Just five days after Tian Wuji conquered Xiangyang, Jincheng also fell under the strong attack of Jiang Huanchu and Tian Kangyou. Although Zhou Yunjing also broke out of the encirclement, he was not as lucky as Xiang Chu, when he escaped, Jiang Huan Chu's Tianluo Dugu palm and Hou Ying's Da Sumeru palm were seriously injured, and he didn't know if he could return to Kaifeng alive.

When Jiang Huanchu stepped into Jincheng, he was also attacked by six assassins from the Hidden Star Sect, the difference is that Jiang Huanchu's martial arts far exceeded the estimate of the Hidden Star Sect.

"What? The Great General was also assassinated? After Tian Wuji was assassinated, he also specially sent someone to tell Jiang Huan Chu to be careful of the Hidden Star Sect.

"Now the situation is a little bad, our progress is already lagging behind the Song army, and now that the general is injured like this, most of the Chu State will be divided up by the Song State." Tian Kangyou knew that Tian Wuji's life was worry-free, so he had just let go of his hanging heart, and began to worry about the progress of Vachu again.

Jiang Huan Chu patted his forehead: "Then we can only speed up the progress here, although Zhou Yunjing escaped, he was seriously injured, even if he returned to Kaifeng alive, he couldn't command the city, tomorrow we will take the army to Kaifeng." ”

Tian Kangyou nodded silently: "That's the only way, if Song Jun wins Shouchun again, then we will be completely passive." ”

Xu Ce on the side also looked grim: "General Tian is right, after Deng Yuanjue takes Shouchun, he only needs to send two troops, one to hold Xiakou and the other to hold Xuchang, to completely block us from the gate of Chu State, and he can stay and digest the rest of Chu Land slowly." ”

Jiang Huanchu led the army to continue to attack Kaifeng, while Deng Yuanjue handed over the army to Xun Yuqing and Deng Wenhao, and asked them to continue to surround Shouchun City under their own banners. He himself and Wu Teng secretly took 30,000 people to bypass Yingchuan and Zhoukou to attack Xuchang.

Deng Yuanjue's plan was the same as Xu Ce expected, after taking Xuchang, he could leave the well-guarded Wu Teng behind to stop Jiang Huanchu's army from advancing. In order to cooperate with this operation, Deng Yuanjue also borrowed four elders from the Heavenly Sword Gate, and Lin Wenying was also one of them.

Along the way, the Song army was divided into pieces, a group of three, a group of five, and rushed to Xuchang in batches. If this was in peacetime, this kind of large-scale population movement would have been discovered by the nearby counties long ago. But now there is a shortage of people, there is a lot of movement of people every day, and large-scale refugee flows are often seen. Last time in Chaisang City, there were as many as 50,000 people who were driven out of the city by Gao Kegong at one time, so this time the Song army's operation was generally very smooth.

Three months later, 30,000 Song troops met on the outskirts of Xuchang and regrouped under Deng Yuanjue's command.

Deng Yuanjue still didn't plan to directly lead the troops to attack the city, but handed over the army to Wu Teng, and he quietly sneaked into Xuchang City with Lin Wenying and a group of masters of the Heavenly Sword Gate.

The city of Xuchang is located in the heart of the Chu State, and has not yet been affected by the war, although there are many refugees who come and go every day, but Taishou Xing Kan still considers Xuchang under his rule to be a happy land.

After Deng Yuanjue entered the city, he asked a few people about Xing Kan's situation, and it turned out that Xing Kan was an out-and-out corrupt official. Before Wu Shiqi's new policy was implemented, he also knew that it was necessary to rein. In the past three years, since Xiong Huan delegated power to the local government, Xing Kan has changed his tricks to harvest the people, and the money and grain he collected are not used to strengthen his strength like other places, but are all locked in his own treasury.

In addition to looting people's wealth, Xing Kan also laid off the already small city defense army in order to save expenses. In his own words, Xuchang does not fight, so there is no need to spend so much money to support these troops.

Deng Yuanjue almost laughed out loud after hearing this, and when the group came to the Taishou Mansion, they found that this Xing Kan was really picky. is a dignified guard of Xuchang City, and there are not even a few servants in the house, let alone those in the nursing home.

When everyone found Xing Kan, he was in the back hall, lying on a bamboo chair and taking a nap.

Lin Wenying picked up a bucket of cold water and fell down, Xing Kan shivered and fell off the chair. scolded in his mouth: "Which dog slave dares to be so daring, offending the master, do you want to ......?"

Before he finished speaking, he found that the atmosphere was a little wrong, and seven or eight big men were standing in the backyard glaring at him angrily.

"Ladies and gentlemen, where are you from? What is the matter with this office? If you need to wrap up, you don't have to say it. Xing Kan thought that this was a group of refugees and wanted to send them away with money.

Lin Wenying pulled out a slap and scolded: "Bold, this is Deng Yuanjue, the general of the Great Song Dynasty, do you still want to die?" ”

"General Deng?" Xing Kan was startled, and hurriedly knelt on the ground: "The general spares his life, and the lower officials are willing to surrender to the Great Song Dynasty." ”

Although Xing Kan is unbearable, he is by no means stupid, otherwise it would be impossible to be too official in Xuchang. When he saw that Deng Yuanjue and his party came to the backyard and did not kill him immediately, he knew that they had other plans, and it would definitely not be wrong for him to choose to surrender.

Deng Yuanjue was slightly surprised, and originally planned to kill Xing Kan and let Wu Teng outside the city lead his troops to attack the city, and he would answer in the city. Now that Xing Kanken surrendered directly, it also saved a lot of trouble.

