On the official road about 30 miles away from Taiyuan, the Tiancai camp that rushed from the south suddenly fell, the original journey of five or six days, because of avoiding Cui Yuan's Shandong army and made a big bend, walked for ten days, the brigade was stationed a hundred miles away, Zhang Huan led 300 personal soldiers to the place where Li Mi had made an appointment in advance, the Miao family manor.

In the team of three hundred horsemen, there was a carriage, and Miss Pei Si was naturally sitting in the carriage, but this young lady who was bent on joining the army was not in the carriage at the moment, but was dressed in military uniform, and her petite body was riding on a very tall and strong Dawan horse, and the contrast was very strong.

"Miss Pei Si, you better go back! When I take Hexi, you come back again.

Along the way, Zhang Huan repeated unnutritious words like a monk chanting.

Although Pei Ying had already heard calluses in her ears, she was not bored, and still smiled and said: "I don't like the ending, I like to experience the process with my own eyes, I want to see with my own eyes how you take Hexi, maybe in the future I will write two poems to Chang'an to spread widely." ”

Since crossing the Yellow River, the pearl of the Pei family has reversed her previous shy and reserved temperament, and has become heroic and sassy, acting decisively, and never dragging mud and water, which is mainly manifested in two aspects, one is her return problem, according to the agreement, before crossing the Yellow River, she should break up with Zhang Huan in Shaanxi County and return to Chang'an, but as soon as Zhang Huan mentioned this problem, she was cold-faced, ignored Zhang Huan at all, and did not explain any reason, and insisted on going north with him; The other is the name of Zhang Huan, after crossing the Yellow River, she no longer called General Zhang Huan, and called him a sick brother, quite a bit of a chicken with a chicken, a dog with a dog.

All the way. Zhang Huan also gradually learned about the tenacious side of this beautiful woman, although she is the daughter of the left minister, she can ride a horse and march day and night like a man, her cheeks are thin, her eyes are red, but she never complains about bitterness, and always has a bright smile on her face, so that the soldiers of the Tianqi Battalion are also impressed by her, this petite woman. There is such a strong will.

Zhang Huan couldn't help laughing and said: "But if you follow me like this, I'm afraid that there will be rumors in Chang'an that will ruin your reputation. In the future, a big hero wants to marry you, and he inquires. Oh! It turned out that Miss Pei had run away with a Zhang Moumou, and this woman couldn't help it. Isn't that hurting you? ”

Pei Ying's beautiful willow eyebrows raised, "What a rumor." I joined the army to serve the country, what rumors are I afraid of, do you have a ghost in your heart? ”

"There's a little bit.

"You. . . She punched herself in the back a few times, causing the soldiers behind her to laugh, and they looked at their general with envy.

Since she has traveled thousands of miles, Zhang Huan has no reason to let her go back, but fortunately, Pei Ying is very smart. never embarrassed Zhang Huan, when Zhang Huan handled military affairs and reprimanded his subordinates for not doing things well. She will disappear without a trace; But when Zhang Huan finished handling military affairs, or marched in the long night. She would quietly appear again, and with her feminine tenderness, she would soothe the lonely heart of this young man.

After walking two more miles, Pei Ying suddenly pointed to a manor with a towering courtyard wall in the distance and asked, "Go to Brother Sick, is there the Miao Family Manor?" ”

"Yes!" Zhang Huan smiled and nodded, it has only been a few months, the walls of the Miao family manor have been thickened and thickened, and deep ditches have been dug around them, it seems that the last night battle has scared them.

At this time, the gate of the grange opened, and more than a dozen horses rushed out of the gate, Pei Ying smiled when she saw it: "I've been on the horse for a day, and I'm really tired, I'll rest for a while." With that, she dismounted with great ease, and hid in the carriage.

A few horses quickly galloped to the front, the leader of the person was Han Yu who sorted out the paperwork for Zhang Huan, nearly a month ago, he came to Taiyuan with Li Mi first, and this morning he got Zhang Huan's scout report, and specially rushed to the Miao family manor to wait.

"What about Mr. Lee? Haven't you come back yet? Zhang Huan saw that he didn't follow Li Mi, and he felt a little uneasy in his heart.

