In mid-November, Huaibei was also covered with heavy snow.

Although the river is frozen after winter, it is the world of Yanhu cavalry. However, after the setback of the Battle of Jingxiang, although Yanhu has been given the opportunity to recuperate and recuperate in the past two years, in the Hehuai region, Yanhu has not been able to recover the superiority in troops, so after the winter, the defensive situation in Huaibei is not grim.

In the snowy weather, the people are all in the village, and in the ice and snow, no one can be seen for half a day. The Chenjiatang Sentinel Fort stands on the west bank of Surabaya, guarding the Chenjiatang pontoon bridge.

The Chenjiatang pontoon bridge is more than 560 meters wide, 31 pontoon boats are locked with iron cables, paved with trestles, and it is the most important crossing bridge on the Bianshui in the south of Suyu. Although this is already the hinterland of Xusi, and the south is the important town of Siyang, but in addition to the Chenjiatang Township Division, Huaiyang also has a sentry here all the year round.

Surabaya was frozen in November, and the river ice jammed the pontoons, and at this time, the traffic and horses on the bridge were very damaging. Normally, the pontoon bridge will be removed after winter, but in order to ensure the smooth land route on both sides of Surabaya, even if the loss of the boat bridge is so high that it is replaced once a year, the Chenjiatang pontoon bridge has not been removed after the Bianshui ice is frozen, and it still spans the river ice.

A convoy of carriages and horses emerged from the horizon, and six carriages approached under the escort of more than a hundred cavalry.

Merchants and people cross the bridge, and the township department will inspect it; Those who carry troops and soldiers are inspected by the garrison. Seeing more than 100 cavalry approaching from afar, the sentry fort rang the bell of the guard, and at the same time, two more horsemen galloped out of the sentry fort to meet the past, and soon came back with the passage letter of the passing soldiers and horses.

Yue Zhou opened the curtain of the car from the outside, and the biting cold wind rushed in from outside the car, Yue Lengqiu shrunk his shoulders, squinted his eyes slightly, looked at the heavily guarded sentry fort, and patiently waited for the order to let him go.

Yue Zhi, who was sitting on the side, also glanced at the situation around the pontoon bridge, and said: "It is said that Chongguo lives in Haizhou and looks at Jiangning, but the ruts in Xu Si have not stopped!" ”

Yue Lengqiu looked at the ruts in front of the car, crushing the snow on the gallop road to pieces, looking at the traces of the ruts, it seems that there are not a few heavy-duty carriages passing here in the past two days.

"How can Xuchang and Yuzhou's little actions be hidden from Jiangning?" Yue Lengqiu breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It's just that Chongguo Gong has spent most of the year in Haizhou reorganizing armaments, and people can't see through what he thinks in his heart!" ”

"From what my uncle can see, how long can the emperor's body survive?" Yue Zhi asked in a suppressed voice.

How will the situation develop next, the life and death of Emperor Yongxing is the most critical fork; In the eyes of outsiders, Lin Tie's delay in not going on the Northern Expedition is also a key factor.

The death of Emperor Yongxing is undoubtedly the best time for Lin Jian to become emperor, so simple that he only needs to forge a testament. Of course, this requires Lin Jian to stay in Jiangning, or to be able to return to Jiangning at any time to grasp the situation.

If Emperor Yongxing died of illness when Lin Jian led the army to the Northern Expedition, the matter would obviously be much more troublesome and complicated.

Lin Tie's delay in not going on the Northern Expedition, Cheng Yuqian's resignation at the beginning of the year, and Cao's killing of Liangchuan Xuanfu in the middle of the year made Lin Tie of Qin Zongyuan ignore it, and ordered the towns of Henan to reduce their forces—all signs indicate that Lin Tie was waiting for Emperor Yongxing to die of illness.

At the beginning of the year, there were rumors that Emperor Yongxing's body could not last for three or five months, but it was delayed for more than half a year, and Emperor Yongxing did not die, which can also be called a miracle; At this time, Yue Zhi even doubted how much patience Lin Jian had left.

"At this time, it should be hung with medicine!" Yue Lengqiu said that he went back to Jiangning at the beginning of the year to see Emperor Yongxing, and Emperor Yongxing at that time was struggling to even sit on the dragon chair, and of course it was normal to drag it to death.

