The autumn breeze is bleak, the leaves are falling, and the cloud-covered jungle is ushering in a merciless frost.

Pieces of yellow leaves, fluttering and falling, presenting a different kind of brilliant scenery, intoxicating, unforgettable.

Xingyang camp, the gate stands tall, and the defenders stand proudly against the cold wind, stationed at the forefront of the Xiliang border.

As long as you step out of this camp, you will walk out of the territory controlled by the Xiliang Army, and further east is the territory of Cao Cao in Yanzhou. However, since Cao Cao recaptured Yanzhou two months ago, Cao's troops stationed in Sili began to retreat one after another, and all of them had been evacuated from Luoyang before autumn.

At present, only a small force is still stranded in Henan County, and the remaining brigade of Cao Army has withdrawn to Chenliu.

Obviously, Cao Cao had decided to abandon Si Li, avoid conflict with the Western Liang army, shrink his forces, and turned his attention to other states and counties except Si Li.

At this point, Luoyang, Henan County and other places east of Xingyang Daying, although they are located in the hinterland of the Central Plains, have been reduced to borderless land. The neighboring princely forces such as Yanzhou, Yuzhou and Jingzhou did not covet this territory, not because they didn't want to grab it, but because this territory was actually a hot potato, and no one dared to stretch out their hands lightly, otherwise they would be scalded off a layer of skin, or even stricter.

It is precisely because no one has taken over this land that the families and powerful gentry in the territory have moved away one after another. Most of them moved to Jingzhou, and many families were coerced by Cao Cao of Yanzhou to move to Yanzhou, and only a small number of Haoqiang and Jingentry entered Xingyang for Chang'an.

In addition, no robber or bandit dares to occupy a place in this area. On the contrary, some homeless people gathered together to rob the passing merchants, and quickly formed more than a dozen gangster forces, large and small, entrenched in the mountains and forests on both sides of the official road all day long, waiting for an opportunity to move.

The vast territory has been hanging in the balance. The surrounding princes were secretly surprised. Anyone with a discerning eye knows that this piece of land is a piece of meat in front of Xiliang Army, and it belongs to him. Therefore, although the princes were very greedy but did not dare to act rashly, Li Li and his Xiliang army always stood still, hanging a piece of fat meat in the air with their mouths, and refused to open their mouths to eat it. I have to say. This is such a miracle that many people can't figure out why.

At present, the Xiliang army is gathering heavy troops in the first line from Tongguan and Hangu to Xingyang. There are more than 100,000 riders gathered. Tongguan was garrisoned by the Zhennan general Bocai, with 50,000 soldiers, and Hangu Pass was garrisoned by 20,000 trapped camps led by Gao Shun, the general of Pingnan. Xingyang is the Qinglong Camp station, and the main will be Xu Chu and Xu Zhongkang, one of the new five tiger generals. Adjutant General Pang De Pang Lingming. It has a full 30,000 iron cavalry, and more than 5,000 infantry troops are stationed in coordination. Once a war breaks out on the Xingyang front, Bocai, who is stationed at Tongguan, will lead a large army out of the pass, not afraid of any invading enemy.

Xingyang camp, the main general of the big tent.

Xu Chu, dressed in battle armor, hurriedly walked into the big tent, and without waiting for the scribe sitting on the main seat to ask, he hurriedly said: "Military advisor, our army scouts have discovered their hiding place!" ”

"Oh?" Jia Xu, who was looking down at the bamboo slips, raised his head when he heard it. He raised his eyebrows and groaned in slight consternation. Think for a moment. The corners of his mouth were slightly upturned and a symmetrical arc appeared, and he smiled a little coldly: "Finally appeared, for nearly three months, the old man was worried all day long, for fear that they would be buried in the jungle and there would be no bones; If this is the case, the old man will live up to the trust of the lord and will not be able to substitute for the lord. Now the old man can finally breathe a sigh of relief, they are alive, if they die, won't they fall short? Hehehe! ”

"Ugh! How could the military advisor have such an idea, how could a group of big living people be buried in the jungle so lightly, not to mention that there were hundreds of armor soldiers accompanying them to protect them? Xu Chu was stunned when he heard this, Gu Zi sat down, and Pang De, the deputy general who entered the account with him, also sat down, waiting for Jia Xu to give orders.

Jia Xu smiled and bowed: "What Zhong Kang said is very true, the old man is concerned about chaos, lest there be mistakes, so he is a little relieved." Now that they have appeared, it shows that these people are still very tenacious and determined! ”

As he spoke, Jia Xu got up and walked to the bottom of the hall, and said with a smile: "When I fled from Loudiyuan, there were as many as 1,000 people in this group, and there were more than 500 war horses, and it is said that they were carrying valuable gold and silver. Have our scouts ever found out how many of them are still there, and how many horses are left? ”

After Xu Chu heard this, he turned his head and smiled at Pang De beside him, Pang De immediately understood, restrained his smile, and said respectfully: "The military advisor is good." Half a month ago, after receiving the order from the military general, we immediately sent more than 500 scouts into the mountains and forests to the south to investigate, monitoring all the mountains and forests within a radius of 20 miles, and reporting their whereabouts as soon as we found them. For half a month, no clues were found, until half an hour ago, when the scouts finally discovered their whereabouts, and then found out where they were hiding. At this moment, they rested in the southwestern mountain col less than ten miles from the main camp, and seemed to be preparing to travel day and night, waiting for an opportunity to bypass the main camp after dark, and continue to flee to the east. ”

