The city gate opened a slight crack and let in the Tang army Sima Yang Shilin, Yang Shilin, who was about fifty years old, of medium stature, with a neatly trimmed long beard under his chin, and although he was not good at words, he was the only official among Li Jiancheng's many subordinates who was familiar with Wei Wentong.

At this time, Wei Wentong walked down the city wall from Yongdao, and Yang Shilin hurriedly stepped forward and smiled: "General Wei, I haven't seen you for a long time." ”

Yang Shilin used the local accent of Hengshan County, which sounded very kind, and Wei Wentong also smiled back: "It's been about a year!" I still remember that last year, Yang Envoy Jun went to Beijing to report on his work, and after passing through the Tiger Prison, we drank a few glasses of wine, why don't we have another drink today? ”

Yang Shilin is not a greedy person, but it is easy to talk about it at the wine table, so he happily said: "Then trouble General Wei." ”

Wei Wentong immediately ordered the soldiers to put wine in the city tower, and served a few side dishes, the two sat down, he filled Yang Shilin with a glass of wine and said with a smile: "Why don't you make a prince?" ”

"Lishi County has a small population, many mountains, poor arable land, and the Turkic army often comes to harass it, this official should be really worried, although it is a little hard to follow the Zuo Dudu, but at least I feel that there is a future, and I don't want to have a future as an official? The general said no. ”

"Makes sense!"

The two of them raised their glasses and drank them all, and Yang Shilin asked with concern, "How did General Wei end up here?" ”

"Don't you know about the Battle of Xingyang?"

"I really haven't heard of it, maybe the news hasn't reached Chang'an yet."

"This also happened a few days ago, and it's normal for you to not know."

Wei Wentong briefly told Yang Shilin about the battle that happened in Xingyang County, but he hid Du Ruhui's matter, and finally sighed: "The Wagang army cut off my retreat, I only have 2,000 people in my hands, and I only crossed the Yellow River to the north to temporarily avoid the edge of the Wagang army, but I didn't expect to meet you." ”

Only then did Yang Shilin know that Wei Jin was betrayed by Wang Shichong and died. He sighed, "Wei Jin, the dead king Shichong, is in power, and Duke Li said that this person is ambitious, and sooner or later he will establish himself as the emperor, does the general still want to be loyal to him?" ”

"Of course I won't be loyal to Wang Shichong, but I'm Sui Jun. Of course, it is to play for the Great Sui. ”

"Actually—"

Yang Shilin cautiously probed: "Why doesn't the general consider Chang'an? The king of Chang'an has ascended the throne, still the Great Sui world, Tang Wang Lixian corporal, Zuo Du Governor is humble and warm, he heard that General Wei has fallen here, his heart is full of sympathy, he has long admired the general's prestige, and is willing to recommend it to the Son of Heaven for the general, with the talent of the general. It will never be lower than the position of the general, this is the promise of the Zuo Dudu, can the general consider it. ”

Wei Wentong didn't expect Li Jiancheng to promise himself the position of general, which really surprised him, which shows that this Li Jiancheng is quite courageous, but Wei Wentong has been named the right Weiwei general when he was in the Tiger Prison Pass, and he is still one step away from the general, and it is not surprising that Chang'an named him a general.

Although Wei Wentong didn't care in his heart. But he pretended to be silent, and Yang Shilin thought that Wei Wentong was tempted. He continued: "Qu Tutong is a famous general in the world, and he did not hesitate to surrender to the Tang King, and is now the secretary of the military department and the Duke of Jiang Guo, if the general is willing to surrender to Chang'an, the governor of Zuo also promised to make the general the Duke of Hanoi, and the Duke of the Kingdom will be sealed in the future." There is nothing more ambitious in life than this, and the general must seize the opportunity! ”

Wei Wentong pondered for a moment and said: "First of all, I thank Gongzi Jiancheng for his kindness, with his sincerity, I can guarantee that I will not intercept any ship on the Yongji Canal, although he will go to do big things." As for surrender, I need to think about it, and I will send someone back to ask my father, whether he surrenders or not, and I will give him an official answer in twenty days. ”

Yang Shilin knew that Wei Wentong was a trustworthy person, since he promised that he would not regret it, but Yang Shilin did not hear the loopholes, Wei Wentong only promised not to intercept the Yongji Canal, but did not promise not to intercept the Yellow River, he drank the wine in the cup, got up and said with a smile: "Since this is the case, I will go back to the Zuodu Governor to give a mission." ”

Yang Shilin said goodbye and left, at this time, Du Ruhui walked out of the back room and said with a smile: "General, Hanoi County Prince, what a big stroke, isn't General Wei tempted?" ”

Wei Wentong said lightly: "It's a lie to say that I don't want to be moved, but since I have decided to serve the King of Qi, how can I regret it halfway!" ”

Yang Shilin saw Li Jiancheng, so he told Wei Wentong the meeting as it was, Li Jiancheng frowned, he actually had to think about it for twenty days, the reason was to ask his father, Li Jiancheng faintly felt that Wei Wentong was delaying time, but Wei Wentong really refused to surrender He was not reluctant, the key is whether Wei Wentong can keep his promise and not intercept his grain ship.

