From beggar to emperor: I am not Zhu Yuanzhang

Xu Wen didn't care about Tian Kai's provocation. He laughed and said: "Want to see eldest brother? Okay, you can go back to Xuanzhou to see eldest brother. Now eldest brother is in your study reading your letters to Zhu Wen and Zhu Wen. Here’s Qian Liu’s letter.”

"What!" Tian Wei never expected that Yang Xingmi would actually play a trick with him to lure the tiger away from the mountain and lure him out of the city. Yang Xingmi himself led his troops to raid Xuanzhou City. The fire he saw just now was set by Yang Xingmi.

At this moment Yang Xingmi was already reading in his study.

Tian Kai, filled with anger, brandished his spear and rushed towards Xu Wen. I will kill you first and then go back to deal with Yang Xingmi.

Not to be outdone, Xu Wen raised his sword and slapped his horse to fight.

The two of them fought back and forth for dozens of rounds. In terms of force value, Tian Kai still had the upper hand. This second-in-command was not in vain. Xu Wen gradually couldn't resist and began to retreat, while Tian Kai became more and more courageous as he fought and refused to let go.

At this critical moment, a group of troops appeared on the eastern hillside with the banner of "Shezhou Observation Envoy". Tian Kai was shocked, this was not Tao Ya's banner.

Sure enough, I saw Tao Ya coming forward from behind the crowd. He had been depressed recently in Shezhou. Yang Xingmi told him not to go anywhere, so he stayed in Shezhou on standby. He had no choice but to drink to drown his sorrows all day long, and was drunk every night. Drunk.

This time he received Yang Xingmi's order. He was so happy that he gathered his troops and left Shezhou without saying a word.

Yang Xingmi knew that Xu Wen was no match for Tian Kai, so he specially ordered Tao Ya to come to help in the battle and hold Tian Kai back.

The two of them had a life-long friendship in Crouching Tiger Village, so sending Tao Ya to take action was also intended to persuade him to surrender Tian Kai.

Tao Ya and Tian Kai were hundreds of meters apart, looking at each other like that. Taking advantage of this gap, Xu Wen quickly withdrew from the battle. If he didn't retreat, he might not be able to escape. Tao Ya still wanted to try again. After all, brothers were brothers and he didn't want to meet each other like this.

Just listen to Tao Ya speak first:

"Second brother, I haven't seen you for a year. Why did you end up like this? Haven't you seen what happened to Cai Chou? We are brothers. We were brothers on Crouching Tiger Mountain. I never thought that one day we would meet. Meet this way.”

Facing Tao Ya, Tian Kai's tone softened a lot, perhaps because he recalled the past on Crouching Tiger Mountain, and was not as explosive as he had just been with Xu Wen.

"Brother Tao, we were brothers, but now we are killing each other. Who caused this! Who is inciting our brotherhood? I, Tian Kai, have a clear conscience, but there are people who want to kill me. If I don't On the contrary, Cai Chou will end up sooner or later, do you think he will let me go?"

Tao Ya naturally knew who Tian Kai was referring to.

But now the overall situation has been decided. Tao Ya doesn't see Tian Kai having the slightest chance of winning. Tao Ya is not stupid. Now that the matter has come to this, he can only give one more advice. There is nothing else to say. Don't forget that Xu Wen is still here. Listening later.

Xu Wen is now the popular person in front of Yang Xingmi. If I show any sympathy for Tian Kai, how will Xu Wen report to Yang Xingmi when he returns and what will Yang Xingmi think?

Tao Ya knew that she had no choice but to bite the bullet and shout: "Second brother, if you go back with me to apologize to the elder brother, I promise to ask for mercy from the elder brother to forgive your sins, and all the brothers in Crouching Tiger Mountain will speak for you." of."

"What's my crime!"

Tian Kai was angry, and said angrily: "My Crouching Tiger Village was robbed, but in the end it was me who was guilty. It's a joke, don't say it again."

