readx; On the last day of October, a light snow fell on the north of the river, many small rivers have begun to freeze, winter has come, winter is the season of dormancy, the leaves are withered, the grass is yellow, the life is silent, the earth is depressed. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Winter is also the season for the army to recuperate, the armor is put into storage, the soldiers return to the camp, and the ordinary people are busy preparing for the New Year, no one would have thought that war would break out in winter.

In the Nanda camp in the south of Youzhou City, the atmosphere seems to be a little tense, all the soldiers are not allowed to go out in the camp tent, a group of heavily armed soldiers patrol back and forth near the tent, close to the tent is three steps and one post, two steps and one sentry, and the guard is extremely strict.

In the handsome tent, An Lushan, who rarely wears military uniforms, is wearing a golden helmet and golden armor, his fat body almost bursts the golden armor, and he wears a sharpened golden helmet on his pumpkin-like head, which is like a big toad coated with gold dust, although An Lushan's makeup is funny, but none of the surrounding strategists and generals dare to laugh out loud, because what An Lushan is talking about at this time is related to the net worth and surname of each of them, and An Lushan has decided to raise troops.

It should be a rebellion rather than a rebellion, because An Lushan also set up a Tang Emperor, although the Tang Emperor was locked up in a broken temple, and he was happy to dig out crickets and catch grasshoppers, but he was the Tang Emperor after all, and it was an excuse for An Lushan to send troops to seize the throne.

"I'll say it again, I can't really wait until the Yellow River freezes before I do it, no matter what, I have to take Xiangzhou before the Yellow River freezes, do you understand?"

An Lushan's eyes were cold, like a knife to look at the people in the big tent one by one, everyone was worried, everyone understood that An Lushan originally wanted to attack Xiangzhou after the Yellow River froze, and then directly crossed the river from the ice and swept Henan Province, because Henan Province did not have any army, only Xu Shuyi, Ji Guangchen and other guerrillas were scattered, and Xu Shuyi also secretly took refuge here, let alone take Henan, but people are not as good as the sky, but Li Qingan made a move in advance, swept Henan Province, occupied Henan Province in one fell swoop, and continued to increase troopsNow Li Guangbi has more than 200,000 troops under his command, so if they wait for the ice to send troops, I am afraid that it will not be them who occupy Henan Province, but Li Guangbi who crosses the river to attack Hebei, and they may not even be able to defeat Xiangzhou.

An Lushan's gaze finally fell on Gao Shang, and said to him, "Mr. Gao, what do you think? ”

Gao Shang lightly stroked his chin whiskers, his thoughts were different from others, because he knew the truth, An Lushan sent troops in advance not because he was afraid of Li Guangbi, they had 500,000 troops in their hands, with An Lushan's arrogance, they had not put Li Guangbi's 200,000 troops in their eyes, attacked Xiangzhou, and then besieged the city to send reinforcements, isn't it just right? The reason why An Lushan wanted to send troops in advance was that he was forced by the Khitan and Xi people to lend him the army for so long, there was no money, the women were gone, these two tribes couldn't wait any longer, and they both proposed to withdraw their troops, An Lushan was forced to be helpless, so he could only promise to send troops immediately, Gao Shang knew the reason, but he couldn't say it, and he had to find the best reason for An Lushan.

"Weichen supports His Royal Highness King Yan's decision, I just got the news that Chang'an is likely to resettle Hebei for the second time."

He said this lightly, but in the ears of the generals it was like a bell, and suddenly there was a lot of discussion in the big tent, these generals have followed An Lushan for many years, almost every family is a powerful landlord, who does not have tens of millions of acres of fertile land? Who doesn't have a thousand tenants? However, the last time Hebei immigrants left, more than 400,000 tenant farmers left, and almost every household was impacted, the most serious was Shi Siming's Mansion, half of his 3,000 tenants and 2,000 slave households fled, so that no one was available during the grain harvest, so they had to spend a high price to hire people, and almost every household had such an embarrassment.

"He, Li Qing'an, is a bird, and he dares to take care of Hebei's affairs!"

