Great Han Empire

Chapter 205
In the middle of the night, Li Hong's army of cavalry encountered a convoy heading west from Pingxiang University.

Hou Tannu, the fake soldier of the Black Panther Yi Cong, came to see him in a panic.Tan Nu is from Xianbei, tall and strong, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and looks very sturdy.Like Hu Ding and Qi Shen, he was a soldier of the Wild Wolf Tribe of the Xianbei tribe, and he surrendered to Li Hong after being captured in the ambush in the Moon Burial Forest.

Li Hong saw him alone, and asked strangely, "Where's Zilong? Where's Huding and Qichen? They're still in the camp?"

"My lord, the three lords have rushed to Longcheng with [-] soldiers." Tan Nu looked around vigilantly and whispered.

"Oh?" Li Hong asked in surprise: "Didn't he take you to escort the grain and grass? Why did he go to Long County again? What does he want to do?"

"After Mr. Zhao returned to the camp, he immediately arranged for Mr. Chen from the scout battalion to take a dozen scouts to Long County to investigate the situation, and then he took us to escort the grain and grass to the west. But that afternoon, he and the two soldiers Hou left. Before he left, he said that he had gone to Long County to rescue Zuo Sima, and asked me to be responsible for delivering the grain to Xiaoniu Mountain."

Li Hong laughed.

"This Zilong has a lot of tricks, yes, he has courage."

Tan Nu said quietly: "There are two thousand cavalry from Ma Teng in Long County. I'm afraid things will be more difficult."

Li Hong nodded worriedly, and said: "Zilong and the others are too courageous. However, with their martial arts, even if the matter fails, it is still possible to get away calmly." Then he glanced at Tan Nu and said with a smile, " You also learn to speak from our Han people. After such a long time, you still speak Xianbei dialect. Is the Chinese language difficult to learn?"

Tan Nu smiled embarrassedly and said, "It's hard to learn."

Li Hong patted him on the shoulder affectionately, and said, "It's hard to learn, don't you want to go back to Xianbei? There won't be a war for a while, and we'll go back to Youzhou. You can find a Han woman to be your wife."

Tan Nu happily bowed quickly and saluted: "Thank you for your reward, sir."

Li Hong was taken aback for a moment, and then realized that he had said something wrong.He stretched out his hand and slapped Tanu, and said with a smile: "The matter of not spending money was promised so quickly. Well, I'm going back to the camp. After you deliver the grain and grass, hurry back immediately, and we're going to Yicheng."

"Yes." Tan Nu replied loudly with a smile on his face.

===

In the early morning, Li Hong led the cavalry to the Pingxiang camp.In the morning, Zhao Yun came back with the Black Panther Yi Cong.

When Li Hong heard the news, he rushed out to greet him.

"Brothers, are there any casualties?" Li Hong asked eagerly, looking at Zhao Yun, who was dusty and tired.

"No one was killed or injured." Zhao Yun forced a smile, "We rescued Zuo Sima, robbed Liangzhou's warehouse, killed Ma Teng's two hundred cavalry, and brought back Cheng Qiu."

"How about Zuo Sima?"

"It's just a flesh injury, it will be fine after a period of recuperation."

Li Hong nodded in satisfaction, lightly punched Zhao Yun, and praised: "Good job." Then he gave up on the arc tripod standing behind Zhao Yun, and Chen Ming said, "Everyone did a good job. Don't treat me badly." Brothers, we must reward you heavily."

"My lord, this matter..." Chen Ming stepped forward and said in a low voice, "I guess it won't take long to hide it, and it will cause a big disturbance."

"Tell me." Li Hong said with a smile.

"We asked Cheng Qiu on the way, and he searched our barracks, and there was indeed a warrant from the Taiwei." Chen Ming glanced at Li Hong anxiously, and said cautiously, "So, we rushed into Long County secretly. , rescued people, robbed warehouses, and ran to the Zixiu Mountain barracks to kill Ma Teng’s two hundred cavalry, this seems to have gone too far.”

Zhao Yun, Hu Ding, and Qi Shen all lowered their heads, not daring to face Li Hong.

Li Hong laughed loudly.

"What is this? I was planning to bring [-] cavalry into Long County. What are you?"

