Chapter 12: Seeking Revenge

The next day, Guo Chongtao got up early and waited for the Jin King Li Cunqiao to summon him. After about an hour, my father-in-law came and said, "The king of Jin has woken up, and General Xuanguo has come to see him." Guo Chongtao came to King Jin's study with his father-in-law, Guo Chongtao was startled when he saw Li Cunqing, only to see Li Cunqing's face haggard, his hair became gray, and he seemed to be in his twenties overnight. Guo Chongtao hurriedly knelt on the ground to salute, and said with a heartache: "Wanwang Wang's Day mourns and changes, the deceased has passed away, and the king should take care of his body!" Li Cunmiao opened his red eyes and asked hoarsely, "How did you check?" "King Yu, after last night's interrogation, it has been basically ascertained that it was done by Sun Chuanhe of Jinyang Mixing and Sun Xunye and his son in collusion with the assassins of the Liang Kingdom, and now the Sun family father and son and the assassins of the Liang Kingdom have already escaped from Jinyang. I have arrested the shopkeeper of the Sun family's rice store, Sun Chuanxu, the shopkeeper of the Yuelai Inn, the Huaxi Inn, and the kerosene shop, sealed the Sun family's rice store and the Sun family's house, and detained all the family members and associates of the Sun family in these two places. Today, I asked the king to issue an edict to all parts of the country to arrest the father and son of the Sun family. Li Cunmiao said fiercely: "Issue an edict to seal up all the Sun family's rice shops in the Jin Kingdom, and kill all the shopkeepers of the rice store on the spot, and arrest the Sun family's father and son at all costs!" Guo Chongtao advised Li Cunxuan, the king of Jin, to spare the unsuspecting Sun family and the shopkeeper for their capital crimes, and send them into exile. Li Cunqiao said: "The maids and servants in Mrs. Anguo's mansion were also killed, and killing these people will not be able to calm the hatred in my heart!" ”

Three days later, the funeral ceremony of Mrs. An Guo and the national abbot was held in the temple of King Tai of Jin. After the waiter of the Ministry of Rites presided over the ceremony, Li Cunqiao, the king of Jin, ordered Sun Chuanxu, the treasurer of the Sun family's rice shop, and his whole family, the owner, shopkeeper, and men of the Yuelai Inn, the owner, the shopkeeper, and the buddy of the Huaxi Inn, and the family members, servants, and men of the Sun family, a total of more than 100 people, were all killed on charges of collaborating with the enemy, killing Mrs. Anguo, and arson, in order to pay tribute to Mrs. Anguo. After killing these people, the people in the troupe under the altar cried, Guo Congqian and others stepped forward to kneel down to the King of Jin to ask for their lives, Guo Congqian said: "I am willing to serve in the army of the King of Jin, kill all the thieves of the Liang State, and avenge Mrs. Anguo and the master!" Everyone in the troupe shouted in unison: "Kill all the thieves of Liang Guo and avenge Mrs. Anguo and the master!" Li Cunmiao was greatly moved, and immediately ordered: "The male disciples of He Chun's class are willing to serve in the army with the rank of captain, and the female disciples will be paid monthly by the government to provide them with a living." ”

After the burial ceremony, Guo Chongtao suggested to Li Cunqing, the king of Jin: "The disciples of He Chunban have seen Sun Xunye, can they lead a few scout teams to infiltrate the Liang Kingdom and secretly find the whereabouts of the Sun family's father and son, especially in Liang Liang, Luoyang, and the Sun family's rice shop in the Liang Kingdom." Li Cunqiao praised: "Very good! It's up to you. ”

A few days later, according to Guo Chongtao's arrangement, Guo Congqian, Wu Huairen, and Chen Jun led a team of scouts to Bianliang to inquire about the whereabouts of the Sun family's father and son; Chu Deyuan, Zhou Zai led a team to Luoyang; Jing Jin and Jing Xin Mo led a team to search all over Liang Kingdom. After saying goodbye on the fork in the road, the three teams each ran to their destination.

At this time, in order to enhance his strength, Li Cunmiao accepted the advice of the ministers, married the daughters of three famous families, married the Han family, and later took the Nayi family and the Liu family as concubines. Among the three daughters, the Han family is the leader, the Yi family is second, and the Liu family is the last. Although Liu's rank is low, he is the most favored, and he has an eldest son, Li Jiqi.

In 921, Li Sizhao, as the envoy of Zhaoyi Jiedu, united Zhu Youqian of Hezhong, Li Cunxian of Henghai, Li Siyuan of Anguo, Yan Bao of Tianping, Li Cunzhang of Datong, Li Cunjin of Zhenwu and other envoys of ten towns to persuade him to persuade Li Cunqiao to establish the country and claim the emperor, and each of them offered hundreds of thousands of dollars as the cost of his ascension to the country, but Li Cunqiao refused. Li Cunqiao said: "Since my father's king, he has taken the restoration of the Tang Dynasty as his own responsibility, and now the Liang State has not been destroyed, the territory is divided, there are Khitan in the north, and Shu, Wu, and Wu Yue in the south. "It didn't take long for the Jin Kingdom to face a critical situation of fighting on two fronts.

