At a stretch of river beach before the Shichuan River merges into the Wei River, Liu Jinsuo was walking and wrapping his wounds, cursing incessantly.
"Look, Yang Ben, Li Zeyi, and Hu Legen must have made contributions last night. We followed the prince to block Liu Zheng and let people escape. It was really bad luck... Speaking of which,
Yang Ben has a bad face, and Li Zeyi has a bad mouth, do you feel that?"
Liu Jinsuo looked back again and found that his bodyguards had suffered heavy casualties. Some of the people who usually teased Mengzi were dead and injured, but no one responded, so he stopped talking.
After a while, he muttered again.
"If I die in the battle, don't look so depressed."
After a while, some soldiers brought an old fisherman over.
"My father-in-law, did you see the Mongolian army crossing the border? It was probably before dawn."
"General, this little old man is from Qiujia Village behind, a fisherman. This morning..."
"I didn't ask you these questions. I just asked you whether you saw the Mongolian army."
"That's not the case." The old man shook his head, stared, and said, "I'm here to report a crime. Two thieves robbed my bamboo raft..."
"Thief?"
"Isn't it? It floated in from the upper reaches at dawn and scared the little old man. One of them was short and the other was a little taller, but not much taller. They were as thin as a bamboo pole. Without saying a word, the little old man was
The old man took off the bamboo raft, snatched the raft and ran away with the current..."
Before he finished speaking, there was a horse galloping ahead.
"General! General!"
Liu Jinsuo looked up, his heart pounding, and he thought to himself, Liu Zheng is so brave, no one else will die today.
"General! Aizhang and Zhuyuan Zhang have done great work! Weishui River, Weishui River is catching dog thieves..."
~~
"Guluuluulu..."
Liu Gai finally swam to the riverside, but he was exhausted.
He is very good at water, but he has been galloping wildly since the past few days. He ran for his life again last night and fought all night, so he was already tired and hungry.
And when he finally got on the merchant ship to go east, someone pierced the merchant ship and it sank very quickly.
"Remove armor! Remove armor!"
All the brave men in Liu's army were good at swimming, but they couldn't swim while wearing armor. Therefore, as soon as they found out that the ship had sunk, the father and son ordered everyone to take off their armor.
That's too late.
Even Liu Gai had just taken off his belly armor when he fell into the water...
After that, he saw the soldiers who had no time to disarm struggling and sinking.
There was blood in the river again, and a thin man stuck his head out of the river, and then another.
The two men were tumbling in the Wei River with their knives between their teeth, more agile than swimming fish, looking for soldiers who could still swim.
Liu Gai didn't dare to stop them.
He really had no strength for a long time and could only swim to the shore...
Just when I grabbed a stone and pulled myself out of the water, I saw several shirtless villagers rushing over with hoes.
"Save me." Liu Gai shouted: "My merchant ship..."
Before he finished speaking, he received a heavy blow on his shoulder.
"Fight the robbers!"
"Fight the robbers..."
Liu Gai was furious and grabbed the hoe as soon as he made a move.
He was proficient in bow and horse, and he really didn't take the opponent seriously.
However, with a strong pull, the villager was pulled to the ground and refused to let go.
The two of them looked at each other, and saw that the villager had dropped his head and looked up with fear in his eyes.
"The robbers are beating people!"
"Bang!"
A group of villagers had gathered around and beat him with hoes.
Liu Gai was hit hard again, only to realize that he was not wearing any armor or weapons at this time, so he was really unable to defeat these many villagers.
Not some.
Soon, he fell to the ground...
~~
On this day, Xizhang Village, north of the Weihe River, seemed quite lively.
At first, someone said that a merchant ship in the west was robbed and many people died.
"I lay down in the woods and saw clearly. The boat was covered with blood... Look! That's the boat, going downstream..."
"Hurry and report to the officer..."
Later, when someone pointed at the boat on the Wei River and shouted, "The boat has sunk," the villagers rushed to the river to watch.
"Really sunk?"
They all saw two figures swimming in the Wei River.
Drilling boats, catching thieves... Occasionally they would pop up and then sink again, like two big fish that were free and easy.
Finally, the only old man in the village who had failed the Jinguo Township Examination knew how to praise him and clapped his hands and shouted.
"A true hero!"
~~
Gaoling County.
Li Xia took stock of the battlefield and thought to himself: "This time we won by luck with people like Ahema."
That is to say, we are facing Liu Zheng. If he were replaced by Ah Shu, it would obviously be much more difficult to defeat him.
This is not to say that Liu Zheng's military level is not as good as A Shu's. Liu Zheng is better at water warfare and may be better at strategy formulation than A Shu. This is why he can be responsible for the main attack on the Yellow River defense line.
His strategy was to occupy the Heyang Camp and send these probing Red Army troops to harass them from time to time, gradually bringing down the entire Guanzhong defense line.
It's a pity that Liu Zheng couldn't make the final decision on the overall strategy and was forced to enter Guanzhong in advance.