Zhao Yun and the others looked at Li Hong in surprise.

"Don't you believe it? If I hadn't read Zilong's letter, I would have returned to Daying so soon?" Li Hong said murderously, "Trick me? Court death."

The four of Zhao Yun suddenly felt relieved, and all of them smiled happily.

"I thought the four of you were brave enough, but it turned out to be nothing more than that." Li Hong pointed at the four of them and joked.Zhao Yun and Chen Ming laughed awkwardly.

"My lord, if the Taiwei or His Majesty pursue this matter..." Chen Ming still asked worriedly.

Li Hong glanced at them, smiled, thought for a while, and said, "I'll tell you about this. There are some things that you have to deal with, so it's better to explain clearly to you."

"The matter of Cheng Qiu's search of the military camp is a trivial matter, and Cheng Qiu himself is a small person, so there must be a big event behind this matter, and there must be a big person." Li Hong said coldly, "Someone wants to take the opportunity Framed me, but I have no money, no family background, and no power. Why frame me? It is nothing more than trying to drive me out of Xiliang. But why would someone want to drive me out of Xiliang? Because I beat the Xiliang rebels quickly It's over, Xiliang will soon be settled down, and many people's money will be cut off."

Zhao Yun and Chen Ming suddenly realized.Hu Ding and Qi Shen are a little confused, they don't know much about the affairs of the Han Dynasty after all.

"Lord Taiwei and His Majesty both want to end the war in Xiliang early, because the treasury has no money to support us in the war. The matter of the treasury having no money is what Mr. Fu said, and it must not be wrong. So there are ten masterminds behind this matter. Eighty-nine times there will be a gang of treacherous villains in the court, and only they will do this kind of thing for their own selfishness regardless of the country's rise and fall."

"Use a villain's method to deal with a villain." Li Hong said, "I have been thinking about this on the way back. How can I fight back? Now I have a way."

"You rescued Zuo Sima, and you also did some robbery incidentally. If you want to avoid being held accountable, there is only one way..." Li Hong paused, looked at everyone's expectant eyes, and smiled, "Prove that Cheng Qiu is a corrupt official." That's it."

Zhao Yun nodded with a smile.

Chen Ming said excitedly: "Your Excellency's move of pushing and beating is very clever. We tortured Cheng Qiu, searched his property, and found evidence that he was corrupt and broke the law. In this way, we can not only shirk responsibility, but also arbitrarily Framed, maybe we can find the backer behind him, haha..."

"I heard from some generals in Xiliang that Cheng Qiu has been domineering in Xiliang for more than 20 years, and his family's money is moldy." Li Hong said with a smile, "you will squeeze out his bones, you know? This time You have made great contributions to catching Cheng Qiu, and I will definitely reward you in return."

The four hurriedly expressed their thanks.

Li Hong went on to say: "Your raid on Longcheng and the Zixiu Mountain barracks probably won't be kept secret for long, so you have to hurry up and deal with it. Zilong, I will leave all the Black Panther Yicong to you. In addition, you should send someone immediately Arrive at Muyuan and order Zheng Xin, Yan Liang, Yan Wuwei, Tie Yue, and Wen Chou to come back immediately with their respective guards."

"Master Zheng and Zuo Sima are fully responsible for this matter."

"Also, Cheng Qiu's property is estimated to be very large. Chang'an, Sanfu, and Liangzhou may all have it, so we definitely don't have time to verify it, so you just need to find a place, whether it's money, silk, silk, houses, land, Wubao Restaurant, They will be confiscated and confiscated.”

Zhao Yun said cautiously: "My lord, do we just need to find the evidence? If we do this, we have completely violated the laws of the Han Dynasty. We are not a government, and we have no right to confiscate property. If your lord must do this, do you have to ask the Supreme Court first?" Master Wei's consent?"

Li Hong shook his hand and said with a smile: "You said that Cheng Qiu searched the camp, and he did carry the warrant of the Taiwei on his body, which means that the power behind Cheng Qiu is too great, and the Taiwei can't afford to offend him. The Taiwei is in Xiliang. With such a tense battle situation, he would rather offend me than search for the warrant of Cheng Qiu’s camp. One can imagine who is behind Cheng Qiu. So if we tell him about this, he will not only not Will agree, and maybe get us arrested."

