end song

Chapter 1202 Portal
The so-called "nine barriers in the world, the mediocrity is one of them".

Juyongguan is located in the eighth Xing of Taihang, and it is one of the fortresses from outside the Great Wall to Yanjing.

On the eighth day of September, Zhang Hongfan, who was besieged by travel and dust, led his cavalry to travel through the starry night and finally arrived at Juyongguan.

When letting the soldiers and horses rest for a while, he climbed to a high place, looked towards the southeast, and suddenly murmured a poem.

"Brother Yaozhi climbed to a high place, and there is one less person who planted dogwood all over the place."

Tomorrow is the Double Ninth Festival, if you can make it in time, maybe you can see some brothers at home in Yanjing.

After standing for a while, I saw cavalry coming in front of me.

"Commander, there is news from Yanjing."

Zhang Hongfan then went down the hill and went to meet the messenger in person. After talking for a few words, he sighed endlessly.

"I am ashamed to see Your Majesty. The Battle of Hetao did not protect King Tuohu, nor prevented Yang Wenzhong from rebelling and surrendering. If it was not for the order to bring these soldiers back to Yanjing, they should die to apologize."

"General Manager Zhang is serious, His Majesty did not reprimand, but ordered you to bring your troops back to the capital as soon as possible."

"So, His Majesty has arrived in Yanjing?"

"good."

Zhang Hongfan then let out a long sigh of relief.

He believes that before the battle for the position of Khan was followed by the defeat of Helan Mountain, and then the case of Zhenjin Jianguo, Dayuan was naturally in turmoil.Now that the defense line is shrinking, His Majesty is in Yanjing, and it is time to stabilize the situation and gradually improve.

In short, it is optimistic.

Just arranged for this messenger to settle down, but a personal soldier hurried over and whispered another sentence in Zhang Hongfan's ear.

"Jiulang, someone from the family is here, and they are anxious to see you..."

When Zhang Hongfan heard this, he faintly had a bad feeling.

He glanced around, and went back to Guancheng to meet the person from the family, and after hearing a few words, he couldn't help but turn pale with shock.

"What did you say?!"

It is rare for Zhang Hongfan to lose his composure like this, but today's news can make him unable to control his emotions.

"Jiulang, hurry back and save the family! Erlang and Liulang contacted the Dong family with the intention of rebelling, and they have already been taken down."

"Where's my father?"

"The old marshal is also under house arrest, so he told me to go to Jiuyuan City to find Jiulang..."

"How? How? I'll go and explain to His Majesty."

Just as Zhang Hongfan was about to turn around, he suddenly stopped, with a look of surprise in his eyes.

He rubbed his forehead, trying to calm himself down from his bewildered mood.

He realized that he actually had another choice.

If you don't pass through Juyongguan and lead troops south to surrender to Li Xia, will it be better to save your family?

This was the first time that Zhang Hongfan seriously considered changing his family, and before that, he and Kublai Khan had a good relationship with each other, and he always firmly maintained his loyalty to Da Yuan.

But considering the end, Zhang Hongfan still shook his head.

He didn't think he could save his family by relying on Li Xia now, he was afraid that he would be self-defeating and anger Kublai Khan.

Now that the news can still reach him, it can be seen that there is still room for redemption.

However, Zhang Hongfan still did not rush to Yanjing in a hurry, but recruited a team of confidants first.

"Let's go back to Baozhou first, see Eleven Lang..."

A while ago, Zhang Hongfan asked his eleventh brother Zhang Hongqing to lead some troops back to Baozhou.

Because Zhang Hongqing had been a proton since he was a child and was loyal to Da Yuan, this move did not arouse suspicion from others at the time.

It is different now, once something happens to the Zhang family, even Zhang Hongfan will be shaken, but what will happen to Zhang Hongqing is unpredictable.

If a card is not played, it can be regarded as a threat if it is held in the hand.

After arranging this matter, Zhang Hongfan ordered his men to take soldiers and horses to continue to rest in Juyongguan, while he himself took the Golden Tiger Talisman and rushed to Yanjing overnight.

