Due to the defeat of Songjin, the soldiers and horses of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Xuanfu Guan Ji, which were originally transferred to western Liaoning, were almost wiped out, and some of those who escaped on the battlefield became deserters, and the rest were mostly incorporated into their own command by Wu Sangui and Zu Dashou.

After the war, the imperial court once again mobilized troops and horses from Henan, Shandong, Jiangbei and other places to the north to strengthen the defense of Gyeonggi and Guanning, and the Central Plains became more and more empty, especially in the northwest of Jin, Shaanxi, and Sichuan.

Liu Jun, the Duke of Chu, led the Liaodong Army to behead the Emperor and break the siege of Shenyang by Liaoyang, forcing the Qing army to return for help, which greatly eased the situation in Guanning and Gyeonggi, but the situation in the northwest became worse and worse.

King Chuang, Cao Cao and other bandits made a comeback.

In the wax moon season, the river outside Huangzhou City flows quietly. Although the bandits from Sichuan and Shaanxi have not yet entered the two lakes, the air in Hubei seems to be much more tense, and even the busy wharves in the past are a little less popular and noisy.

There are far fewer boats on the river below the wharf.

A galleon slowly docked, this is a soft sailing boat, a year ago, this kind of sailing ship in the Yangtze River was not seen in this kind of sailboat, but now, this kind of boat is very common. Just outside the city of Huangzhou, there is a shipyard, which is very large-scale, specializing in building this kind of soft-sail merchant ships, and the shipyard can build ten large merchant ships in a month.

When the boat docked, Zhang Shan got off the boat, and there were already many people waiting by the river to greet him. The people who greeted him were all wearing crimson green official robes, and the animal patterns were on the chest patches, and the grades were still very high.

"What is the origin of this person, actually Governor Yuan personally greets him?" The crew of a cargo ship next to them all looked at the man who came down from the ship in surprise, and there was nothing special about it, there was no pomp, and there was no official robe on his body.

At this time, the captain walked over, looked over there a few times, and then said, "Nine times out of ten, the general of the nine-headed bird is back, and this pomp and circumstance is definitely not the return of Chu Guogong." But if the governor can greet him personally, he is not a general but also a deputy general. Look at that ship, those closed portholes, this is a gun window, so many gun windows, it's not an ordinary merchant ship, it's a warship. Looking at the entourage again, although they are not wearing military uniforms, their momentum is obviously that they are soldiers. Still elite. ”

"Is Chu Guogong going to come back with a nine-headed bird?" A crew member said that the situation in the west has become more and more chaotic in the past six months, which has made the people of Hubei panic, and even the business of running the ship with them is much worse. There was also news before that the emperor was going to transfer the tenth town to the north, which made people more and more uneasy.

Everyone hopes that the Duke of Chu can lead the nine-headed bird soldiers back to exterminate the bandits and restore the peace and prosperity of Chu.

"Chu Guogong is fighting Tartars in the northeast, and now the Liaohai Sea is frozen. Where to come back. ”

Getting off the boat was Zhang Shan, the chief military officer of Zhenjiang Town, who reported that the imperial court was sick and temporarily returned to his hometown to recuperate. In fact, it was Liu Jun who asked him to come back to control the tenth town, and secretly pull another town of soldiers and horses.

"Huchen is back. It's been a smooth journey. Yuan Jixian, the governor of the two lakes and the governor of Hubei, took the lead and greeted Zhang Shan with a smile.

Zhang Shan hurriedly bowed his hand, "I don't dare to have Lao Duchen greet you, the road is quite smooth." ”

Ma Xianglin, the chief military officer of the two lakes, also stepped forward. "Brother Zhang has worked the road, and the younger brother has already booked a banquet in the restaurant in the city, and Brother Zhang will pick up the wind and wash the dust."

Everyone made a noise and saluted each other. Although Zhang Shan is only a general soldier. is no longer an official of Lianghu, but an official of Liaodong, but he is the chief military officer of the nine-headed bird, which is unusual. Moreover, from Yuan Jixian to Yang Tinglin and other civil and military officials of the two lakes, they are very concerned about the war situation in Liaodong, and they want to know when the nine-headed bird will return to Hubei.

Zhang Shan got into a carriage and entered the city with a group of officials.

The car was on the road, and Zhang Shan suddenly heard a nursery rhyme outside the car.

