Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

"Why do you say that?"

"If you are a traitor, then what you have already obtained is too much, and your ambition is too small!"

"Too little? Too much?" Wang Wenzuo laughed. After a while, his laughter gradually subsided: "Mr. , otherwise wouldn’t it be regretting the family fortune earned through half a lifetime of military service?”

"Disarm and return to the fields?" Can you suppress your group of arrogant soldiers? Disarm and return to the countryside, with a beautiful wife and concubine. That is a life that only an old guy like me can live, and you haven't had this blessing yet!"

"Yes! I really don't have this blessing!" Wang Wenzuo nodded: "Then Mr. Xue, are you willing to spend the rest of your life serving my useless child and earn a family fortune for future generations?"

“Okay!” Bar?"

"Seven hundred and fifty households?" Wang Wenzuo laughed dumbly when he heard this: "Xue Gong is still worried about this. How many children do you have? I will give you a few seven hundred and fifty households. It will be hereditary and replaceable. At least you can protect it. How about the wealth of the fourth and fifth generations of your family?"

"Seven hundred and fifty households for each child?" Xue Rengui's face changed slightly: "Seriously?"

"Of course it is true, but the fiefdom is not in the Tang Dynasty. If it were in the Tang Dynasty, there would only be money and rice, but no actual fiefdom!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile.

"Where's my daughter?"

"How about half that, four hundred households?" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile.

"Four hundred households?" Xue Rengui showed a sly smile: "My sons are okay, I only have five, but I have quite a few daughters, eight in total. Don't regret it!"

"Five sons and eight daughters, the total total is less than ten thousand households. I can replace my child with Duke Xue, what is there to regret!" Wang Wenzuo said with a smile: "Even if Duke Xue takes two more concubines now, , a few more will count.”

"I'm almost seventy years old. I can't give birth to a child. I can't give birth to a child!" I leave it to you, let me do whatever you want!"

Wang Wenzuo received Xue Rengui's three bows before he dismounted and helped him up: "When I recruited surrenders and rebels in Haidong, there were many good and bad people under my command. The children were young and did not know the wise and the foolish, so I entrusted them to Xue Gong."

"Don't worry, Sanlang. Since I have been entrusted, I should do my best. If there are seedlings in the fields, I will leave them. If there are weeds, just remove them!"

When the two of them said this, they both understood it and couldn't help laughing. It turns out that Wang Wenzuo came east this time, and while calming down the war, he also paid attention to the situation of his former subordinates. With his eyesight, he could naturally see that he had been in Chang'an all these years. The old tribes who stayed in Japan, Baekje and other places were all numerous and wealthy, but he was far away in Chang'an, and Yan Liang was still a child. There is already a momentum that cannot be lost. If he could stay in the local area after wiping out Qi Sibiyu and others, spend a few years leveling the mountain, re-dividing the forces, allowing them to check and balance each other, and then pass the throne to his son, it would not be a big problem. After all, this is The first elimination of Beggar Si Biyu made the cake several times bigger at once, and there were many new entrants. With the increase, re-dividing and adding sand would naturally be much easier than simply dividing the stock.

However, King Pei's sudden flight to the west disrupted Wang Wenzuo's original plan. He had to give up his pursuit of Qi Sibiyu and rectify his internal plan. Instead, he left Shen Faseng to guard the northern border and his son Yanliang to stay in the rear. Lead the army to march south, first control Fanyang, and then pass through Hebei to act according to the opportunity of the river. But in this way, it would be impossible to deal with internal affairs at least in a short period of time, so he could only transfer Fujiwara Fubi from Japan to assist Yanliang and barely maintain a situation. However, there is still a big hidden danger in this deployment, that is, Yanliang is still too young and unable to personally command the army; although Fujiwara Nobi is good at presiding over internal affairs, if someone rebels, he does not have enough prestige to lead the army to conquer Buchen.

It's not that Wang Wenzuo doesn't have capable generals under his command, on the contrary, most of his men come from humble backgrounds and were killed from the dead, and they are all generals above the standard. But such people are generally very ambitious. Wang Wenzuo can convince them and make them surrender. Yanliang, a half-year-old child, does not have this ability. If one of them is selected to assist Yan Liang, then the problem arises. If the selected person is defeated by the rebels, then Yan Liang's rule will definitely be disgraced; if the selected person defeats the rebels, then they must be given With more generous rewards, the situation of a weak king and a strong minister will only become worse.

