Henan Province. Caozhou. Injustice.

It's a rare summer night without wind and moon, and there are no cicadas and frogs chirping.

There were seven or eight people gathered in the Huangfu Council Hall at this time, and the atmosphere was quite serious, not as relaxed as usual. Everyone on both sides looked a little uneasy, but also vaguely excited. There is only one person in the center, dressed in a fairy pattern silk thin shirt, horizontal eyebrows and long beard, about fifty years old, calm, not angry and self-assured, it is Huang Chao.

Huang Chao was immersed in his memories, when he suddenly heard the neighing of war horses outside the mansion and the sound of footsteps coming in, and he slowly came back to his senses.

"Wow......" Several people came in in a row, landed on one knee, and said to Huang Chao:

"Gong Cao, the banner and armor are complete. ”

"Gong Cao, the equipment and horses are complete. ”

"Gong Cao, the grain, grass and medicine are complete. ”

......

After hearing this, Huang Chao nodded slightly, and waved them down. He endured and separated for nearly twenty years, and finally couldn't sit still. He decided to raise troops in this June, tonight, against Li Tang. Huang Chao wants to join forces with Wang Xianzhi and lay down this picturesque country.

But when the matter came to an end, Huang Chao suddenly had mixed feelings in his heart. Although he already has the heart of rebellion, and everything is complete for raising troops, but this emperor's ambition is not very firm in the end, after all, he is almost the age of a sixtieth year. He didn't know if it was because of resentment and anti-Tang, or because of ambition. Huang Chao said in his heart, "If I am a party of moderation, will I still rebel?" Huang Chao thought for a long time to no avail, so he simply stopped thinking about it.

Everyone in the room watched Huang Chao's actions, and one of them, a middle-aged man in his fifties, who was also burly and had rough eyebrows, was Huang Chao's younger brother Huang Kuo. He whispered forward, "Big brother, the brothers are all waiting outside, you have to make up your mind earlier." ”

When Huang Chao heard this, he thought twice in his heart and finally got up. He led the people in the house to the door, and there were already eight thousand elites gathered on the avenue outside the door. They all have spears and halberds in their hands, and they are all riding dragon-like horses under their crotches. Most of these children are in their twenties and thirties, and they are all young heroes who Huang Chao has painstakingly cultivated for more than ten years, and they are also the pillars of his Huaibei Salt Gang. Now they had taken off their ordinary robes and changed into iron armor, wearing yellow turbans on their heads, arranged neatly, and formed a yellow dragon far away into the night. There is also a big banner with the word "yellow" held high, which is very dazzling in this night. Huang Chao knew that this was a group that belonged to him and only belonged to him Huang Chao. It is these 8,000 people who will share life and death with him, and share blessings and misfortunes.

Huang Chao looked at the many tiger-like men outside the door, packed up his emotions, and became arrogant again. He said aloud to these 8,000 disciples: "Now the court is in a bad mood, and the people are in trouble. General Wang Xianzhi took the lead in the uprising, and now he has won Cao and Pu Erzhou. We are also the children of Caozhou, how can we be willing to lag behind? Tonight, I, Huang Chao, will raise troops, and I am willing to save Li Shu with you and sit in the same country!" Huang Chao's words were generous and passionate, his voice was loud, and there was a bit of internal force. When the people heard this, they heard it like thunder.

So the crowd was agitated, first the mountain shouted, "I am waiting for the son to be willing to drive for Huang Gong!", and then in unison sang the chrysanthemum poem written by Huang Chao outside Chang'an City seventeen years ago:

"When autumn comes, September 8, I will kill a hundred flowers after the flowers bloom. The heavenly incense array penetrates Chang'an, and the city is full of golden armor. ”

......

“...... The city is full of golden armor......" This poem is shouted over and over again, and it seems that it never stops. This voice was extremely loud in the night sky, conveying to the whole world the determination and pride of Huang Chao to raise troops against the Tang Dynasty.

Caozhou, in Jiyin City. The lights in the general's line were not extinguished all night, and Wang Xianzhi was still in armor, sitting there without the slightest tiredness.