"Now that things have come to this point, we have no way out. Instead of waiting to be killed and facing death, it is better to take advantage of the soldier talisman in my hand, the integrity in my body, and tens of thousands of troops. Everyone fight back and find a way out. As long as we have real evidence in our hands, even if we violate the laws of the Han Dynasty, at most we will be dismissed from office, what are we afraid of?" Li Hong glanced at a few people and said, "We are poor and lowly people, at worst, I and Hu Ding and the others will go back to the frontier to graze horses. , you go back to Jizhou to cultivate the land, what’s the big deal.”

After some words, Zhao Yun, Chen Ming, and Hu Ding were suddenly overwhelmed with abandonment, the four of them bowed and saluted, then turned and retreated.

===

Sangyang hurried into Zhang Wen's study with a roll of bamboo slips in his arms.

"My lord, Longcheng was attacked the night before yesterday, and Zixiu Mountain barracks were also attacked."

Zhang Wen raised his head from the table, glanced at Sang Yang who was slightly panting strangely, and said, "That's all?"

Sang Yang nodded.

"Wars in Xiliang are frequent, the order is chaotic, and bandits are rampant. The cities and fortresses in various places have been attacked by stragglers and bandits. What's so special?" He said slowly, "Master Geng can't even protect his own county, what else can he do?"

Sangyang said solemnly: "The bandits are very powerful. They first killed 28 guards and captured the west gate of Longcheng, and then ransacked the treasury of Liangzhou. All 32 guards were killed. The State Prison was also robbed, and 200 guards were killed. In the Zixiu Mountain barracks, more than [-] cavalry soldiers of Ma Teng were killed."

Zhang Wen listened silently until he heard that two hundred cavalrymen had been killed, and he glanced at Sangyang in surprise.

"These people kidnapped Li Zhonglang's marching commander, Zuoyan, from the prison, and kidnapped Cheng Qiu from the Zixiu Mountain barracks, so Mr. Geng said that Li Zhonglang sent someone to do it."

Zhang Wen looked a little stunned and didn't answer. After a while, he slowly laughed.

"That day, Master Geng and Master Cheng took Master Hou's letter and pestered me to give them a warrant. I warned them at that time that this kind of person is not to be messed with, he is a murderer, and his brain has been broken , I'm a bit of an idiot, once I get angry, things will be troublesome. Haha..."

Sang Yang couldn't help laughing when he saw Zhang Wen's schadenfreude, and laughed aloud: "Now, a few masters have thrown stones at their feet, let's see how they end up."

The two laughed and laughed in the study.

"Return a letter to Mr. Geng and tell him that it is against the law to frame Li Zhonglang indiscriminately without any solid evidence. Once Mr. Yushi finds out, if Mr. Yu Shi finds out and writes to impeach him, he will be thrown out of office and imprisoned." Zhang Wen said with a smile, "These People are really stupid. Li Zhonglang won many victories in the Xiliang battlefield, and he is very favored by the emperor. At this time, it is not interesting to stroke his beard."

"Oh?" Sangyang asked strangely, "How does your lord know that the emperor favors Li Zhonglang?"

"Lord Gai said it in his letter. Li Zhonglang was frequently mentioned in the edict given to him by His Majesty recently, and he paid great attention between the lines. This leopard has a bright future."

Sangyang smiled lightly and said: "He came from a humble background and lacked knowledge. This is obvious to all and well-known. Bu Qingyun, it is very difficult. After all, this is not a troubled time, not the early days of this dynasty, when you can speak with military merit."

Zhang Wen smiled, shook his head, and did not speak.

"My lord, General Dong has been besieged by the Weishui River to the north of Wangyuan City for several days. Food and grass are getting scarcer, and the situation is critical. Did your lord write a letter in person to urge Li Zhonglang to speed up his support?"

