In August, Daliang City is shining with sunshine and people are passing by, which is a joyful and peaceful scene.

The full range of armed soldiers who came out of the imperial guards camp in the front guards and the imperial guards camp in the front guards added a bit of tension to Daliang City. The sensitive citizens of Daliang were already guessing: "Is there a war going on?"

Fu Ying looked at the notes brought back by Eunuch Yang, frowned and said to Xiao Lianzi: "I didn't expect that Fu Gong would be so greedy that he bought this huge property in Daliang City. Such a large yard cost is not a small amount, and even a senior official with a slightly poor family background cannot afford it."

Xiao Lianzi has followed Fu Ying since she was a child. She is Fu Ying's close-fitting little cotton jacket. Fu Ying does not avoid her. Xiao Lianzi said angrily: "I didn't expect that Fu Gong is such a villain who is unfaithful. She sent someone to arrest him and beat him up."

Fu Ying stroked her stomach and said, "Fu Gong is an old man from Langjun. He has a great contribution to running a rich shop. When the water is clear, there will be no fish. When he goes to Liuxu Xiaoyuan and other things, I don't want to worry about him, but it's too much to embezzle such a lot of money to buy a yard for himself."

"You can't let him go so cheaply."

Fu Ying looked at his bulging belly warmly and said, "Your Majesty gave this little guy a name and gave him the mansion of General Meng Hanqing, Zuo Yulin. These are all blessings for the little guy. However, the ancients said it well, things are unpredictable, and good fortune and misfortune depend on each other. I do not avoid this. In order to bless the little guy with safety and health, I made a wish in front of the Bodhisattva, and did five good deeds to eliminate disasters and accumulate virtues for him." Fu Ying paused and said, "Let Fu Gong let go, it is one of them. I will give Fu Gong another chance, just see if he knows whether he knows how to advance and retreat, is his pen, ink, paper and ink, ready?"

"It's all in the study, I'm ready."

Fu Ying sat at the desk, thought for a while, and wrote on the paper: "Meng Shu is responsible for reviewing all accounts of the rich shops. From now on, the candidates for shopkeepers in various branches must be reported to Meng Shu for approval. Hou Fu."

After Fu Ying finished writing, she handed the note to Xiao Lianzi and said, "Leave it to Eunuch Yang tomorrow." She asked again, "You talked secretly to Eunuch Yang yesterday. Do you want Zhou Jicai to ask you about Du Gang's injuries? How is Du Gang's injuries now?"

Xiao Lianzi said with a slight gaze: "It's almost done."

"Tomorrow, you tell Eunuch Yang that you will ask Meng Shu to send someone to call Du Gang to Daliang."

Xiao Lianzi felt sweet in her heart, but she felt embarrassed and whispered: "I don't want to see him."

Fu Ying smiled and said, "Du Gang came to Daliang to do serious business. Now Meng Shu has too many things to do and needs a smart and reliable person to be a helper."

In the Fu Family Courtyard, Meng Shu received the note brought by Eunuch Yang, and invited Fu Gong and Xu Qing to the room where he lived. After reading the note, Fu Gong had no expression on his face and bowed to Meng Shu, "Please take care of Meng Lang in the future." After that, he took down a bunch of keys on his body and handed them to Meng Shu, and said, "The Fu Family Courtyard will be handed over to Meng Lang in the future."

Meng Shu hesitated for a moment, then reached out to take the key. Then Fu Gong asked the maid to move Meng Shu's clothes to the West Courtyard and moved his clothes from the West Courtyard to the room where Meng Shu is currently living. Meng Shu knew the causes and consequences, so he did not be too polite. After pretending to shirk some things, he moved into the West Courtyard. Ten personal guards, according to Meng Shu's arrangement, still lived with other personal guards, and no abnormalities were seen.

After Meng Shu moved to the West Courtyard, he became the new housekeeper of the Fu Family Courtyard. Hou Dayong and Fu Ying rarely came to the Fu Family Courtyard. Now Daliang has a new mansion and will not live in the Fu Family Courtyard. Meng Shu became the de facto master. After moving to the West Courtyard, the forty slaves Fu Gong bought began to surround Meng Shu and served him diligently.

