The Grandmaster Strategist - Chapter 198

[Chapter 30 Drawing the corner Jinrao]

In February of the eighth year of Longsheng, Yang Xiu was ordered by General Lu Can to supervise Huainan and spy on Huaibei.

– “Zizhi Tongjian Yongji IV”

The Zhou brothers bid farewell to Gu Yuanyong and went downstairs, but the weather above the restaurant changed drastically. All the idlers and others had already left. Outside the bamboo curtain on the left, Yuan Ting and Yue Zhi were calm and condensed. When they took over the four people, Zhou Ming and Zhou Hui only felt eight icy eyes flashing over them, and they were already sweating through their heavy clothes. This kind of power is definitely not an ordinary person.

Moreover, the two of them glanced and saw Du Lingfeng standing outside the curtain, with a hint of fear in his respectful expression, and they knew that the gray-haired and frost-tempered man in Tsing Yi was the noble Gu Yuanyong said, but he didn’t expect it. Who would it be.

The two did not dare to peep, and hurried downstairs, but Zhou Hui thought of the cold eyes of the servant in Tsing Yi for no reason.

I stood in front of the window and looked down, watching the Zhou brothers greet the elders on the street and help arrange Zhuang Qingpu’s funeral, I couldn’t help pointing at them and said, “I have too many things to do, in fact, there are countless Nan Chu Junjie, once he arrives When the country is destroyed and the family is destroyed, there will be one after another, one after another, without me bothering to warn, the emperor will know the difficulties of Pingchu. The people of Chu are like water, they seem to be weak and can be bullied, but if they really anger them, they will face pervasive attacks. Counterattack. Now we have the upper hand, but we have not yet approached the bottom line in the minds of the Chu people. If the Chu people cannot completely lose their confidence in the Southern Chu royal family, even if the iron hoof smashes the mountains and rivers in the south of the Yangtze River, they can only get the broken tiles and ruins. Buckwheat is green.”

Xiao Shunzi replied, “Young Master’s intention is to keep more of Nan Chu Junjie, so as not to damage the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. With a heart of sympathy, the heavens will surely see pity, how can you blame the son for being troublesome.”

I sighed slightly, thinking of the frogs living in the cabin these days. After arriving at Guangling, they landed in a boat and slept in the open air along the way. It was extremely difficult. Geographic secret camp disciples lead the way, I am afraid that so many of us will not be able to reach Chuzhou silently.

However, although the road we took was arduous, it was also a way for the secret agents of the two countries to communicate with each other. Along the way, we encountered a lot of those secret agents, and we all relied on Xiao Shunzi’s guidance to avoid these people’s eyes and ears.

When I entered Chuzhou City, I used the Hu Benwei token carried by Huyanshou and others. I worked hard all the way, so I asked Huyanshou to see Pei Yun. I found a restaurant by the roadside to take a rest, but I saw such a scene. When Zhuang Qingpu went upstairs, I saw that his life was hanging by a thread, and my medical skills were hopeless. He lived a few more hours.

It’s just that this Zhuang Qingpu is stubborn and stubborn, and he refuses to accept it. Although it is only a few hours’ difference, but who is not greedy for life and fears death, he is so decisive that I admire him, but it’s a pity that God is jealous of talents. irreparable.

At this time, Pei Yun said in a clear and clear voice from outside the curtain: “Jiedu envoy of Huainan, welcome to you, General Pei Yun, the commander of the Xuzhou battalion.”

I smiled slightly, pointed outside the curtain and said, “Come in, where do you need so much etiquette.”

Pei Yun had already dispelled the smell of alcohol from his body at this time, and after hearing the words, he tidied up his clothes. He did not dare to be scornful of this person who even his teacher respected, not to mention that this person was kind to him in the past.

Seeing Jiang Zhe’s order, he took Gu and Du and walked in together.

After entering the curtain, Pei Yun bowed down on one knee and said, “I will meet the Marquis at the end. I don’t know that the Marquis will come here. I have not greeted him far away. I still ask the Marquis to forgive me.”

