ps: I will go back to my hometown to spend some time with my old parents in the past two days, so I will make sure to update twice a day first, and then stick to the battle of three updates around half a month later.
The following text
To be fair, Zhao Hongrun really didn't expect that Jin Gou, the leader of the Fuqiu people, would come to see him late at night and make a vague request to surrender to him in exchange for a chance of survival.
Yes, it's a request.
Because judging from Jin Gou's face and eyes, he was probably a vicious and ruthless person, but he behaved very humbly in front of Zhao Hongrun just now. If Jin Gou hadn't stated his identity, Zhao Hongrun would never have thought of it.
This energetic old man is the leader of the people in Yangxia Fuqiu.
This is really... unexpected.
It has to be said that Zhao Hongrun was unexpected by what happened before him.
You must know that as far as he knew, most of the hidden thieves in Yangxia were unruly people. Therefore, Zhao Hongrun had already made preparations for a protracted war with him. While secretly dispatching the main force of Wu Ji's merchant navy,
Let the Smelting Bureau create sleeve arrows specially used to deal with the hidden thieves, just to have a head-on confrontation between assassination and counter-assassination with the Yangxia hidden thieves.
Unexpectedly, before his arrangements were fully prepared, Jin Gou personally came to the door and asked for refuge. This made Zhao Hongrun feel depressed as if he tried hard to punch but the punch hit the air.
You must know that the Fuqiu people are the masterminds behind the successive assassinations of him, and the tragedy of Ma Qian, the magistrate of Yangxia County, is probably related to the Fuqiu people. Therefore, in Zhao Hongrun's heart, the Fuqiu people have long been included in the list.
He is on the list that must be punished, and his ranking is much higher than that of the Yiqiu Zhong, Youma Zhong and other Yangxia hidden thieves.
But it was the people from Fuqiu who took the lead in revealing their intention to submit, which made Zhao Hongrun feel... disgusting.
Yes, it's disgusting, quite depressing and disgusting.
"..."
For dozens of seconds, Zhao Hongrun said nothing and stared at Jin Gou intently.
He was weighing the pros and cons of accepting the submission of the Fuqiu people.
It is undeniable that the Fuqiu people and this gang of thieves are quite powerful. They can definitely be regarded as one of the few great hidden thief forces in Yangxia County. If they can get the submission and full support of the Fuqiu people, Zhao Hongrun will naturally be able to
Recover Yangxia more smoothly, and also have the opportunity to wipe out the rest of the hidden thieves in Yangxia County, so as to prevent these hidden thieves from escaping to neighboring counties and bringing negative impacts to the public security of the area.
But the question is, if he accepts the surrender of the Fuqiu people, how should he settle the accounts of Zhao Hongrun who was assassinated one after another on the way in the past few days? The accounts of Ma Qian, the magistrate of Yangxia County who was driven crazy, and
How to calculate it?
Zhao Hongrun, who had always been decisive, couldn't help but hesitate a little now.
Reason told him that there would be no harm in accepting the surrender of the Fuqiu people, but his emotions urged Zhao Hongrun to give these audacious thieves the punishment they deserved.
After thinking for dozens of seconds, Zhao Hongrun was still hesitant. He looked at Jin Gou and said with a complicated expression, "You really have posed a difficult problem for me."
After saying that, a strange look flashed in his eyes, and he asked: "Are you really the leader of the people in Fuqiu, my father-in-law?"
Jin Gou clasped his fists and said humbly but confidently: "Your Highness Prince Su, in this Yangxia, I think no one would dare to impersonate me."
"Humph." Zhao Hongrun snorted noncommittally, and then curiously asked Jin Gou: "I really don't understand. It is clearly me who is losing now, why do you want to take refuge in me?"
"Failure?" Jin Gou rolled his eyes slightly and said with a half-smile: "King Su is referring to the fact that the arsenal guarded by the Shang Shui Army was captured by thieves and rangers in the city?... In the old man's opinion,
, that’s just King Su’s tactic to delay the attack. I believe those idiots who are complacent because they have this advantage will be killed by King Su before long.”
After that, he raised his head and said respectfully: "King Su no longer needs to test Lao Chen. Lao Cao has already learned that King Su secretly sent a team of troops to Shangshui. If Lao Cao guessed correctly, this team must be
Went to Shangshui to ask for help..."
…
Zhao Hongrun frowned secretly, and then said tentatively: "Haha, Shangshui... After hearing what you said, I remembered that there are still five thousand Shangshui troops stationed in Shangshui County."
Jin Gou smiled slightly, with a look on his face that looked like Prince Su, please don't pretend to be ignorant.
Seeing this, Zhao Hongrun relaxed a little, because he had judged from the expression on Jin Gou's face that this person only suspected that he was going to Shangshui to mobilize the five thousand Shangshui troops, and did not expect that he, Zhao Hongrun, really
The purpose was to mobilize the main force of the merchant navy as far away as Daliang, and let them take the transport ship assigned by the Cangbu Department of the Ministry of Household Affairs to come to Yangxia along the waterway.
This made Zhao Hongrun relax a little.
After all, if Jin Gou could even guess his true intention, then the vision of the leader of Fuqiu would be too high-end.
In short, it's okay. Although this person has some eyesight, his vision is not that far-sighted.
Thinking of this, Zhao Hongrun smiled and said: "It's just that there are thousands more merchant ships, so I won't be so afraid that I will come to your door to beg for surrender, right?"
Unexpectedly, Jin Gou shook his head after hearing this and said frankly: "I am not afraid of the addition of thousands of merchant navy troops. Even if the merchant navy army in Yangxia City increases from four thousand to nearly ten thousand, I am still confident.