Li Mi first came to Hedong for two tasks, one is to collect intelligence, and the other is to go to Longyou to discuss the matter of borrowing, especially the latter, which will be directly related to the success or failure of Zhang Huan's trip, when Li Heng ascended the throne in Lingwu, relying on the support of the Guanlong Group, as Li Heng's chief staff, Li Mi has a lot of old people in the Guanlong area.

"Mr. Li has already gone to Shuofang, and there should be news in the past few days." Han Yu approached Zhang Huan and whispered to him: "Please follow me into the village, I have something important to report." ”

Zhang Huan nodded and waved his hand back, "Everyone go to Zhuang to rest!" ”

The soldiers, who had been marching for ten days, were already exhausted, and when they heard the order, they urged their horses to quickly march towards the grange.

Entering the Grange, Zhang Huan couldn't take a break, and immediately summoned Han Yu, the situation was critical at the moment, and he had to take advantage of the fact that the Cui and Pei families were unable to start with Taiyuan for a long time, and sought his own interests.

"Let me ask you first, has the Zhang family recently shown signs of transferring money and goods?" This is Zhang Huan's first concern, he knows that there are millions of gold, silver and jewelry in the basement of Zhang's tent house, and it is better to take it and build a foundation than to cheapen the Cui and Pei families.

"Nope! We have been closely watching, and the Zhang family has not carried supplies out of the basement, only the Zhang family has fled like a tree. ”

Zhang Huan nodded, "Then you can say it!" What important things do you want to give me? ”

Han Yu's spirits perked up, and he immediately lowered his voice and said, "Zhang Potian's eldest son rushed to Taiyuan last night, the general didn't expect it, right?" ”

"Unexpected?" Zhang Huan snorted and sneered: "How could I not have thought that Pei Jun would definitely not let Zhang Potian return to Hedong, but would he Zhang Potian sit still and wait to die?" With his local temperament, he would never hand over the Hedong Army to Zhang Can, and he would inevitably let his son take away the army. ”

Zhang Huan took two steps with his hands behind his back, he raised his head and muttered to himself: "I don't believe that Cui Pei and the others will not prepare in advance?" ”

After a pause, Zhang Huan continued to ask, "Come to Zhang Yun or Zhang Yi?" Where is he now? ”

"General Yu, it's Zhang Yi who came, he just arrived late last night and went directly to Zhang's mansion, and he didn't come out when I left."

"To Zhang's Mansion?" Zhang Huan was stunned for a moment. Why didn't Zhang Yi go to the barracks? But as soon as the thought turned, he immediately reacted, Zhang Yi was a military talisman, after Zhang Potian was appointed as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, in order to show his sincerity to Zhang Ruohao, he divided the talisman of his mobilization of the Hedong Army into three, one in the barracks, one in his hands, and the other in Zhang's mansion, unless he came in person. Otherwise, the mobilization of troops must match the three pieces of soldiers.

Thinking of this, Zhang Huan immediately made a decision.

He immediately commanded: "Let the brethren immediately pack up their horses and go with me." ”

Three hundred cavalry galloped towards the East Barracks on the eastern outskirts of Taiyuan. The horses rushed through the bare fields, waded through shallow ditches, splashing large expanses of muddy water. In the blink of an eye, the clusters of withered yellow trees were far behind, and soon their figures disappeared into a large black pine forest.

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Zhang Potian has five sons, of which the eldest son Yun and the second son Yi were born to his wife, perhaps because Zhang Potian was born in the military, he always hoped that his son could abandon martial arts and follow the literature, and was admitted to the Jinshi, and had high hopes for the eldest son Zhang Yun since he was a child, and invited famous teachers to teach knowledge, and Zhang Yun did not live up to his father's expectations. In the tenth year of Qingzhi, he was admitted to the Jinshi in one fell swoop, and then put him in the local area as an official, and now he is tired of being an official to the post of county Sima.

The second son, Zhang Yi, is less than thirty years old. Born but not reading material, since childhood, he likes to dance with knives and sticks. looks also powerful, Zhang Potian thought that this was God's arrangement, and also invited a famous martial artist to teach his martial arts, so that he could inherit his career when he grew up.

