Chapter 514 A Thousand Miles Journey (8)

Xu Shui is on fire.

In the afternoon, in a town on the northwest side of the county town only a few miles away from Xushui, Zhang Xing led a group of armored men to stand on an earthen fence with arms akimbo, looking at the fireworks there for a while.

They all found it a bit boring.

This battle was too devastating.

We know that this Northern Expedition has been well-prepared for a long time, we know that the Hejian camp is in decline, we know that the Youzhou army was crushed in all directions from generals to soldiers, we know that the whole of Hebei, and even the north, is

I knew that Sima Zheng and Bai Hengqiu were the opponents, but it was still a bit boring to just deflect the entire army with one hand and the big surprise attack went so smoothly.

This lack of interest became even more obvious after the frontline informed "Youzhou Grand Manager Luo" that the people under the military banner might be fake.

So, after watching for a while, Chief Zhang took the lead. Everyone walked down from the wall and went to rest or be busy. Even Zhang Xing himself started to eat the second cake of the day... This time it was hot.

The cakes are used to heat soup, and there are even tables and chairs for use... The tables and chairs are ready-made in a restaurant at the intersection, and the cakes are also heated in other people's shops, using other people's chopped firewood, and just put a few copper coins as a symbol.

That's right, before the battle was over, some people started to enjoy it.

However, the dining area still continued the gang's excellent tradition. According to the rules of eating under the porch, a table was placed at the entrance of the store, and then four benches were placed. Chief Zhang just sat across the street.

Come and eat on the stool.

In sharp contrast was Li Ding. This leader came over after sorting out the newly arrived intelligence, checking the town's defenses, and issuing several targeted military orders.

After coming over, the actual planner of this battle also sat on a bench next to the square table, but did not eat. He seemed to want to say something, but felt that the time was not right... Zhang Xing was busy eating, and he was almost finished.

, naturally too lazy to pay attention to this guy's entanglement.

While he was struggling, the road on one side of the intersection started to get noisy. A few people were still well-educated. From a distance, they saw Zhang Gongshen leading a dozen riders and carrying one person. He looked like a prisoner, but he was not tied up.

What's interesting is that Ushikawa, who was just wandering around before, took the initiative to come here and then stood in the store behind Zhang Xing... It seemed that he was used to being Cao Che's bodyguard. At this time, he saw someone

The prisoners came here, just in case, and took the initiative to protect Chief Zhang.

Of course, Chief Zhang was used to acting in unison. When he saw this scene, he waved directly and invited Niu He to sit on the other side of his square table. He happened to have a chat with Li Ding.

Sure enough, when the prisoner came here, he was obviously shocked when he saw Niu He. Then he looked at Zhang Xing who was eating cakes in the middle. However, he did not bow down or salute. He just stood and tied his hands and asked: "But Chief Zhang?"

?I am Dou Ru, the general of the Hejian Camp. I have achieved special honors this time. Please give me an explanation, chief!"

Zhang Xing was stunned for a moment. He couldn't help but put down the last bite of pancake and asked with a smile: "Are you Dou Ru? Did you break the pontoon bridge?"

"yes."

"Why is this so? Don't you and our gang have a grudge against killing your father?" Zhang Xing asked out of curiosity.

"More than just revenge for killing my father?" Dou Ru said unceremoniously. "Since the gang uprising, no less than seven or eight of my Dou family's descendants have died at the hands of the gang, and they are either the backbone of the clan or close members of the clan. Zhi, our Dou family is fundamentally at odds with the gang...but it is precisely because of this that we have to do this!"

"Do you think the Hejian camp is not enough for you to take revenge? Our gang happens to be trustworthy and we want to use this special honor to escape and fight again?" Zhang Xing suddenly realized.

When many people around the intersection heard this, they thought it was ridiculous... Even Li Ding couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

"That's right." Dou Ru replied proudly. "The Hejian camp will undoubtedly be defeated. Not to mention thousands of people crossing the river, even if the whole army puts their horses and horses against each other, they will definitely be defeated. And when the time comes, if I don't want to die , I can only descend to you. But if I surrender, I have always been arrogant and not good at covering up. It will be difficult to escape... Fortunately, Chief Zhang has always been known for his kindness and trust even though he has risen from a low position. Otherwise, why would he be so powerful? In just one year, he went from riding a floating horse alone to now flying like an eagle on the river, so that he controls one-third of the world?"

At this point, Dou Ru finally raised his hands and saluted for the first time: "Chief Zhang, before the war, you asked General Manager Xie to come and say that those in the Hejian camp who are willing to surrender will be left free. But my actions today, no matter how you calculate them, will be As far as the gang is concerned, they all have merits and demerits. I would like to ask Chief Zhang if he can let me and my 23 bodyguards return to the Jin Dynasty from here west... so that we can avenge our hatred and kill our enemies with our own hands in the future?"

