Zhang Zhao crossed the river and arrived at Qu'a to visit Liu Xuan, but he didn't want the latter to leave for Moling a few days ago, and he was in a hurry, and he heard that something important had happened, but what was the specific matter, Zhang Zhao didn't find out, and set off overnight to Moling.

A few days later, on the official road to Moling, a middle-aged man dressed as a servant pointed to the towering city wall looming in the distance and said, "Sir, there is Moling in front!" ”

Zhang Zhao, who was riding on the mount, set up a pergola with his hand, and looked into the distance, the slightly dazzling sunlight was blocked, and Huo's saw a dark and mottled ancient city wall at the end of the pole.

The ancient city tower that lies several miles away has a vicissitudes of life, and the ox-headed twin peaks in the city are like two buildings, facing each other from east to west. There is also Zhongshan standing upright, and it really looks like a tiger standing on the dragon plate, the emperor's house.

Zhang Zhao is a little familiar with the art of Kanyu, looking at this quaint city with infinite emotion in his heart, if he can use this as a base, it will be a light and martial arts in Hanoi! The tiredness on his face immediately appeared a little brilliance, and his expression was radiant: "Hurry up, be sure to enter the inner city of Moling at noon." ”

A group of more than 30 people began to come quickly in the direction of Moling City, walked for several miles, got closer and closer to Moling, did not want a team of knights to gallop from the city tower to gallop horses, in the team, the leader is a man in his thirties, with a long beard under his chin, black hair tied with a crown hat (the official position of the Han Dynasty is reflected by the crown hat and ribbon), a yellow silk short coat and trousers, a white silk long tassel around the waist, and a piece of Ruyu with a ribbon on it.

This person is under the account of Liu Xuan, surnamed Sun Shao, the name is Changxu, is a native of Beihai County, originally Beihai Taishou Kong Rong's Gong Cao, was praised by Kong Rong as a talent who can be appointed to important positions in the imperial court, and then arrived in Jiangdong with Liu Xuan, and is now a separate driver. (Sun Shao later assisted Sun Quan, and after Sun Quan became the queen of Wu, he became the first prime minister of Wu.) Died a few years later)

Sun Shao specially asked Liu Xiang to come to greet him after receiving Zhang Zhao's letter, or if Sun Shao had not mediated this time, Zhang Zhao would not have seen Liu Xiang at all.

And there is another person beside Sun Shao, with two beards, five big and three thick, who is Yangzhou Bing Cao engaged in Zhang Ying. And the reason why he came to greet Zhang Zhao together was not that he had an old relationship with Zhang Zhao, but that Liu Miao was not at ease with Sun Shao and sent him to keep an eye on the two.

Soon the two who had been reunited for a long time met each other, and the two of them hugged their fists and greeted each other with their fists, each of them to the end: "I haven't seen you for many years, Zhang Gong (Sun Gong) is okay!"

After this greeting, the two got up almost at the same time, looking at each other and smiling at each other's faces. There was a joyful smile on his face after a long absence, thinking about how many people sat and talked about it as if it was yesterday, and a trace of illusion as if he was in another world instantly surged in his heart.

After a while, because of the presence of Zhang Ying, Sun Shao had to try to restrain his emotions, smiled and said, "Zhang Gongyuan has worked hard, the post house has already been prepared, please!" ”

"Sun Gong first, please!"

Then the three of them entered the city together. Out of politeness, Zhang Zhao asked Sun Shao: "I don't know which brave general in Yangzhou this general with a tiger body and a bear's waist is?" ”

"Jun Cao engaged. Fenwei Captain Zhang Ying! Sun Shao introduced politely, but he didn't understand the meaning of Zhang Ying's existence in his heart, he was just acting as a pair of eyes and ears for Liu Xiancun.

Zhang Zhao arched his hand to Zhang Ying and said: "It turned out to be General Zhang, long admiration, long admiration." ”

If Zhang Zhao's words are polite, he is a famous Confucian. And he is just a reckless martial artist, but because of this, he has special respect for this great Confucian, and now he has to compliment him in front of Sun Shao, which can be regarded as enough for him. Naturally, he was more polite: "Zhang Gong is polite, in fact, he has been famous for Zhang Gong for a long time in Jiangnan, but he has never had the opportunity to see him, so I want to be fortunate to meet today, it is really a blessing for three lives." ”

After the two exchanged politeness again, Zhang Zhaocai turned the topic to Sun Shao again, and said: "I haven't seen you for ten days, how can Changxu have lost a lot?" ”

"It's not as good as Zibuzhishu heirloom, foolish is deeply valued by the lord, and he is added to the position of another driver, how busy things are, of course, it's not as good as being idle when he is not working!" Sun Shao joked with a smile.

In the past, he was in Beihai, just a small county official, in addition to being in charge of personnel, only occasionally can participate in the government affairs of a county or a county, and now he is a state with real power, the prime minister of a state affairs, can be described as the second real power person in Yangzhou, inside and outside the big and small things are under his control, and the hard work is naturally much less than in the past.

