On the night of December 25 in the fourth year of Chongzhen, the head of Dengzhou City was covered with soldiers, and every other section, soldiers hung lanterns with ropes to illuminate the position under the city wall, and there were some scattered soldiers on the outside of the moat, lighting fires everywhere as a pre-jǐng for the periphery.

At the south gate of Dengzhou, Sun Yuanhua looked at the bonfire of the rebel camp on Mishen Mountain a few miles away. Wang Zheng and Zhang Tao were by his side, and their moods were a little heavy.

Sun Yuanhua strictly ordered that all the prefectures and counties along the way should not be attacked, Li Jiucheng and Kong Youde drove straight in, and Zhang Tao and Zhang Keda, who had already arrived in Huang County, were also transferred back to Dengzhou.

Kong Youde and the other 3,300 people when they set off have become nearly 10,000 now, including more than 2,000 prisoners, green skins, and bandits, these people have a ruthless force, and they have some effect when fighting a good fight, and the other thousands of people are all people and women who were robbed, and they robbed several rich prefectures and counties in Jinan Prefecture along the way, and the poor Liao soldiers became rich men for a while.

The camp of nearly 10,000 people occupies a large area, and the dense firelight fills the northern slope of Mishen Mountain, drawing a thin halo in the night sky in the south.

"Da Jin, Li Jiucheng and Kong Youde have not responded to whether they will be fuss or not." Wang Zheng, who was full of old age, whispered to Sun Yuanhua, "Xia Guan thinks that it is better to send a letter to Yu Dajin, the governor of Shandong, and ask him to come to Dengzhou as soon as possible to meet in order to ensure safety." ”

Zhang Tao said in a low voice: "Wang Dajin, Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng are old wars, they camped in Mishen Mountain, blocked the road to Qixia, and stationed in the southeast Wollongong and southwest Shimen Mountain, respectively, blocked the road to Ninghai Prefecture and Huangxian, even if they send Tangma out, it is not so easy." Zhang Tao sighed after speaking.

After the battle of Shenmi Island, Sun Yuanhua wanted to let Dongjiang Town move to the town, but he had a lot of trouble at that time, but he just let Zhang Tao's department move first, and it happened that the Daling River started a war, so he asked Zhang Tao to rescue the Daling River. Later, Huang Long was even more desperate and did not agree to give him Hongyi cannon, so Zhang Tao dragged it out on this ground. After the accident on Phi Dao, Sun Yuanhua transferred him to Dengzhou as his confidant.

Wang Zheng didn't know anything about military affairs, and said in surprise: "General Zhang is saying that Kong Youde is putting on the appearance of wanting to fight Dengzhou?" ”

"Even if you don't attack the city, you are guarding against us in every way, and these people are at least not single-mindedly appeased."

Sun Yuanhua also had some regret in his heart, he should have stuck the rebellious army in Huang County at that time, even if Li Jiucheng had other thoughts, he would be able to test it in Huang County, and he would not be under the city of Dengzhou like now. In fact, he was already flustered, and couldn't think of any ideas, Wang Tingqian and other Qincha were afraid of provoking the fire, and said that this matter was not within the scope of the errand, and he would never come up with any ideas, neither supporting nor opposing Zhaofu, after the rebels arrived in Laizhou, they all fled to Ninghai Prefecture, which was very close to Wendeng, and I heard that hundreds of Wendeng battalions were also transferred to guard, obviously not optimistic about Fufu.

Wang Zheng also knew that the current situation was sinister, and looked at Sun Yuanhua and said: "Huodong, it is better to send more sentry horses out to give orders, and let Yu Dajin come with troops, he still has Wendeng camp there......"

Sun Yuanhua shook his head slightly, he already hated Chen Xin, and blamed Chen Xin for the reason for his predicament, and said in a resolute tone: "Zhaofu is still worth a try, besides, there are still pacesetters and regular barracks in the city, and Kong Youde has thousands of horses, how can he conquer Dengzhou." This official is not yet to the point where he wants to beg Nabuo. ”

He said to Zhang Tao again: "If Li Jiucheng still doesn't respond, you will lead the troops and General Zhang to go out of the city to attack the thieves, and let them suffer some hardships to be appeased." ”

Zhang Tao hesitated for a moment, "This ......" Sun Yuanhua turned his head and glared at him, his expression was full of majesty.

