In fact, Xia Guoxiang really didn't want to be Lu Fatzi's enemy, and he didn't want to tear his face with Lu Fatzi, and he didn't want to see Lu Fatzi, and there was no malice in withholding Wu Laohan's canonization edict to Lu Fatzi, just to vent his dissatisfaction with Lu Fatzi sitting back and watching him fail in Chizhou, and he was a little jealous - but this is also human nature, among the many heroes and veterans in Pingxi Palace, there are really few who are not jealous of Lu Fatzi. 【】

Lu Fatzi's actions are indeed envious, jealous and hateful, and he has won the absolute trust of Wu Laohan in just a few years after joining the Pingxi Palace, and the official worship of the general Zhengdong is responsible for the most important partial division battlefield, and even the abundance of money and grain in Jiangnan can be counted, but Wu Laohan's anniversaries and nephews-in-law and meritorious generals will give Lu Fatzi the title of King Yue, no matter how good-tempered and open-minded the old man of Pingxi Wangfu is, it is inevitable that there is some uncontrollable impulses, Xia Guoxiang, who was born with Wu Laohan and had just been yin by Lu Fatzi, how could he swallow this evil breath? Withholding the edict disgusting Lu Fatzi is naturally logical.

Withholding the edict can only disgust Lu Fatzi, so that Lu Fatzi can't quickly claim the king, and it will not cause any harm to Lu Fatzi, no matter how dissatisfied Xia Guoxiang is, it is impossible to meet Lu Fatzi's sword soldiers, one is that he is nameless, the second is that his own internal strife is cheap to others, and the third is that Xia Guoxiang is quite self-aware, knowing that after more than a year of development and crazy sucking Jiangnan people's fat and people's ointment, Lu Fatzi has grown into a perverted monster that is enough to be with the main force of the Wu army, just with this little power in his own hands, It is impossible for Lu Fatzi to be the opponent at all, Xia Guoxiang naturally will not be bored with himself and find himself unhappy.

Regarding the fight between Guo Zhuangtu and the Wu clan, Xia Guoxiang actually has no bad intentions, his attitude is ambiguous and he refuses to express his position, also because he doesn't want to get involved in these bad things, because as long as Xia Guoxiang doesn't speak and doesn't express his position, with his status and power in the Pingxi Palace, no matter who is the winner in the future, he will inevitably share a piece of meat, so why bother to go in and stand in line, and bear the infamy of provoking infighting before the old man's bones are cold? The drudgery of reconciling the contradictions between the two sides is done by Hu Guozhu anyway, as long as Xia Guoxiang hides aside and pretends to be deaf and dumb, he will definitely be the winner in the future.

With such a mentality, even after receiving the edict from the Honghua court to canonize himself as the king of Chu, and receiving the handwritten letter from Guo Zhuangtu who was obviously sowing discord, Xia Guoxiang also scoffed and secretly sneered, "Want to pull Lao Tzu into the water?" When Lao Tzu is a fool? Even if the Wu clan can't tolerate our relatives, the first thing that can't be tolerated is Lu Yifeng! didn't clean up Lu Yifeng, the Wu clan would be stupid to attack Lao Tzu and force the most dangerous Lu Yifeng! Besides, Lao Tzu helped you clean up the Wu clan, and you Guo Zhuangtu can tolerate Lao Tzu's brother-in-law? ”

With the mentality that neither of them can be offended, Xia Guoxiang's behavior is already very low-key and conscientious, and he is worthy of the old man who just died of illness, but what Xia Guoxiang never dreamed of was that he was about to hide in the corner completely, and Lu Fatzi even took the initiative to come to the door and slapped him in the face - he gave him an order with the reputation of the Prince Regent of the Great Zhou, and asked him extremely arrogantly why he didn't send troops to help the Wu clan quell the rebellion, and named Xia Guoxiang to turn over the old account of Xia Guoxiang's private deduction of the edict, and forced Xia Guoxiang to hand over the army, Dismantle!

