Suizhou, Zaoyang County.

Chen Ziyi rode his old horse and slowly followed behind the Shengjie army.

Not only was he demoted, but he was directly kicked out of the Shengjie army sequence, and was transferred to the cavalry of the Xiang army to be the head of the capital.

The reason is very simple, it has nothing to do with Zhu Ming, he is simply excluded.

This time I came to Suizhou to suppress thieves, because the government has been excessively exploited, and the anti-thieves have been raging for more than a year.

If the officers and soldiers go to suppress it, the thieves will hide in Tongbai Mountain and Dahong Mountain. After the officers and soldiers left, the thieves came out again, seriously interfering with the government's collection of food for Tong Guan.

The Shengjie army went out in person, but it still had no effect, and the thieves entered the mountain again.

"Open the gates!"

The person who shouted was Bu Chang, the general of the Shengjie Army, who was extremely arrogant on a horse.

However, the gates remained closed.

After a while, an official hung the basket and walked up to Bu Chang and said, "I am Li Hanzhang, the commander of Zaoyang County, are you here to suppress thieves or rob the people?" The villagers of Baishui, were they slaughtered? ”

"Those are all thieves, not villagers," Bu Chang ordered, "quickly get some food, drink, and kill a few pigs." ”

Li Hanzhang said: "There is only one hundred stone of grain, and it is difficult to obey the rest." Please retreat to the moat, if you dare to step over the moat one more step, you will not even have the hundred stone of food. ”

Bu Chang sneered: "Do I have to go into the city?" ”

Li Hanzhang is neither humble nor arrogant: "Then I can only impeach Tong Guanxing and rebel." ”

Boom!

Bu Chang pulled out the knife from the sheath, and pointed the tip of the knife at Li Hanzhang's throat: "I really don't dare to kill?" ”

Li Hanzhang said: "Killing the officials of the imperial court without permission is the proof of rebellion. ”

Bu Chang stared at Li Hanzhang for a while, then turned his horse's head and said, "Hurry up and send the grain, at least three hundred stones!" ”

Chen Ziyi followed Shengjie's army to the outskirts and set up camp, and soon he received an order to lead a team to explore the surrounding area in case a thief suddenly came out.

When his sentry rode through the countryside, the people went into hiding.

Chen Ziyi has long been surprised, and the matter of killing good and risking merit has spread all over the country. Both the gentry and the small people were afraid of their heads, and they were cut off by the Shengjie army to repay the merits.

At that time, it was discovered that the thieves appeared near Baishui Township, and the Shengjie army rushed over, but the thieves got the news and entered the mountain in advance.

Bu Chang was furious, thinking that the villagers had colluded with the bandits and directly slaughtered the village.

"Brother, do you really know that little Zhu thief?" Geng Zhongnian, the deputy head of the capital, asked.

Chen Ziyi said: "What is the difference between recognizing it and not? We are not from Tokyo, nor are we from Shaanxi, and we are soldiers under Master Tong, and we will never want to climb up. Even if you climb up, you will be squeezed down. ”

Geng Zhongnian said: "If my brother really knows, he will simply lead us to the thief." ”

Chen Ziyi said with a smile: "Good officers and soldiers are not right, why do you think about being a thief?" ”

Geng Zhongnian complained: "This officer and soldier deserve to be a bag, and he has been bullied by those Shaanxi people. I don't fight serious battles, I only know how to kill good and take risks. It's just that the benefits are all from Shaanxi, and we can't get anything except being scolded by the people. ”

A few years ago, Tong Guan formed the Shengjie Army and selected nearly 10,000 young people from the Northwest Frontier.

The selection of soldiers is extremely strict, and the height is close to 1.8 meters to qualify.

Excellent armor, good food and drink, extremely brave at the beginning, able to burst out of amazing combat effectiveness.

Gradually, he degenerated, Tong Guan was always by his side, and he was reluctant to use it in critical moments, fearing that the troops he had carefully built would be damaged.

Only dispatch when the battle situation is clear, to put it bluntly, it is to grab credit!

Even when the officers and soldiers were about to win a big victory, Tong Guan suddenly transferred back to the belligerent troops, and then sent the Shengjie army to "break the enemy".

