Zhang Chong, who was in charge of Handan, had received good news from the southern part of Julu and the northern part of the Zhao State in recent days, and the main bandits in the two places had been annihilated, and the various ministries were cooperating with the local civil affairs officials to deal with the matter of household formation.

But this joy did not dilute the sorrow in Zhang Chong's heart. It turned out that there was a great change on Guangzong's side, which caught Zhang Chong off guard.

What happened to the giant deer that made Zhang Chong, who was not moving on all sides, also sad about it?

……

Zhang Jiao, a great sage and good teacher, the eldest of the three brothers of the Julu Zhang family, a doctor who travels all over the world to save the dead and help the wounded, what kind of person is he?

Different people have different answers to this answer.

For ordinary Taiping Daoists, the great sage and good teacher is Huang Tian's will in the world, and he is a true god in the world. For the Han family, this person is the real traitor and evil man, and he will not be redeemed for death. But for the servants around Zhang Jiao, Zhang Jiao is an ordinary old man, with a rotten old man's smell.

And now, this withered old man is thinking about his own aftermath and the next heir.

Today's Taiping Dao, or more specifically the Yellow Turban Army, is at a low ebb after the Great Uprising, but its overall strength is still strong.

The current Taiping Road has its own armed forces in Changshan, Anping, Hejian, Qinghe, and Bohai. In Qingzhou, it occupies most of Qingzhou, and as for the annexation, there are more than 100,000 Taoists. Then in places like Yizhou and Yangzhou, there are also people from their Yellow Turban Army.

Therefore, their Yellow Turban Army is still a great force comparable to a country.

But unfortunately, Zhang Jiao felt that he could no longer lead the Taiping Road. Since last year, he has been living in the palace, even if Guangzong's change cleansed the Wei family, he did not show up.

It's not that Zhang Jiao pretended to be mysterious for the sake of mystery, but an arrow shot in Yecheng last year, which was much more serious than everyone thought.

Zhang Jiao was dragged down by this arrow wound and suffered a great loss of vitality, how could he still have the energy to deal with Taiping Dao? And without Zhang Jiao's planning, Taiping Dao has shrunk in Guangzong in the past two years, and how many opportunities have been missed.

So Zhang Jiao is thinking about the heir.

Originally, I didn't say anything about this matter, the three of them, the third brother died on the battlefield, and he couldn't do it, and the position must have been passed to the local general Zhang Bao.

But the second child has a big flaw in Zhang Jiao's opinion, that is, he is too mediocre. In his opinion, the one who has the temperament of a leader is his third brother, who has a unique personality charm. It's a pity that after all, it is the peace of the heavens, which makes people regret death.

But the words of Han Gou, a close servant, made Zhang Jiao finally choose Zhang Bao. That sentence is:

"The general of the earth is benevolent."

Yes, the second child is benevolent.

It turned out that Zhang Jiao's two favorite concubines, Jia and Pang, were pregnant. For Zhang Jiao, this is simply the last hope.

Because of problems in his early years, he has been childless. I thought that he was destined to serve Huang Tian alone, but I didn't expect that in this year of Guangzong, he miraculously had it, and it was two.

So Zhang Jiao's answer is to give Zhang Baoli a secret edict:

"My insiders, I see two pregnant people. If there are men among them, they should be established as the second prince, and if they are all men, choose those who can be established. ”

In other words, Zhang Jiao thinks that Zhang Bao is honest and kind, and he can keep this peace for him later, and pass it on to him when the time comes.

So, before his death, Zhang Jiao passed the position of great sage and teacher to his second brother Zhang Bao, and he died in Lutaizhong in Guangzong not long after.

The whole city mourns.

And Zhang Chong, who was far away in Handan, got this news, Zhang Jiaoxu.

For Zhang Jiao, Zhang Chong is complicated. This one created the Taiping Dao, but became domineering and sensitive in the taste of power.

But it is undeniable that he Zhang Chong can have now, and the support of Taiping Dao and Zhang Jiao is inseparable.

So it makes sense, this time Zhang Jiaoxue is gone, and he is going to mourn. In fact, Guangzong did invite him to participate.

But once again, Zhang Chong refused. There is no other reason, it is because of the death of his master Zhang Liang, he is not happy.

But Zhang Jiao's funeral was not slowed down by Zhang Chong's absence, and his funeral was held as scheduled on May 20, three days after Zhang Jiao's death.

The coffin was personally supported by the new great sage and mentor Zhang Bao, and Qu Shuai from all over the country, such as Ma Yuanyi, Zhang Niujiao, Guo Daxian, Zuo Zhangba, etc., carried the coffin and escorted Zhang Jiao's body to a good burial point that had already been selected.

