Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 442: Divorce plan

Tian Qianzhen once again launched a strong attack on Yanshi County. After the previous consumption, the wood and stone on the city had been exhausted, and the defenders had begun to control the amount of arrows. They rarely used arrows to kill the enemy, but "targeted" .

That day, after suffering heavy casualties, it was obvious that the defenders' physical strength was declining. Finally, more and more rebel soldiers began to climb the ladder. This made Tian Qianzhen see the hope of breaking the city, so he invested more troops.

But at this moment, a Tang army suddenly emerged from Shouyang Mountain in the north and went straight to the rebel camp, intending to set fire to the granary.

When the smoke came out, the morale of the rebels was in chaos. Tian Gan really had no choice but to withdraw his troops again, but unfortunately he could not intercept them. The other party's sentinel watched his troop dispatch from a high place and informed the Tang army to withdraw at the right time.

"What is Li Huaixian doing? Why can't he surround the enemy?!"

Tian Qianzhen was very angry. After Li Huaixian mobilized troops, the rebel force doubled, but he did not feel that the defenders had become more strenuous because of this, and the force could still be mobilized freely.

He then sent an envoy to question him, and the answer he received was that Li Huaixian was attacking the city with all his strength.

The next day they attacked again, and they could indeed hear the noise and shouts of killing coming from far east of the city, but Tian Qianzhen still felt something was wrong, so he simply drove his horse around the city and rushed to the east to watch the formation.

One glance made him grit his teeth in anger. However, they saw that Li Huaixian's soldiers were making a lot of noise, but they did not enter the city head at all. While building siege equipment, they fired arrows at the city head, as if they were sending arrows to the defenders.

The two rebel cavalrymen below the city were also disturbed and fled in different directions.

As soon as they met, Li Huaixian lowered his attitude and said seriously: "I am not colluding with Xue Bai, I am pretending to cooperate to lure him out of the city."

"Ah Hao, I was afraid that you might misunderstand, so I rushed over to explain."

Li Huaixian entered the camp with a group of soldiers, but Tian Qianzhen did not order the soldiers to stop him. If he really wanted to kill Li Huaixian, the group of people could not stop him, so he sat there with a look of disdain and looked at him coldly. .

After waiting for a long time, I saw two cavalrymen coming out of Li Huaixian's camp and going all the way to Yanshi. It would make sense to say they were on patrol at this time. But as they arrived at the top of the city, there were fire lights swaying on the top of the city, and they could faintly hear the sound of the suspension bridge being lowered.

Tian Ganzhen shouted loudly, drew his bow and arrow, and shot one man's horse in the dark. At the same time, he caught up with the other man and took him back to the camp for interrogation.

Tian Qianzhen's face suddenly turned cold, and that night he personally led his sentries to explore the east of the city, observing in the darkness.

"Oh!"

"Go away!"

But after another three days, Tian Qianzhen still didn't feel that Li Huaixian had brought greater pressure to the defenders, so his sentry cavalry hesitantly reported a piece of news to him.

"Of course he is the military general."

"Of course!" Li Huaixian took out a few letters from his sleeves, "This is Zhu Xicai's handwriting, you can read it yourself. Xue Bai is also preparing to oust the emperor and help Li Cong ascend the throne. The Tang court is chasing him. This matter cannot be false. You can say his position It’s similar to us.”

"Get them!"

At this time, there was another noise outside the camp, and the soldiers reported that Li Huaixian was coming.

Li Huaixian slapped the case and shouted: "What nonsense are you talking about? Xue Bai can't protect himself. Can I surrender to him?"

"Which one?"

"Ah Hao, are you checking me?" Li Huaixian said with a straight face, "I'm afraid it's not your turn to intervene in the affairs of our army."

"This... aren't you thinking about how to fight the war?" Li Huaixian pointed to the map on the desk, "I have been ill for the past two days and ordered the soldiers to attack the city with all their strength. What? You think they are not doing their best? I misunderstood. Our army has just arrived and is not yet firmly established.”

"It seems that General Lee's camp has been exchanging letters with the officers and soldiers."

"Once or twice...four or five times..."

"I also asked you what you are doing." Tian Qianzhen's brows were raised, "If you are not attacking the city, are you preserving your strength and responding to military orders?!"

"General, I noticed something. Every night, there is a fire outside the east gate of the city, as if someone is walking around at night."

Where Tian Qianzhen looked, he saw a bowl on both sides of the table and several wine jars on the ground. He immediately became confused and asked: "Who are you drinking with?"

