The atmosphere in the main hall of Qingxi Palace was awkward and solemn. The sound of the explosion attracted the guards outside the palace, but they did not dare to move outside the door because the Cao Yuande brothers and the leaders of the Dunhuang clan were all in the main hall.
At the same time, Zhang Zhao couldn't get out. He was sure that as soon as he showed up, he would be shot to death by random arrows.
Taking a deep breath, Zhang Zhao glanced secretly in the corner, where a skinny old man was resting with his eyes closed, looking very relaxed.
Old fox! Zhang Zhao complained in his heart that this old man was Murong Nobunaga's grandfather and Cao Sanniang's father-in-law Murong Guiying.
In fact, before Zhang Zhao entered Dunhuang, Cao Sanniang secretly returned to Guazhou and negotiated terms with Murong Guiying on behalf of Zhang Zhao.
It was agreed that as long as Zhang Zhao is in power, the Murong family will be able to get the most spoils from Zhang Zhao, and the sixteen-year-old Murong Nobunaga will become the Suzhou observation envoy.
It was equivalent to giving half of Suzhou to the Murong family. Murong Guiying happily agreed at the time.
But now it seems that the old fox is betting on both sides, or that he will only come out to add to the cake, and will never be prepared to provide help in times of need.
If this is the case, Zhang Zhao can only use the one hundred Uighur warriors under Princess Tiansheng, but this is a last resort and should not be used unless it is a last resort.
"Erlangjun, my third uncle is here, he is coming in!" Cao Yanming approached Zhang Zhao and whispered.
It seems that Cao Yuanzhong, who was under house arrest, must have been released by the junior Cao family outside. After all, he is the only one who can take charge.
"Okay! Let him in!" Zhang Zhao decided to give face to his double father-in-law.
In fact, he was not prepared to fight with the Cao family. Even the wooden tubes on Cao Yuanshen's body, except for a few, were filled with fine dry loess.
"Cao Shishi, you are really my good boy!" Cao Yuande, who was sitting in the chair, had a face so dark that he couldn't even look at it.
He stared at Cao Yanming angrily. A strong anger at being betrayed by his beloved son filled his mind. Now he wanted to capture Cao Yanming and reward him with thirty family tips.
"Sir, I will apologize to you again at the age of fourteen!" Cao Yanming was also a little awkward, but he felt more and more that the Cao family had no future like this. Today, while the Cao and Zhang families still have some good feelings, it is best to retreat quickly. chosen.
"Zhang Erlang! Why are you so impulsive? Is there something you can't say properly? Do you think the whole family must fight against each other?"
With a dark face, Cao Yuanzhong pushed open a small gap and came in, pretending to be his father-in-law and lecturing him.
Zhang Zhao grinned. Among the second generation of the Cao family, he was the only father-in-law who was somewhat capable, but he was only at the level of a paper framer.
His words were obviously meant to teach Zhang Zhao a lesson, but secretly he was turning the serious incident of Zhang Zhao's detention of a whole room of people into a kid's joke. As expected, he had the ability to make peace with others.
"Come here! I haven't seen your maternal grandfather, eldest uncle, and second uncle yet!" Sure enough, in the next second, Cao Yuanzhong made the matter look like acknowledgment of relatives.
Zhang Zhao looked in the direction of Cao Yuanzhong's finger. Two short and sturdy men were protecting an old man. The old man was looking at him with extremely complicated eyes.
How fucking embarrassing! Zhang Zhao suddenly felt that his coming to Dunhuang was a bit hasty.
Because he is not yet ready to disown his relatives, and at least one-third of the people in this room are his relatives and elders, cleaning? This also cleans your hair!
"My grandson has met my grandfather, and he is really offended today!"
You are so talented, I am making a coup! Zhang Zhao knelt down and kowtowed to the old man as if he was about to cry. He was a real grandpa, so I couldn't help but kowtow!
Song Tongshan's lips moved. He was also very embarrassed!
He said he was a grandson, but in fact, in order to avoid suspicion, he had seen his grandson no more than ten times in the past twenty-three years, mostly when he was a child, and almost never as an adult.
The first time they met as an adult was on this occasion. He was almost frightened by the thunderbolt thrown by his grandson just now.
After swallowing, Song Tongshan stretched out his hand stiffly to help him.
"Get up... Erlang, get up, no need to be polite!"
Fortunately, Cao Yuanzhong did not continue to ask him to kowtow to his two uncles, but his father-in-law pointed his hand back again.