Seeing that Tian Kai had made up his mind, Tao Ya could only give up his fantasy, straightened up his mace, patted the horse and rushed over.

"Second brother, let's talk between you and me on the battlefield."

Tian Kai also came up to him, and a fierce dragon-tiger fight broke out between the two veterans of Crouching Tiger Village. But after all, they were brothers, and neither side had any intention of being ruthless. They fought like this for half an hour, and Tian Kai suddenly turned his horse around. Heading out of the battle, he shouted at Tao Ya:

"Brother Tao, you and I are brothers. Don't let others take advantage of you. You and I will just say goodbye. Take care of yourself."

After speaking, he waved his riding whip, rushed up the hillside, and led the Crouching Tiger Camp to retreat to the southeast, where he met up with Li Tao and others who had escaped from the city to rest for a while.

The place where Tian Wei and others camped was at the junction of Xuanzhou and Shezhou. From here, they crossed a mountain range to the east and entered Huzhou controlled by Qian Liu.

What’s next?

Tian Kai, Luo Zhixiang, and Li Tao gathered together to discuss countermeasures.

As night fell, bonfires were lit everywhere in the camp. The soldiers who had been fighting for a day were already exhausted, and groups of people sat around the fire and ate barbecue. This is Tao Ya's defense area. They are not out of danger yet. Luo Zhixiang specially arranged an extra group of sentries to be on guard to guard against Tao Ya's sneak attack.

The raging fire reflected the three silent faces. No one spoke, only the crackling sound of burning firewood could be heard.

The mountain wind blew in the valley, and the military flags swayed in the wind. Luo Zhixiang tore off a piece of meat from the grill and gave it to Tian Kai.

"Brother, come and have something to eat."

Tian Kai took the meat and took a bite, and said bitterly: "Yang Xingmi is playing dirty tricks. Now that we have lost Xuanzhou and lost our foothold, we are like a kite with its string broken. Where should we go next? Do you have any ideas?" ?”

Luo Zhixiang and Li Tao looked at each other and said nothing.

Tian Kai was a little angry: "Why don't you speak? You are usually very talkative. Why are you all mute at the critical moment?"

Luo Zhixiang thought for a while: "Brother, although we suffered a loss this time, we still have [-] elite soldiers from Crouching Tiger Camp. They are a powerful force no matter where we go. We can definitely do what we did in Crouching Tiger Mountain He established himself as king, and now this is the closest place to Huzhou, so why don’t we send troops to capture Huzhou as a place to stay.”

Tian Li: "You mean to grab Qian Li's territory?"

Luo Zhixiang: "Qian Liu, the king of Wuyue, is old and dim. He only wants to protect himself and has no ambition. Once we get there, let alone Huzhou, Hangzhou and Suzhou will not be easy to capture. Soon, Wuyue will be our world. .”

Li Tao had different opinions on Luo Zhixiang's idea.

"Brother, as far as I know, although Qian Liu is old and dim and the domestic political situation is in chaos, because Qian Liu has been considerate of the people for decades and has done little corvee and low taxes, the people of Wuyue live a stable life and are grateful to Qian Liu. His prestige is very high. If we seize his territory, even if we capture it, it will be difficult to hold it and control it."

"Then in your opinion, what should we do?" Tian Kai asked.

Li Tao expressed his thoughts: "Our current location is not far from Jiangxi. Wang Zhongchuan of Nanping in Hongzhou (Nanchang, Jiangxi) is frail and sickly. Recently I heard that he has fallen ill again. None of his sons are economical. They all want to He covets the throne. Once he dies of illness, his sons will inevitably break out into internal strife. We can take the opportunity to attack Hongzhou and capture Hongzhou. We can attack Ganzhou from the south and threaten Yangzhou in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River from the north. We can advance, attack, retreat or defend. This is good for us. Very beneficial.”

Li Tao's thoughts made Tian Kai's eyes light up. Yes, why didn't I think of Hongzhou? As long as we win Hongzhou, I, Tian Wei, will have a chance to make a comeback.