In a small courtyard in Shen Yi's back garden, the Zhou family was finally reunited.
Zhou Yuanlang stepped forward, held Qin's hand, and finally breathed a sigh of relief. He whispered: "Is Madam okay? Is anyone bullying you?"
Mrs. Qin threw herself into Zhou Yuanlang's arms, tears streaming down her face.
Several children also gathered around and called him father.
After Zhou Yuanlang comforted his wife and children, the family finally sat together. Qin held her husband's sleeve and refused to let go. She choked with sobs: "Husband, are you, are you..."
Zhou Yuanlang is a smart man and naturally knows what she is talking about. He did not answer immediately, but nodded silently and said: "Madam, now that things have happened, there is no turning back for the Zhou family. Everything is irreversible. As long as our family It’s good if people can be at peace.”
"We are a family..."
Mrs. Zhou looked up at Zhou Yuanlang and murmured: "Husband, the Zhou family in Yandu has dozens or hundreds of family members..."
"I don't care about them anymore."
There was no expression on Zhou Yuanlang's face. He took a deep breath and said slowly: "Even you, mother and son, don't know how they came back..."
Ms. Qin clenched her hands tightly, her fingers turned white. She took several deep breaths and then whispered: "Husband, my natal family..."
Zhou Yuanlang looked calm: "Don't worry, they are not in Yandu. The Qi court is now in a state of disarray. It is impossible to have the leisure to go to your mother's house to get people. After that, we will write a letter to them explaining the situation and ask them to report to the nearby people." Chen Jun surrenders, or simply moves his family to the south."
Mrs. Qin nodded, and after the couple talked some more, she asked: "Husband, when can we leave? Where are we going next? To my father-in-law's place, or to..."
"Going to Jiankang?"
Zhou Yuanlang's face turned a little gloomy when he heard this. He lowered his head slightly and said, "I can't go anywhere for the time being. It depends on Shen Qi's arrangements."
Mrs. Qin looked at Zhou Yuanlang with wide eyes and said, "Husband, you and my father-in-law have a lot of troops. Even if they defect to Nanchen, they should treat our family with courtesy. Why are we still imprisoned? "
"It's not the confinement, it's the matter I agreed to with Shen Qi that hasn't been settled yet."
Zhou Yuanlang looked up at the sky and said slowly.
"Madam doesn't understand Shen Qi."
"He looks like a scholar, but he is very domineering at heart. In his expectation of this war, he did not even intend to surrender. He was prepared to fight hard and fight all the way to Yandu."
"In other words, if everything is done according to Shen Qi's ideas, our family will not be able to surrender even if it wants to, let alone the internal guards of the Southern Dynasty who are trying their best to bring you mother and son out..."
Zhou Yuanlang looked to the south and said to himself: "Either Emperor Hongde ordered it, or even the Nanchen court is about to be unable to support it."
He sighed slowly: "Well, Shen Qi has a tough attitude. He pinched his nose to recognize this matter. Many people must have died in the inner guard now. He has a protective character. Now On the surface, he still looks peaceful and peaceful, but he is probably on the verge of an explosion."
"You can't provoke him at this time, otherwise once he goes crazy, our family's safety will be in question."
"rest assured."
He patted Qin's back and said softly: "I will be here with you these two days. There will be no danger."
Only then did Qin feel relieved. She took Zhou Yuanlang's hand and sighed: "Daqi was still prosperous a few years ago. How come it has become like this in just a few years?"
"I really don't understand."
Zhou Yuanlang's face changed slightly. He looked around to make sure there was no one around, then he took his wife's hand and said softly: "Madam feels prosperous because our family is high up in Daqi, and she can't see the people below. What does it look like?"
"Come February 1, Madam is not serving in the court, and she can't see what the people under the court are like."
Young Master Zhou Zhou exhaled: "If such a big country is really prosperous and has no problems everywhere, don't say that if it sinks seven, there will be ten more."
"It's just a mantis trying to block a car."
Mrs. Qin snuggled into Zhou Yuanlang's arms, looked up at Zhou Yuanlang, and asked, "Then there is no problem with Nanchen?"
"Nan Chen naturally has many problems."
Zhou Yuanlang said silently: "However, their military strength has always been weak, so external worries are greater than internal worries. If there are external hidden dangers, the imperial court is relatively cautious, so there are no major problems."
"Coupled with the fact that Shen Qi went to the southeast a few years ago to solve their Japanese problem, the only big remaining problems in Nanchen are the original Huaihe Navy and the weak military strength."
