Xu Shiji didn't recognize the man who came, but from his accent he knew he was a Shandong man. He was dressed in rags and his face was stained with dirt. He blended in with the miserable crowd and quietly crossed the river.
When he was brought over to talk to Xu Shiji, this man from Shandong, who looked like a cow, first looked at the other side, and then looked around. He looked like a cow that wanted to play tricks on others.
ridiculous.
And as his name suggests, this person is indeed surnamed Niu...
"My name is Niu Meng. I have met the general several times. Do you still remember me?"
Xu Shiji, who had already guessed the purpose of the visitor, smiled gently. Naturally, he could not recognize who this Shandong man was, but he knew that this man was probably either an old friend of Wagang or an old member of Wei Gong. There would be no third person.
Three possibilities.
"It seems familiar. You are... well, by the way, there seems to be only one family with the surname Niu. Could it be that he is a subordinate of General Niu Jinda Niu?"
Niu Xiu, Niu Jinda.
At that time, under Li Mi's command, there was only one family with the surname Niu that he knew. He was from Shandong, and his ancestral home was said to be Guanxi. He had been in the army for generations, and his family was considered relatively prominent among Li Mi's subordinates.
Needless to say, a person with such a background would not be a Wagang bandit. This person was an old member of Zhang Xutuo's army. He followed Qin Qiong to join Li Mi and has been serving under Qin Qiong ever since.
These people have strong marks of officers and soldiers, they fight bravely, and they advance and retreat in a measured manner, but they are in a league of their own and are incompatible with Xu Shiji and others. That is to say, the shameless Cheng Zhijie can still hang out with them by relying on his friendship with Qin Qiong in his early years.
Being able to make ends meet, Cheng Dabeard indeed lived a somewhat more carefree life than others.
Xu Shiji and Niu Jinda had met several times, but there was no friendship at all. Unlike Cheng Zhijie, he could get along with everyone, but he was definitely not in the situation where "we are brothers and we are bound to each other for life and death."
This is obviously a problem left behind when he was forced to go to Wagang to join the bandits. It is also inseparable from his family background. Whether he is high or low, he seems to be separated from everyone he interacts with.
Of course, the reason why he could accurately name Niu Jinda was because he knew that Niu Jinda led his troops and followed Wang Renze to the other side, so he took it seriously.
Before he could think of it, Niu Jinda was more anxious than him and sent someone over first. Was he really hungry and couldn't bear it? I remember that this person had an unusual relationship with Qin Qiong...
Xu Shiji knew that in the chaotic Henan, any weird thing could happen, and guessing couldn't be accurate. Now that people were here, there was no need to keep guessing and make things difficult for him.
What made him a little helpless and not in a good mood was that those experiences that he gradually refused to recall appeared in front of him again. They were no different from those years ago. It was a mess.
But just now, Wang Renze's fellow asked him jokingly if any unfaithful and unjust people had escaped across the river. If so, he hoped to send him back.
It’s funny to think about it. Before the war started, many people had already begun to fend for themselves? Well, it’s not unusual for the Henan military.
Thinking of this, Xu Shiji didn't know how he felt in his heart. He was a little emotional, a little grateful, and the most likely was contempt, a group of frogs in the well, hum...
But after listening to his words, Niu Meng's face seemed to grow into a flower in an instant, and it bloomed immediately, looking so proud that Xu Shiji even felt a little embarrassed.
"The general has a good memory, but he still remembers me. My name is Niu Meng..." It seems that the name is very important to him, so he has to say important things twice.
"My brother knew that General Xu was coming, so he sent me to tell General Xu that he wanted... to have General Xu introduce His Highness the King of Han."
After saying that, he twisted his strong body in embarrassment, looking very uncomfortable and embarrassed... To be honest, the guys who followed Zhang Xutuo from Shandong all had some ghostly aura about them.
The smile of such a person is very "ferocious", like an old cow that has drunk blood. He looks a little evil and does not show the honesty and straightforwardness of Shandong men at all.
"Let's go, follow me into the camp and talk."
At this time, there was a bit of chaos on the shore, and the sound was extremely noisy. People from Luoyang seemed to have seen the light of day, and surnames that were once noble came out of their mouths, but they were just begging for their lives.
This makes these surnames fall into the dust, seem extremely cheap, and full of the flavor of a dead end.
If possible, Xu Shiji would definitely shed a few drops of crocodile tears. Unfortunately, if there were no bystanders, who would he do it for?
Therefore, he just called his confidants and told them, "Let them all be honest and write down their names and origins carefully before sending them to the camp for resettlement. Someone will come over to check afterward to make sure there are no mistakes."
After everything was arranged, he took Niu Meng to his tent. He had to cross-examine carefully before reporting to Li Po.
Such credit was almost brought to his lips, so he naturally did his part. What he wanted to figure out now was the cause and effect.
It can be said that you don’t know if you don’t ask, but you will be shocked when you ask. Damn it, Cheng Zhijie and Qin Qiong actually defected before the battle and disappeared?
