Cen Shen sat cross-legged in the house, with delicious food on the table in front of him, he lifted the chopsticks and tasted them, and poured a sip of wine.

Yan Zhuang, who was sitting next to him, couldn't swallow it, just because he had also worked with Shi Siming, and knew that he was insidious and cunning, for fear that they would not be able to negotiate and be killed by him with an excuse.

"Duke Yan doesn't have to worry, it is precisely because Shi Siming is treacherous and ambitious that he will agree to cooperate with us, and this person will never be at the mercy of the imperial court."

After Cen Shen finished speaking, he beat the beat gently, and looked at the beauty in front of him singing and dancing in a daze.

Shi Siming's close minister Yu Wenkuan hurriedly rushed over, waved his sleeves to retreat the dancing concubine, and invited Cen Shen and Yan Zhuang with his crossed hands: "Please come with me, the king of my family wants to meet you." ”

The two glanced at each other, Cen Shen nodded and smiled, "Please General Yuwen lead the way in front." ”

They came to Shi Siming's main hall, the king of Zhou sat on the tiger skin chair with his legs crossed, and stood up to show Corporal Lixian after seeing Cen Shen, but his tone refused to let go at all: "I only put forward two requirements, first, Li Siye just wants to enter the Guanzhong through the road, so he attacked the Shangdang from Wu'eryu, and after defeating the Hedong army and crossing the river into the Guanzhong with me, he must withdraw from Hedong." Second, not a single soldier shall be left outside Tongguan, including Shaanxi County. ”

Cen Shen argued: "I'm afraid this won't work, if my lord enters Hedong, if he gives up Shangdang Puzhou and other places, won't Pujindu and Longmendu along the Yellow River be exposed to your troops at any time in the future?" “

Shi Siming sat back in the chair, cocked his nostrils and said proudly: "Don't agree? Then there is no way. To tell you the truth, Cui Xiang sent by the imperial court is also in my house, if I can't negotiate with you, then I will go and agree to Cui Xiang's conditions to return to the imperial court, and then Li Siye will be attacked on both sides, even if he can fight well, I am afraid it will be enough to drink a pot. ”

Yan Zhuang frequently glanced at Cen Shen, and Cen Shen still had to compare: "In this case, the party can give up, but Jiangzhou and Puzhou must not let it." ”

Shi Siming was so angry that he blew his beard and glared: "Lao Tzu helped him so much, and he actually counted one state and two states with me?" ”

"It's not that I don't want to, but I can't. Our army can completely withdraw from Henan, and even Shaanxi County can be abandoned, but we must not give up Jiangzhou and Puzhou. ”

"Okay," Shi Siming sighed, waved his hand at his subordinates, and ordered them to present two plates of pork loin gold and Shu brocade.

Cen Shen didn't know what he meant, and asked in surprise, "What does the king mean by this?" ”

Shi Siming rubbed his hands together and smiled: "It's not a secret, I admire Master Cen very much, and I am willing to hire high-ranking officials with a lot of money, as long as you stay with me, after this king becomes emperor in the future, you will be the Zhongshu Order!" ”

Cen Shen bowed and crossed his hands and said: "Thank you for the king's kindness, but Cen Shen has made an oath to be loyal to Li Siye, a boy was born in the world, how can he change his ways, and he should choose one master and end up." ”

When Shi Siming heard him say this, his heart became more and more admired, he just sighed, glanced at Yan Zhuang next to Cen Shen, waved his hand and said: "Come on, prepare four fast horses for Master Cen and them, as well as dry food, and this king will personally send him out of the city." ”

Yan Zhuang was invisibly injured by a critical hit, and the damage was not high, and the insult was extremely great, but he also participated in An Qingxu's murder of his father, and persuaded An Qingxu to surrender to Li Siye, which is simply a representative of the second minister and thief.

They went all the way to the outside of Youzhou City under Shi Siming's send-off, Siming was still reluctant to keep it, but Cen Shen had already made up his mind, and said euphemistically: "Cen Shen is just a scribe, and if the king wants to dominate the world, what he needs is not someone like me, but a general who can assist you in recruiting and fighting well." ”

The two crossed their hands towards Shi Siming on their horses, and agreed that in early July, the two sides would immediately attack Hedong, and after bidding farewell, they galloped towards the end of the earth.

After the two of them ran for more than thirty miles, the sky was gradually dusk, Yan Zhuang looked back at the direction they left, and suddenly asked Cen Shendao: "Shi Siming's conditions for you are not ungenerous, and staying by Li Siye's side is only one of his two major strategists, isn't Master Cen tempted?" ”

Cen Shen shook his head resolutely and said, "No." ”

"Oh, why is that?"

