King Li Cunxu of the Jin Dynasty led a large army to cover up the killing, as if Mount Tai was crushing an egg. At the same time, Wu Qiong, the commander of Yuancheng, and Hu Zhuang, the commander of Guixiang, each led more than 10,000 people to pull firewood at the foot of the mountain, making the dust warm, beating drums and shouting to cheer.

Seeing something bad, they fled in panic. Liang's soldiers trampled on each other and suffered heavy casualties. Liang's discarded soldiers and armor were piled everywhere, and about 30,000 Liang's soldiers were killed.

The King of Jin returned to the camp victorious and checked the sergeants. Many of them died. He also heard that Zhou Dewei and his son had died in the battle. He cried very sadly and said: "It is my fault that I have lost my good general. Now I regret it."

." So Zhou Dewei's son, Zhou Guangfu, the military commander of Youzhou Central Army, was promoted to the governor of Lanzhou.

Li Siyuan and Li Congke lost contact. Li Siyuan saw that the Jin army was defeated and did not know where King Jin had gone. He heard someone say: "The King of Jin has crossed the Yellow River to the north." So Li Siyuan also walked on the ice and crossed north.

Crossed the Yellow River and prepared to go to Xiangzhou. On this day, Li Congke followed the King of Jin to capture Tushan, and also contributed in the battle at night. Soon, the King of Jin attacked Puyang and captured it in one fell swoop. Li Siyuan heard the news of the Jin army's victory and hurriedly came to Puyang again

Enter to see the King of Jin.

Li Cunxu was very unhappy and said, "Do you think I am dead? Where are you going after crossing the Yellow River?" Li Siyuan was so frightened that he hurriedly knelt down and kowtowed to apologize. King Li Cunxu of Jin thought that Li Congke had made meritorious service in the battle and gave him a large sum of money.

Zhongjiu came to give him a drink. However, from then on, Li Cunxu became much colder towards Li Siyuan. Then Li Cunxu led his army back to Weizhou and sent Li Sizhao to replace Zhou Dewei and temporarily take charge of the affairs of Youzhou Prefecture.

When the Jin army arrived at Deshengdu, some defeated soldiers came to Daliang City. They loudly announced: "The Jin army has won a great victory and will attack here soon." After a while, Jin stragglers also came to Daliang City.

And asked where he lived. The soldiers and civilians in Daliang City mistakenly thought that the Jin army had arrived, and the capital was suddenly frightened and then in chaos. Zhu Youzhen was also frightened, and quickly drove the soldiers and civilians in the capital to climb the tower to prepare for defense. He himself planned to flee to Luoyang, just because

It was too late to give up. In fact, less than a thousand of Liang Jun's defeated soldiers returned to Daliang. These wounded and scattered people then returned to their hometowns, and a month later they were reorganized into an army.

The King of Jin passed by Weizhou this time and received a national treasure passed down by a monk, who presented it via fax. The monk said that it was obtained during the Tang Dynasty's funeral and had been kept secret for forty years. So the ministers of Jin congratulated one after another, and then went on to persuade the King of Jin to come forward.

Proclaimed emperor. Wang Yan, the leader of Shu, heard the news and came to join in the fun. He sent an envoy to meet Li Cunxu and wrote a letter asking the King of Jin to proclaim him the emperor after the Tang Dynasty.

The King of Jin showed the letter from the Lord of Shu to his assistant and said: "In the past, Taishi Wang also wrote to the late king, persuading that the Tang Dynasty had been destroyed and that he should proclaim himself emperor and occupy a place. The late king said to me: When the emperor inspected Shimen in the past, I sent troops to

I killed the rebellious ministers and traitors. At that time, I was a powerful person in the world. If I held the emperor hostage, occupied Guanzhong, and drafted a proclamation conferring Jiuxi and abdication on my own, who could stop me? But my family has been loyal to the emperor for generations and has often performed meritorious services for the court. I

I swear to the death that I will not do this. You should wholeheartedly restore the Tang Dynasty in the future, and be careful not to imitate the practices of these people.' It seems that the words the late king said to me are still in my ears, and I dare not listen to such suggestions." The ministers were temporarily silent.

