On the second day of March, no news of the arrest of Zhou Shaosun, the governor of the East China Sea, and Liu Ji, who joined the army in Pingbei, had yet to come back. Jingkou, across the river from Hailing, was as calm as ever. At dusk, the setting sun slanted over the southern end of Beigu Mountain. In the late spring weather, The grass and trees are growing, the fragrance of growing grains is carried in the wind, the barley is about to ripen, the drought is over, and the hope of life is rekindled——
In a wide field at the west gate of Jingkou City, hundreds of overseas Chinese were in circles, with their two corners touching each other, their shadows stretched very long. Huan Xi, the governor of Sizhou and the general of Anbei, came riding a tall horse in the setting sun. Bei Sima Bian Dan, Governor Shi Xie Yan, He Qian, Shen Chiqian and others accompanied them, while Huan Shixiu and Sun Wuzhong had gone to the overseas counties in Jinling to recruit soldiers a few days ago——
Expatriates gathered in Jingkou, their customs were fierce, and they loved to fight fiercely. Every year on the Dragon Boat Festival, a large-scale fighting show was held spontaneously. This year, because the Beifu Army was recruiting generals, the fighting competition was moved forward to March 15th. Huan Xi had already announced According to the announcement, ordinary people should select corps commanders, cadre commanders, and camp commanders. Those with extraordinary courage can be given the title of military governor. The overseas Chinese in Jinling heard the news, and those who have courage want to win a military position. The common people want to get ahead. , the military journey is a shortcut. If you can achieve meritorious service in the Northern Expedition and be awarded a high-ranking officer, wouldn’t it be a matter of honoring your ancestors!
Huan Xi rode his horse slowly along, and the people on the field gave way and bowed and saluted. When Huan Xi saw Ding Zhuang approaching, he stopped his horse to watch for a while, shook his head, and continued to urge the horse away. Huan Xi was ambitious but not talented, and he hoped The people recruited were Chen Yu, Liu Laozhi, Chen Caozhi's younger brother, and fierce warriors like Sun Wuzhong. They did not pay much attention to these refugees with average martial arts skills. These were just soldiers——
As the sun set and twilight began to set, Huan Xi walked to a sparsely populated place and looked westward without moving for a long time. Xie Yan and Bian Dan thought that the governor Huan was worried about the difficulty of finding good generals, but they did not know that he had remembered Li Jingshu, Li Jingshu's closeness to Chen Caozhi made it difficult for him to let go, so that day he would take advantage of the wine to say that he would take Princess Xianbei as his special favor, in order to give Chen Caozhi a warning that his father Huan Wen had accepted her. Li Jingshu, if the Yan Kingdom is destroyed, then the Xianbei Princess who is famous for her beauty will naturally belong to him. He will succeed the Jin Dynasty as the emperor in the future, so what qualifications does Chen Caozhi have to compete with him!
Huan Xi was unattractive in appearance and mediocre in intelligence, but he tended to be arrogant. Chen Caozhi was more handsome and talented than him, which made him quite jealous. What was even more annoying was that Chen Caozhi wanted to marry two wealthy ladies, Lu and Xie. As a wife, this was something that even he didn't dare to think about. Chen Caozhi actually did it and got engaged. Huan Xi was indignant, but his father Huan Wen repeatedly told him to get along well with Chen Caozhi and always treat him with kindness. To win over Chen Caozhi, Huan Xi on the surface valued Chen Caozhi very much. He basically accepted Chen Caozhi's suggestions, but in his heart he disagreed. The idea deep down in his heart was to hide the bird behind the bow.
Bian Dan reminded: "Prefect Huan, the city gate is about to be closed, shall we wait to return to the city?"
Huan Xi said "Hmm" and turned the horse's head back to the city. When he returned to General Anbei's Mansion, Huan Xi felt that the night was long and there was no joy in it, so he sent someone to ask Bian Dan if there were any beautiful singing and dancing prostitutes in the city.
Bian Dan was extremely flattering to Huan Xi, so he ordered his subordinates to find two geishas with excellent sexual skills and send them to General Anbei's Mansion. Huanxi took a look and found that one of the geishas had fair skin and looked somewhat like Li Jingshu. Similar to the song, I was overjoyed and asked the singing girl if she could sing the elegy "Seven Sorrows"?
