Prince of Song Dynasty

Chapter 916
The Cao family now controls the Guiyi Army, and they are the well-deserved kings of Guazhou. Now Duanmu Zhongren and Zhang Zhiwen rely on the old to sell the old, and they turned to the guest. Before Cao Xuefei, the master, could speak, the two chatted first.Cao Xuefei suddenly felt unhappy, but now Guazhou scholars, religious circles, ordinary people, and even low-ranking officers and soldiers of the Guiyi Army are all emotional. Their Cao family's rule is in jeopardy. The Lord's nine major families are the mainstay of Shazhou. At this time, the Cao family must strive to win over the major families. If they cannot win over, they will have to kill them all.

Zhang Zhiwen was a little out of breath when he spoke, paused, stroked his beard again and said: "The old man is getting old, and he should drink a pot of tea and a glass of wine every day, entertain his grandchildren, and take care of his life, so he should not care about worldly affairs, but... ..."

Cao Xuefei interrupted him, and said with a smile: "Zhang Weng's words are reasonable. Zhang Weng is energetic and healthy. If he takes good care of his life, in 20 years, he will be a Renrui from Guazhou. If there is anything wrong, we will These juniors will take care of it themselves, Zhang Weng had better worry less."

Zhang Zhiwen stared at Cao Xuefei and said, "Now we are trapped in the inner city and are in danger. How will the envoy plan to solve it? Will I burn all of Guazhou? , the country of father and son with Xiangfu Kingdom? But even so, the old man is worried that Xiangfu Kingdom will not agree."

Cao Xuefei became angry from embarrassment, Huo Di straightened up and said angrily: "You..."

Without waiting for Cao Xuefei to speak, Duanmu Zhongren suddenly said loudly: "Master Jieshi, why be impatient, maybe... old Patriarch Zhang will have some unusual opinions, since Master Jieshi asked me to come and discuss the matter of defending the city and retreating the enemy, we Why don't you listen to it."

Cao Xuefei wanted to throw the wine glass on the ground immediately, and let the swords and axes rush out behind the curtains on both sides, but he was worried that killing Duanmu Zhongren, Zhang Zhiwen and their accomplices under such circumstances would make other family heads suspicious, instead Centrifuged with him, a second Duanmu Zhongren appeared.So, he snorted coldly, stopped talking, and waited for another opportunity.But this time, the cheerful atmosphere when the leaders of the major families arrived just disappeared, and the situation suddenly became tense.

Speaking of which, the nine major families in Guazhou all have intricate kinship relationships. As the second largest family in Shazhou, the Yin family was originally the closest to the Zhang family and had the closest relationship.In his later years, Zhang Yichao traveled long distances at the age of 69 to enter Chang'an as a hostage, and handed over the Guiyi Army to his nephew Zhang Huaishen. At that time, Yin Tao, the patriarch of the Yin family, was Zhang Yichao's son-in-law.

After Zhang Yichao's death, Yin Tao launched a coup, killed Zhang Huaishen, his wife and their six sons, and seized the military power of the Guiyi Army. At that time, Zhang Yichao's No.11 daughter was the daughter-in-law of the Yan family, another big family in Guazhou. The husband is An Xiaochun, Sima of Shazhou. Miss Eleven was very dissatisfied with her brother-in-law's perverse behavior. She and her husband An Xiaochun once again staged a mutiny, massacred Yintao's family, and supported Zhang Zhiming, Zhang Yichao's grandson, who is now Zhang Zhiwen from Zhang's hometown. His elder brother is the Jiedu envoy of the Guiyi Army.

From then on, the Zhang family and the Yin family began to fight against each other. Later, after nearly a hundred years, the Cao family, the third largest family, gradually took control of the military and political power in the two states of Gua and Sha. Kicked out of the power center, in this process, the Cao family and the Yin family became the closest allies, while the Duanmu family and the An family were still closer to the Zhang family. As for the Si, Yan, and Duanmu families, It is a long-sleeved dancer who travels between the two major factions and belongs to the master of soy sauce.

Duanmu Zhongren had a panoramic view of the changes in the expressions of Cao Xuefei and Yin Chengwu, the Patriarch of the Yin Family. He smiled lightly and said calmly: "Everyone, during the Anshi Rebellion in the past, Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty took refuge in Sichuan and sent elite soldiers from Longyou in the west of Hexi to escort him. As a result, the army in Longyou, Hexi was empty, and Tubo took the opportunity to attack. Hexi fell, and the road blocked Xiaoguan. We Han children have no contact with our homeland. But we Han children who are alone, never forget our homeland. .”

Duanmu Zhongren flicked his sleeves, pointed to the land under his feet, and said in a deep voice: "At that time, after seeing Liang, Gansu, and Sugua states fall one by one, our Han army and civilians stood firm on the last piece of Han land in Shazhou. It lasted 13 years. Zhou Ding, the governor of Guazhou at that time, saw that there was no hope for help. He wanted to burn the city and run eastward. He had no intention of surrendering. He just wanted to abandon this land and return to the land of his ancestors. What happened? I, the land of the Han, the heaven and the earth will not allow it! We all know that the soldiers and horses sent General Yan Chaoyan to kill Zhou Ding, and led the army and the people to continue to fight against Tubo. It was not until the second year of Jianzhong that the food was exhausted, and General Yan sent people to fight with the Tubo general Qi Xiner. During the meeting, they made an oath to the Tianmeng and made a solemn agreement: After the Fan soldiers entered the city, they would not kill a son of our Han family, or humiliate a woman of our Han family. With Qi Xin'er's solemn promise, they surrendered the city and saved our Guazhou. The soldiers and civilians have preserved my nine great families, and made my Han family live in Guazhou. In order to cut off the blood relationship between our Han people and the Tang Dynasty, the Tubo people did not allow us to wear the clothes handed down from our ancestors, and asked us to braid our hair.衽, just like Hu Er. Every year, on the day of Yuanshuo, we Han people can wear the long-lost Han family clothes and pay homage to our ancestors in the East. We hope that Master Wang can save me. There are frequent wars in the Central Plains, so there is no way to take care of us!"

