Zhao Dezhao and his entourage embarked on the road to Huainan, and along the way, from Kaifeng Bianhe all the way south, it took about three days to reach Sizhou at the earliest, and then along the Huaishui River, it took four and a half days.

Shouzhou is located in the upper reaches of the Huaishui (Huai River), and after Liu Renzhan received the will of the imperial court, he stepped up the training of soldiers and horses, and at this moment Liu Renzhan has 40,000 soldiers and horses, of which 30,000 are veterans and 10,000 are new soldiers.

And these 40,000 soldiers and horses are a weapon to prevent the rebellion of Li Chongjin in Huainan, and other troops are stationed in various places at this moment.

It was very scattered, and it would take about three days to mobilize troops and horses from Shouzhou to Yangzhou at the earliest, so Zhao Dezhao did not plan to let this team rush to Yangzhou to fight the fire.

At this moment, in Yangzhou City, Li Chongjin already knew about Li Yun's defeat and Li Shoujie's defection to the imperial court, and the imperial court also sent the emperor's eldest son, Zhao Dezhao, the king of Liangjun, to inspect all parts of Huainan as a messenger, and Li Chongjin knew that the imperial court's move was actually to inspect Huainan, and secretly monitored his every move.

However, Li Chongjin is also a greedy person who is afraid of death, when he was promoted from the Huainan battlefield by virtue of military merits, and now he has a strong army, and he is a party to the festival, if Zhao Kuangyin provokes himself, why not rebel and divide the land of Jianghuai.

……

Three days later, on July 25, the weather on this day was dark clouds, the air was hot, and it seemed to be raining in rhythm, and Jianghuai and other places had already come out of the rainy season in January, and the weather at this moment may be the rhythm of the subtropical monsoon climate, ten miles of different days.

In front of it is the ferry port of Changqiao Town, and there are already local officials on the ferry to greet the boat of Lord Qincha, and in front of it is Sizhou City. Sizhou City is located on the shore of Hongze Lake, is the water and land metropolis, Xu Pi to chong, a very important wharf of the Bianhe River transport, the same as Yangzhou, is a very prosperous place in the Jianghuai region, the boats and boats gather, the carriages and horses gather, the city is prosperous, and the humanities gather.

In such a critical place, Zhao Dezhao had to anchor here for a while anyway to inspect the local situation, but now the matter is important.

Zhao Dezhao and the others came out of the cabin and met with the local officials, who were very enthusiastic and invited Zhao Dezhao to stay at his house. And Zhao Dezhao ordered to go down, not to disturb the people, to wear red and hang colors, and to welcome ten miles away.

And when the local officials saw that the king of Liang County and Lord Qincha were like this, they only smiled on their faces. Zhao Dezhao refused to sit in a sedan chair, he had practiced martial arts since he was a child, and his skills were strong, so he walked with the officials on the embankment and under the willows, all the way forward.

Along the way, he asked about the local customs, government lawsuits, and the people's situation, and the local officials all talked eloquently, and Zhao Dezhao also learned some basic information about Huainan along the way.

That night, the river rose due to heavy rain and the river, Zhao Dezhao ordered the boat to dock in a sheltered place, and then rested overnight in the local magistrate's house, but Zhao Dezhao still did not see the rain stop, he was always worried that after the rain, the river would rise sharply, and he was afraid that it would destroy the river embankment and farmland.

Therefore, he instructed the local officials to patrol Sizhou City at night to avoid any danger and defend it in time.

Rain and shine, the windows slapped all night, and the next day he had people arrange for them to go down, and if there was a danger, let the local army help, etc.

After coming to the wharf, I saw that the river water had risen a lot more than yesterday, and the upstream river water drop of the wharf was large, the topography of this place, one high and one low, so the shipping of Sizhou City was very developed, and the merchant ships from the south to the north gathered here.

The city of Sizhou is the place of Kaifeng Cao transport, the goods from the south are unloaded at the south wharf, carried to the north wharf by donkey carts and mule carts, or small boats passing through the city, and then loaded into large ships and transported.

However, the land of Sizhou is very important, it is the southern end of Bianshui, an important town, so Zhao Dezhao suddenly felt that if he opened a Guangwei building here, it would be excellent. In addition, he asked people to ensure the smoothness of the river and the convenience of transportation.

During the reign of Zhou Xiande, Guo Rong asked people to dredge the waterway of the Bianhe River, and Sizhou City summoned tens of thousands of people in a few days.

