The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 109 Zhongtiao Mountain

Zhongtiao Mountain.

It was dark inside Lian Xiangfeng's villa.

If it weren't for the hoarse breathing sounds coming from behind the curtain from time to time, one would almost think this was a haunted house.

Yao, Yun, Ke, Guan and other sons of the Wang family knelt under the eaves.

Wang Gong stood shirtless in the courtyard, his body covered with blood and snow. Two military officers were torturing him because he, as the eldest son of Wang Chongying, had not fulfilled his duty to guard the household. Because he fled without a fight, gave away more than ten counties in two states, squandered the foundation created by the Wang family after twenty years of hard work, and was held at the throat by the Bian bandits' blades; and because he privately contacted the Bian bandit envoys and persuaded his father to surrender to Zhu Wen.

"Tap, tap!" The whip whipped hard, and Wang Gong fell to the ground, stretching out his trembling arms towards the villa: "Even a tiger won't eat its own cubs... My son's rebellious behavior is for the benefit of the family... Quanzhong is feared by the world, and the one who will succeed to the throne in the future will be someone like him."

He fainted before he could finish his words, and the servants silently carried him away.

The Wang brothers under the eaves had different feelings.

Wang Yun had a wooden expression. He was strongly opposed to joining Zhu Wen. In the past, when Zhu Wen surrendered to Ji Fu, he actually knelt at Ji Fu's feet, who was much younger than him, held Ji Fu's feet, and called him uncle with a smile. This was a person like Gou Jian and Sima Yi! If they joined him, the Wang family would be doomed.

But he did not want to side with Li Keyong, because the Daibei bandit chieftain was also not a good person. Previously, the shogunate proposed that he marry Li Keyong's second daughter, but he refused. He did not want to be a puppet controlled by someone behind the scenes, not even the one-eyed dragon, the saint, or Zhu Wen.

Wang Guan was the youngest son and obeyed his father's orders without hesitation.

Wang Yao is the second son of Wang Chongying. He is narrow-minded and covets the position of Pu Shuai, so he hates his brothers. Wang Chongying sensed that there might be a tragedy of fratricide, so he sent him to Jiangzhou as governor. But he failed to solve the problem. He hated his eldest brother Wang Gong! He was cruel and murderous, indulged in women, but stole the position of Shaanxi Guo Surveillance Commissioner. He wanted to kill his third brother Wang Ke even more, because his third brother was kind and generous, sympathetic to the lonely and widowed, and was deeply supported by the people of Pu and some of the generals. His sick father had decided to pass the position of commander to his third brother.

Why? My third brother is just the adopted son of my father, a lowly creature raised by a bunch of concubines and maids. How can he be worthy of holding the chastity? Besides, Wang Ke is weak in character. How can he lead a strong town with tens of thousands of arrogant soldiers and brave generals? How can he resist foreign enemies? This is the way to chaos!

The day before yesterday, Zhu Wen's envoy came to visit again, and he was very interested because the people of Bian hinted to him that they were willing to support him to be the governor of Hezhong. This immediately aroused Wang Yao's heart.

Humph. Since my father arranged for Wang Ke to marry the imperial princess Guangde, he tried to use the court as Wang Ke's backstage. Why can't I contact Zhu Wen? It's a pity that my father is still alive. Wang Chongying has been loyal for more than ten years, and Wang Yao didn't dare to rebel when he was alive. The old man! Why hasn't he died yet?

Thinking of this, he tilted his head and looked at Wang Ke with resentment.

Wang Ke knew that he had ulterior motives and pretended not to notice.

Kind? Weak! Wang Yao licked his lips. He would kill this idiot sooner or later.

"Your Majesty, please call all the young masters to your bedroom." The old servant with wrinkled face came out and stared at them. He then looked at the dozen or so officers waiting in the courtyard and said, "Call Liu Xun, the military commander of the backyard, Chen Xiong, the commander of the Salt Pond Town, and Zhang Bo, the general manager of the cavalry and infantry."