"The general moved to the south of the Yangtze River and disturbed the northwest in the west, and the court went south to Chang'an, and in the north, half of the country no longer had the surname Tang. ”

This sentence has been lingering in Wang Xianzhi's mind, and he can't wave it away for a long time. For more than a year, Wang Xianzhi has been holding 100,000 armor and sitting in two states, and he seems to be strong, but he understands in his heart that Li Tangjiang has 360 states, and there are more than 1 million troops and horses?

Wang Xianzhi wanted to base Cao and Pu Erzhou on tearing a hole to the east to connect the East China Sea, and no longer bothered by the encirclement of the official army. But Li Keyong's arrival made him confused again, and he didn't know where the soldiers were going for a while. Wang Xianzhi couldn't even remember why he rebelled at this time. Benefiting the people of Li, encompassing the country, or is it just because of Mr. Li's words?

Thinking of Mr. Li, Wang Xianzhi's confusion in her heart deepened. But after more than a year, he felt very tired.

"General, do you have something important to discuss with you so early?" The man who came was of medium height, slightly thin, dressed in gray cloth, about sixty years old, dressed as a teacher. His face is very old, but his eyes are very clear.

Wang Xianzhi came back to his senses when he heard this voice, and it turned out that the sky was already slightly bright. He got up and gave up his seat to him before he said, "Strategist, I have been talking with Nashatuo Like for a night. He wants me to go south to invade Jiangnan, and he sent troops to the northwest to contain the officials and troops, which makes the imperial court unbearable, what do the military advisors think?"

This old man is Wu Juncai, the military advisor of the Grass Army, and he is also Wang Xianzhi's mentor when he was young. Although Wang Xianzhi does not like to read, he admires his knowledge very much. Therefore, when Wang Xianzhi led the crowd to oppose the Tang Dynasty, he invited him to be a military advisor. Although Wu Juncai is a down-and-out talent, he has some strategy in his chest. And he was extremely conceited in his early years, and after repeatedly failing to win, he became discouraged and simply became a teacher. Later, he followed Wang Xianzhi to rebel against the Tang Dynasty, and he also wanted to use this to show his ambitions in his prime, so as not to regret it. When the grass army took Caozhou, it was all thanks to his frequent strategies, and Wu Juncai and Shang Junchang were Wang Xianzhi's right-hand men. The two of them are indispensable to the grass army.

When Wu Juncai heard this, he twisted his white beard and groaned for a while, and then said in a deep voice: "This Li Keyong is a Shatuo person. Since Gu Rong Di was unruly, although his Shatuo clan is temporarily subservient to the imperial court, he has wolf ambitions and also covets the Central Plains world, which must be guarded against. ”

Wang Xianzhi nodded and said, "What the military advisor said coincides with me. The Shatuo clan is fierce and cunning by nature, and cannot be trusted or should form alliances. If we wait for Hengge Jiangnan, but he does not move and wants to reap the benefits of the fisherman, it will be difficult for us to return to the north. Besides, even if he echoes me from afar, if he enters Chang'an first, even if I win Jiangnan, how can I compete with him?"

Wu Juncai said: "The general is very worried, if it is changeable today, we only need to rely on Cao and Pu Erzhou, and then take Yizhou and other prefectures and counties to the east until the East China Sea." At that time, the entire land of Qilu will be able to follow Qi Huan's hegemony. ”

Wang Xianzhi listened to the words of the military advisor Wu Juncai and thought it was true. As soon as the knot in his heart was opened, he suddenly felt comfortable, and he ordered his attendants to inform Li Keyong that the grass army had no intention of going south of the Yangtze River.

Li Keyong listened to Wang Xianzhi's words, but he was furious. After the visitor left, he smashed all the cups and pots on the table on the ground, and said angrily: "Wang Xianzhi Pifu, I thought you were a hero in the world, but it turned out that you were also a straw bale! ”

The reason why Li Keyong is abnormal and difficult to control himself is because he went to Caozhou from Shatuo in order to form an alliance with Wang Xianzhi and persuade him to move south, but he showed his troops in the northwest, making Li Tang difficult to take care of. But he didn't want Wang Xianzhi to only think about advancing eastward, so as to give up the Jiangnan area where the army was weak. In this way, Li Tang's troops in the Qilu Prefectures were enough to compete with it, and it was difficult for the grass army to touch Li Tang's foundation at all. He thought of the great achievements that he had planned for a long time, and it was scrapped overnight, how could he not be angry?

