Just when Su Qi'an was still trying to find out the specific details from Liu Shengming, Liu Shengming, who had a calm face, turned red and his body was shaking crazily.
Immediately afterwards, smoke rose from his body and he spontaneously ignited.
This kind of spontaneous combustion occurred so quickly that Liu Shengming didn't even have time to call for help. In just a dozen breaths, he was reduced to ashes.
Su Qi'an was shocked when he saw this scene. The moment Liu Shengming turned into charcoal, Tong Zhan in the distance quickly stepped forward, touching the charred corpse with the big knife in his hand.
It was basically certain that this was not a so-called cover-up, but a real corpse. Liu Shengming was burned to death like this.
Even though Su Qi'an was prepared, he never expected that this top strategist would die in this way.
Tong Zhan is worthy of being a veteran, with rich experience. The big knife in his hand is peeling off something on the charred corpse.
A piece of earth that looked like coke was picked up and sniffed by Tong Zhan. Tong Zhan nodded and said to Su Qi'an.
"Sir, this is a special kind of Gu insect in Da Rong. It is very small and can fit into the body with anything. It can be completely invisible to ghosts.
"Normally, there will be no serious problems in the body, but once any taboo is violated, this kind of Gu will burn in the body. It only takes a few tens of breaths to burn a person to charcoal."
Su Qi'an was a little shocked. He didn't expect that such a strange thing would exist in such a backward feudal dynasty.
If this is to reproduce in large numbers and control the life and death of others, it cannot be done in a single thought.
It's not surprising that Su Qi'an has this idea, Tong Zhan quickly explained.
"Although this kind of Gu insect is murderous and invisible, it is difficult to reproduce in large numbers. It can be said to be very rare. Moreover, this kind of Gu insect will not be spread all over the territory of Da Rong at all, but will be controlled by the Royal Court of Da Rong. Even if it is me, In all these years, this is the only time I have witnessed it with my own eyes.”
"Liu Shengming's death under the influence of Gu insects is considered his fate." Tong Zhan sighed.
Su Qian nodded. This talented and strategic Liu Shengming was actually the executioner who had filled the blood of the people of Daliang.
It seems that he has been reused by Ku Shu, but in fact Ku Shu still has no confidence in him.
Otherwise, I wouldn't have quietly poisoned him, just to prevent him from saying something he shouldn't have said.
Even if he has extraordinary talent, he will eventually become a pawn in the hands of others. Liu Shengming might as well die like this, lest Su Qi'an do it himself.
The only pity is that Su Qi'an never knew the identity of the senior spy Liu Shengming mentioned.
It was a bit regretful, but then I thought about it, and it was not a good thing for Su Qi'an to know about it.
If, as Liu Shengming said, that senior spy had become a high-ranking official in Da Liang, let alone Fan Wenzhong, it would be difficult to bring him down.
After all, in the final analysis, this is just Liu Shengming's one-sided statement, and there is no evidence at all.
Even if Liu Shengming is not dead, so what if he is confronted face to face? The result is probably nothing.
Who would trust the words of a great counselor? If it were so easy, most of the high-ranking officials in the Great Liang court would have to step down.
No matter Liu Shengming is dead, only he and Tong Zhan know this secret. Su Qi'an has already told Tong Zhan to keep this matter to himself if he wants to avoid causing trouble to Xie Cang.
At least Su Qi'an and Xie Cang have to be able to protect themselves without fear of any danger, so that this secret can be revealed again.
If they break out now, it will only make them die faster.
After casually disposing of Liu Shengming's charred body, Tong Zhan and Su Qi'an returned directly to the battlefield in the rear.
Liu Shengming is dead, but the war at the rear is not over yet.
Da Rong's 30,000 troops were indeed powerful, even if they were divided and surrounded by the new army.
The new army was still unable to defeat the opponent. The battle lasted for more than an hour and came to an end as five thousand Daiei soldiers fled.
In this battle, the 30,000 Da Rong troops suffered heavy casualties. Only more than 5,000 soldiers survived, and most of the remaining Rong soldiers were killed in the melee.
As for the New Army, the casualties were also considerable. After a big battle, only 5,000 of the 15,000 New Army soldiers remained.
This battle was a tragic victory, and this was only achieved through a sneak attack by Su Qi'an's vanguard and the bravery of the new army.
If Su Qi'an hadn't awakened the bloody spirit in the new army, I'm afraid this battle would not have been a division and encirclement, but their entire army would have been annihilated.
Compared with the Daiei army, the gap between the new army and the new army is still huge, but this battle must be fought.
Only by defeating the 30,000 searching troops can the front and rear be shaken.
Su Qi'an's move was a real blow to the bottom of the cauldron. He could predict that after tonight, this battle would cause a big earthquake in the hearts of all the soldiers on the front line and in the rear.
…
The next day, the first ray of sunshine rose in the sky, and news about the battle in the rear spread like the wind toward the front and rear.
The main camp of the Daiei Army on the front line.
Kushu was sitting in the tent, with veins popping out on his forehead. His hands were clenched. In his right hand was a military report.
