On the eighth day of the first lunar month, the residual flavor of the New Year is still very strong, and the generals treat each other and have dinners, and Zhu Long also turns a blind eye, and does not intend to be serious discipline, but just sends scouts to guard everywhere.

On this day, Zhu Long was practicing martial arts in the courtyard, Lin Chuman was watching with a smile on the side, and suddenly Hu Gang came in to report that several brothers who went to Qingzhou had returned, and they had brought back many tall and sturdy horses.

Last year, Wu Yong sent two groups of people, all the way to Qingzhou and all the way to Dengzhou, to give Yang Zhi and Sun Li New Year's gifts.

Qingzhou Road is closer, and it should have been able to rush back before the New Year, while the group of people who went to Dengzhou were going to spend the New Year in Dengzhou.

But I didn't expect that the brothers who went to Qingzhou would only come back today, and they brought back many horses.

Could it be that Yang Zhi fought a battle with the government in Qingzhou and captured the loot? There is no need for him to hand it over, and he can keep it for his own development.

Zhu Long guessed in his heart, and came to the school field in Zhuangnei with Hu Gang, and was taken aback!

There were more horses than he had imagined, and each one was tall and strong, ready to serve as a mount for heavy cavalry.

He was overjoyed, but he had some doubts in his heart.

"Subordinate Xiao Guangzhi to meet the lord!" A capable man walked up to Zhu Long and knelt on one knee.

This is also the old Zhuang guest of Zhujiazhuang, who was very trusted by the father and son of the Zhu family a long time ago, and now he is the head of the Su Guard Army, and he led the team to Qingzhou some time ago.

"Old Xiao, it's been hard all the way. You get up and speak! Zhu Long pointed to the war horse in front of him and asked, "Where did these horses come from?" ”

Xiao Guangzhi didn't answer immediately, but took out a letter from his arms and presented it to Zhu Long with both hands, Zhu Long took it, the fire paint on the seal was intact, he opened it, opened it, glanced at it roughly, and was immediately surprised and delighted.

"The former did not obey the order, and floated to Liaodong without authorization, and the servant was quite ashamed, because he was benevolent and could not bear to go to a foreign land. However, there is no better use of heaven than dragons. The ground is not used too much for horses. How can there be no horse in the public competition for the world?

In the name of a horse merchant, he bribed the chieftains of the Jin tribe and obtained 500 good horses. He also ordered Li Jun to collect the displaced people and rejuvenate the water division, and crisscross the Beihai Sea to wait for his day.

I am in an enemy country, and I am worried about my lord. The servant is healthy and healthy, and the diet is thorough, so please do not worry. Shi Xiu paused! ”

Zhu Long looked at it carefully, his eyes were hot, and he summoned Huangfu Duan and asked him to take care of these war horses.

Huangfu was overjoyed to see so many good horses.

Although there are more than 7,000 horses in Zhujiazhuang, the good and the bad are uneven, and it is impossible to pick out such 500 horses.

In order to form dragoons, all the good horses in the army were withdrawn, and these emperors knew best.

In the past year, Zhu Long has a good understanding of the Song army by fighting with the Song Dynasty official army, in fact, the Great Song Dynasty is not short of war horses, but the quality of war horses is not good, and the size, speed, and endurance are not as good as the war horses on the northern grassland.

War horses are the most important part of the combat effectiveness of cavalry, and if the horse is inferior to the enemy, the combat effectiveness of the army will be greatly reduced.

This is also reasonable, the horses of the Great Song Dynasty were all bought from Liao or Tibet, how could people sell real good horses to the Great Song Dynasty?

Even if there are occasional good horses, they are castrated, and there is no way to improve the horse breed for the Great Song Dynasty.

Zhu Long was happy in his heart, and he was ready to select more than 100 of the best war horses and give them to the generals, so that they could be more brave on the battlefield.

The remaining horses can replace some of the dragoons' horses and then distribute them to the scouts of each army.

"How's General Yang doing?" Zhu Long looked at Xiao Guangzhi and asked about Yang Zhi's situation.

"General Yang is all right there, he reoccupied Erlong Mountain, and also incorporated other nearby cottages, and many leaders were added to his subordinates......"

"Oh, who are they?"

"There is a man named Yu Baosi, the god of dangerous paths, who is one foot tall and very powerful. There are also the three leaders of Peach Blossom Mountain, namely the tiger general Li Zhong, the little overlord Zhou Tong, plus the brothers who brought it over, and now General Yang has more than a thousand minions. ”

"Well, that's good!" After listening to Xiao Guangzhi, Zhu Long let him go down to rest, after all, the long journey was too hard.

On the tenth day of the new year, Zhu Biao came to Zhu Biao's residence and wanted to talk to him about Li Jun's establishment of a sailor in Bohai.

Therefore, he was going to ask Zhu Biao about Li Jun's personality, whether he would have stiffened wings and leave the Zhu family army in the future.

