Ji Han Liu Zhang

Inside Chang'an City.

After a morning meeting, Li Jue watched Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and other generals from Guanzhong leave. Looking at their backs, he looked thoughtful, with an indescribable complex meaning in his eyes.

Also looking at the backs of the departing generals from Guanzhong, Guo Si, one of the two heroes of Liangzhou, had a relaxed expression, full of pleasure and joy.

After the generals in Guanzhong had gone a little further, Guo Si turned to Li Jue and said, "Zhi Ran, it seems that Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others are unwilling to serve as dogs for Liu Zhang and have no intention of surrendering to Liu Zhang... Otherwise, they would not have taken the initiative to hand over Liu Zhang's surrender documents today. These people must be determined to take our ship."

Guo Si kept calling Liu Zhang a little kid. Although he could not defeat Liu Zhang on the battlefield, he was unwilling to lose in argument.

Facing Guo Si's cheerfulness, Li Jue seemed unhappy, as if something was lingering on his mind, with his brows furrowed and not relaxed.

Although Guo Si was a simple-minded person, he also noticed Li Jue's strangeness. He asked, "Zhi Ran, why are you so depressed about such a good thing? Shouldn't you be happy?"

Li Jue breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "What good news?"

After asking a rhetorical question, Li Jue sat down in the main seat in the tent, picked up the wine pot and poured himself a glass of wine. He drank it all with a melancholy look on his face. After drinking the glass, he still felt it was not refreshing enough, so he simply picked up the wine pot, put the mouth of the pot to his mouth and drank it.

"What good news?" Guo Si was confused by Li Jue's question, so he asked back, "Of course it's about Hou Xuan presenting the Shu army's surrender letter, what else could it be?"

"Zhiran, why have you been acting so strangely these days?" Guo Si asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"Hey." Li Jue sighed, raised his eyebrows and said, "Aduo, take a look at this document from the Shu army, don't you think there is something wrong with it?"

As Li Jue spoke, he handed the document to Guo Si.

"Problem?" Guo Si took the document and read it over and over. After a long while, he said in confusion, "I can't tell. If there is any problem, it is that there are too many places where it has been erased and modified. It is obvious that the clerk who wrote this document is not a meticulous person."

"You've figured it out, haven't you?" Li Jue laughed at first, then his smile turned cold: "A clerk under the governor of Yizhou would write a letter to persuade the emperor to surrender and make corrections all over it, right?"

"Hiss..." Guo Si sucked in a breath of cold air. At this moment, he had some understanding: "Zhi Ran, you are right. This document used to persuade the surrender is like a rough draft. It is indeed not in line with common sense. Liu Zhang is quite methodical in his actions. He is definitely not such a rough person."

"That is to say, the document in our hands is not the original manuscript, but the one revised by Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin and others. Is that what you mean?" Guo Si asked Li Jue with sudden enlightenment.

"That's right." Li Jue said affirmatively: "I dare to conclude that this document is definitely not the original manuscript, but has been carefully revised by Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin and others. I don't want you and me to know the true content of the document."

Li Jue said proudly: "The lowly tricks of Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin and others can only deceive you, Guo Aduo, but they can never deceive me."

Guo Si was not annoyed because Li Jue praised him and belittled him. He just slapped his thigh and said, "What a good candidate! He guessed that we knew about the document, so he simply presented the document to deceive us... It's a pity that the candidate, Cheng Yin and others thought they were on the second floor, but they didn't know that you, Zhiran, were already on the third floor."

It was a matter of life and death. After Li Jue solved the mystery with one finger, Guo Si praised Li Jue generously.

"If this is the case, Chang'an will be unsafe." After praising Li Jue, Guo Si became worried.

"Yes, Chang'an is uneasy." Li Jue sighed: "Now Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others have all become disloyal. The reason why they did not suddenly attack is probably because their wives are under our control. So without absolute certainty, they will not attack for a while."

"But Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others are still a threat. We must deal with them properly. Otherwise, if there is chaos in Chang'an, the Shu soldiers will take the opportunity to attack. Your life and mine will be in danger."

Guo Si listened and nodded frequently. It seemed that he was far less experienced than Li Jue in intrigue and political scheming, so he had always followed Li Jue's lead. He immediately asked, "Zhi Ran, what should we do?"

