On February 12 of the fifth year of Chongzhen, the frozen river gradually melted, and the land of Shandong had spring.

The Weishui River, which originates from the Keiwu Mountains, flows from south to north to the Liaohai Sea with small pieces of ice floe. A tired group of men and horses had just crossed Weishui from the east bank and was walking on the official road outside Changyi County, mixed with some people in civilian clothing, many of the soldiers in the team had lost their armor, and some even had no weapons.

Li Jiucheng, whose face was full of wind and frost, stood on the side of the road, and the guard of Changyi County in the distance was lax, but he no longer had the slightest interest in attacking. Kong Youde and Chen Guangfu were beside him with blank eyes, they inexplicably conquered Pingdu Prefecture, originally thought that they had gained a place to breathe, but it only took Chen Xin four days to rush to the city.

On the night of the second day, the east gate guarded by Geng Zhongming suddenly opened, and the rebels were unable to organize effective resistance in the confusion.

Geng Zhongming's headquarters all took refuge in the Wendeng camp, and there were more escapees on the way, Li Jiucheng and others packed up all the way, and in the end there were only about 1,500 people left, plus some family members only 3,000 people left. Even Wang Zideng was nowhere to be found, and according to one of his escaped family members, he was caught by Geng Zhongming and others. Under the repeated blows, the whole army had no morale to speak of, and as soon as the Wenden battalion appeared in front of them, they might surrender.

Chen Guangfu asked coldly: "Li Jiucheng, this Changyi is vulnerable, should we still fight?"

"What are you fighting? It was all from the Wenden battalion. Kong Youde gritted his teeth and said fiercely.

Li Jiucheng now has no status as a leader, and when he came out of Dengzhou, there were still four or five thousand soldiers and rebels, plus seven or eight thousand family members. They looted along the way, and gained a lot in Huang County, where the land was barren and unsuitable for farming, but half of the people were engaged in business (Note 1), and although they looked poor, the residents of the county were actually relatively wealthy. Moreover, there were a large number of gold mines in Huangxian and Zhiye County, the capital of Laizhou, and the amount of gold they looted from Huangxian and along the way reached as much as 60,000 taels, because Geng Zhongming's rebellion was too sudden. Most of the looted wealth has been lost again, and most of it is now cheaper than the Wenden camp.

He didn't even have time to take Sun Yuanhua away this time, and he didn't have any chips in his hand. In the face of successive defeats, his prestige plummeted, and Chen Guangfu also called him by his name, and the rebels no longer had a real leader.

Li Jiucheng couldn't have a seizure, so he had to reply with a gloomy face: "Chen Guangfu, don't you still understand the sinister nature of Chen Xin?" He waited for us to lay down the city for him, and he snatched what he got from us, just as Sun Yuanhua said. They all made him a wedding dress. ”

Chen Guangfu shouted, pulled out his sword, and slashed at a small tree beside him. The sharp blade clicked and cut off the little tree, "Chen Xin, you bastard, you don't want to surrender, you have to drive our Liao soldiers to a dead end." ”

He threw away the knife and sat down on the ground, humming tiredly.

Kong Youde was also depressed, and said after a long while: "I have to fight a Zhuangzi today, otherwise I won't have anything to eat."

"If Lao Tzu doesn't fight, Chen Xin will chase you Li Jiucheng. Lao Tzu won't follow you anymore, go to Qingzhou Yishan to fall into the grass. Chen Guangfu stood up.

Li Jiucheng said coldly: "You Chen Guangfu is also the leader of the chaos, no matter where you fall into the grass, Chen Xin will not let you go."

Chen Guangfu was stunned for a moment, then suddenly rushed up and grabbed Li Jiucheng, his face was bruised, and he scolded angrily: "Lao Tzu originally stayed well in Dengzhou, but Li Jiucheng tricked Lao Tzu into messing with you on your dog day." He also said that he was the lord of Dengzhou, and now he can't even save his life, and Lao Tzu will die with you. ”

Li Jiucheng was caught off guard and was thrown to the ground by Chen Guangfu. Both of them wore bulky armor and scuffled on the ground, and their respective men drew their weapons. Kong Youde loudly stopped the family fighting, but indifferently watched Li Jiucheng and the two fighting each other, and did not say anything to dissuade them.

Both of them were promoted from soldiers all the way, and they both had a few strokes in their hands, but Li Jiucheng was even better, he kicked Chen Guangfu away with a tiger roar, stood up and pulled out a sword and pointed it at Chen Guangfu's chest.

