Zhang Jiao sighed slightly, feeling that what Zhang Bao said made sense.
These disciples were all very respectful in front of him, but once they received orders to serve as commanders in various places, it was different.
Moreover, the followers of Taiping Dao were not developed by Zhang Jiao alone. He could lay the foundation of Taiping Dao in Hebei. However, the development of Taiping Dao in the Central Plains mainly relied on a large number of disciples traveling across mountains and rivers to spread the teachings and gradually formed a huge scale.
These disciples have developed large-scale Taiping Dao branches in one place. Although everyone has the same Taiping Dao philosophy, when it comes to fundamentals, they may not be able to completely transcend regional and factional concepts.
The local Taiping Taoists are probably still unfamiliar with this great master who they have never met before, and they are probably more willing to obey the orders of Zhang Jiao's disciples who they can come into contact with.
Zhang Jiao also felt a little worried about this, worried that the situation was out of control, and had already begun to plan the distribution of benefits in the future after the uprising was successful.
But is it all too early?
Zhang Jiao rested for a while and felt a little more comfortable, so he prepared to go to Julu County for the social activities scheduled for today.
The social event booked today is a wedding at the Sun family, a powerful family in Julu County. The Sun family believes in Taiping Taoism and is an older member of the congregation. They have a close relationship with Zhang Jiao. There is a happy event in their family. Zhang Jiao must attend no matter what.
Zhang Bao still had some things to deal with, so he asked Zhang Jiao to go first, and he followed later.
As he was going out, a gust of cold wind hit him. Zhang Jiao shivered all over, tightened his tight clothes, then boarded the carriage and entered the warmer compartment to escape the cold wind.
Zhang Bao dealt with the matter of missing grain in the granary at the manor. After a while, he figured out the problem, punished the Zhang family for having a son, and then got up to go to the county to join Zhang Jiao.
This meeting coincided with Zhang Jiao's convoy being besieged by a group of masked warriors. Zhang Bao was shocked and asked those around him to go back to the manor to call for help, while he led his own people to rush forward to rescue Zhang Jiao.
But unfortunately, the two of them went out to attend a happy event, and they didn't bring many followers with them. They only had a dozen people in total. They were mainly servants who brought gifts, not guards with force and weapons.
Who would have thought that they would be attacked on the road to the county seat?
This has never happened before!
Zhang Bao was also frightened and unexpectedly rushed to rescue Zhang Jue regardless of his own safety. As a result, he ran into an arrow and was shot through the neck. He fell off his horse and died on the spot.
Zhang Jiao, who was hiding under the protection of two guards, was in great pain when he saw his brother being shot. He yelled and drew his knife and rushed forward to avenge his brother. However, he was hit in the arm by another arrow and the knife in his hand fell to the ground. On the ground, people also fell to the ground.
The last two guards were killed by the masked warriors. Zhang Jiao collapsed on the ground and screamed in pain while looking at the masked warriors surrounding them in horror.
"Who are you? Why do you want to kill me?"
No one answered him.
A tall masked warrior stepped forward, raised the Huanshou knife, inserted the knife into Zhang Jiao's chest, twisted it, and bled him while he watched in infinite horror.
Zhang Jiao is dead.
He died with a heart full of reluctance.
"A dead person doesn't need to know that much."
The murderous masked warrior watched Zhang Jiao die, took off the black cloth of his mask and took a breath, revealing his true face at the same time.
It is Ji Jian, the senior younger brother who has followed Liu Bei for the longest time.
Another tall masked warrior on the side came up and took off the black cloth to take a breath. It was Ma Liang, the bravest subordinate around Ji Jian. This time, he single-handedly killed four of Zhang Jiao's guards. , with unstoppable brute force.
"This is Zhang Jiao, and the one just now was Zhang Bao. Both of them are dead. Our mission is completed. Now there is only one Zhang Liang left. I wonder if Cheng Dazhi can deal with Zhang Liang."
Ma Liang looked at Ji Jian and said, "He should be fine, right?"
"Although Cheng Dazhi is a little older, his skills are better than mine. He will definitely be able to deal with Zhang Liang. Even if he can't, as long as Zhang Jiao is dead, brother's main task will be considered completed."
