On November 11 of the first year of Xiping, four full days had passed since the incident of "Xu Sheng's rebellion and the correction of the king", and Li Zhao and the three of them arrived belatedly outside Shanyin City.

However, it took so much time, not because of the long distance, but because Li Zhao and the three of them were not alone after all, and they had to spend more time in order to settle the escape and carry their families and family wealth, especially Li Zhao insisted on placing the place of resettlement in Shangyu.

Li Zhao looked up at the tall and majestic city wall, and had mixed feelings in his heart, at this time, presumably the messengers from Shangyu and Yuyao counties had already arrived, and Taishou Yang Bo had already learned the news of the fall of Juzhang, what was waiting for him?

This is by no means the first time Li Zhao has come to this city, but it may be the last time, last year's scenery was proud, to the servants of the past and the present, the world is impermanent, who can say for sure?

After a while, Lei Ban slowly beat his horse and came to Li Zhao's side, and said softly: "County Zun, let's go." ”

"County honor?" Li Zhao smiled mockingly, but didn't say anything more, shook the reins in his hand, and then the horse under his crotch sharpened its hooves, snorted, and drove Li Zhao to the city gate, while Lei Ban and Li Yun hurriedly rode their horses to follow.

After entering the city, he came to the Taishou Mansion and made a report, and Li Zhao and the three of them were quickly summoned, which was unusually fast, at least for Yang Bo, the Huiji Taishou who had always shown his official authority by drying people.

When Li Zhao and the three were brought to the hall, Yang Bo waved his hand to let the servant who led the way leave, and then made a straight face: "What crime should you be guilty of?" ”

Although in Huiji County, except for Yang Bo himself, no one thinks that he is not a mediocre official, and Yang Bo can become the Taishou of this Huiji County, relying on most of the family's power, he is from the Hongnong Yang family, and the current emperor Yang Ci is his uncle.

However, if you don't have the ability, you can't return to the ability, but Yang Bo is not useless to be the magistrate of this county, at least he looks very good, with two long eyebrows, a nose like a hanging gall, a voice full of anger, and the anger is even more righteous and awe-inspiring, bluffing to the extreme.

Seeing this scene, Li Zhao and the others hurriedly bowed to the ground and said, "The subordinate is guilty." ”

Yang Bo pinched his tone and continued to ask, "Where is the sin?" ”

Li Zhao had no choice but to get up and bow again, and then squeezed out a look of shame: "Although the lower officials and Li Xiancheng and Lei Xianwei led a group of patrols in the city to fight bloody battles with soldiers and thieves, after all, they are sparse and outnumbered, and they are invincible to thieves. ”

After speaking, Li Zhao seemed to think of something, and said: "What the subordinate said, every sentence is true, if the adult does not believe it, there is the head of the thief as evidence, it is in Shangyu, may the adult learn from it." ”

Yang Bo was not angry because of Li Zhao's "seemingly contradictory" words, but said with some suspicion: "The head of the thief? ”

Li Zhao and the three of them nodded hurriedly, looking sincere.

"Hahaha." Yang Bo laughed, stepped forward to help Li Zhao and the three of them up one by one, and said with a concerned face: "Get up, get up, get up." ”

When Li Zhao and the three of them got up, Yang Bo held Li Zhao's hand and said, "Why should the county order be like this? The thieves are powerful, and you, as the eight creations, are desperately trying to spread the news in the midst of the thieves' heavy encirclement, although there is a small mistake that does not affect its great achievement, how can it be judged as the crime of abandoning the land? ”

"That's right." Yang Bo lowered his head and asked Li Zhao, "What about the thief leader?" ”

"Don't worry, my lord, after the official returns to Shangyu, he will immediately send it to Shanyin."

"Haha." Hearing the answer that satisfied him, Yang Bo laughed again, and raised his voice and shouted towards the door: "Someone." ”

Then an old servant appeared, saluted Yang Bo, and said, "I've seen the head of the house." ”

"Well, go and let the cook prepare, I'm going to set up a banquet for the three distinguished guests."

"Whoa." The old servant bowed and retreated.

The feast was in harmony and harmony, and the feast was enjoyed by the Lord, and after two hours, the drunken three were supported by the servants to sleep in a side room.

In the early morning of the next day, after the three of them woke up, they were summoned by Yang Bo to pretend to keep them, and then the three of them rushed to Shangyu to get the "thief head" for Lord Taishou. ”

When they were far away from San'in, and walked for another hour, when they were about to reach a post house, the three of them pulled the reins and let the horses under their crotch slowly stop, and then Ray-Ban was the first to complain: "This is too much of a big appetite." ”

Li Zhao shook his head and did not comment.

And Li Yun sighed and recited the sentence in the "Historical Records": "Now people are swords, and I am fish and meat, what can I say?" ”

Ray-Ban was still about to say something, when he saw a forest of smoke and dust roll up behind him, and then a man and a rider appeared at the corner of the turn, and sped past.

After a long time, the smoke and dust had dissipated, and Li Zhao was the first to recover from the shock, and said silently: "It's the messenger!" ”

"County honor? This is ......" Ray-Ban slowly tilted his head, his expression still terrifying.

