The Grand Canal is the world's water transport, the north and south of the financial and goods exchange are dependent on this, every year in addition to the frozen period, passenger and cargo ships such as the carp across the river, the ancient city of Linqing is just like the most brilliant pearl on this river belt, just because it is located at the intersection of the Yellow River and the Grand Canal, through the east and west, north and south, it has become the most prosperous transportation hub of the waterway in the country.

"It is said that there is Suzhou and Hangzhou in the south, and Linzhang in the north, but today I don't want to see it, but it is famous, but it is actually difficult to deputy." Zhang Fangyan stood on the bow of the boat with his hands in his hands, facing the already cool north wind, enjoying the coastal scenery. Li Xin once came to Linqing once when the Tartars entered the Kou in the last year, when the wharf was full of merchants, shoulder to shoulder, and there were endless ships stranded in the river. Today, however, it is deserted, with a few local ferries docked alone on the wharf, and occasionally you can see a few wharf levers walking with their heads bowed.

Li Xin frowned, this kind of depression was by no means the usual color, it was obvious that when the canal had been cut off from north to south for a long time, there was not even a single stranded merchant and cargo ship left.

When even the cow egg was called, he whispered a command.

After Niu Dan took the order and left, Li Xin was even more worried. This time, the 3,000 elites he brought were 1,000 cavalry and 2,000 auxiliaries. I knew that the situation in Shandong had deteriorated to such a point, so I brought more soldiers with me. But this also confirms from the side that when he was leaving, Liu Yuliang sent someone to send a secret letter, which is true.

There are only a few ships going south, and most of them are Zhang Fangyan's attachés, and the old man has a solid family background, so he can naturally afford to hire guests.

On the other hand, there were many fewer attachés who accompanied Li Xin on the ship, and he himself was only five people, in addition to Li Xin, Li Da, Heisenberg, Mi Yan and Niu Dan. As for the 3,000 soldiers accompanying him on the shore, they were dispatched by Gu Shishi, Shi Datuo and others.

What made Li Xin feel strange was that he didn't see half of the government's soap on the way, and during this time, the house was empty with the card, which was nothing. Zhang Fangyan finally realized that something was wrong, so he turned around and discussed with Li Xin: "Does the Marquis of Zhenqing think that this Linqing atmosphere is weird? ”

Now that Li Xin has been officially named the Marquis of Zhen, he is above Zhang Fangyan in terms of status, so the old man is very courteous, and he speaks with a straight look.

"Ge Lao, go back to the boat, I'm afraid that the canal in front of me has been cut off for a long time..."

Zhang Fangyan never expected that Li Xin's mouth would be so shocking, and he even stuttered a little when he spoke.

"You, what do you say? The canal is cut off, and it has been cut off for a long time? How is this possible, and if the north and the south are cut off, why has there never been a military report in the court? ”

This series of questions, Li Xin also wanted to figure out what was going on, Liu Yuliang's secret letter did mention the situation in Shandong and Henan, but it was too terrifying, Li Xin only doubted the letter, and also thought that many of them might be rumors, who would have thought that after Linqing, he already had the feeling of being about to come.

Suddenly, I heard someone on the left bank shouting, "The boats in the river are old men from Beijing?" Don't go any further, after Linqing, you will be a thief, the Dongchang Mansion has fallen into the hands of thieves, and the head of the prefect Zhao Shiju is still hanging on the gate of the Dongchang Mansion..."

Zhang Fangyan was old, and his ears were a little back, but the people on the left bank of the canal shouted several times in a row, and knew that the boat was approaching downstream, so he listened to it. The old man's color changed, and he immediately ordered the fleet to return to Beijing, and when the imperial court sent troops to suppress the rogue thieves, the north-south passage was restored and the southward journey was set off again. No matter how Li Xin persuaded him, Zhang Fangyan shook his head like a merchant's drum, and there was no room for accommodation, and the fleet had to return to Beijing in life or death.

"Don't persuade the marquis of Zhenyu again, and the old man also wants to persuade you not to go further south, we don't have more than a thousand soldiers, how can we fight with the tens of thousands of rebellious people and thieves? Didn't you heed the warning from the soap on the shore? There must be at least 30,000 rebels and thieves gathered in Dongchang Mansion. This number is dozens of times that of our army, and if we go headlong into it, it is not bravery, stupidity, and self-defeating..."

In fact, what Zhang Fangyan said was right, there were only 1,000 soldiers in the Three Guards Army, and the remaining 2,000 people were all auxiliaries who transported heavy loads along the way, but Zhang Fangyan didn't know that the auxiliaries under his command Li Xin were also many times better than ordinary Ming soldiers.

Who knew that Zhang Fangyan persuaded Li Xin bitterly: "Even if we add those 2,000 auxiliary soldiers, we only have 3,000 people when we are full, and the art of war is 'surround it with ten soldiers, attack it with five, and fight it if it is doubled', the thieves are ten times more than our army, and it is not a pity for the old man to die, but we have to think about these three thousand hot-blooded men..."

The generosity and righteousness of what he said made Li Xin feel awe-inspired. But how can the way of using soldiers be a simple mathematical operation, and if this is the case, how can we explain our own examples of winning more with less?

Li Xin knew that he could no longer convince the stubborn Zhang Fangyan, so he waved his hand and summoned two personal soldiers.

