A snow suddenly fell to the land of southern Shandong, and it was not too big, just a thin layer. However, the sudden drop in temperature made people feel surprisingly cold. Li Dingguo led all the cavalry back to Tancheng, and the surrounding area of ​​Linyi was rarely restored to peace.

Zhou Xian grabbed a handful of snow eggs from the ground and turned into a snowball, and threw them up and down while walking. The snow water slid down the palm of his hand, and the ice was very comfortable. He was outside the Lijiazhuang Posthouse, a hundred miles away from Linyi City. There were nearly a thousand people here before, but when Li Dingguo evacuated, he took all the people to Tancheng. The village was completely abandoned, leaving only uninhabited earthen houses and ruins.

Because this is the main road leading to Linyi and its location is extremely important, Zhou Xian ordered his soldiers to occupy the place and urgently built a simple fortress. There were not many troops stationed, only one thousand-person team. However, because it was on the front line of fighting with the Li army, small-scale wars occurred from time to time, and the soldiers were rotated very quickly. Zhou Xian came here with the team transporting the baggage, on the one hand, to boost morale, and on the other hand, he also wanted to see how Li Dingguo would act next.

But unexpectedly, a small snowfall occurred, and Li Dingguo suddenly withdrew his troops. This surprised Zhou Xian and hurriedly sent people to Xuzhou to find out the news. The information sent back was that Zhu Youjian, the old Tang Dynasty king, was appointed emperor in Gaoyou with the assistance of Sun Kewang, and established the title of Longwu. Sun Kewang was appointed Prime Minister, Li Dingguo was appointed General, and other generals also had rewards. From then on, a new regime was established like this.

There are many speculators in any dynasty. They may not be able to see the general trend or see clearly, but they need a place to realize their ambitions. Therefore, they are willing to use their own wealth and life to bet on a big game. In the end, the bet is definitely a few people, but once they succeed, they may be the wealth and prosperity of generations of descendants.

Besides, Zhu Youjian was a relative of the orthodox vassal kings and had the feat of recruiting troops to reinforce the capital. Compared to Emperor Chongzhen, who had been emperor for more than ten years and caused chaos in the world, many people believe that Zhu Youjian could revive the Ming Dynasty.

From Yangzhou in the south to Xuzhou in the north, this area has fertile land and convenient water transportation. Not only does it produce a large amount of grain, it also creates countless wealthy merchants and people. Seeing the construction of Longwu Dynasty, the wealthy merchants in Yangzhou, the gentry of Xuzhou, and the talented and wealthy families in Huainan rushed to surrender. With these people's continuous joining, Sun Kewang and they also began to transform from thieves to soldiers.

After receiving the support of a large number of gentry and wealthy families, Sun Kewang brought a lot of money to Li Dingguo. He asked him to change the equipment general, and Gao erected the banner of Longwu of the Ming Dynasty and took the opportunity to recruit a large number of new soldiers. From then on, the battle between Li Dingguo and Zhou Xian was no longer a war between soldiers and thieves, but a war between the Ming Dynasty for power.

Zhu Youjian was obviously different from the Zhu Yishou who was reluctant to become emperor under the coercion of Liu Zeqing. He did have the ambition to revive the Ming Dynasty. Moreover, he would use his advantages. He reset the prime minister and gave Sun Kewang enough power. At the same time, he also enfeoffed other generals to differentiate their power as much as possible. At the same time, he also spread the word to all directions and tried his best to express his legitimateness of becoming emperor. Then he trusted the governors from all over the Ming Dynasty, generals, and granted them official positions to seek their support.

Not long ago, Zhou Xian received such a letter. He was appointed as the governor of Shandong and governed the entire territory of Shandong. He had the right to serve as an official and collect taxes, and was granted the title of Marquis of Weiwu.

Li Dingguo's withdrawal was Zhu Youjian's forced order. He wanted to ease the situation on the battlefield and seek Zhou Xian's support for him.

In the original time and space, Emperor Longwu Zhu Youjian can be said to be the most wise emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty. It’s a pity that he was born at the wrong time. Not only was the Ming Dynasty weakened when he succeeded to the throne, but he was also limited by Zheng Zhilong everywhere. Even if he really had the talent to revive, it would be difficult to have room to play. If he had changed his position with Emperor Chongzhen, he might have done better. But unfortunately, history is impossible.

Now, Zhu Youjian relies on Sun Kewang to become emperor. The situation may be much better than that, but if you are also trying to get a tiger, your fate may not be much better. Zhou Xian is absolutely impossible to accept his conditions. After all, no matter from any perspective, he is not a good choice. Moreover, what Zhou Xian wants to do is not what he can give.

Chen Feng followed Zhou Xian, his cheeks were red with cold and he stomped his feet gently from time to time. He didn't understand what Zhou Xian was walking around in the snow, but this was the front line, so he could only follow. At this time, he suddenly heard the loud shouts of soldiers on the wall of the fort, and he quickly rushed to Zhou Xian. "Second Young Master, someone is here, the soldiers in the fort are asking you to go back!"

Zhou Xian also heard it, threw away the only snow slag in his hand, turned around and walked towards the fort.

"Mr. Wan, why are you here?"

Wan Ji handed the horse to the soldiers next to him and rubbed his hands that were almost frozen, "It's more urgent, I'll come to discuss it with you."

Zhou Xian nodded, "Chen Feng, get a charcoal basin and get some hot food to warm Mr. Wan."

After hearing Wan Ji talk about Lin Qing, Zhou Xian frowned, was stunned for a while, and whispered: "This Liu Zeqing is really a useless person. He has reminded him so many times, but in the end, Li Yan successfully attacked him."

Wan Ji smiled bitterly and said, "Maybe it was because we kept reminding him and Li Yan had not taken action that he thought we were just to delay his capture of the plains, so he relaxed his defense against Li Yan. Fortunately, Liu Zeqing was eventually killed by our army, and at least he could explain to the court."

Zhou Xian shook his head, "Liu Zeqing, who has no soldiers, is just a worthless corpse. Since the emperor wants it, send someone to the capital as soon as possible!"

Wan Ji nodded, "Bai Huo has sent troops from Tai'an, but he has left two thousand people in Dezhou. According to time, he should have already fought in Jining now. But Liu Konghe took the risk of raiding Liu Zeqing, such news will probably be known to Li Yan soon. Once he leads his troops to reinforce Jining, it will probably be very troublesome."

Zhou Xian nodded slightly, "It's a matter of time now. It depends on whether Bai Hu can break through Jining faster, or whether Li Yan's reinforcements will arrive first. However, with Gao Qi and the others' restraint, our army's chances of victory are obviously greater. But what I am worried about is that Li Yan, who has tens of thousands of soldiers, will surround Wei and save Zhao, and send troops to North Lu like Liu Zeqing to force us to return to the rescue."
Chapter completed!