The messengers sent back by Zhao Timur and others rushed eight hundred miles, and the three horses were exchanged in reincarnation, and in the early morning of the third day, they rushed to Shuangcheng. For two days and two nights in a row, they didn't see each other, they didn't get off their horses, they ate some dry food when they were hungry, and drank some cold water when they were thirsty, and they were not lightly tired.

Because of Qian Shide's civil strife, the city gate was opened by chance, and Shi Baihu, who was originally guarding the gate, was killed in battle, and his prefect was implicated, and he is still in prison and has not been released; As a result, the guards at the city gates are now wary, and the entry and exit checks are extremely strict.

The messenger showed the token given by Deng She before leaving, and the hundred households guarding the door carefully inquired about his name, the military camp to which he belonged, and the name of the official, and checked them one by one, and then opened the door and let him go. After entering the city gate, the two galloped on horseback and approached Deng Sheshuai's mansion, and their own soldiers had already met them. The two of them jumped off their horses, and one trembled, and almost fell.

But after a long period of horseback riding, he suddenly stepped on the ground, and he was a little unsteady on his feet. They came out of the pro-soldier team and knew each other well, so they didn't need to say much, and as soon as they explained in a few words, the guards on duty did not dare to slack off, and they hurriedly led forward.

Passing through the newly repaired mansion gate, the two staggered to follow. The light of the lantern reflects the distance of two or three steps, the scenery in the courtyard is not clear, only the shadow is enough, the wall, outside the hall, three steps and a post, five steps and a sentry, the defense is very strict, and the scene before they go is completely different, the two people are slightly strange in their hearts.

Seeing the guards on duty leading them to the pavilion, they looked up, and the pavilion in the distance was brightly lit, and from time to time the figure of the maid was reflected on the window paper. One asked, "Has the general not rested yet?" ”

"Don't mention it, you left early, I don't know. A few days ago, Yao Haogu, Qian Shide, and Huang Donkey were in civil strife, and the slut of Li Chenggui's family was poisoned and almost poisoned the general to death. Don't you see that there are many more guards in the house? Many brothers died in that night, and the backyard was on fire, and it has not been rebuilt yet. ”

The two people were taken aback: "The general is poisoned? ”

"The poison injury is not a big deal, but the general is blessed with a great life. I pulled out the poison, and the past two days have been much better. I didn't sleep so late because yesterday evening, General Chen sent a new list of officials and big households involved in the rioters, and the general needed to check it; In addition, the amount of timber and Ding Zhuang needed to repair the dwellings in the city had to be done by the general. ”

The guard who spoke pointed to the backyard and said, "You see, in order to save some wood and hurry up, the general didn't even build the backyard. ”

On a cold winter night, Deng She, who was seriously injured, stayed awake all night. The two people who came back to report the news were indignant and said angrily: "Yao Haogu, Qian Shide, Brother Huang Donkey!" Where did the three of them get their guts? ”

"Do you need to say?" The guard who led the way pointed to the top, and he was also angry, "It's spread all over the army, have you forgotten how Pan Mei died?" There are two words, which are sung: There is no mountain climbing, but the public climbs the mountain! Climb the mountain and die, when Nai Gonghe! ”

Pan Mei was sold by Guan Duo and died in Dongmu Mountain; His blood book, many have seen. So, when the two messengers heard it, they knew that this was exactly what they were singing. The implication is that the act of poisoning Deng She was also instructed by Guan Duo. As for the reason, do you still need to think about it? Goryeo's 3,000 miles of splendid rivers and mountains, who doesn't want it?

We fought so hard, why did we give him the surname Guan? The two messengers almost scolded, saying, "The bastard of the dog day, it's too light to be skinned alive!" ”

"If you want to talk about benevolence and righteousness, our general didn't say it. only slaughtered Brother Huang Donkey, but did not kill Yao Haogu. Not only did he not kill, but he was entertained with delicious food and drink every day, saying that he wanted to listen to Guan Pingzhang's fate. ”

As he spoke, he approached the pavilion, where the defense was of paramount importance, and the guards who led the way were not qualified to enter, so he handed over the two messengers to a ten-captain and turned around. Despite the acquaintances, the ten-captain still followed the regulations and questioned again and again before leaving them to report to Dunshe.

