end song

Chapter 1203 Returners

Time enters mid-September.

Being in the Central Plains, it is obvious that the situation is becoming anxious again.

If we say that at the beginning of the Northern Expedition, the Tang Army's momentum was like a rainbow, and when it left Tongguan, broke through Luoyang, crossed the Yellow River, and surrendered to Zhucheng, the front of the army was as sure as it could be, but now the momentum is gradually weakening.

In particular, Gaocheng and Baozhou, which were expected to surrender, were controlled by the Yuan court and failed to meet many people's expectations.

Coupled with the fact that Kublai Khan himself arrived in Yanjing to sit in the township, the news spread, which calmed down many northern scholars who had already decided to surrender to Li Xia, and continued to wait and see.

If this stalemate continues, when the Tang army runs out of food and grass, the whole battle situation is likely to be reversed again.

Including Zhending Mansion, which is ready to respond to Tang Jun, is also in a dilemma.

The current situation is that Gaocheng has not been successfully attached, and Meng Yuan's Hejian Wang Wugu has led troops to surround Zhendingfu City.

However, the lands of Zhangde and Daming in the south have not yet been taken, and Zhang Hongdao's troops are restrained by Ahema again.

In other words, Zhending Mansion has become an isolated city...

September [-]th.

It was only after dawn that the cavalry of the Yuan army rode their horses to the city wall, shouting at the Tang flag that was flying high.

"Listen, traitors of the city!"

Some soldiers guarding the city raised their bows to shoot, but Shi Di raised his hand to stop, allowing the Yuan army cavalry to finish.

"Dayuan is the fate of destiny. Those who dare to betray Dayuan will have no good end. You don't need to count on reinforcements anymore. The Dong family in Gaocheng was found out by Zhang Hongfan because they secretly colluded with the thief Li. The whole family of 250 people has been beheaded." Already!"

On the top of the city, when Dong Wenyong heard this, he seemed to be about to fall down the city wall as if he had been severely injured.

He held on to the battlements, tried his best to support his body, his face was like gold paper in an instant, and he spit out a mouthful of blood in a "poof".

"Mr. Dong!"

The people around hurried forward to support him, making a mess.

And the Yuan army under the city was still shouting.

"Now His Majesty has personally come to Yanjing to sit in town and mobilize a large army. He will soon defeat Thief Li and pacify the Quartet. I hope you don't make mistakes by waiting. Just kill Wang E, Wang Yun, Dong Wenyong, Shi Bang and others, and submit it Chief, Your Majesty is merciful, let the past be forgiven..."

With a few "swish", arrows were shot at those Yuan soldiers from the top of the city, some of them missed, and some were blocked. Those Yuan soldiers rode away and shouted several times to other places leave.

Afterwards, Wugudai ordered the soldiers and horses to attack the city.

After finally defending the city until noon, the Yuan army's offensive slowed down a bit. Shi Di and Shi Qi went down to the top of the city to eat and complained in a low voice.

"You also saw the chaos in the morning. Why do I feel that there is no good end for surrendering Li Xia?"

"Dong Wenyong surrendered to Li Xia a long time ago, and the Dong family is still gone in the end."

"Zhang Jiulang is also ruthless enough. More than 200 people died. If he said he would kill him."

"Thinking about it this way, the second brother's scruples about not wanting to surrender to Tang are also right. If one is bad, the historians will also copy and kill."

Shi Qi suddenly lowered his voice, and said: "To be honest, I regret it a little, we descended too early."

Shi Di glanced around, and replied: "It's really early, even if we wait for Li Xia to come before us, can he still kill us?"

Of course, the two are just complaining at the moment, and they dare not do anything if they are really asked.

But if this situation continues and they lose confidence in Tang Jun, it will be hard to say.

Suddenly, shouts sounded from the top of the city.

"Look, General! What is that..."

~~
"How is Mr. Dong?"

"I'm too sad, I'm afraid it will take some time to recuperate."

