Lord of the House

(The first update will be delivered first; the second update will be in the early hours of the morning)

In the second year of Yueyongxing, after May, there were green grass and flowers in the mountains and fields, and six horsemen walked along the road toward Linzi City. However, in this blooming season, the ruined villages near and far and the scrawny people on the side of the road are shocking, deeply felt that the mountains and rivers are broken and the world is difficult.

Of the six horse riders, one was in the front, and the five were slightly behind.

The five sturdy men behind, all wearing brown leather armor, carrying large bows, quivers, and thick sheathed swords tied to both sides of the saddle, with tense faces, serious expressions and a little bit of resentment, walked all the way. , without words.

In this season of spring, late summer and early summer, when the earth is warming up, the leader is wrapped in a dark gray cloak, which is eye-catching. But look at him riding a red-maned horse with a flaming back, with a hood covering half of his face, with a deep scar on his nose slashing halfway across his face, with the reins in his hands, looking up into the distance, except for the continuous The undulating hills still couldn't see the shadow of Linzi City.

The six people were riding their horses slowly, and there was the sound of horse hooves from the west, and a group of cavalry slowly galloped out from a gap in a low mountain. This team of cavalry looked like the Qingzhou Army, and the farmers in the fields didn't pay much attention. When they saw soldiers approaching, they just avoided them from afar. The cavalry that came from Lingkou.

Gu Wuchen and Gu Siyuan's father and son presided over the Qingzhou military and political affairs, and the army was also strictly governed. There were thirteen cavalrymen in this team. But became suspicious.

In the winter of last year, tens of thousands of Hu riders crossed the Henan and destroyed the territory of Linzi and Qingzhou. Although the main cities were defended, the people's livelihood was severely affected. In addition, the place is to protect the Hehuai line of defense, and taxes are frequently increased. When the drought in Hehuai is severe, it is increasingly difficult for the people to make a living.

The rebels collapsed, the hungry people turned against them, and the mountains in Qingzhou, Linzi, Jinan, Tai'an and other prefectures and counties to the west were connected, so that the Hu soldiers retreated in Shandong, and the rebels, bandits, and horse bandits emerged like spring leeks. Come, so that a small group of Hu Qi infiltrated, and it was like entering a land of no one.

Encountering a small group of soldiers and horses in the wilderness, how can the horses relax their vigilance?

That team of cavalry kept walking, and when they reached 300 paces, the formation unfolded like a cone. The men on both wings had already taken down their bows and put their hands on their quivers, and they were ready to attack.

Looking at the cavalry, although the cavalry was dressed like the Qingzhou Army, the two bristles exposed under the metal pockets had no stubble.

"Hu dog!"

The six horse riders confirmed that the approaching cavalry team was dressed as the infiltrated Yanhu You Post, quickly dismounted, gathered to protect the one-armed person in the middle, and untied the large bow of Tuomu, without waiting for anyone to issue an order." Swish swish." Several sharp arrows shot at the cavalry rushing towards the horse.

The Takumu big bow carried by Ma Ke is a strong step bow. Besides being able to shoot 150 steps, Ma Ke also has excellent archery skills.

The team of cavalry rushed to the hundred paces, and there were ten arrows fired from here. The two horses were shot and killed on the spot, and fell to the ground screaming, and the cavalry on the horses also fell to the ground.

This team of cavalry only realized how powerful these horses are. Although there are still more than 100 steps to rush to the front, more than 100 steps are enough for these horses to shoot two or three more arrows each.

In the face of powerful step bows, riding bows suffers too much, and within a hundred paces, leather armor can no longer provide limited protection against step bows. Immediately break up into two teams, spread out to the two wings, and distance themselves from the horses.

But at this moment, several sharp arrows were as fast as meteors, and the horses were taken away, and one person was immediately shot down, and the other three Hu riders fled far away with arrows on their shoulders.

Hu riding fast and good at riding, the two horses spun back, bent over and pulled the man who had been hit by the arrow on the horse, and then galloped away, leaving behind two dying horses and Shutan who were still struggling and screaming on the ground. bloodstains.

The horse passenger did not intend to pursue, but also pulled out the dozens of arrows shot into the horse's body, wiped off the blood and put it in the quiver, then packed up and hurried on the road.

After the initial panic, farmers and hungry people from far and near gathered around to grab the horse meat that had been shot and died. The more and more people gathered, they ripped it with their hands without knives. Chaos.

After a long time, more than a hundred local soldiers came from the east road after hearing the news; the middle-aged man at the head wore a blue official robe and rode a blue-maned horse.

The soldiers drove the starving people away, and the middle-aged official looked at the only two **** horse skeletons left on the ground, and said nothing for a long time.

A small school inquired about passers-by and came over to report: "The people who killed Hu Bing were six passers-by, and one of them broke his left arm. It must be General Chu and the others..." There are not many warriors who have broken their arms in Qingzhou. There are still some in the territory, and if you ask them clearly about their appearance, you can roughly guess who passed by just now and drove Hu Qi away.

The middle-aged officials and several squires chased south on horseback. Fortunately, the horse passenger was not in a hurry. When he caught up, the horse passenger dismounted in front of the Hengtai post shop and was planning to settle here for the night.

"General Chu!"

The one-armed horse passenger turned around and saw the middle-aged official who came on horseback. He handed over the horse to his entourage, greeted him and saluted, "Why is Master Cheng here?"

"You pass by Guangrao and don't enter the city, but instead ask me why I am here?" Cheng Weiyuan asked back.

Chu Zheng didn't defend himself, he just apologized: "Chu Zheng is rude..."

