Chapter seven hundred and nineteen the southern expedition has not ended
Liu Xiu led Zhu You back to his sleeping tent.
Hearing the movement outside, Yin Lihua immediately walked out of the inner room. When she saw that it was Liu Xiu who had returned, she couldn't wait to ask: "Your Majesty, I heard that Yuan Zhi came to surrender on his own initiative!"
Liu Xiu nodded and said, "He is now imprisoned."
Yin Lihua asked nervously: "What does Your Majesty plan to do with Yuan Zhi?"
Before Liu Xiu could reply, Zhu You, who was standing behind Liu Xiu, bowed his hands and saluted, saying: "I pay my respects to Mr. Yin!"
Yin Lihua turned her eyes and saw Zhu You. She said with surprise and joy: "Ayou, you are back!"
Seeing Yin Lihua's surprised expression, Zhu You felt warm in his heart, grinned, and said in a brisk tone: "Ayou is back. This time, sister-in-law Lihua is worried!"
When they were in Nanyang, Liu Xiu and Zhu You were inseparable. Yin Lihua and Zhu You knew each other very well. Yin Lihua also liked Zhu You's carefree temperament. She asked, "Did Yuan Zhi put Ayou back?"
Liu Xiu nodded and said: "Deng Feng had no choice but to surrender. In order to show his sincerity in surrender, he sent Ayou back!"
Yin Lihua first looked at Zhu You with concern and felt relieved when she saw that he was no different from before. She waved to Zhu You and said, "Ayou, sit down quickly!"
Zhu You said with a smile: "Thank you, Mr. Yin."
When Zhu You sat down, Yin Lihua looked at Liu Xiu again and continued to ask: "How does your Majesty plan to deal with Yuan Zhi?"
Zhu You looked at Liu Xiu who was silent and said helplessly: "This matter is also very difficult for your Majesty! The officers and soldiers in the army have repeatedly advised you, hoping that your majesty can execute Deng Feng, but your majesty has promised Ziling before. , will spare Deng Feng’s life.”
Yin Lihua whispered: "Yuan Zhi made a mistake. Your Majesty can punish him severely, but only if you can spare his life and spare his life."
She and Deng Feng have a deep relationship. There is no love between a man and a woman, but they have been childhood sweethearts for more than ten years.
What's more, during Liu Xiu's campaign in Hebei, it was Deng Feng who took care of her and protected her in Nanyang. Later, it was also Deng Feng who escorted her all the way to Luoyang.
Now that Deng Feng is behind bars, his life and death hang on a thread, and Yin Lihua can't do it if she wants to just sit back and ignore him.
Liu Xiu took a deep breath and said: "I have ordered that Deng Feng be escorted back to Luoyang to await trial. At the moment, I cannot issue an order to exempt Deng Feng from the death penalty. I will find another opportunity when I return to Luoyang!"
After hearing this, Yin Lihua finally felt a little calmer. It could be heard that Liu Xiu also wanted to spare Deng Feng's life, but the mood of the lieutenants and soldiers was very strong at the moment, and Liu Xiu could not do so.
On that day, Cen Peng took over the remnants of Deng Feng's army, more than 10,000 Nanyang veterans, most of whom wanted to stay with the Han army. A small number of wounded veterans chose to disarm and return to their fields.
According to Liu Xiu's wishes, Cen Peng dispersed the veterans who were willing to stay in the Han army and assigned them to various ministries. The veterans who refused to stay did not have any difficulties. They confiscated weapons and armor, distributed food and transportation, and released them. Leave on your own.
The atmosphere in Xiao Chang'an Ju, which was originally tense and on the verge of a fierce battle, returned to its former peace with the surrender of Deng Fengjun. The Han army, led by Liu Xiu, left Xiao Chang'an Ju and went to Wancheng in the north. The army was stationed outside Wancheng. .
Although the war in Nanyang is over, the war in the Southern Expedition is not over yet. After all, there is still a henchman in the south, Qin Feng.
Last time, Qin Feng assisted Deng Feng in encircling and suppressing Wu Han. As a result, he defeated the Wu Han army in a battle. Qin Feng's elite troops were beaten to pieces. Qin Feng almost died on the battlefield. Since that battle, Qin Feng retreated. His Nanjun no longer dared to send troops to Nanyang.
