Late Tang Dynasty Floating Life

Chapter 825 Persistence and Decision

In the evening, thick dark clouds hung over the city, and the wind rattled the trees.

Grass clippings and leaves were blown all over the sky, and before the lonely grave, the bowls and chopsticks enshrined by relatives were blown all over the floor.

An army passed by quickly. They had seen the city from a distance, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Sparse thunder resounded from the sky, shaking the earth.

Someone looked up at the sky.Lightning illuminated the wheat fields in the distance, and the sparse wheat swayed feebly.

"Go!" An officer urged.

The sergeants bowed their heads and walked silently.

They are persevering, even if their morale is low, they still persist in fighting numbly, waiting for the slim turning point.

"Quack!" The crow flew out of the black cloud and landed on a branch, staring at the sergeant who was on his way.

"Unlucky!" Someone cursed in a low voice and quickened their pace.

Bianzhou City is already very close, close enough to clearly see a series of shriveled human heads hanging on the city wall.

After Liang Wang returned to Bianzhou, he ordered the execution of the family members of Zhang Guihou, Du Yanqiu, Liu Han, Zhang Yun, Guo Shaobin and others. Now they are all hanging on the city wall to serve as an example.

A huge bolt of lightning strikes down, and big raindrops crackle and fall down.

The sergeants quickened their pace and rushed into the city in a row.

finally arrived at home!Everyone doesn't think about anything now, just want to reunite with their families as soon as possible.After nearly a month of expedition, I finally defeated the Xia bandit's Weisheng army in Xiangyi County, and I was really exhausted physically and mentally.

In front of the gate of Prince Liang's mansion, several horses rode to him and gave some orders.

Soon, the door opened, and a group of people greeted them.

Zhu Quanzhong, whose clothes were already wet by the raindrops, drove over on his "Yizhangwu".His beard has not been taken care of for many days, and it is unkempt.The temples are frost-white, and the silver threads are flying in the strong wind.His brows were tightly furrowed, and there seemed to be indelible fatigue in his eyes.

After handing over the whip to Zhang Lang, commander of the guards, Zhu Quanzhong strode into the courtyard.

"Husband." Zhang Hui came out to welcome him.

Zhu Quanzhong was full of worries, he casually glanced at the women dressed up to greet him, and felt even more irritable.

"It's all gone." Zhu Quanzhong kept walking, subconsciously lingering on his daughter-in-law Liu from the corner of his eyes.

Zhang Hui was a little sensitive, and his expression was even more sad.

"Your Majesty..." Zhang Hui followed in, and was interrupted just as he was about to speak.

"Let Zhang Lang come in." Zhu Quanzhong waved his hand and said.

Zhang Hui backed away silently.

After a while, Zhang Lang came in, saluted and said, "Why is your majesty here?"

"Is everything safe in the city during my expedition?" Zhu Quanzhong asked as he sat in his study, changed into a new robe, and held an account book in his hand.

"Return to your majesty, everything is normal, there is nothing unusual."

"That's good." Zhu Quanzhong said: "Have you caught everyone who should be arrested?"

"Ding Zhihang has been arrested." Zhang Lang replied: "He hid in the rich man Liu Sanlang's house. He was reported to him before he was arrested. Ding Hui's family members are also among them."

Ding Zhihang is the eldest son of Chairman Ding and has been a hostage in Bianzhou.After hearing that his father had surrendered to King Xia and was appointed, he hid in a hurry, but was arrested unexpectedly.

"All the males will be cut up and abandoned in the market, and the female relatives will share the rewards with the expedition sergeants." Zhu Quanzhong said with a cold face.

"Of order." Zhang Lang sighed inwardly, and went out to make arrangements.

Zhu Quanzhong stared at Zhang Lang's back until he completely disappeared into the rain, then he snorted coldly, got up and paced to the window, looking at the flowers destroyed by the storm.

He has not given up yet, and he himself is not a person who likes to give up.As long as there is a chance, he will struggle to the end.

