After Liu Jian and Li Xiaofei repelled the messenger, they continued talking and headed towards the back hall. The two talked about the current situation along the way. Liu Jian's face was full of sorrow: "What I am most afraid of now is that someone will come to report the message. Come to think of it,

It is also strange that it has been more than a month since we withdrew from Huaiyang City, and there is no news from the front line."

Li Xiaofei comforted him: "No news is not bad news. We can have more time. I have a bold idea. Since those officials suspect that we are conspiring with Zhu Yaoshi, we might as well go and talk to him."

Make a plan!"

Liu Jian stopped and looked around: "You are really brave, letting the prince conspire with the traitor who killed the emperor."

Li Xiaofei said softly: "Murong and I went to find out the truth and buy time for the prince. If there is a chance, we might as well persuade him to go to Jiangnan to wipe out the remaining forces of those aristocratic families!"

Liu Jian smiled: "This is seeking skin from a tiger. If I were Zhu Yaoshi," Liu Jian stopped here, as if he had thought of something.

Li Xiaofei was about to speak, Liu Jian waved his hand: "Let me think about it."

After a while, Liu Jian put his hand on Li Xiaofei's shoulder: "You are indeed my lucky general. I have always looked at problems from my own side, but I have never looked at the general trend of the world from the perspective of my opponent!"

Li Xiaofei was a little confused: "Your Majesty, you mean that Yaoshi Zhu might cooperate with us?"

Liu Jian put down his hand: "Cooperation is impossible, but if I were Zhu Yaoshi, I would not bite the hard nut of Liu Jian first. The remaining elites of Liang Jun are in Liu Jian's hands, and Xiangyang Yi

It is difficult to defend and attack, not to mention that if you lose, you can retreat to Bashu. The remnants of the aristocratic families who worked hard with Liu Jian but left Jiangnan are lingering. Zhu Yaoshi will not engage in this loss-making business. In this way, Zhu Yaoshi must take Jiangnan first

, the last few groups are besieging Xiangyang!"

Li Xiaofei nodded: "Your Majesty's analysis is very accurate, and Zhu Yaoshi's hometown is far away in Fan Yang. I believe that once the Mobei people in Fan Yang make moves, Zhu Yaoshi will divide his troops to rescue them!"

Liu Jian wiped away his previous worries and pulled Li Xiaofei up: "I can finally have a good sleep tonight. Let's wait for Murong and the others to come back without getting drunk!"

Let's talk about Zhu Yaoshi's end. He Wuji's army on the north bank inexplicably disappeared with 30,000 troops. He Wuji was so angry that he didn't eat for two days. He fought westward to Suizhou City and could no longer advance. Suizhou City had blocked the Heilongjiang Army a few years ago.

After the Banner Khanate's army, the city walls were reinforced a lot, and the soldiers and civilians in the city were able to defend the city even more easily. The most important thing is that Qin Zhong and Qin Gou'er successively brought their yellow-clad inner guards to Suizhou.

Qin Zhong and Qin Gou'er were originally going to find Liu Jian, but before they arrived in Xiangyang, they heard the news that the Wuchang League had elected the young prince as the new emperor. To take the overall situation into consideration, the two of them decided to hold Suizhou first.

If the city is defeated, why is Wuji's vigor so great?

He Wuji continued to attack for ten days and lost nearly ten thousand people. He retreated because he was afraid of being punished by Zhu Yaoshi, so he repeatedly failed to attack the city.

He Wuji was at a loss what to do, and all around him offered suggestions: "Marshal He's army is now trapped under a fortified city. Over time, food and grass will not be enough, and the rear troops and horses have disappeared for no reason, which shows that there are still enemy troops between Huaiyang and our army!"

"

"Marshal He might as well send a letter to Marshal Wang and ask him to go together to capture Wuchang and then march west to Jiangling!"

"Abandoning Suizhou, we move forward, and the enemy troops on the back foot will go east and cut off our army's food route."

"It is better to besiege Suizhou for two months and fight steadily! We have many soldiers and are not in a hurry!"

Everyone was chattering, which made He Wuji very upset. He Wuji slapped the table: "If you dare to be brave, I will send people back to Huaiyang and Jinling to report the news, and ask the emperor to send troops to search for the enemy between Jinling and Huaiyang."