After reading the edict of the regent of Lu Fatzi, Xia Guoxiang couldn't bear it anymore, yelled and tore Lu Fatzi's edict to shreds, and the messenger beat Yuezhou City with a stick, Xia Guoxiang's generals Zhang Guozhu, Chen Yao and Qiu Shan and I were also furious, and scolded Lu Fatzi's ancestors for eighteen generations with the name of Lu Fatzi. And the most fierce reaction was naturally Guo Zhuangmou, the military counselor of Xia Guoxiang - the relationship between him and Guo Zhuangtu can be seen from the name, and he beat his chest and shouted to Xia Guoxiang: "Lord, did you see it?" Have you seen it, Lu Yifeng, what kind of person is he?! ”

"Bang!" Xia Guoxiang slammed his fist on the table in front of him, almost cracking the pear wood table, and Tie Qing blushed and calculated nervously. Guo Zhuangmou's implication of course Xia Guoxiang understands, it is nothing more than instigating Xia Guoxiang and his brother Guo Zhuangtu to join forces, before Xia Guoxiang has been pretending to be deaf and dumb and refusing to take a stubble, but now Xia Guoxiang has to choose, the old man Wu Laohan has given the power to control the soldiers and horses of the Great Zhou Dynasty to Lu Fatzi, and also gave the life and death of the civil and military officials of the Great Zhou to Lu Fatzi, Lu Fatzi blamed Xia Guoxiang and deprived Xia Guoxiang of his military power, it can be said that they are all famous, if Xia Guoxiang does not listen, it is equivalent to disobeying Wu Laohan's edict to annihilate the legacy, Lu Fatzi has even more reason to kill Xia Guoxiang and rob his family, and eat him alive.

In other words, Xia Guoxiang only has three choices left, one is to honestly obey the order and hand over the military power, which is of course more uncomfortable than killing Xia Guoxiang. The second is to obey the order but not to carry it out, continue to pretend to be deaf and dumb and not help each other, and wait and see what happens, it is not safe at all, Guo Zhuangtu is a little better, if the Wu clan or Lu Fatzi is in power, the two families can have excuses and reasons to give up their hands on the Xia Guoxiang. The third, which is............ "Fuck it!" Thinking about this, Xia Guoxiang finally made up his mind, overturned the table, and roared at the generals with blood-red eyes: "Lu Yifeng is a child who usurps power, and Wu Guogui's old thief is a rebel, trying to collude with Lu Yifeng's dog thief and usurp my Great Zhou Jiangshan!" This king decided to obey the edict of Emperor Honghua, raise troops to rebel, and join forces with General Guo Zhuangtu to exterminate the old thief of Wu Guogui and kill Lu Yifeng's dog thief! Who wants to go with this king? ”

"The last general is willing to rebel with the prince!" Guo Zhuangmou couldn't wait to be the first to jump out and yell, and then Xia Guoxiang's absolute cronies Zhang Guozhu and Qiu Shan and I also stood up without hesitation, kneeling down on one knee and clasping their fists to Xia Guoxiang together, "I want to listen to the prince's orders!" The other Xia ministers looked at each other, not daring to take this tone.

"If you don't want to, you can leave now, and the king won't stop you when you go there!" Xia Guoxiang roared with a blue face: "But as long as you go out of this door today, all the past friendships and grievances will be written off!" In the future, when the counterinsurgency battlefield comes, don't blame the ruthlessness of this king's men! ”

"I would like to listen to the king's orders." Xia Guoxiang's generals were helpless, and they also knelt down on one knee to show their loyalty.

