"By the way, General Chen, among Gao Pian's sons and nephews, are there any younger ones who are more generous, friendly to the people, and have some prestige in the army?" After sending Lu Yongzhi away, Zhu Li changed the subject and turned back to ask Chen Gong.
After hearing this, Chen Gong thought for a moment and immediately replied: "Among Gao Pian's sons and nephews, his biological son is a good-for-nothing, nicknamed "Forty-three Lang" by the bandits, a playboy; among his nephews, the most promising one is Gao Shao, who is also the governor of Huazhou and Bozhou, but he is not in Huainan; among the other sons, if we talk about the kind-hearted and talented ones, it has to be Gao Shao. This young man has been with Gao Pian since he was a child and grew up in the army. He has more or less some friendship with us veterans and has a certain prestige in the entire Yangzhou army."
"Oh, that's good. After I meet Gao Pian, if Gao Pian insists on his own way, I might have to meet this young man." Zhu Li said thoughtfully.
Although Chen Gong didn't understand what Zhu Li wanted to do, he readily responded, "Don't worry, sir. If you need my help, I will do my best to help you."
------Dividing line------
Shuozhou, the governor's office.
Because Zhu Li's most important relatives lived in the mansion, under Guo Qizuo's instructions, people coming and going were relatively low-key and the place seemed very quiet.
However, ever since Zhu Li met with the accident in Guanzhong, the governor's mansion was no longer quiet. Passers-by had gloomy faces and were in a hurry to come and go, making the place very busy.
Most of them were scouts sent by local commanders. They would rush to the governor's mansion almost every few days to ask Guo Qizuo for news about Zhu Li.
Among these town commanders, Wu Dao, Gao Su and Huo Qing were the most worried and anxious about Zhu Li's accident. They were the reborn heroic souls. They had identified Zhu Li and believed that by following him, they would accomplish great things. Now that something went wrong suddenly, how could they not be worried
But on this day, three carriages suddenly arrived in front of the governor's mansion, with two knights standing in front of the carriages. Although they were dressed in ordinary clothes, they had extraordinary bearings.
A knight in blue arrived at the gate of the mansion, jumped off his horse, and walked towards the two guards in front of the governor's mansion. After he whispered a few words to them, the guards' expressions immediately changed.
He first carefully and respectfully invited the two into the meeting hall, and then rushed into the governor's mansion to report the news to Guo Qizuo.
The people who came were none other than Yue Pengju, Tan Erhu, and their families.
After receiving the report from Yabing, Guo Qizuo did not dare to delay and hurried to the meeting hall.
In the hall, Guo Qizuo, Guo Chongtao, Wang, Meng Juehai, Shi Yan, Wang Zhongyin and others sat on both sides with doubtful expressions. Shi Yan, who used to look youthful and high-spirited, had been hanging his head recently, looking very dull and melancholy, but his eyes looking towards the center of the meeting hall were full of expectation.
Not only Shi Yan, but the six people present all had the same expression, staring eagerly at the center of the conference hall, or to be exact, at the two people standing there. The man on the left was dressed in a green shirt, with a long sword on his waist, and he had sword-like eyebrows and bright eyes, looking very heroic.
The man on the right was dressed in ordinary cloth, sturdy and thick, with a beard and a pursed mouth, looking very fierce and rough. Looking at the two people, Guo Qizuo was hesitant and asked, "Excuse me, which one is Yue Pengju?"
"I'm Yue here. I wonder who is Mr. Guo. The envoy asked us to go directly to Mr. Guo after we arrive at the governor's mansion." The man in green shirt and carrying a sword was Yue Pengju. He took Zhu Wen's second brother Zhu Cun hostage and arrived at Daizhou safely. He didn't go straight to the governor's mansion until he entered the area controlled by the Shuozhou army and handed Zhu Cun over to the Daizhou guards for custody.
"It's me?" Guo Qizuo's face twitched, he seemed a little excited, even his voice trembled a little.
After Zhu Li got into trouble, he had sent out several waves of ghost warriors and issued a death order, asking them to sneak into Guanzhong to search for Zhu Li's whereabouts, to find him alive or dead.
However, although the news that came back proved that Zhu Li did not die in the battle at Wei Bridge, it was learned that Zhu Li was seriously injured and fell into the Wei River. Since then, there has been no trace of him and his whereabouts are unknown, completely cutting off all clues.
He has been keeping the news a secret and has not told Zhu Li's family, nor the two young ladies, Yuchi Jin and Wang Yueyao. However, given the information channels those two have, if they are no longer sure of Zhu Li's news, they will be unable to keep it secret sooner or later.
It was impossible for Guo Qizuo not to worry. He came here to follow Zhu Li. If Zhu Li died tragically before his great cause was accomplished, it would be a huge joke. As for this idea, he didn't even dare to think about it now.
Just today, a guard suddenly came to report to him that someone from Shaozhou had come and asked to see him. The man seemed to be carrying a letter from the envoy. Upon hearing the news, even Guo Chongtao, Wang, Shi Yan and others who were handling government affairs in the governor's office could no longer sit still. A group of people immediately put down their work and hurried into the conference hall.
