Chapter 580: Falling apart (Part 1)
After a heated debate, in the end the supporters prevailed over the opponents.
After determining the pursuit target, Lu Zhi personally led 30,000 troops under his command to pursue the pursuit, while Li Shimin led 20,000 troops to assist.
But what no one expected was that Lu Zhi, a veteran on the battlefield, was ambushed by Zhang Liang less than fifty miles after leading his army from Hulao Pass.
Zhang Liang had long guessed that the Han army would come to pursue him, so he set up an ambush in advance on the road to Yanzhou. He did not expect to completely wipe out the enemy. He only waited for the enemy's front troops to enter the ambush circle and fired thousands of arrows.
As a veteran on the battlefield, how could Lu Zhi not know that the Ming army might set up an ambush, but he did not expect that Zhang Liang would set up an ambush so close to Hulao Pass, and he was killed and suffered heavy casualties.
Fortunately, Li Shimin from the rear army arrived in time and not only broke the ambush, but also rescued the seriously injured Lu Zhi.
Looking at Lu Zhi lying on the stretcher, Li Shimin clasped his fists solemnly and said: "My lord, please rest in peace and recover, and leave the subsequent pursuit to the general."
Looking at this handsome and energetic face, Lu Zhi felt extremely complicated.
Really old.
Lu Zhi thought bitterly in his heart that no matter how much he refused to accept it, he had to admit that there were many heroes in the younger generation.
This world belongs to young people after all, but unfortunately, how many people are truly loyal to the big man?
At this thought, Lu Zhi couldn't help but feel a little disheartened. The princes in the world were all in charge of their own affairs. There were only a few loyal men, and the Sizhou entrusted to him by the emperor could no longer be defended.
If the pressure from Liangzhou had not been too tight, Lu Zhi would have taken the risk to pursue and knock down the mountain to shock the tiger. Unfortunately, the tiger did not succeed and instead became Li Shimin's force.
Now that Lu Zhi's strength has been weakened again, the Liangzhou clan has become established in Sizhou. Dong Zhuo will support Liangsi and Sizhou, and the princes' overlord is about to be born, and even the imperial court is powerless to stop it.
Sizhou was being robbed bit by bit by the Liang clan in his own hands. Lu Zhi felt unwilling and helpless, but he really tried his best, but he was so weak.
Seeing that Li Shimin was about to leave, Lu Zhi grabbed his arm, stared into his eyes, and said word by word: "Li Shimin, I want to ask you, is your allegiance to the big man or to Dong Zhongying?"
Li Shimin was stunned when he heard this, then showed a bright smile and said: "What Shimin is loyal to is the common people in the world."
"you……"
Lu Zhi's eyes narrowed. Of course he knew the meaning of Li Shimin's words. He said he was loyal to the world, but in fact he was loyal to himself. However, Li Shimin's words were flawless, and Lu Zhi could not find any flaw to use the topic.
Another hero!
"That's it, that's all, let's go."
Lu Zhi weakly let go of Li Shimin's hand. There were many heroes in the world, and Li Shimin was not missing. He, a dying old man, was unable to intervene.
Li Shimin's eyes lit up, he cupped his fists and saluted, "Thank you, sir."
After leading the army to break through two ambushes of the Ming army, Li Shimin did not continue the pursuit and gave up when he saw the opportunity, because the bigger show was yet to come.
In October of the third year of Zhongping, a rumor spread throughout the Central Plains that Emperor Ming Zhang Sheng was a woman.
This rumor came out inexplicably, but it exploded across the Central Plains like thunder, and spread throughout the thirteen states at an extremely abnormal speed.
Emperor Ming was a woman?
How can this be.
The identity of Zhang Sheng and Zhang Jiao's son has been recognized by many parties. If you say he is a woman, he is a woman?
Let alone men who don’t believe it, even women don’t believe it either.
In this era where men are superior to women, it is too fantasy for a woman to be the emperor, and almost no one with any sense of judgment would believe it.
However, the following pieces of news made the unbelievers shaken.
Rumor has it that Zhang Sheng is actually the Saint of Peace Dongfang Sheng. As soon as Zhang Sheng appears, the empress Dongfang Sheng disappears inexplicably. Isn't this strange?
Zhang Sheng is as handsome as a demon. Since ancient times, beautiful men such as Song Yu and Pan An are not even one-tenth as good as Zhang Sheng. How can a man be so beautiful?
Of course, the most important point is that Zhang Sheng has not chosen a concubine so far, and he does not get close to any women, except his sister Zhang Ning.
Let me ask, except for men with long Yang, which man would not like women? Unless it's a woman!
Also, even if you have the good qualities of Long Yang, as an emperor, you should have children for the sake of the country and the people!
Zhang Sheng didn't expect that the source of her identity being exposed was actually having a concubine. She thought that staying away from women, working diligently and caring for the people would gain the support of everyone, but she didn't expect that it would become the source of cholera.
After all, it is not a crime for the emperor to be lustful, it is to create people for the country, no matter how hard and tiring he is, Zhang Sheng did not realize this, but Li Shimin took advantage of him and caught the flaw.
In summary, the above three major points, coupled with the fact that Zhang Shicheng and other surrendered Qu Shuai, all insisted that Zhang Jiao had no children, made Zhang Sheng's gender issue a bit confusing.
Many people are doubting whether Zhang Sheng is a man or a woman, and this doubt has once again caused the Ming Dynasty's gradually stable country to become turbulent. After all, most people cannot accept that they are ruled by a woman.
Of course, the team left behind by Zhang Jiao are still very loyal. They occupy all eight floors of the top management of Ming Dynasty. Therefore, in the short term, the top management of Ming Dynasty is relatively stable, while most of the turmoil is at the middle and lower levels.
Even at the middle and lower levels, most of them believed in Zhang Sheng. After all, during her reign, she had indeed gradually reversed the decline of the Ming Dynasty, and her national power had gradually increased.
In addition, Zhang Sheng went to the battlefield in person, was both civil and military, and acted like a wise king, so most of the middle and lower levels supported him.
They thought this was a trick of the Han army. The Han wanted to break the rising power of the Ming Dynasty so that the Ming Dynasty would cause chaos. Therefore, they hoped that the emperor could stand up and explain so as not to be slandered.
But Zhang Sheng never came forward to explain, as if he had accepted the rumors, which gradually intensified the turmoil in Ming Dynasty.
Qingzhou, Qi State, inside the Governor's Mansion.
After reading the information in his hand, Huang Chao looked up at the stars in the sky and remained silent for a long time.
"Great Master, why would you rather believe her, a little girl, than me, Huang Chao?"
Scenes from the past appeared in Huang Chao's mind, including Zhang Jiao's unreserved trust and his own plan to destroy the Han Dynasty. At that time, he was so high-spirited.
Until he was defeated by Qin Hao in Kaifeng, Huang Chao completely lost to Xiang Yu in the battle for successor.
Thinking of this, Huang Chao couldn't help but smile bitterly: "No, my mentor gave me the opportunity. I lost the bet myself. I lost to Qin Hao. I can't blame others. But Xiang Yu, what if you beat me? In the end, I lost nothing." "
Huang Chao saw Zhang Sheng's efforts during this period, but this could not win Huang Chao's loyalty, because Huang Chao would not be loyal to anyone except Zhang Jiao.
"Little girl, I want to repay the kindness of the great sage and mentor, not to identify with you and your Ming Dynasty."
The next day, Huang Chao stood up to refute the rumors, recognized the identity of Zhang Sheng and Zhang Jiao's son, and announced that he would support Ming Dynasty orthodoxy to the death.
