Chapter 387: Zhangye’s shock

In mid-September, the first cold wave of winter swept across the Hexi Corridor, the earth was bleak, and heavy snow fell in the high cold, making it more difficult for merchants to walk.

That morning, a team of cavalry crossed the Yanzhi Mountain Canyon and came to Qilian City. An old general rode his horse up the high slope and looked at Qilian City in the distance. He saw a group of war horses galloping past Qilian City, and couldn't help laughing: "I, Guo Ziyi, would come to Hexi to release the horses."

Hearing his humorous speech, several followers behind him laughed. Cheng Qianli, deputy envoy of Shuofang Jiedu, who followed Guo Ziyi, smiled and said, "The old general goes to Anxi when he has time. The grasslands are vast, which is a good place to release horses!"

Cheng Qianli had a lot of fate. He could not stay in Anxi and was forced to return to Beijing to work idle. Later, he was recommended by Li Yu and was appointed as the deputy envoy of Hedong Jiedu. However, King Rong, Li Wan, who was the governor of Hedong at the time, did not like him and put him in a subverted manner, so he made his deputy envoy of the Jiedu. Then An Lushan occupied Hedong, but he wanted to win him over. However, Cheng Qianli was unwilling to serve An Lushan, so he abandoned his official position and fled back to Chang'an. His move was appreciated by the new emperor Li Yu, and he was appointed as the deputy envoy of Shuofang Jiedu. This time Guo Ziyi was ordered to come to Hexi to carry out a special mission. Li Yu specially instructed Guo Ziyi to take him with him.

When Guo Ziyi heard Cheng Qianli talk about Anxi, he couldn't help but sigh: "I am old, and I'm afraid I will never have the chance to go to Anxi again in this life."

"I don't think so."

Cheng Qianli looked at both sides and lowered his voice: "If the old general can successfully recapture the Hexi army this time, I think the emperor will send the old general to lead the army into Anxi sooner or later."

"Don't talk nonsense!"

Guo Ziyi glanced at him with some dissatisfaction and said, "The Lord did not have this intention, and we have no reason to attack Anxi."

"But....."

Before he could say anything, Guo Ziyi waved his hand to stop him, "General Cheng, there is one thing I hope you can understand that Li Qing'an's Anxi Army is the western wall of the Tang Dynasty. I don't want this wall to fall off unless it is absolutely necessary."

After saying that, he urged his horse and quickly headed towards Qiliancheng. Cheng Qianli looked at his back and couldn't help but sigh secretly, saying to himself: "Elder General, there are some things that you and I can't decide."

The night covers Zhangye City, and the cold moonlight shines out from the thin clouds, scattering a faint light on the earth, making Zhangye City look particularly cold and desolate.

At this time, a sound of horse hooves came from a distance, and a team of cavalry appeared on the official road in the distance, quickly approaching the city gate, and a leading officer waved and shouted: "I am General Luo Zhengyi, and I have urgent military information to see General Meng Yun."

The defenders on the city were Meng Yun's troops. When they saw that the person coming in the night was Luo Zhengyi, they immediately opened the city gate and a team of cavalry rushed into Zhangye City.

The lights were still on in the Hexi camp general yamen, and Li Fei Shouyu couldn't sleep all night. He knew that Guo Ziyi was going to Hexi to serve as a stable envoy, and he also obtained more complicated information than Saiye. Geshuhan's army had withdrawn from Liangzhou. Now the army stationed in Liangzhou is 20,000 Shuofang Army, and 10,000 Longyou Army appeared in Dadoubagu, which shows that the Shuofang Army and the Longyou Army have joined forces, and the situation has become confusing.

Li Fei Shouyu is now in a dilemma. Anxi has an extremely strict military mobilization system. In addition to the personal soldiers of each general, the army of more than 100 people must be signed and sealed by Anxi commander Li Qing'an. If he transfers the army from Ganzhou without authorization, it will be the most serious crime of the Anxi army. The crime should be taken. Of course, if the situation is critical, Li Fei Shouyu would be willing to bear this crime and protect the army.

But if the army evacuated Hexi, it would mean that Hexi was handed over, and the corridor of Anxi's army entering the Central Plains disappeared, and the consequences would be equally serious. Whether to protect the army or the land now put Li Fei Shouyu in a dilemma.

At this time, a rapid footstep sounded outside the door, and a personal soldier reported outside the door: "General, Shuye urgently wrote!"

Li Fei Shouyu was overjoyed and said anxiously: "Come in!"