This time, Deng Feng and Liu Xiu fought to the death in Nanyang, and Qin Feng did not dare to send a single soldier. He thought that it would be best for Deng Feng and Liu Xiu to fight to the death, and then he could live a stable life in Nanjun.
As a result, Qin Feng did not expect that Deng Fengjun, who had won many battles in Nanyang and was at the height of his power, was defeated again and again by the Han army commanded by Liu Xiu. He was unable to fight back. It didn't even take a month for Deng Feng. The coalition formed by Yancen and Dong Xin collapsed and was wiped out, and Nanyang County fell into the hands of Liu Xiu.
Now, Qin Feng was panicking. You must know that Nanyang is Nanjun's northern barrier. If Nanyang is gone, Nanjun will directly face Liu Xiu's Jianwu court.
So when Yancen fled to Nanjun like a bereaved dog, Qin Feng not only did not beat the drowned dog, but also treated him like a distinguished guest. At the same time, Qin Feng actively attracted the Tian Rong forces in the south.
Tian Rong was also one of the leaders of the rebel army that rose up in the late Wang Mang period. At that time, the rebel army led by Tian Rong conquered Yiling in Nanjun.
Then Tian Rong claimed to be the sweeping general, and based on Yiling, he expanded in all directions. Wuling and Changsha counties in the south of Nanjun were basically under Tian Rong's control, and he had more than 100,000 troops under his command.
Qin Feng did not dare to fight against Liu Xiu alone, so he tried every means to win over Yancen and Tian Rong.
In order to unite the two of them and join forces with him to fight against Liu Xiu, Qin Feng also married his two daughters to Yancen and Tian Rong respectively. These two became Qin Feng's son-in-law.
Qin Feng's married daughter was still very effective. At least when it came to joining forces to fight against Liu Xiu, both Yancen and Tian Rong stood firmly on Qin Feng's side.
Liu Xiu had just wiped out Deng and Feng's coalition forces in Nanyang. Not long after that, Qin Feng formed Qin Feng's coalition forces in Nanjun. The troops under Qin Feng's command, plus the troops under Tian Rong's command, could not be underestimated.
Regarding Qin Feng's power, Liu Xiu certainly could not tolerate its existence.
Now that he has recovered the seven counties of Jingzhou, Nanyang, which is the most difficult to conquer, he will also conquer the remaining six counties of Nanjun, Changsha, Guiyang, Jiangxia, Wuling, and Lingling in one go.
Liu Xiu issued an edict in Wancheng, appointing General Cen Peng as the commander-in-chief of the Southern Expedition Army, and also appointed General Jinu Fu Jun, Duqiwei Zang Gong, and Duqiwei Liu Hong as deputy commanders, commanding 200,000 troops, and marched south to Qin Dynasty. rich.
Cen Peng and his troops had just left Wancheng and headed south. Ji Zun led his troops back to Wancheng, and at the same time brought back Deng Zhong, who was captured alive by Ji Zun.
Liu Xiu had some appreciation for Deng Feng, but he had no good impression of Deng Zhong at all. Liu Xiu did not even meet Deng Zhong, but ordered him to take Deng Zhong into custody.
Deng Feng and Deng Zhong, two brothers in distress, did not escape, and are now prisoners of the Han army.
During the Battle of Nanyang, Wancheng had been under siege. Liu Xiu was very concerned about the people's livelihood in Wancheng. On the second day after he entered Wancheng, he changed into casual clothes and took Zhu You, Fu An, Long Yuan and others with him. Go to the market in Wancheng.
Although Wancheng was trapped for a long time, there was no major war during this period, and there was no damage in the city. In addition, during the period when Jiantan was stationed in Wancheng, he managed it well and won the hearts of the people. The people's livelihood in Wancheng was not bad, and the market It is very lively and bustling with people. There are stalls of various sizes, food, clothing, daily necessities and groceries.
Liu Xiu came to a stall selling mats, squatted down, looked at the various mats arranged in a row, touched them casually, and felt that they were well made. He looked at the hawker selling mats and asked with a smile: "Old man
Brother, how do you sell this mat?"
