Yanzhou.
After Shen Zangfeng inspected the camp, he returned to the general's residence. He just sat down in the study, and before he had finished approving an official document, he heard hurried footsteps outside the door, and then the study door was banged. Shen Zangfeng nodded slightly, and Shen Zie went over to open the door. The old servant Su Yinshui in front of Su Xiu Ming stepped in with sweat on his face and said hurriedly: "Third Young Master, please go to the main hall to discuss matters!"
After Su Xiuwei led the 20,000 Xiliang troops to Donghu to aid, the big bosses in the imperial capital were worried that Shen Zangfeng was young and would be negligent in commanding an important city at this juncture, so in February Su Xiu Ming was sent to assist him. And this Su Yinshui was born in the Su family. To put it another way, he was the one who watched Shen Zangfeng grow up. He has always been a steady person, otherwise Su Xiu Ming would not have chosen him among the many sons she had given birth to in Yanzhou with only one old servant when she came to Yanzhou.
At this moment, Su Yinshui was so panicked. Shen Zangfeng's heart sank. He put down his ink brush, stood up and asked, "But is there any news about Dong Hu?"
Sure enough, Su Yinshui's lips trembled slightly and he said briefly: "I heard that the Liu family was defeated."
"Ah!" Shen Die was caught off guard and couldn't help but exclaimed!
"...Although the Rong people are said to be 300,000, according to the previous horse scouting reports, they are only 245,000 at most. Donghu's soldiers and horses are more than double that, and they have the advantage of defending the city. How could they be defeated?! Could it be? Is the letter wrong?”
When Shen Zangfeng hurried to the main hall, he happened to hear a general asking loudly and urgently, even angrily.
This general's name was Liu Xi, a branch of the Liu family who was the original deputy general of the Donghu Army that attacked Yanzhou. After Yanzhou was defeated, part of the Donghu army returned to Donghu to guard their home, while Liu Xi stayed and kept an eye on Yanzhou's baggage for the Liu family - the Liu family had suffered enough from the Yanzhou rebellion before, even if they knew that Su Xiuming Neither Shen Zangfeng nor Shen Zangfeng would do anything to Donghu's baggage when the army invaded, but they were worried if they didn't leave one of their own here.
Today, in Yanzhou City, Liu Xi and Shen Zangfeng's uncle and nephew are in charge.
I think it was because Liu Xi belonged to the Liu family, so Su Xiu Ming told him first, and he came in a hurry, but he arrived one step earlier than Shen Zangfeng.
"Originally there was no big defeat," Su Xiu Ming's bodyguards were guarding outside the hall, but at this moment there was nothing to report first. Shen Zangfeng walked in alone, only to see Su Xiu Ming's face turned pale. There was anger in his eyes.
However, his anger was not due to Liu Xi's rude attitude in a hurry, "But what can be done if the 80,000 servants rebelled?"
"What?!" Liu Xi exclaimed, including Shen Zangfeng, who had just entered the door, and stopped in shock!
Shen Zangfeng calmed down and asked urgently: "How could the servant rebel?"
Although Yanzhou and Donghu are adjacent, the number of slaves used to transport the city's baggage to various parts of Donghu, especially when the Rong army invades in large numbers, is extremely urgent. Because almost all the young and strong men of Donghu were conscripted into the army, these soldiers were usually drawn from the neighboring Youyan Prefectures.
This time, due to the emergency situation, a group of people were even temporarily recruited from Xinzhou, which borders Youzhou, and northern Fengzhou to serve.
Although this move caused more resentment among the people, it was still better than being invaded by soldiers.
Moreover, in order to prevent the servants from rebelling, these people were never fed, and they were not given weapons. They were forced to perform heavy labor at all times, and they fell to the ground to rest when they barely had any rest. Even so, there are still soldiers keeping a watch on them at all times - all this is so that if they cause trouble, they can easily send troops to suppress it!
Su Xiuming said happily: "I don't know who spread the news about Xinzhou to Donghu. The slaves in Xinzhou asked to return to their hometown to protect their wives and children. Before these people could be appeased, the slaves in other places were also incited and asked together. After returning home, the Liu family killed the leading troublemakers, but the situation calmed down. However, in the middle of the night, the Xinzhou servants suddenly broke into chaos, killed the soldiers of the Liu family who were supervising them, took away their horses and weapons, and fled to Xinzhou! That's fine, but before leaving, these shameless people actually burned the baggage they needed to send to the front within three days!"
