Ji Han Liu Zhang

Outside Chencang City, in the camp of Li Jue and Guo Si.

"Damn, there's no one I can count on, no one who's loyal." Guo Si, one of the two heroes in Liangzhou, cursed with anger on his face.

After scolding, Guo Si was particularly angry. He started to ramble: "Ma Teng of Tianshui and Han Sui of Jincheng, although we had some small conflicts and contradictions with them in the first year of Xingping, we will Didn’t they all make peace... In the name of the emperor, one was granted the title of General An Di, and the other was granted the title of General An Jiang, a high-ranking official with a generous salary, isn’t that good enough for them? "

"But now, Liu Jiyu from Yizhou is coming to kill us. We sent letters one after another, begging them to lend a helping hand, but they just refused to come and just watched from the sidelines in Liangzhou."

Listening to Guo Si's babble, Li Jue just said nothing. He remained silent.

Guo Bang sighed heavily when he said this, and said with some helplessness: "Okay, even Han Sui and Ma Teng still have grievances against them because of what happened in the first year of Xingping, and they had an affair with Liu Zhang's father Liu Yan before. We have contacted and made friends, so it is reasonable for them not to come, but Duan Xuan from Huayin and Zhang Ji from Shaanxian County..."

"We all used to serve under Dong Xiangguo, and we are close to each other. We also fought against the coalition forces in Guandong together. It is a life-long friendship. Now Liu Zhang has captured Chencang and intends to send troops to Guanzhong. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is aimed at our Liangzhou. Generals, this is where you come to avenge the murder of your brother..."

"Why do Duan Xuan and Zhang Ji still expect to stay out of the matter?" Guo Si spread his hands, looking like he hated iron and said: "We have tried hard to deal with Duan Xuan several times, but he just sits there in Huayin, like a stone man. , motionless, there is really no friendship at all... Zhang Ji came, but when he arrived in Chang'an, he used the excuse that the journey was long and hard, and the soldiers needed to recuperate. He stayed in Chang'an, and he seemed reluctant to rush to Chencang. Come on, I'm suspected of sitting on the Diaoyutai."

"Zhang Ji... accepted the food, grass and luggage from us, but he only took the benefits and did nothing. He treated us as stupid donkeys!" Guo Si commented and criticized Zhang Ji. He was very shameless about Zhang Ji's behavior. , even more shameless than Duan Xuan, who had no intention of coming to Guanzhong to help out in the first place.

Guo Bang was irritated. He thought that Zhang Ji would either not come, or if he came, he would rush to Chencang to help. How could he stop when he arrived in Chang'an and say he was tired halfway through the work and needed a rest? How could this be like that? It was a large army sent out to fight, but it seemed like they were on a spring outing.

"Guo Aduo, are you tired? Are you tired of talking? I think you should save some energy and think about how to capture Chencang." Although Li Jue was relatively calm, Guo Si's endless words made him feel that there were people around him. Hundreds of flies were buzzing and flapping their wings, but they couldn't be driven away, which made him feel a little irritated. He seemed to be concerned, but in fact he was sarcastic.

"I'm not tired, and my tongue is dry." Guo Bang was still angry and didn't hear Li Jue's flattering words. He responded casually, and then started to babble and resent.

"Han Sui and Ma Teng in the west are hopeless, and Duan Xuan and Zhang Ji in the east are not trustworthy. In addition, the generals in Guanzhong, Li Kan, Candidate, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others are not worried about us at all. If they were defeated here, they would be devastated. Until now, they have not brought in troops to help, and they have just watched from the sidelines... And Gan Ning in Chencang, who is devoted to defending Chencang, makes Chencang look like a stone in a latrine. It's smelly and hard. After fighting for so long, we didn't even touch the top of Chencang. The Liangzhou Qianghu who came to help us saw that there was no hope of taking down Chencang and plundered it. In the past few days, several companies came up. Thousands of people ran away secretly..."

"Everyone on the Yizhou side is united, but we here all have their own agendas... In my opinion, we can't fight this battle any longer. It's better to plead guilty early and ask Liu Zhang to surrender. I heard Liu Zhang is a benevolent man. , There is no way he will forgive our death penalty." Guo Si was extremely unhappy with the current situation, and he said angrily with anger, anger, and unhappiness in his heart.

Hearing this, Li Jue's eyes half-closed, and his eyes gradually turned cold. He said coldly: "Guo Aduo, are you really going to ask Liu Zhang to surrender?"

"Dang..." Guo Bang was about to blurt out "Of course" when he turned his head and his eyes met the coldness projected in Li Jue's eyes. He swallowed, but of course he did not fully express the word "Of course".

"Brother, please don't take it to heart. What I just said was just nonsense and cannot be taken seriously." Guo Bang showed a flattering smile and explained to Li Jue.

