The night shrouded Luoyang City, a large army outside the Hui'an Gate was preparing to march up, Cui Ming at the gate of the city was bidding farewell to Zhu Tao surrounded by dozens of generals, he tearfully bowed to Zhu Tao and said: "Looking forward to the triumphant return of the master, this king will pray for the master day and night in Luoyang City." ”

The main general Zhu Tao wore a helmet and rode on Cui Qinggong's most beloved Dawan horse, his eyes faintly contained tears, and he bowed his hand to Cui Ming with a solemn face: "Little prince, but please rest assured, Zhu Tao is here to exterminate Li Shidao and relieve the worries of the little prince as soon as possible, I am not in Luoyang, I hope that the little prince will restrain military discipline in order to obtain the support of the people in Luoyang." ”

"The words of the master, this king should be engraved in his heart, and the master should take care of himself all the way."

"Take care!"

Zhu Tao waved his hand to everyone and resolutely ordered: "The army is leaving!" ”

The 50,000 army and thousands of baggage wagons slowly started and marched to the northwest, and Li Shidao's 60,000 troops were deployed on the bank of the Yellow River more than 100 miles northwest of Luoyang, and 20,000 of the troops who went to exterminate Li Shidao were the elite troops kept by Cui Qinggong, and they were the teams that he had never let the military power go by for more than ten years, and today, the command of this elite army was handed over to outsiders for the first time, and it was handed over to Zhu Tao.

Zhu Tao did not take refuge in Cui Qinggong for a long time, but with his shrewdness and ability, he repeatedly performed miraculous feats, and was deeply reused by Cui Qinggong, but no matter how capable he was, Cui Qinggong always maintained the principle of using literature and not using force to him, and never forgot that he was Zhu's brother, and never gave him the opportunity to lead the troops, and it turned out that Cui Qinggong's vigilance was completely correct, just after Zhu Tao's army left Luoyang only fifty miles, Zhu Tao issued his first order, "The army turned around and marched south."

This day is a whole year that Zhu Tao has dreamed of, after the death of his eldest brother Zhu, the desire to revive the Zhu family has been buried deep in his heart, but he also knows that he will no longer have the opportunity that his eldest brother did back then. He was like a wolf looking for prey, and after months of scrutiny, his target was Cui Qinggong's army. This is a team full of contradictions, and only when the contradictions intensify can his ambitions become a reality.

After Zhu Tao gave the first order, the army began to turn around slowly, he rushed up a small hill, staring at the distant mountains under the night fog, his eyes flashed with excitement that could not be concealed, at this moment, he finally had the capital of revival in his hands.

"General Zhu!" Suddenly there was a distant call behind him, and Zhu Tao looked back and saw dozens of cavalry sergeants galloping towards a general under the hill. The leader is Cui Qinggong's confidant Li Zhongyun, Zhu Tao's excitement in his heart was suddenly empty, and what he was most worried about really came.

Li Zhongyun was appointed by Cui Qinggong as the general of Feilong, he had 10,000 cavalry under his command, one of the 20,000 elite battalions, he was originally dissatisfied with Zhu Tao's appointment as the main general, but the military order was like a mountain, he did not dare to disobey, but now it is clear that Li Shidao is in the north, but Zhu Tao ordered to turn around and go south. He was puzzled. "General Zhu, why did you order the army to turn south, didn't you go to fight Li Shidao?"

"General Lee misunderstood... UC eBook::First::Hair.." Zhu Tao was already confident, and he smiled slightly: "Do you think that Li Shidao will be like a stone waiting for us to go and exterminate it?" Now Qianniuwei is coming from the west. He will inevitably find his way to escape, so I deduce that he will take the gap in the southwest direction. We got the first step ahead of him, just in time to stop him in his way. ”

Li Zhongyun was hesitant in his heart, although what Zhu Tao said had some truth, he still doubted Zhu Tao's motives, pondered for a while, and then asked: "General Zhu also said that the officers and soldiers will come, I don't know how General Zhu is going to respond?" ”

"This matter has been decided by the little prince, it is not for me to be in charge, let alone that you are qualified to ask." Zhu Tao's face sank and said: "I am on the orders of the little prince, and all decisions are up to me." If General Li is not satisfied with my dispatch, you can complain to the little prince. But the army is out, and you must obey my commands. Forget it this time, if there is a next time, I will not forgive! ”

Li Zhongyun sneered a few times, turned around with a fist and left, Zhu Tao stared at his back and walked away, a killing intent burst out of his eyes, this person had to be killed as soon as possible.

