As the saying goes, "Of the nine fortresses in the world, only one of them is mediocre."
Juyongguan is located at the eighth pass of the eight passes of Taihang. It is one of the fortresses from outside the fortress to Yanjing.
On the eighth day of September, the tired Zhang Hongfan led his cavalry to travel through the stars and nights, and finally arrived at Juyongguan.
While letting his troops rest for a while, he climbed to a high place, looked to the southeast, and suddenly murmured a poem.
"I know from afar that when my brothers climb to a high place, they plant dogwood trees everywhere and there is one less person."
Tomorrow is the Double Ninth Festival. If I can make it in time, I might be able to see some of my brothers in Yanjing.
After standing for a while, I saw cavalry coming from ahead.
"Commander, there is news about Yanjing."
Zhang Hongfan then went down to the top of the mountain and went to the front to greet the messenger. After talking for a few words, he was filled with sighs.
"I am ashamed to see Your Majesty. During the battle at Hetao, I neither protected King Tuohu nor prevented Yang Wenzhong from rebelling and surrendering. If I had not ordered these soldiers and horses to be brought back to Yanjing, I would have to die to apologize."
"Commander Zhang's words are serious. Your Majesty did not reprimand you. He only ordered you to lead your troops back to Dadu as soon as possible."
"So, Your Majesty has arrived in Yanjing?"
"good."
Zhang Hongfan then breathed a sigh of relief.
He believed that the battle for the throne followed the defeat of Helan Mountain, and then encountered the case of Zhen Jin supervising the country, and the Yuan Dynasty was naturally in turmoil. Now with the shrinkage of the defense line, His Majesty is sitting in Yanjing, and it is time to stabilize the situation and
It started to get better gradually.
Anyway, I am optimistic.
I had just arranged for this messenger to settle down, but a soldier came over in a hurry and whispered something in Zhang Hongfan's ear.
"Jiulang, someone from my family is here, anxious to see you..."
When Zhang Hongfan heard this, he had a bad premonition.
He looked around, then returned to Guancheng to meet this person from the family. When he heard a few words, he couldn't help but turn pale with shock.
"What did you say?!"
It was rare that Zhang Hongfan lost his composure, but today's news was the only one that made him unable to control his emotions.
"Jiulang, please go back and save your family! Erlang and Liulang contacted the Dong family and intended to rebel, and they have been captured."
"Where is my father?"
"The old marshal is also under house arrest, so he asked me to go to Jiuyuan City to find Jiulang..."
"How is it possible? How is it possible? I will go and explain to Your Majesty right away."
Zhang Hongfan was about to turn around when he suddenly stopped again, with a look of surprise in his eyes.
He rubbed his forehead, trying to calm himself down from his confusion.
He realized that he actually had a choice.
If he had not left Juyongguan and instead led his troops south to surrender to Li Xia, would it have been better to save Jiaxiao?
This was the first time that Zhang Hongfan seriously considered changing his family. Before that, he and Kublai Khan could be said to be in harmony with each other, and he always firmly maintained his loyalty to the Yuan Dynasty.
But considering the end, Zhang Hongfan still shook his head.
He didn't think that taking refuge in Li Xia now could save his family, he was afraid that it would be self-defeating and anger Kublai Khan.
Now the news can still reach him, which shows that there is still room for recovery.
However, Zhang Hongfan still did not rush to Yanjing, but first recruited a group of confidants.
"You guys will go back to Baozhou first to see Shi Yilang..."
A while ago, Zhang Hongfan asked his eleventh brother Zhang Hongqing to lead some troops back to Baozhou.
Because Zhang Hongqing had been a proton since childhood and was loyal to Dayuan, this move did not arouse suspicion from others at the time.
It's different now. Once something happens to the Zhang family, even Zhang Hongfan will be shaken, but it's hard to predict what will happen to Zhang Hongqing.
A card can only be considered a threat if it is held in your hand until it is played.
After arranging the matter, Zhang Hongfan ordered his troops to continue resting at Juyongguan, while he took the Golden Tiger Talisman and rushed to Yanjing overnight.