The cavalry! You go to the south of the Yangtze River for me again and ask Marshal Wang to send troops to the west to support our army! The army surrounded Suizhou, dug ditches and cut off the roads, and trapped him for several months! As for food and grass

, sending a grain collection team to the surrounding counties every day to collect grain and come back!"

Marshal Wang Tiezhu on the right relied on his incomparable bravery to defeat Yuzhang, Fuzhou, Junzhou, Yuanzhou, Jizhou, Hengzhou, Tanzhou and other places, and was preparing to go south to attack Chenzhou where Cui Ju was located.

Cui Ju and Shen De had already made plans to escape to the mountains in the southwest. In the past three years, they had built hundreds of villages in the mountains in the southwest, gathered people of all ethnic groups to farm and garrison, and prepared a retreat.

Several of He Wuji's staff came to see Wang Tiezhu with letters. Wang Tiezhu remembered his friendship with He Wuji and prepared to lead his army north to attack Wuchang.

Wang Tiezhu's men immediately objected: "Cui Ju is still in Chenzhou. Now that we are leading the troops in the northern area, Cui Ju will definitely counterattack! Cui Ju's general Shen De can only be defeated by Marshal Wang. At this time, we should attack Chenzhou with all our strength. Where?

Can we go to Wuchang?"

"It's only a matter of time before Marshal He conquers Suizhou. If we go to conquer Wuchang and compete with Marshal He for credit, it won't be easy to explain in front of the emperor in the future."

"What's more, the Emperor didn't give the order. We changed the march route without authorization. What if the Emperor blames us? Victory is no achievement, but defeat is a serious crime!"

Wang Tiezhu was a rough man, so he waved his hand after hearing what his subordinates said: "Everyone is working for the imperial court. In this case, several envoys went back and told Marshal He that after I captured Chenzhou, I would ask the Emperor for an order, and then go north to meet Marshal He."

How about meeting up?"

The envoys didn't dare to say no, so they had no choice but to agree.

Wang Tiezhu won consecutive battles and seized countless gold, silver, jewels and grains. There were also many beauties presented by powerful men from all over the country. When entertaining the envoys, he drank a few drinks and then hugged a woman and said to the envoys: "Brothers, when we started

When I was in trouble, I just wanted to have meat to eat and wine to drink every day, and now I really have it, not only I have it, but it’s all good stuff, and I even have it that I didn’t dare to think about before!”

The envoys raised their glasses: "Marshal Wang is an invincible hero. I will have to rely on Marshal Wang's care in the future."

Wang Tiezhu laughed loudly: "As long as my bronze hammer goes wherever it goes, I will be invincible. I really want to find an opponent now! Come, brothers, eat and drink well. I am in a good mood today.

, Brothers, don’t take it too seriously, I still have some gold and silver here to give you for travel expenses!”

The envoys were overjoyed. He Wuji's army had never been able to enjoy such a banquet, let alone be rewarded with gold and silver: "Thank you, Marshal Wang, for your kindness! We will do our best to serve the Marshal!"

Wang Tiezhu raised the wine jar and took a sip: "We are all working for the emperor. We are all brothers. Don't be so open-minded and drink heavily! Eat a big bowl of meat! There are also good things after eating! Haha."

As soon as the servant next to him clapped his hands, more than ten beauties came in and walked to sit down next to the people eating and drinking at the banquet.

The envoys' eyes were wide open. They had not seen a woman since they set out from Jinling City. Now, with a wave of Wang Tiezhu's hand, a beautiful woman was waiting for him. He Wuji's instructions were immediately forgotten.

One of the two marshals was trapped under the fortified city, and the other was overwhelming. However, the emperor Zhu Yaoshi and the prime minister Qiu Xingzhi complained endlessly in Jinling City.

After Zhu Yaoshi became the emperor, in order to fulfill his promise of being diligent and caring for the people, he posted an imperial list and told the people that they could directly beat the drum and go to the emperor to redress their grievances.

Pharmacist Zhu thought that he could win people's hearts with this, but he didn't expect that as soon as the imperial list came out, all the drums would be broken on the first day.

Those who came to see Zhu Yaoshi were either from the East who had taken away the vegetables from the West, or from Nancun who had cut off the water and roads from North Village. Even couples who were quarreling came to beat the drum and look for the emperor.

The next day, Pharmacist Zhu sent people to tear up the imperial list and remove the drums, but countless refugees were crying out for injustice at the gate of the palace.

