end song

Chapter 1216
Zhang Hongqing stretched out his hand and rubbed the back of his neck, thought for a while, and suddenly asked, "Ninth brother, do you think it is possible that Jia Wenbei secretly took refuge in Li Xia?"

"Probably not, His Majesty trusted him, so he let him stay here to look after the second brother." Zhang Hongfan said: "The Zhang family is still there, and he has a share of the credit."

"Then he won't give you the old Tiger Talisman?"

"Maybe he can't trust me."

Zhang Hongqing said in surprise: "Your loyalty to His Majesty, it's not his turn to be suspicious."

"It's not this." Zhang Hongfan said with a self-deprecating smile, "Perhaps he doesn't trust my character."

"It's just a useless old thing. It's older than a soldier in the army. What's the use?"

"Well, what happened to your neck? Hurt?"

"I'm not used to sleeping, I have a stiff neck."

"I still have a stiff neck at home." Zhang Hongfan patted his brother on the back and said, "Let's go, let's eat."

It gets dark early in the winter months.

Because he was always thinking about Jia Wenbei, Zhang Hongfan took a pot of wine and went to Nanfu after dinner.

Zhang's family and Jia's family are like one family. When Baozhou City was built, the houses of the two families were built together. Because Jia's family is in the south, it was called Nanfu.

Jia Fu and Zhang Rou share a common hobby, which is to protect books. The Wanjuan Building in Baozhou City is the place with the largest collection of books in Beidi.

Therefore, the layout of Jia's residence is exactly like that of a scholarly family, and it doesn't look like a military general's residence at all.

Zhang Hongfan has been coming here often since he was a child. When he asked where Jia Wenbei was, he didn't let the servants go to say hello. He entered the hall and went straight to the side hall.

When he arrived at the door of the hall, he saw a young man standing by the door. He squinted his eyes, but walked around to the small garden next to the hall from behind.

Through the paper window, I could only hear someone talking with Jia Wenbei inside.

"Tang Jun is attacking by force, what else can we do?"

"Then I will use my understanding of Tang Jun to talk about what might happen. Zhong Wu also knows that Tang Jun has a sharp weapon called artillery."

"As far as I know, this thing is bulky, and Li Xia didn't bring it to the battlefield in Hebei?"

"It's better to say that the Tang army marched too fast. From Luoyang to Zhending, more than [-] cities, large and small, waited for the wind and surrendered along the thousands of miles. Not to mention the artillery, even the winter clothes have not yet been transported."

"Well, I have indeed heard people say that Tang Jun is now waiting for winter clothes and charcoal fire because he is moving too fast."

There was a moment of silence in the hall.

Only then did someone continue to speak: "No matter how slow the transportation is, it will take ten days and a half months. Once the time comes, once the attack is made, it will not be difficult to smash the city wall."

"Not necessarily. Fighting depends on combat strength, terrain, morale, food and grass, etc. Mongolian cavalry can also sneak around behind the Tang army. This is a plain terrain. It is not difficult to snatch their artillery."

"It's a pity. After the defeat of Helan Mountain, do the Mongolian cavalry still have such momentum? Once the Tang army attacks, I'm afraid that Wugu will lead the cavalry to burn the food in Baozhou City and retreat to Yanjing with the crowd."

"I heard from Jiulang that Li Xia is short of food and grass, and is surrounded by enemies. Is there a possibility of peace talks and withdrawal?"

"It's possible. It's best to have peace talks. I'm just worried that the city and the people that my father tried so hard to save will be damaged."

"Probably not. It can be seen that Li Xia doesn't want to attack by force. After all, he is a Han...who?"

"Ah Lang, you are a villain."

"What's the matter?"

A servant's voice sounded in the hall, saying: "The villain wants to ask if you want to show Jiulang some tea... Eh, Jiulang isn't here? The villain clearly saw him coming just now."

Only then did Zhang Hongfan walk around to the main entrance in a leisurely manner, and said with a smile, "I haven't been to my eldest brother's house for some years, and I got lost for a while."

There was a smile on his face, his eyes fell on the face of the person who was talking to Jia Wenbei, and he said, "Cousin is here?"

