The army of the Qing Dynasty is stationed in the south of Zhengzhou about ten miles, here was originally after the Yang grain army opened, the granaries were looted and burned, only the black ruins remained, but the terrain here is open, and there are good fortifications, so it was selected as a temporary garrison place, in the evening, more than 200,000 troops set up more than ten miles of company camps, like thousands of mushrooms at the same time on the ground to emerge, at a glance can not see the end.

The next day, the sky was just numb, Li Qing's big tent had guests, the hearty laughter penetrated the morning mist, and it could be heard a hundred steps away, this was Nanyang Thorn Shilu, he disdained to be with Tian Shengong and others, and before dawn he brought more than 10,000 people to join Li Qing.

Lu is thin and thin, but his voice is very loud, he belongs to the kind of person who can't hide what he has in his heart, almost without Li Qing asking, he took the initiative to pour out the situation of Lianghuai, but when the voice should be small, Lu's voice can immediately pinch more than 10,000 people, and it is not a rabble, he once fought a battle with An Lushan's general Linghu Chao, 30,000 against 30,000, a tie, and then Ji Guangchen fled after 10,000 aids, he led the troops twice, but the ambition is also big, Xiangguo wants to disarm his army and return to the field, I'm afraid it's not so easy. ”

Speaking of this, Lu Tian pursed his lips and said unfinished: "If the Lianghuai forces are compared to a snake, then Tian Shengong is the seven inches of the snake, pinching him, it will solve the problem of the two Huai, hey!" Speaking of our two Huai, the land is rich and the products are rich.

Li Qing listened silently, from time to time he picked up the small teapot and filled his cup, always smiling on his face, and talked for a quarter of an hour, until he picked up the cup and found that it was empty, then he finally realized that he was dominant, and his words stopped abruptly. Scratching the back of his head, he said apologetically: "I can't stop the topic for a while, so I disturb Xiangguo Qingqing." ”

"It's okay! Although Lu Yuanjun talked a little more, he had something to say, and he didn't sound bored. ”

Li Qing filled up the water for him and smiled again: "Lu Envoy Jun is loyal to the imperial court, you still bring the army back to Nanyang, and the prime minister will send another 30,000 troops to help you, after my army crosses the Yellow River." Stabilize the situation between the two Huai for me, and when the chaos is over, this phase will definitely be reused for you. ”

Lu Daxi. He immediately took his leave, and Li Qing ordered the general Xi Yuanqing to lead 30,000 troops to the south with him.

Li Qing got up and walked slowly outside the tent. The morning air is fresh and cold. The purple-red morning glow reflected his face and straightened his waist hard. I moved my muscles and bones.

After cleaning up the scattered troops in Hedong, he will face the two Huai forces. They are different from the simple soldiers in Hedong. Rather, it is a real local force that controls local government affairs and local finances. The army is also privately placed by them, with a strong family nature, to put it seriously, this is the prototype of the division of the feudal town, simple transfer or promotion can not solve the problem, compromise with them, seek a mutually acceptable solution is not advisable, as long as the army is in hand, they will inevitably continue to grow, the deeper the control of the place, and finally form a tail of the big trend, the history of the division of the domain town is due to the compromise between the Tang Dynasty and the local forces and finally formed, the dilemma of the two Huai must be solved as soon as possible, but can not easily use force, Otherwise, it will be difficult to gather everyone together, Li Qing pondered for a long time, if he wants to solve the situation in the two Huai regions, he must first find a breakthrough.

Li Qing walked around the camp with his hands behind his back, and returned to the tent, seeing that the sun was already high, but the generals of the two Huai Dynasty did not come to see him except for Lu, it seems that yesterday's plan for the regimental training envoy did not work, and everyone was still wary.

At this moment, a soldier rushed to this side, "Report to the general, Xiangzhou Assassin Shi Lai Yao asks to see!" ”

"Bring him to me!"

