Chapter 24

Waiting for an opportunity

It gradually came to May of the eleventh year of Daye. The Battle of Goryeo had officially ended with the begging of King Gaoyuan of Goryeo, and Emperor Yang Guang returned to the capital.

Although the rebellion in the Sui Dynasty was brutal suppression in the ninth year of Daye and was at a low tide, in the tenth and eleventh year of Daye, the tide of rebellion was once again surging and even more powerful. Du Fuwei raised his troops in the Jianghuai River, repeatedly defeated officers and soldiers, with more than 100,000 troops; Zhai Rang and Li Mi in Wagang Village had more than 200,000 troops; Dou Jiande of Qinghe County collected Gao Shida and Zhang Jin and called him a rebel army, raised another army, with more than 200,000 troops, and captured cities and villages, with a huge momentum.

There was also the Wei Daoer from Hebei who had more than 100,000 troops. Lu Mingyue made a comeback in Douzigang, with more than 100,000 troops crossing the Yellow River, occupying the Qi army Zhua County, and echoing the 100,000 troops from Zuo Xiaoyou of Qi County. In addition, there were hundreds of rebels from various places, gradually transforming from peasants to rebelling from wealthy families in various places. They were no longer limited to the countryside, but attacking counties and counties, taking the city as king, and began to seriously threaten the foundation of the Great Sui Dynasty.

At this time, Yang Guang was already overwhelmed by the rebellions. In the past, the rebellions were only in the countryside, but now most of the rebellions were local wealthy families. They captured cities and counties, killed officials, and defeated the Sui army. Bad news came one after another in various places. Last year, Yang Guang made a ruthless move and removed Tu Wanxu and Yu Juluo, who were unable to quell the rebellion in Jiangnan. Yu Juluo was injured by arrows and died of illness on the way back to Beijing. Tu Wanxu died in the prison of Dali Temple.

Not only was the local rebellion, but Yang Guang also paid attention to the unfaithful intentions of the upper class. Last year, Yang Yichen was impeached by the censor for his high reputation and more than 100,000 troops, and he was impeached by the censor to appoint his subordinates without authorization. Therefore, he was suspicious of Yang Guang and died of illness shortly after his military power was dismissed.

Yang Guang's confidant, Yang Yuanqing, Fengzhou, took advantage of the opportunity of the Battle of Goryeo and began to expand eastward, building five cities on the north bank of the Yellow River, expanding his sphere of influence to Mayi County, which made Yang Guang both startled and angry and decided to attack Yang Yuanqing.

At this moment, a nursery rhyme began to spread in the capital, "Peach and plums have the world, the Yang family is destroyed, and the Li family is prosperous." An ominous omen shrouded over the capital.

There is a five-acre house in Daohuafang, the capital city. This is Zhang Xutuo's house. Zhang Xutuo was transferred back to Beijing to serve as the Minister of Guanglu Temple because of Yang Yuanqing's independence, but he was dismissed only two months later. For two years, he had been idle at home, receiving a salary of Jinzi Guanglu doctor, and living a poor life.

Although he was doing nothing in the capital, Zhang Xutuo was always paying attention to the changes in the world. Yang Guang's decision to expedition again made him anxious. He submitted a memorial to ask the emperor to give up his plan to expedition to Goryeo, but his memorial was like a rock sinking into the sea without any response.

At the same time, he was more concerned about the situation in Qi County. He maintained a correspondence with several confidant generals. Just two days ago, Zhang Xutuo arrived at Qin Qiong's letter saying that the thief commander Lu Mingyue led more than 100,000 troops across the Yellow River and entered Zhua County. The thief commander Zuo Xiaoyou divided his troops into two groups to attack Zouping County and Linji County. The prefect Xu Yuanfang decided to lead his army to rescue.

This news made Zhang Xutuo very anxious. This was obviously Lu Mingyue's plan to lure the tiger away from the mountain. Zuo Xiaoyou used Zuo to transfer Xu Yuanfang's main force from Licheng County, and then he took advantage of the situation to attack Licheng County. If Xu Yuanfang returned to the army to provide assistance, he would inevitably be ambushed.

Zhang Xutuo wrote a memorial overnight to report the matter to Yang Guang, begging Yang Guang to send troops to support Qi County. He was anxious. If Licheng County was captured, Qi County would be over.

In the room, Zhang Xutuo was restless and paced back and forth with his hands behind his back. It seemed that Licheng County was being captured. Fires soared into the sky. Lu Mingyue led his troops to plunder, burned, killed, raped, and hundreds of thousands of people fled in all directions. The families of the generals in the army were all in Licheng County. If the county town was captured, the morale of the army would inevitably be in chaos. Zhang Xutuo hated Xu Yuanfang's stupidity and wisdom in his heart.

At this moment, the door knocked and his wife's voice came, "Master, someone is looking for her!"

"Who is it?"

"It seems to be from Fengzhou."

Zhang Xutuo's face immediately sank. This was the third time that Yang Yuanqing sent someone to come. He was unhappy, but he still wanted to see him. After all, the person who came from Fengzhou came thousands of miles away. If he stayed behind closed doors, it would be a bit rude.

"Please go to the living room!"

Zhang Xutuo was very disgusted with Yang Yuanqing's support for his troops and independence. If it weren't for Yang Yuanqing's rebellion, he would have cut off all relations with Yang Yuanqing long ago.

Zhang Xutuo came to the living room with his hands behind his back. In the living room was a young scholar in his twenties. This person was Zhang Liang, the clerk of Yang Yuanqing. He was ordered to go to Beijing and persuading Zhang Xutuo was only one of his tasks.

