Liu Xin then remembered that Zhu Ying was still locked up in prison by Ma Yun, thought about it, and said: "Yuan Hao, you go and release Zhu Ying, arrange a better place for him to live, and buy a few more maids, all the supplies should be according to the specifications of Taishou, don't snub him, if he wants to walk around, let him go, even if he wants to go back to Keke, he can't stop him." ”

Zhu Ying often shouted that Liu Xin was his brother-in-law in prison, and now that he heard that Liu Xin took good care of Zhu Ying, Tian Feng couldn't help but smile knowingly, nodded and agreed,

The battle to attack Qike went very smoothly, the population of Qike County was not much, of which the barbarians accounted for the majority, the Han soldiers under Zhu Bao were only 6,000 people in total, and more than 2,000 people were lost in the night attack, and although Zhu Bao knew that Liu Xin and Zhu Ding had a good relationship, but the situation forced him to conscript barbarians.

For a long time, the Han officials have oppressed the barbarians a lot, and the relationship between the Han and barbarians in Ke County has been relatively tense, and Liu Xin has instructed Feng Yuan to get in touch with Zhu Ding, asking him to contact the various departments to maintain the immediate effect, however, Liu Xin's promises to the Wuling barbarians have long made Zhu Ding's heart moved, wishing that Liu Xin would capture Qi Ke one day earlier, and Zhu Ding, who was bent on hugging Liu Xin's thigh, pretended to promise to send troops to help Zhu Bao, but took advantage of his unpreparedness, occupied the county seat, captured Zhu Bao alive and sent him to Zhang Fei's military camp,

Liu Xin unceremoniously took Ke County into his pocket, and appointed Zhu Ding as the Taishou of Ke Ke, implementing the same policy as Jingzhou, for Liu Xin, after his separation of powers, the current Taishou power has been greatly weakened, but for the barbarians, this appointment is not trivial, indicating that the imperial court has recognized that they can enjoy the same legal status as the Han people, the news came out, not only the barbarians in Ke County and Jingzhou celebrated hand in hand, even the barbarians in Jianning, Yongchang and other places are also happy,

Huang Zhong encountered stubborn resistance in Ba County, Liu Yan stationed heavy troops here, Zhang Ren lost once, although he folded more than 10,000 people, but he learned to be obedient, no matter how Huang Zhong scolded, he just held on, Zhang Ren not only outstanding martial arts, but also quite strategic, especially good at guarding, many cities in Ba County are built on the mountain, easy to defend and difficult to attack, Huang Zhong attacked several times, lost thousands of elite soldiers, only to take seven county seats,

The war was extremely stalemate, much more difficult than Liu Xin imagined, a month passed, Zhu Bao of Qike County had already been escorted to Xiangyang and beheaded in public, and Zhang Ren still occupied Jiangzhou City and did not retreat, because he understood that Ba County was the east gate of Xichuan, and once Ba County was lost, there was only one place left to defend the city, and if the city was lost again, Chengdu would be in danger.

Liu Xin took the battle report sent by Huang Zhong, walked around the house, it was difficult to choose, a month of fierce fighting, Zhang Ren's army was hit hard, now the defenders in Jiangzhou City are less than 10,000 people, plus Zhang Ren's forced conscription, it will not exceed 30,000 people, but Huang Zhong's Fifth Army also suffered heavy casualties, more than 3,000 killed, more wounded, and no more than 10,000 people who can fight,

The scene of the attack on the city came into Liu Xin's mind again, the battle only lasted for half a day and thousands of people died, if the attack continued until Jiangzhou was defeated, the Fifth Army was afraid that it would be completely ineffective, Liu Xin shook his head, the time he made the decision was too rash, he underestimated the difficulties, and only thought that his army was well-trained and disciplined, and he would be invincible and invincible, which turned out to be a big mistake,

Ma Yun also knew that the war was not going well, and seeing that Liu Xin had locked himself in the house for a long time, he couldn't help but walk in and said, "The soldiers in front are still bleeding, how can you, as the supreme commander, be so indecisive." ”

Liu Xin threw down the battle report in his hand and said, "Wife, you are right, I can't let the soldiers bleed any more, then I will order the withdrawal of the army immediately." ”

Ma Yun said categorically: "You are wrong, you should not withdraw the army now, but should increase the troops, you have been fighting for so long, if you withdraw the army now, not only will the blood of the soldiers in front be shed in vain, but Liu Yan's arrogance will be even more arrogant, I remind you that it is for you to make a decision as soon as possible, not to ask you to learn the benevolence of a woman, if a Jiangzhou city can't be taken, what is there to talk about fighting for the world." ”

Liu Xin was woken up by her words, and said: "Yes, I really can't retreat, I will immediately let Zhao Yun lead the reinforcements and bring all the ten catapults of the research institute over, and then order Gan Ning to lead the navy up the river and cut off Zhang Ren's back road, what do you think of this arrangement." ”

Ma Yun smiled and said: "I don't know about war, I only know how to catch thieves, you can ask Fu Zhu and Tian Feng more, but this time, how can you be willing to take out a treasure like a catapult and use it." ”

Liu Xin knew that she was deliberately mocking herself, but she was not angry, and said: "No matter how precious the catapult is, it is not as important as the lives of the soldiers, I should have taken it out a long time ago." ”

The defenders of Jiangzhou suddenly found that the offensive of the Jingzhou army stopped, Zhang Ren did not dare to be careless, and still insisted on patrolling the city every day, in fact, the Jingzhou army besieging Jiangzhou now has no advantage in numbers, and it is very likely to be more tired than them, but, in the battle of Nanjun, Zhang Ren has been frightened by Huang Zhong, he will never dare to go out of the city to face the Jingzhou army head-on,

