The city gate of Youzhou slowly opened, Dong Xi led three thousand troops into Youzhou City, Youzhou City was already heavily guarded, the city was full of heavily armed soldiers, the streets were also deserted, pedestrians were sparse, and almost everyone felt the slaughter of the approaching war.

"Lao Dong!"

A familiar voice came from the city, Dong Xi looked up, and saw someone beckoning to him at the head of the city, it was his top boss Hou Mo Chen Yi, Dong Xi has followed Hou Mo Chen Yi since the fourth year of Renshou, and has always been Hou Mo Chen Yi's henchmen, in Youzhou, where there are many factions, they belong to the powerful faction, second only to the Xue brothers.

Dong Xi urged him to step forward and smiled: "I just have something to find my eldest brother."

Hou Mo Chen Yi was Li Jing's confidant and favorite general at the beginning, and later followed Yuan Hongsi to guard Youzhou, after Yang Yuanqing took over the governor of Youzhou, he became one of the eight overseers under Yang Yuanqing, and led the army to garrison Beiping County, Yang Yuanqing returned to Fengzhou directly from Liaodong, and Hou Mo Chen Yi did not follow Yang Yuanqing to leave because he stayed in Youzhou.

Soon, Hou Mo Chen Yi was named the deputy governor of Youzhou, to assist Xue Shixiong to guard Youzhou, under Xue Shixiong, Hou Mo Chen Yi did not live well, Xue Shixiong was relatively cold to him because of Yang Yuanqing, and the Xue brothers tried to seize his military power several times without success, so that the relationship between him and the Xue brothers became very bad, almost to the extent that water and fire are incompatible.

Last year, after Xue Shixiong was killed in an unfavorable attack on Dou Jiande, Hou Mo Chen Yi should have taken over as the governor, and Luo Yi seized the military power of Youzhou because of the support of the Xue brothers, and Hou Mo Chen Yi could only accept the reality that Luo Yi was the governor of Youzhou.

However, Hou Mo Chen Yi and Luo Yi have been in Youzhou for many years, and they have a little friendship with each other, they get along relatively well, Luo Yi has been trying to mediate the conflict between him and Brother Xue, although the mediation was not successful, but at least on the surface, he did not turn his face.

This time, Luo Yi led the army to rescue Zhuo County, and left Hou Mo Chen Yi to lead 10,000 troops from his headquarters to guard Youzhou City, Hou Mo Chen Yi walked down the city quickly, patted Dong Xi on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Do you want me to invite you to drink?" ”

"How can I be in the mood to drink now!"

Dong Xi looked left and right. said in a low voice: "I have something serious to find my eldest brother." ”

Hou Mo Chen Yi beckoned a partial general and ordered him: "Go and arrange the accommodation of General Dong's subordinates, arrange it in my Beida camp, and tell Lu to join the army." Be treated the same as my soldiers. ”

"Yes!"

The general hurried over, Hou Mo Chen Yi had been talking to Dong Xi at a small wine shop on the street opposite: "War is war, drinking is drinking, two different things, come with me for a drink." ”

Dong Xi gave a few words to the deputy general, and then followed Hou Mo Chen Yi into the wine shop, and the two came to the inner hut and sat down. Hou Mo Chen Yi is such a frequent customer, and he said to the shopkeeper of the wine shop: "According to the old rules, you can add another one." ”

Soon, the wine and food were delivered, Hou Mo Chen Yi touched the temperature of the wine jug, it was just right, he poured Dong Xi a glass of wine and filled it for himself.

"Say it! What's important? Hou Mo Chen Yi took a sip of wine and asked.

Dong Xi's eyes flashed with excitement, and he said in a low voice: "His Royal Highness the King of Chu has arrived in Zhuo County. ”

Hou Mo Chen Yi got up and went to the door to take a look. There were just the two of them in the liquor store, the shopkeeper sitting and dozing off, and one of the men basking in the sun at the door. He closed the door and came back and sat down, drank the wine quietly, and then lifted the flask to fill it for himself, and after a while, he said lightly: "What if you come?" ”

Hou Mo Chen Yi's attitude made Dong Xi a little surprised, he looked at Hou Mo Chen Yi for a moment, and asked, "Won't you be ready to die for him loyally because Luo Yi asked you to guard Youzhou City?" ”

Dong Xi and Hou Mo Chen Yi have been friends for more than ten years, and they are not so much a subordinate relationship as they are close friends. In private, there is no line between superiors and subordinates.

Hou Mo Chen Yi thought for a while and asked him, "Then what do you want?" ”

"I'm doing it now, persuading you to surrender Youzhou City!" Dong Xi said very frankly.

Hou Mo Chen Yi sneered, "Whoever surrenders to will ignore us." I don't want to put a hot face on someone else's cold ass. ”

Dong Xi knows Hou Mo Chen Yi very well, sensitive self-esteem, Yang Yuanqing didn't take him away back then, he has always been obsessed, thinking that Yang Yuanqing doesn't pay attention to him, but he didn't expect that after so many years, he is still worried about that incident.

Dong Xi smiled bitterly, took out the letter from his arms and put it on the table and pushed it over, Hou Mo Chen glanced at it, and suddenly saw Yang Yuanqing's three words, his eyes suddenly widened, he glanced at Dong Xi in amazement, and asked hesitantly: "..... Has he been in contact with you? ”

Dong Xi shook his head, "It was His Royal Highness the King of Chu who sent someone to find me. ”

Hou Mo Chen Yi didn't read the letter, but looked at Dong Xi strangely, if Yang Yuanqing sent someone to contact him, he should contact himself, how could he contact Dong Xi who was far away in Yuyang County, and there was no key person.

