In April of the 16th year of Zhengzheng, Fan Yao returned to Yuncheng, Shanxi with the Shaanxi Guards.
After receiving the news, Li Jiang summoned the local army commander Ya Ya to return to Taiyuan and cooperate with Leng Qian to guard Shanxi.
He quickly headed south with 30,000 newly recruited Ming soldiers and a temporary military aircraft department, and marched for six days and five nights to reach Linfen.
There is also an unexpected person in the team, Zhao Min.
Li Jiang didn't want to take her with him, but she insisted on coming.
Li Jiang told her that the Ming army was going to attack Henan and fight with her people.
And Zhao Min was like a person pretending to be asleep, saying plausibly that she only knew that the Ming army was going to attack Xiaolin to save the Golden Retriever Lion King. How could she not witness such a grand martial arts event with her own eyes?
Li Jiang was speechless. She had to treat it as if she couldn't see it. Anyway, there would be more times when Ming and Yuan would attack each other in the future. She would have to get used to it slowly if she wanted to follow him. Just treat this as the first lesson for her.
When the army entered Linfen, Li Jiang met the messenger sent by Fan Yao.
The messenger brought important news to Li Jiang. The cultist Zhang Wuji returned to the Central Plains and is now in Songshan, Henan.
The person who sent back the message was Wei Yixiao, who had collapsed in Yuncheng due to exhaustion from the continuous trek.
Fan Yao urged Li Jiang not to stay in Linfen for too long and to lead his army to Yuncheng quickly to discuss important matters.
Li Jiang pondered for a moment and then said to the messenger: "Go back and tell Fan Junji that our army will set off for Yuncheng in three days, and ask him to do preliminary reconnaissance work first."
After the messenger withdrew, Tong Derong came forward and said: "Enfu, this Fan Junji got excited when he heard the leader, and he dared to order you."
Li Jiang waved his hand and said: "Don't say that. Lao Fan is also worried about the safety of the leader, so it's okay to be a little impatient. Okay, you go down and arrange the order for me to inspect the local garrison, and make sure that every military camp is inspected within three days.
Come on, is it clear?"
"Yes, Enfu." Tong Yao said, cupping his fists.
Li Jiang frowned and reminded: "I have told you several times not to call me Enfu. It will have a bad influence. Just call me by my name!"
Tong Derong said with a shy face: "How can that be done? I was promoted by you, and you are my benefactor."
Li Jiang looked at him deeply and warned: "Derong, don't mention the kindness or unkindness. If you are capable, I will promote you. If you are not capable, I will knock you down. Besides, repaying kindness should not be put in words."
It should be kept in mind and implemented in action, right?"
Tong Derong looked at Li Jiang's eyes full of meaning and broke out in cold sweat. He nodded repeatedly and said: "Yes, yes... Li Fu is right, just watch my actions."
He quickly retreated with fists in his hands.
In the next three days, Li Jiang paid condolences to the Ming soldiers stationed in Linfen. He left his presence on every city wall and every watchtower. Every soldier who received the commander's care had tears in his eyes.
The next day, Li Jiang mobilized his entire army amidst the cheers of the crowd and marched towards Yuncheng.
Three days later, Li Jiang led his army to the outside of Yuncheng.
He had good eyesight and could see from a distance that among the welcoming crowd, the two people standing in the front were Fan Yao and Wei Yixiao.
Fan Yao and Wei Yixiao both looked at Li Jiang's army from a distance. As the distance got closer, the anxious look on their faces became lighter and lighter.
When the two armies were a hundred meters apart, Li Jiang raised his palms high and the whole army stopped.
Although Fan Yao and Wei Yixiao were two people and were on the same level as Li Jiang, Li Jiang represented the center and they should come forward to greet them, so Li Jiang stopped and waited.
The two of them were stunned and didn't move. At this time, a clerk from behind came forward and said a few words. Only then did the two of them react and trot forward together.
Li Jiang had already made fists, and as soon as the two came over, Li Jiang shook his hands and said, "Excuse me, please come from afar to greet me. Jiang is frightened!"