"Yes, big in." ……

The mountains in the south of Dengzhou City are continuous, the nearest to Fucheng is called Mishen Mountain, also known as Wenfeng, it is composed of a series of large and small mountain ranges, the highest elevation is less than 200 meters, and the dense water that runs through the northwest from the southeast in Dengzhou City originates here. To the east of it there is Kui Mountain, and further south there are a series of mountain systems such as Ma Mountain, Niu Mountain, Shu Mountain, Chi Mountain, Wanghai Ridge, etc., forming a barrier in the south of Dengzhou.

There is a Mount Tai palace on the top of Mishen Mountain, which was built in the sixteenth year of Jiajing, and there are five such Mount Tai palaces in Dengzhou. It is enshrined in the old mother of Mount Tai, the old mother of Mount Tai is called "Dongyue Taishan Immortal Jade Girl Bixia Yuanjun", it is rumored that a certain folk girl became an immortal, became an official in the court, and later was in charge of the work of giving birth to civil women, belonging to the local promotion of the gods, and the airborne thousand departments to send the son of Guanyin responsibilities are a little overlapping, generally speaking, it belongs to the women's federation of the court of a class of institutions, and has long enjoyed the incense of the majority of women comrades.

But now sitting in the Taishan Palace is a group of stinky men, all bearded, they are around a bonfire in the hall, in front of the statue of Taishan's old mother to discuss the murder of the Yue goods.

Here is the head of the Denglai rebels, they robbed enough in Jinan Mansion, after Sun Yuanhua appeased, they agreed to come down at that time, and did not attack the city in Qingzhou Mansion and Laizhou Mansion. After passing through Pingdu Prefecture, they did not go to Laiyang, and went directly from Laizhou and Huangxian to the city of Dengzhou.

Li Yingyuan, who was full of food and drink, sighed with satisfaction, and said to Li Jiucheng, who was the head of the company: "Dad, Sun Dajin has another letter, let us caress it, and still take care of the original army." ”

There are Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng sitting at the top, and now Li Jiucheng is already sitting on the left, and his status is higher than Kong Youde, because he has the final say on whether to fight that city or not along the way, and most of the combat operations are also under his personal command, and he has established a high prestige in Qiu Bazhong. It was also his idea to appease in exchange for a safe journey, and he had not made a mistake since the beginning of the army, and let everyone have silver and women, so such a leader naturally had prestige.

Li Jiucheng's angry face changed under the flickering firelight, and Kong Youde opened his mouth to ask, "What else did the letter say?" ”

"I didn't say anything, I just said that I would still serve as a 1rì official, and I would not treat him lightly, and I would not pursue this turmoil."

Another Qian general manager immediately objected: "Kong Dajin, what is Sun Dajin's situation, we all know in our hearts, if we are caressing, in case the imperial court wants Sun Dajin to hand over the leader, how can we deal with ourselves?" ”

A Bai Zong also stood up and said: "Let's just stroke if we don't want to, the original rìzi Lao Tzu doesn't want to pass, now if you want to kill like this, you can kill it, and you can grab it if you want to grab it, and those bullshit gentlemen have to kneel for us, and the official lady will sleep correctly." ”

A group of officers laughed at the same time. Li Jiucheng grabbed a piece of lamb leg and took a bite, poured another sip of wine, and then looked at Kong Youde and said, "What did Brother Kong say?" ”

Kong Youde stared at the ground and said: "Brother Li, I think it's okay to caress at this time, as long as you don't accept our white spoon of silver, it will not be difficult to rì in the future." If we don't, we won't always be the king of this secret god mountain, we are not afraid of the Shandong army, but if the imperial court mobilizes border troops from all over the country, we will be choked. ”

Mr. Bai, who was standing, laughed and said: "Kong Dajin, we are the border army, and we are afraid of a fart, Guan Ningjun is known as Xiongzhen, and he is so beaten by Jiannu that he doesn't dare to go out, and Lao Tzu is not afraid of him." ”

Kong Youde raised his head and glared at him, "What about Wendeng Camp?" ”

Mr. Bai's laughter stopped abruptly, and the expressions of the other officers were unnatural, they were all fighting with Jiannu for many years, and if Wendeng Camp could turn over Jiannu a thousand times, it would be able to turn them over a thousand times.

Mr. Bai coughed twice and said: "General Chen may not beat us, as long as we tell him that the well water does not interfere with the river water, how can he fight with us, and no matter how powerful Wen Dengbing is,"

"Put your mother's bullshit, can the court let him beat him? At that time, Lao Tzu will send you Cheng Mazi to Wendeng Camp as a lobbyist, and if you can't convince Chen Xin and Lao Tzu, you will cut off your head. ”

After Kong Youde finished scolding, Cheng Mazi could only accompany Qian Xiao, and sat back stupidly, and the officers saw that Kong Youde was angry, and they no longer dared to speak, only looking at Li Jiucheng and Li Yingyuan.

