"What? Are you not satisfied with the emperor's arrangement.? The eunuch said in a strange voice.

"No, no, no, Zu Ti took the order!" Zu Ti took the holy decree, and the eunuch whispered to him again: "Zu Ti, if you think that you can't go on a northern expedition like this, you can choose to give up, and the emperor will not blame him." ”

Zu Ti said firmly: "When the country is in danger, although there are no soldiers and no food, I will definitely overcome the difficulties and complete the emperor's Northern Expedition!" ”

I thought that the eunuch would praise the emperor on behalf of him, but what Zu Ti didn't expect was that the eunuch snorted, so he went to Liu Kun to announce the decree again.

After Zu Li went back, Zu Yue saw that he was holding the holy decree in his hand, and said happily: "It must be the emperor who asked you to leave, great, when will you leave?" ”

"Tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yes."

Looking at Zu Li's solemn face, Zu Yue asked, "Zu Li, how many military horses did the imperial court send you?" ”

"Nope."

Zuyo thought he had misheard, and asked again, "How much?" ”

"Nope."

"None? Zu Ti, what are you kidding, the imperial court named you the assassin of Yuzhou, or General Fenwei, let you lead the Northern Expedition, how can no one give it to you, you can't be a bare-bones general, right?! ”

"I'm not kidding, that's what the emperor did, the court wants me to recruit troops and raise money by myself, and I have to build my own weapons, and the court can only give me a title."

Zu Yue said: "Zu Ti, I understand, the emperor doesn't really want you to go on the Northern Expedition, he does this to perfunctory you, and wants you to retreat in the face of difficulties and give up the Northern Expedition." ”

"No, I personally heard that the emperor was impassioned in the palace, determined to go on the Northern Expedition, he may have his hardships in doing so, the country may really have no surplus food and wealth, and there are no soldiers for the Northern Expedition, the emperor can crown me as a assassin, it is already a great trust, no matter how difficult it is, I must not let down the emperor's painstaking efforts."

"Okay, then let me ask you, there are no soldiers, no food, no money, and no weapons, how can you go on a northern expedition? Does it depend on your enthusiasm?! ”

"I plan to cross the river and go north, to Huaiyin for a temporary stay, where to recruit soldiers, smelt weapons, accumulate grain and grass, train new troops, and then go northwest and go straight to Qiaocheng, because that is our Great Jin Dynasty's Yuzhou governance office, and if we occupy it, we can radiate the entire Yuzhou, so as to occupy Yuzhou all, and then recover all the territory north of the Yellow River, and then cross the river to the north to ......"

Zu Yue interrupted him and said: "Don't say it, you are too far away, we only have two hundred people in our hands, and it is still unknown whether we can survive after crossing the river, Zu Yi, you think too simply." ”

Zu Ti said: "Brother, we gathered people and made it clear to them, whether it is our clan relatives or ordinary villagers, those who are willing to go with me on the Northern Expedition will go, and those who don't want to go will stay, and we will not be reluctant." ”

Zu Yue gathered 200 people, and Zu Li said to them: "Thank you for trusting my Zu Li, and I am willing to follow me to the Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, but the imperial court did not give us soldiers and horses, no weapons, grain and grass, if we only rely on 200 of us to cross the river to the north, it will be difficult, so please decide for yourself to stay, my Zu Li will not be reluctant." ”

After the 200 people heard this, none of them left, and they all said that they wanted to follow Zu Ti to the north, and they raised their arms and shouted: "Northern expedition to the Central Plains, return my rivers and mountains!" Northern Expedition to the Central Plains, return my rivers and mountains! ……”

Zu Ti looked at the people who were still enthusiastic in the face of difficulties, felt a little relieved, and announced that he would leave on time tomorrow morning to board the ship.