Li Qing's face showed a slight smile, and as soon as he wanted to sleep, someone brought a pillow.

Lai Yao was soon brought into the account, although he agreed to Tian Shengong's initiative yesterday, supporting the heir Li Ju as the head of the two Huai, but he still has his own calculations, if Tian Shengong did not put forward the matter of the heir Li Ju, maybe he will work with everyone to protect his own interests, but now he has seen Tian Shengong's ambition, that is, to support Li Ju as a puppet, based on the rich Jianghuai, self-reliance and Chang'an to contend with, although he will not be called the emperor for the time being, but the trend of secession has been achieved.

Once he is tied to the chariot, he will be involuntarily, not to mention that the position of Xiangzhou Assassin is difficult to protect, I am afraid that even his 20,000 people will be included in Tian Shengong sooner or later, after thinking about it overnight, since Li Qing no longer uses Li Cong's matter to embarrass him, and promises him to be the prince of the country, why should he make a wedding dress for Tian Shengong?

"Humble and guilty, I have come to ask Xiangguo for death!" Lai Yao was no longer as reserved as yesterday, and knelt down as soon as he entered the big tent.

Li Qing hurriedly stepped forward to help him up, and comforted: "The Lord is serious, get up and speak quickly!" ”

Saying that, Li Qing looked at him slightly, only to see that his face was haggard, with a circle of cyan around his eyes, and bloodshot eyes could be seen, it seemed that he didn't sleep well last night, and hesitated for something all night, Li Qingxin already had a little bottom, but he still quietly ordered his soldiers to serve tea to Laiyao, and he was not in a hurry to ask him.

Lai Yao didn't drink tea, he hesitated for a long time, and finally made up his mind to Li Qingdao: "The humble position was originally taken refuge in King Qing to get the position of Xiangzhou Assassin History, I don't know if Xiangguo knows about it?" ”

Li Qing gently patted him on the shoulder and smiled: "Are you worried that the feud between Benxiang and King Qing will implicate you!" The so-called prime minister can hold the boat in his belly, if I don't even have this measurement, what else can I do? Whether you were a confidant of King Qing or a confidant of Yang Guozhong, it doesn't matter now, what matters is what position you stand in the future, I can tell you clearly now, as long as you can help Benxiang solve the problem of Lianghuai, I will never treat you badly! ”

Speaking of this, Li Qing whispered to him: "The Ministry of Works, the same book, this is your reward for loyalty to your true nature!" ”

Lai Yao's legs have begun to tremble slightly, Li Qing's price made his heart stir, he was originally a Jinshi, and it has always been his life's ambition to worship each other, and it is not easy to mix from the idle position of Dr. Zanshan in the East Palace to a local official like Xiangzhou Thorn History, and now Li Qing has given him the book of the Ministry of Industry.

Step into the Cabinet. How he was not ecstatic.

'Plop! With a bang, Lai Yao fell to his knees on the ground, and he swore to the sky in a trembling voice: "I am willing to be loyal to Xiangguo, if I have two hearts, my grandchildren and grandchildren will be slaves, and I will never be able to turn over!" ”

"Don't make such a heavy oath!"

Li Qingxiao helped him up, patted his hand and said, "This appearance has always been to use people without doubt, since you have the heart to be loyal to me." I might as well tell you the truth, this eastward crusade of the prime minister, peace and celebration are false. If you want to find the most secure solution, do you have any good suggestions? ”

Lai Yao suddenly broke out in a cold sweat, and was really told by Li Huan. What Li Qing said to himself yesterday was the establishment of regimental training envoys, the retention of local troops, and so on. If it was really a fraud, it was a loss to Tian Shengong to bring up Li Ju's matter. Otherwise, I will be confused, and I don't know how I will die.

Come to think of it. He couldn't wait to take out his heart and give it to Li Qing. hurriedly whispered to him: "Yesterday, my subordinates met with Tian Shengong, Li Huan, Helan Jinming, Ji Guangchen and others.

