When the sun set, the battle was finally over, and snowflakes began to fall in the sky again, and the Fengzhou army killed more than 3,000 thieves and rushed out of the place of death, but Li Yu was not happy at all, and the large corpses lying on the ditch mouth and the slopes on both sides of the mountain weighed him out of breath, he stood on the side of the road, silently watching the corpses of his subordinates being carried to the cart, and stood motionless despite the wind and snow blowing on his face.

Sun Shoufa accompanied a young officer, and the officer bowed to Li Yu and said: "The last general, Shenmu Fort, Du Sima Ke, is ordered by Lord Li Bei to take three hundred elite horsemen out of the fort to investigate, just in time for the chaos of the thieves, relying on the success of the lord's divine power to succeed in a lucky blow, and meet with the adult's reinforcements, I have come to meet the lord, please lead the army to go to the Shenmu Fort to rest with the last general." ”

Ma Ke saw that Li Yu's face was not good, and added: "My lord, the last general is also from Yulin, and the last general has already heard of the prestige of the adult, and it is a blessing for the last general to see the adult with his own eyes!" ”

"How do I know that you are an officer of Shenmu Fort, and what credentials do you have?" Li Yu asked coldly.

Ma Ke was stunned for a moment, a little unhappy to take out a waist card and hand it over, Li Yu didn't look at it, waved his hand and left, Ma Ke was embarrassed and at a loss, Sun Shoufa patted him and comforted: "Don't be too careful, the deputy general is a good person, he is uncomfortable, this battle is too bad, we have killed more than 300 brothers, and more than 200 wounded soldiers, a battalion is gone, you Yang General will always make us suffer!" ”

"****, a person who is usually honest, why is he obsessed with thieves? The adjutant general should really leave him behind, Lao Tzu must kill him alive. Marco said through gritted teeth.

Fengzhou army led by Ma Ke, arrived at Shenmu Fort when it was dark, Shenmu Fort deputy general Li Bei went out of the city to greet, and repeatedly expressed his gratitude to Li Yu, some time ago, the Fugu thief king Jiayin, Wang Ziyong gathered 30,000 horses to besiege Shenmu Fort, Shenmu Fort is too few troops, can only stick to wait for help, last night the thieves under the city suddenly left, he was worried about fraud, sent Ma Ke with cavalry to investigate, I didn't expect the reinforcements to arrive so soon, Li Bei said that there are still some barracks in the fort, grain and grass are available, and warmly invite the Fengzhou army to enter the fort to rest.

Li Yu nodded in agreement, but did not enter the city immediately, but lined up the whole army outside the fort, set up a few piles of firewood and grass, the bodies of the fallen soldiers were carried off the cart, neatly lined up on the ground, Li Yu looked at each of the dead soldiers one by one, sorted out their clothes for them, and then took off his helmet and stood aside, silently watching the flames engulf his dead brother, and the whole army blew the trumpet at the same time to see off his comrades-in-arms and leave. Sun Shoufa and Du Hongfang's eyes moistened, they have been fighting for many years, after a battle, there are always brothers around them who die, it is a good thing to be able to dig a big pit and bury it, and it is normal to throw corpses in the wilderness, which Shangguan has ever thought about giving soldiers a decent way to die, only here will the soldiers feel that they are individuals, a respected person.

"The deputy general of the aid is also a lover!" Li Bei watched from the side, and whispered to Ma Ke beside him, and Ma Ke nodded vigorously.

On the night when the Fengzhou army entered Shenmu Fort, it snowed heavily, and it was getting heavier and heavier, and the thieves outside the city did not know where to go.

"They have no food in their hands and no clothes on their bodies, so they can only continue to look for a place to rob them, Yansui has been eroded, they are likely to cross the Yellow River into Shanxi, it depends on whether the officials and troops in Shanxi can stop them." Li Bei said softly.

Li Yu didn't say anything, he knew that the virtue of the Shanxi officials and soldiers was a lot worse than the Shaanxi officials, Wang Guoliang would definitely not be able to stop the thieves, something happened in Shanxi, Lord Song would definitely transfer him back, his trouble was still to come, Li Yu said a little angrily: "When will this thief be suppressed?" The court must have a rule, and we can't be transferred around as monkeys. ”

"We are soldiers for this life, we will do whatever the court says, we will fight until we die," Li Bei laughed, pointed to the distance and said to Li Yu, "Du Shuai came to the beginning of the year, and beat the Fugu thief Jiayin in Huangfuchuan, this guy also accepted Zhao'an, but as soon as Du Shuai left, he rebelled again, and there were more homeless people who defected to him, and now he can pull up a team of 30,000 people to besiege Shenmu Fort, the more thieves are suppressed, who knows when it will be a head?" ”

Both of them were silent, and after a while, Li Yu sighed and said, "I really want to go home, it's been almost a year since I came out at the end of last year, and the two children haven't seen each other yet." ”

"I haven't left my hometown in Yulin since I came back from Liaodong, but it's already a lot of erosion, and I hope this isn't my home." Li Bei shook his head and replied.

