In February of the 22nd year of Xiande, Li Zhen, the king of Yong, defeated the Northern Han again, and then the lord of the Northern Han Dynasty issued an edict, so that the Weiyuan general Long Tingfei regained his love, and the dragon was shocked and brilliant, and turned the tide and tried to prevent Li Zhen from Yanmen Pass, Li Zhen was defeated and retreated, but the army was not greatly damaged, and in March of the same year, the Great Yongbei Han negotiated peace.

At the beginning of April, Li Xian, the king of Qi, went south, Chen Bing Xiangyang, and when Prince Jue Zhen Xiangyang, he was defeated. Then there was a person in the court who said, Prince De's military power is in his hands, and the training of troops is intended to conquer the north, Dayong thus raised troops to attack Chu, the lord of the country believed it, Prince Zhaode returned to the dynasty, on the fourth day of the fifth month, the king of Qi once again raised troops to commit Xiangyang, the lord of the country regretted it, and ordered Prince De to travel to Xiangyang in the starry night and night.

"The Biography of Prince Jue of Chu in the Southern Dynasty"

I stood in front of the window with my hands in my hands, looking at the cold moonlight, Xiao Shunzi standing behind me, and Chen Zhi standing at the door. Xiao Shunzi said: "My lord, how are you going to reply to His Royal Highness King Yong's letter, the messenger is still waiting." ”

I said lightly: "If you write a reply letter for me, you will say that the King of Qi will not be able to win, and if Prince De is here, even if Prince Yong comes, it will not be so easy to break through the Jingxiang guarded by Prince De." I am a minister of Southern Chu, how can I take refuge in Dayong. But it seems that Dayong is about to raise troops, Chen Zhen, you have to send someone to monitor Liang Wan well, I think they should make a move. ”

At this time, there was a knock on the door, I nodded, Chen Zhi stepped forward to open the door, and a fourteen or fifteen-year-old child walked in, and said on one knee: "Son, there is urgent news, Li Xian, the king of Dayongqi, is attacking Xiangyang." ”

I smiled faintly, Li Xian still knows the art of war, if Jing Xiang falls into the hands of Dayong, then the connection between Shuzhong and Jiangnan will be cut off, and then Dayong can devour the Southern Chu whale. However, I believe in Prince De's ability, Jingxiang's defense is very tight.

In the next few days, there was a lot of discussion in the DPRK and China, Dayong attacked Nanchu, so that those ministers were afraid and angry, some people angrily asked to ask Dayong for guilt, but more people were there to discuss how to offend Dayong, and some people even said that they should immediately report to Dayong, express their guilt, and ask Dayong to collect their troops. Shang Weijun, the prime minister, took a firm position, and asked to send envoys to question why Dayong offended for no reason, although this proposal was unanimously agreed, the hearts of the Manchu Dynasty civil and military were even more uneasy, so someone secretly visited Mingyue Tower for several days in a row, wanting to get some assurance. I didn't stop this, even the ministers of the DPRK and China have lost confidence in Nanchu, what else can I do?

I asked Xiao Shunzi to take out the map of Xiangyang's troops, carefully study, Xiangyang is actually composed of Xiangcheng and Fancheng, the two cities face each other across the Han River, there is a pontoon bridge in the middle, both cities are deep ditches and high fortresses, if the enemy divides the troops to attack, the strength will inevitably weaken and cannot be broken, if the enemy attacks a city, the soldiers of the two cities can support through the pontoon bridge, plus the protection of the navy, so Xiangyang is easy to defend and difficult to attack. When Prince De arrived in Xiangyang, he sent someone to send me a defense map, let me consult, I did not have a clear answer, but gave a design of a pontoon bridge to Prince De, if the original wooden bridge is damaged it is difficult to repair, I instructed to set up two rows of wooden piles in the river, each wooden pile is used to use a large wooden hammer into the bottom of the river, on which is worn with iron chains, paved with wooden boards, is a pontoon bridge that can be repaired at any time, in addition, I gave a sample of a fishing net with a bell to Prince De, so that he can spread the fishing net under the water during the battle, Avoid water ghosts from sneaking up on the pontoon bridge. I just gave Prince De a picture and a fishing net, and as for how to deploy it, it was Prince De's own idea, and it had nothing to do with me. Looking at it, I still think that if Prince De guards Xiangyang, he will not easily lose it, but doesn't King Qi know that Xiangyang is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

