more or less resentment against me in his heart!"

"If it weren't for you, I think Shen Xiang and Yang Zhitang would both be able to wash the Li family in blood, and he would still have resentment in his heart?" Feng Yi pursed his lips and said disdainfully, "Even if he comes back to his senses at this time and guesses that we had the intention of luring the snake out of the hole at the beginning, can he still bring the Li family to such a point and resent us?" If Li Xiu really wants to be so ignorant, then as Gong Wen said, the queen of Li Jun is really going to be out of the crowd. ”

"It's resentment, not resentment," Han Qian corrected Feng Yi's words and said, "In Li Xiu's eyes, maybe I still use conspiracy to defeat the person who conspires, and there is still a little bit of pride in his heart that has not been smoothed out!" ”

Han Qian told Wen Duqiao and Guo Rong about the situation when he met Li Yu in Guangde, and said: "Before King Li died of illness, he said that he wanted to be buried in the south of Guangde City, and Li Xiu finally died of illness in King Li and buried him in Jinzhongling, where he was stationed at the time. ”

Wen Duqiao didn't know that there was such a secret matter, thinking about the three flavors in it, and said:

"I want to retreat bravely when the king of Li Jun was overwhelmed by the world, and the subjects of Great Chu may praise his benevolence and loyalty, but the Marquis of Linjin was only in his early thirties, and Li Xiu had the reputation of being a famous general, and at the age of seventeen or eighteen, he was at the time of his youth and ambition, but he had to retreat to the mountains and forests with King Li Jun, and he couldn't be willing in his heart. In this way, Li Xiu violated the last wish of King Li Junwang and buried him in Jinzhongling, and then got so close to Chang Guogong and Lu Qingxia, and at this time, he really had the strength that he was holding back at the beginning - and when he really knew that adults were better than others, adults would have a good general. ”

"......" Han Qian smiled, looked at Cao Ba, who was staring at Li Xiu's figure thoughtfully, and said, "Li Xiu is depressed, he expects that Cai will have a bloody battle to fight, if you don't dislike the team and lead the troops to change your ways, you can go to Feng Xuan with Li Xiu to ......."

As long as he can go to the battlefield and rush into battle, Cao Ba does not dislike being a soldier, but when he thinks of working with Li Xiu, and even thinks that Li Xiu has just arrived in Xia Cai, he has to be appointed as a county counselor.

Thinking of this, Cao Ba couldn't help but bargain: "Do you want me to catch up with our Wen Ye and carry the banner for our Wen Ye?" ”

"You bastard, if you can't even bring a team of soldiers, you will be called Li Xiu in this life." Wen Duqiao scolded.

"Who said that I can't even bring a team of soldiers, I was also Du Yuhou, and my subordinates brought 3,000 athletes, and killed Li Zhihe crying father and mother." Cao Ba said unconvinced, but when he saw Wen Duqiao blowing his beard and glaring, he hurriedly ran down the cliff to chase Li Xiu.

Han Qian laughed and said, "A brave general like Cao Ba, Wen Bo can use it well, but I don't know if Li Xiu can use it well—Lord Wen doesn't mind if I give him to Li Xiu to practice, right?" ”

"Cao Ba and Li Xiu can achieve a balance of rigidity and softness, which is of great benefit to both of them." Wen Duqiao said.

"Then we'll see." Han Qian said behind his hands.

…………

…………

"Li Xiu!"

"What, what's the matter?" Li Xiu looked at Cao Ba chasing after him from behind suspiciously, and asked suspiciously.

"You may not know where Feng Xuan's camp is, I'll lead you ......there," Cao Ba certainly wouldn't admit that he was sent to Yongli, Xiacai County, as a team leader, and touched his nose and said.

"......" Li Xiu glanced at Cao Ba suspiciously, thinking that when Cao Ba joined Tangyi with Wen Bo, he was already a senior military general at the first level of Duyu Hou, is he really so idle?

