Guide to traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty

Yue Fei's general Zhang Xian had actually joined the rebel army.

At that time, Lin Chong and Bai Qi led a thousand partial divisions southward, conquering prefectures and counties along the way and expanding their army. Zhang Xian was incorporated into the army in his hometown in Langzhong.

Because of his bravery in combat and many military exploits, Zhang Xian has been promoted to battalion commander after two expansions. He has five hundred soldiers under his command and is currently stationed in southern Sichuan with Lin Chong.

The names of battalion commanders can already be seen by Ju Ming.

But Ju Ming didn't think much about it. He never guessed that he was one of Yue Fei's generals. He thought he just had the same name.

As for Yue Fei himself, because Ju Ming asked for it by name, the monarchs and ministers in the court were also quite curious.

But it was just out of curiosity, a little-known person, just throw it to the red thief. If not, what if the Zhu thieves use this as an excuse to send troops from Nanyang to the north?

In order to wipe out the bandits in Hebei and Shandong, the imperial court did not even bother to proclaim the emperor Zhong Xiang, let alone garrison heavy troops to defend Nanyang.

In March of this year, two eunuchs, Tong Guan and Liang Fangping, took the lead in leading the imperial army and Xiang army to suppress the bandits.

However, Song Huizong asked Zhang Shuye to be the commander-in-chief. Tong Guan did not want to be subordinate to others, so he took matters into his own hands and went to the Huaihe River to open up water transportation and defeated Cui Dalang who was entrenched there.

Although Liang Fangping went to Shandong, he did not listen to Zhang Shuye's orders. He underestimated the enemy and rushed in, and was defeated by the bandit Yang Tianwang.

Fortunately, Uncle Zhang had foreseen it and led a group of village soldiers to the rescue, setting an ambush along the way and defeating the pursuing bandits. At the same time, Zongze led thousands of local soldiers to take advantage of the opportunity to attack the bandit city and ransacked the nest of the bandit leader Yang Tianwang.

King Yang Tian was blocked by Zhang Shuye and Zongze, and was forced to accept the recruitment. He took more than a thousand remaining soldiers to become Zhang Shuye's generals.

After Tong Guan's victory over the Huaihe River, he immediately went north to Shandong. Without greeting Zhang Shuye, he went to attack Wuhu and Jia Jin in Yizhou.

No matter how much the Shengjie Army is a young soldier, its physique is there and its armor is there.

However, Wu Hu and Jia Jin had no natural danger to defend and suffered two defeats in succession. Jia Jin quietly accepted the recruitment and cooperated inside and outside to help Tong Guan conquer Yizhou, while Wu Hu rushed to Haizhou with hundreds of remaining soldiers.

Tong Guan took advantage of the victory and pursued him. Zhang Fang, the pirate chieftain of Haizhou, was frightened and killed Wu Hu who had escaped to accept his recruitment.

At this time, Zhang Shuye, Zongze, and Liang Fangping had recaptured Yanzhou, but the Jinan thief Sun Lie had 100,000 troops, and it was difficult to defeat them for a while. Zhang Shuye asked Tong Guan to help, but Tong Guan still disobeyed military orders and led his own troops to fight against the Mizhou thieves.

No matter what, most of Shandong has returned to the hands of the imperial court.

However, there are still refugees everywhere, and many remnants of the rebels have fled into the mountains. Once the officers and soldiers leave Shandong, these remaining bandits can come out to coerce the refugees and grow stronger again.

The root cause of the inexhaustible suppression of thieves is that the people do not have enough to eat.

The Western Army of Yao Gu, Liu Yanqing, Zhong Shizhong, Liu Xi and others are still on the march. They will be sent to Hebei to suppress the bandits, and by the way, they will help Guo Yaoshi of Yanjing suppress the uprising.

Xiangzhou, Tangyin.

Yue Fei was farming at home. His own land was not enough for food, and he also farmed other people's land.

The state is recruiting brave warriors again, but this time they are going to suppress bandits.

But Yue Fei couldn't go because he wanted to mourn his father.

"Pengju, Pengju!"

Yue Fei put down his hoe and turned around, but it was Wang Gui, a fellow countryman, who came.

