end song

Chapter 1233 Progress
Meng Tong was very tough when he was in Baiyangdian Shuizhai, and he looked like he was not afraid of the sky and the earth.

But when he really got in front of Li Xia, he took a peek, and saw the surrounding Tang soldiers in armor one by one, with neat lines and awe-inspiring military appearance.

The aura of killing was so overwhelming that he, a little water bandit leader, dared not even breathe out.

He lowered his head, fixed his eyes on the toes of his shoes, couldn't hear the conversation in front of him at all, and his mind was muddled.

Suddenly, someone patted him on the shoulder.

"Meng Dangjia, Meng Dangjia?"

When Meng Tong looked up, he saw that it was Shen Kai, the general beside Zhang Hongdao, calling him.

"Boss Meng, the boss told you to go to the front."

"Hush." ​​Meng Tong was taken aback, and quickly said: "What is the head of the house, I am either the head of the house, or... an ordinary person."

Shen Kai couldn't help but sneer slightly when he heard the words.

A few days ago, Jingjie wanted to recruit the Baiyangdian water village several times, but Meng Tong refused at that time, and his attitude was very arrogant, threatening, "Your grandfather Meng has been in this Daze all his life, no matter what kind of shit you sweat the emperor!" Come, don't even try to make grandpa subdue."

"Grandpa Meng has become an ordinary person again today?"

"Don't dare, don't dare."

Meng Tong's voice was very weak, and following Shen Kai forward, he raised his eyes and caught a glimpse of Zhang Rou's back.

Zhang Rou was tall and burly, but at this time she lowered her head slightly and looked very respectful. As for the person standing in front of her, he was obviously the emperor, wearing a gilt armor with dragon patterns, and she was actually taller than Zhang Rou.

"Grass... Grassman Meng Tong, long live His Majesty the Emperor!"

Meng Tong didn't dare to take a closer look, and with a "plop", he knelt down and kowtowed firmly.

When he heard a young voice say something, he could vaguely hear that it was telling him to get up, but he didn't dare to confirm it, which was very embarrassing.

In fact, the official dialect of Song State in the south is also Kaifeng dialect, Meng Tong, a man from Hebei, can't understand it, he is really too nervous.

"Get up, you are a reckless hero, don't lose your prestige."

"It's not Cao Mang, it's not Cao Mang, it's grass people." Meng Tong responded quickly.

He stood up tremblingly, only then did he realize that Zhang Rou's coming to recruit him really saved his life and gave him a chance to face the saint.

"Meng Dangjia is also funny."

"Your Majesty." Zhang Judao: "The men, women, children, and children of Baiyangdian Water Village, together with the people in the surrounding mountains and fields who are 'blessed' by it, have a population of nearly 5000."

"Oh?"

Li Xia was quite pleasantly surprised when he heard the words. He wanted to farm in Hebei, but there was indeed a shortage of people.

Zhang Rou continued: "In addition, there are still some grains in the water village."

Li Xia was even more surprised.

Meng Tong was startled, opened his mouth, he had a lot to say, and looked at Zhang Rou with an innocent expression.

"This……"

Zhang Rou cupped her hands to Li Xia, and said, "Meng Dangjia is willing to bring all the people in the village to surrender, and offer the food stored in the village."

"It seems that Meng Qing has the heart to serve the country." Li Xia nodded, and said to the officials around him: "Discuss merit as appropriate, and discuss an official position with Meng Qing."

"The minister obeys the order."

Meng Tong wanted to speak but didn't dare to speak, his already dazed mind felt even more chaotic.

But no matter what, he finally became an official, and his Meng family has never been an official in several generations.

He couldn't help feeling more grateful to Zhang Roulai.

As for what Zhang Rou said to Li Xia later, it was beyond his comprehension.

"Your Majesty, bandits are everywhere in Hebei, not only in Baiyangdian, but also in Taihang Mountain."

"Doesn't the Mongolian court care?"

"If we talk about Meng Yuan's governance of the Central Plains, it should be 'rough'. This is like grazing. There are princes as shepherd boys to herd sheep for them, and they don't care how many mice there are on the grass."

