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Before leaving Mengjin, Xu Ji deliberately asked someone to ask the reason for the defeat of the officers and soldiers, but no one could say a thing or two, and no one cared, everyone was showing off how many things they had grabbed - this was more important than how many enemies they had killed.

The camps on the south bank are even larger and more crowded than those on the north shore.

The Jinyang army camped in the west of Mengjin, not far from the descending army, two days' journey can be reached, by the mountains and rivers, down the main road, although it is not as strong as the city, but it is also an important place that can be attacked and defended, the military camp points to the northwest, guarding a temporary pontoon bridge.

The pontoon bridge was originally built by officers and soldiers, but it was captured by the Jinyang army, and instead became their way across the river.

The Jinyang army was much more regular than the descendant army, and like the Jizhou army, the cavalry was the majority, so the camp was relatively large, but it was not cluttered, and the road between the camp tents was wide enough, horizontal and vertical, so that it could gallop in wartime, and there were very few people who were allowed to ride horses in peacetime.

Xu Ji accompanied Guo Shifeng, Shen Cong, and Zhou Yuanbin to the military camp, with the sole purpose of showing goodwill to the Shen family.

Shen Cong and Guo Shifeng were summoned into the Chinese military tent, while Xu Ji and Zhou Yuanbin were taken to a nearby tent to rest.

Zhou Yuanbin was a little nervous and fidgeting, "Is my father-in-law dissatisfied with me?" It's no wonder that I lost Yingcheng and made a big mistake, what should I do? What can I do? ”

Xu Ji couldn't help but say: "Zhou joins the army without worrying, you must be fine." ”

"Really? I listened to your words, and I didn't take Yingcheng by force, but I didn't see King Liang either, so I couldn't please him, let alone talk about peace with the two armies, and even the middle strategy...... Alas, you have done me a mischief. Zhou Yuanbin was anxious to shirk his responsibility, and he didn't even let Xu Ji go, as if the plan to assassinate King Liang was proper, and it was only because of Xu Ji's persuasion that he was abandoned.

Xu Ji said with a smile: "Zhou Senjun was originally a businessman, and he obviously had strange goods, but he was worried that there would be no buyer and would not be taken seriously? ”

Zhou Yuanbin heard a little eyebrows, his eyes couldn't help but light up, he pounced in front of Xu Ji, grabbed a hand, and said earnestly: "Seventeen sons save me, I am burning my eyebrows now, every inch is in chaos, I can't see the things in front of me clearly, I must wake up the seventeenth son." ”

"Yes, if you know what a 'strange goods' are, you will inevitably show off them everywhere, but it will devalue the strange goods, and even cause real death."

Zhou Yuanbin was stunned for a moment, "What is important in the business field is to say that there are ten, how can there be a reason to have strange goods and not show off?" ”

Xu Ji shook his head and was about to explain when someone came in outside.

Hearing that Xu Ji was coming, Shen Tan and Tan Wuwu immediately came to visit.

"Brother-in-law, what are you doing? My fourth brother is not good at this. Shen Tan smiled, as enthusiastic and easy-going as usual.

Zhou Yuanbin hurriedly let go of Xu Ji's hand and said with a smile: "Fifth brother is joking, I'm begging the seventeenth prince to give me a move." Was my father-in-law angry with me? ”

Shen Tan lowered his face coldly, "Do you still need to ask?" Yingcheng is lost, our army and Jinyang are cut off, if there is a case, there is not even a way to retreat, do you say your sin is not great? ”

Zhou Yuanbin glanced at Xu Ji and said with a sad face: "You can't blame me, that King Liang...... No, no, it's all my fault, and I want to kowtow to my father-in-law to apologize......"

Shen Tan laughed and said, "I'm kidding you, although my father is dissatisfied, it hasn't reached the point of punishing the crime." Ying City is not big, and there are few soldiers left for you, so it is not surprising that it will be captured. Besides, you and King Liang did not fight, so that the two armies can continue to join forces, which can be regarded as a small achievement. ”

"Father-in-law really thinks so?" Zhou Yuanbin was overjoyed.

"That's what I think, my father is still angry, and when I meet him later, you have to make amends and fight for your father's forgiveness."

