In the eleventh year of Tianyuan, Duan Xu was ordered to recruit troops to suppress bandits, and the army was named Guihe Army. Fifty-six out of ten soldiers in the army came from Shenzhou and were brave and good at fighting. In March, the mountain bandits who rebelled were defeated and defeated. They surrendered one after another and accepted recruitment. The emperor granted permission for them to join the Guihe Army. The Guihe Army grew to 150,000 people.
In May of the twelfth year of Tianyuan, Duan Xu was awarded the title of Marquis of Ningyi for his merits.
In June of the twelfth year of Tianyuan, Han uprisings broke out in Danzhi Yuzhou and Qizhou. The rebel forces expanded rapidly. The people wherever the Han army passed responded, like a prairie fire sweeping across the two states.
In April of the thirteenth year of Tianyuan, Qian Chengyi, the leader of the Yuzhou uprising army, occupied the entire territory of Yuzhou with the help of the Daliang army in Yunzhou, and returned Yuzhou to Daliang, and was awarded the title of General Zhongyong.
In July of the thirteenth year of Tianyuan, Zhao Xing, the leader of the Qizhou uprising army, took control of the entire territory of Qizhou.
In March of the 14th year of Tianyuan, there was an uprising in Jingzhou.
In August of the fourteenth year of Tianyuan, Duan Xu was ordered to lead his army to the Yunzhou front line to support the Jingzhou uprising army.
"Third brother! Third brother!"
Duan Xu's army arrived at the border between Yunluo and Yunzhou. He heard the sound of hoofbeats and shouts from a distance on horseback, and knew that Shen Ying had brought people to pick him up. He then took out his crossbow and put it leisurely on his arm, then pressed down the mountain facing the dusty figure in the distance.
The young man who came on horseback ducked sideways to avoid the arrows, and then sat back on the saddle. He was so skillful that it was hard to imagine that he was just a twelve-year-old child.
He reined in his horse in front of Duan Xu and said aggrievedly: "Third brother, I'm here to pick you up, and you still want to test me?"
Three years have passed, and Shen Ying has grown taller and tanned. She no longer looks weak and slim like before, and her figure has become exceptionally strong and strong.
This is thanks to his third brother who has kept him by his side in the past few years and tortured him in various ways, like the one just now. At the beginning, the weapon was ginkgo. He couldn't avoid it and was beaten until he was black and blue. After he was able to dodge, the weapons turned into bamboo poles, swords without an edge, swords with an edge, and small arrows. The assessment of him penetrated into all aspects of life anytime and anywhere. What's more, he was lied to by his third brother in the middle of the night and almost ran out without wearing pants. Later, his third brother said sincerely that this was to teach him. Don't trust others easily - including his third brother.
Shen Ying deeply understood what his third brother meant when he said that learning martial arts with him was very hard. This was not hard work, it was fatal! That he can survive to this day is truly a miracle due to his strong will to survive.
Duan Xu laughed, patted his head and said, "You haven't neglected your martial arts in the past few months since you came to Yunzhou. Not bad."
When Shen Ying heard this, she frowned and almost cried.
Four months ago, Duan Xu asked him to come to Yunzhou to exercise and see the world, so he went to the border to visit General Han Lingqiu, the general of the White Army, who was also his third brother's old subordinate. His third brother seemed to have written a letter asking Han Lingqiu to urge him to practice martial arts, so Han Lingqiu dutifully went to teach in person. Soon, Shen Ying discovered in despair that Han Lingqiu's method of teaching was exactly the same as his third brother's. , it would offend me just to say one more words to him.
It can be said that he has just emerged from the tiger's den and entered the wolf's den. While he was seeing the world here, he was tortured to death by Han Lingqiu. The only thing he was happy about was that his kung fu had indeed improved a lot. Han Lingqiu's veterans with strong martial arts skills were amazed that he could achieve such strength at such a young age and in such a short time of practicing martial arts.
While feeling proud, Shen Ying secretly wrote to Duan Xu, tentatively asking him if he could go to General Xia's Chengjie Army or General Wu's Tangbei Army. It would be better if he could go to General Meng's Suying Army? . It would be good to see the world in a different place, not to mention that Xia Qingsheng, Wu Shengliu and Meng Wan were also his third brother's old subordinates.
Of course, the most important thing is that he feels in his heart that these generals are not as good as Han Lingqiu, and they should not torment him like Han Lingqiu.
It didn't take long for his third brother to write back, cordially cutting off his good expectations, saying that Han Lingqiu's teaching method was most similar to his own, and he felt most at ease. If this wasn't enough, Han Lingqiu could tell Duan Xu's letter that he should be more serious and give advice to Shen Ying.
