Longsheng ten years Bingxu, Wu Yue has different people to help the righteous army, in the coastal towns to build a tunnel fortress to resist the Yongjun, although the Yongjun is strong, can not enter the door, Wu Yue gradually settled.

――"Zizhi Tongjian-Yongji IV"

The blue sea is tidal, the clouds are dense, and it is about to rain, but the young man who sits on the beach rock is heavy, and he has no intention of going back to shelter from the rain, he is a native of Zhenhai in Wu County, and the East China Sea army went ashore to plunder in the twelfth year of Tai, his father and brother are excellent blacksmiths, and the blades cast by Wu Yue are famous, so they were looted and taken away, leaving only the old mother, brother and sister-in-law and two nephews, he was not at home at the time, so he survived. Later, he joined the rebel army, hoping that he would never let the Yongjun go ashore to plunder again, but he looked forward to seeing his father and brother, but he didn't know that his father and brother were still alive now, and he couldn't help but feel sad when he thought of this.

Just when his eyes were gradually hazy, his eyes flashed inadvertently, but he saw several light boats on the sea coming in the wind and waves, and the boats were all Yongjun wearing soft armor, he was shocked, got up and shouted: "Yongjun is coming, Yongjun is coming." But today it was about to rain, and the rebels who patrolled this part of the coast were lazy, and the young man cried out with a loud voice, but no one heard him. Ran not far away, heard the sound of the wind in his ears, the young man rushed to the side, there was a cry behind him, a knife cut the air, the man slashed sideways, the young man dodged to avoid, but was kicked down by another Yongjun sergeant, the sergeant who attacked with a knife took the opportunity to point the knife at the throat of the young man, and asked coldly: "How many rebels are there in the village?" Where is Yunzi Mountain? ”

The young man was silent, a stubborn look in his eyes. The sergeant of the Yongjun smiled slightly, and without asking too much, he was about to cut it off with a swing of the knife, and the young man suddenly asked, "Who forged your sword?" The blade suddenly stopped, only to cut a bloody mark on the young man's neck. At this time, except for the sergeant who drove the sea boat was still on the boat, the rest of the Yongjun had already gone ashore one after another, one of them had a slightly different suit and armor, obviously the identity of the leader, he heard the young man's question, stepped forward and said with a smile: "Don't you know, our army has taken away many craftsmen from Wuyue, and these people have been incorporated into the Dinghai craftsman camp, and his sword is made by Gongsun Mo, the most famous swordsmith in your Zhenhai." ”

An irrepressible look of joy flashed in the young man's eyes, and he asked in a trembling voice, "He is still alive, but what about his son?" ”

A meaningful look flashed in the sword-wielding sergeant's eyes, and he said, "Do you mean Gongsun, his sword is also good, but he is better at making crossbow machines." ”

The young man couldn't hold back his tears, his father and brother were still alive, and the joy of finally hearing from his relatives made him unable to restrain himself. The sergeant's cold and hard voice came from his ears: "What do you have to do with Gongsun Mo?" How many rebels are there in the village, if you confess honestly, I will spare you death. ”

The young man's eyes flashed with a sharp man, and he said: "If you kidnap my flesh and invade my land, you will die in the next place, and I will not tell you the information of the rebels." After that, he stood up and slammed his throat into the blade, the sergeant was quick and quickly put away the knife, but he still cut a big wound on the young man's neck, blood gushed, the young man's vision began to blur, and there was a strong regret in his heart, if he could tell his mother and brother the good news that he was still alive, it didn't matter if he died, but now his mother has to bear more grief.

Looking at the young man who fell into a coma, the sergeant at the head flashed with a cold glint in his eyes, and said, "It's a good man, give him a good time." ”

The sword-wielding sergeant flashed his eyes and whispered a few words in the ear of the leading sergeant, who pondered for a moment when he heard the words, and said: "Let's do it, he is not seriously injured, wrap his injuries for him, and let him fend for himself." ”

The sergeant at the head thought for a moment and said, "Good idea, let's do it." "Let's walk on the beach, the front is the seawall, not far beyond the seawall there is the camp of the rebels, the landing and sneak attack is already a familiar means of warfare for the East China Sea army, although the rebels are brave and good at fighting, but they are also invincible. Behind this sergeant, the sergeant of the Yongjun army naturally formed a battle formation and walked forward, and the solidified murderous aura rose to the sky.