I put aside the honorific matter and didn't dare to say anything for a while.

When the King of Jin returned to Taiyuan, he appointed Inspector Feng Dao as the Secretary-General. Guo Chongtao, the envoy of the Central Gate, thought that there were too many people accompanying the King to dinner and requested to reduce the number of people. The King of Jin said angrily: "I am not afraid of sacrifice to defend the country.

The people have prepared the meals, but you cannot make your own decisions. You can let the army choose another commander in Hebei, and I will go back to Taiyuan myself."

So he immediately summoned Feng Dao and asked him to draft a notice and tell everyone. Feng Dao picked up the pen and hesitated, not writing, and said: "The king has just pacified Henan and stabilized the world. What Guo Chongtao requested is not a big mistake. Even if the king doesn't listen, it's okay."

Why bother alarming people far and near? If the enemy country knows about it, they will say that the king and his ministers are at odds. This is not a good way to expand prestige." Just when Guo Chongtao came in to apologize, the King of Jin stopped asking Feng Dao to write notices.

At this time, the Liang and Jin Dynasties were fighting fiercely between the two cities of Desheng. Desheng was at the strategic point of Hebei Province. The king of Jin ordered Li Cun to build a city on the Jiahe River and divide it into North and South Guo, also known as Jiazhai. Liang general He Yu led his army.

Attacking Desheng City, they advanced from all directions, connected more than ten warships with bamboo ropes, covered them with cowhide, and made some short walls and brackets like city walls. They laid them across the Yellow River to cut off the Jin Dynasty.

The reinforcements from the army prevented them from crossing the river.

The King of Jin personally led his troops to the rescue and set up a battle formation on the north bank of the Yellow River, but they could not advance. He sent Ma Polong, who was good at swimming, into the south city to see the guard Shi Yanshang. Shi Yanshang told him that he could use bows, arrows and stones quickly.

It's over, it won't take long to be conquered. The King of Jin piled a lot of money and silk at the entrance of the military camp to recruit people who could defeat the warships.

Li Jianji, the general who escorted the King of Jin, said: "He Yu has brought all his troops here, hoping to make a coup here. If our army can't reach the Yellow River, they will succeed. As for today's matter, I request a fight to the death with them." So he selected him.

Three hundred soldiers who dared to die for the festival put on their armor, took their swords and axes, and led the warriors to set off by boat.

When they were approaching the warship, the bamboos were coming towards them like rain. Li Jianji asked the men with swords and axes to rush onto the warship, cut off the bamboo ropes, load firewood with wood, pour oil on it, and set it on fire.

They were lowered down the river upstream, and then large warships were loaded with soldiers.

, beating drums and shouting loudly, launched an attack on Liang Jun. The bamboo rafts of Liang Jun's warships were cut off and floated down the river. Nearly half of the soldiers were burned to death and drowned. The Jin army took the opportunity to cross the Yellow River. He broke through.

He fled, but the Jin army chased him until he reached Puzhou before returning.

He Yu retreated to Xingtai Village, and soon led his troops to fight. After more than a hundred battles, he could not defeat Jiazhai. Zhu Youqian, the king of Ji, the governor of Lianghe River, led his troops to attack, captured Tongzhou, and drove away Zhongwujie.

He sent an envoy to Cheng Quanhui. Cheng Quanhui fled to Daliang. Zhu Youqian appointed his son Zhu Lingde as the loyal queen, and petitioned the emperor to request amulets and axes.

The Lord of Liang, Zhu Youzhen, was very angry and did not agree. Later, he was afraid that Zhu Youqian would be dissatisfied, so he appointed Zhu Youqian to concurrently serve as Zhongwu Jiedushi. When the order of the Lord of Liang was issued, Zhu Youqian had already asked the King of Jin for amulets and axes, and surrendered to the King of Jin. The King of Jin directly

A personal order was issued and Zhu Lingde was appointed Zhongwu Jiedushi.

