Hearing Li Xia shout out his name and his grudge with Uncle Xie Fang, Kong Xian no longer believed Yao Shi'an's statement that he was "worried about Mongolian manipulation and did not let Wu Xin's army enter the city."
But he also thought that if the war was imminent, what benefit would it have to the current situation if Pu Shuai sent someone who had a partisan dispute with the city guard Yao Shi'an to come for reinforcements?
Just as the thought passed through my mind, I suddenly heard someone shouting: "Open the city gate!"
However, Xiao Shixian had already arrived in large strides. He did not go up to the city wall, but ordered people to open the city gate.
On the top of the city, Yao Shian was furious, and soon his anger turned into resentment.
At that time, Yu Jie tried every possible means to send someone to take his place in the world, and he also arranged for Xiao and Xiao to go to Yunding City to restrain him.
Now, as soon as Xiao Shixian heard that Li Xia, who had overthrown Uncle Xie Fang, was here, he immediately ordered the city to be opened, and the tit-for-tat intention was clearly revealed.
"Since you are so ostracizing, you can't blame me for surrendering to others." With these thoughts in his mind, Yao Shi'an felt a little calmer.
He hid the resentment in his eyes, smiled sarcastically, and descended from the city with his sword in hand...
~~
At the city gate.
Xiao Shixian's expression was stern, he cupped his fist towards Li Xia and announced his home status.
"Baoyi Lang, stationed in Lizhou, under the control of the imperial army, deputy commander of troops and horses at Tongchuanfu Road, Xiao Shixian."
"I've seen General Xiao." Li Xia looked away from the top of the city, looked at Xiao Shixian standing there through the slowly opening city gate, cupped his hands and said: "I was ordered by Commander Pu to reinforce Yunding City. The military order is at Yao
In the hands of the city guards, it is definitely not the work of Mongolia."
He turned around, pointed at the long row of Wu Xin's troops on the mountain road, and said: "These are all our soldiers of the Song Dynasty."
Xiao Shixian said: "I know, let's talk about it after we enter the city."
He ordered his personal guards to block the road, and walked side by side towards the city with Li Xia, but said no more.
This man obviously doesn't talk much.
Over there, Yao Shi'an led his people down to the top of the city and said, "This general is still checking the order. How can General Xiao be so eager?"
Xiao Shixian was a guest general, and it was overstepping his authority to let Li Xia enter the city, so he turned his head slightly to avoid Yao Shi'an's sharp eyes.
It was Li Xia who spoke first.
"I wonder if Yao Chengshou has verified it?"
Yao Shi'an said: "I am asking General Xiao, it is not your turn to answer."
"Then I want to ask Yao Chengshou first." Li Xia said: "If the military order is not false, why don't you let me into the city? Yunding City can't supply food and grass for the 30,000-strong army. Can't it also supply food and grass for the 1,300 reinforcements?"
Yao Shi'an was shocked and angry that Li Xia was so presumptuous. His face darkened and he said coldly: "I have been guarding Yunding for more than ten years and fought hundreds of bloody battles. It is not the turn of a child with a yellow mouth to point fingers."
"I'm afraid Yao Chengshou does not have the credit for this."
Li Xia refused to give in at all and met Yao Shian's gaze.
The two faced each other tit for tat, and the scene turned out to be one of a kind.
Kong Xian didn't want to start an internal strife before the war started, so he rushed forward and said: "Li Zhixian, don't talk anymore. Yao Chengshou acted cautiously and asked a few more questions."
After saying that, Kong Xian glanced at Li Xia with some reproach in his eyes.
Li Xia's words after entering the city, questioning a defender with great military achievements, seemed to him to be too inappropriate.
Unexpectedly, when Li Xia saw his look, she still refused to lower her head and still looked directly at Yao Shi'an.
Kong Xian was worried and said to Xiao Shixian: "You too, can't you wait even a moment? Why don't you apologize to the city guard?"
Although Xiao Shixian still had a straight face, he still said: "Yes, don't blame Yao Cheng for guarding."
Kong Xian reluctantly smiled and continued to ease the atmosphere.
"It's a good thing to have reinforcements. We are all soldiers of the Song Dynasty. Some trivial matters can be ignored with a smile. The war is coming, and it is time to work together and fight the enemy together."
It has to be said that despite the grudge between Yu Jie and Yao Shian, Yunding City could still stand for more than ten years, probably thanks to Kong Xian's turn in it.
Take the overall situation into consideration and take great credit.
Yao Shi'an didn't know what he was thinking. He finally sneered and threw Pu Zezhi's military order to Kong Xian, saying: "Let them guard the small east gate and stop wandering around in the city."
After that, he walked away.
Li Xia looked at Yao Shian's back and couldn't help but look thoughtful.
He vaguely felt that Yao Shi'an was quite assertive and should not have been able to give in so easily.
"Why?"
~~
"City guard, General Yao is back with his scouting horses."
"Let him come in." Yao Shi'an said, "You guys, stay outside."