This person is Zhang Rou's wife and nephew, Jing Jie.

Jing Jie looked calm and said with a smile: "Marshal Du is here, and I happened to speculate about the situation with Zhong Wu."

"It's the same as I speculated." Zhang Hongfan said: "The hero sees the same thing."

"Marshal Du, don't worry. Uncle and everyone in the family are still in Yanjing. In order to save their lives, we will not surrender to Li Xia." Jing Jie spread his hands, and said more frankly, "If there is something shady, we will not surrender." I will swagger and talk in this side hall."

"Don't worry." Zhang Hongfan said with a smile, "There is no misunderstanding..."

But that night, when Zhang Hongfan came out from Nanfu, he still told his confidant: "Go and check Jingjie."

Jingjie used to be by Zhang Rou's side more often, and had a better friendship with Zhang Wulang, and he also dealt with Li Xia back then.

Such a person is naturally inclined to surrender.

Moreover, Zhang Hongfan believes that his second brother was reluctant to be taken to Yanjing at that time, so he must have left behind in Baozhou City.

~~
The next day.

"Kuro, we found it!"

"Say."

"Jingjie left Baozhou City on the evening of the eighth day of November, and went to Tanghe Camp once."

"What did he go to Tanghe camp for?"

"It is said that it is to send winter clothes to King Zong."

Zhang Hongfan frowned, recalling the date on the eighth day of November.

That day was the day when he and Zhang Hongqing discussed how to trap and kill Zhang Hongdao.

When this suspicion surfaced in his mind, he immediately felt uneasy, turned around and went up to the height of the tower, raised his binoculars and looked south.

The wind and snow are vast, and the Tang army has not yet shown signs of storming Baozhou.

Even if we want to attack by force, we should attack Shunping and Tang counties in the south first.

"Press Jing Jie, I will see him later."

"Yes."

"Is Mr. Hao back?"

"not yet."

Feeling uneasy, Zhang Hongfan also looked forward to Li Xia's early agreement to the peace talks.

He finally understood Wu Gudai's mood.

"Pass my order, send more scouts to the south to investigate, don't relax."

"Here."

"Also, is there anything unusual about the two thousand captives?"

"Eleventh Lang is reorganizing them these days, saying that it hasn't been long since they surrendered to Li Xia, and most of them are available."

"Send an order to Eleven Lang, tell him to slow down the reorganization, and take care of those prisoners. The Tang army may have the possibility of attacking Baozhou."

"Here."

"Let Li Ting come to see me."

"Yes."

Li Ting said his surname was Li, but he was actually a Jurchen, whose real surname was Pucha.

He lived in Shandong for generations. After the Li Fen Rebellion, Zhang Hongfan trained the Yidu New Army and helped him become a thousand households, so he was very loyal to Zhang Hongfan.

Li Ting's soldiers and horses in this Baozhou city belonged to the soldiers and horses that were completely under the command of Zhang Hongfan and not the old troops of the Zhang family.

Zhang Hongfan ordered in a low voice: "You bring your best soldiers and horses, and keep an eye on Jia Wenbei for me."

"Jia Wenbei?"

"That's right. I have some doubts. It's not yet concluded. You should keep an eye on him, so as not to cause chaos in Baozhou."

Li Tingdao: "Commander, if Jia Wenbei really wants to rebel, what should I do?"

"Suppressing the rebellion."

"Well..."

After the military affairs were arranged, Zhang Hongfan was ready to go to the Jing Festival.

Just arrived at the front yard, but saw Jing Xuan standing in the yard.

"Your Majesty."

Zhang Hongfan hastened to perform the ceremony as a disciple, because Jingxuan had also taught him to read.

"Jiulang, I heard you captured Mingyi?"

"Jing Gong misunderstood, but I have something to ask my cousin, please wait for me in the side hall." Zhang Hongfan responded with a smile, but he already felt the difficulty of housework in his heart.

This family seemed to have a force against him.

At first he thought that the power came from Zhang Hongdao, but gradually, he realized that it actually came from Zhang Wenjing.