He was the first to be pushed out to test the strength of Guanzhong's troops.
But Ah Shu had truly independent commanding authority, was better at interspersing surprise attacks, and his marching route was more treacherous.
If A Shu had commanded the three probing Red Army forces last night, they would have unleashed a completely different fighting force.
Therefore, Li Xia was not satisfied with his ambitions, but felt as if he was facing an abyss...
Even so, when Yang Ben, Hu Legen, and Li Zeyi came to resume their duties, he still praised them a few words.
Last night, Yang Ben ambushed troops in Fenglin Town, blocked a thousand-man Mongolian army into a river bend, and fought all night. In the end, he captured almost 400 people, and his men also suffered a lot of casualties.
Hu Legen and Li Zeyi ambushed their troops in Qinghe Town and persuaded more than 700 people to surrender.
In the dark night, it is actually quite difficult to control these enemy soldiers from running around.
On the contrary, Hekou Town, where Li Xia was in charge personally, took away Liu Zheng and even burned an entire wheat field.
Therefore, after taking inventory of the battlefield with the generals, Li Xia immediately met with the magistrate of Gaoling County and the elders of several towns to discuss disaster relief.
The discussants had just arrived, and another letter arrived.
"Prince, we have captured the Liu family and his son. Liu Jinsuo commanded two soldiers, Zhang Shun and Zhang Gui, and chased them all the way to the Weihe River... Liu suffered many injuries throughout the night, and the wounds were soaked by the river water. The doctor said it was difficult to
rule……"
"Well, it's important to treat the injuries of the soldiers first."
"Yes, does the prince want to see Liu Zheng? People have been escorted here."
"Let's talk after we're busy."
When Li Xia said this, he remembered the information from Lin Zi, about Liu Xiu preferring death to surrender and cutting off his own ears.
He also understood the state of mind of the Liu family and his son, so he explained it again.
"If Liu Zheng wants to kill himself, I agree."
~~
With a "dang" sound, a dagger was thrown to the ground.
"If you want to kill yourself, I'll allow it."
Zhang Shun hated Liu Zheng from the bottom of his heart for bringing the barbarians into the country to burn, kill, and rob. He wanted to scold Liu Zheng in front of him a lot, but after learning about Liu Zheng's tragic actions before his death, he didn't bother to scold him anymore.
In Liu Jinsuo's words, "This kind of old stubborn thief who doesn't listen to others' advice has nothing to say to him. It's just a good intention to scold him, but it seems stupid for no reason."
Zhang Shun thought it made sense, so he took two steps back to avoid blood splattering on himself again, and stood side by side with Zhang Gui and others, looking at Liu Zheng coldly.
Liu Zheng glanced at them coldly without taking a closer look at them.
But looking at the dagger, his expression gradually became sad.
He could lose. Before entering Guanzhong, he had already had a premonition that he would lose.
If he were to be captured by Li Xia...it would be shameless. With Liu's dark horse and Lian Xixian's affairs, his reputation would not be ruined for the rest of his life.
But, to be caught in front of these two dark, short, unknown people, country men?
It's quite frustrating.
…
Zhang Shun waited for a while and saw that Liu Zheng still didn't kill himself. He suddenly remembered that there was something he hadn't said and said: "Don't worry, if you kill yourself, we will say that you killed yourself. General Liu said that this has nothing to do with your death." Posthumous name has a lot to do with it."
Liu Zheng finally picked up the dagger.
At this moment, I also thought of the past...
When he was young, he defected from the Kingdom of Jin to the famous general Zhao Fang of the Song Dynasty and belonged to the enemy-defeating camp under Zhao Fang.
The enemy camps were all surrendered by the Jin Kingdom, which later became the source of his elite troops.
After Zhao Fang died, his second son Zhao Fan guarded Xiangyang. Zhao Fan was also a famous general, but he was greedy for wine and was bribed to defeat the enemy. When Zhao Fan was drunk, he opened the city gate and captured Xiangyang. Zhao Fan was dismissed from office.
In the year when Xiangyang fell, all the seven states in Jinghu and Huzhou fell, and the Song Dynasty was in danger of being destroyed.
It was him who followed Meng Gong to turn the tide and reverse the situation of the war!
After that, he followed Li Zengbo to regain Xiangyang and made many military exploits.
But the experience of defeating the enemy camp and the background of Beiguiren are destined not to be trusted by Song Ting...
"Hahaha!"
Looking back at this point, Liu Zheng looked up to the sky and laughed.
"Li Xia wants me to die? Doesn't he dare to use me? 'Liu Zheng is so talented that you can't use it. It's better to kill him instead of leaving him as a trouble in the future!' Zhao Fang is like this. Li Xia also knows that he is incompetent and dare not use it. Me! Haha..."
Zhang Shun was stunned for a moment, and looked at Zhang Gui, neither of them knowing how to answer. They thought, don't the Liu family's father and son not want to talk to us?
