At night, the drums of closing the city gate and the fang gate were stirring in the sky over Chang'an City, this was already the third drum, and the front of the major square gates was already empty, and the heavy iron gate was creaking! When the gate of Xuanyangfang was halfway closed, more than 100 military horses escorted a carriage and rushed into the gate.

In the carriage, Wei Zhen was anxious, and kept urging the coachman to go quickly, and he received a pigeon letter half an hour ago, the content was very simple, only a short sentence: The Hexi Party has moved eastward, the county has been lost, and Kaiyang is in danger.

The situation in Longyou has deteriorated suddenly, Wei Zhen never dreamed that the rebellion of the party members in Hexi would burn to Longyou, and Kaiyang County is in danger, the content of the letter is too little, he can't consider the rationality of this matter, there are only four words in his mind, Kaiyang is in danger.

He knew too well what it would mean to the Wei family once Kaiyang was lost again, a Hui invasion caused the Wei family to lose at least half of its strength, the wealth accumulated for decades was robbed, and hundreds of young elites of the Wei family were unfortunately killed, and if it was hit hard again this time, the Wei family would definitely collapse.

The carriage ran wildly all the way, and arrived at Cui Yuan's mansion in a moment, Wei Zhen jumped down without waiting for the carriage to stop, but was taken by inertia and almost fell, Wei Zhen didn't care about tidying up his clothes, rushed up the steps in a panic, and said to the porter: "Please report to Xiangguo quickly, say that Wei Zhen asks to see, there is a big event in Longyou." ”

The old man who served as the porter in the Prime Minister's Mansion was not an ordinary subordinate, he had been a gatekeeper for Cui Yuan for twenty years, which people could directly refuse, and which people had to report, he had already refined a pair of fiery eyes, just from a person in a high position like Wei Zhen who almost fell down from the carriage in a hurry, he knew that the problem was very serious, and the porter immediately ran to report to the chief housekeeper.

Cui Yuan had already changed his clothes and was about to rest, and the concubine was helping him pinch his shoulder, when suddenly the housekeeper came to report. Wei Zhen asked to see him, and something happened in Longyou.

Unexpectedly, Cui Yuan was not much surprised, he immediately thought that it was Zhang Fa who was in trouble, he patted the concubine's hand and asked her to continue. His attitude was calm and calm, as if he had expected it.

In fact, Cui Yuan has always been worried about the outcome of the Longyou peace talks, which comes from the fact that Wei Ge made too few concessions, in this peace talks, all the material support is actually from the Wei family, such as the 300,000 stone grain that supports Lingwu County every year, and it is only in the name of a court land, and the court can only give promotions, such as Zhang Huan's Hexi Jiedu envoy. In other words, Wei Ge actually didn't make any concessions, he was bullying the civil strife in Hexi, and Cui and Wei formed an alliance, but Zhang Huan posted 2,000 war horses to him.

What does this mean, he Zhang Huan is high-righteousness? Or is he afraid that Cui and Wei will form an alliance and curry favor with Longyou? For this. Cui Yuan has always felt that it is inappropriate, but the situation in Shuzhong is critical, and Wei Ge has also sent troops, he has no time to look west, all his energy is focused on the battle of Shuzhong, as for Zhang Huan, he has already handed it over to Pei Jun, it is he Pei Jun who guarantees Wei Ge, what does it have to do with himself?

"Take him to my study and let me change my clothes." Cui Yuan changed his clothes and slowly walked to the outer study.

From the past to the present day. The speed of high-ranking officials to meet guests will not be very fast, they are going to use the time to walk this part of the road to think of a countermeasure, and at the same time put on an official shelf, Cui Yuan walked to the study leisurely, in this small half pillar of incense time, he has already made a decision, no matter what caused the change in Longyou, he must block the news, and must not let Wei Ge in Shu know the situation, no matter what, he must stabilize the Wei family first.