Fu Ying's method of handling Fu Gong was gentle and simple, which made Meng Shu very impressed. Meng Shu did not dare to be careless. He sorted out all the matters that needed to be handled urgently and then did it one by one. In addition to the business of the Fu Family Store, Meng Shu also had a task, which was to repair Meng Hanqing's mansion. According to Fu Ying's instructions, Meng Shu offered 8,000 taels of silver from the Fu Family Store as the repair cost.

Meng Hanqing's house located in the south of the city is a house that many nobles are jealous of. Meng Hanqing was guilty of "sitting in prison and taking advantage of the waste". His illegal income was spent on this house. Shortly after the house was repaired, Meng Hanqing was exposed in the east window, and all his property was seized after his death. His family and slaves left Daliang City and returned to their hometown in Tangzhou. Princess Yongning wanted this house many times, but Chai Rong did not agree.

Although Meng Hanqing's mansion was locked for only one year, Meng Shu seemed to have entered a haunted house. The rusty iron lock was covered with clues. As soon as the key was reached to the lock's mouth, a yellow spider came out from the small keyhole. He glanced at Meng Shu weakly, and then quickly slipped upwards. The gate of the courtyard was opened with the sound of "Ga, Ga". Groups of mice looked at the uninvited guests with fearlessness. Meng Shu and others stomped their feet, and the mice fled in all directions and hid in the weeds half a person tall.

A personal guard next to him said, "I heard that the owner of this yard is General Zuo Yulin Meng Hanqing. He was crowded with people a year ago. In less than a year, the yard would be deserted."

Meng Hanqing's mansion was like this, which reminded Meng Shu that his family background was still young when his father passed away, and his ancestors' property quickly fell into ruin at Meng Shu. Meng Shu sighed: "As soon as Meng Hanqing dies, everything will be gone, and his family must be in a large number. Then, men, women, young and old, don't know where they are, it's really pitiful."

Meng Shu had just finished speaking, a familiar voice came from outside the door: "Every year, officials in Daliang are convicted. Over the past year, it doesn't matter if you see too much of this kind of thing."

"Personnel Meng is so hard to find, so I waited for a big circle."

Several officers walked in from outside the house. Meng Shu looked closely and found that it was Su Wensen, Hu Ji and Wang Qingshui and several former Black Eagle Army Captains. At noon, Su Wensen, Hu Ji and Wang Qingshui and others pulled Meng Shu to Zhaixing Tower to gather.

Before the dishes were served, Su Wensen drank a big glass of wine and said, "I don't know when we will meet today. Captain Meng is rich now, so we have to have a good meal."

The imperial guards have been mobilized frequently in recent days, and Meng Shu had already seen it. The news of the army going to fight against Huainan has been circulating everywhere in Daliang City, and Meng Shu also heard of it. After hearing what Su Wensen said, Meng Shu knew that these people were going to go to war.

"I have been eating military rations for more than ten years, and I only do the best in the Black Diao Army. In the Imperial Guard, our Black Diao Army brothers are raised by stepmothers, with the worst equipment and the most supply. The ones who are fucked are mules and horses. You can tell by comparing on the battlefield." Hu Ji was a captain of Xiong Camp in the Imperial Guard. When he came to the Imperial Guard, a thousand Black Diao Army was organized into two battalions. Su Wensen and Wang Qingshui were appointed as commanders, and Hu Ji could only be the deputy commander.

Zhao Kuangyin, who rectified the imperial guards, did not discriminate against the two battalions of the Black Diao Army, and was quite friendly on weekdays. However, for the past year, he served as commanders and people with lower ranks than them, such as Shi Shouxin, Wang Shenqi, Yang Guangyi, Li Jixun, Wang Zhengzhong, Liu Qingyi, Liu Shouzhong, Liu Yanrang, Han Chongyun and others, all of them were promoted, and no one from the Black Diao Army system moved and was still standing still.

