People in the early Tang Dynasty: I compete with Wu Zhao for the throne

Chapter 1617: King Peng is also a descendant of the great-grandfather
Thick black smoke rose in the southeast sky, and the flickering flames in the smoke were even more worrying.

Ma Sizong looked at Tianshui with worry, and murmured to himself: "General Guo, you must defend Tianshui."

Guo Qianguan, General of the Right Guard, was born into the Guo family of Taiyuan.

In the entire Northwestern rebellion suppression army, Wu Zetian's confidant was second only to Wang Xiaojie and Ma Sizong.

Or to put it more directly, Guo Qianguan was the real military supervisor.

The Queen Mother's younger sister married into the Guo family in Taiyuan.

It is also because of this that when many people were unaware, the Guo family of Taiyuan had been completely won over by the Queen Mother.

Guo Daiju and Guo Zhengyi are both like this.

One is the Shizhong and the other is the Shangshu Youcheng, who firmly hold the two powerful positions in the court.

Together with Guo Qianguan, the General of the Right Guard in the army, the Guo family also played an important role in the entire court.

Even Guo Daifeng at that time, although he was born in the Xuzhou Guo family, he was actually from the Taiyuan Guo family.

Otherwise, considering the relationship between Xue Rengui and Empress Gaozong, Xue Rengui's origin from the Hedong Xue family, and Xue Rengui's many years of military exploits, how could Guo Daiju dare to be dissatisfied with Xue Rengui.

Even though Guo Daiju's biological father, Guo Xiaoke, was a famous general during Emperor Taizong's reign, there were too many famous generals during Emperor Taizong's reign, and not every descendant of a famous general could gain the attention of Emperor Gaozong and the Empress Dowager.

Looking back now, there is only one reason for what happened back then.

That is, the one who truly supported Guo Daifeng behind the scenes was Empress Wu.

Only with the support of Empress Wu did Guo Daifeng dare to challenge Xue Rengui's position in front of the army.

But unfortunately, Dayechuan lost the battle.

Now, Guo Qianguan was the Guo family’s new representative in the military, newly chosen by Empress Wu.

The Guo family was a family of both civil and military talents. Back then, Guo Xiaoke only represented the Xuzhou Guo family, but in the Taiyuan Guo family, there was also a General of the Left Guard, Guo Qing.

Guo Qianguan is the son of Guo Qing.

In his early years, although he did not hold a high position, he had accompanied Emperor Gaozong to participate in the Fengshan Ceremony at Mount Tai, and was promoted smoothly to General of the Left Guard.

But unfortunately, he had not participated in any wars for many years, which made it difficult for him to reach the position of General of the Central Army during Emperor Gaozong's reign.

Until now.

When Empress Wu employed people, she never considered their military achievements, but rather the word trust.

Those who can be trusted will be entrusted with high positions.

If you don't trust someone, no matter how capable he is, he will most likely end up dead.

Ma Sizong really couldn't say what Guo Qianguan's abilities were, because he had very little contact with him.

However, when Li Xuan led his 20,000 cavalrymen across Dingxi and headed towards Tianshui, Ma Sizong did not even dare to leave the city to pursue him.

Yes, Li Xuan let Dingxi and Ma Sizong go, and led his army directly to Tianshui.

It seemed as if he had completely ignored the way out.

But Ma Sizong knew in his heart that this was not the case.

His eyes looked towards the plateau. King Peng directly gathered the strength of the three important cities of Fanzhou, Changzhou and Anxi. Now he has captured Lanzhou. A steady stream of troops will rush into the local area from the plateau, not to mention Hua Dazhi's betrayal.

The entire northwest will be pacified in a very short time, and by then, the only one who will become a trapped beast in a cage will be him, Ma Sizong.

Before, Ma Sizong had sent out scouts to try to track Li Xuan, but unfortunately, his scouts never came back after they went out.

King Peng did not let Dingxi go.

Ma Sizong paced back and forth at the city gate. He knew that although there seemed to be no one outside Dingxi City, in fact, in the darkness, there were countless pairs of eyes staring at him.

Now he can only be stopped by Guo Qianguan in Tianshui.

In this way, Dingxi, Tianshui, Qizhou and Chang'an were able to form a line to resist King Peng's offensive.

