Chapter 198: It is of great importance (Part 2)

Just as the people of Longyou were mediating for the Wei family to send troops, the news that the imperial army was stationed in Hanzhong had reached Chengdu. When Zhu Li got the news, he was washing his feet. Two beautiful maids served him carefully, one on the left and the other on the right. Although Zhu Li didn't say a word, both of them had already felt the thunder that Zhu Li was about to explode.

The two women even shook like sieve all their bodies. Zhu Li's eyes slowly looked at them. He squinted his eyes and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

The two women knelt down together, "Please... Master... Give up your life!" They fought and couldn't speak anymore.

"I have said I won't kill you."

Zhu Li smiled, and he touched their faces and said gently: "I have always been trustworthy, why don't you believe me?"

"Thank you, Mr.! Thank you..."

Before he finished speaking, a cold light flashed in front of his eyes, and two beautiful heads fell into the foot basin at the same time. The two pairs of beautiful eyes that were suddenly opened were also filled with a hint of ecstasy of being forgiven by their master.

Zhu Li stood up and looked at his eyes with his eyes closed and said coldly: "I keep my promise to you, but who keeps my promise to me?"

He put the knife in the sheath and immediately shouted sternly: "Prepare the horse! Go to Nanchong County."

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Outside Langchi County, Nanchong County, 60,000 Zhu Tao's army surrounded this small county. This county was the most fiercely resisted city to date. Six thousand soldiers and civilians went up to the city to fight together, with old men with gray hair and children who were not as tall as the wheels. This is the throat county of Nanchong County. There are three thousand garrison troops, and the city is also very tall and strong.

Zhu Tao's army has attacked for three days, with nearly 10,000 casualties. The South Gate has changed hands several times, but it still has not captured the small city.

It was already dawn at this time, and Zhu Tao stood on a hill with frowns. Such fierce resistance was something they had never encountered since the uprising. Could it be that they were not kind enough? Apart from collecting official warehouses and changing officials from them, the people almost did not violate it. Zhu Tao even went to worship the Saint Temple.

Why doesn't it work if you get here? He looked at the city covered by thick fog in the distance in confusion, and could not understand the reason.

"The general is here!" The reminder from several soldiers interrupted Zhu Tao's thoughts. He looked back and saw his elder brother Zhu Li galloping up the hill.

"Do you know why they refused to surrender?" Zhu Li came to his brother and looked out into the city and said coldly.

Zhu Tao was stunned and asked quickly: "Does your brother know the reason?"

"Of course!" Zhu Li snorted, "That's because the court has already designated us as bandits, hundreds of thousands of troops have gathered in Hanzhong to fight us. The governor of Nanchong County received the news, so he naturally refused to surrender."

After saying that, he ignored his brothers and ordered: "All the troops will press forward together, and they will take down the city within half a day. If they cannot, all the officers above the lieutenant will be killed."

Zhu Li paused for a moment and said word by word: "After taking it down, all the men and women in the city will be killed, and no one will be left behind!"

"Brother, can't!" Zhu Tao was anxious, "In this way, you will lose the people's hearts."

"I want the people to be of no use, I only believe in heaven." Zhu Li interrupted his brother rudely, and he shouted loudly: "Transfer my order. From today on, any city that dares to resist will be slaughtered for three days if it is broken!"

The rumbling drum sounded suddenly, and the drum sounded across the sky. The dark Zhuli army was like a black curtain covering the sky, and like a dark cloud about the storm, sweeping towards this small county. They violently wanted to crush the city into powder.

Zhu Li looked at the army's siege coldly, and a cruel smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, murmured: "Cui Yuan, since you want to kill me, let's go and see!"

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In Longyou, the first round of negotiations with Duan Xiushi has ended. According to Duan Xiushi's request, the court will provide Lingwu County with 300,000 stones of grain every year in the future. At the same time, the Wei family will cancel the blockade of Lingwu County and officially recognize Duan Xiushi's possession of Lingwu County.

Based on this condition, Duan Xiushi promised never to march south. He and Wei Yan signed the contract of mutual trust respectively. At the same time, Pei Jun and Cui Xian represented the right prime minister Cui Yuan and Li Fanyun represented the Empress Dowager Cui Xiaofu, both signed the contract.

The next round will be negotiations between Wei Yan and Wuwei County Governor Zhang Huan, and the negotiation time will be set the next morning.

At noon, Zhang Huan, under the escort of 300 personal soldiers, came to the famous Xijia Restaurant in Kaiyang County. Xijia Restaurant was next to the largest commercial city in Kaiyang County, and its business was very prosperous. However, today Xijia Restaurant received news early that it had closed two hours ago and was waiting for the distinguished guests to come.

Hundreds of soldiers were having a meal in the lobby, and Zhang Huan and Du Mei entered the inner room under the guidance of the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper was named Wang, who was about forty years old. When he entered the inner room, the shopkeeper Wang immediately closed the door. He bowed and bowed to Zhang Huanshen, "Sir, please see the governor!"

"No need to be polite." Zhang Huan waved his hand and smiled, "You always use pigeons to deliver letters to me, why didn't I see pigeons near the restaurant?"

At this time, Du Mei next to her smiled and said, "The governor doesn't know that pigeons are easily discovered when raising pigeons in the city, so I ordered them to keep pigeons in the countryside, where no one will pay attention."

Zhang Huan nodded with praise, Du Mei was considering the problem in detail. He smiled and went straight to today's topic and asked Manager Wang: "I heard that Wei Yan mobilized 80,000 troops stationed near Kaiyang County. Can you find out where these troops were transferred from?"