Zhang Rou no longer looks at Meng Tong, he only regards Meng Tong as a meeting ceremony, as a step up to him standing in a higher position in Xintang, and continues to say to Li Xia: "These bandits and bandits Meng Yuan don't care about them, but the local princes can't ignore them." Well, the old minister has also suppressed a few batches. Now the remaining ones have some friendship with the old minister, and the old minister is willing to help His Majesty."

It has to be said that Li Xia is very satisfied with Zhang Rou's statement.

See you again after many years. This time, this Hebei tycoon seemed to be very sensible in his speech and actions, even in Li Xia's opinion, it was a little too good.

"As soon as Mr. Zhang came back, most of the hearts of Hebei people were settled..."

Suddenly, there was a little commotion in the crowd.

Everyone turned their heads to look, but it was one of the little water bandit leaders who came with Meng Tong. Without being summoned, someone walked forward without permission. He poked his head as if he wanted to see Li Xia, so he was pinned down as an assassin .

Even though Meng Tongdang became nervous, he turned his head to look, and said hastily, "This is only two years ago when he arrived at the water village. He doesn't know the rules, Caomin, ah, I don't know what he wants to do."

Li Xia glanced over there, waved his hands indifferently, and was about to calm down this trivial matter, but then glanced at the little water bandit leader who was being held down.

"bring it here."

At this point, not only Meng Tong, but even Zhang Rou felt a little uneasy.

Fortunately, the little leader of the water bandit was still honest after being brought forward, he only looked at Li Xia in a daze, and did not act excessively.

"I have seen you?"

The little leader of the water bandit shook his head and nodded again, as if he wanted to deny it at first, but he didn't dare to deceive the king after thinking about it again.

"Your Majesty...Your Majesty don't remember... Caomin?"

"Do you remember me?"

"Cao Min Shi Hui has a nickname in Taoism called 'Wonderful Abacus'."

When Shi Hui said this, he paused for a while, and seeing that Li Xia didn't react much, he reminded cautiously: "Caomin used to be on the Yangtze River, um, doing some business, and was once...gracefully released by His Majesty."

Li Xia glanced at Shi Hui again, vaguely remembering something.

Shi Hui reminded in a low voice: "Xingchang four years, the Yangtze River, Caishiji."

"It's you." Li Xia said, "The first one to escape from my hands."

"Yes, yes, Caomin is honored."

Li Xia smiled, feeling that the world is so big, it is really a coincidence to meet someone whom he met more than ten years ago.

"It's been so many years, are you still a water bandit?"

Shi Hui was taken aback for a moment, thinking that he had no other skills, what else could he do if he wasn't a water bandit.

Thinking about it carefully, the other party has turned from a small officer into an emperor, really... I don't know what to say.

"The grass people are ashamed, ashamed."

"How did you get from the Yangtze River to Baiyangdian?"

Shi Huidao: "After being wiped out by His Majesty back then, the Caomin went to seek refuge with Liu Shixiong, the bandit 'Fanjianglong' around Jiangling. Later, His Majesty's army attacked Song Dynasty and suppressed Fanjianglong along the way..."

Li Xia had never heard of the big thief turning the river dragon.

With his current status, one decision can change the fate of countless small characters like Shi Hui.It's like sweeping with a broom and not seeing every speck of dust that is thrown up.

"Afterwards, the Caomin went to Xiangyang, and followed the smuggling caravan to Baozhou." Shi Hui said, "When they passed by Gaoyang, they were robbed by the big boss, so they fell into grass with the big boss."

"Brilliant plan!" Meng Tong said urgently: "You are a water bandit, don't make it sound like I forced you to fall into the weeds."

Li Xia had already asked Zhang Rou: "There is also smuggling between the Zhang family and Xiangyang?"

He remembered that when he first went north, he had heard about Zhang's smuggling.

At this time Zhang Hongji stepped forward and replied: "Your Majesty, yes, but after the Song and Yuan peace negotiations, the scale has become smaller."

"But the connections are still there?"

"Still."

Li Xia nodded slightly, looked at Shi Hui again, and said, "Don't be a water bandit anymore, you should make progress. A person like you who is good at water and has both civil and military skills can easily make meritorious deeds."