Li Yingyuan's heart is also quite afraid of the Wendeng camp, not to mention the wooden soldiers in Wendeng, just say that Chen Xin has entered, he has seen it a few times, and he always feels deep in his mind, and he doesn't know what the plan is.

Li Yingyuan thought about it and said: "Chen Xin's side, we are still a little restrained, and the things that were robbed on the road this time ......"

Kong Youde and Li Jiucheng shouted angrily at the same time: "Shut up! ”

Li Yingyuan was startled, Li Jiucheng grabbed him by the collar and dragged him over and scolded in his ear: "Idiot, you are not allowed to talk nonsense about this matter long ago, once it spreads, didn't you force Chen Xin to clear the suspicion and fight with us?" ”

Although Li Yingyuan was Li Jiucheng's son, he was also frightened and trembling by Li Jiucheng's vicious eyes, and only after half a sound did he stammer: "Dad, don't you want to fight Chen Xin?" ”

"Lao Tzu thought about recruiting a fart, you look at the appearance of this gang, I am more afraid of Wendeng Camp than I am afraid of Jiannu, and I don't have to fight to lose. To fight the Wenden camp, it's not now. Li Jiucheng scolded in a low voice and threw away Li Yingyuan, and said to the crowd: "Wendeng camp is indeed a big enemy, and they can't be avoided in Dengzhou, I think we have to recruit after all." The officers were a little deflated, and Li Jiucheng smiled a little after looking around, "But not now." ”

A thousand general flattered and said: "Is that tomorrow morning?" ”

Li Jiucheng slammed the leg of mutton in his hand, and Mr. Qian hurriedly dodged, Li Jiucheng stood up and scolded in his mouth: "Lao Tzu said that it is either now or recently, is it possible that Lao Tzu is still looking for Sun Yuanhua at night, will your mother listen to it." ”

Kong Youde pursed his lips and pulled Li Jiucheng to sit down, Li Jiucheng took a few breaths before saying: "No matter if you don't caress it, it's all about living well, what's the point of mixing it up as it is, let's make a fuss once, and those Shandong troops in Dengzhou City can't be more protective of us." Sun Dajin didn't say anything clearly, and even if he did, what kind of situation he is now, everyone knows it, I don't know what to do today, how much can he wear that black yarn is uncertain, as soon as he leaves, can the new official still recognize it? This time, we have killed a lot of gentry in Shandong, Wang Xiang Chūn's family doesn't matter, I don't know how many civil officials and relatives are there, they will never let us be comfortable, in case the court forces him to hand us over, or transfer us around, will he go when the time comes? In short, it is not very safe, so Lao Tzu said that it is not the current method of appeasement. ”

His words were quite clear, and a group of big and rough people gathered to listen carefully.

Li Jiucheng poured a few sips of wine, "If you want to live a good life, you can't let the local people be bullied, but they are in a lot of power, let's say, kill into the city and kill those who are in the city, and then find those Dongjiang brothers to occupy Dengzhou together, and then appease, Dengzhou is our final say, according to the Tusi or the rules of the vassal state, the court wants to transfer us to fight Jiannu, we want to go, if we don't go, he can't help it." ”

The officers responded one after another, and they burned and looted in Xincheng and other places, not only the pleasure of killing, but also a good income, and tasted the sweetness of robbers.

Li Jiucheng analyzed and understood everything, and Kong Youde was also a little moved, but he still didn't feel at ease and said, "What about Chen Xin's side?" ”

Li Jiucheng said lightly: "Anyway, he is still in Laizhou, as long as we enter Dengzhou City, dozens of Hongyi cannons are guarded, and he Wendeng Camp will not necessarily fly in, and then talk to Chen Xin about appeasement, we can not agree to Ninghai Prefecture, but Dengzhou will return to us anyway." ”

At the beginning, Mr. Bai laughed and said: "With Dengzhou, who the hell is still afraid of Wendeng Camp." This time I entered Dengzhou, and Lao Tzu was going to sleep with the second lady of the Tang family, and the little lady was so beautiful that she was dripping. ”

Li Yingyuan hurriedly pointed to the statue and said, "Then why don't you ask the mother for your blessing and let the second lady of the Tang family give birth to a male baby for you." ”

The officers in the hall laughed in unison again.