"Of course, I came with a pleading."

"Then what are you doing here? Go to your father's tent and keep watch, so that he can see that you really want to plead guilty. ”

Zhou Yuanbin suddenly realized, and slapped his head, "Fifth brother is right, I'll go now, I'll kneel in front of the tent......"

While the two were talking, Tan Wuwu came to Xu Ji, walking back and forth, his eyes did not leave, but he did not speak.

Xu Ji smiled: "Second brother, don't you know me?" ”

"Have you changed?"

"Get a tan."

Tan shook his head senselessly, "There is a change in your heart, in Jinyang and Yingcheng, you have ambitions, and I can recognize them when we meet you for the first time, so I will make friends with you." Now you are ambitious, your ambition is declining, and you seem to be a teenager old. ”

"Second brother, has you learned the eldest brother's physiognomy skills?" Xu Ji's smile remained unchanged, but he admired Tan Wu's accurate vision in his heart.

Shen Tan stepped forward and said, "The eldest brother is with the Chinese army tent, come over later, and give the fourth brother a good look." ”

Tan Wuwu still shook his head, "For example, when the mountain is climbing, when the ambition is high, looking at the mountain is like a sword, a beauty, you will want to get it quickly, the higher and more dangerous the mountain, and the more happy your heart, once you are discouraged, the mountain is like a stench, and it is difficult to move forward half a step, you just want to go the other way." Alas, the fourth brother is no longer a person in my way, but it's a pity, it's a pity. ”

Tan pointlessly held the long sword and went out of the account, and refused to even listen to an explanation.

Xu Ji didn't want to explain.

Shen Tan said: "What happened to the fourth brother?" ”

"It's fine, just a little confused...... In short, it doesn't matter. You came just in time, I heard a rumor in Yingcheng that someone was going to assassinate Shen Mushou. ”

Shen Tan's eyebrows raised slightly, "Hey, the Eastern Capital has not yet been captured, and their own people are going to do it against each other, the so-called coalition forces are just deceiving each other's trust and facilitating the assassination." ”

"The third brother has been prepared?"

"From the moment we cross the river, we are prepared." Shen Tan sat down and stared at Xu Ji for a while, "Don't take the second brother's words to heart, he was the first to propose a flank attack plan, and he expected that the officers and soldiers would build a bridge upstream to cross the river." After Meng Jin's victory, he was not appreciated, and he was dissatisfied with the first merit given to others. ”

"Why doesn't Shen Mushou reward meritorious people?" Xu Ji was surprised, thinking that Tan Wuwu deserved to be rewarded heavily.

"Hehe, my father is prejudiced, and the second brother is also a little too anxious, so he asked his father for troops on the first day of crossing the river, wanting to go straight to the eastern capital, and after arriving in Mengjin, he urged his father to attack as soon as possible. My father didn't agree, and I didn't agree, otherwise, even if we could defeat the officers and soldiers, our army would inevitably suffer a lot of casualties. ”

Xu Ji has always been strange about this matter, "Why are the officers and soldiers shocked?" The incarnation army claims that Maitreya Buddha did it, I think there must be another reason, right? ”

"I caught some prisoners, according to them, that night, news suddenly spread in the camp, saying that the eastern capital had fallen, the emperor and the empress dowager moved to Jizhou, Lan Sui changed into civilian clothes, escaped at night, and did not know where to go."

"It's that simple?"

"Well, the officers and soldiers all believed it, so they dispersed in a hurry."

"How is the Eastern Capital actually?"

"I don't know the situation in the eastern capital, but there are indeed a few armies on the periphery, which are the rebels who came from Jingzhou and other places, and the rumors probably come from here. My father had sent someone to contact the rebels, and he would soon be able to reply. This time it is really a big chaos in the world, it is said that the states in the south of the Yangtze River are more chaotic than in the north, and Tiancheng only has one city left in the eastern capital to defend. ”

Xu Ji had already seen messengers from all over the country in Yecheng, and he was not particularly surprised by the chaos, so he roughly told what he saw and heard in Yecheng, and still kept his promise and did not leak Zhang Shiyu's words.

