Looking at Zhu Feng'er's back riding away, Li Zhiyun felt very sad. He sighed and said, "What a good girl! She should have had a wonderful life, but it's a pity that she has a father like Zhu Can..." Zhang Zheng, who was standing aside, also sighed and said : "Yes, the only ones who will accompany her from now on are the green lanterns, yellow scrolls and wooden fish bells."
Li Zhiyun led the new army to leave Champion City and officially embarked on the road back to Chang'an. The team traveled across mountains and rivers, sleeping in the open air, for six or seven days.
On this day, the team was marching on a mountain road with undulating mountains on both sides of the road, lush forests, singing birds and fragrant flowers, and beautiful scenery. Li Zhiyun was riding on his horse, admiring the picturesque scenery, when he suddenly heard shouts of killing and the sound of swords clashing in the valley ahead. He quickly led Zhang Zheng and Cai Hu forward, and happened to meet Scarface coming towards them on horseback.
"what happened?"
"Back to my lord, there are two groups of people fighting in the valley ahead!"
When Li Zhiyun heard this, he hurried to the front of the team and saw a wide valley in front of him. The official road went down to the bottom of the valley along a gentle slope. At this moment, the shouts of killing were loud and a fierce battle was going on in the valley.
Li Zhiyun took out his telescope and observed it for a while, and found that the contrast between the two warring parties was huge. First, there was a huge difference in the number of people. The attacking side had one or two thousand people. They surrounded the opponent with three layers inside and three layers outside. There were only one or two hundred people on the surrounded side. Although they were small in number, they desperately protected a double-coupled four-wheeled carriage. Second, there is a clear distinction between strong and weak in terms of combat power. The surrounding side is a regular army. The soldiers are wearing armor and have a full range of long and short weapons in their hands. The surrounded party seemed to be the guardian of a wealthy family. They were not wearing armor, and they only had swords and other short weapons in their hands. Although they were very tenacious, they were too few in number and too weak in combat power. Some people were stabbed or hacked constantly. fall. As the opponent's encirclement shrinks smaller and smaller, their defense line may collapse at any time, and the situation is extremely critical!
Li Zhiyun put down the telescope and turned to ask Scarface beside him: "Who are the two sides fighting?" Scarface shook his head blankly and said, "I don't know!" Li Zhiyun frowned and thought for a moment, then said: " No matter who the two sides are, save the carriage first! Wang Baoqiang, send a battalion down immediately to drive that army away!"
"yes!"
Following the order, the New Army soldiers rushed down the official road. When the other party saw that reinforcements were coming, they quickly adjusted their deployment and sent part of their troops to stop them. The New Army soldiers who rushed in front raised their muskets and fired. After a dense rain of bullets, a large area of the opponent was knocked down. That army was very tenacious, and the soldiers continued to charge forward regardless of casualties. The New Army soldiers threw grenades, which exploded and made the other side's soldiers howl like ghosts. There were explosions and smoke in the valley, and enemy soldiers fled in all directions. The other party saw that he couldn't beat him, so he had to withdraw.
Li Zhiyun led the horse down the hillside and came to the carriage. The people on the carriage had already gotten off, except for a man and a woman. The man is an old man in his fifties, dressed in exquisite and gorgeous clothes, but he is thin, has a haggard face, and has a gray beard. The woman is about thirty years old, with black hair and a beautiful face. She is probably the successor of the old man. She had already turned pale with fear and stood there trembling.
The old man had just seen clearly what was happening outside through the car window. He saw Li Zhiyun approaching surrounded by a group of people. He estimated that he was the leader. He quickly stepped forward and knelt down with a plop, kowtowing and said, "Thank you, little old man, for saving your life!"
Li Zhiyun quickly pulled the other person up and said: "Old man, don't be so polite! Please get up and talk!" The old man stood up, cupped his hands and said: "Dare you ask me the name of my benefactor?" Zhang Zheng next to him introduced: "He He is the King of Chu of the Tang Dynasty."
"It turns out to be His Royal Highness the King of Chu. Disrespect! Disrespect!" The old man said and bowed respectfully.
After returning the courtesy, Li Zhiyun said: "Old man, what is your name? Why are those people besieging you?" The old man sighed and said: "Since His Highness the King of Chu is my savior, I will not hide anything from you. What's wrong? The little old man's name is Zhang Shouyi, a native of Hejian, and he once served as an official in the imperial court. When the little old man was the magistrate of Wendeng County, he once captured a bandit named Wang Kai. The little old man interrogated him strictly and let him He confessed his accomplices, but Wang Kai was as hard as a rock and refused to speak. It was also the young man who was eager to perform his merits and ordered the officers to torture him. Unexpectedly, Wang Kai died from the torture. A few years later, Wang Kai's son Wang Fanzi inherited His father also became a bandit. In the past few years, the world was in chaos. Wang Fan recruited troops and became a powerful man, with thousands of men under his command. He also joined Wang Shichong and was made a general. Then Wang Fan went around to fight against him. Someone threatened to chop off the little old man's head to avenge his father. Just half a month ago, he really led his army to attack Hejian County. When the little old man saw that he couldn't stay in his hometown, he had to pack up his belongings and take them with him. The servants were preparing to take refuge with my son. Unexpectedly, the news leaked out, and Wang Fan led his troops to pursue him, but he was chased by them here. If it hadn't been for Prince Meng's rescue, the little old man might have died today!"
