Chapter 11: Bad News

Happy days always fly by, Li Cunmiao bid farewell to his beloved wife Xue Yumei, and went to the Yellow River battlefield where the two countries faced off from Jin and Liang. The rivalry between Liang and Jin was a tug-of-war, with the two sides repeatedly fighting along the Yellow River.

In 919, the Jin general Li Cunshen entered Desheng City, an important ferry port leading from Weizhou to Bianzhou, and built two cities in the north and south on both sides of the Yellow River. Liang was afraid that once the Jin army gained a foothold in Desheng City, it would have a bridgehead across the Yellow River and could cross the Yellow River at any time and attack Bianzhou and Luoyang.

So while the Liang general He Gui desperately besieged the southern city of Desheng on the south bank of the Yellow River, the Liang army used bamboo ropes to connect the warships across the river and block the reinforcements led by Li Cunqiao on the north bank of the Yellow River.

Seeing that the situation was critical, Li Cunqiao urgently ordered Li Jianhe to lead 300 warriors to break the water blockade of the Liang army. Li Jianji led the army from the upstream to drive a small boat into the river quickly, and the warriors jumped onto the enemy ship, and finally broke through the Liang army's ship formation. Li Cunmiao took advantage of the situation to cross the river with his army and defeated the Liang army.

The Liang army was unwilling to fail, and the Liang general Wang Zan crossed the river from Liyang, and stationed Yangcundu on the north bank, built a pontoon bridge on the Yellow River, and stored a large number of military supplies. In order to prevent the Liang army from crossing the river and counterattacking, Li Cunqiao levied tens of thousands of people to expand the northern city of Desheng. The two armies of Liang and Jin repeatedly fought around the ferry along the Yellow River, and the two armies fought more than 100 battles every day, winning and losing each other, showing a tug-of-war situation.

The confrontation over the past few days has been unable to break the deadlock, which has made Li Cunqiao a little anxious. On this day, Li Cunxuan wanted to go into battle to challenge the Liang army, but was pulled by the head of the horse by Li Cunxian, the Ninth Taibao, and advised: "The king must not fight in person, you are shouldering the heavy responsibility of restoring the society of the Tang Dynasty, and you should cherish yourself for the sake of the world." Raising the flag to challenge and swinging the sword into battle is the duty of the soldiers, not what the king should do. Although the minister has no talent as a general, he does not dare not worry about the king. Li Cunqiao saw that Li Cunxian's attitude was resolute, so he had to give up. After most of the day, Li Cunqiao took advantage of the Ninth Taibao Li Cunxuan to go out to patrol the camp, led a team of Jin troops out of the barracks, and said to the attendants on the left and right: "This old man is hindering me from playing. He rode his horse to challenge in front of the Liang military camp, Liang general Xie Yanzhang led the troops out of the camp to fight, did not fight a few rounds, Xie Yanzhang pretended to be invincible and fled, Li Cunqiao waved his army to chase, but was ambushed by Liang general Xie Yanzhang, and was besieged by the Liang army. When the situation was critical, fortunately, Li Cunxian, the Ninth Taibao, returned from his patrol camp and learned that Li Cunqing, the king of Jin, led a team to fight, and hurriedly led a team to help. Li Cunxian attacked Xie Yanzhang's back, killed the Liang army, and Li Cunxuan had to get out of trouble.