Zhu Youzhen, the leader of Liang Dynasty, was furious when he learned that Zhu Youqian had surrendered to the King of Jin. So he appointed Liu Wei as an envoy and ordered him to attack the river. Liu Wei and Zhu Youqian were related by marriage, so he wrote to Zhu Youqian first, telling him about his blessings and misfortunes. Zhu Youqian

Liu Wei didn't answer, so he asked the King of Jin for help, and the King of Jin sent Li Cunshen to rescue him. Liu Wei didn't wait for a reply, so he advanced to Tongzhou.

At that time, Li Cunshen had also arrived with his army. After two battles, Liu Wei was defeated. Liang's deputy envoys Yin Hao, Duan Ning and others secretly reported to Liang leader Zhu Youzhen, slandering Liu Wei for his favoritism and harming the country.

The reason for this defeat was to stay and advance slowly. Zhu Youzhen secretly ordered the Western Capital to stay behind Zhang Zongbi and poison Liu Wei to death. Soon after, He You also died of illness.

Among the Liang generals, Liu Wei was the most resourceful, and He Gu was the bravest. They were killed one after another, and all the armies were in awe of them. The Jin army won consecutive battles, and its prestige was even greater. So a group of ministers who climbed up to the dragon and attached to the phoenix came to persuade the king of Jin to advance.

, were presented one after another, and they were nothing more than saying that the destiny of heaven was at hand, people's hearts were in the hope of it, and they should obey people immediately and take up the throne as soon as possible. The governors of each town donated hundreds of thousands of coins to use as funds for ascending to the throne, and Wu

Wang Yangpu also wrote a letter to persuade him to join. Therefore, Li Cunxu, who had no intention of becoming emperor, could not hold on to his purpose and became ambitious and wanted to be emperor.

When Zhang Chengye heard about it, he was greatly surprised. After Zhang Chengye was saved by Li Keyong, he wholeheartedly served the King of Jin and his son. Later, every time Li Cunxu went on an expedition, the military and government affairs were entrusted to Zhang Chengye. Zhang Chengye accumulated grain, gathered money, and raised horses.

, recruiting troops, collecting refugees, and encouraging farmers to grow mulberry trees, Zhang Chengye made Li Cunxu's business prosperous and provided Li Cunxu with a steady stream of supplies and troops.

Everyone believed that Li Cunxu was able to achieve great things because of Zhang Chengye's merit and loyalty. Taiyuan is a gathering place for royal families and powerful people. They often made many requests to Zhang Chengye based on their own selfish interests. Faced with this boundless desire,

, Zhang Chengye took the risk of offending them and refused them all. Not only that, he would severely punish those who dared to trample the law and discipline, without any room for maneuver. Under Zhang Chengye's selfless and ruthless governance, the powerful were afraid and understood the rules. Taiyuan

The atmosphere gradually became calmer.

The two concubines Liu and Cao also attached great importance to Zhang Chengye. Sometimes Zhang Chengye violated Li Cunxu's wishes, and the two concubines would definitely blame Li Cunxu and ask him to apologize to Zhang Chengye. Li Cunxu once awarded Zhang Chengye the title of General of the Left Guard, and concurrently served as the general of the Yan Kingdom.

Duke Zhang Chengye refused to resign and was only called Tang Official. Li Cunxu was also very grateful to him, relied on him, respected him, and called him "Seventh Brother". He often visited him at his residence and knelt down to pay his respects to his mother.

The ministers proposed to give Zhang Chengye an official title and Kaifeng territory, but he declined them all. Zhang Chengye did not forget the Tang Dynasty and always called himself the "Imperial Envoy" with the title of Supervisor of the Army.

When Li Cunxu came back to visit his mother, he needed money to reward actors, but Zhang Chengye was dedicated to serving the public, so he gave him very little money. Li Cunxu hosted a banquet in the treasury for Zhang Chengye, and asked his son to dance for Zhang Chengye during the dinner. After the dance, Zhang Chengye took out

His treasure belt, horse and money were given to Li Cunxu's son. Li Cunxu was not happy. He pointed at the pile of money and said: "Brother He has no money to spend, so the seventh brother gave him this pile. The BMW is not a valuable thing."

