After Zhu Yuheng attended the temporary pre-war meeting in Jiangzhou Hall,
After paying homage to King Xunyang, he took the fish talisman and went out to the military camp outside the city to order troops for the expedition.
Traveling with him, there were also female military officers selected by Rong Zhen to follow him.
This time Jiangzhou's front army dispatched forward troops totaling 1,500 soldiers.
They were all surrendered pawns who had defected with Zhu Lingxu and his son. In a sense, they were regarded as the private army of Zhu Lingxu and his son. They were led by Zhu Yuheng and went out as the vanguard, which was a kind of example.
As a veteran on the battlefield, Zhu Lingxu, with more than 8,000 former soldiers and horses, did not march out of the city in one go, but also in order.
Moreover, when the army is dispatched, food and grass go first.
With so many soldiers and horses, just slap on the head and send them all, the corresponding logistics required are simply explosive.
The food, equipment, soldiers and horses needed by the former army were all complicated and complicated, and it was also a cumbersome project.
The forward army led by Zhu Yuheng was more convenient. They went into battle lightly and went out to explore the route first.
Zhu Lingxu's Chinese army tent temporarily stayed in Xunyang City to continue training the remaining 6,500 soldiers. After the training, they have been dispatched one after another in the past few days...
The so-called training means that after the generals and other personnel have been arranged, the marching troops sent by the military governments from various places will be disrupted on a team basis and reorganized according to the marching system.
To prevent the government soldiers gathered from various places from forming gangs, there are many hills.
This work takes a little time, but Zhu Lingxu understands the importance and implements it strictly.
This made Ouyang Rong take a high look.
Zhu Lingxu is worthy of being an old guy. His military style is very traditional and old-fashioned. His main focus is to be steady and impeccable.
It is suitable for head-to-head battles involving large armies, where surprise troops and night attacks are not important.
Make it difficult for enemies on the frontal battlefield to take advantage of the loopholes.
A head-to-head decisive battle, the competition is the war potential of all parties.
In this way, the party with the advantage will naturally win easily.
However, the steady and steady style of this kind of classical and old-school general also means that almost every subsequent command and action is traceable and not difficult to guess.
Ouyang Rong participated in these several pre-war meetings, and after figuring out Zhu Lingxu's leadership style, he could almost tell how the old guy would take the next few steps with his eyes closed.
For example, forward Zhu Yuheng is currently taking the lead in the battle, which has long been expected...
No matter what, at the moment, everything is proceeding in an orderly manner according to the arrangements discussed at the pre-war meeting.
Li Xian, Ouyang Rong, Wang Lengran and others sent Zhu Lingxu and his son to the city gate.
"Your Majesty, please stay and go to the city gate. Yu Heng has already understood the prince's wishes. Haha, let him go on his own for the rest of the journey. He must be responsible for it all on his own."
Zhu Lingxu bent down to salute and stopped everyone with a smile.
Zhu Yuheng nodded. He was wearing chainmail today. He saluted Li Xian and then bowed his hands to Ouyang Rong, Wang Lengran and others.
However, when his eyes passed by Ouyang Rong, he looked past him as if he was ignoring him.
Ever since Zhu Lingxu and his son came to Xunyang City, Ouyang Rong and Zhu Yuheng, who had attended Li Zhengyan's banquet together in the past, had not spoken to each other again, and they were like strangers.
After a while, Li Xian took the lead and symbolically poured Zhu Yuheng a glass of practice wine and exchanged pleasantries.
Drinking break.
Ouyang Rong, who was standing quietly not far away, looked at Zhu Lingxu and his party.
In order to facilitate military affairs, Wang Lengran arranged for Zhu Lingxu to rest in a large house in the city for the past two days, close to Jiangzhou Hall, and Zhu Lingxu began to enter the city every day with great swagger.
Today, Zhu Lingxu still only brought with him the ten personal guards strictly prescribed by someone before when he entered and exited Xunyang City.
It's just that in the past two days, the ten personal guards around Zhu Lingxu have changed, and they have become a little different.
