In the middle of the night, Li Hong's cavalry army encountered a convoy of grain from Pingxiang to the west.

Hou Tannu, the fake army of the Black Panther Righteous Servant, ran to meet him in a panic. Tannu is a Xianbei person, tall and stout, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and looks very strong. He, like Arc Ding and Qi Shen, was a soldier of the Xianbei Wild Wolf Tribe, and surrendered to Li Hong after being captured in the ambush in the Burial Moon Forest.

Li Hong only saw him alone, and asked strangely, "What about Zilong?" What about the arc and the abandonment? Are they still in the big camp? ”

"Back to my lordship, the three adults have already rushed to Longcheng with four hundred warriors." Tannu looked around vigilantly and whispered.

"Oh?" Li Hong asked in surprise, "Didn't he take you to escort the grain and grass?" Why did you go to Longxian again? What does he want to do? ”

"After Lord Zhao returned to the camp, he immediately rejected Lord Chen, who was waiting for the camp, and took a dozen scouts to Longxian County to inquire about the situation first, and then he took us to escort the grain and grass westward. But in the afternoon he and the two marquis left. Before leaving, he said that he went to Longxian to rescue Zuo Sima and asked me to be responsible for delivering the grain to Xiaoniu Mountain. ”

Li Hong laughed.

"This Zilong, there are a lot of ghost ideas, yes, he has the courage."

Tan Nu whispered: "There are 2,000 cavalry of Ma Teng in Longxian County, I'm afraid things are more difficult to do." ”

Li Hong nodded worriedly and said, "Zilong, a few of them are too bold. However, with their martial arts, even if things can't be done, it's still okay to get out calmly. Then he glanced at Tan Nu and said with a smile, "You also learn to speak from our Han people, it's been so long, and you still speak a humble language." Is it hard to learn the words of the Han Chinese? ”

Tannu smiled embarrassedly and said, "It's hard to learn. ”

Li Hong patted him on the shoulder affectionately and said, "It's difficult to learn, do you still want to go back to Xianbei?" After a while, there will be no war, let's go back to Youzhou, and you can find a Han woman to be your wife. ”

Tan Nu happily hurriedly bowed and saluted, "Thank you for the reward." ”

Li Hong was stunned for a moment, and then realized that he had said the wrong thing. He stretched out his hand and slapped Tan Nu, and said with a smile: "The matter of not turning money into money should be promised so quickly." Alright, I'm going back to the camp. You rush back as soon as you deliver the grain and grass, and we will go to Yicheng. ”

"Yes." Tannu replied loudly with a smile.

＝＝＝

Early in the morning, Li Hong rushed to the Pingxiang camp with his cavalry troops. In the morning, Zhao Yun came back with the Black Panther Yicong.

When Li Hong heard the news, he hurriedly greeted him.

"Are there any dead or wounded brothers?" Li Hong looked at Zhao Yun, who was full of tiredness, and asked eagerly.

"There were no casualties." Zhao Yun reluctantly smiled, "We rescued Zuo Sima, robbed the treasury in Liangzhou, killed Ma Teng's two hundred iron horsemen, and brought back Cheng Qiu." ”

"How is Zuo Sima?"

"It's just a flesh wound, just recuperate for a while."

Li Hong nodded with satisfaction, lightly punched Zhao Yun, and praised: "Good job." Immediately to the arc Ding standing behind Zhao Yun, Chen Ming said, "Everyone did a good job." Don't treat your brothers badly, but reward them heavily. ”

"My lord, this matter ......" Chen Ming took a step forward and whispered, "It is estimated that it won't be long before it is going to make a big fuss." ”

"Tell me." Li Hong said with a smile.

"We asked Cheng Qiu on the way, and he searched our military camp, and he did have a warrant from Lord Taiwei." Chen Ming glanced at Li Hong with trepidation, and said cautiously, "So, we secretly killed in Longxian, rescued people and robbed the treasury, and even went to the Zixiu Mountain military camp to kill Ma Teng's two hundred iron horsemen, this thing seems to have gone a little too far." ”

Zhao Yun, Arc Ding, and Qi Shen all lowered their heads, not daring to face Li Hong.

Li Hong laughed.

"What is this, I was going to take 10,000 iron horsemen to kill in Longxian, what are you doing?"

Zhao Yun and the others looked at Li Hong in surprise.