"It's really difficult." After hearing Guo Si's question, Li Jue looked upset. "Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others now think that we have no doubts about them and are just pretending to be nice to us, so we can take advantage of their unpreparedness and kill them. However, Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others are easy to kill, but the soldiers under their command may not submit to you and me. I'm afraid they will make a fuss and leave, and they may even counterattack you and me because their leader is in trouble."

"Yes." Guo Si nodded. What Li Jue said was very true. Although it was easy to kill the military leaders in Guanzhong such as Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin and Liang Xing, the soldiers under their command were mostly their relatives and children. They would definitely not submit to him and Li Jue after the death of Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others. It would only cause a big chaos.

Just as Li Jue and Guo Si were discussing, they heard the sound of golden drums in the distance, reaching the sky. The two heard it clearly and looked outside the tent. After a few breaths, a personal guard came outside the tent to report the news.

The guards loudly said: "General, the Shu army is attacking the city."

The personal guard briefly and accurately expressed the message he wanted to convey. Li Jue nodded when he heard it. He didn't need the personal guard to report. Just by hearing the sound of golden drums, he knew that it must be Liu Yizhou who was unwilling to be left out and led the troops to attack the city.

"Aduo, let's go." Li Jue called out to Guo Si, and then the two of them stepped out of the tent and went towards the city wall. As the commanders, they naturally could not stay in the tent, but should hold their ground on the top of the city and set an example. After all, their lives were at stake.

Li Jue and Guo Si walked very fast, and soon they arrived at the horse path used to climb up the city wall. The two of them strode up.

At this time, another guard came to report the news and said to Li Jue and Guo Si, "General, the Shu army fired rockets at random, setting the felt cloth we used to protect against flying rocks on fire. Now most of it has been burned. Commander Xia was quick-witted, but he was only able to collect and protect a part of it."

Before they even climbed up to the city wall, they heard the good news. Li Jue and Guo Si immediately looked surprised, with their eyebrows raised high and anger in their eyes.

After thinking for a moment or two, Li Jue said, "Wet the felt cloth in stock, apply a layer of yellow mud on it, and hang it on the city wall to defend against the Shu army's stone carts."

The Shu army had a plan, and Li Jue was naturally prepared. The cunning and resourceful Li Jue quickly came up with a plan, which won the praise of Guo Si beside him: "Zhi Ran, it has to be you." Li Jue's expression remained unchanged, but the corners of his mouth raised slightly, expressing that he was still a little complacent.

Not long after, Li Jue and Guo Si climbed up to the city wall. As the main generals who climbed up to the city wall, they quickly stabilized the morale of the army. The soldiers of Liangzhou, who had been in panic because of the burning of their felt cloth by the Shu army, now calmed down and were busy with their own tasks.

Li Jue glanced at the Shu army outside the city and immediately showed a puzzled look. It was because the Shu army's formation today was slightly smaller. Unlike in the past, they did not attack by dividing their forces. Instead, they were coming specifically towards him.

"Hiss..." Li Jue murmured in his heart. He felt something was not right. The wind direction today was really strange. He couldn't help but look back at the city. He was worried in his heart and his face looked like the uncertain weather.

But the Shu army was attacking the city, so although Li Jue was uneasy, he could only suppress his turbulent thoughts, stand on the city wall, and command his soldiers to defend the city well.

Guo Si, who was standing beside Li Jue, didn't think about it. He just stared at the Shu soldiers under the city, his eyes full of vicious murderous intent. He hated Liu Zhang for disturbing his happy days.

Originally, he held the emperor hostage to control the princes and was extremely happy in Guanzhong. The princes in the east of the Guanzhong area all turned a blind eye to his rebellious behavior. Only the little Liu Zhang in front of him left the good land of Shu and instead sent troops to Guanzhong to fight with him.

"Liu Zhang, you really deserve to die!" Guo Si cursed in his heart while guarding the isolated city.

Next, the Shu army used the same siege tactics as before. They first used stone carts to continuously launch huge stones at the top of the city. Li Jue and Guo Si responded reflexively. They ordered the soldiers to cover their bodies and use felt cloth arranged outside the city wall and huge shields placed on the city wall to resist the flying stones of the Shu army.

"Shu has stone carts, I have hardwood shields." Guo Si relied on the huge shield in front of him and fought against the stone carts of the Shu army with a relaxed look. Although the flying stones were swift and powerful, the powerful and heavy stones were out of breath when they flew to the top of the city and could not break the defense of the huge shield.