~~
Now Kublai Khan has not entered the new city of Dadu in the Yuan Dynasty, perhaps because the palace city of Dadu has not been completed yet, or perhaps because he is worried that Liu Bingzhong, Zhang Rou and other Han ministers who supervised the construction of Dadu will be detrimental to him.
After Kublai Khan arrived in Yanjing, he lived in the Daning Palace of the Jin Kingdom.
Soldiers and horses brought from the grassland surrounded Daning Palace three floors inside and three floors outside. At the same time, all construction of the capital city was suspended, and craftsmen and laborers were recruited into the army.
Not only that, the Yuan Dynasty also recruited people from various places to prepare for a decisive battle with the Tang army.
When Zhang Hongfan rushed to Yanjing, the scene he saw was just like what Du Fu said in his poem.
"The carriages are rolling, the horses are rustling, and the pedestrians are carrying bows and arrows at their waists. Ye Niang and his wife are walking to see each other off, and the Xianyang Bridge is nowhere to be seen."
But he was too exhausted to care about the civilians who had been conscripted. He rushed all the way to Daning Palace, looked up and saw no human heads hanging anywhere, and couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief.
When he arrived at Daning Palace and knelt before Kublai Khan, the first thing he did was to apologize.
First, he apologized for Tuohu's death, and then for Zhang Hongji's rebellion. Finally, he said: "Your Majesty, I guarantee with my life that my second brother is loyal to Dayuan Chidan and will never dare to betray Your Majesty. There must be a hidden secret in this matter..."
Kublai Khan, who was sitting at the top, looked at Zhang Hongfan coldly with a face as thick as iron. After a long time, he finally spoke.
"Okay! You said that your Zhang family was wronged, so I will leave this matter to you to investigate, and all the traitors will be dealt with by you."
Zhang Hongfan was stunned for a moment, never expecting that things would be so easy.
"My lord, I obey the order."
"Think about how the Great Mongolia treated traitors in the past." Kublai Khan's face was terrifyingly gloomy, and he added lightly.
Zhang Hongfan was shocked and suddenly felt a chill on his back.
He knelt for a while and then looked up again, only to see that Kublai Khan had already left the hall.
He turned around blankly, and someone raised his hand to him.
"Commander Zhang, please..."
~~
"Tell me, why did you betray Dayuan?"
"Why?"
In the dark prison, Zhang Xiongfei, who was hung on a wooden frame by a chain through the pipa bone, raised his head, glanced at Zhang Hongfan, pursed his lips, and said, "What other reason is there?"
Zhang Hongfan's face was as dark as water, and he said: "You have been deeply favored by the emperor, and you have been promoted to the chief of the Yanjing Road Control Eagle Guard. Why don't you think of repaying the favor and instead do something rebellious?"
"I didn't think about it at first...but Zhang Yi is dead. Did you know? Zhang Yi is just like you. He never thought about rebelling. But Kublai Khan still killed him...He is just like you."
Zhang Hongfan frowned and asked, "How do you know Zhang Yi has never thought of rebelling?"
"Mr. Bai persuaded him, but he refused."
"Why didn't you report it then?"
"Who should I report to? My immediate boss is Zhang Yi." Zhang Xiongfei said, and smiled, "Look, I was forced to rebel by Kublai Khan, because he didn't trust us Han people, and he would never
Will trust us more than Li Xia... Do you understand this difference? Why don't you object? Isn't your sister married to Li Xia? "
"I'm judging you, not you judging me."
Zhang Xiongfei was still laughing, staring at Zhang Hongfan with bloodshot eyes and said, "You don't believe in evil."
"When Zhang Yi died, how did you and Bai Hua escape? Who saved you?"
Zhang Xiongfei then looked slightly nervous and said hesitantly: "No one saved us, we pretended to be our own and infiltrated among the craftsmen."
Zhang Hongfan turned a blind eye to such an obvious flaw and asked again: "Where is Bai Hua?"
"He was too old and died. I tied his body with rocks and threw it into the Taiye Pond."