The personal soldiers came in and handed a red pigeon letter on it. Li Fei Shouyu opened the letter and was stunned. The content of the letter was very short and the situation was critical. He ordered him to withdraw his troops immediately and return to Anxi. Below the letter was the seal of Shuye Zhengshi Hall, as well as the signatures of Wang Changling, Duan Xiushi and Yan Zhuang, but at the bottom there was the signatures of Princess Zhao Dugu Mingyue.

Li Fei Shouyu slowly put down the pigeon letter. In his memory, this was the first time that the princess signed a public name. To some extent, this was indeed interfering in the military and political affairs of Anxi. However, Li Fei Shouyu knew that the princess never interfered in the internal affairs of Anxi, and she was still pregnant with Liujia. This time, because Li Qing'an was not in Anxi, it only means that the situation was urgent.

Since the princess’s signature was signed, Li Fei Shouyu did not hesitate anymore, and he immediately ordered: "Immediately order Meng Yun to come to see me."

The 40,000 troops stationed in Hexi are the Hedong Army won over by Li Qing'an a few months ago. Due to the short time, Li Qing'an was unable to replace the generals of the Hedong Army for a while and still appointed them as generals. The 40,000 Hedong Army was stationed in Ganzhou, Suzhou and Guazhou respectively. Among them, Meng Yun and Luo Zhengyi's 20,000 troops were stationed in Ganzhou, while Wu Yong's 20,000 troops were stationed in Suzhou and Guazhou respectively.

Among the three generals in Hedong, Wu Yong has the most troops, Meng Yun has the most troops, while Luo Zhengyi's army has the least and the weakest.

Currently, the 10,000 defenders in Zhangye are Meng Yun's subordinates. Meng Yun is the oldest among the three generals in Hedong. He was about 45 or 6 years old. He has been in the army in Hedong for more than 20 years. He has gradually become a military envoy of the Datong Army. He is appointed as the general of Yun's commander and the prestige in the Hedong Army. He is now appointed as the deputy general of the Hexi camp and the governor of Ganzhou. He has 15,000 troops under his command, all of whom are loyal to him.

At this moment, Meng Yun was meeting Luo Zhengyi who had just arrived from Qilian City. Luo Zhengyi was the weakest among the three generals in Hedong. He turned out to be the envoy of the Chengtian Army. He was appointed General Yiwei, several levels lower than Meng Yun. He had only 5,000 tribes under his command, and most of them were old, weak and disabled soldiers. Therefore, Luo Zhengyi had the lowest status among the three. After coming to Hexi, he was appointed as the envoy of the Qilian Army and the deputy governor of Ganzhou, and stationed in Qilian City.

Although Luo Zhengyi had the lowest position among the three, he was the first person Li Yu to win over. His uncle Luo Bingzhen was the left chief of the Shangshu in the court. Li Yu gave him the secret order to recruit the three generals through his uncle. Today, Luo Zhengyi came from Qilian City to find Meng Yun for this reason.

"Brother, this is the master's handwritten decree given to us, a chance!"

Luo Zhengyi lowered his voice. He did not dare to disturb Meng Yun's contemplation. Meng Yun stared at the secret decree on the table, clearly with his name on it. If Meng Yun is loyal to me, he will be granted the title of General of Jinwu Guard and Duke of Pingyi County.

Pingyi County, Hedong is Meng Yun's hometown. The title of his hometown made Meng Yun excited, but Meng Yun also knew that loyalty to the emperor meant betraying Li Qing'an. He had made a poisonous oath at the beginning and would be loyal to Li Qing'an. If he betrayed Li Qing'an, what was the oath?

He pondered for a long time and asked in a deep voice: "Where is General Guo now?"

"Gen. Guo is in Qilian City, and Cheng Qianli is here too."

Luo Zhengyi knew Meng Yun very well. He knew that Meng Yun was in the middle of hesitation, so he took out a letter and handed it to him, "This is a handwritten letter from General Guo to the general."

Meng Yun opened the letter and wrote only half a page, which was very simple. Betrayal of Li Qing'an is just a small matter, and loyalty to the emperor is the righteousness, integrity, and a loss of fate. He advised Meng Yun to seize this opportunity and not be obsessed with it anymore.

"Great righteousness, integrity!"

These four words were like a hammer, and they hit Meng Yun hard in his heart, making him feel a sudden enlightenment. The righteousness and integrity were enough to offset his worries about the poisonous oath. His eyes returned to the secret order. At this moment, the enthronement of the General and the Duke of Pingyi County was so tempting.

"Dry!"

He punched the palm and stood up suddenly and said, "I have decided to be loyal to the Lord."