~~
Now Kublai Khan has not entered the new city of Dadu, perhaps because the palace city of Dadu has not been completed, or because he is worried that Liu Bingzhong and Zhang Rou, who supervised the construction of Dadu, will be unfavorable to him.

After Kublai Khan arrived in Yanjing, he lived in the Daning Palace in the Kingdom of Jin.

Soldiers and horses brought from the grassland surrounded the Daning Palace with three floors inside and three floors outside. At the same time, the construction of the metropolis was also suspended, and craftsmen and laborers were recruited into the army.

Not only that, Yuan Ting also conscripted people in various places to prepare for a decisive battle with the Tang army.

When Zhang Hongfan rushed to Yanjing, what he saw was just like what Du Fu said in his poem.

"The carts rattled, the horses were Xiaoxiao, and the pedestrians had their bows and arrows at their waists. Ye Niang's wife walked to see each other off, and the dust did not see the Xianyang Bridge."

But he was already devastated, and he didn't care about these civilians who were expropriated.He rushed all the way to Daning Palace, looked up and saw no human head hanging anywhere, he couldn't help but heaved a sigh of relief.

When he rushed to Daning Palace and knelt in front of Kublai Khan, the first thing he did was to apologize.

First he pleaded guilty for Tuohu's death, and then pleaded guilty for Zhang Hongji's treason case, and finally said: "Your Majesty, I pledge my life. The second brother is utterly loyal to Da Yuan and never dares to betray His Majesty. There must be something hidden about this matter..."

Kublai Khan, who was sitting at the top, looked at Zhang Hongfan coldly, with a face as cast as iron. After a long time, he finally opened his mouth.

"Okay! You said that your Zhang family was wronged, so I will leave this matter to you to investigate, and all the traitors will be handed over to you."

Zhang Hongfan was stunned for a moment, never expecting things to be so easy.

"Sir, obey the order."

"Think about how the Great Mongol Kingdom treated traitors before." Kublai Khan's face was terribly gloomy, and he added lightly.

Zhang Hongfan was startled, and suddenly felt a chill on his back.

He knelt down for a while, then raised his head, only to see that Kublai Khan had already left the hall.

Looking back blankly, someone has already raised his hand to him.

"General Manager Zhang, please..."

~~
"Say, why did you betray Da Yuan?"

"why?"

In the dark prison, Zhang Xiongfei, who was chained through the lute bone and hung on the wooden frame, raised his head, glanced at Zhang Hongfan, bit his lips, and said, "What more reason?"

Zhang Hongfan's face was as deep as water, and he said: "You are deeply favored by the king, and you have come to Yanjing Road to control the Yingwei chief, why don't you want to repay, and instead do rebellious things."

"I didn't think about it at the beginning...but Zhang Yi died. Did you know that Zhang Yi was the same as you, and he never thought of rebelling. But Kublai Khan still killed him...he is just like you."

Zhang Hongfan frowned and asked, "How do you know that Zhang Yi never thought of rebelling?"

"Baigong persuaded him, but he refused."

"Why didn't you report it then?"

"Who do I report to? My immediate boss is Zhang Yi." Zhang Xiongfei said, pulling the corners of his mouth and laughing, "Look, I was forced to rebel by Kublai Khan, because he didn't trust us Han people, and he would never Will trust us more than Li Xia... Do you understand the difference? Why don't you rebel? Isn't your sister married to Li Xia?"

"I judge you, not you judge me."

Zhang Xiongfei was still laughing, staring at Zhang Hongfan with bloodshot eyes, and said, "You don't believe in evil."

"When Zhang Yi died, how did you and Bai Hua escape? Who saved you?"

Only then did Zhang Xiongfei look a little nervous, hesitantly said: "No one rescued us, we pretended to be ourselves and got in among the craftsmen."

Zhang Hongfan turned a blind eye to such an obvious flaw, and asked again, "Where is Bai Hua?"

"He was too old and dead. I tied his body to a stone and threw it into the pool of Taiye."