Yang Shilin said with a smile: "Wei Wentong attaches the most importance to credibility, since he has promised His Highness, I don't think he will break his promise." ”

Li Jiancheng wouldn't risk a promise, he thought about it and then ordered left and right: "Let General You come to see me!" ”

After a while, You Junda urged him to step forward and said: "See the governor for your humble position!" ”

"My army will not waste time here, I will immediately lead the army back to Xinxiang County, General You can lead three thousand soldiers to continue to garrison here, ready to receive our grain ship, it will arrive two days after tomorrow at the latest, when you and the grain ship return together, remember, don't let Wei Wentong get in the way of our grain fleet."

"Obey the order!"

Li Jiancheng arranged the aftermath, and then led the army to leave Wuzhi County and go to Xinxiang County, he had his own big plan, and it was impossible for him to miss a major event for the sake of a Wei Wentong.

Wei Wentong stood on the city wall and watched Li Jiancheng's army go away, he suddenly smiled and asked Du Ruhui: "Does Mr. think Zhang Xuan will know what happened in Hanoi County?" ”

Du Ruhui smiled slightly, "Didn't the general send someone to ask my father?" simply went directly to Wei County to send a message, telling them in detail what happened in Hanoi County, and believed that Zhang Xuan would have a countermeasure. ”

Wei Wentong laughed, he casually mentioned an excuse to ask his father, but he didn't expect that he could use it to send a letter to Wei County.

He immediately wrote a letter to his father, and found a personal soldier to tell him in detail, so that he left the county seat and went to Wei County to deliver a message, Wei Wentong was a native of Hengshan County, and he had to pass through Wei County to send a letter back to his hometown

The confrontation on the Huaihe River has entered the seventh day, since the defeat of Yu Wenhua and the breakthrough, there is no courage to try to break through the second time, but it is obviously impossible to take the land route, unless it is transferred to the west, take Xiangyang to the north, but it is obviously impossible, first of all, it is hindered by lofty mountains and mountains, and secondly, there is Du Fuwei eyeing him, and more importantly, there is no food to support them to go to Xiangyang.

Either they would withdraw to Jiangdu, but obviously Chen Ling would not allow them to enter the city, so Yu Wenhua had no second way except to go north from the Huai River.

As the food began to be scarce and the army began to be dissatisfied, Yuwen Zhiji was also anxious, and he found his brother who was indulged in debauchery several times, and finally persuaded him to agree to send someone to ask Jang Hyun for peace.

On the Tongji Canal, a small boat gradually approached the entrance to the Huaikou, and the person on the boat was Yu Wenhua and the negotiator Cui Zhao sent, although he did not want to negotiate with the Qingzhou army, but Yu Wenhua decided that he could be close to Zhang Xuan as the head of the Boling Cui family, so he forcibly ordered him to negotiate.

Cui Zhao had no choice but to take a boat to the Qingzhou military camp on the other side.

At this time, several Sui army patrol ships came quickly and blocked the way of Cui Zhao's boat, and the soldiers on the boat aimed their bows and arrows at him, and a captain shouted and asked, "Who is it?" ”

Cui Zhao was so frightened that he hurriedly arched his hand and said: "Under Cui Zhao, I will go to see the King of Qi by the will of the Queen Mother." ”

He also knew in his heart that if he said that he was sent by Yu Wenhua, he was afraid that the soldiers on the opposite side would immediately shoot him with arrows, and he had to pretend that the Queen Mother would announce the decree, and besides, he really had a copy of the Queen Mother's decree in his arms.

When the captain heard that it was sent by the Empress Dowager, he waved his hand and asked the soldiers to put down their bows and crossbows, and he immediately led Cui Zhao's ship to the north shore

In the big tent, Cui Zhao was drinking tea while thinking about how to negotiate with Zhang Xuan, to be honest, he was really afraid of seeing Zhang Xuan.

At this time, as soon as the curtain was lifted, Fang Xuanling walked in and said with a smile: "My boss is unwell, so let me talk to Cui Gong, please don't blame Cui Gong!" ”

Cui Zhao suddenly breathed a long sigh of relief, he was afraid that he would see Zhang Xuan, Zhang Xuan would not come, which made him secretly happy in his heart, and he hurriedly got up and saluted back, "Where!" Where! The same goes for Fang Junshi. ”

Fang Xuanling invited him to sit down, asked the soldiers to change the new tea, and smiled: "Cui Gong is here on behalf of Yu Wenhua!" ”

Fang Xuanling was unceremonious, calling Yu Wenhua and his name, which was originally an extremely rude title, generally called the public, or the king, or the official position, this is okay, and generally only the enemy will call him by his name, even Fang Xuanling such a cultured literati also directly called Yu Wenhua, which means that Yu Wenhua is already the public enemy of the world.

How could Cui Zhao not hear it, his face flushed, and he hurriedly took out the will of the Queen Mother, "This is the will of the Queen Mother, I am here to announce the decree!" (To be continued.) )