-- Time goes back an hour --

At that time, the withered sheep had ordered Mingjin, which meant that the Taiping army was officially defeated in the battle in the waters of the Hengjiang River.

For Zhou Jun, this is definitely great news, even if he has now defected to Zhou Jun, the former Taiping Army's six god generals Yuheng Shen General Qi Zhi, can't help but feel a little joy in his heart. After all, after getting along for nearly a few months, Qi Zhi gradually developed a sense of belonging to Zhou Jun.

However, not all the people in the Zhou army were happy about this victory, such as the former Taiping army general, Xu Le.

Xu Le, the third generation of the Taiping Army's commander Liang Qiuhao under the command of the powerful general, his own martial arts are exquisite, and the combat is definitely more brave than the second generation of Tianquan God General Wei Hu, is the most courageous general under Liu Qing at that time in addition to Liang Qiu Hao and Yang Yu, although the military position is difficult to compare with Yuheng God General Qi Zhi, but the martial arts are stronger than the latter.

Since Liu Qing's army was defeated in the Jiangling Decisive Valley, and even Liang Qiuhao died in the desolate grove more than ten miles north of Jiangling City, Xu Le, who was loyal to the two, took great pains to collect the defeated soldiers, and met Qi Zhi who was lucky to survive during the period, and the two thought about how to avenge the Zhou army for the commander-in-chief Liang Qiuhao and the 50,000 Taiping brothers and sisters who died on the battlefield.

But after a series of accidents, Qi Zhi, who originally hated Zhou Jun, got closer and closer to Zhou Jun and Xie An under Liu Qing's threading of the needle, and even in the end, he willingly switched to Zhou Jun as a member of the Jizhou Army. And all of this made Xu Le feel unbelievable.

In addition to being angry, Xu Le and Qi Zhi walked farther and farther away, so that in recent days, they have reached the point where they can no longer greet each other.

It's not that Liu Qing and Qi Zhi treated Xu Le, it's just that Xu Le has never been able to forget the hatred with Zhou Jun, waiting for an opportunity to take revenge on Zhou Jun. It's a pity that for this former Taiping Army general who has not really returned to obedience, Xie An is not so stupid as to have no defense against him, no matter when and where, there will always be a Zhou general to monitor him. Most of the time it was Liao Li, the fierce general of the Zhou army who was not inferior to Xu Le in martial arts, and sometimes he was the strongest assassin under Xie An, the murderer and sickle Mo Fei of the Four Heavenly Kings of Dongling. Even, even his former colleague Qi Zhi sent his henchmen to pay attention to Xu Le's every move without Xie An's command.

These obstacles made Xu Le's plan to take revenge on Zhou Jun be stranded again and again. It's no wonder that after all the things that have been experienced, even Xu Le, who was once not good at using his brain and acting recklessly, has a little bit of city government and scheming in his heart.

It is undeniable that Xu Le is definitely a loyal general of the Taiping Army, even if Xie An, who takes a fancy to his strength, has repeatedly tempted him with fame and fortune, wanting to really subdue this general whose martial arts are comparable to Liao Li, but unfortunately, Xu Le is not moved at all, even after a long time, he never forgets to avenge Zhou Bing for the third generation of the Taiping Army Liang Qiuhao, the third generation commander of the Taiping Army to whom he is loyal, and the 50,000 Taiping Army that the whole army was destroyed.

But as the so-called strength is weak, after Liu Qing and Qi Zhi successively threw themselves to Xie An's side, Xu Le's situation in the Zhou army became more and more unfavorable, and more and more former Taiping soldiers gradually fell to the Zhou soldiers under Xie An's persuasion, which made Xu Le's diehard elements fewer and fewer, so that there were only four or five hundred people left.

With only four or five hundred people, how can they subvert hundreds of thousands of Zhou soldiers?

Even Xu Le, who is not very flexible in his head, knows that this kind of thing cannot happen. Therefore, he has always acted recklessly, gradually reined in his previous temper, kept his light and recuperated, and quietly looked for the best opportunity.

Finally, in the fifth month after the rebellion of the Three Kings subsided and the Battle of Xiangyang ended, Xie An led 30,000 Zhou soldiers to fight a fierce battle in the waters of the Hengjiang River in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River under the command of Wu Heng, the fourth commander of the Taiping Army.

