In the evening of the same day, Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, and Zhao Tan, the Marquis of Anping, came to visit Zhao Hongrun's Su Wangfu, Zhao Hongrun invited the two princes to his study, and instructed the kitchen in the house to send some home-cooked wine and food. Reading at zero o'clock.

In fact, Zhao Hongrun guessed a few points about the intentions of these two princes.

It is nothing more than that the imperial court has officially issued a decree designating Song Yun, the leader of the rebel army in the Song Dynasty, as a rebel, so it seems that Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, Zhao Tan, the marquis of Anping, and other domestic nobles hurriedly went to Song County to compete for interests - in fact, this can also be regarded as a disguised compensation for the domestic nobles by the imperial court, after all, in the recent war, many domestic nobles contributed money and grain, and indeed suffered huge losses.

"When are you going to go?"

After the wine and food were served, Zhao Hongrun personally poured a glass of wine for the two princes and asked.

Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, thanked Zhao Hongrun and replied, "Tomorrow we will leave for Yuanyang first, and then we will set off for Songdi." ”

The reason why I want to go to Yuanyang first is because the private army of King Chengling and others is still stationed in the area of Yuanyang and Sujujube.

"How many men do you have?" Zhao Hongrun asked again.

For Zhao Hongrun, of course Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, would not hide it, and said truthfully: "I have more than 5,000 people under my command, and there are more than 3,000 under Lord Zhao Tan, plus several other princes in our family, I can probably make up more than 20,000 people, and if you recruit some more people along the way, it is estimated that it will be about 30,000 people." ”

"30,000 people, that's a lot......"

Zhao Hong moistened his head.

However, they all know each other, there are a lot of people, but the combat effectiveness of this army is not necessarily very reliable, after all, the vast majority of them are Chengling King Zhao Shen and others temporarily recruited during the last war Xiangyong, rangers, although they have also undergone a short period of training, but they are naturally incomparable with the regular army of Wei.

And the generals who led the troops were also nepotism, and almost all of them were related to the nobles of the Suwang Party.

It is no exaggeration to say that three teams of 1,000 people from the Shangshui army are probably enough to beat this army of 30,000 people all over the ground.

"The boss is Lord Zhao Shen?" Zhao Hongrun asked curiously.

Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, smiled a little embarrassedly and said, "I and Lord Zhao Tan served as the commander and deputy general respectively, which made His Highness smile." ”

Zhao Hongrun smiled slightly and said a few words of encouragement.

In fact, in his opinion, Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, and Zhao Tan, the marquis of Anping, still know some of the art of war, after all, familiarity with the art of war is a compulsory course for the children of the Ji Zhao family, but because these two princes have almost never personally led the troops to fight, their knowledge of military use is basically on paper.

However, it is not a big problem, because to a large extent, most of the enemies of the private soldiers of the domestic nobles will be the private soldiers of the local wealthy families in Song County, if they really encounter Song Yun's Bei Bo army, or Huan Hu's Suiyang army, I believe that the domestic nobles will not stupidly go up and fight with each other.

In the final analysis, the idea of the imperial court is like: Although I have no money and food for the time being, I will not let you Song Yun and Huan Hu be idle, first send people to harass and harass you, wait until the energy of the Bei Bo army and the Suiyang army is almost worn by the private soldiers of the nobles, and wait until the autumn harvest, I will send an elite army to defeat your two rebels together.

Therefore, in general, this time the imperial court acquiesced to the domestic nobles to lead private soldiers to Song County to seize profits, in fact, it can be regarded as mutual use, but this time it was used by the imperial court, and the domestic nobles were very happy.

"Your Highness, I wonder if Your Highness can help me with something......

After glancing at Zhao Tan, the Marquis of Anping, Zhao Tan, the King of Chengling, asked with some hesitation.

"It's not going to ask me to send troops to help, is it?" Zhao Hongrun frowned slightly, and said in embarrassment: "First, the army under the command of this king is still being rectified, and the imperial court and some people, I'm afraid they won't allow this king to send troops to help you......"

Indeed, according to the unwritten tacit agreement, since the imperial court acquiesced in the nobles' private soldiers to go to Song County, then the regular army could not be dispatched for the time being.

Otherwise, as long as Zhao Hongrun sent his Shangshui Army, Yanling Army, and Youma Army to Song County, wouldn't the entire Song County belong to the nobles of the Suwang Party? - This kind of behavior will never be accepted by the nobles of the court and other forces.

Therefore, the regular army under the command of Zhao Hongrun did not move, the regular army under the command of Zhao Yuanzuo and Jiang Wei, the king of Southern Liang, did not move, and any regular army in Wei did not participate for the time being, so that the domestic nobles could rely on their own abilities, which was the rule of the game for the distribution of benefits.

Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, was obviously also a person who abided by the "rules", and when he heard this, he hurriedly waved his hand and said, "How dare you ask for the elite soldiers under His Royal Highness?" We're just ...... I just hope to buy some weapons from the Smelting Bureau. ”

The weapons in his mouth refer to the weapons of war, that is, repeater crossbows, trap crossbow boxes, sniper crossbows, and so on.

"Well...... this" Zhao Hongrun frowned and thought for a moment, then shook his head and said: "The 'weapons' of the Smelting Bureau, the imperial court is not allowed to sell them to the private army that is not in the formation, so this king cannot agree. ”

Hearing this, Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, and Zhao Tan, the marquis of Anping, couldn't help but be a little disappointed, and at this moment, they heard Zhao Hongrun chuckle and say: "Although the imperial court regulations do not allow the sale, but there is no provision that it cannot be 'rented', if the two of them are willing to rent a weapon at the price of purchasing a weapon...... Don't blame this king for being ruthless. ”

Hearing this, Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, and Zhao Tan, the marquis of Anping, their eyes lit up, and they hurriedly agreed.

