I saw Zhong Likuang take out a folding fan that he got out of nowhere, slowly opened it, slapped it twice on his chest, and said: "The prince has escaped from Luoyang City now, and he has already committed the crime of rebellion no matter what, so the emperor will immediately send troops to encircle and suppress him." ”

Zheng Rong lay on the bed, sighed and said, "I didn't expect that this Wang Zhongjun would become a thief in his life...... Alas! The so-called impermanence of the world, this king only knows today! ”

Zhong Li Kuang put away the folding fan in his hand and said: "The prince was originally a relative of the Han family, and when the first emperor established the prince, he was fond of the prince, but the prince took care of the overall situation and put loyalty and filial piety first, so he gave up the Ninth Five-Year Supreme and did not do it, and came to Youyan to guard the door for the country in this bitter cold place." And today's emperor is immoral and incompetent, kills the king and slaughters his brothers, appoints villains, listens to false rumors, and the prince uses soldiers, but he is just rebelling for the country, and the word 'rebellion' does not need to be mentioned again. ”

The so-called "if the name is right, if the name is not right, the word is not good", Zhong Likuang assigned the righteous name to his side in just a few words, so that Qiu Yizhi couldn't help but applaud when he heard it: "The master is really erudite and elegant, and this piece of rhetoric, with a little polish, is a conclusive and convincing essay." If the world is promulgated, we will already win half of the battle before we fight. ”

Zheng Miao has always been cautious, frowning and saying, "Things are not that simple. There are ten roads in the world, and we only have Youyan; There are more than 100,000 soldiers in the country, and we account for only one-tenth of them. If you really meet with the soldiers of the imperial court, how can you win easily? I think that the marshal of the forbidden army, Dai Luanxiang, is extremely difficult to deal with. ”

Zhong Li Kuang shook the folding fan and said with a smile on his face: "What you two said is not wrong, but it is not all right. For example, as Zheng Miao said, does the imperial court really have one million troops in control of the other nine realms in the world? I don't think so. Now in the hands of the imperial court, except for the 300,000 forbidden troops, the rest of the Jiedu troops are all vulnerable, and there is no need to worry. He paused and said, "Besides, there is also Zheng Guihu, the king of Lingnan, who is in the south and holds the military and political power of Lingnan. My Youyan prince is far superior to him in terms of merit, loyalty, and authority, and the court wants to get rid of him as soon as possible. I'm afraid that when he sees it, he has now become a frightened bird, lest he become the second king of Youyan, and it would be good if he didn't take the initiative to provoke the anti-flag, how could he help us in the imperial court? ”

Zheng Miao couldn't help but nod when she heard this: "The master instructed, and the student received it." ”

Zhong Likuang didn't pay attention to it, and continued to say to himself: "It's the same with Yizhi's words. You must know that the current emperor is not right, and there will be people inside and outside the court who are not satisfied, but they are just confined to the hidden status of the monarch and ministers, and once the power of the court declines, all kinds of opposition voices will breed. Today's emperor does not have the appearance of a king, nor can he tolerate people, and when the time comes, in order to protect the throne, he will definitely make all kinds of perverse actions. At that time, the government and the opposition will be panicked, and the prince will wait for the opportunity to start an incident again, and the world will inevitably follow, and the big thing can be decided! ”

The three people present were all thrilled by Zhong Likuang's words.

Zheng Rong, in particular, struggled to support his upper body, gasped and said: "Back then, this king resigned from the throne for the sake of the long-term stability of the Han Dynasty, but I didn't expect it to fall to such a point. Now listening to what Mr. said, I know that this destiny may not have a part in me. What is the clever plan of the sir, please give me a lesson! As he spoke, he was about to bow down to Zhong Likuang.

When Zhongli Kuang saw it, he was suddenly terrified in his heart, and hurriedly supported Zheng Rong and said: "The student was originally a down-and-out scholar, the prince has the grace of knowing me, and he has listened to everything and followed everything for more than ten years, how can the student hide his selfishness in front of the prince?" He said as he helped Zheng Miao and Qiu Yizhi to serve Zheng Rong to lie down again.

