Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 409 Be bold
In Li Jiba's eyes, An Lushan was more charismatic as a commander than Wang Zhongsi. If it weren't for the obstruction by the villains in the court and the obstruction of the Hedong Jiedushi's appointment, several troops, including Yunzhong Shouchuo, would have followed him. An Lushan.

With this mentality, he was extremely confident in winning over the Yunzhong Army and spoke in an arrogant manner.

"You have done a lot of good things over the years, and now is the time to use you..."

Having said this, he suddenly felt a little coldness on his neck. When he looked down, he saw a black shadow falling to his feet, and then he heard a hoarse voice asking a question.

Li Jiba reacted immediately and was not afraid. Instead, he looked at Fan Chang and spat: "You are such a waste!"

Fan Chang looked bitter and said: "Prince Dongping is still obeying the imperial court's orders. After all, General Wang is the imperial envoy appointed by the imperial court. How can we dare to disobey him?"

What he said was to the point. An Lushan was still afraid, so he couldn't get ahead of An Lushan and rebel.

As for the "General Wang" mentioned at this time, it refers to the rare king.

Li Jiba slowly turned his head and looked at Wang Ruanlan. The tip of the spear was aimed at his Adam's apple, which was covered with beard, but he was not afraid and sneered: "I thought Wang was a famous general, but he turned out to be a villain who loves sneak attacks. Could it be that you killed the Tubo prince with your back?" A sneak attack?"

"To answer my question, I want to know the distribution of Anlu Mountain's troops at Shiling Pass." Wang Nan said.

Amid the curses, a map was rolled out and several candlesticks were lit, illuminating a dozen rough faces in the room.

With this strike, Li Jiba demonstrated the toughness and bravery of Sergeant Yiluohe. Even though he was a famous general, he grabbed the sword and approached without any fear.

Li Sheng then stepped forward to appease the Yanmen soldiers and said: "We have sent people to Shuofang, but they won't come back soon. Let's wait."

"what!"

The speaker was Yan Weiyue, the deputy general of Yanmen Pass. His entire left arm was broken and tied with a few branches. His old face was wrinkled, his beard and hair were all white, and he looked like a tree.

Xue Song originally thought that letting Xue Kui go to Daizhou for help could save his younger brother's life. Now that he has obtained the accurate letter, Dai and the land of Xin have fallen into the control of Anlu Mountain, and he is inevitably very anxious.

This was the rare first impression that "Yiluohe" gave Wang. It was like this for one person, and it was like this for eight thousand people. They were like vicious dogs raised by Anlu Mountain, drooling and ready to tear open the prosperous Tang Dynasty...

Wang Nannan remembered the name "Eight Thousand Drags Down the River" in his heart.

Li Jiba couldn't believe it. He roared angrily. He actually grabbed the handle of the gun with one hand, pulled hard, and thrust the gun into his body. With this force, he drove forward, continued to press towards Wang Ran, and brandished his knife.

Wang Nan nodded and said, "I have an intuition."

Wang Nanwan was meditating on the map and said nothing. Li Sheng responded: "Yes, General Wang does things so neatly."

He was impressed by the rare idea of ​​​​the king, but he shook his head for a moment and said: "But the Hengye army has also joined Zahu."

Wang Rao shook his head, casually hung Li Jiba's head on the weapon rack, wiped his hands, and said: "It's not that simple. Listening to what this man meant, An Lushan didn't rebel, but instead pointed out the king's handsomeness. Inverted."

One inch longer and one inch stronger, Wang Rao's spear was too fast. It was thrust at the scarecrow for countless days and nights in the wind and frost of Longyou, and it mercilessly penetrated Li Jiba's chest.

At this moment, Li Jiba suddenly leaned up and avoided the tip of the spear with his throat. He took out a dagger from his waist and raised it quickly and neatly.

"Okay, let me tell you." Li Jiba said loudly: "The Lord is at Shiling Pass, with only eight thousand soldiers and horses around him."

"It's useless to say anything now." Wang Nan said, "My scouts will ask you, I only believe them."

"An Lushan has rebelled. The court will soon issue an edict to suppress the rebellion, right?"

This straightforward statement was not about interrogating Li Jiba. Two Longyou soldiers had already come over. They would use the death penalty to force him to find out what Wang Rao wanted to know.

"General Wang means that the Hengye Army's attitude may be to turn a blind eye or close an eye?"

Wang Nan didn't even raise his head and said slowly: "Maybe we can go from the Hengye Army's station?"

