Dou Jiande's eyes widened when he saw his confidant using his body to block a fatal arrow. He hurriedly ran forward to help Ling Jing up and shouted: "Jiejiu, how are you?"
Ling Jing struggled to grab Dou Jiande's hand and shouted with his last strength: "Your Majesty, leave quickly. Leave the green hills behind and don't worry about running out of firewood. Leave quickly!"
After saying that, his neck crooked and he lost his breath.
Dou Jiande had tears of grief in his eyes, gritted his teeth and shouted: "Send the order, withdraw to Xingyang!"
Seeing that Dou Jiande's commanding flag had moved back, Xue Rengui, who was not far away, reluctantly put down his Sky-shattering Bow. After missing an arrow, Dou Jiande's personal guards had increased their vigilance. Even if they caught up, they would not be able to take Dou Jiande's shot. life.
But the next moment, Xue Rengui's eyes were full of excitement. Although Dou Jiande ran away, the hundreds of thousands of troops fighting in front of him would definitely collapse as soon as he ran away. This battle was already won.
Sure enough, after seeing Dou Jiande running away, Sergeant Xia, who was still fighting bloody battles, followed Dou Jiande's handsome flag and fled towards Xingyang. The Sui army pursued and killed the Xia army all the way, killing the Xia army's corpses everywhere, and countless people knelt down and surrendered. Fortunately, Li Wenzhong and Pang Shigu led 40,000 elite cavalry to return to the rescue in time, which saved the last vestige of Xia's army.
In this battle, the Xia army killed more than 40,000 people, and more than 40,000 people were captured. A large number of camp equipment also fell into the hands of the Sui army. Xingyang City was harassed by Gao Chong and Zhang Dingbian, and nearly 50,000 stones of food and grass were destroyed.
However, the Sui army also paid a heavy price in order to win this battle. General Lin Chong was killed in the battle, and nearly 20,000 Sui troops guarding the camp died in the battle. Many military supplies stored in the camp were also destroyed in the war.
. . . . . . . . . .
Jiangdu City, Pei Mansion.
The eunuch Duan Yi, who had just been scolded by Yang Gao during the day, sat on the chair with a dissatisfied look on his face and kept complaining to Pei Ju, who was sitting at the top: "Master Pei, what you asked me to do is really not a good thing. Today I told Your Majesty that General Xue Rengui had too many troops and horses, and before I could finish speaking, His Majesty was furious and drove me out of the imperial study..."
Before Duan Yi finished speaking, Pei Ju had already smiled and said to his grandson Pei Ning behind him: "Ning'er, go to the accounting room to get three hundred taels of gold and give it to Eunuch Duan."
Duan Yi was secretly happy when he heard this, but he waved his hands repeatedly and said: "Master Pei is too polite, there is no way you can do this!"
Pei Ju smiled slightly and said: "Eunuch Duan, you don't have to be polite. Your Majesty only punished you for doing things for me. I, Pei Ju, will never treat you badly."
While talking, Pei Ning had already brought a plate of gold to Duan Yi. Looking at the yellow and orange gold in front of him, Duan Yi's eyes almost went straight.
Pei Ju smiled and put the gold into Duan Yi's hand, "A little tea money is not a sign of respect. Eunuch Duan must give me Pei Ju face!"
Duan Yi pretended to shirk it a few more times, and finally accepted it happily and returned to the palace happily.
Seeing Duan Yi walking away, Pei Ning, who had been silent at first, suddenly said: "Grandpa, why should I pay attention to such treacherous people? In my grandson's opinion, your majesty is wise and powerful, and such treacherous people will definitely die sooner or later!"
Pei Ju also stopped smiling and said solemnly: "Ning'er, do you think my grandfather and I are willing to deal with such a person? It is really forced by the situation. I originally thought that the nobles of Guanlong were against the Sui Dynasty, and if I support your majesty, I will definitely make Pei The family became the largest family in the Sui Dynasty. However, I didn’t expect that His Majesty would only choose people based on ability, not family background. In addition, in recent years, the children of the Pei family have indeed been somewhat unsatisfactory, except for Xuanji who was appointed Taichang Shaoqing and Xuanman who was appointed Except for the governor of Yuzhang County, there is no one from the Pei family who is a third-rank official or above!"
