Han, Ji County.
Outside the county town, there are endless cultivated lands.
This is a large plain, connected to Liyang County, and the land is fertile. It is the kind of good place where good crops will grow as long as it is cultivated.
This year is a good harvest year, and there are many grains piled on both sides of the official road.
The people have been farming for a whole year, and now it is finally time to harvest, and they are extremely busy.
An old farmer leaned against the donkey cart, holding a water bag in his hand, and watched with a smile as his son loaded the millet into the cart.
The donkey cart gradually became heavier, and the wheels were pressed into the mud.
The old farmer's hilly face was filled with a smile.
"Okay, after paying the tax, it will be enough for the whole family to eat until next year. I think I can also buy a new set of clothes for winter."
His sons were so tired that they were covered in sweat.
But they didn't feel tired, nor did they complain. They all giggled. In the harvest season, no matter how much you do, you won't feel tired. Every bend and every effort is worth it.
"You were born at a good time."
The old farmer sighed with emotion.
While they were busy, the loud sound of horse hooves suddenly appeared in the distance. Everyone was not afraid and continued to do their work. Only the old farmer stuck his head out and looked into the distance.
A troop of cavalry appeared on the official road, all dressed as officers and soldiers.
There were more than ten of them, wearing light armor, galloping on horseback, with serious expressions on their faces.
Looking at the busy farmers on both sides of the road, they shouted loudly.
"The thieves are coming!! Run!! Run into the city!!"
"run!!"
"run!!!"
The knight roared loudly, without slowing down, and flew past everyone. The common people who were immersed in the joy of the harvest along the way suddenly had their dreams shattered.
The old farmer's face showed shock at first, then despair, unwillingness, and grief.
But he was the one who reacted the fastest. He looked at the people on the left and right and said, "Run!!!"
Those young people were still a little confused, "Father, so much food."
"run!!"
The old farmer roared, and many exclamations and cries came from both sides of the road.
Everyone left their food and farm tools behind, and just carried the old people at home on their backs, and ran towards the city without looking back. Some people fled in cars, looking terrified, and the children started to cry helplessly.
.
The old farmer was carried by his son, his expression dull.
It’s rare to look forward to good weather, it’s rare to hope for peace, and it’s rare to hope for Mingzhu
Everyone fled crying and howling, and dark clouds slowly appeared in the bright sky, blocking the dazzling light.
The ground trembled slightly, and a moment later, countless knights appeared on the official road in the distance.
They displayed Qi, Duan and other flags.
Duan Shao was wearing armor and holding a spear, walking at the front of the army.
He looked straight ahead.
The continuous cultivated land exudes the smell of harvest, and piles of grain are piled on the roadside.
The flat and open road extends all the way to the city in the distance.
The group of them stood on a high place, with the sun shining on half of their bodies. Duan Shao's face was intertwined in light and darkness, and his expression was dull.
Duan Shao stared straight at everything in front of him.
The vast tracts of cultivated land and wide roads here are in sharp contrast to the Henan land under his rule.
When he led his troops out of Jinyong City, what he saw were piles of corpses, black smoke billowing from the villages, and countless man-made victims wandering around, eating everything they saw.
The contrast between the two completely different places made Duan Shao very uncomfortable.
He couldn't tell why, but he just didn't feel comfortable.
The officers on both sides were shouting loudly at this moment. Their eyes were full of greed as they stared at the food in the distance and laughed.
"What a great harvest!"
“What a bumper harvest!!”
"Da Sima!!"
Everyone looked at Duan Shao, who had a straight face and was very unhappy.
"I have given orders many times not to wake up the enemy and to attack the enemy, but how did you do it? The enemy has already discovered us and is coming to kill us, so why do you have the dignity to yell here?!"
The officers were a little helpless, "Da Sima, it's no wonder we are here. The thieves along the way are too vigilant. There is no way not to alert them."
"Da Sima, we'd better take action as soon as possible, we can't give the enemy time to prepare!"
The generals urged him again and again.
