Standing on the fortress wall of Changwu City with Xue Renyue, the second son of Xue Ju, Yu Wenxin, the envoy sent by the Li family brothers, couldn't believe his eyes, and couldn't believe that these faltering and wolf-like soldiers under the city, these soldiers under the city who were covered in blood and described as withered were the Longxi army that even the main force of Li Yuan's army in its heyday was afraid of three points, and it was the main force of Xue Ju's army that was once famous and bowed down in all directions.

Xue Renyue, who was crowned the king of Jin, also couldn't believe his eyes, and couldn't believe that this handful of soldiers who fled from the city, these wolf soldiers with cries and tears on their faces, were the main force of their own family with bright armor and banners when they went out on the expedition, Xue Renyue didn't dare to imagine what kind of picture the main force of his army was like when he was defeated, and he didn't know how his father and his brother, who was known as the enemy of ten thousand people, lost this battle and why they lost so badly.

Even the armor was tattered, and the general Zhang Gui rushed to the fortress wall with blood stains, and the chief knelt in front of Xue Renyue, and reported to Xue Renyue the story of the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Tingkou with a crying voice, explaining that the self-army was deceived into unfavorable terrain by Chen Fuliang, who had lost his conscience, and Xue Renyue suddenly realized that he scolded Chen Fuliang for being treacherous and despicable, and hurriedly asked Zhang Gui: "Where is my father?" What about my brother? How are they? ”

"Your Majesty and the crown prince haven't come back yet?" Zhang Guiyi asked rhetorically and said, "His Majesty the Emperor and the crown prince have been with the cavalry, should they come back first?" How? They haven't come back yet? ”

Hearing Zhang Gui's rhetorical question, an ominous premonition suddenly enveloped the hearts of Xue Renyue and the other Xue Jujun, as the envoy of the Li family, Yu Wenxin was also worried, and said secretly in his heart: "Xue Ju, you must not have an accident, you are the only hope for the world's heroes to contain Chen Yingliang's traitor, if you are finished, no one in the world will be able to restrain the great-grandson of that little county duke." ”

Fortunately, there is still hope, at this time it is close to the third watch, the sky is already dark, it is the best opportunity for Xue Ju and Xue Renguo and others to take the opportunity to escape back to Changwu City, Xue Jujun is full of hope that Xue Ju can return smoothly, and Xue Renyue, who has a bad relationship with his grumpy brother, still has such thoughts, "I hope my father can bring more troops back, as for my brother, it'......s better not to come back." ”

It is true that a lot of Xue Jujun's civil and military forces escaped under the cover of night, including Yixing Wang Zong Luohu, Neishi Ling Zhai Changsun, the general Xi Shizheng and the Qiang general Liang Lishu, but even Zong Luohu and Liang Lishu, who served as the queen of the palace when they retreated, fled back with a few cavalry, but never saw the shadow of Xue Ju, Xue Renguo and Hao Ying and others, and at the same time some defeated soldiers reported to their superiors, saying that they heard the cheers of the Sui army soldiers on the way to escape, cheering that they had captured Xue Ju and Xue Renguo father and son alive. But because I didn't see it with my own eyes, I can't prove it true or false for the time being.

When the time to test Xue Renyue's ability to command is coming, the missing army of his father and brother is panicked, the main force is defeated and demoralized, and the aftermath is not handled well, which may immediately cause a chain reaction, and it is very likely that the rear army will collapse on its own. But fortunately, Xue Renyue also asked Xue Renyue to command the troops alone many times after the incident, and Xue Renyue still had some experience in these aspects, and quickly vacated the camp to settle the defeated soldiers, gave more wine and meat to stabilize the hearts of the people, and immediately began to reorganize the defeated troops, restore the establishment and combat effectiveness, and at the same time immediately strengthen the defense of the camp to prevent the Sui army from taking the opportunity to attack. As a result, on the morning of the eleventh day of the first lunar month, Xue Renyue really accepted more than 16,000 stragglers who had fled from defeat, and regained some of his overall combat effectiveness.