"I'll take you to the camp to see Feng Manzi." Cao Ba urged.

Li Yao, as the deposed queen of Emperor Yanyou, could not be let out, but in addition to her staying in Jinling to guard the mausoleum for Emperor Yanyou, not only the heirs and family soldiers of the Li family who stayed in Jinling City were among them, but the children of the county prince's mansion who stayed in Hongzhou to guard the clan industry were also cut to the people, and the tens of thousands of acres of fields and hundreds of slaves and maids rewarded by Emperor Tianyou and Emperor Yanyou were all recruited by the Hongzhou Assassin Shi to confiscate officials.

At this time, in addition to Hongzhou, there are more than 20 children who defected to Xia Cai and joined everyone in the Linjin Marquis Mansion, in addition to more than a dozen descendants and generals who also followed Li Qi in Huayang, the Li family and their dependents, including more than 600 people up and down, were in a hurry to stop at a vacant place on the north bank of the pontoon bridge in Jiaoshan Gorge to eat dry food and rest.

The soldiers who imprisoned them to Xia Cai are handing over to the officials of Xia Cai.

The property of the Marquis of Linjin and the mansion were all confiscated, and before leaving, Han Daoming sent more than a dozen horses and carriages to ride, so that the young children and the old, weak, sick and disabled in the mansion could ride on the way, and it would not be too hard, but others, even women, could only walk.

Fortunately, even if the Li family is a female dependent, there are few delicate ones, and they are mainly in Huaixi, there is no shortage of meals, and there is accommodation at night, but it is not how hard it is.

It's just that what makes everyone confused is, where will the Li family go in the future?

Unlike other ordinary people who are numb to the torture of fate, in addition to Li Xiu, Li Chi and others, many generals and even the daughters of the Li family have far deeper insights into the current situation than ordinary people.

Xiacai is destined to be the place of four wars, especially Tangyi built a pontoon bridge in Jiaoshan Gorge, once the Weizhou rebels gain a foothold on both sides of the whirlpool, no matter how much it costs, they will try to remove this nail that pierces the north bank.

At this time, Tangyi also showed its determination to keep this salient on the north bank, and it will inevitably pay a tragic price.

At this time, the whole clan of 600 people was banished to this place, who can have a trace of hope for the future?

A middle-aged woman sat on a stone to rest, surrounded by a group of women and children, she saw Li Xiu and Li Chi coming back, only to think that Cao Ba was an ordinary official in charge of contacting them in Xia Cai, and asked Li Xiu: "You go to see Han Qian, what did he say?" ”

Cao Ba just hurriedly called Li Xiu and Li Chi away, and did not contact the other Li family, at this time, looking at the popularity of the middle-aged woman, and then listening to her tone of sitting and talking to Li Xiu and Li Chi, I guessed that she should be Li Changfeng's wife, Zheng.

Li Yu had a wife and two concubines before his death, but they both died of illness around the age of forty or fifty, and the eldest son and daughter-in-law Zheng were in charge of the mansion of the county prince for nearly 20 years.

Cao Ba heard that on the night of the palace change, it was this mother-in-law who ordered the family soldiers to take back Li Pu's body, chased after him at the end of the guard's rank, and wanted to break into the Hou Mansion, and it was she who ordered the family soldiers to kill the rebels and guard until Han Daoming sent Li Xiu and Li Yao back.

Compared with the Zheng family, his son Li Chi is much weaker, familiar with poetry and books, but he does not look like a person who came out of the Li family.

"Li Chi and I can both work in Xia Cai County, but the Li family must stay in Xia Cai." Li Xiu looked at the old and weak women and children in the place, and said ashamedly.

"There's no room for bargaining?" Zheng asked with a frown.

"Nope." Li Xiu shook his head and said.

"It seems that Han Qian is forcing our Li family to live and die with Xia Cai." Zheng said with a sigh.