Deng Yuanjue smiled and helped Xing Kan up: "Xing Taishou don't panic, Deng Mou's trip is to invite you to join my camp of the Great Song Dynasty, and now that Taishou is willing to surrender, then we will be ministers of the first palace in the future." ”

Xing Kan stood up, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and began to introduce the situation in the city to Deng Yuanjue.

Deng Yuanjue dragged Xing Kan down the street, and at the same time motioned to Lin Wenying to inform Wu Teng and ask him to bring troops in to take over Xuchang City.

Xing Kan knew Deng Yuanjue's intentions, but he was powerless to resist, so he had to be pulled by Deng Yuanjue to the city gate.

It wasn't until Wu Teng led the army in and completely controlled the whole city that Deng Yuanjue let go of Xing Kan.

Xing Kan stood aside and trembled, now he has no use value, if he wants to kill or chop, it depends on what others say.

"Xing Taishou, how about I still promote you as Xuchang Taishou?" Xing Kan, who was scared, suddenly heard Deng Yuanjue's voice in his ears.

"What?" Xing Kan's face was overjoyed, and then disappeared again: "The lower officials don't dare, the lower officials are willing to return to Jianye and obey Your Majesty's orders." ”

Xing Kan knew that after Chen Shiduo, the Taishou of Shuzhou City, surrendered, he was brought back to Jianye by Deng Yuanjue, and now he still thinks that what Deng Yuanjue said about letting him continue to serve as the Taishou of Xuchang is intentionally testing himself.

Deng Yuanjue still smiled: "Xing Taishou don't have to be nervous, Deng Mou is not joking, I have already inquired in the city, Xing Taishou has been an official here for eight years, you know all the affairs in the city, now it is a time of war, I can't find a more suitable person than you for a while, you can be wronged for the time being, don't shirk anymore." ”

Xing Kan looked up at Deng Yuanjue, and saw that he didn't seem to be laughing, so he puffed up his chest and said: "If the general really asks me to continue to serve as the taishou, then please rest assured, the general can rest assured, I will definitely manage Xuchang for you, and I won't let it be lost in my hands." ”

Deng Yuanjue clapped his hands and exclaimed: "So I can rest assured, but now that the Qi army has attacked Kaifeng City, once Kaifeng is lost, their next target will be Xuchang." In order to ensure that nothing goes wrong, I plan to leave General Wu in the city to assist you in defending the city, what do you think? ”

Where is this assistance, it is clearly to supervise himself, Xing Kan will naturally not be stupid enough to say: "This is the best, with General Wu here, Xuchang will be solid." ”

Deng Yuanjue immediately showed embarrassment: "There is one more thing that needs Xing Taishou's help, we led the troops to take a detour this time, and there is not much money and food with us, I heard the people in the city say that there is still a lot of money and food in the treasury of Xing Taishou's house, it is better to lend it to me for the time being, rest assured, I will definitely pay it back." ”

Xing Kan's heart was dripping blood after hearing this, damn, that's all the money that Lao Tzu has worked hard to save for most of his life, and now you have to borrow it all as soon as you open your mouth, although you will pay it back, but Lao Tzu dares to ask you if you want it? It's all scavenged people's fat and people's ointment, and when I ask you for it, you're not happy, and I have to take my life to go in.

"The general is polite, what do you say to borrow, the general wants to use it, just take it, anyway, it's all for the people of my Great Song Dynasty." Xing Kan forced a smile.

Deng Yuanjue nodded with satisfaction: "Xing Taishou is so generous, it makes me a little embarrassed." Wu Teng, you take someone to move all the things out of the warehouse now, be careful when moving, don't break the furnishings in Xing Taishou's house. Deng Yuanjue said that he was embarrassed, but he didn't see the slightest embarrassment in the order.

That night, Wu Teng knocked on Deng Yuanjue's door: "General, the last general doesn't understand, why do you use Xing Kan, he is an out-and-out corrupt official." ”

Deng Yuanjue put down the military book in his hand and said with a smile: "It is precisely because he is a corrupt official that I dare to use him, if he is a righteous gentleman, I can only kill him." ”

Wu Teng was even more puzzled, and looked at Deng Yuanjue with a puzzled expression.

Deng Yuanjue explained: "If there is chaos today, the first thing to do is to use loyal people. Loyalty is Jun'an, Jun'an is national security, if you want people to follow you with all their hearts, you must give people benefits. There is money to give money, but there is no money to give power, I have no money now, I can only give power. ”

Wu Teng asked rhetorically: "If it can be solved by giving power, there are still so many subordinate officials in the city, why do you just use Xing Kan?" ”

Deng Yuanjue said: "Because Xing Kan is a corrupt official, I am not afraid that he will be greedy, I am afraid that he will be disloyal, as long as he dares to be greedy, there will be a handle in my hands, he will be afraid when he sees me, the more afraid he is, the more loyal he is." On the contrary, what would happen if he were a clean official? ”

Wu Teng somewhat understood: "If he is a clean official, he will be honest and disobedient, and if you want to remove him at that time, the people will not agree, and the people will have resentment if they do not agree, and then we will be passive, so the clean officials cannot be used." ”

Wu Teng lowered his head and thought about it, and then asked: "What if after using Xing Kan, he is more greedy than before and arouses public resentment?" ”

Deng Yuanjue replied: "It's very simple, just issue a notice, again and again, make angry gestures, keep emphasizing that you are not allowed to be corrupt, and let everyone know that I hate corrupt officials." In this way, the people will think that I am right, and that corrupt officials are the source of evil. Then I will raid his house and confiscate his property, and the resentment of the people will naturally subside. At that time, not only would the people sing praises to me, but I would also be able to earn a sum of money for the military. ”