But he saw Liu Zheng throwing the dagger on the ground, staring at him with his red eyes, and said matter-of-factly: "I want to see Li Xia."
"The prince is still busy."
Zhang Shun answered impatiently. Seeing that the wounds on the fifty-year-old man's body were soaked by the river water, he looked a little pitiful, so he kindly reminded him.
"You want to live? General Liu said that it may not be better for you to live than to kill yourself."
Liu Zheng didn't pay any attention to which General Liu had such nonsense, and said to himself: "Li Xia has no self-confidence, no magnanimity, no courage, it's true!"
Zhang Shun was annoyed when he heard this. He felt that Liu Zheng was really annoying. He picked up the dagger on the ground and said, "Then you wait."
Liu Zheng seemed to have seized the opportunity and sneered twice, his pride returning to his face.
But one day passed and another night passed, and he didn't see Li Xia at all.
My mood gradually changed...
~~
The next day.
By the canal in Hekou Town.
There were ashes floating in the distance. I don't know if they were the ashes from the wheat fields or the ashes of paper money burned in the town to commemorate the victims.
Li Xia, dressed in ordinary clothes, was talking to a few old farmers while pointing to the burned wheat field.
"I don't know, young man. I'm not telling you whether the government's decision is appropriate or not. I'm telling you that I feel distressed. I feel distressed!"
"My husband, don't worry, I know. It would be a pity to burn it, but we still have to plant it again. These prisoners will stay in Gaoling County for now. My father-in-law will watch them make cattle and horses, and dig a canal to the Sanchuan River in the north."
…”
The farmers gathered around all looked sad, shrunken, and did not dare to say much.
There was only one old farmer who had read books with a sad face. He kept talking to Li Xia and beat his chest from time to time.
"From last winter to June of this year, the wheat was almost ripe. It was almost ripe. How much effort did it take?!"
"..."
"Alas, the little old man looks at the demeanor of the young man. He must be from a wealthy family. The harvest of these more than sixty acres of land may not be pleasing to the eye. Alas, it is not the young man's, but I feel sorry for him."
"How can it not be eye-catching? Who doesn't feel sorry for food? Every grain of it is hard work..."
~~
When Liu Zheng was escorted over, what he saw was this noisy situation.
Li Xia must be very busy, because there was someone leading the horse not far away, with a look of anxiety on his face. He should be waiting for Li Xia to rush elsewhere.
But those villagers obviously didn't know how to commend themselves, they just couldn't recognize Li Xia who was patrolling incognito, and they didn't even understand the sense of propriety.
After a while, Li Xia finally turned around and met the captured Liu Zheng.
Right next to this field.
"If they knew that you brought the foreign invaders to kill people and burn the fields, they should beat you to death with hoe after hoe."
Liu Zheng was slightly startled. He didn't expect that this was the first sentence he said when they met.
He responded hastily and gave strange answers.
"Oh, do you still want me to compensate? I can afford it."
Li Xia didn't seem to hear him and thought to himself: "But the people in this land are still the kindest. In the end, they didn't beat your son to death and escorted Liu Gai to see the official."
Liu Zheng said: "My eldest son is leading seven thousand elite troops to attack Tongguan from the west."
"so what?"
"You don't dare to use me?"
"Do you know the extent of your injuries?"
"I can still endure it." Liu Zheng said without looking down at his festering injuries, "I'm not afraid of death, but I want to give the soldiers I brought along a home."
He seemed to want to surrender.
Regardless of whether it is sincere or not, it seems that he has this intention.
But Li Xia's attitude is embarrassing.
So Liu Zheng raised his head and said: "Although I don't want to surrender to you, I must protect the soldiers. You don't have to make excuses for your incompetence. If you want to kill me, why do you pretend to let me kill myself?"
"Do you hate Jia Sidao?" Li Xia suddenly asked.
Liu Zheng was stunned again, unconsciously tilted his neck forward, and cursed: "Jia Sidao is so narrow-minded that he is disgusting!"
"Well, his words are mean, and your attitude is arrogant. Haven't you ever thought that if you can't get along with others wherever you go, it's something wrong with you?"
Li Xia also knew such an arrogant person, Qin Jiushao.
If it were Qin Jiushao, he would definitely say at this time, "I don't have to get along with the mediocre people in the world."
Liu Zheng is different. His arrogance is not superficial like that of Qin Jiushao. He is more profound. His arrogance is engraved in his bones.
He is inherently annoying and is jealous of all countries, and he knows this, so he seems particularly lonely.
After a moment of silence, Liu Zheng said: "I fell into your hands, there is nothing to say. Since you think you can't surrender me, you will kill me if you want. When the time comes, my son..."
"There's no need to tempt you with lies, I won't use you because you have no faith."
"I have no intention of serving you, and you wouldn't dare to..."
Li Xia turned around and interrupted Liu Zheng's words with his eyes.
"Answer me a question." He seemed to want to have a serious discussion with Liu Zheng and asked: "Do you think there is no 'country' for people to live in this world?"