At the same time, the news that Xue Ju and Xue Renguo were both captured by Qu Tutong was finally confirmed, Zong Luohu and Zhang Gui and other Xue Jujun generals were shocked, and they did not dare to dream of saving Xue Ju, but they only persuaded Xue Renyue to give up Changwu and withdraw to Zhejia City, which is farther to the west, and go there to regroup, and it is also convenient to withdraw to Tianshui Laolai, Xue Renyue, who was in a state of confusion, agreed, and immediately retreated westward with the army, and took the initiative to give up Changwu City, a military stronghold that was hard-won. And after Yu Wenxin got the news, he also quietly breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that there was still hope for him to complete the task, even if Xue Jujun no longer had the strength to threaten Chen Fuliang's western front, he might still be staring at Chen Fuliang's western front like a-stirring stick, and continue to disgust Chen Fuliang.

Here is also time to introduce the origin of Yu Wenxin, as the son of the genius engineer Yu Wenkai of the Sui Dynasty, although Yu Wenxin's attainments in construction engineering are far less than his father, but he has also obtained a lot of true inheritance, and at the same time as one of the twelve generals of the Western Wei Dynasty, one of the important members of the Guan Long family, when Li Yuan briefly entered Daxing, Yu Wenxin was immediately appointed as the equivalent of the Minister of Water Resources to supervise the water resources, which was trusted and reused by Li Yuan's family, and was sent by Li Yuan to Taiyuan to assist Li Yuanji before Chen Fuliang's counterattack on Daxing. By the way, he took care of the water conservancy problem of the Li family's Taiyuan nest, and luckily avoided the smoke of the war when Chen Fuliang counterattacked Daxing.

Afterwards, Li Jiancheng and Li Er fled back to Taiyuan successively, and the three brothers of Li Yuanji, who had previously held the authority of Taiyuan, were crowded in a small place, each pulling a gang and supporting the party, and it was inevitable that there would be constant conflicts between the monks and the porridge, and the well-spoken Yu Wenxin reconciled in the middle for the sake of the overall situation, not only resolved the contradictions between many Li brothers, but also won the love and trust of the three brothers of the Li family, and became an indispensable and important figure in the Li family's army. This time, risking his life to sneak into the Guanzhong to contact Xue Ju, it was also Yuwenxin who volunteered to take this position for the sake of the future of the Li family, who was a benefactor and a friend of the world, and also made it rare for the three brothers of the Li family to unify their opinions twice, first to persuade Yuwenxin not to take risks in person, and then because of Yuwenxin's repeated insistence and unanimous agreement.

Previously, because Li Yuan's two relatives Dou Jin and Uncle Da Xiao shamelessly betrayed Xue Renguo, Xue Ju had already killed Wen Daya, the messenger sent to Tianshui by Li Yuan before his death, Yu Wenxin took the risk to visit Xue Ju again, in addition to explaining the misunderstanding and apologizing, another important purpose was of course to conclude an anti-Chen alliance with Xue Ju. At present, Yu Wenhua, Wang Shichong and Li Miyan are threatening Chen Fuliang's eastern front, and the Liang division in the northeast is also looking at Daxing, and has secretly formed an alliance with the Li family brothers.

The plan did not change quickly, the road was blocked, and it was difficult to transmit the news, so what made Yu Wenxin very happy was that when he changed his name and surname and came to Guanzhong with great difficulty, Xue Ju had already rushed into Anding County first, and won many important passes like lightning; And when Yuwenxin came to Anding happily to see Xue Ju, he had just seen Xue Ju's second son Xue Renyue, and he saw with his own eyes the defeat of the main force of Xue Ju's army in Longyou, as well as the capture of Xue Ju's father and son, the tragic ups and downs, and the rapid transformation of heaven and hell, which made Yuwenxin dumbfounded, and also made Yuwenxin want to cry without tears.

Fortunately, there is also a Xue Renyue, although I don't know if Xue Renyue has the courage to continue to fight Chen Fuliang to the death regardless of the safety of his father and brother, but in order to fight for the last hope and opportunity, on the way to Zhijia City with Xue Renyue, Yu Wenxin still bribed Xue Renyue's left and right cronies, and was able to ride side by side with Xue Renyue on the road, taking the opportunity to test Xue Renyue's true attitude, and also trying to encourage Xue Renyue to continue to fight Chen Fuliang's death to the end.

