"I'm coming to you for help!"

Zhao Bufan smiled slightly, and said as if it was a very easy thing.

Liu Zhongwu was stunned, and asked hesitantly: "Someone is chasing and killing the little prince?"

Zhao Bufan waved his hand again and again: "No, no, no! It's not that I'm being hunted down, it's my father-in-law who is being hunted down and killed by many people in the rivers and lakes!"

"Lord Zhu?"

Liu Zhongwu's face changed, and he asked urgently: "Lord Zhu is not an envoy to Dali, how can he be hunted down and killed by people in the rivers and lakes?"

Zhao Bufan didn't delay much, and quickly told him about Zhu Bocai's current situation.

Liu Zhongwu learned of the cause and effect, without a word, he immediately sent two thousand iron horsemen to rush to Bowang Town, this matter has no reason to refuse in public or private, not to mention that it is still a favor, he naturally will not refuse.

Zhao Bufan also put his mind at ease, and instead told Liu Zhongwu about catching Yuan Lang, and said with a meaningful smile: " General Liu, when I was in the north earlier, I had brought up two elite soldiers, one was the Liangshan Army, the other was the Water Margin Army, and now the Liangshan Army has become the strong force of the Great Song Dynasty, but the Water Margin Army is still short of major generals, although I have stepped down now, but after all, it is my hard work for many years, and I have always been concerned about it, so I really want to promote the full formation of the Water Margin Army, and now I also hope that General Liu can help me, which can be regarded as adding a new elite army to the Great Song Dynasty to defend against foreign enemies. ”

Although Liu Zhongwu rarely gets involved in power struggles in the court, this does not mean that he knows nothing.

He knows the situation in northern Xinjiang very well, and he knows that the two soldiers and horses of Liangshan Army and Water Margin are Zhao Bufan's descendants, so he understands Zhao Bufan's meaning very well, frowns and weighs for a long time, and then hesitates and says: "The little prince cares about the country, and the last general should have tried his best to support it, but I don't know what the little prince needs the last general to do. ”

Liu Zhongwu's words were ambiguous, obviously worried about being dragged into the power struggle, but he didn't want to offend people easily, so he didn't say anything to death.

Zhao Bufan naturally saw his thoughts, and in order to calm his heart, he immediately waved his hand and smiled: "Don't worry, it has nothing to do with those messy things, I just hope that General Liu will try his best to recruit the fierce generals worthy of cultivation in Wang Qing's army if the battle situation allows, and let some give some to the Water Margin Army." ”

"Just like that?" Liu Zhongwu was stunned, obviously not expecting it to be such a simple matter.

Zhao Bufan smiled and nodded: "I said that it was only to build an elite army, doesn't General Liu believe it? The Water Margin Army in northern Xinjiang lacks fierce generals, and it is very difficult to resist the Liao State, if these rebel generals surrender, let them join the army to fight the Liao State in the future, which can be regarded as atonement for their own crimes, but also restrained to protect the frontier for the Great Song Dynasty, so as not to cause another disaster, why not?"

Liu Zhongwu looked at him deeply and quickly smiled.

"The little prince is dedicated to working for state affairs, how dare the last general disobey, he will do his best. ”

Zhao Bufan smiled and waved his hand: "But let's say it first, don't be cunning and cunning, don't be cowardly and afraid, but not everyone is qualified to atone for their crimes." ”

Liu Zhongwu laughed out loud and said heartily: "People who are not suitable, the last general will not dare to recommend them to the little prince." ”

"Well, you have to worry about this matter, and I caught Yuan Lang when I came, he is brave and strategic, and he must be a good general if he is well restrained and cultivated, I like it very much, you have to try to recruit him down." ”

Liu Zhongwu hesitated slightly: "Little prince, I didn't catch this Yuan Lang with my own hands, I don't know his weaknesses, it's not easy to do." ”

"This ......"

Zhao Bufan thought for a while, and quickly continued: "The biggest weakness of Wang Qing's gang of traitors is that they do not have a clear banner, they do not have a clear common concept, they all rely on a bit of brotherhood and longing for glory and wealth to gather, what they want is to be happy and happy, but now that the army has been raised, it is impossible to be happy and happy, there must be respect and humility and organizational discipline, and what barely maintains them is brotherhood and glory and wealth."

When it comes to glory and wealth, it is better to follow the court to resist foreign enemies than to be bandits, and they have no advantage in this regard, so only brotherhood remains, which Yuan Lang refuses to bow his head should also be for this, but in my opinion, it is impossible to have heart-to-heart, brotherhood without the same goal or similar beliefs cannot last long, even if a few people have kindness to each other, but it is impossible for so many people to have kindness, so if you want Yuan Lang to surrender, then put the brotherhood promoted by Wang Qing directly on the table.