"Don't believe me? If I hadn't seen Zilong's letter, I would have returned to the camp so soon? Li Hong said murderously, "Mess with me? Look for death. ”

Zhao Yun and the four of them were suddenly relieved, and they all smiled.

"I thought the four of you were bold enough, but that's how it is." Li Hong pointed to the four people and teased. Zhao Yun and Chen Ming laughed awkwardly.

"My lord, if this matter is investigated by the Captain or His Majesty......" Chen Ming still asked uneasily.

Li Hong glanced at them, smiled, thought for a while, and said, "I'll tell you about this." There are some things that you still have to do, so it's better to explain them to you clearly. ”

"Cheng Qiu's search of the barracks is a trivial matter, and Cheng Qiu himself is also a small person, so there must be a big thing behind this matter, and there is a big person." Li Hong said coldly, "Someone wants to take the opportunity to frame me, but I have no money, no family background, and no power, so why frame me?" It's nothing more than trying to drive me out of Xiliang. But why did anyone want to kick me out of Xiliang? Because I am almost done defeating the Xiliang rebels, Xiliang is about to settle down, and many people's financial routes will be cut off. ”

Zhao Yun and Chen Ming suddenly realized. Arc Ding and Qi Shen were a little confused, they didn't know much about the affairs of the Han Dynasty after all.

"Both Lord Taiwei and His Majesty want to end the war in Xiliang as soon as possible, because the treasury has no money to supply us for the war. The fact that the treasury has no money is said by Master Fu, and it will definitely not be wrong. Therefore, there is a good chance that the masterminds behind this incident are the traitors and villains in the DPRK and China, and only they will do this kind of thing for their own selfishness and ignore the rise and fall of the country. ”

"Deal with villains in the way of villains." Li Hong said, "I've been thinking about this on the way back, how can I fight back? Now there's a way. ”

"You rescued Zuo Sima, and you also did some robber things, if you want not to be held accountable, there is only one way......" Li Hong paused, looked at everyone's expectant gaze, and said with a smile, "Just prove that Cheng Qiu is a corrupt official." ”

Zhao Yun smiled and nodded.

Chen Ming said excitedly: "My lord's move is very clever. We tortured Cheng Qiu, confiscated his belongings, and found evidence of his corruption and perversion of the law, so that we can not only shirk responsibility, but also frame him at will, maybe we can also find the backer behind him, haha......"

"I heard from several generals in Xiliang that Cheng Qiu has been rampant and domineering in Xiliang for more than 20 years, and the money in his family is so much that it is moldy." Li Hong smiled, "You have to squeeze out his bones, you know?" This time, you caught Cheng Qiu, and the credit is very great, and I will definitely reward you heavily when I go back. ”

The four of them hurriedly thanked them.

Li Hong continued: "It is estimated that your raid on the Longcheng and Zixiushan military camps will not be hidden for long, so you must hurry up and deal with this matter." Zilong, I will leave all the Black Panther righteousness to you. In addition, you immediately sent someone to Muyuan and ordered Zheng Xin, Yan Liang, Yan Wuxing, Tie Yue, and Wen Chou to rush back immediately with their respective personal guards. ”

"This matter is the sole responsibility of Master Zheng and Zuo Sima."

"Also, Cheng Qiu's property is estimated to be very large, Chang'an, Sanfu, and Liangzhou may all have them, so we definitely don't have time to verify, so as long as you find a place, whether it is money, silk, silk, houses, land, or Wubao Restaurant, all of them will be confiscated and confiscated."

Zhao Yun said cautiously: "My lord, do we just need to find evidence?" In doing so, we completely violated the law of the Han Dynasty, and we are not the government and have no right to confiscate property. If you have to do this, do you have to ask for the consent of the Captain first? ”

Li Hong shook his hand and said with a smile: "You said that Cheng Qiu searched the camp and did have a warrant from Lord Taiwei, which means that the power behind Cheng Qiu is too big, and Lord Taiwei can't afford to provoke him." In such a tense situation in the Xiliang War, Lord Taiwei would rather offend me than give Cheng Qiu a warrant to search the camp, so you can imagine who is behind Cheng Qiu. So if we told him about it, not only would he not agree, but he might have arrested us. ”