"Good!" Xia Guoxiang waved his fist and roared: "As long as we work together, we will definitely be able to quell the rebellion and eradicate the annihilation, and Emperor Honghua, this king and Guo Xiang will definitely not treat you badly!" Pass the king's order, immediately reward the three armies, inform the whole army to raise troops to rebel, and give the king the banner of edict and rebellion! ”

"Obey the orders of the prince!" The generals of the Xia army agreed neatly. Guo Zhuangmou couldn't wait to say: "Lord Wang, the soldiers are very fast, the last general proposes to take advantage of Wu Guogui's rebels who have not yet noticed, and immediately send troops to attack Ji Ji Mountain, as long as the Ji Qi Mountain firearms camp is captured or destroyed, and the source of Wu Guogui's firearms is cut off, our army will have a stable chance of victory." After exterminating Wu Guogui's old thief and cutting off Lu Yifeng's internal aid, my Great Zhou army gathered into a group, and it was easy to concentrate on exterminating Lu Yifeng's dog thief! ”

Xia Guoxiang's eyes lit up, knowing that although Guo Zhuangmou's words were selfish, they were also very reasonable, if he could take the camp of Ji Ji Mountain and cut off the source of firearms of the Wu clan, it would be easy to defeat the Wu Gui army! Even if he can't take Ji Ji Mountain for his own use, as long as he destroys the camp of Ji Ji Mountain, relying on the firearm reinforcements that Guo Zhuangtu transported from the rear of Yungui, he can still easily defeat Wu Guogui! Thinking of this, Xia Guoxiang, who had made up his mind, did not hesitate any longer, and immediately shouted: "Zhang Guozhu listened to the order, ordered you to immediately lead four thousand light horsemen to set off, pretending to help defend Changsha City, and rushed to the Ji Ji Mountain Firearms Battalion to launch a surprise attack at night. If the craftsman can catch it, if he can't catch it, he will kill all of them! ”

"Order!" Zhang Guozhu, Xia Guoxiang's absolute confidant, didn't say a word, immediately hugged his fists and agreed, and hurriedly went out. Xia Guoxiang shouted again: "Go to the sailor camp immediately and call Du Hui and Lin Xingzhu, just say that the military situation has changed, let them come to see me immediately!" ”

Half an hour later, Du Hui and Lin Xingzhu, the deputy commanders of the Wu Army's water division, who were training the water division on the water near Yueyang Tower, were recalled to Yuezhou City, and just stepped into Xia Guoxiang's handsome hall, Xia Guoxiang immediately tried to see the dagger, took out Wu Shifan's edict to force Du Hui and Lin Xingzhu to lead the sailors to raise troops, and accompanied them to raise troops to fight against Wu Guogui and Lu Fatzi. Xia Guoxiang ordered his soldiers to step forward, threatening with a knife, and Du Hui had no choice but to give in temporarily, saying that he was willing to rebel with Xia Guoxiang, Xia Guoxiang was overjoyed and rewarded Du Hui and Lin Xingzhu.

Immediately afterwards, Xia Guoxiang, with the assistance of Guo Zhuangmou, quickly formulated a plan to send troops to attack Wuchang City, preparing to raid Wuchang to seize the city and take over the more than 20,000 troops there. And fortunately, although most of the Wuchang army is Wu Yingqi's lineage, but it has been taken over by Hu Guozhu before, and now Hu Guozhu went to Yunnan to negotiate with Guo Zhuangtu, and the Wuchang army was temporarily entrusted to the Wu army veteran Zhang Zufa and Ba Yangyuan under the joint command, each other is not under each other's control, but they can monitor each other in peacetime to prevent accidents, but the war will immediately expose the weakness of no unified command, as long as Xia Guoxiang does it properly, it is not difficult to eat the Wuchang army in one bite.

At the same time, Xia Guoxiang and Guo Zhuangmou had to write another letter to Guo Zhuangtu to explain the situation, expressing their willingness to join forces with Guo Zhuangtu to exterminate the rebellion of the Wu army. But as soon as this letter was sent out on a fast horse, Lin Xingzhu's personal soldiers stumbled to report, saying that Du Hui had just returned to the camp of the sailors, and he led more than a dozen warships to escape into the Yangtze River. Xia Guoxiang was furious when he heard this, and immediately ordered Lin Xingzhu to lead the army to hunt down Du Hui, and was forced to send troops to Wuchang in advance, so as not to be prepared for Wuchang after receiving the news. At the same time, Xia Guoxiang went to write to Ma Bao and invited Ma Bao to join forces with him to fight against him.

