Knowing that his classmate Liu Bei was coming, Gongsun Zhan greeted him with a smile on his face, warmly welcomed Liu Bei into the Taishou Mansion, and politely invited Liu Bei to sit down, let people serve tea and snacks, and then knees touched knees with Liu Bei next to each other, and laughed loudly: "Xuande, you went to the school captain's mansion so soon?" ”

Liu Bei took a sip of hot tea, his heart was hot, he looked at the walls around him, and said enviously: "Look at this house, Brother Bo Jue is not a scholar, right?" ”

Gongsun Zhan smiled and waved his hand: "It's nothing, it's just that I have been a treasurer, and I just came back from Zhuo County." I wanted to go and meet you, but I didn't expect that the Peach Valley Essence House was empty, Mr. went to Luoyang, you went to Ningcheng, I was empty. ”

The law of the Han Dynasty, every year in August began to count the population, taxes, and then summarized to the state and county and Luoyang's Situ Mansion, the Shangji is sent by the county to the county, the county sent to the state or Luoyang to report the candidate, this position is a beautiful difference, because there is a chance to meet Shangguan and show their talents, there is a chance to be promoted, in fact, and the recommended filial piety, Maocai is the same meaning. Liu Bei hurriedly put down the teacup and arched his hand: "Congratulations to Brother Bo Jue, have you met Master Thorn Shi?" ”

The smile on Gongsun Zhan's face was a little unnatural, "I see." Don't talk about me, let's talk about your situation, recently the Assassin's Mansion sent an official document, saying that there is going to be a big war, and I am going to Liucheng to find Qiu Liju dignitaries. ”

"I'm here to tell you about it." Liu Bei smiled, and when he said what he meant, Gongsun Zhan was a little surprised and a little disappointed: "Mr. Xiao and Deran have both entered the Captain's Mansion, and Deran was also sent to persuade the Wuhuan people?" ”

Liu Bei was just about to boast about Liu Xiu's deeds, but when he saw that Gongsun Zhan's face was not quite right, he hurriedly swallowed it back. Gongsun Chan felt his emotional changes, and also felt a little embarrassed, thought about it, and laughed: "I didn't expect Deran to be so capable, I was really a little blind at the beginning." It is also an honor for my grandson Chan to have such a person as a classmate. As he spoke, he opened the official document and scanned it, and patted his thigh happily: "Since Deran has done the matter, then I will report to the prince of the house now, and immediately rush to Liucheng with you to recruit the Wuhuan people." ”

After speaking, he got up and went to report to Taishou, Liu Bei remembered the change in Gongsun Zhan's expression just now, and shook his head secretly. He knew that Gongsun Chan was arrogant and had never looked down on Liu Xiu very much, and now Liu Xiu sent envoys to Baishan and White Wolf Mountain on behalf of the Assassin's Mansion and the Captain's Mansion, and successfully completed the task of subduing Shanggu and Wuhuan in Liaoxi, and made a contribution. Although he quickly returned to normal just now, Liu Bei felt that he was a little reluctant, and he was no longer as excited as he was at the beginning.

Gongsun Zhan came back soon, cleaned up a little, and took a dozen or so horsemen to follow Liu Bei out of the door and went straight to Liucheng. After arriving in Liucheng, Qiu Liju met with them, and enthusiastically said that Liu Xiu had arranged it before leaving, and the school captain's mansion asked him to arrange two thousand cavalry to support Ningcheng, and the rest of the troops were all dispatched by the Taishou Mansion in western Liaoning, and asked the Taishou Mansion if there was a suitable candidate to go to Ningcheng. As soon as he finished speaking, Gongsun Chan said that the Taishou Mansion had received an order, and they could not leave the country until they received the order from the Assassin Mansion, and they should devote all their energy to the safety of Liaoxi.

Liu Bei was very disappointed, but he didn't say anything, he waved goodbye to Gongsun Zhan, and followed the Qiu Liju arranged by Qiu Liju and two thousand elite horsemen to rush to the upper valley. Liu Bei's disappointed eyes all fell on Gongsun Zhan's eyes, and Gongsun Chan wanted to speak and stopped, feeling very bitter in his heart. He regretted that he left Peach Valley in a fit of rage, leaving the Lu family father and son, and now if a big man wants to get ahead, following a great Confucian to read the scriptures is the best opportunity, and his father-in-law gave him this opportunity, but he let it go in vain, and now he can only watch Liu Xiu rise to prominence.

……

The appearance outside Ningcheng has changed, the originally lively valley is still lively, but those merchants have no shadow, replaced by overlapping military camps, Xianbei people have rushed to Ningcheng, and surrounded Ningcheng from four directions, although it is not impassable, but Ningcheng has become a lonely city.