When Duanmu Zhongren said this, he was already in tears, and the leaders of the major families couldn't help but feel a little moved. The courtyard was silent, only listening to Zhang Zhiwen's generous speech following Duanmu Zhongren's words: "Later, Tubo Zanputa Mo was assassinated by monks. My Guazhou Han'er lived up to General Yan's painstaking efforts in the past. My ancestor Yichao took the opportunity to rise up and led my Han'er to recover Guazhou and Shazhou in one fell swoop. One bird soared, and a hundred birds followed. In less than two years, eleven prefectures in the Western Regions were regained. After a hundred years, the left lapel was restored to crown clothes. The leftovers of the ten counties were all born. The family ancestors abolished the system of the Tubo tribe and rebuilt the prefectures, counties and townships. Building households, clearing land, repairing water conservancy, and promoting farming. Since then, the Hexi Corridor has been unimpeded, and the characters are weathered, just like the Central Plains. Being eaten away, to this day, I, the Han people in the Western Regions, can only keep the two states of Guasha!"

Cao Xuefei couldn't hold back anymore, with a livid face, he pressed his knife and shouted: "Duanmu Zhongren, what do you mean, are you criticizing my Cao family?"

The knives and axes almost rushed out from behind the curtain, Cao Xuefei showed a ferocious look on his face, but Zhang Zhiwen rolled his eyelids at this moment, and said calmly: "The Guiyi Army fell in the hands of my Zhang family, why did Mr. Duanmu criticize your Cao family? However, after your Cao family took over Shazhou, my Guiyi Army has not seen any improvement, this is a fact, Duanmu Zhongren is just discussing the matter."

Cao Xuefei sneered, and didn't want to stop him anymore. He just paid attention to the changes in the expressions of the other aristocratic masters, thinking that he could use the words of Duanmu Zhongren and Zhang Zhiwen to further see who had the intention of surrendering to the country.

At this time, Yin Chengwu said with a sinister smile: "Zhang Weng, Mr. Duanmu, what's the point of talking about the grandeur of the ancestors of the Zhang family and the old things in Guazhou?"

"otherwise!"

Zhang Zhiwen said seriously: "The old man and Mr. Duanmu said these words to you juniors to let you know what our seniors have done to protect my Han family's mantle. I want you to know that we are far away in the Western Regions. We are separated from our homeland, it’s not because I Shazhou Han people don’t think about my homeland, and it’s not because China wants to abandon me Western Region Han people!”

"Back when the Tang Dynasty fell and the Guiyi army fell, we all became the remnants of lonely officials without a country and a family. After a hundred years, we will forget our ancestors and become barbarians. But now, the army of Xiangfu Kingdom has come to the west , destroying the dead, the situation is like a broken bamboo, and Tubo and Uyghur were defeated in an instant. This time is really a rare opportunity to restore our Han land. Are we now going to forget the will of our ancestors and our ancestors and become an enemy of the heavenly army of Xiangfu Kingdom?"

Duanmu Zhongren said: "Everyone, the army of Xiangfu Kingdom came here to unify Hexi and restore our Han land. You are all big clans in Guazhou. Since we were cut off from the Central Plains, we have been looking forward to it day and night. Hulu, come back to our Han land. If the army really came today, should we meet him with swords and soldiers? Xiangfu country has strong soldiers and strong horses, not to mention Liangzhou Tubo and Ganzhou Uighurs, even the capitals of Song and Liao Defeated by him, can it be said that our two prefectures, Gua and Sha, can reach the army of Xiangfu Kingdom?"

"Surrender, follow the will of heaven and earth, inherit the will of the ancestors, and unite with the hearts of the people. Your families will not suffer the slightest damage. The opening of the Western Regions will benefit you greatly. The morale of the army and the people will not be used. , will definitely be defeated, the result of my big family is nothing more than dying together with Guazhou. I really can't bear to wait for you to fall into the abyss, "

The leaders of the various families looked at each other, some moved emotionally, while others secretly looked at Cao Xuefei.

Cao Xuefei was extremely angry in his heart, and his murderous intent was overwhelming, thinking that it was indeed the case, it seems that it would be impossible not to kill these people.Thinking of this, with a bang, he threw the wine glass in his hand to the ground, drew his knife and said, "Come here and chop up these incompetent old wretches for me!"

With a swipe, the curtains on both sides fell down, and a hundred swordsmen on each side were exposed to everyone.In the blink of an eye, Hu Sanguang let out a long laugh, and waved both hands at the sword-axe fighters on both sides who had just been exposed and were about to rush out to kill, and two hidden weapons the size of fists flew towards the sword-axe fighters on both sides.

"Be careful with hidden weapons!" After the swordsmen were stunned for a moment, many of them also reacted quickly, jumping up and slashing at the hidden weapons amidst loud shouts.

The next moment, there were two bangs, and the hidden weapons were not split into two halves, but exploded in an instant. This is not the similar weapon that Ye Chen asked the Xiangfu Country Firearms Research Department to develop. It's a grenade, but a special weapon smoke bomb specially researched by the Weapons Research Department for the special brigade.

(End of this chapter)