Chen Guangfu still didn't give up, opened the sword, and pounced on it to fight with Li Jiucheng. Li Jiucheng had the upper hand several times, but he never dared to kill Chen Guangfu. He no longer had any prestige, and the soldiers who followed him were not loyal, and remained in the ranks only out of habit and helplessness to go nowhere. It can be said that the morale is extremely low, and once Chen Guangfu is really killed, the team can only collapse in the end.

Li Jiucheng had to fight hard, and waited until Chen Guangfu was tired before pushing him away, and Chen Guangfu sat on the ground gasping for breath.

Kong Youde said coldly: "Have you fought enough?" With that strength, think about whether there is a way to live. ”

Li Jiucheng stood up and patted the dirt on his body, looked at the surrounding families, his eyes changed for a while, and finally spoke: "I can't think of a way for a while, but Chen Xin is waiting in the back, you know what he is waiting for, he put the cavalry in the southeast, just to drive us to break through Changyi, maybe force us to go to Qingzhou Mansion, he will continue to take advantage of it, Lao Tzu would rather fight him to the death than give this bastard a front."

Chen Guangfu yelled violently, "If you want to die, you will die, Lao Tzu will fight him to the death." ”

"Chen Guangfu, if you talk nonsense again, Lao Tzu will cut you with a knife."

Chen Guangfu raised his head blankly, it was Kong Youde who spoke, he stared at Chen Guangfu and said: "Do you still want to take refuge in the past, Chen Xin didn't give me a way to retreat in Dengzhou, and blindly forced me to flee to Laizhou." If you want to go to Shun, Lao Tzu will not stop you. I waited for nine counties, one state and one government, and killed countless people on my hands, and the emperor didn't hate us to death, Chen Xin only arrested Li Yingyuan and Wang Zideng at the moment, if you Chen Guangfu sent it to the door, it was the highest official position, and he had no size to work, thinking that Chen Xin would protect you? He will exchange your head for an official position, and at this time next month, your head should be tested in the military department, if you don't believe it, you can gamble. Lao Tzu made it clear first, if you want to take Lao Tzu's head to ask for merit, don't take that idea as soon as possible, Lao Tzu will always guard against you. ”

Li Jiucheng and Chen Guangfu both looked at Kong Youde with some astonishment. Since the Wuqiao Mutiny, this person has not had many ideas in the army, and later gradually became the master of Li Jiu, and there are few times when he talks eloquently, but today he speaks in a clear manner.

Chen Guangfu hurriedly denied it: "Brother Kong, don't misunderstand, brother has never had such a plan."

"Lao Tzu, whether you have this plan or not, at the moment, with Chen Xin as a person, he will not give us a way to live, even if there are other officials who are willing to appease us. He will definitely find a reason to kill us before then, and exchange our heads for his promotion. Now there is only one way to live, this dog thief has no sailor, even if he wants to transfer the Dengzhou sailor, he can't be transferred at one time, if he wants to live, he has to go to the sea to the Dongjiang River. ”

Li Jiucheng was frustrated repeatedly, his head was not as flexible as before, and he didn't react for a while, so he asked in a daze: "Where can I find a boat to go to the Dongjiang River?"

"At the moment, the rivers are freezing everywhere, and there are fishing villages along the Weishui all the way to the north. Fish Town, Mule Shop, and Private Harbor, among which there are large boats. Some of our old brothers in Dongjiang can still sail boats. ”

Chen Guangfu was surprised: "How did you know that Yu'er Town and Mule Shop have a private port?"

"Can Lao Tzu know? The sailor's people sold their true colors to Laizhou, Qingzhou, and many of them went to nearby private ports, and I also came here once. ”

Li Jiucheng and Chen Guangfu glanced at each other, the sailors were all from the south and Shandong, they had never been able to get the benefits before, but this Kong Youde could share in the profits, and they had never heard him mention this matter before.

Kong Youde gritted his teeth, "Don't think that Lao Tzu has earned much, it's just to earn some tea and silver." To grab enough boats. We can't let those fishermen run away when they get the news, we must march as quickly as possible, and we have to deceive Chen Xin and the people behind us. ”

Chen Guangfu asked as if he was laughing: "Then how can you fool them?"

