On July 15, Zhao Hongrun led 20,000 Yanling troops, 20,000 Shangshui troops, and 15,000 Fencheng troops to the north and came to Yangxia County. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Yangxia County is one of the border cities and counties on the border of Wei and Chu, and the rugged hilly and swampy area on the south side has become the natural border between Wei and Chu.

Further southeast on the basis of the impassable barren area on the south side is the Guling of the Chu State, that is, the fiefdom of Xiongwu in Guling County—to be exact, the fiefdom that encompasses almost the entire middle reaches of the Vortex River, bordering Pingyu County in the southwest.

According to not very reliable sources, the land around the Vortex River was originally under the control of Xiong Tuo, the king of Xuancheng, but more than ten years ago, when Xiong Tuo, the king of Xuancheng, who was so happy at that time, united with Wei to destroy the Song State, he was placed by Wei Tianzi, so that his reputation in Chu fell sharply.

At this time, Xiong Tuo's younger brother Xiong Wu took advantage of this to make a statement to the king of Chu, and volunteered to take back the Song land, which should have belonged to the state of Chu after the war, so the king of Chu gave Guling to Xiong Wu as a fief and canonized him as the king of Guling.

Perhaps it is precisely because of this reason that Xiong Tuo has a long-standing hatred for Xiong Wu, so two years ago, when he signed the "Chu Wei Zhengyang Peace Treaty" with Zhao Hongrun, he disregarded the achievements of Guling Jun Xiong Wu in the Song Land, and sold the credit of this younger brother without hesitation.

Of course, whether this news is true or not, Zhao Hongrun has no way of knowing, but one thing is certain, the date when Xiong Tuo was crowned the king of Xucheng is indeed before Guling Jun Xiongwu.

Moreover, the relationship between the two brothers, Xiong Tuo, Jun of Xuancheng and Xiong Wu, Jun of Guling, is indeed not very good to be honest, which can be seen from their strategic intentions for more than ten years: after the battle of destroying the Song Dynasty, Xiong Tuo, Jun of Xuancheng, frantically harassed and attacked Wei; However, Xiong Wu, the Guling Jun who was not far from Xiong Tuo, had never sent troops to help Xiong Tuo, and the latter's strategic intention was only the Song County of Wei.

Even, according to the news that Yangxia Black Crow had inadvertently learned in the past, Guling Jun Xiong Wu privately caused trouble for Pingyu County, which bordered his fiefdom, and secretly dragged down Yujun Xiong Hu's hind legs.

After learning these gossip, Zhao Hongrun's mood was really good, because all kinds of signs showed that the open and secret battles between the sons of the King of Chu were far more fierce than the court battles of their Wei State.

It's a pity that his plan of Zhao Hongrun to provoke Xiong Tuo, Xiong Wu and other Chu princes to fight was just on the right track, and it was broken by the strategy of the Qi, Lu and Wei Kingdoms to invade Chu.

After another day, the army came to a small county called Shou.

This small county is not remarkable, but the only special thing is that to the east of this small county, there is a group of hills called Xinling, and further east, it is Suiyang.

That is, one of the six battalions of the Wei garrison, the city where the Suiyang army was stationed, and the place where the Song general Nangong was located.

The army of 55,000 slowly moved towards the east along the Suishui to the south of Suiyang.

As the commander of this army, Zhao Hongrun stood on the bank of the Suishui River, staring at the letter in his hand.

Because when Zhao Hongrun left Daliang some time ago, a major change occurred in Daliang, but Zhao Hongrun didn't know anything about it, therefore, in order to prevent this kind of thing from happening again, this time Zhao Hongrun led the army to leave Daliang before leaving Daliang, leaving more than a dozen green crows in Daliang, as if building a secret branch of Shangshui green crows in Daliang.

It's just that because Daliang is the territory of the inner eunuch, Zhao Hongrun didn't want to cause any misunderstanding, so he arranged the dozen or so green crows to serve as partners in the Su family's Chujin shop under the name of his Su Wangfu.

