Sun Zhuang abandoned the two cities of Suining and Suyu, as if opening a big gap in the Huaisi area, giving Chen Zhihu hundreds of thousands of hungry people trapped in Huaiyang like a flood and a beast flowing through the Bianshui to the east, and suddenly the situation in Huaisi, which had finally settled down, was a mess.

Zhang Gou and Chen Yan rushed to Shanyang with Lin Tie to help, it was already the third day of the first month of the thirteenth year of Chongguan, and Sun Zhuang also gave Lin Tie an order to bring him back to Shanyang for detention. Zhang Gou and Chen Yan were in the prison in Shanyang, and they saw Sun Zhuang who was locked up in heavy shackles.

Sun Zhuang sat in the haystack in the prison with his eyes closed, listening to the sound of the iron prison door opening, and when he opened his eyes, he felt that the strong light at the door was dazzling, and Zhang Gou and Chen Zhen walked into the dim prison with the backlight, and he didn't recognize it for a while.

Zhang Gou and Chen Yan were in a complicated mood, and Sun Zhuang was afraid of affecting them, so he came to join the prison. Otherwise, he could have stayed in Suining and Suyu and continued to serve in front of the eldest lady.

Recognizing Zhang Gou and Chen Zhen, Sun Zhuang laughed and said: "Crying and showing the ghost with a sad face, it is worth it to see you before I die - the eldest lady is desperate, 400,000 people are trapped in Huaiyang City, I don't help the eldest lady, and I will not see An Shuai after death, and I hope you will not be affected!" ”

"You mad dog, you have all your loyalty, but you dragged us into the water together," someone in the next cell scolded Sun Zhuang, "If you kill grandpa and cut you with a knife, grandpa will not let you go!" ”

"Phew, greedy for life and afraid of death, I don't remember how An Shuai treated you back then, I only covet my own wealth, and I deserve to die!" Sun Zhuang took a sip and scolded back.

After the Huaisi War, part of the Liumin Army surrendered, part of it crossed the Bianshui River with Liu Miaozhen, and part of it was incorporated into the Northern Army of the Infantry Division with Sun Zhuang to maintain a relatively independent status. The northern army had 12,000 soldiers, and Sun Zhuang's troops were only 4,000 people, and the rest were only controlled by him.

Sun Zhuang really did a fake play, lost the two cities, handed over the 4,000 troops to Ma Lantou, and ran to Siyang to surrender to prison.

The other generals of the Northern Army were all coerced by Sun Zhuang and Ma Lantou, who had infiltrated the two cities, and lost the city, and after losing the city, some people rejoined the old department, and more than 30 generals trotted to Siyang with their families to surrender to prison.

Ma Lantou, who occupied the two cities, did not embarrass them, but just detained their soldiers and let them leave the two cities with their families.

Among the more than 30 generals of the Northern Army, it is not that they have changed their minds and followed Huaidong wholeheartedly, but they really have no confidence in the future of the Liumin Army; Besides, if they were really loyal and never forget the old feelings, they would have crossed the Bianshui into Huaiyang with Liu Miaozhen to the west.

However, after arriving in Siyang, Cao Ziang couldn't distinguish between truth and falsehood for a while, and put them all in a prison in Shanyang County for the crime of losing the city, and waited for Lin Tie to come over and deal with them together.

Originally, they were all generals of the Huaibei Army who held military power, but because of Sun Zhuang, they lost their military power overnight, not to mention, and became prisoners, so how could they not hate Sun Zhuang? Sun Zhuang wants to be loyal to An Shuai and the girl in the red jacket, and it is okay to lead his troops to take refuge, but he dragged them all into the water, so how can they be willing?

Of course, in addition to the more than 30 generals of the Northern Army, when Sun Zhuang came to join the prison, he was also accompanied by eleven subordinates. These eleven people, including Sun Zhuang's generals and Sun Zhuang's guards, didn't want to see Sun Zhuang come and die when he came to be tortured, so they followed.

