Chapter 129: The true nature of a hero (Part 2)

In the evening, an army of 200 people rushed to the East Barracks. In addition to some sporadic forces distributed in various places, the Hedong Army had a total of 24,000 people, stationed in two major camps. One was the East Barracks, located ten miles east of Taiyuan City, with 15,000 troops, led by Yang Lie, deputy envoy of Hedong Jiedu, who was also Zhang Huan's former immediate superior; the other army was stationed in the North Barracks, with about 6,000 people, led by Lu Qianli, the envoy of Datong Army. In his position, Lu Qianli belonged to Yang Lie, but in fact, the two armies were independent, and Yang Lie could not command Lu Qianli.

The situation in Hedong these days is critical, but these two armies are as stable as Mount Tai and are not moved by the situation at all. The Zhang family repeatedly asked for help and ignored them. Without military talismans, no one could mobilize these two armies. This is theoretically the case.

Yang Lie had received the report. He quickly walked to the camp gate and laughed from a distance, "You are so good, you are so good!"

Yang Lie was about fifty years old, with a leopard-eyed and tiger-headed forehead, and acted decisively and swiftly. Just like his name, his whole body was like a burning fire. Zhang Huan stepped forward, knelt down at him on one knee, and said, "I will join the general!"

"No gift! No gift!" Yang Lie hurriedly helped Zhang Huan up, "You are no longer my subordinate, so there is no need to be so polite."

As he said that, he punched Zhang Huan intimately, "You guy, you have a promising future!"

Zhang Huan smiled and said, "The General will receive the three thousand horses I sent last time?"

"I received it, it's rare that you still miss me." Yang Lie patted his shoulder gratefully, looked back, and asked in surprise: "What? Didn't the three thousand people bring it?"

Zhang Huan sighed softly, "Chang'an is already a turbulent time, and the army has left behind to protect the general."

Speaking of this, he took out a golden command arrow from his arms, raised it in front of Yang Lie, and whispered: "General Yang obeys the order!"

Yang Lie was stunned and immediately knelt down and said, "The last general Yang Lie obeys the commander of the general."

"The commander of the commander, the Hedong Army will immediately obey the command of the General Zhang Huan of the Central Army. Those who are dissatisfied will be killed!"

"The last one will obey the order!"

A complicated look flashed in Yang Lie's eyes, and then disappeared. He stood up and asked, "I wonder if General Zhang has a military talisman?"

"The military talisman is on me."

He nodded and said to Zhang Huan: "Please wait, General, I will send someone to inform General Lu to come."

Half an hour later, five hundred cavalry arrived like a strong wind. Lu Qianli was dark-skinned and slender, and was of the thin and strong type. From his clean horse boots and the laces of average length on his armor, it can be seen that this person is meticulous in doing things.

He strode into the camp and asked, "Where is Mr. Zhang?" But when he saw Zhang Huan at first sight, he was stunned for a moment, and couldn't help but look at Yang Lie in surprise.

Zhang Huan was also slightly stunned. Why did he call him Mr. Zhang? At this moment, he suddenly saw Yang Lie wink at Lu Qianli. Lu Qianli immediately kept silent. Zhang Huan sneered in his heart. There was no straight trees in the mountains and no straight people in the world. It seemed that things were not that simple.

He didn't say much, and took out two military talismans from his bag. The military talisman was a complete tiger down the mountain. It was divided into three and cast in gold. There were four inscriptions on the base, "Hedong Jiedu". Zhang Huan's hand was a tiger's head and a tiger's body, and the one left in the military camp should be a tiger's tail.

After a moment, the judge in the army took the military talisman. He carefully picked up the military talisman and installed it. With a light "click", the three military talismans tied together and became a complete tiger descending down the mountain with their teeth and claws, making them look lifelike. Zhang Huan handed over the Golden Arrow Order to Yang Lie and smiled and said, "General Yang can believe it now!"

Yang Lie took a step back, and he quickly glanced at Lu Qianli, and saw Lu Qianli hesitate and said, "But we received the letter from the commander-in-chief that the second young master came to receive military power. Why did he become the Eighteen Lang?"

Sure enough, Yang Lie has left a trick. He didn't say it just now, but now Lu Qianli is attacking. What do he want to do with this cunning old fox? Zhang Huan's face darkened and he said to the two of them sternly: "The rules of the Hedong military, the general is not here, so the command arrows and military talismans shall be used as the command arrows and military talismans. I only ask you, is this arrow and military talisman a right?"

"That refers to normal times, but this is an extraordinary period. Since it does not match the letter from the Grand Marshal, we naturally have to act cautiously."

