Thief Emperor

Chapter 860: Fight in!

The next afternoon, Xiao Heng was escorted to Luoyang.

Because Li Yun had given notice in advance, he also took the time to personally "meet" this former Major General of the Fanyang Army together with Li Zheng.

At this time, Xiao Heng was locked in the prison car. He no longer had the high spirits he had when he was in the Fanyang Army. Not only was his hair disheveled, but his face also looked extremely haggard.

Even his hair had turned half white.

He was only a few years older than Li Yun, in his thirties, which should have been the prime of his life, but now he looked like he was in his forties or fifties.

Meng Qing personally untied him from the prisoner car, and then pulled the chain and dragged him in front of Li Yun. Then Meng Qing put down the chain, knelt in front of Li Yun, and kowtowed: "Your subordinate greets the master!"

Li Yun stepped forward, helped him up personally, patted his shoulder, and said with a smile: "Good boy."

"What a damn achievement!"

As soon as he said this, the clerk who was silently taking notes beside him twitched his eyelids, and then silently deleted the modal particles of those three words in his record.

Yes, although Li Yun is not the emperor now and does not have any attendant by his side, there is indeed someone who follows him and takes detailed notes when he handles official business.

This was Du Qian's idea.

Du Qian meant that the establishment of the new dynasty was a foregone conclusion, so history books would definitely have to be compiled in the future. Therefore, he sent people to follow Li Yun early to write down what needed to be recorded to avoid confusion in the future.

Li Yun did not quite approve of this approach. On weekdays, he seldom brought this clerk with him. But on this day, he brought the clerk arranged by Du Qian.

Because he wanted the clerk to write down some things.

After Li Yun talked to Meng Qing for a while, he looked at Xiao Heng behind Meng Qing. He stepped forward with his hands behind his back, looked at Xiao Heng, and then said in a muffled voice: "It's been many years since we last met, do you still recognize me, Major General?"

Xiao Heng looked up at Li Yun, then lowered his head again, gritting his teeth and saying, "If you want to kill me, just do it. Why ask me?"

Hearing this, Li Yun sneered: "You are so tough, but if you are really not afraid of death, it is unlikely that you will be taken to Luoyang alive."

Although biting your tongue is unlikely to lead to death, there are too many ways to commit suicide in this era.

Before Xiao Heng was captured, he must have had a weapon in his hand. If he wanted to commit suicide, he would have slit his own throat.

Even though he didn't have time to commit suicide, he was escorted from Yizhou to Luoyang for more than half a month and starved himself to death by fasting.

The fact that he is still alive and has met Li Yun shows that he is…

fear death.

Xiao Heng gritted his teeth and lowered his head deeply, hiding it in his messy hair.

After an unknown amount of time, he finally said in a hoarse voice: "King Wu, when I went to Jinling, I gave you three thousand horses, and that’s when you had cavalry in Jiangdong."

Hearing this, Li Yun narrowed his eyes and said, "I exchanged that for something."

Xiao Heng gritted his teeth and said, "That thing is worthless! Every member of your Jiangdong Army, even a lieutenant, has one!"

Li Yun sneered and said, "It's hard to say whether this thing is valuable now or not. When I gave it to you, it was really valuable. At that time, not even one of my captains had one!"

"Now, thanks to your Fanyang Army, I'm afraid the Khitans have quite a few in their hands, right?"

Xiao Heng lowered his head and stopped talking.

Mr. Li glanced at him coldly and continued, "Also, how were Youzhou and Jizhou lost?"

"How did your father die?"

Li Yun said in a low voice: "In the future, it will be revealed to the world!"

"Hundreds of thousands of people in Hebei died tragically, and millions of people may be left homeless. Youyan was lost to the Khitans. If I want to take it back in the future, I don't know how many lives will be lost!"

"Everything will be blamed on you, the Xiao family!"

Xiao Heng raised his head abruptly and looked at Li Yun. He gritted his teeth and said, "You are rebelling against the Great Zhou, fighting for territory everywhere, and you still want our Xiao family..."

He stopped talking here, and then said angrily: "The Khitans are strong in both men and horses, so they conquered Youzhou!"

Li Yun glanced at him coldly, not even bothering to argue with him. Instead, he glanced at Li Zheng beside him and said in a deep voice, "Throw him into the Luoyang prison and execute him on a chosen day!"

"Li Er!"

Xiao Heng stood up suddenly. He looked up at Li Yun and was about to speak when Meng Qing, who was standing beside him, kicked him on the leg and knocked him to the ground. Meng Qing stepped forward and shouted, "How dare you!"

Xiao Heng fell to the ground, not knowing whether it was because of anger or fear, his whole body was shaking. He said in a trembling voice: "I have something to tell you in private!"

