On the day after the Taiji Palace Incident, he realized the seriousness of the problem when he rushed back at a speed of 100,000 and Zhang Ruoho died, but then Cui Yuan was assassinated, and he became the second cabinet minister to temporarily hold the power of the right minister, and on that day, he used the power of the consul's pen to approve the resignation application of Xin Yunjing from Hexi Jiedu, making his occupation of Hexi legitimate.

But in this way, it also delayed his return to Longyou until the Taiji Palace Incident broke out.

The Guannei Road controlled by the Wei family is separated from the Hedong Road by a Yellow River, and it is the existence of the Yellow River that makes the Wei family's thirst for land in Hedong not as strong as the Cui and Pei families, but just as the wolf can't change the nature of eating sheep, Wei Ge also has something to ask for the weak Zhang family, and he likes the Zhang family's rich money.

At this moment, the head of the third family of the Tang Dynasty is also wandering on the edge of the Yellow River, and the envoy he sent has already sent the news that Zhang Huan has taken the gold and silver worth millions of yuan from the Zhang family, as well as the treasures he seized in the treasury of Huifu, the two add up to no less than two million guan, not only that, Zhang Huan's subordinates are all cavalry, all of them are big horses, which makes Wei Wei even more coveted, he has made up his mind, this time he will eat Zhang Huan no matter what.

On the other side is Yonghe County of Longquan County, gray smoke is filled, the fog of the early morning shrouds both sides of the Yellow River, the scouts report to him every quarter of an hour, but every time the result is the same, there is no sign of the army crossing the river on the other side, the time slowly passes, until noon, there is still no movement, Wei Ge can't sit still, what is Zhang Huan doing?

"Father. I'm afraid Zhang Huan has seen through our intentions. It was Wei Qing, the eldest son of the Wei family, who spoke, his appearance had not changed as before, his hair was casually draped over his shoulders, his skin was snow-white, and his long eyelashes were under them. It is a pair of deep and a little confused eyes, but his temperament has changed, this heir to the head of the Wei family suffered a double trauma of spirit and ** a year ago, from a cheerful to a taciturn, he rarely speaks, but every time he speaks, he always knocks on the point.

"How so?" Wercher asked, glancing at his son.

Wei Qing sneered lightly and said, "Cui Pei Bingfeng has arrived, isn't he afraid that half of the river crossing will be copied?" ”

"According to what you mean, he may be because Cui Pei has arrived. A different place to cross the river, not to see through our attempts. "Points, but not necessarily because of himself, judging from the fact that he has always had a good relationship with him. It was only natural that he would be enthusiastic about helping him.

However, after so many years in the court, Wei Ge knew that everything could not be thought of in a good place, he glanced at his son, and saw that he was silent again, he couldn't help but sigh secretly in his heart, smiled and asked, "Maybe my father didn't understand what you meant." Can you make that clear? ”

"The situation is urgent, of course he has to hurry up and cross the river."

Wei Ge now understands what his son means, yes! As long as you know the situation of Cui and Pei's use of troops, you can find out Zhang Huan's attitude, and at this moment, a scout captain who went to the other side of the Yellow River rushed over.

"Report to the General! The subordinates found out the news that at one o'clock last night, the people and horses at the ferry port of Yonghe County went north. ”

Sure enough, he nodded. Then he asked: "How is the war on the Taiyuan side?" ”

"Returning to the marshal, Taiyuan has been occupied by the Shandong army, and some brothers have probed that the Hebei army drove into Fenyang County yesterday afternoon."

"Thank you for your hard work, reward you with 500 yuan, and order the brothers to continue their search north."

"Obey!" The lieutenant gave a military salute and crossed the river again.

By this time, Wei Ge had already understood that Zhang Huan was indeed suspicious of himself, and he immediately walked to the map and carefully inspected every ferry port marked on it. There are a total of four ferries to the north from the Yanchuan ferry in front of you, Baitang Gorge, Pankou, Linxian and Xingxian. Every ferry port is possible, Wei Ge is very troubled, these ferries are tens of miles, even hundreds of miles apart, and he only brought 30,000 horses to intercept them, how to deploy troops?