"Now that things have come to this point, there is no way back. Instead of waiting to be killed and a dead end, it is better to take advantage of the fact that I still have a talisman in my hand, still holding a knot, and tens of thousands of troops, everyone will fight back and find a way to live. As long as we have real evidence in our hands, even if we violate the laws of the Han Dynasty, at most we can only resign, what are we afraid of? Li Hong glanced at a few people and said, "We are originally poor and lowly people, it's a big deal that I and Arc Ding and them go back to the border to herd horses, and you just go back to Jizhou to cultivate the land, what's the big deal." ”

After saying this, Zhao Yun, Chen Ming, Arc Ding, and Shen were suddenly angry, and the four of them bowed and saluted, turned around and retreated.

＝＝＝

Mulberry Yang held a roll of bamboo slips and hurriedly walked into Zhang Wen's study.

"My lord, Longcheng was attacked the night before yesterday, and the Zixiushan military camp was also attacked."

Zhang Wen raised his head from the desk, glanced at the slightly panting mulberry sheep strangely, and said, "That's it?" ”

Sang Yang nodded.

"There are frequent wars in Xiliang, chaos and chaos, bandits are rampant, and the cities and forts in various places have been attacked by stragglers, what's so strange about this?" Zhang Wen pointed a few fingers at the small case beside him, motioned for Sang Yang to sit down, and said slowly, "Lord Geng can't even protect his own county governance, what else can he do?" ”

Sang Yang said solemnly: "The bandit is very strong. They first killed eighteen soldiers defending the city and captured the west gate of Longcheng, and then ransacked the Liangzhou treasury, killing all twenty-eight treasury guards. The Liangzhou Prison was also robbed, and thirty-two guards died. In the Zixiu Mountain barracks, more than two hundred of Ma Teng's iron cavalry soldiers were killed. ”

Zhang Wen listened silently until he heard that two hundred cavalrymen had been killed, and he glanced at the mulberry sheep with a little surprise.

"These people kidnapped Li Zhonglang's marching Sima Zuoyan from the prison and kidnapped Cheng Qiu in the Zixiushan military camp, so Lord Geng said that Li Zhonglang sent someone to do it."

Zhang Wen looked a little stunned and didn't answer, and after a while, he laughed slowly.

"That day, Master Geng and Master Cheng took Master Hou's letter and pestered me to give them a warrant. I warned them at the time that this kind of person is unprovoked, murderous, and his brain has been broken, he is a bit of an idiot, and once he gets burned, things will be in trouble. Haha......"

Sang Yang couldn't help laughing when he saw Zhang Wen's distrauded appearance, and laughed silently: "Now, a few marquis have moved stones and smashed their own feet, see how they end." ”

The two of them laughed and laughed in the study.

"I wrote a letter back to Lord Geng and told him that it was a crime to frame Li Zhonglang indiscriminately without conclusive evidence. Once the Imperial Master knows about him and impeaches him, he will lose his official position and go to prison. Zhang Wen smiled, "These people are really stupid. Li Zhonglang won a series of battles on the battlefield of Xiliang, and he was very favored by the Son of Heaven. ”

"Oh?" Sang Yang asked strangely, "How do you know that the Son of Heaven favors Li Zhonglang?" ”

"What Master Gai said in his letter. In the edict given to him by His Majesty, Li Zhonglang has been frequently mentioned recently, and he attaches great importance to it between the lines. This leopard has a bright future ahead of him. ”

Sang Yang smiled faintly and said: "He was born from a low background and has no education, this is a thing that is obvious to all and everyone knows, although he has repeatedly performed miraculous feats and outstanding military achievements, but if you want to rely only on military merits and Your Majesty's grace to be able to rise to the top, it is very difficult." After all, this is not a troubled era, not the early days of this dynasty, an era when you can speak by military merits. ”

Zhang Wen smiled, shook his head, and did not speak.

"My lord, General Dong has been surrounded by the Weishui River north of Wangyuan City for several days, and his food and grass are getting scarcer and shorter, and his condition is critical. Did the adult personally write a letter to persuade Li Zhonglang to rush to the department to support. ”

The rebels of Bian Zhang and Han Sui were badly wounded and soon had to cross the Yellow River west and flee into the Qiang region. As long as June Thunder and his Qiang-Hu coalition army receive the news, they will immediately retreat, so Dong Zhuo is not in any danger, and his affairs will be solved by himself. Isn't he very capable? Let him figure it out for himself. Zhang Wen snorted lightly in his nose, and said disdainfully, "A person who has fought in the frontier for decades, fought the rebels for two years before winning a small victory in Luofengling, you see him blowing, I can't wait to let the whole of Luoyang know." Alas......" Zhang Wen sighed, "As long as this kind of person is still in Xiliang, the border county will not be peaceful." ”

Sang Yang nodded in agreement.

