Xie Feng straddled the horse, his eyebrows hanging, the corners of his mouth collapsed, his nasolabial folds were faintly visible under his thick beard, and his face was gloomy as if a storm was coming.

Because he felt that he had a bad year, he had memorized all the words in the past few months, and he could hardly find a few comfortable things.

First of all, from the expedition to Wancheng, he obviously stabbed an enemy general with a spear in the army of ten thousand horses, but that guy disappeared from the battle array, no one was seen alive, no corpse was seen, and the original great achievement was completely turned into a cloud of smoke - there is no evidence, just relying on the oral claims of Xie Feng himself and several soldiers under his command, can Sima record him and issue a reward?

If it is an ordinary general, it is just that, but this general is powerful, and Xie Feng was also lucky to win, which shows that he is by no means an unknown person - afterwards, he carefully interrogated the pawn, guessing that it was probably Su Wen, the first general under Du Zeng. Seeing that Zhen Sui offered Du Zeng's head, and Wen Lang offered Ma Jun's head, but he was empty-handed, and he couldn't even get the credit for severely hurting the enemy general, how could he not be depressed?

After staying in Wancheng, Xun Song relied on his family and did not take Xie Feng and other southern barbarians in his eyes at all, and his attitude was extremely arrogant. But the problem Xie Feng also looked down on Xun Song, and said in his heart that you were just reincarnated well, you can neither ride an inferior horse, nor drive a strong bow, and you have no ability to control it, so you will keep me down, that is, to monitor you deliberately, do you dare not be respectful to me, the master of the prison army? In this regard, there are often disagreements between the two, and even scolded in person. But who would have thought that Xun Song would have a daughter and be married by the governor as the main house...... I knew that today, I should have swallowed my anger and complimented that Xun Taishou. If Xun Song asks his daughter to speak ill of me in front of the governor and blow some pillow wind, then do I still have a future? Maybe you won't even be able to save your life!

But when he was still in Wancheng, even if he broke his head, Xie Feng would never have imagined that there would be such a show. And because he was angry with Xun Song and was in a very bad mood, he almost clashed with the subordinates sent by Wang Xian to receive Wancheng and the soldiers, and almost met each other. After returning to Huaiyin, Pei Gai heard about this, severely reprimanded Xie Feng, and fined him for three months.

However, the bad luck is not over here, and in the next Northern Expedition, Xie Feng drew another sign......

Pei Gai claimed that Xuzhou sent 10,000 troops, but in fact, it was officially operational, and more than this number was mobilized. After years of accumulation, Xuzhou has more than 10,000 soldiers and nearly 20,000 auxiliary soldiers, that is, the peasants and soldiers of the military tun. Considering that there was no strong enemy around, and he was not afraid of Jiangdong's sneak attack on Huaiyin, and the grain was relatively sufficient, he discussed with the generals and planned to use all his troops, plus nearly 10,000 auxiliaries, a total of 20,000 troops, and the mighty Northern Expedition.

In fact, the distinction between warfare and auxiliary arms was not the prevailing military system at that time, and it was Pei Gai's original. The rest of the forces, with the exception of a few elites—roughly equivalent to the Governor's troops led by Wen Lang compared to Xuzhou, and a few cronies of the battalion governor—were all peasants and soldiers who were not out of production, and although the brave charge was in front in wartime, and the old and weak won food in the rear, the usual treatment was not much different. Unlike the Xuzhou Army, Pei Cai carefully screened out four major battalions and twelve small battalions, all of which were coarse grain and full, three days of small exercises, five days of big exercises, and only occasionally went to the fields to work when the farm was busy; And nearly half of them, after going through bloody battles and accumulating meritorious deeds, plan to let them completely quit their jobs and become professional soldiers.

Pull back and say that the 20,000 soldiers and horses are divided into two roads, of which 11 battalions of soldiers and 5,000 auxiliary soldiers, claiming 40,000 troops, along the Bianshui River to Henan; Another battalion of soldiers and 4,000 auxiliaries, known as 20,000 people, crossed the Huai River directly to the north to intimidate Cao Wei and protect the crossing of the Yellow River.

Because the soldiers in Xuzhou were better treated and better trained, most of the generals had developed arrogance - especially Zhen Sui's "fire robbery battalion" - they had not been engaged in large-scale actual combat before, and they may not have enough confidence in their hearts. Pei should collect information from all over the place, and do not hide his personal interests, and often come out to share with the generals, and gather together to study the strength and weakness of the soldiers and horses, so the generals all believe that the cronies of Yuzhou, the only ancestor in the world, and Tuoba Xianbei are our opponents, and the rest are not enough.

