Li Hong instructed Zhao Yun to invite the leaders of Heng Sai and Xian Yuyin to the big tent.

"Ling Ming, how could it be that you came to report to us? Aren't you in Longxi? Li Hong asked.

"Back to my lord, I was ordered by Captain Xu to come to ask for help." Pound said.

Li Hong looked at him strangely, "Why are you with Xu Duwei again?" ”

Pang De had already drunk a few sips of hot water at this time, and his spirit was a little better, and he immediately explained: "When Han Sui led his troops to attack Di Dao, Mrs. Li ordered me to rush to Longxian County to ask Lord Thorn Shi for help. After Lord Thorn Shi led his troops to Yicheng, he heard that Di Dao had fallen and Lord Li Xiangru had rebelled, so he left me behind. The night before yesterday, Don't drive the martial arts to lead the troops in Wuxi to defect, and successively killed Cheng Qiu and Geng Da. At that time, there was chaos in the camp, and I took the opportunity to escape and ran to the camp of Xu Duwei and Koji Duwei who followed closely behind to report the news. After receiving the news, the two adults immediately led the army to retreat. Lord Xu ordered me to come day and night to ask for help when he withdrew the army. ”

"Before leaving, what does Lord Xu have to say?" Xian Yufu asked.

"At that time, the situation was urgent, and Lord Xu didn't say anything." Pang De replied, "Both adults know me and know that I am a disciple of Master Fan, and my martial arts are good, so they are very relieved to me and let me come quickly." ”

Li Hong paced back and forth in the tent with his hands behind his back.

"Ling Ming, after you sent us that batch of evidence, did you go back to Longxi directly, or did you go to Jincheng to see Mr. Bian?" Xian Yufu thought for a moment and continued to ask.

"I'm going straight back to Longxi." Pound replied, "The teacher has been hiding that batch of evidence in Di Dao's academy. When my father received the teacher's letter, he asked me to bring a group of people to give the evidence to the adults. During this time, I never saw my teacher. ”

"Ling Ming, go down and rest." Li Hong walked up to him, patted him on the back, and said with concern: "I've run hundreds of miles, I'm too tired." Longxi has fallen, you have nowhere to go for the time being, just stay with me, what do you think? ”

Pound was overjoyed and hurriedly bowed down to thank him.

"In the future, Xiliang will settle down, and I will find a good way for you to go out. Xiliang has suppressed corruption and achieved outstanding results, and you have a share of the credit in this. Li Hong looked at Xian Yufu and said, "For the time being, let Ling Ming serve as a military marquis in Black Panther Yicong and be Zilong's deputy, you see ......"

"Yes." Xian Yufu said with a smile, "Although this position is a little smaller, it is not as good as the state and county government in the army, and the promotion mainly depends on military merit, otherwise the people below will not accept it." Ling Ming, would you like to? ”

The thief Cao Zhiqi of the government has a rank of 200 stones, and the rank of the military marquis is 600 stones, which is much higher. Pang De was overjoyed, agreed repeatedly, thanked him again, and withdrew from the big tent with the guards on duty.

＝

"Zimin, the situation in Xiliang is a bit strange." Xian Yufu lay on the map and said slowly, "It seems that Bian Zhang and Han Sui are very well prepared, and they have already planned to rebel again. ”

"They agreed to the court's appeasement, as if to make us give up the attack on Jincheng and give them a respite so that they could rebuild their strength and make a comeback. However, as far as the results they have achieved so far are concerned, they simply cannot do it with their careful preparation. ”

Xian Yufu raised his eyes and looked at Li Hong, and said with a solemn expression: "Without help, they can't do it." Bian Zhang rebelled with a force of 30,000 troops, and in just half a month, he not only quickly occupied Longxi, but also took down Geng's 50,000 army without much effort, which seemed a little too easy. ”

Li Hong walked to the side of the case, looked at the map and said, "It's not impossible. ”

Xian Yufu shook his head resolutely and said, "They definitely don't have this strength. In my opinion, there is a famous hall here, and it is likely that the people in the court and the central government want to take the opportunity to put you to death. ”

Li Hong smiled and looked at Xian Yufu.