The disciples entered the dark and hazy bedroom as if they had been pardoned. Inside, there was a solemn, dignified, and peaceful Western incense. On the wall was a mural of Wang Zhongrong wielding a sword and fighting. A group of monks knelt on a mat and chanted. On the bed behind the black curtain lay a warrior with all his hair falling out, his body covered with dense and horrible wounds, and his cheeks rotting.

"My son greets you, sir."

"I, your humble servant, would like to pay my respects to the King of Langya."

"Arrest Wang Gong and kill Zhu Wen's envoy." A horrifying sound of flesh being cut could be heard in the darkness.

The generals were horrified when they heard this.

Wang Yun cried silently.

Wang Yao peered through the tiny gap between the curtains, but couldn't see her father's face clearly.

"Father, Zhu Quanzhong's power is known both at home and abroad. Now with more than 100,000 troops marching westward, it may be just a matter of time before Tongguan is annihilated. Why should we offend him? Forget about refusing to lend us the Puguan Road, and send his envoy off with courtesy, so that we will have room for maneuver in the future." Wang Yao suggested bravely, lying on the ground.

The two tigers, the Saint and Quanzhong, are fighting fiercely, neither of them is willing to give in. Hezhong can only stand in the middle and watch, helping whoever wins. If the Saint can defeat the Bian people, then the destiny has not changed, and Hezhong will be loyal to him from now on. But if he is kidnapped, then he will help Zhu Quanzhong change the dynasty and fight for the great merit of founding the country. This is to consider the interests of the family. Doesn't father understand this truth?

Are you so sick that you are losing your mind?
"Zhu Wen is a beast in human form. He first rebelled against Huang Chao and killed his former master without mercy. Second, he rebelled against the royal family and attacked the sage like An Lushan. Such a tyrant would slaughter children like pigs and dogs." Someone inside the curtain sighed and said hoarsely, "If you join forces with him, the annihilation of your clan will be imminent. You don't understand him, but I do. When we were in Tongzhou, Yang Fuguang and I wanted to get rid of him."

Wang Chongying, an old man, saw through Zhu Wen very well. What he said was pure bullshit. The situation in later generations actually met his expectations. Several vassal states that surrendered to Zhu Wen, such as the Wang family of Hezhong and the Wang family of Ziqing, which posed a slight threat, were all deceived and killed. The promises made in black and white in public were just a low-cost means of killing for him.

"What should we do if Zhu Wen gets angry and raises troops to punish us?" The second son Wang Yun was a little worried.

"I'm tired and don't want to fight with anyone. I am content to guard this little piece of land. If Zhu Wen dares to cross the river, I will fight him to the death. Even with this dying body, I can tear off one of his hands. Does he think I am Wei Bo?" The voice in the darkness became tired and seemed a little helpless: "If you talk about returning to Bian again, you will die. Rather than waiting to be killed by Zhu Wen, I'd rather let him kill you. The Wang family has been nobles for generations, but are their children so cheap that they rush to serve a thief as a lackey."

Wang Yao's lips trembled, and then he shut up and said nothing more.

The generals nodded. The king was reaffirming his survival strategy - connecting with Taiyuan in the east and the saint in the west. No matter which of the two has the last laugh, even if the Wang family loses power, at least the lives and wealth of the whole family will be safe. Quan Zhong? Except for Yao and Gong, two idiots who are blinded by their greed and want to seize the position of commander with his support, who dares to believe him? Yun Chengxuan and Jin brothers saved his life, so what?

"The Bian bandits are attacking Tongguan very urgently. Does the king have any strategy?" Zhang Bo, the general manager of the cavalry and infantry, asked. Since the king ordered the killing of the Bian envoy, we can no longer be like before, with people's hearts and minds divided - one is inclined to surrender, another is in favor of joining the Bian army to attack Tongguan, and another advocates defending the Yellow River to prevent Zhu Wen's invasion. Li Keyong and the saint must be killed. "Chen Xiong." A creaking sound came from the darkness, and Wang Chongying seemed to sit up.

"I am here." Chen Xiong, the general of Liangyi Yanchi Town, responded with a fist salute.

