Broken Iron Clothes

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After falling into ambush, the heat grew longer, and Yuan Muqing had set off to return to Yuzhou a few days ago. An army of 20 troops was assembled one after another, and they were divided into ten small battalions to guard the northwest and west sides of Ningzhou. The folk husbands guarded the grain road in batches along the road to ensure the transportation of luggage in the rear.

On the other side, Feng Han and the Weiming Army took advantage of Shengzhou's terrain to hide, and their whereabouts were uncertain. But recently, the scouts found traces of marching near the old Weiming Army camp, and immediately turned around to report.

As soon as the news reached the main camp in Ningzhou, there was a lot of discussion in the camp.

The main battalion general spoke first, saying: "Feng Han and others have been besieged in Shengzhou for a long time, and the supplies must be severely depleted. At this time, a strong attack is the best time."

Having said that, Yuan Mucheng, as the chief general, had to be more cautious, and then added: "Shengzhou is bound to attack, but the group of enemy troops who aided Feng Han came from the desert, and the scouts have not been able to find out so far. Regarding the military situation, Feng Han can't bear to expose his traces, firstly, it may be due to the exhaustion of supplies, and secondly, it is very likely to be lured into ambush."

He Xiao continued: "In terms of familiarity with Shengzhou, we can't compare with Feng Han. If it is really tempting to ambush, if their logistics army also goes into battle at that time, ignoring the wounded soldiers, at least we can make up enough. With [-] troops, if we go straight to Shengzhou, we must not drag a large amount of luggage, so as not to affect the speed of marching, and we must reserve enough troops to garrison Ningzhou, so the troops we can bring will not be too many, so we must think of a safe strategy."

Yuan Mucheng said: "He Xiao is right, and the whereabouts of Feng Han and others are uncertain, and they are very likely to escape again, so a strong attack also needs a close attack, and we must not startle the snake. We must think of a perfect strategy, but our first consideration is how to avoid Feng Han. John's eyes and ears are close to Shengzhou."

Thinking about it this way, if Damo can still sneak into Ningzhou without anyone noticing, they may not be able to be like Damo, as long as someone in the camp is familiar with Shengzhou.

Yuan Mucheng immediately asked, "Where are the surrendered Weiming Army now?"

He Xiao understood what Yuan Mucheng meant, and immediately responded, "At this time, we should gather for dinner in the third camp."

The surrendered Weiming army was collected in the third battalion, but after all, they were implicated in the name of treason, and most of them looked down on them in the battalion, so they were all assigned physical labor of transporting supplies and building camps on weekdays. Eating should also be at the end.But there are less than 2 people in a camp, and often when it is their turn, there are only leftovers left to barely fill their stomachs, and the Weiming army is not satisfied with this, and they only follow Wu Xiao to do things on weekdays.

Today Wu Xiao used to take the Weiming Army to collect food, and when the dry food arrived, the group sat on the side of the haystack and devoured it, inevitably hearing a few gossips.

"Look at them, maybe they're some trash that even Feng Han can't look down on, maybe they want to rebel, but they don't have the ability, what's this called, send someone under the fence, right?"

Xingzi has a bad mouth and doesn't know how to measure it. His mouth is the most hated in the three battalions. Sometimes people get tired of hearing it and call him "Xingzi".

"Say a few words and watch."

Xingzi sneered: "What are you afraid of? How many of them were captured from Shengzhou? To put it bluntly, it's just a pile of grass on the wall."

The anger accumulated for many days couldn't hold back for a while, Yang Ziming stuffed the dry food in his hand into his mouth, pointed and cursed: "What are you talking about, keep your mouth clean!"

Yang Ziming worked under Wu Xiao's subordinates when he was in the Dudu Mansion. After he arrived at Shengzhou Camp, he served as the general manager. He usually has a reckless temper. When he heard that Wu Xiao was going eastward, he brought his brothers to follow him without thinking .

Now that he had been wronged for many days in the camp, he couldn't restrain his violent temper, so he puffed up his cheeks and rolled up his sleeves and walked straight towards Xingzi, but his body is really terrifying, and he seems to be able to shake a few times when he walks.

