"Brother Zhao, the resistance in our north seems to be small, but Meng Lao Thief's brigade is only sixty miles away from the forward, although the Meng family brothers are not in harmony, it is unlikely that they will support each other, but if they are in danger, father and son are connected, Meng Lao Thief will definitely not sit idly by, and Yidu Road's supervision has become more and more urgent recently, which can be felt from the increasing frequency of Meng Thief's sentinels. And the further north we go, the smoother the road becomes, and the officers and troops stationed in Yidu Luzhi will never sit idly by, and once we go too deep, it is very likely that the surrounding Tartar army will also be sent to surround us. So I don't think you can go deep into the north, and if you have the opportunity, you should jump out immediately. ”

"Let's go back and plan today's sentry route and get ready." Zhao Shidao, "Side, you work hard, eat and rest for a while, and then set off in batches!" ”

"No problem!" Wu Side replied with a big grin. Wu Side touched his head, then turned his head to Ma Rulong and said, "Ma Yan, don't forget to tell Xiucai, prepare early!"

"Xiucai just applied medicine to the brother of the Yang family, and went to the west of the village to check on the injuries of everyone, and it is estimated that he is still in the west of the village." Wu Side said, "Let's go back and clean up first, thoroughly inspect the horses and horseshoe, and then gather at the entrance of the village." ”

"Let Xiucai rest for a while, Side, you go first!" Zhao Shidao.

After everyone finished speaking, they acted separately, and Zhao Shi and Yu Zhilong returned to the room where they were resting just now. After less than half a pillar of incense, several small leaders of the scout team, except for Qian Zheng, all arrived. Zhao Shi told everyone about the decision of today's meeting of leaders, and when preparing for the sub-division, divide the scout team into small teams, and explore in all directions, focusing on the direction of the Qingshui River Tiger Hill, and be sure to investigate and understand the movements and strength of the various units of Meng Lao Thief, so as to prepare for the large army to avoid the main force of the enemy army and pass the Qingshui River safely.

"Brother Zhao, I'll go with Brother Side to explore the north, right?" Yu Zhilong took the initiative to ask.

"Medium! Brother Yu, pay more attention to Meng Lao's horse exploration, don't fall into the other party's ambush. Zhao Shi continued: "The second team and the third team explored the left and right sides of the road ahead, respectively, and the road ahead was in charge of Brother Yu of the first team. Brother Yu, I will take Hou Ying, Huang Er, and Qian Zheng to follow you, everyone go back to eat enough, prepare dry food, and from tonight onwards, we will continue to investigate and march. Those who have family members hurry up to get together again, they must travel lightly, and the seriously wounded will stay in the baggage team, let them go with the squadron, and the few who are slightly injured will move with me in the center. ”

Everyone sang and went out of the house to prepare.

Yu Hai's rebel army had a total of more than 1,000 people, a total of more than 700 fighters, and about 200 heavy personnel, family members, and wounded of all kinds. Among them, the scout team originally had 100 people, but because of this year's war, there are now about 70 people left, divided into teams 1 to 4. Most of the horses with good foot strength are in the scouts, and the rest are mainly mules, donkeys, and oxen, which are used to carry goods, because there are fewer livestock, and some of the vehicles accompanying the team have to rely on rickshaws to pull carts.

Most of the capital, the moon is in the sky. In the majestic capital, the streets of all sizes run straight and horizontal, running through the east, west, north and south, dividing the city into neat square areas.

There are dozens of thick red candles arranged around the hall of a mansion, which are burning vigorously, and the magnificent hall reflected is as bright as day, showing the wealth of the mansion. There is also a half-person-high incense burner on both sides of the main seat in the hall, and the agarwood in it constantly emits a refreshing aroma.

