In August of the tenth year of Chongzhen, Li Meng received a letter from Nanjing, which was not the long-awaited defense document he had been looking forward to, but a private letter from Liu Fulai.

Liu Fulai, the eunuch of Nanjing, was very gentle in the letter, but what he said was a very helpless fact, and the central meaning of the letter was that these words were "Chu is unstable, thieves are rampant, and wait a while, and then seek for his nephew", after reading the letter, Li Meng was quite helpless.

Eunuch Liu has a good intention, the officers and soldiers all over the world are fighting against the thieves, there are fewer victories and more losses, the general soldiers and generals are already dead in double digits, and it is not for nothing that the governor and the governor lose their heads, it is indeed a first-class danger. Eunuch Liu was naturally reluctant to send Li Meng to a dangerous place.

Li Meng was helpless, no matter from the perspective of human feelings, he couldn't argue, he couldn't say that his nephew was invincible, and he could run rampant in the world, and he hoped that his uncle wouldn't worry, just transfer my army. Li Meng is not too confident in his words.

Because for such a long time, I really haven't fought with any officers and soldiers on my side, that is, local tyrants and bandits, so I don't have the certainty of victory in the face of the invading army, not necessarily.

The fortifications of the Li family manor in Fengmeng town are still in progress, this kind of place to build a big city is obviously not realistic, deep ditches and low walls, this is the premise of the fortification construction, in the hard work of a large number of laborers, the Li family manor is completely surrounded by deep moats, and it is not a circle.

The criss-crossing trenches and low stone walls, as well as the drawbridge checkpoints, ensure that the opponent can only enter and exit in the demarcated road, and the chest-high stone walls ensure the firing of firearms and artillery, as well as cover.

In the direction where the Li family manor and the Lingshan guard are connected, there is no trench, but this gap happens to be blocked by the military camp, such a small place, Li Meng must not trap himself in it. It can't be held here.

In addition to the original Li family manor, the villagers who received high compensation happily built new homes on the other side of Fengmeng Town, and the Li family manor expanded outward about doubled, all surrounded by high walls, but this side was really built with stones, imitating the method of building a city.

There are not enough stones. I also have to buy from other state capitals, this Li family manor is really a little bit of a small city, except for Li Meng's small courtyard with two entrances, the rest of the places are also large-scale construction, all of which are renovated, the original places where the craftsmen and military families live are moved to the periphery, and the part of the inner circle is according to the scale of the noble official's mansion. Divided into many courtyards and houses, these have been rebuilt.

It is worth mentioning that although this Li family manor is a small city, there are red-coated cannons at the head of the city, which can pass many underground cities.

Li Meng was building a lot of construction here, and at the same time in Huguang, Zhang Xianzhong led his men out of Yunyang. Straight into Henan, after the capture of Xichuan, besieged Nanyang Fucheng. Unexpectedly, during the siege, he was suddenly attacked by Zuo Liangyu's department, and he was caught off guard and could only withdraw to the place where Huguang and Shaanxi meet.

In the ninth year of Chongzhen, in the past ten years of Chongzhen, Zuo Liangyu faced the invasion of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, and he actually won a lot of battles, and was immediately regarded as the pillar of the court by the emperor and the cabinet. One by one, the titles and official positions were added without money, so this person's arrogance is nothing. For example, last year, he did not listen to the governor's orders and plundered women, but no one paid attention to them.

Zuo Liangyu himself has also become extremely confident, and the left army said that "the thieves are afraid of me, and they are far away when they hear the wind, and they are all handsome and mighty".

In September of the eighth year of Chongzhen, the patrol cavalry of the Left Army in Linying and Yuncheng met a group of suspicious merchants, and immediately stepped forward to investigate. After a fierce battle between the two sides, the officers and soldiers were still strong, and after the group of merchants left a few corpses, they fled in a hurry.

As a result, when I saw the convoy of this caravan brigade, these officers and soldiers were really taken aback. Medicine. Weapons, armor and other supplies needed by the rebels are available. What's even more amazing is that on those corpses, there are actually some letterheads.

Of course, after Zuo Liangyu's cavalry saw this group of merchants, as soon as they appeared, these merchants scattered and fled, and there was no fierce battle, and no one could say whether the corpse was killed or how it died, but when the court reported to the upper authorities, this fierce battle was a necessary process to gain merit.

These medicinal materials, weapons and armor naturally fell into the hands of Zuo Liangyu's troops, but the correspondence found out was indeed a problem, and after Zuo Liangyu discussed with his staff, he still sent a messenger to the Beijing Division. The Yamen, the governor of Shandong, who was stationed in the capital of Jinan, received instructions from the imperial court around October, and after receiving it, Yan Jizu, the governor of Shandong, immediately called his staff and master to the study to discuss secretly.