Shen Ying felt that a rock had been moved and his feet were smashed to pieces. He could only continue to practice martial arts fearfully and hard with a grimace.
Duan Xu was very satisfied with his godbrother who had been practicing for four months. He had no regrets about his actions and happily let Shen Ying lead the way to Yunzhou Fucheng.
Duan Xu's arrival happened to coincide with Fang Xianye's transfer back to Nandu, so his reception banquet was held together with Fang Xianye's farewell banquet. Zheng An was completely ignored by Fang Xianye a year ago, and he returned to Nandu in anger. Duan Xu also met Zheng An in Nandu, and after hearing him scold Luo Xian for defecting to help Fang Xianye, he dutifully performed a big show of surprise and sigh, and took care of his anger. Fainted father.
Now Fang Xianye is already the official border patrol envoy of Yunluo and Yunzhou.
The governor who hosted the banquet was a local and had no idea about the relationship between Fang Xianye and Duan Xu, so he diligently arranged the two of them in the main seats, one on the left and one on the right. It wasn't until the two people sat down and ignored each other that he realized that they might not be able to deal with each other.
He immediately broke into a cold sweat and followed the two men with his eyes.
The banquet was very "real". Although it was not as luxurious as Nandu's with beauties playing music and dancing, there was always plenty of food and wine. Duan Xu was the first to break the silence, raised his glass and said with a smile: "Fang Da has been in Yunluo for three years, and the Yunzhou Racecourse has been greatly built, and more than 6,000 fine horses have been bred. The Luozhou mine has been mined smoothly. Now the heavy armor of the infantry among the border officers has been replaced by the light armor made by Tianluo. On behalf of all the soldiers in the army, I would like to thank Mr. Fang. It is a blessing to have people like Mr. Fang. "
Fang Xianye also raised his wine glass and responded politely: "I don't dare to take it seriously. The Yunzhou Racecourse cannot be spared the hard work of Mr. Zheng, and the mine has the guidance of Princess Hualuo. Fang has learned from it." Ashamed. I haven’t seen you for three years. Brother Duan has now become Lord Marquis and Commander-in-Chief, and his appearance is even better than before.”
"Wherever, I was on the south bank of the Guan River, but I wiped out a few bandits and built an army. Fang Da's people here supported the Han people in rising up to resist, and recovered Yuzhou without spending a single soldier. The situation of the uprising in the two states is very good, and Shun Xi is in sight."
The two raised their glasses and complimented each other politely, then drank the wine in one gulp. Fu Yin breathed a long sigh of relief when he saw that the two men were actually polite on the outside.
The two people, who had been enemies all year round, smiled in unison when they put down their wine glasses.
For a twenty-year-old, three years is neither too short nor too long.
Duan Xu has grown taller in the past three years and is now half a head taller than Fang Xianye. His skin is fair without tanning, and despite being exposed to wind and rain all day long, he is almost the same as Fang Xianye, a man who spends a lot of time sitting in a temple. A pair of eyes still hold light when they smile, scorching and beguiling. He doesn't seem to have changed much, he still loves to laugh and speaks in a light and airy manner, as if he is a young man who will never grow old.
Fang Xianye looked the same as before, but his temperament was calmer. If he used to be like the fog in the mountains, now he is like the frost in the grass. His movements are elegant and proud, less sharp and more calm. He still looks kind and gentle. It is difficult to imagine that he was once in... How many dignitaries will be present in the court? They have nothing to say.
Old friends reunited after not seeing each other for many years, but could not exchange greetings.
As Duan Xu shook his head and drank with a smile, he saw a tall figure appearing in front of him. The man bowed deeply at his table and said, "Lin Jun has met Duan Shuai."
Duan Xu took a closer look and saw that this person was Lin Jun, the head of the Lin family who was impersonated by Shi Wu in Shuozhou Fucheng. When they rescued Lin Jun, he was already dying, and he stayed in bed for a long time. It happened that Duan Xu was also recuperating from his injuries at that time, and he never saw Lin Jun a few times until he finally returned to Nandu.
The time he spent seeing the fake Lin Jun was much longer than the time he spent meeting the real Lin Jun.
"I was in such a hurry that I didn't even have time to say thank you to the general. I thank him for distinguishing between loyal and traitorous people and rescuing me." Lin Jun bowed down deeply again, and Duan Xu stood up to support him and said with a smile, "Lin Jun Sir, there is no need to be so polite. Duan is deeply grateful for the Lin family's strong support during the siege of Shuozhou. Oh, I can't call you Mr. Lin now, but I want to call you Mr. Lin. I heard that you will be accompanying Mr. Fang this time. Go back to Nandu?"
Lin Jun seemed a little embarrassed, but even more excited. He said: "Thanks to Fang Da, people think highly of me. I was born in the north of Guanhe River and grew up under the oppression of the Huqi people. Now I can actually go there." Daliang Nandu, serving the country has been fulfilled, and it still feels like a dream."
