Three thousand miles in exile

Nearly a month after the battle at Giyangguan, General Zhou Chan finally convened a meeting of generals.

Xu Muyuan and Zhang Taining rushed back to the North Army Camp from Giyang Pass one day earlier, Liu Zhan Gaosheng is now also a general of the first army, taking advantage of this opportunity, Liu Zhan should have a banquet for Xu Muyuan and Zhang Taining.

"The conditions in the battalion are limited. Please forgive me, General Xu and General Zhang. I will do it first." Liu Zhan held a glass of wine to Xu Muyuan and Zhang Taining respectfully toasted each other.

Xu Muyuan laughed. "General Liu's risking his life to save Prince Rui this time is equivalent to saving us. I won't mention the forgiveness of the crime. I finally passed a hurdle. Let's not talk about that tonight."

"What General Xu said is true." Zhang Taining agreed.

In his heart, he had some appreciation for Liu Zhan and also some fear. How Liu Zhan climbed from a small county lieutenant under his command to his current position, Zhang Taining couldn't be more clear.

Thinking of Zhao Wuguang's evaluation of Liu Zhan, this person is insidious, cunning, scheming, and good at exploiting.

At this time, Zhang Taining couldn't help agreeing a little, thinking that almost all the major events that happened in northern Xinjiang were related to Liu Zhan, and now he has become Prince Rui's confidant, so it can be said that he has a bright future.

"The last general still wants to thank General Xu for his willingness to trust me to lend me six thousand cavalry." Liu Zhan motioned to the two generals for his wine glass to be full, and he drank it.

Xu Muyuan waved his hand, he had more important matters to ask Liu Zhan. "You have been in Jinyang, but you know the recent rumors? I heard that the concubine in Prince Rui's residence gave birth to the eldest grandson of the emperor?"

Speaking of this, even Zhang Taining's dark face became a little curious.

The Xu family from which Xu Muyuan was born is also a first-class family in the capital, and the big cows in these families are all elites.Liu Zhan thought about it again, it would be interesting to hear about the eldest grandson of the emperor. Isn't Zhou's hands and eyes open to the sky?Let's see how they respond.

Liu Zhan didn't speak, he dipped his finger into the wine and wrote three words on the table, Wu Tianrui.

Wu Naihuang's surname, Tianzi generation is the generation of the next generation of the royal family, which implies a very obvious meaning.

Xu Muyuan's face immediately changed. He also had an eyeliner in Jinyang City, and he received the news on the day of the incident, but Xu Muyuan needed other people's evidence to confirm this matter.

It was the first time Zhang Taining heard that his complexion changed a few times, and the two generals were silent for a while.

It was rumored that Zhou Chan was very dissatisfied with Prince Rui's birth of a concubine's eldest son, and even led troops into Prince Rui's residence to snatch the baby. Died.

The general was trying to force Prince Rui not to disclose the identity of the emperor's eldest grandson, let alone bring him back to the capital. King Rui had already compromised in all likelihood, and in order to keep his son's life, he could only follow Zhou Chan's arrangement.

Now, even if Xu Muyuan and Zhang Taining knew about it, nothing could be changed. Liu Zhan just didn't want to miss any chance to make things difficult for Zhou Chan.

The so-called paper can't hold fire, it would be interesting if the rumors of the emperor's eldest grandson can be spread back to the capital.

The Zhou family kept pushing the Xu family, Liu Zhan did not believe that the Xu family was willing to keep the Zhou family low and be a minor.

Because of the emperor's eldest grandson, Xu Muyuan didn't seem to be in the mood to drink, so he took the initiative to leave after drinking for three rounds.

As soon as Xu Muyuan left, Zhang Taining also left naturally. Liu Zhan and Zhang Taining didn't have any good friendship, and there was no need to pretend to be warm to persuade him to stay.

The next day the generals went to the Grand General's Mansion for a meeting, and it was no accident that Prince Rui was absent.

Zhou Chan's indifferent eyes swept across the generals. "Give Yangguan a great victory, annihilating [-] enemies. The old Zhezi who asked for the credit has been delivered to Beijing. I have called you today to discuss the next defensive strategy with you."

