Chapter 265: King Cui is in trouble

The sky is bright, and it is another misty day without seeing the sun. The scenery hidden in the darkness is vaguely visible. White fog is everywhere in the wilderness, and the figures of the woods, farmhouses and farmers form a landscape painting of dawn.

The sound of hooves in the distance was like thunder, and dozens of knights ran like lightning on the official road. The leader was about twenty-seven or eight years old. He was not tall, but his eyebrows were beautiful and quiet and handsome faces had a faint sense of bookishness.

He was Zhu Tao, the brother of Zhu Li. He was different from his brother's domineering and arrogant. Zhu Tao had a quick thinking and had a certain political mind. He had repeatedly advised his brother to compassionate with the people's strength and accumulate political capital. However, at that time, Zhu Luo had already been burned by the desire to be emperor and could not listen to his advice at all. It was not until Zhang Huan took away the foundation of Shuzhong that Zhu Luo's ambitions slowly cooled down. More than a month ago, Zhu Luo finally listened to Zhu Tao's persuasion, offered guilty to the court, and calmed down the rebellion in Hanzhong.

But the facts proved that Zhu Li was completely exploited by Zhang Huan. Zhu Tao saw this. He also discovered that the abnormal movements in the court were happening in various places. As the food crisis occurred in various places, local warlords became larger, and the imperial taxes were sharply reduced by 40%. Many ministers began to be dissatisfied with Pei Jun. The situation of his monopoly of power alone was gradually unable to hold on. This would be an extremely rare opportunity.

Zhu Tao decided to convince the eldest brother no matter what.

After walking for about thirty miles, when the sky gradually turned white, Zhu Tao finally stopped Zhu Li's team entering Beijing.

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"Why do you want me to return to Hanzhong?" Zhu Li asked slightly unhappy.

He left for two days, but when he saw that the capital was in sight, Zhu Tao wanted to let him go back, how could he be happy?

"Brother, sit down and listen to me slowly." Zhu Tao pressed the elder brother down and stared at his eyes and said solemnly: "If you enter Beijing at this time, Zhang Huan will definitely kill you. He will take advantage of the opportunity of Hanzhong's chaos after your death and destroy Hanzhong from north to south. But his real purpose is to take the opportunity to mobilize regiments to train troops in various parts of the Tang Dynasty and gain greater power. Since he has used you to seize Fengxiang, he will also use you to seize greater benefits."

"Hmph! Am I that easy to kill?" Zhu Li snorted heavily, the fat on his face shook heavily, and he gritted his teeth and said, "If he dares to touch a hair of my hair, I will kill his whole family."

"Brother! Zhang Huan wants to kill you, do you have to use the court to deal with you? Why don't you listen to my advice?" Zhu Tao stood up in a hurry and stomped his feet hard, "We are always so passive, being led by others. Haven't we suffered enough losses in so many years?"

"Okay! Okay! Second brother, don't be angry, brother, listen to you." Seeing that his younger brother was excited, Zhu Li quickly pulled him down. He sighed and said, "I don't want to be led by someone, but my strength is not as strong as others, what can I do?"

Zhu Tao calmed down for a moment and calmed himself down. He looked at Zhu Li and said, "Sometimes it is not a matter of strength. The key is whether we can seize the opportunity, and whether the strategy is correct. If we seize the opportunity, the strategy is right, so we can turn our disadvantages into advantages. In the past two months, I have been observing the situation in the North Korea and China, and finally I discovered a clue, no! It's an opportunity."

"What opportunity?" Zhu Li smiled with a narrow eyes.

Seeing that Zhu Tao aroused his elder brother's interest, he was no longer anxious. He ran all the way. He was tired and thirsty, so he asked the soldiers to pour him a cup of tea, took a sip of hot tea, and immediately relaxed between his chest and abdomen. Then he said slowly: "Pei Jun monopolized the power, but he could not guarantee the stability and prosperity of the Tang Dynasty. Especially when he used his son as a minister, he undermined the cabinet and the subordinate province, which destroyed the traditional pattern of the court. Some time ago, it was revealed that the Pei family's children cheated on the imperial examinations, and many ministers began to feel dissatisfied with him. According to my observation, the factions in the court had already diverged and merged. For example, the former Zhang Ruohao's party members and centrists began to surrender to Zhang Huan, while some of the Cui Dangmen followed Cui Yu, while the other part was to Li Mian, and the royal family that supported the empress dowager. If we can seize this opportunity, our disadvantages can be converted into advantages."

Zhu Li listened carefully to his younger brother's analysis, and he pondered: "Do you mean to let me become independent or follow someone?"

Zhu Tao smiled, "We have no one in the court, so how can we stand up for our own faction? Naturally, birds choose good branches to live in."