Wang Qingshui is the most scrupulous. When he saw Hu Jifa complaining, he advised: "Drinke a bar, don't talk about these things, be careful of the ears next door. Oh, it's really disheartening."

……………………

As the saying goes: There is no wind, no waves. The gossip is also very credible. The rumors in Daliang City are basically correct. The Great Zhou Dynasty frequently dispatched troops to prepare to conquer Huainan in the south. Chai Rong highly praised Wang Pu's "Pingbian Ce" and the Great Zhou Dynasty's external strategy was basically carried out according to the ideas in "Pingbian Ce".

After the Western Expedition Army defeated the Shu army, Chai Rong immediately set out to fight in Huainan. Chai Rong had some brains on which unit to use to fight in the south. Wang Pu once proposed to transfer the Black Eagle Army to accompany him. After thinking about it, Chai Rong rejected the proposal and finally decided to use the imperial guards in Huainan in the south.

After the Gaoping War, Chai Rong vigorously rectified the imperial guards. The imperial guards were all talented people selected from the border troops in various places, well-equipped and well-trained. However, in the Western Expedition, the imperial guards of the Guards were in a moderate manner. Compared with the Fengxiang Army of the Jiedus, Wang Jing, there was no advantage, but compared with the Black Eagle Army, which had outstanding military achievements, it was inferior to the Black Eagle Army. The Guards were Chai Rong's direct troops, with more than 80,000 troops. Chai Rong had high hopes for the imperial guards. Chai Rong was of course extremely dissatisfied with the imperial guards' performance in this way, so he wanted to use the southern expedition to Huainan to train the imperial guards in actual combat.

In mid-August, Chai Rong appointed the prime minister Li Gu as the former army camp of Huainan Road, and Wang Yanchao, the governor of Xuzhou, as the deputy deployment of the camp, and ordered the commander of the Ma Jun Han Lingkun, the commander of the Palace Front Office, Zhao Kuangyin and other twelve trusted generals to rush to the Huainan battlefield with their respective tax-related personnel. At the same time, the government power of Lu, Shou and other states was fully granted to Li Gu to ensure the supply of food and grass for the southern expedition army.

In late August, Chai Rong highly rewarded the soldiers who participated in the Western Expedition. Wang Jingjia, the governor of Fengxiang, was also the chief minister of the military commander, Xiang Xun, the governor of Zhen'an Army, promoted Fengzhou to the military commander, and appointed Hou Dayong, the governor of Zhengzhou defense, as the governor of Xiongsheng Army. He was in charge of Cheng, Jie, Feng and Feng. Zhao Ji, the former judge of Qinzhou, was appointed as the governor of Qinzhou, and was governed by Fengxiang, Wang Jing.

After the imperial edict arrived in Fengzhou, everyone was happy, while Hou Dayong was happy, sad and worried.

The joy is that since the three years of Guangshun, he has been promoted every year and now he has become a military governor, and has mastered the power of the government. In addition, while Chai Rong issued an edict, he also issued a secret decree, requiring Hou Dayong to firmly defend the three states and prevent the Tubo people, Dangxiang people and Shu army from posing a threat to the flanks of the Great Zhou Dynasty, which has been paid attention to by Your Majesty, and of course it is also worthy of happiness.

What I was worried about is that after the Great Zhou Dynasty, every time I was transferred to another place before my butt was still hot. As soon as the Cangzhou Marquis Mansion was built, I transferred to Daming Mansion. Seeing that the Zhengzhou Marquis Mansion was already decent, I was appointed as the governor of Xiongsheng Army and came to Fengzhou.

After Hou Dayong arrived in Zhengzhou, he implemented many measures, such as refugee land reclamation and the silting project in Zhongmu County. It will take one to two years to truly have obvious results. "I don't know who is the successor, but I picked up a landed peach for free. The performance in the past two years will definitely be excellent."