After a night's march, Zhu Taodi's army has passed Luoyang, arrived at the Gushui River bank about 80 miles southwest of Luoyang, this area is densely wooded, low mountains are undulating, and stretches into the distance, the march is all night, the army is exhausted, Zhu Tao saw that the river water is crystal clear, so he ordered the whole army to rest on the spot, the three armies immediately cheered in unison, tens of thousands of soldiers rushed to the river, the river bank on both sides of the crowd was surging, very noisy.

Zhu Tao found a big stone to sit down, with the help of the faint morning light, he took out a map and carefully studied the marching route, his plan was to break through to the southeast, that area was Chu Xingshui's Huainan army, the combat effectiveness was much weaker than Zhang Huan's Longyou army, even if it was encountered, it could break through, but Zhu Tao's final destination was to go to the Yuzhang area of Jiangnan West Road, after assassinating Zhang Huan in Changsha last year, he carefully examined the situation in Yuzhang, where the garrison was scarce and the land was fertile, it was very easy to gain a foothold, and there was a vast Poyang Lake for the army to advance and retreatIt is a good place to establish a foundation, and once he has a firm foothold, he can surrender to the Queen Mother and take advantage of the internal strife of the court to gain the possibility of survival.

He has planned this plan countless times, and he has long been familiar with it, but whenever he has the opportunity, he can't help but take out the map and look at it silently, thinking that there may be loopholes, it should be said that there are no loopholes, and the key now is to persuade the army to follow him south, of course, he also has a sufficient excuse: the way of the Li division is fake, and it is true to open the passage to the south for the Luoyang army.

Zhu Tao put the map away, he raised it to look at the surrounding terrain, at this moment he was in the middle of a gourd-shaped canyon, the valley water ran through the canyon, the canyon was about three miles wide, surrounded by continuous mountains, lush trees covered the hills, the sky was already numb, and the banks of the river were full of his soldiers.

Zhu Tao frowned, the terrain here was not the best place to rest in the camp, and it was very easy to be ambushed, so he immediately stood up and ordered loudly: "Order the whole army to get up and continue to march south!" ”

As soon as the words fell, a shout of killing suddenly erupted in the woods on both sides of the canyon, and countless cavalry rushed out of the woods, brandishing war swords. ::First-time UC eBook::Swiftly pounced on Zhu Taojun who was resting on the bank of the river, Zhu Taojun was caught off guard and suddenly became a mess. Not only were there ambushes in the woods, but tens of thousands of cavalry from the other end of the canyon mouth were killed, and they were like a group of tigers that had been gathering momentum for a long time to pounce on the flock

Zhu Tao's eyes were red, and he shouted loudly for the soldiers to be calm, but the shouts had lost their effect, and the 50,000 army was no longer able to organize effective resistance. The mountains were all over the wilderness and fled to the other end of the valley, Zhu Tao was also helped on the war horse by more than a dozen personal soldiers, at this moment, more than a thousand cavalry appeared fifty steps away from his left, only to see the bowstring in the hand of the first member of the general like a full moon, staring at Zhu Tao viciously, the corner of his mouth overflowed with a cold smile, Zhu Tao also suddenly saw him, and his heart suddenly chilled, as if he had fallen into the abyss with one foot in the air. This general is none other than Li Shidao, whom he swore to exterminate.

An arrow shot out in the air, as fast as lightning, and shot towards Zhu Tao's ground door. He couldn't hide, and closed his eyes in despair. The moment he closed his eyes, an arrow from a wolf's tooth shot through his brow, piercing his skull.

