After summer begins in the Dabie Mountains, mosquitoes are extremely common, not to mention snakes, insects, rats, and ants. These days, there are also pythons as big as buckets that are rampant. Although it is not a disaster and is harmless to humans, it is still extremely scary.
However, for the Dou family, areas where giant pythons roam are often good places for them to set up camp.
I dare not say anything else, but the effect of repelling insects and mice is very good.
Hiss, hiss...
It was night, after watching a large python moving nearby leave, Douzun looked at the night sky, then stepped barefoot on the wooden floor, and asked as he walked: "How does Captain Ming'e reply?"
"Nowadays, Ming'e's soldiers have no intention of fighting, and Captain Ming'e actually wants to take orders from Zuo Jun. No one in the country knows that Sima Hai is the enemy of Captain Ming'e who killed his father. Isn't it true that Yingdu is acting like this?"
The middle-aged man with trembling hands and beard was messy because of this, "Master, if we don't respect the king, it is really difficult to mess up our lives. It's hard to mess up our lives!"
"What did the doctor say?"
"The Master Quan ordered someone to send a message. If the message lasts as little as three days, or as much as half a month, there will be news."
"ha……"
Hearing this reply, Dou Zun was obviously very angry. He raised his chin and then sighed: "Uncle Dou is also very cautious now."
Dou Huang, also known as Bo Guan, is the direct eldest son of the Dou family in Quan City. Although the Dou family is divided into many branches, Dou Huang has great influence in each family, mainly because of his good conduct.
In the early years, the Dou clan and the royal family started fighting for a long time. The Dou Emperor in his youth also made efforts to calm down the internal strife and continuously retreated.
Although it has not been completely solved, this influence still exists.
It can be said that the current situation where people need to wait and wait and wait is unprecedented.
This naturally made the old friends very disdainful, and they even felt that the dignified Doctor Quan Yi could be so cowardly sometimes.
"Master, Quan must have received news from Huai River, so he replied like this."
"Ah."
Dou Zun shook his head disdainfully. Dou Zun was too lazy to explain political matters to his son. He simply analyzed the current situation, "Do you know how the great demon of Soochow made Dou Master confer a title on Baiju in the old days?"
"Master, where do we start with this?"
The middle-aged man had a strange look on his face. The title of "Arrow Bearer" was obviously given by the late king, so why is it related to the big monster?
"When I was guarding Huainan, Yun Zhenlu was my assistant. The two of us withdrew to Ming'e one after another. The people guarding Ming'e at that time had a disagreement with us, so they ordered me to go with Yun Zhenlu to Suiguo to borrow food. But we and others Before they arrived at Suiguo, the Wu army defeated Ming'e, and immediately turned straight down, following the direction of Hengshan Mountain, attacking cities and territories along the way, and Yu Baiju defeated the Lingshi."
Recalling it, Dou Zun felt a little unlucky. If he hadn't been tricked by others, he and Yun Zhenlu would have been Gou Chen's prisoners.
"Later, I went with Yun Zhenlu, but I didn't even borrow half a grain of grain. So I went south along the Xishui River and recruited troops in Suqi. Who would have thought that these new soldiers from Xishui would later fight against Wu Tingzhu."
Having said this, Dou Zun was actually a little bit embarrassed.
Even though his current status is a bit aloof, backed by such a behemoth as the Dou clan, and still in charge of several of the largest and most important fortresses in the country, he has come through step by step. It is true that luck and strength complement each other, and there are also some inexplicable opportunities for nobles. This is how it achieved its current status.
But even now, luck is obviously not on his side. The internal political strife in Yingdu has made the central government no longer trust the Dou family at all.
Dou Zun even firmly believed that if conditions allowed, the witch in Yingdu might wish Dou had been killed completely by Li Jie.
Why is Chu State not Chu State? Chu State can perish, but the Dou family must die!
"If Wu State had not entered Chu from Minghe, how could it have achieved a strong military advance? If Wu State had taken a detour elsewhere, it would not have achieved the reputation of 'a soldier carrying an arrow'."
To Dou Zun, all political considerations are bullshit. He is just a soldier. In his eyes, Ming E was defeated by the Wu people and then became unstoppable. He went all the way to Bai Ju, and then a wave of Killed the main army of Chu State.
That's it.
With such a thing, there is an opportunity to fight as a master.
But now the doctor there, Dou Huang, is still thinking about how to communicate with the central government, asking him to wait.
Is this the time to wait for the central government to reach an agreement?
They are all furious. Li Jie is even more ferocious than the old monster back then. At that time, did the old monster have so many younger brothers following him?
Li Jie even went to Princess Cai, but there was no opponent in Huai Shang.
Back then, Douzun and Yun Zhenlu could still go to Suiguo to borrow food.
