In the evening, an army of 200 people rushed to the East Barracks, except for some sporadic troops of the Hedong Army, the main force totaled 24,000 people, stationed in two large camps, one was the East Barracks, located ten miles east of Taiyuan City, with an army of 15,000 people, led by Yang Lie, the deputy envoy of Hedong Jiedu, who was also Zhang Huan's former boss; The other army was stationed in the North Barracks, about 6,000 people, led by Lu Qianli, the soldier and horse envoy of the Datong Army, and Lu Qianli was subordinate to Yang Lie in his position, but in fact the two armies were independent, and Yang Lie could not command Lu Qianli.

These days, the situation in Hedong is critical, but these two armies are as stable as Mount Tai, not moved by the situation at all, and the Zhang family has repeatedly asked for help and they have ignored them.

Yang Lie had already received the report, he walked quickly to the gate of the camp, and laughed from afar, "Don't come to harm's place!" ”

Yang Lie is about fifty years old, with leopard eyes and tiger forehead, decisive and fast, and his name is the same, the whole person is like a burning fire, Zhang Huan stepped forward, knelt down on one knee to him, hugged his fists and said: "The last general will participate in the general!" ”

"Excuse me! Excuse me! Yang Lie hurriedly helped Zhang Huan up, "You are no longer my subordinate, so you don't need to be so polite." ”

As he spoke, he affectionately punched Zhang Huan in the shoulder, "You kid, you have a chance!" ”

Zhang Huan smiled and said, "The three thousand horses I sent last time, can the general receive them?" ”

"Got it, it's rare that you're still thinking about me." Yang Lie patted him on the shoulder gratefully, glanced back, and asked with some surprise, "What?" Didn't you bring three thousand? ”

Zhang Huan sighed softly. "Chang'an is already an eventful season, and the army has left behind to protect the marshal."

Speaking of this, he took out a golden order arrow from his arms, raised it in front of Yang Lie, and said in a loud voice: "General Yang listens to the order!" ”

Yang Lie was stunned, and immediately knelt down and said, "The last general, Yang Lie, obeys the commander's military order. ”

"Pass the commander's command, the Hedong Army will obey the command of Zhonglang General Zhang Huan from now on, and those who do not accept it will be killed!"

"The last general obeys!"

A complicated look flashed in Yang Lie's eyes. Immediately disappeared, he got up and asked, "I wonder if General Zhang can bring a military talisman?" ”

"The talisman is on me."

He nodded and said to Zhang Huan: "Please wait, General, I will send someone to inform General Lu to come over." ”

Half an hour later. Five hundred cavalry escorted Lu Qianli to arrive like a storm, and Lu Qianli's skin was dark.

Slender and slender, belonging to the kind of lean and sturdy type, from his clean riding boots. The straps on his armor were of the usual length, and it was clear that this man was meticulous in his work.

He strode into the tent and asked, "Where is Gongzi Zhang?" But when he saw Zhang Huan at a glance, he was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but look at Yang Lie in surprise.

Zhang Huan was also slightly stunned, how could he call himself Zhang Gongzi, at this moment, he suddenly saw Yang Lie glance at Lu Qianli, Lu Qianli immediately shut up, Zhang Huan sneered in his heart, there is no straight tree in the mountains, and there are no straight people in the world. It seems that things are not so simple.

He didn't say much, and took out two talismans from his bag, which were a complete downhill tiger. Divided into three and cast in gold. There are four inscriptions on the base, 'Hedong Jiedu', Zhang Huan's hand is the head and body of the tiger, and the military camp should be the tail of the tiger.

After a while, the judge in the army took the talisman, he carefully picked up the talisman and installed it, with a soft "click", the three talismans became a complete downhill tiger with teeth and claws, which looked lifelike, Zhang Huan handed over the golden arrow order to Yang Lie again, and said with a slight smile: "General Yang can believe it now!" ”

Yang Lie took a step back, he quickly glanced at Lu Qianli, only to see Lu Qianli say with some hesitation: "But we received the flying pigeon transmission from the marshal, it should be the second son who came to receive the military power, how did it become Eighteen Lang?" ”

Sure enough, this Yang Lie left a hand, not to mention it just now, and now he is making it difficult for Lu Qianli, this cunning old fox, what does he want to do? Zhang Huan's face sank, and he said to the two of them sharply: "Hedong military regulations, the marshal is not there, so the arrow and the talisman shall prevail, I only ask you, can this arrow and talisman be right?" ”

"That refers to ordinary times, but this is an extraordinary period, since it is inconsistent with the handsome handsome, we naturally have to act cautiously."

