Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 361 Estrangement
Unfortunately, in this era of fierce men, Du Luozhou was not the most powerful one. Soon, the leader of the Qihu tribe, Erzhu Rong, rose to power. Under the guise of suppressing the rebellion for the imperial court, he recruited troops and swept across the land of Yan and Zhao.

Du Luozhou was no match for Erzhu Rong, and was defeated and defeated. At this time, Ge Rong, who was also from the Six Garrisons, invited him in Dingzhou. Du Luozhou led his troops south to join forces with Ge Rong, and the two joined forces.

Logically speaking, Du Luozhou had the title of the true king and was the first to start the rebellion in Hebei, so he should have been the leader. However, Ge Rong relied on his large number of troops and vast territory, as well as powerful generals like Yuwen Tai and Dugu Xin under his command, and was unwilling to give up the leading throne.

Du Luozhou took the overall situation into consideration and took the initiative to recommend Ge Rong as the leader, and he took the second seat. However, he did not expect that Ge Rong was ambitious and actually regarded his patience as weakness and began to frequently poach his people.

At that time, Du Luozhou's generals Gao Huan, Wei Jing, Duan Rong, Cai Jun, etc. were all won over by Ge Rong. Gao Huan even instigated everyone to plot to kill Du Luozhou. Fortunately, Du Luozhou's superb skills prevented him from succeeding.

But later, Ge Rong openly provided shelter to Gao Huan and others, and the conflict between the two became very acute.

When Ge Rong proclaimed himself emperor, the conflict broke out completely. Ge Rong even wanted to confer the title of "Duke Baoguo" on Du Luozhou, depriving him of his true title of king.

How could Du Luozhou tolerate this? I was already a king before you became emperor, but now that you are emperor, I can't be a king. Is this the result of being with you?
Moreover, the title of True King is his most important trademark, how could Ge Rong take it away from him?

So he angrily led his people away from Ge Rong. The north had already been occupied by Erzhu Rong, so he had to cross the Yellow River and temporarily take refuge in Henan.

But this place is close to the sea on one side and faces enemies on three sides, so it is definitely not a place to stay for long. That is why he kept urging Feng Tietou to take down Hulao Pass quickly while the government troops were concentrating their forces to suppress Ge Rong and Yuan Faseng and had no time to deal with the Zhenwang army, so that the army could go to Luoyang and take advantage of the dangerous mountains and rivers to ensure their safety.

When Liu Mazi came into the hall, he was pondering over the seized map. Without even raising his head, he greeted Liu Mazi and said,
"Look, it's not enough to just take Hulao Pass. Luoyang is too well connected. For example, the enemy can cross the Yellow River in winter to attack. So we have to make a concerted effort to break through Tongguan and go to Guanzhong. Only then can we have a brighter future."

Liu Mazi was shocked when he heard this. "People say that after you get Long, you want Shu. Your Majesty has not even taken Luoyang yet, but you have already set your sights on Chang'an."

"You Liu Mazi, you dare to laugh at me." Du Luozhou is short and sturdy, with a fair complexion and gentle features, like a teacher. He doesn't look like a big bandit who has stirred up the Northern Dynasty for a thousand days, or a demigod who is one of the most famous in the world.

He had a good relationship with Liu Mazi, and he scolded with a smile: "Why, can't I think about it?"

"Of course you can." Liu Mazi smiled and whispered, "But if we continue like this, we won't even be able to enter Hulao Pass. I don't know when the king's grand plan will be realized."

"How dare you say that." Du Luozhou lacked some of the majesty of a bandit leader, but he looked more like a good elder brother. He rolled his eyes at him and said, "Isn't it because you have been making excuses and refusing to go with Tietou to tackle the problem?"

"My lord, you have been deceived by Feng Tietou." Liu Mazi said in shock: "He never thought of attacking Hulao, but wanted to go back to find Ge Rong. It's just that I am a stumbling block in his way, so he can't leave."

