Zhang Renyuan, who was wearing an official uniform and a hat, was standing in front of the window looking out, his temples had been dyed with new hoar frost these days, and his haggard face looked preoccupied.

The night was as cool as water, and at this time, a reed pipe song sounded somewhere, echoing melodiously in the frosty moonlit night wind. Zhang Renyuan turned his head to look at the city wall, and saw that the soldiers on duty looked to the south, all looking homesick. Seeing this situation, Zhang Renyuan couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

At this moment, a guard came in and reported: "General Li and others have come upstairs and have something important to see." ”

Zhang Renyuan was silent, and did not object, and the guard was stunned for a while, and then turned around as if he was acquiescing. After a while, a group of heavily armed generals walked in, Zhang Renyuan was still standing in front of the window and did not move, he listened to the flute with his ears, and even glanced at the generals.

One of the generals at the head stepped forward and hugged his fists and said: "Governor, I heard that Xue Chongxun's troops attacked Zhongcheng on the 13th, and only one day, that is, on March 14, there was a mutiny in the city, and Zhongcheng fell. At this point, Dongcheng has also lost contact, and it is unknown to be lucky......"

"Hmm." Zhang Renyuan looked very indifferent, with a bearing that Mount Tai collapsed in front of him and did not change his color. The generals were silent.

He turned and walked to the main seat and sat down, although he was middle-aged, his sitting posture was more upright than that of an ordinary young man. Zhang Renyuan is familiar with classics, poetry, books, music and rhythm, and leads troops all year round, which can be called civil and military proficiency, and belongs to the elite talents of the empire.

"I'm ready, let's do it." Zhang Renyuan said frankly.

The generals stood there and looked at him in amazement.

Zhang Renyuan asked rhetorically: "Didn't you come up tonight just to do this?" No need for mother-in-law and mother-in-law, just stop it! ”

At this time, a general suddenly fell to his knees with a thud, stretched out his hand to cover his eyes and choked, and all the men standing fell down in front of Zhang Renyuan, and the atmosphere was very sad.

Zhang Renyuan said uncomfortably: "I don't blame you, I only blame me for using people inappropriately, the guards of Lingzhou and Shenmu Town surrendered so lightly without a fight!" It's just that the sky is out of time! There are few people in the world who know big things, and they want to occupy the temple with the pseudo-dynasty name that is not right, and they are poor and arrogant all the year round, and the Taiping princess repairs the Qing Palace, and the good money of the Qing Palace is more than one billion of laborers, and the Western Regions, Helong, and the southwest are at odds with the surrounding ethnic groups all the year round, and the military expenditure is billions of dollars in each battle. The righteous people in the world dare not be angry and dare not speak! I have a hundred years of foundation in the Tang Dynasty, and this time with the name of restoring justice to Li Tang, Guanzhong will definitely not be able to fight again, and it can be seen that the Xue family led the army to stop at 30,000 people this time. It only took a few months to hold on, and all the loyal ministers of the Quartet responded...... What a pity! ”

Someone below couldn't help but say: "The Xue family is famous, and the soldiers below will lose their fighting spirit when they hear it." The general trend is inviolable, and now all parts of Anbei are lost, and the supplies are unsustainable, unless the Turkic soldiers are recklessly led into the customs in a hurry, there is no way to return to heaven; At this time, the introduction of Turkic soldiers into the customs is also very unfavorable to our army, the Anbei army has been in conflict with the Turks for many years, and the two sides have a lot of blood debts, although they say that they will join forces with us to crusade against the puppet dynasty, but the last general and others think that when this is an unconditional advantage over the Turks, once they come in, they will only care about robbing us of food and grass supplies, and will not care about our life or death. ”

Zhang Renyuan closed his eyes and was silent for a moment, took off his saber and put it on the wooden table, sat on his knees and straightened his waist, and said lightly: "Li Gui! ”

"The end will be." One will bow down.

Zhang Ren said, "You come forward." ”

The general, named Li Gui, got up with his head down, walked carefully in front of Zhang Renyuan, and knelt down with him across a wooden table.

"What are you waiting for?" Zhang Renyuan pointed to the saber on the case.

The generals below all lowered their bodies, and their eyes did not come out of the atmosphere of the floor.

Li Gui's face turned pale, and he said in a daze: "The last general...... The last general did not dare to forget the grace of Ming Gong's cultivation, and he did not dare to use his sword to Ming Gong. ”

Zhang Renyuan picked up the knife, pulled it out with a "swish", obliquely looked up at the sharp blade, then turned the handle upside down and handed it over and said categorically: "Take it, this is a military order." ”

Li Gui carefully reached out and held the handle of the knife, and then Zhang Renyuan's hand also grabbed his hand: "Don't hesitate, take my head and make contributions, maybe you can protect the integrity of your parents, wives and children, Zhang is one step ahead!" ”

"Boss!" The generals burst into tears, their heads banging on the floor.

Zhang Renyuan held Li Gui's hand and aimed the tip of the knife at his left chest, and then pulled it into his arms hard...... Li Gui stared at Zhang Renyuan's face with round eyes, his hand holding the handle of the knife was trembling, and the green tendons on his forehead also rose because of the excessive excitement of the emotion, and tears suddenly welled up from the eyes of this general.

