At the end of March in the sixth year of the Yuanjia Period of the Great Zhou Dynasty, when it was suddenly warm and cold, and the grass was growing and orioles were flying, Emperor Murong Jin of the Great Yan Dynasty sent troops to invade the villages outside Qingzhou City on the border of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and kidnapped more than 2,000 people.

More than a month has passed since then.

Months ago, Zhao Yi, the governor of Qingzhou, was shocked when he received the news. On the same day, he sent more troops to guard the border. Fearing that the news would spread and cause civil unrest, he sealed the city of Qingzhou in the name of investigation. He sent a small team of sergeants eight hundred miles in total overnight.

Urgent to deliver a letter to Jiankang.

Song Zaiyan was afraid that these people would arouse suspicion, so he specifically told them to shout "Qingzhou Victory" along the way!

This matter was kept secret for more than a month before it spread throughout the Zhou Dynasty.

After Qingzhou City was sealed for a few days, fearing that it would cause panic among the people, they ostensibly opened the south gate and only sealed the north gate, strictly checking people entering the city from the north.

In fact, Qingzhou City has been roaring and violent this month.

Emperor Yuexun of the Great Zhou Dynasty was furious when he received the news, and almost killed Zhao Yi in anger.

Chief Situ Xu Xuanzhi said that Zhao Yi had committed the crime of dereliction of duty and was unforgivable. Fortunately, he dealt with it promptly and properly, especially by delivering the letter in the name of a great victory, which prevented chaos in the court. He asked the emperor to spare his life and order him to make meritorious deeds.

The emperor calmed down after his anger, and knew that killing the frontier officials at this time would only make the situation more difficult. He softened his tone with Xu Xuanzhi's words, and then asked the ministers how to deal with the matter.

All the ministers knew that the emperor had long wanted to expedition to the north of the Wei Dynasty, intending to take back the four cities of Huatai that the Wei Dynasty took advantage of when the late emperor died of illness and the civil strife in the Zhou Dynasty took the opportunity. However, it would take time to make proper arrangements for the northern expedition with the power of one country.

Now that Dayan is provoking, it is very likely that there will be big moves in the future, and the Northern Expedition must be brought forward.

Most of the important ministers in the court were veterans who had followed the late emperor in the southern and northern campaigns, and naturally most of them were in charge of the battle. Xu Xuanzhi was already old and had more ambition than strength. He recommended General Han Daoyuan and Jingzhou Governor Xie Hui to serve as the chief generals of the Northern Expedition.

The emperor and his ministers discussed it for a day in Xianyang Palace, and finally decided that Han Daoyuan would be appointed as the general of the Northern Expedition. Recently, he sent his vanguard army to Qingzhou to help Zhao Yi.

The army was immediately organized and ready to march out at any time. Xie Hui, the governor of Jingzhou, was appointed as the general of the left guard and accompanied the army.

In order to confuse the Northern Wei Dynasty, some people proposed to secretly transport a batch of grain and grass to Qingzhou and other border areas before the soldiers and horses moved the grain and grass.

The Yue clan caravan was selected as one of the many teams that secretly transported grain and grass because of its close relationship with the royal family.

This incident caused a sensation among the heads of the upper-class families in Kyoto. Only then did Zheng Shao lie about being seriously ill and urge Zheng Wei and his grandson to go back. Only then did the Zheng family make up their mind to move their clan, fearing that the nights would be long and the dreams would be long, so they would send their young children first.

Kyoto.

Zheng Wei and the others received another letter on the way. Zheng Wei's brother Zheng Heng secretly chased Han Daoyuan's army out of Beijing and asked Mrs. Zheng to arrange for someone to intercept him and return.

But they didn't know where Han Daoyuan's army was heading, so they were afraid of missing it, so they thought of coming directly outside Qingzhou City to block him.

Zheng Boyong, Liu Weng and his entourage disguised themselves as a caravan for buying and selling cloth and grain. They kept collecting cloth and grain along the road and transported it all the way to Qingzhou Posthouse, where they met Zheng Wei and the others.

Back then, the family behind the Yue Clan caravan also gave a tenth of its members to Princess Xunyang. Zheng Boyong was a distant relative of the Zheng family, and he joined the Yue Clan caravan to make a living on the face of the eldest princess. He was indeed somewhat capable and managed to become a

The steward of the team.

