Great Han Empire

Chapter 217
With a loud roar, Qi Chen rushed towards Li Hong with all his strength.

The long arrow shot into Qi Shen's body.

Li Hong hugged Qi Shen and roared: "Kill, kill me..."

Zhao Yun and Hu Ding quickly blocked the other two assassins.The panther's attendants roared wildly and leaped like a frying pan.They dispersed suddenly, all the way to kill the assassin who secretly shot cold arrows in the distance, rushed all the way to the city gate, and quickly surrounded Li Hong all the way.

There was a sudden commotion near the city gate.

Zhao Yun's face was as cold as ice, and the saber in his hand roared. He slashed three times in a row, the blade saw blood, and the fourth slash split the opponent's body and sword in half.Immediately, he flew up, swung the round saber, and slashed fiercely at the assassin who was fighting with Hu Ding.The big man with the spear calmly retreated a little bit, letting the arc tripod's attack pass, and suddenly stabbed Zhao Yun in the air with his spear.

"Qichen..." Li Hong hugged Qichen, the fear in his heart reached the extreme, he shouted loudly, shaking Qichen's shoulders vigorously, as if he was afraid that Qichen in his arms would die suddenly.

Qi Chen closed his eyes tightly, unconscious.

"Kill him, kill him for me..." Li Hong turned his head, looked at the assassin who was still fighting, and roared angrily, "Kill him..."

Zhao Yun and Hu Ding originally wanted to capture this person alive, and when they asked about the situation, they yelled at Li Hong. They thought that Qi Shen had died, and they couldn't contain the grief and anger in their hearts anymore. Sweeping up, the assassin was in a hurry, and was hit by the knife immediately, his body was slightly stagnant, and his head had already left his body.

"Abandon Chen... How about abandoning Chen..." Hu Ding rushed to Li Hong's side, distraught.

"The situation is bad. Take out the arrow first, otherwise he will bleed too much and he will die. Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up..."

=

Zhang Wen looked at Dong Zhuo, feeling very unhappy.

After Dong Zhuo led his troops back to Xiaohuaili camp, Zhang Wen sent people several times to invite him to discuss matters in Huaili City, but Dong Zhuoli ignored them.This time Zhang Wen sent someone to invite him to Huaili City to discuss the allocation of military funds, and Dong Zhuocai reluctantly brought a few people here.

Zhang Wen knew the reason for Dong Zhuo's anger.

This time defeating the Xiliang rebels, the three leading generals all made great contributions.Dong Zhuo made the first contribution.The subsequent two victories of Li Hong and Zhou Shen benefited from Dong Zhuo's attack.Without Dong Zhuo's ambush, the rebels would not have retreated, and if the rebels did not retreat, Li Hong and Zhou Shen would have no chance of defeating the enemy.

Now, Li Hong has been favored by the emperor and has been awarded the important task of suppressing corruption in Xiliang. This is a fat job that cannot be fatter.Because Zhou Shen was seriously injured, he was allowed by the emperor to return to Beijing to heal his injuries.Back in Luoyang, Zhou Shen is the hero who suppressed the rebellion, and he can gain both fame and fortune.

But Dong Zhuo got none of them.He was surrounded by the Qiang Hu army at Wangyuan, although he led his troops to break through the siege unscathed, but he was still defeated. In the future, rewards for meritorious deeds will at most equalize merits and demerits, and no reward will not be punished.Thinking of it this way, Dong Zhuo was not to blame for being angry.Since the rebellion in Xiliang, he led his troops to stand on the front line and fought for nearly two years. There was no credit or hard work, but in the end he didn't get any rewards. It was indeed resentful and frustrating.

What Dong Zhuo hated the most was Zhang Wen's death.If it hadn't been for Dong Zhuo's timely breakout, Dong Zhuo's troops would have been wiped out by June Thunder in all likelihood.Regarding the matter of rescuing Dong Zhuo, Zhang Wen, as the commander of the Western Expedition, clearly knew that Dong Zhuo's troops were very dangerous, but he did not order Zhou Shen's troops to help.From Dong Zhuo's point of view, Zhang Wen definitely wanted to harm him with ulterior motives, and took the opportunity to attack the traitorous forces in Beijing.

But Zhang Wen did not intend to harm Dong Zhuo.He was entangled in Li Hong's crackdown on corruption and the lack of money and food for the Western Expeditionary Army. In addition, the Xiliang rebel army was gone. He knew that June Jinglei would withdraw sooner or later, so he ignored this matter.He didn't expect that Dong Zhuo would throw away all the food and grass during the retreat, so that he would soon be in desperation.

