Youzhou, also known as Beijing in later generations, has had an extremely important strategic position since ancient times. It is backed by Yanshan Mountain, south of the Great Plain of Hebei, with the "momentum of lifting the collar", like lifting the collar of a fur coat, to the south can sweep the world.

Youzhou also has an extremely important defensive role in the Great Sui Dynasty, defending against the Turks to the north, Khitan and Goguryeo to the northeast, it is the northern military town of the Great Sui Dynasty, belonging to the Upper Governor's Office, under the jurisdiction of more than 40,000 standing troops.

Dou Kang, the governor of Youzhou, is the son of Chen Guogong Dou Rongding, the Dou family belongs to the Guanlong military aristocratic group, and is a famous surname of the Sui Dynasty, Dou Kang's mother is Yang Jian's eldest sister Princess An Changcheng, and he has a cousin who is Li Yuan's wife Dou.

Dou Kang is forty years old this year, and he is the governor of Youzhou after Yan Rong, the governor of Youzhou, died in August last year.

Dou Kang is the son of a powerful person in the imperial court, in the dispute between the king of Jin and the crown prince Yang Yong, he was originally biased towards the crown prince Yang Yong, after Yang Yong was deposed, he was once in a state of confusion, and his position was not so firm.

On the one hand, Dou Kang supported the new prince Yang Guang, on the other hand, he had a secret communication with Yang Liang, the king of the Han Dynasty, and had close contacts, which was also determined by the geographical location of Youzhou, and the Youzhou under his jurisdiction was basically surrounded by Yang Liang's jurisdiction, and Yang Liang also intended to win him over, and every festival, he would send someone to send a ceremony.

Although Yang Liang, the king of the Han Dynasty, deliberately wooed Dou Kang, but Dou Kang was not stupid, in recent years, he found that Yang Liang had a rebellious heart, recruited troops and horses in Si Li, and built weapons, which made him a little vigilant in his heart, and did not dare to get too close to Yang Liang, but he did not dare to refuse Yang Liang's overtures, and also implicitly expressed his support to Yang Liang, making their relationship a little ambiguous.

In the governor's mansion, Dou Kang was pacing back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, his eyes were worried and nervous, a few days ago he got the news sent by Yang Liang, Yang Guang, who had just ascended the throne, had sent someone to arrest him, which made him extremely frightened for a while, and actually sent 15,000 troops to block the passages into Youzhou, and carried out a strict check, any pedestrians and merchants who entered and exited Youzhou were searched, and no suspicious person was missed, as long as it was with a long weapon, it would be arrested immediately.

But at this time, ten days have passed, and the army he sent has not found anything, which makes Dou Kang have a trace of doubt in his heart, is there anyone who has come to arrest him? Could this be a rumor deliberately released by Yang Liang, in order to force himself to raise the flag to support him.

Dou Kang stopped, glanced at Shao Ziwen, a staff member standing next to him, and asked, "Does Mr. think this matter is true or false?" Shao Ziwen is only in his early thirties, he is very thin, he was born in the Shao family of Daizhou, but because his mother is a dowry maid, so that he has a humble status, his family has been poor since he was a child, and he was discriminated against by the clan, and his mother died of poverty and illness at the age of thirteen, so that he was deeply thorned, and vowed to get ahead, never to suffer poverty again, he began to study angrily, and after ten years, he was recommended to be a small school in Yanmen County, Daizhou

Government official.

But he thought that the little official Dai Lu was meager and had no future, so he gave up his post three years later and came to Dingzhou to seek refuge with his mentor Lu Lian, who was the commander of Suichang County at the time, and knew that this student was outstanding in learning, so he recommended him to Dou Kang, the assassin of Dingzhou at that time.

After some conversation, Dou Kang felt that he had a good talent, and since then Shao Ziwen has become Dou Kang's staff, and has been following him, and his status and life have gradually improved.

Shao Ziwen knew very well the contradiction in Dou Kang's heart, so he smiled and said: "If the Holy Lord really sent someone to arrest the envoy, it would definitely be very secretive, so how could the King of Han get this news?" But he didn't say anything, indicating that the news was false, and the purpose was to make the envoy despair of the imperial court, so as to help him rebel, of course, it may also be true, but he thought that whether it was true or not, the envoy should be cautious, and would rather kill a hundred by mistake than let one go. ”

Dou Kang nodded, "I'd rather kill a hundred by mistake than let one go" This sentence is good, and he asked again: "How does Mr. think I should stand in the seizure of the throne of the Han King and the imperial court?" ”

Shao Ziwen had already thought about him, just waiting for him to ask himself, Shao Ziwen's eyes narrowed slightly, and he said in a low voice: "In fact, this war is a battle between brothers to seize the throne, from the perspective of strength comparison, I thought that the court and the king of Han have their own advantages, but if from the hearts of the people, the king of Han has no advantage, after all, he is the prince of rebellion, this war Han king has no chance of winning, but for the envoy, but can not support the court, if the envoy supports the court, the king of Han will first deal with the envoy, and finally the king of Han is defeated, but the king of Han will perish first, So that the king's gains outweigh the losses, so according to the views of his subordinates, the choice of neutrality is the most reliable, do not help the court, do not help the Han king, and in the end, if the court is defeated, then raise troops to support the Han, if the Han king is defeated, then raise troops to attack Hedong, although there will be no great merit, but there will be no great fault, so what does the king think? Dou Kang was suddenly, as if he was suddenly opened, he hurriedly bowed deeply to Shao Ziwen, "Mr. suggested, it is the words of Jinyu, I should keep it in mind." At this moment, a report came from the door, "Chief, there is something important to report!" ”

"Come in!"