"Seven Sorrows" is an elegy written by Ruan Yu, one of the seven sons of Jian'an, Ruan Ji's father. Li Jingshu was brought out of Shu by Huan Wen. This song was sung every year on the day of the fall of the Han Dynasty and on July 7th. Huan Xi One year younger than Li Jingshu, she had been accustomed to hearing this elegy since she was a teenager. Li Jingshu, with her slim white dress and sad singing voice, deeply fascinated Huan Xi——
The singing girl shrank and said, "I don't know how to sing. I can only sing "Hao Li"."
Huan Xi was a little disappointed, and looked at the singing girl again. There was indeed a shadow of Li Jingshu between his eyebrows, which made him fall in love, so he said warmly: "I'm here to teach you -"
The singing prostitute was so flattered that she followed Huan Xi in her seductive voice and sang:
“It’s hard to meet again in the next year, and wealth will never come back again.
The good times suddenly pass, and the body becomes ashes.
There is a dark room with nine springs and a long night terrace.
The body exerts all its strength, and the soul exerts all its strength.
…”
Xie Yan and Shen Chiqian both lived in Anbei General Mansion. When they heard Huan Xi teaching female prostitutes to sing elegy, they couldn't help shaking their heads. Many celebrities in the Wei and Jin Dynasties were eccentric and strange. Zhang Zhan, a wealthy family in Gaoping, liked to plant pines and cypresses in front of his house. Most of the pines and cypresses were planted in the cemetery, so people at the time called it "displaying corpses under Zhangwu". Another famous scholar, Yuan Song, liked to have his servants sing elegy with him when he traveled. People at the time called it "Yuan Daoshang Funeral". These two people They all live in the woods, and no matter how weird and absurd their behavior is, it is their own business. Huanxi is the serving governor and general, and is starting to rebuild the Beifu army, but here he teaches singers to sing elegies. It is really ridiculous and shameful. How can a person like you control a state and lead an army?
Huanxi patiently taught her six or seven times. After the geisha became familiar with singing, Huanxi let her sing while walking around the room. Huanxi followed behind with great interest. Suddenly he hugged her and wanted to have sex. ——
At this moment, a sergeant suddenly reported that the thieves were attacking the city and had breached the north gate——
Huan Xi was shocked and suddenly became weak. He got up and stumbled out of his clothes. He saw Bian Dan rushing over and shouting: "Huan Governor, something bad happened. Yu Xi led his army to attack at night. The north gate has been broken. He is facing the general." The government is coming to kill——"
Xie Yan and Shen Chiqian had also gathered, and they were all horrified. Sima Biandan of Pingbei had only 1,500 sergeants, and they were guarding the six gates of Jingkou. At this time, the night was in a hurry and panic, and no resistance could be summoned. Moreover, the Yu family was in Beijing. The forces at the entrance are intricately connected, and the north gate was easily breached without even hearing the sound of fighting. It was obvious that there was an internal conspiracy.
Shen Chiqian said: "I have five hundred Wuxing warriors in the military camp south of the city. I will go to the south of the city as soon as possible to temporarily avoid the rebels, and then lead the troops to fight back to the city."
Bian Dan knew that it was important to save his life, so he also advised Huan Xi to leave the city quickly. Huan Xi had not seen a battle and had just come out of the soft village in shock. He had no idea. Surrounded by more than ten personal guards of the Huan family, Bian Pei, Xie Yan, Shen Chiqian and others rushed to the south of the city and left the city together with the defenders in the south of the city. The five hundred sergeants on the left and right of Shen Chiqian in the south camp of the city had heard the movement in the city. At this time, they were already holding swords, spears, bows and arrows. Listed under the city, Shen Chiqian was the first to leap out on his horse and shouted his orders. The commander of the camp followed the order and led the crowd to follow him back to the city to kill the thieves——
This Beifu New Army composed of 500 Wuxing warriors, including Qu Chang, Tuen Chang, Shi Chang and Wu Chang, are all brave and resourceful men from the Shen family's private army. They are loyal to Shen Chiqian. Shen Chiqian responded to a hundred calls, and with the clang of swords and spears, he turned his horse's head and returned to the city to kill the thieves. He met with Yu Xi's old general Wu Zun who came later and rebelled. Wu Zun, following Yu Xi's orders, wanted to capture Huan Wen's son Huan Xi as a hostage. Seeing Shen Chiqian turning back to fight, he shouted: "According to the emperor's secret decree, Huan Wen, Huan Xi and his son are to be executed. The rest of them just need to put down their swords and guns and follow me to kill the evil rebels. They will not be guilty and will be rewarded."