Now Zhang Wen wants to use Dong Zhuo.If Li Hong went west to Jincheng and was killed by the rebels or someone else, the war in Xiliang would resume, and the troops would continue to march westward to fight the rebels.Now that Zhou Shen has returned to Beijing, if Li Hong is also dead, then Dong Zhuo will be left as the commander in chief on the Xiliang battlefield.But Dong Zhuo is a member of the treacherous party, so he may not sell the account of Zhang Wen, the commander of the Western Expedition, so Zhang Wen invited Dong Zhuo to Huaili several times to discuss, with the intention of wooing him.If the rebellion in Xiliang cannot be put down completely, Zhang Wen will not be able to return to Beijing. Sooner or later, his end will be the same as that of Huangfusong.

Tao Qian and Sun Jian were very disapproving of Lord Taiwei's idea.They thought that it was not easy for Master Taiwei to lead an army of [-] to cross the Yellow River and wipe out the remnants of tens of thousands of rebels. Why must they count on Dong Zhuo?

Sun Jian thought Dong Zhuo should be killed.Dong Zhuo has three crimes worthy of death.First, the Taiwei sent people to invite him several times, but he didn't come.If you don't come, you won't come, and he also uttered wild words, insulting the Taiwei and everyone in the Taiwei's mansion, which is rude to the slightest.Secondly, Dong Zhuo has tens of thousands of troops in his hands. For two years, not only has he been unable to pacify Xiliang, but he has also spread rumors of sympathy for the rebels and demoralization of the troops.Third, after Dong Zhuo led his troops to escape from Wangyuan, he should be dismissed and detained according to military law.Master Taiwei understood his difficulties and did not do so.But instead of being grateful, Dong Zhuo resented the Taiwei.Sun Jian hoped that the Taiwei would find a way to lure Dong Zhuo to Huaili City, and then punish him with military law and kill him to shock the army.

Of course Zhang Wen didn't want to.In his opinion, Dong Zhuo has fought for more than ten years. No matter in experience or prestige, other Xiliang generals, Sun Jian and others cannot hold a candle to him.Kill Dong Zhuo, who will lead the westward march to defeat the rebels in the future?Zhang Wen doesn't trust any of these generals currently on the Xiliang battlefield.

Zhang Wen wanted to use Dong Zhuo, and he also understood the grievance and loss in Dong Zhuo's heart, so he was always tolerant of his rude behavior and did not blame him.But now he is angry.Dong Zhuo was so rude, no matter what Zhang Wen said to him, Dong Zhuo ignored him, and even closed his eyes, looking arrogant and arrogant to the extreme.

Zhang Wen's tone was not good, and he said slowly: "Zhongying, I have already explained to you that I have no right to intervene in Li Zhonglang's affairs. He was personally appointed by His Majesty to preside over the corruption in Xiliang. He, let alone the generals of the Western Expedition Army? You led your troops to Lueyang to confront Li Zhonglang's army without authorization, what reason do you have?"

Dong Zhuo let out a cold "hum".

"Zhongying, if you don't give me a reason, I will tell His Majesty the truth."

"Master Taiwei, isn't it a matter of discussing the allocation of military resources today? Are you calling me here to accuse me and prepare to impeach me?" Dong Zhuo tilted his head, squinted his eyes slightly, looked at Zhang Wen, and mocked, " I have fought in the frontier for decades, and I have never seen any battles, I am afraid that you will impeach me?"

Dong Zhuo sneered again and again, stroked his long beard, and suddenly raised his voice, "What is that barbarian from northern Xinjiang? A slave of the Xianbei people, who killed several people and won several battles, he is General Zhonglang. It's completely embarrassing for my big Han Dynasty." At the end, he almost yelled.

The atmosphere in the room suddenly became tense.

Zhang Wen stared at Dong Zhuo sternly.Dong Zhuo looked back at Zhang Wen without showing any weakness, his eyes widened with murderous intent.

Zhang Wen's face twitched a few times, and suddenly he squeezed out an ugly smile.

"General, you insult a court official like this..."

"Lord Taiwei can write this crime together in the impeachment memorial." Dong Zhuo interrupted Zhang Wen, and said angrily, "I, Dong Zhuo, have done so much for the Han Dynasty, and how much blood I have spilled. Clear. Even in the past two years in Xiliang to suppress the rebellion, I was born and died, fighting bloody battles, but what did I get? Am I not as good as a Xianbei slave who has just joined the army for two years?"

