[I wish you all book friends a safe and healthy Chinese New Year's Eve and a happy family]

---------

The time gradually came to two o'clock, in the Tang army camp, Wang Junkuo stood in the big tent and looked anxiously in the direction of Dongcheng, he was very worried that the soldiers he sent to deliver the letter did not see Zhang Xuan, this is a key link, if the letter failed, then he would not dare to act rashly tonight. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

The reason why Wang Junkuo still has room for maneuver is that Qu Tutong can't completely change the defense system of Xicheng, he can only replace the main general at most, but Qu Tutong, the defending army below, can't completely replace it, once the big move will completely collapse the defensive front of Xicheng, Qu Tutong can't bear such a consequence, and he doesn't dare to take this risk, which gives Wang Junkuo the opportunity to regain power, and the defense generals on each important node in Xicheng are his people.

At present, the 80,000 Tang troops defending Taiyuan come from three major factions, one is the Taiyuan local faction, that is, the 30,000 young men recruited by Pei Lin by deception in Taiyuan, after several months of training, this local army can barely participate in the war.

The second is the Guanlong faction, that is, the 30,000 troops brought by Qu Tutong from Chang'an, which is Qu Tutong's main army, with strong combat effectiveness and resolutely obeys Qu Tutong's command.

The third faction can be called the Bingzhou faction, about 20,000 people, is the original garrison of the army, but also Li Jiancheng's army, most of this army was commanded by Wang Junkuo participated in the war against the Turks, and the Northern Sui army at that time fought side by side, this army and Wang Junkuo were treated unfairly, participated in the fight against the Turkic invasion, made military achievements, but in the end because of the high-level power struggle and did not receive any reward, the families of the soldiers who died in the battle did not receive pensions, The soldiers at the bottom of this army were full of dissatisfaction with the Tang Dynasty.

Qu Tutong is also aware of the problem of the state army, he used two strategies to stabilize the 20,000 people, one is fair treatment, to avoid continuing to stimulate the army, the second is to divide and disintegrate, he implemented a main and four deputy military camp system, in order to disperse the 20,000 troops into various military camps, the central military camp and the east, west, south and north four military camps each have a part, of course, Wang Junkuo's northwest battalion also has 5,000 original Bingzhou soldiers, they are also the foundation of Wang Junkuo's strength.

"General, the hour has come."

As the soldiers whispered to remind Wang Junkuo that the time had come, the rumbling war drums suddenly sounded in the direction outside the eastern city, and Wang Junkuo suddenly looked back, his heart was full of surprise, his personal soldiers had already delivered the letter.

"General, what are we going to do?" Several of the pro-soldiers asked uneasily.

Wang Junkuo smiled slightly, "Let's go to Xicheng!" ”

Wang Junkuo asked a tall soldier to dress up and sleep in the big tent, he made himself a small soldier, climbed out from the bottom of the back tent, quietly left the barracks, and went to the west city, Wang Junkuo knew in his heart that Qu Tutong did not hesitate to damage the defense and remove himself, indicating that he had already doubted himself, nominally making himself the deputy general of the central battalion, in fact, he was depriving himself of his military power, putting himself under surveillance, and there must be someone secretly monitoring him near the big tent.

Although his departure is likely to be discovered, Wang Junkuo can't take care of it anymore, he made an appointment in the letter to start at the third watch, and now it is the second watch, and it will be too late if he doesn't deploy.

At the head of Dongcheng, Qu Tutong was looking at the Zhou army camp with a puzzled stomach, what did the war drums that suddenly sounded in the two watches mean? Of course, the Wang flag was planted in the Dongcheng camp, which meant that the Dongda camp was the main camp of the Zhou army, and the drums from the main camp were likely to be some kind of order.

"General, look!"

A general pointed to the eastern camp of the Zhou army and said: "The enemy's siege equipment has appeared!" ”

Qu Tutong nodded, he also saw it, just now, dozens of huge black shadows stood up in the East Camp, it should be a trebuchet or a nest car, could it be that the Zhou army wanted to attack Taiyuan at night?

"Order all troops to enter combat alert!"

Qu Tutong was keenly aware that there would inevitably be a change in the Zhou army tonight, and he must not be careless.

He pondered for a moment, and then said to the captain of the army: "Go to the camp to see Wang Junkuo's movements, if he has put on his armor, say that I invite him to come to Dongcheng to discuss military affairs." ”

The captain nodded, turned around and ran towards the camp of the Chinese army, Qu Tutong knew very well in his heart that with the tall and strong Taiyuan City, it would be difficult for the Zhou army to capture the city by storming, but if there was an army in the city that should be combined with the outside, then Taiyuan would be dangerous.

