Outside the city of Quzhou, there was a solemnity. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

In the conference hall, Chen Zhang, the assassin, sat at the top, he was wearing a Confucian robe and a scholar's scarf, and the whole person looked very elegant. However, the somewhat hideous scar on his face and the thick calluses on his hands destroyed this sense of elegance, letting people know that the person in front of him was by no means a good person.

Sitting opposite him was Ye Rang, the commander sent by Qian Biao, and at the head stood the officials of Quzhou.

"General Ye, this official heard that the king's attack on Huzhou is not going well, I don't know what the situation is now, but Huzhou has already been defeated?"

Although he is already inseparable from Qian Biao, Chen Zhang has not turned his face with him after all, so he is still more polite to Ye Rang sent by Qian Biao at this time.

Of course, politeness is politeness, but in secret, he has already set aside Ye Rang's rights. In other words, in today's Quzhou army, Ye Rang, the nominal commander, actually can't even command half of the army.

"I'm afraid that the news of the envoy may not be accurate, the last general heard that a few days ago, although our army attacked Huzhou encountered some trouble, but in the past few days has made great progress, General Du Jianwei personally led the soldiers to attack the city, has climbed the city wall many times, and even a few times only almost broke through the city. Presumably, the generals also know that this situation means that the defenders are already at the end of their crossbows and may be captured by our army at any time! Ye Rang smiled confidently.

At this time, the news of Qian Di's defeat had not yet come, after all, the situation on that day had changed so quickly that Ye Rang thought that the situation in Huzhou was very good at this time, and his words were naturally full of confidence.

He looked at the envoy in front of him, and his mood was a little complicated.

To be honest, it was not a good errand to come to Quzhou as a commander, and it was no secret that Chen Zhang's relationship with Qian Biao was strained. At this time, when he came to Quzhou as an official, he still used it as Qian Biao's eyeliner to monitor Chen Zhang, but he was afraid that if Chen Zhang rebelled in the future, he would be the first to be killed and sacrificed to the flag.

However, as the so-called wealth and danger are sought, Ye Rang is already in his forties, but he was just an ordinary battalion commander before, if he is not Bo Yibo, how can he become a commander? Moreover, the Chen envoy in front of him, wasn't he fighting to the death in the rebellion of Wuyongdu to achieve today's achievements?

Of course, as a price, his parents, wife and children must remain in Hangzhou as hostages, and he must be used as Qian Biao's eyeliner to spy on Chen Zhang in Quzhou.

"Really?" Chen Zhang smiled and said noncommittally.

He was very hesitant in his heart, he thought he was a very capable person, but at the same time, his ambition was also very great, so big that the position of a state assassin could not be satisfied.

It is a pity that the current situation in the world, especially the situation in the southern periphery, is obviously no longer able to accommodate the new independence. The rise of the Li forces, and taking refuge in a powerful force is his best choice at present.

Originally, at the beginning, he had the idea of taking refuge in Huainan, after all, Huainan was strong, and with Yang Xingmi's consistent approach, he could continue to serve as the assassin of Quzhou in the past; In contrast, Qian Biao's strength declined greatly due to the rebellion of Wuyongdu, and his control over the local area was greatly reduced, and it was not a long-term plan to continue to stay under Qian Biao's command.

However, at that time, he had just served as the assassin, and his control over the local area was still somewhat insufficient, so he did not act rashly; Later, when he took full control of Quzhou, he suddenly found that Huainan had undergone changes that were difficult for him to accept.

Separation of military and government!

Even those meritorious veterans in Huainan who have been in charge of the local government for many years have been transferred from their original posts and cannot continue to monopolize a state.

How can this be accepted by an ambitious man like him?

So when Qian Biao raised troops to crusade against Huzhou, he did not rebel, but chose to wait and see.

If Qian Biao breaks through Huzhou and regains the strength to confront Huainan, then he will continue to be honest in his Quzhou assassination history, and sit back and watch the two fight, he may still have a chance to rise in the chaos, and it is not impossible to become a feudal town on an equal footing with Yang Xingmi and Qian Biao in the future.

But if Qian Biao fails this time, or even returns in defeat, and is unable to resist Huainan's attack, then he will have to think about it later.

He is a man of great ambitions, but that doesn't mean he's stupid, on the contrary, he has a long-term vision. If Qian Biao can't confront Huainan, then it will be even more difficult for him to confront Huainan and want to rise to become a party independence. The possibility of establishing a force is not great, and only taking refuge in Huainan is the best choice.