Li Keyong was about to turn back to Shatuo in anger, but saw Yuan Zifeng, Yun Feifei, and Yun Feifei coming in a hurry. Li Keyong hurriedly collected his emotions and asked what was the matter.

Although Yuan Zifeng saw the fragments of cups on the ground, he didn't have time to ask, and said with a smile: "Brother Li, who do you guess is coming to Jiyin City?"

Li Keyong saw him like this, and he couldn't figure out who was coming. Besides, he will return to Shatuo, and who will he be?

Yun Hail didn't sell Guanzi, and said: "I heard that Huang Chao is here." ”

Yuan Zifeng glared at her when he heard this, and said in his heart that this girl was not interesting. But the cloud hail is as if it is unknown, and it looks like a matter of course. Seeing this, Yuan Zifeng no longer paid attention to her, so he continued: "Huang Chao brought eight thousand children to join forces with Wang Xianzhi overnight, and now that he has arrived outside the city, Wang Xianzhi has personally greeted him. ”

Li Keyong was ecstatic when he heard this, and secretly said "lucky". Just because he saw that Wang Xianzhi had no intention of forming an alliance, he was originally disheartened, but he didn't want God to send another Huang Chao!

......

Outside Jiyin City, the rain has gradually decreased. It turned out that in the quiet of the night, it suddenly began to rain when it arrived. Even on a summer morning, with this drizzle, it was quite cold. Even the first day, it seems that he doesn't want to get up.

But there were 8,000 soldiers, who had traveled in the rain for most of the night, and rushed here. At this time, they stopped in front of the gate of Jiyin City, all of them were as tall as pine trees and green bamboos, as if they did not know hunger and cold. The flag with the word "yellow" can still be slightly unfolded, facing the drizzle, and it also shows its backbone.

Huang Chao, here!

At the opening of the city gate, two teams of grass armies lined up on the left and right. In the middle, Wang Xianzhi strode over, shook his hand and said, "Brother Huang, you're here!" This simple sentence contains endless heroic sympathy.

Huang Chao hurriedly dismounted, walked a few steps quickly, stood still half a step away from Wang Xianzhi, and said with a smile: "General, is Huang too late?"

The two clasped each other and laughed "haha". Wang Xianzhi led Huang Chao into the city, and the grass army and the eight thousand elites brought by Huang Chao also entered the city one after another. At this time, the cold rain is stopping, the red sun is new, and the warm light is sprinkled on Jiyin City with a breeze - what a hero's meeting!

Wang Xianzhi sent someone to arrange for Huang Chao's soldiers to go down to rest and rest, and then arranged for Huang Chao to bathe in a luncheon to catch the wind and wash the dust. Huang Chao saw that Wang Xianzhi was arrogant and treated him very kindly, and he was a little more cordial to him in his heart.

This reception banquet was arranged in the general's line, the grass army was under difficult conditions, and it was not very polite, but there were also full beef and mutton, and drunken spirits and wine.

At this table, in addition to Wang Xianzhi, Wu Juncai, Shang Rang and other cadres of the grass army are all handsome. Huang Chao only has his brother Huang Kuo and his son Liu Ding. In addition to this, there is also Li Keyong.

Wang Xianzhi introduced Li Keyong and Huang Chao to each other. Li Keyong naturally recognized the person with a horizontal eyebrow is Huang Chao, who is known as "a long-admired name". Huang Chao was also taken aback when he heard that this one-eyed young man in Chinese clothes was Shatuo Li Keyong. Although Huang Chao was nearly forty years older than him, he did not dare to underestimate him. I only pondered in my heart, "I don't know what happened to this 'Li Ya'er' who came here." ”

During the banquet, most of the people were born in the green forest and grass, eating wine and meat, and laughing with wanton words, which was quite happy. Li Keyong often pays attention to Huang Chao's behavior, and feels that his courage and mind are not under Wang Xianzhi, and he can't help but be overjoyed.

While talking and laughing, the attendant suddenly came in and said, "General, Chu Daxia has returned from Juancheng!"