In Ye County, Hebei Province, under the blue sky, a flying pigeon landed in the Tang Army camp, and a moment later, several horsemen galloped out of the camp and galloped towards the northern theater.

For more than a month, Wang Siyu in accordance with Zhang Huan's strategic deployment and the Hui and Khitan coalition forces have carried out a number of small-scale battles, both sides have casualties, but it is after a series of exploratory battles, the Tang Army's strategic deployment has been completed, 20 days ago, He Lou Wuji's 150,000 troops broke out of Jingcheng, within a few days, even captured Lingshou, Dingzhou, Boye, Hejian several cities, cut off the retreat of the Hui and Khitan coalition forces, at this time Wang Siyu immediately reined in his forces, no longer fight with the enemy, a flash has been ten days.

The southern line of the Tang army camp was stationed near Handan County, this afternoon, the messenger from Ye County finally arrived at the camp, the messenger brought the governor's urgent military order, the camp guards did not dare to slack off, and quickly led them to Wang Siyu's tent, at this moment Wang Siyu was quietly thinking about the battle plan in front of the map, he just got the news of the scout army, from the night before yesterday, the enemy's camp came to the neighing of the horse being slaughtered, generally speaking, the war horse is the second life of the cavalry, unless it is absolutely impossible not to kill, And now the enemy army began to kill horses, there is only one explanation, the enemy's army has been choked, and the Central Plains Rebellion is different, this time the Hui and Khitan coalition forces invaded the south, and were blocked in the Fanyang area for a long time, during this period of time, the Hebei magistrates organized the people to flee, and burned the grain that could not be taken away in a planned way, and there were empty cities and empty villages on the land of Hebei, so that the harvest of the Hui and Khitan iron cavalry went south was very small, and the food crisis was also reasonable.

But Wang Siyu still didn't dare to believe it easily, he fought with Tuoba Qianli many times, and knew that it was extremely cunning, and it was impossible to determine that the enemy army had run out of food just by a few horse barks, and even if there was a real food shortage, Wang Siyu would not fight easily. He knew very well that the mourning soldiers would win, and he was still waiting, waiting for more proof of the occurrence of food shortages.

"Report to the General. The Governor's urgent military order arrives. Suddenly there was the sound of soldiers reporting from outside the door.

"Ahh Wang Siyu immediately stood up straight and hurriedly ordered, "Submit it quickly." ”

A soldier walked in quickly and handed over a tube of black pigeon letters, which were hit in the thin bamboo pipe, still sealed, and only the three words Wang Siyu were engraved on the bamboo pipe, indicating that this was an urgent item for Wang Siyu. He gently broke the bamboo pipe. Revealing a roll of white silk inside, in general. The pigeon letter can not contain much content, in this secret letter written by Zhang Huan is very simple, only eight words, early Ping Hebei, speed down Huainan.

Huainan? Wang Siyu was stunned, but he immediately understood. This must be something happened to the Chu family, the governor is ready to use force to recover Huainan, he put away the secret order, looked at the battle sand table and pondered, although he was ready to wait for the Hui and Khitan people to have internal strife before attacking, but the governor sent this letter, obviously ordering him to attack immediately and end the war.

After pondering for a moment, Wang Siyu immediately wrote a text message. The soldiers were instructed: "Send this letter to General Holou immediately."

March 28, Yong'an 2nd year. 100,000 Xiliang elite soldiers suddenly slaughtered the camp of the Hui and Khitan coalition forces, at the same time. He Lou Wuji's army on the northern front also cooperated with Wang Siyu's army, and more than 20 Tang troops launched a final offensive against Tuoba Qianlibu.

Chang'an, the strategy for dealing with the Chu family is still being discussed, Cui Yu suggested sending an envoy to Huainan to negotiate with the Chu family, while Pei You advocated giving certain concessions to the Chu family, and the imperial court promised in writing to guarantee the current interests of the Chu family, but whether it was Cui Yu or Pei You, or other high-ranking officials, everyone had the same principles, and the Jianghuai region could not be introduced into war, and the crisis of the Chu family should be resolved in a peaceful way.