"How did the Dong family contact you?"

Zhang Xiongfei shook his head and stopped answering.

Zhang Hongfan sighed: "Let's recruit, everyone has been taken down."

a long time.

"You asked me why I betrayed you just now. I want to answer again." Zhang Xiongfei said in a low voice, "My father was a general of the Kingdom of Jin and was stationed in Xuyi. My mother passed away early, and I lived with my concubine in Xuzhou when I was young. In [-], the Mongols broke through Xuzhou...do you know what happened in Xuzhou City?"

Faced with Zhang Xiongfei's questioning look, Zhang Hongfan avoided it.

"You know, but you don't want to say it." Zhang Xiongfei said: "The Mongols slaughtered Xuzhou City. Everyone was killed...I was seven years old, and my concubine took me from the south of the city to the north of the city. There were corpses everywhere on the road. They chased us and ripped off my concubine's pants... So I kept crying until someone told me not to kill the craftsman. My later adoptive father was a bow-making craftsman who lied to the Mongols, He saved us from the sea of ​​blood by saying that we were his wife and children."

"It's all over." Zhang Hongfan said: "Today's Great Yuan is no longer the Great Mongolian Kingdom of the past."

Zhang Xiongfei sniffed and said to himself: "Except for the 28 craftsmen in the entire Xuzhou City, all of them were killed, and they were all killed...Damn, if you ask me why I betrayed Dayuan, you might as well ask me Why are you loyal to Dayuan?"

"I remember, when Secretary Cong recommended you to meet His Majesty, His Majesty praised you very much, saying 'Zhang Xiongfei is a true assistant'."

"Ha, I told you about hundreds of thousands of lives in Xuzhou, and you told me a compliment from Kublai Khan?"

Zhang Hongfan was silent for a moment, then said: "Let me gossip, let me ask you, how do you contact the Dong family brothers?"

Zhang Xiongfei stared at Zhang Hongfan for a long time, his eyes gradually became contemptuous, and said, "Let's read and write by yourself."

~~
After seeing Hong Xiongfei, Zhang Hongfan's face turned dark blue.

He got out of this cell, turned around and walked into the cell where Dong Wenzhi was.

"Brother Yanzheng."

"Jiu Ba is here." Dong Wenzhi was also nailed to the wooden frame bloody, with a sarcasm hanging from the corner of his mouth, he said: "I can ask you anything you want, I'm afraid you won't even dare to admit it to Jiu Ba."

"No need, Zhang Xiongfei has already recruited what should be done." Zhang Hongfan said in a very low voice, "I came here to apologize to brother Yanzheng."

Dong Wen was stunned for a moment, and great anger appeared in his eyes.

"Apologize? What are you going to do? The masterminds are Zhang Hongji and Zhang Honglue! The masterminds are your brothers from the Zhang family!"

Zhang Hongfan said: "What does it have to do with who is the mastermind? The important thing is who has the military power and is loyal to His Majesty, isn't it? How unwise are you leaving Gaocheng?"

"Zhang Hongfan, you coward, if you really have the ability, use the knife to your father and brother!"

"What's the difference? I just prove that they are the masterminds. Can Your Majesty let your Dong family go?"

Dong Wenzhi became furious and spat heavily.

Zhang Hongfan sideways avoided, and said: "Brother Yanzheng, this is a troubled world, and you will always have to pay for making the wrong choice."

"Zhang Hongfan! You dare to kill my Dong family. My third brother and eighth brother are now important officials in the Tang Dynasty, and they will never let you go..."

"I understand that your Dong family has always had a good reputation, and all Hanchens admire your Dong brothers. No matter whether it is in Dayuan or Xintang, you will have a place. Today I will kill all of you, young and old, and will not be tolerated by the Hanchens in the world."

Zhang Hongfan's expression darkened at this point, and he sighed.

"But what can I do? This is the determination that His Majesty wants me to express when Dayuan is in turmoil. I have to protect my home and support this portal. Only I can support this portal in the Zhang family..."

(End of this chapter)