(The first update will be sent first; The second watch will be in the early hours of the morning)

In the second year of Yue Yongxing, after May, the green grass and flowers in the mountains and fields were full of flowers, and six horsemen walked along the avenue in the direction of Linzi City. However, in this flowery season, the ruined villages near and far and the scrawny people on the side of the road are shocking, and they deeply feel that the mountains and rivers are broken and the world is difficult.

Of the six horsemen, one was in front, and five were a little behind.

The five sturdy men who fell behind, all wearing brown leather armor, carrying a large bow of Takumaki, quivers and thick sheaths tied to both sides of the saddle, their faces tight, their expressions were serious and a little angry, and they did not say a word all the way.

The person at the head is in this spring and early summer, when the earth is warming, wrapped in a dark gray coat, which is eye-catching. But seeing him riding a red-maned horse with a flaming mane, half of his face covered by a hood, a deep scar on the wing of his nose slanted across half of his face, holding the reins in his hand, looking up into the distance, except for the rolling hills, he still couldn't see the shadow of Linzi City.

The six men were riding their horses slowly, and the sound of horses' hooves was heard from the west, and a group of cavalry slowly galloped out of a low mountain gap. This group of cavalry looked like the Qingzhou army, and the peasants in the field did not pay much attention to it, and when they saw a soldier coming, they just avoided it from a distance, but the six horsemen who were slowly moving on the avenue held on to the reins and looked at the cavalry coming from the ridge pass.

Gu Wuchen, Gu Siyuan father and son presided over the military and political affairs of Qingzhou, and the army was also strict, this team of cavalry had a total of thirteen people, there was no avenue, and they wanted to step on the field and step on the field from the flank.

In the winter of last year, tens of thousands of Hu cavalry crossed the river to the south, destroying Linzi and Qingzhou, although the main city was defended, but the people's livelihood suffered very much. In addition, in order to protect the defense line of the Hehuai River, the local government frequently increased taxes, and when the drought in the Hehuai River was serious, it was more and more difficult for the people to make a living.

The chaotic soldiers were defeated, the hungry people were forced to rebel, and the mountains in Qingzhou, Linzi, and Jinan, Tai'an, and other prefectures and counties in the west were connected, so that the Hu soldiers in Shandong retreated, and the rebels, bandits, and horse bandits emerged like leeks after spring, so that small groups of Hu cavalry infiltrated in, and they were also like entering a no-man's land.

When encountering a small group of soldiers and horses skimming the road in the wilderness, how could the horsemen let their guard down?

The cavalry marched close and near, marching three hundred paces, and the formation was spread out like a cone, and the men on both wings had taken off their riding bows and put their hands on their quivers, and made a posture of attack.

Looking closely, although the cavalry was dressed like the Qingzhou Army, there was no stubble on the two manes exposed under the metal hood.

"Hu Dog!"

The six horsemen confirmed that the approaching cavalry was dressed as a Yanhuyou outpost who had infiltrated them, quickly dismounted, gathered to protect the one-armed man in the middle, untied the Tuomu bow on his back, and before anyone could give an order, several sharp arrows were shot at the cavalry that rushed on horseback.

The Takumi Bow carried by the horseman is a strong step bow, which can shoot a hundred and fifty paces away, and the horseman's archery skills are also excellent.

When the cavalry had reached a hundred paces, ten arrows had been shot from this side, and they were concentrated on the two horsemen who were currently in the center, and none of them landed in the air. The two horses were shot on the spot, and they fell to the ground with a scream, and the cavalry on horseback also fell to the ground.

This group of cavalry only realized the strength of these horsemen, although there were still more than a hundred steps to rush to the front, but more than a hundred steps were enough for each of these horsemen to shoot two or three more arrows.

In the face of the powerful step bow, the loss of riding the bow is too great, and it is close to a hundred paces, and the leather armor can no longer limit the protection of the shooting of the foot bow; The cavalry quickly pulled their fallen accomplices on their horses, and did not dare to charge hard, but immediately dispersed into two groups, spread out to the two wings, and widened the distance between them and the horsemen.

