Chapter 819: Use retreat to advance Zheng Qiu has also been in the Sui Dynasty Navy for many years. He was once the fourth outstanding talent when he graduated from the Yanwu Academy, and his name was written into the talent list by Emperor Zhenzong. He is a man, but his official career is quite bumpy. During the reign of Emperor Zhenzong, he launched an army against the Shang Kingdom, which was the beginning of his fortune. He accumulated military merits from the position of fifth-rank general and was directly promoted to the fourth-rank general. However, due to a disagreement with the previous navy general, all his subsequent military exploits were suppressed, and he was despised by the commander for his offensive failure. After destroying Shang, he was transferred from the navy and took up the post of Taofu general in a local area. According to the official system of the Sui Dynasty, the Taoist general was the first person under each governor. From the third rank, he was almost at the peak of the military general's official position. But during the Taiping years, the Taoist general's position was simply a false position, and he had no real power under the various governors. I spend my days doing nothing, just looking at the face of the Governor. Zheng Qiu originally thought that his official career would be over. He might have a chance to be promoted to governor in another twenty years, but the chance was slim. But after God Bless Emperor Yang Yi ascended the throne, his fate changed again. Yang Yi re-appointed the naval general, promoted Wang Yiqu, and recommended Zheng Qiu to Emperor Tianyou. Yang Yi immediately issued an order to appoint Zheng Qiu as the commanding general of the Tenglong ship. You must know that there is already a convention among the navy that whoever commands the Tenglong ship must be the first choice for navy general in the future. This is how Wang Yiqu rose to the top, and this is how Wang Yiqu took office. When he received the order, Zheng Qiu was ecstatic. Although he was transferred from Taoist general to Tenglong ship commanding general, he was dropped half a level in terms of rank, from the third rank to the fourth rank, but everyone knew which weight was heavier. General Daofu may not be able to advance to another level after another twenty years, but the commanding general of the Tenglong ship is equivalent to the deputy commander of the navy. He has at least tens of thousands of soldiers under his command. Those are real soldiers. Zheng Qiu waited for more than ten years, and when Wang Yiqu was about to reach the age where he had to ask for an order to retire and return to his hometown, the Sui Dynasty was in chaos. Wang Yiqu rebelled in the northwest, intercepted and killed Emperor Tianyou, and forcibly led the navy and Gao Kaitai troops to occupy the east road of the river. Zheng Qiu knew that he had no chance to become a naval general again. Later, when Luo Yao invited him to come to Yongjun, he also hesitated. Although Luo Yao had strong soldiers and horses at the time, he still carried the word traitor on his back. For a person like him, as long as he passes by, this will be his mark for eternity, and a mark about him will be left in the history books that can never be erased. In the end, what prompted him to decide to seek refuge with Luo Yao was his disappointment with the imperial court. When Luo Yao was still there, Zheng Qiu's status among General Luo was actually not low, and he seemed to be more prominent than the top ten heroes of Luo Men. At least Luo Yao gave him enough face and deliberately showed his status in front of others. For this, Zheng Qiu was quite grateful to Luo Yao. Later, Luo Yao died for no apparent reason, and Luo Tu succeeded General Luo. From that moment on, the navy's future became uncertain again. The Dahong River is one hundred and sixty miles away from Liuzhou, but four days is enough time for the news to cross from Liuzhou. Luo Tu set up an ambush in Tengnuo Mountain and annihilated more than 10,000 troops under Mu Li. This matter was only reported to the navy yesterday afternoon. Who would have thought that Mu Li would dare to appear openly outside the navy today. Zheng Qiu glanced at Mu Li, and after being silent for a while, he said: "General Muit is rumored that you have died in the battle. This is not a good thing, right? Since you are dead, why show up again?" Taking advantage of this, it would be much wiser to go away from home, whether it is to live in seclusion or to find someone else, than if you come to see me today." Mu Li smiled and said, "Thank you, General Zheng, for being so direct. Wanzi, it¡¯s hard for me to speak.