First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 216
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Cheng Zhijie immediately led the army to the city, "I am Cheng Zhijie, the commander of the left three prefectures under King Qin, and open the city quickly."

The voice was extremely loud, there was a panic in the city, and a fire was quickly lit, Cheng Zhijie curled his mouth when he saw this, and sneered in his heart: just this kind of virtue is still trying to plot rebellion.

"General Cheng, wait a moment." On the top of the city gate, the captain of the city gate shouted loudly, "The last general will report back to Rongming Mansion."

"Hurry up, hurry up," Cheng Zhijie urged impatiently.

In Xie County, in the county office, Rong Jing, the county magistrate of Xie County, was walking around in a hurry, pacing in the back hall.

At this time, a man in a dark robe rushed over, "Mingfu, Tang Jun is here?"

"You're here." Rong Jing snorted coldly, glanced at the man, saw the rouge marks on his cheeks, and was angry, "I regret that I should not have listened to you, and followed Dugu Huai'en to make trouble, now Dugu Huai'en I went to the Changchun Palace, but there was no news, the Tang army has already left the city, maybe something happened."

"This is the end of the matter, Mingfu should not complain," but the man's face was unhappy when he heard the words, "Since the Tang army asked to enter the city, it should be that nothing has been found, and there should be no delay. You, Mingfu, welcome the Tang army to enter the city."

"Then what are you doing?" Rong Jing immediately became impatient, "How can you not show up as a majestic county captain?"

It turned out that this person was the county magistrate of Xie County, named Ge Tong. Ge Tong was originally a rogue with a little courage, but was taken in by Dugu Huai'en.

"Tang soldiers must eat when they enter the city, so I will prepare poisoned wine and poison them all." Ge Tong smiled bitterly, turned and left.

Rong Jing stomped her feet, and had no choice but to pluck up her courage, and went to the city gate to greet her anxiously.

Outside the city, Cheng Zhijie was even more disdainful, thinking in his heart: If he has not opened the city for a long time, there must be something strange, because Rong Jing has no brains.

Then secretly sent an order: enter the city later, obey the military order, and do not eat or drink without permission.

Among the three thousand light cavalry, three or four hundred are from Cheng Zhijie's Wagang old department, and the rest are Bingzhou cavalry dispatched by Li Shimin. They are well-trained, military orders are like mountains, and they are extremely obedient.

"My official Xie County Magistrate Rong Jing, see General Cheng." The gates of the city were wide open, and Rong Jing was the first to leave the city, bowing to the leader Cheng Zhijie first.

"The Rongming Mansion is polite." Cheng Zhijie did not dismount, but casually cupped his hands and said, "Let's lead the way, the soldiers urgently need to rest."

"Soldiers can rest in the camp west of the city, I have already ordered people to prepare wine and meat for the army," Rong Jing said respectfully sideways.

Cheng Zhijie's eyes narrowed, and he rushed into the city immediately.

At the gate of the county office, the yamen servant looked at Cheng Zhijie wearing armor and hanging a knife, and stretched out his hand to stop him, hesitating to speak, Cheng Zhijie stared, "What? How dare you let someone take off his armor?"

Seeing this, Rong Jing hurriedly laughed, "The people below are ignorant, don't blame the general, please come inside."

Seeing Rong Jing's respectful smile, Cheng Zhijie became more determined to guess.

When they came to the hall, the banquet was already set up, only to see a man in armor hurried forward, "Ge Tong, the county captain of the humble position, see General Cheng".

Cheng Zhijie looked him up and down, and said with a smile: "Lieutenant Ge is still wearing armor late at night, he is really a good general."

Ge Tong was startled when he heard the words, and hurriedly said with a smile: "I have been in the army for several years in a humble position, and I am used to it, so General Cheng laughed at me."

Hearing this, Cheng Zhijie laughed, looked at Rong Jing and said straightly: "I heard that Lieutenant Ge was born in the green forest, but he likes to sleep with armor, which is a rare thing." He shook his head and laughed loudly.

Ge Tong's face was gloomy. Seeing that Cheng Zhijie was about to take his seat, Ge Tong's expression changed. He hurriedly stepped forward and stopped in front of this seat and said, "General Cheng is a brave general of the Tang Dynasty. I admire him very much. Please take a seat. Come on." , and invite General Cheng to take a seat here."