Li Cunmiao was in the camp to discuss the military situation, and the sentry came to report: "King Qiqi, Zhu Youqian, the envoy of the Hezhong Festival, has captured Tongzhou and sent a messenger to surrender to my Jin Kingdom." Li Cunqiao said, "Please send the messenger in." After a while, the lieutenant of the Chinese military led a middle-aged man to the account, and the middle-aged man saluted and said: "The envoy of the river festival is General Zhu Youqian, and the messenger Liang Kui is to see His Royal Highness the King of Jin." Li Cunmiao asked, "What position does Mr. Liang have in Hezhong?" Why? Liang Kui replied: "The contemptible people served as military advisors in the river and came to seek refuge in the king of Jin in the river." "Why do you want to take refuge in this king?" Liang Kui said: "Zhu Youqian, the envoy of the festival in the river, was the Shaanzhou Military Academy at the beginning, and then killed Wang Heng, the envoy of the Baoyi Festival, and attached to Zhu Wen, the envoy of the Xuanwu Festival. was recorded by Zhu Wen as an adopted son, and after Zhu Wen ascended the throne, he worshiped the envoy of the river festival, kept the order of the book, and was crowned the king of Ji. After Zhu Youqi killed his father and usurped the throne, in order to win over and stabilize the promotion of my general, he was promoted to the middle of the service. Not long ago, Zhu Youqi summoned my general to the court, and my general was worried about the accident and refused to go, so he came to join the king of Jin. Li Cunmiao took the performance that the captain took from Liang Kui, and after reading it, he said to Liang Kui: "This king is Kuang Fu Tang Sheji, and Zhu Liang who usurped the country, your general can abandon the darkness and turn to the light, this king is very welcome, go back and please tell General Zhu, let him attack Zhu Liang with the Jin army, I will repair a letter and ask Mr. to bring it back." Liang Kui thanked and retreated.

When Zhu Youqi, the emperor of Liang, heard that Zhu Youqian had rebelled against Liang and surrendered to Jin, he immediately sent Han Qing to lead Kang Huaiying and other 50,000 troops to attack Zhu Youqian. Li Cunqing, the king of Jin, sent troops to rescue Zhu Youqian, met Kang Huaiying's army in Xie County, defeated him, chased him until Baijingling, lit torches overnight to attack, and did not give the Liang army a chance to breathe, Liang Kang Huaiying was defeated again and fled, and the Liang army retreated.

In 920, Zhu Youqian attacked Tongzhou on the orders of Li Cunxuan, but was besieged by Liu Cheng of Liang. Li Cunxuan ordered the Ninth Taibao Li Cunxun and the Second Taibao Li Sizhao to lead the army to the rescue. In September, Li Cunxian, the Ninth Taibao, entered the river and stationed troops in the court.

In view of the pride of the Liang army, which had always despised the Hezhong army, Li Cunxian selected 200 elite cavalry and mixed them to fight in the Hezhong army, which frustrated the spirit of the Liang army and forced Liu Jun not to dare to fight easily. The generals were worried that the Hezhong army had just thrown itself into the Jin State and would repeat it, so they suggested a quick decisive battle to determine the outcome as soon as possible. However, Li Cunxian put forward the plan of "slowing down the division to show weakness and waiting for the gap to be surprising", and the army did not move until more than ten days later, seeing that the Liang army was slightly relaxed, he suddenly marched into attack and defeated Liu Jun. Liu Cheng was defeated in a row and could not hold out, so Li Cunxian immediately ordered Li Jianhe to go to Shayuan to graze horses to show relaxation and induce Liu Cheng to think that he could withdraw while the Jin army was lax. Seeing that the Liang army was retreating, Li Cunzhen took advantage of the situation to lead the army in pursuit, and defeated Liu Cheng again at the Wei River. Li Cunxuan was full of praise for the serial three plans of Li Cunxuan of the Ninth Taibao.

When the two armies of Jin and Liang were fighting back and forth on both sides of the Yellow River, Li Cunmiao received bad news from Jinyang, Mrs. Anguo's mansion was attacked late at night, Mrs. Anguo Xue Yumei and Guozhang Xue Ziang were killed, the thieves lit a fire, and the guards and servants suffered heavy casualties.

