After Li Xia and his party of twenty-three people crossed the Yangtze River, they walked for another four days and arrived at Luzhou.
Luzhou is almost the Hefei City in later generations, and it is a very important strategic town today.
It can be seen from its location that it is bounded by the Huaihe River to the north and the Yangtze River to the south, so it is called the "Huaiyou Breeze".
Since their departure, they had always bypassed the cities they encountered. This time when they arrived at Luzhou, Nie Zhongyou decided to enter the city.
Because they were disguised as a caravan, they paid a tax at the gate of the city and another residence tax after entering the city, both times the amount was not small.
Li Xia could tell that Nie Zhongyou had a different kind of feeling for Luzhou City. When he raised his head and stared at the city wall several times, there was a look of reminiscence in his eyes, and his hand subconsciously touched the neck.
A scar.
It was an old scar, probably because Nie Zhongyou fought here a few years ago...
They found an inn in the city to stay in and rented a courtyard. There were not many rooms, so they lived in twos and threes.
Li Xia was unlucky and was assigned to live with Nie Zhongyou. But when he thought about Linzi, Bai Mao had even worse luck and lived with Liu Jinsuo, who snored loudly. He was relieved.
After entering the inn, Nie Zhongyou first asked Han Chengxu and Lin Zi to buy some supplies.
Because Wu Dexian died, it was now Han Chengxu who pretended to be the leader of the caravan. He was responsible for all the trivial matters along the way, and the treatment of the grandfather and grandson was much better as a result.
After explaining these things, Nie Zhongyou turned to Li Xia and said, "Please accompany me out to do something."
After the Yangtze River water bandit incident, Nie Zhongyou seemed to have a little more trust in Li Xia. He would sometimes discuss things with him and take him with him when talking and doing things. He seemed to intend to train Li Xia to become a deputy who could replace Jiang Xing.
The two of them walked around in circles for a long time, and finally arrived in front of an ordinary house.
Nie Zhongyou had obviously never been here before. He only knew the address and seemed a little hesitant when he knocked on the door.
After a while, the door of the small house was opened, and a gray-haired old man stuck his head out and asked: "Who are you looking for?"
"Dare I ask if this is the Gao family?" Nie Zhongyou asked.
The old man stared at Nie Zhongyou for a long time and did not speak. I don't know if he was too old or slow to react, or he was sizing up the visitors.
Nie Zhongyou thought for a while, took out a copper token, showed it in front of the old man, and whispered: "It was Taiwei Lu who asked me to come."
"You have the wrong person."
The old man looked confused and said something slowly before closing the door.
Nie Zhongyou was stunned and asked again: "Is this Changfeng Lane?"
However, the old man closed the door without hesitation.
Nie Zhongyou turned around and looked around for a while to make sure he was looking in the right place, with a look of contemplation in his eyes.
Li Xia watched this scene silently, and felt something was wrong, and secretly became wary.
It was a wasted trip for the two of them, but on the way back, Li Xia vaguely felt like he was being spied on.
He was about to look back when he suddenly heard Nie Zhongnie say something in a low voice.
"Don't look back, just pretend you didn't notice."
Only then did Li Xia confirm that he was indeed being followed.
He was quite generous, and after a while he pointed to an egg vendor on the roadside and asked Nie Zhongyou if he could buy all the eggs.
Nie Zhongyou agreed and not only bought the eggs along with the basket, but also specially bought a hen.
Li Xia didn't look back during this process, but Nie Zhongyou seemed to glance behind him unnoticeably.
Back at the inn, Nie Zhongyou seemed a little hesitant. He paced back and forth for a while, looked into Li Xia's eyes and said, "I have your father in my hands."
This sentence is incomprehensible, but Li Xia can actually understand Nie Zhongyou's thoughts.
He knows how to threaten people all day long.
"I know." Li Xia said, "Since I promised to do things for you, I will keep my word."
Nie Zhongyou continued to stare at Li Xia for a while, as if thinking about whether he was trustworthy. Finally, he said, "Can you guess the purpose of our trip to Kaifeng this time?"
"Can't guess..."