"I don't blame you. Master Zhang defended you for a few words, and was reprimanded by Gu Qingzhou; you didn't come to Guangrao, are you afraid of imposing me?" Cheng Weiyuan said.

Chu Zheng smiled bitterly and said, "Chu Zheng was taken in by Lord Zhang and Lord Cheng, and he vowed not to abandon Yangxin for the rest of his life; today he violated his previous vow and left Yangxin, and even had to leave the tomb of the governor alone. On the top of Zhulong Mountain - I really have no face to see the old man..."

Cheng Weiyuan shook his head and sighed, pulling Chu Zheng to the post shop. At the beginning of the year, this post shop was attacked by Hu Qi, more than 30 post soldiers were slaughtered, and the house was also set on fire.

This is an important pass into Linzi, and there is a large town of Hengtai next to it. In late February, the Hu Bing retreated, and the military commander immediately allocated money to repair the inn, and sent a sentry general to guard it.

Less than three months have passed, the post shop has been newly renovated, and remnants of the disaster can still be seen everywhere.

The postmaster knew that Cheng Weiyuan, the magistrate of Guangrao County, and Chu Zheng, the commander of Yangxin, who had just resigned, spent the night here.

"General Chu left Qingzhou and went to Huaidong?" Cheng Weiyuan asked.

"Father and son of the Gu family are already suspicious. If I go to Huaidong, Master Zhang and Master Cheng will only be in a more difficult situation in Qingzhou," Chu Zheng shook his head and said, "I plan to go back to my hometown in Jiangxi - I didn't dare to go back in the past. , I'm afraid I'll involve my family; now that the new emperor has ascended the throne, no one is asking about the past, so I'll go back and see before making plans."

Chu Zheng used to be the commander of Lu Jingyan's personal guard battalion. Lu Jingyan died in the Jinan war. After the war in Yangxin, Chu Zheng was sheltered by Zhang Jinxian, Cheng Weiyuan and others, and stayed in Yangxin to settle down, but he did not dare to contact his wife, children and parents in his hometown in Jiangxi.

In the next few years, there were frequent wars, and Chu Zheng had no time to move his family to Yangxin. He thought that Yangxin had become the front line against Yanhu, and he was lucky.

Zhang Jinxian nominally served as the Qingzhou system envoy Secretary Zuo Changshi, and was above Zhao Qinmin, but in fact it had been overridden; Cheng Weiyuan was also transferred from Yangxin to Guangrao Renzhi County, and Chu Zheng was only the last of the Gu family's father and son to clear the officials of the Yangxin department. A chess piece to be swept out. What's more, in Qingzhou's defense affairs, Chu Zheng had repeatedly clashed with the Gu family and his son, and in early May, he caught a flaw and deprived him of his position, which was not surprising.

"Huaidong is now in Daxing war in eastern Zhejiang. You can have a good future in serving the court when you go to Huaidong. Don't worry about me and Lord Zhang," Cheng Weiyuan said, "Although I and Lord Zhang are not seen by servants, after all, they are officially appointed by the court. Even though Gu Qingzhou doesn’t want to see us, he can’t help us?”

"The situation in Yangxin is very dangerous. The Hugou's troops in Yannan, although they withdrew their troops in February, have been gathering in the lower reaches of the Zhulong River. The Hugou may abandon the plains and Jinan and attack Qingzhou first - Huaidong's worries are not unreasonable. ," Chu Zheng said, "Yangxin's Dinghu must hurry to the south, and can't be dragged on."

"It's easy to say, but how can hundreds of thousands of people be evacuated?" Cheng Weiyuan asked with a wry smile, "Perhaps the situation is not so bad."

Qingzhou's defense focuses on Linzi, and withdraws the population in the area north of Linzi to the south, forming a large and deep buffer zone - this is the defense plan of the east line of Hehuai, which is strongly advocated by Huaidong~www.wuxiaspot.com~ But this plan not only Jiangning did not accept it, and most people in Qingzhou did not agree with it except for a very small number of people.

But Zhang Jinxian, Cheng Weiyuan and other officials close to Huaidong were also very hesitant.

For ordinary people, few people think about the overall situation; abandoning the soil and retreating to the south, not to mention the clear flow of scholars, even if they are defeated, they will scold the officers and soldiers for incompetence and have no courage to fight the enemy.

Furthermore, hundreds of thousands of people have left their homes and moved to the south of Linzi. How can they be resettled? What kind of chaos will it cause to the counties south of Linzi? These are all things that must be considered.

Evacuating hundreds of thousands of people south is a much harder plan than holding on to the banks of the Zhulong River. The resistance in all aspects is very large. It does not mean that it can be done. It requires an extremely strong character to advance this matter smoothly.

From the bottom of their hearts, Zhang Jinxian, Cheng Weiyuan and others also hope to defend the front line of Zhulonghe, and the war experience they have experienced before has also made them have the fantasy of Yicheng repelling Yanhu soldiers and horses in their hearts. This is fundamentally As a result, they are not firm in their choice of defense plan - this will not change because of their close relationship with Huaidong, after all, everyone has their own opinions.

Chu Zheng was a general who grew up from the ten-year war in Dongmin, and the war he experienced was far more cruel and **** than what Zhang Jinxian, Cheng Weiyuan, and even Gu Siyuan experienced—so he was one of the few in the Qingzhou Army who firmly supported Huaidong's plan. Even if he is not suspicious of his relationship with Huaidong, he will be rejected in the Qingzhou Army.

Cheng Weiyuan added: "Keeping Yangxin is a foregone conclusion and can't be changed; of course, there are dangers in it, so I have discussed with Master Zhang, and I hope you can go to Huaidong..." My QT room is open! More vulgar official QT room number [9167] Click to enter