Yanshi suddenly went south, crossed Shandong after trapping several county seats, and Pei County, Xuzhou was in an emergency.

When Qitai was still in Zhejiang, he rushed to Beijing immediately after hearing the news.

At the beginning of the year, the Jiahe battle, the official army was defeated, and the imperial court slowed down the attack of the Yan division, and ostensibly dismissed Qi Tai, Huang Zicheng and others, so that the Yan King lost his excuse for "Jingnan". However, it didn't play a role, and Qi Tai took the opportunity of leaving the military department to go to various places to raise soldiers, food and grass.

The official army was defeated several times on the front line, and it was gradually difficult to dispatch in various places, the local military officials took a wait-and-see attitude, and the progress of the imperial court decrees was slow. So much so that Qi Tai and the others had to go down to supervise in person.

…… Qi Tai and his entourage were on the post road, and soon entered the ground of Yingtianfu, but it suddenly rained in the sky.

The people hurriedly drove the carriage to a village on the edge of the post road, borrowed a family's house, and stayed for shelter from the rain.

Qi Tai stooped down from the carriage and walked under the thatched-roof eaves. He didn't enter the house, but he looked up at the pouring rain and sighed, and said to the guards around him, "Wait for the rain to stop for a while." ”

The general clasped his fists and said, "Obey!" ”

Qi Tai turned his head to take a look, and then walked into the earthen wall and wooden door. The people who lived here had been driven away, and there were two men in Tsing Yi standing at the door.

Walking to a small window, Qi Tai went over and personally picked out a curtain and hung it, looking at the rain outside with restlessness.

At this moment, a voice came from outside: "Qi Butang, Qi Butang is here?" ”

It sounded like Fang Xiaoru's voice, Qi Tai hurriedly got up and went out, and sure enough, he saw Fang Xiaoru standing under the eaves and collecting his umbrella. Qi Tai hurriedly stepped forward and said, "I don't dare to call myself a ministry anymore, how can Fang Gong be here?" ”

Fang Xiaoru smiled: "It's a coincidence!" I saw the recital of the Duke of Qi, and I calculated that you should go to Yingtian, so I asked you to go out of the city to greet you. When the road was raining heavily, I happened to see a guard at the entrance of the village to hide from the rain, so I asked someone to come up and ask, sure enough, it was Qi Gong! ”

"Come inside, please." Qi Tai said, "I don't want us to meet in this hut." ”

Fang Xiaoru smiled.

When the two entered the house, they took their seats next to the broken wooden table by the window, and the house was guarded by guards. Fang Xiaoru opened his mouth and said, "Even if the Duke of Qi doesn't go to the book, the Holy Lord will issue an order to summon you back to Beijing." Yan Wei is close to Pei County, should Qi Gong know? ”

Qi Tai nodded, frowned, and said, "In the past few days, I have been planning a strategy day and night, so I will wait until the queen of Beijing speaks." ”

Fang Xiaoru said: "The Holy Lord also wants to hear the strategy of the Duke of Qi. ”

Qi Tai pondered for a long time, and said in a low voice: "Yan Rebellion's move is intended to go straight to the Jingshi!" ”

"Huh?" Fang Xiaoru immediately looked shocked, then calmed down and glanced at Qi Tai, "If this is the case, Yan Yi is really bold, and Qi Gong's opinion is also amazing." ”

Qi Tai shook his head and said, "I'm just judging from the facts. First of all, Sheng Yong painstakingly managed Shandong, which was located on the flank of Beiping's southward Jingshi, and used this as a basis to threaten Yan Rebellion, so that he did not dare to go south, thinking that it was a long-term plan. But now Yan rebels regardless of Shandong and marches to the ground in Xuzhou, if the plan is not in Beijing, what is the benefit of this move? ”

Fang Xiaoru was thoughtful. Qi Tai glanced at him, no matter how much he thought about it, Fang Xiaoru couldn't think of it, and he didn't blame him, Fang Gong was not good at military strategy.