Haven't entered the door yet. At a glance, he saw Wei Zhen like an ant on a hot pot, walking back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, Cui Yuan's face immediately piled up a professional smile, and he smiled and said, "Drag the old man up from the quilt." Wei Youcheng is not kind! ”

Cui Yuan's voice was heard. Wei Zhen stepped forward and gave a deep salute and said: "If you are rude, you will apologize in the future, and ask Xiangguo to save the Wei family." ”

"Don't worry! Hold your horses! It's just urgent. I can only send troops tomorrow, Wei Youcheng will tell me what happened? ”

Cui Yuan's calmness calmed Wei Chen's anxious heart slightly, and he hurriedly took out the pigeon letter, handed it to Cui Yuan, and said: "This is the Kaiyang distress letter I received half an hour ago, Xiangguo, please see!" ”

The letter is a red paper roll, indicating that 100,000 is urgent, Cui Yuan sat down, he slowly unfolded the paper roll, squinted his eyes and skimmed through it. Perhaps because Zhang Huan had a preconceived idea, Cui Yuan's first reaction was: How can he be a party member!

is slightly different from Wei Deqing, Wei Deqing figured out this problem from the detail that the time between the two letters was too short, while Cui Yuan knew Zhang Huan very well, unless there was really civil strife in Hexi, it would be impossible to stop his ambition to seek Longyou with a paper agreement and a meaningless Hexi Jiedu envoy.

He paced slowly in the room with his hands behind his back, in fact, he was the same as Wei Ge, taking advantage of the opportunity of the military household to enter Hexi to plant spies, but his purpose was not to find out the intelligence of Hexi, he knew that the news at some levels had no meaning to him, his intention was to pay attention to his daughter's situation, but at the same time as sending the news of his daughter, he also knew some things about Hexi, such as Zhang Huan's construction of Huixi Fort, cleaning up Hexi officialdom, etc., and he also knew about the party members entering Hexi.

But he didn't believe that Zhang Huan would not be able to deal with the party members well, and would he give them the opportunity to have civil strife? However, Wei Ge was very confident in this matter, and he stopped talking more, so as not to shake Wei Ge's determination to send troops to Shuzhongdi.

In fact, it is a sentence in the end, Zhang Huan and Zhu can't have both, Zhang Huan is a wolf, which will impact his family and government, but Zhu is a tiger, he wants to eat him Cui Yuan with his bones, the two take the heavier, since he has invested all his blood to destroy Zhu, what other way is there to balance Zhang Huan?

"Xiangguo, the party people will devour everything in Kaiyang County like locusts, and even a fortified city like Huijun can't stop their iron cavalry, and the subordinates are really worried that the troops of Kaiyang County will not be able to stop them, so please ask Xiangguo for assistance."

Cui Yuan still had a trace of doubts about the party members just now, and after hearing this, he suddenly became enlightened, so many cities in Longyou are not defended, what are these party people going to attack Kaiyang County, which is heavily guarded?

Cui Yuan's heart was like a mirror, but he didn't show his face at all, and said resolutely to Wei Xu: "Please rest assured that Wei Youcheng." Since Wei Shangshu personally led the troops into Shu for the safety of the imperial court, as the first assistant of the cabinet, of course I will not stand idly by and watch Longyou. ”

He immediately stood up and shouted, "Someone! Several guards outside the door immediately ran in to obey the order.

"Prepare a car for me, I will immediately go to Pei Xiangguo to discuss major matters."

A few guards hesitated for a moment, and then said, "But Xiangguo." The door is closed. ”

"If it's closed, let them open it again!" Cui Yuan glared and said, "Isn't it possible that my dignified Tang Dynasty right minister can't open a small door?" ”

Several guards were so frightened that they hurriedly went to prepare the car, and when Wei Zhen next to him saw Xiangguo working so hard, he was suddenly moved in his heart, stepped forward and gave a deep salute, and said a little choked: "Thank you Xiangguo!" ”

"It's all for state affairs, so you don't have to be polite." Cui Yuan patted him on the shoulder and smiled slightly: "It's getting late, you can stay with me tonight!" ”

After that, he gave the butler a look and ordered him to take Wei Zhen to the guest room to rest.

Moment. Cui Yuandi's carriage was ready, Cui Yuan got into the carriage, and just after walking a few steps, Cui Yuan suddenly summoned a henchman forward and instructed in a low voice: "Send more people, keep a close eye on Wei Zhen for me, and never allow anyone to go to Hanzhong to report the news!" ”

The henchman is about to leave. Cui Yuan suddenly remembered something, stopped him again, and added: "Let people hurry up and send a letter to Cui Qinggong, and ask him to send someone to inspect the official road from Longyou, if there is a person who delivers the letter from Kaiyang County, intercept and kill it immediately!" ”

After speaking, he pulled the curtain of the carriage and instructed the coachman: "Don't go out of the workshop, go around me twice in Xuanyang Workshop and go back." ”

The carriage opened, and Cui Yuandi's body shook slightly as the carriage accelerated. Thinking about the countermeasures of this Longyou change, the Wei family asked the court for help, obviously hoping that he Cui Yuan would send troops, but he could not send troops, in fact, there were no soldiers to send, he was stationed in Guanzhong 100,000 Jin Wuwei has transferred 50,000 into Shu, and sent 20,000 to Hanzhong to respond, there are only 30,000 Cui family troops left in the entire Guanzhong area, most of them are stationed in the capital, and the Shandong army can't come for a while. The Hedong Army has also been reduced to the limit and can no longer move, but Pei Jun still has 60,000 Niu Wei stationed in Chang'an and east of Chang'an, and no matter how important Longyou is, it is not as important as Guanzhong.