Zhou's goal of doing more meritorious service has been achieved, and the next thing is to stick to it.

Xu Muyuan didn't answer, Liu Zhan could clearly feel that he was increasingly dissatisfied with Zhou Chan.

Zhang Taining clasped his fists and said: "General, what is most lacking in the army is soldiers. If the imperial court does not increase the number of troops in the Northern Army, if the Yan army invades, the outcome will be uncertain."

"General Zhang, don't worry, I guarantee that there will be at least [-] troops to expand the Northern Army within three months." Zhou Chan readily agreed this time.

What follows are some defensive arrangements, Xu Muyuan and Zhang Taining are still guarding Yangguan.

Although Zhou Chan really wanted to transfer Liu Zhan to Yangguan, but Liu Zhan's identity was sensitive, he had a lot of conflicts with Prince Rui recently, Zhou Chan didn't want to provoke Prince Rui any more, so he temporarily left Liu Zhan in the Northern Army Camp.

No one in the meeting dared to mention Zhou Chan's mistake of escaping and dividing his troops. If there is no accident, all the achievements of this victory in Yangguan are also due to Zhou Chan.

Coupled with Zhou Chan's recent conflict with Prince Rui, and the matter of hiding the eldest grandson of the emperor, Zhou Chan's hypocritical mask can no longer be worn, and everyone's eyes and noses and their hearts are tacitly tacit.

During this period of time, Prince Rui was holding back his anger and had nowhere to vent his anger. It happened that Yan Qixiu came to his door, and the rumors about the emperor's eldest grandson in Jinyang City were quickly replaced by Yan's concubine.

That day when Yan Qixiu came to Prince Rui, Prince Rui directly brought people and killed Yan Qixiu to the yamen, without saying a word, he killed three masters and two masters, and on that day, Old Madam Yan was so angry that she passed away.

This is not over yet, the county guard's seal is not in Yan Qixiu's hands, but it is still in Yan Qirong's hands.

Prince Rui had always remembered the humiliation of Old Madam Yan at the gate of the city that day, and he directly ordered Yan Qirong to hand over the seal of the governor, otherwise Yan Qirong would be punished as treason.

In those few days, the entire Jinyang City was disturbed by ups and downs. Hundreds of soldiers confronted each other for a while, and smashed the gate of Yan's family for a while.

Yan Qixiu was also a generous person, he did not compromise on any means to achieve his goal, he only sent someone to smash the Yan's ancestral hall.

Zhou Chan turned a blind eye to this matter, as long as it could make Prince Rui's temper disappear, he would follow Prince Rui to make a fuss.

After going on like this for half a month, because Mrs. Yan was bedridden, Yan Qirong still couldn't stand Prince Rui's pressure and voluntarily handed over the county sheriff's seal.

Yan Qixiu won the power of the head of the Yan family, and specially contracted the largest brothel in Jinyang City, Lianyunlou, to entertain Prince Rui and Liu Zhan.

This is Liu Zhan's first visit to brothels after his rebirth. Unlike the magnificence in movies and TV dramas, Lianyun Tower is like a garden in the south of the Yangtze River with unique and quiet decoration.

Today, the real guest of Lianyun Building is only Prince Rui, Yan Qixiu specially ordered Lianyun Building to follow the etiquette of holding palace banquets for the royal family, and the garden is decorated with lights and festoons.

The only main seat of the banquet is set in the gazebo, and there are sub-seats on the left and right of the main seat. The dancers in scantily dressed dancers are dancing in the center of the garden. Those coquettish dances that are not on the stage in the court have no scruples in the Lianyun Building.

As soon as he sat down, Prince Rui's soul was hooked away by these dancing girls.

"Your Highness, those dancers are all the top names in the Lianyun Building. To be seen by you is a blessing that they can't get in eight lifetimes. If you like someone, just order and take them away, and the rest will be taken care of by your subordinates. "Yan Qixiu was complacent.

Here there are no outsiders and no elders to restrain him, Prince Rui quickly let go of playing, and after a while he hugged the beauty and became very affectionate.

