Chapter 210 Willing to Join
"Oh my, why are you picking these up?"

Gongyang Zuo, Li Mang and others rushed into the courtyard behind the palace and immediately saw Xiao Yan bending over to pick up chess pieces on the ground.

Li Mang and the others were fine, but Gong Yangzuo was impatient. He acted as if something good was going to happen, and was eager to pull Xiao Yan up. "The old man really did see you right. You, a young man, really caught the Marshal's eye! Don't pick them up, don't pick them up. They are just some rotten pawns."

"No hurry." Xiao Yan just picked up the two black pieces in the chess box, counting them carefully, and said lightly: "Let me pick up these rotten chess pieces of the Marshal, and it won't be too late to talk later."

Gong Yangzuo, who had called out "stinky chess piece", suddenly changed his expression. He then, ignoring the surprised looks of Li Mang and the others beside him, immediately bent down to help find the chess piece that had fallen out of the wooden pavilion, while muttering to himself without any embarrassment, "Hiss, the Marshal's chess piece must be picked up carefully..."

Therefore, Li Mang and others also bent down to pick up the hundreds of chess pieces. As they bent down inside and outside the wooden hall, Xiao Yan had nothing to do. They quickly put the chess pieces with warm texture into the chess box, which was held by You Yi, who had been silent all the time.

Not only that, You Yi realized that this set of chess might have a different meaning to Xiao Yan, so he collected the chessboard and handed it to Li Mang, as if he wanted Li Mang to keep it for Xiao Yan.

"Tell me, what's the matter."

Xiao Yan walked out of the corridor with one hand behind his back, admiring the scenery near the wooden pavilion. He had noticed just now that this so-called Datang Temple had three arrow towers in the garden. What was the purpose?

The Yingzhou branch is indeed a bit more martial.

"Of course it's a good thing."

Gong Yangzuo was delighted and pushed You Yi, who stroked his beard slowly and took out a token from his arms.

Xiao Yan looked back and saw a palm-sized token with the words '天暗' (Tian An) in gold. It was engraved with ancient patterns and looked of good quality. It was exactly the same as the '天佑' token that Shi Yao had held half a year ago.

At that time, Xiao Yan also thought that a captain like him who rose to the position through unruly means did not have a token to show his identity. Whenever he met with the bad guys from various branches, he had to show the Yanzhou bad flag.

I didn't expect to have this thing today.

"This is what the Marshal gave you." You Yi added at the right time: "Soon after you entered, the Marshal sent someone to deliver this thing."

"Haha!" Gong Yangzuo laughed out loud: "If the Marshal agrees, the title of Tian Anxing will be confirmed, and the word traitor will be removed from him! If I were to say, that bastard from Sanqianyuan is still the chief leader, he should give up his position to the lieutenant as soon as possible."

The corner of You Yi's eye twitched. They were a bunch of old men. The most that could be said was that their methods were a little cruel, their tempers were a little bad, and they were a little unapproachable. But if we just talk about the word "shame", it can be said that all the bad guys in the Yingzhou branch combined were not as thick-skinned as Gong Yang Zuo.

Gong Yangzuo is a guy who is very suitable to be a flattering and favored minister.

and many more……

When You Yi thought of this, he suddenly remembered that Xiao Yan was known as a jester and a lucky minister in the officialdom of Bianliang at that time... If it weren't for the war in Hebei that made him famous and overshadowed this incident, he would probably have used the two things "cooking" and "rouge review" to spread his name as a lucky minister to the world.

He coughed and glared at Gong Yangzuo: "You are the only one who can come up with ideas."

Xiao Yan also waved his hand with a smile, took the token and shook it in his hand. No matter what, he knew that Yuan Tiangang would not be so easy to deal with.

This commander-in-chief, who has been in office for three hundred years, has seen a lot of worldly things and has become numb to the words life and death. In his eyes, everyone is a chess piece, no matter it is the emperor sitting high in the hall or the turbulent world. They are all his domineering means to fight against the way of heaven.

Even Li Xingyun, whom he had high hopes for, had already been arranged into the chess game. Whether he accepted it or not, he had to walk on the designed path in the end.

Xiao Yan was clear about this truth from the beginning to the end, so in the eyes of outsiders, all his actions were cautious and like walking on a tightrope. But whether he went to Liang to seek an official position or attacked Liu Rengong and killed Abaoji, he had never jumped out of Yuan Tiangang's chess game.

Just as Yuan Tiangang said at that time, Abaoji and Lu Yan were chess pieces that jumped out. Xiao Yan knew that was only relative to himself. Even if he did not take action against Abaoji and the others, Yuan Tiangang could easily kill these two people.

As long as you are on the marshal's list, you will be offline sooner or later, die sooner or later, it's just that your time has not come yet.

So although he seemed bold and reckless, he could let Yuan Tiangang know that he, Xiao Yan, was still controllable and still could not escape from this big game.