The heavy snow fell for three days in a row, and after the snow stopped, Hong Chengchou rushed to Shenmu Fort with his Fubiao cavalry, Li Yu asked a little surprised: "My lord, the last general has already sent someone to deliver the letter, and the thieves have retreated, why do you have to run so hard?" Is something wrong? ”

Hong Chengchou didn't answer, said a few words to Li Bei, waved his hand to let him step back, and then sat on the handsome chair, looking at Li Yu silently, Li Yu was panicked by him, and stood aside with anxiety.

"Wang Jiayin was originally a giant from the border army, and most of his subordinates were bandits, you defeated them with your own strength, it's very good! I received your letter on the way, it snowed too hard and stopped for a few days, but since it's almost here, I still have to take a look by the way," Hong Chengchou slowly spoke, but he didn't call him "this official" again, and then sighed again, took out a letter and handed it to Li Yu, "The letter from Lord Song, the governor of Shanxi, has arrived, you can take it and take a look." ”

Li Yu's heart sank, Shanxi really had an accident, he took the letter in fear, Song Tongyin said in the letter, Fugu thief Wang Jiayin, Wang Ziyong and others with tens of thousands of people from Xingxian across the ice across the Yellow River, all the way to the north, occupy Baode to attack the river meander, Shanxi general army kingdom Liang Yu thief is not effective, in the river meander defeated the army, the county town of Hequ has fallen into the hands of thieves, Shanxi displaced people have taken refuge, thieves are becoming more and more rampant, the court will now be the kingdom Liang dismissed the crime, Shanxi town has no available generals, there is no capable soldiers, Song Tongyin strongly condemned Shaanxi to drive thieves into Jin, The sinister intention of moving the troubled waters eastward demanded that the governor of Yansui immediately return Li Yu, the deputy general of the aid and suppression, to Shanxi, and not hesitate for a day, otherwise he would go to the imperial court to fight a lawsuit.

"I wanted to keep you in Yansui, and then recommend it to the Governor in the future, although the Governor does not agree with my political views, but he is a good person, and he will definitely respect you, there is the Governor and I will protect, maybe it won't be long before you are the youngest town guard in the Ming Dynasty, but unfortunately you can't keep it, you were ordered to aid Shanxi but arrived in Yansui, although there is a reason, the court is not good to embarrass you, but the trouble in Shanxi will still let you bear, you go back to Shanxi, this time I brought some money by the way, you take it, these days in Yansui to the east and west, It's really hard for you to fight a bad battle! ”

Hong Chengchou got up and walked in front of Li Yu, and said softly, "You know why I value you, because from the first time I saw you, I felt that you were different from all the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty, I should trust you, but the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty is too dirty and rotten, and it will continue to be rotten, leaving you behind may hurt you, the government is like this, the same is true in the army, Shaanxi is the same, Shanxi is the same, when Shanxi's affairs are done, you should go out of the customs and go home, where you can make a difference, what a good offspring!" It's a pity that although Daming is big, it can't accommodate a little clean things. ”

Li Yu suddenly felt a sour nose, tears welled up, Hong Chengchou smiled and wiped his tears for him: "They are all generals, and they are still like children!" Let me tell you, I have consulted the scriptures and classics for you, your method in Fengzhou may be reasonable, not deviant, the sage said that the rule of three generations is 'the road of travel, the world for the public, the selection of talents and ability', what is the way? "Zuo Chuan" interprets it as 'respecting God and being loyal to the people', I think the so-called avenue should refer to the heart of heaven and the people as the foundation, and what about the people-oriented? I think it seems that what the "Zhou Li" said is the most reasonable, the Western Zhou Dynasty once set the national system - "if the country has a great reason, then the people will be in the country" to the national policy "to inquire about the people", and there is a "consultation of the people and three politics", that is, to the people of the country "to inquire about the danger of the country, to inquire about the monarch, to inquire about the relocation of the country", and for the people's prison lawsuits, all who use the "ink, slash, slash, palace, and big open" five punishments, "with three stabs to cut off the common people in prison lawsuits", the so-called "three stabs" is one to hear the ministers, the second is to hear the officials, and the third is to hear the people, which is related to your election of officials in Fengzhou, There are some similarities in the public discussion, and the scholars only read about the rule of three generations in the book, and the Hermes-Epitek is very remarkable and has already begun to put it into practice. ”