Now? Borrowing a fart, borrowing a human head is enough.
After Li Jie fell in love with Princess Cai, didn't he also fall in love with Princess Sui?
Douzun even knew that the shameless official Zeng Shan, the senior official of the country, went to Huaizhong City to promote sales, and praised him in Xincai. In short, his princess's skills were so good that it made people happy...
I wanted to curse something, but the words came to my lips and nothing came out.
Li Jie walked through the big tunnel, and he, Dou Zun, was still a little confident and blocked Li Jie here.
After all, the old monster is an old monster, and Li Jie is Li Jie. The old monster fills people's lives with his eyes closed.
But Li Jie is different. Dou Zun knows his opponent well, and Li Jie is reluctant to waste the lives in his hands carelessly.
If Li Jie was really like the old monster, would he have borrowed so much grain from Chen, Cai, Sui, and Tang?
But the question comes again, is the person named Li a fool? He insists on facing the front, insists on coming to the tunnel, but doesn't go to Minghe next door?
"Master, what you mean is...Wu Jie should attack Ming'e?"
"There are seven passes in the large tunnel. If you were the barbarian chief of the Eastern Wu Dynasty, what would you do?"
"..."
After a moment of silence, the middle-aged man's eyes were complicated. After a while, he waved his fist and slammed it on the floor.
There was a thud, a burst of chirping, and at some point, another mouse ran under the floor.
It's really rare that rats can survive even though there were big pythons there before.
Seeing this situation, the Chu people already respected ghosts and gods. Dou Zun felt that God had given some hint, and the ancestors were reminding them that the outcome of this destined war was already determined.
By some strange coincidence, Dou Zun suddenly had the idea that maybe he should surrender.
After this idea came up, it was so strong that he had no interest in the tricks of the politicians in Yingdu.
It's up to the Empress Dowager Zhao to be a demon however she wants. This temptress can really destroy the royal family of the King of Chu, and her methods are considered superb.
Dou Zun even felt that the Jin State was really amazing. A woman had brought the Chu State to such a state.
Recalling all the actions he took to avoid chaos before, Dou Zun can be said to feel quite regretful.
At first, he was tired of the struggle for power in Yingdu, so he stepped down from Danyang Gong's position and came to guard the tunnel.
First, he was born in the military and preferred the simplicity and roughness of the military.
Second, he is familiar with the Big Tunnel, and many of his old subordinates are here.
Third, the tunnels are run by the Dou family inside and outside, and the old subordinates are often old brothers or nephews.
It's just that the original naive idea of avoiding chaos now seems to be extremely stupid.
It's better now. There's no need to avoid any kind of trouble, because the biggest trouble is coming soon. And he can't even go back to Danyang County. He, the former Duke of Danyang, is in a difficult situation and can only stick to the family business.
The fortress territory has been left waiting for death for many years.
Yes, he was just waiting to die. Douzun was convinced that he was just waiting to die.
The more experienced you are in military affairs, the more you understand that Chu State's current central army and border defense army will face a dead end against Li Jie.
Is it so easy to dominate the Huai River? But Li Jie not only did it, he also digested all the forces around the north and south of the Huai River.
Especially what was once Zhou Lai City has now become Huai Zhong City. Not to mention, even Yun Zhenlu, the former "Dr. Zhou Lai" and his old partner in Dou Zun, has become Huai Zhong City's dog.
Li Jie's military operations in Huainan were also clearly known to him in the tunnel.
"Five-step fierce man" Sha Zhongha was responsible for sweeping up everywhere, while Yun Zhenlu was responsible for construction in the rear.
The old man and the young man actually cooperated well. The Yihu people did not make any waves at all. Even the Chu State's Juchao Yi was completely lost. The last bit of influence may be the Qian Yi near the Dabie Mountains.
Although I haven't heard that Qianyi has been lost yet, looking at the current situation, Dou Zun doesn't have any hope at all.
"Master! According to what Master sees, how should we act now?!"
"If I say that if we fight with the barbarian chieftains of Eastern Wu, our army will be defeated, what should you do?"
"This..." Douzun's son looked shocked. He had admired his father since he was a child.
Although Douzun cannot be said to be invincible, he can indeed be regarded as a core stone for the military.
But now this is such an answer and such an attitude, whether as a subordinate or as a son, hearing it is like a bolt from the blue.
"Father!" The middle-aged man's expression changed and he became determined, "Father is the King of Desire?!"
"King Qin?!"
Hearing his son's words, Dou Zun was stunned, smiled, and said nothing.
I just found a chair and sat down. It was a chair made of bamboo, with armrests and a backrest. It was a good product from Yingdu at the exit of Huaizhong City.
