The winter moon is cold, Zhu Xicai wears an official robe most of the time, and wears a mink fur outside, which is beautiful and majestic. Today, when he heard about the enemy attack, he hurriedly changed back into the heavy and cold armor.

When he arrived at the head of Nancheng City, he happened to see Zhao Chongyi stabbing a dagger in the noble chest.

"Take down the traitor!"

"Who dares to act rashly?!"

Zhao Chongyi stabbed the dagger again, and at the same time turned to shout at the rebel soldiers at the head of the city.

At the same time, dense footsteps sounded, and more than 100 regimental training disciples had climbed the stone steps, holding swords in front of Zhao Chongyi. These were all recruits recruited in Yanshi, but they had been rebelled by Zhao Chongyi in advance.

Zhu Xicai's corporal raised their swords one after another, and the two sides immediately became tense.

"Stop!"

"Zhu County Ling said that if the situation changes, count you as one, can this statement still work?" Zhao Chongyi stood tall and asked without fear.

The noble corpse slowly fell down at this time, smashing at Zhao Chongyi's feet, splashing snow.

As long as he gave an order, Zhu Xicai could easily kill Zhao Chongyi to avenge Gaoshang, but in the two months that he was the county commander of Yanshi, he had many feelings that Gao Gao didn't know until he died.

First of all, Yanshi is very rich, and this wealth is not reflected in how much grain is still stored in the granary, but in the details of the lives of all the attached officials, errand servants, and Ding Zhuang. They are picky about food, pay attention to cleanliness, do not drink raw water, and often reveal a sense of superiority that is rare elsewhere in their conversations.

It is said that before the merchants of Yanshi County were prosperous, the residents were very wealthy, and they liked to keep their money in the money village, and the profit money was often enough for them to add a piece of meat to every meal, so many people fled, and they did not need to bring gold and silver to exchange it anywhere under the rule of the imperial court. That's it, Zhu Xicai also overheard the private talk of the officials, saying that now in a place that is still under the rule of the imperial court, as long as it is not surrounded by rebels, even in Dongping and Nanyang County, you can still redeem money in Fenghui Bank, and the profit remains the same.

In addition, Zhu Xicai also felt that his family was deeply influenced by Xue Bai, the wives and concubines played dominoes and watched operas every day, the sons never left the stir-fry, and the daughters hid a few Xue Ci in their boudoirs, and they could be heard singing a sentence from time to time in the backyard "Who is drunk with frost in Xiaolai".

Although Xue Bai's time as the captain of the Yan Division was short, the changes brought about were huge, often making Zhu Xicai feel that he was under Xue Bai's figure, and he ordered to kill Zhao Chongyi at this time, but he had no confidence in repelling Xue Bai.

The shouting at the city gate had stopped, the city gate was opened, the drawbridge made a "bang" sound and set up the moat, and the vanguard of the Tang army drove the horse inside.

"Zhu Xicai, the general of the Tang Lulong Army, welcome Xue Taishou to recover the Yanshi!"

Seeing that there was no chance to bargain, Zhu Xicai shouted, threw away the knife in his hand, and quickly stepped on the stone steps and ran down the city.

He didn't look at the noble man who fell to the ground, because his heart was full of fear for Xue Bai.

Gao Shang has been shaking around with a burnt face all these years, and he has been particularly concerned about everything related to Xue Bai, as if he wants to teach others to know that Xue Bai is terrible, and now he has got his wish.

~~

After many years, Xue Bai returned to Yanshi County again.

Luoshui froze, the same as when he left. At the city gate, the bustling scene was gone, only rows of cold armor gleamed in the snow.

"Zhao Liu." Xue Bai stopped his horse and looked at the stone steps, "It's been a long time." ”

"County Lieutenant."

Where Zhao Chongyi's eyes fell, the first thing he saw was a slightly unfamiliar face, full of blood, frost and snow, and a beard that had not been shaved for a long time, covering his impression of handsomeness, and soon he saw Xue Bai's smile, with a heartfelt joy that arose from seeing the deceased.

Except for County Lieutenant Xue, there are few nobles who will be sincerely happy to see a miscellaneous servant like him.

So, Zhao Chongyi forgot to bow his head and stood there scratching his head.

"County lieutenant, I didn't look at the door of the county office."