Li Yu's face flushed, and he whispered embarrassedly: "I don't need to study hard, how can I understand so many truths, I have no ability myself, I am afraid that I will ruin things and harm everyone, so I have to listen to everyone more when I encounter major events, and the officials also let everyone choose someone with the ability to do it, so I will go with the flow, I can't bear this burden, I try to hide when I can, where have I ever thought about practicing the way of a saint." ”

"Hermes-Epitek still needs to read more, especially the classics of the saints, they are wise and far-sighted, and if they understand the principles of the saints, they will make fewer mistakes in life and work," Hong Chengchou laughed, then pulled Li Yu to sit down, put away his smile and said, "In fact, you can have self-knowledge and know how to go with the flow, which is also very remarkable, and how many people understand such a simple truth, if what happens today, some people will jump out, or seek to be the king and hegemony, or seek glory and wealth, and be ambitious and arrogant, I think they are looking for death, Hermes-Epitek, I want you to promise me that you must be absolutely loyal to the Ming Dynasty, no matter what happens to the Ming Dynasty, anyone provokes temptation from you, you can't have different intentions, this is very important for you and your Fengzhou! ”

"My lord, I promise that I will never have any disagreement with Daming, if Fengzhou wants to survive, I must hold on to the big tree of Daming at all times." Li Yu got up and solemnly promised.

"Hermes-Epitek, Du Shuai, have they promised to help you?" Hong Chengchou listened for a while, and asked casually, Li Yu was shocked and opened his mouth to explain, Hong Chengchou waved his hand and said: "Hanmin don't have to say anything, Du Shuai what they want to do, I understand in my heart, it's nothing more than hating us Wenchen, thinking that they can save the people of the Northwest, I also believe that they do love their hometown, but I never trust them, because the most important thing in their hearts is the glory of their family, not the people of the Northwest, and the Hanmin must remember this." ”

Li Yu nodded and said: "Dashuai, they don't mean anything else, they just want to help me Fengzhou and leave a way back for the people in the northwest." ”

"I'm afraid they want to leave a back road for themselves, and I also want to leave a back road for the people in the northwest! Hermes-Epitek, your luck has always been good, I will help you drive away all the Yi people in the Yuan'er Dusi, let's retake the land of Hetao, move the landless people over, and rebuild the Chahan Nao'erwei, 'the Yellow River is harmful, only one is rich', the black soil there is much better than the yellow sand land of Yansui! Hong Chengchou laughed and patted Li Yu on the shoulder.

Li Yu bid farewell to Hong Chengchou and Li Bei early the next morning, went west along the Great Wall, crossed the Yellow River into Shanxi, and when he arrived near the Yatou Pass in Shanxi Town, he received a military report from the Shanxi General Military Office of Ningwu Pass from the garrison officers and soldiers, which said that the army of thieves had gathered in the area of Baode and Hequ, and ordered the garrisons in various places to take strict precautions, and at the same time asked the defenders to notify him to rush to Ningwu Pass immediately once they saw the deputy general who had come to the aid and suppression. Li Yu looked at the partial head pass and sighed, out of the pass is his old nest Fengzhou, but he didn't even have time to go out of the pass to take a look.

Uerden, who was in charge of the western outpost, got the news in advance and had entered the customs overnight to wait for Li Yu, and he sent 200 cavalry and 300 horses to supplement the battle damage, and the wounded were also to be brought back - this time the wounded were lucky, most of them were injured by falls and smashes, and there were not many wounded by knives and spears, only more than 40 died, and the others were lucky to be able to go home alive.

"If the Great Commander can't stay here, will he write a letter to the Barbarian Mountain Battalion?" Ulden asked after giving a brief account of the situation in Toyoshu.

"Forget it, let's let the people of the Grand Commander's Mansion do it, I won't interfere in government affairs." Li Yu shook his head, thought for a while, and wrote a letter to Ulan to report safety, and by the way, he handed over a bunch of things for the children to Uerden to take back, including two silver locks sent by Cao Wenzhao, two small copper horns sent by Du Wenhuan, and the clothes, hats, shoes and socks made by the eldest sister-in-law and the second sister-in-law for the children.

Bidding farewell to Urden, Li Yu led the army along the inner Great Wall all the way to Ningwu Pass - the Ming court in order to strengthen the defense of the north, set up two Great Wall defense lines inside and outside, Ningwu Pass in Shanxi and Yatou Pass, Yanmen Pass together known as the "outer three passes" of the Inner Great Wall, Juyong Pass, Reverse Horse Pass and Bauhinia Pass in the territory of North Zhili are called the "Inner Three Passes" of the Inner Great Wall, Ningwu Pass is connected to Datong in the north, and Jinzhong is covered in the south, which is the throat of the south across the Inner Great Wall, and the Shanxi General Army is stationed here, and at the same time there is an assistant general army stationed in this pass, As soon as Li Yu arrived in the city, he met Sun Xianzu, the chief soldier of Ningwuguan, who came out of the city with a large group of people to greet him, and Bai An, Hu Dawei, Fierce as a Tiger, Zhou Yuji and other subordinates who stayed in Shilou were also mixed in.