"How did the Dong family contact you?"
Zhang Xiongfei shook his head and stopped answering.
Zhang Hongfan sighed: "Let's do it, everyone has been captured."
a long time.
"You asked me why I betrayed you just now. I want to answer it again." Zhang Xiongfei whispered, "My father was a general of the Jin Kingdom and was stationed in Xuyi. My mother passed away early. When I was a child, I lived with my concubine in Xuzhou. During the seventh year of the Jin Dynasty, I
In 1999, the Mongols captured Xuzhou... Do you know what happened in Xuzhou City?"
Faced with Zhang Xiongfei's questioning look, Zhang Hongfan avoided it.
"You know, but you don't want to say it." Zhang Xiongfei said: "The Mongols massacred Xuzhou City. Everyone was killed... I was seven years old that year, and my concubine took me and fled from the south of the city to the north.
There were corpses everywhere on the road. They chased us and took off my concubine's pants... So I kept crying until someone said not to kill the craftsmen. My future adoptive father was a craftsman who could make bows. He deceived the Mongols.
He said that we were his wife and children, so he saved us from the sea of blood."
"It's all over." Zhang Hongfan said: "Today's Great Yuan is no longer the Great Mongolia of the past."
Zhang Xiongfei sniffed and said to himself: "In the entire Xuzhou City, except for the twenty-eight households of craftsmen, they were all killed. They were all killed... Damn it, if you ask me why I betrayed Dayuan, you might as well ask
Ask me why I am loyal to Dayuan."
"I remember that when Secretary Cong recommended you to meet His Majesty, His Majesty praised you very much and said, 'Zhang Xiongfei is a true male assistant.'"
"Ha, I told you about hundreds of thousands of lives in Xuzhou, and you told me to praise Kublai Khan?"
Zhang Hongfan was silent for a moment and said: "Without further talk, let me ask you, how do you contact the Dong brothers?"
Zhang Xiongfei stared at Zhang Hongfan for a long time, his eyes gradually became contemptuous, and said: "Read and write by yourself."
~~
After seeing Hong Xiongfei, Zhang Hongfan's face became increasingly blue.
He left the cell, turned around and walked into the cell where Dong Wenzhi was.
"Brother Yanzheng."
"Jiu Ba is here." Dong Wenzhi was also nailed to the wooden frame with blood on his face, and he said with a sneer on his lips: "I can ask you anything you want, I'm afraid you Jiu Ba won't even dare to recognize you."
"No need, Zhang Xiongfei has already done all the tricks that need to be done." Zhang Hongfan said in a very soft and deep tone: "I'm here to apologize to Brother Yanzheng."
Dong Wenzhi was stunned for a moment, with a look of great anger in his eyes.
"Apologise? What are you going to do? The masterminds are Zhang Hongji and Zhang Honglue! The masterminds are your Zhang brothers!"
Zhang Hongfan said: "What does it have to do with who the mastermind is? What matters is who has the military power and is loyal to His Majesty, right? How unwise is it for you to leave Gaocheng?"
"Zhang Hongfan, you coward, if you really have the ability, you would kill your father and brother!"
"What's the difference? I just proved that they are the masterminds. Can Your Majesty still let your Dong family go?"
Dong Wenzhi became even more furious and spat heavily.
Zhang Hongfan sidestepped and said, "Brother Yanzheng, these are troubled times, and you will always have to pay the price for making the wrong choice."
"Zhang Hongfan! How dare you try to kill a member of my Dong family? My third brother and eighth brother are now important ministers in the Tang Dynasty. They will never let you go..."
"I understand that your Dong family has always had a good reputation. All the Han ministers admire you, the Dong brothers. No matter in the Yuan Dynasty or the New Tang Dynasty, you will have a place. If I kill all of you, old and young, today, I will not tolerate the Han ministers in the world."
When Zhang Hongfan said this, his face turned gloomy and he sighed.
"But what can I do? This is the determination that Your Majesty asked me to show when the Yuan Dynasty is in turmoil. I have to protect my family and support this family. I am the only one in the Zhang family who can support this family..."