Kong Youde seems to be the backbone of this remnant army, he was forced to rebel in Wuqiao, his determination has never been firm, he always wants to be appeased, and let Li Jiucheng come out everywhere. Now he is cornered. Instead, he threw away a qiē, and a confident look came to his face, "Let's make it look like attacking Changyi today, and the Wendeng camp will definitely slow down." Waiting for us to pick up the cheap after breaking the city, we will stay for a day, pretending to build equipment, but in fact, we will send sentry horses to explore the beach to see if the beach is thawed. If you can find a ship, then suddenly you will set up camp ......"......

"I plan to force them to Changyi, and then drive west to the vicinity of Qingzhou Mansion, defeat them near Qingzhou Mansion, kill Li Jiucheng and other leaders, and let the remnants of the army disperse into the mountains south of Qingzhou, where the mountains are continuous, and if the big ones can survive, Qingzhou will definitely be full of bandits. When the time comes, you send some people from Dazeshan to Qingzhou and find a foothold there. ”

Chen Xin pointed to the map on the table and said softly, he stood opposite Wu Jianzhong, Wu Jianzhong's knife-like face was wrapped in cotton yarn, and some bright red colors appeared on it, which was the injury he had just suffered in Pingduzhou. Because of his excellent performance in Pingdu Prefecture, Chen Xin also regarded him as a rookie in the Intelligence Bureau and planned to promote him vigorously.

Wu Jianzhong understood Chen Xin's plan, which was to leave this defeated army, which was stronger than the officers and soldiers, and let them settle in the grass in Qingzhou Mansion, so as to prepare for the bright march into Qingzhou in the future.

Qingzhou is not under the jurisdiction of Denglai, and without this reason, it is difficult for Chen Xin's hand to reach over. After thinking about it, he asked in a low voice, "My lord, why don't you leave them to run a little more?" The harvest in Pingdu Prefecture is estimated to exceed that of Dengzhou, and several rebel camps are littered with gold, silver and jewelry, and Wang Bingzhong and Geng Zhongming can find other benefits by clearing the remnants of the army in the city, and if they can drive them to Jinan Mansion, the benefits will be even more......"

"The imperial court is going to recruit peace, and it is not appropriate to delay it for a long time. This matter involves a struggle between the DPRK and China, and this official will never allow them to recruit peace. Besides, you can't do too much of this kind of thing, otherwise it will be difficult to hide it. This time it is already a good income, more than 2 million mu of land in Pingdu Prefecture (Note 2), as long as you can get 500,000 mu, the official is not afraid of building slaves. I can't eat a fat man in one bite, so I leave a tail in Qingzhou Mansion, and it's time to take it when I see it. ”

Chen Xin held his hands with each other, this Wu Jianzhong was calm and fierce, and he was a person worthy of reuse, so he had a more conversation with this person to deepen the relationship between his superiors and subordinates.

"This matter is so decided, you must clean up the wounds on your face well, once you are infected with external evils, you will have to spend a lot of time, you will not do anything else these days, and find a good house to recuperate."

"My lord, this skin injury is not a big deal, everything in the city is complicated, and Director Zhou has also arranged many urgent affairs......

"The matter is always urgent, but it's not worth hurting my general, Zhou Shifa's official will greet him."

Wu Jianzhong's firm face was a little moved, he was not good at words, stood up and saluted and left.

Chen Xin immediately took out the list of seizures in Pingdu Prefecture that Dong Yugang had just sorted out from under the table, looked at the numbers on it over and over again, and his eyes glowed with greed, and then the adjutant outside came in and handed over the military information sent back by Liu Pojun.

"What did Liu Pojun say?" Chen Xin didn't raise his eyes, still looking at the seizure list.

"He said that the rebels had stopped outside the city of Changyi, that several bridges over Weishui had been burned by the rebels, and that he planned to set up camp and find a suitable place to cross the river."

"Well, I know, reply to him and ask him to remember the plan I gave him, nothing else."

The adjutant saw that he was engrossed and quietly withdrew. Chen Xin looked at it for a long time, and finally lay on his back on the back of the chair, and muttered proudly: "Li Jiucheng Kong Youde, I thank you on behalf of the people, please continue to carry it forward and go to Qingzhou Mansion to realize the value of your life."

PS: Note 1: The people of the total Huang are counted, three out of ten farmers, two out of ten scholars and workers, and five out of ten businessmen

Note 2: The cultivated land area of Pingdu Prefecture is 2,399,925 mu, and the above 20 million mu is an error in calculation...... ()