Although the scale of Lishui City is far smaller than that of Jinling, with a city three to four miles deep, it can only be considered a small city in the prosperous area east of the Yangtze River. However, it has inherited the prosperity of the south of the Yangtze River for thousands of years, with white walls and black tiles, rows of pavilions, pavilions, and mud lanes and stone streets like spider webs.

The city is well connected in all directions.

It was midsummer, and the Mingshi River that passed through the city was covered with green willows and luxuriant flowers. Fifty or sixty wine shops and brothels were built along both sides of the Mingshi River. Every day, an unknown amount of rouge water flowed into the river, making fish and shrimp compete for food.

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A bright bright circle was reflected in the rippling river water, and was crushed by a catamaran painting boat.

The troops advanced towards Lishui, but this did not prevent the young masters and young masters in the city from living in debauchery and living in debauchery.

This was originally the time to go out of the city and seek shelter among the mountains and rivers. Now there is a chaos of war outside the city. Nowhere is safe. For example, the Wanhonglou, a famous pavilion in the capital of Jinling, houses the top kabuki performers and stunning prostitutes.

How could he not cause a sensation by riding a painted boat to Lishui City to make money? How could he not attract the attention of young men in the city who had pockets full of gold and silver but could not vent their energy and desires?

The catamaran is two ships with a length of seven to eight feet, with four-story wooden flower towers and carved railings built on top of the cabins. It is parked in the Mingshi River, like a city fortress.

In addition to the catamaran bilge, there are four floors of flower buildings. The bottom floor is where the boatmen and guards live. Stepping on the wooden planks directly leads to the second floor. It is a brightly lit hall with high candles. At this moment, there is a singer holding a pipa.

Sitting in a corner, it was as if a clear spring was splashing under the rocks, and the clear strings penetrated people's hearts. Twenty or thirty young men who boarded the ship to have fun did not pay attention to the strings. I don't know who brought in a notice from outside the city.

The letter attracted everyone's attention, and even the flower girls around who were wearing light clothes, revealing jade-like arms, and plump long legs could not attract the hearts and souls of these people.

"I have long said that the father and son of the Han family must be rebellious officials and traitors. Look, look, what is he trying to do? Is he trying to destroy the roots of all the aristocratic families? At present, we will inherit the previous system and make good decisions.

There is no distinction between superior and inferior. The son of the Han family ignored the law and took away the servants and children of the family. He even boasted that he wanted to grant the land to him. Where did he get the land from, or did he want to take it from other families?" A thin-faced man wearing a silk shirt said

The young man, who had a pointed mouth and monkey cheeks, shouted loudly in the crowd with an excited and sharp voice. His tone was full of anger. He rolled up his sleeves and said, "Every one of you thinks it has nothing to do with you. Look, you can hide from flying enemies by hiding."

An unexpected disaster?"

"In my opinion, each family should gather its troops together. Don't wait for the Han family's son to poop on our heads and regret it before it's too late!" Someone echoed, hating that the young and strong servants would be killed at this time.

Tong La came out and rushed into Maoshan to show Han Qian, who coveted the family's slaves, fields and other private property.

Lishui is right next to Maoshan, and Han Qian wanted to recruit slaves to join the army. The first to be affected were the aristocratic clans in Lishui whose interests were harmed.

The many young people in the flower boat are all descendants of nearby aristocratic families. How can they have any thoughts of having fun at this moment?

They were also unaware that there was a separate small cabin at the end of the hall. They opened the small window connected to the hall, and a pair of deep and worried eyes stared from the cabin.

Except for a very limited number of people, no one in Jinling City knew about the connection between Wanhonglou and the former Shenling Division and Yueyang. In fact, when the third prince Yang Yuanpu was granted the title of Linjiang County Prince, in order to avoid the connection between Wanhonglou and the former Shenling Division,

The secret was revealed by people around Emperor Tianyou. At that time, Yao Xishui, Chun Shisanniang and others cut off from Wan Honglou.

Later, with the help of Zhang Ping, Yao Xishui and others were able to clear their identities, and the famous red hustlers became adopted daughters of officials, or were directly married into officials' families as concubines. This was a common thing in Jinling City.

After Yao Xishui, Su Hongyu and other girls left, Wanhonglou was still the first-class place to have fun inside and outside Jinling City.

During the Jinling Incident, all the troops in the Xinchang Hou Mansion withdrew, but Wanhonglou lurked very deep and did not alert the enemy. Naturally, they could continue to lurk in the depths of Jinling City and spy on the movements of Jinling City.

Jingshan Nunnery was defeated miserably and was expelled from Danyang. Li Pu was worried that if they encountered any mishaps again, he would not even have a place to hide, so he transferred a boat from Wanhonglou to Lishui City to be on standby.

