Zhang Zhiji's face began to darken.

I didn't have anything going wrong all the way just now, and now I see that I'm about to come to an end, but I turned out to be such a good show, isn't this a slap in the face?

Listening to the faint sound of fighting in front of him, Zhang Zhiji touched the knife on his waist, smiled and walked forward.

It's just that the scene in front of him made Zhang Zhiji and Xu Mingde, who came with him, feel a little confused.

The imaginary situation of the soldiers disturbing the people did not happen, but a man dressed as a scholar held a long sword and fought with two soldiers, surrounded by a few soldiers who were watching the fun, and did not come forward to help.

Zhang Zhiji was secretly surprised. A scholar in his twenties can be besieged by two veterans of the Beijing camp without chaos, even if he is unable to attack, he is also not chaotic at all.

The scholar with the sword saw that Zhang Zhiji and Xu Mingde were both dressed in official robes, so he forced the two soldiers back with a sword and shouted: "Wait, the student has something to say!" ”

When Zhang Zhiji heard this, he waved his hand and said, "Stop!" ”

After the two soldiers retreated and joined with several other soldiers, still faintly surrounding the scholar, Zhang Zhiji asked, "If you have anything to say, just say it." ”

The scholar arched his hand and said: "Student Li Xin, who is a person in the seventh year of the Apocalypse, a native of Hanoi, specially came to find the army and has an important military situation. ”

As soon as Xu Mingde heard that this scholar named Li Xin was a lifter, he was very impressed - after all, lifters can be regarded as official reserves, and everyone is their own.

Only Zhang Zhiji sneered and said, "What are you doing here as a Hanoi lifter?" Don't know how to fight here? ”

Li Xin was helpless, and arched his hand: "I don't know who this adult is?" ”

Xu Mingde said: "This is the Marquis of Daming Pingbei Zhang Zhiji Marquis Zhang, and this official is Xu Mingde, the commander of this filial piety county." ”

Hearing Xu Mingde's introduction, Li Xin slammed to the ground again and arched his hand: "The student has seen Master Hou and Lord Zhixian. If you are rude, you can't blame the marquis and the magistrate. ”

Seeing that Li Xinli was thoughtful, Xu Mingde felt even more favorable, and he intended to excuse him, so he asked: "Those who don't know are not guilty." You don't know your own officer, so why is it rude? ”

Zhang Zhiji glared at him and asked, "You haven't answered Ben Hou's question, why are you running here with a person from Hanoi?" ”

Li Xin arched his hand and said: "I learned that the students came to Shaanxi, one is to visit friends, and the other is to see the disaster situation in Shaanxi. It's just that I didn't think about it, but I encountered a military disaster.

The student's friend is in Baishui, and now it has fallen into the hands of thieves, and the student escaped with his horse, but he has something to report to the army. ”

Zhang Zhiji was most annoyed by these scholars' crooked chatter, and seeing that this scholar named Li Xin had not reached the point for a long time, he said impatiently: "Coincidentally, Ben Hou is going to lead a large army to quell the rebellion, and you can say anything about it." ”

Li Xin looked at the soldiers surrounding him on the left and right, but did not speak.

Zhang Zhiji snorted coldly and said with a smile: "These are the brothers of life and death who followed Benhou to the north with His Majesty on the grassland, if there is anything, you can just say it directly." ”

Li Xin then arched his hand and said: "Lord Hou, the second king of Baishui anti-thieves intends to recruit peace, but his brother Wang Mingyu is not a good match. Now he is embellishing Wang Er to go north to meet with the thief Gao Yingxiang, but I am afraid that Wang Er's life will not be long. ”

Zhang Zhiji sneered: "They are all dying. When Benhou's army arrives, will they still go north? It's all buried in white water. ”

Seeing that Zhang Zhiji didn't take what he said seriously, Li Xin hurriedly said: "Master Hou, this Wang Mingyu is really not a good match. Now that the rebels have conquered Pucheng, relying on the food, gold and silver in Pucheng City, they are now preparing to go north to Chengcheng, but I am afraid that there will be more and more rebels, can Hou Ye still kill them one by one? ”

Zhang Zhiji had to look at this scholar named Li Xin at this time.

Zhang Zhiji knew the news that Li Xin said. After all, there are Jinyi guards in the army who pass information back and forth, and there are many situations that Li Xin has never said, and Zhang Zhiji also knows it in his heart.

But how can this man know so much information from a mere scholar? And the situation analyzed is similar to my own, which is rare.

Seeing that Zhang Zhiji's expression became a little dignified, Xu Mingde hurriedly said: "Master Hou, this is not a place to talk, why don't we go to the county government and have a chat?" ”

Zhang Zhiji hummed and ordered: "Test this kid's ability, and if there is no problem, send it to the county office." ”

After speaking, Zhang Zhiji turned around and walked towards the county office.

