Thief Emperor

Chapter 626 The Big Tree Finally Falls

The Hedong Army is not united internally.

Maybe it once was, but not anymore.

General Li Tong, when he was young and strong, could certainly control the entire Hedong Army in his hands, but the old man is indeed ill now and can hardly show his illness to others.

Even General Li himself was actively handing over his power to his eldest son Li Zhen. As for the 20,000 people he sent out at the persuasion of Pei Huang, it was because he did have some feelings for the Great Zhou and wanted to contribute to this country that was also giving him old age.

Secondly, he wanted to save face for the imperial court.

But General Li thought so, but his sons might not think so. That's why the Hedong Army dragged their feet on the road and before they arrived at the battlefield, the war in Jiangbei had already achieved phased results.

That is, Zhou Xu of the Pinglu Army indeed suffered a great loss in Jiangbei.

After receiving this news, Li Gao, the commander of the army, was no longer willing to advance. He ordered the 20,000 Hedong soldiers to stay where they were, while he himself, along with some followers, led Pei Huang to observe the situation in Xiangzhou.

At this time, the Jiangdong army attacked Xiangzhou City for only ten days.

The two generals under Li Yun joined forces and took turns attacking Xiangzhou. Under the tremendous pressure of the attack and the suppression of firearms, Xiangzhou was almost broken in just ten days.

Under Li Hao's gaze, the gate of Xiangzhou was opened by the Jiangdong Army, and countless Jiangdong soldiers poured into Xiangzhou City.

Although there was another round of street fighting after entering the city, and it was likely to last for several days, with equally fierce street fighting, the outcome of Xiangzhou was already doomed.

Li Hao turned around and looked at Pei Huang, his tone already a little stiff: "Mr. Pei, how did you convince my father to get involved in this matter when you were in Taiyuan?"

He said in a gloomy tone: "My brother said in the letter that this matter was led by the court. It was agreed that after Li Yun was eliminated, everyone would divide Jiangdong equally. Master Pei was the one who pulled the strings and implicated the Pinglu Army, Jingnan Army, Lingnan Army and our Hedong Army to encircle and suppress Li Yun together. Now it's all good."

"Yang Min, the governor of Jingnan, has 20,000 soldiers at his disposal, but he was only allowed to guard two cities. How long has it been? Xiangzhou has already fallen."

"At this time, even if our Hedong Army arrives in Xiangzhou, what can we do?"

He said angrily, "We in Hedong have heard about the situation in Chuzhou City. Li Yun somehow managed to get some tin cans that can explode. They are very good at defending the city. Even General Zhou suffered a great loss because of them. Do you want us to attack Xiangzhou City against these things?"

"Also, the Jiangdong Army in Xiangzhou now probably has more than 20,000 soldiers. When we get there, let alone attacking the city, we might even have to turn around and flee!"

The young general sneered and said, "General Zhou Xu probably doesn't know the current situation in Xiangzhou. If he knew, he would probably be so angry that he would die!"

The major general said it very well on this point.

The Pinglu Army was not capable of taking over Jiangbei from the Jiangdong Army on its own, so it had no motive to attack Jiangbei. If it were not for Pei Huang, the Pinglu Army would most likely not move, at least not as recklessly as it is now.

The premise of the Pinglu Army's attack on Jiangbei was to prevent Li Yun from taking over Jingxiang, and to delay time to create a situation where several parties would share Jiangdong.

Now, if Zhou Xu knew that Jingxiang was going to lose a state soon, he would be caught in a difficult situation in Jiangbei.

Neither advancing nor retreating.

Furthermore, if the Jiangdong troops captured Jingxiang and returned to Jiangbei, it would be difficult for him to escape unscathed.

Not only would retreating at this point incur heavy losses, but it would also completely offend Li Yun, which was truly a huge loss.

Pei Huang was a little annoyed by what he said, and shouted: "If you hadn't delayed us along the way, we would have arrived long ago. How could Xiangzhou be lost?"

Li Hao sneered: "You still have the nerve to say that! Since it is His Majesty's will and the imperial court's order to suppress Li, then where are the imperial court's troops?"

Pei Huang blushed and gnashed his teeth: "You ask knowingly. After Wang Junping's rebellion, the court has not recovered its vitality. Where did the army come from?"

"Besides, aren't all the armies of the imperial court?"

Li Hao narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice: "Are the troops under Liang Wen in Henan Province the imperial court's army?"

"My army came out of Tongguan, all the way from Henan Road to here. Master Pei, if you have time, go to Taiyuan to look for my father, or come to my army and cause trouble for me, why don't you go to that Lord Liang to borrow troops?"