A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

I remember that when the withered sheep attacked the Hengjiang Water Village of the Zhou army in the previous attack of the tentative surname, causing the 30,000 Jizhou soldiers to touch the ashes, Xu Le could not hide the joy in his heart, and he was overjoyed after returning to his tent.

In all fairness, in fact, it seems that the young generals of the Taiping Army, such as Withered Sheep, Wei Zou, and Wei Hu, Xu Le has not been in contact with them before, and even did not treat them very well, after all, at that time, there were several generals under the command of Liang Qiu Hao who were originally qualified to be promoted to the Six Divine Generals, but out of consideration for Wu Heng's questioning of their monopoly on military power in the army, therefore, the Taiping Army generals who were both civil and military such as Yang Yu and Feng Xi did not fight for the position of the Six Divine Generals, but gave the vacated quota of the Six Divine Generals to the Dry Sheep, Wei Zou, Wei Hu and other young generals with impeccable backgrounds. And among these people who gave up their quotas and were willing to become ordinary generals, they actually included Xu Le.

Although it was said that at that time, he willingly gave up the position of the six god generals to Wither Yang and others for the sake of his loyal commander-in-chief, but then again, Xu Le and the others had some mustard in their hearts, and they didn't treat Dry Sheep and others very much, and they didn't have deep contact with them, and they didn't even have a good feeling.

However, after hearing and witnessing the once unpromising withered sheep defeating the Eight Sages King Li Xian and the commander of the Southern Expedition Zhou Army, Xie An, Xu Le was suddenly full of affection for the withered sheep, and hoped that this young general in their Taiping army could defeat the Zhou soldiers and avenge Liang Qiuhao and the 50,000 Taiping soldiers who died in Jiangling.

But unfortunately, Xu Legao estimated the withered sheep and underestimated Xie An. It's no wonder, after all, the withered sheep is only weak at the moment, and there is no good teacher who is good at military strategy, in addition to the innate intelligence, it mainly relies on the accumulation of experience and self-exploration, how can he become a famous general in just three years? On the other hand, Xie An, although he has never liked to show off his talents, he finally has insight beyond the entire era, and even the second lady who is extremely good at military strategy, and the eldest grandson Xiangyu carefully teaches the use of soldiers, even if he still lacks practical experience, at most it is only on paper, how can he be matched by a withered sheep?

Therefore, in the second confrontation, the withered sheep lost to Xie An without any suspense, and the reason for the defeat was obviously the lack of experience and insight.

When the Taiping army led by the withered sheep retreated to the Niuzhu area on the south bank of the Yangtze River, in fact, Xu Le was also in the Zhou army, watching the Taiping soldiers on whom he had great hopes were defeated.

He really couldn't understand why the withered sheep, who had the advantage before, were so miserable and embarrassed in this battle.

When the withered sheep led the remnants of the Taiping army to retreat into the Niuzhu camp, the Zhou soldiers, who had won a battle, were very arrogant and set up a camp ten miles away from the Niuzhu Taiping army camp, busy collecting firewood and burying pots to make rice. At that time, Xu Le looked at all this expressionlessly, and there was really something wrong in his heart. He had a vague premonition, and had a premonition that the withered sheep would be defeated by the hands of Xie An, the commander-in-chief of the Zhou army, after all, it was proved from various previous signs that although Xie An was a civilian official, he had a good hand in military affairs, not to mention that the current Jizhou soldiers were full of talents, even if the two swords in the hands of Fei Guo and Ma Dan Xie An had been temporarily seconded by Li Xian, the king of the eight sages, but there were still many good generals in the army, such as Liao Li, Tang Hao, Ou Peng, Zhang Dong, Qi Zhi, Chengyang, etc., and even Di Bu, Gou Gong, Mo Fei and other powerful assassins to help, relying on the dry sheep alone, Xu Le's heart became more and more worried.

Finally, Xu Le couldn't bear it anymore, and he was reluctant to give up this great opportunity, so he took the initiative to send his henchmen to shoot a letter written by him into the camp of the Taiping Army in Niuzhu in the form of an arrow book.