Nearly 10,000 brave and fearless teenagers in the northwest have become soldiers in just a few years. In addition, the generals who led the troops were the brothers Xin Qizong and Xin Xingzong, and the Shengjie army was also tainted with other vices.

In particular, the defeat of the Liao, the Shengjie army was confused and suffered heavy losses, and since then it has broken the jar and broken.

Moreover, in the past, everyone was from Shaanxi, and there was no situation of crowding out outsiders. After the invasion of Liao, the soldiers were replenished, and some Kaifeng and Hebei soldiers were added, which formed a chain of contempt in the Shengjie army.

The Shaanxi soldiers relied on the strength of the people and the seniority of the people, and frantically excluded the outsiders.

The Kaifeng soldiers were bullied by the Shaanxi soldiers, and then turned their heads to bully the Hebei soldiers.

A Hanzhong man like Chen Ziyi, when he was in urgent need of soldiers, he was added as a commander. When there was no shortage of people in the army, they were immediately squeezed out, and they were directly expelled from the Shengjie army, and they were transferred to the horse soldier sequence of the box army.

Geng Zhongnian's experience is similar to Chen Ziyi's.

He was originally a Hebei cavalryman, and he was temporarily added to the Shengjie army as the head of the capital. At the beginning of the year, he was also expelled from the Shengjie Army and thrown to the Xiangjun as the deputy head.

These vacated officer positions were replaced by cronies installed by the Xin brothers, who made small moves under Tong Guan's nose.

The current officers of the Shengjie Army are either from Shaanxi or confidants of the Xin family.

Chen Ziyi looked left and right, and asked in a low voice, "Do you really want to be a thief?" ”

"Can you laugh at such a thing?" Geng Zhongnian's expression was serious, and then he gritted his teeth again, "We are also a forbidden army in Hebei, and we will follow Tong Guan to the capital, and we will become a horse soldier of the Xiang Army in a daze." If my brother doesn't take us to Zhu Xianggong, we will go back to Hebei to be thieves! One of my fellow villagers rebelled in Hebei, and his name has spread to Tokyo, and he happens to be short of generals to lead troops. ”

Chen Ziyi said: "Most of my cavalry are from Hebei, what do they think? ”

Geng Zhongnian said: "The head of the soldiers, the ten generals, and the general Yu Hou all plan to return to their hometown in Hebei. If you stay in the south for a day, you will be bullied for a day, and you will never want to get out of the crowd in this life. But Xiangzhou is too far away from Hebei, and it is not very convenient to go home, so it is best if you can take refuge in Zhu Xianggong. It's really not good, so I simply drill into Dahong Mountain and fall into the grass in Suizhou! ”

"Okay, find a chance, I'll take you to Hanzhong!" Chen Ziyi had long wanted to leave.

Towards evening, Chen Ziyi gathered his sentry cavalry, continued to patrol the vicinity, and returned to the camp with the remaining cavalry.

Li Hanzhang was roaring in the barracks, but he was an officer of the Shengjie Army under Bu Chang, leading a group of soldiers to eat and drink in a restaurant outside the city. It was not enough to eat and drink, and he bought goods at a low price, and the shopkeeper said a few more words, and he was beaten half to death by these soldiers.

Leaving the barracks without permission is a very serious disciplinary offence.

Bu Chang did not punish the soldiers, but protected the calves, because they were all from Shaanxi.

Li Hanzhang was humiliated and returned to the county government angrily.

"Xianggong, the servant from my hometown is here." The Wang family wanted to speak and stopped, not knowing how to say the bad news.

Li Hanzhang asked, "Where is he?" ”

Wang said: "I was running all the way and was eating. ”

The servant was soon brought in, and when he saw him, he cried and said, "Lang Jun, the lord and the lady are dead!" ”

"What?" Li Hanzhang was shocked.

The servant recounted in detail: "The thieves attacked Qingzhou, and the lord led the people to defend the city, and some spies mixed into the city and set fire, and the city gate was also opened by the spies...... The court sent the news home, and Da Langjun sent me to report to Lang Jun. ”

Li Hanzhang stood stunned for a long time, speechless for a long time.

