When Feng Kun arrived at the post house where the imperial envoy was located, he first ordered his men to guard the surrounding area, and then walked directly into the back hall.
At this time, Dong Tianxing was lying on the couch, with his upper body naked, his chest wrapped in a bandage, and a small patch of deep red blood seeping out near his heart.
This old man in his sixties had an ashen complexion and closed his eyes. He looked as if he was about to kick his legs and burp at any moment.
Feng Kun walked closer and asked the doctor next to him softly: "How is it?"
The doctor saw that he was wearing a high-grade military attaché robe and did not dare to neglect him: "Come back to General, I am not very good."
"Why is it not good?" Feng Kun asked: "Is the injury serious?"
The doctor nodded: "The location of the arrow was very close to the heart. It injured the meridians and caused a lot of blood flow. It is very dangerous for such an old person."
Feng Kun didn't know whether he should be happy or unhappy. He was stunned, and then asked the doctor: "Can I wake him up now?"
The doctor said: "The boss is not asleep, he is just resting with his eyes closed."
As soon as he finished speaking, Dong Tianxing next to him gently opened his eyes and hummed feebly: "General Feng, you are here."
"Sir, how did this happen?" Feng Kun's face was full of concern: "Do you feel better now?"
"No... not very good..." Dong Tianxing was almost as angry as a gossamer: "It's all my fault for being indecisive and not following your advice, general. I have suffered this crime in vain... General, I... I feel like I'm going to die. …”
Feng Kun waved his hand: "How could it be? Just relax and don't think wildly."
Dong Tianxing struggled and said: "General...General, was it that bastard Huo Zhenyu who harmed me? Was it him?!"
Feng Kun was stunned for a moment, and then said: "It's probably him, sir. Huo Zhenyu has indeed poisoned you. If we don't seize the time to fight back, he will only become more arrogant."
Dong Tianxing showed an expression of resentment on his face: "Yes, you are right. Even if I die, I will first drag the Lingnan soldiers to my back. General Feng, please go and help me with something."
"What to do, you tell me." Feng Kun secretly rejoiced in his heart: "As long as it is within the general's ability, my lord, just give me your orders."
Dong Tianxing nodded with difficulty, and then waited for a long time before saying: "I have made up my mind to have a complete showdown with the Lingnan soldiers. Tomorrow...tomorrow evening, help me summon all the generals in Xiangcheng to come here to meet, and say ...I have something very important to announce. When the time comes, your soldiers will go and surround everyone in Lingnan, and at the same time, we will start here to execute Huo Zhenyu on the spot."
Feng Kun responded: "Of course that's the best. However, I just heard that Huo Zhenyu has begun to quietly gather troops. I'm sure he wants to take action in advance."
"Then find a way to hold him back!" Dong Tianxing was so excited that he touched the wound on his chest again, and his forehead was covered with sweat from the pain: "Go and find Ma Hongjie with my seal. He has already pledged his allegiance to the emperor. With my identity as the Marching Commander, I can temporarily stabilize Huo Zhenyu and the others. As long as it is postponed until tomorrow night, and all the troops are well prepared, we can take action smoothly."
Feng Kun nodded, took the imperial envoy's seal from the guard captain next to him, and responded loudly: "Please rest assured, Mr. Dong, I will definitely live up to your trust."
-
After coming out of Dong Tianxing's place, Feng Kun immediately called his cronies and asked them to go back and mobilize more troops to protect the imperial envoy's post house.
One of his subordinates asked: "General, how is the man named Dong? Is there any fraud?"
"Probably not," Feng Kun shook his head: "I have been fighting for so many years, and you can still tell the real injuries and fake injuries. Dong Tianxing almost lost his life this time, and all the evil fire was poured out on Huo Zhenyu's head. , Haha, God is really helping me.”
The subordinate said: "So, someone really assassinated him, who could it be?"
Feng Kun waved his hand: "No matter who he is, Dong Tianxing has made up his mind to completely fall out with the Lingnan soldiers. You immediately send out the men as planned and secretly inform the captains and generals in Lingnan that Prince Li Bing Yu was unfavorable to Prince Anping's old troops and asked them to be careful about the friendly forces around them. Hum, after tomorrow night, the entire Jingxiang Army's defense line will be in chaos."
"What should we do with Huo Zhenyu? We still don't know why they suddenly gathered." His subordinates asked.
Feng Kun sneered: "According to my guess, Huo Zhenyu must have prepared the troops one step ahead to avoid chaos in the city after hearing that Dong Tianxing was plotted against him. What's funny is that Dong Tianxing is still guarding against him. I was specifically asked to inform Ma Hongjie and try to stabilize Huo Zhenyu from moving around."
Feng Kun became more and more proud as he talked and couldn't help but laugh.
The subordinates also echoed a few words, and then asked: "General, when will we start?"
"Tomorrow evening!" Feng Kun said confidently: "Now Dong Tianxing only has half his life left. At the same time, he has been put under house arrest by me and has cut off all contact with the outside world. As long as everyone is summoned in his name tomorrow night At this point, we can attack the Lingnan Army and completely provoke civil strife in Jingxiang."