"Tiger--"

His heavy body hit the ground, and Li Jiba looked mad and murderous until his death.

At the same time, Li Jiba took two steps back, pulled out the saber from Fan Chang's waist, and slashed at Wang Lan.

"puff."

When the two soldiers saw this, they quickly jumped on him and killed Li Jiba on the spot with two blows of his sword.

"No wait." Wang Rao leaned over and looked at the map, pointed at the north of Taiyuan and connected with Xinzhou, and said: "Anlu Mountain is right here. Let's kill it and cut off this bastard's head. Everything will be done." Finished.”

~~
"Eating dog intestines, Zahu is not the governor of Hedong!"

"Can such a thing happen?" No one believed it.

"What I said is true. Eight thousand Yiluohe is enough to sweep across Hedong." Li Jiba looked crazy and said word by word: "Remember what I said, the brave and unparalleled Yiluohe will definitely tear you apart." These hypocritical Tang troops!”

Yan Weiyue was stunned for a while and asked: "It's that simple."

Standing behind him were Xue Song and nine soldiers who had escaped from Yanmen Pass, with angry expressions on their faces.

Amid the roar of the wind, Wang Ruo was forced to take a few steps back. Because it is one inch short and one inch dangerous, his gun is too long and cannot be used.

"Not necessarily." Wang Nanlan said thoughtfully, "The Hengye army is mostly barbarians, and they are not subject to control. In addition, they have frequent trade with the north. Under Anlu Mountain's special solicitation, they will inevitably get close to Fan Yang... But if we say, Is it too arbitrary for them to completely follow An Lushan in rebellion?"

Wang Nan had to abandon his gun and retreat again.

Yan Weiyue looked at the map and saw that it was very crude and many mountains, rivers and rivers were not marked. He has been in Yanmen for a long time and is most familiar with the terrain, so he understands it well. He muttered: "But Yanmen Pass has fallen into the hands of the rebels, how can we get past it?"

Li Jiba took the lead, and couldn't help but cheer up. He was about to attack the king and kill him, achieving the prestige of a famous general. However, the feeling of cheering came up, and the spear suddenly struck like lightning.

Yan Weiyue understood as soon as he heard that he was going to leave Feihu Pass and unexpectedly go around to the side of Anlu Mountain from the east.

Amidst the soft "squeaking" sound, Fan Chang, who was sitting in a daze, had a cut on his neck. Blood spurted out and splashed onto the barbecue and wine on the table.

If other people were to praise this kind of Haikou, everyone would definitely not believe it, but Wang Rao has an incredible record, which makes people believe it.

"Let me tell you again, I am the son of the general of Yiluo River!"

Yan Weiyue was surprised that he dared to take risks based on intuition alone, and thought, "Even so, it is still too risky to pass under the nose of Fan Yang's garrison."

Following this question, there was silence in the room for a while, until Wang Rao suddenly asked.

"Do you know Xue Bai?"

"Ah." Xue Song remained silent. After hearing this, he immediately raised his head and wanted to speak.

"I know." Yan Weiyue said, "He gave me a poem."

"Xue Lang knew that An Lushan was against his will and had many arrangements for this. Before I went to Yunzhong, I met him in Chang'an." Wang Nan said, "He gave me something that I might be able to use..."

In Chang'an in winter, Wang Rao actually met Wang Zhongsi.

After he and Li Sheng went to Yanshoufang to worship, Wang Yunxiu took them there, which was in a Fenghui bank branch money shop.

At that time, Wang Zhongsi all said something with emotion.

"The saint is old, his ears and eyes are dull, he is deceived by sycophants and rebellion, and he does not listen to the grievances of the people in the world. The country may be in great shock. In extraordinary times, we can do extraordinary things."

~~
Xinzhou.

Because the trade route to Taiyuan was suddenly cut off, many business travelers were stranded in the post house. Naturally, they were anxious and complained again and again.

Not many people know exactly what happened. Even if there are bold people who run to the south to take a look, they will be stopped by officers and soldiers, who will be informed that "there are troops and horses mobilized at Shiling Pass to attack the Khitan from the north, and passage is prohibited."

As for more, the officers and soldiers had no reason and no bother to inform them.

In early March, the second floor of a restaurant was filled with business travelers. Among them, a man in his fifties wearing a felt hat sat by the window, holding a wine bottle in his hand and lazily looking at the sky.

There was a long sword on his waist, which was gently swung by his other hand, and knocked on the window coffin, making a soft "tuk-tuk" sound.

If anyone listens carefully, the sound is actually very rhythmic. It turns out that the merchant composed a smooth tune at random.

