A holy decree has not reached the recipient after two and a half months of travel, and the mystery can no longer be explained by the excuse of the rebellion in southern Hebei. The officials who came to greet him were all veterans who had been rolling on the way for many years, and after a little groaning, they had already guessed the crooked ways here. It was the middle of winter, and the north wind was like a knife, but there were still people with their mouths wide open, and they didn't even realize that their tongues were about to be frozen to their teeth. Some people began to regret it, and secretly asked themselves whether it was worth it this time.

"That's fine, it's rare for us to meet again, you just stay in Qi County for a while. Anyway, there is still some surplus food in the treasury, and it won't be able to feed your 4,000 men and horses! Bing Cao Xu Wenjing guessed that someone in the court did not want Li Xu to get this appointment as soon as possible, so he simply suggested that he push the boat along the river. In his opinion, the purpose of dragging Li Xuwan to take office for a few months is just to create an opportunity for some people to control the children of Qi County. But with Qin Shubao, Luo Shixin and Yan Fu, the son of Jia Wuben, the former secretary of the guard, some people's wishful thinking is not so easy to succeed. Moreover, the imperial court has already passed on the relevant appointments to the counties of Henan, and some powerful people do not dare to swallow back the holy decree issued more than two months ago. Therefore, instead of going all the way to receive the order, Li Xu should brake quietly and see how those people end up in the end. If you can force it to send the holy decree to Qi County, it will be good to let out this evil breath.

"That is, General Li might as well wait for a Qin mission in Qi County. Xu Yuanlang is making a lot of trouble in the south, if the general can easily stir him up, the fathers and elders of Henan counties will remember the virtue of the general! "Wang Shouren is a broad person, but he thinks about problems from a very practical perspective. He is the parent official of Qi County, and he doesn't need to care about the rags of East County. The urgent thing he needs to deal with at the moment is to avoid Qi County from being spied on by the rogues, as for how the major families and bandits of the imperial court are making trouble under Wagang Mountain, after all, they are thousands of miles away, and they can't let him worry about it.

"That's right, General Li has been fighting for a few months, and he should rest for a while, at least after the New Year!" Similar to Xu and Wang is Bo Yangyuan, the head of the household, who is also an acquaintance who has had a lot of dealings with Li Xu back then, and it is inevitable to think of some old people when analyzing the situation. In his opinion, since someone dares to stay in the holy decree, it means that His Majesty the Emperor's control over the government has reached the point where it can be ignored. In this case, Li Xu is still in a hurry to go to the outside of the Tiger Prison Pass to do something for the already crumbling imperial court, it is better to wait and see for a few months, and wait for the latest progress of the situation.

"Brothers, I understand it, and I understand it!" Between a few words, Li Xu roughly guessed everyone's thoughts, smiled and arched his hand, and thanked him. "Let's discuss these things in the long run another day, and now I bother a few brothers to arrange a residence for my brothers first, and then take my younger brother to worship in front of General Zhang's spirit!"

"As it should be!" The local officials with their own intentions agreed one after another, stopped being polite, and began to settle the Boling army under the assignment of Wang Shouren and Wu Qi.

The school grounds where Zhang Xutuo, Li Xu and others practiced are still there, and the nearby military camps are also well preserved, and officials at all levels are the old team of Pei Caozhi back then, and they are familiar with the operation. Therefore, Li Xu didn't need to spend too much time and energy, and quickly arranged the business at hand. He instructed Wang Suba, Zhou Daniu and others to take turns on duty to restrain the brothers. Then, he rushed to the Zhang family's mansion in the center of the city with Wu Qi, the general guard of Qi County.

"If possible, you can persuade Zhang Gongzi." Halfway through, Wu Qi sighed and suggested to Li Xu.

"Brother Yulin is it Yuan Bei? What happened to him? Li Xu was shocked when he heard this, and asked with a frown. The reason why he came to Licheng in a big circle, in addition to paying homage to the spiritual seat of the old general Zhang Xutuo, also had a very important purpose was to take Zhang Yuanbei to Dongjun together. With the eldest son of this old general Zhang Xutuo, it is equivalent to holding the title of righteousness, no matter how hard the backstage behind others is, in the control of the county soldiers, he will never be qualified to compete with Zhang Yuanbei.

