That night, Zhao Gu led an army of 30,000 to stay outside Shuozhou City, and the generals of Shuozhou City Defense did not sleep all night, and they also transferred the army, and did not dare to act rashly. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The next day, under the nervous gaze of the Shuozhou City Defense General, Zhao Gu walked under the city gate alone and shouted at the top: "I come to Zhao Gu, the Duke of Zhuoguo, which general is guarding the city above?" ”

"Is it Grandpa Guo?" A voice of surprise came.

Zhao Gu thought about it, and felt that this voice seemed to be a little familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere, and after a while, the gate of Shuozhou City opened from the inside, and a general wearing armor walked out.

"Zhang Mao! How are you? Zhao Gu said happily in an instant.

It turned out that this person was none other than Zhang Mao, the commander of the Thousand Commanders who fought side by side with Zhao Gu in the offensive and defensive battle of Shuozhou City.

Zhao Gu still remembers that Zhang Mao was brave and strategic, and he fought until the end in that battle, and was seriously injured in many places, but he didn't expect to see him in Shuozhou City today.

When Zhang Mao saw Zhao Gu, he first hugged his fists and saluted, and then replied: "It's such a grandfather, after the Northern Expedition, I recuperated at home for half a year, and the injuries on my body slowly healed. ”

Zhao Gu nodded: "That's very good, we haven't seen each other for three years, and when my business is done, if we have the opportunity, we can get together." “

Zhang Mao looked at the 30,000 cavalry not far behind Zhao Gu, and asked with a puzzled face, "What is Grandpa Guo going to do?" ”

"I'm going to rebel!" Zhao Gu said calmly.

"What!"

"Surprised?" Zhao Gu smiled slightly: "If you have the opportunity to enter the Great Song Dynasty, you will know that if I don't rebel, it will be abnormal." ”

"Brother Zhang, do you want to hear what happened to me?" Zhao Gu sighed slightly and asked.

"Grandpa Guo, please speak." Zhang Mao didn't expect Zhao Gu to call him eldest brother, and couldn't help but echo the scene when the two had fought side by side, he couldn't help but take a deep breath, and seemed to have mustered up the courage of his whole body.

In fact, no person in power likes his subordinates to know too much, Zhang Mao is also a smart person, he knows that once he knows about the matter between Zhao Guangyi and Zhao Gu, if Zhao Guangyi knows, his career will be over, but in the end, he is a loyal person, and in the end he still cares more about the comradeship between him and Zhao Gu.

This is also the reason why Zhao Gu calls him big brother, Zhao Gu has seen Zhang Mao's loyalty a long time ago, although the two have not had much contact over the years, but Zhao Gu believes that Zhang Mao is definitely a trustworthy friend.

He came to Shuozhou City single-handedly this time, in fact, he made up his mind to persuade the guards to submit to him, but he didn't expect that the Shuozhou City guards were Zhang Mao, which was a lot of trouble.

Zhao Gu wants to occupy Shuozhou City, there are two considerations, one is because the 30,000 army of the Liao State needs supplies, and these need to be provided by the Liao State, and the sixteen states of Yanyun must be in the hands of Zhao Gu, otherwise once he and Zhao Guangyi start a war, they will inevitably be cut off by Zhao Guangyi, and it will be dangerous at that time.

The second is because Shuozhou City can be said to be the place where he became famous, and the people here love him more than the imperial court, and only by establishing a foundation here can Zhao Gu really compete with Zhao Guangyi.

If Zhao Gu and Zhao Guangyi go to war, it will naturally be easy for him to completely annihilate Zhao Guangyi's army, but Zhao Guangyi's soldiers and horses are also Song people, all of whom are Han people, and Zhao Gu is unwilling to let them die innocently, so in his opinion, if he wants to completely defeat Zhao Guangyi, it is by no means possible to complete it in a short time, in this case, it is necessary to have his own forces.

He is no better than Zhao Guangyi, cold-blooded and ruthless, and regards the lives of ordinary soldiers as weeds, although he wants to fight with Zhao Guangyi, but it is only a matter between the two, he doesn't want to involve too many people.

Although they have reached their status, there is no real private matter to speak of, but Zhao Gu still wants to minimize casualties, if he can capture Zhao Guangyi without blood, it will naturally be the best.

So, Zhao Gu slowly told Zhang Mao all his experiences since the Northern Expedition.

"After you and I separated that day, I was ordered by Zhao Guangyi to go to Liao to pacify the rebellion against the royal family, and successfully forced Liao to sign the letter of state, Zhao Guangyi began to be afraid of me, and repeatedly forced each other, and in desperation, I had to live in seclusion in Jiangling Mansion."

"Who would have thought that Yi Dechao fought in Western Xia, and under the carelessness of the moment, he lost more than 100,000 soldiers and horses, and Zhao Guangyi sent Zhao Ling'er to harm me on the grounds that the plan for the western expedition was formulated by me, and he even wanted to convict me directly without passing any trial."

"Later, I led the Western Expedition, and on the way back to China, Zhao Guangyi sent several waves of men and horses to chase and intercept me on the road, trying to assassinate me."

"After the rebellion was quelled on the Sichuan Gorge Road, Zhao Guangyi was afraid that I would be the master, so he took my wife and son hostage and threatened me to do things for him."

"Brother Zhang, tell me, I've been forced to do this, is there any other way to go besides rebellion?"

Zhang Mao was silent, he was just a middle-level general, he had never seen high-level mutual tilting, and he had no way of knowing all kinds of secrets, but he knew that Zhao Gu would not lie to him, so he naturally would not doubt whether Zhao Gu's words were true.

"It turns out that there are still these secrets in this, and the emperor ...... him."

Zhao Gu smiled: "Brother Zhang, you also think that Zhao Guangyi is a little excessive, right?" Look at the years after he became the emperor, in the early stage of the southern and northern wars, where to fight and where to lose, first lost Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures, and then lost to the country, and then he appointed Wang Jien, Yi Dechao, Zhao Linger and other traitorous ministers, resulting in no fairness in the court, not to mention the harm of hundreds of people, but also delayed the development of the Great Song Dynasty, shouldn't he step down? ”

Zhang Mao continued to be silent, and after thinking for a long time, he asked, "If I don't agree to give Shuozhou City to you today, how will you stay?" ”

Zhao Gu took a deep look at him: "Anyway, I won't attack, the soldiers of the Great Song Dynasty are all the people of the Great Song Dynasty, and I don't want to die in this kind of infighting." I will probably publicize Zhao Guangyi's various crimes, and call on the people of the sixteen states of Yanyun to rise up against him, as for these soldiers under your command, it is naturally best for them to be willing to rise up, if you don't want to, you can only stay here in Shuozhou City, I don't want you to stab me in the back when I confront Zhao Guangyi. ”

Zhao Gu's words are very clear, Zhang Mao will either help him and fight against Zhao Gu, or Zhao Gu will send troops to trap them in the city and not allow them to leave the city for a single step.

Zhang Mao nodded knowingly, and fell into deep thought again.