Perhaps Xu Le would never have thought that the young general of the Taiping Army he pinned his hopes on was actually the younger brother of Yiyi, the fourth wife of Xie An, the commander-in-chief of the Zhou Army, that is, Xie An's brother-in-law.

Fortunately, the current withered sheep is still unwilling to listen to the persuasion of his brother-in-law Xie An, and give up revenge on the Zhou court for the bloody feud of more than 100 people in the Jinling Ram family who were killed by the door twenty years ago, otherwise, even Liu Qing and Qi Zhi would not be able to protect him from such an act as Xu Le's secret collaboration with the enemy army.

As the evening fell, as the light on the horizon became thinner, the irritability in Xu Le's heart increased, and he sat by a bonfire and frowned at the jumping flames.

I don't know how long later, a hundred men came to his side with several soldiers, each with a bundle of firewood in his hand.

As if noticing the footsteps, Xu Le glanced up, the anxious look in his eyes was suddenly replaced by caution and nervousness, and pretended to be unhappy and scolded, "Damn, General Ben told you to wait to collect firewood, why are you so late to return?" As he spoke, he winked at the hundred generals, after all, there were Zhou soldiers who were busy building simple camps back and forth all around.

"General's forgiveness ......" Xu Le's eyes signaled, and the hundred people understood and hurriedly confessed, during which he quietly took out a very small folded piece of paper from his sleeve and quietly stuffed it into Xu Le's hand.

Xu Le raised his eyebrows, and after glancing at the Zhou soldiers who were busy setting up the camp not far away, he took the opportunity to ask his henchmen to add firewood, opened the paper and took a closer look.

I saw two lines of small characters vaguely written on the paper in scribbled handwriting, probably if I asked which general to send to meet Xu Le at any time, Xu Le couldn't help frowning slightly. It's no wonder, because he is not as free as Qi Zhi in the Zhou army, after all, although Xie An wants to subdue Xu Le, he still doesn't have much trust in him, although Xu Le is still one of his guards.

[Meet in the nearby forest around the time of the ......]

Summarizing the information written on the piece of paper, Xu Le stared at the bonfire in front of him, showing hesitation from time to time.

From the words in the letter, it is not difficult for Xu Le to see that the withered sheep was suspicious of whether the arrow book was written by Xu Le himself, so he asked him to meet in the nearby small forest late at night. Xu Le didn't care much about this, after all, this kind of thing should be coordinated inside and outside, and it would have required a more careful plan to go smoothly, not to mention, in order to be at ease, Xu Le also hoped to see the withered sheep with his own eyes, no matter how bad it was, he had to be the general under the command of the withered sheep, and the generals he knew would not be calculated by Xie An. But the question is, how can you sneak out quietly under the noses of the nearby Zhou soldiers and smoothly meet with the envoys sent by the withered sheep to meet with you?

After thinking about it, Xu Le couldn't think of a good idea, and at this moment, a handsome and personable scholar walked in front of him, holding a delicate small golden fan.

However, Xu Le recognized this person, and also knew that this Wensheng, who seemed to be a rich son, was not really good.

[Xie An's first confidant next to him, Shaoqing Gou Gong of the Great Prison Temple...... What is this guy doing here? ]

Thinking like this in his heart, Xu Le quietly threw the unspeakable letter in his hand into the bonfire, watched it turn to ashes in an instant, and then waited for Gou Gong to come to him.

"General Xu is well." Arching his hand, Gou Gong greeted Xu Le with a smile.

"Humph!" Xu Le snorted lightly and said coldly, "What does Gou Shaoqing have to do?" ”

Obviously, Gou Gong also understood Xu Le's dislike and even indifference to non-Taiping Army people, and he didn't care about this, and said with a smile the purpose of coming this time.

"That's right...... General Xu, you see, it's getting late today, and it's really inconvenient to ...... Hehe, it's inconvenient to fight with the withered sheep, that's why, Gou thinks, is it necessary for us to rest for a night......"

Xu Le frowned when he heard this, glanced at Zhou Bing, who was busy setting up camp around him, and said unhappily, "Isn't your army already preparing to set up camp?" ”

"Hehe, General Xu misunderstood what Gou meant...... You see, our army is now on the other side of the river, and it is in a hurry, and the soldiers have not brought much dry food with them...... Now that the spring flowers are blooming and everything is recovering, I see that the adults are quite tired in order to hurry, so I ......"