I stepped forward to pick up Pei Yun and said with a smile, “You’re already a dignified imperial envoy, why do you have to be so polite? I’ve been here privately, so the emperor probably doesn’t know it yet?”

Pei Yun secretly said in his heart, no matter how you came, if you weren’t here, it would be inconvenient for me to easily dismiss Gao Bing’s military post and go to the internal troubles. If Luo Jing had not been assassinated, with the support of this person, I would be able to remove Luo Jing myself. , just thinking of this person, many embarrassing things no longer become troubles,

He is willing to worship this time.

I vaguely guessed his intentions, smiled slightly, and turned to Gu Yuanyong. Seeing his horrified expression, I must have guessed my identity. I was wondering why I should be in Dinghai, but why did I come to Chuzhou?

He stepped forward and said, “This must be Master Gu. My cousin Benhou works in Chuzhou, and Master Duomeng takes care of him. I’ll be waiting for him to thank him.”

Gu Yuanyong was at a loss, at a loss, and the news from Jiangnan and Jiangbei was isolated, so trivial matters such as Jing Changqing would naturally not spread. Seeing him dazed, I gave Xiao Shunzi a wink, and Xiao Shunzi stepped forward and said lightly: “Jing Changqing The family is the son’s mother family, and the current head of the family, Jing Changqing, is the son’s cousin. He used to be the governor of Chu Prefecture, and he is very admired by the lord.

Pei Yun, Du Lingfeng, and Gu Yuanyong all felt a thud in their heads. Naturally, they didn’t know what Xiao Shunzi said was true or not. Jing Changqing and Jiang Zhe had always had a gap. During this trip to Jiaxing, the two did not meet at all.

On the other hand, Gu Yuanyong woke up first. Unlike Pei Yun and Du Lingfeng, he was worried that he had offended Jiang Zhe.

Seeing Jiang Zhe’s eyes full of smiles, he didn’t mean to blame, and since this person is famous, he must be a generation whose happiness and anger are indistinguishable.

Now that he was appointed by Pei Yun and acted as the deputy governor of the county, he was both prosperous and damaged. His life and fortune were mostly tied to Pei Yun, so he naturally did not want to see him embarrassed, so he said: “Jing Changshi is honest and upright, and he is the next. I have always admired General Pei, although he was imprisoned in order to establish his prestige, he also valued him very much.”

Pei Yun had come to his senses at this time, and he couldn’t help but be glad that he didn’t directly kill the powerful Changshi at that time. Seeing that Jiang Zhe didn’t look angry, and thinking about Jing Changqing’s bizarre disappearance, he couldn’t help but smile: “Pei Mou thought that his officers and soldiers were too negligent, They were robbed and imprisoned, but now that I think about it, even if they don’t see each other, there is no way to watch the prisoner.”

These remarks are meant to be flattering, but they don’t show any traces. Even if I listened to them, I felt good to my ears. I originally intended to scare Pei Yun, lest he would borrow my power in vain. The green plum wine said: “It’s okay, it’s okay, this wine is really good. I’m leaving Chuzhou tomorrow, so I’ll ask the shopkeeper to bring two more jars. How about you and I have a drink?”

Pei Yun’s heart widened, knowing that Jiang Zhe was not dissatisfied with the incident, his eyes flashed, and seeing Du Lingfeng’s uneasy expression, he said: “Master Hou has such a graceful look, how can you refuse at the end, Ling Feng, go get two jars of green plums Here comes the wine.”

Du Lingfeng was ecstatic in his heart, and hurriedly saluted and stepped back, secretly swearing in his heart that he would not take a step closer to Jiang Zhe before the Duke of Chu left tomorrow. For young people, no power of authority can deter them.