Duan Xu smiled, patted Lin Jun on the shoulder and said, "Master Lin is loyal and patriotic, generous and righteous. The ancestors of the Lin family and your uncle will definitely be proud of you."
Lin Jun's eyes turned red when he heard this.
Duan Xu's old subordinates came one after another to participate in this feast. After conquering Yunluo and Yunzhou, Duan Xu and Meng Wan returned to Nandu. The generals of Tabai Army and Chengjie Army he had led stayed at the border and are now commanders of each army. After Qin Shuai fell, there was a wave of purges in the army. Although Meng Qiaoyan was not appointed as Minister of War, and was given to Cao Ruolin, who had no party or faction, Meng Wan still got his wish and took over Suying, who was once Qin Shuai's pro-army man. Army, go to the border to garrison.
These are all people who were besieged with Duan Xu in Shuozhou Fucheng, and later attacked Luozhou, Yunzhou together, and fought for their lives. Now that Duan Xu was named marshal and returned with his army to take over the frontier army, they were naturally very happy. After a round of greetings, Duan Xu looked around the crowd and asked, "Why don't you see General Han?"
Shen Ying was the first to reply: "General Tang of the Jingzhou Uprising Army needs support. General Han went to Jingzhou to meet General Tang. He just left for a few days, so he happened to miss you and my third brother."
Wu Shengliu sat on the seat next to him, patted his thigh and said with a smile: "No wonder Shen Ying is so happy these days. It turns out that she is finally out of the sea of suffering, so she can stop being lazy."
"I'm not lazy!" Shen Ying argued hurriedly.
Everyone was having fun during the banquet, and the feast ended in a lively manner. Everyone was drunk and staggering back to their respective places. Originally, Duan Xu came to Yunzhou and Fu Yin prepared a quite nice mansion for him, but Duan Xu politely refused and lived directly in the military camp. When he opened the curtain of the camp and walked in, he felt There seemed to be someone inside the camp.
Something touched his arm. Duan Xu was silent for a moment and said with a smile, "Your Majesty, Princess Hualuo, is here to greet you."
The visitor laughed and lit the lamp. A beautiful face can be seen in the dancing lights. The rest of the body is wrapped in black night clothes. It is Luo Xian, the supervisor of the Thirteenth Mine in Luozhou and the princess of Hualuo Princess.
"Master Hou has not been in battle for a long time, and he is not as alert as before. What if I had a sword in my hand?" Luo Xian weighed the scroll in his hand. It was a quite long scroll, standing on the ground. It could reach Luo Xian. The weight shouldn't be light on her shoulders, but she could swing the scroll freely with one hand.
Duan Xu walked to the chair in the tent and sat down, saying: "Although I haven't seen you for many years, I don't think of you as an enemy. I originally wanted to visit the princess tomorrow, but who knew you would come tonight? What's the reason for your coming here?"
"I'm giving you a gift - I didn't prepare it for you, it was someone from Fangda who prepared it for you."
She handed the scroll to Duan Xu, who spread it on the table. He unfolded the scroll and saw the mountains, rivers, cities and villages of Yunzhou, Luozhou, Yuzhou, Qizhou, Jingzhou, Youzhou... the seventeen states. Displayed one by one, it is a grand and detailed geographical map. A small arrow was drawn with cinnabar on the upper end of the Dan branch.
"An arrow pierces the heart..." Duan Xu stroked the Shangjing on the map, smiled, turned around and hung the map in the tent. He took two steps back and looked at the map, which was taller than a human. The high map, the eyes reflected the burning candlelight.
"This is drawn by Ziwei scattered across the seventeen states." Luo Xian said.
Ziwei. The second Wensheng Pavilion that Luo Xian built in the past few years at the Border Gate is responsible for lurking, inciting, and assassinating. It is also the hub for the flow of intelligence.
Ziweixing is the emperor star of the Han Dynasty. The name means "May the Ziweixing shine forever and the Han people regain their lost land." Ziwei has been involved in the Han uprisings in Yuzhou, Jingzhou, and Qizhou in recent years. Qian Chengyi, the leader of the uprising army in Yuzhou, is a member of Ziwei. Zheng Benben thought Ziwei was his weapon, but he didn't expect that it would fall into Fang Xianye's hands.
"Fang Xianye had to leave for Nandu a long time ago. He just postponed the day until today in order to see you in Yunzhou. However, there are many people and it is inconvenient to talk. He asked me to bring you a sentence. The remaining ten Sanzhou, I’ll leave it to you.”
Duan Xu smiled softly when he heard this, nodded and said, "Okay? Please rest assured."