Lord of the House

Ma Lan headed the horse back, and the officers and soldiers rushed like a tide. There were countless torches moving in the north. I thought it was Chen Hansan's team, strangling the horse's head, shouting and leading people to break through in the direction of East Huaiyang.

Five days ago, Ma Lantou wanted to bring 2,000 elites out of the encirclement and go to Guoyang and Zhoudian to pull a group of troops to support the increasingly difficult situation in Huaiyang.

Unexpectedly, Chen Zhihu's soldiers and horses hid in an ambush in Laohuaigou.

The two thousand veterans who had followed the South and North wars from the time of Hong Zepu's work were defeated in just one night. Many people were killed in battle, and many more were scattered; Chen Zhihu had cavalry under his command, and in the snowy night, they chased and killed them on horseback.

Fortunately, the deputy general He Zongliang took dozens of people to protect him, and Ma Lantou had the opportunity to break out of the encirclement north in the melee, without annihilating the entire army. In the hilly area north of Laohuaigou, he was entangled with the pursuers for a day, and then turned south at night. Along the way, he saw all the corpses with their heads cut off. Ma Lan head pressed the grief and anger in his heart and dialed Ma Dong to go.

Walking into a ditch, he encountered soldiers in ambush again. Only then did Ma Lantou realize that the number of officers and soldiers in the west of Huaiyang far exceeded his previous estimate.

At first, Ma Lanlong wanted to use the terrain and night to cover up, and interspersed with the encirclement. When he saw that the number of officers and soldiers in the west was so large, he could only forcibly protrude from the gap of the encirclement that was not completely closed.

The left and right villages, Wubao, were almost cleaned up by Chen Zhihu. Ma Lantou and his party were hiding. After eating up the rations they carried with them, they could only eat grass roots from the snow-although it was only a hundred miles away from Huaiyang. , but how difficult it is to pass through the encirclement of officers and soldiers.

Chen Zhihu implemented a policy of prohibition between the rivers and the Huaihe River, especially in the area of ​​hundreds of miles surrounded by the north of Sizhou, south of Yanling, west of Bianshui, and east of Eddy River. Any man taller than a horse's tip was killed on the spot as a traitor.

Chen Zhihu's brutality and tyranny made the refugee army hate him to the core, but he had to admit that his strategy of prohibition brought great difficulties and crises to the red jacket army in the encirclement.

Chen Zhihu's army has only over 10,000 elites, plus the local civilians under his control, the total strength is about 20,000.

The Hehuai River People's Army, with the Huaiyang Red Jacket Army as its core, once had a total strength of more than 200,000;

Counting the officers and soldiers around Huaiyang, the total strength is almost 70,000 or 80,000.

Only when these soldiers and horses are transferred to Chen Zhihu's command can he be able to surround Huaiyang City - it's just that the officers and soldiers around Huaiyang have their own thoughts. It is extremely difficult to completely besiege Huaiyang.

Chen Zhihu passed the ban* and formed a no-man's land two or three hundred miles deep between the rivers and the Huai River, covering almost twelve counties. The local soldiers bravely guarded the outer cities and the Walled City, and he led the elites of his headquarters to garrison the inner walled cities. With only 20,000 troops, he actually besieged hundreds of thousands of refugee troops in the inner line of Huaiyang.

Moreover, because of the ban, the people of the countryside between Bianwu had no time to flee, and could only hide in Huaiyang City to avoid massacres. The population in Huaiyang City, together with the refugee army and their families, surged to Nearly 400,000 people...

No one would doubt that Chen Zhihu would kill these 400,000 men, women and children as rebels.

Of course, defending Huaiyang City is not a problem. The key point is that Chen Zhihu is not attacking. He is only besieged on the periphery. How can the 400,000 stomachs in the city be filled?

Huaiyang City's relatively adequate grain reserves soon bottomed out. Ordinary people have nothing to gain except a bowl of porridge mixed with wild vegetables and weeds that can be seen every day. Even the 20,000 elites in Liu Miaozhen's hands only have four or two meters of noodles to feed their hunger every day. Every day in Huaiyang City, a large number of people starve to death. It's true - there are even people in the city who are starting to change their sons and eat them.

