At present, there are about 5,000 people in the Liangshan army in Shen County, led by Zhang Cen and Guan Sheng respectively, although the two have their own subordinates, but the main subordinate is Zhang Cen as the main general, and Guan Sheng is the deputy general.

However, since the Yellow River wharf was ambushed by officers and soldiers, the morale of the Liangshan army was low, and even the main general Guan Sheng was deeply affected and had been depressed.

That night, Zhang Cen came to the Guan Sheng tent, and his soldiers stepped forward to salute, Zhang Cen looked at the tent and asked, "How is your general?" ”

The soldier shook his head, "I've been in a bad mood these days, and I've been borrowing wine to drown my sorrows." ”

"I'll go and persuade him."

Zhang Cen walked to the door of the big tent, a strong smell of wine came to his face, he opened the curtain of the tent, only to see Guan Sheng sitting alone at the wine table drinking, he stepped forward and said with a smile: "Drinking but no food, General Guan is drinking alcohol?" ”

Although Guan Sheng drank a good amount of wine, after all, he drank three large pots of wine, and he was already a little drunk, he drank all the wine in the bowl, and the wine bowl was put on the shelf, "Seeing that we are about to be destroyed, how can I not be depressed and crazy in my heart!" ”

These words made Zhang Cen a little displeased, and said lightly: "It's just that it was defeated for a while, with more than 1,000 casualties, why is General Guan so frustrated?" ”

"It's not a matter of losing for a while, it's our opponent!" Guan Sheng sighed.

"What about opponents? We have defeated the officers and soldiers four times in a row, killing more than 100,000 enemies, Yang Jian, Gao Yu, Liang Zhongshu, what kind of opponent has not been seen, this time it is nothing more than a kind of master to lead the army, a veteran who is about to enter the soil, what is there to fear? ”

"On the battlefield, I saw Li Yanqing with my own eyes, and in this battle of the Daimyo's Mansion, he was the chief general of the officers and soldiers."

"Li Yanqing!"

Zhang Cen frowned, "That's the guy who is very good at riding and shooting?" ”

"He is not only powerful in cavalry and shooting, but also very strategic, this battle of the dock is obviously a siege of reinforcements, a thousand soldiers! In the end, I was the only one who escaped, and this was only once he spared me for the sake of participating in the archery horse competition. ”

Zhang Cen still doesn't understand a little, Li Yanqing is just a hairy boy who has just debuted, and Guan Sheng can be regarded as experienced in a hundred battles, so he won't be afraid of a Li Yanqing and become so depressed!

Zhang Cen actually didn't understand Guan Sheng, Guan Sheng originally thought that the officialdom was dark and he would never get ahead, so he was cynical and took refuge in Song Jiang in a rage.

But this time Guan Sheng saw Li Yanqing, he suddenly found that there was actually another side in the officialdom, he was suppressed when he met Gao Yu, a jealous and jealous general, if he met a famous general like Seed Master Dao, he could also be reused like Li Yanqing, and he could lead the army to take charge alone.

Guan Sheng realized that he was too radical in his view, surrendered to the Liangshan army early, fell into banditry, and cut off his future, he regretted it too late, if he surrendered to the court again, how could the court tolerate him again?

I was full of remorse in my heart, my will was depressed, and I couldn't find someone to pour out the resentment in my heart, so I used wine to drown my sorrows.

At this time, a soldier rushed over and whispered a few words to Zhang Cen in his ear, Zhang Cen was shocked, and hurriedly said to Guan Sheng: "There is a situation outside the city, please General Guan go with me!" ”

"I.... I obey! ”

Guan Sheng stood up, but his feet were shaking, Zhang Cen was very dissatisfied when he saw this, and angrily shouted at several Guan Sheng's personal soldiers: "Wake up your general's wine, and come to Beicheng immediately!" ”

After speaking, he turned around and walked away quickly, and several personal soldiers hurriedly went to fetch water to wash Guan Sheng's face and sober up.

........

Zhang Cen led hundreds of people to the north city gate, and a commander hurriedly stepped forward to salute.

"How's it going?"

"General Qiyu, the enemy cavalry has retreated, leaving something outside the city."