It’s just that when Du Lingfeng was practicing martial arts at the Shaolin Temple, Master Cizhen once returned to the temple with his closed disciple Jiang Shen. When Master Cizhen was busy talking about Buddhist scriptures and martial arts with the elders in the temple, Jiang Shen handed over to those next generation disciples to take turns to look after them. , Jiang Shen was only four years old at the time, but he was extremely naughty, causing everyone to have a splitting headache.

One day when it was Du Lingfeng’s turn to take care of Jiang Shen, Jiang Shen was especially naughty. He couldn’t see at a glance, so he didn’t know where he was going. Du Lingfeng was a little impatient, and when others weren’t paying attention, he gave Jiang Shen a hard spanking. , and then Jiang Shen really was honest for a long time.

As a result, when Du Lingfeng woke up from a nap at noon and hugged Jiang Shen to return him to his uncle, Master Cizhen, everyone was stunned when they saw him, and then they snickered.

Du Lingfeng came to his senses, and when he looked in the mirror, he realized that his eyebrows had been shaved off. After half a year, he was so embarrassed that he didn’t dare to go out, and when he saw Jiang Shen again, he would shy away.

When he thinks about it, if there is a father, there must be a son. For a little devil like Jiang Shen, his father must not be easy to mess with. He has offended Jiang Zhe, so naturally, the farther away, the better.

After a while, Du Lingfeng personally brought in the two jars of green plum wine, and then he took the opportunity to retreat. Gu Yuanyong saw that Pei Yun and Jiang Zhe seemed to have a secret conversation, so he also withdrew wisely.

After three rounds of drinking, Pei Yun began to step into the topic and asked, “Didn’t Lord Hou go to Dinghai with the navy army? The espionage report from the day before yesterday still said that Lord Hou attacked Zhenhai Yongjiang estuary at night and burned more than 100 ships of the Chu army. ship.”

I heard the words and laughed: “This is an exaggeration. The Yongjiang estuary in Mingzhou is blocked by silt, and ships with more than a thousand stone cannot enter. At most, Lu Can will leave some fast boats there to monitor the movement of Dinghai and transmit information. Military situation, if Lu Can still allows the Donghai Navy a chance to achieve a major victory, he will not be a dignified general.” Having said this, I turned my head to Xiao Shunzi and said, “Cong’er is still not stable enough. It’s not in my temperament to come forward for such trivial matters, I’m afraid that one or two such actions, even if I don’t reveal whereabouts, Lu Can will know that Dinghai is a substitute.”

Xiao Shunzi said lightly, “Even if he knows, he has to convince others.”

Pei Yun had naturally heard that Jiang Zhe had left a stand-in in Dinghai. Although he had never heard of the name “Cong’er” mentioned by Jiang Zhe, he thought that he was a first-class disciple of Jiang Zhe’s disciples. Chu Junchen’s eyes lured Wu Yue, but he escaped and came to Chuzhou. This kind of dragon’s behavior is really admirable.

Pei Yun has a lot of doubts in his heart. The court has neither decree nor any relevant espionage. Although he doesn’t think there is any problem with Jiang Zhe, the most important thing at the moment is to protect Jiang Zhe, and the second is to write to the emperor to explain the matter. , but Jiang Zhe just said that he is going to leave tomorrow. If he really let Jiang Zhe go away, I am afraid that something will go wrong in the future, and the emperor will definitely blame him, so he asked: “Master Hou is in danger, since Wu Yue After sneaking to Chuzhou, the last commander admires it, and now there are continuous wars, although Huaibei is still under the control of our army, but the spies from Nanchu often come in, so why don’t you stay in Chuzhou for a while?”

I sneered: “If I stay in Chuzhou, I’m afraid that I will be captured by the enemy. Is General Pei so assured of Chuzhou’s defense? I’m afraid that even Xuzhou may not be able to keep it.”

Pei Yun was shocked and said cautiously: “What do you mean by this, Lord Hou, the last commander will block the way of the Nanchu army northward in Chuzhou and Sizhou. Although the Huaixi Chu army won a great victory last time, it is also extremely damaged. , and General Cui Jue and Cui guarding Suzhou, why does Xuzhou also fall? And Lu Can is planning to fetter Wu Yue for Lord Hou, is there any way to go north and attack our army?”

