Pei Jizheng said: "Yes, this is the jade seal of the country, no one thought that the deceased would be Dingwu, but because the jade seal was found, so!" ”

"Who killed him?" Chu Huan asked anxiously.

Pei Ji said: "What happened, I couldn't say it clearly, but after investigation, Dingwu was probably killed by King Qi, and the queen was also at the scene at the time, but she didn't say anything." ”

"Queen?" Chu Huan frowned, "Could it be that Dingwu went to Tongzhou to find the queen?" ”

"We have always underestimated Dingwu, the Tongzhou Governor Mansion is heavily guarded, but he is like entering a no-man's land, and the two guards guarding the King of Qi were also killed by Dingwu." Pei Ji said: "After he evacuated Wuping Mansion City, he did not go to Hujin with the team, but went to Tongzhou City alone. ”

"The queen didn't say, can the king of Qi explain?" Chu Huan asked: "Since King Qi was at the scene of the incident, and Dingwu may have been killed by him, then he was naturally clear about the situation at that time. ”

Pei Ji shook his head and said, "King Qi has gone crazy!" ”

Chu Huan's body shook, and he lost his voice: "Crazy? ”

"Insanity has been determined." Pei Ji sighed: "At the time of the incident, he rushed out of the courtyard and was intercepted by the guards, and he was already crazy at that time!" ”

Chu Huan's face darkened, and he was silent for a while.

"Maybe Dingwu wanted to save the queen, but there was a conflict with the king of Qi." After a while, Pei Jicai said softly: "It's just that with Dingwu's skills, King Qi wants to kill him, it's true!" Shaking his head, "If the queen doesn't speak, I'm afraid that no one will know what happened." ”

Chu Huan smiled bitterly: "How is the queen now?" Dingwu is dead, King Qi is crazy, she must be heartbroken. ”

"I've got extra men to protect the Queen." Pei Ji said: "King Qi thought that he was greatly stimulated, so it was inevitable that the queen would be sad and sad when he saw his son go crazy. He sighed: "I just hope she doesn't do anything stupid, otherwise!" ”

"You think she's going to do something stupid?" Chu Huan's body shook.

Pei Ji said: "The Qin State is destroyed, Dingwu is dead, and the King of Qi is crazy, for the queen of a country, this series of blows is difficult to bear." ”

Chu Huan was very worried about the queen, and even had the urge to visit Tongzhou immediately, but now the front line was the most important thing, so naturally he couldn't leave without permission because the queen left tens of thousands of soldiers.

Every time the Northwest Army fights, Chu Huan will appear in front of the soldiers, so that the Northwest soldiers know that their lord is always living and dying with them, although Chu Huan left at this time, Pei Ji's ability is enough to ensure that the Northwest Army is in order, but once the Liaodong Army is really desperate to kill, if the soldiers of the whole army find that there is no trace of Chu Huan, it will definitely have a great impact on morale.

Chu Huan thought about it for a while, and finally asked someone to call Qi Hong over, and when Qi Hong came over, Chu Huan had already written a letter, handed it to Qi Hong, and instructed: "You set off immediately, hand over this letter to the queen with your own hands, after the letter is handed over to her, you don't have to rush back, just stay by the queen's side to guard, remember, you must be good to protect, and you must not let the queen have any mistakes." To the king of Qi, please treat the doctor well! He sighed and said, "It's hard work on the road, take care of your life." ”

Qi Hong put away the letter, didn't say much, and immediately retreated.

"Second brother, Dingwu is dead, and there are already dragons without a leader over there in Hujin." Pei Ji said: "Although Xuanyuan Shao has a great reputation and is the commander of the Guards, if there is no Dingwu, his prestige is not enough to deter Meilong in Hujin. ”

"Big brother is saying that we can do things in Hujin?" Chu Huan asked.

Pei Ji said: "Mei Long was promoted by Xuan Yuan, and he is quite loyal to the Qin State. Pei Ji said: "If Dingwu is still alive, he may really be able to follow Dingwu to the end, after all, with the banner of Dingwu, the Qin State is not completely destroyed." But Dingwu is dead, to whom will Mei Long be allegiant? Xuanyuan Shao? That is absolutely impossible, Mei Long was also a great battle, whether in terms of age or seniority, it is impossible to be willing to obey Xuanyuan Shao's dispatch. ”

"I think the same thing as my eldest brother." Chu Huan bowed his head and said: "Wuping Mansion City is trapped, it is impossible for Mei Long not to get any news, but his Hujin army did not come to the rescue of Hexi, he can be said to be because he wants to beware of the Qingtian King of Hebei, but this matter also shows that he should take his own territory more seriously than the Qin State." ”

Pei Ji stroked his beard and said: "If the heroes are divided today, the most sad thing should be this Governor Mei." He is now surrounded by enemies on all sides, the west is our sphere of influence, the south is the Qingtian King, and the north is now occupied by us Hexi, which is the northeast direction, as well as the Liaodong Army, no matter which force, he Meilong is difficult to resist, but if he competes for power today, his one-acre and three-point land in Hujin will never be safe and sound, not to mention that now Xuanyuan Shao and even Wenpu's Qin army have gathered in Hujin, in this case, second brother, where do you think he should go? ”