Shen Tan guessed it himself, and said with a smile: "The king of Jibei is going to move to Jizhou to stand on his own, right?" Even the Zhang family felt that the eastern capital was difficult to hold, and the second brother was right, the Jinyang army should have approached the eastern capital a long time ago...... The fourth brother has something to say? ”

Xu Ji stared at it for a long time, and Shen Tan felt strange.

"I only ask once, the third brother can answer if he wants to, and I won't ask if I don't want to answer."

"Although we are four people to worship, but only you and I are like brothers, why did the fourth brother suddenly see each other?"

"Does the third brother intend to suppress Tan Wuwu, and want to wait for himself to take power before reusing his people?"

Shen Tan was slightly stunned, and then smiled: "I understand, the fourth brother has not been summoned by my father for a long time, and he feels that he has been snubbed, so he is suspicious and uses the second brother to wake me up." ”

Shen Tan skillfully turned the topic to Xu Ji himself, Xu Ji sighed slightly in his heart, and sure enough, he didn't ask, and said with a smile: "I was seen through by the third brother." ”

"Since the fourth brother asked, I can't help but answer, let alone lie. To tell the truth, although my father has raised troops, he has been hesitating in his heart, and he has been unwilling to be the king, and he has been reusing the old people of Bingzhou, and he is quite suspicious of outsiders, not only the second brother and the fourth brother, but also those who come to defect from all directions have been given idle positions. I tried to persuade me many times, but my father only said that I should wait, make more observations, and then make decisions, and said that I was too young to hold my breath. ”

Xu Ji is often said to be "too young", and he has a deep understanding of this, and said with a smile: "Then wait a little longer." ”

"Now the heroes are coming together, which is both a good thing and a bad thing. After the destruction of Tiancheng, there are many champions, and the war is difficult to settle, which is a bad thing. Jinyang will soon need to fight on all sides, and when the time comes, his father will not need outsiders, and the fourth brother can rest assured, the time is almost up. ”

Xu Ji arched his hand and said: "It's me who is too careful." I still don't know something, Zhou Senjun is familiar with the northerners, why did he take him south? ”

Shen Tan laughed and said, "Fourth brother really has to see everything clearly. This was also my father's idea, thinking that He Rongbu had always been afraid of the strong and bullying, and he would be despised if he sent someone to negotiate peace too early, so he had to wait until he had a firm foothold before sending his brother-in-law north. My brother-in-law doesn't know that he will be used in the future, and he is always worried that his position will be unstable, although it is ridiculous, but when he goes north in the future, he will do his best. ”

Suppress first and then promote, if you want to use it, you must first get trapped, this is the Shen family's imperial technique, quite the demeanor of the emperor's family, Xu Ji couldn't help but think in his heart, this trick seems to be used too early.

"Just talking, I'll go ask for some wine and wash the dust for the fourth brother."

"It's important to get down to business, the third brother will go and get busy first, Shen Mu is willing to join forces with King Liang to besiege the eastern capital, that's enough."

"At this time, what other options are there than the joint forces? First break the eastern capital, and then talk about grievances. King Liang has courage and deserves respect, I know that the fourth brother has a good relationship with King Liang, where to go in the future, I will not interfere, I just hope that the fourth brother will consider it carefully. ”

In the past, Xu Ji would not hesitate to choose the Shen family, but now he is not very sure, and said: "Thank you, I don't want to go now." ”

Shen Tan sighed lightly, "Maybe the second brother is right, the fourth brother...... There are really some changes, what happened to the trip to Yecheng that made the fourth brother depressed to this point? ”

"I'm thinking...... I don't know what I'm thinking. "Xu Ji is telling the truth.

"Zhang Shiyu worked hard to win over the fourth brother, right? Let me talk more, the swarm of males will rise, you can choose whoever is the master, just don't return to Zhang's side, the people who die in the sky are ominous. ”

"Why do we have to 'choose the Lord'? What if I myself was 'Lord'? ”

Shen Tan was stunned for a moment, he didn't expect Xu Ji to say such a sentence.

Xu Ji was also stunned, he didn't expect that he would have such a heart, and then he felt relaxed for a while, and found that he did have a different heart, and it had been a long time.