-
"Sir, how do you feel?" the guard captain asked worriedly, "Can you still hold on?"
Dong Tianxing looked at the room and saw that there was no one else around. He stood up with a grin and hummed, "Grandma, I'm a grandson. It turns out that the arrow wound is so painful. It hurts me to death."
The captain smiled bitterly and said: "This is a humble job. I have to remove all the barbs on the arrow clusters in advance. Otherwise, when I pull out the arrow, I have to take out a large piece of meat, which will be more painful."
Dong Tianxing hissed, sucking in the cold air, and waved his hand: "If you miss, there will be a barb, and your life will be lost."
The captain of the guard stretched out his hand to support him: "Sir, even if you want to fake an injury, you can just pretend to be injured. At most, you can use a knife to cut a hole. Why really let the lowly officer shoot with a crossbow? Although the distance is far enough, the archer's accuracy is not bad. , but it’s dangerous enough to suffer.”
"I have to be on guard," Dong Tianxing put on his robe, his lips trembling slightly: "What if Feng Kun asks the doctor privately? What if the doctor himself is one of his people? The doctor personally took it from me. Pull out the arrow and it will be genuine and no one will be able to see the flaw."
"What should we do next?" The captain secretly admired the old man's ruthlessness and asked: "Now Feng Kun's soldiers have surrounded this place. They are protecting us in name, but actually guarding us. We are completely in their hands."
Dong Tianxing endured the pain and smiled: "It doesn't matter. I used this trick to temporarily confuse Feng Kun. As long as I can stabilize him, it doesn't matter even if I surround him for a day or two. By tomorrow evening, Ma Hongjie's main force will be able to catch up. When we get to Xiangcheng, even if a conflict does break out between the two sides, our side will still have the absolute advantage and we don’t need to be afraid of them."
The captain asked worriedly: "What about you?"
"I guess it's not a big problem," Dong Tianxing said calmly: "Actually, I am a person who is very afraid of death. If I can live well, I will never die in vain. Feng Kun wants to use my special status to incite the prince to send generals to attack China The generals who established the faction will cause chaos, so he should not touch me easily before tomorrow night. When Ma Hongjie's main force arrives tomorrow night, we can always avert the danger."
Things turned out as Dong Tianxing expected. Feng Kun, who was already suspicious, was diverted by the unexpected incident of his assassination. Although it was still unknown who assassinated the imperial envoy, Dong Tianxing's violent reaction was precisely Feng Kun. What he wanted to see most in his heart, so Feng Kun subconsciously relaxed his guard against Lao Dong, thinking that everything was under his control.
As everyone knows, Dong Tianxing has already contacted the neutralist Ma Hongjie one step ahead, and 15,000 Jiannan soldiers are heading towards Xiangcheng at high speed.
In the evening of the next day, Dong Tianxing, who had rested all day and night, felt that his injury was much better than before. Although the slightest movement made him feel heartbroken, he could still hold on even if he gritted his teeth. He looked at the sky outside and felt that it was almost time, so he ordered his men to get their official uniforms and put them on, and went to the front hall to meet with the generals.
At this time, all the military leaders in Jingxiang had heard about the assassination of the imperial envoy. When Dong Tianxing appeared, several generals from the prince faction quickly surrounded him and asked him how he was doing.
Dong Tianxing endured the pain, forced out a smile, and asked everyone to sit down first, and then chat slowly.
On the contrary, the generals of the questioning faction were still sitting in their original positions, with interesting expressions on their faces, as if they were afraid that others would misunderstand the charge of attacking the imperial envoy.
The military system of the Holy Tang Dynasty stipulates that military attaches with the rank of fifth-grade deputy captain or above can be escorted by personal guards when going out, ranging from twenty to thirty to one or two hundred, so Dong Tianxing knows very well that outside his post house, In addition to Feng Kun's Ezhou soldiers, there are also a large number of retinues of other generals. The total number of people is not less than that of Feng Kun, so there is no need to worry about the other party daring to act randomly on the spot.
The main consideration right now is the overall strength comparison. He pretended to look at Ma Hongjie casually, and Ma Hongjie nodded slightly towards him.
Dong Tianxing understood this and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He smiled at everyone and said, "Generals, we invite you here today because we have several things to discuss."
The day before yesterday, they had just been mocked and reprimanded by Old Dong with a gun and a stick. Most of the generals in Jingxiang were still a little depressed. They couldn't guess what kind of medicine the imperial envoy was selling in his gourd, so they all nodded silently and signaled to Dong. If Tianxing has something to say, please tell me.
Dong Tianxing coughed lightly and accidentally touched the wound again. The pain was so painful that he almost groaned. He tried hard to endure it and said: "First of all, what do you think of what I told you the day before yesterday? ?”
As soon as he finished speaking, the generals of the prince faction expressed their willingness to follow the emperor's wishes and discuss the selection of the new marshal.
It was expected that these guys supported Li Bing, so no one was too surprised whether they were skeptics or neutrals.
However, they were all a little surprised next.
Because Ma Hongjie suddenly spoke:
"The general is willing to obey the emperor's arrangements and discuss the recommendation of the coach."