But at this moment, several sharp arrows were as fast as meteors, and they took people from their horses, and immediately shot down one person, and three other Hu riders fled with arrows on their shoulders and the crowd.

Hu rode fast and was good at riding, the two horses galloped back, and the man who fell from the arrow fell from the horse and pulled him on the horse, and galloped away, leaving behind two dying horses that fell to the ground and were still struggling and screaming, and several pools of blood.

The horseman had no intention of pursuing, so he pulled out the dozen arrows that had been shot into the horse's body, wiped off the blood stains and put them in his quiver, and then packed his bags and hurried on the road.

After the first panic, peasants and hungry people from near and far gathered around to grab the meat of the horses that had fallen to death, and the more and more people gathered, they tore them with their hands when they had no knives; There were also fights for grabbing an extra piece of horse meat, and the scene was chaotic.

After a long time, more than 100 local soldiers heard the news and came from the eastern avenue; The middle-aged man led by him wore a cyan official robe and rode a blue-maned horse.

The soldiers drove the hungry people away, and the middle-aged official looked at the two bloody horse skeletons on the ground, and was silent for a long time.

A small colonel inquired about passers-by and came to report: "The one who killed and retreated Hu Bing was six passing horsemen, and one of them had a broken left arm, presumably it was General Chu and their ......" There are not many warriors with broken arms in the world, and there are still in Qingzhou, ask about their appearance, and you can roughly guess who just passed by here and drove Hu Qi away.

The middle-aged official rode south with a few men to chase after him. Fortunately, the horseman was not in a hurry, and when he caught up, the horseman dismounted in front of the Hengtai post shop and was planning to stay here for the night.

"General Chu!"

The one-armed horseman turned around, saw the middle-aged official coming on horseback, handed the horse to his entourage, greeted him and saluted, "Why is Lord Cheng here?" ”

"You passed through Guangrao and did not enter the city, but asked me why I am here?" Cheng Weiyuan asked rhetorically.

Chu Zheng didn't defend himself, but apologized: "Chu Zheng is rude......"

"I don't blame you, Lord Zhang defended you for a few words, and then he was reprimanded by Gu Qingzhou; You don't come to Guangrao because you're afraid of implicating me, right? Cheng Weiyuan said.

Chu Zheng smiled bitterly and said: "Chu Zheng was taken in by Lord Zhang and Master Cheng back then, and vowed not to abandon Yang Xin in his lifetime; Today, he violated his previous oath and left Yangxin, and even had to leave the governor's tomb alone on the top of Zhulong Mountain-he really had no face to see the old man......"

Cheng Weiyuan shook his head and sighed, and pulled Chu Zheng to the post shop. At the beginning of the year, this post shop was broken by Hu Qi, and more than 30 post guards were slaughtered, and the houses were also set on fire.

This is the key pass into Linzi, and there is a big town of Hengtai on the side. In late February, when the Hu soldiers retreated, the military department urgently allocated money to repair the post shop, and sent a sentry general to garrison it.

Less than three months have passed, and the post shop has been newly repaired, and the remnants of the catastrophe can still be seen everywhere.

Yi Cheng knew that Cheng Weiyuan of Guangrao Zhi County and Chu Zheng, the captain of Yangxin who had just left his post, stayed here for the night, so he didn't dare to slack off, so he quickly arranged a quiet courtyard and sent wine and food.

"General Chu left Qingzhou and went to Huaidong?" Cheng Weiyuan asked.

"The Gu family's father and son are already suspicious, if I defect to Huaidong, Lord Zhang and Master Cheng, your situation in Qingzhou will only be more difficult," Chu Zheng shook his head and said, "I plan to go back to my hometown in Jiangxi - I didn't dare to go back in the past, for fear of affecting my family; Now that the new emperor has ascended the throne, no one asks about the past, so go back and see before making plans. ”

Chu Zheng used to be the commander of Lu Jingyan's personal guard battalion, Lu Jingyan died in the Jinan war, and the theory of the solitary existence of the personal guard was to be pursued and beheaded. After the Yangxin War, Chu Zheng was sheltered by Zhang Jinxian, Cheng Weiyuan and others, and stayed in Yangxin to settle down, but he did not dare to contact his wife and children and parents in his hometown in Jiangxi.