The door opened, and a personal guard walked into the room, and he knelt down on one knee to salute, "Report to the general, there is an army of three hundred people from outside Xicheng, it is a messenger sent by the king of Han, and there is something important to see the general." Dou Kang frowned, he was now afraid that Yang Liang would send someone to see him, this was obviously to force him to make a statement, Dou Kang had just decided not to support both sides, and now he was a little shaken, he looked at Shao Ziwen, Shao Ziwen smiled: "As long as you stick to the bottom line, it doesn't hurt to meet." ”

"Hmm!" Dou Kang snorted and asked: "Who is coming" is Ma Shenjun, a lieutenant official in the Han Palace, and is guarded by the partial general Sun Yaowu. ”

"Ma Shenjun? , This name Dou Kang has heard of, it seems to be the deputy head of the inner mansion of the Han Wangfu, and he has followed the Han King for many years, but Dou Kang has never seen this person, but Sun Yaowu He knows that he is the general who commands the Si soldiers of the King of Jin.

"Boss ......"

The guard swallowed and said: "Things are a little strange, just now when I was about to come to report, I got another news, there is also a team of Han King envoys outside the southern city, about more than 100 people, the messenger is Han Zhiguo, the governor of the Han Dynasty, they are from Jingcheng. Dou Kang was stunned for a moment, there were actually two teams of messengers here, what is going on?

He looked at Shao Ziwen as if asking for help.

Shao Ziwen was also a little dazed, he couldn't figure out how there would be two teams of envoys, but it was just a governor's mansion, and the other was the Han Wang's mansion, which didn't seem to be a system. ”

Dou Kang thought of Yang Guang sending someone to arrest Zisi, and he became cautious even if he was not cautious, "Okay! According to Mr. Wang's words, they were each placed in the post station outside the city first, and then they waited for Yang Liang to speak. He immediately ordered: "It is too late to settle them in the post station outside the city, and say that I am not feeling well, and I will meet them another day." ”

The two teams of emissaries, one to the west and the other to the south, were not able to enter the city, and at the moment, they were not aware of each other's existence.

The envoys who were placed at the Sanggan River Post Station were naturally Yang Yuanqing and his party, and they received the help of Li Jing, forged Yang Liang's letters, selected a soldier who looked like Sun Yaowu from the army, and found a Northern Zhou eunuch in Lingqiu, and the group disguised themselves as Yang Liang's envoys.

It should be said that Yang Yuanqing's strategy is not wonderful, under the situation that Yang Guang's arrest strategy has been leaked (the latest chapter of Wu Dong Qiankun 81zw), it is really difficult to arrest Dou Kang again, not only difficult, but also extremely risky, once Dou Kang is recognized, they will have Xing's life worries.

But Yang Yuanqing had no choice, it was impossible for Hua to return to the capital for fear of failure, they could only take a risk and act at the opportunity, their plan was to enter Youzhou City first and capture Dou Kang at night.

But the risk is often the same

o Three folds, just as they were about to venture into the city, something unexpected happened, and the arrival of the real Yang Liang messenger frustrated their plans to enter the city.

The Sanggan River is about ten miles west of Youzhou City, this is the largest river in Youzhou, it flows directly into the Bohai Sea, and it is also the most important irrigation river in Youzhou.

The Sanggan River Post Station was located next to one of the largest stone bridges, and more than 300 people filled the entire post station, and the post keepers had been ordered to entertain the envoys of the King of Han well, and they had exhausted all the ingredients and worked hard to serve the arrogant envoys.

In the room, Yang Yuanqing was chatting with Yicheng unhurriedly, Yicheng's surname was Wang, a native of Youzhou, about fifty years old, dragging his family, relying on his meager Dai Lu to support his family, Yang Yuanqing directly rewarded him with two hundred hanging money, which immediately made Wang Yicheng enthusiastic, and he couldn't wait to tell Yang Yuanqing everything he knew.

"So most of the Youzhou army is stationed in the city, and the camps outside the city are basically empty, is that true?"

Yang Yuanqing asked with a smile, and at the same time put dozens of hangs of money on the table, Wang Yicheng is well-informed, and his busy thing every day is to deal with all kinds of people, of course he knows that there are some things that cannot be said, especially confidential information such as army deployment, how can he tell the people of King Han casually, but he knows these information, and what's worse is that he can't refuse the money that the other party just put on the table, looking at the size of the pile of money, it is at least fifty hangings.

"This is mainly because of a heavy rain a month ago, the military camp outside the city fell into disrepair and destroyed a lot, half a month ago, General Dou decided to rebuild the camp outside the city, so most of the army temporarily moved into the city, as far as I know, the army outside the city is only about 3,000 people, but the military camp is estimated to be repaired soon."

"I see! I know. ”

Yang Yuanqing smiled again and asked: "I heard that Chief Dou has a confidant surnamed Shao, what kind of person is this person?" ”

This time, Yang Yuanqing actually took out a piece of gold, weighing about two taels, and put it on the table, the yellow luster flashed Wang Yicheng's eyes into a slit, he couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, he was about to answer, Yang Yuanqing suddenly saw his subordinate Jia San beckoning to him at the door, he got up and smiled: "Yicheng wait a while, I'll come right away." He walked out of the room briskly and asked in a low voice, "What's the matter?" Jia San said to him: "Li Zixiong has arrived." "Li Zixiong is the new governor of Youzhou appointed by Yang Guang, Yang Su's old subordinate, responsible for collecting Youzhou's soldiers, and Yang Yuanqing is responsible for arresting Dou Kang, and the two cooperate with each other.

Yang Yuanqing nodded, "Please come to my room for a while, I'll be there soon." ”

He walked into the room again and smiled at Wang Yicheng: "Let's continue, just now we talked about Shao Ziwen, the confidant of Chief Dou, what kind of person is he?" ”…………，！。