Liu Kun also received the holy decree, his situation was the same as Zu Ti, he only gave 100 stone rice, and there were no men and horses, but he was still as determined to go on the Northern Expedition as Zu Ti, fortunately, he had 500 beggar troops and could directly march into Bingzhou, of course, Liu Kun did not expect that the reason why he was named the assassin of Bingzhou was to make him retreat in the face of difficulties. Bingzhou is far away in the northernmost part, not to mention whether Jinyang can be defeated, just starting from here to Bingzhou, all the way is full of Zhao Tu, whether you can get to Bingzhou is a problem.

Liu Kun found Zu Ti at night, and he wanted to say goodbye to Zu Ti before leaving.

The two told each other about their situation, Liu Kun said: "Brother Zu, I really don't know what the emperor thinks, Tao Kan has more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, and Yangzhou Jingzhou also has 100,000 soldiers and horses, why don't you just refuse to pull it out to us, even if it is 10,000 or thousand, is it really as Brother Zu Yue said that the emperor has no intention of going on a northern expedition?" ”

"We have all heard the emperor's words, how could he not be sincere in the Northern Expedition? We are now appointed officials of the imperial court and are qualified to recruit soldiers, and I believe that as long as we raise our arms, the people of the north will join us, and soldiers should not be a problem. ”

"But I still don't understand, the emperor named me the history of the state of Xuzhou, and the state is far away in the land of Zhao, it is still unknown whether he can get there, why did he do this, why didn't he seal me the history of Xuzhou and recover Xuzhou first?"

"Wouldn't it be better for us to respond from afar in the south and the north?" Zu Ti Dao.

Liu Kun smiled bitterly and said: "Maybe the emperor really has a deep meaning, but in the rich land of the south, the treasury should be full, so why not draw military spending?" ”

"Most of the wealth in the south is in the hands of the scholars, maybe the financial resources of the imperial court are really tight."

"Okay, big brother, let's stop talking about these topics, talk about your plans."

"I want to cross the river and go north, reach Huaiyin, reorganize the troops and horses there, and then march to Qiaocheng."

"Okay, after I cross the river, I will go to Fengyang, and then go through Yuzhou Sizhou and go straight to the Taihang Mountain to merge with the state, occupy Jinyang in one fell swoop, and become a sharp knife inserted in their hearts!"

"You don't know how many fierce battles you have to go through along the way, you have to be careful."

"I know that as long as I am alive, I will definitely reach Jinyang!"

"Brother is so ambitious, I am also enthusiastic after listening to your words, the time has come for the country to need us, the time has come to make contributions, we must go all out!"

"Go all out, yes, I think when we were in Taixue, we once said that if the four seas are boiling, when the people of Li are unsafe, we will make an appointment to report to the country and the people, and because of this, we will smell the chickens and dance, and now I can't imagine that it has become a reality, big brother, for the sake of the people of the world, for our country, we will show our strength!"

The two hands were clasped together......

The next day, Zu Ti got up early, practiced his sword for a while, and when the rooster crowed, he gathered two hundred men and horses and prepared to set off.

At dawn, 200 men and horses rushed to the ferry, and at this moment some officers and soldiers came shouting, and they searched around with knives and guns, and an officer came to him and said, "Who are you?" ”

"I am the assassin of Yuzhou, and I was ordered by the emperor to cross the river and go on a northern expedition."

After listening to Zu Ti's words, looking at the men and horses who didn't even have military uniforms, the officer's eyes showed a trace of disdain, and asked, "Yuzhou Assassin History?" Yuzhou has fallen, where did the history of thorns come from!? ”

Yuzhou suppressed his anger and took out the thorn seal, and the officer didn't dare to make a mistake when he saw it, and he asked: "Last night, a big thief appeared in the capital, and many big people and huge rich families have lost their property, have you ever seen suspicious people?" ”

"Nope." Zu Ti said lightly.

The officer walked through the crowd for a while, and when he saw that there was really no oil or water, he let him go.

Zu Ti led people to the ferry, and after half of the men and horses boarded the boat, the officer just now hurried over with people, and he ran to him and said, "General Zu, board the boat slowly!" ”

"Why!?"

"I suspect you have dirty silver on board, I'm going to search it!" The officer yelled.

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