Ji Jian took a breath, covered his face with black cloth again, and looked at Zhang Bao's whereabouts.
"It seems like someone ran back just now. It's not appropriate to stay here for a long time. It's time for us to leave. By the way, pull out all the arrows and take them away. Don't leave anything behind!"
"only!"
Ma Liang nodded and covered his face again. Twenty of Liu's masked warriors cleaned the "battlefield" together. After cleaning, they quickly left with the two of them.
By the time the Zhang family guards, who looked panicked, rushed here collectively, Liu's warriors had already disappeared without a trace, leaving only corpses everywhere.
Looking at the corpses everywhere, looking at Zhang Jiao and Zhang Bao who were still dead, the guards of the Zhang family all stood on the spot, at a loss.
"The great virtuous teacher...is dead..."
The leader muttered to himself, his eyes were dull, his body was stiff, and his mind was blank.
The direction of history has changed.
After Ji Jian and Ma Liang succeeded in assassinating Zhang Jiao and Zhang Bao, they led the team to sneak northward. By the time they arrived at the agreed Shenze County in the south of Anping on December 26, the sixth year of Guanghe's reign, Cheng Dazhi had already Waiting over there.
The three met and explained each other's results. They were very happy to learn that both actions were successful.
Cheng Dazhi successfully led the team to carry out the mission of assassinating Zhang Liang.
At that time, Zhang Liang was participating in a social event organized by a local powerhouse in Xiaquyang County. Zhang Liang was specially invited to attend as a special guest. Zhang Liang happily went to the banquet. He drank and drank with others at the banquet, and the exchange was endless.
This itinerary was easily learned by Cheng Dazhi. He personally led the people to stay and took advantage of the sunset when Zhang Liang was returning. He attacked the half-drunk Zhang Liang and his three or five followers in a place with few people in the county, and successfully captured them. They killed them all, and chopped off Zhang Liang's head with a knife.
Then he ran away quickly without missing a beat.
They communicated for a while and learned that each other's success was actually not that difficult. It could even be said to be a bit simple. It was not as difficult as expected at all, and there was no loss.
It can only be said that Zhang Jiao and others really don't care about their own safety.
The three of them all like to be public, so it is not difficult to know their appearance. Walking on the street, you can sometimes bump into the three of them who are spreading teachings or giving alms.
Secondly, they like to participate in social activities. They are all social experts and have friends everywhere. It is common for them to go drinking somewhere today and eating somewhere tomorrow. You can know about the Great Master and his brothers just by asking on the street. Are there any public events to attend?
Thirdly, they do not bring too many armed guards with them, as if to create an image of being close to the people. Unless they are traveling far away, they usually only have three or five followers, and even fewer with weapons.
The assassination operation was a great success due to calculated calculations but not care. Only one person in the assassination team lost his arm and three people were injured, and they basically escaped unscathed.
"I just don't know what the situation will be like after these three brothers are dead."
Cheng Dazhi said in a low voice: "After all, I really can't believe they actually dared to start such a large-scale rebellion, so big. If it doesn't happen, how many people will die?"
Ji Jian pouted.
"What else can we do? It's just a mess. We killed them so easily. It can be imagined that they are nothing special at all."
"They are quite important. These three people, especially Zhang Jiao, are the founders of Taiping Dao."
Cheng Dazhi came into contact with Taiping Dao and whispered: "With Zhang Jiao's death, Taiping Dao has no leader. Even if they want to rebel, they have lost a leader who can order everyone. Now I don't know whether they will continue to rebel, let alone He said that he had joined forces with the Taiping Daoists in the Eight Provinces to rebel, and my lord is right, you should shoot horses first before shooting people, and capture the king before you capture thieves."
Ji Jian still agrees with this.
"What eldest brother said must be right. I have never doubted it."
The matter was resolved beautifully, and their mission was completed, so the three of them and the entire assassination team hid in the mountains and rested for a night.
Early the next morning, they arranged for three people to go to Luoyang to report to Liu Bei, and everyone else headed north toward Zhuojun.
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PS: When I woke up this morning, my left foot stepped out of the door first, so I’ll add another chapter.
(End of chapter)
