In Ningyang County, a messenger soldier stood in front of Tu Yuan, bowed his head respectfully and said: "According to the information, the emperor of the Southerners seems to have crossed the Huaihe River and is now near Sizhou."
At this time, General Tu had been at the front line for a long time.
He was not in a good mood.
Because he was also a member of the Conglong heroes, the other Conglong heroes were all in Yandu at this time, tasting the fruits of victory, but he was sent to the front line at this time to do such a thankless job.
Shen Yi has seen what it's like to fight before.
It can be said that the end justifies the means.
When he came to the front line to confront Shen Yi, even this general, who had been in the frontier army for a long time, honestly had no confidence in his heart.
This was not because Tu Yuan felt that his leadership ability was weaker than that of Shen Yi, but that he felt that there was a big problem with the supplies for the Yandu court.
Since he went to the south to lead the army, the Yandu court has repeatedly been in arrears with money and food supplies. Mr. Zhu Lizhen, who handled it, took almost 10% of it, which made Tuyuan quite annoyed.
But it can't happen.
Because the chain of interests involved is intricate.
During the Yongping Dynasty, the big families of Zhu Lizhen were usually the ones making money, such as the Tong family and the Ma family. At that time, neither Tu Yuan nor Zhou Shizhong dared to offend these two forces. .
And now, although the Tong family and the Ma family have not collapsed, half of the house has collapsed, and there is no way to make money from it.
It's just that a different group of people are taking advantage of the situation.
Now, it is mainly the Lang family and his distant relatives who want to divide the cake.
This is one of our own, and General Tu can't say much, but there are logistical problems, and he is really at a loss when it comes to fighting.
After hearing the report from his subordinates, General Tu sat on his chair and groaned: "Emperor Li Chen, this is such a great achievement. Their Northern Expedition has only gone so far north, so they can't wait to come to Huaibei."
After he said this, a deputy general below hesitated for a moment, lowered his head and said: "General, this is an excellent opportunity."
The lieutenant general said slowly: "Now Nanchen is somehow quite energetic in fighting, which has caused us all to suffer a lot. Now the little emperor Nanchen actually left Jiankang and went north. If the general can Catch this little emperor!"
When he said this, he actually got a little excited: "Then, not only can all the losses suffered in the past two years be repaid, but the little emperor Li Chen can even be kidnapped and beaten all the way to Jiankang City!"
"At that time, the general was the greatest hero of Da Qi in the past seventy years!"
Tu Yuan sat in his seat, glanced at his lieutenant, and said with some disdain: "Not to mention that the little emperor is in Sizhou, even if he has arrived in Qufu now, can you attack Qufu?"
"You may not even be able to see the city wall of Yanzhou!"
General Tu snorted and said: "That man named Xue has already pushed his army near Ningyang County, and I haven't seen you go out to fight with him. Tell me what method you are going to use to push that person away." Emperor Li Chen caught him?"
"If you could catch him, I wouldn't take any of the credit and give it all to you."
When the deputy general named Xie heard this, he was a little discouraged and lowered his head and dared not speak.
Tu Yuan sat in his seat, took a deep breath, and said, "Just report it."
"Inform the court."
In the commander's tent, someone stepped forward, lowered his head slightly and said, "General, I'm afraid the people from the Purity Department have already reported it."
Tu Yuan glanced at the person who spoke, a little annoyed: "The report to the Cleansing Department belongs to the Cleansing Department, and the report to us belongs to us. Are you a pig-headed person?"
The man shrank his head and did not dare to speak.
In fact, there was nothing wrong with what he said.
Before Emperor Hongde left Jiankang, the Purity Department had already paid close attention to his movements. Up to now, any action of Emperor Hongde is under the attention of the Purity Department and will be reported to Yandu at any time.
At this moment, the news that Emperor Hongde had crossed the Huaihe River had been sent to the Xiude Hall in Yandu, which was also the desk of Emperor Zhaowu.
Emperor Zhaowu was sitting on his throne, looking at the documents sent by the Purity Department in front of him, his expression extremely ugly.
Zhou Yuanlang stood carefully under him, not daring to speak.