If it's a sunny day, the morning star should be shining in the sky; But since the beginning of winter, it has been gloomy for many days, and the night sky in the early morning is bleak and dark. The bone-chilling north wind swept the window paper and curtains of the pavilion, and rattled.

In the silent night, dozens of guards stood in a ring outside the pavilion, all of them straight, with serious faces, no one exchanged heads and ears, and no one said a word. Only occasionally patrol soldiers walked by with torches, and the muffled sound of passwords, armor, and weapons clashing reached people's ears, reminding them of what this place was.

It is solemn and solemn, and it is the heart of the twin cities, Pyongyang, the whole northern Goryeo and Liaozuo.

Soon, the captain of the ten came down, nodded to the two messengers, ordered their weapons to be removed, their armor removed, and a few guards to be sent upstairs. Compared with the outside of the building, there were many fewer guards in the pavilion, only two or three people, not so much that they were responsible for defense, but that they were responsible for listening to Deng She's communication.

The two messengers knew one of them, nodded and smiled at each other, and climbed the stairs. The echo of footsteps is evident in this quiet environment. The messengers did not dare to make a sound, and quietly went upstairs, and after the report, the guards who sent them up stopped outside the door, and the two of them pushed the door in, and saw Deng She sitting in front of the desk, meticulously reviewing the documents.

"Meet the General."

"Get up." Deng She put down the pen in his hand, got up with a smile, and personally helped the two of them up. Regardless of the emergency military situation, Deng She carefully looked at the faces of the two of them for a moment, and said with a smile: "It's the road." Noticing that the messenger's lips were chapped, he instructed Luo Guannu, "Pour some water, warm, not too hot." ”

Luo Guannu's father, Luo Lilang, after investigation and interrogation, found that he had nothing to do with the chaotic party, and he was released yesterday. With this change, Luo Guannu's small heart has a lot of awe for Deng She in addition to admiration. She obediently answered, brought warm water, and brought it to the messenger.

"Let's go down."

After she had withdrawn, and waited for the messenger to drink the water, Dunshe asked, "How did the trip go?" Did the road go well? ”

"Back to the general, the road is going well. Only in Dongmu Mountain, I ran into a few Tartars. But there is an important military situation that I want to tell the general. ”

"Tell me."

Now, the two messengers will tell you the ins and outs of the future. When Deng She heard this, he was both worried and happy. The good news is that the siege of Liaoyang is over, Guan Duo and Naha are both defeated, and the two cities are strong, so they are much safer; The worry is that the siege of Liaoyang was too fast, and Xu Ren broke the enemy camp in the tunnel, which was reasonable and unexpected to him.

Originally, it was speculated that the war in Liaoyang would take some more time; Who would have thought that it would end suddenly, the civil strife in the twin cities would be calm, the purge was not completed, and in a hurry, how to deal with it?

Dunsher stood up and took two turns. No matter how to deal with it next, there is a premise that is certain, you must not sit idle, and give these two tigers time to recuperate.

At that moment, Deng Shewen encouraged the messengers with two words, telling them to go down and rest; Ordered the guards outside the gate to immediately summon the generals in the city. The guards were about to leave, but Deng She called him back again, groaned slightly, and added, "Wu Henian is also called." ”

Hong Jixun is not around, and only Wu Henian is most familiar with the grain and grass and other things stored in the local area.

Deng Shezhao ordered the generals, and everyone who received the order knew that there must be an urgent military situation. Torches lit everywhere in the city, and the generals rode alone or led three or four personal soldiers from all directions, and the sound of hurried horses' hooves knocked on the stone floor, breaking the cold winter night of the twin cities in advance.

In less than two quarters of an hour, including Chen Hu and Yang Wanhu outside the city, all the officers from more than 10,000 households arrived. Deng She was draped in full, sat upright in the lobby, and waved his hand to avoid the generals from saluting.

He pressed his sword and looked around, his tone was sonorous and powerful, and he said: "I got the report of Zhou Datong's army, the war between Liao and Shen has ended, Naha has been defeated, and the 200,000 army has fled, and half of them have been killed." Five days ago, he had returned to Shenyang. You are summoned for this purpose. In this battle, our emperor Song won a complete victory, and Guan Pingzhang shook Liaodong. What do you think? ”

Zhou Datong, that is, the hundred households surnamed Zhou who escorted Zhao Timur.