"Look at Li Zhonglang again, 50,000 enemies were annihilated in World War I, and 40,000 enemies were rescued in time to help General Zhou in World War I. If he had been recruited and transferred over last year, it is estimated that the war in Xiliang would have been settled long ago, so why should I still be struggling here to support him. ”

Zhang Wen sighed again, and said with a sad brow: "All the expenses of the army can probably support more than ten days, and now I have two urgent letters a day, and my hair is gray, but His Majesty has not replied so far, neither agreeing with us to appease the rebels, nor saying that he disagrees, alas......"

At this time, Tao Qian walked in with a few volumes of documents.

"My lord, General Zhou and Li Zhonglang hurriedly wrote a letter and demanded the immediate withdrawal of the army, and the grain and grass of the army could no longer be received."

Zhang Wen hurriedly said, "The grain and grass raised by Lord Geng haven't been sent over yet?" ”

Tao Qian shook his head and said very dissatisfiedly, "Not only did Cheng Qiu, the chief of the Assassin Mansion, not only did he not send grain and grass over, but also took your warrant to openly search the camp, detain Zuo Sima, and whip the soldiers of the battalion, can this battle be fought?" ”

Sang Yang hurriedly stood up and persuaded: "Brother Gongzu, adults have difficulties with adults. Didn't you win this battle? ”

"That's because Li Zhonglang is fast, so he can cooperate with General Zhou's battle. If it dragged on for two days, Li Zhonglang knew that the lord had ordered to search his camp, detain his Sima, and whip his attendants, how could this battle be fought? My lord, you are taking the fate of the Han Kingdom and the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers as a child's play, for your little selfish interests, you actually succumbed to the adulterous power of the eunuchs, and were willing to be wronged and loyal to the soldiers who served the country. The more Tao Qian spoke, the more excited he became, and he threw a few rolls of bamboo slips in his hand to the ground, and said loudly: "My lord is the captain of my Han Dynasty, the first of the three dukes, and he actually did such a despicable thing......" Tao Qian opened his eyes angrily, kept shaking his head, and was so angry that he couldn't speak anymore.

Zhang Wen's face was expressionless, and he lowered his head as if he was asleep.

"Phew!" Tao Qian immediately turned around and strode away.

Sang Yang didn't dare to call him, looked at his unruly back, shook his head and smiled bitterly. He leaned over and picked up the paperwork that Tao Qian had thrown on the ground.

Zhang Wen shook his head and said helplessly: "This Gongzu, who is a lot older, will turn his face when he says it, he has been friends for decades, and I am still his teacher, so I don't even give any affection." This way, how to be an official. ”

"By the way, look at Li Zhonglang's documents, what is written. What Gongzu said, how do we not know. This Cheng Qiu, if he doesn't send food, forget it, who else is arrested, who is beaten, I see if he is looking for death. ”

＝＝＝

Li Hong rushed to Yicheng with a cavalry army. Fu Xie and Huang Fuhong went out of the city to greet them.

Huangfu Hongzi Jianshou, is the eldest son of Huangfu Song, both civil and military, and has extraordinary knowledge. He was of medium stature, with a sturdy body, a red face, and a heroic appearance, very much like a warrior on the steppe, and it was impossible to see that he was a man who read poetry and books and was proficient in music.

When Xu Rong introduced Li Hong, he specifically said that Han Sui and Huang Fuhong were very good friends, and the two used to play chess together and discuss music, and they regarded each other as confidants. When Huang Fuhong heard Xu Rong say these things, he didn't care at all, but his face looked meaningful.

Li Hong hurriedly greeted him, and then said to Fu Xie: "We will rest outside the city for the night, and tomorrow the army will shoot the tiger and cut off the enemy's retreat." The troops are short of food and grass, so I don't know if Lord Taishou may help us solve a little? ”

Fu Xie smiled: "You came too quickly, we didn't prepare so much for a while. After you arrive at the Tiger Shooting Valley, I will send you grain and grass one after another. ”

Immediately, several people discussed ways to rescue Dong Zhuo.

