Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Prince Pei's Mansion.

When Li Xian walked into the study and saw the expressions of Pei Judao, Queen Pei, Ge Dewei and others, all his thoughts were immediately forgotten. Pei Judao looked tired, the queen was angry, and Ge Dewei was excited and restless. Something must have happened. happened.

"What happened!" Li Xian asked.

"An accident happened!" Pei Judao took out a piece of letter paper. The letter paper could be flattened, and it could be seen that it had been looked at by many people: "It was an accident that I did not expect in advance. I am sorry. I should have prepared it in advance." Considered!"

"If His Majesty's youngest son is not handed over, then we will cut off the water transportation, set fire to Shaanzhou's granaries, docks, ships, and workshops, and destroy the canal gates. The water transportation will not be able to return to normal for at least half a year. Even after half a year, every month The grain shipped to Chang'an will not exceed 10,000 shi-" Li Xian put down his interest and asked: "Who is 'we' in this letter?"

"Wang Wenzuo's few remnants left in Chang'an! Cui Hongdu, Heiji Changzhi, Yiji Lianbode and Murong Miao!" Ge Dewei sneered: "If the servant hadn't told the subordinates not to hurt anyone before, at least Cui Hongdu, Murong Miao, Hei The heads of these three guys from Ji Changzhi have long been hung on the city wall!"

"That's enough!" Queen Pei interrupted Ge Dewei angrily: "Who would have thought that these guys have such courage and dare to threaten the court with water transportation. At first, my father wanted to accomplish everything without any bloodshed, but now It seems so kind!"

"I originally wanted to bleed less, but ended up having to bleed more. Things always look like this!" Godwei smiled and said: "Forget it, luckily it's not too late to remedy the situation. Your Highness, the Supervisor, give the order!"

"An order? What order?" Li Xian looked at Ge Dewei blankly.

"Of course we will send troops!" Ge Dewei spread his hands: "The available soldiers of those rebels are only a thousand cavalry who escaped from the city. Give me 3,000 men, and in three days I will send Cui Hongdu, Hei Te Chang and The heads of the three traitors of Igillenbod are presented to the palace!"

"Is this okay?" Li Xian was startled: "Didn't they say in the letter that as long as they don't agree to their demands, they will set fire to the ships, grain, and workshops, and destroy the floodgates. If we send troops to attack, wouldn't it immediately trigger an attack? Why do they do this?”

"Your Majesty, you don't understand the tricks of these little thieves!" Ge Dewei said with a smile: "They use these things to coerce us. If we give in, they will only become more proud and make more demanding demands; and if we are as quick as possible If we move quickly, they will be at a loss and be easily defeated by us. Even if some food and ships are burned as a result, it is nothing compared to the losses caused by the thieves' coercion!"

"What General Ge said is true!" The queen nodded approvingly: "Since the matter has come to this, it is better to just do nothing and do it more simply!"

"What about you, my servant?" Li Xian turned to Pei Ju and asked.

"The matter has come to this, and that's all it can do!" Pei Judao sighed, thinking further than his daughter and Ge Dewei. Due to Murong Mu's actions, the whole of Chang'an has been in chaos. The poor and the middle and lower classes are worried that the price of rice will rise and their own survival will be threatened. However, the upper class in Chang'an cannot continue to pretend to be deaf and mute and wait and see what happens; it is estimated that in During the court meeting, some people would raise questions about the health of Emperor Li Hong, which made Pei Judao very difficult. He could not turn a blind eye to these questions. After all, these people were originally part of the Tang Dynasty's state machine; Pei Judao could ignore everything about the people on the street. It doesn't matter what they do, after all, they can't touch Pei Judao even a hair; but if he ignores the questions of the nobles in Chang'an City, then it will be a matter of time before he is finished. The only feasible way is to take advantage of this rumor before it spreads and completely eliminate the source of the rumor.

"You want 3,000 men, I'll give you 5,000, all drawn from the Nanya Forbidden Army! The sooner the better, capture Shaanzhou, open up water transportation, and capture the heads of these three traitors!"

"General, I obey!" Godwin knelt down, his eyes filled with excitement.

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Liucheng, Yingzhou.

