On that day, the first army marched for nearly fifty miles and arrived at Zhongyang County from Zhongmu County. It was still three counties away from its destination, Chenggao Pass.
When we camped that night, due to what happened the day before, the soldiers of the Shangshui Army had already experienced this. No one entered the Dangshan Army's camp by mistake, and the Dangshan Army ignored Shangshui.
military.
So much so that these two friendly armies, which were clearly called the "first marching army", behaved as if they were on the road during the day or camping at night. Although they did not cause any commotion for the time being, something like this
The unfriendly attitude towards each other has made Zhao Hongrun, who has inspected the whole camp, secretly be on guard.
In the end, it took the first army four full days to reach the vicinity of Chenggao Pass.
I remember that on the fourth day when I was camping on the outskirts of a small county called "Mi" east of Chenggao Pass, Zhao Hongrun met General Sima An. The general's face at that time was so gloomy that it was so scary that Zhao Hongrun was frightened.
I didn't dare to go up and say hello to the other party.
Calculating carefully, it was actually the morning of the fifth day when we actually arrived at Chenggao Pass.
"Your Highness, look ahead."
At that time, the army was on its way, and the Zongwei Shen Yu beside Zhao Hongrun reminded him to look up and look ahead.
Zhao Hongrun looked up and noticed that there was dust in the distance in front of him, and it seemed that a troop of soldiers and horses were coming towards this place.
Obviously, the guards at Chenggao Pass came to greet them.
After a while, a cavalry group of about 500 people slowly stopped in front, and a man who looked like a general came to Zhao Hongrun on a single horse and astride his horse, clasping his fists and saluting.
"The commander-in-chief of the Chenggao Army, under the command of General Zhu Hai, Feng Su, pays homage to His Highness Prince Su."
In fact, this was not the first time Zhao Hongrun had met this general named Feng Su, because it was General Feng Su who led the army to escort them back to Chenggao Pass from the camp with the people of Sanchuan a while ago.
"General Feng, you're welcome and well." Zhao Hongrun greeted with a smile.
Feng Su returned the gift respectfully. Immediately, the general glanced at the rear of the large team and joked half-jokingly: "His Royal Highness, Prince Su, must have had a hard journey."
Of course, Zhao Hongrun understood the hidden meaning of Feng Su's words and shook his head with a wry smile.
To be honest, although he had horses to travel with him during the march, because he was always paying attention to the relationship between the Shang Shui Army and the Dangshan Army, and was always wary of the possibility of conflict between the two armies, Zhao Hongrun's journey was really tiring, even at the beginning
He led the Yuan Ping Yang Army and the Chunshui Army on a rapid march to the State of Chu, but he was never so tired.
Perhaps he noticed the wry smile on Zhao Hongrun's face, Feng Su smiled lightly, but because it was about the Dangshan Army, he couldn't say too much, so he changed the subject and said: "The general has already prepared some wine behind the closed door, as it is for His Highness.
"Jie Feng also wishes His Highness an early victory and hopes that His Highness will appreciate you."
Zhao Hongrun's face straightened up after hearing this, and he quickly said: "I am ashamed to accept General Zhu's kindness... I have troubled General Feng to come here specially to greet you, and I feel very sorry."
Feng Su waved his hand after hearing this and said with a smile: "Your Highness has misunderstood. The general did not come specially to greet His Highness King Su, it just happened to be the right time."
Zhao Hongrun felt a little strange when he heard it, and asked in confusion: "That General Feng is..."
"It's Huan Hu." Feng Su's face became much more serious when he heard this, and he whispered: "According to the news, Huan Hu, the leader of the bandits who committed the most heinous crimes, is still hiding in this Mang Mountain, although our army has sent troops many times.
Encirclement and suppression, but..."
"Failed to destroy it?" Zhao Hongrun asked unexpectedly.
