People die for money, birds die for food, if the King of Qi gives the white-haired thief enough promise, the white-haired thief will indeed take a risk. What is the purpose of raising the flag to rebel? Isn’t it just wealth? Now the opportunity is right in front of you, how can the white-haired thief not fight? However, the current situation no longer allows the King of Qi to enter the capital. In this case, there are only two options for white-haired thief. either change the party, join Yang Xuangan, and follow Yang Xuangan to enter Guanzhong. This is undoubtedly the best choice; either escape, but the risk of escaping at this moment is too great. Even if you escape from your innate nature, you will return to the starting point to be his mountain king. If you have no future in becoming a mountain king, you will definitely be the best choice. One day, the whole army will be wiped out and fall to the ground. It is really a solution.

The white-haired thief not only chose the worst strategy, but also chose the most dangerous evacuation route, which made Zhou Fashang puzzled.

The white-haired thief chose a good time to escape from the battlefield in Dongdu. It happened that Yang Xuangan defeated Wei Wensheng in the decisive battle of Mianchi. When he took advantage of the victory, Yang Xuangan lost the other side and was unable to take care of the white-haired thief at all, so he could only let him escape. At the same time, the white-haired thief chose to evacuate from the direction of Xingyang. Yang Xuangan happened to urgently need to reinforce the Xingyang battlefield to continue to restrain the reinforcements from the Wei Mansion. In this way, both sides coincided and each took the needs, and everyone was happy. Yang Xuangan not only did not stop the white-haired thief from "escape", but instead gave various conveniences to use the power of the white-haired thief to achieve the goal of reinforcement of the Xingyang battlefield. For the white-haired thief, this is just a favor. If you don't give it to me, it will be good for you. Why not do it?

However, after the white-haired thieves entered the battlefield in Xingyang, they were surrounded by all sides and were trapped in desperate situations. The river north of Xingyang was blocked by the navy; outside the Jindi Pass to the east of Xingyang, there was Pengcheng, the loyal supporter of the King of Qi, who was left by Dong Chun, and behind Dong Chun was the King of Qi, who was the Chen army of Li Yang; to the south of Xingyang, there were Xingyang prefect Yang Qing, and the Xingyang commander Cui Baode, heavily blocked the enemy; to the west of Xingyang is Hulao. As long as the navy captures Luokou again and cuts off the connection between Luokoucang and Hulao, the white-haired thieves will be unable to fly.

Since this is the case, why did the white-haired thief choose to escape from the capital from Xingyang? There is only one reasonable explanation. The white-haired thief and the King of Qi have an agreement that at the critical moment, the King of Qi will help the white-haired thief escape from the battlefield in Xingyang. At present, Dong Chun, the left-behind Pengcheng, can escape if he just makes a "hole" outside Jindi Pass. As for the traces of the white-haired thief left on the battlefield in Dongdu, it is actually very simple to clear it, because from beginning to end, the white-haired thief held high the banner of the Prime Minister of Han. As long as the Song Yu rebels of the Prime Minister of Han were wiped out, all traces would no longer exist. The rest were doubts without evidence, and all conspiracy theories with ulterior motives.

However, Zhou Fashang could only use conspiracy theories to find reasonable explanations for his guesses.

If his guess is correct, behind this mutiny is the King of Qi's conspiracy to seize the crown. After the conspiracy failed, the King of Qi was helping the white-haired thief "get out of the shell" as agreed, then the white-haired thief would not "delay" for too long in the Xingyang battlefield. Frequencies will soon occur in the Xingyang battlefield, and it is a variable that is beneficial to oneself. Once the war in Xingyang ends quickly and Yang Xuangan has not yet broken through Tongguan, then the opportunity to reverse the situation will appear.

Zhou Fashang repeatedly analyzed and deduced, and finally decided to wait patiently for a few days to see if the situation would change as he expected.