Liu Xiu was stationed on the hillside, but he didn't look at the military camp in the distance, but looked at the messy grass in front of him. He knew that Dunwu was heavily surrounded by Dou Wei here that night, and at that time, Dunwu fought hard, killed thirteen Dou family tribesmen in one go, and broke out of the siege, just to rush to Ningcheng to report to him.

He swore that he would avenge Dunwu, and he was run away by Dou Gui last time, can he get his wish this time?

"This time the Xianbei people are mainly in three parts." Yu Jie said humbly: "One part is Huai Zong's subordinates, about 10,000 people, one is the Xiongnu brought by the Dou family, about three or four thousand, and the rest is more than 15,000 people from the Niutou tribe, led by Lord Feng Crack himself." He glanced at Fengxue and reminded in a low voice, "It's Fengxue Girl's stepfather, Lord Fengxi." ”

Liu Xiu nodded, turned his head to look at the smug Fengxue, and laughed: "One is the prince of Tanshi Huai, a warrior in Xianbei, and the other is the Fenglian Lord who is known for his resourcefulness under Tanshi Huai, plus a century-old family of the Han Dynasty, this lineup is really powerful enough." Wind and snow girl, don't look at you as just a righteous daughter, but your stepfather really treats you as a daughter. ”

"Humph!" Fengxue didn't bother to pay attention to him, snorted, wrinkled his nose and looked to the other side, but his eyes showed pride and expectation. The father-in-law and sweetheart who loved her the most were here, and she could finally get rid of this humiliation of being a prisoner, and it was best for her father-in-law to arrange an ambush here, directly kill this hateful man, and rescue herself from the sea of suffering. It was less than ten miles from the camp, and they would soon find out that the group might be on their way to departure.

The eyes of the wind and snow kept wandering through the valley.

"My lord, how do we enter Ningcheng?" He was a little nervous and asked, he was ordered by Nanlou to bring five thousand cavalry from Baishan to support Ningcheng, but he didn't expect that the Xianbei people would take the lead and have surrounded Ningcheng, he couldn't enter Ningcheng at all, and he couldn't even stay here for a long time, once the Xianbei people found their traces, they were likely to be defeated.

"Don't go in." Liu Xiudao, "When I came, I had already discussed your arrangements with Lord Lieutenant, you don't need to go into the city to assist in defense, your task is to disturb the grain routes of the Xianbei people outside the city, put pressure on them, so that they don't dare to attack the city with all their might, and then give them a fatal blow when they can't support it." ”

Yan Jie frowned: "My lord, will the Xianbei people attack the city?" What if they go after us in turn? There are less than 20,000 Wuhuan cavalry in the entire upper valley, and we can't face them alone. ”

Liu Xiu smiled. Wuhuan people are the same as the Huns, although they are nomads, but after hundreds of years of evolution, they have been different from the nomadic people such as the Xianbei people, a considerable part of them have learned agriculture, accustomed to settling, and no longer all the people are soldiers, there are more than 9,000 Wuhuan in the upper valley, but there are only more than 20,000 soldiers. Of course, it is certainly not this number to conscript all the men into the army, but now that they have to fight for the Han people, they will naturally not go all out. If it weren't for Lou Lu to be the quality task, I was afraid that the difficult building might not even have 5,000 people.

"You are more familiar with the situation in Shanggu than the Xianbei people, if you can't beat it, you can't run, you can't even run, right? That's what you do best. Liu Xiu smiled: "Besides, you are friends of our Han people, even if you encounter the attack of the Xianbei people, there is still the support of my Han behind you, what is there to be afraid of?" Once the situation is not right, you can retreat into the city of our Han people for temporary refuge, and you can get food and grass support at any time, which is many times better than the situation of the Xianbei people. ”

"Is that so?" Yan Jie breathed a sigh of relief, and was still a little uneasy: "Is this an order from the Assassin's Mansion and the Captain's Mansion?" ”

"Do I dare to pass on the order privately?" Liu Xiu turned his head and said to Zhao Yun, "Zilong, you don't have to go into the city either. You act together with the handsome of the heroes and are in charge of the liaison between the Wuhuan and the Han Chinese. He has been on the battlefield for a long time and is good at riding and fighting, so you must learn from him with your heart and don't be self-righteous. ”

Zhao Yun was overjoyed, hurriedly bowed in response, and saluted Yu Jie: "Please give me a lot of advice." ”

He was very satisfied with the attitude of Liu Xiu and Zhao Yun, and the Han people had never been so polite in recruiting Wuhuan people as cavalry before. Since Liu Lian had arranged the contact, he naturally wouldn't object, but he said with some worry: "My lord, will the Xianbei people honestly attack the city?" Siege is not what they are good at, they used to go around the city every time, and they left after plundering. ”