The sky is bright and bright, and it is a bleak day that is foggy and does not see the day, the scenery hidden in the darkness is faintly visible, the white mist in the field is filled, and the figures of woods, farmhouses, and farmers constitute a landscape painting of dawn

The sound of hooves in the distance was like thunder, and dozens of knights were galloping on the official road, and the leader was about twenty-seven or eighteen years old, not tall, but his eyebrows were delicate, and there was a faint smell of books on his quiet and handsome face.

He is Zhu's brother Zhu Tao, and his brother's domineering and arrogant different, Zhu Tao has quick thinking, has a certain political mind, he has repeatedly persuaded his brother to be sympathetic to the people, accumulate political capital, but at that time Zhu had already been called the emperor's ** burned unconscious, and could not listen to his advice at all, until Zhang Huan took away the foundation of Shuzhong, Zhu's ambition slowly cooled down, more than a month ago, Zhu finally listened to Zhu Tao's hard persuasion, presented a confession to the court, and calmed down the turmoil of the rebellion in Hanzhong.

But it turned out that Zhu was completely used by Zhang Huan, Zhu Tao saw this, and he also found that the change in the court, with the food crisis in various places, the local warlords sat big, and the court tax was sharply reduced by forty percent, many ministers began to be dissatisfied with Pei Jun, and the situation of his monopoly on power has gradually become unbearable, which will be an extremely rare opportunity.

Zhu Tao decided that he would convince the eldest brother no matter what today.

After traveling for about thirty miles, when the sky gradually became white, Zhu Tao finally intercepted Zhu's team entering Beijing. "Why do you want me to return to Hanzhong?" Zhu asked slightly unpleasantly.

He walked for two whole days, seeing that the capital was in sight, but Zhu Tao wanted him to go back, how could he be happy.

"Big brother, sit down and listen to me speak slowly." Zhu Tao sat down the eldest brother, stared at his eyes and said solemnly: "If you enter Beijing at this time." Zhang Huan will inevitably kill you, he will take advantage of the chaos in Hanzhong after your death, and destroy Hanzhong by attacking the north and south, but his real purpose is to take the opportunity to mobilize regiments and train troops in various parts of the Tang Dynasty and absorb greater power. ”

"Humph! Am I that good at killing? Zhu snorted heavily, the fat on his face shook heavily, and he gritted his teeth and said, "He dares to touch a single hair of me." And I slew his whole house. ”

"Big brother! If Zhang Huan wants to kill you, do you have to use a knife and arrows, he can use the court to deal with you, why can't you listen to my advice? Zhu Tao was so anxious that he stood up and stomped his feet heavily, "We are always so passive, led by the nose by others, haven't we suffered enough losses over the years?" ”

"That's it! All right! Second brother, don't be angry, eldest brother listen to you. Zhu saw that his younger brother was excited. Hurriedly pulled him to sit down, he sighed and said, "I don't want to be led by the nose, but my strength is not as good as others, so what?" ”

Zhu Tao was silent for a moment, calming himself down, he looked at Zhu Dao: "Sometimes it's not a matter of strength, the key is whether we can seize the opportunity, and whether the strategy is correct and the opportunity is seized." If the strategy is also right, then it is completely possible to turn a disadvantage into an advantage. I have been observing the situation in the DPRK and China for the past two months, and I finally discovered some clues. No! It's an opportunity. ”

"What chance?" Zhu squinted and smiled.

Zhu Tao saw that he aroused the interest of his eldest brother, he was not in a hurry, he ran all the way, he was tired and thirsty, so he asked the soldier to pour him a cup of tea, took a sip of hot tea, and immediately eased his chest and abdomen. Only then did he say unhurriedly: "Pei Jun has the power alone." But he can't guarantee the stability and prosperity of Datang, especially when he uses his son as a gift. The cabinet and the province of Menxia were emptied, which destroyed the traditional pattern of the imperial court, and some time ago it was revealed that the children of the Pei family cheated in the imperial examination, and many ministers began to be dissatisfied with him, according to my observation, the factions in the court have been divided and merged, for example, in the past, Zhang Ruohao's henchmen and centrists began to vote for Zhang Huan, and some of the people in the Cui party followed Cui Yu, and the other part of the people voted to Li Mian, as well as the royal family who supported the queen mother, if we can seize this opportunity, then our disadvantage can be converted into an advantage. ”

Zhu listened attentively to his younger brother's analysis, and he pondered for a moment and said, "Do you mean to let me stand on my own, or follow one?" ”

Zhu Tao smiled, "We have no one in the court, how can we stand on our own, naturally birds choose good branches to perch." ”

Zhu didn't speak for a long time, feeling a little lost in his heart, when did he fall to the point of looking at people's eyes.