The Xuzhou War has ended for more than a month.

During this more than a month, Xia's bandits attacked fiercely and divided their troops into three groups, all the way from Xuzhou to attack Wei's;

In the direction of Zhengzhou are the Tiande Army, Tingzidu, and Henan Fuzhou with tens of thousands of soldiers. In terms of strength, they are not particularly threatening, but they are close at hand and very annoying.

Wei's direction is dominated by the Jianrui Army, Zhongwu Army, and Cavalry Army, and has been trying to attack the city.Fortunately, the combat effectiveness of the Jianrui and Zhongwu armies is just the same, and the defenders are very tenacious. In the later stage, they will be assisted by the Tianwu army, so there is no fear of falling in the short term.

The Songzhou battlefield is somewhat troublesome.

Zhe Zongben, the commander-in-chief of the bandit, led the main force of the Weisheng army, and the momentum was like a broken bamboo. Currently, he has occupied the entire territory of Bozhou, Linhuan County in Suzhou, and parts of Songzhou.If he hadn't personally led the troops to rescue, it is estimated that Xiangyi would have fallen.At present, thousands of Shenwu troops are staying in Xiangyi, and they should be able to resist for a while.

But the overall situation is still very passive.Zhu Zhen's betrayal caused extremely bad effects and far-reaching consequences.If Cao and Shan were in hand at this time, the strategic situation would be greatly improved.

pity!hateful!sad!

Zhu Quanzhong sighed and sat down weakly.

Zhu Zhen's parents were in Bianzhou City, so he didn't move, instead he secretly sent someone to comfort him.It sounds aggrieved, but it has to be done.If the situation is like this, he still has expectations for Zhu Zhen. A few days ago, he sent another messenger to Caozhou to talk about the friendship he had when he was young. Alas, I hope the starting point will work.

persist in!Just keep at it, or there may be a turnaround.

Every time he thinks of this, Zhu Quanzhong becomes motivated and can temporarily suppress the devil in his heart.He couldn't imagine what to do if he was really at the end of his rope. He didn't think about it, but the snow-white chest of his daughter-in-law Liu's suddenly appeared in his mind.

If it's really powerless, maybe...

******
There was also a heavy rain in Youzhou, which washed away a little bit of the summer heat.

Li Kuangchou's wife, Mrs. Zhang, was smiling and playing with her children under the pavilion.Li Ke looked at it with a smile for a while, then put on a straight face, and returned to the government office.

"Marshal." Gai Yu arched his hands, and Zhou Dewei also stepped forward to salute.

"How should we fight this battle in Yanbei? Do you two have a strategy?" Li Keyong asked.

Gai Yu is his old man Yuan Cong, Zhou Dewei is his favorite rising star, and Li Keyong is very concerned about their opinions.

"Marshal, General Zhou and I have made a plan. The current plan is to join forces with Khitan and defeat the Xia bandits." Gai Yu said: "The bandits are so powerful that no one side alone is enough to defeat the enemy alone. Yanbei Grassland On top of it, there have been many military trumpets such as golden swords, black scorpions, and flying bears, and even armored cavalry. The thief commander Yang Yue is not well-known in the Central Plains, but he is well-known in the northwest. Very difficult to deal with. According to the usual style of the Xia thief, most of the Fan tribe mobilized tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and this time the thief army may have [-] horses, or none, and the difference is not far away."

"Do you have to unite with Khitan?" Li Ke raised his eyebrows and asked with some dissatisfaction.

He brought more than ten thousand cavalry from the east of the river to Youzhou, and there were nearly ten thousand cavalry in Yandi itself, including both Han and Fan.To be honest, there are quite a few of these people, as long as they are not stupid enough to fight with Xia thief.

In the final analysis, whether it is the Jin army or the Yan army, they are mainly infantry.They fought on the grasslands, and they also dispatched a large number of infantry, which could also play a great role.