As he got older, he naturally needed such an object.
Sitting on the chair, holding the armrests with both hands naturally, leaning back, various thoughts are constantly intertwined in his mind.
In fact, Douzun was a little ashamed at this moment. He suddenly felt that he was really old.
He actually thought about surrendering, but his son still thought about struggling to survive.
The Dou family is the Dou family of the Chu State. If the Chu State is destroyed, how can the Dou family survive alone?
Only under the Chu State's system could the Dou family dominate the family and even compete with the King of Chu.
But if the Chu Kingdom was destroyed, how could the victor give the Dou family such great power, such a large territory, and such a large population.
"well……"
Sighing, Douzun looked at his son, "If it's King Qin, do you have any plans?"
"If it's King Qin!"
The middle-aged man's eyes were cold, and he invited the three passers-by to jointly carry out important events. He went down the river and crossed the river from Erdi to the west. When I came to the big tunnel, the capital of Ying had already moved north to Shangbo! Father, please cooperate with me inside and outside, and there are two thousand people.
If you count it, you can break the top!"
There is no doubt that these ideas did not occur in a day or two. They have obviously been well worked on and have been deduced many times.
As for the plan, Dou Zun no longer needs to know in detail. From his son's resolute attitude, he can understand that this is definitely not a matter of their Dou family.
"The inside should be in harmony with the outside?"
"Doctor Xiang Ba is now highly appreciated by the king and has been entrusted with important responsibilities. He can be the internal response!"
"Xiang Ba?"
Dou Zun frowned, "This person has no power, how can he respond internally?"
"Doesn't father know that Xiang Ba has been named the 'Yin of Huan Lie'?"
"How can a villager of the Xiang family take on such an important responsibility! You witch from Yingdu is seeking your own destruction!"
The furious Douzun couldn't believe it, thinking that he had great military exploits and was just a doctor when he was young.
What kind of thing is this thing, actually the "Yin of the Ring"? This is the leader of the garrison outside the palace. To put it bluntly, he is the real powerful figure in the Gyeonggi garrison, and he is a real boss.
At this point, they are no longer ordinary people, they are usually established families that have accumulated experience in the Chu Kingdom for several generations.
Even if it is not an old family, it is at least an old family whose ancestors have enjoyed great wealth in certain countries. After submitting to the Chu State, they were very good at digging into the camp and getting along very well.
What kind of thing is Xiang Ba, who can actually be in a high position?!
This made Douzun feel that he probably spent most of his life fighting dogs, so the credit was not worth it.
"What kind of talent do you have to be promoted like this?!"
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. At this moment, Dou Zun really wanted to kill King Qin, but instead of killing the Yingdu witch, he wanted to kill Xiang Ba.
"..."
Seeing his father's reaction, the son suddenly realized that being promoted to a high position was definitely the greatest insult to his own father.
However, dad still has to answer questions.
The middle-aged man gritted his teeth and whispered: "What Xiang Ba is good at is playing games."
"Game? But arranging troops..."
"Father!"
Seeing that his father was still misunderstanding, the middle-aged man quickly interrupted and raised his voice, "Stop playing games."
"..."
Hearing this answer, Douzun almost lost his breath. He was really a little desperate. This thing was actually the "Yin of the Ring"?
Aren’t the bloody lessons of our ancestors enough? Our ancestors conquered such a large territory and a vast country, and are they just so badly treated by future generations?
After all, the Dou family is also a clan, and the Dou family is also a Chu person after all!
Gritting his teeth, Douzun was furious: "I will punish Xiangba!"
"Father! Xiang Ba acted with humiliation, father!"
"Act with humiliation?!"
Dou Zun was angry and laughed, but saw his son said solemnly, "Doctor Xiang Ba is slandering his reputation, father!"
Seeing Dou Zun's disbelief, the middle-aged man quickly said: "The only person who can approach the king at this time is Xiangba, a veteran of the two dynasties. Without Xiangba's help, King Qin will not succeed. Master, father, please think deeply.
Think deeply.”
For a moment, Dou Zun didn't know what to say. How could such a thing act with humiliation?
"I...think about it again."
Sighing again, Dou Zun waved his hand, asking the middle-aged man to step back, and then sat alone on the chair, his old eyes full of confusion.
After all, he was still not used to this cunning trick. Either fight or surrender, how could he have so many ideas.
For him, King Qin just fought over her, forced the witch to commit suicide, returned power to the king, and then it was over.
Obviously things are not that simple and easy. If the mobilization of the army is that easy, it will not matter whether Dou is a minister or a king.
Chi Chi Chi Chi…
Under the floor, the screams of mice were heard, and not long after, the sound of rustling was heard again. Douzun knew in his heart that this was the big python, and it was back.