"Take your 3,000 yamen soldiers to help defend the city." Wang Chongying said as he pulled back the curtain to reveal a face wearing an iron mask. His eldest daughter, Chen Chen, entered the palace as a beauty and gave birth to the prince Fei, who was given the title of Lady of Fengling County. If Chen Xiong were to go, there would be no risk of him turning against his will.

"Yes." Chen Xiong bowed and left.

The king sent reinforcements only now, probably because he saw the potential of the saint. The Tongguan defenders did not collapse as he expected, and the saint did not flee in panic. If it was like before, the king's army would collapse when seeing the enemy, and the saint would flee at the sight of the enemy. What would be the point of serving the king?

Wang Ke tried to figure out the reason why Zhongfu did this today.

Perhaps it was because Zhu Wen sent another envoy to request a passage through Tongguan that he judged that he had suffered a setback. The king's army did not collapse as the four sides imagined, and Zhu Wen was unable to defeat the rabble assembled by the saint in one fell swoop. This shows that it is not easy for the Bian army to enter Chang'an, and the saint is not that fragile. On the contrary, he can stabilize the situation without relying on the soldiers who come to defend the king, which shows how difficult it is. In this way, it is time for Zhongfu to persuade Wang Gong and Wang Yao to surrender and kill the Bian envoys.

In short, the saint must show his strength and let people see his confidence, so that Zhongfu can also suppress the people's hearts. Otherwise, if the saint runs away and everyone asks to switch sides, what can Zhongfu say?
"Let's all go." Wang Chongying was losing interest and feeling sad.

Chong'er is too weak by nature, Yao and Gong are obsessed with power, frivolous and murderous. Why can't the sons of the Wang family become more capable than him?
……

November 17th, Jingou Village.

Fu Cunshen behind Li Siyuan drew his bow and shot an arrow that hit the officer who was desperately digging for the roots with the soldiers of Bashandu Yamen under the wall. Before the soldiers could react, Yang Shihou had covered his eyes and staggered to his knees. He gasped for breath and stared at the man: "Fu Cunshen!..."

"Dead?" The crowd was shocked. The soldiers nearby grabbed Yang Shihou and examined him. They shook their heads and said, "Yaya was killed in the battle. Take his body back."

The fighting started last night and has been going on for a whole night and a half. After the Bian army seized the forest, they took advantage of the fact that their main camp was just outside the canyon, and tens of thousands of people took turns to attack the village. This group was tired, so they withdrew to replace the next group. At noon, all the internal and external troops brought by Zhu Wen came to fight. The captured civilians were exhausted, and the dead piled up like a mountain under the village wall. So the Bian army climbed up the pile of frozen corpses to attack, while digging the wall to bury the firewood and charcoal, intending to set fire.

The battle for the right stone gate connecting to the canyon was the most intense. In this cold winter, once the mountain was engulfed in flames, who knew if it would collapse? Zhou Dewei was very anxious. He discussed with Li Siyuan and asked the imperial guards and civilians guarding that section to move to the middle wall. The two of them took over with their own 5,000 Jin troops. Zhao Kuangming's 3,000 Cai troops also filled in here. Both sides fought desperately, and they were also anxious, killing until the snow turned red and the mud turned red.

"The Ya Ya is dead, what's the point of playing ball?" A junior officer glared at the guards on the wall angrily and gritted his teeth and said, "Retreat!"

"Damn it, this place is even more annoying than the Caozhou City I fought in!"

"The Shatuo bird people of Gou Cao, wait for Ye Ye."

"In the morning, a general was burned to death, and now the yamen guard was shot and killed. What bad luck."

"Didn't that Li Zhen from the military office say that the imperial guards would collapse when they saw the enemy?"

The Bashandu began to retreat in an orderly manner, dragging Yang Shihou's body, marking the end of another bloody round of attack and defense. After lunch, the two new capitals should be replaced.

……

Niutouyuanlian Camp outside the canyon.

