Li Jue smiled and said: "I have the merit of defeating Lu Bu, and I have worked hard to assist the government for four years. My achievements are remarkable, and everyone knows it. Guo Si is just a thief. How can I rob and kill the minister without authorization? There is no way to resolve the hatred between me and him. I must kill him in order to fulfill my wish. You have been to his camp and now you know that there are many counselors and generals in my camp. As a fellow countryman, you have to be honest with me. , if I fight him, can I beat him?"
He replied: "Actually, that's not the case. In the past, Hou Yi relied on his magic arrows to shoot down the sun. He didn't think about the trouble, so he perished. Recently, Grand Master Dong is also very powerful. You have seen it yourself. Lu Bu suffered Instead, he personally killed him for his favor. In an instant, he hung his head on the city gate, so your strength cannot last long. General, although you are a general, you also have many counselors and generals. He is also assisting Emperor Xian, and his descendants and clans are all in high positions. The state's favor is not unkind, but now Guo Si is hijacking the minister, and you are hijacking Emperor Xian. From this point of view, who is more serious?"
Li Ji heard the sarcasm in the other party's mouth and said angrily: "Did Emperor Xian send you here to laugh at me? I'll behead you first to eliminate the hatred in my heart!"
Yang Feng, the captain of the cavalry, admonished: "Now that Guo Si has not been removed, if you kill Zi's envoy, then Guo Si will have a reason to raise troops, and the princes will also go to help him."
Jia Xu was also there at this time and also tried to persuade him.
Li Jiu calmed down a little. When Jia Xu saw this, he quickly pushed Huangfu Li away. Huangfu Li was also very excited and said: "Li Jiu did not obey the imperial edict. He was preparing to rebel. He was preparing to kill Emperor Xian and establish himself as the emperor." God."
Fortunately, his voice was not loud, and Li Ji did not hear it in the camp. Hu Miao, the servant, hurriedly stopped him and said, "Don't say such angry words. It will not do any good except hasten your death."
Huangfu Li scolded: "You are also an important minister of the imperial court. If you don't want to contribute to the imperial court, why should you attach yourself to this evil thief Li Cui? Since ancient times, the king has humiliated his ministers and died. Even if I am killed by Li Cui, this is my fault." It’s your duty as a minister.”
He still kept yelling. After Emperor Xian learned about this situation, in order to save him, he could only issue an edict to send him back to Xiliang without having to enter the court again.
Most of Li Cui's troops were natives of Xiliang, and they also had the help of the Qiang people. Before leaving, Huangfu Li spread propaganda among his troops, threatening: "Li Cui is a traitor who is preparing to rebel. Those who follow him will Everyone is an accomplice of the traitor, and there will definitely be no good results in the future."
The people of Xiliang are relatively simple, and they have some concepts of right and wrong in their hearts. They know that what they are doing is treason. Many people's ideas have changed, so that the morale of the army has been shaken. Soon Li Cui's troops began to lose morale.
Li Ji noticed this situation and felt very angry, so he sent Wang Chang to chase him. Wang Chang knew that Huangfu Li was a loyal man, so he didn't chase him at all. He just showed off and returned to report: "I don't know where Huangfu Li went?"
Jia Xu secretly sent a letter to the Qiang people again, saying: "I know that you are all loyal people, and your hard work has made great achievements, so I secretly issued an edict asking you to return to the counties. You will be generously rewarded in the future."
Jia Xu can be said to have grasped the other party's psychology. The Qiang people actually helped Li Ji a lot, but the other party never showed any expression, which made him very resentful. Jia Xu's letter was actually very timely, so he obeyed him The words passed with the soldiers.
At this time, Jia Xu believed that the opportunity had come, and secretly wrote a letter to Emperor Xian, saying: "Li Jiu is greedy. Now that his soldiers have lost their morale, you can use senior executives to lure him. "
So Emperor Xian issued an edict and made Li Ji the Grand Sima.
Li Ji was very happy to feel that he had been reused, but instead of thanking Emperor Xian, he attributed all this to the fact that he prayed to the gods every time and that the witch appeared. Everything was the credit of the witch, a fictitious thing. But he did not reward his own soldiers and generals.
This obviously broke out the conflict completely. Cavalry Captain Yang Feng was furious and said to Song Guo: "We people have been with him through life and death. We are more dedicated than our brothers, but our credit is not as good as that of a witch. This is really a big joke." .”
Song Guo was also full of complaints and said: "It's actually like this. We don't need to talk about human rights. Why don't we kill this thief? We still have a lot of credit for rescuing him."
The two of them almost hit it off immediately and said, "Then let's do it. You set fire to the army as a command, and I will take the soldiers outside to respond."
So the two further determined the time and started the incident at 2 o'clock in the night.
But what I didn't expect was that the matter was not thorough, and someone got the news in advance and leaked the information to Li Cui.
When Li Ji knew this, he was very angry and ordered his men to capture Song Guo first and kill him.
Yang Feng and his soldiers and horses were waiting outside as agreed, but there was still no light. Li urged him to come out with his soldiers and horses, and happened to meet Yang Feng. So the two of them fought in the stockade until the fourth watch. Yang Feng couldn't beat him, so he led him He led his troops and horses towards Xi'an.
Li Ji also suffered a lot of losses in this civil war. From then on, the entire army began to decline. Then Guo Si often led troops and horses to attack, resulting in more and more casualties and fewer and fewer people.
At this time, someone suddenly came to report and said: "The army led by Zhang Ji has come from Shaanxi. He wants to be a mediator and make peace with him. He claims that if Zhang Ji is not bought, he will directly send troops to attack."
Li Ji thought of selling the other party a favor, and first sent someone to Zhang Jijun to promise to prepare for reconciliation. Guo Bang could only make a temporary promise and prepare for reconciliation.
So Zhang Ji asked his son to go to Hongnong.
After Emperor Xian got this letter, he was very happy and sighed: "I have been thinking about the east for a long time. Fortunately, I can return it. I am really lucky!"
So he immediately issued an edict to reward Zhang Ji as a hussar general. Zhang Ji also donated some grain and meat to supply to the officials. This act of providing help in times of need made everyone think that Zhang Ji was a good person and won him some reputation.
In accordance with the stipulations of the agreement, Guo Bang released all the imprisoned ministers. Li Jiu also packed up his car and drove east, sending back hundreds of the original imperial guards and escorting them with iron halberds.
After passing Xinfeng, we arrived at Baling. It was already autumn. Suddenly, a strong wind blew up. Hundreds of soldiers came to the bridge and stopped Zi's carriage. Emperor Xian shouted sharply: "What are you doing?"
Yang Qi, the attendant, quickly walked to the front and shouted to the soldiers on the bridge: "Zi's carriage is passing here. Who dares to stop it? Are you risking your life?"