A middle-aged man in fine clothes was pacing silently in the hall, twisting his beard from time to time and groaning, his face was slightly pale and his body was slightly fat. Several maids in brocade clothes bowed their heads and stood quietly in the corner with bated breath, not daring to make a sound. Soon, a housekeeper-like person pushed the door in lightly, knelt down on one knee at the man in fancy clothes, and said, "Master, the second master has arrived!" ”

"Hmm." The man in Chinese clothes stopped his steps, looked up at the outside of the hall, and as soon as the housekeeper's voice fell, a man strode into the hall, seeing that he was slightly younger than the man in the hall, and did not greet him, he sat directly on the seat on the side.

The man in fancy clothes waved his hand and motioned for the housekeeper and the maid to retreat, and the butler made a promise, retreated to the hall with the maid, closed the hall door with his hand, and guarded the door himself.

"You are going to meet the prince, what does the prince say?"

The man who came in just now was named Xuexue, and he was the younger brother of the man in fancy clothes. Xue Xue took a sip of tea, took a comfortable breath, and said, "As my brother expected, I have taken off my actions and acted aggressively, not only not to take care of us old ministers, but even the affairs of the queen and the crown prince are often inconvenient, and since the first year, how many disgusting things have been done!" His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has long been dissatisfied with it, and now he is just missing a chance. ”

Xue Xue called Brother is the current Yuan Court's Zhongshu Pingzhang Political Affairs Hama, the advanced Guanglu doctor, and the celebrity in front of Huizong.

In the early years of Zheng, Tokhtar was a phase, because of political discord, Tokhtar and Taiping, Bel Timidity and other gaps, Hama was in favor of Tokhtar at this time. Soon, however, the interests of the Hama brothers were suppressed and weakened by measures such as the New Deal for Totoil, and they were at odds with Totok, and now was the time when the contradictions were in full swing.

Since the thirteenth year of Zhizheng, Zhang Shicheng has occupied Taizhou, Gaoyou and other places, and cut off the canal. The Yuan court was shaken and repeatedly issued edicts to surrender, but Zhang Shicheng thought that the official position was small and should not be done several times. The Emperor Hou sent an edict to take off his relatives and led the army south to pacify Zhang Shicheng, and at the same time transferred troops from the Western Regions and Tubo to be under the command of Tokhtar, plus tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in Goryeo, known as 400,000 troops, and marched south. For a time, the flag covered the sun, the sword and halberd were like a forest, and the grand appearance of the army going south made the Yuan court excited, as if the army arrived, and the anti-thief ice and snow melted immediately.

It's just that this court is big, there are all kinds of birds, it's really a few joys and a few sorrows, it seems that Tokhoff is about to achieve a great victory in the suppression of bandits, and the bad Hama, Xuexue, etc., are in a worse mood. As the opponent of the imperial court, of course, he didn't want to see the victory of Toktok, so as to gain the favor of Emperor Yuan even more.

At the beginning, in order to please Emperor Yuan, the monk of Ha Ma Yin entered the West to flatter the emperor with luck, called "acting the child method" ("great joy" meaning). Emperor Yuan was overjoyed, so he took women from his law, regardless of the source. At this time, in the heart of Emperor Yuan, he was already a loyal minister, but in the eyes of the ambitious and wanted to make a new change, he became the first minister of the court.

Later, Totoh had a Zuo Shilang Zhong, named Ruzhong Bai, he disagreed with Hama, and repeatedly stated the harm of Hama in front of Toto, and finally Totoku listened to his words and demoted Hama to the Xuanzheng Yuan, which became an official position without much oil and water, and Hama hated Tama more and more.

This time, Ru Zhongbai decided that Hama would be troubled if he stayed in the court, and repeatedly persuaded Tama to get rid of the Hama brothers, but Takoff was still a little nostalgic and hesitant. It's a pity that the incident is not secret, and this matter was known to Hama, who finally made up his mind to bring it down, so he secretly contacted Xuexue in many ways, and decided to reveal to the queen Qi and the prince that he had used excuses to get rid of the matter of supporting the crown prince.