Wang Gui had already been recruited as a junior officer in the daredevil army. He hurried over and said, "Some officials in the state are asking about you, and they say that you have dealings with rebels... It's not a good thing anyway. You should run away quickly."

It's too shameful to say that you gave the gift of brave warriors to the rebels.

The imperial court would definitely conceal the truth, saying only that Yue Fei was colluding with bandits, and then capture his whole family and quietly send him to Hanzhong.

The eunuch sent by Song Huizong first went to ask the magistrate.

Although the Han family is hereditary to be the governor of Xiangzhou, the position can only be inherited by the eldest son. If the eldest son has been promoted to another place, and the eldest son of the eldest son is temporarily not qualified to be an official, the magistrate of Xiangzhou will temporarily let the official serve.

Now this Zhizhou is a foreigner. How does he know Yue Fei?

He also heard from the eunuch that Yue Fei was a warrior, so he sent an official to the army to inquire about it, and Wang Gui immediately got the news.

Yue Fei said angrily: "Who is slandering my innocence? I won't run away, I will confront him!"

Wang Gui said: "You have two official names, how can you confront me? Thieves are being suppressed everywhere in Hebei and Shandong. You can escape to any state or county and kill thieves and perform military duties. You will be able to wash away the filth and prove your innocence. When the time comes, you will After killing many rebels, who dares to accuse you of colluding with bandits?"

Yue Fei suppressed the anger in his heart and thought that what Wang Gui said made sense.

He returned home with his hoe, said goodbye to his mother and wife, and escaped that night with his weapons.

A few days later, a eunuch came to Tangyin with official officials, went straight to Yue Fei's village, and started asking for the address while still outside the village.

Yue Fei's wife, Mrs. Liu, was shocked when she heard the news. She abandoned her mother-in-law and young son and fled back to her parents' home to avoid the disaster.

The eunuch couldn't find Yue Fei, so he had to arrest his family members.

Even Mrs. Liu, who was hiding in her parents' house, was arrested by the officials. Although Yue Fei escaped, his mother, wife and son were sent to Hanzhong by the government...

At the same time, the eunuch also said to the villagers: "If Yue Fei comes back, let him go to Hanzhong immediately, and our family will send his family first."

Wang Gui had been observing secretly, and now he couldn't help but stand up: "You are so polite, Zhonggui. I am a good friend of Yue Fei. What on earth did he commit?"

"Since you are his friend, please help him to inquire about him," the eunuch explained. "I don't know who recommended him. The Zhu Thief in Han Dynasty learned about Yue Fei's bravery and asked the court for this person by name."

The more Wang Gui listened, the more confused he became: "Since he is a bandit, why did the court send the strong man there?"

The court's face is important and this matter cannot be discussed in detail.

The eunuch said angrily: "Don't ask more questions than you should. Anyway, let Yue Fei go to Hanzhong to reunite with his family!"

"yes!"

Wang Gui bowed and stepped back. Monk Zhang Er was confused.

…

Yue Fei couldn't come, but a fierce man came uninvited.

Li Xiaozhong, a native of Longxi, didn't want to stay in Longxi. He went to the border all day long to observe the mountains and rivers.

While observing the terrain, they will also take the opportunity to snatch the horses of Xixia herdsmen. Then the horse was sold and the money obtained was used to make friends with heroes and entertain them with wine and banquets at home all day long.

When the money is almost spent, go to the border to grab horses.

"This war horse is getting harder and harder to snatch." Li Xiaozhong lay on the mountain and observed the mountain pasture below.

His companion Yan Ping was also a heroic man and said with a smile: "Those people on the border of Xixia have been robbed by us for a long time. How can they dare to graze alone? If there are not five or six people with bows and knives, they will not show up even if they are killed." body."

Li Xiaozhong said: "There are five people in total, all armed with weapons. Should we rob them or not?"

"Grab it, you're afraid of losing your eggs!" Yan Ping said.

These two bold guys led their horses quietly down the mountain, and immediately mounted their horses and galloped as they approached the pasture.

The five Xixia people on the opposite side immediately rode up to meet them. One of them blew a horn in an attempt to summon the tribesmen in the nearby pasture.

Li Xiaozhong could draw a strong bow and shoot arrows from a long distance.

Both sides were galloping, and from such a long distance, an arrow hit Fanren's shoulder.