Cai Xide couldn't hold his breath at first, and shouted loudly, and Li Huaixian, who was gloomy next to him, stabbed him with his arm, Cai Xide immediately shut up, at this time, Shi Siming stood up, he glanced at everyone, and said sharply: "The big marshal has made a decision, what objections do you have?" ”

There was silence in the big tent, no one dared to say a word, Shi Siming bowed to An Lushan and said: "Commander, please just give an order, I will go to the soup and fire!" ”

An Lushan glanced at him, nodded and said, "Okay!" ”

He waved his hand and ordered, "Carry it in!" ”

The curtain was opened, only to see nearly a hundred soldiers carried into a behemoth, it was a big platform four zhang long and three zhang wide, almost occupying half of the tent, everyone flashed away, their eyes flashed with surprise, this turned out to be a sand table, the sand table was the first to be used by Li Qing'an, and it was soon imitated by other armies, An Lushan also made a few large sand tables, today he brought in, is the sand table of Hebei Province, plains, cities, mountains, rivers, bridges, official roads, almost everything, and he also has a thick copy, the population of each city, Officials, money and grain income, good fields and Sang Mo, etc., also have detailed records, but these are not important, the important thing is the small flag and icon of the sand table, careful people will find that each small flag is the name of a general, and then the icon will guide the small flag to do something, when it will be done, there are detailed expressions.

Everyone immediately understood that this was the task of each of them, and there was no need for An Lushan to remind them, everyone gathered around them, looking at their tasks, their faces were happy or sad, not to mention, Shi Siming's face was solemn, his task turned out to be to attack Xiangzhou, and it must be captured within ten days, an invisible pressure made his heart become heavy.

But Cai Xide was depressed, not that his task was too heavy, but that his task was too light, his task was to sneak attack Jingcheng, and he didn't like this kind of petty fight.

"Old Shi, let me take your task!" Cai Xide whispered to Shi Siming.

Shi Siming was stunned for a moment, and then he felt a burst of ecstasy in his heart, Cai Xide didn't even see An Lushan's intentions, those who fight Xiangzhou must cross the river to deal with Li Guangbi in Henan in the end, and those who take Jingcheng must finally enter Hedong, Hedong is Guo Ziyi's army, which is much easier to deal with than Li Guangbi's Longyou army.

After a moment of thought, he said: "It's okay for me, I'm afraid that the big marshal has already decided, and it's not good to change it." ”

"Might as well be! As long as you want, I'll go and tell the big handsome. ”

At this time, An Lushan said: "I have arranged everyone's tasks, when to set off, which route to take, you are optimistic about yourself, all the way to attack the city and plunder the village, I will not restrain your military discipline, the rewards should be given to the brothers, everyone should not be stingy, I have only one request, you must complete your task within the time I specified, no matter how you do it, complete my reward, if you can't complete it, then don't blame me for being ruthless!" ”

An Lushan glanced at everyone, raised his voice and said, "Did you hear my words?" ”

"The last general obeys!"

"The generals will go back to mobilize and deploy, and three days later, the flag will be sacrificed!"

"Obey!"

The roar in the big tent soared into the sky, and the wind and clouds over Hebei suddenly changed, and the clouds of war began to shroud over Hebei Province.

．．．．．．．．

The atmosphere in Youzhou City suddenly became tense, and the inspections at the gates of the city became extremely strict, which used to be almost ignored, but now everyone is searched, and the carriages and luggage are also strictly checked, and not a single corner is spared, even if the carriages carrying forage enter and exit, they must be stabbed with spears.

Not only the city gate is strictly checked, a team of soldiers began to patrol the city, any suspicious person will be stopped and interrogated immediately, all people with a foreign accent need to be guaranteed by the locals, and those who cannot provide a guarantor will be arrested immediately, the same is true for inns, restaurants, and green buildings, soldiers search from house to house, and the foreign population is interrogated and checked one by one, and from time to time someone is dragged away by the soldiers, crying and screaming, and Youzhou City is in a mess.

At dusk, the light snow gradually stopped, and the entire land of Youzhou was covered with a layer of light white, exceptionally elegant and white, the weather was still cold, most people stayed at home and did not want to come out, and at this time the dense drums sounded, this was the drum of the beginning of the curfew, and a group of cavalry ran in the neighborhood and shouted: "The curfew begins!" Don't go out! ”

At this moment, a carriage galloped by, rushing towards the west gate, and before the gate was reached, a soldier shouted: "Stop! ”

The carriage slowed down, and immediately rushed up a dozen soldiers to surround the carriage, at this time the city gate was about to close, and no one was entering or leaving the city gate, and suddenly a carriage came, which attracted the attention of the soldiers guarding the city.

"Who wants to leave the city?" A Lang general asked on horseback.