As for uniting with Qian Biao to fight against Huainan, it is even more of a joke, Huainan is not Cao Cao, he and Qian Biao are not Sun Quan or Liu Bei, even if they join forces, it is difficult to fight against Huainan; What is more likely to happen is that Huainan will send troops south first to exterminate Qian Biao when he cannot completely eliminate him in the short term.

So if Qian Biao can't fight against Huainan, then he might as well take refuge in Huainan as soon as possible.

Seeing that Chen Zhang didn't believe much in his words, Ye Rang said again: "Envoy, good news from Huzhou may come at any time, so make you wait patiently." ”

As soon as the words fell, a guard hurriedly came in and presented a document, and after Chen Zhang read it, his face was cloudy.

Next, the officials in Quzhou didn't know what was going on, but they didn't dare to ask, so they had to stare at Chen Zhang carefully, hoping to see something from his face.

"But the good news from Huzhou has come?"

Compared with other officials, Ye Rang's mood was even more nervous at this time, after all, the news coming at this time was likely to be the battle report from Huzhou. For others, Huzhou's war report is important, but it will not affect their lives; And for him, Huzhou's battle report is likely to be related to his future and even his life, how can he not be nervous?

After listening to Ye Rang's question, Chen Zhang glanced at him with a smile and said, "Good news? Hey! Huainan reinforcements arrived in Huzhou, your king could only withdraw in a hurry, but was caught up by the Huainan army in Deqing County, defeated and fled under the first battle, and finally the whole army was wiped out under the pursuit of the Huainan cavalry, and even the king of your family now does not know whether he is alive or dead! ”

"What? That's impossible! Ye Rang couldn't help but froze, feeling cold all over his body, his legs trembled, and he was a little unsteady on his feet.

If Qian Biao really lost so badly, how could Chen Zhang not take the opportunity to rebel? So can you still save your life?

Moreover, from Chen Zhang's words, he also felt bad, "Your king", doesn't this word mean that he has drawn a clear line with Qian Biao? It's almost a public rebellion?

Chen Zhang ignored Ye Rang, who was like an earthy face, although he had already thought of countermeasures to the defeat of Qian Biao, but it was still difficult to make a decision at this time.

In the long run, only by taking refuge in Huainan can there be a future; However, in the same way, Quzhou will definitely not be able to keep in the future if it takes refuge in Huainan, and it is even more impossible to rise while it is in chaos; Moreover, there are many good generals in Huainan, there is no shortage of him at all, and it is not so easy for him to get ahead in Huainan.

After hesitating for a long time, Chen Zhang finally made up his mind, "Order, this official decides, abandon the darkness and surrender to the light, return to King Wu, and follow the ...... with King Wu's orders."

Deqing County.

"What? Quzhou Assassin Chen Zhang publicly declared that he had returned to Huainan? ”

Hearing the news, Yang Wu was surprised and delighted. He also thought that after he carried out the separation of military and political in Huainan, unless the soldiers came to the city, there would be no other small forces willing to take refuge, but he didn't expect this Chen Zhang to take the initiative to surrender.

It's just that Chen Zhang is indeed capable, but his ambition is also very big, which can be seen from the fact that he has just been promoted by Qian Biao to serve as the assassin of Quzhou, and he has maintained a close relationship with Qian Biao.

Of course, with his current status and strength, an ambitious person like Chen Zhang still doesn't need to be too jealous, after all, as an outsider, he has no foundation in Huainan at all, at most, he has to prevent him from being cut off in remote areas, and it will be a little troublesome to exterminate him.

So this person still needs to use it, but he can't be given the opportunity to divide the place.

"Spread the news to Guangling quickly, and let my father decide how to reward Chen Zhang! In addition, give Chen Zhang an order to lead his troops to relieve the siege of Shezhou! Yang Wu said in a deep voice.

"I haven't decided how to reward Chen Yuanjun, so I started to give him orders, I'm afraid it's a little inappropriate, right? Moreover, although the combat strength of the Jiangxi army is not very good, after all, there are still more than 50,000 people, and Chen Zhijun's Quzhou will only have 5,000 troops at most, how can it relieve the siege of Shezhou? Yang Wu's clerk Pi Guangye reminded.

Yang Wu laughed, but didn't say much, and Pi Guangye didn't say anything more when he saw that he had an idea.

"Is there any reaction from Luyo, Chuzhou?" Yang Wu asked again.

At the end of last year, taking advantage of the great decline of Qian Di's strength, he sent troops to capture Wenzhou, becoming a small force spanning two states.

"There is no news from there yet, but the prefecture and Wenzhou are remote, and maybe Lu Yo has not received the battle report; And even if he received the war report, relying on the remoteness of the place, he was only afraid that he might not be afraid of us. ”

"Well, no matter how Lu Yo reacts, this time he must go south to capture the surrounding states first, and first isolate Qian Biao's Hangzhou and Yuezhou."

