Among the civil and military officials who gathered together, there were Cui Xuan, Lu Yi, Tian Bei and others who were subordinate officials of the shogunate; There are also generals under his command Liu Hao, Diao Hao and Du Zhi to urge Xue Lang and other subordinates in the middle of the army and the official positions of the imperial court;

There are also representatives of local forces in Hailing Town, Gao Ba, Huqiu Town General Li Quan, Quxi Regiment Training Officer Liu Jin, and Xuti Regiment Training Officer Jia Lingwei; Even Dong Chang, the newly recruited envoy of Hangzhou Badu, and other people with complex backgrounds were present.

However, under Zhou Bao's unangry and self-righteous voice and fierce gaze like frost and snow, suddenly the whole hall was like sitting on pins and needles or burning fire = generally, and they couldn't help but stand up one after another, and make sincere fear or shame to confess and prostrate.

"My subordinates are ashamed."

"I can't wait to share the worries of the court for the prince."

"I am stupid and unbearable, and please reprimand the public."

Compared with the Gaojun King who is known as the "Wall City of the Country", "A Pillar of the Southern Heavens" and "Contemporary Immortals"; The reputation of this "good general in the world" who has been the son of heaven in the past five dynasties has also been paved and rendered with his murderous exploits and the journey of corpses.

Among them, there are naturally many bloody achievements of foreign captives and thieves, and there are also many who have committed crimes at his hands, or violated and disobeyed his will, and became victims of military law that were forbidden, or even simply died in an unknown place.

Therefore, he was able to be transferred to Huainan after the high-profile Gao Biao was transferred; With light clothing, he can still hold these down, and has long had a southeast financial resort and raised some arrogant Zhenhai generals; Even with a relatively weak army, Huainan's Gao Yu showed a tendency to resist each other.

Therefore, as soon as Zhou Bao made a statement, they couldn't help but be silent, and they made a look of bowing their heads and submitting to them. Of course, Zhou Bao can hold them down, and can he drive them to do their best in everything; Or to behave and act as best as you can, that's another matter entirely;

After all, it is one of the most common features of the entire era. The game between the feudal commanders appointed by the imperial court and the parachuted down feudal commanders, and the martial arts groups and township party lords that have become local climates, are ubiquitous in daily affairs.

Even Zhou Bao, who has long been famous as a good general, needs to rely on the righteous name and personal authority of the imperial court at the same time; Enjie and envelop those camp disciples and tooth soldiers in this town, so that they can steadily suppress those peripheral soldiers and horses and local powerful factions. And always maintain some kind of authority that is unambiguous.

However, these various people and horses under the name of the Zhenhai Jiedu Envoy, and their leaders, also have a corresponding survival philosophy of seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages, and the corresponding means in the face of strong feudal commanders, which can be said to be mostly experienced and slippery.

Although Zhou Bao had the righteous name and the festival of rewards and punishments, he could dispose of any of them at will, but there was no way to solve and ban the township party group he represented at once.

Especially like Gao Ba, the envoy of Hailing Town, who represents the top figures of the background of the township party and the local group; or it is represented by Dong Chang, the training envoy of Hangzhou Badu, and the fact is that he is a powerful local faction that basically listens to propaganda and does not listen to the tune of the rich state; He can only openly appease and admit the fait accompli, and secretly plot it.

However, now that the grass thieves are pressing the border, Zhou Bao has to use their strength to tide over the danger together; Such untimely plans and schemes can only be pushed back.

After all, under the indiscriminate ravages of grass thieves, they also have to be in the same boat with the camp, or to keep warm in a group to protect their own power and territory.

At least, in this kind of atmosphere where the law does not blame the public, Zhou Bao cannot specifically attack and hold a certain person accountable, and take the opportunity to justifiably take away a few official positions and titles, and merge them with his people. However, at this time, someone finally used a different voice to break the echo of this crowd.

"Ling Gong is on top, and he thinks that the thieves on the river are just a minor trouble, as long as they are not allowed to land for a day, it will be difficult to really threaten the safety of the city for a day."

But it was a general who looked quite capable, thin and strong, and the famous Ding Congshi, regardless of the strange eyes and expressions of others, got up and said aloud.

"The real key is still the grass thieves who are raging outside the city. As long as it can be broken by gathering elite soldiers, the thieves on the river can retreat without a fight. Although a certain is not talented and has a light position, but please allocate it to a person, and I am willing to make the communiqué serve in the front. ”

So, the hall fell silent all of a sudden, and all kinds of eyes were attached to this general, I don't know whether it is ignorant of the sky, or ignorant and fearless, or bold and too confident.