In this year, Chengde Festival made Zhang Wenli rebel in Zhenzhou. Li Cunqiao ordered the Ma army to command Shi Jianjiao to lead the troops to fight, Zhang Wenli died of palpitations, and his son Zhang Chujin succeeded to the throne, Shi Jianjiao conquered Zhaozhou, and died in the attack on Zhenzhou. Li Cunmiao ordered Yan Bao to lead his troops to attack Zhenzhou and conquer Zhang Chujin, the son of Zhang Wenli, the envoy of Chengde Festival.

At the end of the year, Yiwu Jiedu made Wang Chuzhi collude with Yelu Abaoji to lead the Khitan army south, intending to betray Li Cunxuan, and was imprisoned by Yizi Wangdu. The king succeeded him as the envoy of the festival. The Khitan army marched south and invaded Zhuozhou, Dingzhou and other places. The second Taibao Li Sizhao was ordered to lead his troops north and follow Li Cunqiao to resist the Khitan army. Li Cunqiao personally led 5,000 iron cavalry to the north and defeated the Khitan army in Xincheng. Li Cunmiao took advantage of the victory to pursue, but unexpectedly fell into an ambush of the Khitan army in Wangdu and was besieged. Li Sizhao personally led 300 cavalry to attack the Khitan army formation, rushing back and forth in the formation, protecting Li Cunqiao to break through. Li Cunmiao immediately fought hard, and finally defeated the Khitan army, captured thousands, captured felt fur, curtains, sheep and horses invincible, and pursued to Youzhou by victory. The Khitan army finally had to retreat to Mobei.

Zhang Chujin, the son of Zhang Wenli in Zhenzhou, continued to resist stubbornly in the city. Yan Bao built fortifications and dug trenches and besieged Zhenzhou for a long time. The Jin army was besieged for a long time, and there was a shortage of food in Zhenzhou, so Wang Chujin's army went out of the city to find food, and Yan Bao deliberately let the enemy army out of the city, preparing to intercept the rebels with ambushes. Unexpectedly, the hungry rebels came too quickly, and Yan Bao's army had not yet been assembled, but it was attacked by the rebels, and Yan Bao had to retreat to Zhaozhou. Yan Bao became ill due to anger and died of a poisonous sore attack on his back. Li Cunqiao then used Li Sizhao as the envoy to the north and succeeded Yan Bao to continue the attack on Zhenzhou.

On this day, because of the shortage of grain in Zhenzhou, Zhang Chujin sent a thousand soldiers to Jiumen to receive grain and grass. Li Sizhao set up an ambush in Yan Bao's old camp and annihilated all the 1,000 Zhenzhou troops, leaving only three people to hide among the ruins. He drove his horse and shot at the enemy, but was shot in the head by an arrow from the enemy. At this time, Li Sizhao had run out of arrows. He then pulled out the arrow from his head with his backhand, shot the enemy to death, and then returned to the camp, where he died that night because of the bleeding from his wounds.

Li Cunmiao then commanded the Tianxiong Horse Infantry Army and Zhenwu Jiedu Li Cunjin as the envoy to the north and led the army to attack Zhenzhou. Li Cunjin camped in Dongyuandu, but the local soil was soft, could not build a fort, could only cut down wood for a fence, in the morning, Li Cunjin ordered the cavalry to set off to Zhenzhou, his own camp. Because the enemy sent most of the men and horses out of the camp to graze, Zhang Chujin detected that Li Cunjin was defenseless, and ordered his brother Zhang Chuqiu to lead an army of 7,000 to attack.

The cavalry of the Jin army is heading for Zhenzhou, but the two sides pass by in different ways, fail to meet, Zhang Chuqiu directly killed to the Dongyuan ferry, Li Cunjin hastily, led more than ten people out of the camp to fight, the Cheng German army repulsed, the Jin infantry gradually gathered, the cavalry also heard the news from the way back, two sides of the attack, Zhang Chuqiu's 7,000 men and horses were annihilated, fleeing alone, but Li Cunjin also died heroically on the bridge.

In the battle of Zhenzhou, Shi Jianjiao died in battle, Yan Bao died of illness, Li Sizhao of the second Taibao, and Li Cunjin of the fifth Taibao died in battle one after another. Li Cunmiao had no choice but to change his commander five times, and sent Li Cunxian, the Ninth Taibao, to replace Li Cunjin, who was killed in battle. Before leaving, Li Cunxuan said to Li Cunxun of the Ninth Taibao: "Zhenzhou is really an ominous place for my Jin army, and I have lost four generals in a row. Since the murder of Mrs. Anguo, everything is unfavorable for this king, and I hope that you can change your decline and return triumphantly. In addition, you must take care of your health, don't risk your life, there are fewer and fewer of us who are alive. Li Cunxian said emotionally: "King, Mrs. Anguo has passed away, you have to mourn and take care!" ”

Zhenzhou has been besieged by the Jin army for a long time, the food in the city is exhausted, the rebels are no longer able to defend the city, and the hearts of the people in the city are fluctuating. The guard general Li Zaifeng secretly surrendered to Li Cunxian, the Ninth Taibao, and agreed to use a rope to pull the Jin army up to the city in the middle of the night. By dawn, the Jin army had all landed in the city, and captured the rebel Zhang Chujin, Zhang Chuqiu, Gao Meng and others, and sent them to the Jin King Xingtai in Weizhou. Li Cunqiao beheaded the three of them, because he hated Zhang Wenli's rebellion, which led to Shi Jianjiao's death, Yan Bao's anger and illness, and the second Taibao Li Sizhao and the fifth Taibao Li Cunjin died in battle, so although Zhang Wenli was dead, he was also killed in a coffin. When Li Cunxuan returned to Weizhou, the king of Jin, Li Cunxuan personally went out of the city to greet the condolences.