The two talked all the way, and soon arrived at the pavilion, and after settling Zhang Zhao, Sun Shao and Zhang Ying said goodbye to Liu Xuan, but before Sun Shao could ask about the time to summon Zhang Zhao, Liu Xiang asked him and Zhang Ying to retire with a sloppy eye.

The two retired, Sun Shao looked at the chief of the council where the lord was and sighed, turned around and left the house to pick up the wind for Zhang Zhao, but Zhang Ying, who went out of the mansion with him, secretly turned back after going around outside the Assassin's Mansion.

In the study, the beautiful Liu Miao wore a yellow robe with purple and gold edges, sitting quietly, holding a book of He Note Zuo's Biography (He Xiu's annotated Spring and Autumn Zuo's Biography), the whole person exudes a unique charm from the inside out, giving people a noble Tsinghua feeling.

At this moment, Zhang Ying walked in without a pass, bowed down, and said solemnly: "Lord, the last general is ordered to come!" ”

Since being driven across the river, Liu Miao learned from the pain, began to summarize the antecedents, and came to a failure because there was no general in his hands, the so-called division of the past does not forget the future, since then he not only let go of the arrogance of the martial arts, and began to recruit martial artists everywhere, since then, Zhang Ying and Chen Heng generals have naturally become the most relied on generals in his hands.

Because of this, except for some internal affairs, as long as it involves all military matters, Liu Miao will discuss with Zhang Ying and Chen Heng, but as time passed, he discovered some of Chen Heng's character flaws, and the short-sighted Chen Heng was completely abandoned by him, and Zhang Ying, who was still quite smart, naturally sat on the position of Yangzhou Bingcao. Liu Miao smiled and pointed to the cushion below: "Zhang Bingcao, sit down!" After he sat down, he asked again, "How is it, did you find anything?" ”

"There's nothing out of the ordinary, it's just a bit of the past!" Zhang Ying replied truthfully.

Zhang Ying has a rough appearance, but he is by no means a reckless man, and it is because of this that he can be trusted by Liu Xuan, saying: "Send some people to keep an eye on the post house, and you must master Zhang Zibu's every move, tight inside and loose outside." Do you understand? ”

Zhang Ying listened attentively, bowing his head slightly from time to time, and in the end, a gleam flashed in his eyes, and he swore solemnly: "Don't worry, my lord, there will never be a trace of mistakes in this matter!" ”

Zhang Ying's point is what Liu Miao values the most, no matter whether the things he explains are light or heavy, slow or urgent. He will take it seriously and treat it as if he is facing a great enemy, but if Zhang Ying is just a fool who can't change, then he won't favor him, but he will not only be serious but also changeable, and he can do everything without leakage.

Liu Miao nodded with satisfaction and said, "By the way, did you find out the purpose of Liu Lan sending Zhang Zibu to come this time?" According to Sun Shao, he came here for the alliance of the two families, and in my opinion, this matter will never be so simple. I think this is Liu Lan's plan to delay and confuse, in order to deceive me and collect Guangling! ”

"The last general on the road has also been tempted, but that Zhang Zhao is very tight-mouthed, and he didn't hear anything, in fact, if the lord really wants to know what Liu Lan is planning, as long as he sees Zhang Zhao, he can know everything, and then the lord can also take the opportunity to choose the situation!"

"This matter can't be rushed, let it go first. By the way, how is the situation there in Taishi Ziyi? ”

Zhang Yinglang laughed and said, "Now Tai Shici is still in a stalemate with Liu Deran in Huaiyin." According to the end of the general, this is the key to Liu Lan's urgent alliance with the lord, it must be Tai Shici who made him suffer, and in desperation, he will send an envoy here to do this alliance strategy. If so, why don't the lord send a large army into Xu, if he can fight a battle, then Xuzhou will be at his fingertips, and then if the code is in place, our army will have depth. If the attack will bring a great victory to the west to Yuan Shupifu, at that time may not be able to take Yangzhou Huainan in one battle! ”

Liu Miao had been holding the Zuo biography in his hand, and suddenly put the Zuo biography down, stared at Ai Ji with a frown on his brows for a long time, and suddenly raised his head and asked: "You say, if our army enters Xu in a big way, what will happen to Liu Lan, and if Yuan Shu knows that our army has entered Xu, what will happen to him?" ”

"He will ......" Zhang Yinggang opened his mouth and didn't dare to go on, he almost forgot that Liu Lan and Yuan Shu both belonged to the Southern Alliance, and the former would inevitably ask Yuan Shu for help in a critical situation, and the consequences would be troublesome.