"What is it?"

"It's not clear what I do."

Zhang Cen pushed away his generals, walked quickly to the head of the city, leaned over and looked down at the city, and in the moonlight, he saw a cabinet or table a hundred steps away from the city gate, and there was a black item on it, and there was nothing else.

Zhang Cen looked around, there were no cavalry or ambushes, but he still didn't dare to be careless, and ordered a soldier to sit in a basket and go down to the city to have a look.

The soldier ran over, and after a moment rushed back and shouted, "It's a table with a wooden box on it." ”

"What is a wooden box?"

"I don't know what I do!"

"Bring up the wooden box!"

After a while, the soldier sat in the bamboo basket and was pulled up, he was holding a wooden box in his arms, the soldiers put the box on the ground, more than a dozen soldiers held shields to protect Zhang Cen, Zhang Cen looked at it and said, "Open the box!" ”

A soldier carefully opened the lid of the box with the tip of his gun, and everyone was so frightened that they crouched down, and in the middle of the day someone suddenly shouted: "There is a head inside!" ”

Only then did everyone take a closer look, and sure enough, it was a human head, and a soldier ran up to lift the human head, and suddenly shouted, "It's the commander of Yang Du!" ”

Everyone was shocked, it turned out to be Yang Xiong, the commander of the capital? Zhang Cen pushed everyone away, stepped forward to take a closer look, and sure enough, it was Yang Xiong's head, he was stunned for a moment, Yang Xiong was killed, so what about the three thousand troops under him?

At this time, Guan Sheng stepped forward and sighed: "Bozhou's army must have been wiped out, General Zhang, I am not wrong, we have encountered a difficult opponent." ”

Zhang Cen snorted heavily, and said to the left and right: "No one is allowed to spread this matter, whoever dares to spread it, I want his life!" ”

He turned around and walked towards the city, and then ordered: "Let the eagle slave come to me, and I will send an eagle letter to the lord of the village!" ”

........

It is not far from Shen County to Xucheng County in Yunzhou, at noon the next day, Song Jiang received Zhang Cen's Flying Eagle Express letter, Yang Xiong was killed, which made Song Jiang shocked, at this time Lu Junyi had rushed to Qizhou to gather troops, Song Jiang was anxious, and hurriedly went to Wu Yong to discuss countermeasures.

Wu Yong's expression was very ugly, in just ten days, Hebei's troops were sharply reduced by half, and in the end there were only 5,000 troops left, but it was not even clear how many troops the other side had, and these battles were fought in a blur.

After a while, Wu Yong sighed and said: "The opponent's forces are concentrated, but our forces are scattered, so the other side can break through each other, and now our troops are concentrated in Shen County, resisting to defend the city, unless the other party has several times the number of troops, otherwise they can't capture the county, so that a confrontation is formed." ”

Song Jiang understood what Wu Yong meant, and he asked with some puzzlement: "Why doesn't the military advisor suggest withdrawing the army back to the south bank of the Yellow River?" ”

"The main thing is that 5,000 troops don't mean much to us, but once we withdraw it, it means that we will lose in Hebei, and I am worried that it will affect morale."

Song Jiang took a few steps with his hands down, and finally recognized Wu Yong's train of thought, "The military advisor is right, the main force of the officers and soldiers has not come for a long time, that is, they are waiting for our Hebei army to be defeated, and the morale is frustrated. ”

Wu Yong nodded, "You can increase the troops, and then transfer Guan Sheng back by the way, Zhang Cen said that he was depressed, but whether it is a fact or not, it is better for Shen County to retain a main general, what does the general think?" ”

"Yes, let Zhang Cen be fully responsible for the defense of Hebei!"

Song Jiang and Wu Yong discussed for a while, and finally decided to send 5,000 troops to support Shen County, and transfer 20 500-stone military ships to carry soldiers across the Yellow River.

．．．．．．．

The sky is not yet bright, the lights in the Daqing Hall of the Bianjing Imperial Palace are bright, today is the first day of the first month of March, the court will hold a great pilgrimage on the first day of the lunar month, that is, the first and fifteenth day of the first month of the month, all officials above the seventh grade must participate.