At this time, everyone was on the main street of Luoyang City. Not only were there written records, but there were also people watching.

Xiao Heng wanted to surrender and beg for mercy, but he couldn't do it without facing the shame.

Li Yun looked at him quietly, as if he saw through his thoughts, and shook his head slightly and said: "General Xiao, although he is not a hero, in my opinion, he is more or less a character."

"At least, he dares to fight and die."

At this point, Li Yun put his hands behind his back, turned around and left, not even giving Xiao Heng a chance to beg for mercy. He just said lightly: "I never thought that he would be so short-sighted that he actually believed you could accomplish it."

After saying that, Li Yun left with his hands behind his back.

Xiao Heng fell to the ground, looked up at Li Yun's back as he walked away, his eyes blurred.

In a daze, he seemed to see his father and heard the last conversation he had with his father that year.

"You are no match for Li Er."

"Let's negotiate peace with Jiangdong and let Li Er take over Youyan."

"Dad." "How long has Li Yun been in power? Our Xiao family has been in Youyan for two or three generations! Now the Fanyang army is strong and powerful, no weaker than any other military governor in the world. Why should we let Li Yun take over Youyan!"

"Why should our Xiao family guard the gate for them? Why should they just sit back and enjoy the fruits of their labor?"

The father, whose memory was already a little blurry, looked at him for the last time, then seemed to be hesitant to speak, and finally let out a long sigh.

"Heng'er, have you thought it through?"

"I've thought it through, kid!"

A voice of gnashing teeth sounded.

"If I don't fight, I will never be satisfied until I die!"

After a sigh, the old father uttered his last words.

"Then...just go and give it a try."

...............

Palace, on the long table.

Li Yun sat in the main seat. Du Qian, Yao Zhong, Li Zheng, Meng Qing and others were all present.

Li Yun reached out and knocked on the table, his voice a little hoarse: "The battle of Jiameng Pass has been going on for seven or eight days."

"The total number of casualties among Zhao Cheng's troops is probably over 10,000."

At this point, Li Yun's face was already quite ugly. He clenched his fists and said viciously: "After fighting to this extent, even if the king of heaven comes, there is no reason to turn back!"

"Even if there is no one left, I will go and take down Jiameng Pass with one gun!"

This is a bit like a gambler's mentality.

Having fought to this point, the sunk costs have reached a level that Li Yun absolutely cannot accept. No matter how many troops he invests, he has to take Jiameng Pass!

He said this to Du Qian and others in order to show them his determination and at the same time, to strengthen the confidence within the court.

At this point, Li Yun took a breath and continued, "However, there is good news. General Zhao wrote to me."

"We will definitely take down Jiameng Pass within seven days."

"If we can capture Jiameng Pass, the door to Jiannan Road will be opened, or at least half opened. In the second half of the year, all our resources will be invested in Jiannan Road."

At this point, Li Yun wanted to speak, but Meng Qing had already stood up and clasped his fists, saying, "Master, I would like to bring a force to support General Zhao!"

Li Yun pressed his hands and shook his head, saying, "Don't think about it anymore. You've taken all the credit. Others will gossip about you behind your back."

"Let General Zhao and his men fight first."

At this point, Li Yun looked at Meng Qing and forced a smile on his face: "The main reason I asked you to come back this time is to find you a wife and let you start a family."

Hearing what he said, Du Qian looked at Meng Qing, thoughtfully.

Li Yun coughed and continued, "Let's calculate based on Zhao Cheng's capture of Jiameng Pass in five days."

"Benefit brother."

Du Qian stood up and said, "I am here."

"You need to select some people for me. In the next three or four months, we will take over Shannan West Road and prepare to take over Jiannan Road at the same time."

Du Qian nodded his head.

"Yao Zhong."

Yao Zhong also stood up and saluted, cupping his hands and saying, "I am here."

"Food and fodder must be prepared, without any mistakes or omissions."

"Yes!"

"Meng Qing, you..."

…………

Just as Li Yun was holding a meeting, Jiameng Gate closed and Gongsun He, covered in blood, finally climbed up to the city wall.

His eyes were already bloodshot. He drew his sword from his waist and looked fiercely at the soldiers guarding Jiameng Pass.

The soldier guarding the pass was frightened by his appearance and retreated quickly, and his sword missed.

At this moment, several more Jiangdong army soldiers climbed up to the city wall.

Gongsun He roared in a hoarse voice: "Brothers, go to the city, go to the city!"

"We've climbed up to the tower!"

He waved the sword in his hand and shouted angrily.

"Kill them in, kill them in!"

On this day, Jiameng Pass was breached.

Zhao Cheng ordered that the swords should not be put away.

In Jiameng Pass, blood was flowing.

(End of this chapter)