The Most Romantic of the Three Kingdoms

During the discussion, a small official rushed into the courtyard, knelt down under the hall, and said loudly, "Report to Mingfu, a military horse has come from outside the city."

Prefect Wen was shocked.

Most of the people in the hall were confused.

County Chancellor Fei Chang said in a trembling voice, "Yes, is that thief Bo Cai back?"

County Gong Cao Zhongyao once again showed his courage, pulled his sleeves and stood up, independent of the hall, turned to the hall door, and asked the little official: "Who is coming, can you find out who is coming? Where did it come from? How many people are there? How far is it from the city?"

The little official replied, "This army came from the north, without a flag, and it was far away. It is still on the north bank of the Yingshui River, about seventeen or eighteen miles away from the city. I don't know who it was, but it was looking at it from the top of the city. , I saw that there was a cloud of black, and it is estimated that there should be two or three thousand people."

from the north? Are you still on the north shore of Yingshui? About two or three thousand people?

Zhong Yao was stunned, and subconsciously looked at Xun Zhen.

In the last few days of fierce battles in the city, Xun Zhen has performed outstandingly, facing the enemy calmly, sharing weal and woe with his soldiers, and under the condition of low morale, he went out of the city several times and fought **** battles with the Yellow Turbans, and finally won a great victory. He also gained the trust of most county officials, including Zhong Yao, Du You, and Guo Jun. Therefore, when he hears "weird things", Zhong Yao will think of asking him for his opinion.

That's right, "weird".

There are seventeen counties in Yingchuan County, some are in the northwest of Yangzhai, such as Yangcheng, some are in the northeast of Yangzhai, such as Changshe, some are in the south of Yangzhai, such as Yingyang, but none are in the north of Yangzhai.

To the north of Yangzhai is Yingshui, after forty miles of Yingshui is the border of Yingchuan County, and further north is Henan (now Luoyang, Zhengzhou, and Kaifeng).

There are only two or three thousand troops in this army. Obviously, it will not be the Yellow Turban Army. It is from the north. Could it be from Henan?

County Chancellor Fei Chang said happily, "Could it be that reinforcements from the imperial court have arrived?"

Zhong Yao frowned and said, "If the imperial court reinforced the army, how could there be only two or three thousand troops?"

"Well, then, could it be that Yinwen, Henan Province, was attacked by thieves, so he specially sent troops to help?"

When Fei Chang said this, everyone in the hall was stunned, not for anything else but his ignorance.

Zhong Yao opened his mouth and seemed to want to rebuke, but after looking at Fei Chang's six hundred stone official robe seal, he finally pressed his anger. He probably felt that if he reprimanded the dignified county magistrate in front of everyone, it would damage the majesty of the imperial court, so he reluctantly explained: "The law of the Han family: 'If there is no edict, two thousand stones cannot leave the country, and it is forbidden to leave the border'. My county was attacked by thieves. , Henan must have heard of it, but if there is no imperial edict, Henan Yin would not dare to cross the border without permission, and send troops into our county to conduct conquests."

"What if there is an imperial edict?"

Zhong Yao couldn't bear it any longer and scolded, "How could there be an imperial edict!"

Henan is the land of Gyeonggi, and Henan Yin's office is located in Luoyang, the capital. Unless the emperor, unless the court is dazed, will Henan Yin send troops to rescue Yingchuan.

"Then, then, where did this army of soldiers come from?"

Zhong Yao was also unsure, pondering.

Xun Zhen thought, "If this army came from the west, it might be Wen Qian and the others, but now it's coming from the north?"

He also felt strange and could not guess the origin of this army and horse, but no matter where this army and horse came from, the most important thing at the moment should be to identify the enemy and me, not to discuss in the hall, because he stood up and said with a sleeve. : "There are only two or three thousand soldiers in this army. It is expected that they should be thieves and soldiers. Please sit down in the hall in Mingfu, and the officials will go to find out where they come from."

"Okay, okay, go, go!"

Xun Zhen left the seat, and respectfully retreated out of the hall. At the threshold, she bowed respectfully to Prefect Wen, who was sitting on the main seat, facing the hall door. She then retreated to the porch, put on her shoes, and turned around. Vibrating his sleeves, he held his head high, pressed the knife, and strode out of the house.

Xu Zhong, Jiang Qin, Liu Deng, Gao Su, Cheng Yan, and Xiaoren had been waiting outside the mansion gate. When they saw him coming out, they were busy leading their horses to the front. Go to the door.