The crowd was in an uproar. Yang Wanhu grabbed half a step, put his left hand on his chest, and shouted loudly: "Tartar's vitality is greatly injured, general, this is a good opportunity, you can't let it go!" Seventy or eighty thousand remnants of the defeated generals, vulnerable, the last general is willing to be the forward, only 5,000 warriors, within half a month, will be Shenyang, for the general victory! ”

Why did he first react to hit Shenyang? There's a reason. Earlier, before the battle of Gaizhou, Deng She chatted with the generals, and someone had proposed that it was better to take advantage of the melee between Liao and Shen, and at the same time mobilize the men and horses of Shuangcheng to sneak across the Yalu River and attack Shenyang while taking advantage of the situation. Later, due to civil strife in the Twin Cities, the matter was put on hold.

Therefore, as soon as Yang Wanhu heard that Naha was defeated, he immediately brought up the old matter.

Someone objected, saying, "The emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and Naha is out of the princes." Although less than half of his 200,000-strong army remained, it is expected that most of the people who fled were defeated by him to fight Liaoyang, and those nomadic tribesmen who were forcibly conscripted into the army may not necessarily have much loss in their own strength. The enemy's situation is unknown, how can he attack rashly? ”

His opinion was supported by another 10,000 households: "Naha has been running Shenyang for a long time, if it is easy to fight, Guan Pingzhang will have won it long ago." Not to mention, north of Shenyang, most of them are the territory of Mongolian nomadic tribes, and the herdsmen who fled back will be an army again after a little rectification, supporting the morning and evening, and it is useless to have 5,000 people and 50,000 people. ”

He Guangxiu's personality is dictated, he didn't think about fighting Shenyang, the first thing he thought of was self-preservation. He said: "General, the last general thinks that the first thing to consider is not to fight Shenyang, but to urgently need to find out Guan Pingzhang's movements." ”

People are not in their positions, and they are not in their politics. I have been doing 10,000 households for many days, and I have been in contact with upper-level people every day, and what I have heard is the analysis of the current situation by characters like Hong Jixun, and Ha Guangxiu's vision and ideas have broadened a lot. He said worriedly: "Shenyang was defeated, Liaoyang was defeated. As the saying goes, if you kill a thousand enemies, you will lose 800 yourself, and the tragic situation from Naha shows Guan Pingzhang's loss. I only have less than 20,000 horses in General Zhao in Liaozuo, so I have to guard against it. ”

He didn't know what he said, but he understood what he meant. Under Guan Duo's heavy losses, in order to speed up the recovery of strength, it is very likely to start from Liaozuo. After all, the Jin, Fu, and Gai prefectures of Liaozuo have been developed for a long time and are known as wealthy.

Yang Wanhu snorted in his nose and said, "Liaozuo? Lend him three guts! ”

Chen Hu, who had never spoken, said slowly: "There is some truth in Hewanhu's words. In our army in Liaodong, Guan, Pan, and Liu were originally evenly divided, but Guan Pingzhang was only slightly better. Now, there is no war in Liaoxi, and there are many small battles, Liu Pingzhang may not have the leisure to take the opportunity to meddle in Liaoyang; However, Pan Pingzhang's Guangning had an army of 100,000 people in front of each other, and there was no war for more than a month. General, if you want to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, it's not just me in Shuangcheng. ”

"Oh? General Chen, tell me more about it. ”

Chen Hu's words happened to be right for Deng She's train of thought. Under Deng She's signal, Chen Hu continued: "Pan Mei died in Dongmu Mountain, no matter what, Pan Pingzhang must have a grudge against Guan Pingzhang. His delay in saving Liaoyang was certainly due to the fact that he was thinking about the presence of the prison soldiers in the city, but he also did not fail to see Guan Duo's jokes and wait for the situation to develop.

"General, Pan Pingzhang's thoughts, even you and I can see it clearly, will Guan Pingzhang not know? Although Liaoyang won, it was just a defeat for both sides of Shenyang. With Shenyang Wolf Gu in the north and Pan Chenghu in the west, Guan Pingzhang had to find another way if he wanted to continue to maintain his previous position after the war.