Huang Fuhong's troops lost most of them in the process of breaking through and basically lost their combat effectiveness. Now the reinforcements are only 10,000 cavalry of Li Hong, and their strength cannot be compared with 30,000 Qianghu, so there is no good way to discuss and discuss, and finally it is decided to threaten Qianghu's back road and force Qianghu to retreat. But they didn't know how much food and grass Dong Zhuo's troops had left, and how many days they could hold out.

Li Hong immediately came up with an idea. He ordered people to rush to Xiaoniu Mountain, find a few rebel soldiers who knew the leader of Qianghu among the captives, and then bring them back and let them report to the Qianghu camp. If the enemy had made a quick decision, he should have retreated quickly.

At night, Li Hong and Fu Xie had a long talk.

"My lord, everything you said has come true." Li Hong said with a smile, "There are indeed people in the DPRK who want to drive me out of Xiliang. ”

Fu Xie's expression changed slightly, and he said in a low voice, "Tell me." ”

Li Hong immediately told Fu Xie what had happened in the past few days.

"Cheng Qiu?" Fu Xie muttered to himself, "This is Xiliang's number one tumor, he has been evil to Xiliang for decades, he has done all the bad things, he is arrogant, and no one can cure him." He glanced at Li Hong suspiciously, "Are you okay?" ”

Li Hong asked in surprise: "Isn't he just a few eunuchs standing behind his back?" Why not? I sent someone to torture him, and I wanted Cheng Qiu to spit out my bones. ”

Fu Xie's face changed greatly, and he whispered: "You haven't been in Xiliang, you don't know how cunning he is, you don't know how hard his backstage is, and you don't know who he is implicating, so it's normal for you to despise him." Everyone knows that Cheng Qiu is corrupt and perverts the law, but do you know why he has always been at ease? ”

Li Hong shook his head with a smile and listened with interest.

"It's because he was arrested, the involvement is too big, and there are too many officials involved, and no one can investigate it." Fu Xie smiled bitterly, "As long as he disappears in Xiliang for a few days, Luoyang will know, and then someone will come to protect him, and even the holy decree will be there, so if you haven't pried his mouth open, he'll be fine." ”

"That's amazing." Li Hong was shocked and said, "I will immediately send someone back to the camp and transfer him to the mountains." ”

Fu Xie shook his hand and asked solemnly, "Why are you moving him?" ”

"Because he and the forces behind him will put me to death. Since there is no way to live, let's fight hard to see who can save their lives. You know, I have thirty or forty thousand men under my command, and they are all related to me, and they won't be much better if I die, so I have to kill them. You can't blame me for this, but if you want to blame them, they are too greedy for money, and in the end, they don't even care about the safety or death of the country. Who does this kind of person not kill? ”

"Do you have a solution?" Fu Xie asked sternly, "I don't think about things at all. What if Cheng Qiu doesn't recruit? What if everything he confesses is fake? What if other officials are involved? What should I do if the gate lord clan is involved? What should I do if the royal relatives are involved? What if the eunuchs jointly impeach you for abusing your power? What if the local government writes to you to sue you for supporting the army and respecting yourself, violating the law and discipline? What if the matter is getting bigger, and the emperor wants you to transfer the case to the Tingwei Mansion for trial? ”

"The most important thing is that because of you, Lord Taiwei, Lord Taiwei's protégé and former official, all friends who have friends with Lord Taiwei will be implicated, including me, Liu Shangshu in the capital. I knew you had caused such a big disaster, so I wouldn't have told you these things that night. Fu Xie said very remorsefully.

Li Hong was a little dizzy when he heard this, and hurriedly shook his hand at Fu Xie, "Okay, good, good, I was wrong, I was wrong, what do you say?" Now what? ”

"You're looking for death." Fu Xie scolded hatefully, "Xiliang's rebellion has not yet ended, and you have poked such a big hornet's nest, Xiliang will soon collapse." If Lord Taiwei knew, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to cry. ”

The ignorant are fearless. Li Hong didn't know the powerful relationship here, and he didn't care in his heart, but thought that Fu Xie was too timid.

＝＝＝

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