At dawn the next day, Cai Li was awakened by a knock on the door. The housekeeper reported in the courtyard, "Wang Tongzhi sent someone to invite the master, saying that he has something important to discuss."
Cai Li rushed to the military camp and saw Wang Gui's face full of anger, and his two deputy commanders, Tang Huai and Zhang Xian, also had angry and shocked faces.
There was another person without armor, with disheveled hair and a rather embarrassed appearance. He was the general Cheng Zhi who was heading to Fuzhou with supplies.
"Tongzhi, what happened?" Cai Li walked into the tent and asked.
"Hmph! Zhang Jun was too deceitful. I sent people to deliver grain, pigs and sheep to him with good intentions, but he sent an army to intercept and kill him on the way. A thousand soldiers and coachmen were killed by his army, and only General Cheng escaped.
"
Cai Li was shocked, and as expected, Zhang Jun began to force Wang Gui.
"Can the control be confirmed to be done by Zhang Jun?"
Cheng Zhi said quickly: "I hid in the water and heard it with my own ears. I couldn't find my body and couldn't go to the Xuanfu envoy to restore my life."
"If it is the Xuanfu envoy, it can only be Zhang Jun."
"But what does he want to do?"
Although Wang Gui was angry, he was confused. He didn't understand what Zhang Jun's purpose was?
Cai Li pondered for a moment and said: "I'm afraid they want to frame the Western Army to anger the commander. If I am not mistaken, Zhang Jun will soon send someone over to invite the commander to lead his army south and join hands with him to deal with Jiangling Mansion."
Tang Huaidao, the deputy commander next to him, said: "Xiang Zhuang danced his sword with the intention of Pei Gong. Zhang Jun came with a hundred thousand troops. On the surface, he was to deal with the Western Army, but the humble official suspected that his real purpose was to take the opportunity to annex us."
Cai Li nodded, "General Tang is right. Even if Zhang Jun was brave enough, he wouldn't dare to fight against the Western Army. He led an army of 100,000 to come over. In fact, he was just pretending to destroy Guo, pretending to unite with us, and then he
He wants to annex us, so he wants to create an opportunity. One thousand of our soldiers were killed by the Western Army. Isn't that his best excuse?"
Wang Gui narrowed his eyes and said coldly: "I want to see if he will send an envoy to find me!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the soldiers said at the door of the tent: "To report to the government, envoy Zhang Xuan sent someone to deliver the message!"
Wang Gui was furious, "He is indeed here!"
Cai Li quickly advised: "Control must be restrained. You don't know the news yet. Don't let the messenger see the clues, otherwise we will be very passive."
Wang Gui nodded, suppressed his anger, and said to everyone: "You all retreat, Cai Canjun can stay."
Not long after, the soldier who delivered the message came, knelt down on one knee and saluted, "I am delivering a message to Wang Tongzhi on the order of the Xuanfu Envoy!"
"Where is the letter?"
The messenger soldier took out a letter and presented it to Wang Gui. Wang Gui took the letter and said, "Is there any other message?"
"Xuanfu Envoy said that he expects Wang Tongzhi to send troops as soon as possible?"
Wang Gui pretended to be puzzled and said: "What kind of troops are going to be sent?"
"Wang Tongzhi will know after reading the letter."
Wang Gui immediately ordered his own soldiers to take the messenger down. He then opened the letter and looked at it carefully. As expected, Zhang Jun told him in a sad tone in the letter that his food delivery team was ambushed by the Western Army on the way.
annihilated.
Zhang Jun asked him to immediately lead an army of 20,000 people to the south and join forces to fight against Jiangling Mansion to solve the emperor's problems.
Wang Gui handed Zhang Jun's letter to Cai Li again. Cai Li read the letter and said: "Now the commander-in-chief believes it!"
Wang Gui sighed and said, "I asked him why he only wanted so little grain, so little pigs and sheep. It turned out that this was a poisonous plan that he had already planned. They were linked together to force me to send troops south to join him. How could I be fooled?"
Cai Li smiled bitterly and said: "Zhang Jun's next step has been written in the letter, which is to solve the emperor's problems. If the commander-in-chief refuses to send troops, he will not solve the emperor's problems, and I am afraid he will complain to the court."
"What are you suing me for?"
"It must have been that Tongzong colluded with the Western Army and secretly surrendered to Chen Qing, and then suggested that Tongzong be transferred. He used the wartime situation as an excuse to directly take over the army under Tongzong. The result must be like this."