He didn't ask these people to spy on any important information, he only asked them to collect the daily events or news that came out of Daliang, select the important ones, and send them to the hidden thief village in Shangshui County, and then the latter sent people to him Zhao Hongrun.

No, within a few days, the green crows sent a major news: the imperial court canonized Zhao Hongxuan, the ninth prince, as the king of Huan, and served as the deputy marshal of the Northern Frontier, assisting the prince of the Eastern Palace, Hongli, to guard the northern Xinjiang.

I have to say that at first glance, Zhao Hongrun was really a little surprised when he saw the content of this letter.

Because as far as he knew, his younger brother Zhao Hongxuan should go to Sichuan as an envoy of the imperial court, why did he suddenly change it to Northern Xinjiang?

But after thinking about it carefully, Zhao Hongrun gradually understood the reason.

is a good Luo Ying, he actually dares to use Hongxuan to break the game, I'm afraid that Brother Yongwang may not have expected such a move, right? …… Having said that, the father actually gave the king name "Huan", could it be that the East Palace and King Yong fought too ugly in the court, which touched the bottom line of the father?

A trace of confusion flashed in Zhao Hongrun's eyes.

It's no wonder, after all, the weight of the word Huan is extremely heavy, with the meaning of conquering the land and serving the far and the Wuding Quartet, which is even better than his Zhao Hongrun's Wang Haosu. To put it out of place, Zhao Hongrun originally thought that his father would keep this word for him as a nickname.

I never thought that it would be given to the youngest son.

Unexpectedly, the East Palace and King Yong competed for profit, and it was Xiao Xuan who profited......

With a slight elusive smile on his face, Zhao Hongrun was a little crying and laughing.

He is not worried about whether his younger brother Hongxuan will encounter any danger when he arrives in the northern Xinjiang, after all, at the moment, the interests of the East Palace and Hongxuan, no, and King Huan are the same, he is just a little worried about his mother in the palace, Concubine Shen Shufei.

Because her two sons were not around, Concubine Shen Shu was bound to feel lonely.

Therefore, selfishly, Zhao Hongrun does not want his younger brother Zhao Hongxuan to leave Daliang, but he is more heart-to-heart, as a brother, he has not been able to accompany Shen Shufei, so how can he be qualified to say that his younger brother?

"Hoo ......"

With a long breath, Zhao Hongrun once again set his eyes on Suishui, which was close at hand.

For a long time, while facing Guo Nunu in Suiyang City in the distance, he opened his mouth and asked Zong Wei Jiao, the head of the sect, "Wei Jiao, you said to widen and dig deep Suishui, will Nangong agree?" ”

Although Wei Jiao is upright and impulsive, he is not a stupid person, and he smiled when he heard the words, and his meaning was self-evident.

Widening and digging deep water?

Nangong guards the imperial court day and night, how can it be allowed?

You must know that the Suishui in the south of Suiyang is actually directly connected to the beam, but the river is not deep enough. But if Suishui is widened and dug deeper, it means that if the imperial court wants to deal with him in the future and use transport ships to transport troops over, he will not even have a chance to react.

Seeing Wei Jiao's reaction, Zhao Hongrun smiled slightly, and didn't care.

Whether it is the imperial court or he, Zhao Hongrun, sooner or later he will attack Nangong, but it is not now.

The army slowly marched eastward.

I don't know when, on the river beach south of Suishui, several groups of scouts appeared, and the number of people was about 100 people.

Discovering this situation, Wu Ji, the general of the Shang Shui Army, deliberately slowed down the speed of his mount and signaled to Zhao Hongrun: "Your Highness, look at the ...... over there."

Zhao Hongrun turned his head to look at the south bank of Suishui and glanced at the scouts a few times.

Chu Jun...... No, is it the sergeant of Guling Jun Kumago?