The hawker was in his thirties, with dark and rough skin. It was obvious at first glance that he was from a rough job.
Seeing that Liu Xiu and others were well dressed, the hawker also introduced enthusiastically: "This is the best mat, eight hundred dollars! These mats, five hundred dollars, and here are two hundred dollars, one hundred dollars..."
Listening carefully to the hawker's introduction, Liu Xiu was also mentally comparing the prices with the prices when he was in Nanyang.
I feel that the prices in Wancheng are a little more expensive now, but they are not too expensive. Of course, ordinary people cannot afford a mat worth 800 yuan, but it is still very easy for ordinary people to use a mat worth 100 or 200 yuan.
After listening to the vendor's introduction, Liu Xiu nodded with a smile, stood up, and walked to the next shop.
Ordinary people mostly come to the market for shopping. As for the shops in the prosperous areas of the city, they are all boutiques. The customers they face are either the powerful or the nobles, merchants and wealthy people. This is not a place where ordinary people can go to spend money.
Liu Xiu was shopping very seriously. From the beginning of the market, he walked from house to house to the end of the market. He also had a rough judgment on the prices in Wancheng. When Liu Xiu was about to leave the market, not far away
There was a noise.
He raised his eyes and looked over, and saw many people standing in front of him. Zhu You was a person who liked to join in the fun. He stood on tiptoes and stretched his neck to look, but there were too many people watching in front of him, and he could not see clearly what was going on.
.
He whispered: "Sir, let's go over and take a look!"
Liu Xiu smiled and walked over.
Zhu You was in front, helping Liu Xiu clear the way. Even though he was wide and fat, the flesh on his body was not in vain. He was incredibly strong. He forced his way through the crowd and Liu Xiu followed him.
It was very relaxed from behind, and he walked into the crowd almost unimpeded.
In the center of the crowd, there were two people, an old one and a young one. The old man was over fifty, with gray beard and hair, and the young one was a little girl. She looked like she had just had haircuts, about fifteen or sixteen years old, with wheat-colored skin and slender facial features.
The appearance is pretty and pleasant.
The little girl was sitting on her knees on the mat, with a small wooden table in front of her. On the table were three bowls and three beans.
The old man was walking around and shouting. Everyone can come and guess how many beans there are in the bowl. Each guess costs five cents. As long as the guess is correct, ten cents will be returned.
Many people watching the excitement around were eager to try it. After all, it only cost five yuan, and it didn't look too difficult to guess.
Soon, a young man came forward and sat down opposite the little girl. He took out five coins from his arms, slapped them on the table, smiled at the little girl and said, "Let me try!"
The little girl put three beans in three bowls in front of everyone, then put them over, pressed the three bowls with her little hand, and scratched them back and forth. After a while, she stopped and said with a smile: "Guests
Please guess!"
The young man was happy. Is there any need to guess? There is a bean in each bowl! He pointed to one of the bowls and said confidently: "There is a bean in it!"
The little girl said cheerfully: "My lord, please look carefully!" As she spoke, she slowly opened the bowl pointed by the young man. The young man and everyone around him took a closer look and saw that there were actually two beans under the bowl.
Everyone present looked surprised. No one could see clearly when the little girl secretly stuffed an extra bean into the bowl.
The young man was stunned for a moment, scratched his hair, reluctantly took out another five dollars, and said, "Do it again! I don't believe in evil anymore!"
This time he concentrated on staring at the little girl's hand. The result was the same as before, he guessed wrong again. When the little girl opened the bowl, there were still two beans in it.
The young man guessed three times in a row, and without exception, he guessed wrong. He stood up, shook his head, and walked away dejectedly.
As soon as he left, someone else came over to guess. Those who guessed one bean found two beans when they opened the bowl. Those who guessed two beans found one bean when they opened the bowl. People guessed more than ten times in a row, but no one guessed. You guessed it right.
Zhu You turned to look at Liu Xiu, who was cheerful but smiling silently. The little girl's hands were so fast that if he didn't pay close attention and look carefully, he wouldn't be able to see clearly the small movements of her hands.
"Sir, let me try it!" Zhu You said eagerly with excitement on his face.