You directly and publicly shouted to Wang Qing's rebels, asking him to exchange Xiangzhou for Yuan Lang, if it is exchanged, then we can easily get Xiangzhou, and let Yuan Lang go, if not, then his brotherhood will not be enough, and it will naturally be disintegrated after a few more times, in my opinion, Wang Qing cannot ignore himself for a so-called brother, and when Yuan Lang slowly chills his heart, it will naturally fall.

In short, there is more than one method, as long as the essence of the traitor is exposed, and the rebel generals realize that Wang Qing is, to put it bluntly, an ordinary bandit, what he desires is to settle down, and what he pursues is his own glory and wealth and the yellow robe.

Liu Zhongwu's eyes flashed when he said this, his eyes stared straight at Zhao Bufan, and when the words fell, he instantly burst out laughing.

According to the words of the soldiers, the words of the little prince are the subordinates, that is, the siege of the city is the bottom, and the attack is the top, but the strategy of pacifying Wang Qing has been said, which really makes the last general feel deeply ashamed, since the commander of the army to quell the rebellion, the last general is obsessed with planning the war situation, only thinking about how to fight every battle, but it is inferior. ”

Zhao Bufan smiled faintly: "General Liu is too modest." ”

In fact, he had the intention of reminding Liu Zhongwu, but now that he saw that the other party had understood, he naturally didn't say much.

"General Liu, I still have important things to do at the moment, so I won't stay longer, I just hope that the general will not forget our agreement, I don't know about other people now, and if there is a suitable general, I will pay attention, but I am now sure that the person I want in addition to this Yuan Lang, there is also a person named Du Bao, that person I have seen, brave and upright, if he can be recruited to defend the frontier for the country, he is really a good general, but that person is Wang Qing's henchman, the general is afraid that it will be more troublesome for the general to surrender him, but on the basis of what has been said above, when he is cold to Wang Qing, catch him and give him good treatment, and use grace and righteousness to influence him, and he will surrender！”

Liu Zhongwu nodded with a smile: "The last general has a plan in his heart. ”

"Okay, then I'll go first and say goodbye!"

"Little Lord be careful all the way!"

Zhao Bufan didn't procrastinate, turned around and left quickly with Zhu Lian, but before he took a few steps, he suddenly paused, turned his head to look at Liu Zhongwu and said with a smile: "That...... General Liu, I think Li Huai must have been scared of being beaten and his morale was low when he retreated to the camp, so it was better to branch his troops and horses to pretend to attack Qiande County, and directly cut off his retreat, forcing him to send troops to rescue, but in fact, he found a suitable place halfway and burned it with fire, why bother fighting so much. ”

"Huh?" Liu Zhongwu was stunned.

Zhao Bufan smiled at him, didn't say anything more, and walked away with Zhu Lian.

After a long time, Liu Zhongwu reacted suddenly, looked at Zhao Bufan's distant back in surprise, and couldn't come back to his senses for a long time.

"If Zhao Bufan is not the righteous son of the saint, if his life experience is not a misunderstanding, if he is really the second prince Zhao Tan, how good would it be......"

............

Zhao Bufan didn't know what Liu Zhongwu was thinking, after leaving the battlefield, he and Zhu Lian went south, passed through Qiande County, and came to the border of Xiangzhou again.

Compared with when I came here at the beginning of the year, there are not many refugees in Xiangzhou today, but it is inaccessible, there are few people who can not be seen for hundreds of miles, some villages are almost completely empty, the fertile fields are barren, the houses are dilapidated, and traitors and traitors have destroyed this once prosperous state to pieces.

On this day, they came to Nanhe Town, at the foot of the southeast mountain range of the Wudang Mountains.

From the low city walls and scattered houses, Zhao Bufan can feel the prosperity here, but unfortunately it is now a depression, the bluestone paved streets are full of dust and debris, the shops on both sides are almost all closed, and occasionally I see a few pedestrians in a hurry, each running quickly, even the early summer sun can't make this place hot, so cold that it makes people chill.

To put it mildly, if you fart on one side of the street, you can hear it clearly on the other side of the street.

Zhao Bufan and Zhu Lian walked in the small city for a long time, and finally found an inn with a half-hidden gate.

Zhao Bufan stepped forward and pulled the knocker on the door.

"Is anyone there?"

Soon, an old and vigilant voice came from the room: "There is no one here!"

“......”

Zhao Bufan, who prides himself on being wise, felt speechless for a while.