But this is only from the interests of the Wei family, and what really makes Cui Yuan dare not act rashly is. The Cui family must not be involved in the Longyou change at this time. Otherwise, it would have given Zhang Huan an excuse to enter the customs high, and there was an old fox Pei waiting for the opportunity insidiously on the side!

What's more, Zhang Huan is not Zhu. He is the son of Prince Yu, and he has the qualifications to ascend to the Ninth Five-Year Plan, only from a few retired veterans of Jincheng County who resolutely supported him, he can know the autumn from a leaf, and there are many people inside and outside the court who support him.

Cui Yuan couldn't help but sigh secretly, Shuzhong was already in chaos, and the imperial court could no longer bear another Longyou rebellion, at this moment, he finally made up his mind, Zhang Huan could not fight, but could only caress it.

As for the Wei family, although they can't send troops, Wei Ge's face still has to be given, at least he has to show that he has done his best, if he can't do it, he will go to Longyou in person!

Kaiyang County, in just one day, the people of several nearby counties have fled, Kaiyang City has also appeared a large-scale refugee flow, although the government has repeatedly appeased the people, Kaiyang City still has 20,000 troops, can resist the attack of the party people, but two years ago after the Hui people invaded Kaiyang County, the tragic situation made the people can not forget.

People flocked out of the city to flee south, starting in the morning, thousands of people went out of the city, but in the afternoon, the news that the Dangxiang cavalry had left Yang County for less than 50 miles came, and panic began to break out in the city, and more than 100,000 people abandoned the city and fled, and the city gate could not be closed at all.

It was not until the evening that the gates of the city were finally closed, the drawbridge was pulled high, and the defenders of the city were in full array, when thousands of refugees suddenly fled desperately in the north, and not far behind them, the shadow of the party cavalry began to appear.

However, they didn't seem to have the intention of chasing these refugees, but walked slowly, forming a long black line, slowly approaching Kaiyang City.

On the top of the city, Wei Du lay at the battlement and looked nervously at the approaching cavalry of the party, pointing his fingers, as if trying to find out their number, when a low voice came from the side, "You don't need to count, about five or six thousand people." ”

This is the soldier and horse envoy of Kaiyang County, named Liu Heng, he is a veteran soldier in his fifties. Like Wang Guangmao of Huijun, he is also an old department that has followed the Wei family for many years.

Liu Heng was very unimpressed with the Wei family's nervousness and fear, the other party was just a cavalry, and it was okay to fight on the plains. But in siege warfare, they have any siege weapons, and besides, they still have 20,000 people, which is far superior to the other party.

He shook his head and said proudly: "You don't have to be afraid, at most two days, I will kill them to the ground." ”

"Don't underestimate the enemy, this is just their vanguard, the team is still behind, will you and I be intimidated by this little person?" Wei Du could hear the disdain in his tone. I didn't feel a little annoyed and angry.

Liu Heng didn't say anything, Wei Du was not only a assassin, he was also the commander of Longyou who was designated by the marshal to stay behind, and he couldn't make a stalemate with him, he smiled and turned around to inspect the combat readiness.

Although Kaiyang City is tall, it is not a fortress that guards the pass, and it does not have large weapons to defend the city, such as trebuchets and bed crossbows. The defense basically relied on bows and crossbows, but despite this, 20,000 people were more than enough to defend more than 5,000 people, and the soldiers in the city looked quite relaxed.

Seeing that the city refused to open the door, thousands of fleeing people cursed and went south around the city, but the party cavalry did not attack the city, and they did not have any siege weapons such as crashing wood and ladders, but only rode on horses. Standing in rows and standing silently a mile away, as if waiting for the people of the city to come out and fight.

At this moment, even Wei Du saw that it was impossible for the other party to capture the city, he breathed a long sigh of relief, and smiled at the left and right: "The party members are just rogues who rob homes and houses, don't be afraid, Wei Ping sent a letter to Chang'an, it's a bit of a fuss." ”

As soon as he finished speaking, only a few fast horses came from the west. It seemed to be the scouts of the party cavalry, and they shouted loudly, and the panic in their voices could be heard in the distance.