Think of the emperor of the 14th Yuan and Yue dynasties, the oldest is no more than fifty-nine years old; Emperor Yongxing is forty-four this year, and even if he dies of illness, it is not an early death.

To tell the truth, Lin Lian summoned Yue Lengqiu in Haizhou this time to discuss the Northern Expedition, but Yue Lengqiu still couldn't figure out Lin Lian's mind in his heart, maybe it was Lin Lian who tried to usurp things for the last time......

After all, no one wants to leave the name of a second minister in the history books, and Yue Lengqiu hopes that Lin Lian will have the patience to wait until Emperor Yongxing dies of illness and set up a new dynasty with the gift of Zen Rang; However, if Lin Lian was impatient, Yue Lengqiu also knew clearly that the actual situation did not allow him to have more choices.

After the Battle of Jingxiang, Dong Yuan had no other choice unless he was disarmed and returned to the field; Dong Yuan is such a character, how can he be willing to be a mediocre farmer when the mountains and rivers are exhausted?

Yue Lengqiu knew that he was different from Dong Yuan, even if Huaidong was attached to it, he could know the advance and retreat, and Lin Lian should be able to protect the wealth and nobility of his descendants - but everything is difficult to say, there are too many precedents for the death of a cunning rabbit and a lackey, and there are endless books in history, once he gives up his military power, who knows if Lin Lian will turn his face?

On this trip to Haizhou, Yue Lengqiu was also in a very complicated mood - when Lin Lian summoned him to discuss the Northern Expedition in Haizhou, he almost decided that this was Lin Lian's attitude of testing the soldiers and horses of the two towns of Wuyang and Zhengyang. Yue Lengqiu discussed with Deng Yu, Yue Zhi and Tao Chun in Wuyang for a long time, and finally decided to take Yue Zhi with him, that is, he planned to leave Yue Zhi in Haizhou as a hostage when he had to win the trust of Lin Tie.

Dong Yuan has to make the last struggle, Liu Tingzhou and Yuan Guizheng are the lonely loyal ministers of Yuan Yue, and the Cao family has greater ambitions to cut Sichuan and Shu, but it is also obvious that Lin Jian can only wait until he is called emperor to gradually solve the remaining problems of Henan towns and Sichuan Shu. The soldiers and horses of the two towns of Wuyang and Zhengyang undertook the important task of defending the middle section of the Hehuai defense line and monitoring Xuchang.

It's just that the eastward movement gradually enters the hinterland of the defense area controlled by the Huaiyang Army, and further east is the Yihai Theater controlled by the Fengli Army, and the various signs seen along the road seem to indicate that the Huaidong Army has been preparing for the Northern Expedition, otherwise there will not be such frequent material transportation from Xu Si to Yihai after the winter.

****************

It was also snowing heavily in Haizhou City, and Xingyuan was next to the courtyard of the General Army Staff Headquarters, which was convenient for Lin Tie to enter and exit, and to keep abreast of the operation of the General Staff Headquarters.

At dusk, Lin Jian stood in the atrium, looking at the plum branches in the corner of the courtyard, and under the falling snowflakes, the flower bones did not bloom, as if the yellow rice grains were waxing.

Gao Zongting walked over from the other courtyard and said: "A message from Sikou has arrived, Yue Lengqiu and Yue Zhi have passed Surabaya, they should rest in Guanyun tonight, and they will be able to go to Haizhou tomorrow......"

"Don't worry too much about the Vortex Yang side, the western front can be stabilized!" Lin Jian turned around and said, he was quite satisfied with Yue Lengqiu and Yue Zhi's order to come to Haizhou in person.

Gao Zongting nodded and said: "In the first half of the year, Chen Zhihu withdrew his troops in Tianshui and moved Qianghu eastward, which should be the condition negotiated between the Cao family and Yanhu; Hao Yuan led his troops to the northwest, presumably because he had no intention of participating in the battle in the Central Plains; And the soldiers and horses that the Cao family left in the Funiu Mountains earlier have been approaching Ruyang, where Liang Chengdong is stationed, this month, it seems that Xuchang is going to go on their own way......"