Zhu Tao seemed to know the thoughts of the eldest brother, he smiled slightly: "We suffered in the past because there was no one to support the DPRK and the central government, and the slightest change was said to be a rebellion, but that Zhang Huan used troops everywhere, and no one said anything about him, big brother, we must change our strategy." ”

"Alright! So who do you have your eye on? Zhu asked with a sigh.

"Cui Xiaofu!" Zhu Tao said word by word: "Although she represents the orthodoxy of the royal family, and there are many people who support her, she has a fatal weakness." ”

"Army!" Without waiting for the second brother to finish speaking, Zhu blurted out.

"That's right! It's the army. Zhu Tao sneered: "Cui Xiaofu is not stupid, how can she not see the general trend of the DPRK and China, and now the army that is really loyal to her is probably only Duan Xiushi's 7,000 people, and it is useless, and Chu Xingshui's Huainan army followed Zhang Huan, and Wang Ang's Shannan army followed Pei Jun, so whose idea could she fight?" ”

Speaking of which, Zhu already fully understood what the second brother meant, he actually took a fancy to Cui Xiaofu without an army and let himself take refuge, but it is not bad to take refuge in Cui Xiaofu, to a certain extent, he can also coerce the Son of Heaven to order the princes, thinking of this, he nodded slightly and said: "I can consider your suggestion, but I also have a bad reputation, is Cui Xiaofu willing to accept it?"

"Big brother rest assured, Cui Xiaofu is the queen mother, representing the orthodoxy of the Tang Dynasty, she recruited you in the first place, you are loyal or traitorous, she can make up her mind with a word, as long as the eldest brother is willing to do what I say, appease the people of Hanzhong a little, and then show loyalty to the court, I think, Pei Jun will also be happy to see the eldest brother change his ways, as for Cui Qinggong, he is Cui Xiaofu's brother, Cui Xiaofu will not forget this. We don't need to do much. ”

"No!" Zhu suddenly reacted, if he and Cui Qinggong took refuge in Cui Xiaofu at the same time, wouldn't he become Cui Qinggong's companion? How can this be, his face that had just had a little smile immediately became gloomy, "I can listen to your advice to go back to Hanzhong first, but I would rather be the head of the chicken than the queen of the cow, Cui Xiaofu really wants me to take refuge in her, then she can send someone to talk to me and let me take the initiative to take refuge." Don't! ”

Zhu's stubbornness made Zhu Tao speechless, just a little bit of a turn, but he strayed into a dead end, the tent was as silent as death, Zhu had already gotten up and started to put on his coat, Zhu's fate seemed to be decided at this moment, just when Zhu just walked to the door of the tent, he suddenly remembered something. He stopped again.

"I forgot to tell you, Shuo Fang Jiedu made Li Zheng seem to have some conflict with the Pei family, he slaughtered the deputy general Sang Ping, that is Pei Yi's brother-in-law, some time ago Li Zheng also sent someone to borrow food from me, I didn't agree, I doubt that this kid also wants to follow Cui Qinggong."

Zhu Tao was taken aback, he had never heard of this matter, he had laid so many eyeliner in Chang'an. I haven't heard of this incident, which shows that someone deliberately suppressed the news.

"Wait!" Zhu Tao suddenly remembered. Pei Yi seems to have been to Shuofang more than a month ago, is Li Zheng really in trouble?

He didn't have time to think about it. Seeing that Zhu was about to leave, Zhu Tao hurriedly stepped forward to stop the eldest brother, "Big brother, wait a minute!" ”

"What! Do you still want to persuade me? ”

Zhu Tao sighed, "Big brother, think about it again!" ”

Zhu suddenly smiled, and he patted his brother's shoulder heavily, "Second brother." You're underestimating me too much. Can't I tell which is more important? Yesterday I heard the news that Cui Xiong's kid was actually beaten off by Wang Ang. Cui Qinggong and Wang Ang's feud is settled, I just think Hanzhong is too small, there is no future for development, if the cranes and mussels fight, then how about I be that fisherman? ”

After that, Zhu Haha laughed and left.