At that time, on the wharf, thousands of migrant workers were in full swing in the silt of the river that had cut off the water source, and some people carried it on their shoulders, transporting a cart and a basket of silt out of the river, raising the river embankment, and there were bundles of bamboo mats resting on the embankment, and the bamboo cages were filled with sand and gravel.

On the 26th, Zhao Dezhao left a group of people, and then set off from Sizhou City, went upstream, followed the Huaishui, and arrived outside Shouzhou City on the 31st.

"The old minister sees His Royal Highness the King of the County, Qincha!" As soon as Liu Renzhan saw Zhao Dezhao, he hurriedly got up with the officials around him to greet him, and the officials of Shouzhou City all stopped outside the city.

Zhao Dezhao saw an old man with a thin face and eyebrows, wearing an official robe, presumably this person was Liu Renzhan, he had never seen Liu Renzhan back then, but now that he saw it, Zhao Dezhao was not surprised, but respected him.

The old man was just about to bow down, Zhao Dezhao hurriedly helped Liu Renzhan up, and then greeted: "Liu Lao has worked hard, Dezhao will thank Liu Lao for guarding Shouzhou City on behalf of the imperial court!" Liu Lao has done his best in the past few years and has paid a lot for the people of Shouzhou, and I already knew about Liu Lao's love for the people from my father's side. As a junior, how could Dezhao let Liu Lao turn around. ”

"Your Royal Highness has raised your love, how can the old minister be virtuous, the credit for governing Shouzhou is not the old minister alone, he is the credit of the officials and people of Shouzhou. Oh, that's right - Your Highness, advance to the city, and later the old minister will say something to His Highness halfway through! ”

"Liu Lao opens the way!"

Zhao Dezhao does not sit in the official sedan chair, and his behavior has been unanimously praised by local officials, Liu Renzhan saw it in his heart, and also felt that the eldest son of the emperor was so young and extraordinary, he was happy in his heart, so that the people of the world would be blessed.

When he arrived at the Shouzhou Mansion, Zhao Dezhao asked all the officials who accompanied him to step down, and then discussed the matter with Liu Renzhan.

Liu Renzhan did not hide the truth because Zhao Dezhao was young, he said: "Your Highness, now that the 40,000 army has been trained, there is no news of Li Chongjin in Yangzhou rebelling. ”

"Liu Lao, although Li Chongjin is not rebelling now, but sooner or later, this pile of firewood will spontaneously combust, and now Li Chongjin is only a good time, but if we provoke Li Chongjin's rebellion, we will have to start with the people around him."

"I wonder who Your Highness is referring to?"

"This person is Zhai Shouxun, a staff member next to Li Chongjin, and Zhai Shouxun has been a friend of His Majesty for many years, but Li Chongjin doesn't know, it's really ridiculous, but keeping Li Chongjin will be a scourge sooner or later, so it's better to force a rebellion as soon as possible. When Zhai Shouxun rebelled against Li Yun, Zhai Shouxun was originally sent by Li Chongjin to Luzhou to form an alliance with Li Yun, but Zhai Shouxun went to the capital to inform him of the rebellion, and at that time Li Yun rebelled, and the court had no time to take care of it. ”

"Your Highness, Your Majesty had already taken this countermeasure, but now Li Yun's rebellion has been put down. However, at this time, Zhai Shouxun had not yet provoked Li Chongjin to rebel, and the old minister thought that this was a good opportunity, and the army was ready, so it was better to let the army move to Chuzhou City first and wait and see what happened. Li Chongjin is a fierce general, I had fought with him back then, this person is brave, and he can't be removed at once, if there is turmoil in Yangzhou, it is good to defend in time! ”

"It is a good opportunity for the army to move to Chuzhou, but this matter can only be transferred in secret, and Li Chongjin cannot be found out, if this thief hears that the imperial court sends the loyal army to Chuzhou, it may be reined in, and the fox's tail will not be exposed. And Shouzhou is far from Yangzhou, Chuzhou is a good place. It's just that if this matter is fought from within Li Chongjin and the enemy is cleared from within, it is also a method, I don't know what Liu Lao thinks? ”

"Your Highness, what's the best of this? It's just that we have to let Li Chongjin rebel, and let him break the army in a short time, this difficulty is indeed a bit big, and Li Chongjin's subordinates are loyal to Li Chongjin, I don't know where His Highness plans to start? ”

"I have here a holy decree appointing Li Chongjin as the assassin of Qingzhou, and after the imperial court discussed it, I planned to let me personally promulgate this decree to Li Chongjin, and let Han Lingkun serve as the assassin of Yangzhou and lead the Huainan Festival envoy. If Li Chongjin heard this, it is estimated that he would also suspect that His Majesty had found out about his wolf ambitions, but this is not counting, there is also a court appointment for Zhai Shouxun, if it is promulgated, what kind of effect will it cause, I am afraid Liu Lao should know! If it is divided today, if a rebellion can be quelled with a small number of soldiers and horses, then it is also a good thing. Therefore, as a last resort, it is better not to touch the soldiers and horses in Liu Lao's hands. ”

"Your Highness is benevolent and righteous, and the old minister admires it!"

