First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 119
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In the temporary palace, Xue Rengao rushed to the back office, but happened to meet Hao Yuan at the door.

"King Qi, who are you?" Seeing that Xue Rengao, who had always been arrogant and mighty, was now disgraced and extremely embarrassed, and at the same time looked extremely panicked, Hao Yuan couldn't help asking in surprise.

"Military division, something is wrong. There is a fire in the supply camp. The fire has been extinguished, but there is no more food and grass." Xue Rengao was anxious and panicked, "There is not much food and grass. How can this be good?"

Hao Yuan was shocked when he heard the words, he staggered and almost fell, Xue Rengao hurriedly helped, Hao Yuan glanced at Xue Ju's bedroom behind him, and hurriedly pulled Xue Rengao aside.

"Your Majesty's dragon body is ill, please don't disturb it," Hao Yuan said with a sad face, "If His Majesty finds out about such a severe blow, he will be furious."

"Aye is in good health, but I feel the wind and cold occasionally, it should be fine, the military commander should not worry," Xue Rengao said in relief seeing this busy situation.

Hearing this, Hao Yuan shook his head and sighed, took out half of the handkerchief from his sleeve, and handed it to Xue Rengao, Xue Rengao took a closer look, half of the square handkerchief was burned by fire, but the other half was stained with blood.

"I discovered this when I reported the military affairs just now," Hao Yuan sighed, "Hematemesis is so severe, His Majesty must have concealed the illness."

Xue Rengao was shocked, turned his head and was about to rush in, but Hao Yuan firmly held him back, "I have just arranged for the doctor to take medicine, the reason why your majesty concealed the disease is to fear that it will shake the morale of the army, the king of Qi must not spread the word."

At this moment, a general from the Western Qin Dynasty rushed to report, "King Qi, just now Li Ziwei led his men to break through the east gate and left the city."

"Li Ziwei?" Xue Rengao and the two were startled, both of them recognized this person as the Chengmen Captain of the East Gate.

Hao Yuan quickly came to his senses, "Li Ziwei is Li Hongzhi's nephew, and Li Ziwei must have set the fire in the baggage camp, and then took advantage of the panic to fight the fire, he took the door and surrendered to Tang."

"Straight mother thief", Xue Rengao hated, "I thought it was just a coincidence, Li Ziwei, I will cut you into pieces."

"King Qi calm down first, at this time, we should quickly consolidate the four gates, in case the Tang army takes the opportunity to attack," Hao Yuan said hastily.

Xue Rengao responded and left.

Hao Yuan looked at the back office, then ordered a group of elite soldiers, and went straight to the posthouse.

At the post house, Li Anyuan slammed on Tang Jian's door, "Mao Yue, Mao Yue, wake up quickly."

Tang Jian got out of bed and hurriedly put on his clothes, "An Yuan, why are you panicking?"

"There was a fire in the South Camp of West Qin City, Hao Yuan has already arrived in the front hall, and the menacing attack, then Hao Yuan will not suspect that we did it?" Li Anyuan said anxiously.

Tang Jian was shocked when he heard the words, and looked to the south of the city under the moonlight, only to see that although the fire in the sky was extinguished, the sky was still shrouded in thick smoke, so he straightened his posture and headed towards the front hall.

"Tang Maoyue", when Tang Jian came, before he had time to say hello, Hao Yuan jumped up, "I respect you for being a well-known family, benevolent, filial, and knowledgeable. I thought you were a straightforward gentleman, why did you do such a despicable thing?"

Tang Jian was immediately annoyed by the scolding. He was confident. Although he didn't know what happened in the West Qin camp in the south of the city, Tang Jian was so keen that he soon realized that this might be a breakthrough.

Immediately, he was furious, "Hao Yuan, don't you want to spew blood, you are no different from caged beasts, why do I need to use tricks, just attack with one whole army, you will immediately destroy the city and people will die."

Li Anyuan on the side also drew his sword angrily, "It's nothing more than five steps of blood spattering, you dare to give it a try."