He recalled the scene when he came to Jinzhong in the 23rd year of Kaiyuan, his thoughts were flying, and he murmured silently: "The breeze blew the songs into the sky, and the songs flew around the clouds."

suddenly.

"Stop him!" A loud shout came from the long street.

Following the sound, a young man ran out of the alley, followed by the officers who were rounding up him.

The young man collided with a man carrying dung and water, and casually picked up a dung bucket and hit an official on the head. There was a loud "bang", and then another fight broke out.

Seeing this, the merchants in the restaurant twirled their long beards, squinted their eyes, and looked around. They saw that the young man was wearing a pair of deerskin military boots. The robe he was wearing was very dirty, but he could still tell that it was a military robe. .

The merchant then stood up and strode downstairs.

Someone among the drinkers still eating and drinking on the second floor complained.

"He's causing trouble again."

Following these words, several men dressed as merchants stood up and ran over after the merchant.

On the long street, the young man had run away, but his excrement-stained footprints were still left on the ground, and the smell was strong in the air.

"Chase!"

……

The alley leads to a dead end.

Xue Kui stopped and listened to the shouts coming closer and closer behind him. He gritted his teeth, raised the pole in his hand, and prepared to respond to the enemy.

Suddenly, a small courtyard door on the side opened, and someone pulled him hard.

"come over!"

Xue Kui was stunned for a moment. Before he could react, the small courtyard door was closed again.

Someone pulled him away in a hurry, leaving only his back wearing a felt hat. They passed through this house and entered another house.

"You stink."

The other party turned around and saw a man in his fifties with three long beards, a handsome face, dressed as a merchant, and a long sword on his waist. He threw a piece of clothing casually and said, "Change into it."

"Thank you so much for saving my life." Xue Kui did not forget to clasp his fists in salute before changing his clothes, "May I ask your benefactor your name?"

"Li Bai."

Xue Kui was stunned, stopped what he was doing, and his eyes widened.

"Hahaha, Li Bai, courtesy name Taibai, nickname Qinglian. If you ask me your name, I will tell you. Now let me ask you, are you a sergeant from Yanmen or Daizhou?"

"Yanmen." Xue Kui quickly announced his name, and then looked at Li Bai curiously for a while, "How did you know, sir?"

"I am the white star in the sky, I can see things in the world."

"what?"

Li Bai smiled narrowly and said: "Silly boy, I won't tease you anymore, just follow me."

Xue Kui quickly followed him and said: "To be honest, Mr. Li, I was guarding Yanmen with the general, and encountered an offensive by the rebels and the Khitans. The general ordered me to ask for help. This is my order. Sir, you may help me..."

"The road to Taiyuan is blocked."

Although it was a big event, Li Bai still had a casual attitude. He walked through alleys and houses familiarly, and finally entered a shop.

Xue Kui thought it was a gambling house at first because he saw boxes of copper coins, leather goods, and peppercorns. But soon, he realized something was wrong. There were no gamblers here, only the bookkeepers were busy keeping accounts.

He is familiar with gambling houses.

"Mr. Li, what is this?"

"Haha." Li Bai smiled without answering and led Xue Kui into the backyard.

Someone immediately came forward and said with a serious face: "Sir, you really can't bring people over here anymore. If you are exposed..."

"No, your people are all looking at me." Li Bai handed over a wine bag, "Here, take a few sips of wine to calm down. Oh, this is Yanmen general Xue Kui."

Xue Kui quickly clasped his fists, but received a surprised look.

"Are you Xue Kui?"

"My, my name is Xue Kui." Xue Kui scratched his head and felt that the other party seemed to recognize which Xue Kui, so he whispered again: "But I should not be the Xue Kui that you know."

"Xue Ling's son?"

"I……"

Xue Kui was shocked. He subconsciously took two steps back and turned around to look for the back door.

He had no money on him, but he didn't expect to meet his grandfather's creditor at this time. If the other party wanted to hand him over to pay off the debt, it would be better to escape first.

At this moment, someone rushed over from the front hall and said, "Hundred households, if I have news, can I tell you privately?"

"Say it, we are all our own people."

Xue Kui was about to escape when he heard the word "one of our own" and couldn't help but be startled.

"There is news from the north. General Wang is coming around from Feigu Sai. We need our cooperation..."

~~
The cry of wild geese is rarely heard in the sky anymore, and the snow on the top of Yanmen Mountain has melted.

Spring is about to pass.

In Lishan Mountain, the scenery at the foot of Xixiuling Mountain is completely different.