"

Zhang Chengye apologized and said: "Lang Jun sang and danced for me, and Chengye has paid back his salary. But these are the property of the great kingdom, and are used to support the three armies in combat. I dare not use public property as gifts to give away casually." Li Cunxu

He lowered his face and took advantage of the drunkenness to blame Zhang Chengye. Zhang Chengye said: "I am just a messenger sent by Emperor Tang. I never seek wealth for my descendants. Saving money is for the king's foundation. If the king wants to reward him himself,

Others don't do anything to me. But when all the money is gone and the troops are scattered, nothing will be accomplished."

Li Cunxu was furious and said to his attendants: "Fetch me the sword!" Zhang Chengye grabbed Li Cunxu's clothes and said with tears: "The old slave was ordered by the late king Tuogu to swear to serve the court and kill the Liang thieves. If today because of

If I die to save the treasury for your Majesty, then I am worthy of the late king, please kill me!"

Zhu Liang's general Yan Bao untied Zhang Chengye's hand and asked him to retreat. Zhang Chengye scolded: "You were in cahoots with the traitor Zhu Wen, and you did not serve my king wholeheartedly after you came here. Now you dare to flatter me!

"After saying that, he punched him.

The two concubines heard that Li Cunxu had behaved inappropriately after drinking and hurriedly sent someone to summon him. Li Cunxu was usually very filial to his mother. When they heard that the concubine wanted him to go, they knew they were wrong and quickly kowtowed to Zhang Chengye and apologized: "I am here today."

I drank too much and offended my seventh brother and mother.

They will definitely blame me. Please drink two glasses of wine, Seventh Brother, and forgive me for my fault." Li Cunxu drank four glasses in a row, and then persuaded Zhang Chengye to drink too, but Zhang Chengye did not drink. After Li Cunxu returned to the palace, the Dowager sent someone to tell him.

Zhang Chengye said, "My son has offended Mr. Zhang. I have already punished him. You can go back." The next day, Mrs. Tai took Li Cunxu to his house to comfort him.

Of course, Zhang Chengye didn't always argue with Li Cunxu like this. Sometimes he was also very strategic. Li Cunxu's secretary Lu Zhi was more sensible, but he was often addicted to alcohol. After drinking, he went crazy and yelled that Li Cunxu's brothers were all pigs and dogs.

, Li Cunxu was very angry. Zhang Chengye was afraid that Lu Zhi would suffer, so he found an opportunity to say to Li Cunxu: "Lu Zhi is always making trouble without reason. I ask the king to kill him. Do you think it's okay to save him from embarrassing everyone again?"

Li Cunxu didn't expect that this was Zhang Chengye's plan, and hurriedly said: "I am now recruiting talents to create a hegemony. How can Brother Qi say such a thing?" Seeing that Li Cunxu took the bait, Zhang Chengye said seriously: "Since the king said this, then he will conquer the world.

There's no problem." From then on, although Lu Zhi was sometimes a little more unruly, Li Cunxu always tolerated him and never harmed him for any reason.

Zhang Chengye not only strictly enforced the law for others, but also had strict requirements for his family. One of his nephews killed a cattle dealer, and he was executed immediately. Li Cunxu sent people to rescue him, but it was too late. Later, Li Cunxu appointed Zhang Chengye's nephew Zhang Guan as his successor.

Zhang Chengye, the governor of Linzhou, said to Zhang Guan: "You are an ordinary citizen who once worked as a thief with Liu Kaidao. You have always failed to abide by the law. If you don't repent now, you will be killed one day." From then on.

No matter where he was an official, Zhang Guan would not dare to be corrupt or violent.

Zhang Chengye rushed to Weizhou from Taiyuan and persuaded the king of Jin: "The king has been loyal to the Tang Dynasty for generations and saved the Tang Dynasty from many difficulties. Therefore, for more than thirty years, the old slave has collected wealth, recruited troops and horses for the king, and vowed to destroy the rebellious people.