Lai Yao recounted the content of yesterday's secret meeting to Li Qing word for word, and finally said: "If Xiangguo wants to do it." I suggested that they should start after crossing the Yellow River, firstly, they were far away from the old nest, and secondly, Shandong Xu Shuji would also come, but they could be solved together, saving the troubles of the future. ”

Li Qing listened without saying a word, his eyes gradually narrowed into a slit, he couldn't imagine that Tian Shengong still had such ambitions, and set up another clan to fight against him, and he looked down on him a little.

He secretly sneered in his heart, Lai Yao's words were indeed the same as his thoughts, it was because Shandong Xu Shuji did not arrive, so he decided to cross the Yellow River and then move, now since there is Lai Yao to take refuge in him, this makes him more certain, he walked two steps behind his back, and suddenly turned back and said: "I let five thousand guards follow you back to the camp and mix with your army, and you must try your best to cooperate with Tian Shengong, don't make him suspicious, and immediately send someone to report to me as soon as there is news!" ”

.

In the afternoon of the same day, Li Qing immediately ordered a total of 270,000 troops from all walks of life to pull up and go north, at this time, the Yellow River has frozen, there is no need for ferries, the army is mighty across the ice and marches northward, on the afternoon of the third day, the army arrived in Heyang, Shandong Xu Shuji led 30,000 troops to join Li Qing, since then all the armies have arrived, a total of 300,000 troops, the main force of Li Qingdi is about 200,000 people, and the remaining 100,000 people are scattered troops from all over the country, and Tian Shengong's 40,000 troops are the most prosperous.

At this time, Li Qing's army was still more than 200 miles away from Xiangzhou, in order to prevent An Qingxu from ambushing halfway, Li Qing ordered to slow down the march, and sent a large number of scouts to explore the road, that night, the army stayed in Heyang overnight.

Although the 300,000 Tang troops nominally respected Li Qing as the supreme commander, in fact, Tian Shengong and others were still in their own positions, and they never reported to the commander-in-chief's battalion, but sent messengers to keep in touch with the battalion.

As soon as it was dark, Li Qing received a secret report from Laiyao, Tian Shengong ordered him to invite everyone to his camp for a meeting tonight, and the Communist Party of China discussed how to maintain the army in wartime.

This was a rare opportunity, and Li Qing immediately informed himself to infiltrate the five thousand guards in the interior of the Laiyao camp, ready to wait for the opportunity to act.

The main purpose of Tian Shengong personally leading the army north was to take the opportunity of Li Qing's army to persuade everyone to obey his unified command, so as to capture the forces of the two Huai regions in his own hands, and to push the heir Li Ju to come forward was something he had been planning for a long time, not only so that the imperial court could not find the truth of his rebellion, but also to get the support of other opponents of Li Yu in the court.

Once he controls the rich Jianghuai, Yangzhou and other places, he can also take advantage of the situation to go south, and include the large territories such as Jiangnan, Shannan, and Lingnan, which are empty of troops, so that he will have the strength to compete with Chang'an, and once the conditions are ripe, he will also play the slogan of the Qing monarch and compete with Li Qing.

Things are indeed going well, with the cooperation of Li Huan, he has reached an agreement with everyone to support the heir Li Ju as the lord of the two Huai, Tian Shengong immediately sent someone to Yingzhou to tell his brother Tian Shenyu can start to prepare, once the rebellion is over, he will immediately lead the two Huai troops back to Yingzhou.

Night has completely fallen, there is silence on the land of Hebei, the dark gray mist quietly covers the field with a light veil, Tian Shengong in the strict protection of a thousand guards, taking advantage of the night to the camp of Laiyao, since the last time Zhengzhou oath, Tian Shengong has kept a low profile. Except for not going to the handsome account himself, he obeyed Li Qing's various orders and carried them out without discount, lest Li Qing see his plan.

