On the 26th, the sun rose, the sun rose above the mulberry, there was a mist above the Huaishui like light clouds, both sides of the river were flat, there were mountains and valleys between them, there was no war, no wolf smoke, people thought they were in the world.

Out of the river is the Huai water, after the winter Huai water is thin and shallow, but as the third largest river in the Central Plains, the broad still has the imagination of ordinary people. Meng Zhen stood on the side of the warship, looking at Tang Tang Huaishui, with a fierce heart, and said to Song Shixing beside him: "Dong Yuan is covered by greed, and he is bent on fighting for the mountains and surrendering troops, thinking that the Chai Mountain ambush is exhausted, and there are no soldiers and horses in Luzhou to threaten Shouzhou, but he may not expect that we will go directly from Xinyang to take Shouzhou......"

Song Shixing looked at the surging water waves, and his heart was also full of emotion, at the beginning, Song Fu, Song Bo and his son were against public opinion and insisted on attaching themselves to Huaidong, he and Song Yi were both opposed - at least before the first year of Yongxing, how many people could see that Huaidong had the courage to swallow mountains and rivers and swallow the Central Plains?

It is not so much that Dong Yuan was blinded by greed and fell for Huaidong's plan to divert the tiger from the mountain, but it is better to say that in the face of Huaidong's absolute superiority, there is really no room for Dong Yuan to struggle - any conspiracy needs to have a corresponding strength match, otherwise it will only lead to self-immolation.

The advantage in Huaidong, Dong Yuan is not moving, he has no ambition, no greed, he has greed, ambition, and recklessness, how can it be possible not to fall into Huaidong's trap?

The north wind is blowing, the cold is biting, and it has begun to snow north of the Yellow River, and it has been the winter of Yongxing for five years.

Song Shixing snorted twice: one called on the clan brother Song Fu to know people and know the unparalleled situation in the world, and the other called on Lin to bind the majestic strategy, so that the wise men of the world such as Luwenzhuang have no chance to stretch, how can the heroes of the world be subservient? Thinking that Meng Yi was a small clan and a weak people, he looked trapped in a corner, but his knowledge was far above Shuihuai, no wonder it was rumored that Lin Jian would stand him and Ye Junan side by side.

The vanguard soldiers and horses in the front pretended to be a grain ship returning to Shanyang, and as early as the early morning of the 24th, they sailed east to Shouzhou, thinking that they had arrived in Shouzhou at this time; Ning Zechen and Meng Zhixiang led the main force of the Chinese army to set off from Xinyang in the afternoon of the 24th, if Ding Zhiru did not yield to cede Shouzhou City, the main force of the Chinese army would mercilessly occupy the Shouzhou military important places such as Kip Stone Mountain and Shouzhou City, so as to wait for Dong Yuan's reinforcements to come to the battle - Song Shixing and Meng Yi were in charge of the governor, after all, Huaixi still had a small number of sailors in the upper reaches of the Huai River, and in addition to the soldiers and horses behind the palace, Meng's relatives and the generals' families, Dong Yuan's cronies and generals who were placed in the defenders of Xinyang City and the generals who might win over Dong Yuan were detained together. Remain at post-war disposal.

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After winter, Shouzhou City is located on the south shore of Huaishui, only ten miles away from Kip Stone Mountain on the bank of Huaishui, and is the economic, political and military center of Huaixi.

Shouzhou City, under the governance of Ding Zhiru, although the city was inevitably tense during the war, and it was crowded with many displaced people from the north bank of Huaishui and Xinyang, but on the whole it was orderly, and everything was tense and busy around the war on the front line.

Although Huaidong's troops and horses in Luzhou were all in the hinterland of Jingxiang, Huaixi also deployed some alert troops in the south of Shouzhou, and more troops in the hinterland of Shouzhou and Haozhou were deployed in the city of Sizhou.

It is also because Lin Jian has long asked that Sizhou, which is almost embedded between Shanyang, Suyu and Huaiyang, be included in the Xu Si Defense Zone, Dong Yuan and they are worried that the Huaidong Army will not be advisable, and the vigilance troops left in Sizhou City have always dared not be reduced.

The sun had just risen over the top of the mulberry tree, and Ding Zhiru, the left-behind governor of Shouzhou and the prefect of the prefecture, had been sitting in the government office for two hours before dawn to take charge of official business: Dong Yuan led his troops to the southwest into Huaishan, striving to surrender the army with the state and control the northern vein of Huaishan, I really don't know how Huaidong will react, but no matter what, we must send more grain and grass to the front line of Huangchuan and Guangshan in case of trouble.