In this Hedong crisis, Zhang Potian also realized that the Zhang family was gone, but he couldn't get out of Tongguan, so in a hurry, he sent his second son Zhang Yi to Taiyuan as soon as possible, trying to take away the army to preserve his strength.

As Zhang Huan thought, because it was not Zhang Potian's personal arrival, Zhang Yi had to get the piece of military talisman from Zhang's mansion to mobilize the army, but Zhang Huan didn't expect that in addition to Zhang Yi's talisman, he also had to ask the Zhang family for 500,000 yuan and one million stone of grain, as the capital for the transfer of Hedong military land, and the sound of quarrel came from the main guest hall of the Zhang family early in the morning.

"Since you want to go north to fight the Hebei army, I will raise money and food for you, and I will continue to supply the army, but you want a lot of money and food in one mouth, how can I believe that you are going to fight in the north!"

The stern voice is the new Zhang family's proposition, he was promoted to the head of the Zhang family in less than two months as the heir of the family, whether it is seniority or prestige, it is not enough to convince the public, and the more important thing is that he is still young, and he has no experience as an official, first of all, a group of old people in the Zongrentang do not take him seriously, and everything is handled without authority; Secondly, a group of people who originally supported Zhang Ruojin began to be active again after Zhang Ruohao's death, and they seized on Zhang Can's little mistake to make a big fuss, which greatly weakened Zhang Can's prestige as the head of the family.

In fact, except for the financial power still being held by Zhang Can, the Zhang family is already a plate of scattered sand, and everyone is making their own calculations to maximize their personal interests.

The room leak was rained overnight, just when Zhang Can was tortured by the internal disputes within the family and was emaciated, the news of the emperor's death came, and then Cui Pei's two families attacked Hedong on a large scale, and the Zhang clansmen who were officials in various places fled back to Taiyuan, the situation was critical, Zhang Can went to the barracks three times for help, but was coldly rejected by Lu Qianli and Yang Lie on the grounds that there was no military talisman.

Hearing that Zhang Can was not going to be able to soldier, the Zhang family members aimed all their firepower at him, and severely reprimanded him for his incompetence, Zhang Can was also discouraged, and simply didn't care about anything, but the Zhang clan did not let him go, they forced him to divide the family property and ask for the title deed day and night.

Just when the Zhang family was in chaos, Zhang Can, who had been waiting for a long time, finally sent someone and wrote an impassioned letter, in which he vowed to live and die with Hedong, so Zhang Can, who was already desperate, did not hesitate to hand over the talisman to Zhang Yi, but Zhang Yi got the talisman but the lion opened his mouth and asked for a huge amount of money and food, which finally caused Zhang Candi

For Zhang Can's suspicions, Zhang Yi was disdainful, the talisman had already arrived, since he was unwilling, it was necessary to be ruthless, Zhang Can's voice just fell, 'Smack! He stepped forward and stepped on Zhang Can's waist, grabbed his hair with his hand, and said viciously: "Lao Tzu tells you the truth, I want to take away the army, and I will also take away the money and food of the Zhang family, if you don't take it now, Lao Tzu will bring the army to rob it at night and snatch your women together, believe it or not!" ”

Blood slowly flowed from the corner of Zhang Can's mouth. The threat of the wicked man aroused his originally cowardly courage, and he stiffened his neck and said: "If you have the ability, you will kill me, otherwise you will not get a penny or a piece of rice." ”

"Don't you dare to kill you?" Zhang Yi's eyes showed a fierce light, and he drew a short knife to cut his throat, but in the end, he hesitated, grabbed his hair with his backhand, and strode out, "Someone!" Take him away for me, I want to see if he gives it tonight! ”

Several of Zhang Yi's entourage stuffed him into a bag. Across their horses, dozens of people galloped towards Dongcheng like a storm, just as they had just rushed across the suspension bridge of Zhangfu. Three pigeons flew up in the alley opposite Zhang's mansion at once, and then three pigeons flew two miles away. The news quickly spread far and wide.

About five miles away from the east gate is a large dense pine forest, and in the pine forest there is a low earthen hill that stretches for several miles.