"With Khitan's help, the chances of winning are much greater." Gai Yu said confidently: "The thief commander Yang Yue is in Daning, with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, and he is hesitant to patrol. Judging from his actions, it seems that he wants to occupy it and not leave. A nail was set to threaten Xin, Yi, and Gui states. If the commander-in-chief personally leads the main force to go northward to Yizhou, Yang Yue will definitely come to fight, and the commander-in-chief will be able to fortify the wall and confront the thieves. Caress Ruyuan's back, and more than a hundred thousand elite cavalry will kill them, the bandits will definitely be in chaos, and then there will be a chance."

"The Khitan wolves are ambitious, and I'm afraid it's not a good thing to lure them here." Li Ke frowned and said, "If they ask for any conditions, it's hard for me to agree."

"Why do you need to worry, Commander?" Gai Yu smiled and said, "I just received an interesting piece of news. On the seventh day of the seventh month, King Xi went to Zhuzhou to take advantage of the opportunity to go south to defend against the enemy. He suddenly led more than [-] tents to the west of Ruyuan, and Khitan chased him. Not enough. All the ministries heard that many people fled to the west. It was reported yesterday that King Xi went to Zhuli Yazhang in the old city of Huaihuang, enumerated the crimes of Khitan, and called on Xi, Yu, Shiwei, Bohai, Tatar, and Jurchen to join forces. discuss it."

Li Ke couldn't help laughing when he heard this.

To be honest, he also hates Khitan.After Pingdingying and Pingerzhou, many Khitan people and Xi people living in the area were recruited, but most of them escaped, and it is said that they went north to Khitan.

The Khitans also took in Youzhou rebel generals Gao Siji and Liu Rengong, and there were several thousand of them.

The righteous brother put Yao Nian's Khan together, and Li Keyong was very relieved to hear it.

"Commander, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to unite Khitan, don't miss it." Gai Yu reminded.

"Who is in charge of Khitan now?" Li Keyong asked.

Gai Yu was helpless, he had told King Jin before, but he didn't seem to take it seriously.

"The Diela tribe is the most powerful among the eight tribes of Khitan, and it is the eight tribes Yilijin." Gai Yu explained: "The Yelu family is the Diera tribe Yilijin, and they actually control the tribe. At present, Yelushi is the master of the Yelu family. Lu, when Khan Yaonian's Chen Dejin came to the throne, he was released as Yu Yue, and it has been more than ten years."

In the past, the members of the Yelu family were just the Khitan Eight Tribes Yi Li Jin, that is, military chiefs.But Yu Yue's Turkic official name means prime minister, who is in charge of military and civilian affairs. After more than ten years, Khan Hendejin is almost emptied, and his position in Zhuxi's tribe is not much stronger than that of King Xi. go.

Shi Lu loved his nephew Abaoji very much. Taking advantage of the opportunity of serving as Yu Yue, he selected eight elites to form the guard army of Khan Hendejin, and asked Abaoji to serve as Tama Yushali, the guard officer.

And Abaoji was also very powerful. He led the Khan's bodyguards to conquer east and west, fight south and north, and repeatedly defeated powerful enemies. With a large number of people, goods, cattle and sheep, the strength of the Diela tribe has further widened the gap with the rest of the tribes, showing a trend of surpassing the dust.

Coupled with the support of the Yishi tribe, which has always been a brother tribe with them, and the help of foreign aid such as the Uighur Shulu tribe, the Diel tribe has become more and more uncontrollable. It is nothing to do to control the military and political power of the eight tribes. People will be elected as khans next time.

"Is Shi Lu easy to deal with?" Li Keyong asked suddenly after being silent for a while.

Gai Yu's face brightened, and he said: "The commander-in-chief can just send envoys to come, anyway, it doesn't take much trouble."

Li Keyong was still a little worried.He felt that the Khitan people were also very dangerous, because they had a stronger attraction and ability to unify the grassland tribes. Wouldn't it be a joke if they took the opportunity to annex the Yanbei tribes?

Gai Yu and Zhou Dewei remained silent, quietly waiting for him to make a decision.

(End of this chapter)