Suddenly, there were footsteps outside, followed by a knock on the door. Lin Zi said, "Brother, someone is looking for you. He calls himself Lu Fengtai and says he is your old friend."
Nie Zhongyou seemed to be dazed for a moment and murmured: "Lu Fengtai?"
~~
Lu Fengtai walked into the guest room.
He is a middle-aged man in his early thirties, tall and strong, and he looks like a member of the military. Although he is dressed in civilian clothes, he has an air of calmness and authority.
Seeing Nie Zhongyou, Lu Fengtai smiled and said, "We haven't seen him for almost ten years, right?"
"Yes." Nie Zhongyou said, "I haven't seen you in ten years."
Lu Fengtai stretched out his hand, patted Lin Zi's shoulder and said, "Little brother, you don't have to be so guarded against me. Back then, Brother Nie and I followed Du Xianggong to defend the city to the death in Luzhou City, and we were close friends in life and death."
Lin Zi was standing by the door with a guarded look, but after being slapped like this, his whole aura weakened.
His heart is not firm and his aura is not strong, so he is put down by others as soon as he meets him.
Then, Lu Fengtai's eyes fell on Li Xia, and he turned away for a moment, and said to Nie Zhongyou: "Let's talk in private?"
Without waiting for Nie Zhongyou to answer, he naturally said: "You guys should step back first."
A look of embarrassment flashed in Lin Zi's eyes, and he looked a little embarrassed.
However, Li Xia was still very calm and had no intention of going out.
He had just traveled through time and still had the mentality of treating everything as a game. No matter how aura the Lu Fengtai in front of him was, he could not be considered a person in his eyes.
What's more, he and Nie Zhongyou shared this guest room. He was half the owner, so he shouldn't be the one to leave.
Nie Zhongyou glanced at Lin Zi, signaling Lin Zi to go out and guard the guest house, and then said to Li Xia: "Just in time, Brother Lu is here, you should stay and listen, lest I have to tell you some things from the beginning."
"good."
Lu Fengtai looked at Li Xia again and didn't mind. He turned to Nie Zhongyou and said, "Have you been to Changfeng Lane today?"
"Yes, is the old man yours?"
"Yes, show me that token."
"Changfeng Lane, where is the person I'm looking for?"
Lu Fengtai said: "Let me see it first."
Nie Zhongyou didn't shy away from it. He took out the token and put it in front of Lu Fengtai so that he could take a look and asked, "Where is the person?"
Lu Fengtai looked at it for a while, obviously unable to understand the words above. He shook his head and asked, "Who are you looking for?"
"You asked questions knowingly. Didn't the person get caught by you?"
"I really don't know." Lu Fengtai said: "I only know that they are people who escaped from the north. I need to find them and return them to Mongolia."
Nie Zhongyou put away the token, thought for a moment, and responded: "Dali Kingdom, Gao family."
Lu Fengtai was stunned for a moment, as if he suddenly understood, but also seemed a little confused.
Nie Zhongyou glanced at Li Xia and saw that Li Xia was also puzzled, so he simply explained.
"Brother Lu also knows that since the destruction of the Jin Kingdom, Mongolia has repeatedly tried to capture our land of Sichuan in the Song Dynasty, intending to occupy the upper reaches of the Yangtze River and attack Lin'an. Fortunately, the soldiers and civilians of Sichuan fought hard and relied on the hard work of Commander Yu Du.
Working hard with blood, we repeatedly defeated the Mongolian army."
Having said this, Nie Zhongyou cupped his hands toward the southwest with a solemn expression.
"Not bad." Lu Fengtai also cupped his hands to express his respect for "Shuai Yu".
Nie Zhongyou just continued: "The Mongolian army failed to take Sichuan, so they decided to take a detour to the Western Sichuan Plateau to attack the Dali Kingdom. They used the manpower and material resources in the southwest to form a roundabout offensive against the Song Dynasty."
Lu Fengtai said: "I know that the Mongolian army destroyed the Dali Kingdom, but it was too far away and I don't know the details."
Nie Zhongyou said: "Dali is a small country in the southwest border, and the leader of the country is the Duan family. The Gao family is the leader of the Bai tribe, and has been the prime minister, or regent, of Dali for generations.