Rao is Xu Le's head is not very bright, but at this time, he gradually understood the meaning of Gou Gong. It turned out that Gou Gong wanted him to take people to the nearby mountains and forests to hunt for some game, after all, it was the time when the beasts in the mountains and forests had finished hibernation and went out to forage for food, and the prey was not abundant.

[Hunting in the mountains and forests...... Well done! Just take this opportunity to contact the generals sent by the withered sheep. -- It's really hard to find a place to break through the iron shoes, and it takes no effort to get there! ]

Secretly happy in his heart, Xu Le didn't show it on his face, and still said with a reluctant face, "Xie An's food, haven't you Dongling people always been responsible for it?" ”

"Hehe......" Gou Gong smiled when he heard this, shaking the golden fan and said with some embarrassment, "This is not ...... Our lord sent my Dongling people to Niuzhu camp to spy on the military situation, it is best to disturb the Taiping army there to stay awake all night, so that after repeating a few times, our army will attack Niuzhu again, wouldn't it be twice the result with half the effort? As he spoke, Gou Gong looked at Xu Le intentionally or unintentionally, and a little different color flashed in his eyes.

[Damn bastards!] ]

Xu Le secretly scolded in his heart, after all, even a fool could see that Gou Gong's words were intentionally testing him.

The "Taiping Army ......" looked at Gou Gong deeply, Xu Le did not hide the anger in his eyes, and said word by word, "Does Gou Shaoqing think it's really good to reveal these things to Xu?" ”

"Ahh Seeing Xu Le's angry look, Gou Gong didn't care, and waved his hand again and again and said with a smile, "General Xu's intentions are known to Gou Mou, and he is only responsible for the security of the adults, and does not participate in the confrontation with the Taiping Army...... Look at me, and forget about it. - In short, my lord is tired of his carriage and horses, and he bothers General Xu to hunt some game for his lordship......"

"......" forcibly endured the joy in his heart, Xu Le pretended to be reluctant, and asked coldly, "What about Mo Fei?" ”

"The third brother below?" Gou Gong was stunned, shrugged his shoulders and said, "I was sent to the Niuzhu camp by the adults...... General Xu also knows that in terms of hiding his body and spying on intelligence, the third brother can also be called the first person in our army, and he is by no means inferior to his assassination skills! ”

[That Mo Fei was actually sent to Niu Zhu?] ]

Xu Le secretly screamed in his heart, and secretly worried about the withered sheep.

After all, as we all know, Mo Fei is the first assassin under Xie An, spying on intelligence and assassinating enemy generals, if this person is sent to Niuzhu by Xie An, it is not difficult to guess that the camp of the Taiping Army in Niuzhu will definitely be disturbed, such as Ji Jing, who was disturbed by Jin Ling'er, the first leader of the Jinling assassins.

"Humph!" Xu Le stopped talking, snorted coldly, and walked away with his henchmen, seemingly reluctant, but who knew the joy in his heart.

Gou Gong looked at Xu Le's departing back with a smile, and it was not until the latter walked out more than twenty zhang away that he slowly retracted the smile on his face, and a trace of fierceness flashed in his eyes.

"How?"

A low question came from the side.

Looking closely, a Zhou soldier in leather armor appeared next to Gou Gong at some point, standing side by side with the former, coldly looking at the back of Xu Le, who had been far away in the distance. Looking at this person's face, it was one of the Four Heavenly Kings of Dongling who had been sent by Xie An to the camp of the Taiping Army in Niuzhu in Gou Gong's mouth, the sickle Mofei.

"I don't know exactly how it will be!" Gou Gong shook his head and said lightly, "However, this person's reluctant appearance is obviously pretending...... It seems that I want to take the opportunity to avoid the eyes of our army's brigade. - Third brother, did any brother really see someone coming from the direction of the Niuzhu Taiping military camp? ”

"Hmm!" Mo Fei nodded and said in a low voice, "There are more than twenty people in the group, and four or five of them took the opportunity to pack firewood and left the neighborhood, and they lost their traces for about an hour......

