Thief Emperor

Chapter 876 Zheng Jiannan

Li Zheng, along with Li Yun's five hundred personal soldiers, and Zhang Lian, set out from Luoyang and rushed to Jiannan Road as quickly as possible.

After traveling for more than ten days, the group successfully entered Jiannan Road from Jianzhou. After arriving in Mianzhou, Li Zheng entered Mianzhou City, and Zhang Lian found Li Zheng, bowed his head and clasped his fists to Li Zheng and said, "General Li, please stay in Mianzhou temporarily. I will leave immediately to find my elder brother. Within three days, I will bring my elder brother and the important generals of the Jiannan Army to pay a visit to the general."

"After that, the general can immediately take over the Jiannan Army."

Li Zheng looked at him, thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "Okay, I believe the Third Young Master."

His face was calm: "I am in Mianzhou City, waiting for the third young master to come back."

Zhang Lian hesitated for a moment, then lowered his head and said, "General Li, do you want to send someone to follow me?"

Li Zheng shook his head and said, "There are at least tens of thousands of Jiannan soldiers. It is meaningless to send people to follow the Third Young Master. If the Third Young Master does not want to come back, in the future..."

"We'll meet again one day."

Zhang Lian heard this and bowed his head deeply, saying, "I dare not."

"My brothers and I have long been willing to surrender."

"I have no second thoughts."

After that, he whispered, "But General, it would be better to send someone to accompany me. Otherwise, when I come back, I will run into the Jiangdong Army and the two sides may fight again. It will be difficult to distinguish them at that time."

Li Zheng did not hesitate and sent two trusted aides to follow Zhang Lian out of Mianzhou City to look for the main force of the Jiannan Army.

After Zhang Lian left, Li Zheng found the Jiangdong Army stationed in Mianzhou. Then, under the leadership of the Jiangdong Army in Mianzhou, he met Gongsun Hao in a house in Mianzhou City.

When Li Zheng was on his way to the southwest, Gongsun Hao received news that after being seriously injured on the front line, he was rescued by his subordinates and successfully sent to Mianzhou in the rear.

However, his injuries were too severe, his right arm was cut off, and he lost too much blood. Even after being treated by doctors in the rear, he was still in a coma for a long time.

Until now, although Gongsun Hao is still alive, he is still in danger and is often in a coma.

If he had not been in good health and had not received the best medicine and received the best doctors, this deputy general would have probably died long ago.

Led by a captain of the Jiangdong Army, Li Zheng walked into the mansion and met Gongsun Hao's son Gongsun He at the gate.

Gongsun He was the first to reach the city in the Battle of Jiameng Pass, but it was also because of the Battle of Jiameng Pass that he was seriously injured and had to recuperate ever since.

By now, his injuries have almost healed, but his father is still seriously injured and lying in bed.

Li Zheng stepped forward, clasped his fists and saluted, and asked, "How is my brother now?"

Li Zheng and Gongsun Hao cooperated for one or two years in Lingnan. Later, Li Zheng's old subordinates were basically taken over by Gongsun Hao.

Gongsun He followed his father at that time, so he was very familiar with Li Zheng. After seeing Li Zheng, he was a little surprised at first, but he still bowed his head and saluted: "Greetings, General!"

Li Zheng waved his hand and asked again: "Your father..."

Gongsun He took a deep breath and gritted his teeth, "His life should be saved, but he lost an arm and has many wounds on his body. It's hard to say when he can recover."

Li Zheng patted Gongsun He's shoulder and asked, "Are you awake now? Can I go in and take a look?"

Gongsun He quickly stepped aside and said, "General, please."

Li Zheng then pushed open the door and walked in. As soon as he entered, he smelled a strong smell of medicine. Li Zheng exhaled and looked at Gongsun Hao lying on the bed.

At this time, more than twenty days had passed since General Gongsun was injured. Most of the wounds on his body had scabbed over, and the broken arm had long stopped bleeding. However, perhaps due to excessive blood loss, Gongsun Hao's face was pale and he looked very haggard.

"Brother."

Seeing him like this, Li Zheng couldn't help but feel a little sad. He squatted in front of the bed, looked at Gongsun Hao, and said in a trembling voice: "You have suffered."

Gongsun Hao was still conscious at this moment. He opened his eyes wide and looked for a long time before he was sure that it was Li Zheng who had arrived.

"General, you...you..."

After he said these two words, he suddenly felt happy and said with a smile, "I... I was worried about how to solve the situation in the southwest. It would be great if the general came. Right now General Zhao is besieging Chengdu, but he can't get in, and he is unwilling to withdraw. If you come, you can clean up the situation in the southwest."

Li Zheng was in Jiangdong. Although his military achievements were not great, his status was extremely high.

He can almost be said to be among the highest-ranking people in the military, or even the highest one.

Because of his special status and the oldest seniority.

Hearing this, Li Zheng shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Brother is already injured like this, and he is still thinking about Xichuan's affairs."