Lai Yao from the initial reluctant to agree, to now has become his most active supporter, many things Tian Shengong is not good to come forward, are let Lai Yao for him to complete, he just received a report from Lai Yao in the afternoon. has persuaded Xu Shuji to join the Lianghuai Alliance, Tian Shengong is overjoyed, in this way. He will be fully deployed this evening to ensure that the 100,000-strong army can leave the battlefield smoothly.

"It's General Tian who came?"

About a thousand steps away from the camp of Laiyao, an army of about 200 people appeared on the right side of Tian Shengong, and then a horse galloped up. Tian Shengong looked closely. But it was Lee.

As soon as Li Huan saw Tian Shengong, he said bluntly: "General Tian, I thought it was inappropriate to gather in the camp. It should be replaced. ”

"How so?" Tian Shengong asked silently, he knew that Li Huan and Lai Yao had a gap. This is the time to persuade yourself. I'm afraid it's not out of any vigilance.

"Now it is less than two hundred miles away from Xiangzhou, if Li Qing wants to move us. It will inevitably happen at this time, and now that we are all gathered in one place, once Li Qing designs, wouldn't it be dangerous for us? So when I told everyone about the gathering tonight, I thought he must have something else going on. ”

Tian Shengong smiled and said, "Li Yuanjun is too worried!" It was my arrangement to come to the camp for a meeting, and if I don't make a big plan tonight, it will be difficult to have a chance in the future. ”

He saw the dissatisfaction on Li Huan's face, so he stepped forward and put his arm around his shoulder and comforted: "It's not that I refuse to gather in your camp, but because of Uncle Xu's location, he and Lai Yao are old friends, and today Lai Yao has persuaded him, so for the sake of this point, I put the party in his camp, you have a great credit to me, how can I forget?" The days to come will be long, and there will be many days when we will enjoy wealth together! ”

An officer who had been waiting at the gate of the camp saw it, and immediately stepped forward to Shi Lidaojun, General Helan, and General Xu had all arrived, and the two generals were missing, and the general of my family ordered him to come down and lead the two into the camp. ”

"Got it, we'll be there right away!"

Tian Shengong saw that Li Huan's face was still gloomy and difficult to remove, he squinted and saw that the leader had gone away, so he whispered to Li: "I tell you the truth, I will not leave such a critical place as Xiangzhou to Laiyao, if he is obedient and hands over the soldiers, maybe I will give him a wealth and wealth, if he refuses to let him, then I will kill him without leaving trouble, you know this matter in your heart, and you must not show your mouth." ”

Li Huan saw Tian Shengong tell him this kind of secret matter, and the unhappiness in his heart barely disappeared, he nodded and smiled: "Those who do great things must not have the kindness of a woman, and they must not be soft when they have to start!" ”

"Not bad! Not bad! You and I see something in the same way. Tian Shengong glanced back at Li Qing's camp, patted him on the back and whispered: "I plan to persuade everyone to combine all the soldiers and horses together tonight, so as not to be broken by Li Qing, you have to support me!" ”

Li Huan didn't say anything, and said for a long time: "This matter must be discussed in the long run, and Brother Tian doesn't have to be too anxious!" ”

The two of them walked while talking, and soon entered the camp, there were only more than 10,000 people in Laiyao, the camp was not big, and after a while, they walked to the military tent, which was already heavily guarded, two steps, one post, three steps and one sentry, thousands of soldiers surrounded the general tent, at this moment, the military tent was clear, and the voice of words could be faintly heard inside, and four teams of soldiers were neatly arranged around the tent, like flower petals, each team was about fifty people, this is everyone's personal guard, that is to say, Tian Shengong brought a thousand guards to come, At most, only fifty people could enter with him, and the rest could only wait outside.

Tian Shengongdi's attention was attracted by the thousands of soldiers in the tent of the guards, and he saw that they were all strong and strong, their eyes were indifferent, and they stood there motionless, and everyone held their heads high, like a mountain, and their bodies were full of a cold murderous aura.