"Isn't he a member of the imperial army?"

Li Hao asked, "After my troops left Tongguan, who took over Tongguan? Was it the Imperial Guards?"

"Mr. Pei, my father and our Taiyuan Li family are peaceful and down-to-earth, but don't think that I don't know anything!"

Pei Huang's face turned red after hearing what he said. He clenched his fists and said nothing.

He had nothing to refute.

They had indeed passed through Liang Wen's territory all the way here. Liang Wen's Henan Road bordered Shannan East Road and was closer to Jingxiang than Hedong Army. These were indisputable facts that no one could refute.

In fact, at this time, it would be most appropriate to transfer Liang Wen to support Jingxiang. Firstly, he is relatively close, and secondly, it can also be used to test whether the Duke of Liang who surrendered is loyal to the court.

But it is not known whether the emperor took the wrong medicine, or was a little stressed out by the three military governors before, or because Liang Wen helped the court and barely restored the court's control over the Central Plains.

Or maybe, Liang Wen's servile appearance in front of the emperor really won the emperor's trust. In short, the emperor had no intention of letting Liang Wen from the Central Plains move.

To the extent that Pei Huang was stumped by Li Hao's question and couldn't utter a word.

Seeing Pei Huang remained silent, Li Yu narrowed his eyes and said, "Master Pei, I want to formally inform you that the 20,000 Hedong troops I lead will not take any action until there is a new order from the court."

He pointed at Xiangzhou City and said in a deep voice, "Under the current situation, unless you can convince my father to send most of the Hedong Army over, it would be useless for my father to come here with only these 20,000 people."

Pei Huang had no expression on his face and remained silent.

After Li Hao turned around and left, Pei Huang became a little unsteady and almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, there was a big tree next to him. He held onto the tree. An autumn wind was blowing at this time, which made this noble man feel infinitely sad.

Li Yun is just a military leader in the southeast.

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There are at least five or six people like Li Yun in the world, if not ten or eight.

But now, even if the imperial court tried every possible means, even using the method of forming an alliance, it was unable to cause much harm to Li Yun.

At least, there is no way to cause fatal damage.

Pei Huang leaned against a big tree, looked up at the big tree with mottled autumn leaves, and let out a long sigh in his heart.

He knew in his heart that the once powerful Zhou Dynasty no longer existed.

Especially this time, if they fail to capture Li Yun or even hurt Li Yun, no one will buy into the court’s business anymore.

When the military governors of various places came into contact with the imperial court again, they would only use the court as a tool.

Pei Sanlang, who was born in the Hedong Pei family, looked up at the sky and sighed.

"Zhou lost his deer, Zhou lost his deer..."

…………

The loss of the deer by Wu Zhou had already been a consensus among many people several years ago.

It’s just that people like Pei Huang still have some fantasies and delusions in their hearts, so Pei Huang, who is not stupid, has only now finally seen the trend clearly and recognized the reality.

At a time when the southeast was in turmoil, Liang Wen, the governor of Henan Province, had already led his troops to officially enter Tongguan.

On top of Tongguan Pass, the legendary Duke Liang was silently looking westward, gazing at Guanzhong and towards the direction of the capital.

His confidant Yang Hou stood behind him and said with a smile: "The Marshal is really wise. When the King of Qi failed, we brothers all thought that we would be cut into pieces. Unexpectedly, after following the Marshal, not only did we not die, but we are now prosperous!"

Liang Wen did not speak, still staring blankly in the direction of Guanzhong, not knowing what he was thinking. After a long time, he sighed slightly: "It's a pity that the emperor is not stupid and failed to persuade him to turn against the Shuofang Army and send troops to take back Xiaoguan."

Yang Hou smiled and said, "The emperor has been tormented a lot in the past few years, so of course he is timid now, but the commander-in-chief..."

He was somewhat curious and asked, "Why do you want the court to take back Xiaoguan?"

"Of course I want to close Guanzhong."

Liang Wen narrowed his eyes and said softly, "The southeast is in chaos now. The ambitious General Wei may go south at any time. Only if we can close Xiaoguan, we will be able to enter Guanzhong."

"Moreover, they entered Guanzhong in the name of the imperial army."

At this point, he looked at Yang Hou and smiled: "The last time I entered the capital, all the women of the Wu family ran away. There were only a few left. We finally found a few, but they were all slept with by Wang Junping."

"Let's go into Guanzhong and then the capital."

"Brothers, each of you will get a Wu family woman."

At this point, Lord Liang grinned at Yang Hou and said, "I'll give you two!"

(End of this chapter)