Dong Zhuo stood up suddenly, and said sharply: "My fault, Lord Taiwei can deal with it at will. My old life, Dong Zhuo, is worthless. Farewell!"

After speaking, he turned around and left.

Zhang Wen didn't expect him to leave as soon as he said it, he was taken aback for a moment, and then he was so angry that his seven orifices were filled with smoke.

Sang Yang stood up and shouted loudly: "General, General, please stay behind..."

Sun Jian stood up, took two quick steps, stood in the middle of the hall, held the handle of the knife, and shouted wildly: "Take Dong Zhuo..."

The guards outside the hall suddenly shouted, and everyone swarmed up and immediately blocked the main entrance of the hall, followed by a row of archers who drew their bows and drew arrows, waiting in full force.

Dong Zhuo stopped abruptly.

He twitched the corner of his mouth, glanced at the soldiers blocking the door with disdain, and turned around slowly.

"Could your lord kill me now?"

Sun Jian yelled: "The general is arrogant and rude when facing the superior, and speaks rudely. He roars in the court. According to military law, behead him!"

With a sarcasm on his face, Dong Zhuo looked Sun Jian up and down, and then asked with a bland smile, "Who are you? Where did you come from? Young people, each one is more arrogant than the other. What are you doing with a knife? kill me?"

Dong Zhuo's eyes suddenly burst out with a murderous look. He glared at Zhang Wen who was sitting high in the hall, gritted his teeth, and said word by word: "My lord wants to kill me?"

Zhang Wen tried his best to suppress his anger and looked at him expressionlessly.

Dong Zhuo suddenly took three steps, pointed at Sun Jian, and shouted loudly: "How dare you kill me..."

His extremely distorted face due to anger was extremely ugly, his eyes were staring like copper bells, and murderous aura gushed out from his tall and strong body like a hill.

He gritted his teeth and shouted wildly: "You kill..."

Dong Zhuo's voice was like thunder, shaking the hall.

Sun Jian faced Dong Zhuo's threats without fear.He held his head high, his tongue burst into thunder, and roared again: "The general despises the superior and is arrogant and domineering. According to the military law, behead!"

At this time, roars were heard outside the hall, and Dong Zhuo's attendants got the news and rushed into the courtyard outside the hall.

More guards guarding the Taiwei's mansion rushed forward and surrounded Dong Zhuo's attendants.The two sides are at war with each other, and they are about to explode.

Tao Qian looked left and right, shook his head and smiled wryly, and muttered to himself, "This Sun Wentai is too aggressive."

Sun Jian clenched the handle of the knife with his right hand and glared at Dong Zhuo angrily, wishing he could swallow him in one gulp.

Sang Yang panicked, ran to Zhang Wen, leaned into his ear, and whispered: "My lord, my lord, stop them quickly, and tell General Dong to leave quickly. We still need him, so we can't make a fuss. Kill Dong Zhuo now, Who will deal with Li Zhonglang? My lord, my lord..."

But now that Dong Zhuo is allowed to leave, what will happen to the face of Zhang Wen, the Taiwei?
Dong Zhuo was furious, his fingers cracked, he raised his hand to look around, and roared fiercely: "Who dares to kill me..."

"Who dares to kill me..."

Sun Jian saw Dong Zhuo standing in the lobby, commanding and arrogant, and couldn't bear the anger in his heart anymore. He drew his sword in his hand with a "sigh..." and turned his head and shouted angrily: "My lord, according to the military law, cut... "

Dong Zhuo put his hand on the handle of the saber.

Zhang Wen's face was like still water, and he remained silent.

Holding the saber in both hands, Sun Jian slowly held it high in front of his chest, waiting for an order from the Taiwei, and immediately launched a sharp blow.

=

Huangfu Li bowed his head and ran.Regardless of the tense atmosphere inside and outside the hall, he rushed into the hall like flying, and without waiting to kneel down, he opened his mouth and shouted: "My lord, the Qiang people are besieging and killing Li Zhonglang at the entrance of the old street..."

Zhang Wen's expression changed in shock, and he stood up abruptly.Everyone wanted to kill Li Hong now, but Zhang Wen didn't want Li Hong to die in Huaili City.Li Hong died in Huaili City, and he, the Taiwei, was about to be dismissed by the emperor immediately.