The car window opened, and I saw a civil official in official uniform sitting inside, he arched his hand and smiled: "I am Ma Jun, the envoy of the Yan Army Tuntian, and I was ordered to go to Yizhou to inspect the military field and collect the land rent. ”

The Tuntian envoy is only a middle- and lower-level official, and his status is not high, but Lang General saw that he was a civil official of the Yan Army, his face was obviously softened a lot, he took the document and looked at it, although he was illiterate, but he knew the seal of the Yan Army Yamen in the big red below, he returned the document to Ma Jun, and looked at the carriage, there was no one else, so he waved the order and said: "Release people!" ”

The city gate slowly opened, and the carriage drove out of the city gate and galloped away in the direction of Yizhou.......

Ma Jun is Yan Zhuang's old subordinate, is Yan Zhuang's henchman, once served as Fan Yang salt and iron envoy, holding the economic lifeline of Fan Yang Army, after Yan Zhuang disappeared, he gradually fell out of favor, especially noble grasp of power, Yan Zhuang's former officials were all degraded, Ma Jun was demoted to Tuntian envoy, a year later was demoted to Tuntian envoy, in charge of Yizhou's Tuntian, this is already a similar official position, last time, Yan Zhuang sneaked into Youzhou to attract some old subordinates, Ma Jun is one of them, he has been completely disappointed in An Lushan, He wanted to leave Youzhou with Yan Zhuang immediately, but Yan Zhuang persuaded him to stay in the Yan army and have more opportunities to make meritorious contributions.

Now, the opportunity to make meritorious service has come, he has received accurate news, An Lushan will officially rebel in three days, Ma Jun is anxious, no matter what, he has to notify the surrounding states and counties, as well as Chang'an, but An Lushan has blocked the pigeon letter in Youzhou, and he can only go to Yizhou for help.

Yizhou is located in the west of Youzhou, and two days later in the evening, the dusty carriage arrived in Yixian, drove into the county seat, and stopped at the side gate of the state office.

Ma Jun didn't wait for the carriage to stop, turned over and jumped out of the carriage, and ran straight to the side door of the state government, the front and back of the state government, and the back was the private residence of the Taishou, and there were two gatekeepers standing at the door. “

"Don't you know me?"

Ma Jun often comes to Yizhou and is very familiar with the Yizhou government, the two family members were stunned for a moment, and suddenly recognized him, "Is it Ma Tuntian's envoy?" ”

"It's me, you're too guarded?"

"In! I'm going to report it now, please wait. ”

The family went in a hurry, Ma Jun looked at the night, his heart was full of anxiety, An Lushan was about to rebel the day after tomorrow, but Hebei County didn't know anything, the catastrophe was coming, and the lives were ruined.

At this time, the family came out and said, "My family is too guarded to invite Ma Zhijun in, please come with me." ”

"Thank you!" Ma Jun followed him into the mansion gate.

Yizhou Taishou surname Wu, called Wu Chongyi, from the Yi County Order step by step to Yizhou Taishou, has been an official here for seven years, he is about 50 years old this year, looks black and thin, he was born poor, Kaiyuan ten years in the Jinshi, served as the master of Mi County, it is because he was born poor, he has a soft spot for money, for nearly 30 years as an official, he has collected tens of thousands of family property, in Chang'an and Luoyang each have a mansion worth thousands of yuan.

He was reading a book tonight, and suddenly heard that Ma Jun was visiting, and he couldn't help but be a little surprised, what are you doing so late?

"My lord, the envoy is here."

"Let him in!"

Ma Jun walked into the room quickly, and said almost without thinking: "Does Taishou still have the heart to read?" An Lushan's army is about to be killed. ”

Wu Chongyi was taken aback, and hurriedly asked, "What does this mean?" ”

Ma Jun told him the news that An Lushan was about to raise troops, and said: "Wu Taishou must immediately notify the imperial court, and also, to organize the people immediately, without further ado, Taishou please do it immediately!" ”

An imperceptible sneer flashed in Wu Chongyi's eyes, and he patted his chest and said, "Please rest assured, I will immediately inform the imperial court, and the carriage will organize the people to retreat, so that the king will be in the dust all the way, please go to the post house to rest for a while." ”

Ma Jun's heart was put down, he had been running for two days and two nights, and he was really tired, so he nodded and said, "Okay! I'll go to the post house, please pay attention to it. ”

"I understand, come on, please ask Ma Yuanjun to go to the post house to rest."

The two family members took Ma Jun down, Wu Chongyi sat down, his eyes flickered in the light, then he took out a letter from a secret box in the drawer, this turned out to be a handwritten letter written by An Lushan to him, he read the letter over and over again, he thought about his Wanguan family property, thinking about his beautiful wife and concubine, in the flickering light, his face gradually became hideous.

"Order Jiang Sima to come to see me quickly!"

