All the things in Pingshou are over, and it's almost time to discuss the return trip. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info Although the counterinsurgency is not over in theory, anyone with a discerning eye knows that the Pingshou of the drama county has been decided, and the remaining two counties struggling in the cracks are just grasshoppers after the autumn, and they can't jump for a few days.

This expedition can be regarded as a very profitable one, not only the military strength has increased, but also the material gains are not small. Needless to say, the captured rebels were already guilty, and it was not easy to get leniency, and after hearing that they could still have money after joining the Jimo establishment, they immediately applied impatiently to join the Jimo army, which made Zhao Min's team more than double at once. The key is that there are a large number of border soldiers in these surrendered armies, all of whom are welded soldiers who have crawled out of the flesh and blood jungle, and the combat power has only doubled! Not to mention the thousands of crossbow machines that have been harvested, so that the crossbow battalion in the army can be expanded by three times in an instant!

But if you want to talk about the biggest gain of this trip, in fact, it is the five ballistas. Zhao Min was now carefully inspecting the ballista in the warehouse, and he was snorting while watching. The total length of this ballista is nearly three zhang, and it is composed of two parts, the crossbow machine and the saddle, the lower part of the saddle is responsible for moving, and there are two wheels with a diameter of five feet before and after, which lifts the body more than two feet from the ground, so that it can easily pass through complex terrain; The upper part is shaped like a crossbow machine that has been expanded more than ten times, but the crossbow arm is cast from a whole piece of fine iron, and the crossbow arrow is also made of a giant wood as thick as a child's arm, nested with cast iron arrows, and the tail of the arrow does not even have tail feathers. On that day, Zhao Min had a deep understanding of the power of this crossbow arrow at the head of Pingshou City.

But what interests Zhao Min the most is the power part of the ballista. The winding of this ballista is not simply the use of manpower, but the winding action is completed by a winch mounted on the base of the crossbow machine to pull the crossbow string. This reminded Zhao Min of the thunderbolt cannon drawings he got before the war, because he was in a hurry to go out and had not yet had time to complete the production, which made Zhao Min, who originally hoped that the thunderbolt cannon would show its might, was quite disappointed. However, the structure of the thunderbolt cannon is very simple, and the throwing depends on the elasticity of the throwing arm itself, and the range is not too far. Zhao Min originally thought that it was because of the backwardness of science and technology in this era and the lack of equipment. But now seeing the winch device on the ballista made Zhao Min's brain open up instantly: if the winch is applied to the thunderbolt cannon, will it improve the performance of the thunderbolt cannon a lot? This idea made Zhao Min a little excited, and he couldn't wait to fly back to Jimo immediately to experiment. It's a pity that it is not appropriate for me to leave without permission now, and I have been watched very closely by Mr. Meng during this time, otherwise I may not have done anything about Zhao Min really riding back to the city alone.

Early the next morning, Zhao Min was wiping his sweat after completing his daily training, when the guards came to report that the army of Qingzhou Mansion had left camp early in the morning and went to Duchang. Zhao Min laughed secretly in his heart after hearing this, Cao Tingshi seemed to have been stimulated by yesterday, for fear that he would not even be able to drink the soup if he went in Duchang by himself, so he simply went to the Duchang battlefield without notifying him, presumably to grab the loot. It's a pity that there are so many loot to grab! Do you really think that Lu Xu is a jingle cat who can take out good things at any time? If there were so many crossbow machines in the remaining two counties, I am afraid that I would have paid a very heavy price when I went down to the city! If that's the case, I won't run to Pingshou to find abuse. It's a pity that Cao Kai didn't know all this, and of course Zhao Min wasn't so kind to inform him. Just let Lord Thorn Shi gnaw on the bones, and follow him slowly!

At that moment, Zhao Min unhurriedly raised his account and ordered troops, packed his bags, and marched eastward in a graceful manner.

The mood of the return journey is very different from when it comes, it coincides with the cold and warm time, the warm sun is warm, there is a sense of spring breeze and horseshoe disease, the team of nearly 4,000 people, plus the large cart and the countless baggage, actually walked and came to the speed difference of day and night, only two days of effort to go to the territory of Duchang, less than 20 miles away from Duchang County.