As everyone was worried, on the third day of Cui Xiong's crippled land, Cui Qinggong, who received the news halfway, finally rushed to Chang'an in a hurry, he brought 2,000 troops to escort into Beijing, but was blocked by Pei Jun, and Cui Qinggong finally only brought 300 people into Chang'an City.

"The master is back!" With the loud shouts of the porter, the doors of the ground opened one after another, Cui Qinggong strode into the inner house with a black face, the murderous aura shrouded between his eyebrows, as if a storm was coming, behind him, the strategist Ma Si Su followed closely, this lucky strategist was not punished for having written a letter of allegiance to Pei Jun, Cui Qinggong simply thought that the letter was fake, it was to let him destroy the Great Wall, and Ma Si Su was more reused.

Walking to Cui Xiong's ward, Cui Qinggong stopped, tried his best to squeeze out a loving smile, and walked into the room quickly, but his face sank suddenly, only to see Cui Xiong half-lying on the bed smiling lewdly, his hand reached into a maid's skirt and touched it, the maid's upper clothes had been torn, revealing a large piece of snow-white skin, and a bowl of medicine next to her was knocked over on the table, and the black medicinal juice flowed all over the ground.

Suddenly, when she saw a large crowd of people coming in, the maid screamed, hurriedly took two steps back, pulled up her tattered clothes, and when she saw that it was the master, she was so frightened that she pounced! He fell to his knees, trembling and unable to utter a word.

Cui Xiong was also startled, he saw his father's gloomy face, his eyes rolled, and he immediately pointed to the maid and said loudly: "Daddy, this woman saw that I couldn't move, so she came to seduce me, how can I, how can I still have that kind of mind now?" ”

"Sir! I didn't, I didn't. The maid was so frightened that she almost fainted.

Cui Qinggong's eyes stared coldly at this woman, and he waved his hand and ordered: "Someone!" Come on, I'll pull it out and beat it to death. ”

More than a dozen soldiers dragged her down like wolves, and heard the maid's pleading voice from a distance, young master, please watch me serve you, save me!

Cui Xiong lowered his head, as if he hadn't heard anything, and the maid's voice gradually disappeared.

Cui Qinggong's face slowly became gentle, he sat down next to his son, and suddenly reacted, isn't there a problem with his son's? He hurriedly held on to a glimmer of hope and asked, "Son! How do you feel down there? ”

Cui Xiong then remembered that the second half of his life was over, he shook his head, covered his face and cried, "Daddy, what will I do in the future!" ”

Cui Qinggong's heart finally fell into the abyss, and all hope was cut off at this moment. He stood up and roared in a low voice, "Heaven kill the old thief of the king of the earth!" Lao Tzu will crush your bones and scatter ashes. ”

He couldn't suppress the hatred in his heart any longer, and strode out of the room, and Ma Si behind him saw that the situation was not good, and hurriedly followed him and persuaded bitterly: "Lord Wang, don't be impulsive, focus on the overall situation." ”

"Shut up!" Cui Qinggong turned around and said viciously: "My son is ruined for the rest of his life, do you understand?" He has no children and grandchildren, and it is useless to lay down the flowers. ”

Ma Si suspiciously wanted to persuade again. But Cui Qinggong left a sentence and left him on the spot.

"If you persuade again, Lao Tzu will treat you as if you really colluded with Pei Jun."

Wang Ang's mansion is in Chongrenfang, which is the seat of Guozijian, where a large number of scholars who went to Beijing to take the exam, and at the same time, it is also a place where the Jinju Academy from all over the country is concentrated, and many local officials who come to Beijing to report on their work also live here. When the New Year is approaching, the streets are full of people, accents can be heard everywhere, and the restaurants and restaurants are full of friends, and business is very hot.

Suddenly there was a great chaos at the end of the street, and there was a crowd of people stumbling and running on both sides of the road, and in a moment all the pedestrians hid on both sides of the road, watching with fear as they went ahead. The road was empty, and hundreds of cavalry appeared in the streets with murderous spirit. Their swords were unsheathed, their arrows wound, and their eyes burned with rage. Didn't realize that this was at the feet of the Son of Heaven.