He believed that Wei Wensheng and the local nobles of Guanlong, led by Wei, Guanzhong, were still able to defend Tongguan. After all, the Holy Lord and the Central Committee had already made the worst estimate of the domestic situation before launching the Second Eastern Expedition. Wei Wensheng should have a complete plan to garrison Xijing. The local nobles of Guanlong will also spare no expense to ensure the safety of Guanlong for their own interests. Yang Xuangan would not break through Tongguan so easily. He also believed that after the hopelessness of seizing the crown prince, the King of Qi must rely on the merit of suppressing rebellion and Yang Xuangan's head to the greatest extent. If he wanted to achieve this goal, Yang Xuangan could not break through Tongguan and break into Guanzhong, and the storm could not intensify and get out of control. Therefore, the King of Qi must end the war in Xingyang as soon as possible, open up the Grand Canal as soon as possible, and reverse the current bad situation as soon as possible.

Mai Mengcai saw Zhou Fashang hesitating and became more curious, and asked, "What are the guesses of Ming Gong?"

"The guess is nonsense after all, it's okay not to say it." Zhou Fashang shook his hand and was very secretive. "Send a close confidant and send a message to Xiangyang Duke (committed), and it's impolite to come but not go."

Mai Mengcai bowed and waited for Zhou Fashang's explanation, but Zhou Fashang waved at him and signaled him to send an order quickly. Mai Mengcai was puzzled. Zhou Fashang meant to invite the secret to contact Zhou Zhong, but what should we say to contact Zhou Zhong? There should be an instruction? But he immediately reacted. Zhou Zhong secretly sent Zhou Fashang to Zhou Fashang, which must have given Zhou Fashang some hints, which made Zhou Fashang guess. This guess would allow Zhou Fashang to make a new interpretation of the situation of the battle and come up with new countermeasures. However, before making a decision, Zhou Fashang needed to confirm his guess, so he ordered Zhou Zhong to make a secret to contact Zhou Zhong, which was actually a response to Zhou Zhong's "hint". There was no need to say anything, just see Zhou Zhong, and maybe you could get more information from Zhou Zhong.

Sure enough, half an hour later, I came to report that the main force of the rebels stopped attacking Luokou, and the rebels attacking Huangmaban did not advance towards Hulao after taking down the key pass. I came to ask Zhou Fashang whether to continue to stick to Luokou or evacuate immediately?

Mai Mengcai did not see anything of special value from this battle report. He did not say whether he had contacted Zhou Zhong secretly, nor did he say what he heard after seeing Zhou Zhong. It was just a simple description of the battle situation. This made Mai Mengcai's curiosity swell rapidly, especially when he gave the battle report to Zhou Fashang. After Zhou Fashang looked carefully, there was a faint smile on his face, as if he felt unfairly relieved. Mai Mengcai really couldn't help it. Relying on being a junior of Zhou Fashang and being deeply loved by Zhou Fashang, he asked carefully, "Ming Gong, is the change in the battle situation beneficial to us?"

Zhou Fashang smiled and nodded, "It is very beneficial. He ordered the Duke of Xiangyang to evacuate Luokou immediately."

Mai Mengcai asked, "How to benefit?"

Zhou Fashang was in a good mood and did not hide it. He said directly, "The war in Xingyang will end soon. He ordered the soldiers of all armies to rest and accumulate energy. When the time comes, he will kill Dongdu."

On the fourth day of the July 19th, late at night, the Alliance troops arrived at Huangmaban, more than twenty miles away from Hulao.

Li Fengyun, Wei Fusi, Li Min, Zhou Zhong and Yuan An sat on the ground, eating Yu Liang while chatting and laughing.

Some officials hurriedly sent an urgent report. Yuan An glanced at Li Fengyun and said, "Yang Xuanzong was very fast. His army had entered Luokou, and there was still no news on the Huzhu. It is estimated that Han Shiye was worried about being deceived and did not believe that Ming Gong had already arrived at Huzhu."

"Let's talk about it tomorrow morning." Li Fengyun shook his hand disapprovingly, "We arrived at Hulao Pass, and Xinyi Gong (Han Shiye) witnessed it with his own eyes, so he would not be worried about being deceived."