The last month of the first year of Zhaowu was a month of disaster for the Wu Sangui army of Pingxi Wangfu, which had almost annihilated all the main forces of the Mites Qing and was within reach in the world, and it was also a key month for the Wu army of the Great Zhou Dynasty to turn from prosperity to decline. On the fourth day of the twelfth month, Wu Sangui's third son-in-law, Xia Guoxiang, who had a heavy army, suddenly launched a mutiny, controlled the whole city and the whole army of Yuezhou, and played the banner of rebellion, and joined forces with Guo Zhuangtu, a powerful minister of the Great Zhou Dynasty, to defeat the Wu clan.

On the eighth day of December, when the Wu clan army and the Wu army's neutral faction had no time to react, the Xia Guoxiang Department moved Zhang Guozhu to Changsha City under the pretense of being stationed in Changsha City, and suddenly attacked the Ji Ji Mountain firearms camp forty miles away in the western suburbs of Changsha. In order to prevent the firearms camp from falling into the hands of the Xia Xiangjun, he led a part of the craftsmen to retreat to Yiyang, and Zhang Guozhu also plundered some of the craftsmen and burned the camp of Ji Ji Mountain to ashes.

On the same day, Xia Guoxiang's army marched to Wuchang City, although Du Hui, who had escaped from Yuezhou, had reported to the Wuchang garrison in time, Wuchang Wu Army had no leader, and the command was not effective, a part of the army opened the Wuchang City Gate to surrender to the Xia Xiangjun, Xia Guoxiang's army took the opportunity to kill into the city, Lin Xingzhu led the Wu Army Naval Division and blocked the Wuchang Ferry, and the army loyal to the Wu clan was forced to break through to Jiujiang, and asked for help from the Wu Army General Ma Bao. Fortunately, Ma Bao, who was secretly scolded by Fang Guangchen as Ma Zhong Lu Bu, took a rare firm stand, accepted the Wu army team that fled from Wuchang, and resolutely refused Xia Guoxiang's appeasement, stating that he would continue to help each other, and Xia Guoxiang did not dare to offend Ma Bao too much, and did not dare to lead the army into Jiujiang.

Immediately afterwards, when most of the army had been sent by Hu Guozhu to Chenzhou to prevent Wu Guogui's army from moving south, Fang Guangchen, the governor of Wu Army, had to accept the surrender of Xia Guoxiang's army, opened the Changsha city gate and let Zhang Guozhu enter the city, Changsha, Yuezhou and Wuchang fell into the hands of Xia Guoxiang, becoming a sharp knife against the back of Wu's noble army.

The news was transmitted back to Changde, and Wu Guogui, who was waiting for Hu Guozhu's reply in Changde City, was furious, and scolded several brothers-in-law for being turtle king bastards.

The news then spread from the Yangtze River channel to Sichuan, Wu Zhimao's army, which had already been immovable, went south to attack Sichuan again, needless to say, the Wu army Wu Guozhu stationed in Chongqing also immediately dispatched, with the support of the Wu army's Sichuan sailor Peng Shiheng, down the river to the east, rushed to the Dongting Lake battlefield to reinforce his brother Wu Guogui, the Wu clan and the foreign relatives and ministers of the large-scale civil war kicked off, and launched one after another cruel bloody battles.

The most unlucky is Hu Guozhu, as Lu Fatzi expected, after Hu Guozhu, the most powerful and prestigious among Wu Jun's relatives, returned to Kunming, Guo Zhuangtu, who had been staying in Yungui and did not have much power in the army, did not dare to be disrespectful to him, and offered this brother-in-law like an ancestor, and at the same time, Hu Guozhu did not hesitate to persuade Guo Zhuangtu with coercion and temptation, asking Guo Zhuangtu to accept the conditions of the Wu clan and hand over the family members of the Wu clan and Wu Shifan, in exchange for the forgiveness of the Wu clan. Everyone united around Wu Shifan, taking advantage of the good situation that Yanjing, the dog emperor was now chopped by Lu Fatzi, and worked together to take this Huaxia country.

