"Zhou Hu...really died at Yang Xiong's hands?"

Seeing Wanyue Liangzhou crossing the Zhang River, Cheng Ang, the middle-level man in Tiger Ben, still had a trace of suspicion.

However, he also understood that thinking about this was useless at this time. The moment he acquiesced to the Liangzhou army to cross the Zhang River, he was already involved in this palace change and could no longer stay out of it.

After breathing and adjusting his mood, Cheng Ang turned to ask Yang Xiong who was standing beside him: "The prince is going to Handan next?"

Yang Xiong smiled and said, "Yes, if Cheng Huben is willing to help, he will be rewarded in the future."

Cheng Ang laughed inexplicably, then looked at the Liangzhou army crossing the river and said, "Handan, there are currently 15,000 Tiger Ben Army led by Pan Mao and others, and there are 10,000 Yingchuan Army from Chu Yan, which is easy to be successful."

Hearing this, Yang Xiong said calmly, "Don't worry, Cheng Huben, Yang has made arrangements."

As soon as he finished speaking, several soldiers rushed over and kowtowed to the ground and reported: "Criminal, General Yan Yi sent a young man to come..."

Seeing the messenger who spoke, he looked at Cheng Ang intentionally or unintentionally, Yang Xiong waved his hand and said, "But it's okay, Cheng Huben is not an outsider."

"Yes!" The messenger clasped his fists and said seriously: "General Yan Yi sent a young man to pass the message. He had set out from Yecheng as the prince's instructions. He could arrive in Handan on schedule around midnight tonight."

『Yan Yi…』

Cheng Ang's heart moved slightly.

If he remembers correctly, Yan Yi is a general stationed in Yecheng under Yang Xiong, with 20,000 Liangzhou under his command.

The most important thing is that in order to capture Yuancheng, Yang Xiong built a lot of siege equipment in the camp outside Yecheng City, and his capture of Yuancheng only used some of them.

"Are you already preparing for it then?"

Cheng Ang glanced at Yang Xiong and thought to himself.

If he had guessed correctly, he probably had already taken away by Yan Yi at this moment.

"good!"

Just as Cheng Ang was thinking secretly, Yang Xiong nodded happily, then turned his head and asked Cheng Ang, "Cheng Huben, what do you think?"

Now that things have come to this, what choice does Cheng Ang have?

Just because of his tacit consent to the Liangzhou army's crossing the river and Zhangshui, it had constituted betrayal. Unless he was willing to kill Yang Xiong at the cost of his life, the court would definitely regard him as a member of the Liangzhou army.

So he clasped his fists and replied, "Cheng Ang dared not obey his orders."

Although Cheng Ang's answer was a bit reluctant, Yang Xiong didn't care. After all, Cheng Ang had four thousand Tiger Ben Army under his command. Fortunately, this person was close to the third prince Li Qian on weekdays, so this person hesitated when his Liangzhou army crossed the river just now. Otherwise, if this person stood firmly on Handan, it would be very disadvantageous to his Liangzhou army.

“A wise choice.”

Yang Xiong smiled and praised, then joined forces with Cheng Ang and quickly marched towards Handan.

It was around the hour of Yexu, Yang Xiong and Cheng Ang led a large army outside Handan City, and slowed down their movements about five miles away from the city.

What Yang Xiong had to do now was to try to trick a city gate in Handan and then enter the city if it didn't go well, then wait until Yan Yi's army arrived in Handan with siege equipment at Zishi and attacked Handan together.

When things got to this point, Yang Xiong no longer cared about the consequences of attacking Handan. He had to conquer Handan as soon as possible to make rice cooked. Otherwise, if Zhou Hu escaped from Yangping, fled back to Handan, and took over the Jin army in Handan again, it would be troublesome.

After discussing with Cheng Ang and his younger brother Yang Wei, Yang Xiong took more than a hundred elite soldiers to Handan.

At this time, Handan had closed the city gate. The soldiers guarding the city saw someone shaking under the city, and shouted: "Who is under the city?"

So Yang Xiong confessed his identity calmly.

When he heard that it was the uncle of the third prince Li Qian and the prince Yang Xiong of Liangzhou, the tone of the city guard, slowed down a lot, and he immediately asked with a kind look: "The prince came late at night, don't know what's important?"

