When Liu Dongxing returned to the room across the courtyard, the smile on his face could not be hidden. Wen Yi hurriedly asked, "What is the matter?" Any good news? ”

Liu Dongxing said with a smile: "On the path that Shen Tu just escaped, someone from King Zheng's Mansion came over, and it is possible that they came to explore the road and clear the road, saying that there is some big man who plans to escape from there." This is good news, we just send someone to guard there, and we can hang the big fish."

Wen Yi couldn't help but be happy in her heart, thinking that this must be someone from King Zheng's faction, she heard Liu Dongxing briefly mention the location of that mountain pass, although she didn't know the specific terrain, but from the rumors she heard in her previous life, it was very likely that it was the road that King Zheng fled after his defeat. Now that Liu Dongxing has sent someone to guard it, as long as King Zheng still escapes from that road in the future, this credit will not be cheaper for the Zheng family, and Liu Dongxing will be more valued by the emperor and the crown prince.

Just in case, Wen Yi still reminded him more: "Xianggong, you must send someone to guard that exit carefully, don't let suspicious people go"

Liu Dongxing smiled and took Wen Yi's hand: "Don't worry, this is where my duty lies, how can I be careless?" After a pause, his eyes showed a little puzzlement: "But although King Zheng is in a bad situation at the moment, he has not yet reached the time of defeat, how can he send someone to investigate the way back?" The small river behind the mountain pass leads upstream to the mountains west of Sudong County, and it is a coincidence that the second brother-in-law is not serving as the county commander there? I have to write a letter and ask someone to send it over to remind me, in case King Zheng really goes from that road, even if my side is negligent for a while and lets people go, the second uncle can block it. ”

Wen Yi hurriedly began to recall the memories of her previous life, when she had been to many places with her master: "Sudong County? I remember that there is an ancient plank road there, more than 200 years ago it was extremely prosperous, but all the people and businessmen who came and went to the Central Plains and the southwest mountains were from there, but then the road was in disrepair, and a new road was built in the southeast of Sudong County, and the ancient plank road was gradually abandoned, but because it was paved with stone slabs at the beginning, it was quite strong, so it can still be used. The other end of this plank road is in Nanwanzhou, in Nanwan over the Nanling, and then take a boat along the Nanzhu River downstream, you will reach the South China Sea. This road is a little remote, but it is better to be remote enough, and few people know about it, if King Zheng follows this road, it is really possible for him to escape without knowing it."

Liu Dongxing thought thoughtfully: "As long as you flee to the South China Sea, where the land is vast and sparsely populated, whether it is hiding incognito or fleeing by boat, is there any room?" He turned his head and smiled at Wen Yi: "The lady is so knowledgeable, I didn't expect such an unpopular business route, you will also know." ”

Wen Yi smiled a little unnaturally, she couldn't tell him that she had walked by, right? can only be vague: "I have read the travelogues of my predecessors in the past, and I have mentioned this path." Because the second brother served as the commander of Sudong County, I paid more attention to it. In fact, I don't remember the details, I can't even remember the title of the book. It is best to ask a few old people who are familiar with the terrain, and it is best to ask an old man in a business house, since it used to be a business road, they must know best. ”

Liu Dongxing is as good as flowing: "Okay." ”

After leaving home, he went to find Hu Jinquan first. The latter also got the news, and was overjoyed: "If it is really sent by King Zheng to explore the way, maybe he plans to escape from there in the event of defeat in the future, such a good opportunity, our brothers can't miss it"

Liu Dongxing said: "The upstream source of the small river behind the mountain col is in Sudong County. Humble Jing once read the travelogues of his predecessors, mentioning that there is a century-old abandoned trade road in Sudong County, which can lead to Nanwan. You also know that as long as you cross the Nanling Mountains in Nanwan, it is the boundary of the South China Sea. Lao Hu, think about it, what is the South China Sea? The north side is all mountainous, and the miasma in the mountains is so bad that no one can live at all, while the south side is a flat river, but it is all close to the sea, and half of the three hundred and sixty days a year are raining. With the exception of a few larger towns, there are hardly any people living there. Even if King Zheng brought a thousand men and horses, once he crossed the Nanling, it would be like a small stone falling into the ocean, and there would not even be a splash. If we want to find him again, it will be difficult to climb to heaven."

Hu Jinquan heard about this for the first time, and was amazed: "Brother Xiaoliu, if you want me to say, you are really good fate, you burned high incense in your previous life to marry back this good wife." Needless to say, if she hadn't recognized the little girl in King Kang's Mansion, we wouldn't have been able to find out the news in King Kang's Mansion and stop the conspiracy of Shen Tugang and others in time, and later it could be said that the old servants of King Kang's Mansion surrendered to the court, and it was her credit This is not enough, and there is such a good knowledge, everything knows Brother Xiaoliu, not Brother Hu, this time, if it weren't for your daughter-in-law's help, we might have to suffer a big loss."

Liu Dongxing curled the corners of his mouth a little proudly: "That is, the daughter-in-law I married back that day after working so hard is naturally the best." ”

Hu Jinquan couldn't see his smugness: "Small, the wife is amazing, you have to be like this, beware of whether the husband is weak or not, it depends on himself."

Liu Dongxing waved his hand nonchalantly: "Only a cautious man cares about these." My daughter-in-law is doing well, it's all for me, this is the husband's outline, it's not uplifting, I just understand it in my heart, where do you outsiders understand? ”

Hu Jinquan rolled his eyes, ignored him, and took out the roster of directors, thinking about who to send to find out the news.