The cavalry flew past the passers-by and rushed straight towards the palace, some people recognized Cui Qinggong, who was the leader, and whispered that the Wang family was about to be in trouble, although they were afraid, there were still a large number of people who followed the cavalry to see the excitement.

Wang Ang's house is in an alley about three feet wide. The alley is not deep. Only fifty steps, at the mouth of the alley, you can clearly see the vermilion lacquer gate. At this moment, Wang Ang was in the mansion, he had received the news that Cui Qinggong had entered the city, and on the one hand, he ordered people to quickly ask Pei Jun for help, and on the other hand, he mobilized about five or six hundred attendants and family members to firmly guard the entrance of the alley.

Cui Qinggong's three hundred personal soldiers stopped at about 100 steps from the entrance of the alley, thousands of people who watched the excitement gathered in the distance, no one dared to move forward, the two teams confronted each other from afar, Cui Qinggong urged the horse to step forward, and shouted in a voice like a broken gong: "Wang Ang old thief, listen, since you dare to deceive my son, now that Lao Tzu is here, why are you hiding like a turtle, if there is a kind, come out to reason with me." ”

He shouted three times in a row, and there was still silence in the palace, Cui Qinggong sneered, and shouted again: "You can beg me to spare you, come out and kowtow to Lao Tzu ten heads, recognize Lao Tzu as a grandfather, and maybe spare you." ”

Suddenly, someone on the other side of the palace yelled, "The surname is Cui, you deceive people too much." ”

The sound fell, and an arrow swished! The ground shot at Cui Qinggong's front door, accurate and ruthless, and several pro-soldiers had already prepared, hugging their shields and blocking the arrows.

"It's your hand that moves first, then don't blame Lao Tzu for being ruthless." Cui Qinggong gritted his teeth for a while, and he waved his hand, "Kill me!" ”

"Kill!" Cui Qinggong's personal guards rolled like dark clouds, urging the war horses to sweep towards the palace of the palace, a burst of random arrows shot head-on, and immediately fell more than a dozen cavalry, seeing blood, this group of cavalry was stimulated by the beastly nature, they shouted hoarsely, like a thunderbolt, and the snow swords pointed straight forward.

Wang Ang's nearly 200 attendants were also dispatched, and they were also selected from the Shannan Army, all of them were pure in martial arts, boom! There was a loud bang on the ground, like two huge waves colliding, and the swords clattered! The sound of people being cut down, the neighing of horses, the rolling of dust, the whole street was in chaos, and the lively people were frightened when they saw them fighting with real knives and guns, and most of them ran away without a trace, only a few who liked excitement saw their eyebrows fluttering and applauding loudly.

The personal strength of the two armies is similar, but after all, Cui Qinggongdi's army has more than a hundred people, and after nearly a quarter of an hour, Wang Ang's attendants began to be at a disadvantage, and where have three or four hundred family members in the alley seen this kind of formation, one by one, their faces are as frightened as dirt, their legs are trembling, and they are holding knives in their hands, and no one dares to step forward to participate in the battle.

Wang Ang hid behind the gate at this time, fighting through the crack in the door, his sons were so frightened that their faces turned pale, Wang Yan kept saying to his father: "Father, let's go through the back door first!" ”

Wang Ang had seen some of the world when he was young, and when he saw that his sons were timid, he couldn't help but reprimand angrily: "Bastard thing, aren't you afraid of people laughing out of the back door when you escape from the back door?" ”

"But father, our guards can't stand it anymore. They've already reached the corner of the alley. His third son lay on the wall, his voice trembling.

Wang Ang frowned, it stands to reason that when Cui Qinggong entered the city, Pei Jun should have been prepared, why hasn't he come yet, is he deliberately delaying time?

As soon as he thought of this, the third son, who was lying on the wall, suddenly shouted, "Father! It's coming, Qianniuwei is coming. ”

Outside the alley. I saw thousands of heavily armed Qianniuwei soldiers rushing over, their ranks were dense, and at once the two fighting armies were chaotic and separated, and the two armies also stopped fighting when they saw the large group of soldiers coming to block the battle.