These two groups of people have an obvious characteristic, Sun Zhuang and his subordinates left their families in Suining, and they came here to plan to be imprisoned and sent to death, with the righteousness of all brothers. The other generals of the Northern Army, who took their families away from Shuangcheng, really didn't want to get involved with the Wandering People's Army again.

Zhang Gou and Chen Yan came all the way, and they also generally sorted out the rights and wrongs inside, watching Sun Zhuang scolding others, and their hearts were sad and sad. Unable to bear Sun Zhuang's humiliation from these people, Zhang Gou said to them: "Your affairs, until the system is clear, will naturally let you out, you better be a little restless......

Hearing Zhang Gou say this, the more than 30 generals of the Northern Army who were involved all stopped for a while, and turned their heads to Chen Enze, who followed Zhang Gou and Chen Yan into the prison cell, to complain about their grievances.

Chen Enze also had a headache, saying that as long as it was verified that they were burdened by Sun Zhuang and did not deliberately abandon the city, they would naturally be innocent and fair.

*********

Zhang Gou, Chen Yan and Chen Enze saw the generals imprisoned in prison, so they went to Lin Tie's temporary residence in Shanyang County to see Lin Tie, and before they entered the official hall, they heard Liu Tingzhou's stern accusation: "You set up thieves to flee eastward, raising your own self-respect, do you really think that everyone in the world is blind?" ”

Zhang Gou and Chen Enze looked at each other, they all knew that Liu Tingzhou and the Military Secretary Mansion did not deal with each other, why did they quarrel just after they came over, and listening to Liu Tingzhou's tone, they pushed the responsibility for the loss of Suining and Suyu on Lin Lian's head.

Zhang Gou, Chen Enze, and Chen Yan walked into the official hall hard, and saw Lin Tie responding to Liu Tingzhou with a blue face: "I am responsible for losing two cities, but if you want to talk about arsonists and raising cowards, Lord Liu's sewage is too refreshing?" ”

In addition to Liu Tingzhou, Tang Shuen, the imperial historian of the school, and the newly appointed Huai'an prefect Liu Shidu, Liang Wenzhan of Shanyang Zhixian and others are all in the official hall, and the faces of the two are very unfamiliar, Zhang Gou has never seen them, one is wearing the military attache uniform of the cavalry captain, and the other is wearing the official uniform of the five grades, thinking that they are not small characters, looking at their looks, they seem to be on Liu Tingzhou's side.

"Do you dare to say that the Red Jacket Bandit Army crossed into Huaiyang back then, and it was not caused by your personal indulgence?" Liu Tingzhou's face turned red, and when he said that he was excited, the white beard under his chin trembled, "What is the difference between losing the second city today and crossing the Bianshui west with your red jacket bandit army?" Others don't know that Sun Zhuang and the thief secretly have a twist, how can they hide it from your eyes? ”

"Lord Liu, you think highly of me," Lin Jian smiled coldly and said, "According to what you said, you led the Huai army to the north back then, suffered a big loss in Siyang, and suffered a lot of benefits from the thieves?" ”

"You ......" Liu Tingzhou didn't expect that Lin Lian's ability to bite people was also first-class, which made it difficult for him to defend himself, he knew in his heart that he was far inferior in the use of soldiers, but he couldn't use this point to refute!

"Lord Lin, Lord Liu, don't be impatient, you fight so much, and you can't fight for a right or wrong," the middle-aged man standing beside Liu Tingzhou who stood in a five-grade civil official uniform said, "Since there are generals in Suyu and Suining who have lost the city and come to prison and take the initiative to bear the crime of losing the city, Lord Lin, do you think you will hand over these people to me to take away?" ”

"Take it away?" Lin Jian raised his eyebrows, looked at the middle-aged man, and said in a cold voice, "Lord Liu, you said this lightly. Who dares to pat their chests and say that they are invincible? If you lose one or two cities, you will be handed over to take them away, hundreds of generals in Huaidong, who will dare to defend the city in the future? ”

Liu Yefei gave Lin Jian a sentence, and he couldn't spit it out in his heart.