On the way to Fan Yang, Wang Wenzuo had been thinking about this issue, and finally he decided to extend an olive branch to Xue Rengui. In his opinion, this person is the most suitable candidate to assist Yan Liang in the future: First of all, Xue Rengui is one of the very few generals in the Tang army who has ever followed Emperor Taizong Wen. Whether in terms of qualifications or prestige, he crushes Wang Wenzuo's votes. As a general, no one dared to oppose him when he led the troops at critical times; secondly, Xue Rengui participated in many wars against Goguryeo. After Goguryeo was pacified, he served as the governor of the Andong Protectorate. He was very knowledgeable about the people's feelings and landforms in Liaodong and the Korean Peninsula. Understand, and have enough experience to command local wars; third, Xue Rengui is already over 70 years old this year, buried up to his neck in loess, and is a latecomer in Wang Wenzuo's military group with no foundation. Therefore, even if he makes great contributions in quelling civil strife in the future, there is no need to worry that he will threaten Yanliang's rule. Taking into account the above factors, Wang Wenzuo suddenly offered the price of "food and salary for thousands of households" to win over the old man, which was regarded as payment in advance.

Xue Rengui also understood it. With his qualifications and past, Wang Wenzuo would definitely not let him lead the army in the future civil war of the Tang Dynasty. Instead of just following Wang Wenzuo around and waiting to die, it would be better to use his remaining energy by his son's side and leave a few lifetimes of wealth to his descendants. So after Wang Wenzuo made the bid, he reached out to seize the opportunity without hesitation.

"General, General! Look, the city has opened!" Acton's voice came. Wang Wenzuo turned around and saw that the gate of Fanyang City in the distance was indeed open, and dozens of riders came out, heading towards him. Coming at a gallop. As the distance approached, Wang Wenzuo recognized that the leader was an old man with white hair and a high crown, followed by Lu Twelve.

The group of people jumped off the horse when they were still more than a hundred steps away from Wang Wenzuo. The old man with white hair and high crown walked first, followed by six or seven old men in long robes and high crowns of similar age. They were still more than ten steps away from Wang Wenzuo before they bowed down and bowed down. The voice said: "Old Lu Renji (Gao Yuanzhan, Feng Chenyu), pay homage to the general!"

"Don't dare, gentlemen, please get up!" Wang Wenzuo knew that the visitors should all be from Fanyang's local prominent families, and some of them he had met when he was in Fanyang. He did not dare to show off, so he jumped off the horse, raised his hands and returned the salute: " Wang Wenzuo has just met the Dukes of Fan Yang!"

"After we heard about the Chang'an Incident a few days ago, we all looked forward to the general, just like the rain after a long drought!" Lu Renji said: "After I just learned from Twelve Lang that the general had led his troops back, he immediately sent Capture the pseudo-officials, open the city gates, and welcome the general into the city!" At this point, he turned back, waved, and shouted: "Come on, why don't you suppress the pseudo-officials!"

Lu Twelve responded behind him, and then he came forward with a man who was tied up like a twist. He saw that the man had disheveled hair, a look of despair on his face, and a numb core stuffed in his mouth. He whined but could not speak. .

"Fake official? What's going on?" Wang Wenzuo asked.

"That's what happened!" Lu Renji said with a smile: "After King Pei fled back to Chang'an, a man came from Chang'an a few days ago. It was this guy. After he arrived in Fan Yang, he took over as the local governor and immediately slandered the general's plan. In spite of this, he also ordered the city to be repaired, cut off traffic, and said that he would send troops to attack the general. The general is a minister of the Zhu Kingdom. No one knows it, and no one knows it. Although we know that this person must be a treacherous villain, after all, he We have the decree of the imperial court in our hands, and we dare not disobey it, so we can only act in vain. When we learn from Twelve Lang that the general has rushed back, we will capture this villain and wait for the general to deal with him!" Wang Wenzuo looked at it This group of old men all had smiles on their faces. They looked at the unfortunate guy kneeling on the ground and thought to himself that it would only take an hour at most from the time Lu Twelve entered the city to the time he brought these old guys out, but in this one hour These old men knocked the new governor to the ground, tied him into a sack and presented it to them. It seems that this new governor has been completely concealed by this group of people. He looks like a young pig waiting for him to come back and kill Happy.

"That's it, take off the rope on his body and the numbness in his mouth will go away!" Wang Wenzuo said.