There is a precedent for the massacre in Yanling, and some people still lead their troops to go out and surrender.

Liu Miaozhen and Ma Lantou did not stop him; Chen Zhihu only said that there was no government to raise the extra rice and grain for the thieves, and successively slaughtered two groups of people mercilessly, and no one dared to go out and surrender.

Thinking of this, Ma Lantou almost fell into despair, and Chen Zhihu was a mad tiger who was so hungry that he ate people. Maybe when all the generals of the refugee army have offered their heads, he will give a life to the hundreds of thousands of people trapped in Huaiyang City.

Maybe there is no way out at all. Even if the Huaiyang City Gate is opened, how many people will have the strength to climb dozens of miles away?

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

Ma Lantou and his lieutenant, He Zongliang, took dozens of soldiers, and it was not until the third day that they approached the outskirts of Huaiyang City. The 2,000 old soldiers who broke through the siege this time, almost only a few dozen of them survived, and Ma Lan's head hurt to death.

Liu Miaozhen stood at the head of Huaiyang City, overlooking the snow-covered field.

After her delicate mask was severed by Lin Bie, she put on a bronze mask on her face.

Liu Miaozhen's figure is taller than that of ordinary women, similar to that of ordinary men, but slightly shorter. In the past, she used to wear several layers of armor to hide her figure, but now she only wears a red armor. The bronze mask with copper bells, big eyes, broken nose and fangs, and a **** tongue spit out, against the red armor on her body, is very mighty.

Ma Lantou climbed to the top of the city, walked to Liu Miaozhen's side, and said in a low voice, "Miss, if you don't break through, you won't be able to break through. The blockade on the west side is more than double that of half a month ago. It seems that The Changhuai Army is heading north from Luzhou again, you must keep the fire for the Huangjue Rebel Army..."

Liu Miaozhen already knew the news that Tao Chun led the main force of the Changhuai Army to the north from Luzhou.

Due to Chen Zhihu's prohibition and blockade, it was difficult for Huaiyang's scouts to sneak into Huaixi. She knew that these news were sent by Sun Zhuang secretly, and at least they would not completely block their eyes and ears.

Of course, the news from Sun Zhuang is also true and false. It is not that Liu Miaozhen does not trust Sun Zhuang, but that Huaidong is very wary of Sun Zhuang, and the tangchao that Sun Zhuang can get access to is likely to be mixed with false news. , in short, they have no ability to verify the authenticity.

"It's easy to lead 20,000 people to stand out, but what about their children?" Liu Miaozhen asked, "Am I going to tell the brothers that we left our children in Huaiyang City, and one day, I will bring you back. A **** vengeance?"

After the Huaisi War, Liu Miaozhen led his troops to cross Bian to the west, mainly in the west of Huaiyang, reorganizing the troops, and there were more than 20,000 elite soldiers. In the past two years, the 20,000 elite soldiers led by Liu Miaozhen have always been the core force of the Hehuai migrant army.

It was not difficult for her to lead 20,000 elite soldiers to emerge from Chen Zhihu's encirclement. However, regardless of the lives of other people in Huaiyang City, the 30,000 to 50,000 families behind the headquarters' 20,000 elite soldiers were not Liu Miaozhen who said that they could give up if they wanted to. of.

The refugee army has no foundation, no stronghold, and moving to the world with a small family is their biggest weakness, even Liu Miaozhen can't overcome this.

"I'll stay," Ma Lantou said resolutely. "Only if the eldest lady leads her troops to stand out, will there be a way to survive. Even if it doesn't work, my family and I will die in Huaiyang City, and I will give you an explanation!"

Ma Lantou said tragically and generously, Liu Miaozhen was moved - she frowned and thought, but did not immediately agree to Ma Lantou, but the bronze mask shone with a cold gleam in the sunset light.