On April 14, the king of Qi Li Xian ordered the siege of the city, the offensive was in full swing, the soldiers of Dayong were not afraid of casualties, desperately attacking the city, Prince De ordered the naval army to attack the infantry of the king of Qi with bows and arrows with the help of Han Shui, forcing them to retreat, the king of Qi made a comeback for the second time, so that people used trebuchets to force back the water army, the army took advantage of the situation to attack the city, said to attack the north gate of Xiangyang day and night, Prince De saw that the situation was critical, personally led three thousand cavalry out of the south gate, attacked the side of the Yong army, the Yong army did not expect the southern Chu army to dare to go out of the city, the formation was in chaos, Li Xian, the king of Qi, ordered to send five thousand fine cavalry to meet the enemy, Carrying Zhao Jue, he led to the east gate and defeated him with rolling wood and stones. Li Xian was furious, sent 20,000 troops to suppress the formation, held the two wings, and urged 80,000 troops to take turns to attack the north gate, the north gate was precarious, Zhao Jue did not see each other in the city to supervise the battle, and finally when the Yong army was tired, the defenders of Fancheng attacked from behind, and the two sides attacked, Li Xian saw heavy losses and had to retreat, Zhao Jue pursued for thirty miles, the Yong army was killed and wounded, Zhao Jue just retreated, the two sides fought for three days, the Yong army of 150,000 killed and wounded more than 60,000 people, the Southern Chu defenders 70,000, 20,000 dead and wounded, this is a tragic victory. After the Yongjun retreated, Zhao Jue immediately sent people to the court to report the victory and ask for reinforcements.

At this time, Zhao Jia looked at Zhao Jue's seal of victory, both joy and worry, and he said: "Ladies and gentlemen, although Uncle Wang won, but the strength of the Dayong army is ten times better than mine, what should we do?" ”

Shang Weijun said: "Lord Qiyu, although Dayong has lost the alliance this time, my country's military strength is far inferior to Dayong, so it is better to take this opportunity to send someone to ask Dayong for peace." ”

Everyone heard that it should be like this, and at this moment, someone reported that the envoy sent to Dayong had returned, and Zhao Jia hurriedly ordered him to go to the palace. This envoy Fu Yulun, is Xiande sixteen years of Tanhua, now in the Ministry of Rites, he knelt down and said: "The minister was ordered to send an envoy to Dayong, and before he entered the boundary of Dayong, he was blocked by Li Xian, the king of Qi, and he claimed that this time the army was committed to Chu, for the side of the Qing monarch, this is the letter of the king of Qi to the lord of the country." ”

Zhao Jia hurriedly asked the waiter to take it, and after a closer look, it was written as follows.

"The king of Dayongqi worshiped the lord of Southern Chu, this time the army, not for other things, Prince Zhao Jue, the wolf ambition, sitting in Xiangyang, strong soldiers and horses, always peeking at my Dayong border, what's more, the intention to seize the artifact, this person does not exclude, Dayongnan Chu Yong Yong Wu Ning said, this king and the lord of the country Uncle Lang close relatives, Yan is willing to inflict harm, if you don't believe it, please edict it to return to the court, it will inevitably push three and four, refuse to accept, the promise of the past, this king keeps in mind, but its power is powerful, once the lord restores the imperial industry, that person raises troops and makes trouble, I Dayong is also inconvenient to interfere, If the lord of the country accepts his military power, our two countries will be in harmony as before, and if the lord of the country believes his slander, this king will hunt Jiangnan with the lord of the country. ”

Zhao Jia saw it, cold all over his body, if he wanted to believe it, he suspected that he was dividing the monarch and ministers, if he didn't believe it, since Zhao Jue came back from attacking Shu, he repeatedly asked for military money and food, and he refused to return to the dynasty from Xiangyang, so he really had antipathy, and then remembered that Zhao Jue's reputation was far better than his own, and he couldn't help but be jealous. said lightly: "Uncle Wang wins, he should also return to the dynasty to be rewarded, pass on the will of the orphan, and Prince Zhaode will return to the dynasty." ”

Zhao Jue, who was far away in Jingxiang, received the edict, refused to return to the court, the above table said that the military situation was urgent, and he could not return to the court for the time being, Zhao Jia was only suspicious of Zhao Jue, seeing that Zhao Jue refused to come back, he couldn't help but be a little more suspicious, and even issued a few edicts, at the beginning Zhao Jue also disobeyed the order on the grounds that the general was not subject to foreign military orders, but Zhao Jia's edict became more and more sharp, and finally, even the courtiers were suspicious, and in desperation, Zhao Jue handed over the defense of Jingxiang to Rong Yuan, and returned to Jianye with some personal guards. There are still dozens of miles away from Jianye, and a mediocre-looking man came to block the road and gave Zhao Jue a letter.

"It was a big mistake not to return at the beginning, and it is even more wrong to return today, but now you might as well turn back to Jingxiang and support the army for self-respect."

Zhao Jue looked at it, sighed, burned the letter on the fire, and said, "Thank your master for me, tell him that Zhao Jue is not a rebel." ”

The man retreated silently.