The thing about Shinshu is this: This state is close to the sea and is rich in seafood, so most of the state's population lives near the sea. And in April, a hurricane broke out on the sea, bringing with it huge waves that swept almost all the way from the south to the north of the state. In just a few days, Zhongzhou, which could still barely survive, became a city with ten houses and nine houses. Even the state government was not spared from this hell on earth.
Not only that, after a disaster, it stands to reason that the court or government should provide disaster relief and exempt people from labor and taxes to recuperate the people. But in April, the late emperor was still aggrieved that his Fengci Water Palace could not be rebuilt and could only build a Hanyuan Tower. How could he care about the life and death of the people of Xinzhou
Therefore, no one cares about the tragic situation in Shinshu.
Because the state government office was destroyed in the hurricane, the state officials were buried alive by the collapsed houses. The remaining officials and their families also suffered their own disasters. It was too late to take care of themselves. Who had the patience to take care of the people
In this way, the entire Shinshu is leaderless and in chaos! Under this situation, some former libertines and scoundrels in the state gathered together to take advantage of the situation. Originally, they were still afraid of the government, but they tried several times to seize property and kidnap women, but no one from the government interfered. They became more and more courageous - and in the first month of the year, the Rong invaded in a large scale, and most of the young men of Shinshu were drafted to Donghu to work as laborers. Without the support and protection of the men in charge, ordinary people had no room to fight back in the hands of these people. !
Of course, although no one cares about Xinzhou's affairs, Dong Hu also knows about it. But at that time, the Rong people had already arrived at the city. In order not to disturb the morale of the army and affect the overall situation, Donghu ordered the news to be concealed from the Shinshu servants.
But after hiding it for several months, it was finally revealed.
Originally, these people traveled hundreds of miles, said goodbye to their families, and rushed to the bitter cold Donghu to serve. In fact, they were afraid of the imperial court's punishment and the soldiers who invaded the Central Plains and massacred the people, so they might not be able to escape. Then he gritted his teeth and endured it.
But the Rong people haven't invaded yet. Their little boy has suffered a natural disaster and has been harmed by the bullies in the village. How can they not be concerned? When the Rong invaded, Donghu, Yanzhou, and Youzhou came to Xinzhou. But if I don’t go back and take a look now, I’m afraid I won’t have a chance in the future!
Except for Shinshu, although the other prefectures did not suffer as badly as Shinshu, they were not very peaceful. Shocked by the example of the Shinshu slave laborers, even if Dong Hu told them that only Shinshu was hit by natural disasters, since people had doubts in their hearts, it was unreliable to listen to anything they heard - the government could deceive the Shinshu slave laborers, couldn't they deceive them? If you don’t go back to your hometown and see with your own eyes, you won’t be at ease after all!
The slave laborers want to go home.
But how could Donghu let him go
On the border, the Donghu Army is fighting to the death with the Rong people. At this time, if something goes wrong with the baggage, the whole situation will collapse! Moreover, once the Donghu soldiers are short of manpower, these servants can also be temporarily issued with weapons, and the supervising team rushes to the battlefield to temporarily resist, lest a breach suddenly appears and the soldiers can march in - in short, Donghu will never let them go and cannot let them go. .
"The soldiers on the front line fought extremely hard against the soldiers. How could they not be defeated if they had no food on an empty stomach?" Su Xiuming was the commander-in-chief of Yanzhou at the moment. From his position, he naturally had no time to sympathize with the mood of the soldiers in Xinzhou. , but deeply felt that these people had no regard for the overall situation, and were simply the sinners of the country. At this moment, after roughly explaining what had happened, he said solemnly, "When you return to Xinzhou from Donghu, you must pass through our Yanzhou, Liuxi. You lead Donghu's 10,000 troops, and you must pass through it. Set up an ambush on the road, be sure to kill all the fugitives! Kill their heads, split their limbs, and send them to Donghu to serve as police officers!"
There are still hundreds of thousands of slaves serving in Donghu. If they all learn from the Shinshu slaves, then this war will not be fought.
Liu Xi's eyes were red with hatred when he heard that the soldiers of Xinzhou killed the soldiers and led to the defeat of Donghu. Even if Su Xiu Ming didn't give the order, he would definitely ask for orders to go after him. Now that he heard the order, he didn't do anything. Nothing to say.
Su Xiu Ming added: "Although there are tens of thousands of escaped servants, they are all a mob. Even if we grab some horses and weapons from the soldiers, they are not comparable to your elite. But now that the troops are tight, this battle must be fought quickly. Quick decision, I will give you five days! After five days, regardless of the outcome of the battle, you must come back and report!"
