Seeing Shen Mo nodding, Hu Zongxian shook his head and said: "I have fierce generals like Lu Bo, Ren Huan, Liu Xian, and Yu Dayou under my command, and I won't use a widow to fight the world!" ”

"But they are not familiar with the habits and methods of the Japanese invaders, and they don't know much about Wang Zhi's forces overseas, so they can only defend passively and cannot take the initiative to attack." Shen Mo looked at Hu Zongxian with blazing eyes and said: "But Xu Hai is different, he is a pirate himself, and he is inextricably linked with Wang Zhi, it can be said that he knows the roots, if we send this person to fight against Wang Zhi, we will definitely be able to get twice the result with half the effort." ”

"Clumsy words, this person's capriciousness, you should know better than anyone else," Hu Zongxian frowned and said: "You dare to say that letting him go is not a tiger returning to the mountain?" He said in an accentuated tone: "In case he reverses, you won't be a problem of losing black yarn." ”

Hu Zongxian's advice, and even warning, made Shen Mo fall silent again, and only after a long time did he raise his head and say, "I'll talk to him." ”

Hu Zongxian nodded, and said with a straight face: "As a friend, I remind you that only the dead Xu Hai is beneficial and harmless to you, and the living Xu Hai ...... There is going to be hell to pay. He looked at Shen Mo with a look of incomprehension and said, "Humble words, why are you suffering?" ”

Shen Mo bowed his head and said, "Xie Butang's advice, I know what I'm doing." ”

"Hey!" Hu Zongxian sighed and said, "Sooner or later, you will have to ride yourself in......"

Xu Hai did not attend the celebratory dinner of the prefect's yamen, because he felt obvious hostility and contempt, and it was obvious that those people in the government did not accept him as an outlier.

Ignoring the obstruction of the officials and soldiers, he left Suzhou City with a hundred brothers, and returned to Shanglong Village, where the large army was stationed outside the city.

"Big brother, this is what I specially arranged for you and your sister-in-law to live." Xu Hong smiled: "What's the matter, it's not bad, right?" ”

"Hmm......" Xu Hai nodded casually, unable to hide the strong murderous aura in the depths of his heart.

Seeing the cold and worried look on the eldest brother's face, Xu Hong asked worriedly, "What's the matter, big brother?" What the hell is Shen Mo playing again? ”

"His wife gave birth, so I haven't seen him for the past two days," Xu Hai shook his head and said: "It's the eldest brother who has been dealing with those big officials for the past two days and found out, hey...... They didn't treat us as human beings at all. While talking, the two brothers came to the hall, but there was still a pockmarked man sitting inside, who was actually Ye Mazi who was 'sacrificed to the head'!

"How's it going, General?" Ye Ma got up and greeted him: "How does the government settle us?" ”

"I don't know," Xu Hai shook his head: "They only let us wait here, saying that they want to study and study." ”

"Then the rations have to be allocated first, right?" Ye Ma said: "The brothers are going to eat. ”

Xu Hai shook his head ashamedly and said, "No." ”

"And what the hell did you do?" Ye Ma asked anxiously.

"Hey......" Xu Hai sighed, and then he told how he was treated coldly, how he was sarcastically ridiculed, perfunctory, and hateful.

"If it's a momentary humiliation, I can bear it, but looking at their appearance, it's obvious that they have already treated me as a dead person." After Xu Hai finished speaking, he sighed and said, "What can you do if you are obedient?" At any point, we will be doomed. ”

After listening to what the eldest brother said, Xu Hong said with a frightened face: "How is that good, how is it good?" ”

Ye Ma was not as polite as him, and scolded: "Retribution, retribution!" If you weren't obsessed, what kind of bullshit 'Lianhe' would you have to do? Regardless of whether we are indiscriminate, we took out Xin Wulang early, and attacked the alliance brothers, how can we lose half of our inheritance, and there is a way to live! ”