"Quickly, prepare hot water, a big wooden bucket, and loofah pulp, and bring them to my room! I want to take a bath, and invite General Xue over. Yes, that's where I take a bath. Immediately, there will be wine and various Grow something delicious and bring it to you, I'm starving, now!" Wang Wenzuo kicked off his boots and gave orders like a barrage of fire.

"Yes, yes! Hot water, big wooden barrels, loofah pulp, wine, and delicious food, please invite General Xue!" The welcoming official repeated the Shangguan's order while carefully sizing up the man in front of him: He was thin, tired, and his whole body exuded a unique smell that was a mixture of sweat and horse sex. Could it be that he had escaped from a defeated battle? But the accompanying knights don’t look alike. Although they are dark, thin, and exhausted, their eyes are bright and full of evil energy. How can there be a defeated soldier like this?

"Go quickly! Why are you still standing here?" Wang Wenzuo urged with his eyes widened.

"Yes, yes, yes, I will go immediately!" The official ran away quickly. Wang Wenzuo let out a long breath, came to his room, lay down straight away, and immediately began to snore.

I don't know how much time passed, but when Wang Wenzuo woke up again, he found that he was lying in a large wooden barrel filled with hot water, his hands resting on the edge of the barrel, and two soft little hands were scrubbing his back. He felt very thirsty. , stretched out his right hand and said: "Bring me something to drink!"

"Yes!" the maid next to him responded and handed over a cup. Wang Wenzuo drank it down in one gulp and asked for two more cups before he felt better. At this time, Cao Wenzong's voice came from outside the door: "General, General Xue has arrived and is waiting outside!"

"Invite him in!" Wang Wenzuo pushed the edge of the bucket hard and stood up. The maid beside him hurriedly wiped his body clean. He didn't bother to put on new clothes, so he asked the maid to bring him a large bath towel and wiped himself After wrapping it up, I sat cross-legged on the floor, picked up a plate from the food table, and started eating.

"I pay my respects to the general!" Xue Rengui, led by Cao Wenzong, appeared at the door. Even if he was surprised by Wang Wenzuo's dress at this time, at least it was not exposed on the surface. He knelt down and bowed to Wang Wenzuo: "General The commander in Ulta was determined, and the rebels were defeated in one battle. From then on, there was no wave in the east of the sea, and the general was really ashamed!"

"No need to be polite, Mr. Xue, come in and talk!" Wang Wenzuo pointed to a position about two or three feet opposite him and said to Cao Wenzong: "Wait at the door and don't let others disturb us!"

"Yes!" Cao Wenzong responded, first asking the maids in the room to retreat, and then he retreated to the door, sat down with his knees bent, and waited with bated breath for instructions.

“Mr. Sorry. Please forgive me for being rude!"

"It doesn't matter, Xue is also a member of the army, so the general doesn't need to worry about it!" Xue Rengui said solemnly, "But since you are traveling so fast, has something happened in the country?" "Yes!" Wang Wenzuo nodded, and he casually said He put down the plate and wiped the food crumbs around his mouth: "King Pei has secretly escaped from Fan Yang a few days ago. I suspect he has returned to Chang'an!"

"King Pei secretly escaped from Fan Yang and returned to Chang'an?" Xue Rengui was shocked by this unexpected news and stuttered: "But, why didn't I know that Liucheng is closer to Fan Yang?"

"It's very simple. Last time you reminded me that King Pei was very close to some people with Hedong accents, so I kept some caution. So after King Pei escaped, my people discovered it immediately. Then he rushed to Ur overnight. Ta, report it to me!”

"It seems that I am the only one who has been kept in the dark!" Xue Rengui showed a self-deprecating smile: "Then why is the general rushing back in such a hurry? Can't you trust me? Do you want to take away the military power in my hands?"

"It seems that Mr. Xue still doesn't understand why I have to rush back in such a hurry!" Wang Wenzuo took a sip of wine: "I suspect that King Pei went back this time to usurp the throne!"

"Usurping the throne?" Xue Rengui trembled: "It shouldn't be possible, right? Does the general have any evidence for saying this?"

“Mr. It is Pei Judao, the servant, who is from the Pei family in Hedong!"

"General, are you saying that the Queen, Pei Shizhong and King Pei conspired to usurp the throne?" Xue Rengui said with a wry smile: "Doesn't this sound too shocking? You don't have any evidence!"

"Mr. Xue is joking!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "For this kind of thing, either the person is captured and interrogated strictly, or a knife is put to the neck. Otherwise, how can there be evidence?"