They understand that this is the special care given to them by His Royal Highness King Su in front of them, otherwise, you let the nobles of the Qingwang Party take several times the price to rent and see?

Although the price of the lease is quite expensive, Zhao Hongrun, the king of Su, also has to give an explanation to the imperial court, right?

"Then rent fifty repeaters, one hundred trap boxes, and twenty catapults......"

The arrogant words of Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, made Zhao Hongrun slightly stunned.

He couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Are you going to fight Suiyang?" ”

But after thinking about it, he suddenly realized, after all, Suiyang County, which has now been stolen by Huan Hu, is Nangong Yao's lair, and the treasury in the city is naturally not comparable to other counties.

Seeing that Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, and Zhao Tan, the marquis of Anping, did not deny it, Zhao Hongrun frowned and reminded: "Don't underestimate Huan Hu, Huan Hu is a cavalry general from South Korea...... This person's strategy and courage are all the best choices, so you should be careful. ”

Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, and Zhao Tan, the Marquis of Anping, were surprised when they heard this, but they also secretly fell in love with Huanhu, after all, how could the person who could get such an evaluation from His Royal Highness King Su be good at it?

In the end, Zhao Hongrun told Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, and the two to never let these weapons of war fall into the hands of outsiders, and if the battle situation was urgent and could not be transferred, they would be destroyed immediately.

In this regard, Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, and the two agreed again and again, after all, they also understood the stakes.

"Oh, by the way, this time I went to Song County, and I hope that the two of you will try to restrain the generals under your command as much as possible."

After pondering for a moment, Zhao Hongrun admonished again.

The reason why he told him like this was because he knew in his heart that the army under the command of Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, Zhao Tan, the marquis of Anping, and others may be loyal and righteous in the war to defend the country, but in the foreign war, it may not be a "tiger and wolf army", and if they do not try to restrain it, it is very likely that the people of Song County will suffer a catastrophe.

Elite soldiers often disdain to do things to civilians, but it is those rabble who will do some things that bully the weak and fear the hard.

Zhao Hongrun was very worried that after the 30,000 troops of Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, set foot in Song County, they would cause trouble to the people of Song County like the Chu army back then, so he felt the need to remind him in advance.

Hearing this, Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, was not angry, and asked, "Your Highness, what do you mean?" ”

In fact, one of the things they came to visit King Su Zhao Hongrun today was to find out the "bottom line" given to them by His Royal Highness, after all, they are now swaggering through the market under the banner of "King Su", so naturally they have to consider the attitude of this Royal Highness.

Zhao Hongrun thought for a while when he heard this, and said: "The Song people who kiss me in Great Wei, don't move, and the rest of the local wealthy families don't want to live in the absolute way, leaving a family fortune for the other party, as for the common people...... It's best not to be disturbed. ”

"It depends on His Highness's wishes." Zhao Shen, King of Chengling, and Zhao Tan, Marquis of Anping, glanced at each other and nodded.

According to this scale, they can also make a lot of money when they go to Song County this time, and in comparison, the savings of the Song civilians are nothing at all.

Seeing that Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, and Zhao Tan, the marquis of Anping, accepted his suggestion, Zhao Hongrun's mood was also very good.

Due to his position, he could not say anything about the imperial court's conquest of Song County, and the only thing he could do was to restrain his own generals as much as possible, so as not to cause too many casualties in Song County.

Subsequently, the three of them chatted a few more words, during which Zhao Hongrun inevitably asked Qingwang Hongxin: "Zhao Wu's side, I'm afraid that he has also taken action, right?" ”

Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, chuckled when he heard this, and said: "If it is not surprising, on King Qing's side, it should be Wei Gang's "Wei Gang" to lead the troops, and as for the men and horses under his command, they can't wait much more than me......"

After successfully leasing a considerable number of war weapons, there was a slight gap in numbers, and Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, no longer cared about it.

In the next few days, the nobles of the Yongwang Party, the Qingwang Party, the Xiangwang Party, and the Suwang Party left Daliang one after another, and each faction gathered its own troops and went to Song County, as if it was a plate of scattered sand.

It's no wonder, after all, it's hard to get the nobles of these factions to cooperate with each other.

During this period, Qingwang Hongxin learned that Zhao Hongrun privately leased a batch of war weapons to Zhao Shen, the king of Chengling, and others, and was shocked and angry, and accused Zhao Hongrun of favoritism at the court meeting, and actually broke the rules in private, which was really despicable, and Zhao Hongrun must give an explanation.

It's a pity that Zhao Hongrun was at home taking care of himself, preparing for the marriage, and he didn't bother to pay attention to it at all.

Anyway, he didn't send troops directly, and it wasn't really breaking the rules.

So this matter was finally settled.

From the end of May to the beginning of June of the 23rd year of Hongde, the nobles in Wei gathered more than 100,000 private troops and set foot in the territory of Song County, on behalf of the imperial court to conquer Song Yun, the leader of the Song rebels, and Huan Hu, who stole Suiyang County, and a big war seemed to be about to break out.

But for the Wei court, this can only be regarded as a small fight, after all, the real elite divisions of the Wei State, such as the Shang Water Army, the Yan Ling Army, the Wei Wu Army, the Suppression Army, the Junshui Army, etc., are all standing still, waiting for the results of these aristocratic private soldiers.

At the beginning of June, the state of Chu finally sent an envoy to Daliang, hoping to offer war reparations and put an end to the situation of "Wei and Chu fighting each other".

After learning about this, Zhao Hongrun couldn't help but think of Xiong Tuo, the king of Xuancheng.

If he expected it to be true, it may be that Xiong Tuo, the monarch of Xuancheng, had stolen great power from the nobles of Chudong at this time.