"Bai Wang, Bai Wang!" Li Zicheng shouted two words outside, and then said in a deep voice to Bai Wang, who was still a little inexplicable: "Next, you will listen to Mr. Song's dispatch, and you will do whatever Mr. Song says, understand?" ”

"I'll do whatever Mr. Song says?" Bai Wang was stunned when he heard this, and secretly thought that this dwarf could not use some evil arts, how could King Chuang stay with him in the house for a while was like drinking ecstasy soup. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info Li Zicheng saw Bai Wang's thoughts, and said with a smile: "Mr. Song is already our military advisor, what he said is what I said?" ”

"Oooh!" Bai Wang responded twice, at that time, "Three Kingdoms" was already a household name, and Zhuge Liang had already become synonymous with a think tank as a military advisor, he secretly looked at Li Zicheng's face, confirmed that the leader was not confused by this dwarf's evil magic, and said with a smile: "Understood, understood!" King Chuang, you are a fish, Mr. Song is water, and when you meet Mr. Song, you are like a fish in water! ”

"Not bad!" Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Don't be poor, go and do things!" ”

Luoyang. The ancient capital of the Nine Dynasties has lost its former glory in the Ming Dynasty, with the migration of the economic and political center from Guanzhong to the eastern part of the country and the excavation of the canal, Luoyang not only lost its position in the world, but also the position of the center of Henan was taken away by Kaifeng, and has been reduced to an ordinary city. However, after the outbreak of the war between the Ming Dynasty and the peasant army, Luoyang was in the middle of the world, and the strategic value of the mountains and rivers was reflected. From Luoyang to Hanoi in the north, Nanyang and Ruzhou in the south; East out of Chenggao; It is extremely convenient to enter Tongguan in the west. Hong Chengchou is like a giant spider, firmly in the center of the spider's web, no matter which direction the peasant army moves, he can quickly go there, drive it back into the mountains, and finally destroy it. Of course, there is another reason for Hong Chengchou's garrison in Luoyang, this is the place where the uncle of today's son, King Fu, is the first among the vassal kings in the world, if King Fu is the first, if King Fu is disturbed, I am afraid that his position as a governor will not be very stable.

For Hong Chengchou, the mood in the past few months from last winter to the beginning of spring this year is still quite good, although he is a little jealous of Yang Sichang for Yang Sichang to rise to the top with Liu Cheng's strength and dominate the leader, and feels that the other party is just lucky, if he hadn't sent Liu Cheng to Ningxia to deal with Lin Dan Khan, he is now in the cabinet to worship himself, not Yang Wenqiang. However, he was quite optimistic about the prospects of the war against the thieves: the thieves had been driven into the mountains at the junction of western Henan, southern Shaanxi, and northern Hubei, and the key passes leaving the mountains and entering the plains were under the control of the officers and troops of the provinces, and the main road to the east into the Central Plains was under his control. However, Hong Chengchou did not intend to launch an attack on the mountain thieves before the summer grain harvest, he knew very well that although on the surface he could supervise several provincial officials and troops, in fact, he could only use the troops of a few former thieves who had been appeased, and the troops of several generals such as Meng Ruhu and Zuo Liangyu transferred from Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces. The armies of the rest of the provinces are either too short, or most of them are old and weak, or they owe too much money, and it is good to guard the border passes of their own provinces as the main army, but if they are allowed to go to the mountains to fight to the death against the desperate thieves, they will definitely lose more than they win, but will ruin the whole situation. Therefore, Hong Chengchou planned to take advantage of the famine in the spring to weaken some of the enemy's strength, and at the same time see if he could find an opportunity to appease some of them and attack the thieves with thieves to reduce his own losses.

But the news of the loss of Luyang Pass destroyed Hong Chengchou's good mood, he was familiar with the geography of the soldiers, he didn't need to look at the map to know that this meant that the door to the Nanyang Basin had been opened to the peasant army, if you play an image analogy, the Nanyang Basin is like a revolving door between Guanzhong, Hanzhong, Hubei and the Central Plains, which can be entered on all sides and attacked on all sides. To the west through Wuguan is Lantian, the pass is shaken; You can enter Hanzhong by going up against the Hanshui River Valley, and you can approach Xiangfan to the south and enter the Jianghan Plain; To the east, you can go out of Fangcheng and enter the Central Plains. With his limited strength, it was impossible to stop the peasant army from attacking in all directions, which was equivalent to the destruction of his original deployment.

"Come on, please come to Liu Guoneng, deputy chief soldier!" Hong Chengchou forcibly suppressed the panic in his chest, he knew Jinshang's character very well, if the thieves re-entered the Central Plains, the impeachment posts of the imperial historians could bury him alive, and at that time, would the Son of Heaven still maintain his trust in himself? Hong Chengchou is not so confident.