"If he wants to perish with the Qin State, naturally there is nothing to say." Chu Huan said: "But as long as he wants to survive, he will rely on himself and will definitely find a way to survive in the cracks." ”

"That's right." Pei Ji said with a smile: "With my understanding of Mei Long, this person should not be a person who holds the defects, since he did not send troops to save Hexi, he is not a reckless man, he still has some brains, he should understand that with his strength, if he wants to dominate the world, he does not have that capital, and the best way is to find a backer!" ”

Chu Huan's eyes lit up slightly, "Who does the eldest brother think he will take refuge in the end?" ”

"If you want to choose a backer, you must naturally know that Dingwu is dead." Pei Ji said: "Only when he knows that Dingwu is dead, will Mei Long know that the general trend has really gone." If he really makes up his mind to change his banner, he is afraid that he will not care who he takes refuge in, first to see who is the strongest, and then to see who has more benefits for him. ”

Chu Huan said with a smile: "So, should we send someone to Hujin?" ”

"If you want to contact Mei Long, you must avoid Xuanyuan Shao's people." Pei Ji said softly: "The news of Dingwu's death, we naturally can't make a big deal about it now, and strictly keep our mouths, and it is precisely because we are the first people to know the news of Dingwu's death that we have the first hand in dealing with Mei Long." After thinking for a while, he asked, "Who does the second brother think is the most appropriate person to send?" ”

"You can only send someone to find out the news first." Chu Huan thought for a moment before saying, "After all, what Mei Long thinks in his heart, we can't know for sure. After a pause, he said softly: "Big brother, to deal with Mei Long, it is not appropriate for us to get straight to the point now, and it is not appropriate for our people to come forward in person." ”

Pei Ji was so smart that he instantly understood, "Second brother is ready to knock on the side?" ”

"The situation in Hujin, they know very well in their hearts, we will not know what Mei Long thinks for a while, but what the officials in Hujin think in their hearts, we can still guess a few points." Chu Huan smiled faintly and said, "Let their own people open their mouths, the weight should be much heavier than ours." ”

Pei Ji laughed and said: "If this is the case, we will have to spend a lot of money this time." ”

"If we can really persuade Mei Long to surrender to Cheng, we don't need to send troops to conscript, then we can avoid the casualties of the soldiers, and it can also make the people suffer less and spend more silver, which is also worth the money." Chu Huan said softly, "Big brother, you can arrange this matter." ”

Pei Ji nodded slightly, and then his eyes fell on the heirloom jade seal on the case, and said: "Today, I am afraid that there are countless people who want this jade seal, but this jade seal has reached the hands of the second brother by chance without much effort. Staring at Chu Huan's eyes, "Second brother, the Qin State is dead, this world, after all, is still yours!" ”

Chu Huan's brows tightened slightly, his lips moved slightly, but he didn't say anything after all.

Chu Huan's guess is not wrong, if in this troubled world, many people are terrified and unable to sleep and eat, then Mei Long's difficulties are nowhere to be complained.

Although Mei Long is a governor, Hujin is thin and sparsely populated, and he, the governor, is far from being comparable to other feudal officials.

Mei Long is low-key, not to mention a capable minister, Hujin Road has always belonged to the poor areas of the empire, fortunately, the orders of the imperial court can be thoroughly implemented in Hujin Road, in the eyes of the imperial court, Mei Long is a very obedient person, and in the seriousness of the people of Hujin, Mei Long may not be a capable person, but he can be regarded as an honest person.

Mei Long was born a poor people, step by step to today, it is naturally not easy, what is even more difficult is that Mei Long has not forgotten his origin, compared with other provinces, the officials of Hujin Province are more stringent, and the intensity of punishing corrupt officials is also very large, and Hujin's harsh taxes and miscellaneous taxes are relatively much less, so Mei Long's prestige in Hujin is indeed not low.

But Mei Long's original excellent reputation is now deteriorating.

In order to beware of the Qingtian King who would be killed at any time in the south, Mei Long could only recruit soldiers in Hujin, and finally had a team of tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, but the imperial court not only could not allocate one or two pieces of silver and a grain to raise soldiers, but urged Hujin Dao many times to ask for grain and grass, which is undoubtedly a heavy burden for Hujin Dao, which has always relied on grain and grass support from other places.

The order to ask for grain and grass in Hexi, Mei Long stubbornly delayed it again and again, but the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses under his command were all eating food and getting paid, and they couldn't be sloppy.

When the soldiers go straight to the point, there is food and salary, and it is easy to say anything, but once the food and salary are in arrears, there will be a mutiny at any time, which is the last thing Mei Long wants to see, so everything can only be based on soldiers and horses.

In addition, in order to prepare for defense in advance, Meilong built fortifications on various dangerous roads in the southern area of Hujin, which not only cost a large amount of silver and materials, but also recruited a large number of civilian laborers.

It was necessary to raise soldiers and build fortifications, and the burden of the people of Hujin on top of taxes and conscription was increasing day by day, and they were already dissatisfied with Meilong.