Duan Shao's chest began to rise and fall, and his mind was even more chaotic at the moment, his whole body was burning, and his heart felt a different kind of depression.
He suddenly raised the spear in his hand and pointed it at the mountains and rivers in front of him.
"kill!!"
The knights shouted and launched an attack, and the horses galloped away, directly into the cultivated fields, and some rushed towards the houses on the side of the road.
I don’t know whose work it was, but a shocking fire broke out on the cultivated land.
They couldn't take away too much food. If they couldn't get it, they would destroy it.
They came here with only one purpose, to destroy everything the enemy had as much as possible.
Dark clouds completely obscured the sky.
Everyone was carrying the light, and no more light could be seen on their bodies.
The cry of killing was everywhere.
In the county town, the defenders kept rushing up the city wall, aiming their bows and crossbows outside. Unable to wait for all the people to enter the city, the city gates began to close.
The county magistrate roared uneasily, many officials surrounded him, and more and more people rushed to the city wall.
The city was already in chaos and mourning was everywhere.
Duan Shao's eyes reflected the light of the sky.
He just rode forward, and several farmers who had no time to escape were caught. The old farmers with weak legs and feet could not outrun the horses.
"Tell me! In which direction of the city is Akura located?!"
The samurai raised his sword and asked angrily.
The old farmer looked blankly at these tiger-like and wolf-like troops, his eyes wandering, and finally locked on the general on horseback.
The old farmer's eyes suddenly stopped being so distracted and became determined in an instant.
"When His Majesty sends the army here, he will definitely kill you thieves who want to die."
"Pfft!!"
The knife flashed down, and the old farmer's head fell to the ground.
The young man on the side roared angrily.
"Tell me!! Tell me!! Where is Akura located?!"
The young man stared fiercely into Duan Shao's eyes.
"Dog thief!! Dog thief!!"
"You will not die well!! You will be punished by God!!"
"Pfft~~"
Duan Shao was riding a war horse, his face was numb and he said nothing.
Pingcheng, Zufu.
Zu Jue and Gao Yan were lying in the house, lazily basking in the sun.
Gao Yan asked: "When did my grandfather have such a hobby?"
"I learned this from Wang Lin when I was in Gwangju. Now that I can't drink or have fun, I have to rest like this."
Zu Jue said leisurely and comfortably.
"Grandpa invited me here just to show me off??"
"Not entirely, there are some things"
Just as Zu Jue was about to say something, a warrior quickly broke into the house. With a hurried expression, he rushed to Zu Jue's side and handed the document in his hand to Zu Jue.
Zu Jue didn't care, took the document and glanced at it casually.
Suddenly, his expression froze and he jumped up.
He didn't even care about Gao Yan beside him, and just rushed out of the door.
Gao Yan sat there blankly.
"wack"
Zu Jue sat in the carriage and looked at the documents in his hand repeatedly.
During these days, he followed Wei Xiaokuan's example and opened some restaurants in various places and recruited some manpower to collect information.
And what he has in his hands now is information from the Puppet Qi side.
The enemy wants to use Duan Shao as general and lead the cavalry to attack many states and counties bordering the two sides.
Zu Jue frowned and thought to himself that it was not good.
He arrived at the General's Mansion as quickly as possible and handed the document in his hand to Liu Taozi's hand as quickly as possible.
Inside the house, the two people sat facing each other.
Liu Taozi picked up the letter that Zu Jue took out and read it for a long time.
Then, he slowly put it down, his expression equally ugly.
"Duan Shao always does things quickly. He also knows that this kind of news cannot be hidden from us. Therefore, he will send troops at the same time as his temple orders. In other words, he may have already fought with the border county."
Zu Jue cleared his throat, "Your Majesty, I think we can send General Hu Lu to lead the troops to strengthen the defenses along the way to prevent Duan Shao from continuing to advance. As long as we block him outside and occupy the exit from Hanoi, Duan Shao will not be able to
Come attack and harass us again.”
Just when Zu Jue persuaded Liu Taozi to give the order as soon as possible, another warrior broke in.
