First Minister of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 242 Forced Landing in the Old City of Luoyang
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Wang Deren can be said to be a model of seeing profit and forgetting righteousness, greedy for life and afraid of death. Dealing with this kind of person is far easier than dealing with a hero like Meng Haigong.

Gao Chong led more than a thousand Qingqi straight to the old city of Luoyang. The Zheng army in the city was already panicked, with no fighting spirit and no fighting spirit.

Facing the arrival of the Tang army, the city gates were closed tightly, and no one came forward to deal with it. Gao Chong immediately sent someone forward to shout: "King Qin Renyi has released all the puppet Xia soldiers. If you open the city and return, let the past go. Kill Wang Deren and come down, and you will be promoted to a higher level and rewarded with a hundred gold."

Hearing Tang Jun's yelling, there was a lot of discussion on the top of the city. Gao Chong made people keep repeating the yelling, "Capture and kill Wang Deren and come down, and you will be rewarded with a hundred gold for promotion."

Gao Chong didn't retreat until the soldiers' voices became hoarse.

After returning to Hulao Pass, facing Li Shimin's doubts, Gao Chong said confidently: "In less than a day, the old city of Luoyang will definitely surrender."

"Yuzhi thinks that Wang Deren is afraid of our army's might and will surrender?" Dou Gui frowned and asked directly.

Dou Kang who was beside him spoke quickly, and said directly: "I'm afraid that guy Wang Deren dare not come to vote."

Gao Chong shook his head and said: "Wang Deren is selfish, suspicious and cherishes his life. During the day, he shouts that those who capture and kill Wang Deren will be promoted to a higher level and rewarded with a hundred gold. I believe that tonight, Wang Deren must have his eyes wide open and sleep with his armor. His head was taken away in his sleep."

Hearing this, Li Shimin also understood, and said with a straight smile: "It turns out that Youzhi came up with this idea. Wang Deren was originally unpopular. Now he is frightened and suspicious. I believe his subordinates will take action."

Everyone smiled when they heard the words, and at the same time admired Gao Chong's eyes. If the old city of Luoyang really came to vote, it would be another great achievement.

The old city of Luoyang is now an important military town, and there are not many people living there, only the garrisons come to defend Luoyang city.

As Gao Chong said, at this time Wang Deren was wearing heavy armor, and the outer room was full of personal guards. Seeing that the time had passed, Wang Deren still did not dare to fall asleep.

"Shuai, don't worry about sleeping, there are brothers outside, and you will never let a thief in." Seeing this, Wang Deren's personal guard couldn't help persuading him. From the address, he knew that this person was killed when Wang Deren occupied Lin Lushan as a bandit. Already following Wang Deren around.

Wang Deren is short and fat, with a dark complexion, looks like a farmer, and has no "handsome" spirit. Hearing the relief from the guards, Wang Deren not only did not feel relieved, but narrowed his eyes and stared, "I am not afraid of outsiders." Thieves, I'm only afraid of house thieves."

The personal guard hurriedly knelt down on the ground, "Don't worry, handsome, we are all old brothers of Lin Lushan. We are loyal to the handsome, and the world can learn from it."

Wang Deren's face was gloomy, he just waved his hand to make him retreat without saying a word.

At this time, in the big camp in Xicheng, in the big tent of the Chinese army, the shadows of lights flickered, and several people were plotting in the tent.

"General, that fellow Wang Deren had already rebelled against Tang, now there is absolutely no reason to surrender to Tang again, we don't need to die with him," said a school lieutenant in a low voice.

These words immediately won the echo of several other people, "Exactly, Wang Deren is so strict with my brothers, without any trust, following him will be a dead end sooner or later."

Sitting in the tent was a general wearing armor, with a rather elegant face, it was Wang Deren's deputy Zhao Jiqing, and Zhao Jiqing did not hesitate to hear the words of his cronies, and said directly: "To tell you the truth, I have long wanted to vote for the Tang Dynasty. Dou Jiande's [-] troops were defeated, how could Wang Shichong win with only one city."