He immediately thought of Zhang Shigui, and he couldn't laugh or cry in his heart. Wang Shichong and Li Jiancheng... did they want to compete to see who was more unlucky, or did they want to see whose subordinates rebelled more?
In fact, this is just Niu Jinda's guess...
At this time, on the other side of the river, among Zheng's troops, Niu Jinda's camp had also been set up.
Niu Jinda, who was supervising his subordinates to build the camp, entered the tent covered in dust and walked around uneasily while rudely scolding the soldiers, telling them to get out of the tent and stay away from him.
This is a typical Shandong man, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, a strong body, and a strong evil spirit.
His family background is also very good. It can be said that he came from a famous family in Shandong. His ancestors should have some involvement with the Changwu Niu family, but the time is too far away and cannot be traced back.
As for his lineage, his fortune began when Niu Jinda's great-grandfather Niu Ding served in the Eastern Wei Dynasty. His official position was Shangzhu State in the Eastern Wei Dynasty, and he was the Duke of Pingyuan County. His grandfather Niu Shuang was the general of Zhendong in the Northern Qi Dynasty and the prefect of Huaibei.
But when it came to his father's place, the situation took a turn for the worse, and in the end he was just a county magistrate, a remnant of the Northern Qi Dynasty. When the people of Shandong were in trouble, there was nothing they could do.
Niu Jinda joined the army as a young man and went through two expeditions to Liaodong. As a Shandong native, one can imagine his experiences in the Sui army. His narrow escape was a true portrayal of his life at that time. During the third expedition to Liaodong, Shandong was already in chaos, so Niu Jinda did not need to
Then he left Shandong and served under Zhang Xutuo, the Shandong ambassador for arrests.
After many years of tossing and going, he crawled out of the sea of blood from the mountain of corpses and finally became famous in the Henan army. He followed General Longxiang Qin Qiong and was known for his strict military management and fearlessness of death.
Everyone in the army said that he and General Qin were like brothers, advancing and retreating together, but now... Niu Jinda already hated his "good brother" Qin Qiong to the bone.
As soon as Qin Qiong and Cheng Zhijie left, he actually realized something was wrong. These two people were both important generals in the Chinese army, the backbone of the big guys. They were sent out together to raise food and grass when the battle was about to begin? Are they lying?
He didn't believe a word of what Wang Shichong said. The night before, General Qin had convened everyone to discuss how to avoid the most important and take advantage of the light. He would preserve everyone's strength under Tongguan and not let others take advantage. The next morning, he quietly
Did you quietly take someone to be a grain keeper?
Niu Jinda's first thought was, could it be that the two of them were killed by the emperor? Shan Xiongxin ran away, so it was not impossible for the emperor to settle the accounts with everyone.
But then I thought about it, these two men had held military power for a long time, and they were not fools. How could they be killed in the middle of the army without any sound?
Regardless of Niu's surname, he was quite thoughtful. He calmly and casually inquired with his colleagues, but no one knew when General Qin left.
At this time, Niu Jinda's heart was filled with chills. The two leaders disappeared without any reason. Whether they were dead or alive, it was a terrible sign when the battle was about to begin.
Wang Shichong is not a kind person, and Shan Xiongxin, Qin Qiong, and Cheng Zhijie have all disappeared one after another. With the leaderless leader, there may be no way to deal with it.
Not only is it possible for everyone to rush to attack Tongguan one by one, but also why do you have to compete with others for food, grass, soldiers, etc.?
If you don't fight or grab, how can you still gain a foothold in such a large army?
At this time, Niu Jinda finally became frightened. The scene of people from Shandong and Hebei being slaughtered with blood and flesh under Liaodong City suddenly appeared in front of him.
If you were to ask him what lessons he learned from the two expeditions to Liaodong, he would definitely say that the cold eyes behind him were more terrifying than the ferocious enemies, and that even though he knew he was going to die, he still had to rush forward and try his best to earn a living for himself.
It is the most despairing.
Therefore, Niu Jinda had no intention of pursuing why Qin Qiong and Qin Qiong disappeared, and immediately went to see Wang Shiwei, the king of Chu.
The feeling of danger forced Niu Jinda to be smart.
Wang Shiwei was newly defeated. Even if he didn't lose his head like others, he was still disgraced. More than 2,000 cavalry rushed directly into the central army and killed him. The fact that he was stripped of his armor had already spread throughout the army.
Emperor Wang Shichong's reputation was not good, let alone Wang Shiwei's.
This will provide help in times of need. Niu Jinda believes that he will definitely get what he wants.
Sure enough, he gave Wang Shiwei two thousand of his three thousand soldiers and horses, and directly expressed his intention to surrender. Niu Jinda found a good place and followed Wang Renze to the river to receive the ordnance.
In fact, at this time, Niu Jinda had not had many other thoughts. He had been fighting in Henan for several years and was very familiar with the mountains, rivers and vegetation here, so he couldn't leave it.
It can be said that he does not have any big ambitions. Otherwise, with his family background and talents, how could he have been following others and working hard until now?
But when he left the army, some news came, which confirmed his suspicions and also made him feel that this was not a good place and he should not stay for a long time...