¡± He took a sip of tea and said, ¡°Does General Zheng know why Luo Tu wanted to kill me?¡± Zheng Qiu shook his head: ¡°I don¡¯t know, and I don¡¯t want to know if General Mu comes to ask for help. I am willing to support General Mu with some silver and give you a good horse. I will treat you as if you have never been here, and the people under me will not leak your whereabouts. I still have this confidence in the navy. " " No matter how desperate I am" Mu Li shook his head and smiled: "I won't be so bold as to come to you to ask for a few taels of silver. My martial arts is not very good, but I won't be stumped by money. I came here to save myself, and I came here to save you, General Zheng. "Oh?" Zheng Qiu couldn't help but smile: "Now that we've reached this point, why would you still pretend to be a good person?" You'd better save your breath. I didn't immediately take you to Liuzhou because of the friendship between my former colleagues. If you say something nonsense again, there's no guarantee that I won't change my mind. " "General Mu let's go. "Okay." Zuo Mingchan, who was sitting under Mu Li, couldn't help but shook his head: "You have the intention to save him."?But he wants to die. This kind of person cannot be saved. It's a waste of words for you and me here. It's better to set off early and rush back to Huangyang Road. In comparison, the lives of others are not as important as your own future. If we walk fast, we can reach Xinyang City in one and a half months. " "Huang Yangdao? " Zheng Qiu's expression suddenly changed. He glanced at Zuo Mingchan: "This what do you call him? " Zuo Mingchan stood up and clasped his fists: "Since General Mu told you frankly, I won't hide anything. I am a small scout captain in the Black Flag Army. I was ordered by my lord to discuss surrender with General Mu. Unfortunately, some things were exposed, which led to the bloody battle a few days ago. " He glanced at Mu Li. This was the argument agreed upon by the two of them. If Zuo Mingchan said that he was just passing by and happened to save Mu Li, then Zheng Qiu may not believe that he is a member of the Black Flag Army. Even if he did, he would not I believe that Mu Li has already been in contact with the Black Flag Army. If Mu Li wants to convince someone like Zheng Qiu, he must pretend that he has been in contact with the Black Flag Army for a long time. . " Zuo Mingchan sighed and said: "I underestimated Luo Tu's ambition. I thought that as long as I could hide it from Luo Tu, I could take advantage of the opportunity of military training outside the city to lead General Mu's troops to Huangyang Road. It's a pity Luo Tu had long wanted to kill General Mu. I didn't think enough about it, but it also reminded me and General Mu of something, so I rushed to the Navy to see General Zheng. " He asked: "General Zheng may have guessed what General Mu and I remembered? " Zheng Qiu was shocked. He vaguely guessed something but didn't say it out loud. Mu Li said: "Didn't General Zheng see that Luo Tu had killed a lot of people these days? Most of the old people in the army are already dead. Luo Tu has started killing in order to completely control the army. Yesterday it was someone else, today it is me, who will it be tomorrow? As far as I know, Luo Tu doesn't seem to be very relieved about General Zheng being in charge of the navy, right? " "It's not good to speculate on other people's thoughts like this, isn't it? "Zheng Qiudao. "I only know! "Mu Li said loudly: "If I had figured out these things earlier, the more than ten thousand men under my command would not have died tragically! If I hadn't always had hope for Luo Tu, I wouldn't be where I am today! " Zheng Qiu opened his mouth, but did not speak. Zuo Mingchan pulled Mu Li, smiled and said: "We are just here to remind General Zheng out of kindness. Don't offend others because of our good intentions. Since we have already mentioned this matter, we have done our best, General Mu, let's go. Before Luo Tu finds this place, we take the road from the Dahong River to the north and enter the Yangtze River. We can reach Xinyang City by water. Less than a year