I sighed lightly: “The Emperor, King Qi, and even I still despise Lu Can. After our army was defeated a few years ago, the defense lines of Chuzhou, Sizhou, and Suzhou are still solid, and Huaibei still has two troops, you and Cui Jue. There are more than 100,000 elite soldiers. In our minds, we can already defend Huaibei. Regardless of whether the monarchs and ministers of Southern Chu dare to provoke war again, His Royal Highness King Qi is about to lead his army south and set up Jiangnan Xingyuan in Runan. Xuzhou, so although Huaibei’s troops were insufficient, we didn’t take it to heart.

Who would have thought that Lu Can would have such courage. This time I passed northeast Huai and found that the amount of food and forage that the Chu army had recruited exceeded the normal requirements of the Chu army in Huaidong. Moreover, Yang Xiu was now sitting in Guangling, which is the only place to go north. Dao, I’m fighting the horses now, I didn’t care, just relying on the Huaidong military horses, it is absolutely impossible to defeat Sizhou and Chuzhou in one fell swoop, and it was not until I arrived in Chuzhou that I realized that there was a discord between civil and military, and the people were angry, no wonder Lu Canyou If I have the guts to attack Chuzhou, if I don’t think it’s bad, as long as Yang Xiu attacks, the Huaixi defenders will cooperate with the flying cavalry camp to go north, capture Suzhou, and advance to Xuzhou. Once Xuzhou falls, they can threaten Qingzhou to the north, and Nanyang to the west. , the Chu army not only stabilized Jianghuai, but also took the initiative to attack Dayong.

Now that I think about it, God bless Dayong. The Donghai Sea army attacked Wuyue and damaged the foundation of Southern Chu’s taxation. Lu Can had to go to Wuyue to supervise the army. Although Yang Xiu was also a talent, he was less decisive. In order to seek stability, he delayed the attack. Otherwise, if they started ten days ago, I am afraid that the people of Chuzhou will rise up, and then Chuzhou will be in danger.

”

Hearing this, Pei Yun’s face was already blue, and he couldn’t help regretting that he cherished his future and indulged Luo Jinghuwei. When he thought about it carefully, the more he thought about it, the more he felt a chill in his heart. Now Changsun Ji is besieging and attacking Xiangyang again. However, there must be no time to take care of the Jianghuai war, and the Huaibei defense line seems to be in danger. If the Chu army intends to move north, the goal must be aimed at Xuzhou.

I saw that Pei Yun already knew the seriousness of the current situation, and said: “It’s no wonder you, the Nanchu army never took the initiative to go north, and now you know the news, you can arrange how to defend it, as long as you don’t lose Chuzhou, Even if Sizhou fell, it would not count as a defeat for our army.”

Pei Yun stood up and said, “At the end of the day, I would like to thank the Lord Marquis for the warning. Please rest assured, Lord Marquis, as long as Pei is in Chuzhou for one day, Chuzhou will never fall.”

I nodded and said, “That’s good. Although the Jiangnan Xingyuan has not yet been established, the matter of my appointment as counselor has been decided. You don’t need to worry about any culpability. I can take care of everything. Originally, Huaibei was in critical condition, so I should stay here. That’s right, it’s just that the battle in Xiangyang is a bit conservative according to the original plan, so I’m going to see Chang Sun Ji, you give me the customs clearance documents, and then give me a guide to show me the way, and all the soldiers and civilians who know that I’m coming to Chuzhou, you Be careful, I don’t want others to know where I am.”

Pei Yun nodded and said: “I will obey the order at the end. The Du Lingfeng that the Marquis saw just now is my nephew. He is very familiar with the road and can guide the Marquis. Those who meet the Marquis today will be controlled by the end, and they will be cut off. This will not be leaked.”