Lu Qianli did not give in. He stared at Zhang Huan and said coldly: "It is of great importance. Please wait for two days. We will send a letter to the general again with a flying pigeon?"

"But will Cui Yuan ask you to wait? Will Pei Jun ask you to wait? Within a day or two, the Shandong Army and the Hebei Army will fight to Taiyuan. What time do you have to wait?"

Seeing that the two of them refused to give in, Yang Lie stood up and smoothed out and said, "Why not do this? Let's wait for another day. If the second son still hasn't arrived, we will follow the order of the military talisman. This will also give the general an explanation. Can you please see?"

"Yes!" Zhang Huan agreed immediately.

"What about you?" Yang Lie glanced at Lu Qianli again.

Lu Qianli snorted heavily, "I will listen to you!" He turned around and strode away from the handsome tent.

Yang Lie kept staring at his background and walked away, with a cold smile in his eyes. Then he turned around and smiled at Zhang Huan: "General Zhang, do you know why I didn't say that there was a handsome man's pigeon letter just now?"

"I was just about to ask the general why didn't you say it just now?" Zhang Huan looked at the righteous general with a smile. I wonder how he should explain it?

"Oh!" Yang Lie sighed long and said with great pain: "I have received a secret report. A month ago, Cui Yuan sent people to meet Lu Qianli repeatedly, but there was no evidence, so he tested him. You have seen his performance just now. To put it bluntly, I don't want to hand over military power to the general, and use the excuse of Fei Ge's passing of a letter to delay time. I am now sure that this person must have been bribed by Cui Yuan!"

"Then why didn't he go south and surrender to Cui Yuan?" Zhang Huan asked with some doubts.

"Do you even ask me this?" Yang Lie looked at Zhang Huan dissatisfiedly, as if he was blaming him for not thinking deeply. "It's very simple. The reason why Lu Qianli refused to go south was because he shouldered the important task of seizing Taiyuan for the Shandong Army. If he hadn't been afraid of me, he would have publicly occupied Taiyuan."

"So that's the case. Did he be so nervous when I mentioned the transfer of power?" Zhang Huan smiled coldly and said, "Since there is only one day, he will take action tonight."

"That's right, he will definitely seize Taiyuan tonight, but since I know it, how can I allow him to succeed?"

Yang Lie stared at Zhang Huan eagerly, "How? General Zhang is willing to cooperate with me, and pull out the stinger tonight?"

Speaking of this, he glanced at the military talisman and waited for Zhang Huan's statement.

"Of course!" Zhang Huan pushed the military talisman and the arrow to Yang Lie, and said sincerely: "Zhang Huan is still very experienced and cannot bear such an important task. I used to be the general's tooth general, so now I naturally have to follow the general's leader."

Yang Lie laughed loudly, he patted Zhang Huan on the shoulder and said intimately: "I really didn't read the wrong person, come! Let's discuss the details."

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It was already dark, and a team of cavalry rushed south in the night. After half an hour, they returned to the Miao Manor. At this moment, Zhang Huan's three thousand troops had quietly entered the Miao Manor, making the originally vast farm appear a little crowded.

Zhang Huan walked into the farmyard with great strides. Han Yu rushed forward and said, "The general is back just in time. Mr. Li has returned and has brought Wei Er's special envoy."

"I understand, let Mr. Li come to see me first."

When Zhang Huan returned to the room, he immediately wrote a letter and handed it to a personal soldier and said, "You can hurry to the Northern Barracks and hand this letter to Lu Qianli."

The personal soldiers received the letter and immediately got on the horse and galloped away. At this time, Li Mi hurried over. As soon as he entered the door, he said, "I'm afraid something is wrong."

"Don't worry, sit down and talk slowly."

Zhang Huan poured him a glass of water, Li Mi took a sip of the cup, then sighed and said, "I met Wei Yan. He was very enthusiastic about inviting the general to go to Longyou, and specially sent an envoy to negotiate terms with the general."

Zhang Huan smiled faintly. When he left Chang'an, Wei Yan was also in Chang'an. When he arrived in Taiyuan, he came from the Longyou delegation to invite him. He was indeed very "enthusiastic".

"What conditions do he want?" Zhang Huan asked without saying a word.

"He has two conditions. If the general is willing to stay in Longyou and rely on him, he will not have any money and deduct Ning County to the general to station troops. If the general wants to cross the border to Hexi, he will collect 200,000 jin of money and 100,000 jin of grain as toll."

Zhang Huan was silent for a moment, and then suddenly asked, "What's the situation in Hexi?"

