The steward whispered in Zhang Xiancheng's ear: "Yesterday, the Cui Alang brothers had led their cronies to escape from the city overnight. ”

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know."

Zhang Xiancheng patted the steward on the shoulder and said, "You saved your life." ”

He waved his hand and led a few people away, first informed his henchmen of the news, and after discussing with them, he decided to open the city and surrender to Cheng, but the first thing to do was to release Guo Yinggan from the prison and make his attitude clear from a standpoint, and then it was convenient to make meritorious contributions.

Zhang Xiancheng and Guo Yinggan knew each other in the past, but they were still respectful to him, and ordered someone to invite him to bathe and change clothes, and offered robes and hats, and then invited him to drink and eat. When Zhang Xiancheng was full of food and slightly drunk, Zhang Xiancheng took the opportunity to step forward and said: "General Guo may have a lot of doubts, why did I let you out at this moment, what happened outside?" ”

"I have doubts, but I also believe that it is a good thing."

"That's right, General. Your brother and Du Jun invited reinforcements from the imperial court, they are outside the city of Chengdu at the moment, and the Cui brothers are worried about the betrayal of their relatives, so they have led 3,000 of their henchmen to flee the night before. ”

Guo Yinggan sneered: "The whole world is not the king's land, where can he escape." ”

"It should be Tibet."

Guo Yinggan quickly shot the case: "Don't delay any longer, hurry up and welcome the army into the city, and quickly pursue the Cui brothers and the rest of the party." ”

"Okay, I'll arrange to open the city gate!"

Due to the urgency of time, they opened the city in the evening to welcome the army into the city, Zang Xiyan was wearing a mountain armor and riding on a war horse, looking at the soldiers who laid down their weapons and returned to the city with their eyes wide, they bowed and knelt on the ground, only one of them stood with a smile on his face, and bowed and said: "Welcome General Zang into the city." ”

Zang Xiyan looked at it coldly, raised his horsewhip and asked, "Since you are a general, why don't you kneel to meet the army?" ”

Guo Yingyi, who was behind him, hurriedly crossed his hands and said: "General, this is my brother, the current military envoy of the Xichuan Army, when Cui Ning tried to do wrong, he went deep into the tiger's den to confront him and was imprisoned. ”

Zang Xiyan's expression softened, and he said with a smile: "Since you are General Guo Yinggan, then enter our army's array." ”

Guo Yinggan thanked him, helped a general who was kneeling on the ground and said: "This is Zhang Xiancheng, the marching commander of the unity battalion, and his father is Zhang Shouqi, the former envoy of Youzhou Festival. Zang Xiyan was in awe when he heard this, clasped his fists together and said, "It turned out that after Zhongliang, General Zhang also entered the Jiedu Envoy's Mansion with me. ”

Zhang Xiancheng breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't expect his father, who had been deceased for many years, to give him extra points, and he would inevitably give him the face of the old man in the future and revive the Zhang family's style.

Everyone entered the mansion of the envoy of Jiannan Jiedu, and they sat on the left and right, and Zang Xiyan sat on the main seat.

Guo Yinggan stepped forward and said: "General Zang, the Cui brothers have absconded with 3,000 soldiers and horses three days ago, probably to defect to Tubo, this person is very familiar with the disadvantages of my Jiannanchuan military deployment of city defense, if he surrenders to the Tubo people and unites with the enemy, it will be a great threat to the defense of Shuzhong." ”

Zang Xiyan's eyes looked towards the generals and asked, "Who is willing to lead a cavalry to pursue Cui Ning Cui Mi." ”

The generals under his command stepped forward one after another to ask for their orders, expressing their willingness to lead the army to attack.

Zhang Xiancheng stepped forward, his voice was a little louder than the others, and his momentum was slightly stronger than theirs: "If General Zang doesn't dislike it, the last general is willing to select more than 4,000 horsemen in the unity camp, and in any case, Cui Ning will be chased back." ”

As soon as his words fell, what was exchanged for a sneering snort from everyone, who doesn't know that you Zhang Xiancheng is Cui Ning's old subordinate, and it is not certain whether you want him to chase him or chase the enemy.

Zang Xiyan squinted his eyes and thought for a moment, and asked him, "Can General Zhang guarantee that Cui Ning and Cui Mi can be captured back?" ”

"The lowly is willing to make a military order, and if he cannot make the two willingly submit, he will take their heads back."