"Is there any news about Fei Qingnu?" Wei Fusi asked suddenly.

"The scout confirmed that Fei Qingnu had retreated to the edge of the river, but because the warship could not approach the embankment, the boarding speed was very slow." Yuan An said this and smiled and looked happy. "I thought there was a hard battle in Luokou, but I didn't expect it to be so smooth." Yuan An bowed to Zhou Zhong as a courtesy, "All this is attributed to Duke Yining (Zhou Zhong). If Duke Yining (Zhou Zhong) had not helped him with all his strength, there would be a hard battle in Luokou."

Zhou Zhong did not dare to take credit, so he hurriedly gave in. After a few words of politeness, he immediately changed his mind and asked in confusion, "Has your secret been discovered by Qiao Gong (Zhou Fashang)?"

"On this battlefield, only Qiao Gong is the only one who can see through our identities." Li Fengyun smiled, "I asked you to come forward to send Qiao Gong, the purpose is this. If Qiao Gong insists on fighting both sides and losing both sides, I am willing to accompany you. But after both sides and losing both sides, I can still leave safely. Qiao Gong will find it difficult to achieve anything, and may even miss the opportunity. Watch Yang Xuangan enter Guanzhong and make no choice."

"Mr. Qiao Gong knows you?" Zhou Zhong was surprised.

"Mr. Qiao Gong doesn't know us." Yuan An shook his hand, "But when we attacked Qi County at the beginning of the year, Qiao Gong joined forces with the King of Qi to kill us. Although Qiao Gong had never fought directly with us, he had already fought and knew each other."

"Do you really know Mr. Qiao?" Zhou Zhong expressed doubts about this.

"We know that Duke Qiao is unwilling to intervene in the dispute over the imperial rule, especially unwilling to have any relationship with King Qi, and behind us is King Qi." Yuan An was in a good mood and explained a few words, "The situation is subtle now, and King Qi is very likely to turn against the Holy Lord. In this crisis, Duke Qiao is even more unwilling to have a head-on conflict with King Qi, so we thought of you, using you as a bridge to give Duke Qiao a clear hint. As long as Duke Qiao is cautious and protects himself, he will definitely give us a way."

"In fact, giving us a way is beneficial or harmless to him." Li Fengyun smiled, "I am eager to cross the river north and will not delay a moment in Xingyang. Once I leave, the war in Xingyang is basically over, and the threat of the King of Qi is basically lifted. Qiao Gong can then concentrate all his strength to attack Dongdu. The situation will reverse instantly. Yang Xuangan's defeat is only a matter of time."

Zhou Zhong frowned immediately, "Are you so pessimistic about Yang Xuangan? He has defeated Wei Wensheng and severely damaged the Xijing army. Except for the natural danger of Tongguan, there is no obstacle to entering the pass."

"It's not someone who is pessimistic about Yang Xuangan." Li Fengyun raised his hand and pointed at Wei Fusi. "It was their Guanzhong people who were determined to kill Yang Xuangan and to stop Yang Xuangan from poisoning Guanzhong at any cost."

Wei Fusi smiled and teased, "You came with a lot of confidence at the beginning and were full of hope, but they were disappointed and left in depression. For the sake of their own safety, they had to stab Yang Xuangan in the back to speed up his death. Why are you doing this?"

Li Fengyun smiled helplessly, "If it weren't for Yang Xuangan's restraint in Guanzhong, our development in the northern border was very difficult. The failure of the two eastern expeditions seriously deteriorated the relationship between the north and the south. In this case, we were active in the northern border, which would be internal and external troubles for the Dongdu. We must first stabilize the internal situation, and the Dongdu will do our best to encircle and suppress us. The future is very difficult." Speaking of this, Li Fengyun looked up at Wei Fusi, "I hope the King of Qi will guard the northern border as soon as possible and give us a breathing time."

Wei Fusi smiled bitterly, "Do you know what you are most worried about now? You are worried that King Qi will not be able to go to the northern border."
Chapter completed!