Except for the six former personal guards who Ouyang Rong had seen often before and remembered, the other four were very unfamiliar.
These four people,
a monk,
together,
Two people.
The leading monk is old and hunched, wearing dark black monk's robes, with extremely long earlobes and low eyebrows.
The Taoist priest is young, in his twenties or thirties. He wears a Hunyuan scarf, has a frivolous expression, is wearing a dirty yellow and white Taoist uniform, and carries two long swords on his back. He looks like a Taoist priest traveling in the north.
As for the remaining two people, one is tall and the other is short. They are dressed in gray and have dreadlocks. They look like brothers.
However, Ouyang Rong recognized this look, and he must be from Xianbei. Qiu Shenji used to dress similarly.
There were four more strange guards around him. This change happened after King Lengran informed Zhu Lingxu that day that King Wei sent people to protect him.
Presumably these four people are the masters selected by King Wei.
Ouyang Rong nodded lightly.
When the monk came together, he couldn't see many clues for a while.
However, Ouyang Rong, two tall and short Xianbei men, had caught a glimpse of a trace of spiritual energy circulating not long ago.
Light red aura.
Seven levels of cultivation, two seventh levels.
As for the remaining monks, at least they are on the same level.
A certain cold girl in palace attire also came to the city gate with everyone today.
She sent one of her old-fashioned female officers out of the city to follow the vanguard and act as a supervisor.
As for Rong Zhen himself, as the military supervisor, he naturally followed the Chinese army's tent that was temporarily staying in Xunyang City.
Ouyang Rong noticed that Zhu Lingxu tilted his head slightly towards the four strange guards behind him.
The two big Xianbei men immediately mounted their horses and followed Zhu Yuheng closely.
Obviously, he went out with him to protect him.
Ouyang Rong suddenly saw from the corner of his eye,
The sword-carrying Taoist priest behind Zhu Lingxu seemed to find the scene of greetings and toasts in front of him boring. He looked around, turned his head, smiled at Rongzhen and spoke to her.
Rong Zhen didn't even look at him.
At a certain moment, he turned his cold eyes and glanced at the Tutu monk whose breath was dead and had no sense of existence.
After a while, I finished the farewell wine.
"Then I will wish Zhu Duwei a victory when the news comes. When we return to Xunyang City, the palace will hold a banquet and invite Manager Zhu and Zhu Duwei to have a celebratory drink."
Stay away from leisure with a smile.
"Haha, Your Majesty, you're welcome." Zhu Lingxu waved his hand.
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness." Zhu Yuheng, who was standing on the horse, had no expression on his face and bent down slightly.
Zhu Lingxu never forgot to turn around and tell his eldest son:
"Your Majesty and the princes are watching. This time you are leading the army on your own, and you must not be impulsive... The soldiers must be quick and arrive at Fushui County on time. No military orders are delayed."
"yes."
Today it happens that Chen You is on duty at the west city gate, guarding the city gate.
Just as Li Xian was chatting with Zhu Lingxu, Zhu Yuheng and his son, Ouyang Rong went to talk to Chen You and happened to be standing at the gate of the city.
At this moment, with the practice over, Zhu Lingxu and his son were preparing to leave the city.
Chen You immediately led people to open the city gate.
Ouyang Rong, who stayed where he was, stood under the bridge in front of the city gate and turned around.
Zhu Lingxu, his father and his son, and ten personal guards rode forward and stopped under the bridge in front of the city gate.
The latter has many people, tall people and big horses.
When he came towards us, Ouyang Rong's position seemed to be somewhat blocking the main road.
So, he turned slightly and moved out of the way of the main road.
Except for Zhu Lingxu, Zhu Yuheng, and the black-robed Tutu monks who did not squint, other guards such as the frivolous Taoist priests looked sideways.
The two groups of people were in the darkness of the city gate bridge.
Ouyang Rong, with a slender figure and a thin shirt, was isolated from the horse and squeezed to the edge.
Others were riding on tall horses, looking down at the figure of the frail scholar.
The atmosphere is silent.