I saw a party cavalry suddenly raise his head to the sky and blow the horn, and the five thousand party cavalry turned around and galloped north, and they went farther and farther. Gradually, the city became a thin black line. Disappear at the end of the sky.

All the people in Kaiyang City were stunned, and they all looked to the west in unison. I don't know what happened over there, but after about a quarter of an hour, a black line appeared on the western horizon, and as it got closer, the sound of war drums could be faintly heard.

"It's the army!" There was a loud cry in the city, and there was a hurried bang on the walls! The bell rang, Liu Heng roared loudly, and ordered the soldiers to change the focus of defense to Xicheng.

At this time, Wei Du also saw clearly that the overwhelming army was rushing towards this side, and they numbered tens of thousands.

"It's Tang Jun!" The soldiers saw clearly the Tang Dragon Banner in the ranks, and there was a cheer on the city wall, and Wei Du also saw a big flag with the word Dou Dadi Cui written on it, he couldn't help but shed tears of excitement, and kept muttering: "Great! Reinforcements from the imperial court have finally arrived. ”

But Liu Heng's face became more and more gloomy, and he felt that there seemed to be something wrong with this army, and the color of the clothes and armor did not look like the Cui family's army.

Zhang Huan was hiding under the banner with the word Cui on it, he had already heard the cheers on the city wall, and couldn't help but smile slightly, when he was still two miles away from the city, his hand waved slightly, and the team stopped advancing.

At this time, a small colonel rode forward at a gallop, stretched out his bow and arrow, and shot a letter at the head of the city, a soldier picked up the letter and rushed to Wei Du, and handed the letter to him with some trepidation, Wei Du happily took the letter, he glanced at the letter cover, his eyes suddenly froze, his face turned to ashes, his hands trembled violently, half a sound, he suddenly screamed, and fainted.

The letter fell to the ground, and I saw that the letter cover read: Zhang Huan, the governor of Liangzhou Army in Hexi, presented the history of Wei Thorn.

Soon, Wei Ping and more than a dozen other important ministers of the Wei family rushed to the city when they heard the news, and looked at the letter together, all of them were stunned, Zhang Huan came to rescue Kaiyang County?

At this time, Wei Du had slowly woken up, he looked at everyone blankly, and sighed: "There is no party member, we are all fooled, and the head of the family is also fooled." ”

He suddenly burst into tears, "The Wei family is dead!" Today is the time for me to die. "Fart!" The soldiers and horses made Liu Heng finally unbearable, he pointed at Wei Du and scolded angrily: "You don't hurt our army's morale here, the battle hasn't been fought yet, do you want to admit defeat?" ”

As soon as he finished speaking, someone in the city suddenly shouted loudly: "I am Pei Mingyuan, the son of Pei Xiangguo, and I have come to ask to see Wei Tingshi." ”

Wei Du suddenly perked up, he struggled to his feet, and walked to the city wall. The probe looked down and saw Pei Mingyuan, dressed in a white robe, standing next to the suspension bridge under the escort of several soldiers.

Although Liu Heng was fierce, Pei Xiangguo's son did not dare to kill him, and stood aside and sneered.

When Zhang Huan came to negotiate that day. Wei Du also followed Wei Ge out of the city to greet him, and he still remembered Pei Mingyuan, so he said in a hoarse voice: "Pei Gongzi, what is the matter with you?" ”

"Please let me into the city! I'm here to save the lives of the Wei family. ”

"Humph! What kind of lives are saved, it is clear that we want to sacrifice the city. Liu Heng snorted coldly, he strode to the side of the city wall, and said to Pei Mingyuan in a loud voice: "For Pei Xiangguo's sake, I will warn you first, if you don't leave, I will release the arrow." ”

"General Liu! Is it up to me or you? Wei Du's face sank and said, "You insulted me just now, I don't care about it." If you dare to look upon the supreme again, I will remove you from your military office. ”

Liu Heng glanced at him and said disdainfully, "What are you?" Who can remove me except the big handsome! ”

At this time, Wei Ping came up and said, "Pei Mingyuan is just a scholar, let him come in and talk about it, if the conditions are too much." We don't pay attention. ”

"Yes! If you make sense, what's the point of listening? More than a dozen important ministers of the Wei family echoed one after another.

