"How did you contact Chen Yingliang's dog thief, how did you act, when did you do it, and what was the contact signal? Having said that, not only will I not kill you, but I will also reward you, and if you don't say it, I admire you. ”

"Phew!" What answered Li Er was Miao Haichao's bloody spittle, as well as fearless scolding, "Traitor, if you want to kill, kill less nonsense!" Chen Liushou is as kind to me as a mountain, and wants me to betray him and dream! Wait, Chen Liushou will be able to enter the city soon, and when the time comes, see how he cuts this traitor with a thousand knives and divides the five horses into ....... ”

The crazy beating of the rebel guards interrupted Miao Haichao's struggle and scolding, the guards were very heavy, and beat Miao Haichao to the point that his head was covered with blood and rolled all over the ground, but Miao Haichao still scolded more than once, and a guard of the Li family came to the fire, so he simply raised his foot and kicked Miao Haichao's chest, and broke Miao Haichao's ribs on the spot, and the blood in his mouth sprayed wildly, and he fainted in pain, and the Wude Hall was quiet.

When the rebel guards beat Miao Haichao, Li Er, Pei Lin and others kept laughing and watching without saying a word, and Zhu Cang, who was kneeling on the ground, did not say a word, and the eyeballs in the triangular eyes kept rolling, and they quickly calculated countermeasures. It wasn't until Miao Haichao was knocked unconscious that Li Er smiled at Zhu Cang and said, "General Zhu, it's your turn, are you as obsessed as Miao Haichao and looking for death by yourself?" Or do you obediently confess truthfully and change your life? Take your pick. ”

"What should I do?" Zhu Cang's heart was indeed making a choice, constantly thinking quickly, and secretly said in his heart: "If you don't sell your surname Chen, I will die now, and I will have to suffer a meal of flesh and skin before I die." At this time, I sold the surname Chen, and in the future, the surname Chen will enter Daxing City, and I will still not be able to run away and die. Advance and retreat are death, how can this be good? ”

Li Er knew Zhu Cang as early as the Yanmen War, and he had long been aware of Zhu Cang's capricious and selfish and vicious character, and when he saw Zhu Cang's expression, he knew that he had been shaken, so he smiled again: "General Zhu, what are you hesitating about, you are afraid that after Chen Yingliang's dog thieves enter the city, you will still be able to avoid death?" Then why don't you think about it, can Chen Yingliang's dog thieves fight into Daxing City? You are from the original from it, don't you know what kind of situation the Central Plains is? The rear of the Chen dog thief is so turbulent, how long can he stalemate with us under Daxing City? ”

Zhu Cang was even more shaken, knowing that Chen Fuliang's rear was indeed unstable, and he also knew that Chen Fuliang might indeed retreat because of the urgency in the rear, but Zhu Cang knew too well the current situation of Li Yuan's rebels, and knew that once Chen Fuliang launched a frontal assault at any cost, Li Yuan's rebels might not be able to hold Daxing City, so even if he wavered, Zhu Cang still did not dare to make up his mind lightly.

"If you don't confess honestly, you will be punished immediately!" Pei Lin was a little impatient to wait, and simply said: "Left Governor and Right Governor, I don't think this Zhu Cang will tell the truth without punishment, drag it out and torture." ”

It was also a coincidence that when Li Er just wanted to answer the sentence, Dou Wei, who was in charge of the rebels' confidential affairs, suddenly led a man dressed as a common man to rush to the Wude Palace, and as soon as he entered the main hall, he shouted with joy on his face: "Left Governor, Right Governor, Pei Changshi, good news!" Great news! Xue Ju agreed to form an alliance with us, and he had already sent troops, Xue Ju's eldest son, Xue Renguo, entered Fufeng County with the striker on October 14! ”

"Really?" Li Jiancheng brothers and Pei Lin were so happy that they stood up directly, Dou Wei hurriedly nodded to confirm, and introduced the man he brought to the palace to the Li family brothers and Pei Lin and others, saying that he was a secret envoy sent by Dou Jin, the Taishou of Fufeng County, and asked Li Yuan how to get along with Xue Ju's thief army, whether to provide grain and grass for Xue Renguo and whether to allow Xue Ju's thief army to enter Fufeng City, and also said that the Sui army's division was tightly blocking the road in Meixian County.