When he arrived in Jianye, Zhao Jue went to the palace gate to ask for a meeting, but was imprisoned by Zhao Jia's edict, although Zhao Jue explained the reason why he refused to come back, but to no avail, in Zhao Jia's heart, if he was not worried that Li Xian, the king of Qi, would not have retreated according to the agreement, Zhao Jue would have been punished a long time ago. During Zhao Jue's imprisonment, some courtiers suddenly asked Zhao Jue to be killed, but Zhao Jia was finally not confused about that, but released Zhao Jue from prison and put him under house arrest temporarily.

The above table asked to kill Zhao Jue is my idea, after I got a message from Chen Zhi that Zhao Jue refused to rebel, I thought of this way, Zhao Jue is a loyal minister, but also a stupid person, if he came back immediately, Zhao Jia will definitely know that he is wrong, then Zhao Jue can return to Xiangyang soon, since he didn't come back at the beginning, and now he comes back, it seems that he is a thief, Zhao Jia is a more wise person and can't help but be suspicious, not to mention that I think Zhao Jia is not smarter than an idiot. After Zhao Jue was placed under house arrest, I was really embarrassed, according to my thoughts, in fact, if Zhao Jue couldn't come out, so the opportunity I needed would come soon, but thinking of Zhao Jue's hard work to support Nanchu, but there was a scene of suffering, I really couldn't bear it, even if Nanchu was going to perish, it should be after letting the people who love it do their best. So I wrote to Rong Yuan at that time and told him to ask him to instigate officials to submit a table to demand that Zhao Jue be executed. The messenger I sent was very fast, not long after Zhao Jue arrived in Jianye, the people sent by Rong Yuan arrived, he sent people around to provoke those who were afraid of Dayong to go to the table, sure enough, Zhao Jia has not yet arrived home in a daze, he still has general confidence in Zhao Jue, seeing so many people asking to kill Zhao Jue, but he was shocked, Zhao Jue's life was saved, and now it depends on when he can return to Xiangyang, which depends on Dayong's help.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for the King of Qi to commit Jing Xiang again, this King of Qi was really too patient, if it was King Yong, I am afraid that he would wait a little more, Rong Yuan was finally able to do it, stabilized the situation in Jingxiang, and the eight-hundred-mile urgent document of Xiangyang arrived, so that the lord of the country immediately woke up and hurriedly sent Zhao Jue back to Xiangyang. Zhao Jue didn't care about anything, and immediately took the guards on the road. Soon after arriving outside the city, Zhao Jue saw a delicate and elegant young man sitting in the Shili Pavilion, there was a pot of wine on the stone table in the pavilion, two wine cups, behind him, there was a middle-aged man with a mediocre appearance, in the four corners of the pavilion, there were two fifteen or sixteen-year-old half-sized men standing everywhere. Zhao Jue smiled and kicked off the saddle, and gave a deep salute in front of the young man: "Thanks to Suiyun for rescue, Zhao Jue is grateful, and now I am really ashamed to be sent by the king." ”

I stood up and said, "The prince is very good, and those ghost tricks naturally can't hurt the prince, and the prince is going to Jingxiang and has a distant future, so he came with Yun Te to see him off." ”

A little guy stepped forward, poured two glasses of wine for us, and then quietly retreated, Zhao Jue saw that this little guy was clever and handsome, and couldn't help but feel good, and said: "Suiyun has been pampered in recent years, and these servants know that they are everyone's demeanor at first sight, and they have a little more book fragrance." ”

I smiled indifferently, raised my glass and said, "Persuade you to have a glass of wine, and go to Jingxiang to wish for peace." ”

Zhao Jue raised his glass and drank it all, and said: "It's a pity that Suiyun refuses to go to Jingxiang with me, if Suiyun is in charge, Jingxiang will be foolproof." ”

I chuckled and said, "Didn't the prince look down on Mr. Rong?" ”

Zhao Jue got up and said: "Okay, send you a thousand miles, you need to say goodbye, Jingxiang's military affairs are urgent, I am in a hurry to go, so I will leave, wait until the Yongjun army is repulsed, you and I will get together again to drink, if it is unfortunate, please go to my grave with the clouds to pay tribute." ”

Hearing this, the wine glass in my hand almost slipped off, today I gave him a lesson, in the past two years I gradually have a lesson in divination, but this morning after I bathed in incense, for him to take a lesson, but got a fierce hexagram, there is a meaning of untimely death in the middle way, and now I hear Zhao Jue's words with a murderous letter, it is even more chilling. Zhao Jue got on the horse and was about to leave, when I suddenly said: "Lord Wang, I have two attendants, although they are young, but they are quite proficient in martial arts, so I will ask them to accompany the prince to Xiangyang on behalf of Suiyun, and also talk about the regret that the subordinate officials cannot accompany him." Thief Li, Bai Yi, you have come to see the prince. Zhao Jue looked at the two children who stepped forward to give a salute, and said with a wry smile: "Follow the clouds, the journey is tiring, don't embarrass the children, right?" ”

I said lightly: "They are skilled in arching horses, and they will not miss the prince's itinerary." ”

Zhao Jue was going to persuade again, but seeing that I was resolute and had time to press, I had to whip my farewell and ride away.