"In this case, I will ask Guo Yingyi and Guo Yinggan to transfer 1,000 soldiers and horses from the East and West Sichuan Army to you, a total of 6,000 iron cavalry, hoping that the general can go and return early."

"General Xie Zang trusts him, and his humble position will definitely live up to his expectations."

Zhang Xiancheng immediately went down to mobilize troops and horses, stepped up to make half a month's worth of dry food, and the cavalry rode in the northwest direction, they passed through the rugged mountains of Yazhou, climbed over two snow-capped mountains, and inquired back and forth in several prefectures, and finally met Cui Ning's southward escape team near Shaba Mountain in Heishui County, the border between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo.

At this time, Cui Ning's situation was miserable enough, after a few days and nights of turbulence, the people's hearts under his command changed, and these so-called loyal generals gradually began to be dissatisfied, and every time they camped at night, they would lose men and horses the next morning. These ungrateful men fled and stole their meagre food, leaving them hungry and having to hunt or kill horses and eat meat to maintain their strength.

At this moment, he was leading the horse under the snowy mountain with frost and sideburns, staggering with a horizontal knife in his hand, as if he was on crutches, and when he saw the pursuit of the distant team, his face appeared indifferent to the lovelessness of birth.

When he saw that the chasing general was Zhang Xiancheng, he felt a little lucky in his heart, and stepped forward with a knife and asked in a weak voice: "General Zhang Xiancheng, are you here to arrest our brother back?" ”

Zhang Xiancheng closed his eyes and didn't speak for a long time, and then said loudly: "Yes." ”

"Our brother has always treated you well, why is the general so unkind?" There was an indescribable sadness in Cui Ning's voice.

Zhang Xiancheng replied expressionlessly: "Doctor Cui's words are different, I came to persuade you to go back, not only not to harm you, but to save you and prevent you from making mistakes, and finally ended up in disrepute, and the bones were far away from the homeland, leaving behind you to be infamous." ”

Cui Ning laughed bitterly at himself: "Now that I have fallen into such a field, do you still care about any infamy?" ”

"Has the general ever thought about your descendants, will they also follow you to abandon your homeland and become a minister, do not argue with Huayi, forget your ancestors, and disgrace the ancestors of the Boling Cui clan, what face do you have to see them at that time."

"Shut up!" Cui Ning sneered angrily: "Zhang Xiancheng, your mother, don't forget whose son you are, now the court doesn't care about pursuing it, if you dig deeper, your father is a sinner in this world." He accepted An Thief Lushan as his righteous son, and personally lifted him from a sheep thief to a high position, if it weren't for your father's unknown knowledge, how could the world have been in the world for seven or eight years! ”

Zhang Xiancheng's face turned slightly blue, and the corners of his twitching mouth finally turned into a wry smile: "Doctor Cui is right, my father is wrong to know people, and he mistakenly believed in thieves and caused chaos in the world, although he was later degraded, he could not atone for his sins." As a son, I naturally have to do my best to redeem it and let the world return to peace as soon as possible. Dr. Cui, although you have taken a few wrong steps, you should give your children a chance to redeem themselves. After you go back with me, I am willing to save your life to General Zang and even King Yong, so that your heirs can become officials in the future. ”

"Haha, I'm not ashamed, who do you think you are, it's just a small unity battalion marching Sima, and you still want to go up to the heavens. Kunpeng is swaying thousands of miles, how can you see an ant like you on the ground? ”

Zhang Xiancheng said calmly: "Doctor Cui is right, Kunpeng can't see the ants, but the ants use their strength to climb and shout, and even give up their lives. I am willing to guarantee Dr. Cui's life with my life, if Dr. Cui believes me, he will go back with me to confess, if Dr. Cui does not believe it, then don't blame his subordinates for being ruthless. “

Cui Ning knew that he could not escape this place today, and there were only two ways to go, desperately and following Zhang Xiancheng back, his brother Cui Mi stood next to him, and his expression was also relaxed, and he looked at Cui Ning with an inquiring gaze.

When Doctor Cui was helpless, he turned to the hundreds of soldiers who were looking at him and said, "Put down your arms and return to the imperial court." ”