"That's true!" Xue Rengui sighed: "Then what are you going to do?"

"Your Majesty is very kind to me!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "If Your Majesty is still alive, then I will support Your Majesty's restoration; if Your Majesty is unfortunately killed by the traitor, then I will kill the traitor and avenge Your Majesty!"

"Reset? Revenge?" Xue Rengui chewed on the four words Wang Wenzuo just said, and felt that his mouth was full of blood. Even though he had been in the army for half his life, he had experienced countless things of life and death, but Wang Wenzuo could handle it so easily. This is the first time that the lives and deaths of hundreds of thousands of people have been revealed.

"Sanlang!" Xue Rengui rarely called Wang Wenzuo in such a friendly tone: "If it is true as you said, King Pei is really trying to usurp the throne when he goes back; once the war breaks out, the world will be in chaos. No matter what After all, King Pei is also the eldest brother of His Majesty, Pei Judao is the minister and presides over the government, and his daughter is the queen. If these three people join forces, I am afraid that more people in the world will believe them!"

"So what?" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "At most, we are outnumbered and outnumbered. When Wang was in Baekje and in the Japanese country, when was this not the case? Now the situation is much better than before. The sky is clear, and since When you understand who is right and who is wrong, you will see it on the battlefield!"

Seeing Wang Wenzuo's dull expression, Xue Rengui knew that for a person like him who had gone through so many struggles between life and death, his determination had long been like steel-making. Once something was decided, it would be impossible to look back no matter what. It so happens that this person has a heavy army. Once a fight actually breaks out, it will be like a life-and-death fight between the two most elite armies of the Eastern and Western Tang Dynasties. In the end, no matter who wins or loses, the decades of struggle between the soldiers and civilians of the Tang Dynasty since Zhenguan will be over. Vanished.

"Sanlang, you should know the consequences of this!" Xue Rengui tried to persuade: "There are many elite soldiers in Longyou, Anxi, Beiting, Hedong, and Guanzhong. Although your soldiers are refined, how can you defeat them with just your own strength?" Better than the best soldiers in the Tang Dynasty? It’s better to think again and don’t act rashly!”

"Mr. Xue should also know that soldiers are valuable and quick!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "Let's do this! I'll have a good sleep tonight, Mr. Xue, rest next door, and enter the customs with me tomorrow morning and rush to Fan Yang! Mr. Xue can see with his own eyes who is more powerful, Mr. Wang's partial army, or Tang's Longyou, Anxi, Beiting, Hedong and Guanzhong armies."

When Xue Rengui heard this, he still didn't understand that Wang Wenzuo would not leave him in Liucheng. He sighed: "When things are like this, does Xue have any choice?"

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Shaanzhou.

"The problem now is that we have too few available soldiers!" Cui Hongdu said with a bitter smile: "If we must count, we can only use the thousand cavalry who escaped with us, the local soldiers from Shaanzhou, and The transport troops of the transshipment envoy will probably collapse when they see the imperial flag, so we can’t count on it at all!”

"Yes!" Hei Te Changzhi's face didn't look good either: "Anyway, the name of Dayi is still with Pei Judao, and the people here in Shaanzhou don't know the truth. It would be good if they don't switch sides in a fight. Got it!"

"I think you think the situation is too bad!" Yijilianbod said with a smile: "In my opinion, Shaanzhou's native soldiers and canal transport troops are still worth fighting!"

"Why do you say that?" Cui Hongdu asked, "Is there anything you can do?"

"We definitely can't compare to Pei Judao in terms of righteousness! But there is one thing that Pei Judao can't compare to us!" Yiji Lianbode said with a smile.

"What?" Cui Hongdu asked.

"Reputation!" Yiji Lianbod said: "Since I came to Shaanzhou to take charge of the transshipment, I have given the rations and wages to the craftsmen and crew members, and the money and silk from the merchants. I have never relied on the officials. The status of the company, arrears, suppression, and shoddy products! So our company still has some credibility in Shaanzhou!"

"What's the use of this?" Cui Hongdu said with a bitter smile: "Your reputation is useful if it is used to recruit people to work, but now you are going to fight with the royal master, and you will lose your head. No matter how much money you have, you will have no brains. What's the use?" (End of Chapter)