Xu Hai let him complain, lowered his head and didn't say a word, Xu Hong had followed his eldest brother for decades, and when he saw that he had been trained like this, he couldn't help but feel sour in his heart, and said to Ye Ma: "Old Ye, what you said is too much, right?" We still have nearly 10,000 brothers! As long as we twist into a rope, what can the officials and soldiers do with us! ”

Ye Ma also realized that there must be no more infighting, so he sighed and comforted him: "Yes, the general doesn't have to be discouraged, there is a way that victory and defeat are common things in soldiers, Liu Bang, Liu Bei and even my Chao Taizu, who has not been beaten in the city and lost his family?" But didn't they all achieve hegemony in the end? Saying that, he patted his chest and said, "This time, we are in the same boat, I don't believe that we can't go to this flame mountain!" ”

Encouraged by the two brothers, Xu Hai was finally moved, raised his head, and said with a smile: "Sure enough, it's a good brother!" As he spoke, he instructed the two of them: "Xu Hong, you take three thousand brothers, and according to your set of nine palace gossip, dig a deep trench outside Shanglong Village!" Ye Ma, you supervise the construction of deer and reject horses, and prepare to soak oil hemp palm and sulfur, let's lay a solid camp first, and then talk about being invincible! ”

The two responded in unison, and Xu Hai saw that Ye Ma was a little disappreciative on his face, so he asked, "What questions do you have?" ”

"Does the general really want to hold on to the danger and compete with the officers and soldiers here?" Ye Ma frowned and asked.

"Huh." Xu Hai laughed at himself: "Do you think you can hold it?" ”

Ye Ma shook his head and said softly: "I was about to plan for the general." ”

Xu Hai lowered his voice and said, "I am going to go to sea in person and go to the old ship owner for help." Now he's our only lifeline. ”

"It's not proper," Ye Ma shook his head and said: "It's not a secret, before I was caught by you, I sent someone to find the old shipowner several times, hoping that he could mediate one or two, and guess what?" He didn't even come back from the messenger. ”

"It's a time and a moment." Xu Haidao: "At the beginning, Wang Zhi wanted to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, of course he would ignore you; But now that we are really finished, then no one will attract the firepower of the officers and soldiers for him, and he will not know the truth of his lips and teeth. ”

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard someone sneer: "Do you think you can still get out of this village?" ”

"It's you!" Xu Hai and Xu Hong shouted at the same time, and the expressions on their faces were wonderful.

The person who came was He Xinyin, who ghostly passed through the heavily guarded sentry and quietly appeared in this hall.

"You dare to come back?" It was the enemy who was very red when he saw him, Xu Hong roared, pulled out his sword, and slashed towards He Xinyin.

He Xin's stealth body moved slightly, and he didn't see how he moved, so he snatched Xu Hong's sword and threw it on the ground.

Xu Hong looked at his hands in a daze, not knowing what was going on. Xu Haipi praised with a smile: "Jiangxi heroes are really good kung fu." He sneered and said, "I wonder if I can dodge thirty arrows at the same time?" Then he clapped violently, and according to his request to the guards, at this time, thirty black-clothed men armed with crossbows broke through the window and door, and surrounded the uninvited guests.

But something embarrassing happened, and after waiting for a long time, he didn't wait for any movement, only heard He Xinyin smile and said: "The general is going to be disappointed, and they will wake up in another hour." ”

Xu Hai couldn't hold back his face, and scolded: "Fuck, everything has an evil surname recently!" ”

He Xinyin said: "It would be better without those shrimp soldiers and crabs, we can talk calmly." ”

"We don't have anything to say." Xu Hai said coldly: "I don't deal with traitors. ”

"Not to me." He Xinyin forced a smile and said, "It's with us." ”

"Silence?" Xu Hai was really surprised: "He's also in this yard?" ”

"How is that possible?" He Xinyin smiled and said: "The adult is a weak scholar, and he doesn't have the ability to come and go like us. Saying that, Zhengse said: "He is waiting outside the village now, only bringing a few dozen guards, and he is willing to come into the village to meet you." ”

"Oh......" Xu Hai looked at Ye Ma and said, "What do you think?" ”

Ye Ma was also a little confused: "What kind of medicine is sold in this gourd?" ”

"Then I'll see, he's coming in anyway." Xu Hai said in a deep voice: "Xu Hong, you go and let them in." As he spoke, he gave him a 'call in' look.