"Quick, go to the rescue..."

Tao Qian didn't wait for Zhang Wen to speak, he had already drawn his sword, got up and rushed out of the hall.Just after Zhang Wen finished speaking, he had already rushed out of the lobby.

While running, Tao Qian raised his sword and shouted: "Soldiers from Qinwei Tun follow me, follow me, the Qiang people are coming, hurry, hurry..."

The guards in the courtyard were at a loss.Because Tao Qian was the Sima in charge of military affairs in the Taiwei Mansion and was a high-ranking official, many soldiers subconsciously gave up encircling Dong Zhuo's attendants and ran after Tao Qian.Some soldiers looked at the leader of the Qinwei Village standing outside the lobby.

Sun Jian glanced at Dong Zhuo with resentment, and ran out of the hall.

Amidst the hoarse shouts of Sun Jian and the leader of the Qinwei Tun, the guards of Taiwei's Mansion rushed out of the mansion at high speed.

There was chaos inside and outside the courtyard.

=

Li Hong absolutely never thought that someone would dare to kill him at the intersection a hundred steps away from the government office.

This intersection is a four-fork intersection, with a lot of people and a relatively spacious place. What's more, this place is too far from the city gate, and the soldiers guarding the city have no time to rescue them.The attack outside the city gate just now has attracted all the defenders in the city to the city gate.

After urgently treating Qichen's wounds, Li Hong borrowed a door panel from someone near the city gate, and hurriedly carried the unconscious Qichen to the government office.The guard in the city was worried about accidents and planned to send 100 people to escort them along the way, but Li Hong refused.Huaili City was the seat of Fufeng County, with many people, a large city, and many guards. He believed that no matter how courageous the assassins were, they would not launch a second attack on them in broad daylight.Moreover, the assassins in the city would have a hard time escaping, and they would definitely die. The assassins would not do such a loss-making business anyway.

Those who attacked them outside the city were all Qiang people. Although the assassin who raided and shot arrows in the distance was caught, he committed suicide while they were not paying attention, and nothing was asked in the end.Except for Qi Chen who was injured and himself who was stabbed shallowly, everyone else was safe and sound, which made Li Hong very happy.Everyone led the horses, talking and laughing all the way, and after crossing a few streets, they arrived at the entrance of Laojie.

Li Hong led the black panther and walked in the front, Hu Ding and Zhao Yun followed behind him, and the black panther followers carried Abandoned Chen out of the street.

Li Hong saw a beggar, a beggar with a lame leg, but Li Hong saw at a glance that the lame leg was fake.

Li Hong didn't know why he knew that the cripple was fake, but he had always believed in his intuition, which was the only instinct left after his memory disappeared, and he never made a mistake.Immediately, Li Hong felt the crisis, and the noisy street seemed to be filled with blood all of a sudden.

Li Hong vigilantly picked up the horn on his waist.It belonged to Qichen. After Qichen was injured, Li Hong carried his knife and horn on his back.

Li Hong glanced at the intersection.

There were not many people on the street ahead, they were wandering around in twos and threes, and there were several carriages in the distance, and then Li Hong saw a woman of the Hu nationality standing up with a longbow in one of the carriages.Except for soldiers, no one can have a strong bow with a range of more than a hundred paces.

Li Hong blew the horn without hesitation.

The long arrow leaves the string.

Immediately, Li Hong saw more long arrows, and the roar of the long arrows piercing through the air filled his ears.

Zhao Yun and Hu Ding rushed to Li Hong's side without thinking.

The black panther attendants who were at the forefront whistled and retreated into the streets one after another to avoid the sneak attack from the sky full of arrows.

Li Hong was angry, and the anger was burning violently in his heart.Who is going to kill him so unscrupulously?One time is not enough, two more times, okay, let's fight to the death.

Li Hong blew the horn with all his strength, and he wanted to throw the anger and hatred in his heart into the sky along with the passionate and desolate sound of the horn.

Li Hong held the horn in his right hand, and in the blink of an eye, his left hand had already taken off the leather shield from the black panther.

The long arrow arrived in an instant.Dozens of figures rushed over from the other three streets at the same time.

Li Hong let go of the horn with his right hand, and quickly pulled out the saber from behind.Then he held up the shield in his left hand and the knife in his right, raised his head and shouted wildly: "Brothers, kill..."

With the roar soaring into the sky, he ignored the locust-like long arrows all over the sky, and galloped towards the enemy.