At the end of the three-day meeting, Zhang Huan, who had been silent, finally made a final decision. I*

Early in the morning, Chu Wei left his house to go to the Daming Palace, Chu Wei was Cui Ning's fanatical suitor, but his father Chu Xingshui did not want to become the dog of the Cui family, so he categorically refused this family business, after eight years, he had already married the daughter of Fang Zongyan, another member of the Taifu Temple of the Tang Dynasty, and had a son and a daughter, all of whom were in the Chu family private school in Guangling Benzong, like most officials, Chu Wei's wife stayed in his hometown to take care of the children, and in Chang'an, the two-room concubine was responsible for taking care of his daily life, The Chu family's mansion in Chang'an is located in Guangdefang near Xishi, far away from Daming Palace, so the Chu family had to go out early, he got into the carriage, and under the sanitation of more than a dozen guards, he quickly galloped towards the direction of Daming Palace

After Chu Wei joined the ranks of the champion in the middle of the year, he was promoted step by step, and now he is the post of the young government supervisor and young eunuch, in charge of the power of the world to mint money, but he is also quite troubled in his heart these days, although the Chu family did not openly confront the imperial court, but his father refused to return to the court, and withheld six million taxes from the salt and iron prison on the grounds that the river must be dredged, which undoubtedly pushed the Chu family to the opposite side of the imperial court.

Father is decisive and tough for the interests of the Chu family, but what should he do with Chu Wei, he is still in Chang'an, under the noses of others, if he wants to escape and not say whether he can run away, even if he can run away, then can he still keep the young eunuch who has worked hard for eight years? For this reason, Chu Wei had no taste and couldn't sleep, and he didn't know what the court would do with him.

The carriage is galloping in the street, the sky is already numb, there are many people who are in a hurry on the street, and there are some hawkers who carry camels to sell breakfast, and the street is accompanied by their shouting: Do you want tofu brain?

"Egg noodles, minced meat noodles, delicious and cheap!"

The street scene is no different from usual, it is a quiet and peaceful morning, but Chu Wei has begun to get nervous at this time, there are two horses behind him who have been following them, he is fast and the other party is slow, he is slow and the other party is slow, obviously it is aimed at him, this is something that has never happened before, Chu Wei looked at the two horses behind him nervously, and kept urging the carriage to go fast, it has arrived at the fangmen, in the early morning, it was crowded with people buying and selling vegetables, and suddenly, the carriage stopped suddenly.

"Why stop!" Chu Wei turned his head and scolded the coachman angrily, but the moment he turned his head, Chu Wei's face turned pale, and he looked through the gap in the carriage door = saw that the front was full of troops, sabre-rattling, murderous, and there were hundreds of people on the ground. The worst fears have finally come.

"Why did you stop my carriage?" Chu Wei mustered up the courage to ask.

No one answered.

"This official is a young government supervisor and a young eunuch, so you can't be rude!"

Still no one answered, and hundreds of soldiers stared at him coldly. It seems to be looking at = a prisoner under the order.

At this time, a lieutenant walked out of the team and arched his hand to Chu Wei: "On the order of the governor of my family, please ask Young Eunuch Chu to come with us." ”

Chu Wei snorted and said coldly, "What if I don't go with you?" ”

The captain's face changed, and he immediately waved his hand, and hundreds of steel crossbows were flattened. Leng Sensen's crossbow bolt was aimed at Chu Wei. As long as he dares to say no again! words, and he pierced the heart with ten thousand arrows.

Chu Wei was shocked by the murderous aura of the army. From the eyes of the soldiers, he saw = soaked in decisiveness and coldness, and even smelled the breath of death, and after a long time, he finally said helplessly: "Okay! I'll just go with you, and I hope you will treat you politely. ”

His voice had just fallen. Immediately drove up from behind the army into a black carriage, the carriage shell was rough, and even the iron fences inside could be seen = soaked, which was clearly a cage, and two soldiers grabbed his arm and pushed him into the car, clang! The carriage was locked, and the carriage turned around and left, with hundreds of soldiers guarding the carriage closely. Quickly disappear into the distance.

More than a dozen of Chu Wei's guards were standing far away. From beginning to end, no one dared to step forward, and on both sides of the gate was crowded with people watching = enjoying the excitement. Everyone pointed and talked quietly.