"Everyone cries for the emperor, everyone cries for the emperor, and parents and wives throw each other away. You are also opposed, and I am also opposed, and there are countless people rolling in, and they are thrown into Chu and the Central Plains. Revenge, revenge, revenge, the robbery of the people can not escape for their lives, blood debts are repaid with blood. In the end, the dignitaries and nobles are not as good as dogs, and they are disturbed by Youyan. ”

Zhang Shan's face changed color, and he actually heard such a reactionary nursery rhyme in Huangzhou City.

The other officials also heard the nursery rhyme, the convoy stopped, and the prefect of Huangzhou was already panicked and angry, and sent people up to bring the singing children over.

It's just a group of children singing, or a group of homeless children, all of them are yellow, hungry and thin, and they are also thinly dressed in the cold weather, shivering with cold, and there are two big snots hanging under their noses.

When asked, the children replied in horror that someone had taught them to sing, and the man gave each of them a steamed bun and let them sing it all over the city after learning it.

"Let these children go, they're just innocent children who have been used by adulterers." Governor Yuan Jixian spoke, and the prefect of Huangzhou nodded hurriedly.

Zhang Shan saw this scene in his eyes and couldn't help but shake his head secretly.

There are no bandits in Hubei, but the bandits have already begun to sing these reactionary nursery rhymes to Huangzhou, and the situation is getting worse and worse as the governor said.

After the reception, Zhang Shan and Ma Xianglin drank tea alone.

Ma Xianglin is not the patriarch of the nine-headed bird, he is the son of Qin Liangyu, the chief soldier of the Sichuan army, although he is now the chief officer of the tenth town, but the tenth town was established by Liu Jun, after several reorganizations, the backbone of the tenth town is basically the old nine-headed bird members. As long as Liu Jun says a word, the tenth town will definitely listen to Liu Jun more.

"Again?" Zhang Shan asked him with a smile.

"Okay." Ma Xianglin replied with a smile, pushing the cup forward, he was much older than Zhang Shan, although he was blinded in one eye in his early years, but it made Ma Xianglin look more and more fierce and brave. But in front of Zhang Shan, he didn't dare to take a shelf. Just now he had already read the handwritten letter of Chu Guogong handed over to him by Zhang Shan.

In the letter, Chu Guogong made it very clear that Zhang Shan would assist him in leading the Tenth Town during his return to Chu this time. Although it is not explicitly said that Zhang Shan said after the tenth town, this is what it means. Zhang Shan is the righteous brother of Chu Guogong and the chief military officer of Zhenjiang Town, and this time he said that he returned to his hometown to recuperate.

But when he looked at Zhang Shan's fierce appearance, how could he look half sick, it was clear that Chu Guogong was not worried about the tenth town and asked him to come back and watch.

In this regard, Ma Xianglin has no dissatisfaction.

Not long ago, his mother led the Sichuan army into Liao, and the Duke of Chu sent a large number of artillery support, as a result, Liaoxi was defeated, and the Sichuan army also suffered heavy losses.

"Ginseng oolong tea, never tasted, tastes so good. Is this the person participating in oolong tea? ”

"Well, Liaodong participates in oolong tea, one is a specialty of Changbai Mountain in Liaodong, and the other is a specialty of Wuyi Mountain in Fujian, and the high-quality oolong tea is refined with Liaodong old ginseng, which not only retains the mellow aftertaste of oolong, but also adds the tonic and sweetness of Liaodong old ginseng. Now the export sales of sea trade are excellent. ”

Zhang Shan picked up the teapot and poured Ma Xianglin a new cup of tea.

In the living room, there were only the two of them, "Oolong tea is also produced in Wuyi, and this new tea is developed by the best tea masters, and ginseng oolong tea is prepared on the basis of this new tea, which is more popular, and Chu loves to drink this tea." ”

"It's really mellow and sweet, with an endless aftertaste." The one-eyed Ma Xianglin took a big sip of the teacup, he didn't drink tea like a literati savored. Drinking tea is like drinking wine. "Such a good tea, Brother Huchen will have to get some for his brother later."

"No problem, since Brother Ma likes it too, I'll take a pound over later."

"Okay. Thank you so much, brother. Ma Xianglin took another big sip, and two sips of a new cup of tea had bottomed out.

"Another drink?" Zhang Shan Road.

"It's delicious, then have another drink."