"His Royal Highness the King of Jin, although the little envoy is an outsider, but the matter has come to this point, the little envoy still wants to dare to ask, after His Royal Highness withdraws from the folding city, what do you plan to do next?" Yu Wenxin asked straight to the point.

"If only the king knew." Xue Renyue replied angrily: "My father was unfortunately captured, and my brother was also poisoned, and now the army is unstable and morale is broken, and this king wants to find someone to ask what to do next." ”

Peeking at Xue Renyue, seeing that his irritable expression was by no means fake, Yu Wenxin's heart probably had the bottom, knowing that Xue Renyue really didn't have the mind to give in to Chen Fuliang, and then said: "Your Highness, the little envoy thinks that if you want to save the Great Qin Emperor, then there is only one way, you must not hesitate after returning to Zhizhi City, you must immediately lead the troops to the west, return to Tianshui, strangle the Longshan Heavenly Danger and defend it, and continue to fight against Chen Yingliang's traitors to the end!" ”

"What did you say?" Xue Renyue was taken aback, turned his head to look at Yu Wenxin, and asked in surprise: "If I want to save my father, the only way is to immediately withdraw to Tianshui and continue the battle between Chen Yingliang and traitors?" ”

"Exactly." Yu Wenxin nodded vigorously, and said with a smile: "Presumably, Your Highness must ask, what if Chen Yingliang is a traitor kills His Majesty the Emperor?" But Your Highness, why don't you want to think about it, if Chen Yingliang's traitors force your army to surrender, how can they be willing to kill His Majesty the Emperor? Isn't he afraid that after killing your father and emperor, he will completely anger His Highness and the soldiers of your army, and continue to fight him to the death with the same hatred? ”

Saying that, Yu Wenxin peeked at Xue Renyue's expression, and saw that his expression was already shaken thoughtfully, so he took the opportunity to say again: "So the little envoy thinks that the more His Highness does not surrender to Chen Yingliang's traitors, the more stable your father will be, because killing your father, in addition to being able to get a human head and the bitter hatred of the soldiers of Longxi, he can only get the infamy of killing prisoners, and there is nothing to gain!" ”

Xue Renyue finally nodded and said, "Mr. is reasonable, yes, Chen Yingliang's traitors captured my father, and he will definitely only think of using my father to force our army to surrender, and he will never kill him lightly." The more I persisted in refusing to give in and continue to fight him to the end, the less daring he would be to poison my father. ”

"Your Highness is clever, that's exactly the case!" Yu Wenxin applauded, and said in a low voice: "Your Highness forgives your sins, the little envoy still has to say something offensive, if His Royal Highness chooses to bow to Chen Yingliang's traitor because he is afraid that Chen Yingliang's traitor will kill your father, then His Royal Highness's family is the real disaster." Because after His Royal Highness gave in, he handed over the army and territory in his hands, and your family became useless in front of Chen Yingliang, Chen Yingliang not only would not give His Royal Highness's family glory and wealth, but also would definitely be jealous of His Royal Highness's family's prestige in Longxi, so as to give birth to murderous intentions! ”

The muscles on Xue Renyue's face twitched, and he was immediately moved by Yu Wenxin's words, and Yu Wenxin continued to instigate: "Take 10,000 steps back and say, even if Chen Yingliang is a traitor and doesn't kill him, after Your Highness surrenders, at most you will only take a car, and you will only be accompanied by four or five people, and you have to look at the enemy's face at any time, swallow your anger, life is better than death, so when Your Highness withdraws to Tianshui, he will take sole control of the power, and inherit the glory of the Great Qin Unification in the future?" ”

It's that people have selfish psychology, and the son taught by Xue Ju, who is not a good thing, is naturally not a good thing, after listening to Yu Wenxin's instigation, Xue Renyue no longer had any hesitation, and immediately nodded and said: "Thank you, Mr. for your advice, this king understands what to do." Sir, rest assured, now that my father and brother have unfortunately been captured by Chen Yingliang's thief army, the Great Qin army should be in charge of this king, and this king will promise you now, your two armies will conclude an alliance from now on, advance and retreat together, and do not break Chen Yingliang's traitors, and swear not to quit the army! ”