After driving away the guards in front of the tent, Tian Qianzhen opened the curtain and entered, only to see Li Huaixian without any armor on. He was wearing a war robe and a fur cloak, sitting behind the desk with a pot of charcoal fire beside him.

Tian Qianzhen waved his whip, and the war horse under his crotch rushed out like a sharp arrow from the string. His sentry riders were startled and hurriedly caught up with him.

After Tian Qianzhen saw it, his murderous intent was revealed, and he asked: "How long have Li Huaixian and Xue Bai been corresponding?"

After searching, there was indeed a letter, written by Li Huaixian himself, which told Xue Bai not to worry about Tian Qianzhen. As long as both parties cooperated, the King of Dongping County would let him withdraw his troops.

The two were very unhappy, but the war had to continue. At the end of the conversation, Li Huaixian impatiently promised to attack the city with all his strength.

"is it?"

"How many times?!"

"Where?"

It can be seen that he was deeply affected, even quoting Xue Bai's words unconsciously when he spoke.

"Ah Hao, what are you doing?"

Tian Qianzhen took the letters and glanced at them a few times, only to see many smears on them, most of which related to the conditions for cooperation.

Tian Qianzhen asked again: "You only drink with Zhu Huagui?"

"drive!"

Tian Qianzhen immediately rode his horse towards Li Huaixian's tent. Even if there were soldiers to stop him on the road, he would not slow down his horse at all and kept running rampant.

"Zhu...Zhu Huaigui, I had a few drinks with him last night."

"Including the time Zhu Xicai returned to camp, it should be five times."

"Ah."

"Could it be that you colluded with Xue Bai and wanted to rebel?"

"Could it be that what was originally written here was 'kill' me, but was changed to 'persuade'?"

"Ah Hao, you don't believe me?" Li Huaixian said, "What reason do I have to betray the Lord and collude with a pervert like Xue Bai?"

"There's nothing wrong with you, why did you hide it from me?"

"Can you agree? You can't." Li Huaixian said earnestly: "You and Gao Shang have a deep friendship. Gao Shang died in Xue Bai's hands, and you would never agree. If you were involved in this matter, Xue Bai would definitely guess that I was lying. His, if I don’t tell you, he won’t find out.”

"You know I won't agree, but you still dare?!"

"Tongguan, this matter is related to Tongguan. At first, I just wanted to win over the traitor Zhu Xicai, but did you know? Xue Bai and Ge Shuhan are in the same group..."

Tian Qianzhen was furious and shouted: "If you want to accomplish this, do you want to kill me first?!"

"As soon as Tongguan is opened, I will kill Xue Bai to avenge Gao Shang!"

In order to convince Tian Qianzhen, Li Huaixian immediately became fierce and wanted to swear. He looked around, found an arrow, and broke it into two pieces.

"If I violate this oath, I will suffer a terrible death."

Tian Qian was really unmoved, but said: "Do you know why I didn't kill you? You are so stupid. You fell into Xue Bai's divorce plan without knowing it. You are just trying to get great credit."

"A plan to divorce?"

"Read some books." Tian Qianzhen said, "This is Cao Cao's plan to drive a wedge between Ma Chao and Han Sui."

Li Huaixian asked curiously: "Who is Han Sui?"

Tian Qian was really too lazy to talk to this idiot.

Although he knew it was Xue Bai's trick and did not want to be Ma Chao, he really couldn't trust Li Huaixian and was inevitably suspicious of him.

That night, after Li Huaixian left, he summoned his generals and ordered them to be on guard against Li Huaixian's troops. At the same time, he also wrote a letter and sent it to Luoyang to persuade An Lushan not to believe Li Huaixian's stupid idea.

~~
"brat."

When Li Huaixian left Tian Qianzhen's camp, he couldn't help but curse.

What he was worried about was not whether Yanshi could be captured, but whether the rebels could capture Tongguan. This was a major issue related to his future and wealth. But in the face of such a big event, Tian Qianzhen only cares about noble hatred. Isn't it ridiculous?

He had to go there in person on this cold night and try his best to explain.

The road is not easy to walk at night. There is no moonlight tonight and the surrounding areas are dark. The light of the torch illuminated the snow under the horses' hooves, making it dazzling. The group of people were almost a hundred steps away from the city wall, but unexpectedly they were shot by the defenders at the top of the city.

"General."

Suddenly a familiar voice sounded in front of him. Li Huaixian looked into the darkness and signaled his soldiers to go over with torches. As expected, it was Zhu Xicai who was not riding a horse and was standing there with a few people.

"How did you get here?"

"Hanged from the city wall."

Li Huaixian said: "How did you know that I was in the Tianganzhen camp?"