When Zhang Jiao was buried, the people who surrounded the soil were small envoys such as Chu Feiyan, Zhang Ji, and Han Dog. They are Zhang Jiao's henchmen, and they are also grateful for the kindness of the great sages and mentors to them.

And now that this father-like god is gone, they can't cry.

In this solemn and sad atmosphere, Zhang Bao's eyes were empty and his thoughts were divergent.

He was thinking about a lot of things, the widow left by those two brothers, and the current situation.

For those two posthumous sons, Zhang Baobing didn't think much about it. Even if it was a threat, it would be more than a decade later.

His headache was the second thing, and that was where their Yellow Turbans should go.

Based on the current situation in Hebei, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the Taishan Army has occupied the absolute initiative. He invited Zhang Chong to Guangzong several times before, but he was refused. It can be seen that if they continue to stay in Hebei in the future, they will inevitably have a battle with the Taishan army.

But this is by no means what Zhang Bao wants. It's not that he cares about the fact that the two sides were once one, but that he knows that he can't beat it.

Zhang Bao knew that his military and political talents were very mediocre, and if this mediocrity was in peacetime, it didn't matter. But in this world of great controversy, mediocrity is the original sin.

So at the beginning, Zhang Bao planned to unite with the remaining Han forces in Hebei. In the past six months, Qinghe, Hejian, Bohai and other places have often attacked and harassed the Yellow Turban Army, and several large conflicts have also broken out.

It's not that the Hebei Yellow Turban still has some strength, and the generals are gathered, and the other side has not made up his mind. The two sides have been fighting for a long time.

Because of this, Zhang Bao already planned to move his forces south to Qingzhou. Qingzhou was his base camp. Previously, his disciple Guan Hai had already occupied the eastern part of Qingzhou, and by there, Taiping Dao would have a steady development.

However, at the funeral meeting the day before, Zhang Bao only briefly said two sentences about this meaning, and was opposed by the generals.

Zhang Bao didn't understand that at this time, most of Guangzong's generals were from Bingzhou and Hebei, and how they were willing to go south to Qingzhou.

What's more, these arrogant generals under Zhang Jiao's command don't look down on Zhang Bao very much, and feel that this person's move is too cowardly.

Zhang Bao is longing for power, but Zhang Bao is very ignorant of its cruelty and operation. And this ignorance will eventually lead to catastrophe.

For for any monarch, if you cannot be loved and feared, you must at least avoid being scorned and hated.

Zhang Bao's weakness and mediocrity suffered from the contempt of the generals. He is like an ignorant child who wants to drive a group of unruly domestic dogs to fight against the external tiger wolves, how can he not suffer backlash?

Among the group of family dogs left by Zhang Jiao to Zhang Bao, the most fierce and intractable is Guangzong's left-behind cavalry commander Zuo Zhangba, who is also the person who was derogatorily called the "bearded thief" by the Han army.

And for these, Zhang Bao didn't know anything, but he didn't know that a whirlwind had gathered around him.

……

On the day of the funeral, Zuo Zhangbachi, as one of the coffin bearers, stood at the forefront of the crowd.

Behind him were the commander of the Zhao State Legion, the commander of the Black Mountain, and the captain of the Qinghe Legion, Colonel Zuo.

Zuo Zhangba's original name is Zuoche, and he is the hero of Qinghe. When Zhang Jiao was preaching on both sides of the river, they joined Zhang Jiao's order after the destruction of their family in Qinghe.

Therefore, the Zuo family is also a very powerful and prestigious family in Taiping Dao. He is already martial and brave, and he was born as Zhang Jiao's personal general. Later, he handed over his Qinghe disciples to his clan brother Zuo Colonel, and he commanded the two thousand elite knights under Zhang Jiao.

And the Zuo clan is also one of the best military leaders in Guangzong because of this.

Zuo Zhanghachi is indeed a good brave general, fast as the wind on the battlefield, fierce and fierce. But what matches his bravery is his rebelliousness.

Once, when he was a guest at someone's house, because the host was a little late for the reception, and the wine he had prepared for him was not strong enough, he beat the man violently in the house, and almost beat him to death.

But because the left beard is very much loved by Zhang Jiao, this matter is over. But the left bearded Zhangba became more and more arrogant, and he took it for himself when he saw that people had good horses, and he fought with people for women, and he also dug up the ancestral graves of local tyrants.

Someone from all of the above has reported to Zhang Jiao. But they were all covered up by Zhang Jiao, and in the end they were annoyed a lot, and Zhang Jiao also asked:

"Is it only the left bearded Zhangbachi who does things alone? just stared at him alone. ”

Zhang Jiao is very familiar with the matter of power, and he knows why these people are impeaching Zuo Zhangba. Because with the entry of the generals of Zhang Bao's family into Guangzong, the position is not enough. And the two thousand elite horses in the left bearded Zhangba's hand have become the weapons that everyone is worried about.