"Shi Siming just loves money and power, but he doesn't have the heart of the world. He only occupied Hebei, so he dared to call himself the king of the Great Sage Zhou, and after he captured Luoyang in the future, he would inevitably claim the emperor in advance. He doesn't even understand the truth that if he is full, he will overflow, and if he is over, he will be lost, how can he achieve great things? ”

……

In July of the second year of the Qianyuan Dynasty, Li Siye left Yan Xiaosi and Tian Zhen to garrison in Shaanxi County, while he led the generals Duan Xiushi, Bai Xiaode, Zhao Chongyu and his second son Li Chongbao to attack Huguan County in Shangdang County from Wueryu.

Because of the Hedong Jiedu, Deng Jingshan received an order from the imperial court in advance to strictly guard Shangdang and Jiangzhou and Puzhou, so he sent the Zhaoyi army to garrison Huguan, Xiangyuan, Lucheng and other three counties as soon as possible.

Li Siye sent his second son Li Chongyun as the vanguard, and personally led 300 Mo swordsmen to attack the city from the southeast corner of the county, and the Zhaoyi army retreated to Xiangyuan, trying to wait for the envoy of Hedong Jiedu to send troops to help.

Xiangyuan this city was first built by Zhao Xiangzi of the Warring States Period, the latter three families were divided into South Korea when the Jin Dynasty was divided, the city was the strongest in the five cities of Shangdang, Li Siye surrounded the city and leaked it, deliberately released a side, so that the Tang army in the city sent messengers to Lucheng, the seat of Shangdang County, to ask for help. Zhang Guangsheng, the general of the Zhaoyi Army stationed in Lucheng, led the army to help.

At this time, the imperial court had realized the importance of the land of the Three Jin Dynasty, and specially distinguished the south of Shangdang from the Hedong Jiedu envoy, demarcated the Zelu Jiedu envoy, focused on defending the Yellow River northbound ferry, and ordered Wang Sili to serve as the first Zelu Jiedu envoy.

At this time, Wang Sili had just crossed the Yellow River from Guanzhong into Puzhou, and he did not know that around Shangdang, a battle related to the fate of the world had begun.

Zhang Guangsheng led his army to aid Xiangyuan, and when he passed through the side of Lao Ye Mountain, he was ambushed by the Han Navy led by Duan Xiushi, and the whole army was defeated. Li Chongbao had already led the Flying Tiger Cavalry to pursue and shoot along the way, and when the 8,000 people returned to Lucheng, there were only more than 300 people left.

Li Siye took the opportunity to take the lead in capturing Lucheng, but because the Tang army was outnumbered, the city was finally broken, and Zhang Guangsheng killed himself. The Zhaoyi army stationed in Xiangyuan learned that the Hexi army had conquered Lucheng, and felt that there was no hope for survival, and finally surrendered the city.

After the Hexi army captured the three cities, the rest of the counties in Shangdang County surrendered.

Among them, the most bitter was General Wang Sili, who was appointed by the imperial court as the envoy of Zelu Festival, but before he could take office, he lost his territory first. He had to carry this pot directly, and he couldn't even shake it off.

Wang Sili gathered the Zhaoyi army guarding Jiangzhou and Puzhou, waved his hand and said to his subordinates: "Li Siye waved his army to attack Shangdang, once Shangdang falls, we will be in danger." In order to avoid being eaten by him one after another, we should take the initiative to assemble and attack. Defeat him and drive him out of the pot. ”

The strength of the Zhaoyi army assembled in the two prefectures of Jiangpu was more than 20,000 people, which seemed worthy of a battle, but among the 20,000 people, there were no more than 5,000 people who had held swords and guns for a year, and no more than 3,000 people who could hold bows and shoot hunts. Once it meets the elite Han Navy, it is estimated that one face will be defeated, not to mention the Flying Tiger Cavalry, which is known as the strongest cavalry in the world.

The general Xin Yunjing said to him: "Doctor Wang, the Zhaoyi Army is no longer the Zhaoyi Army of the past, it has experienced many bloody battles with An Lushan Shi Siming's rebels, and there are many sacrifices for those who can recruit good soldiers, but now they are all diluted by the people who have been forcibly recruited. Moreover, Li Siye has 100,000 people under his command, and even Luohe is not his opponent. I suggested asking Deng Jingshan for help, hoping that he could raise the Taiyuan army to go south to rescue.

Wang Sili thought very well, as long as he sent people to Taiyuan to contact Deng Jingshan and make him go south to attack Shangdang, he would attack from Jiangzhou to the north, and even if he could not eliminate Li Siye's troops, he could expel them from Huguan to Hedong. But he definitely didn't expect that Deng Jingshan was also too busy to take care of himself at the moment, and was leading the main force of the Hedong Army to hold the city in Datong to resist the 40,000 Youyan army under Shi Siming plus 30,000 hired Khitan soldiers.