Rebel

Liu Zhishan repeatedly said yes, and left. Chen Jiang came to Gu Ao and asked in a low voice: "...Han Wang, are you going to use them?"

Gu Ao looked at the back of the respectfully withdrawing, and said slowly: "...as long as they are available."

Chen Jiangruo nodded knowingly: "I'm being watched."

"Ah."

While talking, a messenger sent a letter on a flying horse, and sent a detailed battle report on the conquest of Shangjun submitted by Huai Xin and Dian Bushi. Regarding the payment of population, taxes, soldiers, etc. after the war, the letter finally said Shangjun is extremely short of weapons, and many people have been massacred. It is difficult to recover for a while, and their vitality has been damaged. Now the army is unable to supply food and grass, so they ask for reinforcements.Gu Ao replied one by one according to the specific situation and returned them to the messenger.

At this time, footsteps sounded in my ears, and Gu Ao raised his eyes from the desk. It turned out that Yu Junfan came in through the curtain. He had changed into clean clothes, and his hair was combed and tied up again. Now most of it has dissipated, the two looked at each other, Yu Junfan smiled warmly, Gu Ao asked: "...Jun Fan, did you sleep for a while?"

Yu Junfan nodded, sat next to Gu Ao, and said: "...Now that the battle is approaching, we can only take a short break in our busy schedule. I heard that the King of Han just got the envoy of the Five Kings and received a team of soldiers and horses. See you later The leader of the Han-Jong mixed blood. The first two are easy to say, they have made a policy before, and the recruitment order is also clearly written, but this Han-Jong mixed-race person, how does the King of Han plan to deal with it?"

Gu Ao stopped writing, sighed, and said softly: "Jun Fan, do you know that when I traveled around the world, I passed through Shangjun, why have I regretted it so far?"

Yu Junfan thought about it for a moment, and thought: "The most regrettable thing about Shangjun is that the prefect Huai Jinsong was able to fight well and serve the country loyally, but he was trapped by barbaric and powerful enemies outside, and trapped by treacherous traitors in the court. Died in battle, the so-called regret... probably because of the caring family...? Thinking of this, Yu Junfan looked at Gu Ao, but saw that Gu Ao's eyes seemed to have nothing but excitement, so he hesitated and said: "...This is hard to know."

Gu Ao said with emotion: "The thing I regret the most is that I don't have a armored cavalry that is invincible on the plain!"

Yu Junfan was slightly taken aback: "Iron armored cavalry... Isn't that what the Rong people are good at?"

Gu Ao put his pen and ink aside, and said: "I won the two counties of Beidi with my plan this time, but it is not a long-term strategy. I can succeed now, but I just took advantage of the loophole of the two kings' struggle. In the future, even if I pull a fight One, through all kinds of maneuvers, the foreign invasion in the north has been reduced sharply, and the rebel army has taken Yuyang and Shangdang back, and it seems to be a foregone conclusion. ...Even if the Crown Prince Rong who wants to be pro-Han controls the Northland, the Northland is still the Northland of the Rong people..."

"According to the King of Han's will..." Yu Junfan leaned forward and asked seriously.

"To gain a foothold on the prairie, and to pacify the Northland once and for all for future generations, the most important thing is to have armored cavalry, not only armored cavalry, but also horse herders who make a living by herding horses. On the grassland, who has the real Whoever is the strongest cavalry is the king of the grassland..."

"But we people from the Central Plains are not bad at this..." Yu Junfan frowned slightly, and asked, "Then what should we do?"

Gu Ao said: "This is where we have to put our minds to it. I mentioned this matter to the two young masters Huai Qiu, but Mr. Huai told me an ancient method in the ancient military book."

Yu Junfan asked: "...what is the 'ancient method'?"

"The strength of the cavalry lies in the rush, the impact is strong, and the infantry cannot stop it. The strength of the cavalry of the soldiers lies first in the sturdy horses, and secondly in the superb riding and shooting of the soldiers. Now that we are fighting in the north, the soldiers and horses It is not rare, what is rare is that he has the same riding skills as the Rong people, and the ability to shoot arrows and bend bows on horseback."

Yu Junfan nodded and said: "Exactly, cavalry versus cavalry, the test is the ability to control the horse at close range, and the knives with swords and arrows on the horse."

Gu Ao said: "Huaixin said in the ancient method that all the horses can be put on armor, and all the knights can also be put on armor, and then a hundred horses can be connected end to end, and the front and back to form a battle formation. , against our cavalry battle formation connected end to end and tied together with thin chains, it would be in vain for him to have the riding and archery skills to reach heaven and earth, how can one person compare to the impact of a battle formation?"

"...This is a way..." Yu Junfan thought and said: "...the only weakness of this battle formation is that if a horse in the battle formation is injured and falls, it will affect the horses on the left and right or even the entire battle formation Therefore, this time, the horse should also be fully armored, so as not to be damaged, in order to show its power."

Gu Ao nodded and said, "Exactly."

"In that case, now..."

Gu Ao smiled and said: "I have already ordered people to forge armor for [-] horses. In addition, there is another weakness in this battle formation. It is afraid that after the Rong people have seen it once, they will learn from cats and tigers. However, it has always been The center of forging in the North is in Yuyang County, as long as Yuyang County is not lost, the Rong people will not be able to forge so many horse armor overnight."

"So that's how it is..." Yu Junfan sighed, "The King of Han's ambition is far beyond my generation's reach."

Gu Ao stretched out his hand to caress Yu Junfan's palm: "You don't need to praise me, if you really think I'm right, just help me." Gu Ao said with a smile: "I need a gun that belongs to me. My armored cavalry, so I not only need a horse farm, I also need horse herders, unfortunately, people in the Central Plains are not good at herding, and now only these Han and Rong people can win..."