"But you opened the gates for me." Xue Bai turned over and dismounted, patted Zhao Chongyi's shoulder, and said, "Tell me about the situation in Shouyang Mountain." ”

"Yes, when he learned of An Lushan's rebellion, Yan Xiancheng immediately went to Luoyang to report the news in person, and the county commander also followed Yan Xiancheng in order to flee for his life. At that time, the thieves fell into Hebei too quickly, so Guo Lu arranged for the people to flee and moved the grain and grass materials to Shouyang Mountain. Yin County Lieutenant was originally going to defend the city, but after getting Yan County's letter, he went to Luoyang to support, and asked me to stay in Yanshi before leaving, waiting for the next day. ”

The Yan County Cheng he said was Yan Chunqing, the brother of Yan Zhenqing and Yan Gaoqing, and when Xue Bai left Yanshi, he recommended Yan Chunqing as the county Cheng.

Now is not the time to speak, Zhao Chongyi probably said everything he knows, as for the rest, it is still necessary for Xue Bai to see Yin Liang, Guo Jian and others.

There were also sporadic battles in the city, and the rebel soldiers who fled without listening to Zhu Xicai's orders were killed by the Tang army. Zhu Xicai stood ten steps behind Zhao Chongyi, surprised that Xue Bai was young and gentle, which did not match the fierce and vicious appearance he expected.

"I've seen Xue Taishou, and the last general is willing to follow Taishou ......"

Halfway through the salute, Zhu Xicai suddenly remembered a question - the news that Xue Bai was wanted by the Tang Dynasty had already reached Luoyang, at this time, he expressed his attitude to Xue Bai to join the Tang Dynasty, what was it?

He originally wanted to ask Xue Bai to ask for some favors for him, but at this time, he regretted it a little.

As he spoke, Xue Bai had understood his concerns, the two looked at each other, he couldn't help but smile, and asked, "What do I do?" ”

"Kuang Fu Sheji." Zhu Xicai used a very broad word.

"How are you going to help the community? Do you follow An Lushan to burn and loot?! ”

"Don't dare, the sin will spend money to buy it because he can't bear the suffering of the people...... I found the position of Yanshi Ling, no, I had no choice but to give the position of Yanshi Ling. ”

"You're a good talker."

"Sin will be a vulgar man at the border, who will not speak."

Xue Bai glanced at the soldiers behind Zhu Xicai, who were still vigorous, and he groaned and said, "I came from Songshan and it took some time, presumably the news that I was questioned has already been passed on?" ”

"Yes." Zhu Xicai said tentatively: "Since Taishou knows, he is still willing to risk the arrow, he is really loyal." But don't you think about your personal safety? ”

When the Tang army first entered the city, such a question seemed inappropriate, but it interfered with his subsequent choices. Although Xue Bai successfully entered the city, if he could not be subdued, the rebels in the city could still cause a lot of trouble.

The two walked a few steps, and while talking, they walked up to the city, and Xue Bai asked, "What is your relationship with Dugu Wenshu and Li Shiyu?" ”

Zhu Xicai was originally only a general in Lu Long's army, far less close to An Lushan than these two. After hearing this, I realized that even Dugu Wenshu and Li Shiyu were all attached under Xue Bai's persuasion, and there must be a reason.

"I have great respect for both gentlemen."

Xue Bai said again: "Then what do you think of me being questioned?" ”

Zhu Xicai could feel the certainty in his tone, as well as the understatement that he didn't take Chang'an Tianzi seriously, and suddenly reacted, and said in his heart, could it be that this is also a thief? That's really jumping from one den of thieves to another.

"I'm a rough man in the military, shallow in knowledge, and it's no wonder that I'm too guarded."

First of all, Zhu Xilie showed some of his attitudes with the intention of continuing to probe.

"In the past, it was said that the Son of Heaven was Shengming, and if we soldiers would follow An Lushan to rebel, we would also beat drums in our hearts. But later, we all heard that the saint robbed his daughter-in-law and handed over all the state affairs to Yang Guozhong, and this treacherous deceitful deceived us ruthlessly, so we gritted our teeth and rebelled, never thinking that we would capture the eastern capital in a month. I can see that the one sitting on the Chang'an dragon chair is a faint gentleman. ”

Speaking of this, he turned his head and glanced at it, and saw that such remarks did not cause Xue Bai to be indignant, so he became bold.

He picked up a ball of snow, compacted it into a snowball, stretched out his hand to the city wall, and said, "The prestige of the saint is like this in my heart. ”

The big hand was opened, and the snowball fell from the high head of the city, smashing to pieces.