Knowing the situation of the Sui army's partial division tightly blocking the road, the extremely smart Li family brothers, Pei Lin and others immediately guessed that the messenger sent back by Wen Daya was likely to have been intercepted by the Sui army on the road, and they were extremely glad that the secret envoy sent by Dou Jin finally evaded the blockade of the Sui army and sent the key news to Daxing City, and at this time, Zhu Cang, who was also extremely smart, finally made up his mind, and hurriedly shouted: "The two governors, Pei Changshi, I recruit, I and Chen Yingliang agreed to start the third watch tonight, with three red lights as the signal, Open the Chunming Gate to welcome him into the city! ”

Chai Shao glanced at Zhu Cang and didn't say anything, but Li Er, Pei Lin and the others laughed together, and Li Er also sneered and said: "General Zhu is really smart enough, knowing that our reinforcements are coming, Daxing is sure that he can defend it, and he will recruit immediately, and he really doesn't suffer at all." ”

"Right Governor, the sin general has actually wanted to recruit for a long time." Zhu Cang said pitifully: "The sin will die, the sin will be confused for a while, and he will be sorry for the governor, the sin will know that he is wrong, and the sin will be willing to atone for his sins, and help the right governor to break the thief of Chen Yingliang's dog thieves. ”

"If you want to live, of course you can." Li Er sneered and said: "Tell me how you contacted Chen Yingliang's dog thief before and after, tell the truth to the governor of Pontus, dare to have half a lie, be careful of your head!" ”

"Damn, it's out of the way, anyway, the surname Chen has always been unkind to me, it's better to sell him and report his life first."

Zhu Can, who made up his mind, didn't even blink his eyelids, and immediately gave a detailed description of what happened, and told the truth about Chen Fuliang's arrangement for him to deliberately move closer to the old Li family four years ago, but Li Er, Pei Lin and others were more stunned the more they listened, and the more they listened, the more frightened they became. If you do it again in the more critical inner city, the old Li family won't be able to cry.

The most unbelievable thing was Li Jiancheng, who once interrupted Zhu Cang and asked: "You said that Chen Yingliang had arranged for you to deliberately approach our Longxi Li clan four years ago to take our trust and take the opportunity to spy on the news, is there really such a thing?" ”

"Absolutely." Zhu Cang said with a sad face: "Because of the matter of Chief Chai, he had a big enmity with the two governors of your family at that time, and I was afraid that you would continue to retaliate, so I took the opportunity of Yun Dingxing to bring me back to the Eastern Capital, so that I could pretend to have a deep hatred with him to approach you, and take the opportunity to spy on the news for him." But sin will be able to swear to heaven, and sin will not dare to do anything sorry for you before! ”

Li Jiancheng was silent, Li Er sneered again and again, but the other party, Chai Shao, barely had any reaction, and secretly said in his heart: "He only did this to protect himself." ”

Listening to Zhu Cang's finally introduction to the ins and outs of the matter, Li Er, Pei Lin and others gradually smiled, and Pei Lin also smiled: "Okay! Double happiness is coming! Xue Ju sent troops to help, and tonight we can take the opportunity to set up an ambush, annihilate an elite army of officers and soldiers, and defeat Chen Yingliang's undefeated reputation as a dog thief, and the turning point of the Daxing battlefield will appear. ”

"The two governors, the sin will be willing to take the lead and kill the enemy to atone for their sins, please ask the two governors for their permission." Zhu Cang hurriedly kowtowed, and said: "Please rest assured, in order to make Chen Yingliang's dog thief trust, the last general's letter to him yesterday deliberately mentioned the past four years ago, and Chen Yingliang's dog thief did not send anyone back to stop the last general from acting according to the plan, the official army will definitely come tonight, and the two governors only need to arrange an ambush in the Chunming Gate, and it will be easy to annihilate the enemy." ”

Li Er smiled again, and after a little calculation, Li Er said to Li Jiancheng and Pei Lian: "Brother, Pei Changshi, it's still early in the morning, let's hurry up to Chunmingmen to see how to arrange it?" ”

