beauty heart thorn

Chapter 81 Four States and Two Counties
The further south we go, the weather gradually warms up, and the climate becomes wetter along the way.

The three of them stayed in the county inn.

After dinner and a simple bath, Chu Qiu brought the carrier pigeon inside: "Miss, I have a letter from the Spring Festival."

She flew the black dove, and the human dove plopped a few times in the dark night before landing next to the window.

Gu Mingzhu took the note, unfolded it, smiled slightly, and said, "The Spring Banquet said that the preparations for the Liangzhou matter are ready. Ask me when I will do it."

Yueyan took the letter and read it, and asked, "What did Miss say?"

Gu Mingzhu walked to the window, and the black pigeon lowered its head. She reached out and stroked the black hair of the carrier pigeon, and said, "If the name is not right and the words are not right, why bother to make trouble."

Chuqiu and Yueyan looked at each other when they heard the words, Yueyan said: "Miss' concerns are not unreasonable, it's just that the trend of this chaotic world is rare, if you miss the opportunity, I'm afraid it will be difficult to act in the future."

Gu Mingzhu said: "So, I decided to rely on the natural barrier of Cuiping Mountain to divide the forces and become the king. The emperor, I have no interest in doing it. I will proclaim myself king and use Liangzhou as my base to separate the four states from the east to the south. The two counties are included in our sphere of influence."

Yue Yan was surprised when he heard the words: "Miss, the four states and two counties in the southeast have at least [-] troops stationed in each place, and the four states and two counties over there have at least [-] troops. If this is not well controlled, then the southeast is Chizhou is in dire straits."

Gu Mingzhu said: "Your worries are not unreasonable, but the four states in the east are close to each other, and they are separated from other areas by Cuiping Mountain. With the troops in Liangzhou, it is still no problem to suppress a city in two days."

When Gu Mingzhu first came up, she bought a topographic map on the side of the road. She took out the blueprint, spread it out on the table, put her finger on the Liangzhou area, and said, "I will send a letter to the Spring Banquet, and ask him to send the nearest map immediately. Take the Chazhou, and then move closer to Dangzhou and Qingxian, and order Yan Yunqi to come to pick us up, and we will start from here..."

Gu Mingzhu pointed at the Duanzhou area, and said: "The captain of Duanzhou is a greedy and lustful person. Among the four prefectures and two counties, except for Chazhou, which has the weakest army, he is the best to attack here. Once Duanzhou is broken , We set off from the waterway with Yan Yunqi, hurried all night, opened the offensive, and formed an encirclement with the Spring Banquet, even if the four prefectures and two counties were fortified, they would not be able to withstand our troops."

Yueyan looked at the map carefully, and after a while, said: "Miss is very familiar with the terrain in the southeast."

Gu Mingzhu was noncommittal and said, "Let's take a look, is there anything wrong with my arrangement?"

Yueyan thought for a while and said, "Yes."

Before Gu Mingzhu could speak, Chu Qiu said, "What's wrong? I sound perfect."

Yue Yan said: "Miss forgot the most important thing."

"what?"

Yueyan said: "Name."

Gu Mingzhu was slightly taken aback.

Yueyan said: "Since you are called king, you must be called king in a proper manner. What is the name of our army, and what is the name of our king?"

Chu Qiu made a false alarm and said, "You scared me, I thought there was a leak."

Gu Mingzhu sat down, poured tea, and said: "This is indeed a mistake, I almost forgot, southeast, southeast... just call the Nanming army, the army of Nanming, their king, is King Ming. Thinking about it this way, I You have to change your name to a new one, we have no way out, so let's call it Gu Jue."

"Gu Jue?"

Yueyan raised her head suddenly, meeting Gu Mingzhu's bright eyes.

Gu Jue?Gu Jue?
In early autumn, pens, inks, papers and inkstones had already been brought, and Gu Mingzhu wrote the letter himself, and the black pigeon quickly disappeared into the night with the letter.