Yan Qixiu fanned the flames from time to time, this fanning the flames was not the other fanning the flames, for example, he suddenly took away the beauty's only gauze, causing the beauty to bury her in Prince Rui's arms coquettishly.

To say that Yan Qixiu is not good at handling serious things, but he is an expert in eating, drinking and having fun.

When Prince Rui was in Beijing, he was restrained by the concubine, and the children of the aristocratic families under the emperor's feet would not play too much. When it came to northern Xinjiang Tiangao, the emperor was far away, so it would be natural for Meng Lang to come.

Yan Qixiu winked, and immediately two beauties brought Prince Rui into the grove behind the gazebo, and after a while, ambiguous sounds came from the grove.

"General Liu, don't you want two beauties?" Yan Qixiu asked strangely when he saw Liu Zhan still looking calm while holding a beaut in his arms.

Liu Zhan took a sip of wine. "The injury hasn't healed yet, Master Yan can ignore me as long as he enjoys himself."

Yan Qixiu had a look of pity. "General Liu, I will arrange another match for you after you recover from your injury."

Liu Zhan just smiled and said nothing.

The movements in the grove became more and more unscrupulous, at first there were only two beauties, and then five or six beauties entered, Prince Rui was drunk, and Yan Qixiu was also drunk.

About an hour later, Prince Rui came back from the small woods with disheveled clothes.

"Get out of the way, I don't need you to wait on me, go get some food and drink, I want to talk to General Liu." Prince Rui brushed aside the beauties supporting him on the left and right, and sat directly in front of Liu Zhan's table.

Soon a maid took down the messy table and brought back hot food and wine.

Prince Rui filled Liu Zhan's glass and filled it up for himself. "I heard that you will go to Cenzhou to recruit soldiers tomorrow?"

Liu Zhan said: "The last general planned to bid farewell to you tomorrow."

When he started talking, Prince Rui didn't continue the topic, he just drank one cup after another. Seeing that he was drinking so much, Liu Zhan was afraid that something would happen, so he hurriedly pressed his hand.

"Prince Rui, you've already drunk too much."

"Not much! My king... I can still drink!"

Prince Rui brushed Liu Zhan's hand away. "This king, this king is the future emperor! This king will never treat you badly when he becomes the emperor in the future. Without you, this king will die under the sword of the Yan army. I don't believe anyone in this northern border. Zhou Chan...Zhou Chan... ..."

I don't know which nerve stimulated Prince Rui, he suddenly smashed the flagon in his hand, as if he had endured to the extreme, Prince Rui roared hysterically.

"Liu Zhan! I am Prince Rui! I am Prince Rui! How could Zhou Chan treat me like this!!"

Prince Rui violently overturned the table, smashing the floor into a mess.

"I'm a majestic prince. I can't join the imperial family when I give birth to the emperor's eldest grandson. My concubine is pregnant. He will arrest and abort all of them with one sentence. That's four children! Four children!"

Because of Prince Rui's sudden seizure, the charming atmosphere in the garden disappeared.

"Our great Chu emperor's heir is withered, how can he bear it! If the father finds out, he will be very happy, I should report the good news, I... I am the prince! I am the king! What is he, Zhou Chan!"

At this moment, Prince Rui seemed to be a little bit insane, he cursed indiscriminately, and at the end of the curse, he covered his face and cried bitterly.

Ever since Prince Rui lifted the table, Liu Zhan had already used his eyes to signal the outsiders to retreat, and as for Yan Qixiu, he didn't know in which corner the happy person disappeared.

"He wants to kill my son! Liu Zhan, this king likes this son very much, this king likes this son very much!"

"Liu Zhan, can you kill Zhou Chan?"

"No... who can move Mrs. Zhou..."

Prince Rui was already delirious, he probably wouldn't be able to remember what he said that night when he woke up tomorrow, Liu Zhan's heart was not disturbed.

With the help of drunken madness to vent the resentment in his heart, such a cowardly Prince Rui, he could already foresee that even if Prince Rui became the emperor, he would only be held hostage by Zhou Chan to become an ineffective emperor.