Jiangnan Jin Army, we beat five of them one by one; Guanzhong Jin Army, we beat them one by one; Even against the Hulu and even the thieves, one hit and two should not be a problem. So what kind of rat is Cao Wei? Zhen Sui patted his chest on the spot, saying that I would send half a battalion of four or five hundred people, which would scare him into not daring to take half a step out of Guanggu.

Pei Gai immediately smiled at each other: "In this way, how about making Qing go to scare Cao Wei?" ”

Zhen Sui shook his head again and again, saying that I was just making an analogy, so the master didn't want to be a suspicious soldier - "I'm the most capable of fighting in the 'fire robbery camp', and I should be the governor to destroy the main force of Hu Lu, and kill Luoyang in one go." If you send the old ...... When I go to Qingzhou, I am afraid that there will be a shortage of people next to the governor, and I will be taken the lead by the Yuzhou army. Then he glanced at his colleagues: "Who wants me to be a strong soldier in Xuzhou, but the credit is not as good as those Wubao bird people in Yuzhou?" ”

Therefore, if you push me to let me, no one will take the east road, and in the end it can only be paid by the will of God. Zhen took out three "auspicious coins" from his sleeve, and said that the big guys should come and throw them, throw three auspicious coins, and then you can follow the governor down the river, and whoever can't vote three auspicious in the end, then don't push it, and honestly go to the master as a suspicious soldier.

Even if he threw the money on the case in front of Pei Gai, the three "auspicious" words - Xie Feng always felt that Zhen Sui's method of throwing money was a ghost, he was used to gathering people to gamble in the army, maybe he would have been trained a long time ago.

In this round of screening, the unlucky one was Xie Feng, who threw twelve in a row, and even owed two auspicious ...... Therefore, he could only pinch his nose and walk the east road, saying in his heart that the fierce battle in Henan, I am afraid that I will not be able to catch up, and I will not be able to take the credit, and even the deducted Yulu is estimated to be unable to return......

Before leaving, Xie Feng heard that Pei Gai had recently recruited a practitioner, surnamed Peng Mingxiao Ziqin, who was a disciple of Ge Xianweng, a young scholar with profound mana, so he immediately went to visit with his wealth and asked Peng Xiao to divinate and change his fortune. However, Peng Xiao pinched his fingers and counted for a long time, but Xie Feng almost couldn't understand a word of the words that came out of his mouth. After coming back, I pondered repeatedly, and Mr. Peng's meaning probably said: You are a carp in the river, and if you don't see the dragon gate, you won't be able to soar...... But where is the dragon gate? Will I ever be able to meet it in my life? Do you have to wait for the Year of the Monkey to meet you?

Therefore, since leaving Huaiyin City and crossing Huai to the north, Xie Feng has been gloomy, which has made it difficult to boost the morale of the whole army. Fortunately, not far away, someone came to talk, and Xie Feng had to force himself to hold the boredom in his chest and perfunctory with him.

Only Xie Feng in the army knew the true identity of this person, but it was given by Du Zeng's former staff officer Wang Gong Prince - Wang Gong was a traitor, and Pei Gai had not decided to formally accept him, so he did not write Jiankang and ask for pardon, so Wang Gong was mixed in the Xuzhou army, so he naturally had to hide his real name. The vast majority of people in the army only knew that this was the "king", and they were all confused about where he was from, where he came from, and what the tuba was.

Wang Gong also saw that Xie Feng was in low spirits, and knew that he was not willing to lead the suspicious soldiers on the East Road, so he came close to persuade him. However, Wang Zici knows that like Xie Feng, a southern barbarian, he may not be able to understand when he reasoned with him, so he might as well ...... Let me tell you a story—

"I think that in the past, Emperor Chuyi summoned all the generals, divided his troops to attack Qin, made Song Yi and Xiang Yu Zhanghan, and made Liu Bang lead the army into the customs. However, the Qin army was still strong, and the Chu division was newly defeated, and everyone thought that if they did not break Zhanghan, Guanzhong could not be invaded, and Xiang Yu did not compete with Liu Bang. Who would have thought that Liu Bang would attack Chen Liu and slightly Yuyuan because of Li Shiqi and Zhang Liang's scheme, and he would have to enter the customs first...... It is the so-called 'Seong lost his horse, and he knows whether it is a blessing'. ”

Xie Fengyou didn't understand, and asked casually: "What Saion, who is it?" ”

No matter how strange Wang Gong's origin is, the future is uncertain, after all, he is a scholar, Xie Feng has already suffered a big loss against Xun Song before, so he does not dare to be rude to the scholar again, although he is in a bad mood, he did not reprimand Wang Gong on the spot, asking him to get out. As for Wang Gong, since he wants to survive in Xuzhou, he has to pinch his nose and deal with a southern barbarian like Xie Feng - not to mention that he also needs Xie Feng's help on this trip, in case he annoys Xie Feng, it is very possible to find an excuse to kill himself on the way!