In order to protect their property, those people were also extremely brave. They did not run away even after being shot, but continued to rush and fight desperately.

The distance was getting closer and closer, and the Fan people charged immediately after shooting arrows. They knew that Li Xiaozhong's archery skills were very good, and they would definitely suffer a loss if they continued to shoot on horseback.

Li Xiaozhong shot another arrow, hitting Fanren's chest.

The Fan herdsmen only wore simple leather armor, which could not stop the powerful bow. A shot in the chest would almost kill them.

Yan Ping also shot Fan Ren's arm with an arrow.

The two sides passed by on the wrong horse. Li Xiaozhong knocked down a Fan, and Yan Ping stabbed another Fan.

Two against five, easy win.

Two injured people who were not dead were so frightened that they quickly rode away for their lives.

Li Xiaozhong and Yan Ping did not pursue them, gathered up the three enemy horses, and left the battlefield as quickly as possible. As for the cattle and sheep on the grass, it is inconvenient for them to take them away. If more people catch up, they will be finished.

The two returned to Lanzhou and went directly to the horse market to sell horses.

After standing there for a short time, an official came over and said: "These three horses are all good horses. They are not allowed to be sold privately among the people. They must all be sold to the horse racing company."

Li Xiaozhong asked in confusion: "It was still selling last month, why can't it be sold now?"

"If you can't sell it, you can't sell it," the official said impatiently, "Every horse has five guans, and the tea and horse department will take them all!"

Li Xiaozhong said angrily: "These three horses are all mounts of Fan people. Although they are not top-notch horses, they can still go on the battlefield. Isn't the sale of five horses for one horse too cheap?"

The official said: "Horses produced on the border are naturally cheap. Once you have taken them to the horse market, you have to sell them if you don't want to. If you continue to disobey me, your mounts will be confiscated as well!"

"Forget it," Yan Ping tugged at the corner of Li Xiaozhong's clothes and whispered, "A good man doesn't suffer the immediate consequences."

The two had no choice but to sell the good horse at a low price.

The more Li Xiaozhong thought about it, the angrier he became, and he went to inquire with other traders in the horse market.

They had many acquaintances here. When a horse dealer saw that the official was far away, he cautiously said: "The Tea Horse Company has been collecting good horses recently, and they are selling them to the Zhu Thieves in Hanzhong. There are not only famous names that Fan people have always liked over the Zhu Thieves." Camellia, and black tea, which has been very popular among the nobles of the Ban people recently.”

Li Xiaozhong was surprised and said: "Duda Chama Si actually did business with the rebels?"

The horse dealer smiled and said: "The red thieves in Hanzhong are not ordinary. I heard that several official armies were defeated, and the imperial court even negotiated peace with the red thieves. Since peace has been negotiated, of course we can do business."

Li Xiaozhong asked: "Where is the tea horse officer of Zhu Thief?"

The horse dealer said: "In Lanzhou, the officials, soldiers and tea boys are all there, and they are surrounded by tea and horse officials to prohibit contact between the people. The tea and horse officials want to do their own business, and the people are not allowed to sell horses to the red thieves."

Li Xiaozhong became interested in the red bandit and felt that he was a good man who could force the court to negotiate a peace.

He and Yan Ping waited in Lanzhou for half a month, and finally saw Zhuthi's tea horse officer leaving with more than 160 good horses, as well as a lot of grain, fodder, and bean cakes.

Li Xiaozhong stopped him outside the city, and the soldiers escorting the horses immediately raised their weapons.

"Don't misunderstand me. I am a knight from Longxi. I would like to inquire about Mr. Zhu from Hanzhong." Li Xiaozhong directly stated his intention.

When the horse buyer saw that he was riding a good horse, carrying a weapon, and being strong, he immediately said: "Hanzhong welcomes all martyrs, you can come with me."

However, Li Xiaozhong asked about various policies in Hanzhong, and the horse-buying officer answered them all in detail.

After some questions and answers, Li Xiaozhong became more and more curious about Hanzhong and said: "I will go with my friends first. If Hanzhong is really a good place, then I will write a letter to summon more brothers."

The horse buyer said happily: "That's just right. I wonder what your surname is?"

Li Xiaozhong thought for a while and decided to give him a pseudonym. He cupped his fists and answered, "My name is Li Yanxian."