The news that the third prince of the Northern Qi Dynasty was supervising the country quickly spread from Yandu and reached the city of Xuzhou through the inner guards.
By this time, Shen Yi had already opened the city gates for more than ten days.
Naturally, Zhou Shizhong could not bear it for half a month. In this half month, the Southern Conquest Army attacked Xuzhou City five or six times.
However, the Huai'an army is flexible in the deployment of troops. If the Qi people are large, they will close the city gates. If the Qi people are small, the Huai'an army soldiers will take the initiative to go out of the city to meet the enemy.
In this half month, Xue Wei himself led his troops to kill two formations, killing two to three hundred enemies.
On this day, Shen Yi was still in the Zhizhou Yamen, handling some military affairs. Jiang Sheng led a middle-aged man in his early thirties to Mr. Shen.
"Young Master, the messenger of the inner guard."
The middle-aged man immediately clasped his fists and saluted Shen Yi: "I've met Mr. Shen!"
Shen Yi looked up, then put down the brush in his hand and asked with a smile: "Where does the messenger come from?"
The middle-aged man lowered his head, took out a document from his sleeve, handed it to Shen Yi with both hands, and said: "Go back to Minister Shen, I am from the capital of Yan."
Shen Yi was thoughtful, stood up, took the document, and asked, "What happened to Yandu?"
"yes."
He lowered his head and said: "About ten days ago, the Emperor of Qi Ren issued an edict to dismiss his government. At the same time, he ordered the third prince Zhao Li to enter the council hall to supervise the country."
"At this time, the entire Yandu has acquiesced that the third prince will be the new king of Northern Qi."
Having said this, he paused and said: "Originally, this news should have reached Xuzhou City a few days ago, but the Qi people have surrounded Xuzhou very tightly recently, and there have been fighting for several days. People with low-level positions have never found a suitable opportunity to enter the city."
"It wasn't until today that the news was sent to Xuzhou City."
Shen Yi took the internal guard's document, opened it and read it carefully, then sat back in his seat, thoughtfully.
After a moment, he raised his head and asked, "Besides, is there any news?"
"And then there's that."
The middle-aged guard lowered his head and said: "Before Emperor Yongping of the Northern Qi Dynasty dismissed his power, he issued the last decree, ordering the Northern Qi border general Tu Yuan to return to Yandu. After Tuyuan returned to Yandu, he seemed to have gone into the palace to see Emperor Yongping. "
"This is the last Northern Qi official that Emperor Yongping has ever seen. This figure seems to have never returned to the north after seeing Emperor Yongping."
"There are rumors in Yandu that he is going to Huaihe to take over Zhou Shizhong's position, but the internal guards have not found any definite evidence to support this."
Shen Yi thought for a while and asked: "Do you have detailed information about this Tuyuan?"
The middle-aged man sighed, lowered his head and said: "Shilang Shen, the internal guards have information about this person, but they didn't have time to sort it out and didn't bring it into Xuzhou. I humbly tell you something simple."
He paused for a moment, and then continued: "This man is Zhu Li Zhenren, a rare warrior among Zhu Li Zhenren of this generation. He has already led troops in the north in his early forties. For more than ten years, he has been fighting against the Tatars. Dealing with people.”
"I am fifty-two years old this year."
"Quite fierce."
"There are rumors that this man likes to eat people..."
Hearing this, Shen Yi raised his eyebrows.
"eat human?"
"Um."
The messenger of the inner guard lowered his head and said: "Bake it and eat it..."
When Shen Yi heard this, his face looked a little unhappy.
"Uncivilized beast."
After giving his evaluation, Shen Yi took a deep breath and began to think about it in his mind.
At this moment, Emperor Yongping transferred back the Northern Frontier Army General, which meant that Northern Qi had successfully concluded "peace talks" with the Tatars for the time being.
And this Tuyuan, as expected, should be the one to replace Zhou Shizhong.
Because for the Northern Qi Dynasty, he was now the number one concern for Shen. The Qi people even put down their dignity and did not hesitate to send a princess to make peace with the Tatars, just to free up their hands to deal with the enemies along the Huaihe River.
Thinking of this, Shen Yi stood up.
"Have you noticed any large-scale mobilization of the Qi army?"
The messenger of the inner guard smiled bitterly and said: "Shilang Shen, I really don't know about this humble position. This humble position is only responsible for sending this piece of information. If the Qi people mobilize large-scale troops, the colleagues of the inner guard should be thinking of ways to send it to Xuzhou. Come to the city."
Mr. Shen nodded silently and thought about it for himself.
"Jiang Sheng."
After a while, Shen Yi said: "Take the brothers from the inner guard down to have a rest and entertain them with good wine and food."
Jiang Sheng quickly lowered his head and went down with the messenger.
Shen Yi, on the other hand, sat silently in the study for a moment, and then sent someone to inform Ling Su and other generals, telling them to be more careful.
However, Shen Yi did not let them close Xuzhou Simen.
Because the Huai'an Army has enough confidence to deal with possible changes.
…………
At the same time, in the tent of the Southern Conquest Army in the east of Xuzhou City, a tall man with thick hair and beard stood in front of Zhou Shizhong holding an imperial edict.