Guo Congqian, Wu Huairen, and Chen Jun were scattered and infiltrated Bianliang, the eastern capital of Liang State, and they separately inquired about the whereabouts of the Sun family's father and son. Ten days later, I found out that the Sun family father and son were rewarded by Zhu Youzhen, the king of Liang, and named the Sun family father and son as the false position of the third-grade official, and enjoyed the imperial court, with a bounty of 100 taels and 20 silk and satin. The father and son of the Sun family settled in Bianliang, and when they heard that all the family members who stayed in Jinyang were killed, they knew that the conspiracy had been exposed, so they lived in a shallow way and took precautions day and night. Guo Congqian and others inquired in many ways, but they still failed to find out the residence of the Sun family's father and son.

Guo Congqian and others were very anxious, so they had to divide Bianliang City into pieces and sort them out one place at a time. According to Guo Congqian: "Although this method is a bit stupid, as long as you spend more time and search carefully, you can always dig out the Sun family's father and son." In this way, it took two months to find three suspicious houses, and after asking the people around, it seemed that they had all seen the Sun family father and son appear. Guo Congqian, Wu Huairen, and Chen Jun discussed, and Guo Congqian asked, "What would you do if you were the father and son of the Sun family?" Chen Jun said: "If I am the father and son of the Sun family and commit such a big thing, and the King of Jin has issued a chase and kill order, I must hide, as the saying goes: Da is hidden in the city." It's best to have a few more hiding places in Bianliang City, so that they are not easy to find. Guo Congqian said: "That's right! Cunning Rabbit Three Caves, I think these three places are the hiding places of the Sun family's father and son, just to find out when and where they lived? Wu Huairen said: "That's it, the three of us will take scouts, one of us will stay in one place, and once we find out that the father and son of the Sun family have appeared, we will find a way to kill them." Guo Congqian said: "The method of guarding one place for the three of us is feasible, but if we want to kill them, we have to retreat with our whole body, I'm afraid our strength is not enough." It is better to send a letter to General Guo Chongtao and ask him to transfer Chu Deyuan, Zhou Zai, Jing Jin, and Jing Xinmo, and send a few good killers over to ensure that nothing goes wrong. Chen and Wu nodded in agreement. Guo Congqian continued: "Let's monitor these three houses during this time, find out the laws of the Sun family and the father and son, and remember not to act rashly, once exposed, not only the Sun family and the father and son will escape, but we will also be rounded up by the Liang State." ”

Guo Congqian and the three of them secretly guarded the three mansions, waiting for the arrival of reinforcements. More than ten days later, Chu Deyuan, Zhou Zai, Jing Jin, and Jing Xinmo took a few people and quietly came to a small house rented by Guo Congqian. The brothers were very affectionate when they saw each other, and Jing Jin asked Guo Congqian: "Why do you live in such a place?" Guo Congqian said: "Living in the inn, there are many people, and after a long time, it is easy to arouse the suspicion of the store and the people who come and go, so I rented this inconspicuous small house, which is convenient to enter and exit." "Everyone praised it for being thoughtful.

Guo Congqian asked, "What did General Guo command when you came?" Zhou Zai said: "General Guo confessed that once the traces of the Sun family's father and son are found, they must be killed. Jing Jin said: "He also said that he wanted us to formulate a perfect plan and find a way to escape after the assassination." Chu Deyuan added: "General Guo told us that we should not all bring people into the city, and we will enter the city separately before the operation, so we still have more than 20 people lurking outside the city." In addition, General Guo also said that he would send more people to meet us outside the city. Guo Congqian sighed: "No wonder people call General Guo a little Zhuge and think about everything. Guo Congqian continued: "We will now tell you about the situation of the Sun family's father and son. Chen Jun said: "Now we have found that the Sun family father and son have three hiding places in the city, and we have been waiting separately for the past few days, and we have found out that the Sun family father and son will basically change places every three days." Wu Huairen said: "Every time the Sun family father and son change places, it is at night, there are basically no pedestrians on the street, which is convenient for hiding their whereabouts, and every time there is a team of Liang troops to protect and guard tightly." Guo Congqian said: "The place where they are hiding is guarded by guards, and it is estimated that there are more than ten people. Jing Xinmo asked, "Then when will we start?" Guo Congqian said: "Don't be in a hurry, you will first familiarize yourself with these three places in the past two days, we will figure out how to do it, and survey the retreat route before we act." ”