"The elder is unwell, quickly help the elder back to the cabin, so that he can wait, don't let the elder come out of the cabin, if you suffer from the wind and cold again, you will come to see it..."

The two sturdy and burly soldiers suddenly agreed, and their four arms grabbed Zhang Fangyan's arms like iron tongs. Zhang Fangyan was originally a literati, but he was old and frail, and he was as thin as firewood, so he had no power to resist in front of the two Yan Zhao Hans.

"Li Xin, what do you want to do? You are holding Shangguan hostage, and the old man wants to go to this book to join you..."

No matter how Zhang Fangyan resisted, in front of the two pro-soldiers, it was like a chicken being grabbed by its wings, and it had no effect. Seeing that he was about to be "carried" into the cabin, Zhang Fangyan roared hoarsely: "Li Xin, if you don't let these two strong men stop, the old man, the old man will bite his tongue and commit suicide..."

Li Xin said secretly, when you were bullied by a businessman's family, you didn't see such integrity, how do you think of me Li Xin bullying me today? Despite thinking so, Li Xin still didn't dare to slack off, tore off a piece of the robe on his body with a bang, and stepped forward to stuff it into Zhang Fangyan's mouth.

"Elder Ge is offended, and I owe you a lot of reminders..."

Zhang Fangyan's face was flushed with anger, and he used all his strength, but his mouth was stuffed with rags, and he couldn't even say a word.

Li Xin was afraid that Zhang Fangyan would be angry, so he comforted him with kind words: "Why should the elder of the pavilion be so angry, after Li Xinxin's three thousand elites annihilate the chaotic people of Dongchang Mansion and recover the city, you will not be able to run away from the central dispatch..."

This is equivalent to promising Zhang Fangyan that once he wins this battle, the first credit will be his. But how could Zhang Fangyan believe that Li Xin could dare to fight with more than ten times the thieves with his own with only 3,000 men, and be able to achieve victory? But no matter how much he struggled, it was to no avail, and two burly and sturdy soldiers had already "helped" him into the cabin.

Zhang Fangyan never expected that when the matter came, Li Xin would actually be in a state of confusion, and he would dare to forcibly control himself as the governor of Zhejiang. In his opinion, although Li Xin was born as a martial artist, he treated them as officials and squires with great respect. If I knew this, I should have done it, but now it's too late to regret it.

As soon as Zhang Fangyan was settled, Li Xin immediately ordered someone to send an order to Gu Fourteen, the officer of the war battalion, to spread the scouts forward thirty miles and enter the first-level combat readiness. This person was promoted to a general in Jingshi, received the rank of general of Dingyuan, and was one of the main generals who followed Li Xin to the south this time.

At this time, Niu Dan brought a dusty soldier from the shore, "General, the envoy of the imperial court to the south has arrived?" ”

Li Xin frowned, he had only walked halfway, what did the emperor send a messenger for? Don't you want to call yourself back? But immediately after Niu Dan's words, Li Xinda had the urge to go up and kick him.

"Yes, it was for Yang Sichang, and I thought that the messenger might have news that the general would use, so I brought it over..."

The so-called messenger of the decree is just a soldier who transmits the military report, because of the rush of the period in order to send the will to the Henan army, naturally can not send an official to the past, otherwise the delay all the way to Henan, I am afraid that the situation will also be erosive I don't know what kind of Cheng dù...

However, Li Xin also knew that it was not allowed by the imperial court to ask the messenger in private, and if it was known by the imperial court, he would at least be punished for the crime of conspiracy. Who knew that the soldier took the initiative to say: "Villain, villain to meet the general of Zhenyu Hou, in fact, in fact, long live the lord is to ask Yang Ge to divide his troops to Dongchang to quell the chaos, no, there is no mention of the general." ”

Li Xin stepped forward and remained silent, but Niu Dan was not very satisfied with what the soldier said.

"Go to pass the decree to Yang Sichang, you don't have to think about it to know that it is for him to send troops to quell the chaos. Let's talk about the news we don't know about Beijing..."

The soldier thought for a while and said: "Long live the Lord ordered to promote the Taiyuan prefect Tian or something to be the governor, and let Wang Pu, the chief soldier of Datong Town, take over as the chief soldier of Shanxi Town, and the general's three guards have returned to Shanxi three days ago..."

"You, what did you say? You repeat, this, this can't be..."Niu Dan didn't care who was the governor of Shanxi, what he cared about was who would lead the Three Guards. It's just that he never imagined that the imperial court would let Wang Pulai, the general's old rival, take over the Three Guards, so how could there be good fruits for those old brothers to eat?

"Niu Dan, Hugh is rude..."Li Xin reprimanded Niu Dan, and then turned to the soldier and said: "Brother is in the holy order, I will not leave you to rest on the ship..."

After the soldier left, Niu Dan was like a mourner, and bluntly said that the Three Guards had fallen into the hands of thieves. Li Xin shouted sharply, "Crying very much, the court has an order, and it should be obeyed." If that doesn't work, you still want to rebel against your boss? ”

Niu Dan muttered in a low voice: "What about rebellion? ”

Li Xin asked again: "Right now, Dongchang in front of you has been seized by thieves, Niu Dan, Ben Shuai asks you, do you dare to fight?" ”

This book was first published from 17K Novel Network, the first time to see the genuine content! R405