Zhang Liang's fingers were not incomplete. Du Ruhui pleaded with Yang Yuanqing for him and finally spared him. In the past two years, Zhang Liang has been assisting Du Ruhui, and has been highly valued by Du Ruhui and recommended him as a clerk to Yang Yuanqing.

Zhang Liang sat in the living room and thought about how to persuade Zhang Xutuo. When he saw that Zhang Xutuo's family was dilapidated, he probably lived a poor life. Zhang Xutuo had no real job and only had a scattered official, so he could only get half of his salary, which was only 250 stones of grain a year, and there was no other subsidy. It is said that Yongye Land had been sold long ago, without land tax income, and life was very poor. Perhaps this was a breakthrough.

At this time, footsteps sounded, and Zhang Xutuo, who was tall and mighty, walked in from outside the house.

Zhang Liang hurriedly stood up and saluted, "See General!"

"Please sit down!"

Zhang Xutuo's tone was very cold. He was not good at hiding his emotions. His anger towards his apprentice Yang Yuanqing made him look bad for Zhang Liang.

Before Zhang Liang could speak, Zhang Xutuo waved his hand and said, "If I advised me to go to Fengzhou, I will only have three words to reply, 'Impossible!'"

Zhang Liang laughed dryly and said, "Why should the general be so stubborn? The general is thinking about the relationship between master and apprentice and has come to invite the general three times, which shows his sincerity. Before leaving, the general told me that one of his masters had been killed by the current emperor, and he did not want another master to die at the hands of the emperor."

Yang Yuanqing's concern made Zhang Xutuo's face look a little better, but he still shook his head, "Yu Kuluo was not killed by the priest, he was dismissed from the priest's post because he was not strong in suppressing bandits, and died of arrow sores on the way. This is normal. If you don't do anything, you should be punished. I don't think there is anything wrong with the priest."

"But the emperor dismissed the general's official position without any reason. He has been unemployed for two years. How unfair is this to the general?"

"You were wrong!"

Zhang Xutuo retorted: "The Lord is not unfair to me. On the contrary, this is the Lord's tolerance for me. His disciples have troops to stand up. Who dares to use his master? The Lord just doesn't allow me to serve as an official, but he still retains my scattered official and title. If it were someone else, I would have pushed me to death. Isn't this the Lord's tolerance? There is not even a person to monitor, and I can go anywhere. I think the Lord is kind to me."

"But the general's mansion is too poor. If the general is willing to go to Fengzhou, he will be in danger of being prosperous, rich, and powerful?"

Zhang Xutuo was furious and stood up, glared at him and said, "I don't welcome you, you can go!"

Zhang Liang looked embarrassed and a little at a loss. Zhang Xutuo snorted, walked outwards, and walked to the door. He stopped again and said coldly: "Go back and tell Yang Yuanqing that his father rebelled and he was forced to support Sui and become independent. I don't blame him, but I will not help him, but if he dares to rebel against Sui, I, Zhang Xutuo, will cut off his head with my own hands, and then I will silence myself to apologize to the Sui Dynasty to cleanse my Zhang Xutuo's innocence."

After that, Zhang Xutuo did not turn back and left with great strides. After a while, Zhang Liang smiled bitterly. No wonder before leaving, the manager said that he could do his best. Zhang Xutuo was really!

Zhang Xutuo returned to the room and was still angry. He forgot to ask just now. Is it Yang Yuanqing's meaning to tempt him with money and power or the black-faced scholar himself? If it was Yang Yuanqing's meaning, then he was really blind and taught such a despicable person.

But Zhang Xutuo slowly calmed down. He felt that it was not Yang Yuanqing's intention. People said that he was old since childhood. Yang Yuanqing was an extremely noble and self-disciplined person when he was a child. He was not so vulgar. At least he knew that money and power could not impress him. If he had this intention, he should have raised it for the first time.

Zhang Xutuo felt a little better after thinking about this.

At this time, my wife's voice came from outside the room, "Master, come out quickly! Someone is coming from the palace."

Zhang Xutuo was startled and walked out of the room quickly, "Where are the people?"

"In the yard, there are two eunuchs."

Zhang Xutuo almost ran all the way to the yard. He vaguely guessed that it was about Qi County. He submitted a memorial to the priest a few days ago. It must have been because the priest saw it that there would be eunuchs coming to find him. Zhang Xutuo was extremely nervous, but he was full of expectations.

There were two eunuchs standing in the yard, with unhappy faces, mottled walls, unpainted, and broken eaves. This was a compulsory repair. A long rotten wood filled the beams to support the doorman, which showed that Zhang Xutuo's family had no money, so naturally he could not give them benefits.

The shabbyness in Zhang Xutuo's family made them feel extremely unhappy. At this time, Zhang Xutuo ran up and bowed and said, "Two, let you wait for a long time."

The two eunuchs looked at each other and saw that Zhang Xutuo had no expression at all. They couldn't help but curse him in their hearts that they were not tactful and did not even want to announce the imperial edict. They said coldly: "General Zhang, the emperor ordered you to enter the palace and follow us!"

"Two father-in-law, let me change my clothes."

Zhang Xutuo was wearing a shabby official robe, which was his robe more than ten years ago. He always used it as a home clothes and wore it at home.

The two eunuchs said impatiently: "The Lord ordered you to meet for half an hour, and there is still a quarter of an hour left. Do you want the Lord to wait for you?"

Another eunuch sneered: "After this time, the emperor will not see you again, you can think clearly for yourself."

"Then let's go!"

Zhang Xutuo didn't care about changing his clothes and ran out the door. He couldn't let this opportunity go no matter what.

A quarter of an hour later, Zhang Xutuo rode a horse to the imperial city, and the two eunuchs had long been left missing by him.
Chapter completed!