Li Mi smiled bitterly and said, "This is what I said, the situation is not good. Do you know who is in charge of Hexi now?"

"Isn't it Xin Yunjing?" Zhang Huan was a little surprised. Since Li Mi said this, something must have happened in Hexi.

"In the name of Hexi Jiedushi is still Xin Yunjing." Li Mi shook his head gently and said, "Xin Yunjing returned to Jincheng to recuperate last month. Ten thousand Hexi troops are in the hands of Deputy Envoy Lu Sigong."

Most of Hexi was occupied by the Uighurs in the late Anshi Rebellion, leaving only Huijun east of the Yellow River and a piece of enclave in Wuwei County west of the Yellow River. Due to the persistence of the general Pugu Huaien, the Tubo people were unable to occupy Wuwei County. Pugu Huaien was also named Hexi Jiedushi by the court. Later, Pugu Huaien rebelled against the Tang Dynasty, and the court transferred Taiyuan Yin Xin Yunjing as Hexi Jiedushi. With his efforts, he gradually regained the land east of Wuwei County. Wuwei County was finally connected with the territory of the Tang Dynasty. The 10,000 Hexi troops under his command were also the only army that was not controlled by the Wei family.

However, in this way, the Wei family's hand slowly extended to Hexi. Due to the disasters caused by Hexi for many years, Xin Yunjing's logistics supplies encountered great difficulties and could only rely on Longyou. From the 13th year of Qingzhi, he reached a compromise with Wei Yan, and the deputy envoy of the Hexi Military Control Commission was appointed by Wei Yan.

Zhang Huan paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. Xin Yunjing was once the Yin of Taiyuan and had a very good relationship with the Zhang family. He originally wanted to surrender to Xin Yunjing and develop slowly westward, but now Hexi has also fallen into Wei Yan's hands, so it's so troublesome.

At this time, Han Yu next to him couldn't help but interrupt, "It's better for the general to agree to his second condition first, give him money and food, and go to Hexi first."

Zhang Huan shook his head, "The so-called toll is just his trick to lure the enemy. If I was right, he would have opened his bloody mouth and waited for us."

He took a few more steps and suddenly felt that Li Mi seemed to have not spoken. He turned to look at him, but saw Li Mi looking at him with a smile. Zhang Huan felt something, and asked with a smile: "Mr. Li means to let me continue to go west?"

Li Mi nodded and smiled sly: "He is waiting for you in the future, just go around, and maybe someone in the court will fulfill your wishes."

Zhang Huan laughed loudly. Since God asked Xin Yunjing to rest in illness, he wanted to hand over Hexi to himself. God would do so, so why fear?

He immediately threw the matter in Hexi aside and asked Li Mi to deal with the envoys of Longyou. He focused his attention in front of him. How to maximize the benefits is the top priority.

"Go and call He Lou Wuji and Li Hengqiu!"

During the day, Zhang Huan had already seen that Yang and Lu were not buying each other, and each had their own ideas. Yang Lie kept saying that Lu Qianli surrendered to Cui Yuan, and he was probably a ghost in his heart. He was very likely to have surrendered to Pei Jun and chose a good tree to live in. How could he hold his future to the Zhang family, which was already in full swing? Lu Qianli was probably not a good thing. But one of the two surrendered to the North and the other surrendered to the South, and each of them plotted against each other for the sake of their new master, and their arrival intensified the conflict between them.

Footsteps came from outside the door, and He Lou Wuji and Li Hengqiu walked in one after another, "Do you have something to come to us?"

"certainly!"

Zhang Huan took a few books and formed a square shape. He pointed to the two barracks and smiled at the two men: "These two armies are going to perform a good show tonight. Let's watch it from the side. If necessary, light up the fire for them to make the show more lively. Do you understand?"

The two looked at each other and laughed together. He Lou Wuji immediately bowed and said, "Please give orders by the general!"

"No hurry!" Zhang Huan looked at the night outside the window and smiled slightly, "You go and let the brothers eat and drink well, and then prepare to set off. After doing this, we will escape."

The two of them left with orders, and Zhang Huan waved to Li Shuangyu, the leader next to him. Li Shuangyu hurried forward and said, "Please give orders to the general!"

Zhang Huan put the inkstone to the south of the city and said to Li Shuangyu: "This is the Zhang family. Take five hundred brothers to take away all the gold and silver fields in the Zhang family's underground palace. You must hurry! You must claim to be Yang Lie's subordinate, do you know?"

"The last one will obey the order!"

Li Shuangyu was about to leave when he suddenly remembered something and hesitated: "What if the Zhang family stops it?"
Chapter completed!