"Keep your composure, stay calm, maybe it's not that bad, the most important thing now is to find out where the thieves are hit!" Hong Chengchou admonished himself while taking a deep breath, and when Liu Guoneng walked into the festival hall, on the surface, Hong Chengchou was no different from usual.

"The last general will see the Overseer!" Liu Guoneng kowtowed to Hong Chengchou twice, he has made a lot of achievements under Hong Chengchou in recent years, and has accumulated merits to the deputy commander-in-chief, which makes him more and more grateful to Hong Chengchou, and he wants to make more military achievements so that he can be promoted to the knighthood.

"Give General Liu a seat!" Hong Chengchou showed a reserved smile on his face, and said in a rather affectionate tone: "General Liu, how many soldiers and horses do you have to use now?" ”

"Tell the Governor, there are more than 2,000 elite soldiers under the command of the last general, all of whom are veterans of battle!" Speaking of this, Liu Guoneng hesitated: "It's just that when I exterminated the local pole in Ye County a few days ago, I lost more than 30 horses and more than 110 pairs of armor!" ”

"Oh, that's easy to say! I will instruct the grain station, you report a number, and I will make up for it for you immediately! Hong Chengchou was very happy.

"Thank you, sir!" Liu Guoneng was overjoyed when he heard this, he didn't expect Hong Chengchou to be so happy, and the horses were just fine, but the armor was not easy to make up, he specially doubled it just now, he thought that Hong Chengchou would be good if he could give one-third, but he didn't expect the other party to directly agree to all of them. In addition to his excitement, he was also a little apprehensive, with his past experience, Shangguan's benefits were not so delicious, and they were often accompanied by any tasks. Sure enough, Liu Guoneng did not guess wrong, and after a few more gossips, Hong Chengchou said in a deep voice: "General Liu, the official has just gotten the military information, the thieves have gone south and broken through the Luyang Pass, the situation is very critical, and the governor plans to send troops to help." You have a lot of cavalry, and you have just been to Ye County, so you are very familiar with the geography over there. You immediately lead the troops from Fangcheng Road to help Nanyang, be sure to ensure Nanyang's safety! ”

"Yes, Overseer!" Liu Guoneng hesitated slightly: "Master Inspector, there are tens of thousands of thieves, and the last general only has 2,000 people, I am afraid that I am outnumbered!" ”

"It's okay, you can do it!"

With Hong Chengchou's promise, Liu Guoneng bowed down and took the order to retreat. Hong Chengchou returned to the map, and while drawing on the map, he thought about it. He naturally didn't think that Liu Guoneng's 2,000 men and horses alone could defeat the thieves, but he was a thoughtful person, although he had made up his mind to walk the closer Sanya Road to save Nanyang, but he would not just walk all the way, after all, although the Sanya Road was the closest, there were many dangers along the way. Now it will take a day or two to dispatch troops and horses from all walks of life, so that Liu Guoneng can walk farther as a partial division first, but the flatter Fangcheng Road can concentrate the attraction of the thieves in the direction of Fangcheng Road, and he can lead the army by surprise from Sanya Road. As for choosing Liu Guoneng over other generals, he was born as a thief, and he knew very well the tricks commonly used by thieves, and he also had more cavalry, and he was cunning and wise, and he could often win by surprise; Moreover, compared with other generals of the Ming army, Liu Guoneng knew that his background was not good, he was cautious and cautious on weekdays, and he worked harder to fight, and he was more suitable for taking on the task of partial division.

After about half a meal, Hong Chengchou had already thought clearly about all the things about sending troops, so he called his staff and subordinates to assign one thing after another, and after these things were busy, the sky had already darkened, and it was already evening.

"Sir, will you have dinner in the study or in the back hall?" The old servant asked in a low voice.

"Let's be in the study!" Hong Chengchou stood up and casually instructed his henchmen on the side: "Mr. Wu, you can draft a letter for me to the Holy Lord, just mention a little about the thief's operation, give it to me tomorrow morning!" ”

"Yes, Overseer!" The staff said with a smile: "Then the next one said that the thieves were attacking Luyang in the south?" ”

"Needless to say, it is said that there are sporadic thieves near Luyang, the saint is worried about too many things now, and we as courtiers have to share his worries, how can we bother him with everything?"

"Yes, my lord, I see!"

It was just dawn, and the faint light on the river flickered with the waves, shattering under the poles, and then regrouping when the raft passed. After Xu Hecheng left Nanyang, he went all the way south along the Baihe River valley, he was afraid that the thieves would catch up, and marched at maximum speed every day, until he crossed the Baihe River before he felt safe.