When the young man was woken up by the rain, he felt a terrible pain in his neck, and he struggled to get up, and looked around, but there was no figure, and he was lying on the seawall, and his neck was properly bandaged. He staggered to his feet, and ran towards the camp, and he did not know how many times he fell, and his body was covered with mud, and when he ran to the camp, he was stunned, and saw that inside and outside the camp, there were scattered corpses, and the heavy rain merged into a river, and the rain mixed with blood flowed from inside and outside the camp. The young man leaned down, only to feel sad and indignant in his heart, after a long time, he stood up and inspected the inside and outside, although his face was full of blood and tears, but there was a little more look in his eyes, and he said in a low voice: "Great, not all dead, not all dead." He counted it, there were only more than 30 corpses here, there were originally 100 people stationed here, it seems that most of the people should have fled, it is the worst result, it is just that they were captured by the Yongjun army and went to Dinghai, with today's knowledge, those brothers do not have to die, thinking of this, he is much relieved in his heart. But he suddenly remembered the words of those Yongjun interrogating him, they were coming for Mr. Yun, if those companions fell into the hands of Yongjun, confessed under heavy punishment, and told Mr. Yun's whereabouts, wouldn't it be extremely bad. Mr. Yun presided over the construction of the tunnels in the coastal village, and the hard work was high, how could he be harmed, thinking of this, he cheered up and decided to report to Mr. Yun what happened here, so that he could hide for the time being. At this time, the thunder roared in the sky, the lightning flashed repeatedly, the heavy rain poured down, the sky and the earth were foggy, a few feet away, there was almost no human figure, the young man's stumbling back quickly disappeared in the rain and fog, but he didn't know that there were two dark shadows behind him.

The waves are rolling, surging and agitating under the cliff of the wall, the rocks are craggy under the cliff, the waves are crashing on the shore, like a thousand piles of snow, and there are endless killing opportunities hidden in the blue waves. At the beginning of the sunny day after the rain, Jing Xin stood on the cliff, sighing lightly in his heart, it has been three years since he left Jiaxing, and he thought of crossing the vast blue sea, which is the homeland that he misses every day, and his heart is more and more sad.

There was a light and steady sound of footsteps in his ears, Jing Xin didn't look back, but said lightly: "Why is Brother Huo free to come over today?" ”

Huo Cong smiled slightly, Jing Xin was still obsessed with himself in the past three years, and he didn't care, he stood beside Jing Xin and said, "Mr. has an order to order me to go to Jiangnan to see him." ”

Although it was just a faint sentence, Jing Xin's body trembled, and he said slightly mockingly after a long time: "Congratulations Brother Huo, Brother Huo has been trapped at sea in the past few years, I'm afraid it's not much freer than Jing, now that Jiaolong goes to sea, he doesn't need to be trapped in the shallows, presumably Gongzi must be very happy, right?" ”

When Huo Cong heard this, a smile flashed in his eyes, and he said: "Brother Jing's words are serious, and he stayed in Dinghai below, but because the sea route was blocked, the land route was difficult to travel, and Jinghai Gong still had a place to borrow from the bottom, so he stayed in Dinghai." Moreover, Jinghai Gong placed more than 500,000 civilians taken captive from Wuyue on hundreds of large and small islands around Putuo, with a vast area, many islands, and dense household registration. Managing 500,000 prisoners who are suspicious of hostility, and providing food and grass for the army, such a heavy task, but leaving it to the next uncrowned young man is already very important, how can it be talked about the dragon trapped in the dangerous beach? ”

Jing Xin sneered when he heard this: "With Brother Huo's talent, let alone the lord of a county, it is more than enough to be a governor and a county guard, and it is not useless to be trapped in Putuo to manage us captives." ”

Huo Cong smiled and said: "Brother Jing, this is too much to despise the position of this county order, Brother Jing has helped me do a lot of things in the past few years, opening up wasteland, money, grain, and punishment, these chores seem simple, but they are complicated to do, doesn't Brother Jing still remember my embarrassed appearance?" ”

Jing Xin couldn't help but laugh, and the embarrassing atmosphere disappeared in an instant, thinking that in the past three years, this young man took the people of Wuyue who had been captured here, built houses, fished and hunted in Tuntian, and turned the desolate Putuo Islands into a happy land where they could live and work in peace and contentment. However, what Huo Cong said was true, those trivial chores, Jing Xin didn't look at them originally, but he was pulled by this young man to deal with government affairs together, and he was almost so busy that he knew that it was not easy to do even a small county order, especially a county order that was empty-handed and self-made.

