The sky is gradually brightening, in the hazy morning light, Xiaoguan City is a mess, the war has ended, the Xiaoguan defenders were shocked by the explosion, under the powerful offensive of the Hexi Army cavalry, the Xiaoguan soldiers quickly collapsed, collapsed, and there were countless surrenderers, this time the main general Pan Nong did not have the luck to escape last time, in the final melee was really under the arrows, and I don't know who shot him.

Liang Wu ordered the deputy general Zhang Chu to lead 5,000 troops to guard Xiao Pass, he led 25,000 cavalry along the Qin Straight Road to kill Pinggao County, Yuanzhou Prefecture, only one day and one night, the cavalry of the Hexi Army killed under Pinggao City, at this time, the 20,000 Zhu Zhu army supporting Xiao Pass had just arrived in Jingzhou, the army had not yet entered Yuanzhou, and there were only less than 1,000 defenders in Pinggao City.

Li Qiunian, the assassin of Yuanzhou, knew that he couldn't hold Pinggao County, so he opened the city gate to ask the Hexi army to surrender, and Liang Wu entered the official office of the assassin and asked Li Qiunian to sit down, "I want to ask Li Qiunian, is he familiar with General Tian, the general of the two passes?" ”

The two guards refer to the guards of Longshan Pass and Liupan Pass, and the main general of the two passes is called Tian Xijian, who led 5,000 defenders to guard the two passes.

Li Qiunian nodded, "Of course we are very familiar, speaking of which, we are both fellow villagers and quasi-in-laws, and Tian Xijian's daughter will marry a dog next year." ”

Liang Wu said again: "His Royal Highness the King of Jin knows that Tian Xijian is not Zhu Jun's sworn friend, he has made great achievements in fighting against the Tuyuhun people in Longyou back then, His Royal Highness hopes that he can lead the army to join him, and stop working for Zhu Jun!" ”

After speaking, Liang Wu took out another letter from his arms, "This is a handwritten letter from His Royal Highness the King of Jin to Tian Xijian, I hope that Li Tingshi will send someone to hand it over!" ”

Li Qiunian thought for a while and said, "Just let my dog deliver the letter!" He is Tian Xijian's quasi-son-in-law, so he is a little better to speak. ”

Liang Wu was overjoyed, "Then please Li Tingshi, I will definitely report truthfully to His Royal Highness the King of Jin!" ”

..........

Longshan Pass and Liupanguan are located in the south of Yuanzhou, about 100 miles away from Pinggao County, it is the west gate of the defense of the Guan, mainly defending the Hexi Army from Huizhou.

The characteristic of the two is that it is more difficult to attack from the west, but from the east it is a flat river, and there is no danger to defend.

Tian Xijian is about fifty years old, he is the general of Xin Yunjing, the former Longyou Jiedu envoy, 20 years ago he served as the Hezhou soldier and horse envoy, in the defense of Tuyuhun in the war made great achievements, he once served as the deputy envoy of Longyou Jiedu, but was implicated in the Yuan Zai case was dismissed, Li Shi was reappointed after ascending the throne, as the Yuanzhou soldier and horse envoy, but he was dismissed again because he offended Lu Qi, he was desperate for the Tang Dynasty, after the Jingyuan mutiny, he surrendered to Zhu Zhu, and was named the general of Longwu and the guard of Liangguan Town by Zhu Zhu.

But he is not Zhu Jun's confidant, after Zhu Zhu ascended the throne, Tian Xijian's subordinate Pan Nong was promoted to a general and a feudal prince, while Tian Xijian is still a general, and the title is still a county duke, but it is under Pan Nong.

It would be fine if Pan Nong was in command and had outstanding ability, but he didn't know a single big character, and he lost Xiao Pass, he had no ability or ability, and he had no qualifications, just because he was Zhu Jun's personal soldier, he was named a general, and such unscrupulous cronyism made Tian Xijian extremely dissatisfied.

Tian Xijian had learned that the Hexi army had conquered Xiaoguan, the Hexi army had gone south, and at the same time he had received news from the imperial court that the 20,000 reinforcements sent by Zhu Jun had also arrived in Jingzhou, and the situation was very tense.

The 5,000 garrisons led by Tian Xijian were stationed in Liupan Pass, which was a wall-type military camp, covering an area of 500 acres, although Liupanguan was related to the city, but the city was too small, and could only accommodate 1,000 people, so it could only be set up in another barracks, and Tian Xijian spent most of his time in the barracks.

In the afternoon of that day, a soldier reported at the door of the tent, "General Qiyu, the prince of Changqing is here." ”

The son of Changqing is Tian Xijian's quasi-son-in-law Li Changqing, the son of Li Qiunian, the assassin of Yuanzhou, Tian Xijian is worried about the situation of his wife and daughter in Pinggao County, and when he heard the arrival of his son-in-law, he hurriedly said: "Let him come in!" ”

Li Changqing is only 20 years old, his fiancée is Tian Xijian's youngest daughter Tian Mengniang, the marriage of the two is only one step away from the last visit to the church, and the auspicious day is set on the fifth day of the first month of November, which is less than a month.