"It should be possible." Zhang Xing nodded calmly. "But you can't return to the west now. You can either go to Yecheng first, and then set off from Yecheng and decide where to go on your own, or you can stay here with me and wait for a month... In short, I can't Let you go to the west now to avoid causing any disturbance to the war situation."

Dou Ru was greatly refreshed: "I knew Chief Zhang was trustworthy! I am willing to transfer from Yecheng!"

Zhang Xing took the last bite of the cake, then waved his hand, and Dou Ru was about to leave.

However, at this moment, Li Ding suddenly interrupted and shouted to the other party: "Dou Balang!"

Dou Ru stood up again and calmly raised his hand to Li Ding: "Is there anything else wrong with Li Silang? Or is there something wrong with Li Longtou?"

"They're all the same... I'm just curious. Dou Balang just said that the world is divided into three parts, so I dare to ask you which three are the three in your heart?" Li Ding asked seriously.

"Of course they are the Bai family of the Western Capital, the Sima family of the Eastern Capital, and the Zhang family of Yecheng." Dou Ru sneered. "Of course, I know that Chief Zhang will definitely not recognize Zhang's statement before he takes over the world. He will only say It’s just a family name.”

Zhang Xing swallowed the last bite of cake in his mouth and began to blow on the hot soup.

"Is the Southern Xiao family not worth mentioning in your eyes?" Li Ding asked with a frown.

"What is there to mention about Nanzi?" Dou Ru said disapprovingly. "Even if we have half of the country in our hands, even if there are some heroes, we are just internally at the south of the Huaihe River, waiting for the heroes of the north to decide the winner and then annex it. That’s all.”

"That's it." Li Ding waved his hand. "Let's go."

Dou Ru, on the other hand, got excited at this time and actually stood there and asked back: "Li Silang, I'm also curious. Bai Sanniang can live in Guanxi and Hebei without distinguishing each other. How can you force yourself to stay in the gang?"

Li Ding responded sternly: "Of course it's because he has inherited the destiny of Heaven, acted on behalf of Heaven, and can achieve great goals. However, all the people in Guanxi are mediocre. They don't know either Heaven's destiny or people's hearts. They just follow the old rules and wrap up a group of people."

People are just seeking the benefit of their family and surname... Since I, Li Ding, have great ambitions, how can I associate with such people?"

"I see." Dou Ru sneered. "I thought it was Li Silang who was reluctant to part with his two counties, but he was caught by Chief Zhang."

After saying that, he left here directly under the supervision of Zhang Gongshen and a team of soldiers led by him.

But Li Ding didn't have anything wrong at all. Instead, he came to ask Zhang Xing: "What do you think of this person?"

"What?" Zhang Xing, who was drinking soup, was a little confused.

"Ability, talent, overall, how do you evaluate this person?"

"Pretty good." Zhang Xing thought for a while and nodded seriously. "Being able to understand the background of both camps, being able to seize the opportunity in a short period of time to make a decisive decision to survive, being able to deceive many people in the Hejian camp, being able to come to

To come here and talk to us... no matter how you look at it, it's pretty good."

Li Ding paused for a moment and saw that there were no other leaders at the intersection except the three people on the table, so he asked in a low voice: "How does that compare to ordinary gang leaders?"

Zhang Xing thought for a while and said seriously: "Compared with the leaders in the gang who joined the gang two years ago and have not yet become the big leaders, they are undoubtedly much higher. But compared with the big leaders in the gang,

, compared with a few young people in the gang now, they are probably not too outstanding."

Li Ding looked at the other party carefully and could only nod: "As long as you know what I mean."

Of course Zhang Xing knew what the other party meant. The essence was that Li Silang, an aristocratic elite, had always looked down upon the bastard and rich leaders in the gang, and the gang had indeed gathered a large number of leaders with mediocre qualities, all because of the current situation.

Among them, and then sank into it. At the same time, Zhang Xing himself had always looked down on those noble children because of his background.

But this time, all these things were caught by Dou Ru and Dou Balang, so he asked this question.

As for Zhang Xing's answer, it itself explains the matter - it is true that there are leaders with poor quality, but look at it, have I suppressed all these people and not let them go to important positions? Look again, let's reuse them

Are the promoted people and the young people emerging now all talents?

Naturally, Li Silang could only talk.

With this chatter, Zhang Xing finished the soup.

As soon as the soup was finished and before the bowl was returned to the owner, someone else came... It was Xu Shiying who came here in person with Hou Junshu.

"How come Deputy Commander Xu is here in person?" Li Ding frowned slightly when he saw the visitor. "Isn't the commander in charge Ma in Muxian County? Who is in charge of the main battlefield by the Xu River? Is King Xiongtian back?"

"Give Deputy Commander Xu hot cakes and hot soup." Zhang Xing showed no sense of responsibility. "Niu Gong and Li Longtou are coming too."