Zhang Renyuan didn't shout from beginning to end, the force in his hand slowly disappeared, and his eyes gradually dizzled.

The generals knelt in front of his seat for a long time, and the majestic tower was very quiet, and the first flute had stopped, except for the gentle sound of the night wind, like a humming and a lamentation.

…… The next day, Xicheng announced that Zhang Ren was willing to die, announced the surrender of the imperial court, and sent an envoy to Zhongcheng, which had been conquered by the internal and external alliances. At the same time, there was also a mutiny in Dongcheng, and envoys were sent to surrender.

Xue Chongxun and his army had been stationed in Zhongcheng and had taken over all the city defenses. This fortified military town was built strongly, and there were originally more than 10,000 troops to defend it, and it was very difficult to take it by force, but it only took Xue Chongxun two days to take it, and there were few casualties on both the offensive and defensive sides.

When they learned the good news, Xue Chongxun and the others were in the center of the military town in the north of the city, which looked very simple, rough and unsightly...... After all, the three cities are different from the cities in the interior, and this place was completely built by the imperial court and officials as a military fortress, and the main consideration was the defense capability. The roofs of the houses where Xingyuan is located are all made of stones and thick wooden planks, and the general bows and ballistas cannot penetrate the defense of the house even if they fly into the city, and they also have a certain defensive power against the large stones of the catapult, but the defense objects of the three cities are the nomadic cavalry such as the Turks, and the range of the siege equipment of those tribes is not at all, and the ordnance of the Tang army cannot be compared.

The civilian staff sat on both sides to handle official business, and several of Xue Chongxun's confidants and generals were also among them, and all kinds of orders from the 30,000-strong army were issued from this old, dimly lit room. There were two lamp stands on the wall, on which oil lamps were lit, and the light was not very good, but the walls were stained with black paint...... In broad daylight, the door is very bright, and the house is very dim, and the lighting of the house is very unreasonable.

Xue Chongxun sat on the innermost upper seat, and when he looked at the door, he couldn't even see his face clearly, and could only see a figure. He smacked his fingers on the table and said, "How about dropping the cup?" Although the method is old-fashioned, it also works. ”

The officials didn't come back for a while, and they didn't know what he meant by saying this sentence after thinking about it for so long, but Wang Changling understood it the fastest, and asked in amazement: "Xue Lang means to ...... the generals who came to surrender" He made a motion to wipe his neck.

Xue Chongxun nodded and said: "The relationship between these generals and the rebel Zhang Renyuan is not clear, and leaving them in the Anbei Army is extremely dangerous. Now that the Turks have smelled the smell and are about to move, the northern border is already unstable, and it is necessary to clean up the defense of the stable dìng so as not to dream too much. ”

Wang Changling said: "They have already surrendered, and they have to sacrifice Zhang Renyuan's head, so it seems ruthless for us to kill them like this again." ”

"What's the trouble of wanting to add sin?" Xue Chongxun shook his head and said indifferently, "Zhang Renyuan and others are accused of colluding with the enemy army and treason, and they are deeply spurned and hated by the officials and the people, what's the big deal about killing a group of military generals under him?" Young uncle, I will give you one thing, try your best to find out the list, find out the list of those descendants of Zhang Renyuan, as well as the list of military generals recommended by him and directly appointed by the Anbei Protector of Shuofang Town, and then set up a Hongmen banquet to invite these people to come and catch them all! ”

Wang Changling had to bow his head and clench his fists and said, "Yes." ”

Xue Chongxun looked at Li Kuiyong again: "You take the Flying Tiger Regiment to quietly open the door behind this house at night, and I dropped the cup so that I can go out directly." When the time comes, you will lead 200 ambush soldiers with weapons and hide outside, and when you hear the sound of the cup breaking, you will immediately bring in and kill you from the front and back, and behead all the living inside! ”

Li Kuiyong didn't have anything to say, so he responded directly.

Xue Chongxun took out a copy of the Yellow Calendar, flipped through it casually, and said: "Let the generals of Xicheng bring Zhang Renyuan's head to surrender, and let them come over as well." Pick a good day and an auspicious day to set up a banquet to see them off. This yellow calendar is also not written in detail, only the things that are suitable for moving ground and traveling, and it is not written that it is appropriate to kill people one day......"

Zhang Jiuling said indifferently: "When the Yellow Emperor made the calendar, I am afraid that he did not advocate killing, so he did not write this." His attitude seems to approve of Xue Chongxun's dry method, and he is not as emotional as Wang Changling in this kind of personnel handling.

Xue Chongxun glanced at them quietly, and said in his heart: Young Uncle is a poet after all.

He smiled and said: "What Zishou said is bad, we all learned from our ancestors about the attack, the difference is only that now we use steel knives to strengthen crossbows, and people in the past used stones." As soon as the people of the world learned to use stones, they learned to fight. ”

Zhang Jiuling pretended to be taught: "Xue Lang has insight into wisdom and is reasonable. ”

After a while, everyone made a decision, but the only people who knew the inside story were the civil and military lineages in this room, and the other peripheral people didn't know at all, including the ordinary officials and generals in the official army. So the people treated the generals who were surrendered to the city well, and they were not wronged by the good food and drink, so the generals were also much more optimistic. After all, under normal circumstances, people don't have to be too nice to some people who are about to die. G