"Bian Zhang and Han Sui's rebels have suffered heavy losses, and will soon cross the Yellow River westward and flee into the Qiang land. June Jinglei and his Qiang-Hu allied forces will retreat as soon as they receive the news, so Dong Zhuo is not in any danger , his matter, let him solve it by himself. Isn’t he very capable? Let him figure out a way.” Zhang Wen snorted softly in his nose, and said disdainfully, “A man who fought dozens of times in the border A person who has fought against the rebels for two years and only won a small game in Luofengling. You can see how he brags, and he wants to let the whole Luoyang know. Sigh..." Zhang Wen sighed, "As long as this kind of person If you are still in Xiliang, there will be no peace in Bianjun."

Sangyang nodded sympathetically.

"Look at Li Zhonglang again. He wiped out [-] enemies in World War I, rescued General Zhou in time and wiped out [-] enemies in World War I, and Xiliang's rebels were beaten to death. If he was recruited last year, it is estimated that Xiliang The war has been settled long ago, so why am I still struggling here until now."

Zhang Wen sighed again, and said frowningly: "All the expenses of the army can probably last for more than ten days. Now I send two urgent notes a day, and my hair is getting gray, but your majesty has not replied so far. He agreed with us to appease the rebels, but he didn't say he disagreed, alas..."

At this moment, Tao Qian walked in with several volumes of documents.

"My lord, General Zhou and Li Zhonglang wrote urgently and demanded to withdraw the troops immediately. The army's food and grass are no longer sufficient."

Zhang Wen hurriedly said, "Has the food and grass raised by Mr. Geng been delivered yet?"

Tao Qian shook his head and said very dissatisfied, "Chengqiu, the governor's mansion, not only did not send the food and grass, but also took your warrant to search the camp publicly, detained Zuo Sima, and whipped the guard soldiers. do not fight?"

Sang Yang hurriedly stood up and persuaded: "Brother Gongzu, my lord has difficulties like a lord. Isn't this battle won?"

"That's because Li Zhonglang acted quickly so he could cooperate with General Zhou in the first battle. If it takes two days and Li Zhonglang finds out that the lord ordered to search his camp, detain his Sima, and whip his attendants, how can this battle be fought? My lord, you are taking the fate of the great Han country and the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers as a trifling matter, for your little self-interest, you actually succumb to the power of treacherous eunuchs, and are willing to wrong the soldiers who are loyal to the country." Tao Qian said more and more Excited, he threw the few rolls of bamboo slips in his hands to the ground, and said loudly: "Your Excellency is the Taiwei of my Great Han Dynasty, ranking first among the three princes, and he would do such a despicable thing..." Tao Qian opened his eyes angrily. Eyes wide open, shaking his head non-stop, too angry to speak.

Zhang Wen was expressionless, lowered his head and looked down, as if he had fallen asleep.

"Bah!" Tao Qian immediately turned around and strode away.

Sang Yang didn't dare to call him, looked at his rebellious back, shook his head and smiled wryly.He leaned over to pick up the documents that Tao Qian threw on the ground.

Zhang Wen shook his head, and said helplessly: "This Gongzu is quite old, and he will turn his face if he says he will. He has been friends for decades. Speaking of which, I am still his teacher, and I don't even give him any sympathy. It looks like this , how to be an official."

"By the way, take a look at Li Zhonglang's documents. We don't know what Gongzu said. For Cheng Qiu, it's fine if he doesn't send food. If he arrests or beats someone, I think he is It's not courting death."

===

Li Hong rushed to Yicheng with an army of cavalry.Fu Xie and Huangfu Hong went out of the city to meet him.

Huangfu Hong, whose name is Jianshou, is the eldest son of Huangfu Song. He has both civil and military skills and extraordinary knowledge.He is of medium build, with a solid body, a red face, and a heroic appearance, very much like a warrior on the prairie. It is impossible to tell that he is a man who has read poetry and is proficient in rhythm.

When Xu Rong introduced Li Hong, he said that Han Sui and Huangfu Hong were very good friends. The two used to play chess and discuss music together, and they regarded each other as confidantes.When Huangfu Hong heard Xu Rong say these things, he didn't take it seriously at all, instead he seemed concerned.

Li Hong hurriedly exchanged greetings with him, and then said to Fu Xie, "We rested outside the city for the night. Tomorrow, the army will start shooting tigers to cut off the enemy's retreat. The army is short of food and grass. I don't know if the prefect can help us solve it?"