In the afternoon of the next day, Ding Congshi, who had been re-summoned by the post of camp general, was already walking in the corridor between the festival office and the back house, but there was a scribe chattering and persuading him

"Ding will listen to my advice, you are really inappropriate in this matter. , Do you think that Ling Gong sent these old camps and united his children out to defend one place and help each other, just for the sake of simplicity and safety? ”

"Do you know that since the Huainan army crossed the river to fight for thieves, Ling Gong has set up troops in addition to the tooth soldiers with the righteousness of increasing troops and preparing for thieves; After the building is preferred, it is better to give money, food and armor, and select strong men from all over the seventeen states of Jiangdong to fill it. Now there are seven or eight thousand people gathered in the city. Why do you care? ”

It turned out that under the jurisdiction of the envoys of this Zhenhai Festival, in addition to the regimental training and guarding soldiers in various states; The Zhenhai battalion soldiers stationed in Jiezhen in Yangzhou also have the disadvantages and conventions of many contemporary feudal towns and towns, and they hold the local area in a group.

It's just that Jiangdong is rich and the people are relatively weak and supple. The corresponding soldiers from the other party, the soldiers in the camp and the united children in the city are not as daring to commit rebellion or subduing as the north, killing the main general at every turn or expelling, bullying, and elevating the envoys sent by the imperial court.

At most, it is also rampant lawlessness and locality, and even the degree of killing people and goods and not daring to control them; For the generals and chief officials appointed by the imperial court, as long as there is no shortage of food and clothing, they can be regarded as obedient and obedient; At most, under the accumulation of power and high pressure, there are some disguised delays and obstacles.

However, compared to the newly formed army of 70,000 in Huainan Town; The number of troops that Zhenhai Jiedu can usually support is only between thirty and forty thousand; In addition to the slight superiority of the equipment, the specific combat effectiveness is even worse.

However, the Huainan Army, known as the southeast heroes, has been defeated by the grass thieves, and the general Zhang Phosphorus, known as "Zhang Invincible", was killed and beheaded; After Huang reversed the trend, he continued to erode fifteen states, and was known as the "200,000" crowd.

Although Zhou Bao has the reputation and qualifications of "the good generals of the four dynasties", he is not at all at ease to take them out and fight with those grass thieves in the wild and win the means; He would rather divide the cities with a conservative and moderate balance, and leave elite soldiers with Dantu Town, showing a trend of counteracting and echoing each other.

And this one also told him an additional news, the general Zhang Yu who was trapped in Jiangning was born as a polo player who was favored by Zhou Dashuai, so he was put in a position of capital, and now he is really taking over the position of the other party.

Therefore, his advance this time not only caused all the local people and horses to have to transfer some troops to assist in defending the Dantu; And he has a grudge against him, the initiator, and has already offended most of the local camp children in disguise.

In the other party's chatter, Ding Congshi saw the white gray moon gate inside the back house Yuanzi very much, and then saw a bloody corpse soaked in hemp, which was carried out in a hurry. And the scribe who accompanied and led the way suddenly turned ugly, and he refused to go any further.

But it was this Zhou Linggong who killed a servant girl in the back house; And it is well known in the Yanai and in the palace that this good general of the Four Dynasties has no other hobbies and faults except for his liking of extravagance and pomp; It is a habit left in the early years of military career.

If you don't sleep well or don't have a good rest, you have to kill people to vent your anger; Therefore, since Dao Zhenhai took office, because of his hard work, the rebels killed and disposed of more than 20 people around him. Among them are not only slaves and maidservants who walk in the back house, but also servants and relatives who come and go, and even a singer who is stored locally;

Therefore, people with a little common sense in the Jieya Mansion will first check inside and outside to inquire whether this Zhou Jieshuai and Zhou Envoy have killed people to vent their anger recently; While seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages, he avoided some troubles. And Ding Congshi, who was called this time, was obviously faintly calculated.

It's just that since Ding Congshi has already bumped into it, he can only bite the bullet and ask someone to report it; After all, compared to the risks he may encounter, he is from a humble background, but he needs this opportunity to stand out.

However, Zhou Bao, who was wearing an ordinary silk shirt, was drinking chicken fat porridge regardless of his image, as if nothing had happened at all. If it weren't for the fact that there was still a paint stripping place on the corner of the table that was too late to make up.

"You're just in time."