There was an unconcealed anger that even the guards outside the tent could clearly sense.
Finally, with a roar from Ku Shu, the square table in front of him was shattered into pieces.
"Damn it! Damn it! This Liu Shengming really wants to be cut into pieces with a thousand cuts. An army of 30,000 people was crippled by more than 10,000 slaves like this!"
"Liu Shengming made me miss a big deal!"
Ku Shu roared angrily. He wished he could chop Liu Shengming alive. Even if he knew Liu Shengming was dead, death would not be enough to calm Ku Shu's anger.
Kushu could not have imagined that his 30,000-strong army, in the hands of Liu Shengming, not only failed to annihilate Su Qi'an, but even allowed Su Qi'an to strengthen and conquer a border acropolis.
Finally, there was a counterattack, and with more than 10,000 slaves, the 30,000-strong army was defeated.
In normal times, when Ku Shu received the news, he would immediately lead his army back to annihilate Su Qi'an.
But at this juncture, it is difficult for him to make any move, because the 70,000 to 80,000 troops in his hands have been held back by the border troops led by Fan Wenzhong and Xie Cang.
Less than a day after Zhenjun City was breached, Fan Wenzhong immediately changed his strategy, completely giving up the passive defense of the Nine Cities, and mobilized all available troops to fight Kushu's army to the death.
Fan Wenzhong's strategy has both good and bad qualities. The bad thing is that because he completely gave up focusing on defending military cities, the defense of the nine military cities was basically in vain.
In two or three days, Kushu's cavalry easily captured three military cities.
The good side was reflected at this time. The nine-city border troops gave up their huddled defenses and gathered under the command of Fan Wenzhong.
The total army of 150,000 people was twice as many as Kuk Shu's in number. Not to mention eating Kuk Shu's army, but it was more than enough to hold Kuk Shu back.
This is Fan Wenzhong's operational intention. Since the town of Zhenjun has been lost, carrying out such a huddled defense is just a waste of troops.
It would be better to gather the army together and face off against Ku Shu.
This kind of hard fight will cause heavy casualties, but right now they can't care about that much. The Daliang frontier army suffered heavy casualties, but the Dairong army is also not optimistic.
The two sides are fighting a war of attrition. What matters is who can hold out until reinforcements from the rear can reach the battlefield, and whoever has the ability to change the entire war.
At this critical moment, Liu Shengming made this move for Cook Shu. Before the reinforcements arrived, something like this happened in his rear. How could he not make Cook Shu angry?
At this point, getting angry couldn't solve the problem. After struggling for a long time, Cook gradually calmed down.
He turned his eyes and looked at the military map behind him, thinking about countermeasures.
Just when Ku Shu made up his mind, he temporarily gave up the annihilation of Su Qi'an in the rear and focused on breaking into Ningzhou with all his strength.
Only in this way, Ningzhou is captured and the three states are connected together, so that the follow-up reinforcements can march in without any worries.
As for the troublemaker Su Qi'an, when they reach Kyoto, this Su Qi'an will have to return the favor obediently.
But before the military order was sent out, a guard rushed in.
The guard said directly without any unnecessary nonsense.
"Your Highness, the Second Prince, we have just received news that slave riots occurred in several border acropolis near Taning City. The local city lord tried his best to suppress it, but Su Qi'an led an army to raid and captured five border acropolis."
"And depending on the situation, other border guard cities are also restless. If it doesn't happen, Su Qian's army will probably..."
At this point, the guard did not continue speaking, but remained silent.
How could Kushu not know what he meant? If he left things alone, Su Qi'an would cause more and more things in Qingzhou, and maybe the things that happened to General Yue a hundred years ago would happen again.
This is absolutely impossible.
But Kushu is still hesitant to this day. He returned to support and quelled the rebellion in the rear, but it was a pity to give up the great opportunity on the front.
But if he didn't leave, he would just sit back and watch Su Qi'an grow stronger and lose Qingzhou, then he would die without mercy.
Just when Kushu was in a dilemma, a soldier rushed in outside the big tent.
He did not salute Kushu. It seemed that he was not a subordinate of Kushu and seemed to have traveled a long distance.
The soldier glanced at Cookshu and took out a scroll from the box on his back.
The scroll opened and the soldier's voice sounded.
"I know that my son is tired from fighting for days, but Qingzhou's strategic significance is of great importance. I now order the second prince Kushu to lead his army to immediately return to support Qingzhou to ensure that no mistakes are made in Qingzhou, and anyone who disobeys the order will be killed!"
"Second Prince, please accept the order," the soldier said.
Kushu's eyes flashed and his face was uncertain. He knew that his father, who was seriously ill, was giving him an order, and his good brother must be whispering in his ears.
Although Kushu was very reluctant, he did not go to the extent of disobeying the order. If he disobeyed his father's order at this time, I am afraid he would be far away from the throne.
Kushu could only secretly curse the incompetence of the frontier troops in the rear. After a moment of silence, he took the order and ordered the army to withdraw reinforcements.
Now it seems that the only way is to wipe out Su Qian in the rear and stabilize the rear. As for Ningzhou, we can only think about it in the long term.