Liu Dongxing glanced at him a few times, leaned in with a smile and said, "Brother Hu, there are people from the garrison in the mountain pass who are watching, and if there is any movement, they will report back, and they are not in a hurry." Over there in Sudong County, my daughter-in-law's maiden cousin happened to be serving as the county magistrate there, and I was going to write a letter to ask him to send someone to keep an eye on that ancient trade road, just in case. You see...... How is it? ”

Hu Jinquan glanced at him: "Don't ask nonsense, hurry up and do it, it's true, your brother-in-law is actually an official in Sudong, and this left and right are ambushed, it's really a blessing from several lifetimes."

Liu Dongxing grinned and turned to leave, but was stopped by him again: "How could King Zheng call someone to explore the way?" Will something happen in Qingzhou? Otherwise, he wouldn't have prepared himself so early. ”

Liu Dongxing hurriedly said: "I think so too, but the latest news doesn't mention this, let's send someone to inquire again?" ”

Hu Jinquan nodded.

The next day, they received a secret letter from the Jinnan Nantong Political Division, which had been lost contact for many days, explaining the reason for King Zheng's change.

It turned out that King Zheng's rebels suffered setbacks in Jinnan one after another, retreated one after another, and finally lost half of their territory, leaving only Qingzhou and a few towns in the east still in their hands, but the imperial army was pressing step by step, and they didn't know when they would hit the door. After the news was transmitted back to Qingzhou, it caused a great shock. Unlike the previous time, King Zheng's own arbitrary behavior caused dissatisfaction, this time, many people felt King Zheng's defeat, and even the officials and generals who had surrendered to him began to worry about their fate.

King Zheng seems to be going to fail sooner or later, his family of three is the emperor's nobles, as long as the emperor remembers the affection of his flesh and blood, his life can be saved, at most he will be taken back to the capital to be placed under house arrest, and he will not be free. But the other assistants did not have this luck. It's good to lose your life, and if the king is angry, it's not impossible to punish the nine clans. Are they just waiting to die?

If you don't want to die, then let's fight, but they don't have enough soldiers for the court, and they don't have enough food for the court, can they beat the court army?

After the news that Jiang Muxi, the governor of Jinnan, led the way for the imperial army, broke the rebels of King Zheng, and made great contributions, some people began to think carefully. Jiang Muxi once took refuge in King Zheng, but he was lucky and switched to the imperial court early, and now not only will he not be regarded as a great rebel, but he has become a hero, so can others do the same? managed to escape with a life, if the method is smarter, maybe you can earn a hero to do.

As a result, some officials began to desert, pretending to be at home to recuperate, under the pretext of illness, but in fact fled with luggage and money. It's just that King Zheng's subordinates are not all rice buckets, and it didn't take long to find one, King Zheng was furious, and ordered someone to arrest the official and execute him in public, so that the impatience of his officials was suppressed. But although the superficial actions have disappeared, the dark tide of private has begun to flow again. Overnight, almost all the officials of the two major yamen of Qingzhou's political envoy department and the inspection envoy department disappeared. Among them, several of the officials who were most loyal to King Zheng were found dead in the yamen.

Not long after, news came from Guihai that all the officials led by Su Ruiting, the political envoy of Qingzhou, had thrown themselves into the imperial court. Under their persuasion, several small military attaches under King Zheng stationed in the outer city defected one after another, and the Guihai garrison instantly recovered a large area of land east of Qingzhou. King Zheng is gone.

At this moment, there was not good news from King Zheng's father-in-law, Yao Guogong's mansion. The two grandsons of Yao Guogong fled unnoticed, and they fled to the north, most likely to surrender to Taiwei Zheng. They took with them a large amount of evidence of King Zheng's rebellion, as well as information on the deployment of all troops in King Zheng's domain. As long as Taiwei Zheng gets this information, Qingzhou will be like a no-man's land for him.

Hu Jinquan speculated that it was very likely that King Zheng realized that he had no hope anymore, so he sent someone to explore the way, just in case. And judging by the current situation, he is not far from the day of defeat.

Liu Dongxing smiled at Hu Jinquan and said: "Although I am not convinced, it is really possible for King Zheng to escape from our side, if this is the case, we should keep this credit in our own hands." ”

Hu Jinquan glanced at him: "That's nature." Taiwei Zheng wants to eat alone, and he doesn't look at his confidence. In this battle, even if he doesn't come, King Zheng will be defeated, but the days may be a little longer. If someone else led the troops to fight, the result was the same. Let's be safe, we have done so much for him, and I never get naughty with him in the court, he actually has the face to take all the credit, and he is not afraid of choking Our general administration has never been a soft pimple for anyone to pinch, he did the first year of junior high school, don't blame us for doing fifteen"

Liu Dongxing grinned: "Actually, it's no wonder about us. The military situation is urgent, and he is still leading the troops to kill the enemy on the battlefield, if we find the trace of King Zheng, we will naturally block people immediately, do we have to wait for him to come? ”

Hu Jinquan hesitated: "I don't know if we have enough manpower?" King Zheng has not yet reached the point of complete desperation, I am afraid that he will bring a lot of people. ”

Liu Dongxing had already prepared: "Don't worry, the most elite 3,000 soldiers and horses of the Kangnan garrison will be stationed in Kangcheng at this time, as long as I give an order......"

Hu Jinquan was stunned, and patted him on the shoulder with a smile: "Good brother, in this case, my brother wishes you success."

It's as it is. In the evening of the next day, news came from the garrison that King Zheng led his own soldiers, a group of hundreds of people, to the inlet of the river behind the small mountain pass, then abandoned the boat and landed on the shore, and went southwest along the river.

At this time, the army led by Taiwei Zheng had just finished a big battle and was camping outside Qingzhou City to rest.