Liu Zhan is even more sure that he must expand his power as soon as possible, Prince Rui is not reliable, only the military power in his hands is reliable.

It was daylight, and a team of cavalry escorted a carriage on the official road. Song Fenglin opened the curtains and looked at the autumnal forest outside. It would take less than a month for Qiyun Mountain to turn yellow again.

On this trip, Liu Zhan took the Luming Ferry to cross the natural danger of Huangchuan. He took a shortcut and went to Cenzhou to recruit soldiers. Because Liu Zhan's injury had not recovered, he changed to travel by horse-drawn carriage.

In the spacious carriage, Song Fenglin set up a chess game to play against Liu Zhan. Liu Zhan was a little dabbled in Go, and Song Fenglin gave up to the third son.

Liu Zhan had a headache and said: "The military households in northern Xinjiang have been conscripted again and again. I am afraid that there will not be many recruits in Cenzhou this time."

Song Fenglin pondered, Cenzhou was their foundation, and they definitely could not exhaust their resources, and suddenly he thought of something.

"I remember that there are thousands of detainees in Cenzhou Prefecture. Some of them are exiled prisoners from all over the Central Plains, and some of them have been sentenced and only waited to be executed after autumn. "

A few days ago, Song Fenglin had seen the situation of prisoners in various places in the Cenzhou file. Most prisons were overcrowded.

Liu Zhan immediately sat up straight. "Can that small cell in Cenzhou Mansion detain so many people?"

Song Fenglin said calmly, "Of course, the mansion dungeon can't hold so many people, because the prefectures in northern Xinjiang have always accommodated exiled criminals from all over the world, so there are other prisons outside the city as temporary detention places for prisoners."

Liu Zhan's thoughts immediately came alive. There are thousands of prisoners in Cenzhou alone, but there are only a few more in Daizhou and Ruichang City. He is not afraid that these prisoners will disobey. What he wants are desperadoes!

Song Fenglin smiled when he saw that Liu Zhan had already made up his mind. "You lost again."

Liu Zhan. "..."

Five days later, the group arrived at Cenzhou Barracks.

"Brother!" Li Xiaolian greeted him overjoyed.

Liu Zhan patted him on the shoulder. "Go in and talk."

Zhang Xiaoman, who couldn't hide anything, immediately told everyone the good news of Liu Zhan's promotion. The camp immediately burst into cheers, knowing that he would be promoted to Zhonglang General, Li Xiaolian was so happy that he smiled silly for a long time.

Soon after Pei Wanshan received the news, he came to the barracks, saying that he had to hold a banquet to entertain everyone. Since Song Fenglin was all his own, naturally he couldn't be absent. Liu Zhan thought he hadn't had a good drink with his brothers for a long time, so he readily agreed.

"You want to use prisoners to fill the army?" Pei Wanshan was surprised and embarrassed at the same time.

"To tell you the truth, those prisoners have all been tortured, and even the best of them will not look good after a few days in prison. I just don't know if you like it or not."

But Liu Zhan said: "It doesn't matter, I will consider it."

Now that Liu Zhan's official position is getting bigger and bigger, and the power in his hands is getting bigger and bigger, even if Pei Wanshan has the slightest dissatisfaction with Liu Zhan, it will be wiped out.

Liu Zhan's official was shot down with real swords and guns, and Pei Wanshan was convinced.

The next day, Pei Wanshan personally took Liu Zhan and his party to the office outside the city.

I saw only a few stone houses on the bare hill. When I got closer, I saw that the ground of the hill had been hollowed out, and the prisoners were all locked in cellar-like cells.

When Pei Wanshan gave an order, the head of the prison immediately yelled at the guards to bring all the prisoners up.

After this trip, Li Xiaolian ordered more than 1000 soldiers to accompany the team, in order to prevent the prisoners from being out of control when they were brought out.

But when they saw the ragged and haggard people, everyone gave up the idea that the prisoners would run away. These people couldn't run at all.

