After she finished speaking, she left and left. At that time, women were deeply influenced by Confucian ethics. The virtue of women is not to be jealous. In a large family with mixed wives and concubines, it is a woman's duty to treat her husband's concubines and children of common people well. Because of the personal relationship between Zhang Xian and Yue Pengju, the fourth sister Gao boldly persuaded her. It was for the sake of the couple. She didn't expect Hua Rong to have such an expression. She secretly said that Mrs. Yue is good in every way, but Mrs. Yue is good in everything. It's because I can't pass the test of jealousy.
After Yue Pengju discussed the military situation, he went to a distant place to investigate. When he came back, it was already night.
There was a lamp on in the room, a few dishes of side dishes were placed on the table, and Hua Rong was personally brushing his silver-grey armor that had been battle-hardened for a long time.
He hurriedly said: "Sister Seventeen, you are not in good health. Please rest and stop brushing."
Hua Rong smiled sweetly and put the armor away: "You'll need it when you wear it and go into battle again."
Yue Pengju sat down, took a bowl to eat, and then sighed: "I just found out today that the power of the Dongting navy is greater than I thought."
Hua Rong nodded: "I also went out to do some research today. The power of Yang Mo and others is more than ten times greater than that of King Qin. However, I got a piece of news today..."
"what news?"
"When I was wandering around today, I heard the jugglers in Tanzhou City boasting that Zhong Ziyi had kidnapped the most beautiful prostitute in Liuyang County, Xinnu, to be his concubine. And this woman was once Yang Mo's concubine."
"Is there such a thing?"
"Zhong and Yang have formed an alliance. If their oath can be resolved first, wouldn't it be much better to defeat them one by one?"
Yue Pengju nodded: "Okay, it would be best if the alliance between the two can be resolved first."
The couple talked about what they had collected for a while. Hua Rong sighed: "I was very excited when I heard Zhong Xiang's mention of 'equal to the noble and the humble' along the way. For a time, I thought he was a person. However, when I saw it with my own eyes in Dongting, I have seen and heard that his family's properties are spread all over the states and counties. If there is true equality between the rich and the poor, why are the villagers in this area still selling their sons and daughters? It can be seen that he really became the emperor, but he was just a new lonely man. In this world, the cycle goes on and on. In fact, it is always the people at the top who enjoy the glory, while the people below can only follow and serve. Regardless of the emperor or the water bandits, they are all like this. Today we wiped out the water bandits. It just makes Zhao Deji more extravagant and lustful. Fighting and killing every day, in fact, it is not as good as following Brother Lu in the Donglin Temple, green lanterns and ancient Buddhas, and having simple meals... "
Yue Pengju heard his wife's calm tone and dejection. He had almost never seen her like this. He was a little surprised. He reached out and grabbed her hand and asked her: "Sister Seventeen, you have been worried all the way. What is going on?"
Hua Rong shook his head: "It's okay, I just felt it."
Yue Pengju glanced at his wife and said, "If there's anything going on, you must tell me. Don't keep it in your heart."
Hua Rong smiled slightly and said angrily: "What can I hide from you? It's just that I feel too tired recently and hate war."
Yue Pengju breathed a sigh of relief. He felt the same on this point. Seeing that his wife's words were reasonable and reasonable, she didn't worry about him. The continuous march was really tiring, so he rested early that night.
… …
The next day, Yue Pengju convened everyone for discussion again, and this time he put forward a clear idea. One was to block the food route of Yang Mo's navy, and the other was to block the surrounding transactions. With the two-pronged approach, Yang Mo's navy in Dongting heard the news and was very frightened. .
Yue Pengju looked at the map and conducted an on-site inspection again, and found that there was a pocket row of lakes between the north and the south called Qingcao Lake, which was not marked on the map. Xu Yi said it was a local name, so he did not mark it.
Everyone discussed that Qingcao Lake was like a pocket. If Yang Mo's north-south passage was cut off, it would be like catching a turtle in an urn when the food and grass were cut off. They immediately sent people to guard Qingcao Lake.
When Yang Mo and Zhong Ziyi discovered that Qingcao Lake was occupied, they were even more alarmed. They sent people to sneak attacks many times, but they failed every time.