The pear blossoms are in full bloom, and singing and music can be heard under the pear trees. The beauties are swaying in their long dresses, which are more beautiful than the pear blossoms.

The Pepper Garden outside Huaqing Palace was quiet.

Zanthoxylum bungeanum usually matures in late summer and early autumn, so no one will visit the pepper garden during this season.

However, this day was a special case. Soldiers from the Longwu Army suddenly opened the door of the pepper garden and rushed in quickly, even trampling some of the precious pepper branches.

"Bold!" The old eunuch who was in charge of the pepper garden rushed out and shouted angrily: "Do you know what this place is..."

Halfway through his words, he saw one of the leaders of the visitors, ran down the steps quickly, and asked, "General Chen, why are you here?"

Chen Xuanli strode forward, put his arms around the old eunuch's shoulders, leaned into his ear, and asked in a low voice: "Where is that man?"

"Here I am."

"Really?"

"Because of his presence, the old slave mistakenly thought that someone was coming to rob him."

"take me."

The pepper garden is very big, and the rows of pepper trees are so valuable that they seem to form a city wall. Even Chen Xuanli didn't dare to step directly on it. They could only stride forward until they reached the depths of the pepper garden.

On the road, there are guards at two places, and the defenses are very tight.

There was finally a row of houses ahead. Chen Xuanli strode forward, stood outside the window and looked in. He saw a tall man with long hair and beard vaguely behind the screen.

He breathed a sigh of relief and said, "You all go down."

Then, he opened the door, walked into the house, and said: "Axun, the saint asked me to come and see you..."

The man in the room was eating and lowered his head after hearing this. Chen Xuanli reached out and patted his shoulder, pulling him over.

With just one glance, he was shocked, his pupils shrank, revealing an extremely solemn chill.

He recognized the man in front of him. He was not Wang Zhongsi, but a death row prisoner captured by Long Wujun last year.

"Something big happened." Chen Xuanli murmured.

"Hey."

The death row prisoner in front of him grinned sarcastically, showing his full black teeth.

No matter how big something happened, he only had to sacrifice one life and one head, it was worth it.

~~
Just half an hour later, the first messenger had already rushed out of Huaqing Palace.

Li Longji stood in the Jiangsheng Temple and looked with a telescope. He could see the messenger constantly urging him to get off his horse and run away like a shooting star.

Turning the camera, he could see the post station ten miles away. Soon, he saw the second messenger receiving the order and rushing away. It can be said that "one post passed by another, and the post was like a stream of stars."

He couldn't see it any further away, so Li Longji put down his telescope and showed the extremely sinister look in his eyes.

"We took all precautions, but Wang Zhongsi still rebelled."

In fact, he had already had a premonition. Many years ago, when the adopted son destroyed the Turks, he first imagined what would happen if they wanted to rebel. Many times after that, it was because of the friendship brought about by raising her by his own hands that he let the other person go.

Unfortunately, he should still be killed.

This was Li Longji's first reaction when he received the news and confirmed that Wang Zhongsi had indeed escaped from Jiaoyuan.

He climbed the highest, held the telescope and saw the farthest. Naturally, he saw the truth at a glance.

Soon, the second edict, the third edict... more and more edicts came out, flying to all directions.

In today's prosperous period of the Tang Dynasty, there are more than 1,600 post stations in the world, with more than 17,000 post soldiers and more than 20,000 post slaves.

The laws of the Tang Dynasty were very harsh on them. Anyone who delayed their trip or failed to send someone should be punished with a hundred sticks; if the official arrived late, the stick would be eighty for one day and doubled for two days, and so on. It was fine during normal times, but once there was a military situation, whether it was a freezing cold wind, a scorching sun, or a pouring rain, they had to carry their document bags and run on the road to deliver letters.

On the road leading to various important places, there are often post stations every ten to thirty miles. Once the words "delivery immediately" are written on the official document, it is required to be delivered at least 180 miles a day, and if it is faster, it will be delivered every day. Three hundred miles, the fastest is five hundred miles.

"Five hundred miles urgent!"

I don’t know how many times this sentence was shouted during this day. The shouts still appeared in Lishan Mountain in the morning, and they arrived at the Yellow River before sunset. By the morning of the next day, the postman from Jiangzhou Wenxi Station in Hezhong Prefecture, Hedong Road had already arrived. He took the briefcase and ran along Fen.

On the morning of the third day, the briefcase arrived at Fenxi Station in Jinzhou. At noon on the fourth day, it actually appeared in Taiyuan City.

