Became a feudal lord in the late Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 63: Getting there first
  "If I just listened to the literal meaning, I really thought that Medicine Master Guo was going to fight to the death with the Jin people." Liu Ling was scrubbing his white horse. It lowered its head and used its mouth to reach for the preserved fruits from the barrel next to Liu Ling. , Liu Ling threw down the rag, washed his hands, picked up preserved fruits and fed them to it.

Shi Liai watched from the side and couldn't help but cursed: "You gave such an expensive thing to a horse."

The snacks that normal people eat are wrong. In this era, ordinary people generally cannot afford snacks. At most, they make some at home. The preserved fruit in Liu Ling's hand is worth a lot of money, but now he feeds it to his war horse.

The white horse ate with gusto, its tail swayed, and it licked the remaining sugar on Liu Ling's hand. Liu Ling stroked its neck and replied, "I'm going to ride it later, so why don't I give it some delicious food to coax it." "

"This war horse is not a human being."

"When I was riding a war horse, I always knew to feed it first, but the commander-in-chief asked me to go to Jizhou in the north to race horses with the Jin people. Not only did he not give me more cavalry, but he also gave me back half of what was originally given to me. "Liu Ling glanced at Shi Liai with his peripheral vision, and complained intentionally or unintentionally: "How can anyone do this? He doesn't give the horse grass and wants the horse to run. He..."

"There's no point in complaining to me."

Shi Liai saw his intentions and smiled, "Dashuai Guo also does things impartially. You had a round belly after eating in Zhuozhou, but now you are not allowed to go out and shave off two layers of fat on your body before you can do anything."

You don’t understand what happened between me and Marshal Guo, and I can’t help you plead for mercy. "

"Ha." Seeing Shi Liai's "declined refusal", Liu Ling shook his head, "This general is going to Jizhou, why are you still following me?"

"You must have a chief of staff in your army." Shi Liai said calmly: "I once served as a military envoy to a place, not to mention the three states of Pingping and Luanzhou, even the topography and terrain of Jizhou and other places The distribution of the city is all imprinted in my mind. If you don’t want me to follow you, I won’t force you.”

"Look what you said." A smile appeared on Liu Ling's face. He took out a small bag of preserved fruits from somewhere and handed it to Shi Liai in a clumsy manner.

"This is to honor you."

Shi Liai chuckled and said, "When will you leave?"

"Without further delay, I will lead the army to set off after noon."

"Then I'll come find you then." Shi Liai said a word without even looking at the preserved fruit in Liu Ling's hand, and turned to leave.

Liu Ling fed the preserved fruit to the white horse. After it finished eating, it rubbed its face against Liu Ling's hand affectionately. The latter was still thinking about things and carelessly rubbed the horse's mane, "Okay, okay, there's nothing left to eat."

The white horse snorted, not understanding what he was saying at all, and still bowing his head to please. Liu Ling looked at it with some depression.

"It's better for you. I'll give you grass and you'll ride for me."

The cold wind blew through the grassland, and countless dead grass fell with the wind. At first glance, it looked like rolling waves. Then the grass lifted up, and a large number of cavalry figures appeared, startling a few crows pecking on the ground.

The white horse neighed, Liu Ling looked down and frowned, and found that there were several corpses that had not been eaten cleanly in the place where he had just walked. The crow fluttered its wings and flew to the branch, shouting at Liu Ling. Zhang Wu bent his bow and pointed at the crow, Liu Ling raised his hand to stop him.

"Let it go." Liu Ling added: "Go and ask the former army where we are."

Pharmacist Guo gathered troops and horses in the Lushui area and established a large camp. From there, Liu Ling headed north to prepare to enter Jizhou for inspection. After passing Xincang Town, it was the boundary of Jizhou.

This place was nominally owned by the Song Dynasty and was actually taken over by the Changsheng Army. However, due to the previous incident of Xiao Qian and the plundering of the Jin people, the local population was severely depleted. Although the Changsheng Army was recruiting troops, its strength was still small. Even actually taking charge of the entire city is difficult to achieve.

Therefore, instead of dividing the troops to weaken their strength, it is better to unite them together. Guo Yaoshi chose to establish a defense line in the area east of Yanshan Prefecture. His attitude towards Jizhou was to defend Jizhou as long as he could. At worst, he would retreat to various cities in Yanshan Prefecture for solid defense.

The sentry rider came back after a while, saying that Hancheng Town would be reached in more than ten miles. Liu Ling was stunned and immediately realized that he had gone astray.

Although Hancheng Town is also a city in Jizhou, Liu Ling originally planned to go to Yuyang to take a look first. The city there is strong. Once Liu Ling really encounters the main force of the Jin people, he can use Yuyang as a temporary stronghold and use it as a last resort. Retreat.