I nodded and said: “Once Chuzhou is attacked, you must strictly prevent chaos in the city. Gu Yuanyong is a talented person. As long as you still have hope of winning, he will not rebel. This person is quite prestigious in Chuzhou. Let him replace Luo Jing this time, but it’s right. You have to win over him well in order to stabilize the hearts of the people of Chuzhou. That Gao Bing is not good enough, I think he has more than enough to fail. If there is anything wrong, he will take him Beheaded, don’t be soft-hearted.”

Pei Yun said solemnly, “I will obey the order at the end.”

I stood up and said, “Okay, let that Du Lingfeng arrange the accommodation for us. Your military affairs are important. I don’t need you to send me off tomorrow, so as not to make any noise.”

Pei Yun said: “The documents required by the Lord will be presented to the Lord tomorrow by Lingfeng. The last will go to the big camp outside the city now to order troops. Please forgive the Lord for his contempt.”

I said lightly: “Come on, I want to drink a few glasses of wine here.”

Pei Yun got up and resigned, and walked downstairs without hesitation. Not long after, I heard the sound of horses’ hooves downstairs and gradually disappeared.

I sighed softly and said, “This time it’s really a fluke, if Huyanshou hadn’t found out that the number of grain boats far exceeded what they should be on the road, and someone with your skills as a spy, would not have found out that this time Nanshan Chu’s strategy of attacking the east and the west. It’s really funny to say, I lured the Chu army’s eyes to Wu Yue, but Lu Can also took advantage of the situation and took the opportunity to recover Huaidong and push Xuzhou. This time, the two of us are tied. ”

Xiao Shunzi said lightly: “No matter how well-planned the plan is, since it has been leaked, it will not be so easy to succeed. Otherwise, why would the son go to Xiangyang with such confidence?”

I heard the words and said with a smile: “Pei Yun is a Shaolin Dharma guardian disciple. His temperament is both resolute and decisive, and he also has the side of power and change. A few days ago, he indulged Luo Jing, but he did not want to offend the powerful officials, which led to the situation in Chuzhou. It’s unstable, but now that he knows that the Southern Chu army intends to attack, he will kill and make a decision, even if the blood of Chuzhou is in a river, he will not let Nanchu take advantage of it.” Having said this, I sighed again. Said: “If I had come a day earlier, I’m afraid that at this moment Pei Yun has driven Luo Jing away, then there will be no regrets today.”

Xiao Shunzi sneered: “Young Master, this is a stupid thing to say, I’m afraid that Zhuang Qingpu and Nan Chu are also involved, otherwise why would he cross the line of defense between the two armies and return to Chuzhou, and say he assassinated Luo Jing, no? Is it beneficial to Southern Chu? General Pei and Luo Jing have not yet reached a situation where water and fire are incompatible. If the Chu army is attacked, I am afraid that an iron-fisted county guard will be more credible than a surrendered minister? And if Zhuang Qingpu is not seriously injured and will die, even if General Pei took pity on him, and he had to be captured and beheaded. At that time, the scholars in the city will be more resentful to Dayong, and internal and external troubles will occur together, I am afraid that Chuzhou City will not be so easy to defend.”

After I listened to it, I lowered my head and thought for a moment, and said, “You are right, but Zhuang Qingpu is dead, so I don’t need to mention this matter. In any case, it is a pity that this person died, if Yang Xiuzhen wanted to sacrifice such a person Man, I would laugh at him for being short-sighted.”

At this time, I heard the familiar footsteps in my ears, and I knew that it was Huyan Shou who was going upstairs. I suddenly smiled and said, “Huyan married Su Hou, not to mention the other advantages, but his ability to monitor the enemy’s situation has improved by leaps and bounds. Otherwise, we will only know that Southern Chu still has the courage to attack Huaibei if we are afraid that the Chu army will be under the city?”

Xiao Shunzi was stunned when he heard the words, even with his cold face and cold heart, he couldn’t help but smile.

[End of this Chapter]