With such a daughter of the Zhang family as a noble concubine in the Tang Dynasty, the Zhang family must have both ends, unwilling to work for the Great Yuan with peace of mind.

Jing Xuan stroked his beard and sighed, "Julang just needs to remember 'blood is thicker than water'."

"Don't worry, Jing Gong." Zhang Hongfan said: "Everything I do is to save my family business."

"The old man won't say much, let's go."

Kyung-hyun stepped aside.

Zhang Hongfan looked up at the flying snowflakes, and walked towards the place where Jingjie was being held.

Jing Jie was sitting there quietly drinking tea, when he turned around and saw Zhang Hongfan coming, raised his teacup, and said with a smile, "Qingfeng Chuming, the famous tea from Tianmu Mountain, you brought it back?"

"I brought it back."

"Do you have collusion with the southerners?"

"The envoy of Song Ting gave it to Duke Hao, and Duke Hao gave it to me."

"Good tea."

Zhang Hongfan sat down on the chair and said, "You don't have to pretend, cousin, you met Wulang a few days ago."

Jing Jie stopped drinking tea for a moment, then shook his head.

But at this moment, Zhang Hongfan had already seen it, he smiled and said, "You can't beat me."

"Yes, Jiulang has been the smartest since he was a child. He has high martial arts skills, writes poems well, and has a method in doing things. He is better than us."

"Cousin admits?"

"what?"

Zhang Hongfan smiled wryly, and said: "Since Li Xia's plunder to the north, Henan and Hebei have watched the wind and surrendered without even a decent resistance. This is not a good thing for us Central Plains people. In the future, people will only say that this is how the Mongols attacked, and the new Tang Dynasty It's like this again, Heshuo's heroes are cowards, and they lose their dignity again and again."

Jing Jie stopped and put down the teacup in his hand.

"dignity?"

He asked back in amazement, "You can say whatever you want, even if you talk about fame and fortune, but you talk about dignity? Is there dignity living under the rule of foreign captives?!"

Zhang Hongfan said: "Admitted?"

"I laughed at you."

"I remember when you were young, you said that you hated your father and ancestor for dying for the Kingdom of Jin." Zhang Hongfan said, "You said, a man should be like my father and protect the family. I remember your words very deeply."

"So, why did you die for Meng Yuan?"

"I also want to save our family!"

"Jiulang." Jing Jie said: "You are outstanding. But you think too little of the rest of the family. You think your father, your second brother, fifth brother, sixth brother, and eldest sister, you think They're all trash, you're the only one who's smart, aren't you?"

Zhang Hongfan was speechless for the first time.

After a while, he shook his head and said, "I just want to ask you, what did you say when you saw Wulang?"

Jing Jie turned his head to look outside, and said, "It's getting dark."

"so what?"

"Before dark, surrender with Baozhou City."

"impossible."

"This is what your father meant. All the disputes in the world belong to others. The relatives and old friends of this side, the elders of the villagers, the blood is thicker than water is your own."

Zhang Hongfan said: "You have misinterpreted what father meant, my Zhang family is still in Yanjing."

"Believe your brothers, Rokuro has been guarding Miyagi for many years, he didn't do it for nothing."

Zhang Hongfan got up suddenly, picked up Jing Jie's collar, and said, "Don't try to lie to me, I think you want to sell my Zhang family for your own future."

"I spend a lot more time in this house than you do!"

"Then your surname is not Zhang either!"

"..."

After a long silence, Jing Jie persuaded again: "It's not far from dark, Jiu Lang should make a decision as soon as possible."

Zhang Hongfan threw him to the ground and shouted to the guards outside: "You guys, let me interrogate him!"

"Yes."

"Others, follow me, there are traitors in the city..."

~~
At this time, somewhere in Baozhou City, an old Golden Tiger Talisman was being carefully examined in his hand.

"It's true, I wouldn't lie to Tang Shu if I deceived anyone."

"Uncle, I just didn't expect that the commander-in-chief can really give it to you?"

Zhang Hongdao, who was sitting there, raised his head, smiled a little, and said, "Isn't that because Xiao Wu is promising..."

(End of this chapter)