Unexpectedly, when I dared to reach the door, I heard a quarrel from inside.

"I don't care, I'm going to Dongping Mansion to see the Lantern Festival lanterns!" This is Hu Sanniang's voice, full of coquettish taste.

"No, I've been away from Liangshan for so long, I can't rest assured, there is a hoarding of money and grain like Zhujiazhuang on the mountain, and it will be terrible if something happens!" Zhu Biao's voice was resolute and unyielding.

Hu Sanniang begged: "It's just one day, you can go to Liangshan today, and we will go to Dongping Mansion on the fifteenth!" Besides, isn't there a brother Hua Rong in Liangshan? With him, nothing goes wrong! ”

"Dongping Mansion is not what it used to be, Cheng Wanli has gone back again, and now it is someone's territory!"

"Who can you deceive, there are only two hundred officers and soldiers in Dongping Mansion, how many secrets does we have in Zhujiazhuang in Dongping Mansion, several times more than the officers and soldiers!"

"What's so good, it's not like I haven't seen it!" Zhu Biao said helplessly, he felt that his sister-in-law was gentle and virtuous, unlike Hu Sanniang, who played with a child's temper, and his eldest brother's vision was still stronger than his own.

"Humph! Once a year, where to see enough! ”

……

Hearing the two arguing, his heart suddenly moved. turned around and returned to the council hall and asked people to invite Wu Yong and Xiao Rang.

"I heard that the Lantern Festival lanterns in Beijing's Daimyo Mansion are gorgeous and gorgeous, crowded with people, and very lively, I want to go and see it!"

Wu Yong and Xiao Rang glanced at each other and said, "The lord once led the army and fought against the officers and soldiers of the Daimyo's Mansion, I'm afraid that someone will recognize the lord." ”

"It's okay, I'll just modify my appearance a little!"

Xiao Rang hurriedly asked, "How many people did the lord bring with him?" ”

"How can you take a large group of people to go, isn't that deliberately attracting the attention of others, I want to go and see it by myself, what does the military advisor think?"

Wu Yong didn't make a sound, as if he was wandering into the world, thinking about his own thoughts.

"Strategist—"

Zhu Long shouted three times in a row, Wu Yongcai came back to his senses, and said apologetically to Zhu Long: "I just remembered a person, I was distracted, don't blame the lord!" ”

"Who does the advisor think of?" Zhu Long said curiously.

Wu Yong said slowly: "Jiangdong Sun Bofu!" ”

Zhu Long suddenly realized that Wu was using a different method to persuade him not to take risks like Sun Ce, so that he was assassinated.

"Then I'll take these brothers with me!" Zhu Long compromised.

"I don't know who the lord plans to bring?" Wu Yong didn't let it go easily.

"Lao Qin, Wu Song, Lu Fang, Jiao Ting, can you take these four people?"

Wu Yong thought for a while and said, "Let's bring Shi Wengong and Bian Xiang again!" ”

He smiled and said, "If you don't dislike it, your subordinates are willing to accompany the lord!" ”

Zhu Long was surprised and asked, "Why did the military advisor go to the Daimyo's Mansion?" ”

"The Daimyo's Mansion is one of the four capitals, an important town in Hebei, I have long wanted to go and see it! I don't know why the lord wants to go to the Daimyo's mansion, it can't really be to see the Lantern Festival, right? Wu Yong said tentatively.

"It's not a secret, I often hear people in the rivers and lakes say that there is a member of the Beijing Daimyo Mansion named Lu Junyi, known as the Jade Qilin, known as the invincible guns and sticks in Hebei, I want to meet him to see if he can be included in his command."

"I've heard of it for a long time, but no matter how powerful it is, it's just a martial artist, there are so many fierce generals under the lord's command, how can it be worth risking for him, it's really not worth it!" Wu Yong shook his head and sighed.

Zhu Long smiled: "Thousands of troops are easy to get, and it is difficult to find, how can it not be worth it?" ”

There is another sentence that he didn't say in his heart - Lu Junyi's net worth is not expensive!

The strength of the Zhujia army has reached 21,000 people, how can it be enough to rely on land rent alone?

Raising an army is a very money-burning thing, not to mention a small Zhujiazhuang, that is, for the imperial court, raising a huge army is also a very stressful thing.

Not to mention anything else, the average military salary per soldier is five yuan per month, and the officer's salary is even higher, at least 120,000 yuan per month, or 1.44 million yuan a year.

This is only the military salary, as well as the expenditure of various weapons and equipment, the three million yuan of the Zhu family army can only last for a year and a half, if there is a war, the expenditure will be even greater!

For Lu Junyi, he wants to get both people and money.

In addition, Yan Qing is also the man he wants.

With these thoughts, he is not good at using them to Wu, so as not to affect his Wei Guangzheng image out of thin air.

"Since the military advisor is also with us, Mr. Xiao might as well go with him and see the excitement together!" Zhu Long invited Xiao Rang.