Liu Shidu came out to play a round: "At this moment, when all parties are trying their best to curb the eastward advance of the thief, instead of rushing to hold anyone responsible?" If you want to talk about responsibility, you can only complain that the thieves are too cunning, General Chen obviously laid a net in the west, who knew that they would flee to the east? ”

Liu Shidu's words were obviously not convincing, Liu Tingzhou just stared at Lin Jian coldly: others can't think of it, Thaksin; Lin Jian couldn't think of it, he didn't believe it.

Zhang Gou breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, as long as Lin Jian didn't hand over Sun Zhuang and the others, there was still room for redemption.

Lin Jian frowned and said: "I'm tired, I won't quarrel with you, if you discuss any way, notify me - I will try my best to save the situation!" As he spoke, he left the room full of people, and he walked back to the back by himself.

Liu Tingzhou threw up his sleeves and left, reviewing the imperial history Tang Shuen and the two new faces, and they all followed Liu Tingzhou away. Liu Shidu, Liang Wenzhan and others stayed, and Cao Ziang greeted them with a smile: "I can't live in peace during the New Year, and my lord led the cavalry to help Shanyang in three days, but he gave Lord Liu Tingzhou such doubts, whoever he changed, he would not be in a good mood, and I would like to ask you to take care of ......."

"It's easy to say, it's easy to say......" Liu Shidu said. He originally planned to come to Huai'an to take up his post after the New Year's Festival, but when this incident happened, he also got up from bed on the night of the Chinese New Year's Eve and brought two small servants to take up his post. Liu Shidu's mood was naturally not happy, but he only had the qualifications to be angry in front of Lin Lian, and only Liu Tingzhou in Huaidong could shout at Lin Lian now, right?

At this time, Zhang Gou knew that the middle-aged man who wore the military attache uniform of the cavalry captain was Gao Yi, Chen Zhihu's lieutenant; The middle-aged man wearing a five-grade civil official uniform was Liu Yefei, a counselor of the Governor's Office sent by Jiangning to question about the loss of the city.

In the eyes of Chen Zhihu and the people in Jiangning, the remnants of Suiyang were drowned under the siege of Chen Zhihu's troops, Changhuai's army and Chen Han's three divisions, and they were already the last to die, so they breathed a sigh of relief because of the loss of the twin cities here-they couldn't adjust the deployment for a while, but they first came over together to investigate Huaidong's responsibility.

***************

Song Jia was sitting in the small pavilion boiling water and making tea, and when she saw Lin Jian walking in, she said with a smile: "It's really noisy in front, I can't do it if I don't listen?" ”

"Liu Tingzhou is not stupid, this matter can't be hidden from him......" Lin Tie sat down opposite Song Jia, picked up the cup full of tea on the tea table and took a sip, seeing that the tea was not hot, he drank it all in one gulp, how could there be a trace of anger in the front hall on his face? It's just that the mouth is dry and irritable in front of you, and you need tea to quench your thirst.

"As soon as Suining and Suyu are lost, Lord Cao will transfer Xiao Kui'an and the Huai'an Mansion Army to the north to strengthen Shuyang's defense," Song Jia stretched out her slender jade hand, poured tea into Lin Bin's cup, and said, "Others will not be able to figure it out for a while, but after a few days, most of them will be able to figure it out...... North of Siyang, if you don't make any arrangement, it is your biggest arrangement! Tell me, the 20 battalions stationed in Suining and Suyu belong to the Huaidong Military Division in name, but when can you be transferred? Besides, Suining and Suyu are not the territories under the jurisdiction of the eleven counties of Huaidong Prefecture, and they are supposed to be assigned to Xuzhou, which is nothing more than playing tricks on you, using Sun Zhuang to occupy Chen Hansan's two territories, and not letting Chen Hansan stretch his hand south. Now that Sun Zhuang has been replaced by Liu Miaozhen, what is the loss to you? If Liu Miaozhen accepts Zhao'an and accepts Huaidong's adaptation, it will make you take a big advantage! ”