Wei Qing seemed to know his father's anxiety, and after being silent for a while, he finally couldn't help but speak: "Father, I have a way." ”

Wei Ge was in high spirits, and hurriedly said, "Tell me about it!" ”

It's not because my son thought of a solution, but because he took the initiative to speak, and he made suggestions, and for the first time in a year.

Wei Qing walked up slowly, pointed to the map and said: "Each of these four ferries can deploy 2,000 people, and my father will lead the rest of the soldiers and horses to be stationed in the handicap, and if the situation is found, he will rush to support, so that 20,000 people can at least block them for a while, and during this period, troops will be transferred to help at the same time, I think it should be able to catch up in time." ”

"Good! Father listens to you. ”

Soon, the 30,000 Longyou Army began to roll northward on the official road three miles away from the Yellow River, a group of cavalry mixed with the infantry, constantly cursing loudly, the baggage team carrying grain, grass and supplies followed with difficulty, the creaking and rattling of the axle made people drowsy, until the evening, the brigade of men and horses traveled less than fifty miles, and came to the first ferry, Baitang Gorge.

Wei Ge was anxious, and there was no news from the scouts on the other side of the river so far, indicating that Zhang Huan's men and horses were not in Baitang Gorge, and the handicap in front was still a hundred miles away, and Linxian County was one hundred and fifty miles away, at this rate, even tomorrow night would not be able to catch up, and Zhang Huan would have already crossed the river by then.

"Order all armies to speed up, and those who arrive first at the Pankou ferry will be rewarded with 3,000 crosses, and the main and deputy generals will all be dismissed from their posts if they arrive last."

Under the double squeeze of heavy rewards and heavy punishments, the Longyou army marched north as if it had gone crazy, and when the morning star rose in the black veil-like sky, after a day and a night of forced marching, the exhausted brigade finally arrived at the handicap.

But the Tianqi camp still had no news, doubts and anxiety almost crushed Wei Ge, at this moment he no longer cared about the Zhang family's money, he was worried about his own home, a tiger in sheep's clothing was about to break into his territory.

"Father, don't worry, the child thinks that Zhang Huan shouldn't have crossed the river yet." Wei Qing also experienced a long march, but he did not show fatigue. On the contrary, his eyes became more and more excited, this year, he was waiting for this time, he had extremely complicated feelings about Zhang Huan, and he was grateful to Zhang Huan for saving his life. But he hated him even more for killing the women of the Wei family, so that he couldn't raise his head in front of him, and felt deeply inferior in front of him.

He longed for one

Victory Zhang Huan, longing for the day when Zhang Huan succumbed to his own feet, he had no time to see, and this day finally came, for this reason, he specially followed his father back to Longyou.

"Father, though, there were no troops stationed at these crossings. But there are sentry posts, post stations, and beacon towers, they can't all be pulled out by Zhang Huan, and if he crosses the river, there will always be news. ”

As soon as Wei Qing's words fell, suddenly a soldier pointed to the north and shouted. "What's that? See! It's fire, it's red ground fire! ”

Two blazing fires lit in the beacon tower a mile away, like two candles side by side, in the dark night, the flames were extremely dazzling, and Wech's heart sank. The two flames refer to the Qinjin Gorge in Linxian County, which is still fifty miles away.

He yelled, "No one is allowed to rest, let me go immediately, I must rush to Qinjin Canyon within two hours!" ”

—

.

At the same time, on the other side of the Yellow River, the cavalry galloped south in the starry night, and peeked out as the windows of the houses were pushed open. They were like a horde of ghosts flying in the middle of the moon, flashing by and disappearing into the night.

As they galloped for a hundred miles, they gave their horses a little rest, replenished themselves with some food and water, and with great spirits, they leaped and galloped, and the night was like a howling wind that drowned them.

When the morning dawned, Zhang Huan saw a faint golden light. They re-arrived at the Yonghe County Ferry.

"Where is this?" Pei Ying poked her head out from under Zhang Huan's cloak with sleepy eyes, and she finally couldn't hold on to the high-intensity rapid march. But there was no carriage for her, she could only ride with Zhang Huan, at first she could still look out from under the cloak, but gradually, she could no longer tell whether she was awake or in a rapidly rotating dream, in his warm and trustworthy arms, in his strong manly atmosphere, she finally fell asleep.