Only in this way can we wait for the Queen Mother to send people to help the northwest.

Otherwise, half of the Tang Dynasty west of Hangu Pass would fall into the hands of King Peng...

A burst of hurried footsteps sounded below, and a general quickly came up and bowed to Ma Sizong and said, "General, the General of the Left Guard, Zhang Zhifang, has brought people here, saying that there is news about Ganliang Road."

"Yes!" Ma Sizong nodded and said, "Let him come up."

Ma Sizong sighed softly, "Human nature."

Zhang Zhifang, the General of the Left Guard, was originally the garrison commander of Dingxi. After Wang Xiaojie led his men into Shanzhou, everything here came under the jurisdiction of Zhang Zhifang.

That is, after Ma Sizong was defeated in Hezhou, he led his men back to Dingxi and seized the command of Dingxi.

But in such a situation, it seems that there are countless figures lurking outside the entire Dingxi city. Even though we know that it may be an illusion, it still makes people feel uneasy.

Some people will change their minds at this time.

Ma Sizong must convince Zhang Zhifang, otherwise, once he and Zhang Zhifang have a conflict, Dingxi City will have no need to be defended.

……

Heavy footsteps were heard, and Zhang Zhifang, wearing fish-scale armor, walked directly to the top of the city wall with four personal guards.

Ma Sizong frowned as he looked at the four people behind Zhang Zhifang and said, "Does the Zhonglang General distrust me so much?"

"I dare not." Zhang Zhifang cupped his hands, looked at Ma Sizong provocatively and said, "I still remember how the general took over Dingxi."

When Ma Sizong fled back to Dingxi, Zhang Zhifang hoped that he could go to Tianshui and use Tianshui as a base to defend the city.

But Ma Sizong had no time to go to Dingxi, and would be caught up by the pursuers behind him. Ma Sizong could only seize the command of Dingxi, and there was nothing wrong with him commanding the entire city as the general of the Left Jinwu Guard.

Ma Sizong rubbed his brows and asked, "What's the matter with the Zhonglang Jiang? Is there any news from Ganliang Dao?"

"The governors of Ganzhou and Liangzhou have temporarily submitted to King Peng." Zhang Zhifang signaled his personal guards to pass the secret letter, and said, "King Peng sent a message to the governors, saying that they don't need to worry about Chang'an's affairs. They only need to pay the autumn tax this year. Everything else will remain the same."

"Ah!" Ma Sizong took the secret letter with surprise on his face. Just as he was about to open it, he suddenly found that Zhang Zhifang's personal guard in front of him looked familiar.

Subconsciously, Ma Sizong's right hand fell on the long sword at his waist, and the blade was instantly unsheathed.

At this moment, a flash of knife light appeared in front of Ma Sizong's eyes, and the cold blade had already landed on his neck. A cold voice sounded: "General Zhonglang, your hands are too slow."

"Cui Ding." Ma Sizong gritted his teeth and looked at the man in front of him, wishing he could bite him to pieces.

Cui Ding, former captain of the Left Jinwu Guard, commander, and palace general, finally rose to the position of General of the Central Army step by step.

However, in recent years, Ma Sizong has always been the Lieutenant General of the Left Jinwu Guard. If it were not for Cheng Chubi and Qin Ming who were above him, Ma Sizong would probably have already taken the position of General of the Left Jinwu Guard.

But Cui Ding was an honest man from Chang'an. He supported his younger brothers and sisters through his own efforts. It was not until he met Li Xuan that his career developed.

They both knew the things of the Zuo Jinwu Guard very well, and when they sparred among themselves, they would compete to see whose sword was faster.

Now, Ma Sizong's knife has become slower.

Compared with Cui Ding, who had been fighting on the battlefield for many years, Ma Sizong was indeed slow.

Especially after he killed Li Xian, he even felt his hands begin to tremble inexplicably.

Today, despite the sudden situation, although I have tried my best, I am still a step slow.

……

Ma Sizong raised his head and looked at Zhang Zhifang. He tried to be calm, but still asked with gritted teeth: "Hasn't your Dunhuang Zhang family always been at odds with King Peng? Why are you joining forces with King Peng today?"

At that time, Zhang Yungong, the governor of Taozhou, was arrested by Li Xuan for his conspiracy to resell grain and fodder, and was eventually beheaded.

