Jinyi Night Walk

"White Lotus Sect?"

Although he had already thought of it in his heart, a trace of surprise still flashed across Xia Xun's face.

Tang Yaoju smiled and said: "That's right, it's the White Lotus Sect. If it wasn't for Brother Yang's current status, even though you and I have a life-long friendship, my brother would not disclose this to you, let alone pull you Join the group. Brother doesn’t want you, just wants to help you. But only by making you a brother in my teaching, can I ask a few Dharma protectors in the teaching to help you, let you change your appearance, and live a happy life from now on, no longer afraid Wanted by the court."

Xia Xun now understands what is going on with the guardians. The guardians are not like the so-called guardians in martial arts novels. They are all heroes with outstanding martial arts. They usually do not hold administrative positions in sects or gangs. Only the protector of the title.In fact, the so-called guardians are believers who have made more contributions to the church gangs, so their prestige and status are higher than others.

Tang Yaoju dared to shield him and was confident that he could shield him, so the religious circle where Tang Yaoju is located must have considerable potential power in the local area. At least some local gentry and government officials with reputation and status have become They teach their disciples.However, the current Xia Xun is not the imperial court's special envoy to arrest bandits. Hearing this news, he can only push back and say, "Thank you for your kindness, brother, but brother doesn't want to join the sect..."

Tang Yaoju's complexion changed, and he said unhappily: "Why, brother Yang can't believe me, do you really think that my White Lotus Sect is a cult where male thieves and female prostitutes do all kinds of evil, as the court preaches?"

Xia Xun hurriedly said: "No, no, Brother Tang misunderstood. Brother has a family, a business, and dependents. Now he has already arranged it in a proper place. After a while, brother will have to see them. It is impossible to stay here for a long time." .”

Tang Yaoju was disappointed when he heard that, Xia Xun thought about it, and reminded: "Brother Tang, it's nothing to just teach. I know that since the Southern Song Dynasty, the White Lotus Sect has spread all over the world and has been passed down from generation to generation. It's not obvious that something will happen, but since the rebellion of the White Lotus Sect in Shaanxi, the imperial court has been very strict in arresting the members of the White Lotus Sect. Ye, otherwise, you will definitely get into trouble."

The eager expression on Tang Yaoju's face turned cold, and he sighed softly: "Brother Yang is both civil and military, I intended to accept it. Now that the world is in chaos, it is the time when our generation of heroes are showing their talents. Unexpectedly, Brother Yang will go into seclusion. Well, that’s all, everyone has their own aspirations, and I won’t force it on you.”

Xia Xun's complexion changed slightly, and he asked anxiously: "Show off your skills? What does Brother Tang want to do? Hearing my brother's good advice, Brother Tang must not have any schemes. Once the White Lotus Sect wants to take advantage of the chaos, not only the court will severely encircle and suppress it, Even if the Yan army arrives, they will definitely never forgive each other. The current chaos is just a dispute within the royal family of Zhu Ming. No matter which side, they will never allow the White Lotus Sect to take advantage of the fire and move the Ming Dynasty, especially at this moment. , A large number of soldiers and horses of the imperial court gathered in Shandong Mansion, if there is any trouble, it will be a disaster immediately."

Tang Yaoju laughed: "Brother, you are worrying too much. I said show your skills, but I just took advantage of the chaos in the world to attract more congregants and gather more congregants to protect myself. Why do you want to rebel? Didn't you see that I took my wife away?" The children are all brought, is there such a rebellion?"

Xia Xun made sense when he heard it, so he smiled in relief...

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"My lord has received definite news that Li Jiujiang is scheduled to attack Beiping again in April next year. He is currently building the Twelve City in Dezhou. It seems that he no longer has the intention of winning the first battle. This is to fight with us for a long time. confronted."

After hearing Zhu Di's words, Zhang Yu said with some concern: "The imperial court has riches all over the world, with a constant supply of soldiers and material resources, but our limited resources will be at a great disadvantage to us if they are consumed for a long time."

"Of course the king knows."

Zhu Di smiled coldly: "Li Jinglong doesn't have such insight, it must be...heh"

He knew that it must be his brother-in-law Xu Huizu who advised Li Jinglong. He hated it so much, but he didn't want to say it in public. The emperor was in a difficult situation with him, after all, it was a discouraged thing.

Zhu Nengdao: "In this case, Your Highness, we should also hurry up and strengthen the defense of Beiping City. At the same time, we should calm down the rear as soon as possible before they send troops, so as not to be constantly harassed by the rear during the battle with Li Jinglong."

Zhu Di nodded and said: "This king has this intention. If he wants to consolidate the rear, then he has two choices. One is to attack Liaodong, and the other is to attack Xuanfu. One northeast and one northwest can be at the critical moment. Inserting a knife, this is a serious problem, this king wants to discuss with you to see where it is appropriate to attack."