Seeing Jing Xin's happiness, Huo Cong had a faint melancholy in his heart, although he had made great gains in the past three years in Putuo, but this does not mean that what Jing Xin said was not true, in fact, with Huo Cong's intelligence, he had already discovered that there were people secretly monitoring him among the tiger guards, and even saw a little suspicion and vigilance in Jiang Haitao's eyes. He already understood that Mr. had indeed placed himself under house arrest in Putuo, but it was the vast blue sea that detained him, not the use of force. Otherwise, although the Dinghai Sea Camp blocks the way back, but today, when the private trade is becoming more and more popular, where can I not find an opportunity to return to Dayong? Did Mr. know something, Huo Cong once thought like this, and even gave up on himself, if he did something deliberately, or if Mr. gave an order, he could take his own life, and he would not be embarrassed in his heart. However, the incessant letters that followed made him feel guilty.

Probably because of the obstruction of the road, sometimes I couldn't receive a letter for ten days and a half months, and sometimes I received several letters at once, some of the letters explained some of the difficulties mentioned in their reply letters, and some of the letters explained to themselves the general strategy of military and political affairs, each letter contained a strong friendship, which made Huo Cong feel uneasy and guilty.

Although the gentleman's letter did not explain why he stayed in Dinghai, he asked Jiang Haitao to appoint himself as the commander of Putuo County, and asked him to be a local official in a down-to-earth manner. Although it is not the ordinary people who govern, but the prisoners of Wu Yue, but the government affairs are more onerous, and he has been a county order for three years, knowing the difficulty of government, Huo Cong understands Jiang Zhe's hard work in his heart, but he still can't forget Jiang Zhe's move of abandoning himself in Dinghai and sending people to secretly monitor it. Glancing at Jing Xin, he secretly smiled bitterly in his heart, although the Jing family is still a prisoner, but he has held many internal affairs positions in Putuo, and the old master of the Jing family has gone to Chang'an to recuperate with the merchant ships of the Southern Minyue clan, as long as the Southern Chu is pacified, these Putuo captives will return to Wuyue, and they will definitely be appointed first, which can be described as a promising future, but they are themselves, although they now hold their power of life and death, but they don't know what the fate will be.

After a while, Huo Cong finally calmed down and said to Jing Xin: "I was ordered to see Mr., so I want to hand over the post of county order to Brother Jing to take over, I don't know what Brother Jing wants?" ”

Jing Xin was startled at first, and then calmed down, Putuo's government affairs have always been managed by the captured people, but the post of county commander was held by Huo Cong, and controlled the only force on the island to suppress possible resistance, now that Huo Cong is gone, this position naturally needs to be replaced, although he is a Chu person, but in recent years, he has assisted Huo Cong, and he is also very effective, plus because of his brother-in-law, even if he still wants to be loyal to Nanchu, I am afraid that no one will believe it. After thinking for a long time, he finally said: "That's it, why should I deceive myself, I will take over the post of county commander." ”

Huo Cong smiled slightly, knowing that in three years, the Wu Yue scholars on the island had finally begun to succumb and soften, Jing Xin was their leader, and with him as the successor county commander, he could appease the captives on the island. Thinking that Mr.'s order has finally been completed, the future is uncertain, and I feel infinitely happy in my heart.

Leaving Putuo and taking a sea boat, Huo Cong let go of his worries, the commander of this sea ship has always been good friends with him, seeing Huo Cong standing at the stern of the ship looking at Putuo, he seemed to be very nostalgic, so he stepped forward and smiled: "Why should Counselor Huo be so sad, this time the Marquis of Chu summoned you to go, I think it will be reused in the future, our side is just a small fight, and when we get there, it is the Jin Ge Iron Horse, and it is full of joy?" ”

Huo Cong smiled reluctantly and said, "I've been at sea for three years, but I'm just a little reluctant, no wonder Mr. always thinks about the East China Sea." ”

The commander didn't know what Huo Cong was thinking, he was just looking for something interesting to tell him, although Huo Cong dealt with it casually, his mind had already flown thousands of miles away.

After half an hour, Huo Cong returned to Dinghai, now Dinghai is not as dilapidated as three years ago, the military camp on the island is solemn, you can see the scene of staggered everywhere, the back island craftsman camp, the sound of tinkling all day long, there are Wu Yue craftsmen in the dock with the East China Sea craftsmen to repair the ship, if you surrender you can be treated kindly, if you resist you will be executed, most of the captured Wu Yue civilians have already acquiesced to the rule of the Yongjun. Of course, although there were many people who surrendered to Wu Yue's captives, those who could go to Dinghai were also carefully selected, so as not to take advantage of the opportunity to cause chaos. All these prosperous scenes have their own sweat penetrating into them, Huo Cong was proud in his heart, and walked towards the big tent of the Chinese army, followed by four tiger guards.

