Youzhou has an extremely important strategic position since ancient times. It is backed by Yanshan Mountain, south of the Great Plain of Hebei, with the "momentum of lifting the collar", like lifting the collar of a fur coat, to the south can sweep the world.

Youzhou also has an extremely important defensive role in the Tianwu Dynasty, defending against the Turks to the north, Khitan and Goguryeo to the northeast, it is the northern military town of the Tianwu Dynasty, belonging to the Upper Governor's Office, under the jurisdiction of more than 40,000 standing troops.

Youzhou governor Dou Kang is the son of Chen Guogong Dou Rongding, the Dou family belongs to the Guanlong military aristocratic group, is the Tianwu Dynasty of the famous surname, Dou Kang's mother is Yang Xiong's eldest sister An Chang Princess, he has a cousin is Li Xiantu's wife Dou Shi.

Dou Kang is forty years old this year, and he is the governor of Youzhou after Yan Rong, the governor of Youzhou, died in August last year.

Dou Kang is the son of a powerful person in the imperial court, in the dispute between the king of Jin and the crown prince Yang Jun, he was originally biased towards the crown prince Yang Jun, after Yang Jun was deposed, he was once in a state of confusion, and his position was not so firm.

On the one hand, Dou Kang supported the new crown prince Yang Ying, on the other hand, he and the Han King Yang Liang secretly communicated with each other, and had close contacts, which was also determined by the geographical location of Youzhou, and the Youzhou under his jurisdiction was basically surrounded by Yang Liang's jurisdiction.

Although Yang Liang, the king of the Han Dynasty, deliberately wooed Dou Kang, but Dou Kang was not stupid, in recent years, he found that Yang Liang had a rebellion, and recruited troops and horses in private to build weapons, which made him a little vigilant in his heart, and he did not dare to get too close to Yang Liang, but he did not dare to refuse Yang Liang's overtures, and also implicitly expressed his support to Yang Liang, making their relationship a little ambiguous.

In the governor's mansion, Dou Kang was pacing back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, his eyes were worried and nervous, a few days ago he got the news sent by Yang Liang, Yang Ying, who had just ascended the throne, had sent someone to arrest him, which made him extremely frightened for a while, and he actually sent 15,000 troops to block the various passages into Youzhou, and carried out a strict check, any pedestrians and merchants who entered and exited Youzhou were searched, and no suspicious person was missed, as long as he had a long weapon, he would be arrested immediately.

But at this time, ten days have passed, and the army he sent has not found anything, which makes Dou Kang have a trace of doubt in his heart, is there anyone who has come to arrest him? Could this be a rumor that Yang Liang deliberately released, in order to force himself to raise the flag to support him.

Dou Kang stopped, glanced at Shao Ziwen, a staff member standing next to him, and asked: "Mr. thinks this matter is true or false?" Shao Ziwen is only in his early thirties, he is extremely thin, he was born in the Shao family of the Daizhou family, but because his mother is a dowry maid, he has a humble status, his family has been poor since he was a child, and he has been discriminated against by the clan, and his mother died of poverty and illness at the age of thirteen, which made him deeply stimulated, and vowed to get ahead and never suffer from poverty again.

But he thought that the little official Dai Lu was meager and had no future, so he gave up his post three years later and came to Dingzhou to seek refuge with his mentor Lu Lian, who was the commander of Suichang County at the time, and knew that this student was outstanding in learning, so he recommended him to Dou Kang, the assassin of Dingzhou at that time.

After some conversation, Dou Kang felt that he had a good talent, and since then Shao Ziwen has become Dou Kang's staff, and has been following him, and his status and life have gradually improved.

Shao Ziwen was very aware of the contradiction in Dou Kang's heart, so he smiled and said: "If the Holy Lord really sent someone to arrest the envoy, it would inevitably be very secretive, so how could the King of Han get this news? But he didn't say anything, indicating that the news was likely to be false, and the purpose was to make the envoy despair of the imperial court, so as to help him rebel, of course, it may also be true, but he thought that whether it was true or not, the envoy should be cautious, and would rather kill a hundred by mistake than let one go." ”

Dou Kang nodded, "I'd rather kill a hundred by mistake than let one go" This sentence is good, and he asked again: "How does Mr. think I should stand in the throne of the Han King and the imperial court?"

Shao Ziwen had already thought about it for him, and just waiting for him to ask himself, Shao Ziwen's eyes narrowed slightly, and he said in a low voice: " In fact, this war is the battle between the brothers to seize the throne, from the perspective of strength comparison, I think that the court and the king of Han have their own advantages, but if from the hearts of the people, the king of Han has no advantage, after all, he is the prince of rebellion, this war Han king has no chance of winning, but for the king, but can not support the court, if the king supports the court, the king of Han will first deal with the king, and finally the king of Han is defeated, but the king of Han is the first to perish, so that the king gains more than the loss, so according to the views of his subordinates, the choice of neutrality is the most reliable, do not help the court, do not help the king of Han, and in the end, if the court is defeated, raise troops to support the Han, if the king of Han is defeated, then raise troops to attack Hedong, although there will be no great success, but there will be no big mistakes, what do you think?" Dou Kang was suddenly, like a mouthful, he hurriedly bowed deeply to Shao Ziwen, "Mr. suggested, it is the words of Jin Yu, I should keep it in mind." At this moment, a report came from the door, "Chief, there is something important to report!"

"Come in!"

