It was almost early summer, the days were long and the nights were short, and after dinner, the sunset still refused to set obediently, stubbornly using its afterglow to drape the vast land with a faint layer of purple. A few sparse poplar trees in the yard are covered with crows, fluttering and falling, flying and circling. A gust of wind swirled across the roof, and Zhou Gongding only felt his body tremble.

"Grandpa, what you have assigned has been done. Rumors are already spreading in the capital of the pickaxe, and the minions believe that it will definitely reach the palace in a few days. A man dressed as a retainer in his thirties replied.

Ji Ding didn't turn around, as if he had been staring at the crows, and asked, "Are you sure you won't be counter-checked?" ”

"Impossible. The minions and others are very careful in their actions, and they will not let the Zhaogong Mansion take the real handle. It's just ------" he hesitantly raised his eyelids: "The slave doesn't understand, why don't you spread the news of the prince's departure from the palace, but only blindly mention the old thing?" If you act like this, I am afraid that you will not be able to shake the foundation of the royal family. ”

"You don't understand." Ji Ding was in a good mood: "The prince's departure from the palace is a major event, once it spreads, the four sides will shake, and the situation will be uncontrollable." After all, I am the Zaishu of the Zhou Chamber, how can I shake the foundation of the surname Ji by myself? On the contrary, if you only publicize the dusty old incident of the past, it is to churn the knot between the king and the queen, as long as their husband and wife are out of harmony, the father and son will have a gap, and over time, there will be changes. Maybe that's our chance! ”

"Grandpa is far-sighted, and the minions are ashamed!"

Zhou Gongding stroked his beard, turned around and asked, "Count it out, Uncle Mei should have arrived at Yingqiu." I wonder if everything is going well? ”

"My younger brother has always been cautious, this matter must be fine, there will be news in the near future, grandpa don't have to worry too much!"

The State of Qi on the coast of the East China Sea was the feudal state given to the middle father Jiang Ziya after King Wu destroyed the Shang, and he was located in the marquis. In fact, in the era of King Zhou Yi, the capital of Qi was still in a place called Yingqiu, which was the place where Jiang Ziya was first sealed.

Compared with other vassal states in the east, Qi was close to the East China Sea and could enjoy the benefits of fish and salt, which was always more conducive to trade than other places, and the market towns were more developed and prosperous. However, this slightly fishy sea breeze could not soothe the thoughts of Prince Ji Hui's homeland. He has been here for more than a year, married the daughter of the Qi clan, and his life has settled down. But in the dead of night, when he thought of the throne of Hokyo, and the pair of chess hands that he had tried his best to lure him in, hatred slowly infiltrated his heart like venom, which almost drove him crazy.

It was destined to be another sleepless night. In the deep room, a parchment map unfolded on the table, and two nervous faces flickered in the flickering candlelight. Ji Hui's expression was a little more resolute, and the experience of ups and downs in the past year had made him mature a lot. The other face belonged to a young man in his early twenties, with slightly dark and rough skin, but his eyes were piercing, and he was pointing to several places on the sheepskin map:

"I judge that, according to the normal itinerary, they should have crossed the Han River at this time, and they will definitely go to this place next-" He pointed to a triangular mark on the map and said, "Tonglu Mountain, this is the focus of contention between the Jiang and Han states and the Chu state, none of them will give up this place, and they will definitely start a battle here." If we can rush to this place and set up an ambush in advance before the battle, the sword has no eyes on the battlefield, and we will definitely be able to kill Ji Hu and Zhao Bohu in one fell swoop. ”

Ji Hui raised his eyes and glanced at the young man: "Rongyi, just kill Ji Hu, why do you want to pull Zhao Bohu to do something?" ”

"Prince, of course I know who used my father Mo Yi as a pawn, and he will discard it when he runs out, and I will never let go of the son of the enemy. However, after all, it was Zhao Bohu who ordered my father to be hung at the city gate for public display, and he could not escape the involvement. So, neither of these two can run! Rong Yi's eyes were full of hatred.

A trace of hesitation flashed in Ji Hui's eyes, if he could really get the throne back, the Zhaogong clan was also a force that had to be wooed. But everything is unknown at the moment, and looking at Rongyi's appearance, he will definitely not give up, so let's go with him first! He put down the question of summoning Bohu and continued to think forward: "However, if you can't rush to Tonglu Mountain in advance, then the two sides will have already won and lost, and their respective class teachers, what should you do?" ”

"Oh-" Rong Yi seemed to have fully deduced all the possibilities, "If Ji Hu and Zhao Bohu both died in front of the battle, needless to say. If they are lucky, they will definitely have to cross the Han River and return to Hangu Pass through the Shen Kingdom. At that time, I will lead the dead soldiers to set up an ambush on the river, and I only need to do a little trick on the boat they are crossing the river, and I will surely let these two men die in the belly of the fish. ”

"However, they were marching with hundreds of chariots with them. What do you deserve of these dozen people? Ji Hui still felt uneasy.

"The prince is overwhelmed." Rong Yi smiled contemptuously: "That's when you go on the expedition, and when you finish the battle with the Chu State, how many military vehicles are left?" Even if he was lucky enough to win, he would be defeated by both, and besides, they wouldn't be able to bring all their soldiers and horses with them to escort them, right? Rest assured, the prince will be a success! ”

"Now that you've made your plans, let's go early tomorrow morning! I have been leaning on the door of the camp every day and looking forward to the good news of you! ”

"No!"

