And the most prominent and luxurious in Yangzhou City is also in the daytime banquet full of friends.

"Come on, let's raise a glass to Ling Gongqing. May the prince stay healthy forever. ”

"Thank you to the minister, so that my generation can enjoy the happiness now."

Such clamor alternates between cups.

And looking at the loose procession on the street, those dressed up in fancy clothes, and competing to sing and laugh under the coaxing of the crowd, Shi Gaoyue, the envoy of Chuzhou soldiers and horses who came to tell his life and was invited to the banquet, was also sighing secretly.

"Did we really win?"

"Why not."

This was an abrupt voice sounding beside him, but it was Yu Gongchu, one of the Huainan generals who had been Gao Yu for many years, and he patted Gao Yue on the shoulder with a slightly drunken face.

"Didn't the thief army be driven away and run away by the unity of our generation? Since it is a big congratulations. ”

"Let the public body come back to see things, and deploy all kinds of regulations for the recovery, this should be the second big congratulations."

Speaking of this, Yu Gongchu looked at him with some meaning.

"As for the third big congratulations, it's because my generation has been able to drink and feast here."

"When the big white floats."

The Huainan generals Chen Hui, Feng Shou, Dong Jin, and Yao Guili who were present also raised their glasses and shouted loudly. They have their own tacit understanding;

It is because of this thief's power to cover Huainan, whether it is the former thief army that Ling Gong recruited for the imperial court, or the local generals who are close to Huainan; Inevitably, the losses were so heavy that even the territory and the people were gone.

On the contrary, it was the pro-entourage armed forces who were arranged to be stationed nearby around Yangzhou; Except for the unlucky encounter with the Taiping thief who is good at attacking cities, most of the others have been able to fully preserve their strength because this high-ranking envoy has not been able to avoid fighting and not have a strategy.

Gao Yue was initially accepted by their small circle because he was the son and nephew of the high envoy and had resisted the thieves in Chuzhou, and became a member of these so-called "Yuancong faction" generals.

Now, after the thieves, Huainan is full of ruins and waiting to be revived, and it is also the period when these generals of the Yuan Congsu will show their ambitions.

。。。。。。。

Compared with the somewhat deformed singing and dancing in Yangzhou City, in Luoyang City, it is already difficult to hide the decadent atmosphere and sense of crisis that are fluttering in the wind and rain and the buildings are about to fall.

Although it has experienced several tribulations, the imperial court claims to have most of the northern world, and the feudal towns of about twenty or thirty roads can be controlled and dispatched; However, less than half of them are directly controlled and ordered by the imperial court.

And many of them have been captured or cut off by thieves; Or it is also beyond the reach of the whip, far away from water can not quench thirst; The only thing left to rely on is the northwest and southwest directions. However, with the exception of Sanchuan, which is still known as a rich country, the military towns in the northwest frontier have long needed the support of the imperial court to maintain.

In today's situation where the imperial court has no money and no food, and is seriously in arrears with hundreds of officials, I am afraid that not a single soldier can be recruited and mobilized.

And the ten towns in Guannai with the Shence Army as the core, have been frequently recruited and dispatched by the Fa in recent years of war, and they have also been seriously damaged and wasted, so that it is impossible to even send reinforcements to the eastern capital for a while.

Luoyang, the eastern capital, is known as the heart hub of the country's transshipment, but in these years, there are not many collections that can survive; So much so that the formation of the soldiers and horses of the various provinces to recruit the camp, actually relied on Zheng Jin, who was the prime minister, to intercept the things that Ouchi had asked for from the feudal town.

As for the garrison of the Eastern Capital Liusi itself, it has long been corrupted and out of control.

Zheng Zheng worked hard to run inside and outside, calling on the majority of eunuchs, nobles, clans, and wealthy businessmen to donate money to serve the country; It took a lot of effort to wear out the shoes and get 10,000 loads of variegated grain and rice, and five or six thousand horses of silk. Based on this, he borrowed money from the households of the mansion and the cabinet, and recruited nearly 10,000 young and strong children in the city, called the "Fentao Army".