So in a word, the left beard is humane.

There is another place, that is, he is good to die or not, he has offended Zhang Bao with his left beard.

The changes of Guangzong in the past. Wei Shui and other henchmen were on the front line of Julu, and Zhang Bao ordered Zuo Zhangba to lead his 2,000 elite cavalry to rush to the Julu battlefield to capture Wei Shui.

But when the messenger rushed to the military camp of the left bearded Zhangba, he ate the man's closed door.

At first, he called the door at Yuanmen, and he didn't enter until he took out Zhang Bao's military government book. After entering, this left-haired Zhanghachi dared to turn his back and play with the harrier eagle when the order was announced.

I don't even take him as a messenger in my eyes, no, I don't take the Digong general in my eyes. So this person reprimanded the left bearded man in court.

This directly annoyed the left bearded Zhanghachi, and his people directly killed the harrier eagle in his hand to the ground, and scolded angrily:

"I only listen to the orders of the great sages and good teachers, and the rest will not be edicted."

The blood of the harrier eagle and the half of the wings were so terrifying that the messenger did not dare to say more.

After this incident, Zuo Zhangba and Zhang Bao became a fire and water.

In fact, the left bearded shohachi is also quite remorseful. In fact, he couldn't get used to seeing Zhang Bao take his own brother on the spot, so although Wei Tong was Wei Hui's henchman, he was an old man in their Taiping Road after all, and he had made meritorious contributions and shed blood, so he was killed on the spot like a pig and a dog?

It's not appropriate.

Therefore, the left beard is also murderous. After all, which of these old men has no connection with the Wei family? You Zhang Bao can't be so harsh on the elderly.

If you meet a clever person in this matter, you will give the left beard eight steps down in the morning. But who knew that the messenger was so ignorant, but scolded him.

What kind of pig and dog can poop and pee on his head?

So, there was that scene of killing the harrier eagle.

But no matter how much Zuo Zhangba regrets it, he knows that his relationship with Zhang Bao is over.

And now, with Zhang Jiao's death, no one can shelter the left beard. His two thousand elite knights will also face dismemberment.

Therefore, as soon as the left beard is hot, he wants to do the thing of abolishing the establishment. After he learned that the great sage and good teacher had posthumous children, he wanted to endure waiting for them to be born, and then go to kill Zhang Bao and support Zhang Jiao's young son.

But now time can't wait, the people in Zhang Bao's family have been getting more and more rampant recently, and they won't give Zuo Zhangba and the others so much time at all.

So Zuo Bearded Zhanghachi conspired with his brother and ally Montenegro to cause chaos.

Left Bearded Shohachi is just hot-tempered, but not stupid. He knew that in order to rebel, there must be at least a banner that can sensationalize people's hearts, and there must be the right time.

So on the day when they learned that the great sage and good teacher died, they began to discuss, and they really came up with the banner and timing of the rebellion in the past three days.

In today's Guangzong, the biggest resistance is the contradiction between the original Tiangong line and the earthly public lineage.

With the transfer of power to the local prince Zhang Bao, the generals under his command became the descendants. All resources are given priority to these generals, soldiers, armor, and weapons are selected first by this group of people. After the picking, the rest of the people will pick again.

In this case, the first line of the earth is naturally smiling, but the first line of the heavenly government is full of complaints. And not long after, Zhang Niujiao, who has always been dignified in the army, was also secretly surrendered by Mingsheng and seized the military power.

Therefore, the generals of the Tiangong family are actually worried in their hearts, and Zuo Zhangba plans to take advantage of this matter to clear the king's side. The slogan they all thought of:

"The soldiers of Tiangong are also the soldiers of Taiping Dao, and we also have to eat corn."

As for the time, they also set it.

Today, May 20, is the day of the burial of the great sage and good teacher.

But it can't be now, otherwise they will be unknown.

If these cronies of the great sage and good teacher captured and killed Zhang Bao at the funeral of the great sage and good teacher, then it would really be in an uproar in the army.

So at this moment, Zuo Zhangba, Zuo Xiao, Black Mountain and the others just endured it and kept looking at the man with his back to them.

Let's let you live for a while.

At this moment, Zhang Bao, who was in the fugue, naturally didn't know that there were six pairs of green light behind him looking at him with hatred. At this grand funeral, Zhang Bao didn't need to do anything, he just stood there and performed what a new great sage and teacher should look like.

It was also in the endless reverie that this paradoxical funeral ended.

And Zhang Jiao, a figure who influenced the world, also officially closed on this day.

The Yellow Turban forces in Hebei are coming to an end.

(End of chapter)