Soon, the news that Chu Shangshu's eldest son, the heir to the head of the Chu family, and the dignified Sipin Shaofu Supervisor and Young Eunuch was arrested quickly spread throughout Chang'an City, becoming a hot topic of discussion in restaurants and teahouses. Some people also turned out old accounts, saying that he was Zhang Huan's rival, and now Zhang Huan is in power and has begun to settle old accounts; But the people who really knew the reason didn't dare to say anything, and they carefully observed how Zhang Huan would deal with the Chu family's military land.

But with the afternoon of the same day, a series of major events that shook the government and the opposition occurred: Fang Zongyan, the secretary of Taifu Temple, was arrested for falsifying accounts three years ago, Liu Zhilian, a servant of the Criminal Department, was dismissed for failing to go to the court on time for three days, Jianghuai transshipment caused Hong Liang Caoyun to lose too much, and was dismissed and investigated for corruption, and the three important ministers of the court were arrested and dismissed almost at the same time, they are all Chu Xingshui's henchmen, and they have an inextricable relationship with the Chu family. Moreover, Zhang Huan's series of actions also fully demonstrated his tough attitude towards solving the Chu family problem, no matter who it was, he would never make the slightest concession on issues related to principles. There was a big incident in the court, whether it was the imperial city or the Daming Palace, the officials in the various official offices had no atmosphere to deal with official business, and many officials sat there in a daze, thinking about their own affairs, especially the Taifu Temple and the Criminal Department were even more panicked, and they didn't know when this knife to kill Chu would hit their heads.

It was easy to get into the next court, and the officials packed up the tables and returned to the house, and many people wrote notes, secretly stuffed them into their colleagues, and made an appointment to have dinner in the mansion in the evening, after all, many words could only be discussed in private.

Like everyone else, Li Ping, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, also silently packed up the paperwork and prepared to go home, when he walked out of the gate of the Ministry of Rites, several high-ranking officials called him from afar, "Li Shilang, we are going to Pingkangfang for a few drinks, let's go together!" ”

Li Pinggong arched his hand and said apologetically: "My father is seriously ill, I have no intention of drinking, next time!" ”

Oh each other! After a sound, he was no longer reluctant, several carriages left quickly, Li Ping sighed in a low voice, and then also got into his own carriage and instructed the coachman: "Go home!" The carriage started and galloped in the direction of Suzaku Gate, escorted by more than a dozen guards.

In the carriage, Li Ping's mood was very heavy, he pulled down the curtain, closed his eyes and said nothing, Li Ping is the eldest son of Li Miandi, the first minister of the Queen Mother's Party, although Li Mian said that he was sick and has not been to the court, but Li Ping knew that his father was not dead, and he knew that Duan Xiushi often came to visit quietly at night, and his father was still waiting for an opportunity.

Of course, Li Ping also knows why his father is not giving up, and now the little emperor who lives in Taiji Palace is the youngest son of the second brother, if Zhang Huan takes the throne, he will inevitably raise a butcher's knife to cut the grass and eradicate the roots, from what happened today you can see = bubble out of Zhang Huan's wrist, the Chu family is his maternal uncle, and Chu Wei is his cousin. The Chu family has always supported him in taking power, and Fang Zongyan has also persuaded other officials to defect to the Zhang Party, but that's it. When the Chu family refused to abandon the army, Zhang Huan did not hesitate to take the Chu family to open the knife, and did not even give room for negotiation, this afternoon, he also heard a small news that Zhang Huan was very likely to kill Chu Wei to show a serious warning to the Chu family, and the news came from the military department. It should be true. This is the reason why Li Ping's heart is heavy.

Zhang Huan is so ruthless to his own people, so what will happen to their Li family after they are defeated. Li Ping couldn't think about it anymore, he hated his father for being stubborn and stupid and ignorant of current affairs, and he hated Cui Xiaofu for dragging his family into the water and installing a Laoshizi emperor, and now it has become the bane of their family, what should I do? It was to persuade his father to take the initiative to surrender to Zhang Huan. Or resign and return to his hometown to be a rich man, no matter which of these two roads can save the lives of his family, his son and wife.