The seventeen-year-old Shen Chiqian has grown into a strong man with proficient martial arts. He did not waste any time talking to Wu Zun and ordered his subordinates to form a formation to kill the enemy. A group of twelve people, holding a shield, holding a staff, and holding a crossbow. Those who hold strong, criticize the weak, and be both offensive and defensive. This is what Chen Caozhi discussed and tried with Shen Jin when he was in Luoyang last year. In the drill, infantry was used against the cavalry. This infantry battle formation prevailed, and Shen Jin Overjoyed, he immediately strengthened the drills in the Luoyang garrison. Shen Chiqian returned to Wuxing and Wukang last winter to recruit troops. He trained in this formation at a cost of three million, and five hundred sergeants were fully equipped. Tonight was the first test of his skills——
Wu Zun had previously pretended to depose Emperor Haixi Gong and conquered many Jingkou garrison. Some of the garrison were originally Yu Xi's old troops. Therefore, Wu Zun faced Shen Chiqian and wanted to defeat him without fighting, but he didn't Thinking of a hail of arrows coming from the front, he crouched down, his horse screamed sadly, and fell over after being struck by the arrow. Wu Zun rolled to his feet, held up his shield to protect himself, and shouted: "Kill the rebels, kill them!" Holding a shield in one hand and a sword in the other, he strode forward. Behind him, three hundred private soldiers of the Yu family who were accustomed to fighting followed closely to fight——
Huan Xi came to his senses at this time. Seeing that the enemy was outnumbered, he was convinced that Yu Xi only had a few hundred people and dared to attack the city. He would capture and kill Yu Shiyan tonight. The hundred sergeants were following step by step. The sergeants in the formation suddenly advanced and retreated, seemingly unwilling to use their utmost strength. Huan Xi was a little annoyed and shouted: "Shen Chiqian, kill the enemy with all your strength!"
Wu Zun was a fierce general in Beifu, and his men were all powerful soldiers. However, in front of Shen Chiqian's 500 new troops, not only could he not advance even half a step, but he was forced to retreat continuously. From time to time, long spears came out of the small army formation and stabbed him. The soldiers, who had lost dozens of soldiers in a short time, were angry when they heard Huan Xi's shouts at the city gate. Wu Zun recognized Huan Xi and immediately stepped back. He bent his bow and arrow, and shot the arrow straight at Huan Xi's door like a shooting star. , Huan Xi shouted and got off his horse——
Wu Zun was overjoyed and shouted: "The traitor Huan Xi was shot by me! Huan Xi is dead!"
Shen Chiqian looked back hurriedly and saw that Huan Xi had fallen off his horse and his bodyguards were rushing to support him. He didn't know whether he was alive or dead. He couldn't help but panic. If Huan Xi died, then he, the military governor, would not be able to escape the blame!
At this time, another group of soldiers arrived, but they were 300 private soldiers led by Yu Xi, as well as hundreds of prisoners who had just been released. These prisoners had weapons and were newly free. They were shouting like crazy: "Kill Kill--"
Xie Yan dismounted and visited Huan Xi. He saw the arrow grazing Huan Xi's left cheek, tearing off a piece of his cheek flesh and dripping with blood. Fortunately, his life was not in danger, so he shouted: "Chiqian, Huan Ci Shi is fine, no matter what Need to panic."
Seeing that Yu Xi was powerful, Bian Dan knew that the Jingkou city could not be recaptured, and Huan Xi was injured again. He immediately ordered Shen Chiqian to withdraw from the city and protect Huan, the governor, from Qu'a temporarily.
After all, Shen Chiqian was in battle for the first time, and he had a new army under his command. When he retreated, the formation could not be maintained, and many soldiers were killed. Moreover, Xi's crossbow arrow injured Wu Zun, so Yu Xi did not dare to pursue him. He had to completely control Jingkou first. Then make the next step.