People, restore the ancestral temples of the Tang Dynasty. Now the north of the Yellow River has just settled down, and the red thieves still exist. The king hastily ascended the throne, which is completely different from your original intention of fighting hard. How can the hearts of the people in the world not be separated?

?Why don’t your Majesty destroy the Zhu family first, avenge the deep vengeance of the previous kings, and then find the descendants of the Tang royal family to support him as the emperor? Seize the Wu Kingdom to the south, seize the Shu Kingdom to the west, sweep across the world, and become one family.

At that time, even if Emperor Gaozu and Emperor Taizong came back to life, who would dare to be above you? The longer you remain humble, the stronger you will get. The old slave has no other ideas, just because he accepted the great favor of the late king, he is willing to be the king.

Create the foundation for a great cause that lasts for thousands of years."

After hearing this, the King of Jin said: "This is not my wish, this is the opinion of the ministers, and I can't do anything about it." Zhang Chengye knew that he could not stop it, so he cried bitterly and said: "The princes fought bloody battles, originally to restore the great cause of the Tang Dynasty.

"Now that the king has obtained the throne by himself, he has deceived the old slave!" He immediately returned his fiefdom to the king of Jin. Later, Zhang Chengye fell ill and could not get up again.

Not long after, Zhang Chengye died in depression at the age of seventy-seven. When Mrs. Cao heard about it, she immediately rushed to his home to express her condolences. She wore mourning clothes and performed the courtesy of a son and nephew. Later, Li Cunxu proclaimed himself emperor and posthumously gave Zhang Chengye the title of Zuowuwei.

General, I was given the posthumous title Zhenxian.

Li Cunxu heard that Zhang Chengye was ill and did not want to proclaim himself emperor for a while. At this time, a military uprising broke out in Chengde. Chengde Jiedu envoy Wang Rong, the king of Zhao, received strong reinforcements after making peace with Jin, so there was no external trouble.

He couldn't help but forget about danger when he was in peace, so he ran the mansion, selected women, indulged in pleasure, and was proud of wealth. At the same time, he was also fond of heresy, refining elixirs, and dreamed of immortality. He often traveled with the Taoist priest Wang Ruona.

Each trip lasted for more than a month. When he traveled, he left government affairs to the eunuchs, and every time he visited the Queen Mother Temple in Xishan, he was extremely luxurious. His generals Li Honggui and Li Ai used their power to do things, valued relatives and friends, and established party members.

, separated into important positions, Wang Rong did not control these.

On his way back from Xishan, Wang Rong stayed at the Falcon Camp and prepared to return home. However, the eunuch Shi Ximeng stopped him. Wang Rong's general Li Hong admonished him and said: "Now Jin King Li Cunxu is not afraid of the swords, guns and arrows on the battlefield, and he personally

Leading troops to fight. But you, the king, have used all the strength of the country to hunt. The king has been traveling for more than a month, leaving an empty city behind. If something goes wrong, some people will close the door. Where are you going, my king?"

Wang Rong also felt scared after hearing this, so he prepared to return to the city. However, Shi Ximeng relied on Wang Rong's favor and trust and said to Wang Rong: "Li Honggui always acts arrogantly in front of the king. He has different intentions towards the king. The king

You must be on guard." Wang Rong insisted on trying to dissuade Wang Rong from returning home. Wang Rong listened to his slander and decided not to return home. Li Honggui was furious and led his general Su Hanheng and his soldiers to Wang Rong's tent with swords and said: "Sergeant

We are all very tired and hope to return home with the king." Li Honggui then added: "The person who confused the king is Shi Ximeng. Please kill him to thank the sergeant." Wang Rong disagreed. Li Honggui ordered the soldier to directly

He killed Shi Ximeng and threw his head in front of Wang Rong. Wang Rong was extremely frightened and had to agree to return to the mansion immediately.

After Wang Rong returned to Zhao Palace in Zhenzhou, he quickly sent his eldest son Wang Zhaozuo and adopted son Wang Deming to lead troops to surround the residence of Li Honggui and marching commander Li Ai. Then he ordered the execution of their entire family, and dozens of families were exterminated. Then
Chapter completed!