With the sound of creaking iron chains rolling, the city gate was slowly opening.
"laugh--!"
Suddenly there was a sneer, which was very harsh even in the creaking bridge tunnel, and everyone could hear it.
Ouyang Rong turned his head calmly, glanced at the sneer, and found that he was one of the six original guards carried by Zhu Lingxu.
There were faint whip marks on this man's neck, which were covered with the collar of his soap robe. At this moment, he was holding the reins in his hands, holding his head high and waiting, not looking at Ouyang Rong, but the corners of his mouth were very sarcastic.
When the other guards saw this, or knew the inside story, they laughed and laughed;
Or, like the frivolous Taoist priest, he glanced curiously at the handsome young man who seemed to be humiliated. He wondered how this young man committed suicide and offended Zhu Lingxu and his bodyguards.
Zhu Lingxu seemed to be temporarily deaf. After a while, the city gate was about to open, and he turned his head in hindsight.
He first glared at the personal guard named Chen Laosan, then turned back with an apologetic expression:
"Don't get me wrong, Ouyang Changshi, this guy is generous...but that's not what he means..."
This is, bang——! There was a loud bang, and the city gate was completely opened. Ouyang Rong shook his head, calmly turned sideways, and spread his palms to signal.
Seeing this, Zhu Lingxu nodded calmly, led ten of his followers, and rode out.
As for Zhu Yuheng, he could not take his eyes off the whole process and seemed not to see Ouyang Rong.
A group of warriors walked away.
"This is unreasonable, these warriors are too arrogant..." Chen You muttered while suppressing his anger.
"Nothing, let's just do our own thing. Warriors often go to the battlefield, with their heads tucked into their belts, so they naturally speak more freely."
Looking away, Ouyang Rong comforted Chen You instead, who admired him.
After the farewell was over, everyone dispersed, and Ouyang Rong sent Li Xian back to the palace.
In the next few days, Ouyang Rong went about his business as before, doing what he was doing with peace of mind, and the training of Jiangzhou's former army was also completed one after another.
According to the latest news from Zhu Yuheng’s forward.
The vanguard has already broken into Hongzhou to explore a path for the army.
After receiving the military report, Zhu Lingxu's large force of the former army was ready to leave.
The time is tentatively scheduled for the next day.
When Ouyang Rong received the news, he was sitting in the lobby processing official documents. In the current wartime situation, Jiangzhou lobby needed to cooperate with Zhu Lingxu's former army, so things were a bit busy.
This is probably one of the reasons why Zhu Lingxu has never openly turned against him. He also needs his long history, who is familiar with Jiangzhou affairs, to cooperate with the logistics work.
"Mingfu."
Yan Liulang came over out of breath, calmed down for a while, handed over a piece of paper, and whispered to Ouyang Rong:
"These are the addresses that Li Li often frequents in Xunyang City...
"And the news about Jishui County that you asked me to inquire about... That Jishui County Lieutenant Zhao Ru was raised by Your Majesty and made a guerrilla general.
"Actually, it's just a false name. However, a few days ago, Wang Lengran and Zhu Lingxu sent him to lead troops to handle the recovery of several surrendered counties around Jishui County... As of yesterday, the recovery has been completed.
"This person is expected to return to Xunyang City in the next two days to report to Zhu Lingxu and Wang Lengran. It seems that he will be promoted. With this trend, his official rank may be transferred to the expeditionary army, leading a team and becoming a guerrilla general.
title.
"Oh, Zhu Lingxu specifically entrusted this person to do something that is easy to take credit for, such as recovering the lost city. It must have a lot to do with it...
"Also, news came back from Zhu Yuheng that he arrived at Fushui County in Hongzhou as scheduled yesterday and easily occupied it, half a day ahead of schedule.
"Zhu Yuheng's forward is not far from Hongzhou City. According to the intelligence report, Cai Qin is hastily preparing for war in Hongzhou..."
Yan Liulang finished explaining everything in detail.
Ouyang Rong put down what he was doing, listened silently for a moment, dipped his fingertips in water, and started writing on the table.