"An hour?" Gou Gong frowned when he heard this, and said unhappily, "Why don't you report such an important matter early?" ”

Don't look at Gou Gong's martial arts can be called the best in Dongling, but he is quite afraid and respectful of his righteous brother Gou Gong, after all, Gou Gong is an expert in playing drugs, even if your martial arts are high, how can you resist his pervasive drug tricks?

"This Xu Le's heart is not angry, and it is not a matter of one or two days...... Moreover, because of Liu Qing and Qi Zhi's face, adults don't want to force this Xu Le...... too much," Mo Fei explained in a low voice.

Gou Gong frowned when he heard this, and after thinking for a moment, he said in a deep voice, "Go and see what is going on...... Hang far away! ”

"Do you want to ......" nodded, Mo Fei raised his hand and made a mouth-killing motion.

Perhaps, this first-class assassin who came and went without a trace still remembered the hatred that Xu Le attacked the Zhou army's camp at night when he was in Hukou, causing him to be temporarily dismissed by Xie An and Ding Qiu of the Jinling people, and he wanted to kill the culprit Xu Le as soon as possible.

"Don't! Let's keep it...... Temporarily! - Go ahead! ”

Gou Gong raised his hand to interrupt Mo Fei's words, and had no doubt that his third brother could easily assassinate that Xu Le, and even, let alone one Xu Le, even if it was ten, Mo Fei could eradicate them one by one in this night, after all, the night was the time when assassins like Mo Fei and Jin Ling'er who were good at assassination could show their strength the most.

"Hmm!"

The jaw head responded, Mo Fei jumped a few times, and disappeared into the night.

At the same time, Xu Le had already left the location of the Zhou army's brigade, and after instructing his subordinates to hunt everywhere, he quietly came to the agreed forest alone to contact the people sent by the withered sheep.

What surprised Xu Le was that when he came to the forest, there were already people waiting there, and it was still a face he was quite familiar with.

"Wei Zhuang? ――Is that you? Are you actually in Niu Zhu? ”

"Why, didn't Qi Sik tell you? - Today, in the daytime, I have had a good time with Qi Zhi! With a chuckle, Wei Zhuang, the general of the Taiping Army and the fourth generation of commander-in-chief Wu Heng, who had fought with Qi Zhi, walked out from behind a tree quietly.

"Qi Zhi? - Don't be a traitor in front of me! Xu Le's face was not angry when he heard this, and then he said with a little anxious, "Wei Zhuang, although we have many contradictions before, but at the moment, we still focus on the overall situation, okay?" You and I are both Taiping soldiers, aren't we? - I can't leave the Zhou army for too long, lest I be suspected. ”

"Okay, let's get down to business!" Smiling slightly, Wei Zhuang took a few steps forward, and said in a low voice, "The arrow book you sent, the little guy of the withered sheep received it, if you really have the heart to do internal response for our army, it will really be a blessing for our army!" ”

"If it's true, how can it be faked? The reason why I pretended to take refuge in Zhou Bing before was just to wait for an opportunity to take revenge! Hate Qi Zhi's greed for money and power, and treachery! So much so that I was so weak that I did not dare to move. Seeing that Wei Zhuang vaguely doubted himself in his words, Xu Le hurriedly defended.

"Okay, well, since you are sincere, then, you will cooperate with our army at that time, and you will be so ......" As he spoke, he whispered a few words in Xu Le's ear, only to hear Xu Le nodding again and again.

"Okay, I see! - I'll go back first, I can't leave for too long! ”

"Don't send it!" Wei Zhuang smiled.

"Hmm!"

Hugging his fists, Xu Le turned around and left, he didn't have the slightest idea, on the trunk of a nearby tree, Mo Fei, who was dressed as an ordinary soldier of the Zhou army, was looking at him coldly and condescendingly.

Suddenly, Mo Fei's eyes flashed with a hint of vigilance, and he subconsciously turned his head and looked at the position where Wei Zhuang had stayed before, but there was no one there. Obviously, seeing Xu Le leaving, Na Weizhuang also left.

But for some reason, Mo Fei felt as if someone was looking at his location.

[……]

Looking straight at the tree, a trace of doubt flashed in Mo Fei's eyes, shook his head, and disappeared into the night.

However, just a few breaths after he left, Wei Zhuang, who had just met Xu Le, turned out from behind the tree, and a slight inexplicable smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.