Xun Zhen knew very well that his position as "Bing Cao Rafter" was not easy to come by, and he also knew that Prefect Wen had a bad impression of him, so out of prudence, in order not to give Prefect Wen a feeling of "domineering if you are successful," and in order not to give him a feeling of "domineering". The reason for people to slander, whether he is coming to the prefect's mansion to discuss matters or inspecting the city head, he can bring at most one or two people around him. The reason why he brought Xu Zhong and the others this time was originally to give They asked for credit, hoping to take this opportunity to insert them into the county army.

It's a pity that I haven't had time to mention it.

But it doesn't matter, there will be a chance to mention it sooner or later.

...

Come to Beicheng, get off Madden City.

Not far outside the city is Yingshui, sparkling. In the last few days of the battle of defending the city, the main battlefield was outside the east city wall. Except for the last day, there was almost no war outside the north city. The river and the ground were relatively clean, unlike the corpse in the east of the city.

Because there is a river outside the north city, there are not many defenders here, only two villages with more than 300 people.

The two chiefs followed Xun Zhen, pointed to the other side, and said, "Xun Rong, the army is right there."

When the little official went to the prefect's mansion to report the news, he said that the army was 17 or 18 miles away from the city. After a while, the army horse that came here has moved forward a lot, and it is about 14 or 5 miles away from the city. Their leading generals could be vaguely seen on the city walls.

"Send people to the east, west, and south of the city walls, and order the army guards to immediately recall the soldiers and civilians outside the city, and close the city to prepare for battle."

"promise."

While speaking, the army horse that came here stopped moving forward. After a pause, the leading general rode alone towards the river. Not long after, it was on the bank of the river.

Xun Zhen, Xu Zhong, Jiang Qin and the others all looked at each other with joy. Cheng Yan shouted, "It's Le Wenqian!"

"Huh? Xun Rong, do you know this person?" It was a village chief who asked.

"This person's surname is Le, his first name is Jin, his word is Wenqian, and he is the head of the county's iron officials. . . . Quickly open the city gate and welcome him into the city."

This person is not Le Jin!

I have been waiting for a long time, and finally Le Jin is here! A few days ago, he was concerned about Le Jin's safety and tried to send people out of the city to inquire, but he couldn't get any news. Unexpectedly, Le Jin will suddenly appear today!

He was overjoyed, turned around and went down to the city, and went out to greet him in person.

On the way out of the city, after rejoicing, a few questions came to his mind: "Yangcheng is in the northwest of Yangzhai, but why did Lejin come from the north? There are only a few iron officials and servants in this county. There are two thousand people, and the army and horses he brought at the head of the city are exactly as the little official said, there are about two or three thousand people, and where did the extra thousand people come from?"

...

There used to be a bridge near the city gate on Yingshui, but Xun Zhen cut it off before the city was besieged.

Le Jin dismounted, took off his armor, jumped into the river, and swam out of the water.

Xun Zhen, Xu Zhong, and Jiang Qin greeted him at the river bank.

The weather is still cold in February.

When Le Jin came ashore soaking wet, Xun Zhen did not rush to ask questions. She first pulled out her short knife, cut open his coat, tore off a large piece of cloth, and wiped the water off his body with his own hands. He took off his coat and draped it over his body. Then he held his hand and said affectionately, "Wen Qian, I hope for the stars and the moon, I finally hope you are here!"

Xun Zhen and Le Jin have not seen each other for a while.

Le Jin is short and not fat at all. At this time, he looks darker and thinner, his hair is messy, and he looks dusty.

Xun Zhen patted him on the shoulder hard and smiled, "I just heard a report in the prefect's mansion that a group of soldiers and horses had come from the north bank of the river, and I was startled, I thought it was Bocai's bandit soldiers returning. I'm here! I never thought that it was you! ..., why did you run to the north? Why didn't you come from the direction of Yangcheng?"

Le Jin broke away from Xun Zhen's hand, took a half step back, lifted up the front of his clothes, bowed to the ground, and said, "You have been besieged by thieves for many days, and your heart is burning. If you can't enter Yangzhai City, you have high expectations from the emperor, and you deserve to die!"

"Oh? How do you say this?" Xun Zhen picked him up and smiled, "Don't worry, speak slowly."

Le Jin calmed down and said slowly.

...

It turned out: A few days ago, that is, the day after Xun Zhenxue attacked the village and killed Bocai and Bolian, there was a change in the followers of Taiping Taoism in Tieguan. Xiaoshuai went to his residence to discuss matters.