He knew what the situation was in Qingzhou, and he received a letter from his father a while ago.

My father complained in the letter that the imperial court was defeated in Liao, and he was still thinking about getting Yanjing back, and ordered the prefectures and counties in Shandong to raise money and grain, as if he wanted to buy Yanjing. If this kind of expropriation continues, it will definitely provoke thieves everywhere, and it will be difficult to control it at that time.

I didn't expect it to come true, and it came true so quickly.

Wang said: "Xianggong, the luggage is packed, and you can go back to your hometown at any time." ”

Li Hanzhang still didn't speak, went to the study alone to meditate, and didn't return to the bedroom until midnight, and said to his wife: "Put the luggage back." ”

Wang asked, "Don't you go back to your hometown to mourn?" ”

Li Hanzhang said: "There is something more important than running for funeral, I want to stay in Zaoyang and wait for an old man." If he had the ability, he would come. Even if he doesn't come, his subordinates will. When the time comes, I'm going to give him a gift. ”

"What gift?" Wang wondered.

Li Hanzhang stopped talking.

Zaoyang County should be considered a gift, if it is not enough, then think of a way to send the whole Suizhou out.

Just when Li Hanzhang was preparing the gift, Chen Ziyi returned to Xiangyang with the army.

Tong Guan had already set off with the 3,000 Shengjie army, and the 3,000 Shengjie army who hurried back hurriedly took a boat to catch up.

At the mouth of the Dewuling River, the officers and soldiers were facing off with the rebels.

The terrain here is rugged and narrow, and the cavalry platoon is not useful. Chen Ziyi's cavalry unit of the Xiang Army, followed the cavalry of the Shengjie Army and took a boat to Zhushan County together.

Xin Qizong was fighting on the front line, and Xin Yongzong was in charge of Zhushan County, responsible for dispatching grain, grass and people.

"General, it's not good!"

The secretary in charge of the army hurriedly came to report.

Xin Yongzong stood up in surprise: "But my brother has suffered a defeat?" ”

The secretary said: "It was the thieves who captured Fangzhou, the life and death of Zhizhou are unknown, and the state officials and Fangling County Commanders have fled here!" ”

"How can there be thieves in Fangzhou?" Xin Yongzong was confused.

The secretary said: "I'm afraid I'm returning from Zi." ”

Xin Yongzong immediately summoned the fleeing group of officials and asked, "Where did the thieves come from, and how many are there?" ”

"Suddenly there was a noise in the night, and I got dressed and went out, and the thieves had already entered the city."

"Those thieves went straight to the state office, and when I saw that the situation was not good, I fled from the west gate."

"I saw Taishou running towards the northeast gate, probably in a panic and fleeing to Gucheng. It's very difficult to walk there, and I'm afraid there will be more than one luck. ”

“……”

These officials talked nonsense, and Xin Yongzong said angrily: "I asked you, how many thieves have come, and where did they come from!" ”

"I don't know." Officials shook their heads.

After hesitating for a while, Fang Ling Zhixian said: "Most of them are thieves in Kuizhou, and they go east out of Kuimen to occupy Zigui." I worked as an official over there, and I went north along Xiangxi from Zigui to Xingshan County. Continue to the north along the Xiangxi, over the mountain range is the pink water, along the powder water can be used to build water. The place where the powder water and the water build water converge is dozens of miles east of Fangzhou City. ”

This road, which has existed for thousands of years, is equivalent to passing through half of Shennongjia, and even smugglers shake their heads when they see it.

Zhu Ming planned to suppress Li Bao and transfer most of the Kuizhou rebels back to Hanzhong, and only let Li Bao lock Hengjiang to guard Kuimen.

However, with a few thousand troops in his hands, Li Bao not only defeated the officers and soldiers of Jinghu Road, but also went east to Kuimen to occupy Zigui. Then he led the troops through half of Shennongjia, and the divine soldiers descended from heaven to attack Fangzhou, and joined the Eastern Front battlefield uninvited.

The officers and soldiers of Zhushan County are about to be attacked by Li Bao and Guan Sheng on both sides!

(End of chapter)