"kill……"

Hu Ding and Zhao Yun did not expect so many people to appear in the streets on the left and right.They seemed to emerge from the ground, holding swords and spears, and suddenly stood in front of my eyes.

"kill……"

The two rushed towards the enemy without hesitation.

=

Li Hong's hair was disheveled, his body was drenched in blood, and he looked like a ghost.The assassins went crazy, they completely disregarded their own lives, and killed Li Hong tenaciously and resolutely.

Handing out the saber, it was like a flash of lightning flashing in the dark night.The head flew up, splashing blood all over the sky.

"Kill..." Li Hong chopped his knife into the enemy's chest, and smashed the shield with his left hand on the head of a big man.Cracked head, shattered shield.Three spears flew towards the sky, and between the tips of the spears, there was a trace of cold light.Li Hong's moves are old, so he can only retreat, and then retreat.

Abandon the knife.Draw the knife.Li Hong made it in one go, leaned forward and entered again. "Kill..." The sword was filled with wind and thunder, and instantly split the two men with spears on the right into two pieces.The big man with the spear in the middle couldn't dodge in time, his head and face were splashed with blood, Li Hong grabbed his spear with his left hand, and swung his saber with his right hand again, killing another person with a whistling roar.

Zhao Yun's long spear was screaming among the crowd, Hu Ding's saber swept through the clouds, and the black panther followers swarmed out from the streets and alleys.The battle suddenly became fierce.

Li Hong saw the woman again, young and energetic.Thirty steps away from Li Hong, she raised her longbow again.

Li Hong had already been shot three times by her. He dodged once, held up the enemy's body to block an arrow, and knocked an arrow away with an enemy's spear. This time he was entangled by five people, and he was powerless to resist.Without any hesitation, Li Hong thrust the spear in his left hand into the enemy's body with all his strength, then abandoned the spear, reached into his bosom and took out the small axe.

The enemy's sword roared.There was no way to hide, Li Hong roared and kicked suddenly.The man saw his saber slashing Li Hong's shoulder, but found that his body flew up into the air recklessly, and then he heard the sound of his sternum shattering.The saber slashed across Li Hong's shoulder, and blood splattered everywhere.

The small black ax drew a beautiful arc in the air, like a black ghost, screaming all the way, and rushed towards it with teeth and claws.The Hu woman kept aiming, never expecting that a black ghost would suddenly appear in her sight.She froze for a moment, tilted her head, trying to get a better look.The little ax laughed wildly, and with a thrilling roar, it bit her neck with lightning speed.

She felt that she was bitten by that horrible little thing, just like being bitten by a mosquito, it was crispy, itchy, and a little painful, and then she saw maroon blood gushing from between her neck like spring water out.Her head suddenly lost its support and drooped.

The last thing she saw was Li Hong's knife, the bloody battle knife in the sun.

"kill……"

=

After all, Tao Qian was old, and when he ran out of the gate of the government office, he felt his heart was about to jump out. He took in big mouthfuls of air, unable to wait for one mouthful, but he was still running tenaciously.

He didn't want Li Hong to die, he wanted to see Li Hong alive and well.Tao Qian always felt that Li Hong was very close to him, which was an inexplicable feeling. He didn't know why he liked him, because he was from Youzhou?Because he used to be the governor of Youzhou?He didn't know, but he just liked him and didn't want to see him die meaninglessly lying in a pool of blood.

Sun Jian ran wildly on the street with dozens of guards from the Taiwei's Mansion.

Tao Qian stopped suddenly.Leaning on his long sword, he was panting violently, with a smile on his face.

At the intersection of the street, Li Hong stood proudly with two sabers in his hands, and there was no enemy around him.

=

Zhang Wen touched Li Hong's head with heartache, and asked in a low voice, "Does it hurt?"

Li Hong shook his head and smiled.

He thought of Liu Zheng who was far away in Youzhou.Last year, when he left Lulong Sai with his team to bid farewell to Liu Zheng, Liu Zheng smoothed out his messy hair. Li Hong will never forget that kind of kindness.Now, he read this kind of love again from Zhang Wen's eyes.Li Hong felt excited.

"I want you to go to Jincheng." Zhang Wen pondered for a moment, looked at him, and said slowly, "If you don't want to, I understand and agree. I can let Master Sang and Captain Huangfu..."

"I'll go." Li Hong said loudly, "I'm willing to go."

=

(End of this chapter)