In the imperial palace of the imperial capital, Zhang Rang, who had not slept all night, had already beheaded the eighth little eunuch who served, and all of them were in danger and did not dare to serve Zhang Rang again. The eunuchs stood at the door trembling and waiting for their fate to be pronounced, as long as there was a glimmer of hope, people would always look forward to infinite expectations, just like now everyone's eyes are looking at the road at the entrance of the Zhengde Temple, expecting that someone will appear in front of them at this time and pull them back from the brink of death.

But the hope of zuihou in exchange for always disappointment, after Zhao Gao was ordered by Zhang Rang to drag down and replay the fifty boards, all the eunuchs did not dare to speak anymore. Even Zhao Gao, the eunuch who knows Zhang Rang's mind the most and is the most favored, has been beaten with fifty boards, and their fate will naturally not be much better. Even everyone's breathing became extremely heavy, and from time to time there were one or two roars in the Zhengde Hall, and from time to time the sound of something being broken came out.

"Someone!" The room was silent for a long time, Zhang Rang suddenly shouted outside the door, and the eunuchs who stood outside the door whose souls had been frightened and disappeared without a trace immediately came to their senses, and the two eunuchs standing closest to the door trembled in the eyes of everyone and were about to step into the door. The faces of the two were pale and bloodless, and even their hands were trembling, let alone pushing open the heavy palace doors.

"Stand down, all of you. Just as the two were about to open the door of the palace and prepare to enter, suddenly a pair of hands grabbed their arms from behind, and the two of them immediately showed a smile on their faces when they saw the visitor. Zhao Gao, who was covered in blood and still limping, appeared in front of them, and the two of them breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhao Gao's face was pale, and there were still blood stains on his buttocks. The two Jin Wuwei beside him supported Zhao Gao. All the eunuchs looked at Zhao Gao with surprised eyes. At this time, Zhang Rang had already gone berserk. Entering is equivalent to death, and Zhao Gao still went in at this time. Everyone's hearts couldn't help but rise a trace of emotion, Zhao Gao didn't care about Zhao Gao's life or death, at least their lives were saved. Zhao Gao pushed open the door of the palace and limped in.

"Father-in-law, Zhao Gao is here. Zhao Gao slowly tidied up his clothes, knelt on the ground, lay on the ground and said to Zhang Rang, Zhang Rang sat on the top with a black face and looked at Zhao Gao coldly. Wei Xian, the fourth permanent attendant, has been missing for almost a year. Now there is still no news, Guo Ling, Xia Huai and Tong Kui knelt on the side and didn't dare to speak, and they didn't even dare to get angry.

Zhang Rangen sighed, glanced at the three people among the four permanent servants kneeling on the ground, and looked at Zhao Gao who was kneeling on the ground, with an imperceptible smile on the corner of his mouth. Zhang Rang nodded and whispered, "You three get out of here, Zhao Gao, you stay." ”

Although the three of them were very dissatisfied when they heard Zhang Rang's words, they were also relieved and quickly stood up. He bowed and walked out quickly. Zhang Rang saw the performance of the three of them, and the demon in his heart became even more manic. Zhang Rang glanced at Zhao Gao, who was still kneeling on the ground. Whispered: "Three useless wastes." ”

The figures of the three of them suddenly stopped at the door, and for a while, they didn't dare to speak, and quickly retreated. Zhang Rang glanced at Zhao Gao, and slowly picked up a water cup on the table, Zhao Gao quickly stood up, ran to Zhang Rang's side, picked up a fan and slowly fanned Zhang Rang, Zhang Rang's eyes squinted and let Zhao Gao be busy on the side. Zhang Rang closed his eyes, and there was still information sent by Luo Wang on the table, Zhao Gao glanced at it, and suddenly a fine light flashed in his eyes, and he was also surprised in his heart.