Li Cunmiao heard that it was like five thunderbolts, and he couldn't believe it. He urgently ordered his personal guards to rush to Jinyang with him, and Guo Chongtao was worried that the king of Jin would lose, so he also followed. When he returned to Jinyang City, he came directly to Mrs. Anguo's mansion. I saw that most of Mrs. Anguo's mansion was burned to ruins, and it was a mess everywhere. Only a few houses were not connected together, and the fire was not burned in time. Li Cunmiao was filled with grief and indignation, and shouted: "Call the leaders of Jinyang City, the city defense, and the guards!" Guo Chongtao motioned for the three people who rushed over after hearing the news to come forward to see King Jin. The three of them knelt on the ground tremblingly, and Li Cunqiao forcibly suppressed his anger and asked, "Where is Mrs. Anguo?" Seongzai replied tremblingly: "The remains of Mrs. An Guo are stored in an unburned room in the mansion, and they are guarded day and night, waiting for the king to come back and see it." Li Cunmiao impatiently: "Lead the way ahead." The three of them hurriedly got up and trotted to a room that was not burning, Seongzai pushed open the door and invited Li Cunqiao to enter at the door, he said carefully: "His Royal Highness King Jin, Mrs. Anguo was stabbed several times, but fortunately it was not burned, and she has asked the maid to make up and change her clothes for her." Li Cunmiao walked into the room in a trance, only to see a long table in the center of the house, covered with a large white cloth. Li Cunmiao threw himself in front of the table, his hands trembling to uncover the white cloth, Li Cunmiao looked at Xue Yumei's lifeless pale face, and muttered: "Lady, come for the husband, wake up, wake up, wake up." Li Cunmiao's tears dripped down, and his voice cried in a choked voice: "Lady, wake up quickly, I can't lose you for my husband!" He took Xue Yumei's body off the table, hugged it tightly in his arms, and sat on the ground, his face pressed against Yumei's cold cheeks. Li Cunqiao hugged Yumei and kept talking and talking.

Guo Chongtao called the city slaughter, the city defense, and the guards to the front and asked in detail what had happened. It turned out that dozens of assassins jumped over the wall into Mrs. Anguo's mansion that night, first quietly killed the guards, and then rushed into Xue Yumei's bedroom, brutally killing Xue Yumei and the unformed child in her womb, and Xue Ziang and several maids were not spared. After listening to this, Guo Chongtao pondered for a moment and said: "It seems that this group of thieves is well prepared and well-trained. From what you and others have said, it can be imagined that they have a clear division of labor, and they are divided into at least three groups of people, one group is responsible for covering, guarding the entrances and exits, shooting guards with arrows and crossbows, one group is responsible for assassinating targets, and the other group is responsible for setting fire with fire oil. It is likely that these Liang Assassins have been lurking in Jinyang for a long time, and they still have their eyeliner in the city. He then said to Li Cunmiao's guards: "Immediately send the leader of the forbidden army to see him." The leader of the forbidden army was already waiting, and when he heard the guards passing him, he immediately walked quickly to Guo Chongtao, knelt down on one knee and saluted: "The last general, Li Yingxiang, is the general of the general." Guo Chongtao looked at him: "You immediately lead people to block the four gates of Jinyang City, check the people who enter and exit, and arrest them immediately once they find any suspicious people, especially pay attention to the spies of Liang State, this is one of them." Second, arrange for his subordinates to find the traces of the assassins of the Liang Kingdom in Jinyang City, there are quite a few of these assassins, and they will definitely leave clues in places such as inns and oil shops. You must search carefully and make no mistakes. "The last will be ordered!" Li Yingxiang left quickly and went to mobilize people to investigate.

Guo Chongtao called Wang Huai, the waiter of the Ministry of Rites, and discussed with him the funeral of Anguo's wife Xue Yumei and his father-in-law Xue Ziang, and asked him to prepare as soon as possible and put Anguo's wife into the ground. After these things were arranged, he saw that Li Cunmiao had not come out yet, so he was waiting outside the door, he knew that Li Cunmiao and Xue Yumei had a deep relationship, and it was difficult to accept the fact that Xue Yumei suddenly encountered an accident. After more than an hour, Li Cunqiao slowly moved out of the house. Guo Chongtao hurriedly stepped forward to support Li Cunmiao and briefly reported his arrangements to him, Li Cunmiao nodded, pointed to the city slaughter, city defense, and the head of the palace guards and said: "Mrs. Anguo was killed, these three people were derelict in their duties, and they were pulled out and beheaded!" Guo Chongtao replied: "The head of the guards in Mrs. Anguo's mansion has been killed that night, and this is the head of the palace guards. Li Cunmiao said irrefutably: "I cut it too!" Guo Chongtao waved his hand to his subordinates, and the guards tied up the three and killed them on the spot.

