On the day of Li Jinglong's departure from Beijing, Zhu Yunwen personally saw him off, authorizing him to take charge of all the garrisons of the Xingdu Division in Shaanxi, that is, the garrisons west of Liangzhou Wei and east of Jiayuguan, a total of 12 guards and 3,000 households, and put him in charge of the affairs of the tea and horse markets.

Looking at Li Jinglong's back, Zhu Yunwen's feelings are very complicated, before his father died, he liked or admired Li Jinglong very much, but since he knew what happened next, he instinctively disliked Li Jinglong, so over the years, he has been reluctant to let him lead the troops.

Recently, he sent the Investigation Department to closely monitor the officials in Beijing, and the focus of the surveillance was Xu Zengshou and Li Jinglong, Xu Zengshou could basically be sure that he was in Tongyan, but for the time being, Zhu Yunwen did not want to deal with him, so he sent him to Taiwan to help his other brother-in-law build the palace and clear the territory on behalf of the king. According to the report of the Investigation Department, Li Jinglong has been looking at firearms and the information of the Guards recently, although the Guards are not under the jurisdiction of the Governor's Office of the Five Armies, but with his authority, he can still know some things; In addition, his family and guards also had abnormalities, and he had frequent contacts with some officers of the Guards, coupled with Huang Zicheng's strong recommendation, which finally made Zhu Yunwen make up his mind to transfer him out of the Beijing Division, and then consider how to deal with it after the Yanshu people were pacified.

As for those Guards officers, Zhu Yunwen ordered the Military Police Department to examine them, and although no problems were found, they were all transferred out of the Guards in the end, and Zhu Yunwen did not allow any hidden dangers in his own Guards.

Xu Zengshou and Li Jinglong's successive departures from Beijing made Zhu Yunwen secretly relieved, but he did not order the Investigation Department to lift the surveillance of the two, because with the ability of these two people, it is still easy to arrange a few shadows in Beijing, and it is definitely not to be taken lightly.

The Yan army bypassed the river and went south, plundering the people on a large scale, which not only easily solved the dilemma of lack of grain and grass, but also put great pressure on the imperial court, although it attracted a lot of condemnation from the courtiers, but these were insignificant. Because when Zhu Di ascended the throne, he could easily plant these things on himself and erase all things. This made Zhu Yunwen soberly realize that he was too tender, far less ruthless than Zhu Di's heart, so he had to be cautious and cautious.

Thinking of this, Zhu Yunwen turned his gaze to the north, Baoding, Juyongguan, and Beiping......

When the Yan army went south to plunder the people, Ping'an immediately got the news, because some people fled west to Zhending, Ping'an helped them, and inquired about the situation by the way, but the people couldn't say any valuable information, most of what they said was as follows: "King Yan, who killed a thousand knives, burned our house, captured my man, and robbed us of our food!" But some people said: "King Yan has gone out to collect grain, the inside of the camp is empty, and the laughter of women is often heard in the barracks, and the military discipline is lax." "Some people even said that they saw Zhu Di appear on the street of Lixian County, holding Xiuchunlou's little peach and Sai Jinhua in his arms, etc., anyway, there is all kinds of news.

Ping An also sent scouts to investigate, and then held a military meeting to discuss the direction of the operation. At the beginning of the meeting, Shi Gaowei, the marching commander, strongly advocated sending cavalry to encircle and suppress the rebels on the front line of Shenzhou and Wuqiang to save the people from fire and water.

Wu Jie put forward a different opinion, he glanced at Gao Wei, who was furious, and arched his hand: "Lord Gao, please forgive the last general for saying bluntly, the rebels plundered the people, not only to collect grain and grass, but also to provoke our army, so our army to rescue the people, it is very likely to fall into the trap of the enemy." ”

"What An Luhou means is that you are afraid of falling into a trap and sitting and watching the people suffer, so what is the use of the court raising you?"

Gao Wei's words were so hurtful that Qu Neng slapped the table and was about to stand up, but was stopped by Wu Jie.

"That's not what the last general meant," Wu Jie shook his head and said: "Lord Gao, the last general thinks that we should go straight to Lixian and fight a decisive battle with the Yanshu people, and he will inevitably recall the cavalry going south, so that we can not only save the people, but also not fall into his trap, what do you think?" ”

"Well, that's fine." Gao Wei's face softened and said.