ago, my lord had conquered Xinyang, and it is now safe. " He pulled Mu Li and said: "My master is planning to build a navy, and General Duan Zheng is in charge of this matter in the Black Flag Army. It's just that I'm a little powerless My lord should have destroyed Nanyan by now. Before I came, General Duan Zheng was ordered to go to Nanyan to take over the navy, and then take over the shipyard in Nanyan. But Huang Yangdao has also built a shipyard, and no one is paying attention yet" Mu Li nodded, and then clasped his fists towards Zheng Qiu: "I was too impatient, let's end this matter. Actually, I still have something to ask General Zheng. Can you give us a boat? Luo Tu has deployed manpower in the west, and it will be difficult for us to cross by land. " "This" Zheng Qiu's face kept changing, and he glanced at Zuo Mingchan subconsciously, but Zuo Mingchan didn't look at him, and lowered his head to play with the cup in his hand. "The boat is not a problem. " Zheng Qiu was silent for a while and then said: "However, since General Mu is leaving, I still have to give him a gift. I'll send someone to prepare the banquet first. It won't be too late to leave after we're full, right? I will order someone to prepare a fast boat and arrange dozens of strong sailors to take you to the Yangtze River ferry. How about you hire a boat to go west? " "It's not good" Zuo Mingchan pulled Mu Li and whispered something in his ear. Mu Li nodded: "I won't bother General Zheng. Let's leave now." " After saying that, he turned around and was about to walk out. Zuo Mingchan got up and followed. When the two of them walked to the door, a person came in hurriedly from outside and almost bumped into him. The person's face was a little ugly, and he subconsciously looked at the two of them. He glanced at it, then quickly walked over and said to Zheng Qiu: "General Luo Tu sent someone here and asked to see you! " Zheng Qiu's eyes froze, and his brows jumped twice. Zheng Qiu personally sent the man sent by Luo Tu off the ship, hugged the man and said: "Go back and tell the prince that I will definitely do it on the Mid-Autumn Festival night. Get into town early. When the time comesI also want to ask for the wine from the prince, and I also prepared some gadgets for the prince. "The man clasped his fists and said goodbye. When he got off the boat, he seemed to have discovered something and looked at the boat with a puzzled look in his eyes. On the bow of the boat, Mu Li smiled and said, "That man is a confidant of Luo Tu's men. His name is Scarface. I shook it deliberately just now, and this person must have seen it. This person is the most careful. Although I just shook it in a daze, he must be suspicious. Luo Tu has not been able to catch me these days, nor can he see my body, so he must not feel at ease. After this person returns, he will definitely mention this matter to Luo Tu. " Zuo Mingchan thought to himself that this guy with the surname Mu was ruthless enough to pull Zheng Qiu into his boat like this. "However, I suspect that Scarface has bad intentions when he comes. "Mu Li said: "You also heard it. He invited Zheng Qiu to Liuzhou and talked about sharing wine and admiring the moon Nine times out of ten, he had murder in mind. Zuo Mingchan said: "I think Zheng Qiu is already moved, just a little bit different!" " Just as he was talking, Zheng Qiu sent someone to invite the two of them. The two walked into Zheng Qiu's study again. Zheng Qiu had already sent someone to prepare the meal. The three of them chatted while eating, and Zheng Qiu darkened the topic several times. On the other side of the flag army, Zuo Mingchan pretended not to understand what Gu Zuo said to him. The more this happened, the more itchy Zheng Qiu felt. While the three of them were drinking, someone quietly approached Tenglong in the water. The man was breathing through a thin reed tube in his mouth, and he had been sneaking under the water. When he reached the side of the ship, he carefully put his head out, put his hands on the ship, and kept crawling like a gecko. Get on board! After getting on the boat, he avoided the guards and quietly walked outside the study. He listened carefully and happened to hear the man's eyes change, and then he left with a sneer on his lips. Zuo Mingchan, who was holding a glass of wine without making a sound, glanced outside and smiled at the corner of his mouth.