The road from Chang'an to Huaixi is long. There are many high mountains and ridges along the way. Thieves often appear there, making the journey uneasy. In order to ensure safety, Li Zhiyun brought a regiment of the New Army to accompany him. There were two carriages in the team, and one carriage was riding Aunt Ying. This girl was tired of staying in the Prince of Chu's Mansion, and kept clamoring to go on an expedition with Li Zhiyun. Li Zhiyun's mission this time was easy, almost equivalent to a sightseeing tour, so he took her with him. Riding in another carriage was Duan Que, a regular servant of Sanqi, whose title was deputy envoy. He and Li Zhiyun went to Jutan to express condolences to Zhu Can. Duan is indeed a civil servant who is not good at riding a horse and can only ride in a carriage.
Those in the carriage were sheltered from the harsh sun, but others were not so lucky. The team marched under the scorching sun, and the soldiers were sweating profusely and miserable. Although Li Zhiyun was marching on horseback and did not have to walk, the thin boy's shirt was soaked with sweat.
At this time, Scarface drove his horse up from behind, and rode side by side with Li Zhiyun, saying: "Your Majesty, it's too hot, and my brothers are tired. There is a village ahead, do you want everyone to rest before leaving? ?" Li Zhiyun took off the telescope hanging on his chest, looked at it, and said, "Yes, but you are not allowed to enter the village. There is a forest to the east of the village, so let the brothers rest in the forest for an hour."
"yes!"
The team disbanded when they reached the woods, and the soldiers walked into the woods one after another. The forest is large enough to accommodate thousands of people. Most of the trees in the forest are fir and poplar trees with straight trunks and tall crowns. When people sit under the trees, they only feel the cool breeze, not to mention how comfortable they are.
The extremely tired soldier found a place, took off his backpack and used it as a pillow, fell to the ground and fell asleep, and soon started snoring. Some extremely thirsty soldiers walked out of the woods and came to a small river a mile away. They took out the gourds they carried and filled them with the clear river water. Bring the water back to the woods, walk to your best friend, push him awake, and let him drink the water. The companion did not open his eyes, took the gourd, drank until full, returned the gourd and fell asleep again.
While the New Army soldiers were resting in the woods next to this unknown village, something big happened in Jinyang City a hundred miles away. At this moment, the huge Jinyang City was in chaos. Thousands of Turkic soldiers wearing armor and with wild goose feathers on their helmets were walking rampantly in the streets and alleys with weapons in hand. They broke into people's homes, robbed any property they saw, and arrested young women whenever they saw them. The Turkic soldiers were barbaric, cruel and lawless. When they encountered ordinary people who dared to resist, they would either stab them to death with spears or shoot them with arrows and crossbows. Sometimes they would not even spare their children. A family that was originally in good health had its wife snatched away, her husband and children slaughtered, and the whole family was destroyed in an instant. The situation was horrific.
In this way, the originally peaceful and peaceful Jinyang City suddenly became a hell on earth, with chickens flying, dogs barking, and cries shaking the sky.
Bingzhou Governor's Mansion, the mansion where Li Yuanji originally lived, now has a different owner. After the Battle of Hedong, Li Shimin appointed Li Zhongwen as the General Manager of Bingzhou, so the current owner of the General Manager's Mansion is Li Zhongwen.
Li Zhongwen was sitting at a table in the hall, carefully reading the official documents of the court, when Sima Liu Dewei hurried in. When Li Yuanji fled Jinyang, he deceived Liu Dewei and asked him to lead the old and weak soldiers to defend the city. Thanks to Li Zhiyun sending someone to deliver a message to him, he was able to evacuate in time and did not become a prisoner of Song Jingang. Although Liu Dewei committed the crime of abandoning the city without fighting, there was a reason for the incident, and Li Yuan did not convict him. After Jinyang was recovered, he still reinstated his official position.
As soon as Liu Dewei entered the house, he shouted loudly: "Commander, what's wrong, the Turks are robbing property and women everywhere, making Jinyang City a mess!"
"What?" When Li Zhongwen heard this, he felt as if he had been stung by a scorpion, and his buttocks jumped up as if pressed on a spring. "Quick, let's go out and take a look!"
The two people walked out of the hall, and several generals were standing in the courtyard talking, apparently also talking about what happened outside. They saw Li Zhongwen and Liu Dewei walking towards the door and followed them. The group of people left the General Manager's Mansion and came to a street in front. The Turks did not take the Han people seriously at all. Even in front of the Bingzhou Governor's Office, they still acted arrogantly without any scruples.
Li Zhongwen saw two Turkic soldiers dragging a woman in front of him. The woman suddenly broke free from the soldiers' hands, turned around and ran away. The Turkic soldiers did not pursue her. One of the soldiers took off the bow and arrow on his back, set it up and released the arrow. The arrow flew past with a "whoosh" and hit the woman in the back of the heart. The woman fell to the ground, spitting blood, struggled for a few times and then stopped moving.
Li Zhongwen's eyes turned red, and he quickly rushed to the Turkic soldier, slapped him with his hand. The soldier was beaten until he was dizzy. After he stood still, he became angry and threw away the bow in his hand. He pulled out his scimitar and was about to chop Li Zhongwen. Liu Dewei rushed forward like lightning and kicked him to the ground. When the Turkic soldiers nearby saw him, they all drew out their scimitars and rushed forward. Several generals following Li Zhongwen also drew their swords and rushed forward to confront the Turkic soldiers. The two sides were at war with each other, and the conflict was imminent.