At the same time, Yue Pengju summoned Li Yu, who had been dealing with Yang Mo's army for many years, and asked him to persuade the leader of the water village to surrender to Yang Mo. There were more than ten water villages near Tanzhou, and Li Yu took a look at the ten copies he had made. After reading the Zhao'an flag and the notice, he knelt down and said: "I would rather be punished by military law than provoke the water bandits. Over the years, all those sent by the imperial court to persuade them to surrender never returned. They were all killed by Yang Mo."
Yue Pengju frowned and said, "You don't need to be afraid. No matter whether they agree to surrender or not, as long as you come back safely, it will be considered a great achievement."
Li Yu had no choice but to go to the nearest water village to persuade him to surrender.
The leader of the water village was called Huang Zuo. He had more than 1,500 people. When he saw Li Yu coming, he came out in person, took the notice and the flag and took a look. Li Yu took the opportunity to say: "The emperor's kindness is so great that he sent Yue Xianggong to conquer Dongting. You need to know Mr. Yue is different from the previous imperial naval forces. Yang Mo is determined to be no match for him, so it is better to abandon the dark side and join the bright side as soon as possible and make his wife a shadow."
Huang Zuo had already heard about the arrival of the world-famous Yue family army, so he was very polite to Li Yu and only said: "I will think about it for myself."
Li Yu did not dare to go to the other nine water villages to persuade them to surrender one by one, so he handed the remaining flags to Huang Zuo: "You can distribute the remaining troops of Jiuzhaigou." Then he left.
As soon as Li Yu left, Huang Zuo immediately summoned his men and horses to discuss, saying that his water stronghold was the first to bear the brunt. Now that the food route was cut off, it was better to surrender. However, his subordinates were afraid that Yue Peng would kill again after being lured to surrender, so they hesitated. Huang Zuo thought for a while and said "I heard that Mr. Yue and his wife are famous all over the world. They are not treacherous people. Let's watch again."
Immediately, Huang Zuo distributed the remaining nine flags, and the hearts of each water village were temporarily mixed.
As soon as Li Yusheng explained the situation, Yue Peng was overjoyed and immediately ordered to promote him to the second official position. After the reward was completed, he heard a commotion outside. It turned out that Zhang Xian and others were managing the trading market and captured more than 400 hidden Yang Mo soldiers.
Hua Rong and Yue Pengju came to check, but they saw these four hundred people being detained on the school grounds, all in ragged clothes and with disheveled faces.
The defender shouted: "Mr. Yue is here."
Everyone knelt down one after another, and only a few men with ferocious faces and unruly faces stood.
Yue Pengju said angrily: "You are burning, killing, plundering, and yet you refuse to accept the summons. Your crime deserves to be executed. What can you say?"
The man said coldly: "We have Mr. Zhong protecting us in heaven. If we are killed by the dog army, our souls will go to heaven with Mr. Zhong to enjoy happiness. Isn't it far better than suffering on earth?"
At that time, the people believed in Prime Minister Zhong and called him "Master", which shows the profound influence of Prime Minister Zhong. When everyone heard his words, it was not easy to argue with him.
Hua Rong came over and asked the man: "Xiang Zhong once said that if he practices the Dharma, the world will be equal to the rich and the poor, rich and poor. You have insufficient food and clothing in the water village, so you have to take risks to trade. But, Yang Mo, Zhong Ziyi and others Why not be rich and poor with you?"
The man was speechless, but another kneeling man said loudly: "What I saw, the two heavenly kings lived in the water village eating and drinking all day long. Each of them had three wives and four concubines, wore silks and satins, and sang happily every day. , good wine and delicious food are not as good as the poor people who live in poverty and suffer all kinds of sins... "
Hua Rong smiled and said: "Yang Mo said that Zhong Xiang has a spirit, but since Mr. Yue besieged Dongting Lake and blocked the grain road, what can Yang Mo do? He has also sent people to sneak attacks, but how has he ever won a victory? Mr. Yue is now Seal Qingcao Lake and soon we will catch turtles in jars and capture Yang Mo and others."