"And Shen Qi formed a new army almost out of thin air, solving the two major problems of Nan and Chen in one fell swoop."
Zhou Yuanlang let out a long sigh: "He is so awesome."
Mrs. Qin lowered her head and said softly: "Are you more powerful than your husband?"
"If my husband was born in the Southern Dynasties."
Zhou Yuanlang lowered his eyebrows, thought about it carefully, and then said: "It is a rare achievement to be able to quell the Japanese invasion in the southeast in twenty years."
"I'm not sure about the rest."
Only then did Mrs. Qin sigh with emotion: "It seems that Lord Shen is much better than my husband."
Zhou Yuanlang had a dark complexion, and then shook his head gently: "My husband always feels that this person is a little weird, but he can't explain exactly what is weird about him."
…………
Two days later, Shen Yi met with Zhou Yuanlang again.
When Zhou Yuanlang arrived at Shen Yi's study, Mr. Shen was reading the latest military reports sent from the front line. At this time, Su Ding's troops had occupied Tianjin Port and wiped out nearly 5,000 enemies.
This is another great victory. This morning, Shen Yi will send out the documents reporting victory to the court and send them to Jiankang as soon as possible.
After hearing Zhou Yuanlang's knock on the door, Shen Yi asked him to come in. When Mr. Zhou took his seat, Shen Yi said: "Mr. Zhou, I have already thought about what we discussed two days ago."
Zhou Yuanlang bowed and saluted: "What did the Marquis plan?"
"It's okay to break the city, but Zhou Huai's troops only have more than 10,000 people. It's a bit too fake for more than 10,000 people to attack Cangzhou City, which is guarded by tens of thousands of Southern Conquest troops, and subdue all the Southern Conquest Army soldiers."
"But if sir insists, I can try my best to spare 20,000 men and attack Cangzhou together with Zhou Huai, so as to complete the trick."
After hearing this, Zhou Yuanlang already understood what Shen Yi meant.
Shen Yi was still worried and asked Zhou Huai's troops to rush into Cangzhou City. If something happened to Cangzhou City, Shen Yi's partial army might be directly disabled or even destroyed.
Even if they bite the bullet and use more troops to attack Cangzhou with 30,000 to 40,000 people, as long as the Southern Expeditionary Army opens the city gates as agreed and the Huai'an Army enters the city, even if there is still a huge disparity in strength between the two sides, there will not be no room for resistance.
At least I can escape from Cangzhou unscathed.
Zhou Yuanlang naturally had no objection. He lowered his head and said, "Let the Marquis arrange it."
Shen Yi nodded and continued: "There is one more thing that Shen needs to agree with sir in advance."
He looked at Zhou Yuanlang quietly: "After our Huai'an army broke through the city, we captured the Zhengnan army, which is very different from the Zhengnan army who took the initiative to leave the city and surrender."
"Even if Shen knows the reason for this, and I, Your Majesty, also know it, the officials will not know it. When the time comes, the rewards for your father and son, as well as the rewards for the generals of the Southern Army, will decline..."
Shen Yi counted on his fingers: "At least three gears."
"In other words, your family could have been granted the title of Shihou, or even the title of Duke, but after the city is destroyed, it may be difficult even for the Shibo."
"At most, a life-long earl."
There is a big difference between whether the Conquering South Army surrenders voluntarily or not.
The simplest logic is that if the Nanchen army resisted and were reconquered by Nanchen, then probably none of the generals in the remaining cities of Northern Qi would take the initiative to surrender.
Zhou Yuanlang's expression changed slightly.
He stood in front of Shen Yi, his voice a little hoarse: "In two days, Mr. Hou should not be able to exchange letters with Jiankang. Do the words of Mr. Hou count?"
Shen Yi smiled.
"I will now make a promise to you, Zhou Yuanlang, as a prince, and our Majesty will recognize it."
After Zhou Yuanlang heard this, his expression changed slightly at first. He couldn't help but look at Shen Yi with envy, lowered his head and said, "Master Hou is really trusted by the emperor of the Han family."
Shen Yi narrowed his eyes and did not answer. Instead, he said directly: "What kind of regulations? Let's finalize them today."
"Not for the glory and wealth of our Zhou family, but for the future of our brothers who conquered the Southern Army..."
Zhou Yuanlang took a deep breath and bowed his head in salute.
"I will return to Cangzhou in ten days."
"My father and son took the initiative to open the city and surrender!"