After the Jinling Incident, Zhang Ping expressed his sorrow for Han Daoxun's tragic death. At the same time, he became taciturn when discussing countermeasures against Xuzhou, and did not even advocate too deep a clampdown on the third prince Yang Yuanpu.

No matter how you look at it, Zhang Ping is not enough to continue trusting him.

Therefore, Yao Xishui decided to act alone without Zhang Ping, Lin Haizheng and the others, but it was only two days before Zhang Ping and the others entered Lishui City, met with Xu Jing, a person in charge of the late Honglou affairs of the Shenling Division, and lurked in Huafang

After coming down, no one in Maoshan knew her whereabouts.

Of course, Yao Xishui did not expect that as soon as she returned to Jinling, news about Han Qian that shocked her would come one after another.

First, Han Qian attacked Danyang City and tore up the alliance with Chuzhou. Then he led the remaining troops to retreat to Maoshan and formally established the Chishan Rebel Army. Together with Zhao Mingting's troops of the Nanya Imperial Army who guarded Jiangcheng City, they entered Danyang and Jintan in the past two days.

, the Chuzhou army in the three cities of Liyang formed a tripartite force.

The two cities of Jintan and Liyang to the east of Maoshan are, on the one hand, subordinate counties of Runzhou. Many people have children and their family businesses are in Dantu, the state city. At the same time, the officials of these two counties and the influence of local aristocratic families are also believed to be trustworthy.

Wang and the Chuzhou Army chose to surrender due to the military prowess they displayed in the Battle of Jingshan'an. However, the Chuzhou Army had only collected grain from these two counties before and had never divided its troops into garrison.

After Han Qian led the Chishan Army to retreat to Maoshan, even if the Chuzhou Army had no intention of attacking Maoshan in the short term, it was a natural and inevitable move to divide its troops into Jintan and Liyang to curb the activities of the Chishan Army on the east flank of Maoshan.

From Danyang via Jintan to Liyang at the northern foot of Jieling Mountain, it is almost on a straight line and is about 120 miles long.

Although the Chuzhou Army dispatched about 6,000 horse infantry to garrison three cities in one day, which seemed a bit weak, there were cities to defend and sufficient vigilance was maintained. Han Qian wanted to replicate the results of the raid on Danyang City, but failed.

It's no longer possible.

However, from Jieling Mountain to the south and Tianmu Mountain to the north, the two counties of Langxi and Huaide belonging to Xuanzhou, and the two counties of Anji and Changxing belonging to Huzhou, the Chuzhou Army is currently unable to extend the front too long.

There are no troops assigned to control it yet.

These counties, because they were far away from Dantu, did not feel the immediate threat from the Chuzhou Army. They still maintained their allegiance to the new emperor who ascended the throne in Jinling in name. However, officials and local powerful forces also secretly recruited troops to defend the country.

Walled city.

At this time, Han Qian could be said to be facing the enemy on both sides in Maoshan. Yao Xishui didn't even know that he was going to lead 3,000 old and weak soldiers and nearly 50,000 women and children to create more tricks in a narrow area. How could he have thought of sneaking out of Lishui yesterday?

The spies outside the city brought back Han Qian's notices that he had sent to surrounding towns.

Han Qian actually wanted to recruit slaves from various families into the camp!

After Han Qian led his troops to retreat to Maoshan, the nearby Lishui City was like a formidable enemy. There were only five or six hundred county soldiers. They could only close the city gate and wait for the Nanya Imperial Guard to come for reinforcements. No one was bold enough to go out and inquire.

information.

The young men in the city were even more intoxicated, but they only found out about this on the third day after the notices were distributed from Maoshan.

The young man who was filled with righteous indignation and called on all the families to unite to show off the Chishan Army was Shang Xi, a descendant of the Shang family. He was serving as a minor official in the city at this time. He had a saber hanging on his waist, his hand bones and joints were thick, and his mouth was covered with thick calluses.

, with a tall and straight posture, as if he had worked hard to practice swords and bows.

Yao Xishui stopped eavesdropping on the discussions of these wealthy men in the hall, quietly sneaked back to the cabin on the ground floor, changed into a spacious and gorgeous undershirt, and transformed into an ordinary-looking young man in the blink of an eye.

Yao Xi hid the dagger close to her body. When she was leaving Huafang, Xu Jing, the owner of Huafang, came over. Seeing Yao Xishui's outfit, he asked in surprise: "Where are you going?"

Xu Jing is a middle-aged man in his early forties. If Han Qian and Feng Yi were here, they would recognize him as the very inconspicuous concierge at the gate of Wanhong Mansion.