Xue Bai watched this scene silently, and suddenly thought of the first time he arrived in the Tang Dynasty, and it was also in a snowy day in a winter month. At that time, Li Longji's most taboo was to "reprimand and take advantage of public opinion", and he was repeatedly unjustly imprisoned for this. Well, now that the whole world is criticizing public opinion, and Li Longji is powerless.

Zhu Xicai once heard Gao Shang talk about the situation in the world, and knew that when the prestige of the saint fell to the lowest point, there were only three ways to save it. One quickly put down the rebellion, but unfortunately, it has not been done for the time being; The second is to issue an edict to punish oneself, but this is actually reducing prestige and appeasing people's hearts, but people's hearts are obviously not able to appease them for a while, but I am afraid that it will backfire; Third, blame others for the cause of the chaos.

He followed these lines of thought eloquently, and at the end, he said: "The saint condemned Xue Taishou, just to let you bear the responsibility of chaos. The world is in chaos like this, not because he is mediocre, but because you forced An Lushan to rebel. ”

Although Gao Shang died, Zhu Xicai felt that he was about to use what Gao Shang had said to persuade Xue Bai to surrender, and he almost couldn't hold back his bitter voice and shouted, "Why should Xue Taishou run for the faint monarch again?" It's better to lower the king of Dongping County! ”

"The saint is so mediocre that even a rebel general can see it clearly." Xue Bai asked, "Don't you understand it when you are the prince of the court?" ”

"What do you mean?"

"I won't be questioned, and I will never let people mess up the Datang Society......"

Xue Bai was already quite familiar with painting cakes for people, and while he was talking to bewitch Zhu Xicai, he was thinking about some other things.

Hearing the voices of these rebels today, he realized more and more that the impact of the Anshi Rebellion on the Tang Dynasty was not only the damage caused by the rebellion itself, but also the far-reaching cause of the division of the feudal town.

The soil for the division of the Tang Dynasty was planted long ago, and the root cause was the great damage to the land annexation and the rent adjustment, land equalization, and the government military system. The imperial court could not take out the land to raise the government soldiers, so it was naturally changed to recruit soldiers, and it was not necessary to equalize the fields, but it was able to get a higher source of soldiers with combat power and fighting will, so the Tang army was very strong in the Kaiyuan period, swept the four provinces, and expanded the territory.

As the recruitment of soldiers and the deployment and transportation of materials became more and more cumbersome, they had to grant some of the appointment, dismissal and financial powers of the Jiedu envoys, and then there were major military towns. At the same time, with the monopoly of the imperial examination by the clans, a large number of talents from the Hanmen Shu clan poured into the Jiedu to make the shogunate work, and the strength of the military town continued to expand.

In the past, there was still a custom of entering and exiting the court in the court, and the children of the big families were also keen to make meritorious contributions to the border, and there were a large number of generals in the army, and the fundamental interests of these clans were still in the court, so when Pei Kuan was appointed as the envoy of Fan Yangjie, Li Longji could recruit him back if he wanted to, and Wang Zhongsi never thought of raising troops to rebel. Later, with the gradual emergence of the trend of despising border generals in the court, coupled with a series of jealous and jealous actions made by Li Linfu in order to seize power, Jiedu made most of them born in the border Hu people, and the military town was self-contained, and it became more and more alienated from the imperial court.

Hebei is full of problems, a rebellion is to shatter the authority of the Son of Heaven in the border town generals, if the court does not deal with it well in the future, can not use strong force, courage to deter these fierce generals, plus to solve the fundamental contradictions in the system and the conflict of interests between the family and the Hanmen Shu clan...... Naturally, the generals of those feudal towns shouted the words "Son of Heaven, those who are strong in soldiers and horses should do it......

~~

"Whose soldiers and horses are gathered under Shouyang Mountain?"

"Part of it is my soldiers." Zhu Xicai replied, "There are also some noble people who stay. ”

"Go and recall your troops, and those who do not want to surrender will be killed."

"Whoa."

Zhu Xicai responded and paid attention to the troops brought by Xue Bai, there were not many, about 3,000 people, although everyone had horses, but they were only wearing light armor, but they did not bring grain and grass.

Even if he was willing to surrender, counting his troops and the regimental training of Yanshi, recruiting soldiers and expanding his strength to 6,000 people, several granaries in Yanshi County were empty, and all the grain was transported into Luoyang, but I was afraid that I would not be able to supply so many people for too long.