As soon as the generals heard this, they immediately chattered, expressing their opinions, and the debate was very lively. Zhu Di and Monk Daoyan sat at the head, just listening, without speaking.

Ning Wang Zhu Quan relied on his status and did not speak at the beginning. Later, seeing that the generals were at loggerheads, it was difficult to make a conclusion. Then he cupped his hands and said to Zhu Di: "Fourth Brother, I thought we could attack Liaodong. Liaodong soldiers and horses can leave Shanhaiguan at any time. , directly approaching Peiping, the greatest danger. Although Shanhaiguan Pass is indestructible, Songting Pass is now in our hands. As long as we go out from Songting Pass and attack Liaodong eastward outside the pass, Shanhaiguan Pass will not be moved. What's the use?"

Zhang Yu thought for a while, but said: "His Royal Highness Ning Wang, I think it is the most appropriate to attack the Xuan Mansion."

King Ning was quite familiar with Liaodong, and he was sure to take Liaodong down, so he was not convinced by Zhang Yu's words. He glanced at him and asked, "Why do you know that?"

Zhang Yudao: "The reason is very simple. Liaodong's soldiers and horses mainly rely on transportation within the pass. After His Royal Highness raised troops to Jingnan, he has cut off the connection between the Central Plains and Liaodong. Now Liaodong is completely relying on the food and rice it saved before and exploiting it from the Jurchen tribes. They are unable to go south to attack our Beiping, they only have the power to defend, but not the power to attack, so it is not a top priority."

King Ning said: "Then, the unified area of ​​Xuanfu is our powerful threat? It should be noted that Liaodong is different from Xuanfu. King Liao took the initiative to invest in the imperial court, and his old soldiers and horses naturally obeyed the imperial court. Xuanfu is not the case. Now if Dai Wang is here, and he will lead the army to attack me in Beiping. That is our confidant’s serious trouble. Unfortunately, Dai Wang has been murdered by the emperor before me and my fourth brother. Now the whole family is imprisoned in Sichuan.

The emperor dared not use Dai Wang's old department in Xuanfu; the imperial court's soldiers and horses in Xuanfu had to be used to balance and monitor Daiwang's old department. "

Zhang Yu smiled slightly, nodded and said: "What His Royal Highness Ning Wang said is very true. In terms of threat alone, it is the same for us to fight Liaodong or Northwest. The reason why I think we should fight Northwest is because , hit the northwest, and the benefits are even greater."

King Ning wondered: "What's so special about fighting in the northwest... Ah, yes."

King Ning is not a mediocre person, in fact, he is extremely intelligent. Compared with Zhang Yu, what he lacks is the tempering of actual combat. Just halfway through his speech, he understood that the Northeast was a barren land at that time, and the food, grass and supplies of the garrison officers and soldiers were mainly The supply comes from within the pass, but not from the Xuanfu. Shanxi has rarely experienced wars, and when the heroes of the Central Plains fought for hegemony and suffered heavy casualties, the northwest area has been peaceful. Due to the impact of military disasters.

The farming industry in the northwest region is also relatively developed. Although it is not as good as the land of fish and rice in Suhu Lake, the long-term peace and the development of farming industry, coupled with the reduction and exemption of taxes by the imperial court, reclamation of land, disaster relief and recovery of business, and frontier army farming, so there is no shortage of grain and rice. There is no problem, but the most serious problem restricting Beiping is food.

Zhu Di couldn't help smiling when he heard their discussion. In fact, he already had an idea in his heart. He asked the generals for advice, and he just wanted to unify the generals' understanding through this debate process.In addition, it is also a method for him to train generals.

If it is said that there is a lack of generals who can take on great responsibilities in the court, it is not the case. Although the old generals are almost dead, the Mesozoic generals who followed them on the battlefield are now mature, and there are many of them. Only, if one of these people was chosen to command the 50 army, Zhu Di would never be in such a lucky situation.

Fortunately, the emperor sent Li Jinglong, and even more fortunately, Li Jinglong's 50-strong army was completely defeated, and he was not removed from office for questioning. He became the commander-in-chief of the 60-strong army. , are not easy to be with.

What made Yan Wang dumbfounded was that everyone wanted to win the battle, but he was a little afraid of winning the battle now, because as long as he won another big victory, it would be difficult for Li Jinglong, a pig, to continue sitting in this position. It would be a great threat to Zhu Di if he was replaced by a general who had actually led troops, relying on such a huge disparity in strength.

On the other hand, what's on King Yan's side?Among his generals, the five armies with the highest positions commanded Zhang Yu. Originally, he was only the commander of the three guards in Yanshan, the middle and left guards.Xu Huizu, Qu Neng, Ping Baoer, Yu Tongyuan, and Teng Ju who gathered in Dezhou this time are all veterans stronger than him, and they have superior forces. Zhu Di must train his generals step by step, and his subordinates The generals are all trained to be famous generals who can stand alone.