"Here we go again." Even a clay figure has some earthiness, let alone Du Luozhou, the bandit leader. He frowned and said, "I have told you many times that we should unite with each other and not sabotage each other or stab each other in the back."

"My lord, I'm not stabbing you in the back." Liu Mazi took out the letter and said, "I'm here to complain to you in person."

"what is this?"

"A letter intercepted the day before yesterday."

Du Luozhou took it and looked at it, and his eyes were stern.

After quickly reading the letter that Ge Rong wrote to Feng Tietou, his face turned very ugly, and he obviously remembered what happened to Gao Huan.

"This bastard, I've already backed off from him, but he still wants to steal my girl."

"My lord, is this letter real?" Liu Mazi asked knowingly.

"It can't be wrong. Ge Rong's handwriting is so ugly that others can't imitate it even if they want to." Du Luozhou let out a long breath and said in a muffled voice:
"But just by looking at this letter, we can't say that Feng Tietou has a problem. You can't say that your daughter is not faithful to her husband just because there is a hooligan who is after her." "The king's metaphors are always so strange." Liu Mazi smiled bitterly and said, "But flies don't bite cracked eggs, why didn't he write to me?"

"..." Du Luozhou glanced at him and said nothing. You are not good enough.

Liu Mazi pretended not to know and said to himself: "In fact, we don't need to guess here. We can know whether Feng Tietou is loyal or treacherous by just a simple test."

"How to try?" Du Luozhou asked.

"Just send him this letter intact and see how he reacts." Then Liu Mazi said confidently:
"If he has nothing to hide, he will hand in the letter immediately and everyone will be happy. If he doesn't hand it in, it means he has something to hide, and he should make plans early."

After a pause, he said coldly, "From the looks of him not putting in enough effort, it's probably the latter."

"Can you say that?" Du Luozhou felt that his brain was not working well enough. After thinking for a while, he said, "What if he just didn't take it seriously?"

"Your Majesty, don't you know him? That man looks rough, but he's very careful. How could he not take it seriously?" Liu Mazi asked back, "To be honest, Your Majesty is always trying to figure out a way out. How can everyone under you be as stubborn as me?"

"Hmm..." Du Luozhou nodded, thinking that what he said made sense. He said, "Okay, I'll do as you say. Send the letter to him."

"Yes!" Liu Mazi was overjoyed when he heard that.

~~
Xingyang City.

Xiao Zong was almost depressed to death.

He originally thought that Feng Tietou was the lucky star sent by God to save him, but he didn't expect that this guy was actually a pervert.

After bringing him back to Xingyang City, Feng Tietou wanted to recruit him as his personal soldier...

Xiao Zong was stunned. I didn't hide my identity? You want me, a prince, to be your personal soldier. Even the king wouldn't dare to arrange this, right?

Feng Tietou smiled and said, "But I heard clearly that you have been stripped of the throne and expelled from the clan. How can you still call yourself a prince?"

"Yes, I am not a prince now, but I was one in the past." Xiao Zong hurriedly said seriously: "And I will still be one when I come to the Northern Dynasty in the future."

"Yes, you were in the past and will be in the future, but not now." Feng Tietou smiled and pointed at the personal uniforms that he had thrown on the ground and said, "Either put them on quickly, or I will send you back and exchange a favor for the Gou Chen Division?"

"Hurry!" The guards also cheered, "The people from the Gou Chen Division haven't gone far yet. We can still send them out in time."

"..." Xiao Zong had no choice but to suppress his grief and shame and put on the soldier's uniform that was covered in blood and stains and had been worn by countless people.

However, this was only the beginning of the humiliation. After becoming Feng Tietou's personal soldier, he would be called up every day, handed an iron gun, and asked to stand guard for Feng Tietou in the yard.

At daybreak, I have to empty his chamber pot...

If he didn't know so many stories about enduring humiliation, he might not have been able to hold on.

(End of this chapter)