Seeing that it was not far from Duchang City, presumably the Qingzhou Mansion army had already arrived in the city at this time, and he didn't want to join in the excitement, and it was getting late, so Zhao Min arranged for the garrison to camp, planning to wait until tomorrow to mean something, so as not to fall into the hands of others.

Just as the soldiers were setting up camp on piles, the guards suddenly came to report that someone had asked to see them. Zhao Min was full of doubts, who would it be at this time? It can't be that Cao Kai can't take Duchang to ask for help, right? Thinking of this, Zhao Min himself was a little funny, shook his head and put this ridiculous idea behind him, and tidied up his clothes to welcome the arrival of visitors.

The person who came was not single, but was accompanied by Meng Hou. Zhao Min was surprised, but when he saw Meng Hou's calm expression, he was a little sure in his heart. It seems that since the time of returning from the robbery, Meng Hou has become the backbone of Zhao Min, as long as Mr. Meng is there, there is no problem that can be difficult for him. Seeing Meng Hou's expression, Zhao Min felt confident. But when I saw that the person who came was dressed in black, covered with a black robe, and I couldn't see how to describe it. Meng Hou motioned to Zhao Min to retreat left and right, and after the guards left Sanzhang, the black-clothed man uncovered half of the black robe on his head, revealing half of his face, which was Chen Zhen who had not been seen for many days! Zhao Min was surprised, and opened his mouth to ask, but was stopped by Meng Hou with a color, which made Zhao Min a little confused.

After separating under Pingshou City that day, Chen Zhen was annoyed by Kong Chen's failure to persuade him to surrender, and volunteered to go to the other two counties to try, but Zhao Min did not go against his will, only told him to pay attention to his own safety, and sent two personal guards to protect him and let him go. In the past few days, there have been many battles and many changes, and Zhao Min has almost forgotten the existence of such a diplomat. Unexpectedly, I saw Chen Zhen again in Duchang today, and he looked mysterious, and he didn't understand what kind of medicine he was selling in his gourd for a while.

Chen Zhen leaned into Zhao Min's ear and said in a low voice: "Don't be surprised, the King of Beihai really came here in disguise, just for one important thing." This matter is secret, and I can only say that the King of Beihai alone knows about it, and I hope that the King of Beihai will forgive me! ”

Zhao Min nodded indiscriminately, and then listened to Chen Zhen continue: "Zhen came to Duchang three days ago and met with Lingma Gui of Duchang County. Under the persuasion of Zhen, Namagyu already had the intention of surrendering, but he was afraid that he would settle accounts after a long time, so he had been a little hesitant. When the king of Beihai pacified Pingshou and hit Lu Wei hard, Ma Gui no longer had the heart to resist and decided to surrender. However, because he was worried that Cao Qingzhou would take him to sacrifice the flag, there was one condition: only the king of the North Sea, not the Qingzhou Mansion! Now that the Qingzhou army has besieged Duchang, Ma Gui has no choice but to close the city gate and delay for a while, wanting to wait for the king of Beihai. It's really a risk to sneak out of the city, and come here in disguise, is to invite the prince of Beihai to Duchang to surrender, after all, time is not waiting, and I am afraid of change! ”

Zhao Min was so surprised that he almost couldn't close his mouth: There was really a pie in the sky, and he smashed his head! This Duchang County Order is also funny enough, since it is a surrender, if you don't surrender to the greater chief officer Qingzhou Thorn History, you want to surrender yourself as a temporary 'Penglai Protector'! But if you think about it, there is some truth, after all, Ma Gui is the main general of the party who rebelled with Lu Xu, and he fell into the hands of Qingzhou Mansion, whether it is for merit or for the sake of killing a hundred people, in short, someone needs to be sent to Jingshi to apologize; Now that Lu Xu is alive and dead, he has no corpse, and the remaining county heads Kong Chen has been ambushed, leaving only himself and Deng Xian, the chief of the lower secrets, so I am afraid that the only ending for the two of them is to send Beijing to the streets to show the public, and then the fate of the Ming Zheng Code. But on the other hand, Zhao Min is different, because he is not a person from Beihai, but now he is in charge of counterinsurgency, even if he catches Ma Gui, he may not necessarily be sent as a bargaining chip to ask for merit and reward, because even the prince cannot be promoted, so there is not much urgent need. From this point of view, this Ma Maidas can be regarded as a smart person.

