Shortly after Liu Xiu and his party entered Nanyang, Hua Feiyan summoned Yunxi Pavilion's informant in Nanyang and asked him to tell him about the specific situation in Nanyang.
The spies from Yunxi Pavilion carefully described the current situation in Nanyang. After Liu Xiu and others listened, they realized that Deng Feng was not in Xinye, but fighting Wu Han in the south.
The spies couldn't tell exactly where the battle took place, because the battle situation changed so quickly. The two sides might still be fighting in Xiangxiang today, but they could go to Caiyang or Tongling tomorrow.
As for Wancheng, the situation is even more chaotic. Dong's army is stationed in the north of Wancheng, and Deng Zhong's army is stationed in the south of Wancheng.
Today the two sides will fight in the north of the city, and tomorrow the two sides will fight in the south. In short, the Wan County area is in chaos and fighting all day long.
After listening to the Yunxi Pavilion spy's story, Liu Xiu thought for a while and murmured: "Since Deng Feng is not in Xinye but fighting in the south, I think that Lihua and Xiling may not go to Xinye after arriving in Nanyang.
, will probably go to Deng Zhong."
Hua Feiyan didn't know much about Deng Zhong. She asked, "Your Majesty, what kind of person is Deng Zhong?"
Liu Xiu shook his head and smiled and said: "Compared with Deng Feng, Deng Zhong is narrow-minded, but he is quick-witted and full of tricks, so he is not easy to deal with."
His impression of Deng Zhong was not good. In fact, Deng Zhong's character was indeed very poor. But the brotherhood between Deng Zhong and Deng Feng was very deep. Otherwise, given his personality, how could he care about Yuan Fei?
son's life and death.
Hua Feiyan frowned slightly and said: "If it is true as your Majesty said, we must stop Guiyin Yin and Meiren Xu before they go to see Deng Zhong!"
Liu Xiu nodded and spoke from the bottom of his heart. Liu Xiu would rather Yin Lihua and Xu Xiling fall into the hands of Deng Feng than fall into the hands of Deng Zhong. yyls
Deng Feng is a very emotional person. Lihua and his childhood sweetheart have a deep relationship. Deng Feng is unlikely to do anything too extreme towards Lihua.
But Deng Zhong is different. This person is sinister and despicable. Once Lihua and Xi Ling fall into his hands, anything can happen.
After meeting with the spies from Yunxi Pavilion, Liu Xiu and his party decided to go to Wancheng.
Currently, Wancheng is at war and has been closed for a long time. People inside can't get out, and people outside can't get in. Liu Xiu, Hua Feiyan, Long Yuan and others went to a small town in the west of Wancheng.
This small town is called Pingzhen. There are more than 100 families living in it, with a total population of more than 500. Because Pingzhen is close to the county seat, agriculture, industry and commerce are very prosperous. There are many shops, taverns and inns in the town.
Also more.
After Liu Xiu and the others entered the town, they booked five rooms in an inn. There was a war in Wancheng now, and there were only a few businessmen and tourists passing through Pingzhen, so most of the rooms in the inn were empty.
After settling in, Hua Feiyan left alone to find spies from Yunxi Pavilion and told them to set up spies around Wancheng to search for traces of Yin Lihua and Xu Xiling.
Liu Xiu, Long Yuan, Long Zhun, and Long Bo were doing nothing in the room, and they were also hungry, so they went to the lobby of the inn, ordered some food, and sat in the lobby to eat.
The guest room business of the inn is not very good, but there are a lot of diners. Many diners come here just to have a drink and chat.
After Liu Xiu sat down, he glanced around and saw that there were quite a few diners here to eat and drink. There were ten or twenty people sitting there.
Not far from Liu Xiu's table, there were several dark-skinned men wearing linen clothes and linen trousers. They looked like they were either farmers or fishermen from Pingzhen.
Several people each ordered a bowl of wine, and then asked the store owner to help cook the crabs they caught. They drank and ate the crabs at the same time.