"Doctor Lao is here."

In the manager's mansion, Wang Yun sent the doctor off, and then turned back to the lobby, feeling a gloomy atmosphere.

He sighed and said, "The world is unpredictable."

"That's right." Shi Bang said, "I didn't expect that I could conquer Zhending, but Dong Wenyong didn't make it, and ended up like this."

Wang Yun glanced at him and remained silent.

As for Wang E, he was sitting there pulling his beard, with a worried face, almost bald.

"If you want to go like this again, people will feel uneasy, and what you are afraid of is that there will be changes in the city."

Just as he was talking, Shi Qi rushed in quickly, his face full of surprise.

"I'm coming!"

Shi Gang stood up abruptly, wondering: "What's coming?"

"The imperial edict of the Great Tang Emperor... the edict is here!"

Shi Qi was so excited that he couldn't speak clearly.

He is a type of person who is easily swayed. After being persuaded by Shi Bang, he decided to surrender to Tang to become a high-ranking official. When the situation suddenly changed, he worried about his family's life. But now that Li Xia's will has come, he can be more excited than others.

"Where is the oracle?"

"Behind...His Majesty sent someone..."

Shi Gang couldn't wait any longer and rushed out quickly.He saw a group of elite soldiers whose armor was covered with bloodstains standing in the courtyard, the leader was actually Huo Xiaolian.

"General Huo?!"

Huo Xiaolian turned her head and glanced, her eyes clearly showed indifference, as if she didn't think much of history, but she managed to squeeze out a smile.

With such a coping smile, he met Wang E and Wang Yun again respectively.

"My lords are deeply aware of the righteousness, turned to the light, and saved the fathers and elders in Hebei from the disaster of war. On behalf of Your Majesty, I would like to extend my greetings and thanks to you all."

Both Wang E and Wang Yun were stunned by such words, and looked at each other, secretly thinking that it is indeed a country of etiquette, and they felt the polite and benevolent demeanor of their king without meeting each other.

"The general is serious. I hope your majesty will not give up on the guilty minister who has returned to the Holy Dynasty."

Huo Xiaolian said: "Your Majesty has heard about Dong's family moving out of Gaocheng, and thinks that the situation in the north is not suitable for a stalemate. Now I have personally led the elite soldiers to cross the Yellow River, and I want to make a relief for Zhending, so as not to chill the heroes."

Wang E and Wang Yun were taken aback again.

What surprised me this time was Li Xia's mobility.

The moment something went wrong, Li Xia was able to deal with it decisively, obviously not intending to give Kublai Khan a chance to fight back...

~~
Zhangde Mansion is governed in Anyang City, and Li Xia is now stationed outside Anyang City.

At sunset, several fast horses rushed into the camp from the west, Zhang Hongdao dismounted, and hurried to the big tent to see him.

Li Xia was talking with Zhang Wenjing, and after hearing the report, Zhang Wenjing planned to avoid it.

"Since your fifth brother is here, there's no need to avoid it."

Zhang Wenjing sat down again and said, "I thought if I avoid it, you can scold him."

"I don't scold him."

"Then how about I tell him a few words?" Zhang Wenjing asked with a smile, looking a little mischievous.

Li Xia turned to look at her and couldn't help smiling.

"what ever."

After a while, Zhang Hongdao hurried into the account and said: "I pay homage to Your Majesty, I am not in a good position for the Northern Expedition, please forgive me."

Li Xia was tearing up a piece of jerky and eating it, but didn't answer.

Zhang Wenjing glanced at him, and said, "Then Fifth Brother, why don't you tell me, what's wrong with you?"

"Your minister failed to capture Mengmen Pass, nor did he capture Zhangde and Daming Prefectures."

"The terrain of Mengmen Pass is steep, and Ahema has enough troops, so it's understandable that you won't be able to attack for a while. What's going on with Zhangde and Daming Mansions?"