"Yes!" Lu Twelve responded, pulled out the dagger and cut the rope, and then removed the numbness in the man's mouth. The man must have been tied too tightly, and his hands and feet were numb, and he immediately collapsed to the ground. Fortunately, his His tongue was still normal, and he kowtowed repeatedly and said: "General Wang, have mercy on me, General Wang, have mercy on me, this villain does not know the power of heaven, is arrogant, offends the power of the tiger, the general, and deserves death!"

"That's it! Stop kowtowing. If you answer a few questions of mine, if you answer them well, your life will be spared. Do you understand?"

"Yes, yes! The villain understands!"

"What's your name?"

"The villain Bingzhou Li Jiongxiu!"

"How was the situation there when you came from Chang'an?"

"Before the villain left Chang'an, the emperor issued an edict saying that Long Ti was not hesitant, and ordered King Pei to supervise the country and preside over the affairs of the state. In fact, the affairs of the state fell into the hands of Shizhong Pei and Empress Pei, their father and daughter. All affairs in the state, no matter how big or small, were handled by them. manage!"

"On that day the Son of Heaven himself is still alive?"

"This -" Li Jiongxiu smiled bitterly: "I don't know about this villain. I only know that after the emperor issued the edict, he did not see outsiders and only rested in the Tai Chi Palace. Only the maids and attendants around him could see him. Don't talk about the villain. I, even the other ministers of the Six Ministers and the Government Hall rarely see the royal face!"

"It seems that the emperor is under house arrest!" Xue Rengui said: "Pei Judao is really crazy, he dares to do such a heartbreaking thing!"

"Yes!" Wang Wenzuo sighed: "I thought that if I took King Pei away, nothing would happen to Chang'an, but I didn't expect Pei Judao to do this!"

"There is no need to worry, Sanlang. He should not be so bold as to dare to attack His Majesty!" Xue Rengui comforted: "Although he is in charge of government affairs, when it comes to using troops, he is far inferior to you. We need to calm down the chaos and restore the old capital. Let me tell you. Effortless!”

Wang Wenzuo waved his hand and asked the man on the ground: "I ordered Cui Hongdu and Murong Moutai to control the Beiya Imperial Guards. Did he suffer any harm at that time?"

"Probably not!" Li Junxiu shook his head: "There was no fighting in Chang'an City that day, but someone led troops to rush out of the city the next day. It is said that they were subordinates of General Wang, and they should be Generals Cui and Murong. !”

"Rush out of the city?" Wang Wenzuo frowned: "I know, it was probably the queen who secretly sent King Pei to the palace, then seized power at night, and issued an edict to seize the military power of Cui Hongdu and Murong Moo early the next morning. This I can’t blame them, after all, even the Beiya Forbidden Army cannot stay by the Emperor’s side, it’s probably because of something wrong with the people around the Emperor!”

"Yes, yes, that's what the general said!" Li Jiongxiu responded quickly: "The Emperor has been ill since autumn, and there are rumors in Chang'an City that if he cannot survive this winter, King Pei should succeed to the throne——"

"Wait a minute!" Xue Rengui shouted: "Didn't His Majesty already have a son? Why did King Pei succeed to the throne?"

“Mr. The child is so young that no one knows if he will grow up. And the queen probably spent a lot of effort and wealth in supporting King Pei to succeed him. Think about it, if you were one of those palace maids and eunuchs, you would be reaping the benefits of the queen. Should you support King Pei? Or should you reject the queen's request and stand firmly on the side of the baby?" Xue Rengui suddenly became speechless, and after a while he cursed bitterly: "None of these eunuchs without eggs is a good thing!"

"That's it! It's useless to talk about it now!" Wang Wenzuo sighed: "Let me ask you, where did that team of soldiers and horses go after they rushed out of Chang'an City?"

"This villain doesn't know!" Li Jiongxiu said with a bitter smile: "Because the villain then received the imperial edict and came to Fan Yang to take over as governor!"

"That's it!" Wang Wenzuo shook his head in disappointment: "They are probably from Shaanzhou. I hope they can escape together with Yiji Lianbode. As long as they can get out of Tongguan, it will be easy! Li Zhuoxiu, let me ask again As long as you answer my question, I won’t hurt your life!”

"The villain must answer truthfully!"

"Let me ask you, are Yang Xingjian and Yang Guifei still okay?" Wang Wenzuo asked.