What was worried about is that although he was promoted to the high position of Jiedu, he was getting farther and farther away from the center of power. In Hou Dayong's unclear memory, after Chai Rong took back his former place in Guanzhong, he immediately launched a battle to attack the Southern Tang Dynasty. Zhao Hongyin, Zhao Kuangyin and Zhao Kuangyi were all in the southern expedition team, and the Zhao family made contributions. After the Southern expedition, Zhao Kuangyin seemed to be the commander-in-chief of the Palace Front Office and also served as the Jiedushi.

"Is it really a historical necessity for Zhao Kuangyin to seize power, and I can't stop it." When the war in Fengzhou was fierce, Hou Dayong had no time to think about these problems. Now that the war was over, facing such a situation, these problems naturally jumped out again and were entrenched in Hou Dayong's mind, making Hou Dayong uneasy.

Fengzhou is the key to Qinlong, and is known as the "Key of Qinlong". It is not so much a city as a military city. The city is dilapidated, which is far inferior to Zhengzhou and Damingfu in the heart of the Central Plains. In terms of city size, population, prosperity, etc., the pedestrians on the street wear coarse cloth clothes, and men wear knives. The appearance and temperament are completely different from Zhengzhou. They are very rough and brave. Sometimes, men wearing foreign costumes such as Tubo and Dangxiang walk through the streets.

Hou Dayong became the governor of Xiongsheng Army and the former governor of Fengzhou, Wang Fen, the former governor of Shu, so he naturally served as the temporary residence of Hou Dayong in Fengzhou. Wang Fen was a person who could enjoy it. Although Fengzhou City was dilapidated, it did not affect Wang Fen's construction of his brother in a huge scale and extraordinary style.

The governor of the Xiongsheng Army was under the jurisdiction of Feng, Cheng and the three states. In order to strengthen the military strength of the three states and more effectively protect the western border, according to Chai Rong's order, the governor of the Guardian State, the governor of Yongxing, the governor of Jingnan, and the governor of Fengxiang each dispatched 2,000 border troops and placed them under the command of Hou Dayong.

The first one to arrive was the 2,000 Fengxiang Army. Hou Dayong knew that each town would not be stupid enough to choose his elite soldiers and generals for him, but when he saw the 2,000 team of 2,000 people, he was still surprised. The 2,000 Fengxiang Infantry Army, in terms of age, all of them could be classified as veterans, and countless white beards appeared in front of the team; in terms of weapons, there were only a small number of soldiers with bows and arrows, not to mention hand crossbows and bed crossbows. Some soldiers had waist knives, some held long spears, and some were holding big sticks. What's more, a soldier actually held a four-toothed rake used by the farmer. Hou Dayong was amused and laughed. He wanted to ask the soldier if he had read "Journey to the West", but when he saw the sergeant's gray beard and his face was loyal, he didn't say it.

More than ten days later, another 6,000 infantry troops also arrived in Fengzhou, and the situation was similar to that of Fengxiang Army. Seeing these 8,000 soldiers, Hou Dayong secretly complained, "Oh my God, let me use these 8,000 veterans to deal with the Tubo people, Dangxiang people and Shu army."

After Hou Dayong became the governor of Jiezhou, Shi Hu was appointed as the governor of Jiezhou, Shan Zongyuan, who was guarding Zhengzhou, was appointed as the governor of Chengzhou, Qian Xiangnan was appointed as the governor of Chengzhou, Guo Yan was appointed as the commander of the capital, He Wulang was appointed as the deputy commander of the capital, commanding the 3,000 troops of the Black Eagle Army, Wang Jiang and Chen Renyi were appointed as the commander of the infantry, each leading 2,500 infantry.