The warriors brought military information from the frontier fortress, which was only one step slower than Zu Jue's letters.
The intelligence brought by the samurai was about the border county being invaded by Duan Shao.
Liu Taozi picked up the information and looked at it again, making Zu Jue increasingly angry.
The content of the information is very simple.
Duan Shao led the army and wreaked havoc everywhere. He attacked three county towns and captured one of them. He burned farmland, burned, killed and looted, causing great damage.
Tu Xiyue, Podoluo and others led the troops and were working together to set up defenses to protect the cities along the road.
Zu Jue looked at Liu Taozi with increasingly fierce eyes, and became more and more anxious.
"Bang!!!"
The next moment, Liu Taozi stood up and took a flying kick.
The wooden case placed in front of him actually flew up and fell into pieces, shattering all over the floor.
Zu Jue was shocked.
Liu Taozi hid the document in her sleeve.
"Announce the ministers to enter the palace to discuss important matters!"
Zu Jue rushed forward and held Liu Taozi's hand tightly.
"Your Majesty, I have something to report!"
"What do you want to say?"
"This is a treacherous plot by Pseudo Zhou!"
Zu Jue said seriously: "The people I sent discovered that Dugu Yongye had joined forces with Puppet Zhou and conspired to do things together."
"My grandfather has already told me about this."
Zu Jue shook his head quickly, "No, Your Majesty, I also discovered something more. The envoy sent by the Puppet Zhou Dynasty was aliased as Gao Su. In fact, his name is Yang Su!"
"This person is one of Yu Wenyong's recent favorites, and has been promoted many times!"
"What Dugu Yongye is doing now is all under his secret instructions."
"Duan Shao's attack this time is just a conspiracy of Yang Su."
"This year's autumn harvest, we have accumulated a lot of food and grass, which is enough for our expedition. There are two enemies that we can attack at the moment. Go west to attack the Puppet Zhou, or go south to attack Duan Shao!"
"Based on our original idea, we must take advantage of the fact that the Puppet Zhou Dynasty has not fully recovered, and actively occupy the territory of the Puppet Zhou Dynasty, forcing them to abandon their core areas!"
"Yang Su knew what we were thinking, so he asked Duan Shao to provoke us!"
"If Your Majesty really leads a large army to attack Duan Shao and destroy Dugu Yongye, he will fall into the enemy's plan. Jinyong City is strong and it will take a lot of effort to capture it. Besides, the rest of Henan is not
It has been extremely damaged. Taking these places will not only bring us no benefit, but will also drag us down. We can only use Hebei’s food to provide relief!!"
"When Henan recovers, the Pseudo Zhou Dynasty will also recover!"
"Your Majesty, you must not be led away by the enemy."
Zu Jue spoke very fast, and he kept talking about his thoughts, just hanging on Liu Taozi's body.
"Grandpa."
Liu Taozi finally spoke.
"Why do you think I became king?"
Zu Jue was stunned, "This"
"If I can't even protect my own people, why should I be a king?"
"Call everyone!!"
Zu Jue pursed his lips, lowered his head and said yes.
Soon, the ministers gathered in the palace, and they didn't know what was going on.
Zu Jue wanted to find some allies, but he had no chance to leave. He was taken directly there by Liu Taozi.
After everyone took their seats, Liu Taozi took out the document and asked Lang Guan to tell the story to everyone.
When the ministers learned about this, they had different reactions.
Many people are cursing and condemning.
Some of the angry ones were already proposing to send troops to kill people, while others like Zu Jue were worried and hesitant.
Zu Jue looked at Lu Qubing and Gao Jun in the distance.
Maybe these two people can convince His Majesty.
However, Lu Qubing looked particularly irritable at this moment. He changed his usual humble and gentlemanly appearance. He was really angry.
After careful management for so long, the north was finally stabilized, and the people could hardly look forward to the autumn harvest.
That’s what you fucking do, right??
This was the first time that everyone heard Lu Qubing yelling and swearing like this.