Li Changqing came in and knelt down and kowtowed: "Son-in-law, please say hello to your father-in-law!" ”

Tian Xijian has experienced ups and downs in the past ten years, several ups and downs, he has deeply understood the painful lesson of civil officials governing people, military generals governing people, he has no sons, only two daughters, so he hopes that his son-in-law will no longer be a military general, but to become a civil official, which is the main reason why he decided to marry Li Qiunian.

Li Changqing was admitted to the Northern Tang Dynasty Ming Economics Department last year, and he is currently the Yuanzhou Hu Cao Sishi, from the ninth grade, which is also Zhu Jun's face for his father Li Qiunian, otherwise he can only be a state and county clerk if he is admitted to the Ming Classics Department, and he has no qualifications to be an official.

"Son-in-law, please, how is the situation in Pinggao County?" Tian Xijian asked anxiously.

"Back to my father-in-law, the Hexi Army arrived in Pinggao County yesterday morning, and my father has already opened the city to surrender."

"Ahh

Tian Xijian was stunned, and he confirmed after a while: "Your father really surrendered?" ”

"I can't say that I surrendered, I can only say that my father is willing to be loyal to Guo Song, the king of Jin, my father-in-law, there are less than 1,000 defenders in the city, and 25,000 Hexi troops have been killed.

Tian Xijian thought about it, how could Pinggao County resist the 25,000 army, but he was also a little relieved to learn that his wife and daughter were safe.

"That virtuous son-in-law is here ......" Tian Xijian looked at his son-in-law suspiciously.

"I'm mainly here to report to my father-in-law!"

Speaking of this, Li Changqing looked at both sides, lowered his voice and said, "This is not the place to speak!" ”

Tian Xijian hurriedly brought his son-in-law to the tent, and he hesitated: "The virtuous son-in-law won't come to persuade me to surrender!" ”

"I have a letter here for my father-in-law, a handwritten letter from Guo Song, the king of Jin." Li Changqing took out the letter and handed it to Tian Xijian.

Tian Xijian was shocked, how could he know the letter that Guo Song wrote to himself personally? I've never crossed paths with him!

With a turn of thought, Tian Xijian suddenly thought of a person, his close friend Zhang Feng, and now Zhang Feng is the governor of Longyou Jiedu and the history of Shanzhou, he must have recommended himself to Guo Song.

Tian Xijian took the letter, only to see that the letter cover said 'General Tian Xijian, the envoy of Liangguan Town', and the payment was Guo Song, the envoy of Longyou Jiedu.

That's right, he wrote a letter to himself as an envoy of Longyoujiedu, and it must have been recommended by Zhang Feng.

Tian Xijian opened the letter and wrote at the beginning: "Last year, Zhang Changshi of Longyou recommended General Tian to this king, and there were many praises, especially General Tian guarded Hezhou in his early years, and did not taste defeat, and this king fought fiercely with Tubo and Tuyuhun many times, and knew that it was not easy to resist the enemy.......

Seeing this, Tian Xijian's heart suddenly swelled with a warm current, Guo Song praised himself from the bottom of his heart, only those who have experienced it personally will have such sincerity, and he suddenly had a feeling of meeting a confidant.

Tian Xijian read the letter slowly, Guo Song did not try his best to belittle and scandalize Zhu Jun in the letter, but just mentioned in a flat tone that Zhu Jun is not in the right position, and it is difficult to achieve a great cause, this sentence said to Tian Xijian's heart.

After Zhu Zhu usurped the throne, many people began to deviate from him, especially Zhu Zhu's unfair rewards and punishments, which allowed people like Pan Nong to steal a high position, and Tian Xijian was even more dissatisfied.

Tian Xijian held back the emotion in his heart and continued to read, the last of the letter was a promise, Guo Song did not clearly allow him to be an official or a knight, but only said that he would be appointed with his life's merits.

This made Tian Xijian a little puzzled, of course there are two pieces of his merits, one is the merit of the past, there is no doubt about this, but the other is the merit of his own dedication, how much can this be?

At this time, Li Changqing asked hesitantly, "Is my father-in-law willing to accept it?" ”

Tian Xijian sighed, "You are all in Pinggao County, what's the point of me dying and not surrendering?" will definitely surrender, needless to say, but I don't quite understand it, since the Hexi Army has occupied Pinggao County, then Liupanguan and Longshan Pass should be meaningless, why do they still value the two passes so much? ”

Li Changqing hurriedly said: "Before I left, General Liang Wu asked me to tell my father-in-law that there is a cavalry team from Hexi that is outside the Liupan Pass, if my father-in-law is willing to serve His Royal Highness the King of Jin, then open the gate at the appropriate time and let this cavalry enter the pass." ”

Tian Xijian was taken aback, there was actually a cavalry hidden outside, why didn't he know, he asked again: "When is this appropriate time?" ”

"My father thinks that this cavalry is to cut off the back road of reinforcements, and once the 20,000 Zhu Zhu reinforcements go north to Pinggao County, it will be time to switch."

Tian Xijian's eyes suddenly narrowed into a slit, Guo Song could have expected that there would be reinforcements going north?