In an unbearable silent wait, he finally drank the chicken fat porridge in the soup, and Zhou Bao, who had frosty white hair, didn't even wipe the remnants of the corners of his mouth.

"If you have the will and courage to do anything, why don't I give you a team. Just want to get this opportunity.,You have to tell me first.,Which way do you plan to start with the grass thief.。。 ”

。。。。。。

In the territory of Luzhou (now Hefei City, Anhui) in Jiangbei, in the city of Hefei as a state governance; It is already an atmosphere and situation of being solemn and guarding, guarding to the death, and being like a great enemy, and in danger. Almost everyone in the city gathered at the head of the city with bows and arrows, swords, spears and cards, and fearful and uneasy.

Yang Xinghan, who is the assassin of Luzhou and the new envoy of Benzhou, and his deputy Li Shenfu, the general Liu Wei, Tian Hao, Qin Pei, Zhou Ben and others, also stood on the top floor of the Duanming Pagoda of Chongyun Temple in the northwest corner of the city wall, and watched the huge crowd of people rushing outside the city like a turbid wave emptying.

And these grass thieves who had crossed the city had been walking for a whole day and a night, but they still seemed to have no end in coming, and they passed around the city leaving only one bare land after another that had been trampled and trampled flat.

The city of Hefei is like an isolated island and a lonely reef in the ocean, and it is full of despair and chilling. Because, according to the people who fled to take refuge, in addition to Hefei, the capital of Luzhou, Shucheng County, Shen County, Lujiang County, and Chao County under the jurisdiction of Luzhou have all fallen into the thief's power.

"Whoever can retreat from outside the city is here."

Li Shenfu, who was looking at this scene, was a little sad and helpless

"The rest of the people who can't catch up are completely hopeless. In such a situation, I am afraid that there is almost no escape. ”

"I really can't take care of them. Let the children cook and prepare the equipment, just in case. ”

Yang Xingchou said categorically without hesitation.

"It's almost time to set the time, just wait for the corresponding orders."

A few more hours passed, and the shadow of the needle on the corona began to advance to a quarter of the hour in the afternoon; The number of grass thieves outside the city finally became sparse and more chaotic, and then several ochre-red flags mixed in them made Yang Xinghan, who had been standing still and drinking heavily, as if he were a statue, suddenly react and live;

Then he was dressed neatly, and shouted loudly at the people gathered under the tower.

"The time has come, all the sons and daughters will join me to kill thieves and serve the country. Recover your hometown. ”

"Kill thieves to repay the country."

"Kill thieves to repay the country."

"Kill thieves to repay the country."

The Luzhou military horses, who suddenly opened the city to kill, suddenly became in the rear team of these grass thieves who looked obviously much weaker, like a flower in the center and like entering a no-man's land.

As the new force of these fierce officers and soldiers raged, the screams, shouts and cries of despair that rose into the sky from point to ear resounded in the wilderness on the outskirts of the city for a while.

Although some people threw down their belongings and knelt on the ground to beg for mercy and surrender, they were all cut down, stabbed, and poked to death one by one by these officers and soldiers who seemed to kill red-eyed.

Soon, many bloody grass thieves were still stunned by the panicked, shocked, and surprised expressions that had been frozen before their deaths; It was piled up outside the Luzhou city gate one after another, and ushered in the unanimous cheers and praises of the soldiers and civilians in the city.

As for a team of grass thieves and horses in the distance, they seemed to be unmoved and watched from afar; Until the last figure that could stand on the battlefield was trampled under the feet of the war horses of the official army.

Only then did he reopen the flag and slap the reins of his horse, and slowly retreated into the distance. It wasn't until this moment that Yang Xingshu, who was tense all over his body under the expression of nothingness, let out a breath of turbid air slightly, and dropped a stone in his heart to the ground.

"It's all been killed as promised, and there's no one left alive. The other party can also rest assured. ”

At this time, Zhang Shenfu, who rode to his side, also said in a low voice that could not be concealed.

"I also want to congratulate the guard, now there is no existence that can hinder our actions and ambitions."

Yang Xingchou didn't say anything and looked into the distance with some deep eyes, but he remembered what he had seen and heard and encountered in the Huainan camp. However, since some things have already begun, there is no way to go back and make up for them, but can only continue to go down this path to the dark.

"Don't let your guard down, don't be in a hurry to regain lost territory, first get your men and armor in order."

Immediately he had already made up his mind and commanded:

"I promise not to go back to Shuzhou, Hezhou, and where to go, and there is still room for my generation to continue to seek and act."

(End of chapter)