Seeing Li Anyuan draw his sword, the Western Qin soldiers brought by Hao Yuan also drew their swords and raised their guns. For a while, the atmosphere fell into a deadlock.

At this time, Mr. Chu, who had not slept all night, appeared in time again and hurried into the hall.

"Brother Hao, I heard that Li Ziwei set fire to the supply camp and left the city to defect to Tang. Don't you come here to hurt Tang Maoyue's life."

Hearing these words, the expressions of everyone in the hall suddenly became exciting.

Hao Yuan glared at Chu Liang angrily, his eyes were full of anger, but he didn't know how to attack it, but Tang Jian on the opposite side came to his senses and immediately laughed.

"So that's how it is," Tang Jian said with a smile, "Hao Yuan, now that things are going on, you still want to frame me? But you want to use this as a bargaining chip?"

Chu Liang looked bewildered, and now he suddenly understood why his son Chu Suiliang asked him to say these words.

When he learned that Hao Yuan led troops into the posthouse, Chu Liang was really worried that Hao Yuan would become angry and kill Tang Jian and others, but Chu Suiliang advised him not to worry, and asked him to break into the posthouse to disrupt the situation and tell the truth face to face.

"This...Brother Hao, why is this?" Chu Liang half understood, half confused.

Hao Yuan ignored it, and looked at Tang Jian, "I agree to your conditions, and we will draw up the alliance letter tomorrow, and I will return to Jincheng immediately."

Tang Jian was noncommittal when he heard the words, and frowned in thought, but Hao Yuan said in a deep voice: "It is true that our supply camp has suffered heavy losses, but if there is an emergency, there are still hundreds of thousands of people living in the city. It is not yet known who will die."

Hearing this, Tang Jian could only shake his head and said with a smile: "Hao Yuan, you have cast your pearl secretly", then turned and left.

After the alliance of Li Yuan was signed, Li Shimin also retreated [-] li as promised.

Xue Ju led his army out of the west gate, passing through Dazhen Pass, crossing Longshan Mountain, and entering Tianshui County.

In Tianshui County, Shangyu City, Xue Ju beheaded Chang Zhongxing's younger brother Jixian County Captain, and demoted Chang Zhongxing to the school captain. .

There were [-] soldiers in Jincheng headquarters, more than [-] defenders in Tianshui, and [-] defenders in Anding.

"Aye, there are nearly [-] soldiers and horses now. If you want to go back to Fufeng, if you are caught off guard, you will definitely be able to take back Fufeng County." Xue Rengao was about to move, but his fighting spirit was still high.

Xue Ju frowned when he heard the words, and shook his head, "No, the soldiers in Tianshui and Anding have no fighting spirit, and the only soldiers and horses we can rely on in Jincheng Headquarters are eager to return home, so don't be rash."

Hao Yuan also resolutely opposed, "First, your majesty is determined to win the Central Plains, so you must establish prestige, and you will be cast aside if you are capricious. Second, Li Gui's disaster has not been cured, so don't be careless. Third, Liang Shidu has a suspicious attitude towards the Turks. , and need to be strictly guarded. Now we are determined not to fight the Tang army again."

"What the military adviser said is true, wait until the surrounding area of ​​Jincheng is stabilized, and then plan to advance eastward in the future," Xue Ju said immediately.

Xue Ju had only rested in Shangyu for only three days, and Li Shimin ordered Liu Hongji to lead the army across Longshan Mountain, and followed behind the Western Qin army in a grand manner, and spread to the counties to take over the city defense.

Xue Rengao was so angry that he cursed, but fortunately, Xue Ju was extremely decisive. Since he decided not to conflict with the Tang army, he should even order to attack.

The Western Qin army walked ahead, and every time a city was vacated, the Tang army quickly took over a city, with a posture of guarding against death. On the one hand, it disgusted Xue Ju and others, and on the other hand, it also discouraged them from turning around and attacking.

(End of this chapter)