"I just lost an arm."

Gongsun Hao's face was pale, but his tone didn't seem to care much: "I have been in the army for decades, and I have seen all kinds of injuries. When I was in the Pinglu Army, I saw so many."

"When we were fighting in Lingnan before, many soldiers had broken legs, and the general even went to see them."

Li Zheng hummed, took a deep breath, and said, "I remember everything."

The two men talked for a while. Li Zheng looked at Gongsun Hao and said, "Brother, I will tell you the truth. The Jiannan Army sent people to Luoyang to surrender to the king. The king was afraid that the southwest would be in chaos, so he asked me to come and take a look."

"Most of the injuries on my body were caused by the Jiannan Army. I was ordered to surrender the Jiannan Army. Please don't be angry with me." Gongsun Hao was startled when he heard this, and then a smile appeared on his face: "General, what are you talking about?"

"Not to mention that I am not dead yet, even if I were dead, I would just be a casualty of the Jiangdong Army."

He looked at Li Zheng and said solemnly, "General, if you accept the surrender of the Jiannan Army, it will reduce the casualties of the Jiangdong Army by tens of thousands. This is a great merit."

"Don't say that I am just injured."

His face was serious: "Even if the Zhang brothers want to kill me, I still think it's worth it."

Li Zheng was filled with emotion when he heard this.

He said slowly: "The king has seen everything that you have done in Jiannan Road, and will not forget your contribution."

Gongsun Hao shook his head and smiled bitterly: "Even if my injury heals, I can only be considered a cripple, and there is no point in asking for credit."

Li Zheng shook his head slightly: "Brother, if you have recovered from your injury, even if you can't be in the army, you can still go to the Privy Council."

"Besides, Gongsun He... is still in the army."

Gongsun Hao took a deep breath and bowed his head slightly: "Thank you, General..."

Li Zheng shook his head and said, "Brother, rest assured and recover. When I have cleaned up the situation in the southwest, I will take you back to Luoyang."

Gongsun Hao smiled and nodded: "Okay."

"When the time comes, I will go back to Luoyang with the general."

…………

In the blink of an eye, another two days passed.

On the afternoon of the third day after Zhang Lian left, he finally returned. He brought his eldest brother Zhang Han, second brother Zhang Min, and youngest brother Zhang Huan, and the four brothers entered Mianzhou city together.

After arriving at Mianzhou City, the four brothers took off their clothes, tied their hands, and walked all the way to Li Zheng. They knelt in a row in front of Li Zheng and kowtowed to him.

"Zhang Han from Jiannan Road leads three brothers."

"The envoy who came to surrender to the King of Wu."

After saying that, the four brothers bowed their heads together and saluted Li Zheng.

Li Zheng looked at the four brothers, his eyes flickered, but he quickly reacted and said in a deep voice: "Untie the four generals."

The guards beside him immediately stepped forward and untied Zhang Han and the other three.

Zhang Han bowed deeply to Li Zheng and said, "General, the main force of the Jiannan Army is already in Mianzhou. At your command, all the Jiannan Army members will immediately disarm and surrender."

He knelt down and kowtowed again, saying: "I only hope that the general can treat the soldiers of the Jiannan Army well, and the entire Jiannan Army..."

"They are all soldiers who eat food and serve as soldiers. They have not committed any serious faults."

Li Zheng helped Zhang Han up, forced a smile on his face, and said, "General Zhang, you are too kind."

"Since ancient times, soldiers have always been right."

"Even if I made mistakes in the past, now that I have turned from darkness to light, there is nothing wrong with me."

At this point, Li Zheng slowly said, "Within three days, the Jiannan Army must hand over all their weapons and armor to Mianzhou City and let me seal them up."

"any questions?"

Zhang Han shook his head slightly: "General, no problem."

"Today, our army can deliver the weapons and armor."

"it is good."

Li Zheng looked at Zhang Han and said in a deep voice: "The four generals should also know my identity. As long as the four generals sincerely submit to the new dynasty, they will not have any other intentions in the future."

"I am here and can promise the four of you on behalf of my brother."

Li Zhengpai puffed out his chest and said solemnly: "The four generals have made contributions but no mistakes."

…………

Starting from the next day, the soldiers of the Jiannan Army actually marched to the city of Mianzhou, dropped their weapons and armor, and surrendered to Li Zheng honestly.

Li Zheng temporarily took over the military power of the Jiangdong Army from Gongsun Hao and dispatched about 10,000 Jiangdong Army soldiers to Mianzhou to take over the surrendered Jiannan Army.

On the same day, Li Zheng mobilized a batch of food and grass, and led two thousand Jiangdong troops and thousands of unarmed Jiannan troops as "civilians" to escort the food and grass to Chengdu.

Firstly, they were going to deliver food to Zhao Cheng whose food supply had been cut off.

Secondly…

It is to completely resolve all issues in the southwest!
(End of this chapter)