Although the rebels were surrounded, more than 100,000 elites were in Luoyang and Shaanxi County. And there are also large armies in Xingyang, Kaifeng, Chenliu and other places, and when the time comes, they will attack from both sides, but I don't know how Xue Bai wants to deal with it.

Of course, since Xue Bai dared to come, there must be reinforcements. The soldiers and horses of the officers and soldiers in Henan and Huainan may soon attack Chenliu in a big way, and if the Yanshi sends troops to attack the rebels from the rear, the situation will still be favorable to the officers and men.

With these analyses, Zhu Xicai still went north according to the order, quickly killed dozens of noble subordinates, ordered the remaining soldiers to surrender, and relieved the siege of Shouyang Mountain. This can be regarded as his surrender to Xue Bai.

Xue Bai led a team of knights to follow behind, and there was a large flag behind him.

He carried the clairvoyant mirror and looked at the top of the mountain for a while, and when he saw a flag waving, he beckoned Zhu Xicai and said, "Follow me to the mountain." ”

Zhu Xicai was originally unwilling, worried that Xue Bai would kill him and recruit his men, but Xue Bai's tone could not be refused, and it didn't look like he was going to use this kind of indiscriminate means, so he only brought a small number of personal soldiers and followed him up the mountain road.

Climb up the winding mountain road and pass through a boulder canyon, and the road ahead suddenly opens up.

This is the first time Zhu Xicai has climbed Shouyang Mountain, he originally thought that Luhun Villa was just a small village, like a stronghold of bandits and bandits. Gradually, however, he discovered that it was vast, much larger than he had imagined, and it was clearly a mountain town.

The city wall is connected to the mountain wall, and there is a high platform hidden in the towering trees, and some people are looking out in it, and they have seen Xue Bai early.

"Lang Jun is here!"

With this shout, the mountain gate suddenly opened, and someone quickly greeted him.

"Shaofu."

"Mr. Yin." Xue Bai's face once again flashed with a smile of seeing the old man, and said, "I haven't seen you for a long time." ”

Yin Liang's steps were a little lame, but he still hurried forward, he was old and haggard, and there were deep crow's feet at the corners of his eyes.

"Shaofu has long said that An Lushan wants to rebel, but the situation has reached such a point."

"The situation in Hebei has been reversed, so there is no need to worry too much." Xue Bai walked into the towering mountain gate with Yin Liang's forearm, and said: "Kaifeng, Xingyang, and Luoyang have all fallen, and it is rare that Mr. Yin still holds on to a small mountain. ”

"Shaofu is in front of the matter, but I can't help Wang Shi to defend Luoyang, I'm ashamed."

Yin Liang has a lot to say, but he doesn't know where to start.

"At that time, the thieves were surging, Kaifeng and Xingyang fell too quickly, disrupting all plans, and the news of Taiyuan was also broken. We originally planned to contact Gao Xianzhi to resist together, but before the rebels arrived, the defenders of Luoyang mutinied, and some soldiers said that Gao Xianzhi was deducting gifts from the imperial court. I saw that the Yanshi could not hold it, so I retreated to Shouyang Mountain, ambushed An Lushan, and when the rebels came to Luoyang City to fight with the defenders, the strange soldiers hit the rebels in the back. It is expected that with the advantage of firearms, there may be a chance to win. Unexpectedly, Luoyang was lost so quickly. ”

"It is said that Hanjiacang has no grain storage, but is it true?"

Yin Liang nodded, and said worriedly: "This matter was mentioned in a letter from Yan County, and the letter did not go into detail, he never came back after he arrived in Luoyang, Xu withdrew into Tongguan with Gao Xianzhi, but I heard that the sage ordered Gao Xianzhi to be killed, and there has been no news of him since." ”

Xue Bai asked, "Why did Li Yaozhou become the national teacher of An Lushan?" ”

"Li Daochang went to Luoyang with Yan Xiancheng at that time, and he also brought two truckloads of gunpowder, which was intended to help Gao Xianzhi arrange defenses. But at that time, the defenders of Luoyang were almost crushed at the touch of a button, and what happened after Gao Xianzhi was defeated and fled, we don't know. ”

"And after that? Has Li Yaozhou contacted you? ”

"Nope." Yin Liang said, "What I'm worried about is that if those two carts of gunpowder are sacrificed to An Lushan by him and used to attack Tongguan, the situation will be bad." ”

"Where's Fan Gao?"

"I also went with Yan County Cheng, and brought more than 300 people, presumably trapped in the rebellion in Luoyang, or arrived at Tongguan."