Suddenly, Zhao Dezhao suddenly remembered something, and then he handed over the letter from his father-in-law Yang Meng to Liu Renzhan.

"Your Highness, what is this?" Liu Renzhan was holding a letter and didn't know whose it was.

"Elder Liu, this letter to you!"

Liu Renzhan flipped the national letter, because there was no font on the surface, so I don't know who wrote it, but this is also Yang Meng's carefulness, this is to create a mystery for Liu Renzhan.

Liu Renzhan tore open the letter, and then unfolded it, but his eyes suddenly straightened.

"This, how can His Highness have his letter?"

"This Liu Lao, you better read the letter first, and I'll talk about it!"

In the letter, he only asked about some things that have been good recently, and finally he mentioned that the person who sent the letter was his righteous son, and he would still meet if he had the opportunity, and he also said that the Huainan incident back then was only authorized by Yang Meng and acted by Zhao Dezhao.

After reading this letter, Liu Renzhan was excited, he couldn't believe the facts in front of him, and the person in front of him turned out to be the righteous son of his former friend.

"Your Highness, is it true?"

Zhao Dezhao didn't speak, just nodded.

"Thank you for the life-saving grace of the young master, and thank your Royal Highness for your love! My Liu family will definitely be loyal to the imperial court in the future. Liu Renzhan said sonorously.

"Liu Lao, since it was ordered by his father-in-law, he had to come to the rescue of the son of man, this is filial piety; For Liu Lao to protect the country and the safety of the people with his own strength, it is benevolence and righteousness; Preparing to throw away your head and spill your blood for the country is loyalty; At that time, the son of Liu Lao, sacrificed the city, this is the homeopathic trend of the people of the world, Dezhao admired Liu Lao's high righteousness, so he came to the rescue. Liu Lao doesn't need to thank Dezhao, this is a matter of duty. ”

"Your Highness—"

"Old Liu, let's discuss how to do things?"

"Yes, Your Highness, the old minister was so excited that he forgot ......"

After that, Liu Renzhan and Zhao Dezhao talked about plotting against Li Chongjin, and then quickly extinguished the matter, poor Li Chongjin was still deceived by his staff for many years Zhai Shouxun, Li Chongjin really damned!

……

It's August now, and the weather in August is still hot, and it's so hot that people collapse.

At this moment, in Yangzhou City, Li Chongjin learned from the imperial court's palace newspaper that the eldest son of today's emperor, King Liang Jun, had been on his way to inspect the prefectures and counties of Huainan this time, and he should arrive in Yangzhou City in a while.

Li Chongjin may not know that someone has already sharpened the knife and put the knife on his neck waiting to be cut. Li Chongjin's heart is very uneasy, and I don't know how, there are always bad things to happen recently, and this feeling is getting deeper and deeper, since Li Yun's rebellion was put down, his request to be the Son of Heaven was also refused, and he has been staying in the house recently, never leaving, afraid that someone is secretly looking for his loopholes.

And the Guangwei Building in Yangzhou City, the business is very prosperous, day by day into the gold, night and night sheng song midnight, all kinds of flavors, literati, bureaucrats and ordinary people all taste this delicious delicacy. And this Guangwei building is also aptly named, Guangwei Guangwei.

At night, the restaurant has closed, and I haven't slept all day today, and at this moment in the restaurant, in a side room, a figure got up and left, he put on his night clothes, and then went to Yangzhou City Li Chongjin Mansion to inquire about the news.

The night is already very deep, and the frogs have been chirping continuously these days, so it is still very lively, and Li Chongjin has a brilliant light in the house, and you can see it clearly at a glance in the deep night.

And that person is a spy of Changchun Hall, he was ordered here to investigate Li Chongjin, and then wait for an opportunity to find out the secrets of Li Chongjin's army, the connection between various personnel, and then break through it.