Emperor Zhaowu was silent for a long time, looked at Zhou Yuanlang, and said in a deep voice: "Zhou Aiqing, what do you think?"
Zhou Yuanlang lowered his head and thought for a while, then said with some helplessness: "Your Majesty, Emperor Li Chen went to Qufu this time with a very simple intention. He wanted to win over the hearts of scholars from all over the world and inspire the hearts of Li Chen."
Having said this, he smiled bitterly and said: "I have read the battle report from the front line. As of now, on the battlefield in Shandong, our Daqi King Division can only have a stalemate with Li Chen's army. If we advance rashly, we will probably be killed."
Repeating the story of Xuzhou Prefecture will result in heavy losses."
"At this time, there seems to be no way to deal with Emperor Li Chen."
Zhou Yuanlang lowered his head and said: "My idea is to assassinate Emperor Hongde."
After hearing Zhou Yuanlang's words, Emperor Zhaowu snorted.
"Since Emperor Li left Jiankang, seven or eight groups of people have died before and after my Purity Department."
He was a little angry: "They have been prepared for a long time. They can't even get close, let alone assassinate."
From ancient times to the present, assassinating emperors has been a difficult task. In fact, there are almost no emperors who have actually died in assassinations.
In other words, this is an almost impossible task.
Zhou Yuanlang thought for a while and continued: "If we can't kill Emperor Li Chen, then we can only make a fuss in Qufu."
Emperor Zhaowu looked at Zhou Yuanlang and asked, "How do you say this?"
Zhou Yuanlang lowered his head slightly and said, "It's ominous coming from heaven."
He looked at the emperor and whispered: "As long as the heavenly descent is unknown, the matter of Emperor Li Chen's sacrifice to Confucius will be completely covered up and no one will care."
Emperor Zhaowu thought for a moment, then nodded slowly.
"feasible."
"I'll have someone do it right away."
………………
Xuzhou Prefecture, Pei County.
At this time, His Majesty the Emperor had been staying in Xuzhou for three days, and he had a slight taste of Xuzhou's customs.
However, because Shen Yi urged him to hurry, he still left Xuzhou Fucheng and rushed towards Yanzhou.
The reason why Mr. Shen urged the emperor to go on his way is simple: the nights are long and there are many dreams.
He just wanted to complete this "escort" mission early, take the emperor to Qufu to show off, and then send the giant Buddha away safely without any mishaps.
After arriving at Pei County, everyone rested in the county town.
In the evening, Mr. Shen had a meal with His Majesty the Emperor. As soon as he left the Emperor's study, someone came to him with documents from the Di's newspaper office.
After Shen Yi took the document and read it, he frowned slightly at first, and then after hesitating for a moment, he returned to the door of the emperor's study, lowered his head slightly and held his hands in his hands: "Your Majesty, I would like to see you, Shen Yi."
The study door opened quickly.
His Majesty the Emperor, dressed in single clothes, called for Shen Yi to come in. After Shen Yi entered the study and sat down, he yawned and asked with a smile: "What is it that makes Shen Qing come back again and again?"
Shen Yi held the official document in his hand. After hesitating for a moment, he lowered his head and said, "Your Majesty, strange things have been happening in Qufu County recently."
When the emperor heard this, he raised his eyebrows and asked, "What's weird?"
“In some villages, all livestock died overnight.”
"And Zhuangzi sent thunder and fire from the sky, igniting the wheat that was about to be harvested, and burning hundreds of acres of fields."
After a pause, Shen Yi lowered his head and said, "Zhuangzi had a strange disease and infected people. In a few days, he infected dozens or hundreds of people."
The emperor frowned and asked, "Are they all in Qufu?"
Shen Yi nodded: "They are all in Qufu."
His Majesty the Emperor took the document, looked to the north, and said softly: "Then this is not a natural disaster."
Shen Yi nodded.
"I think so too. It is most likely a man-made disaster."
"There are traitors causing trouble within the control area of the Huai'an Army, and I have neglected my duty."
The emperor waved his hand and said with a smile: "After seventy years, it is inevitable that some people will be loyal to the hypocrisy. It is not your fault."