Moreover, Yuan Tiangang was willing to teach him the sword, and he was also willing to become a chess piece of the commander-in-chief. According to Yuan Tiangang's idea, he would become the vanguard of His Highness Li Xingyun.

The sword that Yuan Tiangang gave him was the Bad Man.

Xiao Yan has been a human for three lifetimes, and his thoughts and actions over the decades of experience are far beyond the ordinary people. Although he cannot compare with Yuan Tiangang, a three-hundred-year-old monster, it is not difficult for him to see the layout of this general.

He was a pawn. Yuan Tiangang gave him the Bad People just to ask him to remove some stumbling blocks for Li Xingyun.

That's why Yuan Tiangang gave the Longquan treasure to Xiao Yan, who then gave it to Zhu Wen.

The appearance of the Longquan treasure would inevitably involve Li Xingyun, Jianlu, and Li Xingyun's beloved master...

In addition, it will inevitably involve the princes of the world, Qi, Jin, Shu, Chu, Wu, Wuyue... Li Maozhen, Li Keyong, Wang Jian, Ma Yin, Yang Wo, Qian Liu...

All the towns will inevitably fall into the vortex, and Xiao Yan, as the guide, will become the culprit that makes the chaos in the world more and more serious, and become the evil dragon standing in front of Li Xingyun.

And Li Xingyun would naturally become the hero who slays the dragon, and then, as Yuan Tiangang had expected, he would take over the Bad Guys and become the man everyone expected to end the troubled times.

Yuan Tiangang might know that Xiao Yan could see it, but he didn't care.

Xiao Yan also knew that this was a huge pit, but he was willing to jump in, because after jumping in, he would be able to get the short-term support of the Bad People and Yuan Tiangang, although he didn't know how long this support would last.

But that's enough.

Xiao Yan knew clearly what his own value was. If he disobeyed the Marshal, Yuan Tiangang would not kill him, but Xiao Yan would feel very uncomfortable, so he needed to always maintain his united front value so that the Marshal would not be willing to break his sharp sword easily.

Of course, Xiao Yan didn't know about the so-called "Ninety Dispute", otherwise he would have become more presumptuous, but at the moment the situation was not bad for him, on the contrary, it was very good.

Only by solving the problem of the Bad Leader can the Bad People in his hands exert their true strength to the maximum extent.

"Now that the Marshal has left, the matter of Hebei has been settled."

Xiao Yan slowly stroked the token in his hand, looked around, and said with a smile: "Everyone, would you like to follow me to the Central Plains?"

This question was certainly not directed at Li Mang and the others. You Yi stroked his beard and did not answer immediately.

Gong Yang Zuo laughed heartily, strode out, knelt down on one knee as if no one was around, and said with his hands folded: "I am Gong Yang Zuo, and I am willing to be driven by the Dark Star." All the bad guys from Yingzhou present had followed Xiao Yan in killing people inside and outside the Great Wall. They were all emotional people, and they didn't say anything just because they couldn't save their face. Now they had nothing to worry about, and seeing that Gong Yang Zuo had spoken for them, they no longer hesitated and knelt down with their hands folded.

"You old guys are just a bunch of bones. If Tian Anxing doesn't mind, I would also like to go to the Central Plains to meet the Zhu family traitor."

Seeing this, Gong Yangzuo looked at You Yi with his eyes slanted.

This guy...

You Yi was helpless. Although Gong Yang Zuo had argued with him for most of his life, they were actually the closest to each other. It wasn't just him. All the people in the Yingzhou branch were old men. Who wasn't a friend of life and death? He obviously couldn't avoid the relationship of rising and falling together.

Having read this, he pondered for a moment, took out a scroll from his arms, held it in his hands to look at it, and then handed it to Xiao Yan with both hands.

"In this case, I will hand over this bad flag of Yingzhou to Tian'anxing today. Youyi, the Yingzhou branch, is willing to follow Tian'anxing to the Central Plains to serve as a vanguard."

Li Mang's eyes twitched.

Thinking about their Cangzhou branch, except for him who was personally persuaded by Sanqianyuan early on, most people actually did not approve of Xiao Yan. However, how could the Yingzhou branch, which has always been the most domineering, be so convinced?
While he was silent, Xiao Yan had already pushed back the Yingzhou bad flag and said with a smile: "I am asking you seniors to go to the Central Plains to take a look, but I have no intention of privately taking over the Yingzhou branch. Please don't put me in an unjust position."

This joke eased the atmosphere at the right time. Gong Yangzuo stood up, laughed and waved his hands: "It's settled. I've seen enough of Hebei. In the past ten years, everyone has said that the Xuanming Sect of the Central Plains and the Tongwen Academy of Hedong are the best in the world. I really want to see what kind of people they are. How dare they claim to be the best?"

Xiao Yan smiled and shook his head, without saying anything more, he walked out immediately.