Guo Chongtao led the guards to escort Li Cunqiao back to the Jin Palace. He took a few entourages to Jinyang Red Theater, which was closed after Mrs. An Guo was killed. The subordinates knocked on the door, the theater men opened the door, Guo Chongtao and his subordinates walked into the theater, and the subordinates asked the men to call the Hu shopkeeper. After a while, Shopkeeper Hu came out with a depressed expression, and saw that it was Guo Chongtao, Guo Chongtao had been to the theater before, and they knew each other, so they saluted and said, "What is General Guo doing here?" Guo Chongtao said: "Shopkeeper Hu, I am here to investigate the assassination of Mrs. Anguo, and I want you to ask about the situation." "General Guo, please speak, Hu knows everything." Guo Chongtao asked Shopkeeper Hu to sit down and replied: "Shopkeeper Hu, please recall, before Mrs. Anguo was killed, was there any suspicious person in the theater?" Especially people who don't have a Liang Guo accent? Shopkeeper Hu thought about it and said, "It's nothing special, business was very busy at those times, and no suspicious people were found." Guo Chongtao said: "If you recall it carefully, is there anything different from usual." Shopkeeper Hu pondered for a moment and said: "What you said reminded me that once, the guests in the private room on the second floor did not leave for a long time after they left, and it was not until Master Xue and Mrs. An Guo came out of the backstage and were about to go home that they went downstairs and stood at the door and watched Lord Xue and Mrs. Xue. I thought they were just looking at Madame and wanting to see me. Guo Chongtao asked, "What do these people look like?" "It's some young people, not like rich boys, but like some practitioners." "How many times have these people been here?" "I've been here three or four times, and each time it's a private room on the second floor." "You said that these people are not like rich sons, why are they private rooms on the second floor every time, and the cost of private rooms is not low." "Yes, it's not easy to buy tickets for the private room, and every time it's the house booked by Sun Xunye, the eldest grandson of the rice family in Jinyang." Guo Chongtao was suspicious: "Has Sun Xunye booked a room before?" "Since the last time the troupe first came to Jinyang, he wanted to flirt with Mrs. Anguo, but he was taught a lesson by King Jin, and he never came again." "Then he still wants to book a room?" "He said that a friend asked him to order it." Guo Chongtao said to his subordinates: "Immediately pass on Sun Xunye of the Sun family's rice shop to come to the theater." The men answered. After a while, he came back and reported: "Sun Xunye is not at home, and the housekeeper said that he went to other places with his father to do business a few days ago." ”

Guo Chongtao said: "Immediately send a team of forbidden troops to surround Sun's house, and we will go to his house to search." Guo Chongtao led his men to Sun's house, and the housekeeper of the Sun family just saw that the forbidden army had come to find Sun Xunye, and now a large group of forbidden troops came to surround the compound, and he was a little nervous. Guo Chongtao waved his hand to let the forbidden army search, and asked his subordinates to call over the housekeeper, Guo Chongtao asked, "When did your owner and son leave Jinyang?" The housekeeper trembled and said, "The owner and the young master left three days ago, I don't know what the military master is looking for them?" "Did someone from Liang come to your house a few days ago?" "No, our rice shop also has business in Liang State, and there are often business names in Liang Country, and they usually come to the store to negotiate, and rarely come to their homes." "Where did your owner say he was? When will you be back? "The owner just said that he was going to a few branches in other places, and he didn't say when he would come back. Dare to ask what is the matter with the military master? "Don't ask what you shouldn't." After a long time, the forbidden soldiers came back to report, but they did not find the Sun family's father and son, Guo Chongtao said: "Take the housekeeper back for interrogation." ”