As a result, after a full day's meal, I suddenly heard someone say that tomorrow they will go to the city to guard the city and defend against thieves; As a result, the camp roared overnight, broke through the guards who had enveloped them, and dispersed.

On the contrary, this turmoil led to a big panic in the south and north of Luoyang, and immediately some people shouted the rumor that "the thief army has entered the city" and ran around, and in the darkness I don't know how many people pushed and trampled each other.

It was only at noon after dawn that it slowly calmed down, and it turned out that even the officials, guards, and subordinates of the various offices of the Eastern Capital Branch had already fled more than half, and they were basically paralyzed by the difficulty of carrying out government decrees.

At this point, Zheng Jin, who saw that he couldn't do anything, could only sigh helplessly, and then sat on the ox cart specially found by Cui Anqian, and hurriedly and secretly crossed the Guangxun Gate in the south, and then "retreated" in the direction of Chang'an.

It was only when he arrived at Tongguan that he found that Qi Kerang, the thief who claimed to defend the eastern capital to the death, had already taken the lead and retreated here.

But I remembered Du Zimei's "Tongguan Officials":

The big city railway is not as good, and the small city is more than 10,000 feet. Even the clouds are lined up in battle, and the birds can't be surpassed.

The Zhangren is at an important place, narrow and narrow for bicycles. Struggle hard to grow a halberd, and use a husband for eternity.

After he showed the seal letter and entered the city, he inexplicably thought of the sentence: Please advise the generals to guard against the customs and be careful not to learn from Geshu.

At that time, there were more than 100,000 soldiers and horses from all walks of life in the northwest of Xiping County, and they resisted the Anshi rebels in Tongguan; However, because of Yang Guozhong's slander and Xuanzong's credulity in the eunuchs, he was forced to go to war and lost all his moves in Taolin Saigu Road, so that there was a protracted Anshi Rebellion that lasted for more than 20 years; and the plague of the country that has been poisoned to this day.

Now, this Qi Dutong only has less than 10,000 remnants, but he has to fight against hundreds of thousands of thieves, isn't it even more dangerous and worse than Ge Shuhan, who had a heavy army back then.

Therefore, when he saw the news again, and Zike, who was quite ashamed on his face, asked the group to wait; put a lot of thoughts behind him for the time being, and showed a pleasant expression, holding the covered Zike and making his arm sincerely say:

"I am ashamed to be in the phase, and I am incapable of being in the camp, so that the officers and soldiers of the army have no support and it is difficult to be a thief."

"Xianggong is really tormenting me to wait. I don't dare to be ashamed. ”

Hearing his words of taking responsibility for himself, Zikerang and the others couldn't help but feel inexplicably relieved, and then they were even more grateful and bowed to the end.

"Now, I can neither follow the soldiers to resist the enemy in the battle, nor can I control the situation in the eastern part of the country, so I can only go to the Beijing Division and my party to try my best to ensure that the soldiers guarding the customs are safe and clothed, and there is no shortage of food and equipment."

Then Zheng Jin continued.

"Xianggong is virtuous, Qi can only die with all his might."

Zikerang and the others were moved again in unison.

Zheng Jinlin, who set off again from the customs clearance, looked at the majestic Guancheng, and couldn't help but sigh again in his heart. Although this Taining marshal is suspected of escaping from the battle, compared to the other vassal commanders who are not called to accept or are closed, he is at least a shameful and courageous figure;

But it is also the only choice and hope to hold the Tongguan natural insurance in today's crisis situation. Therefore, not only can he not let people ask the other party for their guilt, but he must find a way to spare no effort to help and support the other party, and thus greatly encourage and reward them, as a temporary inspiration and alleviate the crisis.

And then just half a day later.

"What, there is no money and food to arrive, and there is no backup from a single soldier,"

Zheng Jin, who arrived in a hurry before dark, got such shocking and surprising news when he met Xiao Keshi, the Tonghua defense envoy who had left behind in Huayin City, his henchman and disciple in the local area.

"What are those people in Xijing doing to eat, seeing that the East is not protecting the thief army and is going to break through the pass, are you still ready to prepare for the enemy? Is this going to sit back and wait? ”

This result made the prime minister, who has always been gentle and decent, inevitably lose his temper on the spot and burst into a foul language.