Yang Xiong replied: "Yang has captured the bandits of Mount Tai and recaptured Dongwuyang. I will return to Handan to report. Please open the city gate, Yang wants to enter the city."

"This..." The soldiers guarding the city did not dare to make arbitrary claims and said in embarrassment: "The city gate is closed, and there is no order from the boss, so I dare not open the city gate."

Seeing this, Yang Xiong pretended to be angry and said, "Do you want Yang to stay outside the city for a night?"

Seeing Yang Xiong getting angry, the soldiers on the city looked at each other and immediately asked the marquis Guo Yi.

Soon, the marquis Guo Yi came in a hurry. After saying hello to Yang Xiong, he immediately asked, "Can General Zhou Zuo be here?"

Yang Xiong replied: "General Zhou Zuo is still in Dongwuyang, so Yang will go back to Handan to report. Why didn't Guo Menhou open the city gate quickly?"

Hearing this, the marquis Guo Yi frowned.

If General Zhou Hu of the Left was also outside the city, he would naturally open the city gate without hesitation, but there was only Yang Xiong outside the city. Besides, it was late at night, so how could he dare to open the city gate easily?

You should know that the Hu Ben Central Secretary Pan Mao once repeatedly reminded them to be alert to Yang Xiong and the Liangzhou army.

Seeing that Guo Yi did not let go, Yang Xiong took out the order to enter the city that the third prince Li Qian asked for in front of the emperor. However, even with this order, Guo Erjun did not agree and said, "The prince clearly understands that the last general has no right to make a decision, and needs to be approved by Pan Zhonglang and General Chu."

Hearing this, Yang Xiong was anxious and cursed, but the Marquis of Guo Men ignored him and ordered the soldiers beside him to report.

It is undeniable that Yang Xiong's identity is extraordinary and he cannot afford to offend him, but he is not able to make Yang Xiong drink easily. No matter how noble the Prince of Liang Hou is, can he be compared with Zou Zan, the general of the Hu Ben? Can he be compared with the Zuo General Zhou Hu?

Not to mention Master Chen.

So in this matter, he was not afraid that Yang Xiong would hate him at all.

At this time, the Hu Ben Central Gate was inspecting the city gates in Handan with Chu Yan, the chief general of Yingchuan Army, and the city gates in Handan every night. After closing the city gates, Pan Mao would take Chu Yan to inspect the city gates in Handan, and then drink some wine in a certain city gate building, guard until dawn, and then hand over the city defense affairs to several other Hu Ben Central Gate of the Hu Ben Army.

For some reason, Chu Yan didn't want to participate too much in Handan's city defense, but Pan Mao wanted to pull him.

It is no wonder that when General Zuo Zhou Hu left Handan, he handed over the defense affairs of Handan City to Pan Mao and Chu Yan. Pan Mao was afraid that his autocracy would cause misunderstandings, so he had to discuss with Chu Yan no matter what he did to express his respect for General Zuo Zhou Hu.

Just as Pan Mao and Chu Yan and the others inspected the East City Gate, soldiers sent by Guo Menhou hurried over and told the two of them all about what happened in the South City Gate. So Pan Mao took Chu Yan to the South City Gate and came forward to negotiate with Yang Xiong.

Pan Mao said to Yang Xiong with righteous words: "Congratulations to the prince for regaining Dongwuyang. However, General Zhou Zuo ordered that no one should open the city gate after the curfew, otherwise he would be punished for violating the ban... Please find a place outside the city to rest for a night, and it would not be too late to enter the city tomorrow. As for the matter of reporting to the palace, we can go forward on behalf of the prince and report it to the palace."

Hearing this, Yang Xiong cursed in his heart.

However, he had no choice but to deal with Pan Mao. After all, he was the confidant general of Zou Zan, the general of the Hu Ben. Even if Yang Xiong had a prominent status, he would not normally threaten Pan Mao.

So he could only leave in anger and discuss countermeasures with Cheng Ang and Yang Wei.

Seeing Yang Xiong and his party disappearing into the night outside the city, Pan Mao frowned deeply and said to Chu Yan: "Something is wrong..."

"What?" Chu Yan asked in confusion.

Pan Mao looked outside the city and whispered: "First, Yang Xiong said that he had recovered Dongwuyang, but we have not received any news from General Zuo so far; second, Yang Xiong actually crossed the Zhangshui..."