"But why would my grandfather bribe a villain like Duan Yi to maliciously slander General Xue Rengui in front of His Majesty? General Xue is an important minister of the country and has an army of 200,000. If he is forced to rebel by my grandfather, the Sui Dynasty will be in danger!" Pei Ning said still dissatisfied.
Pei Ju shook his head and said: "Is it Xue Rengui who has the final say over the 200,000 troops in the Central Plains? Li Yaoshi, Chang Yuchun and Yang Ye are all generals promoted by His Majesty himself and are loyal to His Majesty. If Xue Rengui really dares If he rebels, these deputy commanders will kidnap him back to Jiangdu without His Majesty taking action. The reason why my grandfather slandered him is because he doesn’t want us to let the Wenxi Pei family lag behind the Xue family in Hedong."
Pei Ning opened his mouth and said: "But, grandfather, everyone in the civil and military circles of the dynasty knows that although General Xue is from Hedong, he comes from a poor family and has nothing to do with the Xue family in Hedong!"
Pei Ju let out a long sigh, "Silly boy, don't think of people's minds too simply. Xue Rengui is now the first rank of the dynasty, a general, and the Minister of the Ministry of War. His daughter and niece have both entered the palace. Especially his daughter Xue Baochai, this daughter She is quite virtuous and virtuous. Even if she is not a queen, she will definitely be one of the three concubines in the future. With such a noble identity and a surname from Hedong, can the Hedong Xue family not have his idea? When the time comes, as long as Xue Rengui nods and agrees, he can make up any one he wants. The identity of the side brother is not so easy!"
Pei Ju lowered his voice as he spoke: "Do you think His Majesty Emperor Wen was a member of the Yang family of Hongnong before he ascended the throne?"
Pei Ning couldn't help but tremble violently when he heard this, "Father, what do you mean? Is it possible that the late emperor was not born in the Hongnong Yang family?"
Pei Ju sneered, "If His Majesty Emperor Wen is the Yang family of Hongnong, then why did Yang Su, who made great contributions to the Sui Dynasty, be just a prince instead of a prince until his death? When the rebellion of Yang Su's son Yang Xuangan was put down, His Majesty Emperor Wu dealt with Does Rebellion have any affection for the Hongnong Yang family?"
"What is the origin of His Majesty Emperor Nawen?"
Pei Ju waved his hand and said, "This happened many years ago. All the people who knew the truth have long since died. Grandfather only reasoned it out based on some clues. Grandfather didn't tell you to go there. To explore the bloodline of the royal family, I want to tell you a truth. A big family often values interests the most when doing things. If Xue Rengui can bring enough benefits to the Xue family in Hedong, then sooner or later, Xue Rengui will definitely become a member of the Xue family in Hedong. !”
Pei Ning nodded as if he understood, "That's why my grandfather bribed Duan Yi and asked him to slander Xue Rengui in front of His Majesty. In fact, the real purpose was to maintain the status of the Pei family."
Pei Ju nodded with some regret, "It's just that I didn't expect that His Majesty would trust Xue Rengui so much. This magnanimity is indeed far better than that of his father. If His Majesty Emperor Wu could have this magnanimity, he could completely trust Yang Yichen, Lai Huer, Zhang Xutuo, Yu Juluo and other leading generals, the world will not be as chaotic as it is now!"
Peining nodded and said: "Your Majesty's magnanimity is indeed comparable to that of an eternal wise king. Grandfather, for the future of the Pei family, what do you think we should do?"
Pei Ju said lightly: "It is no longer feasible to drive a wedge between Xue Rengui and His Majesty, so we can only start from other aspects. It seems that our Pei family must also find a gentle and virtuous woman to enter the palace."
(Just don’t take some things seriously!)