So Zhongli Kuang fanned the fan a few times, and continued: "For today's plan, we must first resist the first attack of the imperial court, first frustrate the enemy's sharp spirit, and then slowly advance. My Youyan Road is bordered by the sea in the east, the Bohai Sea and the Turks in the north, and only the two directions of the south and west lead to the hinterland of the Central Plains. Youyan in the west is separated by a moat of the Yellow River from Guannei Road, which is extremely inconvenient between attack and defense. Moreover, it is now the end of summer and the beginning of autumn, and the autumn flood is coming, and after the winter is Lingxin, the imperial court will never rashly attack from here. In this way, if the imperial court wants to send a large army to attack, there will only be one passage on Henan Road, and the first thing our army must stabilize is the front of Henan in the south. ”

Zhong Li Kuang sat and said a long time, his legs and feet were a little numb, so he got up and paced in the cabin and said: "Therefore, when you return to Youyan, the first thing you have to do is to ask the prince to recuperate with peace of mind, and strive to recover as soon as possible before you can ......."

Zheng Rong didn't expect that the first urgent matter was not military affairs, but his own body, and hurriedly asked, "Sir, what do you mean by this?" Is the disease of this king's dogs and horses more serious than military affairs? ”

Zhong Likuang explained: "The prince is the backbone of my Youyan Dao. Please forgive the students for being open-mouthed, if the prince has three longs and two shorts, then our army will not only be nameless, but will also be chaotic before a fight, and then it will be a disaster! ”

Seeing that Zheng Rong had no objection after careful consideration, he continued: "The second is to send out my Youyan army of 100,000, divide it into two routes, north and south, seize several key positions in Henan, and strive to confront the imperial army in Henan to avoid the flames of war burning Youyan." It must be known that the depth of our army's rear is not as deep as the entire Han Dynasty after all, and if it is attacked by the imperial court, it will be extremely passive. ”

Qiu Yizhi, who was standing on the side, listened to it and arched his hand and said: "Yizhi is willing to lead the army to the south and share the worries of his father-in-law!" ”

Zheng Miao hurriedly said: "The child is also of this mind. ”

Zhong Li Kuang waved his hand and said, "This matter is not busy, and it is not too late to calmly discuss it after returning to Youyan." As he spoke, he added, "In addition, we must expand the lineup of our army as soon as possible, and we can select elites from the local area and among the people who have migrated from the north and south of Henan, train them strictly, and then form an army of 100,000 for future advancement." The students have already calculated, at present, there are more than 6 million stones of grain stored in various parts of Youyan, and this year it seems that there is a bumper harvest again, as long as there is no labor expedition, it is enough for the expenses of the army of 200,000 or 300,000 for several years. ”

Zhong Likuang was a little tired from walking, so he sat down again and said, "There is a fourth thing. If the prince becomes a big thing, he must stabilize the rear. The so-called rear is Korea in the east and the Turkic countries in the Bohai Sea in the north. North Korea is a subject country of the Han Dynasty, and for hundreds of years, the people did not know the soldiers, and the soldiers did not know the war, so as long as the prince sent a partial general, he led 35,000 soldiers and horses to garrison the Yalu River. As for the north, it is necessary to give another reward, carefully restrain the Dali Khan in the Bohai Sea, and then use his forces to resist the Turkic forces, so that the situation in the north can be stabilized without a single soldier. Saying this, Zhong Likuang finally breathed a sigh of relief and stopped talking.

Zheng Rong had already been immersed in Zhong Likuang's foresight, and it took him a while to react, and said with a happy face: "Mr. is talented, it is really extraordinary." With a helper like Mr., this king is already invincible. ”

Zhong Li Kuang listened, and hurriedly said humbly: "This is all the destiny of the prince!" ”

When Zheng Rong heard Zhong Likuang's words, he became more and more happy, and he reluctantly stood up and said to everyone: "If God doesn't take it, he will be blamed." Since God has entrusted this burden of supporting the world to this king, the king must no longer shirk, otherwise he will go against the destiny of heaven. You all remember, back to Youyan, this king added Jiuxi, changed his name to 'Lone', and his three sons were all promoted to the title of king, and Mr. Zhongli was worshiped as the minister of state. Cui Nan and Wei Hu were named generals of rebellion and Jingnan, all of which are first-class products. He looked at Qiu Yi's way again, "As for Yizhi, since ancient times, the king of the opposite sex has not died well, you and I are like father and son, and I don't want you to suffer misfortune." Just wait for the completion of the matter, whether it is to enter the cabinet to worship the prime minister, or to worship the general, let you choose, how about it? ”

When everyone heard that Zheng Rong had made up his mind, and he had already decided on the emperor's dragon chair, they all bowed to the ground and thanked him loudly.