"Something happened tonight. I didn't get any news from the general. I was very worried, so I went out of the city to see the general."

"How did you know I was coming from this way?"

"With a telescope," Zhu Xicai said, "many movements outside the city can be seen clearly."

Li Huaixian said: "Give me one."

"Here."

Zhu Xicai responded as usual, turned around and stretched out his hand to the soldiers behind him, saying: "Give it to me."

"By the way, General, Xue Bai gave me better conditions."

"Oh?" Li Huaixian became interested and asked, "What is it?"

"He said, let me take your place."

"what?"

Li Huaixian was in a daze for a moment. Under the dim firelight, Zhu Xicai pointed the crossbow in front of his face and pulled the trigger.

"Whoosh."

The angry arrow hit him right in the face, and Li Huaixian fell off his horse before he even had time to scream.

"Li Yuan! Do you remember that I lent you seven ounces of money to treat my mother-in-law?" Zhu Xicai shot Li Huaixian with an arrow, then took two steps back and shouted to the soldiers who wanted to attack him: "Follow me and I will protect your prosperity and wealth." "

~~
The night gets deeper.

In the rebel camp in the east of the city, several generals were gathering around a campfire to discuss.

"Zhu Huaigui, why did you wake us up in the middle of the night?"

"The general went to Tian Qianzhen's camp and has not returned yet. I am worried, for fear that something will happen."

Zhu Huaigui is an elegant general in his late forties. His grandfather was a doctor of praise and his father was a prince. In his early years, he served as a general under Pei Kuan. Later, An Lushan succeeded Pei Kuan and he was transferred to Under the command of Li Huaixian.

His wife died of illness a few years ago, leaving behind two young sons. His family is no longer in Fanyang. Now he is following the rebels in rebellion, so he has to take his sons with him. The eldest son is named Zhu Si, twelve years old; the second son Zhu Tao, eight years old.

That night, Zhu Si also woke up, rubbing his eyes and squatting in the corner, listening to Zhu Huaigui's discussion with the generals.

"It's just a matter of seeing Tian Qian, how can anything happen?"

"We all know that the general has been trying to persuade Xue Bai to surrender recently. Tian Qian really must not agree with this. We know what kind of quarrel the two of them will have."

"Zhu Huaigui, do you not want to rebel? Do you want to persuade us to submit to the imperial court?"

"I just want everyone to be careful." Zhu Huaigui said.

But a general said: "Looking at this situation, it may not be bad to surrender."

"Do you know what the general and Xue Bai are talking about?"

"Like supporting the crown prince? Then we can be considered meritorious. It is better than being surrounded and suppressed..."

While everyone was chatting, the night wind carried distant shouts.

"Oh no!"

A horse rushed into the camp, but it was Li Yuan, the Kongmu officer next to Li Huaixian. He was riding his horse and shouted: "Tian Qianzhen has killed the general, and he is about to raise his troops to kill him!"

"what?!"

The generals in the camp suddenly panicked and said in shock: "What should we do?" "Tian Qianzhen was so heartbroken after seeing Gao Shang's death!" Zhu Huaigui said: "The general is dead, and we are no match for Tian Qianzhen." ”

"Avoid into the city?"

"Yes, look for Zhu Xicai! Zhu Xicai has always been loyal..."

~~
"Woo——"

Suddenly a fierce horn sound sounded in the night.

Tian Ganzhen, who was lying on his pillow, sat up suddenly.

"what happened?!"

"Report! General, Li Huaixian sent someone to ask for help, and the rebels attacked his camp!"

"Damn it."

Tian Qianzhen strode out of the tent, picked up the snow on the ground and rubbed his face vigorously. The cold stimulation made his mind clearer.

Out of caution, he did not want to send troops hastily in the dark. But, on second thought, isn't this just playing into Xue Bai's alienation plan?

It seems that after Cao Cao alienated Ma Chao and Han Sui, they were unable to save each other.

Tian Qianzhen was not one to sit still and wait for death. The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he became. Finally, he made a decision and ordered the deputy general to keep an eye on the camp. In a hurry, he ordered less than 2,000 horses and rushed to Li Huaixian's camp to rescue them.

The drums were beating loudly in Yanshi City, which made people upset. When I got out of the camp, I saw that the city was brightly lit with fire and Xue Bai was mobilizing his troops.

When I ran to the east of the city, I could see the city gate wide open. A Tang Army cavalry had left the city and was heading towards Li Huaixian's camp.