Although there are some surprises, but don't give a big gift in vain, the so-called 'God will not take it, you will be blamed' Zhao Min still understands. Zhao Min glanced at Meng Hou and saw that he was half-squinting, as if he was asleep, but a smile on the corner of his mouth showed his attitude. However, Chen Zhen was right, if he hadn't gone to surrender earlier, under the pressure of the Qingzhou Army, maybe this gift package would have flown off. At that moment, Zhao Min no longer hesitated, and ordered the guards to prepare horses, and there should not be too many companions, so he only called Shang Zhanghan and rode to Duchang with Chen Zhen.

When I arrived at the city of Deduchang, I saw that the Qingzhou army surrounded the city. However, it is said that it is surrounded by a group, but it is not really surrounded in a circle to encircle Duchang in the middle, after all, Duchang City is also five or six miles wide, if you really want to enclose a big circle, the thickness of the formation will be broken like a poke of paper, not to mention, Cao Kai's less than 20,000 people do not have so many troops to do it. Therefore, the so-called siege was actually divided into four parts to block the direction of the four gates, and some patrols patrolled between the four parts. Because of this, there is still a big gap between each other, and it is not difficult for a small group of people to sneak in. In fact, the encirclement of the Qingzhou Army was originally to prevent a large army from escaping, and a small team of a few people couldn't prevent it if they wanted to.

Zhao Min and the others quietly avoided the eyes and ears of the patrol team and successfully came to Duchang City. I saw Chen Zhen take out a jade-like thing that looked like a jade, not jade, and shaped like a miniature version of a sheng, put it to his mouth and blew it hard, making a low whining sound. Soon, a similar noise was heard from the top of the city. A moment later, a hanging basket with a rope was lowered from the city in front of the three men. Zhao Min stepped into the hanging basket first, followed by Zhang Han and Chen Zhen. Zhao Min is not afraid that someone will harm him, after all, Zhang Han's force of 86 is not vegetarian, and it is no problem to protect himself from the city if there is any accident; What's more, Zhao Min is now a combination of a sprint world champion and Xiao Li Feidao, and ordinary people really won't be stunned. The people at the head of the city pulled the ropes, and the hanging basket was quickly raised to the head of the city. The moment Zhao Min bought the city wall, a middle-aged scribe dressed in dark cyan cranes, with a three-foot long hair, a righteous face, and a dignified appearance came up to bow his head, and shouted in a loud voice: "The guilty minister Ma Gui see His Royal Highness the King of Beihai!" Hokkaino Chitose! ”

Zhao Min couldn't cry or laugh, you said that the ignorant villager is just that, you are a parent official with tens of thousands of people, and you dare to call yourself Your Highness? Still Chitose? Do you think I'm not troublesome enough or what? It's just that I didn't expect this guy to be born with a good skin, but he is a good hand at seeing the wind and steering the rudder, so it's no wonder that he will be taken seriously by Shangguan. Zhao Min observed Magway's attributes by the way:

Name: Ma Gui character Ji Yu

Identity: Duchang County, Beihai County (temporary)

Command: 45

Force: 28

Intelligence: 70

Politics: 68

Characteristics: None

To say that the only pity of Magway is that he followed the wrong master, but now that he has the intention of taking refuge, it is naturally not good to be too cold, and he pretended to blame a few words at the moment, under Magway's humble apology, and Chen Zhen was on the side, and soon the two became familiar like old friends, talking and laughing happily.

In fact, Zhao Min was a little absent-minded, what he was thinking in his heart was: Cao Kai looked like he was about to vomit blood when he held a banquet in Pingshou County that day, and he didn't seem to be in good health; When I learned that I had taken the lead again, and what was even more excessive was that this time it was a whole pot, and there was not even a mouthful of soup left, would it make Lord Cao faint with anger?