Two days later, the three of them arrived at a small town outside Duanzhou City, and took a rest in a simple tea shed by the roadside.

The owner of the tea shed brought a pot of white tea and three clean tea bowls, Yueyan poured the tea and took a sip.

All the way, the three of them didn't want to talk.

There were three tables of guests sitting in the tea shed, all of whom were porters, drinking tea and biting dry food, the voice of talking came from time to time.

Gu Mingzhu was already bored, and while sipping white tea, she lazily listened to them talking about their travels.

Suddenly, someone said: "I passed by Gusu a few days ago and heard an interesting story."

"Gusu? I heard it's a very rich place in the south. What's the fun?"

The man said: "Master Gu, the richest man in Gusu, his daughter died at a young age, and he is going to attend the funeral."

"White-haired people send black-haired people?"

"I heard that Mrs. Gu is getting thinner and thinner, and she is almost blind from crying. Then Miss Gu is also a poor master. She died in a foreign place at a young age, and even her body was taken away by wolves."

"Then the Gu family is too pitiful."

Gu Mingzhu slowly put down the tea bowl.

"It's really pitiful. I also found out that the son of their family was once a high-ranking official in Jiangling. I don't know why he resigned from the official position. Could it be that he offended the nobleman?"

"I'm afraid it is."

"Then this is too miserable."

"To be miserable, I also heard one thing about King Dingbei."

"King Dingbei?"

"I heard rumors that King Dingbei is dead!"

"Miss..." Chu Qiu called out worriedly.

Gu Mingzhu said: "Nothing, let's go, we should be able to enter the city before dark."

The three settled the bill and rode away.

Several big men were still talking, and after a while, another person sat on the vacated table.

"Boss, bring a pot of tea."

The voice was deliberately lowered, with a trace of fatigue, and also wearing a veil to cover his face.

"Here comes the tea." The boss brought the tea cheerfully: "Guest officer, please take your time."

The owner of the tea shed had just taken two steps when he heard the man say, "Excuse me, boss, how far is it from Duanzhou?"

"Duanzhou? Then you must hurry up. If you hurry up, you should be able to enter the city before dark."

"Thank you."

The tea shed was opened wonderfully, and many guests were welcomed and sent to rest, but this one was inexplicably chatty.

The boss held the teapot in his hand and asked with a smile, "Isn't the young master from Duanzhou?"

The man said: "No."

"The young master is going to Duanzhou, but he is looking for relatives and friends?"

The man drank his tea and said, "It's not true. My wife got angry with me and came here. I'm here to find her and go home."

The boss suddenly realized: "So that's the case."

After he finished speaking, he persuaded him with some persuasive words: "There's nothing wrong with a husband and wife getting along with each other. It's a manly man. You should give in to your daughter-in-law more on weekdays. It's best to coax your little daughter."

When the man put down the tea bowl, the boss always felt that he seemed to be smiling in the bamboo hat.

"You don't know, my wife is very fierce. If I find her, I must teach her a lesson first."

The boss shook his head: I didn't expect her to be honest, but I feel sorry for that little lady.

When they arrived at Duanzhou City, it was already dark, and the three entered the city, looking for a place to eat. While eating, they heard news from afar that Liangzhou had mutinied.

"There was a man in Liangzhou who claimed to be Gu Jue. He wiped out Chazhou overnight and led [-] cavalry to attack Dangzhou. Zhu Hongyuan was caught off guard!"

"Is the east side not quite flat?"

"I heard that it is the Southern Ming army, and their king is King Ming. The news has already spread, and now all the states and counties are panicking. Jiangling is far away, and I am in dire straits. How can I care about this border land?"

The three people sitting next to each other are Gu Mingzhu.

Chu Qiu whispered: "Miss, our people should be able to reach Duanzhou tonight. I will go out of the city to meet them after dinner."

Gu Mingzhu nodded, and said to Yue: "Go and find out what's going on in Duwei's Mansion in Duanzhou."

"Yes."

(End of this chapter)