The coldness in Li Jue's eyes gradually disappeared, and the expression in his eyes became calmer. When Guo Bang saw this, he couldn't help but wiped his heart with sweat. Although he and Li Jue were on equal terms, he had feelings for Li Jue in his heart. A little afraid, he may be able to compete with Li Jue in military affairs, but in terms of cunning and resourcefulness, he is not as good as Li Jue.

"It's okay to make nonsense. I don't want to hear this from your mouth again, Guo Aduo." Guo Bang glanced at Guo Bang angrily and said slowly.

"Others of our Liangzhou generals may be able to surrender to Liu Zhang, save their lives, protect their clan, and be able to serve as generals and travel around in the future, but you and I can never surrender to Liu Zhang... Why? You Liu Zhang and I have a brother-killing feud. This kind of blood feud is irreconcilable. If you and I surrender to Liu Zhang, we will be sending sheep into the tiger's mouth, let alone saving our lives. Even if we want to behead with a knife or cut off the neck with a sword, It’s hard to die happily, and you have to endure eighteen kinds of torture to achieve a happy death.”

"Brother, you are right, you are right." Guo Si nodded repeatedly and agreed with Li Jue's words. Although he is from Liangzhou, he has been among the Qiang and Hu for a long time and has been contaminated by the Yi style. He does not know any sense of shame or shame. Filial piety, like father, brother, brother, even if they are relatives, is nothing more than a bargaining chip in his eyes. As long as he gives enough money, he can talk about it.

But Guo Bang also knew that the people in Neijun kept the blood feud between their father and brother Kundi firmly in mind. Even if the blood feud had passed for ten years, as long as he found an opportunity, he would kill his enemies and avenge them, and not only Blood feuds limited to father, brother and brother, such as the grudges of mentors and sworn brothers. Once they are contaminated, they will take revenge regardless of it.

"But with the strength of your and my troops alone, brother, plus some Qiang and Hu men who are greedy for huge profits, it is estimated that the strength of the troops is far inferior to that of the Shu soldiers. It is extremely difficult to compete with Liu Zhang. Moreover, now that we have fortified the city, it is not in line with the intention of the military book." ...I have been thinking that we might as well return to Liangzhou, which is our home state. Firstly, we can familiarize ourselves with the situation, and secondly, we can recruit soldiers so that our troops will not be weak." Guo Si came up with an idea.

Li Jue suddenly felt his energy drained, and he had a feeling of powerlessness. Guo Si in front of him was either capitulating carelessly, or he was just thinking about running away, and he had random ideas. This Guo Si's elm head would not have thought that they were nailing it. Under Chencang City, the outcome of the Shu soldiers was still in dispute. Under such circumstances, the morale of the soldiers was still intact and they still had some confidence in the war.

But if they retreated to Liangzhou, the soldiers would be suspicious of each other and lose their morale. They thought that the two generals were afraid of them, and the generals were brave, fearing that the soldiers would scatter and abandon them. There is no chance of fighting for survival. At that time, he and Guo Si could be captured and killed by the pavilion chief.

"If things go wrong today, we have to retreat to Liangzhou. If the future goes unlucky, will we have to retreat from Liangzhou to the Western Regions? Then if the Western Regions go bad, tell us where we will retreat to. Will we retreat to the body poison?" Li Jue asked in a bad tone.

"Uh... uh..." Guo Bang could hear the unkindness in Li Jue's words. After he hesitated for a few moments, he gave up answering Li Jue's question and instead said, "Brother, now we have secured the city. It is really a taboo for military strategists to have tired old soldiers in the division. You can see this if you think about it. And now there are very few people who are really willing to help us. Our troops are small and our soldiers are tired. When the time comes, the Shu army will go north. How can we be Shu soldiers? rival."

Li Jue heard this and sneered: "Guo Aduo, why have you become so cowardly now? Although you and I have fewer soldiers, we are all the best soldiers in Liangzhou. We can't compare them with each other. Although the soldiers of Shu are numerous, they are nothing more than a flock of sheep." That’s it, using Liangzhou’s elite soldiers against Shu soldiers is like a tiger driving a flock of sheep... And the number of troops is not the key to the battle situation. The weak defeated the strong, and the small defeated the large, there are countless records in the history books... You must strengthen your fighting spirit, Don’t be timid before fighting.”

"Brother, have you forgotten Hu Feng? The combat power of these Shu soldiers should not be underestimated." Guo Si mentioned the old story of Gan Ning's night attack, destroying the front camp and killing Hu Feng in formation, intending to use this to persuade Li Jue.