．．．．．．．．

Not far from the state office, the post house is a courtyard composed of forty rooms, which is actually a government-run guest house, there are almost no people in the post house, Ma Jun lives in a separate courtyard, he is exhausted, soaked his feet in hot water and is ready to sleep.

He had just gone to bed, and when he was still half-asleep, a rush of footsteps suddenly woke him up, and he felt that the footsteps had rushed to the small courtyard, and he turned over and sat up, and shouted in a low voice: "Who is it?" ”

'Bang! There was a loud bang, and the door of his room was kicked open, and two black shadows flashed in, both holding snowy long knives in their hands, and without saying a word, they slammed into Ma Jun, who was sitting on the edge of the bed in a daze, and was so frightened that he grabbed the bed board to block, and he recognized that these were two officials, so he shouted: "I am Ma Jun, the envoy of Tuntian, why did you kill me?" ”

"Stop!"

Someone in the courtyard shouted to stop the two officials, only to see more than a dozen black shadows into the house, the lights were on, all the people who came in were with knives, the head of the person Ma Jun knew, it was Yizhou Sima Jiang Xiaotong, this is a burly middle-aged man, dignified, Jiang Tong was originally a general in the Fan Yang Army, under Pei Kuan's account to listen to orders, and later followed Pei Kuan to Hedong, when Pei Kuan entered Beijing as the Ministry of Rites, he recommended him to become a magistrate, he has been an official in Hebei, because the surname is straightforward, it is difficult to be promoted, and the current Yizhou Sima.

He had just received an order from Taishou Wu Chongyi, ordering him to go to the post house to kill the envoy sent by An Lushan to persuade him to surrender, but just now when he heard that the person inside was actually Ma Jun, he suddenly felt that something was wrong, and immediately stopped his subordinates.

Jiang Xiaotong glanced at the frightened Ma Jun, frowned and said, "How can it be Ma Envoy?" ”

Jiang Xiaotong has a rude appearance, but his heart is very fine, he knows that Ma Jun is a righteous gentleman, and when he chats with him, he is also worried that An Lushan's ambition is revealed and he is about to rebel, and he cannot be a lobbyist for An Lushan.

"Ma Envoy-kun, what are you doing here?"

"An Lushan is going to rebel, I'm here to inform you Taishou to report to the court and retreat the people, why do you want to kill me, could it be that Jiang Sima has already surrendered An Lushan?"

"What evidence do you have?"

"What evidence is needed for this!"

Ma Jun said angrily: "I am an upright official of the Tang Dynasty, will I work for the rebellious ministers and thieves?" ”

"Damn, I'm fooled!"

Jiang Xiaotong slammed his fist on the door, and said hatefully: "It seems that the man surnamed Wu surrendered to An Lushan, I have to kill him." ”

Ma Jun was taken aback, "What? Did Wu Taishou surrender An Lushan? ”

"It should be, there have long been rumors that he has a conspiracy with An Lushan, and it is true, without further ado, please ask Ma Yuanjun to help me."

Ma Jun gave a long salute and said: "Ma Jun is willing to listen to the public's drive!" ”

．．．．．．．．

In the study, Wu Chongyi took out a few small boxes from the wall, which were full of gold beads and diamonds, these were the treasures he had collected, worth tens of thousands of yuan, An Lushan was about to rebel, although he was ready to surrender, but he was still not at ease with those bandits, he wanted to send these treasures and his wife and daughter to a safe place first.

He had just put the box on the table when he heard a shout outside: "There is too much order, no one is allowed to enter." ”

"Get out of here!"

Wu Chongyi was startled, and before he could react, the door was kicked open with a bang, and Jiang Xiaotong rushed in with more than a dozen servants, who pulled out their knives together and glared at him angrily.

"You ..... What are you going to do? Wu Chongyi stammered in fright.

Jiang Xiaotong saw the letter written by An Lushan to Wu Chongyi on the table at a glance, and he was suddenly furious in his heart, jumped over the table and pulled Wu Chongyi to the ground, pulled his hair, and scolded: "You soft egg who betrayed the court, how many people are you going to kill!" ”

"Spare your life, spare your life!"

"You go to die!"

Jiang Xiaotong raised his knife and cut off Wu Chongyi's head, Jiang Xiaotong picked up his head and said to the officials: "Wu Chongyi betrayed the imperial court and died innocently, from now on, my brother will follow me and transfer the people of Yizhou to Dingzhou and Hengzhou." ”

A quarter of an hour later, several pigeons flew up in a daze and sent the news of An Lushan's rebellion to Chang'an.

．．．．．．．．．

(To be continued)