When the army of Zhu Cihong and Zhou Yuji withdrew from the Jianghuai region and went north to Shandong, Fang Yuan directly sent 30,000 Xuanjia soldiers to cross the river from the Longjiang Wharf, and went straight to Guazhoudu, and began to pursue the 10,000 soldiers behind Gao Jie's palace.

The two sides fought three battles under the city of Yangzhou, and the 10,000 soldiers were all annihilated, and the army escorted by Gao Jie also retreated to Huai'an Mansion.

Fang Yuan did not enter Yangzhou City, but crossed the border with Gan Hui and led the army, entered Huai'an Mansion to continue the pursuit of Gao Jie, and surrounded Shanyang County, the seat of Huai'an Mansion.

Gao Jie, who was unable to take away the plundered gold and silver, immediately handed over part of the gold and silver to Zhu Yihai, the king of Lu, and asked Zhu Yihai to make peace as an intermediary; On the one hand, he sent people to ask Sun Chuanting in Shandong for help, and ordered Sun Chuanting to send troops to support.

Zhu Yihai can be regarded as having an old friendship with Fang Yuan, and he mediates from it, plus Sun Chuanting's army in Shandong also shows signs of going south. If you forcibly attack the city again, you will fall into a full-scale war with the Ming Dynasty.

The Xuanjia Army, whether it is a cavalry battalion or an infantry battalion, has been fighting fiercely for two months in a row, and urgently needs to rest, if it encounters Sun Chuanting's new force, even if it can be defeated, it will suffer heavy losses.

Fang Yuan's most important thing at the moment was to take away Princess Kunxing, as well as to restore the livelihood of Nanjing and Yangzhou, and after Gao Jie handed over one million taels of silver to buy the road, he withdrew his troops back to Yangzhou Mansion.

When I went south to Yangzhou Mansion, the prefectures and counties I passed along the way were all full of desolation, and the people were already gnawing on the roots of trees for a living, and there were not a few who starved to death on the side of the road. It seems that the entire Yangzhou Mansion was indeed looted by the Ming army, and most of the people were hungry and waiting to be fed.

Fang Yuan immediately ordered the sergeants to go to Changzhou, Suzhou, and Songjiang, the three state capitals that had not suffered from the war, and they must collect 100,000 stone of grain and go north to Yangzhou Mansion within 10 days to go north for disaster relief, and ordered the sergeants to go to the official warehouse of Shaoxing Mansion to mobilize 500,000 stone of grain to go north.

When he hurried to Gaoyouwei, Gaoyouwei was already in a mess, and the guards were full of corpses of Xuanjia soldiers and Ming army sergeants who died in battle.

Fang Yuan looked at the desolate Gao Youwei, the ruined city wall, showing the cruelty of the previous Gao Youwei defense battle, and couldn't help but curse secretly, "Dead girl, who let you make your own decisions?!" ”

On the one hand, he ordered the sergeant to start cleaning up the battlefield and disinfecting it with alcohol bought from Taobao, and on the other hand, he led a hundred Jinyi guards to go straight to the official office.

To Fang Yuan's surprise, the official office was empty, and there was no trace of Princess Kunxing and her party at all, only the cemetery where Liang Min was buried was found.

Fang Yuan ordered Hu Qi's brocade guards to search carefully, he stayed alone in front of Liang Min's grave, looking at the tombstone Zhongyong, Liang Min's pursuit, his eyes were blurred.

He remembered the full support of the Liangshan brothers when Shandong won the victory, and Liang Min even gave up the opportunity to be a big landlord in Liangshan and followed him to Jiangnan. And because of the smuggling of smuggled salt, he demoted Liang Min to become a bandit of the Haisha Gang, how much did this hurt the arrogant Liang Min?

Now Liang Min has completed self-redemption with his life and died in Gaoyouwei, which is more like a merciless ridicule of Fang Yuan. If it weren't for Gao Youwei's delay of 50,000 Ming troops for at least a month, the entire Jingkou defense line is estimated to have collapsed long ago, and once the Ming army swept the Jiangnan Prefectures, the Jiangnan Prefectures are estimated to end up with Yangzhou, and the consequences are unimaginable.

Liang Min, this time to defend Jiangnan, has made a great contribution!

No one is at fault, he didn't give Liang Min a chance to change his ways, and directly denied it and expelled him. Looking at it now, the original behavior was impulsive and stupid.