At this moment, a female guard in red armor came up to the city, saw Ma Lantou present, saluted and greeted: "Ma Shuai!" Then she replied to Liu Miaozhen with uncontrollable excitement, "The Bianshui River in the east is frozen. Now, the ice layer is more than a foot thick!"

"To the east?" Ma Lantou asked in shock.

In the past two years, the refugee army in the Hehuai area has been able to breathe a sigh of relief, mainly because the Huaidong army defended in Siyang and did not expand northward and did not put military pressure on them. Contacts on the side are ignored.

It's just that Huaidong was also on guard against Sun Zhuang. No matter how lively the fight was elsewhere, the elites of the ten battalions of Fengli Bu battalion were always on the front lines of Siyang and Shanyang.

After Chen Zhihu led his troops to the south, Lin Fu led the elite cavalry to cross Huaihuai and inspected Suyu, Suining and other places. The meaning is also very obvious, he warned Sun Zhuang not to collude with this side secretly, and even warned this side not to act rashly to cross the Bian River.

Now it is very difficult to deal with Chen Zhihu's tiger and wolf division. The eldest lady has to go east to provoke the Huaidong Army. How can Ma Lantou not be surprised?

For Ma Lantou, the Huaisi battle was just yesterday. Lin Su and his troops broke through two villages and one city, like a river. The so-called elite refugee army was almost vulnerable in front of the Huaidong army.

At this time, although there are 20,000 to 30,000 elites in Huaiyang City, but they have been short of clothing and food for many days, it is not easy to stand out from under Chen Zhihu's eyes, do they still have to eat the hard bones of the Huaidong Army?

Even if Sun Zhuang could lift the banner of righteousness and Huaidong cut off the supply of food and grass to Suining and Suyu, they would still be caught between Huaidong and Chen Hansan's Xuzhou army. Just dragging Sun Zhuang into the water in vain would do nothing to improve the situation of the refugee army.

Huaidong supplies Suining and Suyu with grain and grass once every two weeks. Once the supply to Huaidong was cut off, Sun Zhuang's army of more than 12,000 people would almost immediately fall into a food shortage.

"I know that there is less room for maneuver in the east, but now the officers and soldiers are preventing us from breaking out to the west. Whether it is Chen Zhihu's army or the Changhuai army under Tao Chun's army, the troops are concentrated on the western front. They will all starve to death,” Liu Miaozhen said, “Besides, going west to Nanyang, this thousand miles of road, the place is broken, the supply is very difficult, there is not enough supply, breaking out to the west to get rid of the pursuit of Chen Zhihu and Tao Chun is a big problem. question……"

Even if Dongjin took a sigh of relief, Ma Lantou sighed in his heart.

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

Prince Ning's mansion was brightly lit, illuminating the snow in the courtyard, and all the servants in the mansion were full of fear, thinking that they were afraid that they would be punished for doing something wrong tonight. Yue Lengqiu came in a hurry, turned around the flower hall, walked into the Ming Tang in the inner hall, and greeted King Ning sitting on the hall. Zhang Yan, Zhang Xitong, Liu Zhi, Jiangning's Minister of Personnel and Zuo Shilang were all invited.

"Does Governor Yue know about those books?" Ning Wang Yuanjianwu asked Yue Lengqiu to sit down and asked impatiently.

"Weichen know a thing or two." Yue Lengqiu said.

"What do you think Huaidong wants?" Yuan Jianwu asked.

In order to strengthen Jiangning's centralized rule over the southeast, Ning Wang Yuanjianwu, as the minister of state affairs in the southeast, controlled the six ministries of Jiangning. Ning Wangfu's Guard Camp was also expanded to ten battalions. Except for one name, Yuan Jianwu almost already had the authority to supervise the country.

What followed was that the authority of the six Jiangning ministries also expanded rapidly, with the Jiangning official ministries being the most obvious. In the south of Henan, including Lianghu, East Sichuan, Jiangxi, Jiangdong and other counties, the transfer and appointment of the first-level official seal officials of the prefectures and counties, the Jiangning personnel department and the local prefectures have the right to decide, and can no longer be approved by Yanjing.