Yan Jizu has been a minister to the matter of the Qing Yao, in the court has always been known for his talent, outspoken advice, all the officials who can do the ministry to give this position in the matter, are considered to be the candidate echelon that may enter the cabinet in the future, is very valued, but also today's place celebrities, from the juvenile into the discipline to the officialdom, are step by step extremely smooth, sitting in the middle, has its own taste of grace, but the governor of this province is far from enough to rely on the graceful and suave, looking at the staff below and the master of the work, Yan Jizu stroked his beard and said in a deep voice:

"The imperial court turned a letterhead over, saying that when Zuo Liangyu in Henan was fighting with the thieves, he seized the letters between the thieves and the officials, including the letters of Liu Zeqing, the general soldier of Caozhou, who accepted the thieves.

Speaking of this, he paused, and seeing that the staff were silent, Yan Jizu was already very angry, and said coldly:

"The Lu of the king, but he has done such a rebellious thing without a king and a father, I want to write and lock Liu Zeqing to ask for the crime, so as not to be in a troubled place."

The staff below understood it, thinking that if your governor is a writer, why bother asking here, just send someone to write and send it out, since it is called for secret discussion, it is obviously to listen to persuasion, several staff members exchanged glances with each other, and an older one stood up, bowed and said:

"My lord dissipates his anger, although what Liu Zeqing did is inconsistent with the law, it is not a rebellious act?"

Yan Jizu let out an "oh" in surprise, and when the staff saw the other party's reaction, he confirmed his judgment, and said loudly there:

"My lord doesn't know, these martial artists are vulgar, they don't know the righteousness of the court, they always think that if there are no thieves, where will I exist, and whenever there is a fight, I always leave three points of strength and refuse to kill them all. Of course, if an adult urges the war, Liu Zongbing will not have any objections, this kind of document is just a common rule. ”

"It's really ridiculous, soldiers and thieves don't stand apart, how can they be so nonsense!"

Yan Jizu's beard was curled up with anger, but the words were a little looser, and some staff members stood up while the iron was hot and said:

"Liu Zeqing's troops are stationed in Dongchang and Yanzhou, and it is only a day's journey from Jinan Mansion.

Being given the steps of several staff, Yan Jizu finally quieted down, and said in a deep voice:

"The court passed this letter down, that is, let the official solve it, if the Benfu side doesn't do anything, wouldn't it seem incompetent."

"The court doesn't will, just transfer the letter down, presumably it also knows the key, adults don't have to do anything with great fanfare, just need to take some precautions, there are soldiers in the province, nothing more than stationed in Denglai Shandong General Qiu Lei, and Li Meng, the general of Laizhou, and Li Meng and Liu Zeqing have old grudges, and the scope of responsibility is stationed in Qingzhou, adults can send Li troops and horses to move to Qingzhou and Yanzhou to hand over the area, and monitor Liu nearby, if there is something just to use"

Yan Jizu nodded again and again when he said this, and immediately sent a letter to Li Meng, according to what the staff member said, the order to issue an official document to adjust the defense.

After Li Meng received this order, he was very puzzled, the reason why the Henan Zuo Liangyu Department was able to seize the letter of Liu Zeqing's thief was naturally from Li Meng's handwriting, and the forces behind the current provision of green salt, the more dependent on Li Meng's regular weapons and medicinal materials, his requirements were naturally met as much as possible.

It is said that this plan is very wonderful, intercepted at the junction of Nanyang Mansion and Kaifeng Mansion, where it is hundreds of miles away from Yanzhou Mansion, and Liu Zeqing's garrison is not related, the only connection is that a few years ago, when the army entered Henan, Liu Zeqing was ordered to conquer and suppress.

But these things seem to have little to do with each other, but in the hands of someone with a heart, if you think about it carefully, you will definitely feel that there are many connections, and if you think about it a little, you will feel that this matter will not be false.

This is also the method of framing that Li Meng figured out, as long as the imperial court confirms Liu Zeqing's charges and sends troops to requisition, no matter how hard he works on his side, he will definitely completely break up Liu Zeqing's troops, Liu's soldiers and horses are really not much combat effectiveness, and what Li Meng lacks is nothing more than a reason to fight.

After the letter was taken by the officials and soldiers of the left department, the forces over there confirmed that the letter had been sent to the Jingshi through the internal line around Zuo Liangyu, and quickly informed Li Meng's side.

Li Meng was in Jingshi and Jinan Mansion, except for the relationship brought by Hou Shan's trafficking in illicit salt and other goods, he did not have very good information and eyes, and the way to inquire about the news was only to spend a lot of money to buy news.