"Yuan Bei, hey, it's hard to say, it's really hard to say!" Wu Yulin sighed and shook his head. "Since the news of the old general's war reached the place, he was like a different person. At that time, I advised him to recruit thousands more county soldiers and go to Dongjun to inherit the mantle of the old general, but he refused to listen. Later, the imperial court came to Qincha and awarded General Zhang Lao as the three divisions of the Kaifu Yitong, Shangzhu State, Hussar General, and Qi Guogong, but he also refused to go to the book to thank him. Every day is to stay in front of the old general's spirit, and the whole person is like losing his soul. Neither willing to come forward to organize manpower to avenge the veteran, nor did he have the heart to come out to support the lintel! ”

"Maybe Yuan Bei has an unspeakable distress in his heart!" Li Xu thought about it and defended the other party in a low voice. In his impression, although Zhang Yuanbei, the eldest son of the old general Zhang Xutuo, has experienced less wind and rain, he is not a bad seed who falls down after a little blow. The reason why he was depressed for a while may be that he has not recovered from the pain of losing his father. It is more likely that he is unwilling to give people the excuse that his father has not been mourned, so he will come out to fight for power and profit. Anyway, it shouldn't have scared the fighting power of the rogue, and since then he has become a shrinking turtle.

"I don't know. Anyway, it's decadent! Wu Qi shook his head and responded.

The two bought some ingots and incense candles on the road, put them on horseback, and walked to the old house of the Zhang family. Because the head is still hanging on the Wagang village, the old general can't be buried for a while, so the Zhang family's mourning hall has not been demolished, and it is located in the main house where the old general originally lived.

Li Xu and Wu Yulin handed over the horses to the Zhang Mansion family and held the sacrifices to worship each other in front of Zhang Xutuoling. Zhang Yuanbei, whose face was pale, knelt on the side of the spirit and returned the gift of filial piety. After the ceremony, the three pairs of red eyes were facing each other, and they couldn't say anything, only heard the north outside the curtain whirring, blowing the sound of dry grass on the roof tiles like weeping.

After a while, Li Xu wiped away his tears and asked quietly, "I'm going to lead troops to Dongjun, Yuan Bei, Yulin, are you two willing to go with me?" ”

"I will definitely go! The old general's life-saving grace back then, Wu is unforgettable! Wu Yulin immediately straightened his body and agreed loudly.

His martial arts are not good, but he is indeed very courageous. When Beihai was sacked by thieves, it was he who broke out of the crowd and rushed hundreds of miles to Qi County to ask Zhang Xutuo to send troops to rescue. So deep down, Wu Qi was very dissatisfied with Zhang Yuanbei's recent behavior. I can't wait to try some means to force the other party to walk with me, and go to the foot of Wagang Mountain to shame the old general.

"My father didn't die at the hands of the Wagang Army!" Zhang Yuanbei hesitated for a moment, then looked at Li Xu and Wu Yulin, who were full of expectation, with gloomy eyes, and responded in a very low voice.

"What do you say?" Li Xu was taken aback, looked at Zhang Yuanbei's withered appearance and asked. In the dim sunlight shining through the window paper, he saw an old, haggard face. Compared with the young heroes in Li Xu's memory, the current eldest son of Zhangfu is simply twenty years older. A face is wrinkled, and the once straight waist is bent down, like a boiled shrimp. The skeleton of the martial artist is already large, but his bones are so big that they cannot be contained by the flesh and skin, his forehead is bulging, and his eyes are deep-set, if it is met by chance at night, it is really suspicious that this person is a skeleton that has just crawled out of the dirt.

"My father didn't die at the hands of the Wagang Army. Before asking me to go back to Qi County to arrange my mother's funeral, he had already expected this day! Zhang Yuanbei had a trace of sadness on his face, and confessed in a low voice, "It's not that Zhang is unfilial, before my father ordered me to return to Qi County, he had a strict order, saying that if something happens, I am not allowed to come forward to avenge him, nor am I allowed to continue to be an official of the Great Sui Dynasty." Therefore, I can only appreciate the kindness of Brother Li and Brother Wu. ”

"Then, then you will watch the old general's head hanging on a high pole and let the wind blow?" Wu Yulin couldn't bear it anymore, jumped up, pointed to Zhang Yuanbei's nose and asked.

"My family has already gone to Wagang with gold and silver to find Zhai Rang to ransom my father's head, and the result will be in a few days. When my father's head is returned, I will withdraw from the mourning hall and return to my hometown with the coffin! Zhang Yuanbei behaved like a zombie who had lost his soul, and he was not moved by Wu Yulin's words at all.

"It's a pity that the old general was a hero, and his head was lost, and his descendants actually had to pay for it to be redeemed by the enemy?" Wu Yulin was so angry that he trembled, ignoring the fact that he was in front of the other party's spirit, and sneered and scolded. If there is a way to make Zhang Yuanbei regain his strength, he will not hesitate to bear the notoriety. It's a pity that this move has fallen into the void again, and Zhang Yuanbei actually just sighed and no longer made any response or justification.