This was originally a pass in Taiyuan City, and the pass was razed to the ground by Shi Siming in the Anshi Rebellion, and gradually formed this earthen hill, and the official road passed through the middle of the earthen hill.

At this moment, in the pine forests on both sides of the mound, two hundred soldiers of the Heavenly Cavalry Battalion were already in full array, and two miles ahead, several pigeons flew into the sky, which meant that the target was rushing towards this side.

The official road is very quiet. Occasionally, a horse-drawn carriage galloped by, or a small merchant carrying goods beat a rattle and rested on the earthen hill. and slowly carried the burden down the hill.

About a quarter of an hour later, the sound of horses' hooves was faintly heard in the distance. Zhang Huan waved his hand lightly, and the soldiers took their bows and arrows one after another, and more than a dozen stumbling ropes buried in the soil were also ready to go.

The sound of horses' hooves was getting closer and closer, and they had rushed to the bottom of the mound, and from the cracks in the woodland, Zhang Huan had already seen the people coming, all dressed in black, about forty horses, and he slowly took out an arrow from his back, the tip of the arrow was diamond-shaped, extremely sharp, and flashed a faint blue light in the dim woods.

He wound the arrow, and as the man in black got closer and closer, his bow gradually full, his eyes narrowed, and the tip of the arrow was aimed at Zhang Yi, who was the leader.

The sound of horses' hooves sounded, and they rushed up to the soil hill in a hurry, just when they were about to continue to rush down the soil hill, the dust was flying, more than a dozen tripping horse ropes came out of the soil at the same time, the horses neighed, seven or eight horses in front of them were tripped and fell, and even two of them flew out of the front somersault and rolled down the soil hill, Zhang Yi was also tripped and fell to the ground, before he could get up, Zhang Huan's full string suddenly loosened, and a sharp arrow shot towards Zhang Yi like lightning, an arrow hit his back, he screamed miserably, and rolled down in the ditch by the roadside.

At the same time, the pine forest was full of arrows, the arrows were strong and accurate, and dozens of followers on the official road were shot on their backs, and the screams were everywhere, and it only took a moment to shoot, except for a few empty horses running down the earthen post, no one on the official road stood a single horse.

Suddenly, Zhang Yi, who was hit by an arrow in his back, crawled out of the ditch, he pressed a bag that was wriggling on the ground, and pulled out a short knife against the bag, shouting loudly: "Zhang Huan, don't you want the life of your family master?" ”

He had already guessed that this was most likely the first time he came out of Tongguan Zhang Huan, hearing the words of the head of the family, all the soldiers stopped their arrows, waiting for the general's order, at this time, Zhang Yi felt that the soldiers stopped their arrows, he felt a burst of ecstasy in his heart, and continued to shout: "Zhang Huan, I will give you all the military talismans and military orders, you let me live, otherwise I and Zhang Can will die together!" ”

Zhang Huan smiled coldly, he pulled the bow full again, the tip of the arrow was aimed at the ugly face again, he let go of his hand, the arrow slightly deviated to the right, and shot out extremely fast, Zhang Yi suddenly saw an arrow coming head-on, and it was in front of him in the blink of an eye, at this time his strength was above his right hand, he instinctively pushed hard, and his body deviated to the left, but this deviation, the arrow shot into his mouth impartially, piercing the back of his head, Zhang Yi's eyes protruded, looking forward incredibly, and slowly fell to the ground on his back.

The soldiers rushed out from both sides and quickly cleaned up the battlefield, several soldiers jumped forward, picked open the bag with knives, dragged Zhang Can out, and carried him into the pine forest, Zhang Can was also hit by two arrows, both of which were not critical.

He lay on the ground, panting and smiled bitterly at Zhang Huan: "I thought you were going to take the opportunity to kill me?" ”

Zhang Huan squatted down, held his hand and smiled slightly: "You are also the head of the family I pushed to the stage, how could I kill you." ”

"Then are you coming back to save the Zhang family?"

Zhang Huan shook his head and said lightly: "The Zhang family can't be saved, you go to Hexi with me, one day I will let you return to Hedong and rebuild our Zhang family." ”