At first, Guo Zhuangtu naturally couldn't agree to Hu Guozhu's request, he was reluctant to let go of power, and he was worried that the Wu clan would settle accounts after the autumn, but with Hu Guozhu's repeated persuasion, analyzing the pros and cons, and considering that his power in the army was weak and his waist was not hard, Guo Zhuangtu gradually loosened up, and began to bargain with Hu Guozhu. Hu Guozhu naturally refused to agree, in addition to agreeing to guarantee Guo Zhuangtu, he insisted that Guo Zhuangtu hand over his family and Wu Shifan together, and the two brothers-in-law kept grinding their mouths, wasting saliva and time. However, Guo Zhuangtu's attitude has been significantly relaxed, and he has been ready to agree to the requests put forward by the Wu clan several times.

Wasted more than a month of precious time, Hu Guozhu, who was dizzy and entangled in Guo Zhuangtu's bargaining, also made a ruthless statement, gave Guo Zhuangtu a deadline, and asked his brother-in-law to answer him before the early morning of the next morning and the twenty-fifth morning of the first year of Zhaowu. At most, for the sake of the brother-in-law, he will collect Guo Zhuangtu's body in the future! Guo Zhuang's picture is like the color of earth, and Hu Guozhu is gone.

The night of the twenty-fourth day of the first lunar month of Zhaowu was definitely the most painful, tormenting, longest and shortest night in Guo Zhuangtu's life, sitting alone in the study, he didn't close his eyes all night, and his hair turned gray a lot overnight. But when the rooster crowed three times, with an expedited letter sent from Yuezhou to the Honghua Palace, and sent to Guo Zhuangtu, the haze on Guo Zhuangtu's face was suddenly swept away, and the whole person jumped up happily, and began to kiss the letter wildly, and the already gray hair was also a lot darker all of a sudden.

When the sky was light, when Hu Guozhu came to Guo Zhuangtu again, Guo Zhuangtu, who had been groveling in front of Hu Guozhu before, was like being beaten with chicken blood, not only his waist was straight, but he also threw the letter he had just received in front of Hu Guozhu, and shouted arrogantly: "Brother-in-law, you choose, in the end, our three brothers-in-law join forces to jointly assist the emperor to win the country?" Or do you also imagine that Wu Guogui's gang of traitors committed chaos? ”

Inexplicably, he picked up Xia Guoxiang's handwritten letter, and after only a few glances, Hu Guozhu's face became whiter than Guo Zhuangtu when he was given an ultimatum yesterday, and said tremblingly: "How is it possible? How can it be? What is Xia Guoxiang crazy about? Didn't he know what the consequences would be if he did this? ”

"Of course Brother Xia is not crazy, it is you who is crazy, it is you who is crazy!" Guo Zhuangtu sneered and said: "Do you think that if our three brothers-in-law make concessions, Wu Guogui, Wu Yingjing and Wu Guozhu will be able to thank you for your kindness?" When they get the power, will they let you be the honorary commander of the Great Wednesday Army like they are now? The words "Bird Hides the Bow", "Unloading the Mill and Killing the Donkey", you should know how to write it, right? Brother Xia understood this and didn't want to be killed by Wu Guogui's gang, so he made a wise choice! ”

Hu Guozhu was stunned, and only after a long time did he sigh, "Xia Guoxiang, you are bad for me!" The Great Zhou Dynasty has turned from prosperity to decline, and you are the real culprit! ”

After sighing, Hu Guozhu shook his head again, and sighed again: "I can't completely blame Xia Guoxiang, I am also responsible, if I have the courage and decision, things will not come to this point." Or is my father-in-law right, the only thing I can't do as well as him and Yifeng in major military and political affairs is that I am indecisive, I don't dare to make up my mind at the critical moment, I don't dare to take responsibility, if I arrive in Yunnan, I will force you to agree to my conditions, and if I don't talk to you in Yunnan, things will not come to this point. ”

"You get that? It's late! Guo Zhuangtu laughed wildly, extremely satisfied with Hu Guozhu's expression of frustration and despair.