In the following years, there were frequent wars, and Chu Zheng had no time to move his family to Yangxin, thinking that now Yangxin had become the front line of resistance to Yanhu, and he was also lucky.

Zhang Jinxian nominally served as the chief of the Qingzhou system envoy, Zuo Changshi, who was above Zhao Qinmin, but in fact he had been given a vacancy; Cheng Weiyuan was also transferred from Yangxin to Renzhi County, Guangrao, and Chu Zheng was just the last chess piece for the Gu family and his son to clear the Yangxin officials to sweep them out. What's more, in Qingzhou's defense affairs, Chu Zheng repeatedly clashed with the Gu family and his son, and it is no longer surprising that he was deprived of his general position by catching a mistake in early May.

"Huaidong is now fighting in eastern Zhejiang, you can have a good future to serve the imperial court when you go to Huaidong, don't worry about me and Lord Zhang," Cheng Weiyuan said, "Although Lord Zhang and I are not allowed to be served, after all, we are officially appointed officials by the imperial court, although Gu Qingzhou does not want to see us, he can't help us?" ”

"Yangxin's situation is very dangerous, Hu Gou's troops and horses in Yannan, although they withdrew their troops in February, have been gathered in the lower reaches of the Zhulong River, Hu Gou is likely to abandon the plains, Jinan and attack Qingzhou first—Huaidong's worries are not unreasonable," Chu Zheng said, "Yangxin's Ding Hu must quickly retreat south, and it cannot be delayed." ”

"It's easy to say, but how can hundreds of thousands of people evacuate?" Cheng Weiyuan asked with a wry smile, "Xu is the situation is not so bad. ”

Qingzhou's defense center of gravity was Linzi, and the population of the area north of Linzi was withdrawn to the south, forming a buffer zone of great depth -- this was the defense plan of the eastern line of Hehuai strongly advocated by Huaidong. But this plan is not only not accepted by Jiangning, but also by a very small number of people in Qingzhou.

However, Zhang Jinxian, Cheng Weiyuan and other officials close to Huaidong were also very hesitant.

For ordinary people, few people think about the big picture; Abandoning the land and retreating south, not to mention that the scholars are clear, they are defeated and pawns, and they will also scold the officers and soldiers for being incompetent and having no courage to fight the enemy.

In addition, hundreds of thousands of people have left their hometowns and moved to the south of Linzi, how to resettle? What kind of chaos will it cause to the counties south of Linzi? It's all something that has to be considered.

Evacuating hundreds of thousands of people south is a much more difficult plan than holding on to the banks of the Zhulong River. The resistance in all aspects is very large, it is not something that can be done, and it takes an extremely strong figure to move this matter forward.

From the bottom of their hearts, Zhang Jinxian, Cheng Weiyuan and others also hope to hold the front line of the Zhulong River, and the experience of the war they have experienced before also makes them have the illusion of repelling Yanhu soldiers and horses in Yicheng, which fundamentally causes them to take a firm position on the choice of defense plan - this will not change because of the close relationship with Huaidong, after all, everyone has their own opinions.

Chu Zheng was a general who grew up in the ten years of war in Eastern Fujian, and the war he experienced was far more cruel and bloody than that experienced by Zhang Jinxian, Cheng Weiyuan, and even Gu Siyuan and others - so he was one of the few generals in the Qingzhou Army who firmly supported the Huaidong plan, and even if he was not suspicious of his relationship with Huaidong, he would be ostracized in the Qingzhou Army.

Cheng Weiyuan said again: "Shouyangxin is a foregone conclusion and cannot be changed; Of course, there are dangers, so I plan with Master Zhang, and I still hope that you can go to Huaidong......"