On February 25, the second year of Yong'an, Li Shidao took Zhu Tao's head and surrendered to Chu Xingshui, the secretary of the criminal department, and on February 28, 300,000 Tang troops surrounded Luoyang City, and under Chu Xingshui's promise not to kill Cui Ming, Cui Ming officially opened the city and surrendered to the officers and soldiers. So far. The nearly one-year rebellion in the Central Plains finally came to an end.

Chang'an, the news of the recovery of Luoyang has not yet reached Chang'an. But the news of the defeat of the Hebei army spread all over the streets and alleys of Chang'an, it was like a thunderclap, immediately broke the calm situation in Chang'an, and the undercurrent that had been stirring under the calm situation finally surfaced, and countless officials who maintained a wait-and-see attitude changed their banners and threw themselves to Zhang Dang, the situation has become clear, there is no market for ambiguity, and a clear attitude is the general trend.

Zhang Huan's house in front of the traffic is like a tide, hundreds of officials holding the name card crowded on the steps outside the gate, the voice is noisy and noisy, scrambling to hand over their sincerity and loyalty to the big housekeeper who came to receive the post, that kind of posture is like the grain shop before the price of rice is about to rise, it can be said that these days are the hardest day book in Steward Sun's life, countless usually high five-grade officials, six-grade officials are all blooming in front of him at the moment, these officialdom old fritters all know the importance of the housekeeper, as long as he is a little hands-on, It is very likely that their place name post will appear in Zhang Huan's study.

Not only Zhang's mansion, but even Cui Yu's mansion also had an unprecedented number of old protégés, he came to visit his old boss, to visit his teacher, nostalgic for the past and the present, all hoping to cross the threshold of Zhang Dangdi through Cui Yu.

With the news that Cui Qinggong's rebellion was quelled, Chang'an was full of boiling, people came out of their homes to cheer and welcome the arrival of this exciting moment, and the upsurge of taking refuge in the Zhang Party also came to a peak, and a strange phenomenon appeared in the court, every day before three o'clock, the procession of the upper dynasty appeared in front of the Suzaku Gate and the Danfeng Gate, and the bad habits accumulated for several years seemed to be reversed overnight.

At the same time as the craze of men's support for Zhang, countless celebrities and noblewomen in Chang'an also found various excuses to come to Zhangfu to meet Zhang Huan's wife Pei Ying, talk about the education method of children's books, talk about some fashionable new makeup, or invite a few people to come to Zhangfu Hulu to drink pheasant buckets and a few rounds of cattails, and by the way, inadvertently express their husband's admiration for Zhang Shangshudi.

Pei Ying has always shown a womanly demeanor, whether it is Mrs. Shangshu or Langzhong's wife, she receives her warmly, but this enthusiasm is like boiling water at 70 degrees, with heat but no boiling point.

Today, as usual, several noble ladies were sitting patiently in the hall waiting to be received, they had been waiting for half an hour, and there was still no sign of their host, and if it was as usual, this kind of neglect of the guests would never have appeared, and the maid only told them that the lady had important guests, and although several noblewomen were anxious, none of them dared to show it on their faces, and at some point, the women's city was often much deeper than the men's.

Pei Ying is indeed receiving a special guest today, in the small guest room, Pei Ying is sitting with her waist straight, her eyes are cold, there is no trace of a smile on her face, opposite her, her brother Pei Mingkai stands with his hands down. With a desolate and remorseful expression, he handed over the inheritance letter of Li Pei Mingyuan as the heir to the head of the family.

Since Pei You wrote to all the clansmen in Beijing, the head of the family had already handed over the official letter of inheritance to him. Pei Mingkai lived in a kind of extreme fear all day long, he was often woken up in his dreams by the second uncle who came to clean the door with a knife, and was scared by his bloody father who came to chase the soul and did not dare to sleep, he stayed awake night after night, and his body quickly lost weight, until the Hebei army was defeated by Pei Mingyao's unauthorized actions, Pei Mingkai was even more remorseful, and the decline of the Pei family seemed to happen overnight, and even originated from a thought in his place.