As early as the Zhou Dynasty, people in the Central Plains had begun to eat crabs, and crabs were often used during sacrifices.
Several people were so drunk that their faces were red and their necks were thick. One of them was eloquent and kept talking: "This time, the Luoyang army was defeated in Nanyang. It will be even more difficult to fight back in the future. Nanyang, and even the entire Jingzhou
, sooner or later the world will be ruled by Deng Feng!"
"I don't think so. Luoyang has strong soldiers and horses, and there are many generals. We are defeated this time, and we will definitely have to fight back in the future! Nanyang is the hometown of the emperor, and Liu Xiu has become the emperor in Luoyang. Can Nanyang be left alone?"
"Fight back? How can we fight back? It has only been a few days since Deng Feng raised his army. Now he has an army of 100,000. After defeating the Luoyang army this time, morale will be stronger and the number of troops will be greatly increased. By then, it is not certain who will fight whom.
!”
Another man nodded in agreement, shook his head and said, "I think Liu Xiu is too crazy. He wants to fight against Chimei, Jingzhou, and Liu Yong. How can he not lose if we fight on three sides?
"
"It's okay to start a war on three sides, but as a Nanyang native, Liu Xiu should treat Nanyang well. But what did the Luoyang army do when they arrived in Nanyang? They burned, killed, looted, and committed all kinds of evil. Liu Xiu is really unworthy of the people of Nanyang!"
"Both are from Nanyang, but Deng Feng is much stronger than Liu Xiu!" "That's right!"
Their conversation also aroused the resonance of other diners, and many people participated in it. They commented and discussed Liu Xiu and Deng Feng's Nanyang dispute.
Here in Nanyang, no one spreads the rumor that Deng Feng's rebellion was for Yin Lihua. This kind of rumor has no market in Nanyang.
An official should be a ruler, and a wife should be a Yin Lihua. Liu Xiu's famous saying at that time was so famous in Nanyang, and the people in Nanyang basically knew that Liu Xiu began to be infatuated with Yin Lihua when he went to Taixue, and finally he was able to hold the beauty in his arms.
Returning depends entirely on one's own ability, and there is no such thing as trying to win love with a sword. Furthermore, Deng Feng's background is much better than Liu Xiu's. The Deng family is a prominent family in Xinye. To win love with a sword,
Only Deng Feng tried to seize Liu Xiu's share.
However, now the people of Nanyang generally support Deng Feng and have a lot of dissatisfaction with Liu Xiu.
The main reason is that after Wu Han led his army into Nanyang, he did not do anything good. Not only did he loot everywhere, but he also massacred Xinye City. This was the most unacceptable to the people of Nanyang.
People are unlikely to blame Wu Han, the minister of Luoyang, but they will blame Liu Xiu, the emperor of Luoyang.
If Liu Xiu was not from Nanyang, that would be fine. The people would not be as hostile to him as they are now. The key issue is that Liu Xiu was a native of Nanyang. Now that you are the emperor, you treat the people of Nanyang like this. People
They all have a psychological gap of being betrayed, and naturally have a lot of dissatisfaction and hostility towards Liu Xiu.
Liu Xiu, who was sitting among the crowd, couldn't eat anymore after only a few mouthfuls of food. He put down his chopsticks and couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly.
Being an emperor is not just about enjoying the glory, wealth and supreme power. All the big and small mistakes made by the people below will be recorded on his head as the emperor.
Long Yuan, Long Zhun, and Long Bu looked at each other, and a fierce light flashed in their eyes. The three of them raised their hands and touched the sword under their ribs.
In just a moment, the strong murderous aura emanating from the three of them seemed to cause the surrounding temperature to drop several degrees.
The people at the table sitting in the corner subconsciously looked towards Long Yuan and the other three, while frowning.
Just when Long Yuan and others were about to stand up, Liu Xiu winked at them and stopped the next move of the three of them. Long Yuan, Long Zhun, and Long Bo suppressed their anger and slowly loosened their grip on the sword hilt.
open.