Wang Gui gritted his teeth and said, "I also want to complain to the court and tell the court the truth."
Cai Li shook his head and smiled bitterly: "If the court believes in Tongzhi, then Zhang Jun is slandering Tongzhi. In fact, it is a competition between Tongzhi and Zhang Jun in the court. Tongzhi thinks that his connections can surpass Zhang Jun? Who will the court and the emperor believe?
"
Wang Gui sat down slumped. Of course he knew that both Qin Hui and Zhu Shengfei would speak for Zhang Jun. Besides, he was once a subordinate of Yue Fei. As long as Zhang Jun casually concocted some "evidence", he would be in trouble.
"What should I do if I join the army?"
Cai Li thought for a while and said: "First of all, the commander must refuse Zhang Jun's request to send troops. I believe that Zhang Jun has the Emperor Shangfang Sword or the Emperor's Gold Medal in his hand. Once the commander sends troops, he will definitely use the emperor's order to blackmail him. The commander has to listen.
The military power will be taken away by him, and he will even kill the commander with an excuse, so we can use the excuse that Dengzhou's Western Army is eyeing Xiangyang and resolutely not send troops."
Wang Gui nodded, "That's it, what next?"
"Then it depends on the attitude of the imperial court! There is no need for the ruler to appeal to the imperial court. The more you appeal, the more dangerous it will be."
Wang Gui became anxious, "Isn't that just letting fate happen?"
Cai Li said calmly: "In a fight with Zhang Jun, Control has no chance of winning. Control is now a fish on the chopping board. Unless Control's fish is dead and the net is broken, he can only let Zhang Jun take care of it. Good luck. He will be transferred to another state to be the governor. Bad luck.
, it is more likely that he will be demoted to Lingnan, because I am afraid that if the emperor believes Zhang Jun’s false accusation, he may suffer the worst outcome.”
Wang Gui also guessed the worst outcome, putting himself to death. I'm afraid this was Zhang Jun's purpose, to kill himself once and for all.
Wang Gui hesitated for a moment and asked: "What do you mean by the fish is dead and the net is broken?"
"Either rebel or go north."
"Surrender to King Yong?"
Cai Li nodded, "There are some things that don't need to be said in a humble position, and the commander should understand them in his heart."
Wang Gui sighed deeply and said: "I didn't want to take this step before. If God must let me take this step, it would be God's will!"
"Yes! Many things are just God's will."
Wang Gui immediately wrote a reply, saying that he was deeply saddened and angry, but he could not send troops. The Western Army had accumulated heavy troops in Dengzhou. If he sent troops himself, the Western Army would inevitably go south from Dengzhou and capture Xiangyang, so he
I can only stay in Xiangyang, please forgive me!"
He handed the letter to Zhang Jun's messenger soldier, rewarded him with ten taels of silver, and asked him to go back and deliver the letter.
Two days later, Zhang Jun received a reply from Wang Gui. As he expected, Wang Gui refused to send troops and was obviously annexed by him.
Although Zhang Jun was helping Chen Qing, he also had selfish motives. Chen Qing wanted Xiangyang, and he also wanted to take the opportunity to annex Wang Gui's 20,000 elite soldiers. They each got what they needed and there was no conflict.
Zhang Jun then called Wang Jingxiu for discussion. Wang Jingxiu said with a smile: "Since he is not willing to be deceived and send troops, let the court come forward and directly remove his military power. The Xuanfu envoy is now in a wartime state, and it is a wartime state! You can just directly
Take over the Xiangyang army."
"What's the charge?"
"I have heard the Xuanfu envoy think about it a long time ago. There are three charges. First, colluding with Chen Qing in private. The evidence is that Chen Qing's military family members were resettled in Xiangzhou in large numbers, and he did not object; second, allowing Sichuan and Shaanxi officials to move salt in Jingzhou.
The sale of Xiangxiang resulted in the imperial court’s total loss of salt tax in Jingxiang.”
"You mean the salt of the Huaixi Army?" Zhang Jun asked.
Wang Jingxiu smiled slightly and said, "Xuanfu Envoy doesn't need to think too much. The court cannot distinguish official salt from private salt, but as long as the salt tax cannot be obtained, Xuanfu Envoy's accusation will be believed."
Zhang Jun nodded, "I understand, but what about the third one?"
"Didn't the Xuanfu envoy have an internal general beside Wang Gui? He asked him to write a letter to testify. Wang Gui secretly bought ten acres of land in Jingzhao, and then asked King Yong to provide a copy of the evidence. Now Wang Gui would jump in.