Xian Yufu said: "Now, the situation in Xiliang is much worse than when we came this spring. You see, now Xiliang's army is only more than 10,000 people left by Xu Rong and Liyi, plus our more than 30,000 people, there are only more than 40,000 people. Dong Zhuo's army is in Pingqiang, Beidi County, and it is impossible to reinforce us in the short term. ”

"Let's look at the rebels again. After the rebels defeated Geng, they were bound to expand their army with prisoners, who were already their soldiers and could be used immediately without adjustment. Now, the Han Sui Division, the Ma Teng Division, and the Beigong Boyu Division, together have nearly 100,000 people, and if you add the strength of Qiang Hu, they have more than 100,000 people. The difference in strength between the two sides is too great for us to have a chance to win. If we don't succeed in fighting for a long time, or if we are defeated by the rebels, you, the lieutenant general, will be done. We are fighting corruption in Xiliang and offended all the forces in the DPRK and China, and we will not be better off if you don't ask what will happen to you. ”

"Bian Zhang and Han Sui are opposed, I can be sure that the traitors in the DPRK and China did it, and their purpose is to put you to death, otherwise, how will they live in the future? Still want to think about it? If they don't uproot you, they won't be able to bend the law for bribes and do whatever they want, their power will be restricted, and their survival will be in danger. Xian Yufu looked at him and suddenly laughed, "You don't die, they are like a stalk in the throat, and it is difficult to sleep and eat." ”

Li Hong also smiled.

Xian Yufu continued: "We can imagine what those traitors and villains have done. They first tried their best to slander the rebels in front of the Son of Heaven and provoke the Son of Heaven to hatred against them. And what about the Son of Heaven? The Son of Heaven listened to the slander and reneged on the promise of appeasement he had made. He ordered the rebels to surrender, which directly led to the rebellion of Bian Zhang and Han Sui. However, according to the situation of the rebels that we have in our possession, they are extremely short of food, grass, equipment, and military resources, and they do not have the conditions for another rebellion. Even if they want to rebel, the most suitable time should be next spring, or at least wait until we evacuate Guanzhong. ”

"When there are still 100,000 troops in Xiliang and the grain and grass armaments are very sufficient, they suddenly rebelled again, which is undoubtedly self-defeating. With Mr. Bian and Mr. Han's knowledge, they shouldn't be stupid to this point, right? So, what do they have to rely on to dare to rebel at this most inappropriate opportunity? ”

Xian Yu stroked three locks of long beard with his auxiliary hand and sneered: "On the surface, the rebels occupied Longxi because of the help of Li Xiangru and Ma Teng, and the 50,000 army that was able to ambush and annihilate Lord Geng was because of the help of Wudu, but if you think about it carefully, it is not the case. ”

"Tens of thousands of people marched to war, asking for money, rations, weapons, where did the rebels suddenly get so many things? With fewer troops and backup from the officers and troops, the rebels suddenly surrounded Geng's 50,000-strong army at Wuxiju. According to common sense, no one would do such a thing, this kind of encirclement is quite dangerous, and the slightest carelessness will be counter-encircled. Could it be that the rebels are just because they have the internal response of Wudu? Things are obvious, they have absolute certainty. What does this mean? It shows that someone is helping the rebels, and someone is providing money and armaments to the rebels, and providing a detailed strategy to occupy Xiliang and annihilate us. ”

Li Hong nodded and said, "Brother Yu Xing's analysis makes sense. If you don't kill these traitors, you can't kill them. You see, for the sake of his own selfish interests and his own power, he even disregarded the safety of the country and caused the disaster of war again. Let's not talk about how many people will die in this war, just the consumption of military funds is an astonishing amount. He shook his head again and again and sighed: "When will our great Han country be able to achieve peace and security." ”

"Okay, don't be emotional." Xian Yufu said, "It's a miracle that someone like you can survive until now." A few years ago, Sili Captain Yangqiu arrested Wang Fu, Chun Yudeng, Feng Yu and others for embezzlement, and beat Wang Fu's father and son to death in Beisi Prison. But within a few months, he was framed and imprisoned by Cao Jie, a regular servant, and was also beaten to death in prison. Now you have offended not only the traitorous eunuchs, but also the clan and other forces, if it weren't for the protection of you today, I'm afraid you would have been chopped into meat by them a long time ago. Therefore, even if we are not for the sake of the country and the people of Xiliang, we must now fight for our own survival. ”

Li Hong hugged Xian Yufu's shoulders hard, and said guiltily: "I'm tired of bringing Brother Yuxing and a group of brothers, and I'm very uneasy. ”