When Yue Pengju heard that the person asking the question was Guo Qizhao, he did not have any doubts. After all, this was the Governor's Mansion in Shuozhou. There should be only one Guo Qizhao in the Governor's Mansion. Who would dare to impersonate him here? He quickly took out the letter that Zhu Li had given him, stepped forward a few steps and handed the letter over.
"This is the letter that the envoy ordered me to present to you, sir. Please take a look at it."
Upon hearing this, Guo Qizuo hurriedly took the letter and opened it immediately. Guo Chongtao and Wang beside him no longer cared about being reserved and hurried over, standing on Guo Qizuo's left and right, and began to read it carefully.
"Yes, it is the envoy's handwriting." Guo Qizuo immediately proved that the letter was written by Zhu Li, which made everyone in the hall immediately happy and breathed a sigh of relief.
"General Yue, where are the envoy and others? How are they doing now?" Guo Qizuo read the letter quickly at a glance, and handed it to Shi Yan and others who had gathered around him. He couldn't wait to ask Yue Pengju about Zhu Li's recent situation.
In the letter, Zhu Li reported his safety to them and told them to focus on defending and developing Shuozhou. He also asked Guo Qizuo to make use of Yue Pengju, saying that he had the talent of a general. At this time, Guo Qizuo had no time to think about Yue Pengju and directly addressed him as General.
Yue Pengju said modestly, "When we went north, the envoy had already gone south; the court secretly sent countless assassins to kill the envoy, and even set up a trap on the way north, so the envoy could not return north immediately, so he asked us to come here first to pass on the news, and by the way, he asked us to come to Shuozhou to serve."
"Asshole, Wei Qiao forced him to death, but that old eunuch is so abominable." When Shi Yan heard that Zhu Li was still alive but still had to face such a serious situation, he immediately
I got angry.
"If I had my temper, I would just shoot these ballless bastards to death, no matter whether they are powerful eunuchs or not." Meng Juehai also echoed indignantly.
... ...
Guo Qizuo had no time to pay attention to their complaints. He turned to look at Wang and Guo Chongtao. Now that it was confirmed that Zhu Li was still alive, of course he had to find a way to bring him back to Shuozhou. In terms of planning and design, he obviously could not rely on those warriors and could only discuss with these two.
Facing Guo Qizuo's gaze, Wang and Guo Chongtao understood what he meant. They did not offer any advice directly. Instead, Wang turned to Yue Pengju and asked, "General Yue, when the envoy separated from you, did you tell him what you were planning to do recently?"
"Yes. When we parted, I asked the envoy what his plans were. The envoy said that since the court did not want to see him return to Shuozhou, he would just wander around the south. If it really didn't work and he was forced to do so, he would go west to Sichuan and then to Liangzhou, and then go back to Shuozhou from there." Yue Pengju thought about it and said frankly.
Hearing that Zhu Li really had a plan, the three of them thought for a moment, and Guo Chongtao said, "Why don't you choose to go east, go down the river, enter the sea, and return north by water?"
"Taking the water route is not safe. The Tang navy is feared throughout the world. Although the envoy is skilled in martial arts and has seldom been rivaled on the battlefield, he will be at a loss once he returns north by water. Once he is on the sea, he will not be able to make full use of his advantage in martial arts. Once he is surrounded, his life and death will depend on fate. This is naturally not a good strategy." Wang analyzed self-righteously.
Guo Qizuo nodded and said, "According to the intelligence I have obtained, the death squads dispatched by the court are not limited to the Shen Ce Army. There is also a mysterious force, but their details have not been figured out yet. Li Keyong and Li Sigong have put all their efforts into it. They have united their forces and laid a net along the Weishui River and the Yellow River. Fortunately, the envoy did not rush north, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous."
Wang heard this, stroked the few strands of beard that had just been exposed under his chin, and suggested: "The most urgent thing we should do is to stir up some trouble to divert the court's attention. At the same time, secretly order the Ghost Warriors to split into three groups. One group will march into Xu and Yang with great fanfare, set up a maze and harass the people; the other group will select elite troops and secretly sneak into Sichuan and Shu to wait for the envoy there, so as to be safe. Finally, send the strongest secret guards to find the envoy and protect him closely."
Guo Qizuo and Guo Chongtao nodded in agreement after hearing this. Guo Chongtao agreed, "This plan is feasible. At the very least, it can disperse the enemy's forces."
"Then how do we create disputes and disrupt the court's attention?" Guo Qizuo asked.
As for how to welcome Zhu Li back to Shuozhou, didn't Guo Qizuo have a better plan? Of course not, it was the character of Guo Jia in history. Throughout Guo Jia's life, every time he offered advice, it was when others had no other ideas to advise, and he would stand up and make decisions in times of crisis.
When giving advice, even if he had an idea, he would not be the first to say it out loud, but would give others the opportunity to shine. In any case, if the idea was not suitable, he would strongly recommend it to Cao Cao and not adopt it.
Moreover, whenever he offered advice, he always looked at the long-term. Perhaps you couldn't see any effect at the time, but after a while, you would have to admire his foresight. If we only talk about the competition of military strategies, Guo Jia is no less than any top strategist during the Three Kingdoms period.