Liu Heng saw that the Wei family had the same attitude, and it was not easy to oppose it stubbornly, so he gave a look to the sergeant next to him, "Let him in!" ”

After a while, the drawbridge was lowered, the city gate was opened, and Pei Mingyuan entered Kaiyang City alone. "Uncle Wei Shi, I am the judge of the Xiliang Army, and I came to discuss the matter with you on behalf of the governor of my family."

"Pei Gongzi, please speak!"

Pei Mingyuan looked at the Wei family again, and saw that they were all nervous, so he smiled slightly: "It's not a secret, almost the entire Longyou has been taken by our Xiliang Army, and now Kaiyang County is determined to win, if the Wei family is willing to give up Kaiyang County, we will all send the Wei family into the pass, and we will not hurt anyone." ”

"What if we don't?" Wei Du asked coldly.

Pei Mingyuan sighed. "Once the Xiliang army enters the city, I'm afraid the governor won't be able to restrain the soldiers."

"What a big breath!" Liu Heng sneered repeatedly, "We have 20,000 people defending the city, and you are only 40,000 or 50,000 people. ”

"Of course we came prepared. Everyone, please see! Pei Mingyuan pointed into the distance. Everyone was taken aback, and at some point, hundreds of giant trebuchets had been slowly launched in the Hexi army. Neatly lined up, the momentum is terrifying.

"I said the earth is not stone!" Pei Mingyuan saw that Liu Heng's face had changed, and he sneered and said, "I'm talking about that wooden shelf." ”

Everyone looked at him, only to find that on the side of the army, a wooden platform about four feet high ground had been erected, and a huge round wooden barrel was erected on the wooden tower, and there was a long, tail-like thing hanging on the round barrel, at this time, the surrounding soldiers retreated one after another, and retreated to three hundred steps away from the wooden platform, and many people covered their ears.

Wei Du and the others didn't know why, and they all looked at Pei Mingyuan in surprise, "Pei Gongzi, what is this?" ”

Pei Mingyuan just laughed and said nothing, and suddenly slowly galloped out from under the banner with a general wearing a golden helmet, and the Xiliang army suddenly thundered with joy and shouted Governor! Wave after wave.

This is naturally Zhang Huan, the commander of the Xiliang Army, I saw that he was dressed in iron armor, holding an eagle bow, his eyes were cold, he stopped when he walked about a hundred steps away from the wooden platform, and two personal soldiers rushed over, one of them ignited the arrow in his hand and raised his hands above his head to offer.

Zhang Huan took the arrow and opened the bow, the bow gradually became a full moon, and a fire was burning in the arrow, at this time, Zhang Huan glanced at the city coldly, his eyes narrowed slightly, and his fingers loosened, whoosh! With a bang, the rocket made a beautiful arc and went straight to the barrel, nailing it to the long tail with extraordinary accuracy, and the tail immediately rose with green smoke and burned rapidly.

Zhang Huan's horse slowly retreated, at this time, the whole city was silent, tens of thousands of pairs of eyes were staring at the tail with green smoke, only to see it quickly burned into the barrel, there was no movement, everyone was wondering, suddenly, a strange red light burst out on the wooden platform, as if thousands of zhang of lightning were compressed into a zhang, and then a loud sound broke out, a huge black cloud rose into the sky, and the four-zhang high wooden platform was blown to pieces.

The surrounding soldiers knelt down tightly with their ears covered, and shouted desperately, and nearly 10,000 soldiers in the city were shocked and changed color, and their eyes showed extremely terrifying looks, some people stood unsteadily, lying directly on the battlements, and some soldiers hugged each other tightly, this is something they have never heard of and never seen, is it an artifact or a ghost treasure?

The first explosion of gunpowder on the battlefield produced a strong shocking effect, and even Liu Heng slowly knelt down, his face was completely ashen, and more than a dozen people in the Wei family were shocked and trembled, and the more timid Wei Du even fell to the ground.

Pei Mingyuan breathed a long sigh of relief, he glanced at everyone, and said with a faint smile: "This is the ancient artifact we found in Qilian Mountain, a total of twenty, if Kaiyang County wants to resist, then we will use it to meet it!" ”

In October of the second year of Xuanren, nearly 1,000 men, women and children of the Wei family evacuated Kaiyang County under the escort of 8,000 Longyou Army, and retreated in the direction of Fengxiang County, and nearly 10,000 Longyou soldiers were unwilling to leave their homes, and surrendered to the Xiliang Army under the leadership of the deputy general. Volume 4 is completed in the west of the river; Check out the next volume