Pang De's voice fell, and Xu Chu continued: "After the last general heard the news, he has just mobilized three thousand iron armor to wait for dispatch, just waiting for the military division to order, the last general will personally lead the troops up the mountain, and will capture all of them alive and hand them over to the lord to be sent down!" ”

"Huh?" When Jia Xu heard this, he immediately waved his hand and said, "No, Zhong Kang must not be reckless, and he must not act rashly!" ”

"Why is that?" Xu Chu and Pang De were stunned when they heard this, and couldn't help but widen their eyes, Xu Chu was surprised: "Why did the military advisor say this, can I wait to watch them escape from under their noses?" ”

Jia Xu replied: "Exactly. The old man asked Zhong Kang to find out their whereabouts not to catch them, but to confirm if they were still alive and who else was alive, nothing more. As for why this was done, it will be explained later, and the old man now wants to know how many of them are still there? ”

Xu Chu looked displeased when he heard this, and stopped speaking with a cold face, and Pang De was also puzzled, with a look of surprise on his face.

Seeing that Xu Chu was silent, Pang Degu calmed down and reported to Jia Xuyu: "According to the scout report, the group of people who are hiding in the mountain col to rest at the moment are about 500 men and women. Among them, there are one hundred and four female dependents, more than two hundred middle-aged people, and the rest are all young and strong. There were only more than 30 war horses in the entourage, carrying dozens of boxes and parcels of large and small sizes, which should be the gold and silver that the military advisor just mentioned. The remaining hundreds of horses were missing, and the entourage was reduced by more than half, presumably dying in the jungle and becoming food for beasts and insects. ”

After speaking, perhaps because he felt that his tone was too blunt, it was very likely to cause Jia Xu's dislike, Pang De thought for a moment, and added: "These more than 500 people are almost 'savages', they don't have a complete piece of clothing to cover their bodies, they are all covered with animal skins and mulberry linen. Therefore, our army scouts identified the accompanying female dependents one by one, and the queen Fushou and Dong Cheng's daughter Dong Guiren were among them, but the man could not identify him, but he could be sure that the Son of Heaven was still alive, and the young man who was supported by Fu Shou and Dong Guiren should be Liu Xie. It can be inferred from this that the more than 200 middle-aged people who are not clothed must be the hundred officials of the court, and the other more than 200 young men are defected armor soldiers led by Yang Feng. ”

"Clothes or not?" With a deep groan, Jia Xu looked stunned, the expression on his face was extremely weird, and he seemed to be a little unable to accept the facts that Pang De said.

The dignified emperors, empresses, noble concubines, and prominent ministers of the Three Dynasties, as well as their wives and concubines, were unclothed in broad daylight, and were almost naked in the sight of hundreds of scouts. Thinking of this, Jia Xu couldn't help but think of hundreds of scouts hiding in the shadows commenting on the empress, nobles, and the wives and concubines of hundreds of officials, no wonder they were able to name one hundred and four female dependents with extreme accuracy.

As soon as he thought of this, Jia Xu couldn't help but feel a chill, standing in the center of the big tent and looking up at the mountains and forests in the distance. At this moment, he sighed to himself, without the slightest sense of schadenfreude in his heart, nor a trace of pity, just a little emotion.

That's all.

Seeing Jia Xu's different expressions, Pang De and Xu Chu mistakenly thought that Jia Xu couldn't bear it and moved with compassion, so their expressions became more and more gloomy, and they subconsciously thought that Jia Xu might have the intention of buying and letting go of the Son of Heaven and others, although they did not betray the lord Li Li, but it was difficult to escape the suspicion of conniving with the enemy.

Glancing at Pang De, Xu Chu said in an unkind tone: "This group of people are all extremely important people to my Xiliang, who fled from Chang'an without permission, trying to get rid of the master's control, and they can't let go." Therefore, the meaning of the last general is to immediately send troops to round up, arrest all of them, send them back to Chang'an, and hand them over to the lord. If they dare to resist or try to escape, they will be killed.

In addition, looking at the military advisor's expression, he seemed to be very displeased, presumably because the scouts under Xu's account peeked at the bodies of the queen, nobles, and the wives and concubines of hundreds of officials. In this regard, the last general wants to say a word for the soldiers, my Xingyang border soldiers have been away from home for half a year, and there is no female dependents in the barracks, so it is reasonable for them to take a few more glances at the female dependents of the Son of Heaven and the hundred officials, and I hope that the military advisers will understand the situation and understand Haihan. ”

It is true that although Xu Chu and Pang De suspected that Jia Xu had the intention of conniving with the enemy, they did not dare to openly offend the chief military advisor in front of him, who enjoyed high prestige in the army. Before there was conclusive evidence, even if the two of them had doubts, they didn't dare to find out, after all, Jia Xu was not an ordinary scribe, but one of the five most relied on by the lord Li Li, and he had a pivotal position.

The five masterminds are: Li Xuan, the assassin of Xiliang, Li Ru of Chang'an, Jia Xu, the left army division, Guo Jia, the right army division, and Zhou Yu, the general of Anbei; In addition, Bingzhou Assassin Shi Lusu, Jingzhao Yin Huaxin and the new Hanzhong Tai Fa Zheng also have strategies and political achievements that are not inferior to the five of them, but their qualifications are slightly shallow, and they will definitely be on par with them in time.

―――――――― ―――――――――― to be continued (To be continued......