"That's your great-uncle from the Yin family. You haven't seen him before, right? The old man is not in good health. If you scare people, let's see how you end up!"
have to! They are relatives again, but this is not his grandfather, but his father's uncle.
Zhang Zhao's grandfather, Zhang Huaiding, married a daughter of the Yin family, that is, Zhang Zhao's grandma was from the Yin family. This great-uncle was Zhang Zhao's grandma's biological brother and Yin Yaozi's cousin.
Zhang Zhao was extremely embarrassed and could only kowtow in greeting. He now felt that letting Cao Yuanzhong in was a mistake. How could he be cruel? Oh my god, it has become a family recognition meeting.
Seeing Cao Yuanzhong pointing to the right again, Zhang Zhao suddenly had two big heads. The one named Suo Shengquan was the grandson of Suo Xun, the third-generation Jiedu envoy of the Guiyi Army, and his grandmother was Zhang Yichao's ninth daughter.
The tall and strong man beside Suo Shengquan is called Li Shaozong. His grandfather is Li Mingzhen, a general of the Guiyi Army, and his grandmother is Zhang Yichao's fourteenth daughter. After all, they are Zhang Zhao's blood cousins.
As for the old man who stared at Zhang Zhao dumbfounded, he was even more amused. His name was Zhang Huaiqing, and you could tell by his name that he was from the older generation of the Zhang family.
Zhang Zhao's grandfather was named Zhang Huaiding, and he was originally named Zhang Huaiding. It was only after he became the governor of the Guiyi Army that Huai changed his name to Huai.
This 'grandpa', who is over sixty years old, is the nephew of Zhang Yichao and the only remaining figure in Zhang Jihuai's generation. He is also the patriarch of the Zhang family in Nanyang, Shazhou and Zhang Zhao's cousin.
Come on! Zhang Zhao sighed, all the people in this circle were relatives.
However, Cao Yuanzhong's actions were not without benefits, that is, everyone put back the short knives and long daggers they took out, and Cao Yuanshen, the tool bomber, also recovered a little from the extreme fear.
Zhang Zhao looked at Cao Yuanzhong and then at the faces of everyone in the hall, knowing that there was some trouble today.
Originally, he wanted to directly control these people, then capture the two brothers Cao Yuande and Cao Yuanshen, and then throw out some benefits to appease them.
He brought back millions of pounds of goods, and at worst he would use money to buy them. With the support of his father-in-law Cao Yuanzhong and his half-father-in-law Murong Guiying, he directly took over the position of Jiedushi of the Guiyi Army.
But now it seems that everyone in the hall includes his maternal ancestor Song Tongguang and Luo Tongda, the former general of Jinshan Kingdom in the Western Han Dynasty.
These people had forced his father Zhang Chengfeng to abdicate to a certain extent back then, and they were still somewhat resistant to Zhang Zhao, the only living direct bloodline of the Zhang family in Shazhou. After all, their behavior back then could be called rebellion.
For Zhang Zhao, this coup caused his father to die in depression, his brother died of a fright, and he was trapped in Dunhuang for more than ten years. No matter how you look at it, it is logical for him to take revenge on everyone in the house.
Therefore, in the minds of ordinary people, no matter what Zhang Zhao says, even if he promises now that he will never pursue the past twenty years ago, these people will not believe it.
If you don’t pursue it now, what will happen if you think about it later? Original sin is not so easy to cleanse.
If this is the case, then the only choice is to use the second plan. The power base of the Guiyi Army Jiedushi comes from two aspects. One is blood inheritance, this is Zhang Zhaoyou, and the second is the great cause of opening up Ganliang and connecting the motherland. .
But at this time, the great cause of opening up Ganliang and connecting with the motherland is no longer realistic.
In history, only Zhang Zhao's great-grandfather Zhang Yichao and cousin Zhang Huaishen, two Jiedu envoys, had accomplished this. Even Cao Yijin, the "Lord of ZTE", had broken Ganzhou and could no longer advance eastward.
So if the standard of opening up Ganliang and connecting with the motherland is lowered and turned into defeating the old enemy Ganzhou Uighurs, now is the time.
Because if the Ganzhou Uighurs get news of the death of Princess Li, they will definitely send troops to march westward, and the two families have long been in conflict because of Suzhou.