"There is a way in heaven and he doesn't go, and there is no door in hell for him to break in," Lin Jian stood with his hands in his hands, looked at the snowflakes falling in the atrium with sharp eyes, and said, "I originally thought that Dong Yuan should also be a handsome man who knows the times, but I didn't expect him to be unable to see the situation clearly!" ”

"Dong Yuan is not the Dong Yuan of the old days, he is completely blinded by ambition and power desire, and he has long been unable to see the reality clearly......" Gao Zongting's choice of Dong Yuan was also silent, although the center of gravity of the Northern Expedition was on the Eastern Front, but the General Staff Army had never relaxed its military affairs on the Western Front.

"That's fine," Lin Jian said, "You give me an order, ask Ao Canghai and Ning Zechen to relax the opening of the upper reaches of the Huaishui River to go north to Xuchang a little, and ask Zhou Tong to slightly let go of the opening from the west of the Xiashui." Some people cling to the defects, regard the new deal as a flood of beasts, and force them to stay in the south is also a bitter melon, and it is also a melon that is not sweet, if they want to go to Xuchang and Yuzhou, they will let them go. After three or five years, I will settle the general ledger with them......"

"If that's the case, Jiangning's rumors will have to be tighter to scare some people away......," Gao Zongting said.

"You and Wu Qi go and arrange, just tell me; Yuzhou's chips are not enough, so it is better to ask Liu Zhi to secretly throw a few Wang Seals and tell them to toss them well......" Lin Jian said.

Gao Zongting listened to Lin Lian's words and gradually lost patience with Liangchuan and Xuchang, and deliberately asked Cao Yiqu and Dong Yuan to take the initiative to intensify the contradictions between each other, so as to have a chance to cut through the chaos quickly.

As the rumors of the usurpation of power in Jiangning became tighter, those who feared that they would be purged after Lin Jian became emperor were in a state of panic day and night, and they would rather go to Xuchang or Yuzhou than to leave them in the territory to become a factor of instability and hinder the new policy.

Lin Lian's delay in not going to the Northern Expedition is not anything else, in fact, the new policy wants to lay the foundation and needs a relatively stable external environment - it's a pity that others regard Lin Bin's delay in not going to the Northern Expedition as his preparation for usurpation, and the Empress Dowager Liang even did not hesitate to use Princess Yangxin's marriage to stimulate the nerves here.

Two years have passed, and although the New Deal cannot be said to have taken root completely, it has been generally implemented in various places, and the local government has gradually seen the benefits of the New Deal. It was also time to embark on the Northern Expedition.

However, before the Northern Expedition, it was necessary to stabilize the Western Front. Obviously, Cao Yiqu and Dong Yuan would not be comfortable watching Lin Jian raise troops from the Eastern Front to the Northern Expedition. In order to stabilize the western front, in addition to preparing 120,000 heavy troops in Jingzhou, Nanyang, Jiangxia and other places, Yue Lengqiu was also a key factor related to the stability of the western front.

As long as Yue Lengqiu doesn't think about change, Cao Yiqu is in Yuzhou, and Dong Yuan is in Xuchang, no matter how much he tosses, he can't subvert the overall situation. Yue Lengqiu and Yue Zhi were able to come to Haizhou to meet as scheduled, which also showed the attitude of the soldiers and horses of the two towns of Wuyang and Zhengyang.

At this time, Wu Qi came in and said, "Wu Jingze, they have arrived in Haizhou, I will arrange for them to live in the post house, and the lord will not have time to see them......"

"They have to take a big risk when they go north, how can I be stingy and not see?" Lin Jian smiled and said to Gao Zongting, "You and the Crow Lord accompany me to meet Jingze and them; It was really impossible to draw manpower, so Jing Ze was transferred from Yuanzhou......"

In the Battle of Shangrao and the subsequent recovery of the whole territory of Jiangxi and the Battle of Yuanzhou, Wu Jingze, who was born as a former captain of the Dongmin Military Academy, made meritorious contributions.

Before the start of the Northern Expedition, Lin Jian needed a figure who was familiar with military politics and military affairs to sneak to the north to preside over many affairs. Lin Jian thought about it, so he could only transfer Wu Jingze from Jiangxi.