The army of the thieves dragged on until the end of June, and under Zhao Ji's repeated urging, Yang Jian finally hardened his head and set off with five generals and 150,000 soldiers and horses.

On the third day after Yang Jian's departure, Zhao Gou's 15th army also slowly pulled out the camp and marched in the direction of Xuchang.

The actions of the Song army have long been reported by spies to their respective battalions.

After Fang La received the notice of the Song army attacking Xuchang, he ordered the rest of the generals to stick to the city, he left Shi Bao with 10,000 elite soldiers to guard Nanyang, and he took the military advisor Wu Yong, and the generals Gao Chong, Yue Fei, Qiu Qionghu, Xie Zhen, Xie Bao, Dai Zong and others, led an army of 50,000 to meet the enemy in person.

At the end of July, Guan Sheng, the vanguard general of Zhao Gou's army, arrived at the city of Xuchang with more than a dozen partial generals and 30,000 horses.

Guan Sheng is a world-famous general, not only extraordinary martial arts, unstoppable bravery, but also quite strategic.

Guan Sheng led the army to the city of Xuchang, selected the camp, stationed the soldiers and horses, and rode to the city with more than 100 personal soldiers, shouting a hundred steps away: "Please stand up and speak from the chief general stationed in Xuchang City." ”

After a while, Fang La took Gao Zhong and others to the city tower at the east gate of Xuchang.

Fang La arched his hand and said: "The general below is invited, I am the generalissimo Fang La of the Huaixi Shuntian initiative, I don't know what the general has to say." ”

Guan Sheng said: "I am Guan Sheng, the vanguard general under the command of His Royal Highness the Generalissimo Prince, and I am here to crusade against you on the orders of His Royal Highness the Prince." ”

"You open the door and surrender now, I can intercede for you in front of His Royal Highness the Prince, forgive your sins, and then make meritorious contributions, and in the future, you can also be awarded official positions for meritorious service, and glorify your ancestors."

"Otherwise, when the prince's army arrives, the city will be broken and the jade will be burned."

Fang La said: "I know that your Guan family is a loyal heirloom, and I don't advise you to surrender to us." ”

"We only know that the current Great Song Dynasty is terminally ill, and it is just barely breathing."

"Last year, there was a severe drought in the north, and the red land was thousands of miles, and the sorrow was everywhere. I didn't hear that the official family ordered his subordinates to open warehouses and release grain to save the people. ”

"Yang Jian, Qin Hui and others instead sent people to drive more than a million refugees to Taihang Mountain, in a vain attempt to bring down the Yang family's army."

"Who in the Great Song Dynasty doesn't know that the Yang family is loyal and righteous, and it is a family of generals who was given the Xuantie Treasure Sword by Emperor Taizong. Even such generations of loyalty and goodness have been forced to settle down in Taihang Mountain, so how many people in the entire Great Song Dynasty still think that there is still hope for the current official family and the imperial court? ”

"We raised the banner of righteousness in Huaixi, only trying to cut off one side, resist the rebellious soldiers of Wang Qing and Tian Hu, and let the people here live and work in peace and contentment, and did not want to really embarrass the imperial court. I just don't want the people in these places to be affected by the war. ”

"Therefore, we will not take any further siege except for the places we occupy. Moreover, we do not occupy these states and counties in vain, in the past, how much tax the imperial court paid in these places, we also paid so much tax money every year. In addition, if you are willing, we can send troops to help the imperial court exterminate Wang Qing and Tian Hu, so that the people of these places can be freed from the war as soon as possible. ”

"You can tell the prince what I said, and if they are interested in uniting with us, they can send representatives into the city to negotiate."

Guan Sheng responded: "In this case, when His Royal Highness the Crown Prince arrives, please ask him to decide." ”

At noon the next day, Zhao Gou led his army to Xuchang. Zhao Gou ordered the city of Xuchang to be surrounded before setting up camp.