So the problem is that Hancheng Town is the southeasternmost city in Jizhou. It is considered a "big city" among small villages and small towns. Moreover, to the east of Jizhou are Pingzhou and Luanzhou, which means the probability of encountering Jin people. Big increase.

Liu Ling's face suddenly darkened.

When shouting slogans, it is natural to say something nice, but whoever is willing to take the initiative to meet the golden man is the **.

"Where's Toki Ai?"

Liu Ling showed no respect for the elderly and loved the young. He cursed and was led by his soldiers to Shi Liai. The old guy was still looking at the map. Seeing Liu Ling coming, he even asked with a smile: "Have you eaten in the army?"

"Use your mother, Shi Li, you are not honest." Liu Ling turned over and dismounted, stretched out his finger and poked Shi Liai's chest lightly. "I'll let you lead the way. Going north from Lushui to Yuyang, what path did you lead?"

Shi Liai silently put the map in front of Liu Ling. The latter frowned and looked at it for a moment, then couldn't help but curse: "Didn't you say you know the terrain here well? Even if the map is wrong, you..."

"I know everything because I have read the map many times and know it by heart." Shi Liai retorted, "I am old now. Instead of scolding the person who drew the map, you blame me for not walking it myself? "

Seeing Liu Ling take a deep breath, on the edge of red temperature, Shi Liai paused and said: "General Liu, you have all cavalry troops under your command. You can come and go freely within a hundred miles of Jizhou. There is no need to do so." You are afraid of being entangled by the Jin people. Hancheng Town is not small. If the Jin people want to advance, they will definitely have to work hard here. If you really encounter the Jin people, you can either withdraw your troops or take advantage of the Jin people's unstable foothold. time, find out their movements.

Otherwise, when you go to Yuyang, the Jin people may be ready here when you come back, and you throw yourself into the trap again." Shi Liai shook his head and tsked twice, expressing his disapproval.

"Why do I feel like you, old guy, are fooling me again?" Liu Ling looked at him suspiciously.

"General Liu, may I ask what deception is?"

Liu Ling narrowed his eyes, and Shi Liai felt that his expression became colder, so he had to continue: "I have a few businessmen I know here in Jizhou, and they are kind of friendly. They seem to have made a lot of money these days. , the family is quite rich, and their caravan camp seems to be stationed in this area.

If General Liu is willing to send people to look for him, I am also willing to write a letter myself and ask those merchants to send more money, food and supplies." Seeing Liu Ling's expression getting more and more weird, he put his hand on the handle of the knife at his waist.

Shi Liai did have other thoughts. Seeing that Liu Ling didn't believe it, he finally became a little worried, "General Liu, now that Marshal Guo wants you to go north to contact the Jin people, you have to go north. Don't you have any other thoughts?"

"I told you not to vote."

"Harm, that's not what I meant." Shi Liai felt that if he was not more honest at this time, with Liu Ling's temperament, he would probably kill himself to sacrifice the flag.

He is not afraid of death, but he definitely doesn't want to die so useless.

"Do you know why I like you?"

"?"

Shi Liai patted him on the shoulder and said sincerely: "Those who are willing to live under others are nothing more than pigs and dogs raised by others. They come and go as soon as they are called, and kill them when they are useless."

"But General Liu, you are different. You are a wolf."

Shi Liai raised his hand on his chest and tried his best to express it: "You are a wolf, but you use the word you told me before, called milk. You always said that Da Song has enough milk. But now Song People have begun to be wary and will not provide any more money or food in the short term. All the money and food you took from Xiongzhou were taken away by Yaoshi Guo. You and your Zhuozhou got nothing.

You need money and food”

"But," Liu Ling thought for a moment and roughly understood what Shi Liai meant, "I need money and food. What does this have to do with the merchants you mentioned?"

"Of course."

When Li Ai saw that Liu Ling finally became interested, he quickly said: "They are very wealthy. I asked them to come to see you. You can tie them up and ask them to write letters to their subordinates and give them money and food." you."

"Old time."

"Ok?"

"Are the merchants you are talking about a group of Liao people? The ones who specialize in speculating and selling food and people?"

"That's right, they do a really good business."

Liu Ling grinned and replied, "No need."

"Why? Don't you want money and food?" Shi Liai looked at him in confusion, still making lifting movements on his chest with his hands. At this time, he saw a strange expression on Liu Ling's face.

Just when the atmosphere between the two was tense, a cavalryman rode over and reported loudly: "There is a horse army outside Hancheng Town. There are about three hundred people. It is the banner of the Jin people!"

(End of this chapter)