Discovering the movement here, the Tang army slowed down their advance. More than ten of them came straight towards Tian Qianzhen, shouting provocatively: "The envoy of the Yunzhong Army is rarely here, why don't the thieves surrender?!"

It seemed bold, but in fact the Tang army was sorting out its formation. Apparently, they did not expect the rebels to support them so quickly. The original plan to surprise Li Huaixian was disrupted, and they could only deal with Tian Qianzhen hastily.

"The turtle son finally showed up."

Tian Qianzhen sneered and waved his troops to kill without hesitation. He had long expected that Wang Wanwan would be rare after a while.

During the confrontation between the two sides, Tang Jun was like a sensitive turtle, quickly wanting to retreat into the city.

Tian Qianzhen was sure that he had seen through Xue Bai's alienation plan and rescued him in time, which created an opportunity to break the city.

Tonight Yanshi will be razed to the ground to offer sacrifice to the noble spirit in heaven.

"Kill! After defeating the Tang army, chase them into the city!"

"Pass the general's order to never let the Tang army close the city gate!"

After fighting for a while, Wang Nanwan saw that the soldiers and horses could not escape, so he personally led a small group of elite cavalry to break them off, broke into the rebel array, and fought in the direction of Tian Qianzhen.

"Come!"

Tian Qianzhen relied on his bravery and was not afraid of the king's hard work. He went forward with his gun, hoping to defeat this generation of famous generals.

The two sides were getting closer and closer across the battle formation, and a shout suddenly sounded from the front.

"Little thief, I will return my dignity to you!"

Tian Qianzhen looked up and saw a head flying towards him among the snowflakes in the sky.

In an instant, he thought of a lot... When he was a child, it was also such a cold winter. He huddled on the roadside begging, almost freezing to death and starving to death. It was Gao Shang who leaned down and stretched out his hand to him.

The reason why he regards Gao Shang as his closest relative is not only because of such kindness, but also because Gao Shang also said something that touched him deeply.

"We are from a humble background, but sooner or later we will trample under our feet those who claim to be noble."

Because of these words, the young Tian Qianzhen repaid Gao Shang's lifelong friendship.

But he didn't know that Gao Shang felt that this sentence was too useful and thought that he could bribe everyone, so he became the flying head in the air.

"gentlemen."

Tian Qianzhen rode forward and stretched out his hand, trying to catch the frozen and somewhat rotten Gao Shang.

"Oh!"

The fire lit up before his eyes, and his benefactor, his eldest brother, suddenly exploded in front of him. The carrion instantly turned into powder, and the broken bones and teeth shot out, killing the surrounding soldiers.

Half of Tian Qianzhen's arm suddenly disappeared, his face was covered with blood, and the horse under him neighed sadly and knocked him to the ground.

"Ah! I'm fine!"

He was so miserable that he shouted angrily at the first moment: "I'm fine! Don't retreat!"

"Kill!"

The killing cry sounded behind him, but it did not come from the soldiers behind him, but from further away.

"Report, General, Li Huaixian's troops are coming to support!"

"Ah..." Tian Ganzhen hissed in pain, but still said: "Come into Yanshi for me!"

However, the war did not go as he wished.

The comrades who came from behind gave the rebels a hard blow.

Many rebels were still facing the direction of Yanshi, and the cold blades had swung down from behind them, breaking their necks.

The blood rose and fell, revealing crazy and cold faces.

"Zhu Xicai? It's Zhu Xicai!"

The rebel generals were greatly surprised, and fled to the camp with Tian Qianzhen, who was seriously injured.

However, Tang troops also came out from the South City Gate and West City Gate one after another, driving the defeated troops to break through the camp fence.

The army was defeated like a mountain and the situation was out of control.

~~
"Chase!"

Zhu Xicai did not expect such a great victory, and was overly excited. After chasing for a while, he remembered Xue Bai's instructions, and quickly called his soldiers to give them instructions.

"While chasing and killing, let the defeated soldiers know that the king's division has occupied Kaifeng and the army is heading to Luoyang! Also, there is no food in Hanjiacang, and Zahu will be defeated soon."

"Here!"

"The King's Division has taken control of Kaifeng, and the army is heading towards Luoyang! There is no food in Hanjiacang, and Zahu is about to be defeated..."

As a result, the cavalrymen caught up one by one, chasing and slashing while shouting, deepening the fear of the defeated troops.

And asked them to bring fear to Luoyang like a plague.

Zhu Xicai still wanted to make more military exploits, but a messenger came and said that Governor Xue ordered him to go to Li Huaixian's camp immediately to deal with the aftermath.

"Why? I have already instigated Zhu Huaigui's rebellion."