"Daddy, when will you get my sword and bow back?" An eleven or twelve-year-old boy struggled over from a beautiful woman in his thirties, ran to Li Xiu and asked.

He was too young to know what family life and death was, nor did he know what bloody killing was, so he was full of thoughts about getting back the wooden knives and hunting bows that were confiscated when he left Jinling.

"Dog Li Dan." Seeing Cao Ba staring at his son, Li Xiu said.

"Why didn't your Li family's cub practice guns and changed to knife training?" Cao Ba asked.

Before Li Xiu could ask Cao Ba, a beautiful young woman in her twenties, holding the hands of a pair of four or five-year-old children, timidly squeezed over from behind the crowd and asked, "Little brother, did you ask about Ah Moe?" ”

"Li Qian led the Dragon Bird Army veteran in Huayang County, Shangzhou at this time, the imperial court did not mean to punish him, and had already issued an edict to the past, and he assisted Liang Jun in building the Shuanglonggou plank road, Li Zhen He will take care of himself." Li Xiu said with relief.

"Do you want to write a letter and send someone to Huayang?" The young woman asked again.

"This will be said after we have met Feng Xuan," people are under the eaves, they have to bow their heads, although Han Qian kept the Li family from being bloody, but if he thinks that the person who is the overlord of one side is a soft-hearted person, it would be a big mistake, Li Xiu thought to himself that even if he wanted the family soldiers to go to Huayang to find Li Xuan, it would be better to greet Feng Xuan first, and then introduce Cao Ba behind him to his sister-in-law, "This General Cao is the Wen family, and when the eldest brother led the Zuo Xiang Battalion in the past, he served as a halberdier in the Zuo Xiang Battalion. ”

At this time, two officials came over and took the Li family to a campsite about fourteen or fifteen miles away on the northeast side of the camp.

There are dozens of shacks built of logging in the camp, surrounded by a wooden fence wall, and at a glance you know that this should have been an outpost camp of the reinforcement army on the north bank, which is seven or eight miles away from the newly built Xiacai New Town, and there are traces of flooding in the shallow places on all sides.

At this time, the water level of the Huai River has dropped, and the low and shallow ditches are full of mud.

The two officials handed over more than a dozen military tickets, and the Li family arranged for people to go to the baggage camp to get rice, salt, firewood, charcoal, pots, bedding and other daily necessities, and left.

The matter of the resettlement of the family's dependents was taken care of by the Zheng family with a group of women and young children, and Li Xiu still took Li Chi and rushed to see Feng Xuan with Cao Ba.

Seeing that the camp designated by Feng Xuan for them was outside Xia Cai New Town, or even on the east side, it meant that the enemy army swept over the whirlpool, and the camp placed by the Li family would be an important support point for the Xia Cai defense system.

This situation is a hundred times worse than they initially expected.

Chu Zhou Thorn Shi was succeeded by Han Chengmeng, Feng Xuan, who was transferred to the deputy capital of the Jiaoshan Gorge Battalion at this time, was actually the chief general of Tangyi in the Xiacai area on the north bank, in addition to being the general of the first brigade of the first town division Du Yuhou, he also led the order of Xia Cai County, and was responsible for the garrison of Xia Cai on the north bank, the construction of the defense line, and the reception and evacuation of the displaced people, and he was so busy that he couldn't touch the ground every day.

Of course, he will not forget the matter of the Li family's exile to Xia Cai today.

Regarding the disposition of the Li clan, Han Qian had already made a decision, and Feng Xuan did not need to ask for additional instructions.

Li Xiu brought Li Chi over to ask to see him, Feng Xuan took the time to meet with them, and ignored Li Xiu's request to put the clansmen in Xia Cai Xincheng for resettlement, but said: "You can recruit 1,200 displaced people to settle near the Li family's new village, Ding Zhuang is all included in the village Yong, the required armor and tools for building the camp, livestock, etc., you can list a number in the next two days and give it to me......"