Judging from the urgent situation of Cui Yuan sending troops this time, Wei Yan will send troops immediately once he reaches an agreement with him. He will not re-transmit troops. It is very likely that he will send troops from the 80,000 troops gathered in Kaiyang County now. So as long as he knows his troops in various places in Longyou, he will also know his future defense deployment.

The shopkeeper took out a small notebook from his arms, looked through it and said, "The news from all over Longyou has not been sent to his subordinates. Now his subordinates only know that 30,000 troops have been transferred from Jincheng County."

There are 40,000 permanent troops in Jincheng County, and 30,000 are transferred, but there are still 10,000 left. Zhang Huan pondered for a moment and said to Du Mei and Manager Wang: "This matter is of great importance. You must make all brothers pay attention to it at all times. Not only should you pay attention to the current situation of the troops being transferred, but also to his future army mobilization, and send the latest information to me."

"Yes! My subordinates obey the order."

At this time, the soldiers in the lobby outside had already started to eat and drink, and it was very lively. The desk in front of Zhang Huan was still empty and there was nothing. He couldn't help but smile and said, "The matter has been explained, you can serve me the food!"

Manager Wang suddenly realized that he ran out in a panic. After a moment, all kinds of wine and food came up like flowing water. Zhang Huan greeted Du Mei, "Han Sheng, let's come together!"

He picked up the chopsticks, but no Du Mei was moved. He couldn't help but look back in surprise, and saw him standing at the window, staring at something intently.

Zhang Huan put down his chopsticks and walked up slowly, "What did you find again?"

"Governor, look!" Du Mei pointed at a street opposite the gate of the shopping mall. Zhang Huanshun pointed his finger and saw more than a dozen men coming towards him. More than a hundred steps away, several people also came in the crowd of horses.

"What does this mean?" Zhang Huan knew that Du Mei was different from ordinary people in her considerations, so he must have discovered something unusual.

"Did the governor find that most of these horses are messy in color and are all bad horses. How can horse dealers sell these horses? I suspect that these horses are all horses that farmers work and farm on their own."

"Let's go! Let's take a look." Zhang Huan suddenly became very interested. He didn't care about eating and pulled Du Mei and walked out.

The market covers an area of ​​nearly 100 acres, with people coming and going, and it is very lively. Various bulk items are divided into districts. Zhang Huan and his group found a horse trading market in a corner on the east side, and happened to see the two groups just now being driven into the stable.

"Governor, wait a moment." Du Mei stopped Zhang Huan. He pointed to Zhang Huan's military uniform and said with a smile: "Let me ask! Don't be alert to the enemy."

Zhang Huan understood, he nodded and flashed aside with a dozen soldiers. Du Mei held her hands behind her back, like a buyer. She asked around and looked around. Soon, he turned around and smiled at Zhang Huan with some smugness: "As I expected, people bought horses in large quantities starting this morning. It turned out that these inferior horses were worth at most ten cents per horse, but now they were sold for twenty-five cents. The governor told me, who was buying horses in large quantities?"

Zhang Huan smiled but said nothing, do you still need to ask? Before negotiations, a certain impatient Wei family had already leaked the bottom line.

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As soon as Zhang Huan returned to the wine hurriedly, a personal soldier hurriedly came up and said, "Governor, someone has just come to report it, and Pei Xiangguo is waiting in the mansion."

"I know, let the brothers eat faster and prepare to go back."

Since Zhang Huan came to Longyou yesterday, he and Pei Jun have not spoken alone. He also knows that the so-called negotiation is just a formality. Both sides sign and make a contract, but the real negotiation is completed in advance. For example, this time, he will not have any face-to-face verbal battles with Wei Yan. The bottom line and concessions between both sides will be completed by Pei Jun.

So today Pei Jun came, and naturally met the conditions with Zhang Huan.

This time Zhu Li's rebellion caused Cui Yuan to accidentally lose the cabinet advantage that was already within his reach. It led to the first entry of the Tang Dynasty royal family. Although Li Mian was a neutral, he always supported Cui Xiaofu. Cui Yuan advocated the view that he completely undermined the imperial power, but he firmly opposed it and could be regarded as a royalist.

As a result, Pei Jun became the biggest beneficiary of this cabinet restructuring.

At this moment, the left prime minister of the Tang Dynasty was sitting in Zhang Huan's room reading a book leisurely. Zhang Huan's laughter suddenly came from the door: "Master-in-law, you can tell that Ying'er has given birth to a son."

Pei Jun was stunned. He immediately put down the book, stood up and said in surprise: "Is Ying'er okay now?"

Zhang Huan walked forward, gave a deep bow, and smiled and said, "My father-in-law, please rest assured, mother and son are safe."

Pei Jun rubbed his hands so excitedly that he quickly pulled Zhang Huan's arm and asked him to sit down. "I originally wanted to ask about Ying'er's situation, but I was very worried, but my son-in-law sent me good news, which is so satisfying!"

Zhang Huan smiled bitterly and said, "I am coming to Longyou this time. Time is really tight. I hope to return to Hexi tonight. I will not hide it from my father-in-law. I am worried about Wuwei."

Pei Jun was stunned, the joy on his face gradually faded, and he asked in a deep voice: "What happened?"

Zhang Huan shook his head and sighed, "I made a big mistake. I shouldn't have agreed to the Dangxiang people's request to go to Liusha River to hunt for gold."

In the middle of October of the second year of Xuanren, Zhang Huan was officially appointed as the governor of Hexi by the court. With this condition, he reached a settlement agreement with Wei Yan. He promised that when the Wei family army marched south to Shu County, he would never take advantage of the situation to attack Longyou, and firmly support the court to pacify Zhu Li's rebellion. For this reason, he specially supported the Wei family army in the southern expedition to serve as his support for the imperial court to wipe out the Zhu bandits.
Chapter completed!