Zhao Hongrun said calmly: "Continue on your way, don't pay attention." ”

Suishui, as far as he knows, is under the control of Nangong, but there are several teams of soldiers under the command of Guling Jun Xiong Wu on the south bank, which is not surprising, after all, the fiefdom between Song County and Guling Jun is originally in a state of stalemate, and the national boundary in this area is not very clear.

But then again, the soldiers under the command of Guling Jun Xiong Hu have all appeared, but Nangong of Suiyang County has not said anything so far, which makes Zhao Hongrun really unhappy.

How can you say that your Nangong is also a general of Wei now, and the dignified King Su led his army through your city, why don't you send someone to greet you? Is it necessary to guard against it so tightly?

Hum!

Zhao Hongrun snorted coldly, and rode his mount to set foot in Song County, stepping on this territory of Wei that did not belong to Wei.

At this moment, Xu Yin, the general of the Fencheng Army, who was guiding the direction at the front of the team, sent someone to send a message: Nangong Yao sent his eldest son Nangong Chen (Chen) to come to comfort the army.

At this time, Zhao Hongrun realized that the original Song general Nangong was called Nangong Yao.

Note: Yao (yao) describes the height of the mountain.

Zhao Hongrun frowned slightly, and ordered Wu Ji to continue to lead the army, so he took the guards and a few green crows and slowly walked towards the front of the team.

After about a stick of incense, Zhao Hongrun really saw a group of cavalry coming in front of him, and after a rough visual inspection, there were about twenty horsemen.

Because Zhao Hongrun was followed by a team of Su Wangwei who held high the banners of Wei and Su Wang, the two dozen or so cavalrymen quickly found the direction, came to Zhao Hongrun, turned over and dismounted, clenched their fists with both hands, and knocked on the ground with one knee.

"The last general, Suiyang County guards Nangong Chen, knock to see His Royal Highness King Su!"

The leading young knight shouted in a loud salute.

"Get up." Pinching the horsewhip lightly, Zhao Hongrun said lightly.

"Thank you, Your Highness King Su."

The group of knights stood up.

Zhao Hongrun looked at the young team leader knight carefully, and saw that the other party was about twenty, with clear eyebrows and beautiful eyes, and he was indeed a little handsome.

"You are the son of General Nangong?" Zhao Hongrun asked.

"Yes." That young knight, no, it should be Nangong Chen bowed his head and answered.

Zhao Hongrun nodded, and then asked, "Where is General Lingzun Nangong?" In Suiyang? ”

Hearing this, Nangong Chen clenched his fists and explained: "Please forgive King Su." …… My father often heard that His Royal Highness King Su was famous and admired in his heart. Two days ago, I heard that His Royal Highness King Su personally led a large army to the Qilu region, and wanted to pass through the territory of my Suiyang, my father was overjoyed, and he was ready to welcome His Royal Highness early. ”

……

Zhao Hongrun's eyebrows couldn't help but tremble slightly when he heard this.

A dignified general with tens of thousands of troops in his hands actually broke his leg while riding a horse, is there a more lame excuse than this?

Moreover, Nangong Chen's sentence that I am in Suiyang also made Zhao Hongrun feel disliked.

Is Suiyang County your Nangong family?!

Zhao Hongrun was secretly angry in his heart.

However, he didn't have a seizure, after all, there was no point in tearing his face with the Nangong family right now.

Thinking of this, he smiled a little on his face, and pretended to be ashamed and said, "This is really ...... Let the king not go. ”

The army is still slowly moving towards the east.

And Zhao Hongrun and Nangong Chen were pointlessly talking about politeness.

Although the latter kept saying anything about condolences to the army, he never asked the army under Zhao Hongrun to go to Suiyang to rest, let alone take some wine and meat out for the soldiers of the Yanling army, the Shangshui army, and the Fencheng army to eat.

So Zhao Hongrun understood.

Nangong Chen was clearly sent by Nangong Yao to test him.

Or rather, he came to monitor the movements of his troops.

I want to see if he, Zhao Hongrun, is really leading the army to Qilu, instead of playing a trick of false Taoism. (To be continued.) )