After all, this also means that all the time and buffer he has won have been wasted in the struggle of the vast number of soldiers in the Kanto region, as well as the sacrifices of the vast number of soldiers who fought against the thieves, and there is no longer any meaning.

"It's really that the ministers of the DPRK and China are arguing over this, and they haven't been able to get a suitable charter for a while, but as long as the prime minister comes back, it's fine."

However, Xiao Keshi, the defense envoy of Tonghua, seemed to have failed to understand his mood, but he was half complaining and half explaining.

"By the way, Xianggong, you know that Lu Zisheng has been imprisoned and questioned; I heard that Natian Daeun originally promoted him as the envoy of the Gyeonggi Festival, in order to specialize in the affairs of internal defense; As a result, he couldn't shirk it because of his wind disease. Then the Holy Lord was furious, and he stopped doing everything in court. He was reappointed as Wang Hui and Pei Che, who were reappointed as Hanlin scholars. ”

It was based on the opportunity of the ministers of the DPRK and the Central Committee to make a statement, listing 53 cases of Lu's past crimes of harming and misleading the country, and copying the correspondence granted by Gao's private minister. It is to go to the crown belt more in court and send it to Lantai for trial. ”

"My generation took advantage of the victory to chase and expose more than 100 of its malpractices, and dozens of other remaining party henchmen Wen Jixiu and others were all sent down together; It's really happy for my generation. ”

"Then now the Lu clan is in charge of the branches, transport, and salt and iron departments, isn't it gone that most of them."

Hearing this, Zheng Ji couldn't help but become more and more pessimistic and disappointed, and shouted; He also understood why the imperial court couldn't raise the follow-up. Although Lu Xian is a political opponent and has a lot of old grudges, he still has some skills in sorting out financial plans and means used by the country.

If it was in normal times, he would have celebrated with his comrades for this, but now that the country is in danger, there will be a catastrophe of overthrow; At a time when it is necessary for all parties to put aside their past grievances and help each other in the same boat, they are busy expanding the usual party struggle, and this is not the way to put the cart before the horse.

Take another 10,000 steps back and say, even if the Lu family has 10,000 damned reasons; But after liquidating him, it is also time to take care of the overall situation a little. At the very least, the ministers and yamen under him who are responsible for the financial transactions of the imperial court and their corresponding officials and subordinates should be stabilized for a while, so as to ensure the use of the frontier army.

Instead of the fanfare and liquidation of the trouble, everyone is in danger, so that the corresponding financial revenue and expenditure and transfer departments of the imperial court have fallen into the paralysis and powerlessness of existing in name only. Thinking of this, Zheng Zheng just wanted to face these former allies and party members, and scolded fiercely, "It is not enough to make a plan" and "The national affairs have been ruined by their generations"

Thinking of this, he only felt a sense of depression and almost wanted to vomit blood; However, he was held back by a sense of personal responsibility. He didn't care about the aches and fatigue of running on the road, and shouted eagerly.

"It's faster than me changing to a fast horse, I want to go to Beijing overnight and go straight to the middle palace to face the Holy Lord,"

However, at the moment when the sky gradually turned white and Zheng Zheng galloped into the Tonghua Gate of the capital, he got the news that Lu Xian, the former prime minister, committed suicide by drinking medicine in prison.

At the western end of Chang'an City, because he was implicated by Lu Xian, he was taken away from the lieutenant and privy envoy of the left and right Shence Army in court; However, he was reappointed as the commander of the eight towns inside and outside the Shence Army and the soldiers and horses of all provinces; Tian Lingzi, who was invited to Sanchuan to prepare for the drive, also took his adopted sons and drove out of the gate in a hurry.

。。。。。。

Far away in the eastern capital of Luoyang, outside the Jingguang Gate; Huang Chao, who arrived outside the city in front of the city, was also standing on the huge car, looking at the wide open door with a surging heart and a smug look, led by Liu Yunzhang, the deputy guard of the Eastern Capital and the envoy of the Third Palace, who came out to kneel and ask for surrender.