The Shang Shui Army cannot really shake the foundation of our Fuqiu people... I will not hide it from King Su, but the foundation of our Fuqiu people is far away in Geyang Mountain in the northeast outside the county seat."
Zhao Hongrun was stunned and said with a half-smile: "Do you think it's appropriate for me to reveal the details to this king so easily?"
Hearing this, Jin Gou laughed mischievously and said in a low voice: "King Su, we Fuqiu people have been surrounded and suppressed by the imperial army several times in front and behind that hill, so we have already taken precautions.
To be disrespectful, even if King Su mobilizes hundreds of thousands of troops to surround Geyang Mountain and set up barriers everywhere for a year and a half, he still can't trap us to death... In order to guard against the imperial court
We have sent troops to encircle and suppress, and we have already stocked up on food for several years in the mountains and forests... Oh, by the way, even if King Su sets fire to the mountains, it will be useless, because our Fuqiu people's camps are built by hollowing out the mountains.
.
"..." Zhao Hongrun frowned.
After listening to Jin Gou's words, he finally realized why the troops sent by the imperial court to encircle and suppress him many times in the past returned without success every time.
After thinking about it, he said with some displeasure: "No wonder you are so confident, my father-in-law... But since you are so confident, why should you take refuge in me?"
Jin Gou chuckled and said in a low voice: "If you can live in the sun, why hide in the gutter? ... If King Su really summoned hundreds of thousands of troops and surrounded Geyang Mountain for a year and a half,
, even if it cannot sway our Fuqiu people, it will still give us...well, a huge danger."
"You are sincere." Zhao Hongrun suddenly realized and said with a bit of ridicule.
"Thank you for the compliment, King Su." Jin Gou lowered his head, as if he didn't hear the ridicule in Zhao Hongrun's words.
Zhao Hongrun looked at Jin Gou and thought for a while. Suddenly, he asked: "Old man, if I refuse the submission of the people of Fuqiu, what will you do? Kill me?"
Hearing this, Zongwei Chief Shen Yu, who was nearby, immediately became vigilant. He clutched the hilt of his sword tightly with his right hand, ready to unsheath the sword at any time.
However, after hearing Zhao Hongrun's words, Jin Gou did not show any hostility at all. He shook his head and said: "Of course not... At most, he would reveal King Su's intentions to the people in Yiqiu and create trouble for King Su." It's just a little trouble. As for me, the Fuqiu people, we will immediately hide in Geyang Mountain to ensure that you can't find King Su afterwards."
...This trick is really unsolvable.
Zhao Hongrun glanced at Jin Gou with a slightly depressed look and asked, "Why don't you kill me? In the past few days, didn't you assassinate me one after another?"
"This time, that time." Jin Gou shook his head and explained: "At that time, King Su, you had not yet entered Yangxia County. If you were to be assassinated, there may not be any evidence to prove that it was done by everyone in Fuqiu... But now Su Su The king is in Yangxia. If he is assassinated again, we, the people of Fuqiu, will not be able to escape the relationship... As I said just now, I am not afraid of the merchant navy of nearly ten thousand. What I am worried about is from the beginning to the end. It’s just your identity as Prince Su.”
"Aren't you afraid of the imperial army?"
"Whether you are afraid or not, and whether you want to get into trouble are two different things." Jin Gou said bluntly: "If I, the people of Fuqiu, become a thorn in the eyes of the monarch, even if I can escape the disaster for a while, I will not be able to escape for the rest of my life..."
Zhao Hongrun naturally understood the profound meaning of Jin Gou's words.
You must know that the reason why the Yangxia Hidden Thief can be leisurely and comfortable in Yangxia now is because Zhao Hongrun and his father, Emperor Wei, do not pay attention to these people. After all, compared with the tense relationship with South Korea, the Yangxia Hidden Thief even catches a cold. It's not even a minor illness, it's just like a sneeze at most. But if Zhao Hongrun really died at the hands of people like Yang Xia Hidden Thief, and the evidence is conclusive, you don't have to guess what Emperor Wei's attitude will be.
At that time, the emperor will be furious. How can a mere Yangxia thief compete with the entire Wei state?
What a headache...
Zhao Hongrun finally understood how the Ministry of War felt about the gang of Yangxia thieves: sending a small army could not wipe them out; but if a large number of troops were sent to surround Geyang Mountain, the gang of thieves would have already hoarded food and would not be able to annihilate them if they did not surround them. For half a year, I haven't had any pain or itching at all.
As for the imperial court, how much food, grass and military pay would it cost for the hundreds of thousands of troops sent to besiege Geyang Mountain?
I have to say that this kind of banditry is the most troublesome and disgusting thing. Don’t you see that the huge Chu country has far more powerful Chuxi nobles than Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo and Chuxi. The people of Wu and Yue were dragged to death? Almost every time the Qi State united with the Lu State to attack the Chu State, the people of Wu and Yue would jump out to rebel, making the Xiong nobles of Eastern Chu extremely troubled and trapped in a quagmire that they could not extricate themselves from.
The same is true for Zhao Hongrun at the moment. If he cannot deal with the Yangxia hidden bandits in one go, then it is best not to touch them. Otherwise, once Korea in the north goes to war against Wei, the Yangxia hidden bandits will wait for the opportunity to cause trouble in the Yingshui Army and create chaos. Chaos, who can bear this?
But if he just accepted the submission of the Fuqiu people, Zhao Hongrun always felt that he had a bad temper in his heart that was difficult to vent.
After thinking for a long time, Zhao Hongrun decided to leave this question to Jin Gou.
"Convince me."
Zhao Hongrun put away the smile on his face and said seriously. (To be continued.)