Tian Shengong secretly swallowed a mouthful of saliva, he didn't expect that Lai Yao still hid this hand, although the number of people is not much, it seems that there are only more than 3,000 people, but it is enough to form the most elite army, and put it into the battlefield at the most critical time, it can play a role in turning the tide.

"General Tian, according to the rules set by my general, only fifty people can enter!" The ushering officer at the door must be respectful, but he said without losing his principles.

"Your general is fair!" Tian Shengong smiled slightly, turned around and ordered the captain of the guard to say, "You are all waiting outside, pick fifty people to go in with me." ”

Li Huan in the back also picked fifty people with great dissatisfaction, and entered the big tent together with Tian Shengong.

The tent was very spacious, with a thick carpet, and a table was put together to form a large square table, and a high-backed chair was placed in turn, and next to each chair was placed a high table, on which were placed all kinds of refreshments, which was very thoughtful.

At this moment, there were already four people sitting in front of the generous table: the host Lai Yao, Ji Guangchen, Helan Jinming, and Xu Shuji, who had just arrived today, several people were chatting casually, and when they saw Tian Shengong walking in, several people hurriedly stood up and smiled at him: "General Tian is late, replace wine with tea, and be fined three glasses first!" ”

Tian Shengong smiled, "If it's tea, don't say three cups, and I'll be fine with thirty cups!" ”

As he spoke, he swept his eyes and saw that the main seat was empty, and he nodded with satisfaction, so that the meeting of the evening could be opened.

When everyone was seated, the master stood up and said, "Since we are all here, let's hurry up and let the meeting begin!" ”

After speaking, he glanced at Tian Shengong, and asked him to get up and preside over the meeting, Tian Shengong did not postpone it, and stood up and said: "You are all people with soldiers, and I won't drag the mud and water, the main purpose of inviting you to the meeting tonight is to discuss with you, in the battle in Xiangzhou, how not to be broken by Li Qing, or become the meat shield he used to attack the city, and the most important thing is to preserve strength!" ”

.

The meeting lasted for about half an hour, and the people argued extremely fiercely, in the final analysis, Tian Shengong's purpose was to put everyone's army under his direct command, and everyone understood this, some supported, some opposed, and a little ambiguous.

Everyone fought for dry mouths, and the tea was changed a few rounds, at this time, Lai Yao got up and bowed and smiled: "It's convenient to go out!" ”

At this time, everyone's attention was on Tian Shengong, and no one cared about his departure, until almost a quarter of an hour later, he still didn't see Lai Yao come in, and Li Huan, who had been paying attention to him, was the first to notice that something was wrong.

He's Teng! He stood up and said sharply, "Where have you been?" ”

Only then did everyone come back to their senses together, looking at each other, and they didn't know what was going on? Li Huan kicked over the chair, pulled out his sword and shouted: "There must be fraud tonight, everyone rush out!" ”

As soon as the words fell, I heard the sound of dense footsteps outside, which shook the earth slightly, and then there was the sound of swords intersecting, shouting and shouting to kill, and at this moment, the military tent suddenly shook violently, 'Boom! The ground collapsed with a thud, burying all five of them.

Tian Shengong and Li Huan swung their swords together to split the big tent, and the five of them jumped out one after another, but they were stunned, only to see that the ground was full of their personal guards, ten steps away, the fire illuminated the camp as if it was day, and the dense long lances, horizontal knives, and crossbow arrows were pointed at them together, without a sound, and there was no expression on the faces of thousands of elite soldiers.

At this time, the soldiers surrounding them dodged a path to both sides, and dozens of big men walked in with one person in their arms, but it was Li Qing, who was dressed in a first-class court robe, wearing a black gauze hat, with his hands behind his back, and a mocking smile on his face.

Li Qing glanced at them and said with a cold smile: "The prime minister has been waiting for you to discuss the military aircraft matter, but he didn't expect that we would get together in this situation!" ”