"Lord Xu, what's that place in front of you?" Because he was about to cross the river, Zhu Yujian got off the carriage and asked, pointing to the faint gray in the distance.

"Oh!" When Xu Hecheng was young, he traveled south and north to many places, looked in the direction of Zhu Yujian's finger, and said with a smile: "Lord Wang, it should be Xinye over there!" ”

"Shinno? Is it the Xinye City where Uncle Liu Huang stayed? Zhu Yujian became excited, "Yes, you haven't been to Xinye, Lord Wang?" Xu Hecheng glanced at Zhu Yujian in surprise, and secretly wondered if this Tang King hadn't even been here?

"Hey!" Zhu Yujian sighed, his expression gloomy: "Mr. Xu, do you know?" The widow has not even gone out of Nanyang Mansion City a few times since he was born, not to mention this new field, it is also funny to say, if it weren't for the thieves to break through Nanyang City, I wouldn't have a chance to come out, but I want to thank these thieves! ”

Xu Hecheng opened his mouth, but he didn't know what to say, he remembered that according to the rules of the Ming Dynasty, although the vassal king had a noble status, if there was no permission from the imperial court, let alone interfering in the local military and political affairs, even leaving the domain without permission was a felony, in a sense, these dragon sons and phoenix grandchildren were just prisoners wearing gold shackles.

"Mr. Xu!" Zhu Yujian got rid of the negative emotions quickly: "What are you going to do next?" ”

"After crossing the White River, it is unlikely that the thieves will catch up!" Xu Hecheng thought for a moment and replied: "I plan to stay in Xinye City for a day or two to rest the horse, but I think it is still not safe enough here, if you don't object, Lord Wang, I plan to rest in Xinye City for two days, and then continue south to Xiangyang, there should be no problem there!" ”

"Hmmm! The widow has also heard that Xiangyang is a strong city in the world, and the thieves should have nothing to do with him! Zhu Yujian said with a smile: "Then Mr. Xu is going to say goodbye to the widow when he arrives in Xiangyang?" ”

"Not bad!" As soon as Xu Hecheng spoke, he felt a little rude, as if he was saying that Zhu Yujian had delayed him, and hurriedly smiled: "I was supposed to stay until the official army recovered Nanyang and sent the prince back to the palace, but I just had a military order-"

"It's okay!" Zhu Yujian said with a smile: "Mr. Xu, this time the king and his wife were able to escape from danger, all thanks to you." So be it! Speaking of this, he took off a piece of jade pendant from his waist and handed it to Xu Hecheng: "Please accept this jade pendant from Mr." ”

"How does this work!" Xu Hecheng has also seen the world, and when he saw the texture of the jade pendant, he knew that it was priceless, maybe it was still a gift from the palace, he was about to excuse himself, but his hand was warm, but he was forced into his hand by Zhu Yujian.

"Mr. Xu, this jade pendant was given to me by my father, and it is said to have the effect of warding off wind and driving away evil spirits. The widow lives deep in the palace, brocade clothes and jade food, but I am afraid that I will not need this jade pendant, Mr. is running for the country, but he can still use it, so he will accept it! ”

Xu Hecheng saw that Zhu Yujian said that he lived in the palace, with fine clothes and fine food, but his face was clearly gloomy, obviously not satisfied with this kind of half-prisoner life, and he couldn't help but feel a little sorry in his heart. Tie the jade pendant around his waist, and bowed to Zhu Yujian twice: "The king is generous, Hecheng doesn't dare to refuse, and he accepts it with a cheeky face!" ”

"Good, good!" Seeing Xu Hecheng accept the jade pendant, Zhu Yujian showed a sincere smile. At this moment the raft of the carriage returned, and without waiting for the old eunuch's urging, he turned and got into the raft.

Looking at the raft slowly heading towards the opposite bank, Xu Hecheng had mixed feelings in his heart, and suddenly Xu Wancheng's voice sounded in his ears: "Big brother, what do you think of this Tang Wangren?" ”

"How's the people? Why do you ask this? Xu Hecheng asked with some surprise.

Xu Wancheng smiled, but did not answer Xu Hecheng's question, and said directly: "I have been with him for the past few days, and I think that this Tang King is really a watch of the sky, a dragon and a phoenix, and he is worthy of being a nobleman in the world!" ”

"Humph!" Xu Hecheng snorted coldly, and asked without looking back: "Say, what the hell are you trying to do?" ”

"Hahaha!" Xu Wanqian laughed: "Sure enough, it's the eldest brother who is the same as me, and I can't hide anything from you." He laughed dryly, and when he saw that Xu Hecheng didn't agree, he had to force a smile and said: "I want to stay with this Tang King and do things and find a career!" (To be continued.) )