Zhang Hongdao was always facing Li Xia, and said, "Now the commander of the Yuan army who is serving as the envoy of Zhangde, Daming and other roads is You Xian. Although this man is not a famous general with outstanding military exploits, he is actually very talented."

Zhang Wenjing held the airs of a noble concubine and said: "This trend is not good. If the fifth elder brother can't attack, he will say that he is talented. From now on, everyone will have an excuse. There are so many cities in the north, and His Majesty must come here in person?"

After being taught a few words by his sister, Zhang Hongdao had no choice but to suffer silently.

Li Xia drank his saliva in his spare time, and said: "You Xian is indeed quite capable. When Brother Meng wanted to march south, only You Xian persuaded Brother Meng, saying that the roads in Sichuan are dangerous, and the supply of food and grass for the march may be difficult. It is by no means a perfect plan. It is better to take Jianghan directly from the southeast of Tongguan, form a siege to Bashu, and cut off its connection with the Song court. It is a pity that Brother Meng did not listen, otherwise I might have died in Sichuan and Shu."

Zhang Wenjing said: "It's easy for him to say, but Xiangyang in Song Dynasty is so easy to get?"

"No matter what, You Xian's strategic vision is very high if he proposed ten years ago that Xiangyang should be the first to destroy the Song Dynasty."

"If his vision is high, Portable City will surrender that morning."

"Maybe he is just waiting for me to come to surrender myself?" Li Xia said: "I have sent messengers into the city, let's wait and see what happens."

Zhang Hongdao replied: "The minister also sent someone to persuade You Xian to surrender, but he refused to see him. Does Your Majesty know that You Xian once surrendered to Song?"

"Huh? Tell me."

"I just heard it from a captive recently. You Xian was in Xuzhou when he was young. When he was young, he was good at Mongolian and went to the south with the Mongolian army. He was captured by the Song army. The Song general Liu Shihe appreciated his talent. So they recruited him and took him to garrison Huaibei. However, one night, You Xian and his deputy Tian Sengzhu took advantage of the unsuspecting, and Erqi abandoned his wife and son, escaped from the camp of the Song army, and ran back to Mongolia."

Li Xia pondered for a while, and said, "Abandoning his wife and son? It seems that he was really optimistic about Mongolia at that time."

Zhang Hongdao obviously looked down on You Xian, and said: "I think You Xian has always flattered the Mongolian Lord."

"How to say?"

"There is a story that my father and my ministers said. Back then, when you were on an expedition, Meng Ge gave him wine to practice. He refused to drink, saying that he was determined to die on the battlefield. In order to prevent the delay of the military plane, he quit drinking from then on, but in fact he was very Alcoholic."

"Why is he like this?"

"My father was also surprised at the time. He must have deliberately shown it in front of Brother Meng." Zhang Hongdao said again: "He is indeed loyal to Mongolia. There is no You Xian."

"Is this strange?" Zhang Wenjing asked, "Could it be that You Xian is the only one who hasn't contacted Li Fen?"

"You also know that Sixth Brother just wrote a letter to persuade Li Fen to abide by his loyalty, and he was also suspected. But You Xian really never contacted Li Fen once."

"Why do you pay special attention to this?"

"Oh, during the Li Fen Rebellion, someone sued You Xian for having a correspondence with Li Fen. It was suspected of conspiracy. After finding the letter, Kublai Khan handed over the complainant to You Xian, but You Xian did not kill him. And he is not afraid of slander to show his loyalty."

In the end, Zhang Hongdao concluded: "So it is said that this person will not surrender, and even if he surrenders, it may not be credible."

After discussing for a while, there was a letter horse returning to the camp, but he had seen You Xian from Anyang City.

"how?"

"Your Majesty, You Xian said that he is willing to surrender, but he wants to meet His Majesty outside Anyang City."

"No!"

Zhang Hongdao got up abruptly, and said: "You Xian must have surrendered falsely, Your Majesty must not go to see him..."

(End of this chapter)