Zhu Xicai and Zhu Huaigui were from the same hometown, and their friendship was quite deep. He knew that most of Zhu Huaigui's father and ancestors were officials in Chang'an, and his family's interests lay in Guanzhong, so he was unwilling to rebel. Therefore, he wrote a letter in advance and took the opportunity to enter Li Huaixian's camp to secretly hand the letter to Zhu Huagui.

It is precisely because of the situation that there are many officials in the rebel army who are committed to the country, that they have achieved tonight's results.

The trusted envoy said: "Zhu Huaigui is seriously injured."

"what?"

"A rebel general in Li Huaixian's camp discovered Zhu Huagui's surrender and led his troops to resist. During the suppression, Zhu Huagui was hit by an arrow in order to protect his son."

"I told him not to get in the way with two babies during the war." Zhu Xicai cursed.

He immediately turned his horse's head and rushed to Li Huaixian's camp.

I thought that the camp must have turned into a mess, but when I arrived, I found that Xue Bai had come in person. The heads of several rebel generals who refused to surrender were hung above the camp gate, dripping blood.

Xue Bai was trying to comfort the generals who had surrendered. When he saw him arriving, he pointed to a tent.

Zhu Xicai rushed in and saw Zhu Huaigui lying on the carpet. Military doctors were working hard to treat him, and two children were crying in the tent.

He stepped forward, took a look, and said, "If you can't save him, don't torment him. Let him walk more lightly."

"Ugh."

Zhu Huaigui opened his eyes, trembled his lips, and said: "My two... sons..."

"I know." Zhu Xicai stepped forward, squatted down and said, "They will be my sons from now on."

Zhu Huaigui had no energy to say anything else and nodded happily.

"That's right." Zhu Xicai said, "You didn't tell him about my affair with Mrs. Li Yuan, right?"

"cough."

When Zhu Huaigui was dying, he still laughed out of anger. He thought of the ridiculous things everyone did in Fan Yang and didn't know what to think.

After a while, he murmured: "Bury me in...Jisu Mountain."

"Don't you want to go back to Chang'an every day? I'll bury you in Chang'an. After all, it's closer."

"I... guarded the border all my life... opened the border for the Tang Dynasty... to Jisu Mountain..."

"The bones are too heavy. I'll keep your ashes to see if I can bring them over in the future." Zhu Xicai turned her head and said to the two children who were still crying: "You two, come here and say goodbye to me."

However, when he looked back, Zhu Huaigui was already dead.

Zhu Xicai cursed, placed his big palm on the two children's heads, and said, "From now on, you will be my sons."

"No!"

"Howl again!"

Zhu Xicai was still lecturing others. He turned around and quickly bowed and said, "Mr. Lang."

Xue Bai walked into the tent and looked at Zhu Huaigui's body.

He thought of several poems by Li Bai, from "How hard is it to die to serve the country" in "Youzhou Huma Ke Ge" to "It's hard to cut off the hatred of the north wind, rain and snow" in "North Wind Journey". Fan Yang's army has never been short of those who once A person who is determined to protect his family and country, and eventually joins the rebels in rebellion.

They were originally passionate warriors, carrying swords to save the enemy, and fighting against Jimen to win the title of nobility. How did they become like this?
They have no choice, they are just victims on the altar of careerists. And this careerist is not only An Lushan, but also Li Longji?

"I know he is not rebellious and will send people to bury his body in Jisu Mountain." Xue Bai said.

Zhu Xicai was stunned, thinking that Lang Jun had just heard it.

"Mr. Lang, Jisu Mountain is far away from Jimen. The rebellion is still ongoing. How troublesome is it to send someone to transport a body that far away? How about..."

"His words of 'guarding the border for a lifetime' are worth it."

"Here."

The two children who were kneeling beside the grandfather's body and crying turned around when they heard this, prostrated themselves to Xue Bai, and said, "Thank you, Langjun! Thank you, Langjun!"

Zhu Xicai thought to himself, he obviously agreed, but he didn't see these two little bastards thanking him. He was really a wolf.

Xue Bai had already helped them up and asked, "What's their name?"

"Zhu...Zhu Si, this is my brother Zhu Tao."

After hearing this, Xue Bai paused briefly and said: "Your grandfather is not a traitor, but a hero who guards the country's borders and brings order to the people to protect the people. You must not live up to his honor in the future."

"Ok!"

Zhu Si nodded vigorously, wiped his tears and said, "I must also be a hero!"

"Okay, follow me back."

Xue Bai didn't ask Zhu Xicai and just took the two children away...

(End of this chapter)