"Many capable ministers and officials in Tangyi will not expect that once the main force of the reinforcement army advances into the territory of Dan County, the main force of the rebel army is very likely to cross the vortex from the east bank with the main force of the Mengwu cavalry and cut into the area between Dan County and Xia Cai, how will you fight at that time?" Li Xiu asked.

"This is not what you have to care about at this time," Feng Xuan looked at Li Xiu and said, "When did the children of the Li family stop fearing difficulties and not fighting?" ”

Although Feng Xuan ten years ago was only the lord of a small village with only more than 100 households in Xuzhou, oppressed by the same surname, there was not much arable land, and he was forced to take his clansmen to pull fiber on the bank of the Yuan River for a living, and his back was bloodied with thick fiber ropes, and there were scars everywhere, but at this moment he just looked at Li Xiu, who was known as a famous general of the new generation, and did not allow Li Xiu to question his decision.

"Below Li Xiu, the men of the Li family are not afraid of fighting to the death, but please ask General Feng to be tolerant and place the little women and children in Xia Cai City, Li Xiu will never forget General Feng's tolerance." Li Xiu lowered his posture and pleaded.

"The five hundred and eighty-seven members of the Li family either went to the city wall to serve as hard labor, or men, women, and children all took up their swords and were responsible for guarding the new village of the Li family on the eastern wing," Feng Xuan said, "Li Xiu, you choose for yourself!" ”

"I want the armor and weapons of the Tangyi army." Li Xiu gritted his teeth and said.

"Then wait for you to come out and talk to me," Feng Xuan said, signaling the military Sima beside him to hand over the talisman and other things to Li Xiu and Li Chi, and saw Cao Ba standing behind Li Xiu without saying a word, and asked, "How can Cao Ye have the leisure to run errands for the Li family today?" ”

"This, this ......," Cao Ba stammered, "I have nothing to do, and I specially asked for a dispatch to lead the troops in front of the adults—does General Feng lack a guard leader?" With Lao Cao by your side, except for the first brigade, all of them were wiped out by the enemy, otherwise Lao Cao would not even break your hair. ”

"Feng can't bear Cao Ye's service, even if the lord sends you to Xia Cai, then you can follow Counselor Li." Feng Xuan guessed that Han Qian would not even say hello for no reason, so he handed over Cao Ba, a troublesome character, to him to deal with, and kicked him and Li Xiu together without thinking about it.

Li Xiu looked at Cao Ba quite unexpectedly, and thought that he was just wearing a civilian dress today, but he didn't want him to be a general, and at this time he got a team to get up again, I don't know what he committed, just now I saw Wen Duqiao, the old thief, being leisurely by Han Qian's side, and it didn't look like Wen's was being excluded and suppressed as a miscellaneous in Tangyi.

Of course, he is not qualified to laugh at Cao Ba's situation, and at the moment he just takes Cao Ba and Li Chi back to the so-called Li Family Xinzhai that is nothing.

They didn't have much time to delay in Feng Xuan, returned to Lijia Xinzhai, took more than a dozen generals on horseback, walked around Xinzhai to survey the terrain, Li Xiu saw thirty or forty dwarf horses with full backpacks, from the direction of the camp to the side of Xinzhai - from Xia Cai Xincheng and the north bank of the camp to the Xinzhai side of the post road has not been repaired, the previous ridge road was trampled by the previous soldiers and horses, and it had rained heavily two days ago, the carriage could not pass, and the military horses could only be used to disperse the camels to transport supplies.

The leaders were his sixteen-year-old third nephew Li Yan and his ignorant and fearless son Li Dan, who seemed a little excited after crossing the Huai River, and led the horse team with more than a dozen soldiers at this time.

Don't think about it, this is the material they just received from the big battalion.