In May of this year, Liang Xingde, the Marquis of Yu, the capital of Zuomabu of the Guiyi Army, was ordered to go on an envoy to the Later Tang Dynasty. In fact, he was going to do business for the Jiedushi Yamen. On his way back, he was killed in Ganzhou City and all the belongings he brought were lost.
hehe! The Guiyi Army's Ma Budu Yuhou, with dozens of soldiers, was killed in Ganzhou City, and no one could find out who did it, so it's obvious who has the ability to do it!
Even if Princess Tian Li had not been killed, a fight between the two sides would have been inevitable.
Historically, the war between the two sides was presided over by Cao Yuande. Each side recruited thousands of soldiers and horses. After small-scale contact, the Ganzhou Uighurs, who felt that they could not gain an advantage, retreated to Suzhou and died down.
But that is what happened in history. For the current Guiyi Army, they must not know that this war that seems to be about to break out will turn out to be so anticlimactic.
Therefore, what Zhang Zhao has to do is to replace Cao Yuande in the battle with the Ganzhou Uighurs, so that the law and morality are in his hands.
Of course, it is impossible for him to just take his troops and go to war with the Ganzhou Uighurs. In that case, it is estimated that he will be betrayed by these old guys as soon as he leaves Dunhuang City today.
"Erlang, let go of your second... uh! Second cousin! I'll take you out!"
Cao Yuanzhong said to Zhang Zhao, then sighed and looked at his brother Cao Yuande.
"Let Erlang go to Suzhou! Long Hong from Suzhou came several times to report that Dadan people were harassing the grassland, and people from Ganzhou pretended to be provocative to the people of Suzhou. It is just right for Erlang to go to Suzhou."
Cao Yuanzhong used his greatest strength for Zhang Zhao and managed to find half of Suzhou among the Guiyi army that had huddled in Guasha.
The current Suzhou is divided into two, with the Guiyi Army and the Ganzhou Uighurs each controlling one half.
Shangsuzhou, controlled by the Guiyi Army, still has tens of thousands of people, but its rule has not been very stable because of insufficient military strength.
But Zhang Zhao came with an army, so he should be able to control it, and maybe he could swallow up the entire Suzhou. By then, Zhang Zhao would have a foothold.
Of course Zhang Zhao will not go to Suzhou, but he will not refuse it directly. This is his father-in-law's suggestion, and it is directed to him. If he refuses it directly, it will appear that Zhang Zhao is too ungrateful.
So Zhang Zhao smiled secretly and decided to break through in another direction, "Although Suzhou is good, it faces the threat of Ganzhou Uighurs. If we can't drive away the Ganzhou people, everything will be like a mirror."
It's better than this. I, Zhang Zhao, will deal with Ganzhou's westward march this time, which can also be regarded as revenge for the great revenge they forced on a certain father.
My requirements are not high. You are all the pillars and elders of the Guiyi Army. As long as the elders hand over all the warriors in your family to me, Ganzhou Xianyou will be shouldered by me! "
Everyone in the hall suddenly became excited. Zhang Erlang wanted to use the younger generation of their family as hostage!
Moreover, most of the younger generation in the family here serve in the government army. They were taken away by Zhang Erlang, and at least half of the standing army that returned to the rebel army became Zhang Erlang's.
When the time comes to go to the battlefield and mix it up, they might be controlled, and these young people can also be used to threaten them. Who dares to stab them, will the lives of their children and grandchildren be at stake?
There was a hint of pride on Zhang Zhao's face. He had 5,000 people and could control hundreds of thousands of Guiyi Army and Yamen troops.
And they are all young people. At worst, they can be bought directly with money and Hu Ji, or they can be encouraged by their achievements. Zhang Zhao is fully confident in conquering them.
After defeating the Uighurs in Ganzhou, he would return directly to Guazhou, and force Cao Yuande to the throne again, and he would be able to smoothly oust Cao Yuande.
Everyone knows Zhang Zhao's plan, but there is no good reason to refute it. In fact, it is not that there is no reason, but that it cannot be refuted.
Because Zhang Erlang is still detaining them. If they don't give them any benefits, how can they be released?
But they couldn't agree, because if they agreed, they would just drink poison to quench their thirst.
But if you don't agree, do you really want to send all the high-ranking officials of the Guiyi Army to the West in the main hall of Qingxi Palace?
In the awkward silence, the voice of an old god sounded.
"If I were Mr. Zhang Erlang, I would never choose Suzhou, nor would I choose to return to the rebel army. There are good places in the world, why should I stick to this small place?"