"Taiyuan Prefecture, Hedong Jiedushi Deputy Envoy, Taiyuan Yin Yang Guanghui and other officials receive the order!"

There was a huge chaos in the government office. Officials rushed over one after another, put their heads forward, carefully opened the official document bag, took out the sealed official document, and unfolded it.

The clearest order appeared in front of them.

"We are escorting Wang Zhongsi back to the capital. If you dare to resist, you will be killed without mercy."

~~
Shiling Pass.

"Five hundred miles urgent! Is Yang Fuyin here?!"

As the shouts reached the tower, Yang Guanghui stood up quietly and looked out through the gap next to the window. He saw two sergeants guarding him squatting outside the door eating biscuits.

From here, he could see the situation inside Guancheng, and he saw officials being released into the city.

The news from the court arrived really quickly.

Yang Guanghui rolled his eyes, preparing to return to the couch and pretending not to know anything. With a "squeak", the door behind him was opened, and someone grabbed him by the collar.

"Come on you!"

Soon, Yang Guanghui was brought to the lobby of the city tower, where the officials and messengers who had come to deliver the message were kneeling on the ground, trembling.

"You are also stupid. You dare to take on any errand."

When Yang Guanghui passed by them, he couldn't help but kicked the official to show his loyalty to Xue Bai.

A sneak peek revealed that Wang Zhongsi was reading a document in his hand, with a terrifying aura about him.

Xue Bai said: "Have you guessed what it is?"

"No...not sure."

Xue Bai then took the document from Wang Zhongsi and threw it in front of Yang Guanghui.

When Yang Guanghui saw it, although it was as expected, he pretended to be shocked and said hurriedly: "This is definitely not my complaint. I am reporting An Lushan's rebellion!"

"Do you know what I want you to do?"

"I will definitely stabilize the situation." Yang Guanghui thought to himself that if he could use this matter to return to Taiyuan City, his safety would be more guaranteed. He immediately showed his loyalty and said, "I will definitely stabilize the officials of Taiyuan Prefecture, oh, and there are also heavenly soldiers. Army, we must hold on."

"Not stupid."

"Then I'll go back to Taiyuan..."

Xue Bai smiled when he heard this, and Yang Guanghui was so frightened that he quickly shut up and was at a loss.

"Go ahead, I'll send someone to take you there." Xue Bai still made arrangements and said, "Diao Bing, take someone with Yang Fuyin to protect him."

"Don't worry, Mr. Lang, I know how to do it."

When Xue Bai made these arrangements, Wang Zhongsi did not interfere. It was not until everyone else had retreated that he asked: "How long can it be delayed?"

"Maybe the saint has twelve gold medals." Xue Bai made a joke that he only understood, and then said: "We can still hide it from the soldiers for now, but I'm afraid that in a few days, the morale of the soldiers will be chaotic."

"You said that the reason why you saved me time and time again was because you didn't want An Lushan to get Hedong."

"Yes, now we can see Wang Jieshuai show off his magical powers."

Wang Zhongsi lost his former self-confidence and said, "I'm afraid that I might live up to your high expectations."

Although he had expected the saint's reaction, the disappointment in his heart still inevitably hit him.

Xue Bai wanted to comfort Wang Zhongsi, but couldn't analyze anything more useful, so he simply said casually: "All along, my way to protect Hedong is to save you. Do you know why?"

"I don't know how many famous generals there are in the Tang Dynasty, but I am no longer able to use them."

"But I have heard a saying." Xue Bai said, "That saying is, 'As long as Wang Zhongsi, the military governor of the four towns, is here, Anlu Mountain will not dare to rebel.'"

Wang Zhongsi snorted lightly. Even he didn't understand where Xue Bai's confidence in him came from. He secretly thought that he was no longer the Jiedushi of the Four Towns. It was given by the saint, and the saint could take it back. go.

But he could only cheer up, thought for a moment, and said, "Are there any more fireworks? Let's light them up tonight."

"Give the king a rare signal?"

Wang Zhongsi stood up, put on his helmet, looked at Xue Bai, and asked with a smile: "Is this what you think?"

"Isn't it?"

"An Lushan would also think so."

Wang Zhongsi said, walked out of the city tower, walked to the wall and looked at the camp at Anlu Mountain, where there were 8,000 Yiluohe and more strong men.

As for him, he no longer has that many soldiers under his command, and even the Heavenly Soldiers may turn their backs on him.

He asked himself what would be left then, probably a heart of loyalty and a heart of courage.

(End of this chapter)