Everyone secretly glanced at her, but when they saw her speaking, she was smiling even though she was not smiling. Her voice was gentle, and some of the timidity in her heart was gone.
Yue Pengju was very satisfied with his wife's words and took the opportunity to say: "You are good people, but you were deceived by witchcraft and were driven here. If you are killed, what will happen to the family? God has the virtue of good life, so why not let him go?" I will save you and go back to persuade the believers to surrender." He immediately ordered everyone to be released and distributed a copper coin to each person.
The crowd had faced off against the officers and soldiers before, and every time they were captured, they were destined to die. Unexpectedly, this time they not only survived, but also had money. They were overjoyed and left cheering. Yue Pengju also ordered that they be allowed to go to the market to buy scarce daily necessities and teach merchants. The underestimated value will be repaid later by the officers and soldiers. These hundreds of people bought cheap goods and returned to the water village. Naturally, they advertised how happy life was on land, which further disturbed the people in the water village.
For more than a month, Yue Pengju only stayed in the local area. He was not in a hurry to send troops, but focused on attacking the heart. Slowly, rumors spread in Yang Mo's water stronghold, and he could no longer sit still. On this day, he Received a letter from the puppet Qi Liu Yu. Yang Mo and Liu Yu have a long history of correspondence. Liu Yu sent generous gifts many times in order to win over the southern naval forces to jointly surround Zhao Deji.
Immediately, Yang Mo summoned more than 80 leaders of the entire water village to discuss matters. Yang Mo called him the "Great Sage Heavenly King", and Zhong Xiang's son Zhong Ziyi was called "Prince Zhong". These two were the leaders of the Dongting navy, relying on Zhong Xiang. The "Spirit in Heaven" acts.
Because prostitutes were wary of slaves, there was some acrimony between the two of them, and they had not been in contact for a long time. This time, because a large army was suppressing the situation, it was related to the future of the navy. The elder Yang took the initiative and said: "Prince Zhong has obtained the pressure." Madam Zhai, you are satisfied and there is nothing dirty in your family. Now that Yue Peng has raised his troops to encircle and suppress us, we must work together to help."
Zhong Ziyi naturally said: "I understand."
Yang Mo then said: "I have inquired about Yue Pengju's details. Although he is a powerful general on land, the troops he leads are all from the north. They are not used to water warfare, so there is nothing to be afraid of. We just need to stick to the water. There is nothing he can do about it."
Huang Zuo had already distributed 9 points of surrender letters to others. The village leaders said one after another: "Yue Pengju is no better than other mediocre generals in the imperial court. If the food road is cut off, we will have no food and grass this autumn. How can we withstand it?"
Yang Mo laughed loudly: "What's there to be afraid of? Mr. Zhong's spirit in heaven will naturally protect us from victory. Besides, we have Emperor Liu of Da Qi as our backing, so there is nothing to worry about."
Master Zhong was their spiritual victory method, but it was no longer enough to convince everyone. However, everyone had no choice but to break up the meeting and return to the water village to prepare.
After this meeting, Huang Zuo saw that Yang Mo and others had no preparation at all, so he made up his mind to surrender. He asked someone to tell Li Yu and agreed on a date for surrender.
Yue Pengju was overjoyed when he heard this and immediately ordered Wang Gui to accept the surrender on his behalf.
On this day, Huang Zuo led more than 1,500 of his men to surrender. Wang Gui was also fully equipped and led everyone to accept the surrender. Both sides were wary. On this day, the weather was bright and sunny, and the two sides lined up to meet each other, accepting surrender as if they were receiving the enemy. According to the rules of the army, they are all fully armed, and their armor is hot from the sun. But Huang Zuo's army is obviously not as strict as the official army. Only Huang Zuo rides a horse, and the others are infantry. Wang Guiming leads the battle, and he carries his own weapons Weaving iron knots and bamboos, a horse galloped out, shouting: "I am promoted to the king under the command of Mr. Yue. I am here to accept the surrender according to the order of Mr. Yue. Mr. Yue is based on benevolence and righteousness. Anyone who is willing to surrender will not be harmed. No harm will be done." Treat me kindly. I am ordered to break an arrow as an oath."