This situation was stalemate for five or six days, Zhang Ren saw the smoke and dust in the distance on the city tower, as if there were countless people rolling in, and the deputy general Wu Lan said uneasily: "General, I am afraid that there are reinforcements from Jingzhou, I think it is better to withdraw to Yucheng, where the city is high and the grain is sufficient, and the terrain is dangerous, so it is suitable to hold on." ”

Zhang Ren also began to hesitate, and the Jingzhou army fought hard for a month, his subordinates have suffered most of the casualties, and Liu Yan has not sent a soldier to reinforce until now, Zhang Ren did not feel a little chilled, the Jingzhou army under the city stopped attacking, there must be some new schemes, and now there are reinforcements, these Jingzhou troops are all fearless of death, his subordinates are already elite soldiers in Yizhou, and relying on the advantage of the terrain, the battle loss ratio with the Jingzhou army still reached five to one, which is also the main reason why he did not dare to go out of the city to fight, Jingzhou sent additional reinforcements, obviously determined to win, this Jiangzhou city will not be able to hold it sooner or later,

Suddenly, a small colonel hurriedly came and shouted, "Report, General Qiyu, a detachment of men and horses has appeared ten miles outside the west gate." ”

Zhang Ren was overjoyed, and said to Wu Lan: "No need to withdraw, order the army to stick to it with all your heart, the lord has sent reinforcements, go, you and I will go together to greet you." ”

Before the two of them could get down the tower, they saw another colonel stumbling up, kneeling down on one knee, and said loudly: "Report, General Qiyu, the big thing is not good, there is a group of Jingzhou troops outside the West Gate who set up camp ten miles away and erect a big banner with the word 'Gan'. ”

Wu Lan said in surprise: "The surname of the main general of Jingzhou is Gan, it must be the Jinfan thief Gan Ning back then, this person is now the captain of the Jingzhou Navy Army, they must have gone around to the back of Jiangzhou from the waterway." ”

Zhang Ren was also shocked, turned to Wu Lan and said, "The general trend is gone, I'm afraid you and I are all dying here today." ”

Just when Liu Xin attacked Ba County, the capital Luoyang has also become a mess, the contradiction between the courtiers headed by He Jin and the eunuchs headed by Zhang Rang is sharp, He Jin wanted to cut off these eunuchs several times, but they were stopped by the Empress Dowager He, with Liu Wei's accession to the throne, Queen He Lian turned into the Empress Dowager He, and her power was unrivaled for a while, if it wasn't for her father He Zhen bribing Zhang Rang and Zhao Zhong, she would not have been able to enter the palace to become the queen, and she couldn't stand the bitter pleading of Zhang Rang and others, and the Empress Dowager He helped them intercede with He Jin, He Jin had no choice but to give up,

It didn't take long for the Empress Dowager He to have a conflict with Liu Hong's biological mother, the Empress Dowager Dong, He Jin mobilized the ministers to go to the table, saying that the Empress Dowager Dong was the concubine of the vassal king, and she was not suitable to live in the palace, and she was expelled and died on the way, Zhang Rang and others hated He Jin, and took the opportunity to spread rumors, the Empress Dowager Dong was poisoned to death by He Jin, in this matter, He Jin did move his hands and feet, and Zhang Rang and others spread it around, his reputation took a turn for the worse, and he hurriedly convened his confidants to discuss the matter,

Yuan Shao arched his hand and said: "The general has a heavy army in his hand, and as soon as the order is issued, don't dare to disobey, why not take this opportunity to punish the eunuch party to prevent future troubles." ”

He Jin was originally a butcher's son, and he didn't have any opinions, so he listened to Yuan Shao's suggestion and hesitated: "I also asked the Queen Mother a few days ago, but the Queen Mother didn't allow it, how can this be good." ”

Yuan Shao said without thinking: "What's so difficult about this, the general can send a letter to summon the troops of the princes of the Quartet to enter the king of Jingqin and kill the eunuchs. ”

He Jin stroked his palms and laughed: "It's a good plan." ”

Immediately ordered the master Bo Chen Lin to draft a document and send it to the towns, Chen Lin and Cao Ying persuaded them together, He Jin just didn't listen, and reprimanded the two, Chen Lin had no choice, so he had to order someone to move a bunch of bamboo slips,

In fact, five years ago, "Xiang paper" was produced, in recent years, Jingzhou's papermaking technology has been developed rapidly, derived from many new paper products, even the production of cartons with corrugated paper have been developed, although in Jingzhou government, the use of paper has long been popularized, bamboo slips have been abandoned for a long time, even the students of Xiangyang Academy, can get the government to provide free Xiang paper, however, Liu Xin has implemented a strict technical blockade to the outside world, in the people, the price of Xiang paper has always been high, to Luoyang, It is even more comparable to gold, even if He Jin has more paper in the house, he will not be willing to take it out to write an essay, and can only grieve Chen Lin.

When Chen Lin wrote "Jingzhou Mu Liu ......", Yuan Shao hurriedly said: "Wait, general, my subordinates please hear that Liu Xin is sending troops to attack Ba County, although Ba County was stolen by thieves, but it does not belong to the jurisdiction of Jingzhou, Liu Xin dared not ask the imperial court, privately crossed the border to attack, and the rebellion of Ba County did not stop, Liu Xin did not attack soon, did not attack late, the first emperor just died, he was impatient to cross the border to use troops, it can be seen that this person's ambition is not small. ”

He Jin groaned: "Yes, I have also heard that Liu Xin has a very close relationship with Zhang Rang, and he is really a eunuch party, don't summon him to Beijing this time, wait until Zhang Rang is cut off, and then clean him up." ”

Cao Ying laughed and said: "General, my subordinates are willing to offer a plan, and it is easy to get rid of Liu Xin." ”