Li Jiancheng and Pei Lin both nodded in kindness, and the Li brothers immediately decided to go to Chunmingmen to investigate how to arrange the ambush, and the messenger sent by Dou Jin was temporarily received by Dou Wei, and Zhu Cang and Miao Haichao were handed over to Chai Shao by the Li family brothers, so that Chai Shao was imprisoned in the palace to avoid leaking the news, and when leaving, Li Er also explained to Zhu Cang: "Listen, if you want to live, don't play tricks, wait for us to break Chen Yingliang's dog thief tonight, tomorrow as long as you go to the city wall, in front of the official army, kill Miao Haichao's dog thief alive, Not only will we not kill you, but we will allow you to continue to serve in the army. ”

Zhu Cang hurriedly kowtowed and thanked him, agreed without a word, and obediently accepted the binding of Chai Shao's subordinates and escorted him to the palace for temporary detention, the guards originally wanted to tie up Miao Haichao, but Chai Shao, who had already checked Miao Haichao's injuries, shook his head and said: "His ribs are broken, just tie his hands and feet, and carry him up." ”

Miao Haichao and Zhu Cang were ordered by Chai Shao to be imprisoned in the barracks of the Imperial Forest Army, for the sake of prudence, Chai Shao also ordered to be detained separately, and asked the soldiers to plug Zhu Cang's mouth with a linen cloth, in order to survive Zhu Cang did not dare to resist, but kept begging Chai Shao to say a few good words for him before being gagged, Chai Shao ignored him, just instructed the guards of the Imperial Forest Army guarding Miao Haichao: "Find a wounded doctor, get him some medicine and bandage it, this is an important prisoner, can't let him die." ”

It was also a coincidence that when Miao Haichao and Zhu Cang returned to the hall after settling down, Chai Shao happened to meet his new deputy Dugu Huaien, as well as his former friends Yuan Qi and Li Yangcheng, who had been forcibly recruited into the palace to serve as the guards of the Imperial Forest Army, Yuan Qi and Li Yangcheng, who were forcibly recruited into the palace to serve as the guards of the Imperial Forest Army, were as scared as a mouse seeing a cat, and hurriedly followed Dugu Huaien out of the hall after making a salute, Chai Shao hesitated for a moment, and then shouted: "Deputy Chief Dugu, you wait." ”

Subconsciously stopped, Dugu Huaien and the others timidly asked Chai Shao what he ordered, Chai Shao did not answer, first ordered the soldiers around him to wait in the hall, and then walked to Dugu Huaien and the others, and ordered: "I haven't been together for a long time, this will be fine, let's go out for a walk and talk alone." ”

As Chai Shao's subordinates, Dugu Huaien and others did not dare to refuse, so they could only obediently follow Chai Shao out of the Royal Forest Barracks, and were led by Chai Shao into the palace garden, the snow-covered imperial garden was snowy, plum blossoms were in full bloom, and the scenery was very elegant, but the four friends who had their own ghosts, all of them were silent, let Chai Shao lead the way, and came to a remote rockery together, and then Chai Shao stopped, turned around and faced Dugu Huaien, Yuan Qi and Li Yangcheng.

Seeing a little weak by Chai Shao's sharp gaze, Dugu Huai Enqiang asked with a smile: "If Manager Chai has anything to say, please tell me, let's listen here." ”

"The three of you, did you quietly go out of the city to contact Chen Yingliang?" Chai Shao suddenly asked.

Of course, the concentration and city government of the three gentlemen are much worse than Miao Haichao and Zhu Cang, hearing this sudden question, the three gentlemen immediately turned pale together, and quickly denied it: "Chief Chai, is this what happens?" Who did you listen to, how could we possibly do such a thing? ”

Seeing the nervous reactions of the three former friends, Chai Shao, who was familiar with the characters of these three gentlemen, suddenly had a bottom in his heart, and smiled and bluffed: "You can't hide it from me, tell you the truth, one of you has a family member, in order to please me and give me a chance to take revenge, he has quietly told me about your secret contact with Chen Yingliang." ”

The most wasteful Li Yangcheng sat directly on the snow, Yuan Qi took two steps back one after another, Dugu Huaien subconsciously held the handle of the knife, but Chai Shao smiled again: "Brother Dugu, oh no, Uncle Dugu, don't move the knife, you know very well that the three of you together can't beat me." Also, Uncle Dugu, I also know that you asked to guard the three southern gates of the outer city yesterday, not to resist the attack of the official army, but to open the city gate and let the official army enter the city, right? ”

On a cold day, the cold sweat on Dugu Huaien's forehead was rolling down, and his eyes were full of fear when he looked at Chai Shao, but he didn't expect that since Chai Shao already knew their secrets, why did he bring them here to talk secretly. - Of course, if Dugu Huaien had this mind, he would not be so stupid as to be scolded by his cousin Li Yuan for a few words, and colluded with Liu Wuzhou to create Li Yuan's rebellion.