Fang Yuan's tears couldn't help but flow out again, crossed his cheeks, and secretly said in his mouth, "Commander Liang, I can't stand you in this life, let's pay it back in the next life!" Rest in peace! ”

Fang Yuan stood in front of Liang Min's grave in a daze, until a gust of cold wind blew, he was a little sober, and said to Hu Qi, "Old Hu, order Jinyiwei to go to the cabinet to herald, and the ticket intends to add Liang Min's title as Zhongyong, the title of Gaoyou, and the children enjoy the treatment of earls, and they will be hereditary." The three thousand Xuanjia soldiers who died in the battle, the Haisha Gang, the princess promised them all the conditions, and they must be ordered to find the families of each of the war dead one by one, and pay for them one by one! ”

Hu Qi wrote it down firmly, hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Governor Fang, Jinyiwei searched inside and outside the official office, but found no trace of the princess. ”

Fang Yuan was shocked when he heard this, cold sweat oozed from his vest, and he secretly thought, could it be that the trick used by Zhou Yuji, Princess Kunxing would have died a long time ago?

He ordered Hu Qi's Jinyi Guard and Gan Hui's Xuanjia Sergeant to immediately count the corpses in Gao Youwei's guards one by one, and if they wanted to see people alive and corpses when they died, they must be thoroughly investigated.

Fang Yuan was about to enter the dormitory of the government office, when he smelled a smell of hot oil, Hu Qi stopped him and said, "Governor Fang, the house is full of fire oil, and it will catch fire at a moment, so don't go in." ”

He trembled, there was really fire oil in the room, it seemed that what Zhou Yuji said before was true, the princess was indeed sticking to her loyalty by committing suicide.

"Stupid girl!"

He scolded deeply and sighed deeply, but still stepped into the door, looking at the cold scorching scraps on the table in the bedroom, and the flies buzzing and circling above, exuding bursts of foul smell.

Hu Qi said, "Look at these scraps, it was at least five days ago." ”

Fang Yuan walked around the dormitory, there were hardly any women's daily necessities left in the room, and the brocade of the bed in the room was neatly tied, and even the wooden bucket for pouring dung was cleaned.

Hu Qi analyzed, "Everything is cleaned up neatly, it seems that the princesses did not flee in a hurry, but left safely." ”

He analyzed it well, and Fang Yuan also believed that he could at least have a psychological comfort, and the princess was still alive and well.

Fang Yuan lay on the bed where Princess Kunxing once slept on, closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he could feel the breath left by the princess in the pillow, "Old Hu, I will live here tonight." ”

Hu Qi hurriedly reminded, "Governor Fang, this house is full of fire oil, it's too dangerous, let's go to the barracks and live!" ”

Fang Yuan didn't open his eyes, feeling the dark nights of the past, the princess lived here, but she didn't dare to light the lamp, she could only be in the dark night when she couldn't see her fingers, worrying about the Ming army that would break in at any time. This kind of torment, how could she, a pampered and delicate princess who has been pampered since she was a child, survive if she was not really in love?

He said lightly, "The princess can live in this house for more than ten days, and she is not worried about danger, I just stay here for one night, what is the danger?" ”

Hu Qi didn't dare to disobey his words, so he personally took five brocade guards to guard the dormitory, and ordered that no sparks should be allowed to approach the dormitory.

When night fell, Fang Yuan didn't feel the slightest sleep, and his mind was full of thoughts, "Where will this girl go princess?" Zhou Yuji loves soldiers like a son, and he will never dare to joke with the lives of 20,000 Jin troops. In this chaotic situation, how could he not send a sergeant to guard the princess and his party? ”

"If the princess is gone, where is the guard sergeant? There were no signs of a fight in the house, and there should have been no fighting. It seems that the princess really left safely, and she left alone, where did she go? Yangzhou Mansion is in chaos, if you encounter a chaotic army, then ......"

The more Fang Yuan thought about it, the more frightened he felt, and he couldn't figure out the slightest clue, and muttered, "Silly girl, look at me looking for you this time, how can I clean you up!" ”

Hu Qi, who was guarding the guard, was sitting in front of the door, not daring to be careless for a moment, seeing that Fang Yuan was reading something in his mouth, but he couldn't hear it really, so he hurriedly asked, "Governor Fang, what do you have to explain?" ”

"Early tomorrow morning, I will send an order to Commander Gan to lead the army south to disarm all the Jin troops at the Jingkou Wharf, watch them, and wait for punishment."

Fang Yuan slowly opened his eyes, a cold light flashed in his eyes, and he said in a deep voice, "If the princess is even slightly injured, I want all the 20,000 Jin troops at Jingkou Wharf to be buried!" ”

He really moved the killing machine this time, if Princess Kunxing encounters an accident, he will definitely kill 20,000 Jin troops to vent his anger!