Luo Zhengyi was overjoyed and hurriedly said, "What about Wu Yong?"

"Wu Yong is not your business. Cheng Qianli was his boss. Since Cheng Qianli has also come, that's his business."

Meng Yun looked at the hour, and it was already an hour before he said, "You should hurry back to Qilian City immediately and tell General Guo that he would give me three days to gather the troops from all over the country and then hand over the military power to him."

As soon as he finished speaking, a report from a personal guard suddenly came from outside the door, "General, General Lifei, please go to his place as soon as possible and say there is something big about it."

"Not good!" Luo Zhengyi said in surprise: "This must be Li Fei Shouyu knows that I'm back, and he's going to attack the general."

"There is this possibility, there is no enemy situation, but I came to call me in the middle of the night. It's weird!"

Meng Yun pondered for a moment and said, "Go to reply to General Lifei, just say I am sick and I will see him tomorrow morning."

"Yes!" The guard turned around and reported.

Luo Zhengyi said anxiously: "Brother, what should I do now?"

"Don't worry, most of the soldiers in Zhangye City are my subordinates. Now it should be Li Fei Shouyu's concern."

After saying that, Meng Yun walked out the door and shouted: "Tell me my order, all officers above the lieutenant will come to see me immediately."

At this time, Li Fei Shouyu received Meng Yun's reply, and he immediately realized something was wrong. Seeing that he was still fine in the afternoon, how could he feel bad? Besides, he was his boss and his boss had orders, so how dare he not come? Needless to say, Meng Yun already had a strange intention.

At this moment, the personal soldiers came to me with a young officer. This was a lieutenant under Meng Yun, surnamed Wei. His parents and brothers had moved to Anxi the year before yesterday. They were hard-core supporters of Anxi. The officer stepped forward and bowed: "Report to General Lifei, General Meng summoned hundreds of officers to a meeting and said that the emperor had an order, and General Luo Zhengyi was also here, which may be detrimental to the general."

Li Fei Shouyu was shocked. He had been paying attention to Guo Ziyi, but he did not expect that the emperor had issued a secret order first. Without thinking, he immediately turned over and ordered: "I will order all the troops in the city to gather outside the northern city immediately, and there must be no mistakes!"

He whispered to a personal soldier: "Go to my Huben Camp to send an order and gather immediately outside the south gate."

Li Fei Shouyu's troops followed Li Qing'an's expedition. He himself brought only one thousand troops to Zhangye. If Meng Yun rebelled, his one thousand troops would be very dangerous.

Li Fei Shouyu whipped the war horse hard and ran towards the south gate. At this time, the commotion began in Zhangye City. There were troops gathering everywhere. The sound of soldiers running and wild dogs barking like crazy, awakening the entire Zhangye City. Every household closed its doors, women held their children, and men hid under the window, peeping out from the gap, and the atmosphere of horror filled the entire Zhangye City.

Meng Yunding was wearing a helmet and armor, holding a big knife, and led thousands of people to surround Li Fei Shouyu's camp and yamen. Everyone held a torch in his hands, and the fire illuminated the night sky.

At this time, several soldiers ran out of the yamen, "General Meng, Li Fei Shouyu has escaped, and he ordered the entire army to gather outside the northern city."

"Damn it!" Luo Zhengyi cursed hatefully: "Who has left revealed the news."

"Now is not the time to care about who leaks the news. Li Fei Shouyu must not be allowed to escape."

Meng Yun immediately ordered loudly: "The whole army pursued outside the northern city. If Li Fei Shuyu is captured alive, he will be rewarded with 5,000 guan. If he is owed his head, he will be rewarded with 10,000 guan!"

The army turned around and ran towards the north city. This was natural. Li Fei Shouyu wanted to escape and could only go north. At this moment, a cavalry rushed over and reported loudly: "Report to the general, the traces of Li Fei Shouyu's Hu Ben Camp were found at the south gate."

Meng Yun was stunned. He slapped himself suddenly and shouted loudly: "Change all and chase the south gate!"

The army turned around again and chased after the south gate.

A team of cavalry was galloping on the vast grassland, and the dark world flew past them, and the wind whistled in my ears. Li Fei Shouyu and his Thousand Huben Camp had escaped from Zhangye for 400 miles. Meng Yun's army had long stopped chasing them, but Li Fei Shouyu was still ordering to run wildly and not rest. Each of them was given three horses, constantly changing horses, and running in the starry night. When the morning light first appeared, the first faint golden light appeared in the sky. They finally arrived at the Health Army camp on the border of Ganzhou, which was the base of Wu Yong's troops.