The Black Eagle Army also re-formed, with 3,000 people divided into six battalions and 500 people made one battalion, and still used the previous organization of the Black Eagle Army tiger, leopard, wolf, battalion and bear. Hou Dayong promoted a group of young sergeants from the Black Eagle Army to serve as commanders at all levels. Wang Jingye was appointed as the Tiger Camp Captain, Chen Meng was appointed as the Lion Camp Captain, Zhu Wei was appointed as the Leopard Camp Captain, Liu Shixu was appointed as the Wolf Camp Captain, Tiechuanyuan was appointed as the Bear Camp Captain, and the archer Liu Heigou fought bravely while guarding Zhangjia Pass, made contributions, and became the team leader, with fifty sergeants under him, which made him extremely angry.

As soon as the army was re-formed, before training began, emergency military information came from Jiezhou. A group of Tubo thieves headed south from Bailong River and entered Jiezhou. They had swept through several villages. The people, money and goods in the village were all robbed, and the people complained.

Shi Hu became the governor and had not had time to get involved in the officialdom, but encountered urgent military information. He did not know Tubo, but only knew a little. Shi Hu heard that there were only hundreds of Tubo people, so he underestimated the enemy. He did not use the five hundred Black Eagle cavalry, but asked his deputy general Yang Yishen to take two thousand infantry troops to encircle and suppress the group of Tubo thieves.

Because Jiezhou faced Tubo and Shu directly, Hou Dayong handed over all the three thousand infantry troops to Shi Hu. Shi Hu was one of the founders of the Black Diao Army and was second only to Hou Dayong in the Black Diao Army. When Shi Hu saw these three thousand infantry troops, he shook his head and tried to persuade him. Hou Dayong agreed to let Shi Hu exchange one thousand infantry for the five hundred cavalry soldiers of the Black Diao Army.

The rise of Tubo was equivalent to that of Emperor Gaozu of Tang in the year of Langri Lunzan. It reached a very strong period around 750 AD. It attacked Chang'an, the capital of Tang, and occupied some lands in the headquarters of the Tang Dynasty. However, by the Five Dynasties, Tubo was no longer a complete and powerful country. The Tubo dynasty, which once dominated for a while, had collapsed and showed a situation of national division and aristocratic separatism. Dangxiang and Qiangyi gradually invaded the former territory of Tubo. However, the Tubo people were strong and good at fighting, and the armed forces of some small tribes were often able to fight against the strong enemy. Therefore, although Tubo was divided, the Xiang tribes were unable to completely occupy the headquarters of Tubo. This group of Tubo people were the remnants of Hunmo tribes defeated by the Dangxiang cavalry. After they were defeated by the Dangxiang cavalry, they went south from Liangzhou and robbed them all the way to Jiezhou.

According to the information he had, Yang Yishen took the 2,000 infantry army to fight the ambush of the Tubo people. Soon after, the Tubo people appeared in sight, with more than 600 people. Yang Yishen relied on the large number of people to suddenly surrounded the Tubo people who passed through the village and the town as if they were in a deserted state. What surprised Yang Yishen was that although the Tubo people were small troops, they each had a small shield, a waist knife, a bow, a soft armor, a heart-protecting glasses on their chests, and a twelve-page iron helmet. The benefits of the armor were far beyond his imagination.

The 2,000 infantry army was not prepared properly. Although they surrounded the Tubo people, the Tubo people raised Guda's waist and slashed them randomly. The Jiezhou infantry lost more than 400 people on the spot. Seeing that the situation was wrong, the soldiers retreated one after another. Yang Yishen could not suppress it, so he had to follow the defeated army to flee back to Jiezhou City. Fortunately, the Tubo people only thought about looting and did not chase and kill the collapsed Jiezhou army. Otherwise, the two thousand ranks of state army would not be able to escape the destruction of the destruction. After the Tubo people defeated the infantry, they rushed into the village and looted the village.

Yang Yishen retreated back to Jiezhou City in a panic. Shi Hu realized the Tubo people's experience and quickly reported the military situation to Hou Dayong. At the same time, he sent a scout cavalry of the Black Diao Army to detect the movements of the Tubo people. After Hou Dayong received the report, he asked Guo Jiong to bring a thousand Black Diao Army cavalry to reinforce Jiezhou.
Chapter completed!