"Gaizhou, not far from Liaoyang. Liaozuo, rich and strong; Rich can be used for military funds, and strong men can be used to replenish the army, Guan Pingzhang is not without the possibility of taking Liaozuo to restore his own strength. ”

Some people didn't think so, didn't dare to refute Chen Hu in person, and said euphemistically: "If Guan Pingzhang takes Liaozuo to open the knife, except for the wolf Gu and the tiger, isn't he afraid of provoking the general's anger again?" ”

The person who spoke was not from the horse thief system, and Deng She personally promoted it. Chen Hu glanced at him, but he was not angry, and said to Deng She: "This is just a guess by the last general, how to decide, listen to the general's orders." ”

For the time being, there are two opinions. One advocates fighting Shenyang, which is attacking; One advocates increasing the number of troops in Liaozuo, which is defense.

Deng She thought for a moment, and there was no need to think about Shenyang's opinion, it was unrealistic. Just as the opponents say, Shenyang still has strength and a lot of foreign aid, so we should not be impatient. Don't you know, I've just watched the dragon battle between Liao and Shen, and then let Liaoyang watch the dragon battle between Shuangcheng and Shenyang again?

It seems feasible to increase the number of troops in Liaozuo. What Guan Duo will do, no one can guess, to prevent him from being sick and going to the doctor; Second, Liaozuo is much closer to Liaoshen than Shuangcheng, and in case of changes, it can respond in time.

In fact, he had this idea after quelling the civil strife in Qian Shide. However, it is a bit insufficient, Deng She secretly contacted the deep palace Luo skirt, and sent Zhao Timur to see Naha, his intention, is it just for defense? He was silent in thought, but unfortunately he didn't know the feedback from the Guardian and Naha, so it was really difficult to arrange the next step in a hurry.

Putting it aside for the time being, he asked Wu Henian and said, "How are the houses in the city repaired?" ”

"A large number of strong men have been transferred from humble positions, and thousands of soldiers have helped, and more than half of the dwellings in the city have been repaired." Wu Henian is very smart, Deng She asked him to come to the military council, he knows himself as a civil official, and from beginning to end, he doesn't say a word; At this time, Deng She asked, and he kowtowed respectfully and answered.

"What about the grain storage in the governor's warehouse?"

"This autumn is a bumper harvest, although some newly reclaimed wasteland, according to the general's order, the harvest is exempted, but the grain collected is still very large, enough for the army to eat for more than two months."

He replied to Mintian. The fields in Twin Cities and other places are divided into two types. a kind of private land, which is distributed to the people for cultivation and handed over to the government according to the fixed amount of taxes; A kind of military cantonment does not have to be handed over to the government, and is directly under the management of the army. military tun to meet the needs of soldiers in peacetime; In addition to paying taxes to hundreds of officials and setting up regular positions, if there is a war, there is also the responsibility of transportation and supply.

It was enough for the army to feed for two months, that is, not counting the military cantonment, and the grain reserves of the governor's office alone could support a two-month war. That's pretty good, Dunsher nodded in satisfaction.

The generals in the hall looked at each other, and Deng She asked about the grain and grass reserves, what did he mean?

Chen Hu asked, "General? ”

Deng She smiled and said lightly: "Your thoughts have their own reasons. The stakes are high, I have to think about it, and you have to think about it again. It was almost dawn, and we had breakfast, so we went on to talk. He clapped his hands and summoned Bi Qianniu, "Please invite the patriarchs of the Jurchen tribe to come to breakfast as well." ”

He Guangxiu's eyes rolled around, looking at Wu Henian, pondering the meaning of Deng She's words. After asking about the grain reserves, why did you invite the patriarchs of the Jurchen tribe to eat with the generals?

——

1. There is no mountaineering.

The original text of the Han Dynasty folk song is: "The public does not cross the river, but the public actually crosses the river." Fall into the river and die, when Nai Gonghe! Legend has it that the wife prevented her husband from crossing the river before she could cross the river, and when she saw her white-haired husband fall into the river and die, her heart was so sad that she sang this song by the river, and then died of martyrdom.