The official came in and reported: "The king of Chu is here." ”

"Hurry up, please ......" Ding Zhiru stood up from behind the public case and greeted him.

Chu Hancheng, the king of Chu, Zuo Yandu Yushi, Liu Tingzhou, Zuo Cheng of Huaixi, and Yuan Guizheng, Liang Chengyi, and others of Nanyang, are the backbone of the imperial party outside Jiangning, and Huaixi is far from being able to independently fight against Huaidong.

As soon as Yuan Hancheng stepped into the vestibule, Ding Zhiru greeted him and saluted: "King Chu is early!" ”

"The hoarfrost on the blades of grass is gone, what is it too early?" Yuan Hancheng laughed.

When he first learned that Huaishan's soldiers and horses in Luzhou had entered the hinterland of Jingxiang as an ambush, Yuan Hancheng was so frightened that he almost collapsed - he was not worried about Beiyan, but he was afraid that after the main force of Beiyan's western front was wiped out in this battle, Lin Jian would directly stand on behalf of Yuan, and the prince of Chu on his head would be the talisman for him and his relatives.

Dong Yuan can still give up his authority and enjoy the mountains and forests, and Yuan Hancheng, as a member of the imperial family, how can there be a reason not to kill all the people when the new dynasty is established?

Later, it was learned that Dong Yuan transferred Xinyang and the soldiers and horses east of Xinyang to the south, and let Chen Zhihu cross the border into Nanyang to receive Ye Ji Luorong fled north from the west bank of the Han River, and went to the north of Huaishan to capture the Li Mountain and surrender troops, Yuan Han Chengcai's mind was a little settled.

Yuan Hancheng is not afraid of Dong Yuan's ambitions, he is not afraid that Dong Yuan will gamble on Huaixi and confront Lin Lian, and he is afraid that Dong Yuan will also choose to succumb to Huaidong's strength.

In order to support Dong Yuan's march to the northern foot of Huai Mountain, Yuan Hancheng not only took out all his family funds this time, took out more than 300,000 taels of cash to purchase grain from the people, but also personally sent people to Jiangning to contact Shen Rong, Zhang Yan, Yu Xinyuan and others, hoping that they could understand Dong Yuan's painstaking efforts, win over ministers loyal to the imperial family, and secretly build momentum for Dong Yuan in Jiangning......

Judging from the current situation, Huaidong's mind in Jingxiang's army and horses is focused on pursuing the enemy soldiers on the west bank of the Han River, and if he can't spare his hands, how can he endure this loss first!

"What's the matter with the King of Chu, call Zhiru over and give an order, what is there to ask the King of Chu to run this trip personally?" Ding Zhiru knew that the King of Chu would not ascend to the Three Treasures Hall if he had nothing to do.

"I thought about it all night last night, and I had an idea that I wanted Lord Ding to serve as a staff officer for me." Yuan Hancheng spoke, and glanced at the left and right officials again.

Ding Zhiru waved his hand to let the left and right hands withdraw, which did not affect Yuan Hancheng to discuss secret matters with him.

"I think about it, after this battle, I'm afraid that Hu Lu will also be greatly injured, Lord Ding, don't you say?" Yuan Hancheng started talking.

"What does the King of Chu mean?" Ding Zhiru asked without moving.

"The Central Plains has been fighting for many years, thousands of miles are in ruins, thousands of miles do not hear the sound of roosters, even if you want to go on a northern expedition, you must first recuperate for a few years, with what this king sees, it is better to make peace first, so that everyone has a chance to recuperate," Yuan Hancheng said, "If you really want to continue fighting, it will only make Huaidong stronger and stronger, and the more you fight, the more difficult it is to suppress, and other families will only drag it to the point that it is difficult to breathe." The envoy was asked to get out of the way, so that Chen Zhihu could enter Nanyang, and he also expressed his sincerity and could send a secret envoy to discuss the matter of dismissing the army. If I think about it again, the Cao family, who retreated to Liangchuan, probably won't refuse to rest and recuperate......"

"......" Ding Zhiru thought for a moment and said, "The King of Chu has a very good strategy, but this matter should not be led by Huaixi. ”

Yuan Hancheng thought for a while and said: "Also, Jiang Ningfeng is not good for peace, Huaixi can't take the lead at least on the bright side, but as long as Huaixi drags on the north bank of Huaishui and doesn't go north, there is no way to poke out from both ends of Huaidong......"