Lu Qianli did not back down, he stared at Zhang Huan and said coldly: "The stakes are very high, please wait for two days, and we will use the flying pigeon to pass the book and ask the marshal for instructions?" ”

"But will Cui Yuan make you wait? Will Baejun make you wait? In a day or two, the Shandong Army and the Hebei Army will reach Taiyuan, what time do you have to wait? ”

Yang Lie saw that the two of them didn't give in to each other, so he stood up and said: "It's better like this, let's wait another day, if the second son still hasn't arrived, we will follow the order of the soldiers, so that the commander will also have an explanation, can the two of you look good?" ”

"Yes!" Zhang Huan agreed.

"What about you?" Yang Lie glanced at Lu Qianli again.

Lu Qianli snorted heavily, "Listen to you!" He turned and strode away from the tent.

Yang Lie kept staring at his background and walked away, a cold smile appeared in his eyes, and then he turned back to Zhang Huan and smiled: "General Zhang, do you know why I didn't say that there was a handsome pigeon letter just now?" ”

"I was also about to ask the general, why didn't you say it just now?" Zhang Huan looked at this righteous general with a smile, I don't know how he should explain?

"Alas!" Yang Lie let out a long sigh, and said very sadly: "I have already received a secret report, a month ago, Cui Yuan repeatedly sent people to meet with Lu Qianli, but there was no evidence, so I tested him, just now you also saw his performance, to put it bluntly, I don't want to hand over the military power to the general, and use the flying pigeon to pass the book as an excuse to delay time, I am now sure that this person must have been bought by Cui Yuan!" ”

"Then why didn't he go south directly to join Cui Yuan?" Zhang Huan asked with some doubts.

"Do you even have to ask me this?" Yang Lie glanced at Zhang Huan dissatisfied, as if he was blaming him for not thinking deeply, "It's very simple, the reason why Lu Qianli refused to go south was because he shouldered the heavy responsibility of seizing Taiyuan for the Shandong army, if he wasn't afraid of me, he would have openly occupied Taiyuan a long time ago." ”

"I see, is he so nervous when I mention handing over power?" Zhang Huan smiled coldly and said, "Since there is only one day. Then he will do something tonight. ”

"That's the case, he will definitely seize Taiyuan tonight, but since the old man already knows, how can he be allowed to succeed."

Yang Lie stared at Zhang Huan eagerly, "How?" Will General Zhang cooperate with me and pull out this stinger tonight? ”

Speaking of this, he glanced at the talisman and waited for Zhang Huan to make a statement.

"Of course

Huan pushed the talisman and the arrow to Yang Lie, and said sincerely: "Zhang Huan can't afford such a heavy responsibility, I used to be a great general, and now I naturally want to be the only general." ”

Yang Lie laughed. He patted Zhang Huan on the shoulder and said affectionately: "I really didn't look at the wrong person. Come! Let's discuss the details. ”

.

It was already dark, and a group of cavalry galloped south in the night, and returned to the Miao family manor after half an hour. At this moment, Zhang Huan's 3,000 troops had quietly entered the Miao family manor, making the originally vast grange a little crowded.

Zhang Huan strode into the grange, and Han Yue hurriedly greeted him and said, "The general has come back just in time, Mr. Li has already returned, and he has also brought Wei Ge's envoy." ”

"I know, let Mr. Li come to see me first."

When Zhang Huan returned to the room, he immediately wrote a letter and handed it to a personal soldier and said, "You hurry to the North Barracks and give this letter to Lu Qianli." ”

The pro-soldier took the letter. Immediately got on the horse and galloped away, at this time, Li Mi hurried over. As soon as he entered, he said, "I'm afraid things are not good." ”

"Don't worry, sit down and talk slowly."

Zhang Huan poured him a glass of water. Li Mi took a sip of the cup before sighing: "I met Wei Ge, he was very enthusiastic to invite the general to Longyou, and he also specially sent an envoy to discuss the conditions with the general. ”

Zhang Huan smiled faintly, when he left Chang'an, Wei Ge was also in Chang'an, and when he rushed to Taiyuan, he sent an envoy from Longyou to invite him, and he was really very 'enthusiastic'.

"What conditions does he want?" Zhang Huan still asked quietly.

"He has two conditions, if the general is willing to stay in Longyou and attach himself to him, he doesn't want a penny, and set aside Ningjun for the general to garrison, if the general wants to cross the border to Hexi, then he will collect 200,000 yuan and 100,000 stone grain as tolls.

”

Zhang Huan was silent for a moment, and then suddenly asked, "What is the situation in Hexi?" ”

Li Mi smiled bitterly and said: "This is what I said that the situation is not good, do you know who is in charge of Hexi now?" ”

"Isn't it Xin Yunjing?" Zhang Huan was slightly surprised, since Li Mi said this, something must have happened in Hexi.