General Zhou didn't look very good, but he still knelt down respectfully to receive the imperial edict.
The big man looked at Zhou Shizhong kneeling in front of him. He grinned first, then read the imperial edict in a broad manner. Looking at Zhou Shizhong kneeling in front of him, he coughed and said: "General Zhou, your Majesty, After you lost Xuzhou, you hesitated and hesitated to move forward. I am very dissatisfied with your timid behavior."
"From today on, I will replace General Zhou and be in charge of the military affairs of the Southern Conquest Army."
He grimaced and said, "General Zhou, do you have anything to say?"
Zhou Shizhong had already stood up. He clasped his fists at the man of the same age in front of him and said: "Since it is an order from the imperial court, Zhou will naturally obey it. I only hope that General Tu can treat the soldiers of the Southern Conquest Army kindly."
"Tomorrow Zhou will tie himself up and go to Beijing to plead guilty to the emperor."
The person Zhou Shizhong called "General Tu" was naturally none other than General Tu Yuan, who had been commanding the northern frontier army all year round.
He is also the most outstanding general among this generation of Zhu Li masters.
However, the Tu family where Tu Yuan lives does not have a high status among the real Zhu Li people. Compared with the Lang family, the Tong family is far behind Zhu Li Zhen's "hometowns". Therefore, Tu Yuan can only do so for so many years.
Stationed at the border, there is no way to enter the inner circle of Yandu.
Hearing what Zhou Shizhong said, Tu Yuan patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "General Zhou, where did you start with these words? The emperor never said that you would be punished, and there is no need for you to go to Yandu to plead guilty."
"Brother, before I came here, I asked the emperor for a job for you. After a period of time, General Zhou felt aggrieved. How about becoming a deputy general next to me?"
Having been able to lead troops on the frontier for many years, Tu Yuan is certainly not a fool.
He knew very well that the Zhou family had been running the Southern Conquest Army for two generations and it had already been deeply ingrained.
If he had just arrived, without Zhou Shizhong's "assistance", no matter how ferocious and domineering he was, he would not be able to control the Southern Conquest Army in a short period of time, let alone put the Southern Conquest Army into the battlefield.
In fact, the reason why Emperor Yongping has not touched Zhou Shizhong until now is because of this.
Although the status of the Zhou family in the Northern Qi Dynasty was not as transcendent as that of the Zhao family of Huaihe Navy, they still vaguely became the "Zhou Clan".
However, the Northern Qi's national power had always far exceeded that of the Southern Chen Dynasty, which resulted in the status of the Southern Conquest Army being far inferior to that of the Huaihe Navy.
When Zhou Shizhong heard this, he understood in his heart.
If he doesn't nod, he will really have to be sent to the capital.
Thinking of his son Zhou Yuanlang who was running around in Yandu, and thinking of his family members in Yandu, General Zhou was silent for a while, but he still bowed his head and clasped his fists at Tuyuan.
"The last general has seen General Tu."
"General Zhou is too polite."
Tu Yuan also breathed a sigh of relief. After pulling Zhou Shizhong to sit down, he smiled and said: "General Zhou, the emperor is very dissatisfied with the battle situation in Xuzhou. Now that I have arrived, Xuzhou City must be recaptured.
."
"Let's discuss the matter of siege now."
Hearing this, Zhou Shizhong was silent for a long time.
"General Tu, will you only conquer the Southern Army and attack Xuzhou by force?"
"Of course it's not."
Tu Yuan shook his head and said: "General Zhou, the emperor is the Holy Lord and knows military affairs. Naturally, he will not let the Southern Army attack Xuzhou City."
"At this time, the imperial court has selected 100,000 troops from the three major camps, and they are on their way to the Huaihe River. It is estimated that they will arrive here in about a month."
Zhou Shizhong breathed a sigh of relief, lowered his head and said: "General Natu, as soon as the reinforcements from the three battalions arrive, we will immediately start attacking Xuzhou City."
"No."
Tu Yuan shook his head slightly and said: "What I mean is that before the Imperial Court's imperial army arrives, we will first use the Conquest Army to attack Xuzhou, so that I can see the quality of Xuzhou."
"You know yourself before you know the enemy. When the three battalions of the imperial army arrive, Xuzhou City can naturally be defeated in one battle."
Hearing these words, Zhou Shizhong's face turned dark.
This picture is far away, except that it is not explicitly stated that the soldiers of the Southern Conquest Army will be used as cannon fodder, and the three battalions of the Forbidden Army will take the credit behind!
General Zhou had a sullen face, took several deep breaths, and then said: "General Tu, the Southern Conquest Army is also an army of the imperial court and an army of the emperor."
"This general knows."
Tu Yuan patted the armor on Zhou Shizhong's shoulder, making a faint sound.
"Don't worry, General Zhou. Since I have commanded the troops, I will not favor one over the other."
"The Conquering South Army will attack first, and then let the Forbidden Army attack mainly after the three battalions of the Forbidden Army arrive."
Tu Yuan smiled: "What does General Zhou think?"
Zhou Shizhong was silent for a long time and did not speak.
Tu Yuan laughed heartily.
"Since General Zhou has no objection, let's do this."