Ping'an, who was sitting on the throne, smiled and said, "General Qu, what do you think?" ”

"The last general also agrees with An Luhou's opinion, the rebels' move has the intention of forcing me to fight a decisive battle, but our army has to respond."

"Since the Yanshu people are forcing us to fight a decisive battle, then we are not as good as he wants."

Hearing Ping'an say this, Gao Wei was about to refute immediately, and at this moment, the guard outside the door announced: "General Zuo, Shen Qianhu of the Investigation Department asks to see you." ”

Investigations Division? The faces of everyone in the tent immediately froze, the Investigation Department is actually Jinyiwei, this is something that everyone knows, but the Investigation Department is more low-key, not as flamboyant as Jinyiwei, but it is still unlikable, especially the soldiers who are rectum, and they have an instinctive aversion to these "ground rats" who engage in secret work. Now there is an investigation department in Zhending City, Qianhu, who is responsible for collecting information on the rebels, and perhaps for the purpose of monitoring the generals, so the attitude of the generals is to keep a distance and deal less with each other.

But when someone from the Investigation Department came to the door, he couldn't be missing, and after listening to the guard's report, Ping An nodded and said, "Let him come in." ”

"Yes, General."

Shen Zhiming walked in with a smile, he was of medium stature, slightly fat, and looked inconspicuous at all, if he walked on the street, no one would have thought that this person was a thousand households of the Investigation Division. He first saluted the people in the tent and said, "Generals, my lordship, the Investigation Department has just interrogated those villagers and found that there are spies from the rebels. ”

What the? Ping An and the others couldn't help but show surprise, but they didn't speak.

"The man with the baby in his arms is called Han Jue, he is a rebel captain, and he is here to confuse our army, although the Yan army went out of the city to collect food, there was no chaos."

"The person who said that he saw King Yan on the street in Lixian County is called Li Xi, although he is not a spy, but Tong Wei, who came with him, is a spy of the rebels."

“......”

"In addition, according to the intelligence of our investigation department, the rebels are in good order in Lixian County, and there is no chaos as they do, but grain and grass are constantly transported into the camp, which should be looted by the rebels."

"Well, Ben will know, thank you Shen Qianhu."

"You're welcome, your lords are busy first, and you won't bother with your humble duties." Shen Zhiming smiled and retreated.

The news of the Investigation Division made the atmosphere in the tent a little solemn, the sloppiness of the rebels was fake, so should they still attack? But how can you save the people if you don't attack?

In the end, Qu Neng slapped the table and said loudly: "The rebels are nothing remarkable, isn't that Qiu Fu a knife or two?" General, give the order, the last general is willing to be the striker! ”

Ping'an smiled slightly, and said: "General Qu, General Wu, Gao Changshi, the general didn't finish what he said just now, but the intelligence of the Investigation Department made the general more determined, now the rebels are in Lixian County, waiting for us to go over, but the general is not going, the general is going here," As he spoke, Ping'an pointed to a point on the map: "Baoding." ”

Baoding? Qu Neng's eyes couldn't help but light up, and he said loudly: "Yes, General Zuo, we can't let the rebels lead the way, our army will take Baoding directly, see if the rebels can save it, if we don't save it, we will take advantage of the situation to take Baoding and go straight to Beiping." ”

"If we are saved, then we will wait for work and fight a decisive battle against the rebels."

Wu Jie also nodded and said, "What General Zuo said, I would agree with it very much. ”

Although Gao Wei had some different opinions, he did not interject, because Zhu Yunwen strictly ordered him not to interfere with Ping'an's command before he came.

In the end, everyone reached an agreement to go north to Baoding, attract rebels to come to their aid, and fight a decisive battle.

On the thirteenth day of the first month of the second year of Jianwen, he went out of Zhending safely, passed through Xinle, and arrived in Dingzhou on the 15th, and confronted Zhu Di across the Sha River. After Zhu Di heard the report, he immediately summoned Zhang Yu and Zhu Neng to return.

Ping'an left troops to defend Dingzhou, then crossed the Shahe River, and went north along the Tang River, leaving Qu Neng to cruise on the Tang River, but the army suddenly turned north and reached the city of Baoding, Zhu Di was shocked when he heard the report.