Although he came here to meet Yuan Tiangang, it was not just for this matter. After leaving the Datang Temple, Gong Yang Zuo and others stayed in the temple to handle the affairs of the Yingzhou branch. No matter who left or stayed, Xiao Yan would always have to leave someone to take charge of Yingzhou.

He first went to the valley manor where Feng Dao was and spent the night there. After meeting the families of the bad people from the Yanzhou branch who had migrated here, he personally looked at the fields that had been reclaimed in the past six months. After listening to Feng Dao's advice, he planned to dispatch a part of the Yichang Army's troops to garrison here, and the commander would be Fu An, who stayed here.

The reward silver from the looting of Bianliang at the beginning of the year has been basically used up, and the rest of the wealth can only be replenished by the Central Plains horse shops, granaries, etc. This is the bulk of the money and is the key to Xiao Yan's raising troops in Hebei. Although he can receive a large number of livestock and so on from Mobei, the grassland has been seriously damaged by this battle, so he needs to take his time and not be impatient.

However, when Xiao Yan opened a trade on the grassland at that time, he was only attracting merchants from Hebei to the grassland. After he returned to the Central Plains, he would be able to promote this matter to the entire Central Plains, Jiangnan, Shuzhong and other places. There were many merchants in the world. If Hebei, which was connected to the frontier, was stable and the grassland was also stable, they would be willing to travel thousands of miles to take advantage of the huge profits. And our Marshal Xiao would be able to collect commercial taxes from it, which was also a big part of supporting the troops. If it was run well, there would even be a surplus every year.

In short, Xiao Yan still had a lot to do, so he did not stay in the villa for long. He talked with Feng Dao for half the night, and rushed to Youzhou without stopping the next day.

After the war, he would begin to reorganize the army and return to the capital.

A group of newly dispatched officials from Bianliang were also waiting for him. Zhao Yan, the military supervisor, needed to be properly managed, and Kang Huaiying, the angel who came with Li Zhen, also needed to be appeased.

Also, how to report victory and so on require effort.

However, these matters can be handed over to Han Yanhui to find a solution for him, but Han Yanhui cannot do everything alone. There is no other way. Xiao Yan's subordinates are all warriors and lack staff. Talents are hard to find, and useful and loyal talents are even harder to find.

It's time to let the Hebei gentry bleed.

……

More than ten riders galloped into the south gate of Youzhou. The soldiers guarding the gate were from the Yichang military. They did not follow Xiao Yan north into the grassland. They have been responsible for the garrison of Youzhou since the beginning of the year. In the past few days, the Dingbadu and Lulong armies have returned one after another, and the grassland supplies they brought back are countless. Everyone knows that Hebei has been completely stabilized, so they seem a little lazy.

Not only the soldiers, but also the more than 100,000 surrendered Yan troops near Youzhou City have completely settled down after half a year of reclamation.

The rows of residential areas outside the city seemed very lively. Although they were still poor, they had a stable life after all. Every family had their own land as much as possible. They had hope in life and of course seemed very obedient.

However, among them, more than ten riders passed by holding a flag, which caused everyone to start to commotion. Even the Yichang soldiers who were a little lazy at the city gate hurriedly stood still and saluted solemnly.

It was because the word "Xiao" was written on the flag.

In the whole Yan land, is there any other Xiao? Even if there really was a general with the surname Xiao, they would not dare to mention the single character Xiao. They would either not set up a banner or write down their official title, military title, etc. in their official documents. They would never dare to just put the single character Xiao on it.

In the entire Yan area, there is only one person who can use this banner openly.

Just the word "Xiao" alone, without any title or anything like that, can make everyone bow down in obedience.

This is Xiao Yan, this is Marshal Xiao. No one in Yan dares to muster the strength to resist.

As soon as this flag entered the city, all the government offices that received the news were in turmoil. Officials and generals of all ranks, all rushed to the city gates in fear and trepidation.

In the long street, countless officials were already saluting from afar.

Among them were many officials who had just arrived from Bianliang. Regardless of whether they were sincere or not, they just bowed down.

Xiao Yan stopped his horse at the city gate, but ignored them. He just frowned and looked at Li Mang beside him.

"You mean, the deceased ancestor went to see the Marshal?"

"Yes, that's true." Li Mang scratched his head, realizing that he seemed to have reported the matter too late.

Xiao Yan said nothing, but subconsciously looked around blankly, as if trying to find a familiar figure in the corner of the crowd.

But in the end, he just sighed slowly.

There is no doubt that the surrendered minister went to see Yuan Tiangang before him, so he must have said something good on his behalf.

Could it be that this royal sister has been observing him secretly?
"..."

Xiao Yan shook his head, squeezed his horse's belly, and headed towards the officials who came to greet him.

"Order all the army commanders and the commanders of all the military states to come to Youzhou to meet me immediately."

"Organize the army today and return to the capital."

(End of this chapter)