Li Rail's army had just pulled out of camp and continued westward, and Zhang Juntai already knew the news. Zhang Juntai continued to ask the scout: "Is there any reaction from the direction of Zhangye County?" ”

The scout replied: "The gate of Zhangye County is closed, and it seems that some kind of agreement has been reached with Li Liangjun's army to hinder our army from continuing the pursuit. ”

Zhang Juntai snorted coldly: "I don't think I can do it." Ordered the army to march forward and camp under the city of Zhangye County. ”

At this time, Zhangye County was also in chaos, and the Zhangye County Guard summoned all the civil and military generals in Zhangye County, and said solemnly: "Colleagues, you and I have received the favor of Li Liang's family to be in a high position here. Now that Lord Li Liang is in trouble, it is precisely when we need to stand up, how can we just stand by and watch here? ”

At this time, a civil official next to him said: "Lord County Guard, what you said is not right, it is not that we are waiting to stand by, but it is really that Lord Li Liang's incident is too sudden, and in a hurry, we are not fully prepared." In my opinion, it is better for us to be false to Li Wenyuan, and when Lord Li Liang leads the troops back in the future, we should cooperate with the outside and directly open the city to surrender. ”

When the Zhangye County Warden heard that this civil official was retreating from his words, he said angrily: "You must not forget, who sent us to our current position? Then Li Wenyuan opened the imperial examination in Wuwei County, do you really think that Li Wenyuan, who took refuge, would have a good result? Can you still sit down in your current position? ”

Zhangye County Shou paused when he said this, and turned his head to look at the generals on the side: "And I heard that Li Wenyuan will open another martial arts examination in the spring of next year." ”

If Zhangye County Guard usually doesn't even give these generals a good look, but now that the battle is together, the generals are a force that cannot be ignored. What he asked the civil officials before was just a formality, and they were all colleagues who always wanted to give some face, and these generals who led the troops were the people he should be most persuaded now.

These generals also knew that Li Wenyuan was going to hold a martial arts imperial examination in the spring of next year, and although these people were all single-handedly arranged by Li Liang to be promoted, where there are people, there are rivers and lakes, and where there are officials, there will be officialdom, and military generals are no exception. The resources possessed by a Zhangye County are naturally limited, and if you can take care of some people, you have to give up another part of the people. Among the generals who made Li Liang promoted, there were some people who were unsatisfactory, but on weekdays, they could talk about Li Liang's kindness to him and show their loyalty. When it comes to standing in line now, naturally some people are unwilling to take this risk and gamble their future on Li Liang, who may lose all his money.

At this time, when the Zhangye County Guard mentioned that Li Wenyuan was going to hold a military imperial examination in the coming year, some military generals whispered: "I heard that in Li Wenyuan's army, there is no favor to speak of, and the promotion of officers completely depends on their own military merits. ”

Zhangye County Shou's face sank when he heard this, and several high-ranking officers who had been in Yurou Township for a long time had also heard of it, and knew that Li Wenyuan had always dealt with the corrupt officials and officials in Yurou Township strictly. Just like Lu Su persuaded Sun Quan during the Three Kingdoms period, others can surrender, but even if they surrender, they will not have a good result. At this time, he could only stand up and support Zhangye County Shou and said:

"Soon after Li Wenyuan first came to the Western Regions, he tried his best to reject dissidents and cronyism. At this time, Lord Li Rail was forced to rebel, and we were all blessed by Lord Li Rail's grace to have today, at this time, Lord Li Rail was in trouble, how could he stand idly by. I am willing to personally lead 3,000 men and horses of my headquarters to block the pursuing soldiers for Lord Li Liang, and whichever general is willing to go with me will return to the camp with me to order troops. ”

The military general walked out of the house without looking back, and a few generals who were close to him on weekdays and who also bullied the people also walked out with him. The room was suddenly much empty, and only a few generals were left bowing their heads and saying nothing.

Most of these generals were the commanders of the officers and soldiers patrolling the city in the city, responsible for the city defense of Zhangye County, and some were the commanders of the troops that patrolled the north to prevent the southern invasion of the Turks. They were wary of the Turkic siege or southern invasion, so they rarely stayed in Zhangye County, knowing that the turmoil in Zhangye County would give the Turks in the north many opportunities. So after exchanging opinions in private, they chose not to act, but stuck to their posts and did their job to resist the possible invasion of the Turks.

Seeing that these generals did not go out of the city with those generals who stood on his side, and returned to the barracks to point troops, he asked with a calm face: "Why did several generals stay here?" Don't you really want to stand on Li Wenyuan's side and take on the name of ingratitude? ”

When the generals saw that the Zhangye county guard was forced to ask them by name, they had no choice but to say: "Lord Mingjian, the county guard, our duty is to fight against the invasion of the Turks here, and we are all officers and soldiers of the Great Sui to guard against Beihu and guard the frontier, not chess pieces to participate in the political struggle." It is winter, and there is a lot of snow in the steppe this year, so there is a high probability that the Turks will invade south. We're just going to do our job. ”

After the generals finished speaking, they also left here and returned to their stations. There were only a few civil officials left in the originally lively room, and the Zhangye county guard looked around at the rest of the people in the room and said: "I won't say much about how Li Wenyuan dealt with corrupt officials, I believe you have heard of it." Over the years, you have also had a lot of income in Zhangye County, and now we have no way back. It is better to bring all the family members to the barracks with me, give it a go, and fight for a bright future. ”

These civil officials packed up their belongings and brought their families to the barracks outside the city. Afterwards, the city commanders ordered the gates to be closed. At this time, Zhang Juntai's army happened to advance to the city of Zhangye County. Facing off with the troops who supported Li Rail, Udrul, who was on the side, asked, "General, should we attack the city first or defeat the enemy in front of us first?" ”

Zhang Juntai sat on the horse, looked at the Zhangye county town with his hand on the pergola, and said to Uderu: "You see that the banner of my Great Sui is still hung on the city of Zhangye County, and then you can see that the army outside the city is hung with the flag of Li Rail. Presumably, during this period of time, the officials and generals of Zhangye County have already divided into lines, and those who remain in the city are those neutral officials, and those in the military camp outside the city are all Li Liang's comrades, as long as we defeat these Li Rail's henchmen, Zhangye County will reopen the city to welcome us. ”