The next morning, Li Zhiyun took a nap, and when he got up, it was already three o'clock in the morning. After he washed up and had breakfast, he wanted to take a stroll in the market. So, he took Yinggu and two subordinate officers to the street, and Scarface led a dozen soldiers to escort him.
After all, Xihe City is the seat of Zhouye. Although it is not as good as Chang'an, the streets are full of shops, filled with cars and horses, and bustling with activity.
After they walked for a while, they suddenly heard the sound of gongs, drums and cymbals. They turned around and saw that there was a procession coming from behind to send off the bride. Li Zhiyun stood and watched, and saw a percussion band of dozens of people in the front, followed by a large sedan chair carried by eight people. Behind the sedan chair was the queue for the bride. Some of these people were carrying boxes, silks and other dowries, and some were carrying dowries such as boxes and silks. Holding the goose, duck and golden pheasant. The whole procession of sending off the bride consisted of two to three hundred people and stretched for one or two miles.
At this time, there were many people watching the excitement on both sides of the street. Li Zhiyun asked an old man next to him: "Whose family is hosting such a grand wedding?" The old man glanced at him and said, "Young man, are you from out of town? You don't even know this? This is hosted by Xue Qiang's family. happy event."
"Who is Xue Qiang?"
"Xue Qiang is a local powerful man who once served as a county magistrate. His family is extremely rich, with several manors outside the city and dozens of shops in the city."
"Wow! So powerful?"
The escorting procession passed in front of Li Zhiyun. He was such a lively person, so he followed the team forward. After walking for more than a mile, they saw the team entering a very grand mansion. The people seeing off the bride walked into the courtyard, and Li Zhiyun also walked to the gate and looked inside. The courtyard of Xue Qiang's house is very spacious. There are dozens of banquet tables inside, and many guests are sitting around the tables, happily drinking and playing guessing games.
At this time, an old man in his fifties came over. Judging from his dress, he must be a housekeeper. When he saw Li Zhiyun and others peering into the gate, he asked, "Are you guests giving gifts?" Li Zhiyun shook his head and said, "No! We were just passing by to watch the fun!"
"What's there to see? Go away! Don't block other guests!" the butler shouted in surprise.
Li Zhiyun didn't bother to talk to this vulgar and rude guy. However, Scarface got angry when he heard this and glared: "Old guy! See what's the big deal about the excitement? You are so arrogant, believe it or not, I will demolish this house for you!..." The two were arguing. At that moment, a middle-aged man in his forties came out of the door. This man had a ferocious appearance and was not a good person at first glance, but at this moment he was smiling and said with cupped hands: "My dear officials, today is my son's wedding. If you don't mind, how about you come in for a wedding drink?"
Li Zhiyun raised his hands and returned the greeting: "May I ask who your honor is?..."
"I'm Xue Qiang."
"It turns out it's Mr. Xue. I'm disrespectful. I'm disrespectful." Li Zhiyun said, "It's better to choose a different day than to hit it. Since we met by chance today, let's go in and ask for a wedding drink. Zhang Zheng, please give me ten taels of silver." Zhang Zheng heard this and jumped into his arms. He took out a silver ingot and put it into the butler's hand.
Xue Qiang invited Li Zhiyun and others into the courtyard, arranged them at a wine table, then said goodbye and walked into the hall of his home. The housekeeper followed in and said in a low voice: "Master, the origin of these people is unknown. They are officials. Why did you invite them to the house?" Xue Qiang lowered his voice and said: "There will be an uprising tonight. . If you argue with someone at the door, if there is a conflict, won't it ruin my big event? Why don't you invite them into the hospital, drink a few glasses of water and wine, and then send them away..."
While the two were talking, a servant came over and whispered: "Master, it's bad! Two thousand officers and soldiers were suddenly added to the barracks!" When Xue Qiang heard this, he was shocked and stared: "What's going on? ?”
"I've made some inquiries. It seems that a King of Chu has come to the city. He brought those two thousand officers and soldiers!"
“King of Chu?” ? Great! Let's capture him and present him to Marshal Liu!" Xue Qiang thought for a moment, shook his head and said: "No! Didn't you see there was a group of officers and soldiers outside the gate? If we capture him, even this Xihe City will be destroyed. I can’t get out! Besides, Marshal Liu wants Xihe City, not the King of Chu!”
The housekeeper listened, nodded, and asked again: "The number of officers and soldiers in the barracks has increased. What should we do?"
In the courtyard, after Li Zhiyun drank a few glasses of wedding wine, he stood up and left. After he led a group of people around the market, they returned to the inn.
After lunch, Li Zhiyun lay on the couch and took a nap, then got up and sat on the floor to read. Suddenly, there was a "swish" sound, and a dart flew over his head and was nailed to a wooden pillar next to him. Zhang Zheng rushed into the room upon hearing the sound, and Li Zhiyun pointed to the back window. Zhang Zheng immediately jumped out of the window. After a while, he jumped back and shook his head at Li Zhiyun.
Li Zhiyun stood up, walked to the pillar, and saw a piece of paper tied to the dart. He quickly dialed it down and took a closer look, only to see it written on the paper: Tonight, someone wants to rob the weapons warehouse.
