Tang Dynasty: The seventh rank of official residence, and you will be given the Ten Thousand People

"Yes!" The commander-in-chief clasped his fists, left the palace with hundreds of soldiers, mounted his war horse and chased towards the official road.

The Langya Palace was heavily guarded. If the Qingping County Prime Minister could escape from under their noses, he must have been hiding in a carriage in Wushui County.

After the sergeant left, Li Chong said to the steward: "Burn these traitors together with the main hall, and let the public know that the main hall is in disrepair for a long time!"

Li Quan waved to the sergeants on both sides, and several sergeants holding torches stepped forward and lit the hay.

Soon the fire spread to the entire hall, billowing smoke rose, and the bodies lying in a pool of blood were gradually engulfed by the fierce tongues of flames.

Seeing the raging fire in front of him, Li Quan was very excited: "Your Majesty, we have eliminated Empress Dowager Wu's spy in Bozhou. Why not cross the Yellow River in one go and break into Luoyang?"

Li Chong rolled down his sleeves angrily: "Do you think Luoyang is so easy to fight? Right now we only have five thousand new soldiers. Whether we can control the entire Bozhou is unknown. How can we fight against the martial arts army guarding Dongdu?"

"Be patient and wait for the opportunity. When I recruit enough troops, it will not be too late to cross the river and attack Luoyang."

"Before that, we must try our best to get Fan Xin. Only by controlling Wushui County can Li and Tang's army be able to cross the river without any distractions!" Li Chong said solemnly.

The reason why he spent a lot of money to win over Fan Xin was not because he valued him personally, but because he took a fancy to Wushui County.

This place is fifty miles southwest of Liaocheng, facing Puzhou across the Jindi River. The latter has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. If they want to cross the river and win here, Li and Tang's army must have a stable support point, which is why he Pay attention to the root causes of Wushui County.

Li Quan also knew that now was not the best time to raise troops, so he said with a smile: "My lord, please keep your heart in your heart. I know that you attach great importance to Wushui County, and you have already placed an spy several years in advance."

"As long as Fan Xin behaves abnormally, we will know the news on the same day and ensure that there will be no mistakes!"

"As expected of the king, you've done a good job!" Li Chong patted the butler's shoulder, raised his head and looked towards the official road and said proudly.

"Fan Xin, do you think that by leaving the palace, you can escape from my control..."

.......

Bozhou, official road.

Da da!

The crisp sound of horse hooves echoed through the forest.

Liu Zi opened the curtain and took a look behind him. After finding that there were no pursuers, he sat back in the carriage and breathed a long sigh of relief. It seemed that King Langya had no doubts about them.

Thinking of this, he shook Fan Xin's body.

"Master, you don't have to pretend anymore. We have escaped from Liaocheng and will be back in Wushui County soon."

As soon as these words were spoken, Fan Xin, who had been unconscious, suddenly opened his eyes, got up from the mattress, took out a pebble from his armpit and threw it away.

"Phew! I finally escaped. I'm afraid I'll be suffocated to death if it's too late!" Thinking of the conversation between Li Chong and his servant, Fan Xin secretly called out the danger.

If Liuzi hadn't appeared in time, even if he was lucky enough to survive the dinner, he would have been imprisoned in the palace, forced to follow Li Chong in his military expedition, and then defeated and killed.

Seeing the palpitating look on his young master's face, Liu Zi scratched his head and said, "By the way, young master, King Langya gave you a century-old ginseng. Do you want to send someone to send it back?"

Fan Xin glanced at the gift box: "Forget it, Li Chong is already worried about us. If we send the gift box back again, he will have trouble sleeping and eating."

"Keep it first and deal with it when you have time. The top priority is to return to Wushui County and prepare to defend against the enemy."

Fan Xin knew that Li Chong's gift was just to arouse the suspicion of the court and force him to side with him, but compared with this, he cared more about the subsequent military attack.

If he remembered correctly, Li Chong originally set the date for April of the following year. As a result, Fan Yang Wang Li Ai reported to the court, and he was forced to hastily raise troops on August 17, leading 5,000 new soldiers to attack Wushui County.

He tried to cross the Jindi River to occupy Puyang, and then joined forces with the princes of Li and Tang to march towards Luoyang. In the end, he was defeated and killed.

Today is the first day of August, and there are only sixteen days left before Li Chong raises his troops! In other words, there is not much time left for him to consolidate the city's defenses and recruit troops to prepare for war.

The Sixth Son obviously knew that King Langya was going to attack Wushui County, and he was worried and said: "Master, King Langya has thousands of soldiers and horses under his command. Can we hold it with the few officials in our county government? In my opinion, we should escape as soon as possible, otherwise Being stuck in the city…”

Fan Xin knew what he wanted to say, and said calmly: "You think this matter is too simple. As the magistrate of Wushui County, I still have a chance to defend the city. If I abandon the city and the land, I will definitely die."

"That being said, how can we defend the city? We need men but no one, and we need weapons but no weapons." Liuzi didn't understand where his young master got his confidence.

Fan Xin smiled slightly: "Who said we only have government officials in Wushui County? Have you forgotten those farmers?"

"Master, what do you mean?"

Fan Xin nodded: "Yes, our Tang Dynasty implements a government military system. They serve as soldiers in war and as farmers in leisure time. As long as they are summoned, our Wushui County will have thousands more city defenders in the blink of an eye. With these People, we can hold out until the imperial court sends reinforcements.”

That's right, the reason why Fan Xin chose to stay and defend the city was because there were more than 3,000 veterans in Wushui County who had been on the battlefield. These people had weapons. As long as they were organized, they had a chance to withstand the rebel siege.

However, due to frequent battles during this period, the imperial military system had actually collapsed due to the inability of the court to provide land rewards. The veterans would rather farm than go to the battlefield again. It was not easy for them to defend the city and work hard.

What's more important is that Fan Xin is only a local county magistrate and has no authority to mobilize government troops. He must obtain approval from the Ministry of War if he wants to mobilize government troops.

Taking this into account, Fan Xin planned to recruit these veterans as people Zhuang in the name of defending the city, and then disbanded after the rebels were defeated.

In this way, the government army system became a temporary recruitment, which did not require permission from the Ministry of War and the governor's office, and would not be accused of raising an army privately.

Hearing that his young master was planning to recruit soldiers to defend the city, Liuzi's last worry was gone.

"Great, as long as you can defend Wushui County, the imperial court will definitely give you a promotion in the future!"

Fan Xin smiled and was about to speak when an exclamation suddenly came from outside the carriage.

"As expected of Magistrate Fan, this trick of building a plank road to cross Chencang secretly is really clever. Even King Langya was deceived."

Suddenly hearing this, Fan Xin's expression suddenly changed, he instantly grasped the dagger, and at the same time winked at Liuzi, who pulled out his saber and jumped out of the window.

When Fan Xin opened the curtain and saw the driver clearly, he was startled for a moment, frowned and said, "It's you!"

This person was an official named Lai who had met once in Langya Palace. Seeing his pale face, he gave him a handkerchief, but he didn't expect that this guy also escaped.

Seeing that Fan Xin recognized him, the young coachman smiled and said: "I have come to Junchen, the Prime Minister of Qingping County, to ask Magistrate Fan for something special!"