Tongguan, Shaanxi.

After learning that Lu Xiangsheng broke Gao Yingxiang in Xinyang and Hou Sui returned to Tangyin Formation, Hong Chengchou could no longer sit in peace, and led the Gansu general soldier Yang Jiamo, the Ningxia general soldier He Huchen, and the new reinforcement general Zuo Guangxian led 18,000 elite soldiers to Luonan and rushed to Tongguan, wanting to join You Shiwei's troops out of Tongguan to send Lu's army, and Hou Sui's department to attack the thieves Luo Rucai and Guo Dacheng who were entrenched in the Zhending area. Unexpectedly, during this period, Shi Dayong, the commander-in-chief of Lushun, sent a message to Hong Chengchou, informing him that Gao Yingxiang might enter the lake south to cross the Han River to attack Hanzhong, and asked Governor Hong to make preparations as soon as possible in case Xi'an was lost.

Hearing this news, Hong Chengchou was greatly shocked, and even sent a detective horse to thoroughly investigate the movements of Gao Yingxiang and Xinyang after the defeat, and sure enough, news came that more than 100,000 people in Gao Thief's department had fled into Huguang and were marching towards Hanshui.

Although Hong Chengchou was timid in his bones, after all, he was scheming, and immediately believed what Shi Dayong said, Gao Yingxiang wanted to cross the Han River to attack Hanzhong, and then seize Xi'an while the main force of the official army was in the east.

Compared with the gains and losses in Xi'an, Naluo and Guo are not worth mentioning, and the Liaodong Army has trapped them in Zhending, and at this time, it is just a shame to lead the army to kill the past, and if you can design an ambush to kill Gao Yingxiang, it is a great achievement. If you can capture and kill this person, you can not only defeat the Liukou, but also become famous all over the world and move the court. At that moment, Hong Chengchou changed his mind and no longer sent troops out of the Lu clan, but immediately ordered the general Ge Wanhao to lead 3,000 Hong soldiers to Hanzhong to garrison, and at the same time ordered all the general soldiers to raise troops to Hanzhong after three days of rest, so as to completely annihilate Gao Yingxiang in Hanshui.

After Sun Chuanting, the governor of Shaanxi Province, who was inspecting the localities in Huaxian County, reported that the governor of the five provinces, Lord Hong, was in Tongguan, he immediately rushed to Tongguan to pay a visit to Hong Chengchou, and this was also the first time he met Hong Chengchou, the governor of the five provinces, as the governor of Shaanxi. Previously, he had a relationship with Hong Chengchou in the second year of the Apocalypse, but at that time, he was the head of the Ministry of Officials from Shangqiu Zhixian County, and Hong Chengchou had been transferred from Langzhong of the Criminal Department to Zhejiang to learn from Zhejiang, and the two did not have the opportunity to have too much contact.

Knowing that Shaanxi Governor Sun Chuanting was coming, You Shiwei, who was stationed in Tongguan, personally went to greet him, and then led Sun Chuanting to see Hong Chengchou.

Hong Chengchou did not wear an official uniform, but a civilian dress, but his jaw and beard were very neatly groomed, and his face was engraved with calmness, sophistication, and fortitude. ”

Hong Chengchou held Sun Chuanting's hand and said with a smile: "Boya, you came at the right time. You and I are the same age, right? ”

"Yes, but the adults have been in the court for three years, and they are for their seniors."

Hong Chengchou waved his hand and said: "On the way to take office, you chased and killed the neat king in Shangluo, you are no worse than my senior, but this governor heard that you are going to work alone, but I don't know how to kill the neat king?" ”

Chuan Ting said: "Yes, I have recruited soldiers all the way, and I have now obtained 10,000, and the neat king is just a thief, and it is not difficult to break him with a little trick." ”

"Liberal arts talents will be famous in the future!" Sun Chuanting said humbly, but Hong Chengchou knew the danger inside.

"The big handsome has said it, and the talent of the court is less than half of the big handsome. The humble position only wants to follow the big handsome, eliminate the evil, report to the court, and appease the people, this wish is enough! ”

Sun Chuanting said sincerely, Hong Chengchou couldn't help but be moved, nodded slightly, and said, "Very good!" Let's not talk about that, you go eat something first, get some sleep, and then discuss things later. ”

"Dashuai," Sun Chuanting hesitated for a moment, and said, "I'm not busy eating, Dashuai, please sit down, and ask for advice if you have something to do." ”

"Oh? Okay," Seeing that the court seemed to have something important, Hong Chengchou didn't say much, so he immediately sat down and motioned to the court: "You can sit too." He also asked You Shiwei and Yang Jiamo in the tent to sit.