Fu Xie said with a smile: "You came too fast, we didn't prepare so much at the moment. After you arrive at Shehu Valley, I will send you the food and grass one by one."

Immediately, several people discussed how to rescue Dong Zhuo.

Most of Huangfuhong's troops lost their combat effectiveness during the breakout process.Now the reinforcements are only Li Hong's [-] cavalry, whose strength cannot be compared with the [-] Qianghu, so there is no good way to discuss and discuss, and finally decided to take the method of threatening the Qianghu's back and forcing the Qianghu to retreat.But they didn't know how much food and grass Dong Zhuo's troops had left, and how many days they could last.

Li Hong immediately thought of an idea.He ordered people to rush to Xiaoniu Mountain, find a few rebel soldiers who knew the leader of the Qianghu among the prisoners, and then bring them back and let them report to the Qianghu camp.If the enemy makes a decisive decision, they should retreat soon.

At night, Li Hong and Fu Xie held a long talk.

"My lord, everything you said has come true." Li Hong said with a smile, "There are indeed people in the court who want to drive me out of Xiliang."

Fu Xie's expression changed slightly, and he said in a low voice, "Tell me."

Li Hong immediately told Fu Xie what had happened in the past few days.

"Cheng Qiu?" Fu Xie muttered to himself, "This is Xiliang's number one cancer. He has been evil in Xiliang for decades, doing all kinds of bad things, arrogant and domineering, no one can cure him." He looked suspiciously He glanced at Li Hong, "Are you okay?"

Li Hong asked in surprise: "Isn't he just supported by a few eunuchs? Why not? I'm sending people to torture him, and I want Cheng Qiu to spit out all his bones."

Fu Xie's face changed drastically, and he whispered: "You have never been in Xiliang, you don't know his cunning, you don't know how strong his background is, and you don't know who he is implicated, so you despise him It's normal. Everyone knows that Cheng Qiu is corrupt and perverts the law, but do you know why he has always been at ease?"

Li Hong smiled and shook his head, listening with interest.

"It's because of arresting him, which involves too many officials and too many officials. No one can find out." Fu Xie smiled wryly, "As long as he disappears in Xiliang for a few days, Luoyang will know, and someone will come right away. To protect him, there is even an imperial decree, so he will be fine before you pry his mouth open."

"It's so powerful." Li Hongzhen said in shock, "I will immediately send someone back to the camp and transfer him to the mountain."

Fu Xie shook his hand and asked solemnly, "Why did you touch him?"

"Because he and the forces behind him want to put me to death. Since there is no way out, everyone will fight to see who can save their lives. You must know that I have 4 to [-] people who are closely related to me. I am dead. They can't get any better, so I have to kill them. I can't blame me for this. If you want to blame them, you can blame them for being too greedy for money. In the end, they don't even care about the safety of the country. This kind of people don't kill anyone ?”

"Do you have a solution?" Fu Xie asked sternly, "Doing things is not thoughtful at all. What if Cheng Qiu doesn't confess? What if his confessions are all fake? What if other officials are involved? What if he is involved? What about the nobles? What if the royal relatives are involved? What if the eunuchs join forces to impeach you for abusing your power? What if the local government writes a letter telling you to support the army and violate the law? What if things get serious, the emperor wants you to What if the case is transferred to Tingwei Mansion for trial?"

"The most important thing is that because of you, Lord Taiwei, the former student of Lord Taiwei, all friends who are friendly with Lord Taiwei will be implicated, including me, Liu Shangshu in the capital. If I had known that you would provoke such a Big disaster, I won't tell you about these things that night." Fu Xie said regretfully.

Li Hong was a little dizzy when he heard that, and quickly waved his hands at Fu Xie, "Okay, okay, okay, I was wrong, I was wrong, what do you think? What should we do now?"

"You are looking for death." Fu Xie cursed bitterly, "The suppression of the rebellion in Xiliang has not yet ended, and you have poked out such a big hornet's nest, and Xiliang will soon collapse. If Lord Taiwei finds out, I'm afraid he will cry I can't even cry."

The ignorant are fearless.Li Hong didn't know the powerful relationship here, so he didn't care, but thought Fu Xie was too timid.

===

"

(End of this chapter)