Hangzhou and Yuezhou, originally with a large population, the city is strong, and it is a place where Qian Biao has been operating for many years and is heavily defended, especially Hangzhou, a year ago, Tian Yan's troops were not less than today's Huainan, and they have already broken through the outer city of Hangzhou, and only need to capture the inner city to take the entire Hangzhou; However, in this case, Qian Biao was able to hold on for more than three months.

Now that the Huainan Army has been replaced to attack, although he is confident that the combat power of the Huainan Army should be stronger than Tian Yan, and with the help of Suzhou artillery and black powder, but considering that the outer city of Hangzhou is now completely in the hands of Qian Biao, and Hangzhou is the capital of Qian Biao, the money and grain reserves in the city must be very sufficient, and it is not easy to capture it in the short term.

Therefore, Yang Wu decided to contain Hangzhou and Yuezhou with part of his forces, first capture the surrounding states, and then concentrate his forces to besiege Hangzhou and Yuezhou.

Two days later, Quzhou.

After receiving the military order from Yang Wu, Chen Zhang's face sank like water at first, and then he suddenly burst into laughter, shaking his head while laughing.

On the side, his subordinates asked a little strangely: "Chen Yuanjun, you have just surrendered to the past, and this prince of King Wu began to give orders to you, this is too anxious, right?" What does this mean? ”

"What do you mean? It is nothing more than that he is worried that the official will take advantage of the empty forces in Muzhou and Wuzhou to send troops to occupy these two states. Chen Zhang said with a smile.

Of course, he also knew that Yang Wu meant more than that, such as beating him in advance, letting him know that he would obediently obey orders when he arrived in Huainan in the future, and he could no longer ignore Qian Di's military orders like he did when he was under Qian Di.

However, there is no doubt that preventing him from taking the opportunity to capture Muzhou, Wuzhou and other places to expand his power is Yang Wu's main purpose.

Of course, he could also forcibly raise troops to attack these two places despite Yang Wu's military orders, but in that case, it would be meaningless to take refuge in Huainan; He's a smart man, and since he's made up his mind, he won't mess around.

However, from the current point of view, Yang Wu, the future heir of Huainan, is a little difficult to serve.

So although he was unwilling, Chen Zhang still decided to set up troops to go north according to the military order, and first relieve the siege of Shezhou.

Of course, he still has an idea in his heart, that is: "Although there are only 5,000 people in the hands of this official, it may not be impossible to defeat the Jiangxi army in one fell swoop!" ”

Guangling.

Yang Xingmi has been in a very good mood recently, the three major forces of the north and the south have joined forces to besiege Huainan, and now Shezhou is in a stalemate, and the Jiangxi army can only besiege and have no power to attack the city, and there is no need to worry about it at all when there is enough grain and grass in Shezhou City.

On the Gwangju side in the north, Li Chengsi lived up to his high expectations and had repelled the Liang army led by Kang Huaiying and lifted the siege of Gwangju.

The Liang army led by the general Han Qing, who went to Ezhou to prepare to relieve Du Hong, was defeated by Li Shenfu. Li Shenfu took the opportunity to order the captured Liang army to be pressed to the city of Ezhou to demonstrate to Du Hong, and the defenders in the city saw that their reinforcements were defeated, and their morale could not help but be greatly reduced, and it seemed that the time to break through Ezhou was not far off.

Of course, what made Yang Xingmi happiest was the victory in the battle against Qian Biao, which can be said to be of great significance.

Qian Biao's army was only 60,000 people, and half of it was wiped out in this battle, and if it was completely wiped out in the future, it would mean that the situation of Huainan being attacked on all sides could be changed, and even this could be used as an opportunity to gradually eliminate Zhong Chuan, Ma Yin and other hostile forces, and finally unify the south.

As for whether he can further unify the world after the unification of the south, he has not thought so far for the time being.

"The king, how should Chen Zhang, the assassin of Quzhou, be treated, and ask the king to make a decision." Yin Wengui asked with a smile.

"Wu'er is good everywhere, but he is too strict with his subordinates!" Yang Xingmi shook his head and said: "No matter what Chen Zhang says, he also took the initiative to join the service, and he can't help but be rewarded." Since Wu'er has ordered him to relieve the siege of Shezhou, then appoint him as the deputy envoy of Jiangnan and serve under Wu'er for the time being. ”

"In addition, tell Wu'er that this time the southern expedition, even if you can't completely eliminate Qian Biao, at least you have to capture the city outside Hangzhou!"