A hundred years ago, there was a coup in Dali. The Duan family abdicated the throne to the Gao family and changed the country's name to Dazhong. Later, due to opposition from various tribes, the descendants of the Gao family supported Duan as emperor. However,
, Gao still holds the real power in Dali.
Five years ago, the Mongolian army conquered Dali. At that time, Dali Prime Minister Gao Taixiang took the lead in the battle and killed the Mongolian surrender envoys to show his determination to fight against the Mongols. Later, he was defeated and captured, and he was killed at the neck."
Lu Fengtai said: "It seems that although this person is a powerful minister, he is also a loyal and martyr."
"Gao Taixiang has integrity, but Duan Xingzhi, the leader of Dali, has no spine." Nie Zhongyou said: "After the destruction of Dali, Duan Xingzhi surrendered, and Meng Ge named him the general manager of Dali.
Duan Xingzhi saved his life and was grateful to Mongolia, so he acted as a guide for the Mongolian army to hunt down the remaining troops in Dali and suppress the people of all ethnic groups who resisted the Mongolian army.
Dali was originally a vassal state of our Song Dynasty, but now it has become a Mongolian eagle and dog, forming a threat to our Song Dynasty from the north and the south.
From now on, the Mongolian army can avoid water battles in the Jianghuai River and mountain battles in Sichuan, and instead go around our weakly defended areas of Guangdong and Guangxi, and send troops north to outflank and attack the hinterland of the Song Dynasty from the southwest. Most of our war horses come from Dali.
We also lost the source of war horses. From then on, the worse the situation in the southwest became, the worse the situation in the world became."
Lu Fengtai asked: "The person Brother Nie is looking for is related to the Dali Prime Minister Gao Taixiang?"
"Yes. After Gao Taixiang's death, the Mongolian army brought Gao Qiong, the eldest son of the Gao family, back to the north." Nie Zhongyou said: "The situation in the southwest is urgent, so the imperial court transferred Taiwei Lu to take charge in the southwest. Last year, a Bai tribe member contacted Taiwei Lu and asked him to
He asked the Song Dynasty to help him fight against the Mongols.
Lieutenant Lu then learned that the remaining members of the Gao family were going north to rescue Gao Taixiang's son and to rally all the tribes in Dali. However, their actions in the north failed and they had no choice but to flee to the Song Dynasty. Lieutenant Lu sent people to bring them back.
Settled in Luzhou.
I happen to be going north this time, and by meeting them I can learn about the situation in the north and even bring Gao Qiong back for them."
Lu Fengtai was silent for a moment and said, "That's it."
"What does Brother Lu have to do with this matter?"
"The Mongols sent envoys to Luzhou to ask for fugitives." Lu Fengtai said: "I found the house based on the clues, but unfortunately it was a step too late and the man had already left. So I left my man behind to wait, but I didn't expect to find you, Brother Nie.
"
"You want to hand them back to Mongolia?"
"yes."
Nie Zhongyou asked: "Now that I have told Brother Lu who they are, you still want to do this?"
"Yes." Lu Fengtai said: "The current situation is delicate. We must not let Mongolia get the leverage to declare war with the Song Dynasty."
"ridiculous."
"What you are doing is very dangerous and meaningless." Lu Fengtai said: "The country of Dali has been destroyed. The Bai rebels and the descendants of the Gao family can't do anything at all. We don't have the time to care about the fate of a small border country.
Our own crisis is imminent. At this critical juncture, it is not possible to carefully maintain the alliance. If you do this, once you start provocation..."
"Qingqingxianxing?"
Nie Zhongyou obviously didn't like this word, he frowned and his tone became unhappy.
"How could Brother Lu not understand this? As long as the Mongolian army wants to go south, it will be useless no matter how carefully we maintain the alliance."
"I know, but Huainan Road is not ready yet."
"Ready?" Nie Zhongyou asked back: "Were you ready when we fought desperately to defend the city in Luzhou? More than ten years have passed, and now you say you are not ready? What are you prepared for? Are you not ready to sacrifice your life for the country?