In previous years, the imperial court was controlled by Cai Jing, often just a formality, the ministers gathered together, there was something to play, nothing to disperse, even if there was a court affairs to discuss, it was just some insignificant trivial things, basically it didn't take much time, and the court meeting dispersed before dawn.

However, since Cai Jing dismissed the prime minister, Yu Shen and Bai Shizhong took turns to preside over the court, the situation has improved, and some more important military and political affairs have also begun to appear in the court, such as the first day of February to discuss the disaster relief and the current situation in various places in the previous year, February 15 to report on the formation of the Northwest Hebei Bow and Arrow Society, and the first day of March to discuss the transfer of money and grain in the official warehouses in various places.

Today is 15 March, and the focus of the court meeting will be on the preparations for the crusade against the Liangshan army, and according to the plan, the main army of the imperial court will go to Jingdong West Road in late March to suppress the Liangshan bandits entrenched in the northern prefectures of Shandong.

This was the first time since the decree to defeat the Liangshan Army was issued, and the army's preparations for war were discussed.

"Your Majesty, preparations for war are progressing smoothly at present, the physical training has been completed five days ago, and now the military formation training is being carried out, and the training can be completed in ten days, and the army can go to Yunzhou to suppress bandits after mobilization."

The voice of the master was majestic and powerful, and the voice was very loud, which made every court official feel his confidence, "In addition to the army, all kinds of materials, grain and grass are also ready, and a hundred large transport ships are stopping on the Wuzhang River, once the army departs, the fleet will also be set up at any time, and Weichen will send troops on time according to the plan." ”

Zhao Ji nodded slightly, and asked again: "Is there any news over there in Hebei?" ”

A few days ago, the imperial court received Liang Zhongshu's recital, the crisis of the famous city has been solved, the rescue officer army is very sharp, and the Liangshan army has been defeated several times, and the Liangshan army has to retreat in Shen County, this news makes the court very excited about the repeated defeats, and even Zhao Ji, the son of heaven, is also very concerned about the situation in Hebei.

The seed master Dao stepped forward to report: "Your Majesty, Weichen received the latest battle report last night, Li Yanqing led the army to annihilate the 3,000 Liangshan army in Liaocheng, Bozhou, and the bandit leader Yang Xiong was beheaded, so far, the Bozhou bandit army has been wiped out. ”

The atmosphere in the court suddenly became warm, Zhao Ji was in high spirits, and hurriedly said: "Such a major military situation, why not report it early?" ”

"Weichen received it two hours ago, and he is going to report it to His Majesty at the end of the court!"

Zhao Ji was in a good mood, nodded and said: "A few thousand troops can crisscross Hebei, kill the bandits and lose their armor, they are really my pillars, and they are also a kind of old generals, and they should be rewarded!" ”

At this time, the crown prince Zhao Huan said: "My father doesn't know, Li Yanqing has made many great achievements in Western Xia, but he has not received any rewards, it is really unfair to him, I hope that my father can be rewarded together with the Western Xia military exploits." ”

Zhao Ji also remembered this matter, so he asked, "Is there any result of the investigation of the Privy Council and the Imperial Tower?" ”

Cheng Xi came out in the imperial history and said: "The investigation of the imperial history platform has ended, and the imperial history is on the way back, according to the news obtained by Weichen, Li Yanqing does have a meritorious service that has not been reported." ”

"What about the Privy Council?"

Gao Shen said: "Your Majesty, the investigation of the Privy Council has also ended, Yao Zhongping admitted that the omission in the statistics of the war merits led to the failure of some soldiers to report their war exploits, including Li Yanqing, and Weichen will submit an official report today and tomorrow." ”

Zhao Ji snorted, he was not good at attacking in front of the civil and military forces of the Manchu Dynasty, and said coldly: "Within three days, the Imperial Historical Observatory and the Privy Council must submit an official report, who omitted to report the military exploits, and the responsibility must be strictly investigated, and it must not be tolerated and retreat!" ”

After speaking, he flicked his sleeves, turned around and left through the side door, and the young eunuch in the hall shouted, "Retreat!" ”