"The humble post followed the general."

"The general voted for Tang, please bring the last general with you."

Seeing that everyone was united, Zhao Jiqing immediately made up his mind, "Since this is the case, there is no need to delay, and we will act tonight. Everyone, bring your personal guards, and I will capture and kill Wang Deren overnight, and join us in the Tang Dynasty."

Everyone excitedly agreed, and immediately summoned their cronies, a total of hundreds of people, led by Zhao Jiqing, went straight to Wang Deren's residence in the dark.

It's just that Zhao Jiqing didn't expect that Wang Deren would be so greedy for life and afraid of death that he put all his personal sanitary equipment in the courtyard. As soon as Zhao Jiqing entered, he encountered desperate resistance. Wang Deren heard the movement, got out of bed, and rushed out of the room with a knife.

Wang Deren's Lin Lushan's old department was quite a lot, and he chose hundreds of elite guards, Zhao Jiqing and others had difficulty breaking through for a while, but Wang Deren was already frightened, so he didn't want to resist when he was shocked by this, so he brought several personal guards He slipped straight through the back door and fled back to Luoyang City overnight.

Seeing that Wang Deren fled alone, Lin Lushan's former troops also lost their backbone and gave up resistance one after another.

Zhao Jiqing led people to chase all the way, until he saw Wang Deren escaped from the city gate and disappeared into the night, only then did he regret turning back, but failed to capture and kill Wang Deren, Zhao Jiqing was greatly disappointed.

At this moment, the subordinate suggested: "General, the general of the Xia army, Meng Haigong, is still in the city."

This sentence immediately reminded Zhao Jiqing that he was overjoyed immediately, without Wang Deren as the nomination certificate, it would be good to capture and kill Meng Haigong Xian and Tang Jun. After all, Meng Haigong used to be a prince with a good reputation, so he immediately led the troops to Meng Haigong's residence.

Meng Haigong didn't know what had happened here, he was sleeping soundly, Zhao Jiqing led his men to rush in, and Meng Haigong, who was sound asleep, was immediately captured alive.

"When I want to vote for the Tang Dynasty, I only use the general as my vote," Zhao Jiqing said to Meng Haigong who looked shocked and angry.

Meng Haigong bowed his head and said nothing, so he had to accept his fate.

Early the next morning, Zhao Jiqing sent envoys to Hulao Pass to surrender.

Li Shimin was very happy, and praised Gao Chong in public, "Youzhi shocked Wang Deren to flee overnight with just a few words, this is a soldier who surrendered without fighting."

Gao Chong was also a little surprised, and said with a smile, "This Zhao Jiqing is very knowledgeable about current affairs."

"The guilty general, Zhao Jiqing, has met the King of Qin."

Li Shimin led the Xuanjia Army into the old city of Luoyang. Zhao Jiqing immediately bound Meng Haigong to the city gate and saluted respectfully.

"General Zhao, please get up quickly," Li Shimin dismounted from his horse, strode forward, helped Zhao Jiqing up with his own hands, and gave him great respect, "General Zhao's contribution to the city, in the future, the king will report to the sage and reward him heavily."

Zhao Jiqing was overjoyed when he saw this, and he admired Li Shimin for being such a virtuous corporal. As a prince, Li Shimin was so approachable, and Wang Deren was just a mere bandit.

Turning around, he pulled the bound Meng Haigong to him, and said: "Your Majesty, this is Meng Haigong, the false Xia general. He has been captured alive by the criminal generals, and he will let you deal with him."

When everyone looked at him, they could only see that Meng Haigong had a rough appearance, thick and long arms, and a bearded face that looked very brave.

Facing everyone's attention at this time, Meng Haigong straightly moved his neck to the side, very stubborn.

When Li Shimin saw this, he didn't say much, he just waved his hands and said: "Detention, I will take it to Chang'an in the future and hand it over to the sage."

Seeing that Li Shimin was not very interested in Meng Haigong, Gao Chong couldn't help being a little puzzled.

(End of this chapter)