Hou Mo Chen Yi suddenly came to his senses, he stared at Dong Xi, and asked slowly, "Who are you?" ”

Dong Xi picked up his wine glass and smiled, "Does the eldest brother remember the Yang family?" ”

Hou Mo Chen stood up suddenly, looked at Dong Xi incredulously, and said in surprise: "Are you too?" ”

Dong Xi nodded, "One of the Nine Iron Guards I stayed in Youzhou, the seven followed the young master back to Youzhou, only me and Li Jin didn't leave, big brother, I'm sorry, I have been hiding from you for so long." ”

Hou Mo Chen Yi knew that Yang Yuanqing had eighteen iron guards back then, but he only knew Yang Jiachen, and he never dreamed that Dong Xi, who had been with him for thirteen years, was also one of the iron guards, and Li Jin, who died in Goryeo, was actually the same.

Hou Mo Chen Yi sat down slowly, his heart was in a mess, he had experienced ups and downs in the past few years, his career was not smooth, he had always been a little resentful that Yang Yuanqing did not take him away, it was a contempt for him, and at this moment, even Dong Xi was Yang Yuanqing's iron guard back then, he suddenly understood a little, I am afraid that Yang Yuanqing deliberately left him and Dong Xi in Youzhou.

Hou Mo Chen Yi slowly took the letter from the table, opened it and read it, the letter briefly described more than ten years of friendship, but the real content is only one, I hope he can surrender with Youzhou City, and he will be the governor of Youzhou in the future.

Hou Mo Chen Yi took a deep breath, Yang Yuanqing actually promised to hand over the position of the governor of Youzhou to himself, of course this was his dream, but this trust made a trace of dissatisfaction with Yang Yuanqing in his heart disappear without a trace, and there was only a feeling of trust in his heart.

Hou Mo Chen Yi pondered for a moment and said, "The key now is Xue Wanjun, he is our biggest obstacle. ”

Dong Xi was overjoyed, Hou Mo Chen Yi said this, indicating that he agreed, and he immediately said: "His Royal Highness the King of Chu hopes that we will take Youzhou City within three days, as long as we take action tonight, it will not be difficult to bring down Xue Wanjun." ”

Hou Mo Chen Yi shook his head, "You think things too simply, Xue Wanjun is very protective of me, he lives in the barracks now, and the eighteen personal soldiers are inseparable from him, it is impossible to take him down." ”

Dong Xi frowned, "This is a bit troublesome, the time is only three days, isn't there any other way?" ”

Hou Mo Chen Yi stared at the wine glass, and after a long time, he said slowly: "There is a way, just see if you can deceive Xue Wanjun." ”

Speaking of this, he smiled mysteriously, which immediately aroused Dong Xi's curiosity, and he didn't know what kind of good way he was talking about......

Anping County, Boling County, here is the junction of Boling County and Hejian County, only more than 200 miles away from the capital of Dou Jiande, which is also located in the Jizhong Plain, the moon has just come up, the bright silver light is sprinkled on the endless field, there are large areas of silver-gray shadows distributed in the distance, in a dense forest, next to the woods is a wide river, that is the famous river Hutuo Water in Jizhong, it is like a black jade belt, shining in the moonlight.

Although the land here is fertile and the water source is abundant, after several years of banditry, it has also become a land of red wilderness, there is no village within a radius of dozens of years, only the county town hides more than 1,000 surviving people, after the night, they dare not step out of the county seat.

At this time, on the grass next to a dense wood, there were tens of thousands of dark shadows, some of whom were sleeping wrapped in military blankets, some were whispering, and some of the soldiers were secretly drinking two sips of liquor hidden in their arms to resist the bitter cold of the early spring night.

Next to the Hutuo River, Luo Shixin held the handle of the war knife and looked at a forest standing on the horizon, but he was thinking about this mission in his mind, leading 30,000 troops to Leshou County, forcing Dou Jiande to withdraw from Zhuo County, but this task is not simple, Leshou County is Dou Jiande's capital, where 200,000 troops have been stationed there for many years, of which 100,000 troops have gone north, and 100,000 troops are tightly defending their capital, led by the general Wang Fubao.

When Luo Shixin followed Zhang Xutuo, he had a battle with Wang Fubao in Jibei County, he knew that this person was a ruthless character, the commander was extremely strong, and he was also resourceful, that battle Wang Fubao only led more than 3,000 people to the south to attack the granary of Jibei County, but he fought a draw with his own 5,000 troops, and finally retreated calmly.

Despite this, Luo Shixin attaches great importance to this opponent, the reason why Dou Jiande let Wang Fubao come to guard the capital, there is always his reason, it is not necessarily Wang Fubao's loyalty, Luo Shixin feels that the more important reason is that this person is good at fighting and can defend the capital for Dou Jiande.

"General, it's been an hour of rest, can you go?" Adjutant General Li Haihai walked up to Luo Shixin and asked in a low voice.

Luo Shixin shook his head, "Wait a little longer, wait for the scouts to come back, I have a hunch, we are killed from Boling County, the other party is likely to know our movements, I am worried that the other party's 100,000 army will lay a pocket and let us get in." ”

At this time, a group of cavalry rushed in from a distance, and Luo Shixin was in good spirits, "They're coming!" ”

After a while, the scout ran to Luo Shixin's side, turned over and dismounted, knelt down on one knee and said, "General Qiqi Luo, we have found tens of thousands of troops in Raoyang County, fifty miles away. ”

Luo Shixin sneered, "Sure enough, it's not what I expected!" ”