After an unknown amount of time, Li Yuan stood up and strode out of the commander's tent to the outside. He saw Fu Hongzheng helplessly being supported by several Forbidden Army generals in the mud more than a dozen steps away. All his armor had long been removed. At this time, he was sitting on the cold ground wearing only a thin middle coat with blood stains on his back, his head hanging down and his body swaying. There were more than a dozen soldiers surrounding him, and they were busy setting up a fire to keep Fu Hong warm.
When everyone saw Li Yuan leaving the handsome tent, they immediately stopped what they were doing and bowed to Li Yuan to salute. Li Yuan just frowned, walked over quickly, squatted down, stretched out his hand to support Fu Hong's body, Fu Hong did not raise his head, but weakly waved his hand and said in a bald voice: "Don't, don't worry about me. I made a mistake and I deserve to be punished. Don't try to persuade me, otherwise I...I ..."
"Otherwise, what will happen to you?" Li Yuan said in a deep voice.
Fu Hong looked up in shock, only to see that his face was blue and purple from the cold, his lips were black, and his upper and lower teeth were trembling.
"Grand... Grand Marshal!"
Li Yuan reached out and caressed Fu Hong's neck, and his touch was suddenly freezing cold. He took off his cloak, wrapped Fu Hong up, and said, "Send Fu Tongjun back to his tent, and order someone to boil some hot ginger soup for him to drink. In his tent, There are two more braziers inside."
"Generalissimo..." Fu Hong said with a slightly moved expression.
"What's going on? I asked you to hit twenty military sticks, are you really honest? You're beaten even if you don't hit it even once?" Li Yuan said helplessly.
"Not even once." Fu Hong endured the pain and grinned: "Generalissimo, the last general made a mistake and deserves to be punished. Who made the last general make a reckless mistake..."
Then Fu Hong struggled to get closer and asked Li Yuan in a low voice: "Generalissimo, that person inside?"
"Dead." Li Yuan showed no expression and added: "Suicide."
"This thief is really getting an advantage!" Fu Hong suddenly spat on the ground, then raised his head and asked, "Has the Generalissi asked this person's true identity? Is he really a remnant of the former Wu?"
Li Yuan hesitated for a moment, shook his head and smiled bitterly: "No. This man was born in a poor family, without a father or a mother, and without a family, but he was very ambitious. He just wanted to take advantage of the chaos in the court to make trouble. As for what he kept saying about Tai The ancestor of the Emperor is just an excuse to deceive people, just to trick the 10,000 Jianghuai children into rebellion. The death of the little man's ear is insignificant."
Fu Hong stared at Li Yuan's serious face and nodded, then grinned and said: "It's ridiculous to think about this thief. His crimes are so heinous but his imagination is so whimsical. With so few troops in his hand, what kind of cat or dog dares to raise an army to cause chaos?
Forget it, now that the thief is dead, what should we do with the remaining 10,000 people? Generalissimo, don't blame the general for talking too much. The general is afraid that something will happen if he leaves them in the camp, so he needs to make a decision as soon as possible. It's a pity that the Jianghuai children were coaxed and led into the pit by the thieves this time. Already..."
Li Yuandao: "I will handle it myself, and will immediately order the horse to report the matter to the imperial court. However, among the ten thousand people, except for a few generals who took the lead in rebellion, the rest of the soldiers were just bewitched and hijacked to follow the crowd. They should not be blamed. Even before death, I expect that Your Majesty will make a holy judgment."
"It would also be good if they can make them vindicate themselves and make meritorious service."
Fu Hong nodded repeatedly without saying anything, and then at Li Yuan's signal, two soldiers helped him back to the tent. The remaining generals of the Xiongwu Army were so cold that they shed tears because they had been accompanying Fu Hong. Li Yuan comforted them a few words and ordered them to be sent back to their residences to rest. Then he called the guards into the commander's tent to restrain the traitors. body...
In the afternoon of the next day, King Yan Li Hongji led his Qingqi to the camp. Li Yuan told Li Hongji the "truth" about the things he had revised. Fortunately, Li Hongji was not interested in Hu Ze's true identity. His Highness All of Li Yuan's attention was attracted by the things in the warehouse mentioned in Li Yuan's words, and Li Hongji also felt a chill running down his spine, and he was almost shattered to pieces.
"Oh my god! If you, Li Yuan, were not so resourceful this time, the lives of this king and his two hundred thousand troops would have been in vain in Hezhou City!"
Li Hongji covered his chest, took several breaths suddenly, and said with lingering fear: "Who would have thought that those sixteen warehouses were all filled with fire oil, and it was fire oil with charcoal added! If it were opened easily, there would be even a little bit of it. Xing Xingzi, not to mention an army of 200,000, even the entire
The iron-walled city of Hezhou will be reduced to ashes! "
Li Yuan nodded, looking at Li Hongji's frowning and worried look, he couldn't help but smile and said, "Why do you need to worry about it anymore, Your Highness? Aren't you protected by your ancestors and have already saved the day?"
Li Hongji shook his head and sighed: "I am just a little bit unable to recover. I still naively thought that there were all the gold and silver treasures embezzled by Hu Ze? If this time we and the 200,000 forbidden troops are all buried in Hezhou City, then what will happen? The Zhennan Army is probably laughing out loud in its dreams! Jinling will be in danger by then, and this thief Hu Ze will almost cut off the lifeline of our country!"
Li Yuan nodded slightly. His words were true. If Hu Ze really succeeds this time, not to mention whether he can complete the great cause of "anti-Tang and restore Wu", he will lose 200,000 imperial troops, an emperor's eldest son, and a military governor. For the Southern Tang Dynasty, which was in turmoil between the government and the public at this time, it was a huge blow, and the chain reaction that followed was unimaginable.
In fact, when Li Yuan learned from Yang Weize last night that the sixteen warehouses in the south of the city were filled with fire oil collected over the years, he was also frightened. He must have known that Li Jianqi had fought with the Dongxi barbarians in Jiashan. In the battle, only more than ten barrels of fierce fire oil were used. Not only did Peng Shiyu's 20,000 elite troops be burned to death and 70% of them were burned, but the continuous mountain fires they caused burned for three days and three nights before they subsided.
It is conceivable that once the fierce fire oil in the sixteen warehouses is ignited, it will probably be the real cruel fire of hell. , 200,000 horses eventually turned into 200,000 charred corpses.
Li Hongji suddenly asked angrily: "I heard that Hu Ze committed suicide last night?"
Seeing Li Yuan nodding in affirmation, Li Hongji said angrily: "How could you let him die so easily? He is such a heinous person. He wants to murder me and you! An army of 200,000 people almost became victims of the fire because of him. , why are you so lenient as the commander-in-chief of the entire army?"
Li Yuan said calmly: "Your Highness, I will never be soft on traitors. But didn't this thief give Your Highness a great contribution? A dead person can be considered as having redeemed his sins. Your Highness does not need to be so jealous of him... ...."
Li Hongji said suspiciously: "Great merit? What do you mean?"
Li Yuan smiled faintly and said: "Your Highness, I wrote a memorial in my own hand last night and sent the horse and Hu Ze's head to Jinling together. The key to quelling Hu Ze's rebellion this time is that your Highness has a keen eye. You are the first to He discovered something was wrong in the warehouse in the south of the city and came to remind him late at night.
Therefore, I believe that Your Highness should be the first to contribute, and I have stated this clearly in the memorial, signed by all four commanders. Your Highness has unparalleled resourcefulness and saw through the rebel plot in one fell swoop, allowing our 200,000 Imperial Guards to be put to safety. How could your Majesty not be overjoyed to save the country from danger? "