Cui Qinggong didn't speak, just looked at Pei Jundi's subordinates coldly, and after a while. Qianniuwei had taken full control of the situation, and the dead and wounded were carried down.

In the distance, Pei Jun, under the strict escort of nearly a thousand soldiers, rode towards the entrance of the alley, Cui Qinggong stepped forward and arched his hand: "See Xiangguo!" ”

Pei Jun saw blood everywhere, and couldn't help but feel angry in his heart, he was afraid that Cui Qinggong would make trouble, so he didn't allow his cavalry to enter the city, but he didn't expect that he would dare to use force with only 300 people. If this kind of thing happened in the capital, wouldn't it be laughed at by the entire Tang people.

"Cui Qinggong. You are too bold, I have been founding the Tang Dynasty for more than 100 years. What minister dares to kill in the street, are you guilty? ”

If Cui Qinggong is interested, he dismounts and says, his subordinates are ashamed! Give Pei Jun a step, Pei Jun reprimanded two more sentences, don't take it as an example, forget about it. But Cui Qinggong thought of Wang Ang at this time, taking advantage of his absence. led people to break his son's lower body and made him admit his mistake. How can I swallow this evil breath?

He craned his neck and said: "Xiang Guo is surprised by this, how can a slap be loud, and besides, it was the Wang family who did it first, Xiang Guo only said that I was making trouble, but he didn't ask what the Wang family did to my son, is there any favoritism?" ”

Pei Jun saw that he was disrespectful, and thought that it was this person who broke his luck and caused himself to be held hostage by Zhang Huan with food, he was extremely angry in his heart, but it was not appropriate to make a big deal at this time, he held back his anger and said: "Cui Qinggong, it is obvious that your son killed people first, and he himself admitted that you should have come to the palace today to apologize, but you drew your sword and came with a crossbow, Cui Qinggong, aren't you wrong?" ”

"Wrong!" Cui Qinggong categorically denied it, "The husband is the wife, my son killed his wife, there must be a reason for him to kill, even if my son accidentally injured someone, it should be the government to file a case, the criminal department investigates, what is he Wang Ang, he has the right to beat my son's lower body to pieces?" ruined his life, Pei Xiangguo, why don't you talk about this? ”

"What should be killed?" At this time, Wang Ang also walked out of the house, he saw that his guards were only less than half left, his heart was extremely painful, and he heard Cui Qinggong actually say that his son should be killed for murder, he was extremely angry, and shouted: "Your son raised a male pet privately, and brought it back to the house, my daughter was unwilling to humiliate his male pet ethics, he held a grudge, and finally started to kill, Cui Qinggong, the old man avenged his daughter, and finally spared his life, not only are you not grateful, but you also dare to come to the door to insult the old man, and use force to kill people on the street, do you want to rebel?" ”

Cui Qinggong saw Wang Ang, his eyes were murderous, he opened his bow and set up an arrow, round like a full moon, and the tip of the arrow was coldly aimed at Wang Ang, so frightened that Wang Ang lay on the ground, holding his head tightly with his hands.

"Enough!" Pei Jun was furious, "Cui Qinggong, you dare to be so presumptuous at the feet of the Son of Heaven, if you dare to hurt people again, the prime minister will kill you today!" ”

Cui Qinggong squinted at Pei Jun, he laughed slowly, the more he laughed, the louder he laughed, he looked up to the sky and laughed, suddenly, his laughter stopped, and he said coldly: "How can I listen to your tone, I think this Chang'an is your Pei Jun's?" It seems that the entire Datang is you Pei Jundi? What about the Son of Heaven? Where is the Son of Heaven! ”

As soon as he loosened his strings, the arrows swished! The ground shot out, nailed straight to the big plaque on the door of the Wang's mansion, full of strength, and the tail of the arrow trembled.

"Pei Jun, you want to teach me a lesson Cui Qinggong, it's not your turn yet, don't forget, Datang Jiangshan is surnamed Li, not Pei."

After speaking, Cui Qinggong waved his hand, "Go!" ”

The cavalry of the brigade surrounded him, thousands of Niu Wei did not have an order, just stared at him blankly, no one dared to step forward to stop him, Pei Jun stared at his back coldly, clicked, and the horse whip in his hand was broken into two.