Xian Yufu smiled and said, "People, you have seen what you said. We are brothers, brothers in life and death, and we can't say anything burdened or implicated. Everything we do is for my Han and the people of my Han, and we are not wrong. As subjects of the Han Dynasty, we can't eradicate the traitors in the court, we can't help the Son of Heaven revive the court, we can't help the innocent and poor people, what are we wearing this armor for? What other face lives in this world? Xian Yufu looked at Li Hong and said categorically, "To live, you must always do something, at least do something worthy of your conscience." ”

Li Hong shook his head again and again, and said movingly: "Thank you, Brother Yuxing." Since Brother Yu Xing said so, what else am I worried about? I'd like to see who dies in the end. ”

Xian Yufu smiled: "It's good if you have confidence." How do you see this battle fought? Now the rebels are strong in strength, their morale is like a rainbow, and they have a momentum of pouring thousands of miles, and with our current strength, it is difficult to resist. ”

"At present, the enemy is strong and I am weak, and we can't win a frontal battle, so we can't fight this battle, so we can only avoid the edge for the time being." Li Hong pointed to the map on the desk and said, "You see, the north and south ends of Xiliang are all mountains, and although there are no mountains to block the east and west, there is an insurmountable Yellow River. In such a complex terrain with no depth and no sufficient combat distance, it is difficult for us to adopt the method of cavalry running long distances to annihilate the enemy one by one. Since we can't win by surprise, and we don't have a chance to win in a head-on battle, we have to retreat. ”

"We still have to preserve our strength first, and strive to keep the rebels in Xiliang more realistic. I think it is better to inform Xu Rong and Liyi quickly and ask them to immediately withdraw to the Zixiu Mountain camp in Longxian County. We met them at Zixiu Mountain. ”

"Wing City is not guarded?"

"Guard, and it's a dead guard." Li Hong said resolutely: "Whether you can quickly defeat the rebels depends on whether Master Fu can hold Yicheng." ”

Li Hong pointed to the Yicheng on the map and said, "We will hold on to the Yicheng and let Master Fu drag the rebels in Hanyang." Once the rebels' assault on the city is blocked, their overwhelming attack will be curbed. If Master Fu can hold on until next month, Xiliang will enter a long winter, and with the weather getting worse, it will be impossible for the rebels to risk attacking Sanfu again. The rebels stopped attacking Sanfu, then there was no threat to Chang'an. In this way, we can also explain to Your Majesty. ”

"One winter is enough for us to breathe and gather strength. In the spring of next year, the imperial treasury will be full, the grain and grass will be ready, and General Dong's army and Luoyang's northern army will also come, and we will be able to fight the rebels. ”

Xian Yufu glanced at him worriedly and said, "If we don't attack, someone in the DPRK and China will take the opportunity to frame him and fall into the ground." ”

Li Hong said without hesitation: "The lives of my brothers are not ants, nor are they mustards, my brothers' lives are my lives, I will never treat my brothers' lives as a child's play, this battle cannot be fought." He looked at Xian Yufu and smiled helplessly, "If someone has to kill me, I will take Arc Ding and abandon Shen to the desert, you stay and continue to take them, you have to bring them back to Jizhou, bring them back to Youzhou." ”

"People's ......"

"I'd rather die on the battlefield than give those traitors a chance to kill me." Li Hong said coldly.

＝

The Yicheng Tiger stands on the shore of Weishui, majestic and majestic.

The armies of Xu Rong, Koji Yi and Hua Xiong were rapidly passing through the pontoon bridge and hurrying north.

Fu Xie stood on the small hill outside the city with his hands in his hands, looking at the soldiers who were speeding away with a heavy heart, his face was full of gloom.

In order to explain his thoughts accurately and thoroughly, Li Hong wrote him three letters in one day. Whether Yicheng can be defended and whether it can be held for a long time is the key to preventing the rebels from invading Sanfu and Chang'an. Li Hong stationed his army in Longxian, in addition to containing the enemy, mainly to give strong support to Yicheng at the right time. As for taking the opportunity to annihilate the enemy, or even taking the opportunity to destroy the enemy and break the siege, Li Hong believes that it will be very difficult, unless a miracle happens.

Fu Xie joined the army to fight against Qianghu in his early years, and later followed Huangfu Song to quell the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and he was not ambiguous in the war. He is still very confident in holding the Wing City. What worries him is that he doesn't know what to eat is the bleak situation of Xiliang. Originally, after Li Hong had a hard time appeasing the rebels and bloodily cracking down on corruption, Xiliang, which was plagued by war and corruption, suddenly had a better future. Just when people were looking forward to a peaceful and peaceful New Year, the situation suddenly changed, the rebels rioted again, and everything was restored to the past.