Li Zhao smiled bitterly: "This time, I know why I would rather spend more time and insist on placing my family in Shangyu, Yuyao is in danger." ”

In the first year of Xiping, on November 11, Yuyao was broken by thieves, and the world was shocked.

……

In the Luoyang Palace, in the Jiade Palace, above the imperial case, there was a mess, Liu Hong pinched the chapter sent from Yangzhou Huiji County this morning in his right hand, glared angrily at the ministers under His Majesty, and said loudly:

"Don't you want to say something?"

However, the ministers all bowed their heads silently and did not say a word, and the atmosphere in the hall was cold and stagnant.

Liu Hong set his eyes on Taiwei Duan Cheng, a famous Pingqiang general who was famous for his achievements during Emperor Huan's time, and was the best candidate he thought of at the moment: "Taiwei, you say." ”

Duan Cheng bowed out and said: "The minister thinks that the matter of Xu Rebellion is not to worry, and the person who is in trouble will only be a county, and His Majesty can send a general to supervise this matter." ”

"Your Majesty." Guanglu Xun Yang Ci on the right side of Duan Cheng also came out to worship and said: "The minister thinks that the Taiwei is also saying this, Xu Sheng, this thief and cholera place, and the correction is the king, if it cannot be pacified as soon as possible, I am afraid that it will be resurrected and eroded, and it will cause a big disaster." ”

"What about Yiqing's opinion?" Liu Hong frowned and looked at his teacher.

Yang Ci saluted again and continued: "The minister thinks that he should fight quickly and cut off the rebel thief with the power of thunder, so as not to damage the prestige of the court. ”

"Admiral?" Liu Hong frowned, "Do you have a recommendation?" ”

But as soon as the words came out, Liu Hong felt remorseful, who else besides him was really worthy of the word "general" in this hall?

Sure enough, Yang Ci replied: "The minister recommended Taiwei Duan Cheng, so that he could temporarily take the post of Yangzhou Assassin and supervise the rebellion." ”

Duan Cheng smiled bitterly in his heart, he knew that he had offended these party members ruthlessly, especially the "Bohai King Liu Kui" incident in October made each other even more powerful, but everyone had their own pursuits.

"Captain, what is your opinion?"

Duan Cheng bowed, "Your Majesty Fu Wei is a holy judge." ”

Liu Hong glanced at Yang Ci, and finally shook his head: "It's not proper, Ether Lieutenant knows the history of assassination, there is no such precedent, let's discuss it again." ”

Yang Ci was not discouraged, he also knew in his heart that it was a fantasy to let a member of the Third Duke go to a place to make a stabbing history, so he didn't have hope at first, he just wanted to disgust Duan Cheng.

After thinking about it, Yang Ci said again: "Since it is not feasible for Taiwei, then we need to find a general who knows the geography of Yangzhou, and the minister recommends Wu County to guard Zang Min." ”

"Who is this?" Liu Hong showed a puzzled look.

Yang Ci replied: "Zang Min, a native of Guangling Sheyang, was promoted to Xuzhou when he was the first emperor, and then opened the Situ Mansion, except for the Yongnu order; During the Jianning period, because of his outstanding achievements, he was promoted to the Taishou of Wu County, and during his tenure, he recruited displaced people, reclaimed the fields, and the more chaotic the number of levels, there were talents. ”

After listening, Liu Hong bowed his head slightly and looked at Duan Cheng: "Taiwei, how is this person?" ”

Duan Cheng was silent for a moment and said, "What Yang Guanglu said is true, this person does have talents. ”

"Well, let's take this person as the assassin of Yangzhou." Liu Hong finally made a decision.

Even so, the edict was actually not issued until the afternoon, after all, the procedure had to be followed anyway.

And by the time this edict arrived in the hands of Zang Min, the Taishou of Wu County, it was already the middle of December.

……

"In my dreams, I vaguely shed my mother's tears, and the city changed the king's flag." Liu Hong didn't know this verse from later generations, but if he knew, he would definitely have such feelings at this time.

In just over a month, the situation of Huiji has undergone earth-shaking changes, since November 7, after the fall of Juzhang; On the 11th, Yuyao was broken by thieves; On the thirteenth, Cheng County fell; On the 15th, Yinxian County fell; On the 25th, Shangyu fell - since then, only one county of Tan County has been left in the counties east of Shanyin that are considered barriers.

Wearing Rong armor and wearing a long sword around his waist, Liu Hong strode on the city wall, looked at the camp outside the city, and sighed long: "Scattered and disorderly, there is no order, I really don't know how these guerrillas will break through the four counties in a row." ”

"Your Excellency." Seeing Liu Hong on the city wall, Jia Wei stepped over and bowed slightly.

Liu Hong glanced at Jia Wei, and then asked, "What's the situation?" ”

"My lord, Xu Sheng's army has withdrawn, and it should be going to Shanyin."

Liu Hong shook his head: "Gongyan, I really can't figure it out, how did those fools lose the city?" ”

A smile appeared on Jia Wei's face: "My subordinates don't know. ”

"Boom!" Liu Hong drew his sword and pointed to the camp outside the city: "This is where the man makes a contribution!" ”