Yu Wenxin was overjoyed, and hurriedly thanked Xue Renyue, and then said in a low voice: "Your Highness, if some of your subordinates are shaken, and some people are worried about the safety of your father, in addition to telling them the reason why Chen Yingliang's traitor will never kill your father, you can also sue them. ”

Xue Renyue was even more overjoyed when he heard it, and quickly thanked Yu Wenxin sincerely, Yu Wenxin thanked him with a smile, but sighed in his heart: "It's really like the three sons left by the general, those three sons will ...... in the future, alas!" ”

As expected, it was only in the afternoon, and sure enough, a messenger of the Sui army with a white flag in his hand caught up with Xue Renyue's army and handed Xue Renyue a letter of persuasion from Chen Fuliang to surrender, as well as a handwritten letter from Xue Ju asking Xue Renyue to lead the remnants of the army to lay down their arms and surrender to the Sui army. Xue Renyue did not hesitate, immediately summoned all the civil and military forces under his command, showed Chen Fuliang's letter of persuasion and Xue Ju's letter to everyone, and then asked the opinions of everyone under his command.

Most of the civil and military forces were silent, only the Huangmen squire Lang Liang carefully persuaded Xue Renyue to think about Xue Ju's safety, but Xue Renyue immediately scolded Xue Liang for a bloody head, and took the opportunity to publicize the reason for not surrendering that Yuwen Xin taught him, and asked his generals to withdraw to Tianshui with him to defend the territory, so that Chen Fuliang did not dare to hurt Xue Ju's hair, and promised to break Daxing in the future to rescue his father, and also promised to continue to reuse everyone present after returning to Tianshui. Giving them more glory, wealth and treasure beauties also really touched the hearts of many Xue Jujun and civil and military.

Considering that surrendering in the past is certainly not as comfortable as it is now, most of the civil and military forces of Xue Jujun really support Xue Renyue's decision to refuse to surrender, especially Zhang Gui, a general known for his **** fierceness, knows that his hands are stained with blood and surrender in the past will definitely not end well, and he jumped out and shouted loudly What is the swear not to surrender, but also to slash the envoy of the Sui army to show his determination. Fortunately, Xue Renyue still had some sense, and did not agree to kill the envoy, but just ordered the Sui army envoy to be beaten away.

After the envoy of the Sui army who had been beaten with a stick in Xue Renyue's army returned to Chen Fuliang's front, the generals of the Sui army, who were following Chen Fuliang to pursue the enemy, were of course furious, and they all had to cut off Xue Ju and Xue Renguo, who were captured by the back words, and the father and son were angry, but Chen Fuliang was calm, but he carefully asked the envoy of the self-army about the contact with Xue Renyue, and found that Xue Renyue's attitude of refusing to surrender was very resolute, and Xue Jujun's civil and military forces did not stop Xue Renyue from beating his messenger with a stick, and Chen Fuliang probably had a bottom in his conscience. Then Chen Fuliang did not hesitate, and immediately ordered Xue Ju and Xue Renguo to be summoned to see him.

Next, of course, it is the turn of the Great Sui actor to perform wonderful acting skills, after Xue Ju's father and son, who asked for the guilt with his own hands, Chen Fuliang comforted and comforted their father and son, not only promised to ask for forgiveness for their father and son in front of Emperor Yining, but also took the initiative to ask Xue Renguo's marriage and children, after learning that Xue Renguo had married and had a daughter, Chen Fuliang unceremoniously immediately asked Xue Renguo for his son, and asked Xue Renguo to marry his daughter to his third son, Of course, Xue Renguo, whose fate was hanging in the hands of others, couldn't ask for it, so he immediately agreed under great joy, and immediately called each other brothers with Chen Fuliang according to Chen Fuliang's request.