But after only a few steps, he was pressed down on the shoulder. Yang Ziming looked back and saw that the person blocking him was Wu Xiao, but he was not satisfied, so he said angrily: "Guarantee, what is our life like today?" , after so many days, can you bear it?"

"Defense?" Xingzi laughed loudly, "These deserters still remember their old lair!"

Wu Xiao pulled Yang Ziming back, walked in front of Xingzi by himself, and said: "Brothers are all working together in the same military camp, and they can be regarded as soldiers who obey the rules. Keep some morals, everyone will have face."

But Xingzi didn't appreciate it: "We are Zheng'er Bajing from Yancheng. The Weiming army is a fart. They are just a group of traitorous grandsons. What qualifications do they have to teach me?"

"We have never been involved in treason at all. It is not easy for everyone, and we will go to the battlefield together in the future. Please ask this brother to say no to them."

When Wu Xiao spoke, his face was expressionless, and his power was quite shocking. Xingzi's momentum was overwhelmed by a lot, but in a blink of an eye, he saw many people around him, so he forced himself to go back: "I'm really sorry, I'm not willing to bow to the defectors."

"We are not rebels." Wu Xiao said.

"Why, do you still want to—" The voice suddenly turned into a howl, Xingzi's fingers were held in Wu Xiao's palm and pressed straight to the back of his hand, gritted his teeth in pain.

"Song Song Song—"

"Say it again," Wu Xiao said harshly, "We are not rebels."

"The soldiers of the third battalion usually have this kind of virtue? Is it fun to watch the excitement?"

The heads of the people were restless. After hearing the sound, they all looked back for a while, and their faces suddenly changed. They said "General" and retreated to the side while saluting.

Hearing Yuan Mucheng's voice, Wu Xiao immediately let go, turned around and saluted.Xingzi didn't have time to catch his breath, and hurriedly knelt down and said, "Forgive me, General! This subordinate..."

Yuan Mucheng shook his face, and interrupted directly: "In the camp, there is only one word of loyalty, but all soldiers who are loyal are soldiers of Dali. Those who are capable will go to the battlefield with a knife and chop Feng Han's head back. If you have no such ability, What tricks can come out of the nest!"

Knowing that he offended someone, Xingzi lowered his head: "General, calm down, this subordinate knows his mistake!"

Yuan Mucheng smirked and said: "What's the use of knowing what's wrong, if you have such a temper against your brothers, if you go to the battlefield, you can fight all the way to Yingzhou with this kind of momentum, which makes me grin. I can give you the general's seat."

"My subordinates dare not."

Yuan Mucheng's expression turned cold, and he raised his voice and said: "If you don't dare, listen up. The soldiers in our battalion are all Dali's soldiers. They follow the rules and obey the military orders. Besides, some people are playing the game of favoring one over another. , unload your armor and go back to Jaecheng!"

"Yes!"

-

When Yuan Mucheng spoke, no one in the camp dared to chew their tongues anymore, and after they dispersed, they went about their duties.Over there, Mr. Qian was counting the number of Weiming troops and dispatching tasks, but suddenly received an order from Yuan Mucheng, so he could only watch Wu Xiao go to the tent alone.

The tent was quiet, and the two confronted each other for a long time before Yuan Mucheng said, "You were originally a general of the Shengzhou camp, but you were demoted to a garrison by Feng Han, but you can still bring a group of loyal soldiers by your side, I respect you."

Wu Xiao said: "The subordinate is now a logistics army, so I dare not be."

"Let's put down our identities and have a chat, how about?"

Without waiting for Wu Xiao to answer, Yuan Mucheng assumed that he had acquiesced, and said, "Let me first say, what is the reason why you surrendered to Dali?"

Wu Xiao replied: "Does the general want to ask, if Feng Han is not the leader of the Shengzhou camp, will I still betray the Weiming army?"

Yuan Mucheng just smiled at the person and said, "I want to listen to the truth."

"I went to the western region from the city of Yan, and I wanted to go back in a legitimate way. Even if I died in battle, I would leave the name of a loyal minister. This is a belief that is carved into my bones, and I can't change it. But I admit that I am a little bit determined. , so Feng Han, I am not convinced."