"This is Yonghe County, and we were here the night before yesterday." Zhang Huan smiled, he whistled, a sturdy white horse strode towards a meteor, he turned over and dismounted, and hugged Pei Ying's petite body to the white horse at once, although this is just a very ordinary action, and there is no special significance, but Pei Ying's face is still red, this hug made her think a lot, far away, and even think of ten years later.

At this time, a high-flying war horse galloped from the south, whirled in front of Zhang Huan, stopped suddenly, and immediately a young general said loudly: "General, please wait, eight ferries are coming." ”

"Good!" Zhang Huan turned around and ordered several generals: "Inform the brothers to rest a little, and cross the river when the boat arrives."

”

"Obey!" As soon as the generals saluted together, they each gave the order.

Pei Ying watched Zhang Huan decisively give orders from the sidelines, from him, she experienced a strong self-confidence of a man, as if no difficulty could overwhelm him, this is what Zhang Huan fascinated her the most, this self-confidence gave her a sense of security, so that she could experience the joy of being a woman, and his strong arms and warm embrace also made her intoxicated.

Although she wants to show a woman who is not inferior to men, she can only be a woman in front of real men.

"What are you thinking?"

Zhang Huan urged Ma to come to her slowly, and when he saw that she was thoughtful, he smiled slightly: "I heard that Uncle Wei Shi has asked Pei Xiang for marriage several times, I guess Wei Qing is on the other side, do you want to meet him." ”

Pei Ying's face sank immediately, and she said coldly: "Are you thinking I'm cumbersome?" If you don't like it, then I'll go! ”

With that, she turned her horse's head and whipped the horse hard, and the horse galloped away with her south.

Zhang Huan saw that she seemed to be really angry, he shook his head with a wry smile, and then chased after her, less than a mile away, Zhang Huan caught up with her, he reached out and grabbed her reins, and smiled apologetically: "I'm just kidding, are you really angry?" ”

"Are you kidding that?" Pei Ying turned around suddenly, she stared at Zhang Huan tightly and said loudly: "If I want to go to Wei Qing, go directly to Fengxiang, I need to run thousands of miles like this, and follow you day and night to forcibly march, you know that I am so sore that I can't even lie down, you know how much I want to be in the carriage, but why do I want to be on a horse all the time, it is because I don't want your soldiers to despise you, of course you don't know, do you really think that I want to go to the Western Regions to make contributions?" ”

Speaking of this, Pei Ying's eyes gradually turned red, she held back her tears, bit her lip and said: "I am tired of following you, and even betraying my father and brother, I am willing, I don't regret it, but I only hope you can understand my heart, don't make such jokes in the future, it really hurts me too much!" ”

Zhang Huan looked at her silently, and was deeply shocked by her words, although he took Pei Ying all the way to march, but in fact he didn't take her too seriously, he always thought that he was far from being as deep in her heart as in Cui Ning's heart, he also felt that Pei Ying liked himself, but he always felt that her liking was more with a hint of willfulness, and as time went by, this liking would slowly fade away.

It wasn't until today that he finally understood how much Pei Ying loved herself, what kind of feelings she was when she abandoned the place name festival, abandoned her father and brother, and followed her without hesitation.

After a long time, Zhang Huancai said in a low voice: "I'm sorry! ”

Pei Ying looked at Zhang Huan blankly, in his sincere apology, a tear finally slipped quietly from her face, suddenly, she could no longer suppress the outburst of feelings, she hugged his waist suddenly, buried her head in his arms and cried loudly, in the surging tears, the pain she had suffered in the past ten days rushed out.

Zhang Huan gently stroked her hair, he sighed softly, he knew that another responsibility fell on his shoulders.

At this time, several big ships passed by them, and Pei Ying remembered that Zhang Huan was still shouldering the fate of five thousand people, she wiped away her tears embarrassedly, and said in a low voice: "Don't laugh at me!" ”

Zhang Huan smiled slightly and handed her his hand, Pei Ying lowered her head shyly, quietly clenched his hand, and under the golden light, they walked slowly towards the big ship docked on the shore, shoulder to shoulder, hand in hand.