Laughing enough, Guo Zhuangtu finally put away his smile, changed his friendly look, and took Hu Guozhu's hand with a sincere look, "Brother-in-law, you also join us, our three brothers-in-law join forces, no one in the world is invincible, as long as we calm down the civil strife, it is easy to pacify other enemies, the world is also our three brothers, as long as you agree, you will be the first assistant in the future, I am willing to be your deputy." Brother-in-law, the opportunity must not be lost, and the loss will not come again. ”

"You're dreaming!" Hu Guozhu waved his hand and shook off Guo Zhuangtu, and said solemnly with a straight face: "No matter how bad Hu Guozhu is, he still has a little backbone, my father-in-law is as kind to me as a mountain, and he wants me to help you fight the civil war and destroy my father-in-law's hard-won society, you are delusional!" ”

"Brother-in-law, do you really want to be obsessed?" Guo Zhuangtu's face changed again, his face gradually became hideous, and Guo Zhuangtu's personal soldiers next to him also drew their knives together and surrounded Hu Guozhu in the middle.

"It's still the same sentence, you want me to help you fight the civil war, you dream!" Hu Guozhu said without fear: "If you want to kill, kill it, don't say much!" Died in your hands, and I happened to go to see my father-in-law with my head held high, and I went to see my father Hu Shuixin, who died in Yanjing City after doing his best for my father-in-law! ”

Guo Zhuangtu stared at Hu Guozhu's eyes, his eyes were as vicious as a poisonous snake with bars and teeth, while Hu Guozhu stared back at Guo Zhuangtu coldly, his attitude was as firm as iron.

After a long time, Guo Zhuangtu finally retracted his gaze and said with a cruel smile: "Brother-in-law, please rest assured, I am your brother-in-law and will not kill you, but I plan to ask you to rest in Kunming for a while, and when the rebellion of Wu Guogui's gang of traitors is quelled, I believe you can also change your mind." ”

After that, Guo Zhuangtu bowed to the soldiers next to him, and said with a sneer: "Please go back to rest Prime Minister Hu Cheng, and by the way, bring all the seals, talismans and arrows of Prime Minister Hu Cheng, I will be of great use." ”

"You want to take my Seal Talisman and incorporate my army in Chenzhou?" Hu Guozhu also sneered and said, "It's a pity that when I left Chenzhou and returned to Yungui, I had already told my deputy Gao Qilong, but I didn't see me, even if it was a holy decree, he couldn't hand over the military power and the army." ”

Guo Zhuangtu's pupils shrank, and he soon said with a cruel smile: "The brother-in-law is really fine, but it doesn't matter, Gao Qilong and your subordinates are all people, as long as they are people, they love silver beauties and high-ranking officials, I am not afraid that they will not be moved." ”

"Then you can try." Hu Guozhu sneered again, confident in his army's loyalty.

When Guo Zhuangtu's personal soldiers held Hu Guozhu hostage and left, after walking to Guo Zhuangtu's study, Hu Guozhu suddenly stopped, looked at the direction of Jiangnan in the northeast, and sighed and said: "It's still my father-in-law who has a vision, after his death, our internal chaos will indeed be in chaos." is also a father-in-law who has the wisdom of knowing people, at this time, the only one who can set things right and rejuvenate the Great Zhou Dynasty is the only one who can set things right. ”

"Huh." Hu Guozhu let out another wry smile and muttered: "Although, he is more dangerous than anyone else, no one can stop him from usurping the Great Zhou Jiangshan except himself." ”

On the twenty-fifth day of the first month of Zhaowu, Guo Zhuangtu, a powerful minister of the Honghua court of the Great Zhou Dynasty, detained Hu Guozhu, the honorary commander of the three armies of the Great Zhou army, in Kunming, pushing the civil strife of the Great Zhou court to fight for power and profit, and also ignited the fuse of the Wu army's larger-scale civil war. The fat army, which was hiding behind Wu Jun to recuperate, also gradually revealed snow-white fangs, which were enough to devour the world.

(To be continued)