After all, the times are different, in the troubled times, there are soldiers and food is the king of grass, even if the eunuchs of the high gate can only bend their knees in front of the illiterate feet - Wang Gong has seen Du Zeng, Du Tao, Hu Kang and other generations, could it be that the barbarian under Pei Yuanjun who has just recognized a few hundred words will be different?

Therefore, Wang Gong reined in his habitual poisonous tongue - the poisonous tongue can only be shaken in front of acquaintances, and he and Xie Feng are not very familiar with each other - deliberately welcome and envelop, and Xie Feng is not easy to refuse a scholar thousands of miles away.

Wang Gong persuaded Xie Feng that although he would be suspicious, he might not have no merit, and maybe he could reap the unexpected joy - "There are 20,000 male soldiers coerced by the battalion governor, plus my sharp mouth, Cao Wei will surrender, this is a great merit - will I swallow up all the credit and not share the profit with the battalion governor?" And the battalion governor led the army north this time, the purpose was not in Cao Wei, but in the Yellow River. If the thief crosses the river to the south and disturbs the flank of our army, how will he make contributions in Henan? Although everyone did not speak, in fact, they all felt that they were virtuous in their hearts, and even if they did not fight fiercely, they would definitely be rewarded......

"Moreover, according to a certain judgment, the thief does not resist Linzhang, and when he does not dare to come south, the battalion superintendent will go here, sweep the dock fort, control the crossing, and then he can go up the river and meet the army. Some small forces in Henan, the thieves do not care, if our army is killed, we will send famous generals to resist, although our army is strong, there is no reason to win a hundred battles, and 'the end of the strong crossbow'...... And if the battalion governor leads the new army to the meeting, he will give the envoy a heavy task to be a strong enemy.

"Now the camp governor is upset, then the soldiers will inevitably be depressed, so that the south bank of the Yellow River will not meet a strong enemy, and the army will be slowed down, so how can we catch up with the big battle in Henan? Please also take a break from the resentment in your heart, spur the soldiers, and move forward. ”

Wang Gong's tongue was very good, that even Pei Gai was deeply surprised, and when he talked eloquently, Xie Feng was said to be head again and again, and his spirit involuntarily cheered up. And since then, he has changed his attitude towards Wang Gong, and the two have become more and more acquainted, as if they have been old friends for many years.

Wang Gong went on this campaign, and Pei should give him an order to lobby Cao Wei and ask Cao Wei to betray the Han and attach himself to Jin. Of course, I don't expect that the warlord in the troubled times will open the gate of Guanggu City and surrender because of the threat of suspicious soldiers and the lobbying of the envoys, but as long as he shows the attitude of Congjin, he will not use troops to the south in a short time, and the pressure on Shao Xu on the north bank can also be slightly reduced. With his hands free, Shao Xu could try to advance westward to attack Shile - as long as Shile was tied up in Hebei, this Northern Expedition would be half won.

The army went north along Surabaya and Yishui, and did not encounter any powerful forces on the way, at most some of the dock fort lords closed their villages and defended themselves, and Xie Feng didn't bother to deal with them. Wang Gong volunteered many times to go to Wubao to lobby the other party to hand over part of the grain to help the army, and sent hostages to follow the army. It will not be long before entering the territory of Dongguan County, and Cao Wei's old nest Guanggu City is built in the northwest of Dongguan, near the Qi country. Cao's army galloped out on multiple routes, patrolling near the Xuzhou army, but all of them were dispersed by Xie Feng's troops. When the soldiers arrived in Linqu, it was only forty miles away from Guanggu City, Xie Feng set up a large camp and waited to send Wang Gong to lobby.

Who would have thought that Wang Gong had not yet left, and suddenly a sentry came to report, saying that a group of seven or eight people had come to meet the camp governor. Xie Feng glanced at Wang Gong, and said in his heart that Cao Wei knew each other so well, did he send someone over first? It's a good idea for you, Mr. Wang, to make an extra trip.

Immediately summoned the leader of the trip into the account, and looked at it, it was a scholar dressed as a scholar. Wang Gong asked, "Are you sent by General Guanggu?" What is the last name, and what is the office? ”

The other party was slightly stunned when he heard this, and then bowed down and replied: "No, the villain Xu Wei came to meet the general on the order of the order." ”