More than a dozen warships from Youyan came to drift on the surging Yellow River for a whole day and night, and finally arrived at the border of Xingzhou in Youyan Road in the afternoon of the next day.

As soon as everyone got off the boat, they saw that the camp on the bank of the Yellow River was heavily fortified, the battle flag was fluttering, Cui Nan and Wei Hu were already waiting on the dock to meet Zheng Rong, and said that the eldest son Zheng Xin and the second son Zheng Sen knew that their father was killed and had set off from Guangyang to meet them.

Zheng Rong was originally weak and weak, and he was already dizzy after shaking on the boat for a day and a night, and after saying a few words to Cui Nan and Wei Hu, he ordered someone to carry him down to rest. The governor of Xingzhou is very acquainted, and has already vacated the yamen of the state capital for Zheng Rong to live in.

Zheng Xin and Zheng Sen came to Xingzhou that night to see their father. Although Zheng Rong's body was still weak, he thought that now was the time to employ people, especially his sons, who were all outstanding people, and they could not be separated from them, so he barely supported his body and encouraged the two of them. Later, he called Zheng Miao, Qiu Yizhi, Zhong Likuang, Cui Nan, Wei Hu and others to eat together, and then went back to rest.

In the following days, Zheng Rong was recuperating in the Xingzhou Mansion, but the military deployment was carried out in an orderly manner.

First of all, Cui Nan and Wei Hu led the first army from Dezhou to occupy Dengzhou, Henan; Zheng Sen and Zheng Miao led an army, starting from Bozhou and occupying Bianzhou, Henan; Zhang Longti was the general of Zhendong and led 3,000 troops to garrison on the banks of the Yalu River to suppress Korea; Zheng Xin returned to Guangyang first to preside over the mobilization of conscription and the supply of grain and grass; Zhong Likuang and Qiu Yi accompanied Zheng Rong to counsel military affairs.

Zheng Rong rested in Xingzhou for more than ten days, until he saw the arrival of the autumn flood, the Yellow River rose sharply, and the plates could not cross the river, so he rushed back to Guangyang with confidence.

Zheng Rong has practiced martial arts since he was a child, and has led the army to fight for more than ten years, and his physical foundation is already good, and after these ten days of recuperation, he has already recovered. Therefore, he deliberately chose a high-headed horse, and ordered people to put out a full guard of honor, and added the "nine tin" ritual vessels that can only be used by the Son of Heaven, and the scenery passed through Xingzhou and Dingzhou along the way, and rushed back to Guangyang.

Although Zheng Rong walked calmly along the way, the information on the Henan front line continued to reach his ears with eight hundred miles of expedited fast horses. It turned out that Youyan's army was extremely fast, and he had the experience of going south to pacify the chaos of the Tianzun Sect at the beginning of the year, and was extremely familiar with the terrain of Bianzhou and Dengzhou in Henan.

The imperial court was still unhurried, first dismissed Cao Kang, the secretary of the military department, and Fu Kui, who had some friendship with Zheng Rong, and sent them to prison, and in order to fill the vacancy, a group of new officials were appointed.

The former general Dai Luanxiang was originally a partial general under Zheng Rong, but this time he was accused of the crime of arson and escape by the eunuchs of the prison army, and he was also going to be imprisoned pending trial. But the imperial court was really unavailable at the moment, so he simply made a favor, and the emperor personally issued an order, sealed the hussar general's first-class military position, led the forbidden army of 150,000, and set off from Henan to quell the rebellion. However, the emperor and the imperial court were still not at ease, and still sent the white fat eunuch to Dai Luanxiang's side to monitor his every move.

So in the middle of October, Henan has hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and a military disaster is imminent.