Li Zhongwen calmed down and quickly ordered his generals: "Back off, everyone back off!" Seeing that the other party was retreating, the Turkic soldiers put away their scimitars, turned and walked away.
The group returned to the courtyard of the General Manager's Mansion and Liu Dewei said: "Commander, the Turks only have 5,000 soldiers and horses. We have 10,000 troops in the city. Once a war breaks out, we are sure to destroy them!" Li Zhongwen shook his head and said: "No. , The emperor has already issued an edict. No matter what the Turks do, they cannot conflict with them." A deputy general nearby couldn't help complaining: "Why did the emperor issue such an edict? Isn't this someone riding on the neck to shit? ?!”
"You bastard!" Li Zhongwen glared, "How dare you even question the emperor's will? Do you want to rebel?"
Seeing that the other party lowered his head and became silent, Li Zhongwen lowered his tone and said, "Your Majesty is also considering the overall situation. The Central Plains is in civil strife, the national power is weakening, our Tang Dynasty has an unstable foundation, and is unable to fight against the Turks. What else can we do besides being patient?"
Liu Dewei was silent for a moment and said, "Then we can't let the Turks continue to act like this. We have to find a way, right?" Li Zhongwen thought for a while and said, "Let's do this. I'll negotiate with Zhilifu." Zhilifu is. The younger brother of Turkic Shibi Khan, he was the one who brought this Turkic army.
Liu Dewei frowned and said: "Lifu is unreasonable and unreasonable. He set up troops to rob. Is it useful for you to negotiate with him now?" Li Zhongwen sighed and said: "What can I do? Let's treat the dead horse as a living horse doctor."
Two days later, Li Zhiyun led the new army to Jinyang City. As soon as they entered the city, they encountered a funeral procession. Some in the procession were holding soul-calling flags, some were wearing sackcloth and mourning, and some were crying. Paper money thrown into the air was scattered all over the street. They didn't go far when they met another funeral procession carrying a coffin. Just as they reached the intersection, another procession came from the south.
How is this going? Li Zhiyun felt baffled. Less than a mile into the city, they encountered several funeral processions. Could it be that today was an evil day for the underworld? Otherwise, why would people hold funerals together? Scarface, who was walking beside him, also had a puzzled look on his face, and muttered: "What's wrong with the people in Jinyang City? They even have to choose a date to go to see the Lord of Hell, and come together to join in the fun?"
Zhang Zheng, who was riding a horse on the other side, said: "Your Majesty, something seems to have happened in the city. Look over there, the houses are all burned down." Li Zhiyun looked in the direction of his finger, and sure enough he saw many houses on the roadside that had been burned down. It burned down, leaving only a large charred ruin. Li Zhiyun was full of questions, what happened to Jinyang City? Was it a military disaster? No, Jinyang is in the rear area now. There are no enemy troops within hundreds of miles. How could it be invaded by enemy troops?
Li Zhiyun was puzzled and said to several of his subordinates: "Wang Baoqiang, take the new army to the military camp. Zhang Zheng, Cai Hu, follow me to the general manager's office." When they reached the fork in the road ahead, Li Zhiyun took two subordinate officers with him. He left the brigade and drove straight to the Bingzhou Governor's Office.
They came to the gate of the Governor's Mansion, dismounted, tied the reins to the horse-tying stone, and walked in. As soon as the three of them entered the courtyard, they met Liu Dewei. When Liu Dewei saw Li Zhiyun, he was extremely surprised. He quickly stepped forward and clasped his fists and said, "His Royal Highness, King Chu, why are you here?"
"Oh, I passed by here on an errand in Huaixi. Is Mr. Li here?"
"Yes, yes, please, Your Majesty." Liu Dewei said and invited him into the hall.
Li Zhongwen, who was in the room, had already heard their voices, and quickly stood up and walked to the door, clasping his fists and saluting. After Li Zhiyun returned the gift, the two parties sat down separately. Li Zhiyun didn't wait for the servants to serve him the tea, and he couldn't wait to say: "Manager Li, when we entered the city just now, within a mile, we met several funeral processions and saw many burned-down houses. Did something happen here?" Li Zhongwen said with a bitter face: "Your Majesty, Jinyang City suffered a disaster. The younger brother of the Turkic Shibi Khan Qilifu led 5,000 troops to Jin in the name of supporting the Tang Dynasty. Yang, they burned, killed, looted, and committed all kinds of evil. They killed hundreds of people, burned thousands of houses, and robbed three to four thousand women."
"What?" Li Zhiyun suddenly stood up when he heard this, his eyes widened, "When did this happen?"
Li Zhongwen also stood up and said: "Just two days ago." Liu Dewei on the side added: "Today happens to be the day of the funeral of the deceased, so the prince met several funeral teams within a mile of walking. This Not surprising at all.”
"Five thousand people?" Li Zhiyun thought for a while, "As far as I know, our Tang army in Jinyang City seems to have more than this number, right?"
"What the prince said is true," Liu Dewei said, "We have ten thousand soldiers and horses in Jinyang City."