Chu Yan said in dissatisfaction: "There are only a hundred people, so the garrison in Zhangshui will not stop him, right?"

"But at least you have to send someone to inform Handan in advance." Pan Mao looked suspicious.

“…”

When Chu Yan heard this, he glanced outside the city and said nothing.

At the same time, Yang Xiong had returned to Cheng Ang and Yang Wei, and told them about their experience under the city.

Hearing this, Yang Wei frowned and thought for a moment, turned to look at Cheng Ang and said, "Since that's the case, why not try to let Cheng Huben come forward..."

After saying that, he expressed his thoughts, and only Cheng Ang smiled bitterly.

After all, if he agreed to this matter, he would be even more indestructible...

But as mentioned before, he had no choice at this moment. If he could not help the third prince Li Qian to accomplish his career, the court would definitely not be able to spare him and change to the Hu Ben Zhonglang. What is the big deal for the court?

More than an hour passed in a blink of an eye, and the outside of Handan City was calm, but Pan Mao, the Hu Ben Central Committee, felt so uneasy that when he and Chu Yan were drinking in the South City Gate Tower, he seemed a little uneasy.

As the middle approached, a noise suddenly came from outside the city, alarming the two generals Pan Mao and Chu Yan who were on the night in the city gate tower.

The two of them subconsciously listened and vaguely heard words like "Zhangshui", "Yang Xiong", "Liangzhou Army".

Pan Mao subconsciously stood up and walked quickly outside the city gate tower. He happened to run into the gate of the marquis Guo Yi who was about to report inside. The latter said with a hurried look: "Zhonglang, the big thing is not good. Yang Xiong led the Liangzhou army to force the crossing and attacked Cheng Zhonglang, who was stationed in Zhangshui..."

"What?"

Pan Mao's expression changed when he heard this and immediately asked, "Who sent the message?"

"It's Cheng Zhonglang!" Guo Menhou said anxiously: "Chen Zhonglang is now outside the city..."

Before Guo Menhou could finish his words, Pan Mao rushed out of the city gate tower, went straight to the city wall, leaned out and looked down.

At this time, the guards on the city had already lost more than a dozen torches. With the help of the light of the torches, Pan Mao saw his colleague of the Hu Ben Army, Cheng Ang, the Hu Ben Army, standing under the city, with his hair radiating, extremely embarrassed, with only a few hundred people behind him.

"Cheng Ang, what's going on?" Pan Mao asked in a disgusting way.

"It's Yang Xiong!" Cheng Ang, with disheveled hair, said panting: "Yang Xiong led the Liangzhou army to rebel!... This afternoon, Yang Xiong led the Liangzhou army to return to Zhangshui, saying that he had defeated the bandits of Taishan and took back Dongwuyang. Then he ignored my warning and took his soldiers across the river. I didn't want to tear him apart, so I let him cross the river. Unexpectedly, after the Liangzhou army crossed the river, they immediately launched an attack on our army. I broke through several times and were stopped by him. It was not until after night that I fought to kill the siege..."

As he was speaking, suddenly there was a movement of a large army marching in the south, Cheng Ang's face changed drastically and shouted: "It's the Liangzhou Army! It's the Liangzhou Army chasing me! Yang Xiong is going to attack Handan, Pan Mao, quickly open the city gate and let us wait to enter the city. It's too late!"

“…”

Pan Mao looked shocked and looked up at the south outside the city.

Cheng Ang's words shocked him. Although he felt something was wrong when he saw Yang Xiong an hour ago, he never expected that Yang Xiong would really dare to rebel with the Liangzhou army.

"Pan Mao! Pan Mao!" Cheng Ang shouted outside the city: "Open the city gate quickly, it will be too late if it is too late!"

Pan Mao came to his senses and frowned and looked at Cheng Ang under the city, then suddenly asked, "Is there any news about General Zhou Zuo?"

Cheng Ang replied in a pretentious manner: "Then Yang Xiong said that General Zhou Zuo was killed by him..."

"What?!"

Pan Mao opened his eyes wide in horror, as if the shock of this incident was even more intense than learning that Yang Xiong's rebellion.

At this time, Chu Yan had already walked to Pan Mao and was slightly stunned when he heard this.

"Is the leader dead?" A black tiger crowd next to Chu Yan said in horror, and the others also looked at Chu Yan one after another.
To be continued...