In addition to Zhang Yan, Zhang Xitong, and Liu Zhi, seeing Jiangning's Minister of Officials and Zuo Shilang here, Yue Lengqiu thought that King Ning should know what Lin Fu wanted, but he replied respectfully: "Lin Fu wants Hailing. The seat of the prefect..."

"He is too arrogant and domineering. Is the fifth-grade Zhengyin official who he can ask for?" King Ning said angrily, "I don't believe that he has the guts to encourage the grain dealer to make trouble behind his back!"

There are more and more people reaching out to ask for officials these years, and there is no such thing as domineering or domineering. Chen Xiyan, Chen Xinbo, Zhang Xie and others are competing for positions, how much are they covering up, how embarrassed they are to speak?

It's just that Lin Fu, as a military officer in the eleven counties of the Huaidong two prefectures, and then captures the administrative officer of the Hailing mansion, this kind of authority is too amazing. At this time, it is not too much for Lin Fu to ask for the title of a county magistrate or a township lord, or to be promoted to a rank, but directly reaching out for the official position of the prefect of Hailing will inevitably make people think that he has the mind of self-reliance and separatism - Lin Fu Arrogance is arrogance here, even if there is ambition, it should be covered up in every possible way.

"Maybe he knows that after the court solves the border troubles in Liao, he will no longer have the qualifications to bargain," Zhang Xitong guessed from the side, "so this time he opened his mouth to be ruthless?"

"I think most of it is like this," Liu Zhi said, "otherwise why would he go to Zhezi over and over again to talk about the war in western Liaoning?"

Yuan Jianwu's face was gloomy and uncertain, Zhang Yan also touched the fake beard under his chin, and he was a little elusive about Huaidong's intentions~www.wuxiamtl.com~ Your Highness, now is not the time to fight for this kind of spirit, this seat will be given to him again. How can it be? "Yue Lengqiu looked at King Ning's face, and said slowly, "Besides, Lin Fu has worked hard to manage Huaidong, and he should be given a seat at Hailing prefect... This is not what Wei Chen said. Yes, but Wei Chen’s subordinates heard Yongchang Hou’s remarks in the fan tower. After listening to it, I felt that it made some sense, and specially told His Royal Highness to know. "

"The people at the Wanshou Palace are helping Huaidong?" Yuan Jianwu asked in surprise.

"Oh!" Zhang Yan was also slightly surprised.

He didn't know that it was not just a matter of Dongyang's clan secretly instigating several officials to hand over the papers, but it seemed to explain why Lin Fu was so bold and directly asked for the seat of the prefect of Hailing. If Huaidong and the Liang family advance and retreat together, it will be a big deal.

There has never been any morality in politics. The Liang family united with this side to force Tang Haoxin to death, but after the court resolved the border troubles in the Liao territory, the Liang family wanted to keep the existing territory, not to seize power, and to join forces with Huaidong and Qin. Moving forward and retreating together at home is the most likely option. In Zhang Yan's view, it is impossible for Huaidong to hold a grudge against the Liang family for the rest of his life because of Tang Haoxin's death.

"Now it seems that it is time to let Meng Yishan lead his troops to Weiyang to rest..." Yue Lengqiu said, "After all, the three prefectures in northern Zhejiang are in severe shortage of food, and Meng Yishan leads his troops to Weiyang for military food, which can also ease the food pressure in northern Zhejiang. ."

Yuan Jianwu looked at Zhang Yan and Zhang Xitong, and when he saw that they nodded slightly, he nodded in agreement, and said, "Just as you said, you can do it!" He was very upset. He thought that if he had the power in the Southeast, he would no longer need to be as careful as when he was the King of Jin before, but he didn't expect that none of the powerful officials and generals in the Southeast would give people peace of mind. My QT room is open! More vulgar official QT room number [9167] Click to enter