After a while, Guan Sheng entered the tent of the commander of the army to meet Zhao Gou. Zhao asked about the fighting yesterday and this morning.

Guan Sheng informed Fang La's intentions and asked the prince to decide.

Zhao Gou was still pondering, and Qin Hui suddenly shouted: "Come on, Guan Sheng fornicated with the enemy, and decapitated." ”

Guan Sheng said: "A certain person is not guilty, I don't know why the military advisor said this?" ”

Qin Hui said with a gloomy face: "After you arrived here, you didn't actively lead the troops to attack the city, just imagine that a battle has not been fought, the outcome is unknown, how can the thief show favor and be willing to surrender?" ”

Guan Sheng argued: "Fang La didn't say that he was going to surrender, he just said that he was willing to help us defeat Wang Qing and Tian Hu. ”

"And then, they still occupy those territories. And they are also willing to pay the total tax revenue of these places every year. ”

"I think this is not a bad thing for the imperial court. The imperial court sent people to manage the place, just to collect all kinds of taxes, and now although Fang La and others occupy these territories, the imperial court has not reduced its income because of this, in fact, it is like handing it over to them to manage. ”

"What's more, this matter is negotiated, after the discussion is completed, the imperial court can also get the help of tens of thousands of troops, and it will be easier to exterminate Wang Qing and Tian Hu."

"You believe what the thief says, unless you are one of their people. How long will it take him down if the axemen doesn't take him down? "Qin Hui is unrelenting.

The knife and axe man outside the tent walked in and took Guan Sheng down. He Huashan and Yu Jianshan hurriedly knelt down to intercede for Guan Sheng.

Yu Jianshan said: "General Guan is just a reality, I don't agree with his opinion, and the whole army is fighting." Why do we have to kill the vanguard general before the war, I don't know if this is to help the enemy or ourselves. ”

He Huashan also said: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is the commander, the military division is just a counselor military aircraft, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has not expressed his position, and the Qin military division will insist on going his own way, and those who don't know think that the Qin military division has a personal enmity with General Guan." ”

Qin Hui saw that He Yuer would question himself like this, and he hated the two of them in his heart.

Hu Yanqing saw that Zhao Gou still didn't say anything, so he also came over and knelt down and said: "Please think twice, His Royal Highness the Prince, it is really difficult to convince the public with such an unknown reward and punishment." ”

Dong Ping saw that all the five generals knelt down, and said in his heart, this Qin Hui's heart is not right, and it will inevitably be bad luck for me one day, and then he still has to rely on everyone to intercede, so he also came to kneel down and pleaded.

Hundreds of generals saw that the five main generals knelt down, and suddenly all knelt down.

Zhao Gou couldn't say anything when he saw it: "Okay, generals, please get up, although Guan Sheng's approach is wrong, but the starting point is good, just spare him this time." Let him make meritorious service and immediately lead the soldiers and horses of his headquarters to challenge. ”

Do you know why Qin Hui wants to kill Guan Sheng. Because Guan Sheng wanted to persuade Zhao Gou to accept Fang La's suggestion, the two sides first jointly attacked Wang Qing.

In this way, Wang Qing would be attacked by the three armies of Yang Jian's army, Zhao Gou's army and Fang La's army, and he would inevitably be defeated and soon exterminated.

Then with three victorious divisions, the army swung north, coupled with the Taiyuan iron cavalry in the middle division, Tian Hu's army will inevitably collapse quickly.

This Qin Hui himself is a high-level spy of the Jin State, he knows that Wang Qing and Tian Hu are both raised by the Jin people to specifically cause trouble in the Central Plains, if these two people collapse soon, and he also plays an important role in it, the strength of the Song Dynasty has not been weakened, then Jin Wushu and others will inevitably be angry with him.

Therefore, he first had to defeat the illusion of Zhao Gou and others wanting to unite with Fang La, so that the two sides could fight with real knives and guns, and it had nothing to do with him as to who lost or who won.