Li Xin had no choice but to let a few soldiers come over to search his body and check it.

When he arrived at the county office, Zhang Zhiji looked at Li Xin, who was escorted over, and waved off the escorted soldiers, before asking, "Anyway, how did you conflict with Benhou's soldiers?" ”

Li Xin smiled bitterly: "The students came in in the middle of the night after taking the time to climb the city wall. It's just that I didn't think that as soon as I entered the city, I met the sergeant sent by the Hou Ye to patrol, and this was the conflict. ”

Zhang Zhiji glanced at Xu Mingde, and the endless mockery in his eyes made Xu Mingde's old face blush, and he said curtly: "It's the dereliction of duty of the lower officials, Lord Hou forgive me." ”

Zhang Zhiji laughed and said: "What is there to forgive and not forgive, Ben Hou is not the general manager of the march of the former Tang Dynasty, and he can't control you." Otherwise, your head would have been hung at the gates. ”

Although Li Xin can be regarded as capable of writing and martial arts, he is still confused by the conversation between the two.

Zhang Zhiji didn't care about this, but just commanded loudly: "Someone! Send someone to take over the patrol of the city wall, and let the officials go back to sleep. Twenty swords were given to the 100 households of the filial piety boy's house, and told him that if this situation happened again, Lao Tzu wanted his head! ”

In just one sentence, he issued three orders in a row, and only after the soldiers took the orders and left, Zhang Zhiji looked at Li Xin: "Don't tell Ben Hou that you came in over the wall empty-handed, what kind of thing did you use, just take it out." ”

Li Xin sneered at this time, took out a flying claw from the package behind him, and said curtly: "It's nothing else, it's just that the student turned over from the Jinyiwei who died in the battle of Pushui." Thanks to this, the students were able to get away with filial piety. ”

Seeing that it was just an ordinary flying claw, Zhang Zhiji lost his interest, and just asked: "What is the matter between Wang Er and Wang Mingyu, and how do you know, let's talk about it." ”

Li Xin arched his hand and said: "Back to the Hou Ye, the student was originally visiting friends in Baishui County, but he suddenly heard that Wang Er had rebelled, and the city defense of Baishui was far worse than that of Zhixiao Tong, and it was lost in less than a day.

It's just that although Wang Er broke the county seat, he only killed the county commander's family, but he didn't disturb the people much.

The students took advantage of the chaos to escape from the city and arrived in Pucheng, but they didn't want the rebels of the second king to arrive in a blink of an eye.

Only this time, Wang Er's rebels were very different from the style when they were in Baishui, not only killing officials, but also looting rich families in the city to replenish military rations and salaries.

The student used the name of a scholar to talk to Wang Mingyu when he was on the street.

Seeing that the students were still somewhat knowledgeable, Wang Mingyu invited the students to join him and said that he would discuss important matters with the students.

The student pretended to answer at that time, and only that night he used this flying claw to hang down from the city wall of Pucheng and fled all the way to Xiaotong. Originally, the plan was to rest overnight in Xiaotong, and set off for Lantian tomorrow, but he never thought that he would directly encounter Hou Ye's army. ”

Zhang Zhiji patiently listened to Li Xin's explanation of the causes and consequences, and then continued: "Then how do you say that Wang Mingyu is bigger?" ”

Li Xin said: "Master Hou, the students looked through the history books and found that if it was an ordinary rebellion of the disaster victims, most of them were just looting in order to be fed. As for the rest, most of them haven't thought much about it.

But this Wang Mingyu is different, and there are some big ambitions between his words, wanting to go to the northeast to fight Chengcheng, and then go all the way north to meet Gao Yingxiang, and engage in the alliance of the three families.

And listening to the meaning of his words, most of them are to fight for this alliance leader. It's just that now Wang Er is still there, how can he win it?

That's why the student said that Wang Er was afraid that his life would not be short. If Wang Mingyu is really allowed to make the trip, I am afraid that most of Shaanxi will be eroded. ”

Wang Er wants to wave his army north to fight with Gao Yingxiang for the leader of the alliance, Zhang Zhiji knows, and even Wang Er's plan to make things bigger first, and then go to the Tang King is also clear, but he doesn't know that there is Wang Mingyu in the middle who wants to usurp power.

After pondering for a while, Zhang Zhiji said: "In this case, you can move forward with my army, and you can plan for Benhou along the way." ”

In a word, Li Xin was stumped.

To put it bluntly, Zhang Zhiji still can't believe himself, otherwise he wouldn't have said this and wanted to tie himself up in the army.

It's just that the situation is stronger than people, and now I can't help but disagree. The entire Ming Dynasty knows that Emperor Chongzhen trusts this Hou Ye very much, not to mention that he is a scholar with no power or power, no matter how big his family background is, can he still be as big as this Hou Ye's backstage?

In desperation, Li Xin had no choice but to give it up.