Rong Yi's guess was not bad at all, on the day he left the camp Qiu City, Zhao Bohu and his party began to cross the Han River. As the saying goes, "It's easy to cross a mountain and it's hard to cross a water." That's right. In order to cross the river, they collected dozens of civilian boats, plus improvised bamboo rafts, and worked for several days before they began to take turns ferrying. Because Shenhou led the army to join the southern expedition, the task of crossing the river was even more arduous.

The west bank of the Han River was full of people, and the first batch of people led by Ji Zheng had passed, and Zhao Bohu's face could not hide his nervousness. Ji Duoyou wanted to make him feel more relaxed, and asked, "Why should Zimu be so worried?" ”

"I'm worried that someone will take advantage of our halfway to suddenly ambush, and then our army will be very dangerous."

"Zimu is worried, the Chu people are still in Hubei, and they will never be able to come here. Besides, I have arranged for people to be on guard on both sides of the river, and it will be fine. ”

Zhao Bohu praised: "Although Ziliang is young, he is very old, and he will become a great weapon in the future." ”

"Brother, I'm going to come aboard with you." Ji Hu was very excited to see such a big scene for the first time.

"That's natural, is it possible that I can still throw you to Shenhou? However, that's not bad, maybe I'll stay as a little son-in-law. Zhao Bohu quipped.

Ji Hu was angry, and his little face turned red: "Hmph! I don't want it! I want to go to war and be a big hero who stands up to the sky, so I don't want to marry a girl surnamed Jiang! ”

"What nonsense? Be careful for your Uncle Shen to hear! Zhao Bohu pretended to scold.

"Tong Yan is unscrupulous! Brother Hu, how many princes and uncles in the world are married to women surnamed Jiang, do you know? When you grow up, you won't say that! Ji Duoyou hurriedly played a round.

From early morning to sunset, more than 20,000 soldiers and nearly 1,000 military vehicles finally crossed the Han River one after another. While the team was tidying up, someone suddenly pointed to the river bank in the distance and said, "Look! Why do so many people have to cross the river? ”

When the soldiers looked up, they saw a large number of dense figures on the embankment, rushing down like a burst. Could it be that the Chu army has hit the edge of the Han River?

"Alert!" Ji Tayou shouted at the top of his throat. Under this order, everyone put on their bows and stringed their halberds, held their halberds and spears, summoned Bohu to protect Ji Hu behind him, and pressed the sword at his waist with the other hand, the sword of Tai'a that King Zhou Yi had given him to act cheaply.

When the large group of people approached, they saw the military carts and armor soldiers scattered all over the riverbank, and they seemed to be taken aback, and some of them turned around and ran. Judging from the attire, it is very mixed, there are samurai who have lost their armor, and many of them are obviously wounded; More are the panicked people, rich and poor, men, women and children, supporting each other. It is clearly the crowd of people who fled after the city was broken.

The sharp-eyed saw Bai Ming, and even saw the pennant embroidered with the word "Shen" erected on Shenhou Rong's car, and immediately stopped the people who were going back: "Don't go!" They are not Chu people, it is Wang Shi and Shenhou who came to rescue us! ”

It didn't matter if this shout was made, a pair of young men and women immediately rushed out of the fleeing crowd, knelt in front of Shenhou Rong's car and shouted: "Uncle! Help us! ”

Shenhou was shocked: "Isn't this the Emperor of the Eshizi?" How did your brother and sister get here? ”

The seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy was full of tears, and he fell to the ground and cried bitterly: "Uncle! You're late! Echeng has been breached by the Chu people, my father was shot through the chest by a sword from Xiong Qu at the head of the city, and my mother asked me to take my sister to Shenguo. I heard from people who went out of the city later that Xiong Qu also hung my father's head at the city gate. The country of Hubei is dead------"

E Yao is only fourteen or fifteen years old, petite in stature, with a beautiful face, listening to her brother's narration at this time, she is also sad and suffering, and only tears are raining down on the side. Shenhou also grabbed the wheel and asked, "Then how is your mother?" ”

E Yao choked and said, "I heard from the palace maid who escaped that after my mother sent my brother and sister out of the palace, she hanged herself and died. Woowoo woo ------"

Shenhou's body shook, two tears rolled down the wheel, and a long sigh came with it: "Sister, I'm late!" ”

In the big tent of the Chinese army, everyone's eyes were fixed on the three-foot-square sheepskin map behind the Zhao Bohu case: the location of Echeng had been crossed with cinnabar, the location of Tonglu Mountain had been circled, and more than a dozen arrows all over Jianghan represented the armies of various vassal states. Now all the arrows are not closed, and the black arrows representing the Chu army have pointed to the Tonglu Mountain from the position of Echeng.

"We must speed up the march and rush to Tonglu Mountain as soon as possible to prepare for a decisive battle with Chu." Zhao Bohu smashed his fist on the case, and the final word was made.

Ji Duoyou stood up, arched his hand and said: "The last general, please be the vanguard, please ask the general and the king to allocate a hundred military vehicles with me, and Duoyou will not fail in his mission." ”