According to Li Fei Shouyu's judgment, Meng Yun's betrayal of Anxi was the result of Luo Zhengyi's arrival. He was very likely to have brought the will of the emperor. Then Meng Yun should be just the first stop of rebellion, and the next stop they should go to Jiuquan to instigate Wu Yong.

If he could arrive in Suzhou in front of them, at least half of it could be saved. Wu Yong's 20,000 troops would never betray Anxi again.

The sky gradually became brighter and the cavalry were resting in a forest of poplar trees. The two nights of running wildly made them exhausted and the war horses could no longer support them.

The Health Army camp was ten miles away, and the shadow of the camp could be vaguely seen from here. The personal soldiers sent by Li Fei Shouyu had been there for nearly an hour, and no news had come. At this moment, his heart was full of worries. Although he knew that those who persuaded Wu Yong to surrender might not be able to catch up with them, he was still heavy in his heart, fearing that Wu Yong would also rebel. If he also rebel, even Shazhou would not be able to save him. The Anxi army would completely lose Hexi, and he could not explain to Li Qing'an, so he could only apologize for death.

"Look at General!" a sentry crawling on the willow tree pointed to the north and shouted.

The soldiers jumped up one after another and looked north, but they could not see anything on the ground. They saw dust rolling in the sky. Li Fei Shouyu jumped onto a willow tree. The dazzling sunlight made him unable to open his eyes. He blocked the light with his hands and saw it all at once.

I saw a cavalry of thousands of people flying towards this side, with yellow dust rolling, less than five miles away from here.

"Get on the horse and prepare for combat!"

Li Fei Shouyu turned over and ran out of the woods with a long spear in his hand. A Thousand Tiger Camp followed him to meet him. The two sides gradually stopped, and the distance was less than a mile away.

At this time, a young general rushed out of the army and laughed: "Why is General Lifei so nervous? Are you worried that I will betray Anxi?"

The visitor was Wu Yong, the governor of Suzhou, one of the three generals in Hedong. He was only twenty-nine years old this year and was very handsome. He was originally the deputy envoy of Taiyuan's military and horses. After the envoy escaped with Li Wan, Li Qing'an appointed him as the 20,000 army under the military and horses of Taiyuan.

Li Fei Shouyu didn't expect that he would be here. From his tone, Guo Ziyi's people had already taken the lead, but it seemed that they did not succeed. Li Fei Shouyu had another glimmer of hope in his heart.

He stepped forward and greeted him, "General Wu, why are you here?"

Wu Yong bowed and said, "I came here last night to meet my old boss Cheng Qianli."

"Did Cheng Qianli bring the will of the Lord?"

"Yes, the emperor wants to grant me the title of General of the Right Wu Guard and to grant me the title of Duke of our county, but I did not agree."

"Why?" Li Fei Shouyu stared at him and said, "Why don't you agree?"

Wu Yong smiled proudly, "A real man promises ten thousand gold. Since I have sworn to be loyal to the general, I should keep my oath. Moreover, since the general uses me, how can I be ungrateful and greedy for fame and fortune?"

Li Fei Shouyu looked at the young general and his clear and firm gaze. Finally, he couldn't help but sigh: "It is the blessing of Anxi to appoint General Wu!"

In the first year of Dali, Li Yu took advantage of the opportunity that Li Qing'an was not in Anxi to launch the Hexi Incident. Meng Yun, one of the three generals in Hedong, Luo Zhengyi, was tempted by Li Yu's high-ranking official and title, betrayed Li Qing'an, but another young general Wu Yong refused the temptation and refused to betray Li Qing'an. The 40,000 Hexi troops were divided into two. Meng Yun and Luo Zhengyi led 20,000 troops to surrender to Guo Ziyi, and the other 20,000 troops retreated to Yumen Pass under the leadership of Li Fei Shouyu and Wu Yong.

Guo Ziyi immediately resigned from the position of Hexi Xianjian Envoy. Li Yu turned to appointed Cheng Qianli as Hexi Xianjian Envoy and the governor of Gan and Su prefectures, and was in charge of the 20,000 Hexi Army who surrendered. Meng Yun and Luo Zhengyi returned to Beijing to serve as officials and participated in the training of new recruits.

At this time, Geshuhan also resigned from the position of governor of Liangzhou. Li Yu once again appointed Cheng Qianli as governor of Liangzhou, and appointed him as the deputy envoy of the Anxi Jiedushi, governor of the troops of Liang, Gan and Su.
Chapter completed!