"Zhao Gao, take a closer look at the information on the table. Zhang Rang seemed to have discovered Zhao Gao's afterglow and saw the information, his voice was very high-pitched, and it could even be said that there was some terror. Zhao Gao naturally didn't dare to disobey Zhang Rang's intentions, so he lowered his head and answered and picked up the information on the table and looked at it carefully, but Zhang Rang added on the side: "The class of waste on the front line can't help but make no progress so far, but has been beaten and retreated by others. ”

There are three pieces of information, and each piece of information is enough to make Zhang Rang angry, not to mention three. The first is the news that Jingzhou City was occupied, and now the grain and taxes in Jiangnan can no longer be transferred to Dijing through the canal, that is, the supply of grain and grass in Dijing is only Sizhou and several state capitals in the north. Changsha was occupied, which also blocked the land transportation channel, and now the pressure on the supply of grain and grass in the imperial capital is very high, and without the taxes in Jiangnan, it is not easy for Zhang Rang to feed so many large troops. And what is even more annoying is that the Jingzhou army has mutinied, and Jingzhou, which is regarded as a ban on corruption by Zhang Rang, has changed its banner, and now they have the surname Liu.

The other is that an army was found near Tongguan, and this army disappeared without a trace under the noses of the defenders of Tongguan. If it was just like this, Zhang Rang would not have been so angry, and this army actually broke through several granaries in Sizhou, in addition to taking away the necessary grain, and even threw all the grain and grass in the wilderness, leaving the people of Sizhou to fight. Less than ten days later, the traces of this army appeared near Fengxiao Pass again, and they also captured Fengxiao Pass, which was garrisoned by 3,000 troops.

This is a naked slap in the face to Zhang Rang, from the time this army appeared near Tongguan, Zhang Rang had already sent people to encircle and suppress them, but unfortunately not only did not catch their traces, but was hit by this army's several return pistols with a blue nose and swollen face and heavy casualties. Even the Praetorian Guards sent over failed, and the opposing side annihilated two entire battalions of troops. Fengxiao Pass can be recaptured if it is occupied, but unfortunately the other party does not give you the opportunity to intercept it for the Lord, and there is a mysterious disappearance in Fengxiao Pass, and I don't know where I went with my troops, so that now the entire Sizhou is nervous looking for this army everywhere.

Another piece of news is even worse, Wei Xian, a guy who is good to die, actually appeared, and as soon as he appeared, there were still two people, and now they have pinched each other in the net branch of Yizhou. Zhang Rang originally planned to dispose of his waste directly, but thinking of Wei Zhongxian's identity, he finally sent someone to take them back. What gave Zhang Rang a headache was that Luo Wang said in the report in Yizhou that there were two Wei Xian, and none of the officials in Yizhou could distinguish the two.

"Pan Bao's military report requesting to withdraw has been sent to the Ministry of War, do you want to tell me whether this soldier should be withdrawn?" Zhang Rang said slowly with his eyes closed, Zhao Gao's heart was suddenly stunned, the Jingzhou Army mutiny made the entire Jingzhou become the territory of the Liujia Army. As soon as the road in Jingzhou was blocked, the road from the imperial capital to the south was completely blocked, which means that if Pan Bao retreated, the south of the empire would be completely out of touch with Zhang Rang.

Zhao Gao put down the information in his hand and replied in a low voice: "Father-in-law, it is the decision of the father-in-law whether to retreat or not, and the slave does not understand military affairs, so he does not dare to express his opinion on the battle situation easily." ”

"You're too smart. Zhang Rang put down the water cup in his hand, looked at Zhao Gao coldly, Zhao Gao responded and quickly knelt on the ground to plead guilty, Zhang Rang did not continue to investigate Zhao Gao's fault, and said to himself: "The advice given by the Ministry of War is to withdraw the army, and now Pan Bao's army is alone in Jianye City, Xue Wan's army has not made progress for a long time, and it is very difficult to rescue Pan Bao's army." ”

"Father-in-law, when it comes to military affairs, the two princes of Pingnan and Pingbei are both battle-hardened generals, so you might as well ask them about these things. General Pan's army is now alone in Jianye City, and all the grain and grass supplies now need to be transferred through Longshou Pass, and the pressure is very heavy. ”

"What you say makes a lot of sense, if there is not enough food and grass, no one can say whether those Praetorian Guards will turn their backs. Zhang Rang looked coldly at an oil lamp next to him, and his voice was very low, as if he saw the scene of the collective mutiny of those Praetorian Guards from the dim light.

Praetorian Guard, Zhang Rang snorted coldly, except for his own cronies, even if the legion taken from He Muping has been reorganized, it is still an unstable factor. Zhang Rang had now lost trust in these Praetorian Guards, and now that the pressure on the Imperial Capital was great, the disappearance of these Praetorian Guards provided enough space for the development of his Janissaries. (To be continued.) )