"I'm going to Maoshan to see the Marquis. No matter what Han Qian wants to do, the Marquis has Li Xiu, Li Qi and the 400 elite cavalry guards of the prince's palace under his command, so we can't just do nothing..." Yao Xishui said.

The Cavalry Guards of the County Prince's Palace are the elites that Li Pu has trained over the years. They have all trained their bodies and developed good skills. In terms of individual combat effectiveness, they will never be as strong as the Silver Halberd Guards beside Xin Wang Yang Yuanyan.

Not to mention Li Xiu, Li Qi's art of war was passed down by Li Yu.

Such an elite combat force is on the near side. If Li Pu cannot make good use of it, how can he get rid of the negative impact caused by the successive setbacks in Jingshan Temple and Danyang City?

Han Qian dared to seize military power and acted arbitrarily. To put it bluntly, Han Qian made great military exploits. However, they only had elite combat power, but they did not establish enough military exploits to shock people. They did not speak loudly, and no generals would listen to his words.

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Can the generals and soldiers obey orders and the hearts of the people follow just by relying on conspiracy and trickery?

In addition to the fact that they had to do something to take back the initiative, there was also a deeper reason why Yao Xishui couldn't tell Xu Jing at this time, that is, Li Xiu and Li Qi should be used by her eldest brother.

"The four cities are tightly closed. Isn't it too dangerous for you to sneak out of the city so late?" Xu Jing said.

"Walking alone on the road during the day attracts more attention." Yao Xishui said, ignoring Xu Jing's dissuasion, he left the boat and went ashore alone, walked around the streets and alleys inside the city wall, and finally found a place that was not well defended.

Climbing up the city like a gecko, sneaking out of the city, hiding in the night...

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After Yao Xishui left, the young people were still discussing with indignation on the boat how to deal with Han Qian's conscription of slaves into the army, but Shang Xi became less interested.

Because of Shang's relationship, Shang Xi received a job offer in Lishui County, but it was a torment for the young and energetic man.

He usually likes martial arts, swordsmanship, reading military books, and making friends with local knights, but he always suffers from the lack of opportunities to make a splash.

At this moment, he shouted at the top of his lungs. Although the princes from the surrounding families were very angry, when it came to asking all the family soldiers to gather together to fight against the Chishan Army, in addition to being friends with him, Liu's

Except for the side disciple Liu Zishu, the others just yelled and talked about him.

"They are all idiots. If they don't send troops at this time, do they still expect the capital to send troops and horses to protect their slaves and property from being taken away by Han Qian?" Shang Xi muttered to Liu Zishu angrily,

"Wealth and honor are all gained through danger, Zi Shu, would you like to go out of the city with me?"

Although Shang Xi is the direct nephew of Shang Wensheng, the official of the Ministry of History, how much of the Shang family's property can be divided into his head, let alone the chance to take over the official position, if you want to get rich, you still have to fight for it yourself; and Liu Zishu, as the Liu family's

His descendants were even worse than him. Except for an old slave arranged by the clan to take care of daily life in the house, there was no servant around him to run errands. However, they were both unwilling to settle for mediocrity.

In the eyes of others, the people currently in chaos are panic-stricken, but they feel inexplicably excited.

At that moment, the two of them no longer had the interest to stay in the evening party of the Red House and have fun with those spineless young men. They left the boat and went ashore. They took the two boys serving Shang Xi to a restaurant by the river and left the little boy behind.

While they were outside, they went in to drink and discuss gathering troops.

This riverside restaurant is also very lively after dark, and the ground floor is very noisy. Shang Xi, Liu Zishu went up to the second floor and found a table by the window to sit down. As soon as he sat down, he heard whispers outside the window:

"The Chishan Recruitment Army issued a notice to recruit slaves into the army. I heard that as long as people come over, the whole family will be freed from slavery. After the war, they will be given ration fields, and there will be more generous rewards for military exploits. Huzi, what do you think?

Don’t you want to go to Maoshan to join the army?”

"How can it be that easy? Besides, the host family treats us well and even promised to help me find a wife in two years."

"You are also a slave when you marry a wife, and you are a slave when you have children. Are you really willing to have children and grandchildren, and be slaves of the Shang family for generations?"

"Then we have to talk to the Fifth Young Master, right? The Fifth Young Master might agree to let us join the army incognito, earn military honors in the future, and then redeem our parents from their citizenship."

There was a trace of anger in Shang Xi's eyes. He didn't expect that the two boys beside him, instead of waiting outside quietly, went around to the back street near the river to discuss such treacherous things, and even thought about betraying the master's family and surrendering.

Chishan Army?
To be continued...