After Li Hong returned from Jincheng, he once wrote a letter to him, the content of which was very subtle, expressing his sincere gratitude to Fu Xie. Fu Xie felt guilty in his heart, but he couldn't say it clearly, so he pretended not to know and didn't reply. He thought that Li Hong would be convicted and imprisoned sooner or later, so he had been separated from him all the time, and the relationship between the two was much stranger than in the past. Unexpectedly, after a month, the two came together again, this time the two not only have to work closely together, but also seem to have a long-term cooperation.

Li Hong's anti-corruption in Xiliang was the first to get Fu Xie's help, Fu Xie provided a group of traitorous eunuchs in a very targeted manner, and he hoped that through Li Hong's hands, he would not only crack down on the forces of the traitors, but also suppress the corrupt officials in Xiliang. It's just that he didn't expect things to turn out far beyond his expectations. The henchmen of the traitors were very cunning, and under Li Hong's torture, they provided a large number of sect disciples of the clan of the gate lords, and finally burned the fire of anti-corruption to their own doorstep. Fu Xie was fiercely criticized by Gai Xun for this, and was soon summoned to Huaili by Taiwei Zhang Wen and scolded him. In order to prevent the evidence in Bian Zhang's hands from falling into the hands of Li Hong or his opponent, so that there was an irreparable situation in Xiliang, Sang Yang thought of an idea to deceive Bian Zhang and Li Hong, and wanted to get that batch of evidence. Fu Xie, out of conscience, refused Zhang Wen's request under extremely contradictory circumstances. Gai Xun personally came forward to persuade him. Later, Fu Xie saw a loophole in the letter written by Sang Yang for him, so he reluctantly agreed, transcribed one early, and sent someone to send it to Li Hong. Fortunately, Bian Zhang was not fooled, not only handed over the evidence to Li Hong, but also sent someone to send Li Hong out of Jincheng. Fu Xie let out a long breath when he found out, so he didn't do anything that was sorry for his conscience.

Later, the anti-corruption tide set off by the Son of Heaven and Li Hong greatly shook the Han Kingdom, and at the same time awakened all the forces in the court, and if Li Hong was not killed, their survival would not only be difficult, but also dangerous. Fu Xie remembered that Gai Xun wrote him several letters, all of which warned him to pay attention to the situation in Xiliang and if something big happened, go to Chang'an as soon as possible to avoid trouble. Now it seems that the rebellion between Bian Zhang and Han Sui must be a situation caused by the joint efforts of all parties in the DPRK and China, and their ultimate goal is probably not only to kill Li Hong, but to regain their lost power and regain the balance of power in the court, so that they can continue to deceive the Son of Heaven, compete for power and profit, and steal the country and the people.

"My lord, Lord Xu and Lord Koji are here." The shouts of the attendants woke Fu Xie from his contemplation.

＝

Xu Rong and Ko Yi came with a group of attendants Pegasus. Fu Xie hurriedly greeted him, and the three of them exchanged pleasantries slightly.

"My lord, according to Li Zhonglang's request, we have left all the surplus food and weapons behind." Xu Rong bowed down and said, "In addition, the Jincheng County soldier Cao Zhi Huaxiong Hua Da led two thousand elite soldiers to stay, and they will help the Lord defend the city." ”

Fu Xie smiled gratefully and said, "Thank you." ”

"This is Li Zhonglang's urgent order. He thought that if there were 5,000 people defending the city, it should not be a problem for the adults to hold out for two months. Koji Yi said with a worried face, "My lord, if you stay until it snows, you will win." ”

Fu Xie looked up at the sky and said with a wry smile: "It depends on the will of heaven." ”

Xu Rong sighed lightly and said worriedly: "Although we have left the grain, I think the grain in the city can only last for more than a month at most. When we return to Zixiu Mountain, we will do our best to persuade Li Zhonglang to support the adults as soon as possible. ”

Fu Xie shook his head and said, "You have been leading the army to fight for many years, and you should know that Li Zhonglang's method is the only way to drag the rebels eastward now." If we consume too many troops in Yicheng, we can only weaken ourselves and give up Xiliang to the rebels. Leave it all up to him. ”

Fu Xie waved his hand vigorously, and said arrogantly: "You go back and tell Li Zhonglang, just say that I, Fu Xie, swear to defend Yicheng to the death, even if I fight to the death of a soldier, I will never surrender." ”

＝