"Yuan Bei, what the hell is going on, can you elaborate on it. Why did General Zhang die, and what did he tell you? Seeing that Wu Yulin was already eager to grab Zhang Yuanbei by the neck and beat him, Li Xu hurriedly separated the two and asked in a low voice.

"Since you went to Yanmen, the children of our Qi County have only received supplies twice. Once it was sent back by your second brother Qin and Shixin, and the other time came from the Li family in Hedong! The brothers were short of food and pay, and they had to go hungry and fight with thieves, and the more they fought, the weaker they became. The soldiers and horses from the eastern capital were nominally under the command of their father, but in fact they did not obey the dispatch once. Zhang Yuanbei shook his head with a smile, his eyes seemed to have seen through all the vanity in the world. My father began to ask for food and salaries from the court, and impeached Liu Changgong and others for disobeying the command. But there was never a real response. Later, he no longer had the strength to vomit with others, so he switched from offensive to defensive, and led his brothers to defend against the Panwa Gang Army to continue to expand his sphere of influence. ”

The imperial court did not believe in the fighting power of the thieves, and at the same time feared that there was a force too large to be restrained near the eastern capital. Li Xu, who has been in the officialdom for so long, quickly deduced the truth behind the scenes from Zhang Yuanbei's words. It's just that he didn't expect that the hundreds of officials, who were usually fighting endlessly, would be able to work together like this to prevent Zhang Xutuo. not only cut off the old general's supplies in one fell swoop, but also did not even leave the old man a chance to appeal.

I think about when I was under the command of the old general, when I didn't chase the rogue and beat him, and when I showed weakness to the enemy. However, General Zhang was forced to bow his head by the traitors, gave up his best field battle, and was exhausted by a group of defeated generals. What a humiliation this is for a martial artist who has been spanning half his life!

But this humiliation is far from the end, some people can't do things, but they are doing it very well. Out of his understanding of the imperial court, Li Xu knew what would happen next. And Zhang Yuanbei's words also confirmed his speculation!

"From the orders sent by the Eastern Capital and Jiangdu, I kept urging my father to sweep the tile as soon as possible." Zhang Yuanbei's words made Li Xu and Wu Yulin feel cold, if they were taken out of the quilt early in the morning, they poured a scoop of ice water on their heads. With indignation, they heard Zhang Yuanbei continue, "I remember the last time the Holy Decree came, and the wording was very harsh. After that, my father called me the only son in the county soldiers to return to Qi County in the name of my mother's funeral, and asked me to make a heavy oath that I would never have the idea of revenge! ”

"Old general, didn't the old general tell me who framed him behind his back?" Wu Yulin, who didn't care about the guilt, asked while trembling.

Zhang Yuanbei is right, the old general did not die at the hands of the Wagang group, behind this, there is a very clear force that is pushing him to a dead end step by step. From this point of view, it is also very clear why the always cautious old general rashly led his troops to chase and kill the enemy when Qin and Luo were no longer around. He wanted to prevent Qin and Luo from accompanying him to die in battle, so he specially chose the opportunity that the two love generals were not around! His last battle was not to kill the enemy at all, but to protest with his life against the man behind the scenes.

"My father wrote to me that the Great Sui Dynasty was already terminally ill. He was favored by two generations of His Majesty, and died for the Great Sui, as a matter of course. But I don't have the obligation to die in the society, so I can't be an official of the Great Sui anymore. Almost gritting his teeth, Zhang Yuanbei finished the old general's last entrustment, and between the corners of his mouth, a stream of blood flowed down.

Li Xu felt that he was completely frozen. He felt the swishing wind in the mourning hall, cold, ten times colder than the snow field outside. This is the last experience of the life of the old man who once supported half of the Great Sui with a pair of shoulders, he has already seen the end of the road clearly, he can no longer protect this court, he can only protect the little faith in his heart. He was indeed not killed by the Wagang army, when the old man rushed into the siege again and again to rescue the fallen robe, I am afraid that his heart has long been lifeless, and all he has is grief and despair.

"After burying General Zhang, where are you going?" At this moment, Li Xu no longer had any reason to ask Zhang Yuanbei to go with him, so he could only do his last bit for his former mentor and invite his children and grandchildren to live a relatively peaceful life in the six counties under his rule.

"They say, everything in the world has a fate! I want to spend ten years to see what are the hidden rules? Zhang Yuanbei sighed softly and replied in a voice that did not belong to him. With that, he took off the sackcloth hat on his head, revealing his bare head and a few incense scars.

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