Great Warriors of Sui and Tang Dynasties

Chapter 655 Zhang Xutuo
After another group of rebels roared past, Wang Junkuo put away his bow and returned to him.

"Zhang Shuai, we must leave here."

"Where?"

Zhang Xutuo's expression was ashamed. He had many wounds all over his body. Although they were all bandaged, traces of blood still ooze from the bandages.He can't even ride a horse now.Another sleepless night, and he's sore and tired now.

He didn't remember how many days he had been in a coma, even if he was a little better now, he would pass out from time to time.

"Is there no news from Daihai Temple?" Zhang Xutuo still couldn't forget his subordinates.

"No." Wang Junkuo couldn't bear to tell him the truth. He couldn't bear to say that Jia Wuben put on his armor to lure the bandits in order to let him leave. He couldn't bear to tell him that the ten thousand Henan soldiers had been wiped out. More than [-] people died, and the rest surrendered to the rebels in despair.

Such news will definitely be a huge blow to Zhang Xutuo.

"Where is this?" Zhang Xutuo turned his head to look around, but didn't see it.

"This is Dong'e County in Jibei County, the hometown of General Cheng Yaojin, Luo Shuai's sworn brother."

"The thieves have already appeared in Jibei?" Zhang Xutuo was surprised.

"Yes, I met Zhang Shuai who was hunted down in Xingyang before. We killed the pursuers and took you east, but the thieves kept chasing you. During this time, the Wei thieves have swept all the way, and they have gone down several counties. Now they Dongjun, Jiyin, and Dongping have been broken, and the forward scouts have entered Jibei."

"The thieves are so powerful?"

Zhang Xutuo never expected that after his defeat at Daihai Temple in Xingyang, most of Henan fell into the hands of thieves.

"Send me to Lu County, Jibei, where I'm going to gather troops."

"It's useless, Henan is in chaos now, all along the canal has been captured by thieves, and although Qijun, Jibei and other places have not yet been broken, countless thieves, bandits and hungry people have taken the opportunity. Now there is chaos everywhere, and even many officials The army, government soldiers, and county soldiers have also joined them, even if you are in good health now, commander-in-chief, you will not be able to recover, let alone your current body cannot even ride a horse, so there is no need to talk about suppressing bandits."

Zhang Xutuo was silent.

From these words, he can already guess the fate of his old brother Jia Wuben and other subordinates.

"Tell me the truth, the result of the Daihai Temple battle, tell the truth."

Wang Junkuo, holding a bow, looked at the old man, sighed, and finally told the truth about the situation.

"Why didn't the Eastern Capital Luoyang send troops? Just let Li Mi be so arrogant? Let him occupy Xingluo Cang, let him occupy Hulao Pass?"

"Because the traitor deceived the saints, the emperor in Luoyang Palace doesn't even know the great victory in Daibei Mayi, and he doesn't even know that Shibi was stabbed to death by our Luo Shuai. He thought that Shibi was with Turkic cavalry Returned to Monan Khan Court."

"Luo Cheng killed Shibi?"

Zhang Xutuo was surprised, he had just learned such amazing news.

"Yes, during the battle of Mayi, Luo Shuai led the frontier troops of the four towns to confront Shibi's army in Mayi for more than a month, and finally defeated Shibi's 30 army in Pinglu Valley near Piantouzhai, and then forced them to fight in Pianguanzhai. The [-] Turkic troops who surrendered were killed by me personally, Luo Shuai, and he brought [-] cavalry to the south, and none of the surrendered captives escaped the Great Wall."

"Good job." Zhang Xutuo was amazed at his protégé Luo Cheng.

It's just that he didn't understand, why didn't the emperor even know about this?

"Yu Shiji and others have completely kept the emperor in the dark. Now that they have cut off the news, the emperor has no idea of ​​the outside situation. Just like Li Mi's attack on the city of Yanshi before, the emperor did not know Li Mi's true strength at all. He thought it was just It was the same as before, so Zhang Shuai was only asked to lead the [-] exhausted king army to fight, and after he was defeated, Luoyang has not yet told the emperor the truth."

"Just after the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Yu Shiji and other four treacherous officials coaxed the emperor to leave Luoyang, and led the Xiaoguo army and hundreds of officials to Daxing in Guanzhong. Pass, then go to Xiangyang and then down the Yangtze River, along the east of the river to patrol the south of the Yangtze River, and finally go to Jiangdu."

Zhang Xutuo didn't know what to say anymore.

"A saint is also a hero, why is he completely kept in the dark by the four traitors?"

He didn't understand that these things were too unimaginable, but they were completely true.

It is only a hundred miles away from Luoyang, and Li Mi's rebels have already captured Xingluocang, Hulao Pass, and Xingyang City.Not only did it seize the largest granary around Luoyang, but it even cut off the water transportation from the canal to Beijing.But the emperor didn't know all this yet. Yu Shiji and others were not thinking about how to regain the lost land and crusade against the rebels, but they were thinking about taking the emperor to escape Luoyang and go to Jiangnan.

"Even if the East is not stable, you can just retreat into Guanzhong, why go to Jiangdu?"

Wang Junkuo told the old man, "Because the canal is now cut off by the rebels, and before Qin Wang, there was a mutiny caused by Longyou soldiers begging for rewards, and thousands of people were killed in the end. Now Longyou is also in chaos, especially Many Qiang tribes rebelled directly. Therefore, the situation in Guanzhong is not good now. Firstly, the food from the Guandong cannot enter the pass. Secondly, Longyou and Qinghai are in chaos. Therefore, Yu Shiji and others want to coax the emperor to go on a tour. Jiangnan, in fact, wants to avoid going to Jiangdu. Compared with it, the situation there is better, although there are some rebellions, but the rebellion force in Jiangnan is not strong."

"Why is there no one in the court to persuade the emperor? Is there no one to tell the truth?"

"It's useless, just like the great victory in Mayi, Luo Shuai also won several times, but all the good news is stuck with the four traitors. In addition, after the emperor returned from Hedong, he stayed in the harem all day long. There are no more directors in the court, and all affairs are handed over to the four traitors. Except for the four traitors, ordinary officials cannot see the emperor's face."

"Before, when the emperor was out hunting, an official tried his best to stop the royal horse from playing, but he was dragged down by the traitor. The emperor didn't even pay attention to him. Later, the loyal official was in the prison of Dali Temple He died suddenly, and since then, the officials have never seen the emperor, and even if they did, no one would be willing to be a horseman again."

Zhang Xutuo couldn't digest the terrible news for a while.

"Zhang Shuai, the situation in Henan is unstoppable. Now we will find a way to take you to Donglai, and from there take a boat to Liaodong."

"There is Lai Hu'er in Donglai, and there is one of the eight governors there, with [-] soldiers and horses. We don't need to go to Liaodong, we can stay and hunt for thieves together."

"Zhang Shuai, the last time General Lai Huer led troops to serve the queen, he stayed in Donglai and never returned. Now Donglai is empty. I am worried that Donglai will not be safe if the rebels come all the way."

"Unless it is absolutely necessary, we can't just give up on Henan." Zhang Xutuo gritted his teeth.

(End of this chapter)