Wu Xiao was originally passionate about serving the country, but after being suppressed by Feng Han for many years, he experienced the pain of being unrewarded for his ambitions, and his frivolous heart could no longer hold back.

"I'll give you this chance." Yuan Mucheng said.

Only then did Wu Xiao raise his eyes to look at him, clusters of flames were clearly lit in his pitch-black eyes.

Yuan Mucheng was in a trance for a moment, as if he had seen Yuan Mujie from a few years ago, whenever he casually mentioned the ideal of loyalty and serving the country, his eyes would be full of excitement, but it's a pity...

Yuan Mucheng regained his senses in a blink of an eye, and continued: "You are capable of enduring humiliation, but you are not willing to be under others for a long time and be looked down upon by others, right? You have been in the camp for many years, and you also know that if you want people to shut up, you have to make them shut up first." Be convinced, how long they can remember what I said today is hard to say, if you want to get rid of those ugly names, you still have to rely on your own ability."

The meaning in the words could not be clearer, Yuan Mucheng wanted to give Wu Xiao a chance to make contributions, and let these surrendered Weiming soldiers use the facts to justify themselves - they are soldiers of Dali, and they are also a group of useful soldiers.

Wu Xiao understood what he heard, and immediately retreated half a step and knelt down, with a sonorous voice: "Today's general's kindness, Wu Xiao will remember it in his heart, as long as you give me a knife and a horse, the enemy will be killed, the king should be loyal, and the brothers' way of life I will take the lead in begging, and I will personally beat those who are not convinced!"

"Okay," Yuan Mucheng said solemnly, "You can take the position of the chief general of the Shengzhou Battalion based on your ability."

-

Thinking that Jiang Shiqing was afraid of the heat, Yuan Mucheng ordered Jingping Prince's Mansion before he left, and after Xiaoshu, he would take some ice cubes from the Ministry of Industry in his name and send them to Jiang's house on a regular basis. Cool off with these delivered ice cubes.

Jiang Shiqing spent more than a day lying on the couch to support his body, but he was still greedy for the cold, so he carried the ice in his room to the side of the couch several times, and fanned himself directly against the water basin.

When Yi Qinchen came to talk about things this day, he just shook the cattail fan like this, and the cool wind created by it was blown away, and the stuffy heat in the room could be considered to be offset by a lot.

"Is there any news from Yuzhou recently?" Jiang Shiqing asked.

Hearing about Yuzhou, Yi Qinchen's face was serious, and he said, "I'm not very optimistic. Although Yuzhou stopped raining after the ambush, after several days of scorching sun, it happened that there was a long drought on the east side of Aozhou. So they sent people to go to the lower reaches of the Bianwu River to divert water with the people of Aozhou, and opened Doumen to release the flood. The water level of the river dropped, which relieved the flood in Yuzhou. Relief, and then there are troops on the west side gathering in Yingzhou to prepare for the war one after another. The Pakistani Wolf Division waited and watched for a long time, aiming at the opportunity and going south across the border to declare war."

Jiang Shiqing had no thought of shaking his fan, and asked again: "Now is King Jingping leading the army to fight?"

"That's right, but because of the flood in Yuzhou and the war in the western region, the Balang Department believed that the Yuzhou camp was short of military supplies, and wanted to stretch the front line to drag down the Xuanhe army. I only heard that when the victims were short of food, they asked the Yuzhou camp for food. Now Xuanhe Jun is probably going to run out of ammunition and food."

Jiang Shiqing frowned involuntarily, and said, "Didn't the Ministry of Households allocate food for disaster relief? Besides, the granary in Yuzhou was damaged. The food and grass needed by Xuanhe Army should be allocated from the official warehouse in Aozhou first. Why is this?"

Yi Qinchen said: "The grain is allocated as usual, but it's hard to say how much is left when it arrives in Yuzhou. As for the army grain, it is said that the grain road was destroyed, and the detour to transport grain is not worth the loss. We can only wait for the grain road to be repaired before transporting it. However, the water level of the Bianwu River should be stabilized in recent days, and it will be faster to transport grain northward by water."

Once Xuanhe's army runs out of food and their strength is greatly reduced, not to mention the lack of the protective barrier of the Yuzhou camp, the Balang tribe can directly go south to invade Yuzhou, and the Yuan family will be the first to bear the brunt.