Fortunately, Xiao Xia learned about it in time, and learned about it from the eyeliner placed among them, and immediately reported it to Le Jin and Jiang Hu.

Le Jin made a decisive decision and rushed into the hall where Fan Sheng and others were discussing matters. He was invincible.

After temporarily controlling the situation, he questioned Fan Sheng and learned that Bo Lian was killed by Liu Deng, as well as the news that Bo Cai ordered believers in the counties and townships to rise up immediately and besiege Yangzhai after he escaped.

It was a big deal, and he didn't dare to neglect it. As early as when he took office as the head of Tieguan, Xun Zhen had hinted to him that if there was something in the county, he could take expedient measures. At that time, although he promised, he still didn't quite believe that there would be "something" in the county.

While secretly convincing Xun Zhen's "prescient", he discussed with Jiang Hu and Xiao Xia, and decided to follow Xun Zhen's instructions to organize Tie Guan and his disciples into an army. this matter.

Tieguan's prisoners are all prisoners, and without the imperial edict, let alone reorganize them into an army, even releasing them as Tieguan will be beheaded. Shen Rong didn't have the courage and refused to agree. Xiao Xia then drew out his saber and threatened with the blade. Shen Rong had no choice but to agree.

The apprentices, slaves, and craftsmen of the local iron officials were called up all night and gathered on the field.

Le Jin, Jiang Hu, and Xiao Xia have been in Tieguan for many months, and they have long since found out about the followers of Taiping Tao among Tieguan's disciples, slaves, and craftsmen, selected them, and killed them all. In the meantime, they were resisted by followers of Taiping Dao, but fortunately, Le Jin and the three had recruited a lot of confidant warriors in the past few months in Tieguan. With their help, nothing happened.

After that, those who make up the remainder are the army.

After that, Le Jin, Xiao Xia, and Jiang Hu split up.

Le Jin and Xiao Xia went all the way, Jiang Hu held Shen Rong all the way, and each took half of the men and went to the other two iron official workshops. Once they did what they did before, they did what they did before.

Overnight, the three of them killed all Taiping Dao believers in Tieguan, and enlisted the rest into the army.

After dawn, the two groups of people gathered at the predetermined location. They originally planned to run directly to Yang Zhai to help Xun Zhen. Who would have guessed that Bocai's order had already spread, and within ten miles, the followers of Taiping Road in the townships near Yangcheng. There have been uprisings, and almost every time you pass a pavilion or enter a township, you will encounter groups of uprising peasants.

From morning to noon, in just two or three hours, they fought four or five battles with the revolting Daoists one after another. ——These people are all fresh faces, and they don’t know the Daoist Xiaoshuai from each township.

Two thousand years later, a great man once said: let the enemy fall into the vast ocean of "people's war".

Although Le Jin, Xiao Xia, Jiang Hu and others didn't know this sentence, in terms of specific feelings, they fully understood the meaning of this sentence, and they were struggling.

Xiao Xia thinks: The thieves have already risen, and there are enemies everywhere. There are few horses in my army, and most of them are on foot. If I go on like this, I am afraid that I will not be able to reach Yangzhai at all. On Xun Jun's busy. It's better to avoid the thief's edge for a while, wait a day or two, and when the limelight passes, let's move on.

Le Jin accepted his advice, found a remote place, led someone to hide, and hid for two days.

Two days later, when the surroundings were clear, they resumed their journey.

This time, they walked quite smoothly. They walked for dozens of miles in one day and one night. On the way, they only encountered two or three small groups of Daoist rebels, and they passed by in a flash. After successfully arriving outside Yangzhai City, they discovered that at least 30,000 to 40,000 people had gathered outside the city!

There were only a thousand of them in all, and most of them were prisoners.

Yue Jin is both hard and soft. On the one hand, he promises a big reward for the county government. On the other hand, he relies on the confidants and warriors he recruited before as the backbone. It is not easy to keep these people together, let alone drive them to attack the crowd and break the siege into the city. . But don't even think about it! Absolutely not possible. Helpless, he had to retreat temporarily, hide in the distance, and watch the battle situation.

In the next few days, more and more Daoist disciples came from all directions, and finally reached as many as 70,000 or 80,000.

Although he could not see the fierce offensive and defensive battles above and below the city, he could imagine it. Because he was worried about Xunzhen's safety, he was restless, and finally came up with a plan: Yingshui in the north of Yangzhai City, according to the investigation, there were the fewest yellow turban soldiers here. Choose here as a breakthrough and enter the city.