After listening, Li Zhiyun nodded and said, "Excuse me, old man, where is your master now?"
"My son Zhang Changxun is the Tongshou of Wuyuan County."
Wuyuan County? Li Zhiyun turned around and looked around, and found that apart from those killed and wounded in the Zhang family's nursing home, there were only twenty or thirty people left who could stand and walk. He turned his attention to the old man again and said: "Old man, Wuyuan County is very far away from here. Although Wang Fan was repelled, he will not give up and will keep peeping from a distance. Once we break up, he will definitely catch up and continue chasing. I'll kill you." The old man nodded and said, "What the prince said makes sense, and this is exactly what worries me."
Li Zhiyun thought for a while and said: "Old man, how about this? You come with me to Chang'an and stay in Chang'an for a while. After I get the exact news about your son, I will send someone to escort you to Wuyuan County." When the old man heard this, He immediately smiled brightly and said that was very good. Then, he knelt down and kowtowed to Li Zhiyun again, but was stopped by Li Zhiyun.
Li Zhiyun ordered the soldiers of the New Army to bury those who died in the war on the spot. The injured were bandaged and treated by military doctors. Those who could walk were sent to help the marchers, and those who could not walk were carried by mules and horses. After all arrangements were in place, the army embarked on its return journey.
After more than half a month of arduous trek, the team finally returned to Chang'an City. After entering the city, the new army returned to the military camp, and Li Zhiyun took Zhang Shouyi and others back to the Chu Palace.
After Li Zhiyun saw Wei Xiaobao, he asked him to send people to free up Xikuoyuan and settle down Zhang Shouyi and his wife and the servants of the Zhang family.
After Li Zhiyun washed himself, he immediately went to the palace to visit his grandmother. Grandma was very happy to see him back. The mother and son talked for a while, and Grandma urged: "When you come back from an errand, you should report to your father. Don't delay here. Go and see your father quickly." .”
Li Zhiyun had no choice but to leave the harem and come to the inner hall. After the eunuch went in to report, he came back to announce his entry. Li Zhiyun walked into the palace and saw his father sitting on a soft couch. He hurriedly walked a few steps forward, knelt down and kowtowed: "My son, see you, father!"
However, his father didn't say anything for a while. Li Zhiyun raised his head slightly and took a peek, and found that his father had no expression on his face. It was unclear whether he was happy or angry. After a while, I heard my father say: "Get up."
Li Zhiyun stood up, cupped his hands and said, "Abba, you sent your son to go to Jutan to comfort Zhu Can. However, due to Duan Que's drinking, Zhu Can rebelled, and his mission failed. But he captured the Champion City. , and contacted Yang Shilin, Tian Zan and others, and defeated Zhu Can's 200,000 troops. Now, all thirteen states in Huaixi are included in the territory of the Tang Dynasty."
Although what Li Zhiyun said was true, it was inevitably showing off. He wiped out 5,000 Turkic troops, and he was inevitably uneasy. Therefore, he hoped that by boasting about his achievements, he could offset his merits and demerits, so as to calm the anger in Abba's heart.
In fact, Li Zhiyun thought too much. It was also his good luck. After the battle on the Mayi Ancient Road, Tilifu led a dozen people to escape back to the Turks. He originally wanted to raise an army to take revenge, but unexpectedly, he happened to catch up with Shibi Khan's sudden death. The Turks fell into civil strife because of the competition for the Khan's position. No one paid attention to him at all, and the matter ended. My father didn’t even mention this matter when he met the Turks, so why would he still be interested in mentioning it again?
After listening to Li Zhiyun's words, my father nodded with satisfaction and said, "I have heard about the situation. You did a good job this time. I will reward you heavily when you look back!" When Li Zhiyun heard this, he was overjoyed and quickly knelt down and kowtowed. : "My dear father, thank you for your kindness!"
The next day, Li Zhiyun took time to visit Zhang Shouyi in Xikuoyuan. Zhang Shouyi and his wife lived in a large guest room. Wei Xiaobao was very thoughtful and sent many maids and servants to serve them.
Zhang Shouyi welcomed Li Zhiyun into the house. After the two parties sat down respectively, the maid served tea. Li Zhiyun picked up the tea cup and took a sip. After putting down the tea cup, he looked at Zhang Shouyi and said, "Old man, are you still used to living here?" Zhang Shouyi nodded repeatedly and said, "Get used to it, get used to it."
"If you need anything, just come to me."
"Thank you, Your Majesty."
After a pause, Li Zhiyun said again: "Old man, I would like to ask, are you sure that Mr. Ling is still in Wuyuan County now?" Zhang Shouyi raised his head and recalled, "He took office in the ninth year of Daye. I still exchange letters with my family. However, there have been frequent wars in recent years and there is no news at all. I don’t know his current situation.”
Li Zhiyun pondered for a moment and said: "Old man, do you think this is a good idea? You can stay here peacefully while I send someone to inquire about the news. Once I have the exact information about Mr. Ling, I will send someone to send you there. How about that?" "When Zhang Shouyi heard this, he nodded quickly and said, "That's very good, then I'll do it for you, Prince Lao."
"You are Welcome."