If this was not Nanyang, but Luoyang, Long Yuan and the others would have killed these people on the spot for chewing the emperor's tongue.
As the three men loosened their swords, the murderous aura leaking from their bodies also subsided. The tense nerves of the people sitting at the table in the corner also slowly relaxed.
Long Yuan, Long Zhun, and Long Bo didn't notice them, but Liu Xiu did. When Long Yuan and the others' murderous intent leaked out, the people at the table felt something strange almost at the same time, and they grabbed their swords without leaving any trace.
Liu Xiu turned around and looked at the people at the table. There were three men and one woman. The three men were all relatively young, in their twenties. They were dressed in ordinary clothes, but all of them carried swords.
The woman looks younger, maybe 18 or 19 years old. Her hair is in a bun, her hair is long and reaches her waist, and she is tied with a scarf, which means she is a girl who has not yet left the court.
Generally, married women wear their hair in a bun, such as Lingyun bun, Feiyun bun, Lingxu bun, Chaoyunxiang bun, etc. There are many styles and varieties, which are similar to ponytails worn by girls who have not left the palace.
Braids are much prettier.
When Liu Xiu looked at the three men and one woman, the other party also looked at him. Their eyes met, and the three men nodded in greeting. Liu Xiu also nodded, and then withdrew his gaze.
Long Yuan whispered: "Master, how about we go back to the room to eat?"
As the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind, there are almost no people here who have good things to say about Liu Xiu. Sitting here is simply suffering. It is better to go back to the room and sit.
Liu Xiu took a deep breath, calmed down his emotions, and waved his hand to Long Yuan, saying it was okay. He also wanted to find out through these diners how much dissatisfaction and accusations the people of Nanyang had against him.
The diners were still talking to each other. At this time, there was a sudden chaos outside. Many people were shouting and running on the street.
The diners in the inn didn't understand what was going on, but the waiter reacted quickly. He ran out immediately, stopped a panicked pedestrian, and asked: "Brother, what happened in this town?"
"Stop asking, run away! The thieves have invaded! They even killed people!" After the pedestrian finished speaking, he pushed the waiter away and continued to run forward.
The waiter looked surprised, swallowed his saliva, returned to the inn, and said loudly: "The bandit army has entered the town!"
"Thieves army? What kind of thieves army? Is it the Luoyang army? Or the Red Eyebrow Army? Deng Fengjun?" a diner asked loudly.
"I don't know. People are running on the street now. Let's run quickly!" the waiter said in a panic.
The diners couldn't care less about continuing to eat and drink. They stood up one after another and wanted to leave the inn, but it was too late.
I saw a large group of soldiers swarming in. In just a blink of an eye, they took control of the street in front of the inn. Some people who had no time to escape knelt on the ground, lowered their heads, and trembled with fear.
The soldiers who rushed into Pingzhen were neither the Han army, nor the Red Eyebrow Army, nor the Deng Feng Army, but the Dong Army.
Deng Zhong and Dong were in a stalemate with the Han army here in Wancheng. The short-term stalemate was nothing, but as time went on, neither Deng Zhong nor Dong could stand it. The main reason was that the food and grass were not crowded.
Deng Feng's power was expanding too fast, and the grain reserves were far from enough to support an army of 60,000 people. What should I do if there was not enough food and no money to buy it? The simplest and most direct way was to rob it.
But Deng Feng expanded his power so quickly just to win the hearts and minds of the people. Wouldn't it be the same as the Han army if he robbed the people of their food? He would definitely be spurned by the people of Nanyang.
Therefore, even if he had to go out to grab grain, Deng would not do this dirty work himself. The matter could only fall on Dong. Dong had already decided to join Deng Feng, so now it was up to him to do the dirty work.
Don't really mind either.
This group of soldiers who invaded Pingzhen were Dong's men. There were not many in number, only number 180. Dong sent his men to loot Pingzhen, not just this place.