Liu Xi said: "General, since Donghu has been defeated, the general wants to rush to the aid of Donghu after wiping out the Xinzhou warriors!"
"..." Su Xiu Ming thought for a long time and then said, "In the important area of Yanzhou, it is too weak to rely on 20,000 Xiliang troops to defend it. Moreover, if you only lead 10,000 Donghu troops to reinforce, it will not be of much use. Now that the new emperor has ascended the throne, I'm afraid The news of Donghu's defeat has reached the imperial capital, and the Imperial Forest Army should take action."
"But the general heard that the imperial army is weak..."
"That's because you haven't seen Xuan Jiawei!" Su Xiu Ming shook her head and said solemnly, "There is no need to discuss this matter anymore, it's settled!"
Seeing that Liu Xi still wanted to entangle, Su Xiu Ming frowned and said simply, "Do you want to test military skills with yourself?"
After sending Liu Xi away, only his biological uncle and nephew were left, and their private titles were restored. Su Xiuming said to her nephew with concern: "The Liu family has lost nearly half of its important town. Even if the Royal Forest Army sends Xuanjia Guards to help, it may not be able to help!"
Shen Zangfeng frowned and said: "Xuanjia Guards are known as elites, but they are only for the Royal Forest Army. No matter how carefully and harshly Gu Xiaode trains them, after all, the imperial capital is accustomed to peace. These people have never been on the battlefield, how can they compare with the border troops? ?”
But he added, "But there are a lot of guardsmen."
"Although there are many people, the military discipline is lax and the armor is corrupt, there is only so much we can win against the mob." Su Xiu Ming sighed, "I just couldn't say it in front of Liu Xi - if Dong Hu can't hold it, the imperial capital will be in trouble! Our My relatives are all in the imperial capital, and the 300,000 Yulin troops there are just a look at it. I'm afraid it will be difficult to protect the nobles with just 20,000 Xiliang troops. If this is the case, we can't continue to defend here. "
Everyone knows how difficult Yanzhou is to fight. Even if Su Xiu Ming and Shen Zangfeng had Mo Binwei as internal support, the fight would still be extremely difficult. Although the baggage in the city is very eye-catching, compared with the Yungui Palace and the majestic Emperor's Palace in the imperial capital of the Wei Dynasty, it is just a piece of cake. The Rong people are not stupid. As long as they take Donghu, the next step will be to take the imperial capital directly. Regarding Yanzhou, they will only besiege but not attack.
"If Donghu really can't hold it, we will return to the imperial capital to defend our family." Shen Zangfeng muttered, "But if Yanzhou gives up like this, You, Xin, and Fengzhou will suddenly lose their borders, and I am afraid that life will be ruined! Why not wait and see for a few days and wait for more details?"
Su Xiu Ming held her beard in her hand, thought for a moment, and said, "That's fine."
But that's what he said. As soon as Shen Zangfeng left, he called Su Yinshui: "Go and pick two good guards who have never met Feng'er before."
Su Yinshui responded, and then listened to Su Xiu Ming's instructions, "Then find an opportunity to chop off Feng'er... Remember not to chop at the vital points, but don't do it too lightly. You must make him unconscious on the spot and unable to see for a few days!" "
Su Yinshui was immediately startled: "Master?!"
"This kid is still a little soft-hearted." Su Xiuming said happily, "Once Donghu cannot be defended, it is a foregone conclusion that the army will invade the Central Plains. What if he can't bear the fall of Youyan and other states? That's a so-called three hundred thousand, but in reality There are also more than 200,000 soldiers. Our Qingzhou Army will not be able to reach the imperial capital for a while. The Royal Forest Army cannot be said to be of much use. After all, it is the Royal Forbidden Army. The first one to protect is the royal family, not our noble family! We can only count on the Xiliang army to be attentive! How can we continue to delay here?"
He hummed, "It's not like I don't care about the people in these states at all. I just detained Liu Xi to prevent him from rushing to aid Donghu, just to keep him here to guard Yanzhou. As for whether he can defend it or not, it depends on these states. The man's life is at stake. Anyway, let's take advantage of Liu Xi's time to hunt down the Shinshu servant, and let's make a big fuss about the assassin sneaking into Yanzhou. When I fall with Feng'er, remember to tell the personal guards and let them make a big fuss. , Immediately summon the entire army to escort me and Feng'er back to the imperial capital!"
He added, "You must remember to emphasize that we are all unconscious and in danger, otherwise abandoning the city and running away will really damage the family reputation!" (To be continued)