It's just that in such a short period of time, the first batch of materials for five or six hundred people to settle down in this village were transported, and the efficiency of the Tangyi army was so high that Li Xiu was still shocked.

Two officials led a team to follow Li Yan, Li Dan and the Li family's soldiers, and rushed over to meet Li Xiu, Cao Ba, and Li Chi.

Xia Cai's situation is relatively special, in terms of military establishment, it is the level of deputy town army and deputy battalion, but within the administrative system, it is a county under the jurisdiction of Haozhou, and Lijia Xinzhai is also to be included in the administrative management system as a township department.

Feng Xuan meant that Li Xiu was the county counselor and the leader of the township department to inspect and accept the displaced people and organize the township brave, Li Xiu took Cao Ba and Li Chi in a hurry, and there were many details that he did not have time to communicate, and Li Xiu was not very familiar with the administrative system of the township department in Tangyi, Feng Xuan specially sent two assistants with more than a dozen people to Li Xiu as assistants.

"Zhou Qiao'an and Guan Cone have seen General Li, Feng Shuai has instructed, the top priority, General Li only needs to be responsible for recruiting the homeless people, training the villagers, building villages, building roads, arranging households, and other complicated things to tell us." Two young officials of the same age as Li Chi took Feng Xuan's signing order and walked up to Li Xiu and said.

Li Xiu is on a gentle slope, and he can see the endless tide of displaced people wriggling from north to south like an ant colony on the post road that was rushed out in the west, and he wants to select Ding Zhuang, who has been strong for more than a thousand years, and it is not difficult to arrange a household to Xinzhai.

However, in just one month, don't expect these newly recruited villagers to have any ability to fight in the field, but if they are defended by the village, how long can this fence behind them hang outside Caicheng and in front of the enemy soldiers who are surging like a tide?

Lijia Xinzhai is not far from the distance of Xia Cai Xincheng, only seven miles, theoretically can be each other's horns, aid, but between Xinzhai and Xia Cai City there are two although not very wide, but quite deep and steep trenches, at present only with four or five boats tied together with ropes, on the top of the trestle, built a simple pontoon bridge, for people and horses to pass.

However, the enemy army is approaching from north to south, and there is no shelter on the north side of these two small pontoon bridges, so it is easy to be set on fire by the enemy, and the new village of Lijia will be cut by the enemy outside Xia Cai City.

At that time, there was no elite soldiers and horses from Xia Cai City to respond, and Lijia Xinzhai was besieged by the enemy regiments.

"How many baggage soldiers are there in the battalion that can be used here?" Li Xiu asked Zhou Qiaoan and Guan Cone two assistants.

Even in the next month or two, more energy will be put into emergency training to defend the village, but Li Xiu knows that Tangyi attaches great importance to construction, and in wartime, it will inevitably recruit engineers and craftsmen from all over the country to be incorporated into the baggage team, so that the construction capacity of the camp, roads, and bridges is much higher than that of the forbidden army and the guards and pro-army.

It's just that the Tangyi army is going all out to build Xia Cai Xincheng on the north bank at this time, and Li Xiu doubts how much manpower and resources can really be tilted to the Xinzhai side.

"General Li is in need, he can transfer a team of sixty craftsmen from the big camp to come over, some rough strength work, even if Ding Zhuang needs urgent training, but he still has to requisition some sturdy women from the homeless people to supplement!" Zhou Qiao'an replied.

Li Xiu knew that it was impossible for resources and manpower to tilt too much to Xinzhai, but when he heard that he could only transfer a team of sixty craftsmen to help strengthen Xinzhai, his heart was also cold, and at the same time, he was also confused.

In order to strengthen Xinzhai in the fastest time and as much as possible, and to build two iron beam bridges between Lijia Xinzhai and Xia Caicheng that are not easy to set fire, Li Xiu thought that even if Xinzhai could requisition some labor, Feng Xuan would have to transfer him at least six or seven hundred craftsmen and craftsmen to be enough......