"The King of Heaven is still searching for the whereabouts of Luo Shu and his son. It was Chief Bai and Shan Longtou who arrived together." Xu Shiying replied calmly, taking advantage of the opportunity to put down his helmet and sit on the bench at the end of the square table. "And Xu Shui's side is not considered two people at all. The army faced each other, and as soon as the pontoon bridge burned down, the infantry formation that could still be used as a support dispersed. Now we are taking advantage of the situation to pursue and surrender. The Xushui is neither big nor small, so there are few people who drown, and they can escape. There are a lot of people... Before I came, only Bai Xiangui was under the banner of Luo Shu, plus seven or eight people leading different numbers of soldiers and horses, either backing rivers or occupying villages to resist, as were Shan Longtou and Manager Bai. Just pull them out one by one."

At this point, Xu Dalang paused for a while while pressing the soup bowl he was served, and then concluded: "I estimate that the battlefield south of Xushui can be swept away before dark... As for the Youzhou Army this time, even if it is not The Lord has lost all his strength, in fact, he has lost five or six out of ten. When we go to fight again, we can advance calmly and win without a doubt."

Li Ding nodded slightly.

Zhang Xing finally spoke, but he looked at Hou Junshu, who was a little embarrassed: "Chief Hou, this is all your fault!"

Hou Junshu stood there with his head bowed. When he heard the words, he raised his head with tears streaming down his face: "Chief Shenwei, I dare not disobey you, but I have cut off the whole army's livelihood, and I am really ashamed... and I also took it upon myself to let him go. There are hundreds of riders in this department, please take charge of the crime."

"It doesn't matter." Zhang Xing shook his head in reply. "The task I gave you is to break the bridge. As long as you break the bridge, nothing else matters. On the other hand, if you don't break it, then nothing matters... Leader Hou, You have gone through all kinds of hardships and soft-heartedness, no need to say more, our relationship, from now on, you will be the leader of the gang, you will have everything you deserve, and you will not deserve anything... But now I will give you a It’s up to you to choose the extra opportunity. Do you want to lead the army, be a local official, or serve in the public service at Daxingtai?”

Except for Xu Dalang, who was eating cakes and soup with his back to Hou Junshu, the others, including Zhang Gongshen who had just arranged for Dou Ru to return, were all staring at this person.

"I follow the chief's orders." Hou Junshu replied immediately. "What the chief said is what it is."

In fact, Chief Hou really wanted to say that he should continue to lead the troops, but as early as when he was near Xushui, he had thought about it over and over again. Chief Zhang would never let someone like him lead the troops again. What to do if the bridge is broken again?

Therefore, even if I am 10,000 times unhappy, I have already prepared this answer, and I am just reluctant to say it at this time.

Otherwise, how could we be willing to let the deputy general lead those hundreds of horses to the north?

"That's easy." Zhang Xing nodded. "I heard that you were raised as an officer from a young age, and you are familiar with the terrain of Beidi and Youzhou, so you should continue to lead the army... But now I don’t have any troops for you at the moment, so you go and rest first, and just follow my actions in the next few days.”

Hou Junshu was surprised and happy, but then he thought about letting Lieutenant General Gao and the hundreds of Youzhou cavalry go, but he regretted it and couldn't help but feel heartbroken again.

Zhang Xing also waved again and called Zhang Gongshen to come over to eat cakes and soup.

At this time, Hou Junshu had already wanted to leave and clean up. Hearing these words, his heart moved, and the heartache he just felt was suppressed. Then he turned around and stood on the edge of the store behind Chief Zhang with his knife in hand, like a bodyguard.

I don’t know if I want to wait for a chance to serve it.

However, Zhang Xingzao pretended not to see this guy.

Zhang Gongshen came over, and people were already sitting on all sides of the square table... Fortunately, the table was big, so Xu Dalang took the initiative to step aside. They each hung up a corner, put their helmets under their feet, and then came to eat cakes with their armors and coats.

, but Xu Dalang never put down the Jinglong Sword on his waist, while the Qingming Sword on Zhang Gongshen's waist was specially removed and placed on the corner of the table.

After taking two bites of the pancake, Zhang Gongshen said seriously: "Chief, I know that Luo Shu has escaped. It should be Bai Xiangui and the others who are using Luo Shu's banner now. I want to persuade them to surrender."

"Is that why you specially escorted Dou Ru here?" Zhang Xingxiao asked.

"I saw Xue Changxiong's golden sword shattering with my own eyes, and knew that the battle situation ahead was determined. In addition, because our battalion voluntarily abandoned its organization and dispersed to escape due to the attack of the golden sword, it was difficult to prepare everything in a short period of time, so I came up with this idea.

After that, I formally borrowed General Manager Bai's military order to see the chief." Zhang Gongshen immediately explained.
To be continued...