"Do you want to know, among you, whose family member told me?" Chai Shao asked with a smile again.

"Who is it?" The three gentlemen spoke in unison, and did not ask self-confessed rhetorical questions.

The answer to the three gentlemen was Chai Shao's relieved smile, and he said in his heart that I really didn't misunderstand you, Chai Shao smiled and whispered: "It doesn't matter who it is, the important thing is that you can rest assured, I won't settle accounts with you, why don't you want to think about it, if I want to seek revenge on you, why don't I tell you directly to the left and right governors and Pei Changshi?" Why do I have to sue you in private? ”

After receiving Chai Shao's reminder, the three gentlemen remembered this key question, and their faces suddenly returned to normal, and after looking at each other for a while, Li Yangcheng, who was still sitting on the ground, said timidly: "Brother Sichang, you really don't care about the past?" ”

"No matter how deep your hatred with me is, can you have a deep hatred between Chen Yingliang and me?" Chai Shao asked rhetorically, and said lightly: "Chen Yingliang has a deep hatred with me, and he still forgave me, and he forgave me more than once. If he can forgive me, why can't I forgive you? ”

After saying it lightly, Chai Shao stretched out his hand and said, "Take out the letter you have in contact with Chen Yingliang, let me see it, and I will help you." ”

was stunned for a long time, until Chai Shao opened his mouth again to urge, Dugu Huaien reached into his arms like a dream, took out the hidden letter of Chen Fuliang from the underwear and put it into Chai Shao's hand with trembling hands, and then asked very nervously, "Si Changxian's nephew, do you really want to help us?" The general is your father-in-law. ”

"The general is not your own cousin?" Chai Shao asked rhetorically, and snorted coldly: "As a son-in-law, I have done my best, but your cousin is a father-in-law, hum." ”

…………

It was getting dark earlier and earlier, and when it was just time to arrive, the sky in Guanzhong had gradually become gloomy, bonfires and torches were lit in the camp of the Sui army, the soldiers of the Sui army who were preparing to participate in the night battle were still seizing the time to rest, and the auxiliary soldiers were nervously preparing dinner and dry food torches, and the camp before the war was exceptionally quiet.

Just after the first moment of the unitary hour, Yuan Tiangang's crow's beak worked again, and the goose feather snow fell in the dark sky, effectively covering the night attack that the main force of the Sui army was about to launch, but it was not entirely a good thing, after carefully studying the celestial phenomena and wind direction. Yuan Tiangang warned Chen Fuliang that after this heavy snowfall, the temperature in the Daxing area would drop again, and if the officers and men of the Sui army did not hurry up to get a house that could effectively shelter from the cold and take adequate measures to protect against the cold, the officers and men of the Sui army would inevitably suffer from the severe cold of the wind and snow.

Yuan Tiangang's warning made Chen Fuliang even more determined to break through the outer city tonight - although it would be a pity to use Zhu Cang's hole card now, but for the sake of military morale and his soldiers, Chen Fuliang, who has always regarded himself as a soldier, still has no choice. At the same time, in order to maximize the most dangerous opportunity to kill Li Er, Chen Fuliang also made an unprecedented decision to have cavalry as the vanguard, and ordered Cheng Yanjin and Qin Qiong's second army to lead the cavalry into the city, and immediately completely block the four gates of Yirenfang, so that no enemy was allowed to escape from Yirenfang, and Chen Fuliang himself personally led the main force of the rear army to control the city gate and resist the counterattack of the rebels.

Li Jing and Qu Tutong also went to the order, and Chen Fuliang's order to them was to immediately send troops to attack the Mingde and Qixia gates in the southern city of Daxing as soon as they discovered that the battle of Chunming Gate had started, and to destroy the enemy in the outer city to the greatest extent possible, and to weaken the fighting force of the rebels in the inner city as much as possible.