Zu Jue immediately gave up his idea and looked at Gao Jun.
Gao Jun's face was very sad.
He sat silently at the head of the crowd without saying a word.
Liu Taozi was unwilling to wait any longer.
"Let the armies of the four states of Heng, Shuo, You, and Ji gather together!!"
"Open granaries in various places to ensure that the army will be used for the expedition!!"
"Open the arsenal and equip the entire army"
"The DPRK has added 18 additional officials to accompany them, and I want to go out in person!!"
Liu Taozi did not come here to summon the ministers to discuss what to do. He wanted to inform everyone that a war was about to begin and let everyone go back and make preparations.
Zu Jue already knew that he could no longer persuade Liu Taozi, so he could only accept it.
In his heart, he had scolded the man named Yang Su thousands of times.
Okay, Yang Su, right? Just wait and let me see what people from the east can do!!
The meeting ended in a hurry.
Everyone hurriedly started making preparations.
According to what Liu Taozi said, armies from four states will participate in this battle, which totals an army of more than 40,000 people.
Different states have different army sizes, and they also have to send people to stay behind.
If you really want to go on an expedition, there will be a lot of things to prepare for.
Gao Yanzong stood here, but he no longer had the irritability he had in the past, and his expression was particularly complicated.
At some point, Gao Jun appeared next to him.
Gao Yanzong was stunned and quickly bowed his head towards him.
"uncle."
Gao Jun nodded slightly and suddenly asked: "Are you not going to attack Duan Shao?"
Gao Yanzong frowned, "He was kind to me at first and gave me a lot of advice."
"If I had known this, I might as well have killed him with a spear and made me look like a villain, and he could have retained his reputation."
Gao Jun said slowly: "Duan Shao values ​​the country more than anything else. In his eyes, he is the one who has preserved his reputation, but we are traitors."
"And the methods he used are all used in war, and they are not considered to be dangerous at night."
Gao Yanzong was shocked.
"Uncle, what does this mean?"
"I mean, don't have any pity for him, don't feel that he has gone astray, just treat him as an enemy general."
Gao Jun was silent for a long time, then added: "Do you know?"
"This year Ji County has had a bumper harvest. Their county magistrate just sent a letter not long ago, proudly telling the county about the bumper harvest this year. His words were full of pride. He even said that he wanted to continue to cultivate land in the north to receive more crops.
of the dead.”
"What a pity."
Gao Yanzong's eyes gradually became sharp.
"I'll beat him."
Gao Jun nodded, "I don't know how to fight, but I know that going against the will of the people and killing innocent people will definitely not be able to protect the country for a long time."
"only!!!"
"damn it!!"
"Yang Su!"
"Yang Su!"
Zu Jue walked back and forth in the courtyard, hurling crazy insults and looking excited.
After returning to his mansion, he finally stopped hiding his inner emotions.
Everything was originally planned by Zu Jue. He would first accumulate food and grass, and then gradually expand his territory in Lingzhou, forcing the Zhou people to shrink their defense lines, and then capture Liangzhou and Ganzhou, pressing forward step by step, allowing the puppet Zhou Dynasty to
Keep running south
The strategic direction that Zu Jue had originally planned failed due to Yang Su's aggressive approach.
The Lord's intention to send out troops this time is to regain the entire Henan area. Even if he cannot do this, the most important thing is to seize the important passages in Hanoi and completely defeat the enemy so that the enemy can no longer easily cross the river to fight.
With this gang of dogs, the Puppet Zhou will definitely not just watch the battle between the two sides. Now that the autumn harvest has passed, the Puppet Zhou's country should have recovered a lot.
Heluo is their dream place again.
Zu Jue was stunned, and a light flashed in his mind.
The anger and irritability on his face all disappeared, as if they had never appeared before.
Zu Jue lay down directly on the ground, took off his hairpin, and began to draw on the ground.
He drew several lines and revised them.
Suddenly, Zu Jue stood up and his eyes flashed.
"Hey hey hey"
Chapter completed!