"The King of Han means..."

"I still want to ask Taishou Yu to come out and persuade me on this matter."

Yu Junfan smiled, raised his eyebrows and looked at Gu Ao: "...why?"

Gu Ao said: "What Tian Rong is good at is making people dizzy for a while, but there will be a day when they wake up in the end. What Taishou Yu is good at is making people fall in love willingly, and there will be no second thoughts from now on."

----

The two counties of Beidi are preparing for the battle intensively, and the surging undercurrent caused by this has already provoked the extra-string sound of Shangjing.

In the early spring, the color was warmer day by day, and Yong Chi sat alone in the Yong Mansion, comforting batch after batch of family heads from various generations who came to inquire about the truth.

Regarding the uneasiness in everyone's hearts, Yong Chi had only one sentence to answer: "If someone like me, Yong, is here for a day, no one will be allowed to be so rampant."

It turned out that these days, the anti-Rong rebel army was invincible, and the battle reports were passed to the feet of the emperor one after another. While they inspired the people in the capital, they also brought doubts and worries to some of the high-ranking vegetarians. Fear... especially those who have lived in the capital for a long time and have been entrenched at the feet of the emperor for generations.

Where there is fear, there are stories codified out of fear.

Rumors that were portrayed in a similar manner gradually spread...

Someone said: "The king of Han has already conspired with the five kings. The king of Han will attack Rong from the north. If he wins the land of Rong, he will share the world with the five kings!"

Another person said: "The rebel army looks like a strong crossbow, but now it has penetrated into the north, but it is near the end. It must be the first victory and then the defeat. The five kings colluded with the King of Han in order to make the King of Han lead his troops southward if he is defeated. , Break the capital, and the five kings will lead troops to serve the king again, and set the Central Plains."

"Then what good is it for the King of Han?"

"I heard that the five kings made a promise to the King of Han, which is the word 'Pingshishu'."

The rumors seem absurd, but they follow the heart knot of the big clan in Gyeonggi, like climbing on vines, and flowers spread out bit by bit.

For a time, there were many rumors and intrigues in the capital. Some people spoke out in support, some clarified, some stood up to oppose, some asked questions, and some extended their arguments.

For a while, various propositions were complicated and repeated, casting a shadow over the hearts of every family member who had cheered for the resistance against the army.

The wind and clouds in the capital were dark, and the joy of winning the Northern Land Banner gradually dissipated, and soon faced an imminent problem.

"Report—! In the two counties of Beidi and the first line of Tianshui, the army retreated. Report back to King Zuoxian's army! Rumor has it that King Zuoxian was furious, and now he has negotiated with Crown Prince Rong, the virtuous king of You, to postpone the battle." Let’s fight against foreign enemies together! In the name of King Zuo Xian, the abolished prince sent [-] soldiers, saying that if Yuyang and Shangdang are not destroyed, he will not be a human being! Come straight to Yuyang County now!”

"Where is the army of Zuo Xianwang now?" Chen Jiang anxiously asked the reporter.

"If it came day and night without stopping, it would only be four or five days' journey from Yuyang."

"If there is any new situation, report it quickly! You can go down now." Chen Jiang looked at Gu Ao's face, and said to the reporter.

"Yes!"

Gu Ao paced back and forth in the room and said, "What do you guys think?"

Sitting in the room now are Yu Junfan, Chen Jiang, Qiu Mu, and Yu Yuan who came from Shangjun Huai Xin, Huai Xin said: "In four or five days, can those Tiefutu's armor be made well?"

Chen Jiang asked: "...What is 'Iron Buddha'?"

Huai Xin said: "It is a method of warfare recorded in ancient books. Horses and soldiers are put on iron clothes, connected end to end, which can increase the impact power of the cavalry battle formation."

Chen Jiangdao: "It turned out to be the matter that the King of Han asked me to do before. Now four or five days, if we rush to work, we can almost drive out 1 people's iron clothes and equipment."

Yu Junfan lightly touched the rim of the hot tea cup with his fingertips: "1 people...is still too few. The Rong people are here, and there are [-] troops."

Huai Xin frowned and said: "Even if it is well built, if there is no time to train, the power of the Iron Buddha will be greatly reduced... It may not be useful..."

Chen Jiangdao: "...It's strange. I thought that the two kings are fighting each other, and there will be internal quarrels. They won't fight back so soon, and they will always give us some time to breathe and rest... But I didn't expect that the abolished prince and the Rong prince, To have reached an agreement on a truce so quickly, and unanimously announced it to the outside world... It is really surprising, and it is quite different from the rumors that the two of them are at odds with each other..."

Huai Xin said: "... I heard that when the old King Rong was here, the word 'indecisive' was the word that he disliked the Prince Rong the most. In the decisive battle, he actually allowed the deposed prince to move south from the Shuofang battlefield, maybe it was because of this character."

Gu Ao said: "What is Prince Rong's mind will have to be determined. If in the future, after the fierce battle between the abolished prince Zuo Xianwang's department and our department, he sent troops to fight each other when his vitality was seriously injured, it would not violate the law. The contract, and the benefits of being a fisherman...but he is a caring person, and he may not become a strong enemy in the future."

Huai Xin sighed: "If that's the case, I've misjudged him before. If he had these twists and turns in his heart, knew how to lie dormant and wait, how could he be so disgusted by his father, the old king Rong? "

Chen Jiang nodded: "It's hard to know."

Yu Junfan asked: "... Has the King of Han sent Mr. Tian to Rongdu?"

Gu Ao nodded and said: "Yes, but now there is no news, I don't know what happened. I thought that the two kings would not withdraw so quickly to go south because of the conflict. This urgency made me lose my calculation.”