A big reason why Qu Tutong did not directly arrest Wang Junkuo, but only used promotion to seize military power, was that he was afraid of Wang Junkuo's army mutiny, of course, he did not have any evidence that Wang Junkuo wanted to rebel, but because of Wang Shou, he no longer trusted Wang Junkuo.

Not long after, Qu Tutong's pro-soldier captain ran to the vicinity of Wang Junkuo's tent with several soldiers, and at this time, two watchers lurking nearby stepped forward to report, "Wang Junkuo has not come out of the tent, and is still in the tent." ”

The captain of the pro-soldier school walked quickly to Wang Junkuo's big tent, and several pro-soldiers stopped him, "My general is resting, please don't disturb!" ”

The captain raised the arrow and said, "On the order of the marshal, please General Wang go to Dongcheng to discuss the military as soon as possible." ”

Several pro-soldiers glanced at each other, and one of them smiled bitterly: "I'm afraid my general won't be able to go." ”

"Why?"

"See for yourself!"

The soldiers got out of the way, the captain stepped forward, picked up a corner of the tent curtain, a strong smell of wine came to his face, choking him almost suffocated, he hurriedly covered his nose and looked carefully, only to see that the lights in the big tent were dim, the table and the ground were full of wine jugs, the table was full of leftovers, several dishes were smashed to pieces, a wine jar was dumped on the ground, wine continued to flow out of the altar, the table and the tent were full of traces of sword splitting, the weapon rack on the other side hung Wang Junkuo's armor and broadsword, and the inner tent came from a thunderous snoring.

The captain frowned, stepped back and asked, "How can this be?" ”

"The general was in a bad mood, he was drunk and cried and laughed, we persuaded him, and he was slashed with a sword."

The soldier pointed to the other person's arm, and the captain noticed that the arm of a soldier next to him was tied with gauze, and blood seeped out of the gauze, and it was obvious that the injury was not light.

"Then what should I do, the marshal has an order to find him, and alcohol is not allowed in the army, this is a serious violation of military discipline!" The lieutenant reproached dissatisfiedly.

"Or we'll call the general again."

Two soldiers walked into the inner tent, and the captain also followed, he stood in the outer tent and peeped, only to see Wang Junkuo sleeping on the couch, still holding a sword in his hand.

"General! Checkmate! Marshal, please. ”

The two pro-soldiers pushed Wang Junkuo's body, and Wang Junkuo suddenly became angry, "Get out!" ”

The sword flashed, only to hear a scream from one of the soldiers, and the two stumbled out, one of them holding his shoulder, his face full of pain, as if he had been stabbed.

"Get out of here!"

Everyone urged, and the captain only came out of the account, and said to the soldiers: "Once General Wang wakes up, please go to Dongcheng to see the marshal immediately." ”

He shook his head, turned and walked away quickly.

.........

On the head of Dongcheng, Qu Tutong listened to the captain's report, and his brows were also wrinkled, Wang Junkuo has always been self-disciplined, never violated military discipline, today he was actually drunk, drinking during the war, the lightest is also a hundred military sticks, if he misses the fighter, he will be beheaded, this is not Wang Junkuo's style!

"Is that him?" Qu Tutong asked again.

"It should be, the lowly also heard his voice, and the lowly wanted to go into the inner tent to have a look, but he swung his sword and hurt people, and everyone didn't dare to go in."

"And is his broadsword and armor still there?"

"It's still there! The lowly saw with his own eyes, and the war horse was also tied outside. ”

Qu Tutong dispelled his doubts, he knew that Wang Junkuo regarded the knife as his life, and he would bring a big knife wherever he went, as long as the knife was there, in fact, he also understood in his heart that Wang Junkuo was more depressed than anyone else, he was convicted of fighting against the Turks, demoted his official position, and the King of Qin refused to restore his official title, and now he was deprived of military power by himself, and it was normal for him to borrow wine to drown his sorrows, at this time Wang Junkuo was still elated, that was a strange thing.

However, Qu Tutong is a famous general after all, although he believes that Wang Junkuo is still in the camp, but he is still a little uneasy on the Xicheng side, mainly because Xie Jingyuan has no control over the army, Qu Tu informed Xie Jingyuan's ability, to let him control the army overnight, it is indeed a little difficult for him, but at least to stabilize the army.

Qu Tutong said to the captain of the pro-soldier again: "You go to Xicheng again, take a look at the situation on General Xie's side, and come back quickly to report to me." ”

"Obey!"

The lieutenant was just about to leave, but Qu Tutong stopped him, "Go to the city faster." ”

Walking in the city is a straight line, and walking through the city wall is a large circle, and the captain went down the city with dozens of men.

Qu Tutong's eyes turned to the outside of the city again, and he found that dozens of huge siege engines had already left the camp and were slowly coming towards the city, and he immediately shouted: "Bed crossbow ready!" ”