Thousands of prisoners knelt on the open space on the top of the hill. Some prisoners knelt and did not dare to move rashly.

The prison head reported to Liu Zhan tremblingly. "Report to General Liu, all the prisoners in prison are here."

Liu Zhan nodded.

Over there, Zhang Xiaoman yelled at his soldiers to bring up the three newly bought big pigs. Under the puzzled eyes of the prisoners, the soldiers began to kill the pigs and divide them into pots for cooking the meat. After a while, the smell of meat began to waft.

In order to prevent the prisoners from escaping, there were only two or three trees on the huge hill. Li Xiaolian asked people to move tables and chairs, and Song Fenglin and Pei Wanshan sat under the trees and drank tea.

Liu Zhan stood in front of the people with his hands behind his back. "This general is a striker general under the command of Prince Rui, the governor of Northern Xinjiang."

Most of the prisoners were frightened, they didn't know why the dignified general came here.

Liu Zhan didn't say anything else, he stepped forward to look at the prisoners, every time Liu Zhan passed by, the prisoners there would lower their heads lower, and shrank back when they glanced at the hem of Liu Zhan's dark blue official uniform.

"You can already smell the smell of meat. Not only meat, but also big pancakes. Those who meet the conditions mentioned by the general can come out and eat as much as they want."

There were whispers among the prisoners, and the head of the prison stepped forward to scold them, and the scene fell into silence again.

Liu Zhan said: "Those who have merit will come out."

The prisoners looked at each other, as if they were afraid that no one would dare to stand up first, and Liu Zhan was not in a hurry. After a while, the prisoners in the back row encouraged one of them to stand up.

The man had a scruffy beard, was so thin that his eyes were deeply sunken, he was quite tall, and his voice was hoarse and unpleasant like a bellows when he spoke. "The little... the little Wang Shijie has...has a great reputation."

Liu Zhan nodded.

Zhang Xiaoman immediately waved to him. "Go and eat."

Wang Shijie hesitated and came to the large meat pot. Immediately, a soldier filled a bowl full of broth and picked two large pancakes and stuffed them into his hands.

At this time, even if the broth was poisonous, Wang Shijie couldn't resist the temptation of the meaty fragrance, and immediately started to eat it hungrily.

With Wang Shijie in front, another prisoner stood up one after another. There were 43 prisoners in total, three of them were named as scholars, and the rest were scholars.

As for why there is no Jinshi, those who can pass the Jinshi examination in this era are all descendants of aristocratic families. How could this kind of frontier prison imprison the descendants of aristocratic families?

At this time, Liu Zhan noticed that the Juren named Zhao Liangchen deliberately returned half of the broth and pancakes to his wife and children.

Liu Zhan motioned to Zhang Xiaoman, Zhang Xiaoman shouted immediately. "Bring your wife and children over here to eat, General Liu will make sure your family is full."

Zhao Liangchen immediately knelt down and kowtowed to Liu Zhan. "Thank you, General Liu, for the meal."

When these people were full, Zhang Xiaoman asked them to stand side by side in a row, and then said loudly. "Please ask Mr. Song for an assessment!"

Immediately, someone turned pale with shock, probably not expecting the on-site assessment to reveal their ugly face for a while, and it was clear at a glance whether it was true or false before the examination started.

Song Fenglin walked up unhurriedly, and he selected two articles from the Four Books and Five Classics as examination questions.

Of the 43 people, only three could answer correctly, Zhao Liangchen was one of them, and about eight people could answer correctly.

Song Fenglin asked these 11 people again, which year they took the imperial examination and who the examiner was, and all 11 people could answer them one by one. It can be seen that the rest are all people who want to fool around because of Liu Zhan's easy talk.

"Hehe." Liu Zhan smiled. "Is the meat delicious?"

The prisoners who pretended to be famous were so frightened that they knelt down and begged for mercy.

Liu Zhan sneered. "Drag on, deal with military law."

Immediately, soldiers swarmed up, grabbed people and dragged them aside, swung sticks with thick wrists into the bones, and started beating them cracklingly.

This scene shocked all the prisoners on the spot.