Yin Liang is a very qualified staff member and official, but he is not a commander, and in fact, he does not have any experience in battle formations. In the face of the great rebellion that came from the attack, Luoyang quickly fell, Yan Chunqing, Fan Gao, Li Yaozhou and others were not there, but he worked hard to support and led the army and the people to defend until now, which can be said to be his best.

As he spoke, the people who came to greet Xue Bai had already rushed over.

Guo Lian has aged a lot, with gray hair and crutches, but the temperament on his face has not changed, standing a few steps in front of Xue Bai, leaning his back and raising his head, waiting for Xue Bai to notice him in the interval between chatting with Yin Liang.

"Guo Lushi, I haven't seen you for a long time."

Guo Jian laughed, his teeth had almost fallen out in just a few years, and said: "Xiao Lao'er didn't expect to see Shaofu again in his lifetime. ”

He was much older and much more verbose.

Xue Bai stepped forward and said: "With so many soldiers and civilians gathered in Luhun Villa, people's hearts can not be chaotic, and it must be the credit of Guo Lao." ”

"The little old man handed over the booklet of grain and grass to Shaofu, and he was relieved to die."

In fact, when Xue Bai was a captain in the past, Guo Lian may not have been so loyal to him, but in the past few years, he has become bigger and bigger in Chang'an, and has become Guo Bai's biggest backer in the court, and Guo Lian has become more and more regarded himself as Xue Bai's subordinate.

"The grain and grass will look at it later, and I believe in Guo Lao's ability."

As he spoke, Xue Bai's gaze fell on the rows of private soldiers in the open space in front of him.

These people were trained by Lao Liang and Jiang Hai at the time, and most of them were selected from the homeless people, although they had not fought too many battles, but they were better than being loyal and listening to commands, and they were quite strong over the years, and what was even more eye-catching was their armor and weapons, which were well-equipped.

But there is still some murderous aura, and it must be handed over to Wang to sharpen it.

Zhu Xicai, who was standing behind Xue Bai, was already very surprised, and finally took his eyes off those private soldiers, and found that there were rivers and meadows in the valley, and dozens of war horses were raised.

Although he had just entered Luhun Villa, he could already see Xue Bai's secret strength from the tip of the iceberg, even if he was not a strong soldier, it could be seen that he had been planning for a long time.

This is equivalent to Xue Bai's Xiongwu City.

~~

A group of rebel cavalry rushed to the outside of Yanshi City, looked at the closed city gate, and became a little puzzled.

"We have come to deliver the decree on the orders of the saints to summon the noble to return to the Hajj!"

The horses snorted impatiently, and the knight rode his horse around in the snow, and after waiting for a while the gate was not opened, he cried out again: "The saint has set aside wine and invited the noble to the feast." ”

"What's that?"

The rebel cavalry squinted and looked up, only to notice a head hanging from the city gate.

"Whoosh."

Arrows from the top of the city continued to rain down on them, leaving several corpses behind.

So, the wounded who escaped by luck rushed back to Luoyang and brought back a rather ridiculous news.

"Report! Noble can't go to the sage's banquet, he ...... He seems to be hanging on the head of the Yanshi City. ”

At this time, An Lushan had already seen the soldiers sent back by Gao Shang, and knew that a Tang army was attacking Yanshi City, so he summoned Tian Qianzhen and prepared to ask him for his opinion, but he didn't expect the situation to become like this in a blink of an eye.

"How so?" An Lushan raised his fat finger and pointed at the two groups of people who came to report the news, and said: "It's only been less than a day, how can a noble and smart person die?" ”

"Xue Bai."

Tian Qianzhen suddenly spoke, his tone gloomy.

He was raised by Gao Shang in the Fan Yang Army, and his friendship was different from that of others, and when he learned that Gao Shang was dead, his eyes were red, and his clenched fists kept trembling.

In his selfish heart, he also complained a little that An Lushan lost his temper and did not see Gao Shang, so that Gao Shang happened to stay in Yanshi and was killed, and at this moment, even An Lushan's prestige was shaken in his heart.

Of course, this resentment can only be hidden in the heart.

The more angry he became, the calmer Tian Qianzhen became, and quickly figured out what had happened.

"If Yanshi can fall so quickly, there must be an internal response. And the only person who can contact Neiying and control Yanshi in a short period of time is Xue Bai. Please ask the sage Yunmo to order all the soldiers and horses to kill the Benyan Division, take Xue Bai's head, and sacrifice Mr. to the spirit of the sky! ”

(End of chapter)