Xu Hong received the order, and after a while, he heard the noisy sound of soldiers and armor outside, and the subordinates who got the order surrounded this hall, looking at the hundreds of bows and crossbows and muskets outside, Xu Hai sneered: "He Daxia might as well clean them up." ”

He Xinyin sat on the Taishi chair and said, "What else will you do besides being blind?" ”

Xu Haiden lowered his face and said, "Do you think I don't dare to kill you?" ”

"Of course not," He Xinyin smiled indifferently: "But since I dare to come, I am not afraid to go out sideways." He scolded and said, "You elm head, why don't you want to think about it, I risked my life to come back, is it because I am full?" ”

"Who knows what tricks you're going to play?" Xu Hai choked.

"Okay," He Xin laughed out loud angrily, "Then why did Lord Shen come?" Do you know how much pressure he is under? Everyone persuaded him not to come, and tried all kinds of reasons to persuade him, but he insisted on coming to meet you despite the fact that his son had just been born, don't you think about why? ”

"That's because I'm afraid that I'm sleepy," Xu Hai said with a dark face: "You weasels give New Year's greetings to chickens, and you don't have any good intentions." ”

"Grandma!" He Xinyin was so angry that he scolded out a hometown dialect, jumped up, pointed outside and said: "You have chosen such a good place surrounded by water, as long as Yu Dayou's water army surrounds it, Baozhun will become a turtle in the urn, even if you besiege it and don't attack it, within ten days, you will all be hungry into soft-footed crabs!" ”

Xu Hai and Ye Ma's complexions all changed, they chose this place because they were surrounded by water and could resist the attack of the official army, but they forgot that this waterway could also trap their own side...... The two sides were silently confronting each other, and Xu Hong walked in from outside: "Big brother, Lord Shen is here." ”

"Hurry up and please, oh no, I'll go and invite it myself." As soon as he heard that silence was coming, Xu Hai couldn't help but get nervous, it seemed that the scholar who was as gentle as jade had left a terrible shadow in his heart.

"No need." Shen Mo appeared at the door in casual clothes: "I'm not invited." ”

"Meet your lordship." Xu Hai saluted respectfully, and his resentment, anger, and domineering were all reined in.

"No need to be polite." Shen Mo smiled slightly and walked into the house. Xu Hai invited him to the table, and ordered someone to serve good tea, and the two sides exchanged a few words of greeting, and then he asked softly: "Why is the adult here?" ”

Shen Mo asked him to sit down, and said with a straight face: "We are all understandable people, so we opened the skylight and said brightly, I came this time, and I was under a lot of pressure, whether it was the governor, or my colleagues, civil officials or military generals, they didn't want me to come on this trip." ”

"My lord, hehe," Xu Hai smiled with an ugly face, "You mean, they don't want to see Xu Hai?" Are you guarding against me? ”

"You're not to blame?" Shen said in a deep voice: "I have said all the good things for you before, so I moved the officials of Hu Butang and Zhejiang Province to come together to participate in the 'Guishun Ceremony', in order to use a grand ceremony to make your return to the imperial court deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Saying that, he glanced at him helplessly and said: "But it's good for you to take tens of thousands of troops and surround Suzhou City, who will show off your might?" ”

"I just want to weigh the adult's catties and taels one last time, and see if it's worth my surrender." Xu Hai smiled and said, "As a result, you also saw it, didn't I obediently return to obedience?" ”

"You have already demolished the temple, and there is still a fart for burning incense?" He scolded silently: "I don't know that for those adults, face is more important than anything else? You let them lose face, they are very dissatisfied with you, and the original good resettlement and food and salary have all been blocked back by them with the words "Xu bandits are stubborn, and their hearts will be different", and they don't count them all. ”

"What!" Xu Hai's face changed suddenly and said, "Is the imperial court going to regret it?" ”

Shen Mo frowned and said, "Look, with this hot temper, how can I hand over the big task to you?" ”

Before Xu Hai could react, Ye Ma had already heard the way out, pulled Xu Hai, knelt in front of Shen Mo, and sobbed: "Please help, my lord, we are sincerely obedient, but if the court gives us a way out, we will not turn back." ”

"Who is this?" Shen Mo asked knowingly.