By the evening of the next day, the army had marched all the way, but it had reached the slopes of the mountains more than ten miles outside Pucheng.

Li Xin, who had been watched closely, followed Zhang Zhiji and arched his hand: "Master Qiqi, Pucheng is ahead." However, the situation in the city is not clear now, and the students do not know whether the thieves have retreated. ”

Zhang Zhiji snorted and asked the chief banner of Jinyiwei who followed beside him: "Can you contact Jinyiwei in Pucheng?" ”

The general banner of the Jinyi Guard gritted his teeth and said: "Master Hou, the Jinyi Guard on the bright face of the city must either die or someone defects to the enemy. But as long as these rebels are still in Pucheng, they will be able to contact the hidden stakes in them.

It's just that if the news is revealed, the dark pile has the risk of losing his head, so if Hou Ye must use the dark pile, he also needs Hou Ye to explain to the Admiral afterwards. ”

Zhang Zhiji snorted and ordered: "Send someone into the city at night to have a look, and if the thieves have not retreated, ask about the situation in the city."

If the thief retreats, ask where the thief has gone, the number of people, and the situation of the grain and grass to see if he has inquired clearly.

As for the matter of the secret pile, Ben Hou will naturally explain it to the Admiral of your family. ”

When the general banner of the brocade guard heard this, he gave up his hand and stepped aside, and the whole person seemed to be a wooden man, and no longer spoke.

Li Xin interjected: "Master Hou, why don't you just send a large army to besiege the city?" ”

Zhang Zhiji glanced at Li Xin and sneered: "The army is besieging the city? If the rebels retreat, it's okay to say, but if the rebels don't retreat and the army besieges the city, what will happen to the people in the city? ”

Li Xin was stunned when he heard this, and arched his hand: "Isn't it okay to attack the city directly?" ”

Zhang Zhiji laughed and said, "Siege? If the rebels drive the people to defend the city, how do you say Benhou will attack? Could it be that these people, who had already suffered the calamity, did not die at the hands of the rebels, but at the hands of Benhou? When the time comes, will Your Majesty be able to spare Benhou? ”

Li Xin said unconvincedly: "Doesn't the Hou Ye hear that Ci is not in charge of the army?" If the thieves run away, wouldn't it be an even greater calamity? The students thought that Hou Ye could not have the kindness of a woman. ”

Zhang Zhiji smiled: "You know a fart!" What kind of woman's kindness, no matter how good the Tartars of the steppe are, are they stronger than this rebel? Ben Hou killed the heads of people when His Majesty marched north to the grassland, how could he care about this rebel army?

As long as the rebels go out of the city, then Ben Hou can kill them almost, even if they run, how many can they run? ”

After speaking, ignoring Li Xin, who was stunned on the side, Zhang Zhiji directly ordered: "Let's find a place to rest first, don't raise a fire to make food, just eat some dry food." ”

The 10,000 soldiers led by Zhang Zhiji were originally veterans who had gone to the grassland, not to mention that they couldn't make a fire to cook, even if they had endured even the most difficult days, what was this bit of hardship.

Before the time came, the general banner of the Jinyi Guard, who had been with the army, hurried back.

Seeing that the general flag looked solemn, Zhang Zhiji also asked with a straight face: "How is the situation in the city?" ”

The general banner of Jinyi Wei arched his hand and said: "Lord Hou, the rebels are still in the city at this time.

Zheng Wu, the county commander of Pucheng County, set his family on fire when the city was broken, the county lieutenant and the general banner of Pucheng Jinyi Wei were killed in battle, and the main book and the county were killed after surrendering, and now they are hanging on the head of the city.

There were a total of six large families in Pucheng, one of which was killed, and all the silver and grain in the house were looted by the rebels.

As for the remaining five, they were also extorted by the rebels for more than 10,000 stone of grain, and now they are all sent to the rebels' camp.

According to the hidden stake that has been lying in ambush, there are now more than 5,000 rebel soldiers in the city, and they will leave the city tomorrow and march towards Chengcheng. It's just that some of the rebels proposed to go with the people of Pucheng. ”

After speaking, he glanced at Li Xin again before continuing: "The person who proposed it is the Wang Mingyu mentioned by this little brother.

As for Wang Mingyu and his person, he has read some books and has a deep mind, and now he doesn't just want to live, but wants to compete in the world. ”

Zhang Zhiji sneered: "Compete for the world? The toad yawns, what a big breath! Just a place in northern Shaanxi, thinking about the trouble of the Ming Dynasty? Is it true that Your Majesty is good-natured? ”

After pondering for a while, Zhang Zhiji then ordered the many officers beside him: "Pass on Benhou's order, divide the troops into two routes, set off with Benhou all the way, and bypass Pucheng to ambush." As for the other way, stay here and wait for the rebels to leave the city twenty miles, and then cut off the road between the rebels and Pucheng. ”