Li Ping was in a state of confusion all the way, at this time, the carriage drove into Anrenfang, and less than a mile into the workshop was Li Mian's mansion. On the opposite side of the gate was a horse-drawn carriage. Li Ping couldn't help but hate in his heart, this was Duan Xiushi's carriage. Even came during the day, so blatant, did he think that everyone else was stupid? "Enter through the back door!" Li Ping commanded with a calm face, he didn't want to get involved in the meaningless conspiracy between his father and Duan Xiushi, thinking that if something happened to the Chu family, they would have a chance?

The carriage turned a corner and headed for the back door.

As Li Ping thought, Duan Xiushi hurriedly came to visit Li Mian during the day is indeed related to the Chu family, Duan Xiushi's original plan was to write to the Empress Dowager, and set up a new adult emperor on the grounds that the emperor was too young to take charge of affairs, in order to block Zhang Huan's usurpation of the road, but Zhang Huan was decisive, moved Cui Xiaofu to Taiji Palace, and isolated from the outside world, so that he had no way to submit the letter, and he found Li Shen's brothers, hoping that they could come forward to convene the royal family to discuss the establishment of a new emperor, but Li Shen's brothers told him very tactfully, I am afraid that there are a few of them in the Tang royal family, The rest of the people all hoped that King Yong would ascend the throne, Duan Xiushi also realized that his ideas were naïve, he was really depressed for a while, and just as he was about to return to the west to surrender to the city, the news suddenly came that the Chu family and the court were at odds with each other.

Duan Xiushi immediately realized that maybe this was an opportunity, and he couldn't wait for dark before he rushed to find Li Mian.

Slightly different from Duan Xiu's real impatience, Li Mian still has a cautious attitude towards the Chu family incident, he doesn't think that the Chu family and the imperial court are at odds, they will have any chance, on the contrary, Zhang Huan will use this matter to unite the loyalty of the ministers, he even thinks that this is an opportunity for Zhang Huan to ascend the throne, to destroy the Chu family, that is, to warn all the families in the world, there will be no force that can stop him from ascending the throne, so Li Mian is really sick this time. "Brother Cheng, you always doubt Zhang Huan's identity, in fact, judging from the relationship between his mother and Prince Yu back then = bubble, I think he is really the Li royal family, thank you for your support these days, but I am already planning to give up, Brother Cheng will go back as soon as possible! Staying in Chang'an for too long would arouse his suspicions. ”

Li Mian said very hard, the huge pressure made his illness quite heavy, Duan Xiushi was silent for a while, and after a while, he said slowly: "If the name is not right, the words are not good, and the final thing will inevitably be killing, if he ascends the throne, he will be killed by him, as a courtier, I should do my part, as for success or not, it is up to God to decide, if Brother Li really wants to give up, then I have nothing to say." ”

After that, he stood up and saluted, "Duan Xiushi has taken his leave." ”

As soon as he walked to the door, Li Mian stopped him with a smile, "I'm just testing my brother's determination, please go back!" ”

Duan Xiushi turned around suddenly, "Brother Li is also unwilling to give up?" ”

Li Mian let out a long sigh, "Now that it's over, can I still have a choice?" ”

He sat up slowly, and said unhurriedly: "Maybe there is another way to save the situation." ”

Duan Xiushi was overjoyed, and hurriedly asked, "Please Brother Li in detail!" ”

Li Mian waved his hand and asked him to sit down, and after pondering for a moment, he asked, "How many people did Brother Cheng bring back to Beijing this time?" ”

"Bring eight hundred guards."

When Duan Xiushi said this, he suddenly confessed Li Mian's meaning, and hesitated: "Just the consequences of doing this, I'm afraid it will cause chaos in the world." ”

"There are no consequences for us, the consequences are all on Chu Xingshui." Li Mian glanced at him and said coldly: "This is our only chance, if Chenggong doesn't want to participate, I will not force it!" ”

Stretching out his head is a knife, and shrinking his head is also a knife, Li Mian decided to let it go.

(Do you have a commuter pass?) In order to keep the top six in the classification)