"Yes," Ding Zhiru smiled and said, "Huaixi is dragging and not moving, and Huaidong has no possibility of the Northern Expedition......"

Whether Huaidong was from the Eastern Front or the Western Front, the Northern Expedition exposed the back road to Huaixi's troops, and Ding Zhiru did not believe that Lin Jian would not be wary of Huaixi at all. As long as Lin Lian's wariness of Huaixi is not diminished, the Northern Expedition will not be carried out, and the peace talks will become an established fact.

Yuan Hancheng laughed and said, "Lord Ding and the envoy have already made a plan, it seems that this king is worried too much......"

Ding Zhiru just wanted to praise the king of Chu for a few words, at this time, a fast horse galloped into the city from the north, led the horse straight to Ding Zhiru, and said: "The Huaidong grain fleet wants to forcibly anchor in the west of Kipshi Mountain, and seven or eight grain ships have rushed into the mouth of Tanglin Lake without obeying the order......

"What do they want to do!" Ding Zhiru shook his sleeves and stood.

Ning Zechen led his troops west to aid Xinyang in early September, and the grain and grass were directly supplied from Shanyang, and the Huaidong grain ships would come and go to and from the Huaishui River, but without notice and permission, the grain ships in Huaidong were not allowed to be stationed near Shouzhou City, not to mention that the Kip Stone Mountain located north of Shouzhou City was an important place for Shouzhou to guard Huai.

Therefore, when the defenders of Kip Stone Mountain saw that the Huaidong grain ship did not listen to the warning and forcibly anchored on the west side, they would only urgently send someone to inform Ding Zhiru to deal with the matter.

"Could it be that Huaidong knew that Chen Zhihu led his troops to cross the border from Zhengyang with resentment and came over to breed trouble?" Yuan Hancheng said hesitantly. He didn't take the problem too seriously, he thought that Huaidong couldn't bear Dong Yuan's evil anger of letting Chen Zhihu go to Nanyang, so he deliberately came over to provoke and cause trouble. His opinion was to endure it first, tell Huaidong to let go, and wait for Dong Yuan to digest the 50,000 or 60,000 troops of the Suizhou army in Lishan, and then make other deployments.

"I'll go to Kip Stone Mountain first," Ding Zhiru didn't think too much, but the Huaidong Army provoked in Shouzhou, and he couldn't sit idly by, and he was even more afraid that the defenders of Kip Stone Mountain would not be able to handle the proportions: too soft would only make the Huaidong Army gain an inch; Too much, afraid of giving the Huaidong army an excuse to provoke the army, he instructed Chen Juxian, the Shouzhou guard general who rushed over later, "General Chen, you pull out a battalion of soldiers and follow me to the city to Kip Stone Mountain...... "He also needs to show a tough stance in front of the Huaidong army who came to Shouzhou to provoke trouble, don't make the Huaidong army think that Shouzhou is really soft and can be pinched.

"This king and Lord Ding will go to take a look and see how arrogant Huaidong is?" Yuan Hancheng said that he naturally had to stand firmly on Huaixi's side at this time, hoping that Huaixi's attitude towards Huaidong would be tougher.

Ding Zhiru, who was under the north city gate, was shocked when he heard the police, and turned around and asked sharply: "What is the police?" ”

"There is beacon smoke rising into the sky on the west pier of Kip Stone Mountain!" Chengtou Elementary School Road!

The smoke rising from Kip Stone Mountain indicates the invasion of the enemy army, which is completely different from the nature of the provocation that the Huaidong Army was forcibly stopped and provoked by sending fast cavalry to tell the Huaidong Army just now.

Ding Zhiru and Yuan Hancheng climbed the city tower in a panic, looked to the northwest, and their hands and feet were cold: Where is the Huaidong Army provocative?

In the northwest direction of Tanglin Lake, more than a dozen Huaidong grain ships have forcibly entered Tanglin Lake, the first few Huaidong grain ships have seized the wharf on the east coast - where is the grain ship, a team of people and horses from the grain boat down, shining under the sun with the light of the armor, dense clusters like the water of Dongling Lake from the wharf to the east overflowing, this ship is a troop transport ship with Huaidong elite soldiers!

Ding Zhiru's hands and feet trembled, and Yuan Hancheng directly collapsed to the ground, muttering in his mouth: "Huaidong is rebellious, Lin Lian Xiao'er has rebelled!" ”