Zhao Jue hurried all the way, in addition to changing horses halfway, even eating and sleeping in the saddle, he was originally worried that the two children sent by Jiang Zhe beside him would not be able to support it, but every time he looked, he saw the two children full of energy, so Zhao Jue stopped worrying about them later. Seeing that there are still more than 300 miles away, you should be able to get to Xiangyang by changing horses again. Zhao Jue stretched his waist on the horse and said, "Okay, there is a tea shed in front, let's take a rest here, have lunch, and then rush to Xiangyang in one go, how about it?" "Everyone is very happy, they are really tired from the wild running for the past few days, although they have to rush next, but it is good to be able to rest for a while.

Thief Li and Bai Yi heard Zhao Jue's order, Thief Li dismounted first, took a few steps to the tea shed, and ordered to clean up a few tables and put hot tea, although this tea shed is small, but there are some small dishes such as salted peanuts, Thief Li also let the boss turn around, and after a while, he packed up the seat, Bai Yi automatically went to ask for boiling water copper basin, washed it clean, took out a square towel from the package, and waited for Zhao Jue to sit down, and came to serve him to wash his face and dust, although Zhao Jue is a royal family, but for many years on the battlefield, The enjoyment of these families has long been out of reach. Seeing that this pair of little guys was so capable, he couldn't help but be happy, and after he sat down, drank a cup of hot tea, and ate dry food with salted peanuts, he saw that the two of them had already finished eating, and were urging the boss to feed the horses there. Zhao Jue couldn't help but say: "What a pair of capable children, Jiang Zhuangyuan is really powerful, training a pair of servants to such a point." ”

One of his guards smiled and said, "If you like it, go back and tell Lord Jiang, and ask them to serve." ”

Although Zhao Jue knew that not to mention the two servants, it was common for wealthy families to love concubines and beautiful maids to give them away, but he still shook his head and said: "A gentleman does not win people's love, these two children are not trained casually." ”

Everyone talked and laughed for a while, Zhao Jue ordered to go on the road, and at this moment, a guard suddenly screamed, and everyone looked, but saw a silver arrow shot through his vest.

Everyone was in the army, and immediately looked for obstacles to dodge, but heard a loud laugh, a man in white slowly walked out of the forest, only to see that this person was very handsome, Xiu Wei's figure stood up under the wrapping of the white samurai robe, a silver-white bow with an almost perfect arc hung on the left shoulder, and the quiver of the same color was obliquely tied around the waist, both the costume and the bow and arrow were exquisite, and it was obvious that their owner was a very sophisticated person. Zhao Jue said with a chill in his heart: "It's Duanmu Qiu, the prodigal son of the silver bow." ”

The man in white smiled and said: "The villain is exactly, I heard that Prince De is here, and he has come to pay respects. ”

Zhao Jue listened to his gentle words, but the meaning in his heart was extremely arrogant, and he said coldly: "This king is busy with military affairs, and he doesn't dare to delay, Your Excellency secretly attacked with an arrow, and I think I came to assassinate this king." ”

Duanmu Qiu said disdainfully: "I have never been willing to sneak attack and plot, otherwise this arrow just now would have killed the prince's surname, as for the sergeant, it was just me to say hello, and I wouldn't be surprised if I wanted to come to the prince." ”

Zhao Jue said coldly: "This king has always treated his subordinates as siblings, Your Excellency is so contemptuous of soldiers, no wonder you did not serve in the Dayong army, who in the world does not know the golden bow Changsun, the silver bow Duanmu, the eldest grandson General is under the command of King Yong, leading the army to fight, invincible, and you silver bow Duanmu, can only be brave and fierce in the rivers and lakes." ”

Zhao Jue's words must have pierced Duanmu Qiu's heart, a cold murderous aura flashed in his eyes, and he said coldly: "I came here just to prevent the prince from escaping, and now it seems that I can't do it if I don't make a move, but I don't know if the prince can escape a few arrows from me." ”

A pampered voice came: "This girl dares to pack a ticket, you can't shoot him." With the voice, a beautiful woman in red came out, this woman was gorgeous, but with long eyebrows and sideburns, and full of evil energy, but she was a female rakshasa like figure. Zhao Jue couldn't help but smile bitterly: "It turns out that you are here too, no wonder, your senior brothers and sisters are inseparable." ”

The woman said coldly: "Prince De also knows this girl, but it is an honor." ”

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