There was an absolute hatred between the Zhang family of Dunhuang and Li Xuan, which was why Ma Sizong was confident in letting Zhang Zhifang guard the west gate of Dingxi City.

Zhang Zhifang looked at Ma Sizong calmly and said, "There is indeed some misunderstanding between Prince Peng and my Zhang family, but we have also formed some fate. However, for what happened today, I blame the Linghu family and the Dugu family for going too far in Dunhuang."

Dugu Qi and Linghu Mou, the two former governors of Dunhuang, all benefited from Li Dan's accession to the throne.

Only the Zhang family didn't have it.

Not only that, they even suffered a lot of family losses due to the overt and covert suppression by Dugu Qi and Linghu Mou.

Now Li Xuan has already headed towards Tianshui. With the current strength of the Northwest, nothing can stop him.

At that time, he can turn around and still easily take care of Dingxi.

In that case, why doesn’t Zhang Zhifang make a choice earlier?

Turning around, Zhang Zhifang glanced at the Jinwu guards who dared to go up but didn't, and looked at a "personal guard" behind him and said, "Please ask the Zhonglang General to send a letter!"

"Okay!" The "Royal Guard" looked up, and a signal cannon flew directly into the sky and then exploded.

Under the firelight, Zhou Qian's face was clearly visible.

Suddenly, there was a sound of fighting outside the city.

The city bridge also slowly fell at this time.

……

At some point, all the soldiers on the city gate had been replaced by Jinwu Guards, all of whom were Cui Ding's subordinates.

Zhou Qian glanced at Ma Sizong who was already tied up there, then turned to look at Zhang Zhifang and said, "Brother Zhang, please inspect the General of the Left Guard first, and we can talk about the rest after we take Chang'an. Now, do you plan to lead the troops to follow the prince to Chang'an, or stay in Dingxi?"

"Go to Chang'an." Zhang Zhifang said without any hesitation.

Chang'an, that's Chang'an!
"Okay!" Zhou Qian nodded and said, "Brother Zhang, please clean up the city first. When General Nan Ju of the Right Tunwei arrives, he will take over Dingxi, and we will go to Tianshui later."

"Yes!" Zhang Zhifang bowed solemnly, then turned around and left quickly.

At this time, Zhou Qian slowly walked up to Ma Sizong and looked at him calmly.

"Shouldn't the Zuo Qianniu Guard be responsible for monitoring Prince Peng all the time? Why would he collude with Prince Peng?" Ma Sizong struggled to raise his head and stared at Zhou Qian.

"The Tang dynasty lasted for three generations, and Wu replaced the Tang dynasty." Zhou Qian looked at Ma Sizong and said worriedly, "Although my Taiyuan Zhou family is not involved in government affairs, we know the faces of the Wu family members very well. What's more, protecting Prince Peng was the order of the late emperor, and the person protected by Prince Peng is the grandson of the crown prince. General Zhonglang, you come and tell me what's wrong."

Ma Sizong wanted to refute, but he couldn't utter a word. He saw clearly that these people were deeply bound to Li Xuan for their own and their family's interests.

Not to mention, they still have the late emperor as a shield.

Ma Sizong suddenly sneered, looked at Zhou Qian and said, "So what? Yangzhou will be conquered soon, and Li Chongzhao will be arrested. He may even disappear forever in the southeast. Without the name of Li Chongzhao, what will you do?"

Whether Li Xuan is now the Grand Marshal or the Chief of the Northwest Rebellion Suppression Force, they were both conferred upon Li Chongzhao's ascension to the throne.

Once Li Chongzhao died, Li Xuan would no longer have any reputation that could win the hearts of the people.

By then, it is inevitable that his subordinates will fall apart.

Zhou Qian leaned down, gently patted Ma Sizong's cheek, and said softly: "The General seems to have forgotten something?"

"Hmm!" Ma Sizong looked up and frowned at Zhou Qian.

Zhou Qian whispered in his ear: "The General seems to have forgotten that King Peng is also a descendant of Emperor Gaozu and the most orthodox bloodline of the Tang Dynasty."

"You!" Ma Sizong looked at Zhou Qian with horror. At this moment, Cui Ding behind him had already stuffed a piece of rag into his mouth.

(End of this chapter)