After becoming a relative with Xue Renguo, Chen Fuliang summoned the messenger who had been beaten before, and asked the envoy to introduce the envoy to Xue Ju's father and son, Xue Ju and Xue Renguo were taken aback when they heard it, and scolded Xue Renyue and hurriedly asked Chen Yingliang to ask for guilt, and at the same time Xue Ju also asked to come to the front of the battle to surrender to the army team, Chen Fuliang smiled and promised, and then said: "Uncle Xue, regarding the surrender of the rest of your army, the prime minister thinks that it is not enough for you to come forward to surrender in person, because you are indeed still a prisoner of our army, if I let you surrender in front of the battle, In any case, your old soldiers will think that you were forced to persuade them to surrender because you were forced by me to coerce, and I am afraid that it will be difficult for them to understand the sincerity of their surrender and will not surrender just now. ”

Xue Ju nodded, admitting that this was indeed a problem, and then Xue Ju asked cautiously, "Prime Minister, what do you think should be done?" ”

"I mean, I want to ask Brother Renguo to make a hard trip." Chen Fuliang turned to Xue Renguo and said with a smile: "I want to ask Brother Renguo to go to Brother Renyue's army in person, explain to me in person the surrender policy of our army, and persuade Brother Ling and General Zongluo to lead the army to surrender, I don't know if my brother is willing to do it for me?" ”

"Prime Minister, you asked me to surrender?" Xue Renguo's eyes almost didn't pop out, and he exclaimed, "I heard you right, right? Prime Minister, did you send me to surrender? Aren't you afraid that I won't come back if I go? ”

"Don't be suspicious, don't be suspicious, I dare to ask my brother to go and surrender in person, of course, I believe that you will not go back forever." Chen Fuliang smiled and said: "Besides, brother, you and I are now sons and daughters, I can't even trust my own family, how can I trust others?" ”

He looked at Chen Fuliang for a long time, and repeatedly confirmed that Chen Fuliang was not joking, Xue Renguo did not hesitate, and immediately knelt down to Chen Fuliang, hugged his fists and said: "Prime Minister, since you have trusted the guilty general, the criminal general will have no way to repay your kindness except for smearing your liver and brains and shattering your bones!" Please rest assured, the sin will definitely lead the army to surrender, if there are two hearts, heaven and earth will not tolerate it! If my second brother is obsessed and insists on refusing to accept the Prime Minister's offer of surrender, then the criminal general will cut him off with a knife and carry his head to apologize to the Prime Minister! ”

Chen Fuliang laughed loudly, and quickly picked up Xue Renguo's kind words to comfort him, and then said to Xue Renguo: "Brother Renguo, the road is difficult, the front is dangerous, for the sake of prudence, you go to our army to select 300 soldiers to bring, I will give them back armor, weapons and war horses, and let them protect you and go north to chase your second brother." When you're ready, set off immediately, you don't have to say goodbye, go and come back quickly, I'm waiting for your good news! ”

Xue Renguo was even more overjoyed when he heard this, and hurriedly thanked Chen Fuliang again and again, and then immediately followed Chen Fuliang's personal soldiers to the prisoner of war camp to select guards, and Chen Fuliang ordered Sun Fujia to immediately write for himself, and wrote a letter of surrender to Xue Renyue, and asked people to send it to Xue Renguo and ask him to bring him to surrender. It was also at this time that Chen Fuliang turned his gaze to Xue Ju, seeing Xue Ju's eyes glazed when he looked at him, his lips trembled, and he seemed to have something to say, Chen Fuliang smiled slightly and took the initiative to say: "Uncle Xue, if you have anything to say, please say it, don't scruple." ”

"Prime Minister, you ......, you are so ruthless!" Xue Ju snorted and said what was in his heart.

"Uncle Xue, don't blame me, it's your son who wants me to kill you, and I can't be infamous for killing prisoners, so I can only do this." Chen Fuliang smiled and sighed again: "I hope that Uncle Xue, you can teach your son well, and one of your two sons can have a filial son, so that you may be able to preserve your Xue family's incense." If they don't care about your life and death, then I really can't help it, and you can only blame yourself for having no way to teach your children. ”

After that, Chen Fuliang sighed lightly and said: "Actually, I really like your eldest son, his temper is a little short-tempered, but his personality is straightforward, and he has few flowers, even if he is not handsome, he can be regarded as a rare fierce general." That's why I deliberately asked him to choose three hundred guards by himself, lest he don't even have the strength to fight back, if he doesn't do anything wrong, then even if he can't succeed in surrendering, Uncle Xue, I will also ensure that you and him will be rich for a lifetime. ”

Xue Ju was silent, and only after a while did he say: "Renguo's talent is enough to take on a big responsibility, and he is still a little filial to the old man, I just hope he can do this this time." ”R1148