After Sun Chuanting sat down, he sighed lightly and said: "Chuan Ting has been all the way, the fields are barren everywhere, no one is farming, only the homeless people are covering the road, so Chuan Ting can easily raise 10,000 people. Although it is a natural disaster, there are also **. The court thought that if there was no cure for the root cause, just swooping left and right, the thieves would also rise one after another, and it would be impossible to solve it. ”

Hong Chengchou nodded, thought deeply, and sighed: "Natural disasters are **." ”

"What do you mean by that?"

"In recent years, natural disasters have spread, and the water conservancy has fallen into disrepair. We have long set a rule that the Yellow River should be dredged regularly, with a small pick every three years and a big pick every five years, and Taicang and the local government will share the cost. But after Wanli, there was a deficit in Taicang, no longer pay, the place was not taken, the water conservancy could not be maintained, to the siltation of the riverbed, the river embankment often burst, so the mountain, Shaanxi, Henan disaster situation is particularly serious, and the same is true in the south of the Yangtze River. As for the heavy endowment of the imperial court, it is difficult for the imperial court to urge the cool officials. At the time of his current accession, Jingyun Silver alone had been in arrears with the border salaries of various towns for 18 years, accumulating more than 9 million taels. The towns of Guyuan, Yansui, and Ningxia often have no pay for years or even several years. Now, in addition to the Liaodong salary, it can be spent on time, even if we wait for the salary, it can be delayed. Not only that, but it's the royal family, don't you owe it? Qingwangfu only received the Zonglu of the twenty-sixth year of Wanli two years ago. The Acting King's Mansion has not received Lu rice for eight years, and King Lingqiu has not received some Lu rice for 50 years. ”

"Fifty years?!"

Not only was Chuan Ting surprised, but Yang Jiamo and You Shiwei both felt incredible when they heard it, the dignified vassal king had not received Lu rice for fifty years, to what extent did this treasury have to be in deficit for such a thing to happen!

Yang Jiamo was a little distracted: "What's wrong with the imperial court?" ”

Hong Chengchou narrowed his eyes and spit out six words: "Natural disasters, border troubles, and greed!" ”

Hearing these six words, Sun Chuanting slapped his thigh and said, "In one word!" Because of the border troubles, it is added; As a result of the increase, greed is promoted. Disasters and famines for many years are also a curse. ”

Hong Chengchou got up and paced with his hands behind his back, and said: "The saint's heart is like a mirror, and he said at the beginning of his accession: 'The expedition of the additional faction is unavoidable, and recently there is a division to knock on the bone and suck the marrow to confirm it!' But since Wanli, the money is not enough to support the family, if it is a clean official, it must be poor, how can you not be greedy? ”

Sun Chuanting also got up, "Before leaving, I went to the military department to check the account books, there should be 24,000 troops in Xi'an, but less than half?" Alas..."

Hong Chengchou naturally knew the truth about the Xi'an Tun Army for a long time, and when he saw Sun Chuanting's lonely expression, he didn't want to talk about it anymore, and said: "Okay, let's not talk about this first, think about the things in front of me first." He turned his head to the door and said loudly, "Tell me!" ”

Hearing the Inspector call himself, the new reinforcement commander Zuo Guangxian hurriedly came in, he was the brother of Zuo Guangdou who was killed by the eunuchs during the Apocalypse, and unlike his brother who was a weak scholar, his younger brother was famous for his bravery. After Ai Wannian and Cao Wenzhao died in battle, Zuo Guangxian was favored by Hong Chengchou and took over the post of the commander-in-chief.

Hong Chengchou instructed Zuo Guangxian: "You go and arrange an upper room for Lord Sun to rest and discuss matters later." ”

"Yes, Overseer! .... Lord Sun, please! ”

Zuo Guang made a "please" gesture to Sun Chuanting first, Sun Chuanting shook his fist at Hong Chengchou, turned around and went out with Zuo Guang first.

Hong Chengchou paced back to the inner room, closed the door, and didn't eat lunch, just to plan how to completely annihilate Gao Yingxiang's department, and when he finally made up his mind, it was already too late, and he was about to go to spread Sun Chuanting, Zuo Guangxian, You Shiwei, and Yang Jiamo They came, and the six hundred miles of stepping up the Tang report arrived.