Feng Su hesitated for a moment and whispered: "In fact, instead of being able to annihilate them, they were attacked by that guy in several counties. Even a colleague was attacked by this guy a few days ago while he was transporting food.
, it was a hard fight, but fortunately the food and grass were saved."
"That Huan Hu..."
Zhao Hongrun was frightened when he heard this, thinking that Huan Hu was too bold and reckless. Facing the encirclement and suppression by Cheng Gao Army, instead of hiding in Mang Mountain to avoid the limelight, he actually dared to take the initiative and even openly attacked Cheng Gao Army.
The grain transport team is simply unbelievable.
"Is this true?... However, I am a little confused. How can Huan Hu harass the Chenggao army's food road with only a hundred riders at his command?"
"In fact, even the general can't understand." Feng Su smiled bitterly. He also couldn't understand. How could there be any fool in the world who would dare to attack a grain transport team of more than 2,000 people with less than 200 horse thieves? But this happened
The fool also successfully harassed the grain and grass, killed many soldiers, and then walked away.
This makes it clear that they are not here to raid food and grass, but to take revenge.
"Do you have any idea where this group of horse thieves came to Henan (south of the Yellow River)?"
Feng Su nodded and lowered his voice and said: "This group of horse thieves came from the west of Hedong County. It is said that they attacked a ferry in Hebei and robbed many ships."
"But I have not heard that the imperial ferry was attacked and the ships were robbed."
"Your Highness has misunderstood. What Huan Hu robbed was a merchant ship belonging to a noble family in the east of Hedong...According to the news, Huan Hu slaughtered all the members of that noble family and gathered the thieves in the courtyard of the village."
"Thieves?" Upon hearing this, Zhao Hongrun felt that something was wrong and asked in shock: "Huan Hu still has people under him in Hedong?"
"There are about six to seven hundred people, maybe more, and they are all cavalry... Therefore, the general suspects that this group of people may be from a rebellious cavalry team in South Korea. Otherwise, they would not be so fierce."
"Rebellious Korean regular army cavalry?"
Zhao Hongrun was shocked and relieved after hearing this. He said to himself, no wonder Huan Hu and the horse thieves under his command were able to suppress the Huben guards. It was no wonder that they were from the regular army.
"It would be great if you could recruit me, the Great Wei..." he murmured.
After hearing Zhao Hongrun's muttering, Feng Su smiled bitterly and said, "I'm afraid this trick won't work."
Zhao Hongrun was stunned when he heard this, and then he came to his senses.
That's right, Huan Hu was the bandit who led the horse thieves to attack their king of Wei. He was a criminal who committed the most heinous crimes. Moreover, Zhao Hongrun's father had already issued a wanted order for "death or life". How could such a murderer be summoned?
Under his command?
"What a pity..."
Zhao Hongrun secretly said it was a pity.
After chatting lightly, the army slowly arrived at Chenggao Pass.
Just as Feng Su said, Zhao Hongrun was quite flattered that Zhu Hai, the general of Cheng Gao's army, actually greeted him personally at the pass.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun ordered the entire army to slowly enter the pass under the guidance of Chenggao's soldiers, and he took Mi Jiang, Shen Yu and others, led by General Feng Su, to Chenggao's general Zhu Hai.
This way.
Seeing his general from a distance, Feng Su said to Zhao Hongrun: "King Su, that is my general Zhu Hai of the Chenggao Army." After saying that, he got off his horse and walked over with his horse as a token of respect for his family. The respect of the general.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun also got off his horse under Feng Su's surprised and happy eyes, and slowly walked towards the general of the Chenggao Army with a group of people behind him.
To be honest, Zhao Hongrun is a prince and has the title of Prince Su. Even if he rides over on horseback, no one will say anything to him.
But having said that, Zhu Hai was the Zongwei who used to be beside Zhao Hongrun and his father. In terms of friendship, it would not be an exaggeration even if Zhao Hongrun called him "uncle". Therefore, now that Zhu Hai is personally greeting him at the pass, if Zhao Hongrun is still showing off Regardless of what others say about Deputy Su Wang's posture, Zhao Hongrun himself would not be able to pass this test.