Zhu Li didn't speak for a long time and felt a little disappointed. When did he become so impressed that he was acting like a look.

Zhu Tao seemed to know the elder brother's mind. He smiled slightly and said, "We suffered a loss in the past, but no one supported us in the court. If there was any abnormal movement, people would say that they were rebelling. However, Zhang Huan used troops everywhere, and no one said anything about him. Brother, we must change our strategy."

"Okay! Then who do you like?" Zhu Li asked with a sigh.

"Cui Xiaofu!" Zhu Tao said word by word: "Although she represents the orthodox royal family and many people support her, she has a fatal weakness."

"Army!" Before the second brother finished speaking, Zhu Li blurted out.

"Yes! It's the army." Zhu Tao sneered: "Cui Xiaofu is not stupid, how could she not see the general trend in the court? Now the army that is truly loyal to her is probably only Duan Xiushi's seven thousand people, and the traffic is water and cups of food is useless. The Huainan army of Chu Xingshui followed Zhang Huan, and Wang Ang's Shannan army followed Pei Jun. So who else can she have the idea?"

Speaking of this, Zhu Li fully understood what his second brother meant. He actually wanted Cui Xiaofu to have no army and asked him to surrender. However, it was not bad to surrender to Cui Xiaofu. To some extent, he could also use the emperor to command the princes. Thinking of this, he nodded slightly and said, "I can consider your suggestions, but I also have a bad reputation. Will Cui Xiaofu accept it?

"Brother, don't worry, Cui Xiaofu is the empress dowager, representing the orthodox of the Tang Dynasty. She was the one who invited you. You are loyal or traitor. She can make a conclusion with just one sentence. As long as the eldest brother is willing to do what I said, comfort the people in Hanzhong a little, and then express his loyalty to the court, I think Pei Jun will be happy to see his eldest brother turn back to justice. As for Cui Qinggong, he is Cui Xiaofu's brother. Cui Xiaofu will not forget this, and we don't need to go too much."

"Not proper!" Zhu Li suddenly realized that if he and Cui Qinggong surrendered to Cui Xiaofu at the same time, wouldn't he have become Cui Qinggong's dowry? How could this be? His face, which had just smiled a little, immediately became gloomy, "I can listen to your advice to return to Hanzhong first, but I would rather be the head of a chicken than be a cow. Cui Xiaofu really wants me to surrender to her, so she can send someone to talk to me and let me take the initiative to surrender, don't think about it!"

Zhu Li's stubbornness left Zhu Tao speechless. He had just turned around, but he accidentally entered a dead end. The tent was as quiet as death. Zhu Li had already gotten up and started wearing a coat. The fate of the Zhu family seemed to be about to be decided at this moment. Just as Zhu Li had just walked to the door of the tent, he suddenly remembered something and stopped again.

"I forgot to tell you that the Shuofang Jiedushi Li Zhengye seemed to have had some conflict with the Pei family. He killed the deputy general Sang Ping, who was Pei Yi's brother-in-law. Some time ago, Li Zhengye sent someone to borrow food from me, but I didn't agree. I doubt if this kid wanted to follow Cui Qinggong too."

Zhu Tao was shocked. He had never heard of this. He had set up so many spies in Chang'an, but he had never heard of it. This shows that someone deliberately suppressed the news.

"Wait!" Zhu Tao suddenly remembered that Pei Yi seemed to have been to Shuofang more than a month ago. Did Li Zheng really get into trouble?

He didn't even think about this matter. Seeing that Zhu Li was about to leave, Zhu Tao quickly stepped forward and stopped his elder brother, "Brother, wait!"

"What! Do you still want to persuade me?"

Zhu Tao sighed, "Brother, think about it again!"

Zhu Li suddenly laughed, and he patted his brother's shoulder hard, "Second brother, you underestimate me too much. Can't I tell who is more important? Yesterday I heard a news that Cui Xiong was beaten to death by Wang Ang. Cui Qinggong and Wang Ang have a grudge. I just thought Hanzhong was too small and had no future. If the crane and clam fight, then how about I be that fisherman?"

After saying that, Zhu Li laughed and left.

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Just as everyone was worried, on the third day when Cui Xiong was crippled, Cui Qinggong, who received the news halfway, finally arrived in Chang'an in a hurry. He brought two thousand troops to Beijing, but was stopped by Pei Jun. Cui Qinggong finally brought only 300 people into Chang'an City.

"The master is back!" As the doorman shouted loudly, the doors opened one after another. Cui Qinggong walked into the inner house with a dark face, and murderous aura enveloped his eyebrows. It seemed that a storm was coming. Behind him, the strategist Ma Siyi followed closely. The lucky strategist was not killed because he had written a letter of loyalty to Pei Jun. Cui Qinggong simply thought that the letter was fake and wanted him to destroy the Great Wall himself. Ma Siyi was used more seriously.