Famous generals are not born famous generals, they all grow up in actual combat.

Seeing that the generals had initially reached a consensus, Zhu Di smiled slightly and said: "Shimei's words are reasonable, so let's use this time to strengthen Beiping's defense on the one hand, and attack Xuanfu on the other hand to support war with war. Besides, didn't you think of how to use this battle to win us some other benefits?"

"Is there any benefit?" The generals were very surprised and looked around one after another, but no one could answer. Then the monk Daoyan chuckled and stroked his beard and said, "Generals, Li Jinglong is preparing for the war and is preparing to send troops in early April." Attacking me in Beiping, how and when to fight this battle, do we have to follow his agreement? We are attacking Xuanfu, and Li Jinglong's soldiers and horses are the closest. Will he send troops to help? The weather is bitter and cold, leading him to work hard in many places Going to the northwest, even if he can still send troops in April, wouldn't his army be exhausted by then?"

"Wow!" All the generals seemed to be waking up from a dream, each of them gearing up, their eyes shining brightly.

Zhu Di smiled and said: "We can't let him idle when we go to battle, so let's walk Li Jiujiang's legs and let him follow him for a while!"

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Lao Jia was so angry that he scolded shopkeeper Xia face to face, and returned home angrily, cut out a small figure and started poking it. After the little paper figure was poked to pieces, he suddenly realized that it was his food and clothing parents. Ah, if you offend someone, where will you earn money to support your family in the future?

Lao Jia panicked, hurriedly and shyly ran to Baiquanhuntang to talk to the shopkeeper. Xia Xun was busy using the second plan, so he didn't have time to pay attention to him, so he drove him out. Lao Jia was furious, and when he got home, he cut out another paper figurine, and continued poking it with the big needle on the sole of his shoe...

If so, it was poked until the seventh day of the lunar new year, when Baiquan Qingtang started work, Lao Jia went there cheeky, and was surprised to find that the shopkeeper had changed.After asking others, Lao Jia found out that shopkeeper Xia's old father was said to be seriously ill, so shopkeeper Xia hurriedly sold out the house and hurried back to the north.Old Jia Dale, he never expected that poking a villain would have such a miraculous effect.

The new shopkeeper's surname is Xu, and his name is Xu Jiang. He doesn't look as easy-talking as Xia Xun, but old Jia said with a wink, Xu Jiang actually allowed him to work here. Old Jia is overjoyed that his job is finally saved. The only thing that makes him feel sad is: the young sister-in-law, who is so young, is gone forever...

Dezhou Wharf, ten miles away from Dezhou City, this place is very busy with ships coming and going during the water transport season, with merchants, passengers, stevedores, dragons and snakes mixing in the most chaotic way.In the cold winter, the water transport stopped, and this place became even less quiet. On the official road in the distance, groups of Ming soldiers in mandarin ducks and jackets came and went, sometimes mixed with servants carrying shovels and pickaxes. On the wharf, there are cheap brothels and smoky and semi-public gambling houses, bustling with activity.

From time to time, soldiers in civilian clothes would steal some military supplies, first go to the black market behind a row of warehouses on the wharf to exchange some money, and then plunge into the gambling house, and those who lost would go back to the barracks empty-handed and listless, and win After leaving the door of the gambling house, he plunged into the door of the brothel, and finally returned to the barracks empty-handed and listless.

"Watch that Tang Yaoju at the Baojiacheng construction site for me, yes! You don't need to do anything, just watch his every move."

In a small room between the underground gambling house and the half-closed brothel, Xia Xun gave an order, and one of his men hurried out.Xia Xun is not at ease, if there are any thieves or religious bandits in Shandong by taking advantage of the battle between the Ming army and the Yan army, it will really bring disaster to the country and the people. Tang Yaoju may not be bad, but whoever expects those ordinary people to be born The so-called rebel army is really more disciplined than the officers and soldiers, that is, the head is kicked by the donkey, and this kind of thing must not be allowed to happen to him.

"Hey, King Yan's affairs are being plotted here, and the White Lotus Sect has come to intervene again. What a mess!"

Xia Xun just sighed, when he heard an extremely coquettish and enchanting voice from behind the wooden wall on the left: "Ah, ah~~ah~~~, good brother, good man, work hard, work hard, my family is good!" Be happy!" Immediately behind the wooden wall on the right came a group of men shouting wildly: "Throw a leopard, big and small, kill, kill, kill!"

"Damn, what kind of place is this for me! Sigh, my gang of flying dragon secret spies still need training..."

Xia Xun sighed with a wry smile. ! ~!