But today's Shu army was a little strange. In the past, after launching several rounds of flying stones, the Shu army would use battering rams and ladders to attack the city walls. After all, no matter how good the flying stone rams were, they could not take down the city towers. In the end, they still had to use battering rams to attack the city gates and use ladders to climb up the city towers. Only in this way could they take down the city.

As time went on, not to mention Li Jue, even Guo Si began to wonder in his heart that something was indeed not right.

Just when Li Jue and Guo Si were puzzled, they saw a column of smoke rising into the sky from the city.

Something has changed in the city.

"Zhiran, there must be a fire." Guo Si looked panicked. After being reminded by the soldiers, he saw the column of smoke in the city. He immediately thought of the good side of the situation.

"Well, it must be a fire." Li Jue looked calm, but his clenched fists showed that he was not calm at all: "Aduo, don't move around here, hold on well, I'll go see what's going on."

"Okay, okay, any news please report it as soon as possible." Guo Si nodded repeatedly in response to Li Jue's words.

Li Jue didn't say much. He walked towards the horse path on the city wall. At this moment, he was full of suspicion.

Was it a simple fire? Li Jue was not sure. He suspected that Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, and Liang Xing took advantage of their defense of the city to launch an attack and surrender the city to Liu Yizhou as a token of their loyalty.

Li Jue's suspicion was not groundless. He saw the direction of the water, which was clearly the place where he detained the wives of Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others. He speculated that Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others intended to take back their wives first and then surrender the city.

Soon, Li Jue confirmed his guess. He saw several more columns of smoke rising into the sky along with the one in front. On this windless day, the smoke columns soared straight up.

Just as Li Jue had speculated, it was indeed Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others who started the rebellion. After Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others heard the news of the Shu army's siege on the city, and knowing that the Shu army only focused on attacking the cities defended by Li Jue and Guo Si, they knew that the opportunity had come.

As the saying goes: 'He who strikes first is the strongest, and he who strikes last is the loser!'

So Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Liang Xing and others took the opportunity to raise troops and attack the camp occupied by Li Ying and Li Huan. This was because Li Ying and Li Huan's wives were detained in the camp. Their original intention was to quietly attack and retrieve their wives, and then open the city gate to welcome the Shu army. However, they did not expect to be discovered by Li Ying and Li Huan, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides.

"General Liang, you go and open the city gate to welcome Liu Yizhou. General Cheng and I will take down this camp and get our wives back." Hou Xuan said. It was impossible to take down the camp guarded by Li Ying and Li Huan at once, so he would welcome the Shu army first. As long as the Shu army entered the city, the victory or defeat would be clear, and they would be meritorious ministers.

"Okay." Liang Xing nodded in agreement. He led his personal guards towards the city wall. Here, his direction was the southern city wall where he, Hou Xuan and others were defending, which was different from the western city wall where fighting was currently going on.

Soon, Liang Xing arrived at the south city wall. He ordered his soldiers to raise the flag of surrender and open the city gates, pretending to surrender and signaling to the Shu army scouts in the distance.

The Shu army scouts learned of this situation and quickly reported it to Liu Zhang, who was commanding the attack on the west wall of Chang'an.

"The south gate has been opened and the flag of surrender has been raised on the city wall. It seems that something has happened in the city." The scout reported the situation in a few words.

Liu Zhang nodded. There was no need for scouts to report the news of changes in the city. As long as he saw the column of smoke rising in Chang'an, he knew that there was chaos in the city.

Zheng Du was overjoyed when he heard this. He cupped his hands and said to Liu Zhang, "Mingsir, there must be a rift between the generals in Guanzhong and Li Jue and Guo Si. The two sides must be fighting in Chang'an right now. This opportunity cannot be missed...Mingsir, you can take this opportunity to lead your troops to the south gate and capture Chang'an."

Peng Ying was a little bit incredulous. He had just sent out the document to sow discord last night, and today there was chaos in the city. This was too fast, so he said, "No, we don't know what the situation is like in the city. We don't know if it is a trap set by Li Jue and Guo Si to lure the enemy. We must observe for a while before making a decision."

A military officer, a sergeant, one was aggressive, the other was cautious, and they expressed their respective opinions. (End of this chapter)