Shi Hui opened his eyes, very excited.

He was like a speck of dust blown up by a strong wind, drifting around, and this time he was finally about to land on the high mountain rising from the ground.

~~
The strong wind blows across the Yangtze River and sings with the waves.

Jia Sidao stood at the bow of the boat, his red cloak fluttering.

He had already spent the Lantern Festival on the Yangtze River, and finally couldn't bear to watch the soldiers besiege Baidi City every day, so he personally led the navy to continue westward to watch the army's offensive against several cities upstream.

This is the advantage of abundant troops.

At this time, an ancient city gradually appeared in front of Jia Sidao.

"Mr. Pingzhang, this is the seat of the old city of Kuizhou, also called Yong'an City." Yao Di said: "In the second year of Zhangwu in the Shu Han Dynasty, Emperor Zhaolie of the Han Dynasty launched an army to attack Wu, defeated Yufu, and changed Yufu County to Yong'an County. , taking the name of the palace as Yong’an Palace. From then on, this is the seat of Kuizhou.”

"Is that Kuizhou City?" an official asked.

"It can only be said to be the old city of Kuizhou." Yao Xi said: "In the second year of Chunyou in the Great Song Dynasty, the guard of Kuizhou moved Kuizhou to Baidi City on the grounds that the terrain of the government was quite flat and there was no recovery situation. But in Li After Xia took office as the governor of Sichuan, he moved the government office out of Baidi City, and because of the narrow terrain of Yong'an City, he set up Kuizhou's government office in the new Fengjie County."

"Speaking of which, isn't this Kuizhou City?"

"No, this is the ancient city of Yong'an ahead, and the current Kuizhou city is still fifteen miles upstream..."

Jia Sidao frowned.

Among other things, Yao Di's words first of all meant that he wanted to capture Kuizhou, and he wanted to capture one more Yong'an City.

"How is the offensive going?"

Liao Yingzhong stepped forward and said, "Mr. Pingzhang has besieged Yong'an City for more than ten days, but the Tang army is huddled in the city, well-prepared and equipped with firearms. For the time being..."

"Stop talking." Jia Sidao waved his hand a little irritably.

"Mr. Pingzhang, these cities in Sichuan and Shu are like this. They are surrounded by large rivers and high mountains. The terrain is easy to defend and difficult to attack. They can only be besieged and slowly plotted."

"I can't wait." Jia Sidao glanced up into the distance, turned his head, lowered his voice a little, and said: "Once Li Xia gives up the Northern Expedition and returns to attack Xiangyang, and if Lu Wenhuan is defeated, you know that the army will be defeated." What are the consequences?"

"If it's not like this..."

"I don't care if it's too late or not, it has to be fast."

"But there is a strong city in front of me, I'm afraid it will be difficult to overcome it quickly."

However, Jia Sidao had already made a claim, and said: "Pass down the order to surround Kuizhou City, Yong'an City, and Baidi City to death, and even birds are not allowed to enter or leave. Then pass my letter of surrender to Zhang Qiyan in Kuizhou. "

"What is Ping Zhanggong's intention?"

"Tell Zhang Qiyan that the cities of Baidi and Yong'an have fallen, and even Wanzhou upstream has fallen."

Liao Yingzhong understood, saluted, and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Pingzhang, the students will arrange it now."

"Revise one more letter and hand it to Lin'an." Jia Sidao thought about it, played a word game, and said, "Let the Ministry of Rites send an envoy to tell Lord Yuan that our army has captured Kuizhou City."

"Ping Zhanggong, why is this?"

"One thing, stabilize the heart of the court."

Jia Sidao has been feeling uneasy lately, fearing that there will be trouble in Lin'an, and thinks that he needs to send some good news back as soon as possible.

Although the progress of the war is not smooth, but he has more means.

"Secondly, let Master Yuan think that Li Xia is about to return to the teacher, so Master Yuan will take the initiative to attack and kill Li Xia."

"But will it make Master Yuan misjudge the situation?"

"Why bother? As long as these two dogs can bite more fiercely..."

(End of this chapter)