"How can it be so easy," Lin Jian sighed and said, "No matter what, I can't shirk the responsibility for Liu An'er's death, just the situation at that time." If Liu An'er does not die, the entire Jianghuai will be in turmoil...... Now Yanbei is in danger, once the Dongyu breaks through, from Jinzhong, Hebei to Henan, it is a big leakage, and what benefit can it do to slaughter four or five hundred thousand people in Huaiyang? These four or five hundred thousand people are kept, maybe it will be of great use in the future! ”

Song Jia nodded, Huaidong was fully developing the naval army at this time, and there were only 12,000 people in the garrison infantry battalion, and it was difficult to expand it in the short term. Although the Gonggong battalion had 80,000 reserve troops, it would take two or three years for the Huaidong Ordnance Supervisor to produce enough basic armor for 80,000 foot soldiers.

Once the Yanbei defense line collapsed, most of the cavalry in the east would easily infiltrate the Huaisi area, and only well-equipped elite infantry soldiers could confront the cavalry on the Hehuai Plain.

If there are 30,000 or 40,000 captive cavalry clusters infiltrating Huaisi, and Huaidong is less than 10,000 elite infantry on the northern front, how can it resist? Do you want to throw away all the areas north of the Huai River?

Moreover, Chen Hansan is a very uncertain factor, the people in Jiangning do not like him, and he is also very difficult in Xuzhou, but he always has 20,000 elite soldiers in his hands. Whether it is the Liang family in the north or Huaidong, there is no way to eat Chen Hansan in a short time, and there is no such name - once the captives and cavalry penetrate Huaisi and Chen Hansan defects to the Donghu people, how will Huaidong deal with it?

The red-jacketed girl will naturally not submit easily, but keeping the red-jacketed girl as Huaidong's peripheral buffer can at least help Huaidong buy a year to come out. In this regard, the role of the girl in the red jacket is stronger than that of Sun Zhuang. Sun Zhuang only nominally controlled 12,000 weak brigades, and in terms of army management and governance, Sun Zhuang was too much inferior to the women in red jackets.

It is also just as Song Jia said, after the Huaisi War, in addition to providing food and salary to Sun Zhuang's department once every half month, Lin Jian no longer made any arrangements for the area north of Siyang, which is also his biggest arrangement - others can't see through it, but Song Jia can naturally see through it.

Speaking of Chen Zhihu, Song Jia didn't have a good impression of him, and many of the Song family's children died under Chen Zhihu's knife.

"Chen Zhihu left Li Zhuo, just a sharp knife," Song Jia said, "Duke Wen Zhuang is only afraid that he is under Li Zhuo's banner - Li Zhuo is a person who can use this knife well, others can't!" Chen Zhi Huguang plugged the leak in the west, and he didn't even prevent the gap on your side. Sun Zhuang lost two cities and opened the entrance to the east for the Red Jacket Army, and Liu Miaozhen personally led 20,000 elites in Huaiyang Palace. ”

"Not necessarily," Lin Jian shook his head and said, "He sent Gao Yi over, and it is also possible that he is afraid of being blacked out by Huaidong!" ”

"It's also oh, Sui Ning and Su Yu are too neatly lost, and anyone will be suspicious!" Song Jia covered her lips and smiled, and said, "No wonder Liu Tingzhou came over and pointed at your nose and scolded - by the way, do you still want to allow him to stay in Huaidong and sing against you?"

"Why not? If there is someone in Huaidong who can sing against me, Jiangning will feel that the situation in Huaidong is not out of their grasp, so they can feel at ease......," Lin Jian said.

"Then why did you gag him this time?" Song Jia asked.

"The Northern Army has been wiped out this time," Lin Jian said, "The extra 12,000 soldiers, I will give him 8,000, and he will probably shut up!" ”

"Then you still want Xiao Kuian to stay in Shuyang forever?" Song Jia saw through Lin Lian's mind at a glance, "From now on, south of the Huai River, there will be no forces that can really hinder you......"