However, Guo Si's words had no effect. Instead, they angered Li Jue. Li Jue said angrily: "That was a night attack. It was not a majestic formation against the Zhengzheng flag. My nephew Hu Feng was just careless. If he was killed by Gan Ning in the daytime, if the two armies were fighting in battle, Gan Ning would definitely be killed by Hu Feng, and he would not be able to survive three moves in Hu Feng's hands. "

After saying angrily, Li Jue stopped his anger instantly. His face calmed down and he encouraged Guo Bang without any hesitation: "Guo Aduo, you don't need to worry about the strength of the troops. The situation is just not very important at the moment. , so the generals in Guanzhong did not move. When Liu Zhang made a move to raise his troops to the north, generals such as Li Kan, Candidate, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing, etc. would inevitably come to support the battle, and Duan Xuan and Zhang Ji would certainly not dare to go any further. Standing on the sidelines, perhaps only Han Sui and Ma Teng will stay out of the matter... Everyone in the world is resentful of us Liangzhou people and want to kill them quickly. I don't believe that Liu Zhang can really sit down when Duan Xuan and Zhang Ji come together in large numbers. Live, don't worry at all whether Liu Zhang's knife will fall on you."

Li Jue smiled at the Liangzhou generals, and at the same time he said fiercely: "In addition, we can vigorously lure the Liangzhou Qianghu, and make it clear that after the war, the women of the gentry and common people in the third auxiliary can be given to the Qianghu, and the Qianghu Go to Ruyi and help us defeat the Shu soldiers."

"Yes, what the eldest brother said is that as long as we can live, this is the most important thing." Hearing Li Jue's extremely cold tone and Li Jue's intention to sell all the women of the gentry and common people in Sanfu to the Qiang and Hu, Guo Bang Hearing this, there was no anger that a normal Han person should have in his heart. Instead, he felt happy. After all, if Li Jue's plan was implemented, the Qianghu tribe in Liangzhou would definitely attract the masses to come to help, and their chances of victory would be greater. If you get one, you don't have to flee to Liangzhou.

At this time, Li Huan, Li Jue's younger brother, stepped into the tent. He was holding a piece of silk cloth with dense writing on it. In addition, his face was a little pale and his expression was a little uncertain.

"Brother, something has happened." Li Huan blurted out in a slightly panicked tone.

'Disaster. Li Jue frowned. He had just strengthened Guo Bang's fighting spirit, but Li Huan seemed to have brought bad news.

"What's the matter?" Li Jue asked in a calm tone.

Li Huan raised the silk cloth in his hand to signal, and responded: "The Shu army posted messages everywhere, and the content in the messages, I'm afraid it will shake the morale of the army and affect the morale of our army."

"Huh?" Li Jue's face showed displeasure. In his heart, it was just a message, no big deal. Li Huan's panic made him a little unhappy. Without reaching out to take the message, Li Jue just ordered: "read."

Here Li Jue is taking care of Guo Si at his side. Although he is proficient in calligraphy and knows writing, Guo Si, a horse thief, is not very good at writing. Therefore, he simply asked Li Huan to read the proclamation so that Guo Si could understand the proclamation. There is no need to explain the content to Guo Si later.

"Yes." Li Huan nodded, and then immediately recited: "The envoy of the supervisory army led Yizhou Shepherd Liu Zhang to tell the elders in Guanzhong: Dong Zhuo, a traitor to the country, conspired to rebel, deposed the emperor, and monopolized the power of the government. Fortunately, Situ Wang Yun designed and executed him. However, after Dong Zhuo died, two thieves, Li [Que] and Guo [Si], rebelled and took over the power of the government, leaving the power and fortune to themselves..."

Li Huan avoided the names of Li Jue and Guo Si, and only mentioned the two characters Li and Guo: "The two thieves Li [Que] and Guo [Si] held the emperor hostage, harming the officials and crippling the common people... Looking at the records, The unruly ministers are greedy, cruel and fierce, especially Li [que] and Guo [Si]..."

When Li Jue and Guo Bang heard the curses in the article, they didn't look angry, but looked at ease. Because they had heard the same curses too much, they had developed immunity. , so although the scolding in the slogan was unpleasant, they just felt it was noisy.

"Now, as a member of the clan and an important minister, Zhang is responsible for raising righteous soldiers, punishing violence, punishing evil, and clarifying the world..." Li Huan continued to read.

"Zhang has decided that this year he will raise troops in Guanzhong to kill the two thieves Li Guan and Guo Si. He will report it to the emperor and the common people in peace. He will also avenge the two brothers so that their spirits in heaven can rest in peace... Lin Declaration to the elders and heroes of Guanzhong..."

Li Huan licked his lips and said: "I am going to Guanzhong to fight against thieves. Zhang swore by the rivers and Mount Tai, but I will kill the two thieves Li Guan and Guo Si, and I won't bother with the rest..."

Li Jue and Guo Bin's eyes widened. They looked at each other and saw the panic in each other's eyes. Now they understood why Li Huan was panicked because of this message. This message was fatal, and it was like a slap in the face. On their fate. (End of chapter)