"Nominally, the envoy of Hexi Jiedu is still Xin Yunjing." Li Yu shook his head lightly and said, "Xin Yunjing returned to Jincheng last month to recuperate, and the 10,000 Hexi Army is already in the hands of the deputy envoy Lu Sigong. ”

Hexi was occupied by Hui Hui in the later period of the Anshi Rebellion, leaving only the county east of the Yellow River, and an enclave of Wuwei County west of the Yellow River, due to the persistence of the general Fugu Huaien, the Tubo people have never been able to occupy Wuwei County, Fugu Huaien was also named the Hexi Jiedu envoy by the imperial court, and later Fugu Huaien rebelled against the Tang Dynasty, and the imperial court transferred Taiyuan Yin Xin Yunjing as the Hexi Jiedu envoy, with his efforts, gradually recaptured the land east of Wuwei County, Wuwei County and the Tang Dynasty territory was finally connected as one. The 10,000 Hexi Army under his command was also the only army that was not under the control of the Wei family.

However, in this way, the Wei family's hands also slowly stretched out to Hexi, due to the disaster in Hexi for many years, Xin Yunjing's logistics supply encountered great difficulties, and could only rely on Longyou, from the thirteenth year of Qingzhi, he reached a compromise with Wei Ge, and the deputy envoy of Hexi Jiedu was appointed by Wei Ge.

Zhang Huan paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, Xin Yunjing used to be Taiyuan Yin, and the relationship with the Zhang family was very good, he originally wanted to go to Xin Yunjing, and then slowly develop westward, but now Hexi has also fallen into the hands of Wei Ge, which is troublesome.

At this time, Han Yu next to him couldn't help but interject: "It's better for the general to agree to the second condition of the land first, give him money and grain, and go to Hexi first." ”

Zhang Huan shook his head, "The so-called toll fee is just a trick for him to lure the enemy, if I guessed correctly, he has already opened his bloody mouth and is waiting for us." ”

He walked a few more steps, and suddenly felt that Li Mi didn't seem to have spoken, so he looked back at him, but saw Li Mi looking at him with a smile, Zhang Huan realized something, so he asked with a smile: "Does Mr. Li mean to let me continue to go west?" ”

Li Mi nodded, and said with a sly smile: "He is waiting for you on the road ahead, you can bypass it, and besides, maybe someone in the court will fulfill you." ”

Zhang Huan laughed, since God let Xin Yunjing take a leave of illness, that is, he wants to hand over Hexi to himself, God's will is like this, why be afraid?

He immediately put aside the matter of Hexi, and asked Li Mi to deal with the envoy of Longyou, and focused his attention on the present, how to maximize the benefits, this is the top priority.

"Go and call He Lou Wuji and Li Hengqiu!"

During the day, Zhang Huan had already seen that Yang and Lu did not buy each other, and they already had their own ideas, Yang Lie kept saying that Lu Qianli surrendered to Cui Yuan, I am afraid that he also has a ghost in his heart, he is very likely to have taken refuge in Pei Jun, and the bird chooses a good tree to perch, how can he hang his future on the Zhang family, which is already in the general trend, that Lu Qianli is probably not a good thing, but one of these two people took refuge in the north and the other surrendered to the south, each plotting against each other for the new master, and his arrival intensified the contradiction between them.

There was a sound of footsteps outside the door, and He Lou Wuji and Li Hengqiu walked in one after another, "The general has something to look for us?" ”

"Of course

Zhang Huan took a few books, formed a square shape, and regarded it as Taiyuan City, he pointed to the two military camps and smiled at the two: "These two armies are going to put on a good show tonight, let's just watch from the sidelines, and light a fire for them if necessary, so that this play can be sung more lively, do you understand?" ”

The two glanced at each other and laughed together, and He Lou Wuji immediately bowed down and said, "Please give the general an order!" ”

"No hurry!" Zhang Huan looked at the night outside the window, and said with a slight smile: "You go and let the brothers eat and drink enough, and then prepare to set off. ”

The two took the order and left, Zhang Huan beckoned to Li Shuangyu, the leader of the pro-soldiers next to him, Li Shuangyu hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Please give the general orders!" ”

Zhang Huan put the inkstone to the south of the city, and said to Li Shuangyu: "This is the Zhang family, you take five hundred brothers to me to take away all the gold and silver deeds in the Zhang family's underground palace, hurry!" If you want to claim to be Yang Lie's subordinate, you know? ”

"The last general obeys!"

Li Shuangyu was about to leave, when he suddenly remembered something again, and hesitated: "What if the Zhang family stops it?" ”

Zhang Huan looked at him coldly with his hands behind his back, without saying a word, Li Shuangyu suddenly woke up, he swallowed dryly, and hurried away with a salute.