...

After talking about the experience of the past few days, Le Jin said ashamedly: "There are too many thieves to cross the river nearby. Jin led the crowd back to the west, and only after walking for forty or fifty miles did he break away from the sphere of influence of the thieves. After traveling forty or fifty miles back, we arrived at the north of Yangzhai City. After going back and forth, I was delayed, so the help came late, and I am ashamed of your trust, please punish me."

Xun Zhenxin said that the tens of thousands of Yellow Turbans outside the city, and Le Jin with more than 1,000 fierce prisoners, not only kept people's hearts alive, but also hid safely near the Yellow Turbans for several days, which shows his talent. He hurriedly said: "If it's me, it's extremely difficult to do it."

He smiled and said, "Why did Wen Qian say this? A few days ago, the thieves were besieging the city. Although there were many thieves, I had a strong city to rely on, which seemed to be in danger. Wen Qian led the crowd outside, and the four fields were all enemies, and there were no mountains and rivers as obstacles. , and there is no city to rely on, no advance, no retreat, no retreat, a little careless, the end of the entire army will be destroyed, which is the real danger! By the side of tigers and wolves, going back and forth for hundreds of miles, crossing the river twice, just to lead the crowd to help me, I can't be moved! How can you say 'punishment'?"

He paused for a while, and then added: "Not only did I not punish you, but I also want to give you credit. Not to mention anything else, just say that the battle against the thieves in the past few days has resulted in a lot of casualties among the officers of the county, and there is an urgent need for supplements. I am doing this. If you are worried, Qing is like a magic weapon falling from the sky, which can be said to send charcoal in the snow. This is a great achievement! Go, go, go, I will take you to see the lord, and make the lord happy."

Holding Le Jin's hand, Xun Zhen was about to walk into the city, and Xu Zhong reminded him, "Mr. Xun, there are still thousands of men and horses brought by Wen Qian on the other side of the river."

Xun Zhen touched her forehead and laughed, stopped and said with a smile, "Oh, seeing Wen Qian safe now, I was so confused by joy that I forgot about it.  …, Wen Qian, Xiao Xia, Jiang Huan On the other side?"

"Yes."

Xun Zhen instructed the two village chiefs who came out with him: "Call some civilians, quickly build a pontoon bridge, and receive reinforcements from the other side to cross the river."

The two chiefs agreed.

Xun Zhen thought for a while, and added: "After crossing the river, don't ask them to enter the city first, and tell them to wait outside the city for a while until I report to the mansion."

"Yes."

Xun Zhen joined hands to join hands, and everyone returned to the city~www.wuxiaspot.com~ After entering the city gate and walking in the doorway, Xun Zhen remembered something and asked, "Wen Qian, you said that you only brought a thousand iron officials with you. Disciples, slaves, craftsmen, why are there two or three thousand people on the other side? Who are the extra people?"

"Part of it is from Yangcheng to Yangzhai, among the townships in the northwest of the county, the strong and strong men who are unwilling to join the bandits along the way. They admire the majesty and name of the emperor, so after knowing that we were ordered by the emperor to help Yangzhai, they volunteered to join the army. Speaking of which, I really have to thank them, these days, we all rely on them for our food and use.”

"Oh!"

Xun Zhen said in his heart: "Landlords and farmers are inherently opposed to each other. Most of these so-called 'tyrants' are local landlords. It is not surprising that they refuse to follow the 'thieves'."

When he was the postal supervisor in the north, he toured the northwest of the county and took care of the corrupt officials and lawless tyrants in the northwest. Before Yang Zhai was besieged, he personally led the guests not to kill Bo Cai and Bolian. It is estimated that this matter should have spread by now. Le Jin said that "they admired the majesty of the emperor and volunteered to join the army", which should not be flattery.

"What about the other part?"

"The other part is the good people displaced along the way."

"People?"

Xun Zhen was stunned for a moment, and immediately looked at Le Jin with admiration, and said to herself, "I really didn't see that Le Wenqian was actually a kind-hearted person." Unconsciously, he thought of Liu Bei. Liu Bei was defeated, and he took more than 100,000 people with him on the way to escape.

Le Jin looked around and saw that all the followers on the left and right were close to Xun Zhen.

Xun Zhen was startled again, just thinking that Le Jin was a kind-hearted person, but unexpectedly he said this, because he asked, "If you don't want to bring it, why do you bring it?"

Le Jin lowered his voice and answered.