At this time, Zhu Hai also saw Zhao Hongrun and his group, and walked over with a big smile.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun handed the reins to Shen Yu who was beside him, stepped forward first, bowed before him, and said with a smile: "Thanks to General Zhu for greeting me personally at the pass, Hongrun is really sorry."
"His Royal Highness King Su is serious." Zhu Hai, the general of the Chenggao Army, looked at this "nephew" carefully and couldn't help feeling a little emotional.
In fact, speaking more carefully, when Emperor Wei returned to Chenggao Pass from Sanchuan a while ago, Zhu Hai, who greeted him at Xiaguan, also saw Zhao Hongrun from a distance. However, at that time, Emperor Wei was frustrated because of his negotiations with the people of Sanchuan, and was also arrested. The great thief Huan Hu led the horse thieves to attack the camp at night. He was so angry that he did not stop at Chenggao Pass, so that Zhao Hongrun and Zhu Hai never had the opportunity to get to know each other in depth.
But now that he saw Zhao Hongrun, Prince Su, being humble and respectful to him, Zhu Hai was immediately impressed by the latter.
"I think that when Zhu first met His Highness, His Highness was still in his infancy, so many years have passed by... Now His Highness has been honored as King Su, and has made great achievements for our great Wei Dynasty. The battle against Chu was really beautiful! "
Zhu Hai said with emotion, and then patted Zhao Hongrun heavily on the shoulder as an encouragement and praise to the younger generation.
Looking at the many generals in Wei, I am afraid that only five generals with foreign surnames, Li Zheng, Baili Ba, Sima An, Xu Yin, and Zhu Hai, have this qualification.
"The general is overrated. How can Hongrun's meager achievements be compared to the general who guarded Chenggao for more than ten years and guarded the western border of Wei Dynasty?"
"Haha." Zhu Hai is also a straightforward man. He was overjoyed when he heard this, and his relationship with Zhao Hongrun immediately rose to the level of uncle and nephew.
However, due to the status of both parties, Zhu Hai could not shamelessly call Zhao Hongrun "nephew" and still addressed him as "His Royal Highness". However, Zhao Hongrun called him "Uncle Zhu", which he accepted with a smile on his face.
"Zhu has already prepared some wine behind the closed door. Your Highness would like to reward you."
"Uncle Zhu's kindness, Hongrun never dared to say goodbye."
While the two were talking, Zhu Hai noticed Shen Yu and others behind Zhao Hongrun, and a look of intimacy suddenly appeared on his face.
After all, he was also a Zongwei who came out of the Zongwei Mansion back then. He was lucky enough to be sent to the side of Emperor Wei, who was still the fourth son of the emperor at that time, and gradually became a general with a heavy army.
Indeed, for a Zongwei, luck is very important.
For example, the Zongwei around Zhao Yuanzuo, the King of Nanliang, also came from Zongwei, but Zhu Hai has been the general of Chenggaoguan for more than ten years, but what about the Zongwei around Zhao Yuanzuo, the King of Nanliang?
However, after the civil strife in Daliang, he was once thrown into death row, and then followed his leader Zhao Yuanzuo, the king of Nanliang, to flee to the barren land of Nanliang, where he stayed for seventeen years, which was just a wasted time.
Obviously they are both Zongwei from the same Zongfu, but their fates are completely opposite.
Because he clearly understands this truth, even though the clan guards around Zhao Hongrun, like Shen Yu, are unknown at the moment, Zhu Hai will never underestimate them.
Because the lord these Zongwei are loyal to is His Highness Prince Su, who has shown amazing talents at a young age.
Zhu Hai even had a vague illusion.
That is to say, the achievements and status of these clan guards around His Royal Highness Prince Su may be higher than that of Zhu Hai in the future.