"Don't hide it from adults, I'm Ye Ma." Ye Ma has already come back to his senses, people are silent and come alone in this situation, needless to say, the sincerity is not to say, it must be to help them, Suo surname treats each other with sincerity, and he can also make himself 'come back to life': "It's not that the general deliberately deceives, it's really a deep brotherhood, he is reluctant to kill me, so he came up with a 'Li Dai Taozhuang' method." ”

Xu Hai also came back to his senses at this time, knelt beside Ye Ma and said: "My lord, Xu Hai knows that he is guilty of a lot of sin, and it is not a pity to die, if you can let tens of thousands of brothers have a way to live, I would rather bind myself to Beijing and suffer the punishment of a thousand knives!" ”

"Hand me over." Ye Ma hurriedly said: "I am willing to die for the general!" for the peace of the brethren ......"

Looking at the way the two of them fought for me, Shen Mo smiled and scolded: "Stop acting, none of them want to die, and they are still being heroes here!" ”

Seeing that their minds were being seen through, the two of them said embarrassedly: "Please help." ”

"Let's be honest with the two of you," Shen Mo sighed and said: "The attitude of the imperial court towards you has always been between killing and not killing, and the adults argued very much, and the reason why I finally agreed to surrender was because I guaranteed that you would always be loyal to the court and no longer do evil." ”

The two of them looked like each other, both grateful and entangled: "So, maybe when, when a holy decree comes down, our heads will have to move?" ”

"It's all up to you," said silently, "There is an old saying, when the birds are gone, the good bow is hidden; The cunning rabbit is dead, the lackeys are cooking, have you heard of it? ”

"Of course." Xu Haidao: "I sighed just now." ”

"Let's turn this sentence upside down," said the silent smile, "as long as the birds are not exhausted, the good bow must be held in the hand; If the cunning rabbit doesn't die, the lackeys have to be kept all the time, do you know what I mean? ”

The two glanced at each other and said softly together: "What do you mean, do you have to be useful to the imperial court to keep our lives?" ”

"For now, that's right." Shen Mo nodded and said, "If you are willing, I can show you a clear path." ”

"But sooner or later, one day, all the birds will die, what will we do then?" The two are not fools either.

"I'll send you four more words." Shen Mo said softly: "Come here with your ears." ”

The two of them put their ears closer, only to hear Shen Mo say in an inaudible voice: "Hug... Soldier... Self... Heavy! ”

These four words came out of the mouth of a court official, how ridiculous and ridiculous, and the two of them looked at him in disbelief, not believing their ears.

He sat there silently, with a pair of white hands pressed on their shoulders, and said softly: "What you say today, you rot it in your hearts for me, don't tell anyone." ”

The two nodded, opened their eyes wide, and listened to Shen Mo's whispering: "You feel that the future is not safe, why shouldn't I?" There is a way to accompany the king like a tiger, you look at the first and auxiliary ministers of all dynasties, how many of them have a good death? Not to mention the officials of the six ministries and the officials of the feudal territory. If you want to live and die in this place where the emperor decides life and death, you can live a long life. Crossing the river with eggs in your hand, being a turtle with a shrunken head for a lifetime, and living a long life, but what are the benefits for the country and the people? ”

"I am silent, and I also want to do something to save the country and save the people, but if I want to do something, I will offend people, and I have to befriend the powerful." Silent laughed at himself: "I won't tell you, in order to make the city run smoothly and steadily, how much did it cost me to give gifts?" And recruiting you is also very damaging to my reputation, I am now on the surface, but behind the danger is dangerous, maybe when, my family will be ruined, and it is reasonable to think about the future for myself. ”

(To be continued)