"Okay!" Xiao Rang agreed, after all, how could the opportunity to accompany the leader to travel at public expense be wasted, and he is Zhu Long's secretary, how can the secretary not accompany the leader on a business trip!

On the same day, Zhu Long told the six bodyguards about going to Dongping Mansion and asked them to get ready to travel.

Then he instructed Zhu Hu to command the whole army as the commander-in-chief, and told Guan Sheng, Lin Chong, Luan Tingyu, Lu Zhishen, Chen Shou, and Zeng to assist Zhu Hu with all their hearts and guard the village.

At night, he used all his skills to appease Lin Chuman, lest in his absence, his wife would be hungry and thirsty. After all, no matter how noble the soul is, no matter how loyal the love is, it can't suppress the desires of the body.

It's not that Zhu Long doesn't trust his wife and subordinates, he just knows the weakness of human nature, he never asks how his subordinates are loyal to him, and he will try not to give others the opportunity and reason to betray him.

Demanding unconditional loyalty from others is undoubtedly extremely selfish and self-righteous.

Early the next morning, Zhu Da Niu bid farewell to his subordinates and his wife who saw him off, and set off with Wu Yong, Qin Ming, Wu Song, Shi Wengong, Bian Xiang, Lu Fang, and Jiao Ting.

They first headed west, first through Guyang County, and then into Dongping Province.

Two hours later, they entered the boundary of Guyang County.

Zhu Long found that since entering Guyang County, Wu Song's mood had changed a lot, he was depressed and silent, and he was silent along the way.

He knew that Guyang County was Wu Song's sad place.

He has killed tigers here and is famous all over the world! He also served as the head of the capital here, and for the first time he carried the imperial grain, wore a uniform, and walked on the street, majestic.

His own brother Wu Dalang was killed by the adulterer ** in Guyang County, and since then, he has no relatives and no home in this world.

Suddenly, Wu Song reined in his horse and said, "Lord, Brother Wu Song is buried outside Guyang County, I want to go and worship my brother!" ”

"This is what you should do as a brother, I asked Brother Bian Xiang to go with you, so that you can take care of it! We'll slow down until you catch up and meet! ”

"Don't bother with Brother Bian Xiang, I've been in Guyang for more than a year, and I'm very familiar with this place, no one can keep me!" Wu Song said resolutely.

Zhu Long didn't insist, and nodded: "Okay, be careful on the road!" ”

Wu Song rode a horse alone, rushed to the direction of Guyang County, after entering the city, he found a longevity shop with a familiar car, bought ingots candles, incense paper yellow watches, paper clothes and paper horses, and put them on horseback.

He led his horse out of the city to a cemetery on the outskirts of the city, where there was a low mound with barren ground and yellow weeds.

The tombstone in front of the grave is engraved with "The Tomb of the First Brother Wuzhi"

"Brother!"

Wu Song pounced, knelt in front of the lonely grave, sorrow came from his heart, and couldn't help crying, his voice was desolate and sad, which was sad.

He took out the fire fold, lit the ingots candle, the yellow table of incense paper, the paper clothes and paper horses, and cried: "Brother, you have suffered a lot in your life, I hope you will not have to suffer from poverty under Jiuquan!" ”

The fire was burning, he seemed to see Wu Dalang's face in the firelight, he smiled innocently, as if to say: Brother, don't grieve for me, live well, take good care of yourself!

The fire grew smaller and smaller, and gradually extinguished, leaving only ashes on the ground, which were then blown away by the wind.

"Brother, Wu Song is gone, I'll come to see you later!" Wu Song wiped away his tears, turned around and got on the horse, lifted the reins, and shouted: "Drive!" ”

The horses spread their hooves and galloped out like arrows.

Along the way, there are barren mountains and mountains, cold winds and bleak winds, and there are few pedestrians on the road.

Suddenly, he heard a shout for help from in front of him, and immediately rushed over, only to see seven or eight big men chasing a trader, brandishing his knife while chasing, and shouting, "Don't run!" Hold it! ”

But the vendor ran faster!

Wu Song knew at a glance that this was a robber robbing, and he was immediately ready to fight.

Although he did the same business in Erlong Mountain, he didn't treat these robbers as peers.

Suddenly, a figure jumped out of a small fork in the road, blocking the way of the robbers, pointing a knife at them in his hand, and shouting: "Even if you rob money, you will also harm people's lives, it is really intolerable!" ”

"Which hill are you, so particular! Didn't your rulers tell you what it means to kill for money? Since you have made money, you must kill yourself! ”

The robber led by Hang'er Lang was in charge, and he saw that the vendor had run away, so he simply did not chase after him, and found trouble with the sudden appearance of this man.

"Hmph, wicked man, I'll send you on your way! Let this dark world be one less of a few evil ghosts! The man held the knife horizontally, and he actually made the first move.