In the evening, the forbidden army who searched all parts of the city came back to report, and arrested the shopkeeper of the kerosene shop and the Yuelai inn and came back for interrogation. Guo Chongtao said: "Take the shopkeeper of the oil shop. The shopkeeper of the kerosene shop was a fat man, Guo Chongtao stared at his fat face and asked sharply, "Are you guilty?" The shopkeeper of the oil shop shook his fat head: "I don't know what the crime is." Guo Chongtao said: "You fornicated with the assassins of Liang State, sold them fire oil, and burned Mrs. Anguo's mansion. The shopkeeper of the oil shop knelt down with a puff: "Small wrongs, please check the general." Guo Chongtao snorted coldly: "Wronged? Let me ask you, did someone buy a few large barrels of kerosene in your store some time ago? "General, someone bought a lot of fire oil in my shop, but it was not from Liang Guo, it was the Sun family's rice store in the city, they bought a lot, and they delivered it to his family in two installments." "You tell me the details." "That's right, more than a month ago, Sun Jiamixing came to the villain's store to order a batch of hot oil, due to the large quantity, we prepared the oil in two batches, and packed it in small barrels according to his family's requirements." "Who will order it from the Sun family? Where to send to? "It's the shopkeeper Zhao of the Sun family's rice store, and he sent it to the Sun family's rice store." Guo Chongtao asked the shopkeeper of the oil shop to be taken down, and then asked Li Yingxiang, the leader of the forbidden army, to arrest the shopkeeper of Sun Jiamixing Zhao for questioning. After Li Yingxiang left, Guo Chongtao interrogated the shopkeeper of the Yuelai Inn, this person looked yellow and thin, Guo Chongtao asked: "A few days ago, did you live in your inn from Liang Guoren?" The shopkeeper of Yuelai Inn replied: "There are more than a dozen guests who have stayed for nearly a month, and they say that they are merchants from Sun's rice shop, and they listen to the accent in several places." "Do the average out-of-town visitors stay in the store for a month?" "Back to the general, it is very rare, just because they are merchants of the Sun family's rice shop, and the Sun family has paid a month's rent in advance, so the small ones don't care, anyway, it's always good to have a business." Guo Chongtao slapped the table: "The dog thing is blinded by money, how can there be such a strange thing, more than a dozen people live in your store for a month, isn't it suspicious?" What kind of people are they? The thin shopkeeper weakened his knees, knelt on the ground and said: "Little guilty, after you have reminded you so, these people are indeed suspicious, they are all young and strong young men, and they usually go in and out, and they don't look like they are buying and selling." "When did these people leave?" "I left just five days ago." "Leave something behind." "Not really, it's just that there were 15 people when I came, and there were two fewer when I left." "How do you remember so clearly?" "Our store is based on the number of people, and when they left, there were two fewer people, but they still paid according to 15 people, so the villain didn't care about those." "Do you know who they're dealing with?" "Except for the people from the Sun family's rice shop, there is basically no contact with outsiders. I once happened to hear them say that it seemed that the Huaxi Inn in the city also lived with their people. Guo Chongtao said that after asking people to take the shopkeeper of Yuelai Inn down, he shouted: "Come on, immediately arrest the shopkeeper of Huaxi Inn for me." ”

Guo Chongtao then interrogated Sun Chuanxu, the shopkeeper of the Sun family's rice shop, this Sun Chuanxu is the younger brother of the proprietor Sun Chuanhe and Sun Xunye's uncle, Guo Chongtao asked Sun Chuanxu: "More than a dozen merchants in the Yuelai Inn are guests of your rice shop?" Sun Chuan continued to calm down: "Yes, military master, they came to Jinyang to buy rice and grain with my family." "It won't take a month to buy rice and grain." "Back to the military master, because of the large amount they bought, and they also have to negotiate the business of the next year, they will delay in Jinyang for a longer time." "That's what they bought the oil?" "That's not it, my family bought it themselves." "Do you have that much oil at home?" "My family buys fire oil because the fire oil in other places is more expensive than the one bought in Jinyang, so I buy some faint and sell it in other places." "Your family is obviously in the rice and grain business, how can you buy oil?" "Master Jun didn't know that although my family was mainly engaged in the rice and grain business, the oil was profitable, so he bought some and sold it with the grain truck, and sometimes when he saw that other goods were profitable, my family did the same." "Let me ask you again, are those people assassins sent by Liang Guo, specially here to assassinate Princess Anguo." Sun Chuanxu was shocked, and hurriedly said calmly: "It's really not, please check it out." Guo Chongtao sneered: "It seems that you don't cry when you don't see the coffin!" Come on, take them down and torture them! The two wrestlers grabbed Sun Chuanxu and dragged him to the execution house, Sun Chuanxu shouted: "Master Jun, I was wronged!" ”