If something happened to the Yuan family, what would Yuan Mucheng do?

Jiang Shiqing's heart gradually sank, and he turned to Yi Qinchen and said, "Qinchen, please send a letter to Hegu for me from your brother, asking Meng Xia to exchange all the banknotes I have stored with him into silver, and buy grain and go away." The sooner it is transported to Yuzhouying by water, the better."

Yi Qinchen nodded: "Coincidentally, a letter has just been sent over there, so I can take this news with me."

"What did you say?"

"The owner of Yemen Village has already set off to the north to lobby the Wusen Department. Before leaving, he donated more than [-] shi of grain, which will be transported in batches from Shuangtan Mountain on the east side of the Bianwu River to Yuzhouying on the west side under the leadership of Miss Jidong."

Two thousand shi of food can barely be delayed for a few more days, and Jiang Shiqing has saved a lot of money over the years. As long as Meng Xia is fast enough, it should not be a problem to help the Yuzhou camp until the army rations arrive. want to do something.

Jiang Shiqing was still thinking, when Xu Guo came running from the door and hurriedly called out, "Master!"

Jiang Shiqing was called back to his senses, and saw that Xu Guo was sweating profusely, so he picked up the handkerchief at hand and handed it over.

"Didn't I tell you to stare at people, why are you back?"

Xu Guo wiped off his hot sweat and said, "I heard some news just now, and I thought I should tell you soon, so I rushed back. Don't worry, master, Lin Song will watch for me."

"What news?" Jiang Shiqing waved the cattail fan in his hand, and fanned it towards him.

Feeling cold, Xu Guo sat directly beside his couch, dipped some cold water on the back of his hands, and said, "I have very good ears, and I heard the dead man beside Xu Yixu tell him that the prince fell into the river when he was born. , the five herdsmen who escaped have already been silenced by Song Bing, and no physical evidence can be found."

Hearing Xu Guo mentioning Song Bing, Yi Qinchen continued: "By the way, I was just about to tell you that Yan You moved to the Xu Mansion several times a few days ago, and now that Song Bing has lost power, Yan Youqian would not dare You should be more cautious if you break off ties with Xu Yixu again."

Jiang Shiqing was silent for a while, and said, "Qin Chen, I need to trouble you with one more matter."

"What's the matter?"

"Keep Song Bing."

Xu Guo was puzzled and said, "But didn't the master just finish dealing with him?"

"That's the case, but now Song Bing has to protect it," Jiang Shiqing said, "Back then Xu Yixu didn't care about Yan's opinion and associate with me, because he thought he could grasp the evidence that the former prince fell into the river and defeat Yan, but Now that the evidence is hard to find, Song Bing has become the only witness in the case of falling into the river. Yan Youqian went to Xu's mansion many times regardless of previous suspicions, presumably to entrust him to completely get rid of Song Bing, the abandoned son. However, the case of falling into the river can sink forever, even if it is uncovered, he can let Song Bing bear all the crimes alone, and I am afraid that Yan's weakness will be gone, and he will make a comeback sooner or later.

"It's just that Yan Youqian doesn't know that Xu Yixu is ambitious, and he pursues power, so after he knows Song Bing's connection with the Jiang Jiang case, he will definitely not kill Song Bing easily, but Song Bing cannot fall into the trap." In Xu Yixu's hands."

Xu Yixu is too dangerous.When he knew the relationship between Jiang Yu and Jiang Shiqing, also known as Jiang Shiqing's deputy owner, he was likely to know that the owner was Liu Zhaoye, and he could naturally guess their intention to investigate the case of falling into the river, so Song Bing once In his hands, not only can it be used to defeat the Yan family, but it can also be used as another handle to threaten Jiang Shiqing and Yemenzhuang. The most important thing is that if he wants to be a powerful minister, he must not tolerate Liu Zhaoye, Jiang Yu, and even Yuan Mucheng .

At this moment, there was a sound of hurried footsteps outside the door. Jiang Shiqing looked up and saw Lin Song coming in to report: "My lord, Xu Yixu has left for Jiang's house, and he will be there in a while."