The door opened, and a personal guard walked into the room, and he knelt down on one knee to salute, "Report to the general, there is an army of three hundred people from outside Xicheng, it is a messenger sent by the king of Han, and there is something important to see the general." Dou Kang frowned, he was now afraid that Yang Liang would send someone to see him, this was obviously to force him to make a statement, Dou Kang had just decided not to support both sides, and now he was a little shaken, he looked at Shao Ziwen, Shao Ziwen smiled: "As long as you stick to the bottom line, it doesn't hurt to meet." ”

"Hmm!" Dou Kang snorted and asked, "Who is coming?" is Ma Shenjun, a lieutenant official in the Han Palace, and is guarded by the partial general Sun Yaowu. ”

"Ma Shenjun?, this name Dou Kang has heard of, it seems that he is the deputy head of the inner mansion of the Han Wangfu, and he has followed the Han King for many years, but Dou Kang has never seen this person, but Sun Yaowu He knows that he is the general who commands the private soldiers of the King of Jin.

"Boss ......"

The guard swallowed and said: "Things are a little strange, just now when I was about to come to report, I got another news, there is also a team of Han King envoys outside the southern city, about more than 100 people, the messenger is Han Zhiguo, the governor of the Han Dynasty, they are from Jingcheng. Dou Kang was stunned for a moment, there were actually two teams of messengers here, what is going on?

He looked at Shao Ziwen as if asking for help.

Shao Ziwen was also a little dazed, he couldn't figure out how there would be two teams of envoys, but it was just a governor's mansion, and the other was the Han Wang's mansion, which didn't seem to be a system. ”

Dou Kang thought of Yang Ying sending someone to arrest Zisi, and he became cautious even if he was not cautious, "Okay! He immediately ordered: "It is getting late, so I will first place them in a post station outside the city, and say that I am not feeling well, and I will see them another day." ”

The two teams of emissaries, one to the west and the other to the south, were not able to enter the city, and at the moment, they were not aware of each other's existence.

The envoys who were placed in the Sanggan River Post Station were naturally Yang Yuanba and his party, they received the help of Li Jing, forged Yang Liang's letter, selected a soldier who looked like Sun Yaowu from the army, and found a Northern Zhou eunuch in Lingqiu, and the group disguised themselves as Yang Liang's envoys.

It should be said that Yang Yuanba's strategy is not wonderful, in the case that Yang Ying's arrest strategy has been leaked, it is really difficult to arrest Dou Kang again, not only difficult, but also extremely risky, once Dou Kang is recognized, they will have to worry about their lives.

But Yang Yuanba had no choice, it was impossible for Hua to return to the capital for fear of failure, they could only take a risk and act at the opportunity, their plan was to enter Youzhou City first and capture Dou Kang at night.

But risky things often have twists and turns, and just when they were about to venture into the city, something unexpected happened, and the arrival of the real Yang Liang envoy frustrated their plans to enter the city.

The Sanggan River is about ten miles west of Youzhou City, this is the largest river in Youzhou, it flows directly into the Bohai Sea, and it is also the most important irrigation river in Youzhou.

The Sanggan River Post Station was located next to one of the largest stone bridges, and more than 300 people filled the entire post station, and the post keepers had been ordered to entertain the envoys of the King of Han well, and they had exhausted all the ingredients and worked hard to serve the arrogant envoys.

In the room, Yang Yuanba was chatting with Yicheng unhurriedly, Yicheng's surname was Wang, a native of Youzhou, about fifty years old, dragging his family with him, relying on his meager Dai Lu to support his family, Yang Yuanba directly rewarded him with two hundred hanging money, which immediately made Wang Yicheng enthusiastic, and he couldn't wait to tell Yang Yuanba everything he knew.

"So most of the Youzhou army is stationed in the city, and the camps outside the city are basically empty, is that true?"

Yang Yuanba asked with a smile, and put dozens of hangs of money on the table, Wang Yicheng is well-informed, and his busy thing every day is to deal with all kinds of people, of course he knows that there are some things that cannot be said, especially confidential information such as army deployment, how can he tell the people of King Han casually, but he knows these information, and what is even worse is that he can't refuse the money that the other party just put on the table, looking at the size of that pile of money, it is at least fifty hangings.

"This is mainly because of a heavy rain a month ago, the military camp outside the city fell into disrepair and destroyed a lot, half a month ago, General Dou decided to rebuild the camp outside the city, so most of the army temporarily moved into the city, as far as I know, the army outside the city is only about 3,000 people, but the military camp is estimated to be almost repaired. ”

"I see! ”

Yang Yuanba smiled again and asked, "I heard that Chief Dou has a confidant surnamed Shao, what kind of person is this person?"

This time, Yang Yuanba actually took out a piece of gold, weighing about two taels, and put it on the table, the yellow and clear luster flashed Wang Yicheng's eyes into a slit, he couldn't help but swallow a mouthful of saliva, he was about to answer, Yang Yuanba suddenly saw his subordinate Jia San beckoning to him at the door, he got up and smiled: "Yicheng, wait a while, I'll come soon." He walked out of the room quickly and asked in a low voice, "What's the matter?" Jia San whispered to him, "Li Zixiong has arrived." "Li Zixiong is the new governor of Youzhou appointed by Yang Ying, an old subordinate of Yang Chudao, responsible for collecting the soldiers of Youzhou, and Yang Yuanba is responsible for arresting Dou Kang, and the two cooperate with each other.

Yang Yuanba nodded, "Please come to my room for a while, I'll be there soon." ”

He walked into the room again and smiled at Wang Yicheng: "Let's continue, just now we talked about Shao Ziwen, the confidant of Chief Dou, what kind of person is he............?" ，！。