Zhu Wen walked around in the general's tent with his hands behind his back. Standing beside him were Kou Yanqing, Zhang Cunjing, Jing Xiang, Hu Zhen, Xie Tong, and more than ten other people. These were his confidants to whom he could confide his innermost thoughts. Only in front of them would Zhu Wen vent his annoyance, anxiety, and even anger without any scruples.

He really didn't expect that the saint would be so tenacious, risking his life, and not considering what to do if the village was breached. Wasn't he afraid of dying in the chaos? Wasn't he afraid that his wives and concubines would be abducted by the defeated soldiers and end up "wandering in the streets, not knowing where to end"? Or that all the officials would be wiped out at once? This person's heart was as hard as a crocodile, just a puppet without any fear.

Now things are extremely difficult.

In the field, even if Li Keyong, Wang Chongying, and the saint were all together, he would not worry. But he was not sure about taking the Tongguan fortress. It was not that the soldiers did not care about their lives! The casualties of the Ya army in various cities were nearly 5,000. Is this not called not working hard? Every soldier here is an elite who has fought in Wei Bo, conquered Chao Cai, attacked Xu, and fought in Yanyun. He would feel pain if one of them died! The Cai army brought by Chen, Guang, and Shenzhou also lost more than 2,000 people; it was fierce enough. If a few thousand more died, I am afraid that the Ya army would make a fuss!
Ugh.

Why didn't he have such a beautiful geographical location? Why did it become the gateway to Guanzhong?
"Your Majesty, the offensive strategy does not need to be changed, but the landing point can be reconsidered." Seeing that Zhu Wen was quite depressed, the rebellion pioneer Li Zhen had to speak out and make plans: "Zhen has three suggestions, Your Majesty may wish to hear them."

"Go ahead." Zhu Wen took a stool and sat down, forcing himself to calm down.

"One is to go south to take Shangzhou. This place is not heavily guarded by the saint, so we can wait for an opportunity to take Luonan Road and Wuguan Road, and go through Qingni City to enter the pass. Even if the saint left troops here, they would not be too many. However, Jinshang is surrounded by high mountains and rivers, and the terrain is extremely complex. If the saint mobilizes the main force to deploy along Wuguan Road, there is a high risk that our army will be surrounded and annihilated in the goat's intestines. If we don't enter the pass, we can attack Jinshang. On the one hand, we can eat at the enemy's door, and on the other hand, we can uproot Feng Xingxi, this fence-sitter, and make this town our own. If we want to enter the pass in the future, we will fight with the king's army on Wuguan Road. Although Wuguan Road is dangerous, it is dangerous because the road is narrow and easy to be ambushed. There are not many fortresses like Jingouzhai that are almost impossible to capture."

"One is to go north to Quwo and seek a decisive battle with the troops of Li Keyong and Wang Chongying. If we can inflict heavy damage on them, the whole world will be amazed and the trip will be worthwhile. Whether we can enter the pass or not is not a big deal. However, after the fruitless battle at Tongguan, the morale of the army was frustrated. If we go north in the snow to fight again, the army will easily become agitated and rebel. By then, the warriors will make a fuss and we will be defeated without a fight."

"One is to retreat to Luoyang and rest for half a month. Then go through Ruzhou, cross the Funiushan Mountain and go to Tang and Deng to knock out Zhao Kuangning. Take Nanyang, Xinye and other places, close the Danfeng waterway, and completely lock the saint in Qinchuan. At that time, all the revenues of the towns in the east and south of the Guandong River will not be allowed to enter the pass. With only a small corner of the country, even if the saint is Taizong reborn, what kind of waves can he stir up?"

Li Zhen felt that the king was too greedy. This time, he had taken over the two states of Shaanxi and Guo without a single drop of blood, and had extended his territory from Caozhou in the east to Yanxiang in the west, with his power reaching Tongguan. This was already a huge gain. Why did he have to attack Chang'an? It wouldn't hurt to let Li Ye live for another year or two.

"Wuguan Road..." Zhu Wen carefully examined the place and the roads, and sighed, "There is a military city at the entrance of Wuguan Road. Feng Xingxi must have already brought his 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers to camp there."

(End of this chapter)