The situation was urgent, Sun Xianzu and Li Yu exchanged a few words, and invited Li Yu to go into the city to discuss matters at the Shanxi General Military Mansion. ”

Bai An sighed and didn't answer, Zhou Yuji lowered his head and said, "Mr. Zhang is waiting for you in the General Military Mansion, you go and ask him." ”

In the lobby of the General Soldier's Mansion, Zhang Daojun pulled Li Yu and pressed it on the general soldier's handsome chair, and Li Yu broke away from him: "Brother Zixuan, don't be busy first, let's make it clear what's going on." ”

"Hanmin, you are already the acting chief soldier of Shanxi, and the will of the imperial court has reached Taiyuan, and the foolish brother has to congratulate you."

"How do I feel like a trick, no, you have to explain it to me."

Li Yu picked up a cheap price this time, Yansui thieves invaded the east, the Shanxi army was defeated, Wang Guoliang was dismissed from his post and discussed, the imperial court couldn't find anyone willing to replace Wang Guoliang - Xuanda Sanzhen is too risky, it is simply the death place of the governor and the general soldiers, whoever goes is unlucky, there are many people who usually go to the cabinet and the military department to run officials, but when it comes to the end, they all shrink back, and they don't go to Shanxi if they are killed, the emperor slapped the table for this matter, and the cabinet was also troubled by this matter, Liang Tingdong, the secretary of the military department, was forced to be anxious and pushed Li Yu out, This guy is not honest and ran to Yansui, Shanxi has to carry him around if something happens, the cabinet ministers unanimously agree with this suggestion, the deputy general is indeed too loose, can not get used to him, Yansui to suppress the thief's exploits later, it is not bad to give him a little hope, of course the general army in Shanxi can't take Li Yu's turn, just act first, and then give him some benefits to send him away, the cabinet is not even satisfied with the emperor's small abacus, and the deputy general Li is not going to Shaanxi to travel, that is to bloodshed and fight, when the emperor still has to be kind, so the court decreed, Li Yu was appointed as the deputy general to act as the chief soldier of Shanxi, and gave him 50 taels of silver and 200 silver medals.

Li Yu sneered, turned his head and asked Sun Xianzu: "Mr. Sun, how about you talk about thieves first?" ”

"Li Shuai ......" Sun Xianzu opened his mouth, Li Yu waved his hand to stop, Sun Xianzu had to change his name: "Lord Li, the situation is very critical, this time the thief king Jiayin's invasion of the east is not more sneaky than before, but tens of thousands of people crossed the river with great fanfare, captured Baode Prefecture and Hequ County, now thieves are rampant, thieves and bandits, homeless people, and my Shanxi army Hequ battle, 10,000 officers and soldiers were defeated, the elite has been lost, the remaining officers and soldiers are still insufficient, and the thieves are impossible to talk about, now can only count on the iron cavalry of adults." ”

"How's the strength of the thieves?" Li Yu frowned and continued to ask.

"Fugu thief Jiayin is not less than 30,000, after taking Baode and Hequ City, he opened a warehouse to invite people to buy people's hearts, there are many people in Shanxi's great drought, and there is an endless stream of thieves, so the strength of Fugu thieves has increased greatly, and the Hexi thieves have crossed the river to take refuge when they see their success, and it is estimated that there are about 200,000 people." The more Sun Xianzu spoke, the more desperate he became.

"There are 200,000 thieves, but the official army is still insufficient to defend the city, what a majestic acting general soldier!" Li Yu sneered at Zhang Daojun, and then shouted loudly: "I can go to suppress the thief, so where are the soldiers and where is the salary?" Are you going to let me fight all the 3,000 Fengzhou soldiers? Whoever wants to be the acting chief soldier of this acting chief soldier will not want to take me as a top tank. ”

"You are the military attache in Shanxi, who is the governor of Shanxi, who do you don't do? Do you want to resist the decree? Zhang Daojun was a little angry.

"The court is not pulling out a dime, and if you fight, Lao Tzu will resist the decree and go home, I want to see if the court dares to come to Fengzhou to find me trouble." Li Yu slapped the table and shouted.

Zhang Daojun jumped up angrily, pointed at Li Yu's nose and shouted: "Li Hanmin, I didn't expect you to be so ruthless and unrighteous, Lord Song will be killed by you, do you want Lord Song to follow in the footsteps of Geng Ruqi and be pushed to the West City to be beheaded?" You ungrateful thing. ”