After Jiang Zhe got rid of Wu Yue, almost all of these tiger guards were left in Dinghai, and later the war cemented, except for half of these people who had the opportunity to go to the Yongchu front line to protect Jiang Zhe, the rest were forced by Jiang Zhe to stay by Huo Cong's side, but Huo Cong thought that he did not use the identity and necessity of the tiger guards, and finally under the mediation of Jinghai Gong, the two sides reached an agreement, except for Huo Cong's side to leave four tiger guards at any time, the rest of the tiger guards followed the East China Sea army ashore to rob Wu Yue, lest their knives were dull. This result is very happy, with these strong martial arts tiger guards joining, there are many more guarantees to deal with the martial arts masters in Wu Yueyi's army, and Huo Cong will not feel like sitting on pins and needles, not to mention that there are people in these tiger guards who have been ordered by Jiang Zhe to monitor themselves, but no, how can he, a young man who has not yet officially entered the ranks, dare to use the royal iron guard as a guard?

In the big tent of the Chinese army, Jiang Haitao was quite happy to learn that Huo Cong was coming, and he was also quite happy, in the past three years, this young man has helped him a lot, but Jiang Zhe ordered the Tiger Ben Guards to secretly pass on the book to himself, so that he could pay attention to Huo Cong's behavior, which made him suspicious, at first he thought that it was just a test of his disciples, but later he passed a book to let himself trap Huo Cong in Putuo, although it was a heavy task, but it was a fetter island, and he could not return north, although Jiang Haitao was straightforward, and he knew that there must be an article in it, but he couldn't bear to ask more, after all, Huo Cong was very appreciated by him. Thinking that Huo Cong would be able to return to Jiang Zhe today, Jiang Zhe must have changed his mind, and he was as happy in his heart as he was when he was promoted to duke by the emperor's order in the ninth year of Longsheng.

Huo Cong walked into the tent and saluted Jiang Haitao, Jiang Haitao handed a document to Huo Cong and said: "If our army's sea ships go north, it will be difficult to avoid Ninghai's interception, but there happen to be a sea ship from the Southern Minyue clan going north to Goryeo, this is your identity document, and there should be no problem going north safely." ”

Huo Cong naturally knew that although the two armies had fought frequently in recent years, many of the great families of Wu Yue had colluded with the generals of Ning Hai Hai Mountain to conduct private trade, because the two ships involved in the private trade Hai Clan and the Yue Clan had a close relationship with the Jiang family, so Dinghai also turned a blind eye, and even profited a lot from it, of course, for Jiang Haitao, the most important thing is that through this trade, you can get the shortage of materials, grain and grass, which is very important for the East China Sea Army that was cut off by Ning Hai Mountain. As for the use of the two ships, the transmission of some information, and the escort of messengers, this is an indescribable benefit. For the Maisons involved in the private trade, the windfall profits from it were enough to ignore the consequences of their rivalry. If it weren't for the fact that in order to maintain an equal status of cooperation, these families secretly supported the Wu Yue Righteous Army and spared no effort, and someone would have attacked them a long time ago.

After confessing some official duties, Jiang Haitao said with a straight face: "There is another thing that is also quite embarrassing for me, and I ask you to tell Mr. that in the past six months or so, many villages and towns along the coast of Wuyue have invited high-ranking people to dig tunnels in the village to avoid our army. Before our army entered the village, the villagers in the village had already hid in the tunnels, and even hid food and money, making our army work in vain. ”

Huo Cong hadn't been in contact with military affairs for a while, and he was very curious when he heard it, and said, "I don't know who came up with this idea, but are there any clues?" ”

Jiang Haitao smiled bitterly: "There is a little clue, a few days ago I got the news, I learned that the person was presiding over the construction of a tunnel near Zhenhai, so he sent a good hand to raid, after they went ashore, they first annihilated a patrol rebel army, and left a living mouth, so that it unknowingly led the way, sure enough, I saw that Yunzi Mountain, but there were many master guards around him, and under the encirclement and suppression of hundreds of warriors of our army, he actually let this person escape, which really made our army lose face. According to the captive's confession, it was only known that the person was a friend of Wu Yue's first sword Ding Ming, whose identity was unknown, but he was the best at trapping hidden weapons. After you see Mr., tell him about my troubles, if there is no good way to deal with it, I am afraid that if this continues, our army will rob less and less money and grain in Wu Yue, and now our army's food is not self-sufficient, if we can't get a considerable amount of money and food from Wu Yue, it will be a big trouble. ”

Huo Cong listened to it and fell into deep thought, on the surface, it seemed that Wu Yue was just a troublesome character, why did he faintly feel that there was something strange in his heart?