Hearing this, Cheng Zhijie rolled his eyes, shook his head and smiled, and obediently sat on the seat led by Ge Tong.

Then Ge Tong hastily raised his glass again, "General Cheng, win the drink", and then he raised his glass and drank it down in one gulp.

Cheng Zhijie raised the wine glass, shook it, but didn't enter it, walked directly in front of Rong Jing, stared at Rong Jing closely, making Rong Jing feel uneasy.

I saw that Cheng Zhijie actually exchanged the wine glass in his hand with Rong Jing's wine glass, and then raised his glass and said: "Rong Ming Mansion invites you first."

Rong Jing's complexion changed, and she pushed the wine glass back tremblingly, "Re-I'd like to invite General Cheng first."

"Drink", Cheng Zhijie stared and scolded angrily.

Rong Jing trembled and looked at Ge Tong, only to see Ge Tong's face was heavy, "What does General Cheng mean?"

"He doesn't drink, you drink?" Cheng Zhijie turned to look at Ge Tong, his eyes fixed on Ge Tong's expression, and sure enough, seeing Ge Tong's expression changed, Cheng Zhijie immediately swung the wine glass and shouted: "Come on!"

The guards outside the hall rushed in and surrounded Rong and Ge tightly.

"What does General Cheng mean?" Rong Jing asked in a panic, terrified.

Cheng Zhijie held Rong Jing down, "Dugu Huai En", seeing Rong Jing's ashen face, Cheng Zhijie no longer hesitated, directly picked up the jug and forced it into Rong Jing's mouth. After a while, Rong Jing vomited blood , struggling to die on the ground.

Cheng Zhijie took a deep breath, "Young lady, you are so ruthless", then looked at Ge Tong and waved, "Give him a drink."

The soldiers forced Ge Tong to drink the remaining half pot of poisoned wine, and Ge Tong continued to yell at him until he died.

Seeing that the two were dead, Cheng Zhijie quickly ordered to take over the city defense, and then muttered triumphantly: "Isn't this a credit for nothing?"

Li Shimin led the Tang army to confront Song Jingang in Huizhou in Baibi, killing each other, and Xia Wang Dou Jiande, who ruled Hebei, was not idle.

After Dou Jiande broke through Xiangzhou, he captured King Li Shentong of Huai'an, General Xu Shiji of Zuowuwei and others.

But Huazhou is a bit funny. The governor of Huazhou is called Wang Gui, and he has an official voice. When facing Dou Jiande's soldiers, he actively prepares for the battle. However, at this time, a slave in the governor's mansion committed crimes. This servant is afraid of being punished. , unexpectedly assassinated Wang Gui while he was asleep, and then took Wang Gui's head to defect to Dou Jiande.

As soon as the assassin Wang Gui died, Huazhou was in chaos. Dou Jiande easily captured Huazhou, and the "meritorious" servant wanted to be promoted to a noble, but he did not expect Dou Jiande to escort him to the downtown area, and preached: "The servant killed The master is a crime of treason and injustice, and he should be executed rationally. This king will never take in such villains," and then executed him in public.

The people in Huazhou were shocked by this, and they rushed to eat the meat of this evil slave to pay homage to the governor of the king. Dou Jiande easily conquered the hearts of the people in Huazhou, and the reputation of King Xia became more and more famous through word of mouth.

Just when Dou Jiande was full of ambition, Xu Yuanlang, the governor of Yanzhou in the Tang Dynasty and the Duke of Lu, announced that he would join Dou Jiande, and Li Yuan was furious when he heard about it.

In the 13th year of Daye in the former Sui Dynasty, Xu Yuanlang, a native of Yanzhou, gathered a crowd to revolt and separatist Yanzhou. At the end of the same year, Xu Yuanlang attached himself to Li Mi. After Li Mi's defeat, Xu Yuanlang surrendered to Wang Shichong.

In July of the second year of Wude, Xu Yuanlang broke away from Wang Shichong and announced his attachment to Datang. Li Yuan appointed Xu Yuanlang as the governor of Yanzhou, governing Yanzhou, Qizhou, Jeju and other states. It can be called the emperor of Shandong.

(End of this chapter)