Tonight, Xue Xue accepted Hama's intentions, and went to the prince's mansion to secretly tell him to get off, intending to get the prince's clear attitude, and Hama was waiting for Xue Xue's reply in the mansion.

As expected, Xue Xue brought back the prince's clear attitude. Knowing that he was unwilling to support Tokh back then, the prince finally said to Xue Xue: If you don't get rid of this thief, it will be difficult to vent your hatred! How to act in the future can be discussed.

Xue Xue gently persuaded her, but now she is patient for the time being, and when the time is ripe, she will strike another blow!

Hama listened to the reply, and had the bottom in his heart, the prince is the prince of the country, and his attitude is extremely important. Here Hama secretly told the Qi family, the Qi family is the prince's biological mother, this mother and son are connected, and the mother is expensive by the son, so she naturally hates the perfunctory attitude of the year.

Hama told Xue Xue about Qi's attitude, and advised: "The second brother must strictly guard his tone, and now he has a lot of power to get rid of the army, in case he learns that the dog jumps over the wall in a hurry, and he will suffer from it!" I will also ask some henchmen to lead the troops south, first, to fight for some credit, and second, to secretly monitor, if there is any abnormal movement, you can also prepare early. Speaking of which, those Goryeo Wanhu who went south are very obedient, they have a lot of relationship with the palace, they can help, plus our strength in the Privy Council, we will definitely get rid of the life of the old thief at the critical moment! ”

Xue Xue agreed: "Exactly! After this thief wiped out the bandits of Sesame Li and recaptured Xuzhou, he was praised not only in the Privy Council, but also in Zhongshu Province and Jixian Academy. It is true that something needs to be done sooner rather than later, and it is not too late to prepare for a rainy day. ”

"It's just that this thief has won a few battles in the south, and Zhang Bandit has the intention of shrinking, and he can't get out of the battle several times, if Zhang Bandit refuses to defend the city, I'm afraid it will prolong the war."

"It's okay, when the time comes, I will sue him for arson, raise thieves and respect himself, and waste the court's money and food in vain."

"Then I'll contact the subordinates of each academy more, obey the dispatch of my brother, and read a few more excerpts from him!"

"Well, it could be bigger. Also, my sister-in-law has been getting very close to the Holy One recently, so you should pay more attention to it. ”

"That Po Caite is hateful, he actually learned Brother's method, not only to the palace to offer joy Buddhism, but also everywhere to collect women to offer into the palace, instigating, wooing Jiazhen and others to have fun with His Majesty in the palace, now seeing that we are also a little unreasonable, if it weren't for Brother's face, I would definitely smack him in person!" They were talking about Hama's sister-in-law, Vullu Timur.

"Recently, this guy also asked His Majesty to ask for a few of his domestic slaves to be appointed as the head of the four roads in Jianghuai Province, and he just knocked out a quota for Qingyuan Road that we agreed, which is all silver for nothing!" Xue Xue said unwillingly.

"After all, it's a family, let's be careful, the current enemy is Totok."

"I know, Brother can rest assured." Xue Xue replied indifferently, "It's just that Brother also has to recruit more generals who are cowardly Xue and the guards of the pro-army, and now that the authority of the old thief in the Privy Council is getting heavier and heavier, there are many people who are attached to the old thief, if you want to hit it effectively, you have to rely on the steel knife in your hand to speak." The eagle on the grassland can fly high because it has a pair of strong wings, and the hound can hunt because it has a mouthful of sharp teeth! Brother values the Nanban scribes, but the barking words of those people are difficult to achieve after all. ”

"Hey, don't underestimate the kung fu of the Nanban, those means of moving words and characters can sometimes play a big role in the court, how many famous generals and ministers in the former Song Dynasty have folded on this. Whether it will succeed this time or not depends on it. It's just that the generals in the Privy Council and the guards should also be closer, after all, with the steel knife in hand, we can rest assured. Hama persuaded.

The brothers spent a long time planning for the future in the middle of the night.