Li Zhiyun was stunned for a few seconds, then raised his head and said to Zhang Zheng: "Go to the governor's office quickly!" He led people to the governor's office, found Liu Gan, and handed the note to him. Liu Gan immediately called Huang Qi and handed the note to him.
Huang Qi read the note and asked, "Who delivered this news?" Li Zhiyun shook his head and said, "I don't know, it was shot into my room with a dart." Liu Gan said, "Whoever delivered the news , regardless of whether the news is true or false, we must strengthen our precautions! Huang Sima, you quickly mobilize five hundred soldiers to strengthen the guard of the warehouse, and there must be no omissions!"
"Yes!" Huang Qi cupped his hands and turned around to make arrangements.
In the evening, in Xue Qiang's mansion, Xue Qiang and several cronies were planning in a secret room. The housekeeper suddenly opened the door and barged in, panting: "Master, it's not good! The Tang army suddenly strengthened the guards of the warehouse, and there are soldiers everywhere around the warehouse!"
When Xue Qiang heard this, he was shocked and said, "What's going on? Is the news leaked?" The housekeeper shook his head in confusion and said, "I don't know!"
Xue Qiang is holding a wedding for his son today, so that the servants and villagers of the manor can sneak into the city in the name of seeing off the bride. Together with the nursing home in his house and the shopkeepers and clerks in the shop, he can gather hundreds of people. He planned to use these hundreds of people to rob the weapons in the warehouse, and then some of them would attack the governor's mansion, and some of them would open the city gates to welcome Marshal Liu's army into the city, and then occupy Xihe City.
However, now that the Tang army had strengthened the defense of the warehouse, they were obviously aware of it, and the number of soldiers in the barracks had also increased from 3,000 to 5,000, almost doubling. It seems that the original plan is no longer feasible. Xue Qiang pondered for a while and then decisively said to a close confidant: "Get out of the city quickly and tell Marshal Liu that the situation has changed. The plan will be postponed and we will look for another good opportunity!" The confidant said yes, turned around and hurried away...
The Marshal Liu mentioned by Xue Qiang was Liu Wuzhou, one of the local separatist forces in the late Sui Dynasty. Liu Wuzhou was born into a wealthy family. When he was young, he was brave and good at shooting and liked to make friends with heroes. His brother Liu Shanbo often warned him: "If you make friends without choosing friends, you will eventually destroy our entire family." and scolded and humiliated him. Therefore, Liu Wuzhou left home and went to Luoyang, where he defected to Yang Yichen, the servant of the Sui Dynasty.
Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty made three eastern expeditions to Korea. Liu Wuzhou was recruited to participate in the eastern expedition and was promoted to Jianjie Xiaowei for his military merits. After the Eastern Expedition returned, Liu Wuzhou returned to his hometown in Mayi County and served as the captain of Yingyang Prefecture. In the 13th year of the Sui Dynasty (AD 617), Liu Wuzhou took advantage of the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty and raised an army to kill Wang Rengong, the prefect of Mayi. He opened the granary and weapons depot, recruited more than 10,000 soldiers, and called himself the prefect. At that time, Li Yuan was still staying in Taiyuan, and Liu Wuzhou was causing trouble in the territory under his jurisdiction. Yang Guang blamed him for his inability to suppress the bandits, and planned to send someone to detain him to Jiangdu for punishment. Later, he changed his mind and asked him to serve for his crime. This was also one of the factors that prompted Li Yuan to raise troops in Jinyang.
In order to gain the support of the Turks, Liu Wuzhou sent an envoy to proclaim his vassalship to the Turks. The Turks named him "Dingyang Khan" and gave him a "hard headband". The Sui Dynasty sent troops to attack him, and he asked for Turks' support. The Turks sent cavalry to attack Liu Wu and Zhou from inside and outside, and defeated the Sui army. Liu Wuzhou took the opportunity to attack the city and seize the Fenyang Palace, and presented the beauties in the palace to the Turkic Shibi Khan, who gave him many war horses. As a result, Liu Wuzhou's military strength increased.
Liu Wuzhou claimed to be the general marshal of the world's soldiers and horses. He had occupied several counties such as Mayi, Yanmen, Dingxiang, and Loufan. He had tens of thousands of elite soldiers and became a dominant separatist force and a strong enemy of the Tang Dynasty.
Xihe City is not too far from Liu Wuzhou's territory. Xue Qiang met Liu Wuzhou when he was the magistrate of Shanyang County, and the two had a close relationship. Liu Wuzhou sent someone to contact Xue Qiang and promised that if he helped him capture Xihe City, he would be appointed governor of Haozhou and granted the title of general to protect the country. Although Xue Qiang accumulated a lot of wealth through plunder and robbery, he was not willing to be just a commoner. Wealth can only be found in danger, so he decided to take a gamble. If Liu Wuzhou conquers the world, then he will be the founding hero.
Li Zhiyun originally planned to stay in Xihe City for one day and then continue on his way. However, the woman he met outside the city, the mysterious dart, and the local powerful Xue Qiang all interested him. He felt that there was some kind of paradox and weirdness in Xihe City, and there seemed to be some unsolved mysteries waiting for him to solve.
So, he decided to stay for a few more days. Anyway, the team had been walking for more than ten days. They were exhausted, so let the brothers rest for a few more days! Besides, he also wanted to examine the market situation in Xihe City to see if he could expand his business territory here.