But what makes him more painful than remorse is the fear of death, once the second uncle returns to Beijing. The crime of privately changing the inheritance of the head of the family was enough to make him executed in the family temple, and as the deadline approached day by day, Pei Mingkai finally begged for his sister's help.

"I know I've done something wrong, but people are not sages, who can do nothing, and besides, I am a Changshu, and I have been regarded as the next generation of family heads by the clansmen since I was a child, so I strictly restrain my words and deeds, never go out to drink and mess around, let alone use power for personal gain, and ruin the reputation of my Pei family. But because of my inconvenient legs, my father no longer considers the possibility of me becoming the head of the family, which is unfair to me, am I willing to be lame? He forgot how my leg was lame. I broke it to save my third brother! ”

Tears of grievance finally flowed out of Pei Mingkai's eyes, and his father's indifference filled his heart with resentment. He wanted to continue, but Pei Ying coldly interrupted his self-pity.

"I want to know, how did my father die?" This is a question that has always haunted her heart, and she never believes that her father will be angry to death because her husband sent troops to Hebei.

Pei Mingkai pounced! Kneeling, he covered his face and cried bitterly, "My father has indeed shown signs of returning, but in my mind, I think that all of them are the heirs of the head of the family, and I completely forgot that my father can no longer be stimulated, and my father asked me if my second uncle had been defeated." I was confused and said it was possible. My father was angry and went away. ”

Pei Mingkai slapped himself desperately and cried loudly. "I'm guilty, I killed my father! I killed my father!"

"Enough!" Pei Ying was so angry that she trembled, as she expected, her father was angry with her eldest brother, she stood up, pointed at Pei Mingkai with trembling hands and scolded: "You get out, I'm disgusting when I look at you!" ”

Pei Mingkai's heart was cold, and his sister's desperation stung him deeply, he slowly stood up and said fiercely: "Okay! If you all want me to die, I will die to show you, and let me bear the responsibility for the defeat of the Pei family alone! Mrs. Shangshu, or you can be called the future Empress of the Tang Dynasty, I just hope that when you enjoy the glory and blessings, you can occasionally think of your hard-working eldest brother! ”

With that, he turned around slowly and walked towards the door in despair, and just as he was about to walk to the door, Pei Ying suddenly stopped him, "You wait."

Pei Mingkai stood still, his heart that was already like ashes suddenly ignited a ray of life, only to hear Pei Ying let out a long sigh, "People can't be resurrected after death, so you can keep your father's soul in the second half of your life!" ”

Pei Mingkai wiped away his tears and left, but Pei Ying fell into deep depression, she let go of her eldest brother not because she was soft-hearted, but because she had to consider the long-term interests of the Pei family, if the eldest brother died, the contradiction between the second uncle and the fourth uncle would inevitably sharpen, and the Pei family would also follow in the footsteps of the split between the Zhang family and the Cui family, and it would really go into decay from then on, which was by no means what she wanted to see, in the current situation, the unity within the Pei family was far more important than the internal division.

When the Pei family was in a strong position, Pei Ying did everything possible to protect her husband's interests, but when her husband's prestige grew, and the Pei family began to decline, as the only concubine of the Pei family, Pei Ying could not consider the future of the Pei family; And as her father's most beloved daughter, how could she not consider her father's legacy?

Moreover, the political future of the Pei family is closely related to her vital interests, once her husband really ascends to the position of the Ninth Five-Year Plan, the Cui family will inevitably rise again, so will Cui Ning threaten her position as queen? Pei Ying knows better than anyone else that her husband's love for Cui Ning is actually far more than herself, and seeing that Cui Ning is pregnant again, if she gives birth to a children's book, then the Cui family will not think about it.

The answer is undoubtedly yes, Pei Ying is the daughter of a family, she knows too well what the position of Taishu means to the family, although her husband is still a long way from the position of the Ninth Five, but in any case, a powerful mother's family is harmless to consolidate her and the status of the children's book.

She walked slowly to the door, staring at the distant sky, the afterglow of the setting sun shining on her delicate face, her eyes filled with endless melancholy.

(For a whole day, Lao Gao only got a monthly pass, brothers!) Can you be considerate of the old man's thin skin? ）