Zhu Lian next to him laughed and said: "Old man, we are ordinary people passing by, and we want to borrow your treasure to rest and get something to eat! Don't worry, we are good people and will pay you three times the price!"

The people inside seemed to be moved, and quickly walked over and opened the door.

Seeing an ordinary old man, his cheeks looked a little thin, he looked carefully for a moment, and saw that Zhao Bufan and Zhu Lian did not look like villains, so he showed a little smile, led them in, and locked the door by the way.

There was also a kind old woman in the room, who came enthusiastically with a kettle and a thick bowl.

"Sit, sit casually, drink saliva to quench your thirst first!"

"Thank you!" Zhao Bufan nodded, sat down at the table, looked at the small inn carefully, and asked with a smile: "Shop, are you two elders running here?"

"No, in the past, my son and daughter-in-law were taking care of it, and business was good!"

The old woman said proudly, carrying the kettle and quickly filling the bowl with water, and then said with a sad face: "But since Tong Guan's dog thief came to suppress the bandits, life has been sad, and now Wang Qing's strong goods occupy our Xiangzhou, looting everywhere, how can there be any business, our old couple is just surviving their lives." ”

Zhu Lian asked curiously, "What about your son and daughter-in-law?"

The old woman sighed: "It's long gone!" The young and strong people in Nanhe Town are gone, and when the famine came, Wang Qing had not yet reached here, they left together, and now there are some old people and a few people who refuse to leave in this town, closing their doors all day long, hiding and living in hiding. ”

"Then your legs and feet are still sharp, why don't you go together?" Zhu Lian asked again.

The old woman smiled: "We have all lived a lot of age, how can we survive when we are uprooted from home, it is not easy for the children to escape, if there are two more of us, no one in the family will survive, and the children's father will drive them away, only the two of us will stay." ”

At this time, the old man also came over with a few baked cakes and a piece of braised pork, and gently put them on the table.

"The two of you can only eat, and now that there is a shortage of food, we really don't have anything left!"

Looking at this simple old couple, Zhao Bufan sighed helplessly in his heart, now that Wang Qing has not been exterminated, it is impossible to change the situation here, even if he sympathizes, but he can't do anything, he immediately grabbed a baked cake and nibbled and asked: "Old man, have you ever heard of Wanhualou before?"

The old couple's faces changed in an instant, and they were so frightened that they took a few steps back, hid next to the counter, and looked at Zhao Bufan and Zhu Lian in horror.

The old woman said, "Are you the adults of Wanhualou?"

Zhao Bufan shook his head with a smile: "No, no, you don't need to panic, we just heard of this place, what's wrong?"

These words made the old couple breathe a sigh of relief, thinking that it was impossible for the adults of Wanhualou to be so kind, so the old man said hoarsely: "Don't ask around, the adults of Wanhualou are very powerful, I heard that there is also a court background, and the local government doesn't care much!"

"Then how did you know about Wanhualou?" Zhu Lian said curiously.

The old woman said in a frightened manner: "In the past, the adults of Wanhualou often came to the town, as long as they did not offend them, they would not take the initiative to oppress everyone, but Li Yuanwai, the richest man in our Nanhe Town, somehow provoked them, and he was wiped out the next day, which is really terrifying, and no one who has seen their demon cave can live." ”

Zhao Bufan's eyes lit up: "Demon cave, what demon cave?"

The old woman's expression was serious, and she lowered her voice and said, "The Demon Cave is the palace of Wanhualou, it is said that it is all made of human bones, if outsiders want to enter, then they must break through the Nine Hells." ”

"Don't believe those deceitful things. The old man glared at her, and took over with a wistful face: "The Demon Cave is indeed the palace of Wanhualou, but it is not built of human bones, but it is a place of bliss, with a group of beautiful women, and a forest of wine and meat, it is said that if you go in, you will never want to come out, and you would rather die in it, as if you have entered the devil, so it is called the Demon Cave." ”

Looking at his appearance, the old woman suddenly became angry: "Dead old man, you just want to go, don't you?"

"Where do I want to go?"

"I think you're just thinking about it in your own heart, so you always say it's a place of bliss. ”

"It is indeed a land of bliss, the dead Brother Zhang told me personally before, he saved an adult of Wanhualou by going to the mountains to collect medicine, and the adult told him that the demon cave is not built of human bones, it is a land of bliss, and many people in the surrounding villages and towns know it. ”

"You old ghost, the people who say this are all prodigals, what are you doing with it?"

"I'm telling the truth!"

“......”

The old couple said a word, and soon they quarreled......