..........

"The army of 100,000 in the east, the soldiers are divided into three ways to enter Kou Gyeonggi, and the saint has asked for the king of Qin from all over the country, but he doesn't want me Hong Chengchou to go, what do you think?" Hong Chengchou's face was solemn.

You Shiwei said: "The distant water can't save the near fire, and the saint Xu knows that we can't rush over, so he didn't ask the superintendent to help." ”

Hearing You Shiwei's words, Sun Chuanting shook his head and said: "No, the lower officials think that the emperor values the superintendent, and he doesn't want to ruin the superintendent's plan because of the matter of the Dongyu." ”

"I think so." Hong Chengchou nodded and stood up, "Well, since the Holy One wants me Hong Chengchou to be at ease, then I, Hong Chengchou, will give the Holy One great good news." ”

"Good news?" Everyone was stunned, not understanding what the good news was referring to by Inspector Hong.

Hong Chengchou smiled and waved his hand: "You come with me." ”

Everyone followed Hong Chengchou to the desk, Hong Chengchou smiled and stretched out his right index finger, waved it gently, poked at the map on the table, and said in a deep voice: "Encircling and destroying Gao Yingxiang is the good news that this superintendent gave to the court and the saint!" ”

"Encircling and annihilating Gao Yingxiang?" Zuo Guangxian, the commander of the reinforcement and suppression, was puzzled when he heard it, "There are more than 100,000 high thieves and horses crossing the Han River, and we only have 50,000, how can we encircle and annihilate them?" ”

"Boya killed King Qi with 10,000 recruits, is our 50,000 elites still less?" Hong Chengchou turned to Sun Chuanting and asked him: "Have you seen the performance of Chang Ziyu in the military department?" ”

"Is it the recital of 'Liukou Qukui Dozen, the strongest without breaking the king'? Seen. ”

"Shu Zhong blamed the governor and Lu Xiangsheng for fear of breaking into the king and did not dare to fight, and only took some small shares of other battalions to report the victory. Xiangsheng proved that he was not cowardly, chasing the king to fight, from Chuzhou to Yuzhou, Queshan, Xinyang, although Xinyang was victorious, but it was very difficult, and its troops suffered great losses, and did not annihilate the main force of the high thieves, but let them run to Huguang, and now the idea of Xi'an is coming. Hmph, exterminate Gao Yingxiang, the other thieves will naturally collapse, the governor has never had a chance before, and now, the opportunity has come. You see," Hong Chengchou pointed to the map, "if I am not mistaken, after the high thief crosses the Han River, he will deploy his troops in the triangle of Wugong, Fufeng, and Liquan, and he must have thought that we must put the main force in front of this triangle to prevent him from breaking through." When we do what he wants, this thief will definitely come out of here with a false shot! Speaking of which, Hong Chengchou pointed to the location of Xuyu County in the right corner of the triangle of the map.

Zuo Guang first saw what Inspector Hong meant, "The idea of the marshal is to move the troops south, and the plan will be calculated?" ”

"The mountainous areas of southern Shaanxi are full of barren mountains and mountains, there is nowhere to forage, the thief was driven from southern Henan to Huguang by Xiangsheng, all the way to escape, there must be people hungry and horses are lacking, in order to confuse me, the soldiers from the south will not exceed 50,000." Hong Chengchou looked confident, "Gao Yingxiang wants to enter Xi'an, and if he wants to be surprised, he must take this way," his finger pointed to a point on the map along the voice, "Here - Heishuiyu!" ”

"Heishuiyu?" Yang Jiamo couldn't believe that Gao Yingxiang would take this desperate road, he shook his head and said: "If you go to Heishuiyu, you will enter the Meridian Valley, that is a dangerous road, Chen Qiyu lured them into the carriage gorge back then, this meridian valley is even more dangerous than the carriage gorge, the high thief has suffered a loss, how can he suffer a loss again?" ”

"Yes, back then, Wei Yan offered a plan to attack Chang'an in the Meridian Valley, but Zhuge Liang did not agree, just because this road was too dangerous. But if Gao Yingxiang doesn't go this way, it will be even more dangerous! There is me Hong Chengchou in front, there are Huguang chasing soldiers on the side, and Zu Kuan of the Xiangsheng Department is also following behind. If he has self-knowledge, even if he is more against less, it is difficult to be sure of victory, and if we are surrounded on three sides, he will not be able to escape. So, he had to take this risk! ”