On the side of Xuanwu Gate, although there was little hope, Chen Fuliang still arranged for Liu Heimin to lead 3,000 troops to launch a sneak attack, trying to attack Xuanwu Gate with gunpowder blasting tactics.

Everything is ready, only the east wind is owed, at the second moment of the first shift, the Sui army officers and soldiers who are ready to participate in the war have got up to prepare for the war, and received torches and dry food for dinner, and the main generals of each battalion also came to the tent of the commander of the Chinese army, accepting Chen Fuliang's final pre-war arrangements and deployment, and Chen Fuliang's arrangements were also very simple, ordering: "The second watch will send troops, the rank will be numerous, the horses will be wrapped in hooves, and no noise will be made." After the city gate of Chunming Gate is opened, Cheng Yanjin and Qin Qiong, you can't have any hesitation, don't worry about fraud, immediately enter the city together, block Yirenfang, and don't let anyone get away! ”

Cheng Yanjin and Qin Qiong clasped their fists together and sang a promise, but they didn't know that Chen Fuliang, who had always been clever, gave them an order destined to die this time. Chen Fuliang also didn't know the dangerous consequences of his arrangement, and asked his own soldiers to fill each general with a bowl of wine, and said with a bowl: "Generals, it's cold, in order to dispel the cold, and to wish us to rest in the city tomorrow night for the night, dry this bowl of wine." ”

After that, Chen Fuliang gave way to the generals, put the bowl to his mouth and was about to drink it all, but at this time, a herald suddenly came in outside the tent, and said to Chen Fuliang: "Stay behind, there are a few people wearing thief uniforms, holding your handwritten warrant, directly into our inner and outer camps, and come to the Chinese army tent to ask for a meeting. ”

"Don't you see I'm busy?" Chen Fuliang, who was forced to use Zhu Cang's hole card in advance, was already in a bad mood, and scolded loudly: "When is this? No matter who it is, I don't see it! ”

"You really don't see it? Don't even see me? A delicate girl's voice suddenly came from outside the tent, and said with anger: "If you really don't see it, then I'll leave." ”

Hearing this sweet girl's voice, the generals of the Sui army inevitably looked at each other, but Chen Fuliang was like a lightning strike, the wine bowl in his hand fell to the ground, and then rushed out like a frightened rabbit, and quickly overturned the handsome case in front of him, but Chen Fuliang ignored it, and kept exclaiming in his heart, "How is it possible?" How could it be her voice?! ”

Strode to the door of the tent, Chen Fuliang froze again, under the light of torches and bonfires, several men wearing palace guard uniforms stood in the wind and snow, although the first person was wearing men's clothes, but the facial features were delicate and soft, delicate and moving, the pretty face was full of smiles, and a pair of clear and beautiful eyes were already full of crystal tears............

Walking in front of the woman step by step, Chen Fuliang wanted to open his arms and hug him, but as soon as his arm moved, Chen Fuliang came back to his senses, saluted the woman instead, and choked up and said: "Weichen Chen Yingliang, I have seen Princess Yang Yu, Her Royal Highness Princess Jin An." ”

The stunned Sui army generals followed Chen Fuliang in a hurry, Yang Yu'er's cherry lips moved slightly, and before she could speak, two lines of tears had already flowed down her snow-white cheeks, staring at Chen Fuliang, and only choked up for a long time before she choked up and said: "Chen Liushou, you have no credit, let me wait for seventeen more days." ”

"Wechen is untrustworthy, and Wechen is a capital crime." Chen Fuliang almost cried, and he couldn't wait to immediately hold his favorite in his arms, but in front of too many people, Chen Fuliang couldn't do it, he could only look at Yang Yuer with a sour nose, and there were thousands of words in his chest, but he couldn't talk a word, close at hand, but it seemed to be far away.

At the tender moment, Yuan Qi and Li Yangcheng, who were burning the qin and boiling cranes, suddenly jumped out from behind Yang Yu'er and shouted together: "Brother Yingliang, are you ready to send troops?" Don't be fooled, Zhu Cang has already sold you, and the Li family's gang of traitors have prepared a net of heaven and earth waiting for you in Chunmingmen! ”