Zhang Shan poured him another cup, and poured it on one side. Zhang Shan said, "Duke Chu asked me to come back, in fact, he asked me to assist Brother Ma in managing the tenth town. ”

Ma Xianglin is colorful. Straighten up.

"There is no need to say this to help, Huchen, you are the brother of the Duke of Chu, and the patriarch of the nine-headed bird, you will bring it to the tenth town in the future, and I will assist."

"I have other tasks, you are still the chief officer of the tenth town, but I also have a request." Zhang Shan himself took a sip, "Before coming back, the marshal confessed and asked me to tell Brother Ma that the current situation in the northwest is changeable, the Central Plains is empty, and the two lakes are only guarded by the tenth town. ”

"I listen to Duke Chu." Ma Xianglin said happily, "In the cold winter, the brothers are not willing to leave home and go north. Looking back, I will find a few reasons at random, and I will play the imperial court. ”

Zhang Shan nodded, very satisfied, Ma Xianglin just refused to cooperate, and he was not afraid, there was a way to take back control of the tenth town. But if he is willing to cooperate, it will be better.

"I have one more request, which is that I want to temporarily secondment a group of officers from the Tenth Town."

"How much?"

"If it's convenient, borrow a few standard generals, more than a dozen battalion generals, twenty or thirty company generals, and lend me three hundred non-commissioned officers."

Ma Xianglin picked up the teacup and poured it into his mouth, "No problem." "Zhang Shan wants to borrow so many people at once, basically it can be said that he has borrowed all the officers and non-commissioned officers of a association." I see that my brother has a lot of people to use, so let's make it more convenient for me to directly pull out a person from the tenth town to you. ”

Zhang Shan was a little surprised, but felt that he had underestimated Ma Xianglin, this person didn't look at the five big and three thick, he was still a one-eyed, which made people think he was a reckless man at first sight, but in fact, he was obviously a person who was rough and fine, and had a sensitive mind.

He smiled, "If you can, it would be better, thank you Brother Ma for your support." ”

"What's polite, we are all under the command of Duke Chu, don't all the brothers under him wear the same military uniform and play the same flag."

He is telling the truth, don't look at him as the chief military officer of the tenth town, and now Liu Jun has been transferred to Liaodong, but in fact, he, the chief military officer, has limited control over the tenth town. First, in the military system of the Chu army, the chief officer focused on commanding operations, and there were special officers responsible for the training, battle plans, daily management, military logistics, etc., and he couldn't interfere if he wanted to.

In particular, the armament and food of the tenth town were not the responsibility of the imperial court, but all of them were raised by Liu Jun. To put it bluntly, not only are the backbone officers of the Tenth Town all nine-headed birds, but also the food and ordnance supply are also in Liu Jun's hands, Liu Jun supports him, of course he is the boss of the Tenth Town, if Liu Jun does not support him, he can find someone to replace him at any time.

Zhang Shan borrowed someone, and immediately let Ma Xianglin understand Zhang Shan's plan. This is to recruit troops, and the backbone and elite are needed.

In fact, the two lakes are not only the tenth town, but also many soldiers and horses after the other towns of Nine-headed Bird went to Liaodong. However, they are all under the banner of township soldiers and militia groups, but these township soldiers and militia groups are different from other places, they are actually led by officers trained by Liu Jun's lecture martial arts, and these township soldiers and militia regiments usually guard the mines, salt works, ordnance workshops, shipyards, banks, shops, etc. of the Chu army, and there are not many of them.

However, if it is to be assembled into an army, there must still be a shortage of some officers. Ma Xianglin happily lent a co-ordination to Zhang Shan, anyway, they are all his own people.

"I won't say anything more, thank you Brother Ma for your strong support." Zhang Shan hugged Ma Xianglin's hand, "The day after tomorrow, it will be the engagement banquet between the younger brother and the fifth sister of Chu Gong, and Brother Ma will be invited to come and support at that time!" ”

"Definitely, definitely." Ma Xianglin laughed, "Congratulations to Brother Zhang, after the fourth sister of Duke Chu and Mr. Fu got engaged, there is only this one sister left in the family. ”

"It's the blessing that Gong Chu saw and cultivated in Zhang's previous life." Zhang Shan also smiled, it was a great honor for him to be able to marry the Liu family and marry Liu Jun's sister, and from then on he would become the brother and brother-in-law of Duke Chu, the real Duke of Chu himself. (To be continued.) )