This is a subordinate report: "The shopkeeper of the Bloomage Inn brought it." Guo Chongtao said: "Bring it in." A red-faced and slightly chubby middle-aged man was brought in, and his subordinates shouted, "Kneel!" Guo Chongtao asked, "Who are you?" "In the Lower Huaxi Inn, the shopkeeper Zhang Haoren." Guo Chongtao sneered: "I think you call yourself a good person." Zhang Haoren smiled and said, "The military master is joking." Guo Chongtao slapped the table: "Who is joking with you!" You quickly recruited from the truth, how to harbor the assassins of the Liang Kingdom. Zhang Haoren kowtowed: "The military master spares his life, the military master spares his life, the contemptible person is a businessman, and he has never colluded with Liang Guo." "Then tell me about your inn, why were dozens of Liang State assassins renting it some time ago?" "You're talking about the merchant who rented in my store some time ago, it was introduced by Sun's rice shop, because the location of the contemptible inn is a little off, and the business has been tepid. These merchants of Sunjia Rice Store have to live for a month, and there are more than 30 people, so they just contracted the store, and the villain closed this business. Guo Chongtao said in his heart: It's the Sun family again. He then asked, "What kind of people are these things, like merchants?" Zhang Haoren tilted his head and said: "When you say this, I think of it, these people are almost all young and strong, not like ordinary merchants. Guo Chongtao understood in his heart, and said to his subordinates: "Call Li Yingxiang, the leader of the forbidden army." Li Yingxiang came to the case and arched his hand: "Please give the general an order." Guo Chongtao said: "Immediately seal up the Sun family's rice store and the Sun family's house, and everyone will be arrested and imprisoned!" "The last will be ordered!"

Guo Chongtao continued to interrogate Zhang Haoren: "Since you found something suspicious, why didn't you report it to the government?" Zhang Haoren said tremblingly: "Master Huijun, the villain's inn has always been not very good, and can only barely maintain, the Sun family rice store is a famous big family in our Jinyang City, and it is the honor of this small shop to be able to do his business, so the villain didn't care about these at that time." Guo Chongtao saw that he couldn't ask anything new, so he asked his subordinates to escort people down.

Guo Chongtao drank tea and waited for Sun Chuanxu, the shopkeeper of the Sun family's rice shop, to interrogate him after being tortured, and after a while, two wrestlers came in with the paralyzed Sun Chuanxu, threw Sun Chuanxu to the ground, and a wrestler said contemptuously: "I thought it was so hard, it was a soft bone, and I was scared after a few strokes, and I begged for mercy vigorously." Guo Chongtao drank tea and looked at Sun Chuanxu, who was covered in blood on the ground, and asked, "What?" Can you say that now? Sun Chuanxu slowly got up, lay on the ground with his hands, kowtowed and said, "The general spares his life, all this is arranged by my eldest brother Sun Chuanhe and my little nephew Sun Xunye." "Start from the beginning and tell me what happened 1510!" "Yes, yes, a month ago, my eldest brother, Sun Chuanhe, the owner of the Sun family's rice shop, told me that a group of guests from the Liang Kingdom were going to come to Jinyang to live for a few days, what were they doing, he asked me not to ask, just told me to quietly find a good place for them to live, and not to let outsiders know. So, I found Yuelai Inn and Huaxi Inn to settle the guests of Liang Kingdom. Later, I was asked to buy some oil for these people according to their request. I thought it was a little strange, so I asked my eldest brother, and he told me to do it, don't ask so much, I had to do what he told me. Until a few days ago, Mrs. Anguo's mansion was burned, and all these Liang people disappeared the next day, I guess it may have been these people. I went to ask my eldest brother, just in time for their father and son to go out, my eldest brother told me that they would come back in a few days, so that I could be optimistic about the business of the store. I saw that their families were there, and I thought that maybe it would be fine, so I stayed in Jinyang and didn't go with them. "Do you know where they're going?" "They just said to go to a few branches in other places to see how the business is doing."

Guo Chongtao interrogated the housekeeper of the Sun family overnight, and Sun Chuanxu said about the same, Guo Chongtao saw that he couldn't ask anything valuable, so he went back to the palace to resume his life, went to the palace to ask the father-in-law who had been on duty at night, and replied: The king of Jin was overly sad, he cried and fainted a few times, and he had just fallen asleep, Guo Chongtao instructed his father-in-law to notify him once the king of Jin woke up, and he rested and waited in the room where the palace guards were on duty at night. Then, he sent his men to his house to report to his family.