Zheng Boyong collected a lot of grain along the way, which was a bit eye-catching. In order to avoid long nights and many dreams, he borrowed some help from Mrs. Zheng and wanted to send it to Qingzhou City overnight for business.

Unexpectedly, a month later Dayan actually sent agents to burn down the Qingzhou City warehouse. It seemed that the thieves in the posthouse outside the city were undoubtedly Dayan people.

"Is Murong Jin crazy?" Zheng Boyong was puzzled. "The Wei Dynasty has beaten them to a corner, but they still have the intention to provoke me, the Zhou Dynasty."

Liu Weng squinted his eyes and touched his beard, and said calmly: "I'm afraid that Da Yan is afraid of being beaten, and is willing to be Wei's pawn in order to survive."

"Perhaps Murong Jin still wants to imitate the Wei Dynasty and took advantage of the situation. He lost his land and slaves and wants to come to me to share a piece of the pie."

Zheng Boyong slapped the table angrily.

"These are not things we can control. Now that the warehouse has been burned down and the food and grass are gone, we and I cannot absolve ourselves of the blame!"

Liu Weng talked about the current situation again.

"The Governor of Zhao was cautious at the time and hid the military pay in the Governor's Mansion. Now we have only lost some food and grass. As long as we can make up for it before the first march arrives, it is not a big sin."

"That's all we can do for the time being." Liu Weng nodded, "You will contact the shops nearby us immediately and try your best to raise food and grass. I will write a letter to the Lord and ask him to give orders to the shops to cooperate."

"Thank you, Uncle Liu." Zheng Boyong saluted, turned and left.

Liao Wennan returned to the room assigned to him. Although his whole body was sore, he could not sleep.

She felt very bad when she entered the Governor's Mansion today. The whole Qingzhou City felt like a storm was coming.

After lying down for a while, she went out to see if she could find someone to get some information.

When I walked into the yard, I saw the back of Manager Zheng leaving in a hurry.

Liao Wennan thought for a while and stopped a slave in green clothes to ask Liu Weng where he lived.

The slave girl in green took her to Liu Weng's door.

Liao Wennan stood outside the door and called out: "Liu Weng, have you rested?"

"Liao Xiaolang, come in"

Soon Liu Weng's tired voice came from inside the house.

Liao Wennan opened the door and walked in. Liu Weng was sitting on his knees and had just finished writing a letter and put it away.

He looked up and saw Liao Wennan smiling: "You've been working hard all night. If you don't want to take a rest, why are you here?"

"I can't sleep, so I came to see if you can help me."

Liao Wennan bowed and replied.

Liu Weng took advantage of her salute to look at her carefully.

He feels similar to Zheng Boyong. When he first met Liao Wennan, he felt that he was not simple.

Although she was wearing plain clothes, she couldn't hide her elegant demeanor, and she also had a touch of coquettishness. She just thought that some young man who was raised by his mistress had naughty and willful sneaked out and suffered a loss.

Later, after having more contact with him, I realized that he was even more complicated.

Although you can usually see a hint of arrogance in his little habits, he never complained about eating and sleeping in the open. He endured hardships, worked hard, and was very proficient in general affairs accounts.

I like to read on weekdays, and often try various tricks to make him happy in order to get a book from him.

Unknowingly, he fell in love with this young man more and more.

It's just that they are becoming more and more passive in the current situation, and they are being targeted by the Dayan people for some reason, so subconsciously they can't help but think too much.

Who is this Liao Xiaolang? Could he be from the north?

Thinking about it carefully, it's impossible. He rescued her at the gate of Yanzhou City. Did Xizuo know their true purpose so early?

Moreover, he not only liked the young man's cleverness, but also his measured advance and retreat.

He is very good at observing words and expressions. He can always detect what he should know and what should not be known, and he will never go too far.

Along the way, she never left the caravan and had no contact with outsiders.

This was also the reason why he agreed with Manager Zheng to take Liao Wennan.

Liao Wennan stood up and saw Liu Weng looking at her, frowning and shaking his head in a strange way. He looked down at himself and asked tentatively: "Liu Weng, what's wrong with me?"
Chapter completed!