Liu Miao saw Zhang Ying's concerns, since he had understood his thoughts but did not express his position, it was to affirm his worries, and said: "We can't take an offensive at the moment, and sending Taishi Ziyi to Xuzhou is just disgusting Liu Lan and Yuan Shu, and we still have to develop our own strength, when we have the strength to resist Yuan Shu, when can we take the initiative!" ”

Zhang Ying retreated, Liu Miao summoned Chen Heng to Taishi Mansion again, and soon Chen Heng, who had a national character face, came to the outside of Liu Xiang's study, and someone had already come in to pass the ceremony, saying: "Captain Chen has arrived!" ”

"Let him in!"

Soon the door of the house was pushed open, and Chen Heng entered the house in three steps and two steps to give a deep salute, and said, "The last general will meet the lord!" ”

"Excuse me!" Liu Miao waved his hand.

In fact, Chen Heng and Zhang Ying have their own merits, if you talk about the ability of the two to command the army, Chen Heng is better at foot combat, whether it is battle formation defense or siege and defense of the city, this is his forte, but Zhang Ying is accustomed to water warfare, and now Liu Miao has crossed the river, the first line of defense is the Yangtze River, in addition to the power change, this is also one of the reasons why Chen Heng and Zhang Ying have been robbed of the limelight from being on an equal footing.

Liu Miao asked directly: "How is the situation on the other side?" ”

Of course, Chen Heng knew who the person he was ashamed to mention by name was, so he frowned and said, "I'm afraid the Lujiang War is going to end!" ”

Liu Miao suddenly fell into deep thought, he lowered his head and began to think about Zhang Zhao's coming to Moling, could the matter that Liu Lan sent him have anything to do with the Battle of Lujiang, could he be ......

He didn't dare to think about it anymore, if this was the case, at that time, the army would come from two directions, although there was a danger of the Yangtze River, I am afraid there would be no way to return to the sky!

Wait, wait, something seems wrong. At a certain moment just now, Liu Miao seemed to have a hint of enlightenment, but he couldn't grasp it for a while, as if thousands of hemp ropes were entangled together, although he knew that one of them was the head of the rope, but he could not catch it.

Yuan Shu was about to capture Lujiang, Liu Lan and Tai Shici were in a stalemate in Huaiyin, Liu Lan sent Zhang Zhao to form an alliance, Liu Xuan began to start over in his heart little by little, and suddenly when he thought of the word 'alliance', many thoughts flashed in his mind, but one of the thoughts made him immediately excited: "Xuzhou, Yangzhou, haha, it turns out that he Liu Lan is also afraid of being attacked on both sides!" ”

"What did you say, my lord?" Chen Heng looked at Liu Xuan, who was suffering from hysteria, with a questioning expression, wondering why he suddenly became ecstatic.

Liu Xuan, who had figured everything out, was in a good mood, patiently solved Chen Heng's doubts, and said, "We are worried about Yuan Shu, isn't he Liu Lan worried?" When Yuan Shu takes the Lujiang River, it is possible to take advantage of the situation to go south or turn east, Liu Lan This is to avoid being attacked by the enemy, so he wants to form an alliance with us, and we also have the threat of Yuan Shu, so it is the general trend to form an alliance with Xuzhou, quickly, quickly, quickly go and pass Zhang Zhao to come, I want to talk to him about the specific matters of the alliance! ”

"Lord, isn't this a little too hasty?"

"Too sloppy? As long as you can deal with Yuan Shu, no matter how sloppy it is, it doesn't matter! Liu Miao gritted his teeth and said, it is precisely because of Yuan Shu that he has become the laughing stock of the world, and this revenge must be avenged, even if it costs a lot!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is very important to unite with Liu Xuan, and it is Zhang Zhao's proposal, so it is necessary for him to take risks alone to make up for the devastated Xuzhou, not to mention that this is his first important thing in Xuzhou, so he took this errand without concession.

But he has never been a man of great fortune who is known for his eloquence, and he would never have thought that he would one day use the art of hooking, and if he could have predicted the prophet, he could have prepared earlier, but time was running out, and even if he wanted to hold on to it temporarily, he would have given up because of the rush of time.

Although he doesn't know much about the 'long and short', he will never just come to Moling to negotiate things stupidly, although he is not very good at hooking and juggling, he also understands that as an emissary, the alliance is the top priority on the surface, but in private he also has to observe and collect political, military, and people's livelihood information.

In this era of communication and transportation, being able to grasp more information about allies or opponents often becomes the winner or loser of a war.

Zhang Zhao had limited opportunities, although he knew that what he saw might not be true, and many of the scenes were likely to be false images that Liu Miao deliberately let him see, but even if he knew that it was false, he could believe his three points, and these three points were the most important of them.

Although it is impossible to know how many men and horses Liu Miao was driven across the river, judging from the soldiers of the county who defended the city, the combat power was quite strong. Of course, Zhang Zhao didn't believe that these horses would be county soldiers serving by the common people, they should be regular troops under Liu Xuan, and this alone would not be a trip in vain. (To be continued.) )