Qi Tai asked Fang Xiaoru what he knew better, and whispered: "It is said that the imperial court has a traitor and spy in Beiping, such a big thing, there is not the slightest news?" ”

Fang Xiaoru hesitated for a moment, and said in a low voice: "There is indeed a very important detail...... In addition to the saint, there are only two people in the court who know that person! ”

"One of them must be Fang Gong." Qi Tai said casually.

Fang Xiaoru nodded and said, "But a few months ago, that person suddenly disappeared!" The imperial court sent people to Beiping to inquire about the fine work, but nothing happened in return. It's amazing! ”

Qi Tai didn't ask after hearing it, since the Holy Lord hadn't let him know about it for so long, it was not good for him to ask again. He asked in a half-joking tone again: "I heard that Fang Gong proposed a plan to divide the world, it turned out to be Wei Guogong's idea?" ”

Fang Xiaoru was a little embarrassed and said: "That's true, but Wei Guogong was afraid that the Holy Lord would not accept it, so he asked me not to say that it was his suggestion." ”

Qi Tai remembered that before the outbreak of the "Battle of Pingyan", about the departure and stay of Zhu Gaoxu, the king of Gaoyang, Xu Huizu tried his best to prevent the king of Gaoyang from leaving Beijing...... Later, King Gaoyang really made great contributions to Yan Rebellion. Now it seems that Xu Huizu is indeed also interested in the imperial court.

"Wei Guogong and Huang Zicheng have a gap." Qi Tai called him by his name unabashedly, and he also couldn't get used to Huang Zicheng, "So Wei Guogong is looking for Fang Gong, and he hopes that Fang Gong will recommend him to lead the army and be useful." ”

Fang Xiaoru sighed: "How could I not know? It's just that Yan Wei is the brother-in-law of Wei Guogong, and I'm worried that the Holy Lord will not agree. ”

Qi Tai said quietly: "Since Wei Guogong has found Fang Gong, why not try it?" ”

Fang Xiaoru finally nodded.

The rain at the turn of summer and autumn will come as soon as it is said and stop as soon as it is said. After a pouring downpour, the rain stopped. Qi Tai glanced out the window, then got up and said, "Let's go back to Beijing first." ”

Fang Xiaoru said: "A heavy rain actually made Duke Qi succumb to this place, please!" ”

Qi Tai didn't care, he hadn't lived in a thatched house before, and the house he lived in as a child was only more dilapidated than this one! At that time, I couldn't afford to buy paper and ink for studying, so I had to rely on the clan for help.

…… After Qi Tai entered Beijing, he immediately presented the strategy of "attacking up and down, attacking and defending in the long run".

After he faced the saint, he proposed to move the main front south. transferred Shengyong to the south of the Huai River, and then transferred the Beijing battalion to the north for reinforcements, thinking that it would be deployed in the south; The Ping'an Army followed to Jining, Shandong, located north of Xuzhou and Pei County. Most of the two official armies have formed a north-south attack on the main force of the Yan army!

At the same time, there are long-term preparations for both offense and defense. In advance, Mei Yin, the commander of the horses, was the chief military officer of Huainan, gathered Huainan soldiers and horses, and operated the Huaihe River defense line, which was a long-term strategy.

Then strictly ordered the Liaodong Army to go south, and forced Yan to rebel against the empty Beiping nest, thinking that it was a distant attack.

Shi Yanwei suddenly went south, marching extremely fast. The Holy Lord and the princes of the imperial court could not come up with a comprehensive strategy for a while, so they roughly followed Qi Tai's suggestion and only made some minor modifications.

Fang Xiaoru recommended Xu Huizu. Shengshang trusted Fang Xiaoru very much, and was really persuaded by some reason, and finally used Xu Huizu, the Duke of Wei, to serve as the chief officer of the Beijing camp who went north for reinforcements.

Qi Tai planned a countermeasure as quickly as possible. Yan Rebellious's plan to surprise and suddenly go south may not be so smooth.

The confrontation that had been silent for half a year was broken by King Yan's southward movement at this time, and a large-scale war was inevitable.

Xu Huizu wiped the butter off his armor, finally put on the battle armor as he wished, and came to the barracks in high spirits, his posture had never been so vigorous.