Wei Yixiao curled his lips and said, "You just like these vain things. If we don't come to greet you, then you will have something to say."
"Ah, haha, Bat King, you are really outspoken." Li Jiang said with a laugh.
Fan Yao had been in the palace for many years. After being reminded, he also remembered these rules for welcoming and sending off. He turned his head and smiled at Wei Yi and said: "Advisor Li is the representative of the central government. We should welcome each other."
After speaking, he took the lead and said, "Consultant Li, you have worked hard all the way."
Wei Yixiao could only perfunctoryly say, "Consultant Li, thank you for your hard work."
"Haha, you two are the ones with the most merit for your hard work. One leads troops to travel far, and the other delivers messages thousands of miles away. Jiang might as well do it. Please." Li Jiang laughed and inserted himself between them. He took one horse's bridle with one hand and turned the two horses around.
The three of them rode toward the city together.
The army slowly followed behind.
As he approached the city gate, Li Jiang jumped off his horse.
Here are the commanders and hall masters of the Fengling and Lei armies whom he has not seen for more than a year, and Li Jiang wants to express his closeness to them.
After some excitement at the city gate, everyone entered the city together.
There was also a carriage following the senior officers into the city, but no one who was more thoughtful could find out who was sitting in it because the carriage windows were covered with curtains.
After the military aircraft station was settled, Li Jiang, Fan Yao, and Wei Yixiao came here and had a short meeting.
The main content of the short meeting was to listen to the news about Zhang Wuji brought by Wei Yixiao.
During the Mid-Autumn Festival of the year before last, Zhang Wuji, Yang Xiao and Wei Yixiao took most of the Flood Banner out to sea to search for Ice and Fire Island. It went well at first, but halfway through the journey, they encountered a big storm, capsized several large ships, and lost most of the Flood Banner.
After a lot of hard work, everyone found Binghuo Island, but when they went up to search, apart from the ruins where people lived, there was no trace of a human being.
Zhang Wuji burst into tears on the spot, thinking that his adoptive father had died at sea. After much persuasion from Yang Xiao and Wei Yixiao, he managed to pick up the energy and return by boat.
On the way back, we encountered strong winds again, and the fleet was stranded on a large island. Later we learned that this place was called Treasure Island.
For the sake of safety, Zhang Wuji went to the island to investigate alone, and found traces of the Golden Retriever Lion King.
The Golden Retriever Lion King was imprisoned on a hill on the island by Granny Jinhua, who wanted to plot evil.
Zhang Wuji was worried that his adoptive father would be deceived, so he came to the rescue and defeated Granny Jinhua. Just when he was about to kill her, his cousin Yin Li appeared.
Zhang Wuji had no choice but to let Granny Jinhua go.
Originally, everything went smoothly up to this point, but something unexpected happened, and three strange people suddenly appeared.
The three of them called themselves the Persian Chief Teaching Officer: Liuyunshi, Miaofengshi, and Huiyueshi.
They said that the leader of the main religion learned that the leader of the Zhongtu branch was missing and that the disciples were killing each other, so he ordered the three envoys of Yun Fengyue to come and rectify the teaching affairs. All members of the Zhongtu Mingjiao must obey the orders without making any mistakes.
Then the three envoys used strange martial arts to capture Grandma Jinhua and Xie Xun, and were about to take them away on the spot.
Zhang Wuji did not take action due to the order of the chief teacher, but of course he refused to take away his adoptive father, so he started fighting with them.
Because he was not familiar with the three people's weird martial arts, Zhang Wuji suffered a lot.
At the critical moment when he was competing with the three for internal strength, a wave of gangsters led by Chen Youliang emerged from behind the hill and snatched away the Golden Retriever Lion King, Golden Flower Granny and Yin Li.
When Zhang Wuji defeated the three men, snatched the Holy Fire Token and followed them away, Chen Youliang had already driven away from the other side of the island in his boat.
Zhang Wuji immediately returned to the Mingjiao fleet and pursued them all the way east.