Pharmacist Zhu himself did not dare to see the people again, so he sent Qiu Xingzhi to deal with it. Qiu Xingzhi bit the bullet and asked a few people, only to find out that many counties in Huainan and Huaibei had misunderstood the people.

It was the farming season, but now it was too late to transplant rice seedlings. Every household had no food. Seeing that there was going to be a famine, they came to the court.

Qiu Xingzhi almost collapsed to the ground and hurriedly ran to find Pharmacist Zhu: "Your Majesty, the farming season in Huainan and Huaibei is now late, and famine is imminent. We must make plans early!"

Pharmacist Zhu's eyes widened: "For this kind of field matter, don't these people know when to plant it?"

Qiu Xingzhi shook his head: "In the past, people from the imperial court's chief agricultural officers and dianong departments went to various places to arrange farming for the aristocratic families first. When the common people saw that the slaves of the aristocratic families began to farm, they followed suit. Now we

We have eradicated the aristocratic families and changed the calendar, but the people are still waiting for us to send people to persuade the farmers! Alas!"

Pharmacist Zhu almost vomited blood: "I thought the common people knew when to farm and when to sow. I didn't expect it would be so troublesome to rule the world!"

Qiu Xingzhi sighed: "There are still many troubles ahead. It is difficult to conquer the world, but it is even harder to defend the world. Let's find a way to deal with the famine in various places now! Otherwise, we won't be able to stay in Jinling for long!"

Pharmacist Zhu held his head in his hands and thought for a while: "Since they have no food at home, we should recruit them into the army. Let the remaining old, young, women and children distribute some food and then think of a way!"

Qiu Xingzhi looked at Zhu Yaoshi, and he really had no better way: "I don't think this matter should be so hasty, so let's convene everyone to discuss it!"

Pharmacist Zhu waved his hand: "No need, they can't come up with a better idea, so they'll just do this!"

Qiu Xingzhi was about to leave, but someone came from outside the palace gate: "Urgent report! Urgent report!"

Qiu Xingzhi stopped and waited for the emergency report with Zhu Yaoshi.

The soldier who came to report the letter was panting and kneeling on the ground. Qiu Xingzhi took the sweat-soaked letter and handed it to Zhu Yaoshi.

Pharmacist Zhu opened the letter and began to tremble slowly as he read it: "Who else knows about this letter?"

The soldier returned: "The villain took the letter from General Lingyun and went straight to Jinling to see His Majesty!"

Pharmacist Zhu looked at the soldier and asked, "How much do you know about things in the north?"

The soldier raised his head: "Your Majesty, only Li Yang is left in the north! General Ling Yun hopes that your Majesty will send troops to recover Hebei!"

Pharmacist Zhu took a deep breath: "Come here, take him to the prison and entertain him with wine and meat. No one is allowed to see him!"

The soldier became frightened: "Your Majesty, what crime have I committed? I beg your Majesty to spare my life!"

Pharmacist Zhu smiled bitterly: "I won't kill you, but now this news cannot be leaked out!"

The soldier lowered his head and stood up and followed several guards. Qiu Xingzhi waited for everyone to go away: "Your Majesty, this matter cannot be hidden as time goes by! The main family members of our army are all in Hebei. If we cannot regain Hebei as soon as possible, I am afraid that the morale of the army will not be good."

stable!"

Pharmacist Zhu almost choked and struck his chest: "If He Wuji, Wang Tiezhu and the others are dispatched, doesn't that mean we are telling them that Hebei is lost?"

Qiu Xingzhi touched his white hair: "Now it seems that the only way is to organize the strong men from Huainan and Huaibei into a new army and take them to the north to regain the lost territory. However, without training and a suitable commander, it may be difficult to regain Hebei!"

Pharmacist Zhu thought for a while: "Let's treat the dead horse as a living horse doctor. The commander-in-chief has one person imprisoned in Liyang. The situation is urgent now. I think I will leave the recruitment of new troops to you. You can take five thousand people to various places."

Gather the people and take them to Liyang, release Zhong Zhiming, and you and Ling Yun will protect him to regain Hebei!"

Qiu Xingzhi had to admire Zhu Yaoshi for actually releasing the surrendered general to be the commander-in-chief. However, now looking at the entire Zhu Yaoshi team, there is really no suitable person, unless Zhu Yaoshi goes into battle himself. But Zhu Yaoshi is now the emperor.
Chapter completed!