This made Yan Liulang look sideways. He obviously had an inkstone and a writing brush at hand, but Ouyang Rong chose to use water stains.
I saw that Changshi Wu Guan wrote some weird and crooked words on the table, as if he had calculated the distance and time.
"The distance is not too far or too close, just right... finally everything is in place."
He buried his head and muttered to himself.
After a while, Ouyang Rong flicked his sleeves and wiped off the water stains on the table without feeling dirty.
He raised his head and nodded slightly:
"Thanks for your hard work."
"It's hard work in the Ming Dynasty."
Ouyang Rong suddenly smiled:
"To sum it up, I haven't had a vacation for a long time. Dalang invited me to go to the newly built Juxian Garden to listen to the piano and chant poems. I will take a day off tomorrow. Will Liulang go with me?"
Yan Liulang shook his head: "I have something to do with my humble job, so I can't go there for the time being. Let's go to the Ming Mansion and relax."
Ouyang Rong nodded:
"Okay, let's meet again the day after tomorrow. It just so happens that General Manager Zhu will lead the army on an expedition the day after tomorrow. I'll come back and hand him a cup of practice bar and send him off on his way."
The tone was very serious.
Yan Liulang was slightly stunned.
Half an hour later, Ouyang Rong finished handling everything at hand in an orderly manner, left a leave letter, signed off in advance, and returned to the Huaiye Lane residence.
Ouyang Rong felt relaxed after taking an unprecedented day off.
It's approaching evening.
"I'm going to the palace. I won't be back tonight, and tomorrow night...maybe I won't be back. Don't wait for me, go to bed early."
After Ouyang Rong gave these instructions, he unusually put on a red uniform, quite flamboyant.
He walked to the secret compartment, took out a bronze mask, and silently stuffed it into his sleeve.
Then, he took out a brand new piano case that he had prepared earlier, with a real piano inside;
Ouyang Rong turned his head and wrapped the piano-shaped sword box containing the true tripod sword, a black iron token with Wei characters, the black dragon pill box and other items together in gray cloth.
He held the gray parcel and the real piano box in his arms and took them out.
Before going out, Ouyang Rong did not forget to take out a felt hat from the cabinet, shake off the dust, put it on with his head lowered, and walked away.
After a while, at the back door of the house, Ouyang Rong boarded a carriage that had been waiting for a long time.
When the car curtain was opened, Xie Lingjiang's beautiful figure in a red dress could be seen waiting, and she thoughtfully took the baggage from his hand...
Half an hour later.
In Xiushui Fang, a horse-drawn carriage was parked in front of the busy Xunyang Prince's Mansion.
At first it did not attract the attention of messengers or passers-by.
Ouyang Rong bent down and got out of the car. A gray package in his hand was missing, leaving only a long and narrow piano case in his arms.
The figure of Prince Li Fusu appeared at the door and came out to pick up the people in person. This immediately attracted the surrounding messengers from far away and the guests were surprised.
Ouyang Rong couldn't take his eyes away. He held the qin in front of everyone and walked into the gate of the palace. Li Dalang greeted him with a smile:
"Lianghan is finally here. The weather is good today. The sunset is like fire. It's the fifteenth day of the year. There will definitely be stars and moon, which is suitable for singing over wine..."
Ouyang Rong smiled and nodded, patting the piano case: "I won't go home until I'm drunk."
Look at each other and smile, ignore others, touch shoulders and enter.
However, many people in Jiangzhou City knew that Ouyang Lianghan had a good relationship with Prince Xunyang and frequented them in private, so the onlookers around him were not surprised for long.
It didn't take long for the two of them to enter.
A quarter of an hour later, Princess Wei Mei suddenly led a group of maids out with great fanfare, seemingly going out for shopping.
Among the accompanying maids, there was a very thin-tongued young woman. She followed Wei Mei silently and was not conspicuous among the large number of maids accompanying her.
Two quarters of an hour later.
On the busy street of Xishi in Xiushuifang, Wei Mei took her maids along the street to buy things. Behind her, a thin-lipped maid who went out together disappeared.