Walking to Cui Xiong's ward, Cui Qinggong stopped and tried to squeeze out a loving smile. He walked into the house quickly, but his face suddenly sank. Cui Xiong was half lying on the bed and smiling lewdly, and reached into a maid's skirt and squeezed it randomly. The maid's clothes on her upper body had been torn, revealing a large area of ​​snow-white skin. A bowl of medicine next to her was knocked over the table, and the black medicine juice flowed all over the floor.

Suddenly seeing a large group of people coming in, the maid screamed, hurriedly took two steps back, pulled up her ragged clothes, and when she saw that it was the master, she was so scared that she "thump!" she knelt on the ground, trembling all over, and couldn't say a word.

Cui Xiong was also shocked. Seeing his father's face turned gloomy, his eyes rolled, and he immediately pointed at the maid and said loudly: "Dad, this woman can't move, so she came to seduce me. I, how can I have that kind of thought now?"

"Master! I... no, no." The maid was so scared that she almost fainted.

Cui Qinggong stared at the woman coldly, and waved his hand and said, "Come on! Come on, I'll take it out and beat it to death."

A dozen soldiers dragged her down like wolves and tigers, and heard the maid's plea from afar, "Young Master, please see me serve you and save me!"

Cui Xiong lowered his head, as if he had heard nothing, and the maid's voice gradually disappeared.

Cui Qinggong's face slowly became gentle. He sat next to his son and suddenly realized, is there no problem with his son's one? He hurriedly held a glimmer of hope and asked, "Son! How do you feel down there?"

Cui Xiong then remembered that the second half of his life was over. He shook his head, covered his face and cried, "Dad, what should I do in the future!"

Cui Qinggong's heart finally fell into the ice abyss, and all hope was cut off at this moment. He stood up suddenly, roared and roared: "The old thief who is killed in heaven! I want to crush you to ashes."

He could no longer suppress his hatred in his heart and walked out of the room. Ma Si, who was behind him, saw that the situation was not good, hurriedly followed him and advised him: "Prince, don't be impulsive, put the overall situation first."

"Shut up!" Cui Qinggong turned around and said viciously: "My son was ruined for the rest of his life, do you understand? He has lost his son and grandson, and it is useless to conquer the country."

Ma Si was suspicious and wanted to persuade him again, but Cui Qinggong left a sentence and stood him on the spot.

"If you advise me again, I will think you really collude with Pei Jun."

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Wang Ang’s mansion is in Chongrenfang, which is the location of the Imperial College. There are a large number of scholars who come to Beijing to take the exam. At the same time, it is also a concentrated place for Jinzhaoyuan in various places. Most of the local officials who come to Beijing to report their duties also live here. It is the New Year coming, and there are crowds of people on the streets, and you can hear the accents everywhere. There are guests in each restaurant and restaurant shop, and the business is very hot.

Suddenly, there was a chaos at the end of the street, and there were crowds running around the road. For a moment, all the pedestrians hid on both sides of the road and stared in fear. The road was empty, and hundreds of cavalry appeared on the street with murderous intent. Their swords were unsheathed, their arrows were rolled in strings, and their eyes were full of anger, without realizing that this was under the feet of the emperor.

The cavalry flew past the passers-by and rushed straight towards the royal palace. Some people recognized Cui Qinggong, the leader, and whispered that the Wang family was about to face a disaster. Although they were afraid, a large number of people followed the cavalry to watch the fun.

Wang Ang's mansion is in an alley about three meters wide. The alley is not deep, only fifty steps. The purplish gate can be clearly seen at the entrance of the alley. At this moment, Wang Ang was in the mansion. He had received the news that Cui Qinggong had entered the city. On the one hand, he ordered people to ask Pei Jun for help, and on the other hand, he mobilized attendants, and about five or six hundred servants firmly guarded the entrance of the alley.

Cui Qinggong's three hundred personal soldiers stopped about a hundred steps from the entrance of the alley. Thousands of people watching the fun gathered in the distance, and no one dared to move forward. The two teams confronted each other from afar. Cui Qinggong urged him to come forward, and his voice shouted like a broken gong: "Listen, since you dare to bully my son, now that I am here, why are you hiding like a turtle? If you have a genital, come out to argue with me."

He shouted three times in a row, and the palace was still silent. Cui Qinggong sneered and shouted again: "You can beg me to spare you. Come out and kowtow to me and recognize me as my grandfather. Maybe I will spare you."

Suddenly, someone yelled across the palace, "The surname of Cui, you are too bullying."

The sound fell, and an arrow shot towards Cui Qinggong's face, accurate and fierce. Several personal soldiers were ready to rush forward and blocked the arrow.
To be continued...