Yao Yiming lowered his voice and said: "Meng Ren has agreed to uncle's conditions."
Yao Shian said "hmm", packed up the gold and silver in the drawer, and murmured in an increasingly calm tone: "It was the Song Dynasty that forced me to come here. I first thanked the prime minister, and then sent traitors to Shu to persecute me. I want to give
Yu Jie, the criminal who mistakenly committed the crime of Shu, reversed his case... It was the Song court that forced me to come here."
"Uncle, don't think about these things now." Yao Yiming said anxiously: "Get ready to dedicate the city."
"Then do it." Yao Shi'an thought for a while, opened the door, called a soldier, and ordered: "Let Zhang Wei come to see me."
…
Zhang Wei is a general under Yao Shi'an.
He and Zhang Shi, who was defeated in Ma Jianghu, are from the same hometown and the same clan.
At that time, Yu Jie and Yao Shi'an had a grudge, Zhang Shi was re-employed by Yu Jie, and Zhang Wei was under Yao Shi'an. Even so, it did not affect the friendship between Zhang Shi and Zhang Wei.
He thought about it for a day, and when he saw Yao Shi'an this time, he said: "Chengshou, I'm thinking that I might be able to use my relationship with Zhang Shi to help the Mongolian army win Xuzhou, Luzhou, etc. to help the Mongolian army win Yunding City."
, we proposed to seize Xu and Lu cleverly, and then cut off Pu Ze's way back, how about that?"
Yao Shi'an glanced at Zhang Wei lightly, feeling a little disdainful of his rushing behavior.
"Let's wait until the city is successfully dedicated. Take care of the present first, and then think about the future achievements."
Zhang Wei smiled apologetically and said: "Now that the city guard has made a decision, what's the difficulty in this matter?"
"This is Yunding City, and there are many idiots who don't even risk their lives to fight against the Mongols!" Yao Shi'an said seriously, "So far, the only ones willing to surrender with us are you and our thousands of trusted soldiers, so we have to
Be careful."
"But as long as Kong Xian and Xiao Shixian are killed, the Song soldiers in the city will be in chaos. Then the Mongolian troops will enter the city, even if there are only 500 Mongolian troops, it will be enough."
Zhang Wei said, and then asked: "The general just doesn't understand why he let the boy named Li lead Wu Xin's army into the city? If there is another problem..."
Yao Shi'an said: "If we continue to argue at that time, if Kong is introduced, the two of Xiao will become suspicious, and they will miss important events."
"Yes." Zhang Wei said: "This concern is reasonable. Let's give him a day or two. Anyway, he will die if he enters the city."
Yao Shian nodded and made arrangements.
"In this way, I will hold a banquet tomorrow night to ambush Kong and Xiao. Zhang Wei, you guard the north gate alone and open the gate for the Mongolian army; Yiming, you arrange the swordsmen and axemen."
Yao Yiming couldn't help but ask: "Uncle, why don't you invite the man named Li and kill him too?"
Yao Shi'an pondered for a moment and said: "Li Xia... is so aggressive... why? Maybe he wants to conflict with me on purpose... to test me?"
Zhang Wei and Yao Yiming looked at each other, wondering what Yao Shian was thinking.
"uncle?"
"Send three hundred people to guard Wu Xinjun and prevent them from leaving the small east gate." Yao Shi'an said, "There is no need to invite Li Xia tomorrow night."
"Why?"
Yao Shi'an said: "When the Mongolian army enters the city, it can annihilate Wu Xin's army. There is no need to do anything extra."
Having said that, he actually still had some concerns.
Yao Shi'an had been a general for many years and was deeply involved in party disputes, so he had a keen sense of smell. He faintly sensed a dangerous smell from Li Xia, so he did not want this person to come close to him.
It's funny to say that he even felt that Li Xia deliberately wanted to anger him and took advantage of the conflict to draw his sword against him.
This is ridiculous. Yao Shian clearly knew that Li Xia would not be able to discover his secret liaison with Mongolia.
"Impossible." He murmured...
~~
The next day, the small east gate of Yunding City.
The east city wall is built along the cliff. The mountain below the city wall is steep and surrounded by rocks, making it naturally dangerous and solid.
This place is facing the Jintang Gorge, and you can see the Tuojiang River flowing endlessly in the canyon.
Li Xia had already settled Wu Xin's army and was looking at the Tuojiang River in the distance. He could also see the overwhelming Mongolian army camps along the river.
Nie Zhongyou walked up to him and sighed: "With such a terrain, it's no wonder that Xu Liewu's 40,000-strong army couldn't attack it."
"I heard a saying," Li Xia said, "The strongest fortress is often breached from the inside first."
"Breaked from the inside? What do you mean?"
"Nothing, I just happened to think of it."
Nie Zhongyou looked more serious and asked, "Did you see it? Kong Xian is dissatisfied with you."
"Yeah." Li Xia said: "He blamed me for not confronting Yao Shi'an. The imperial court has its own rules. I was a junior official and a guest soldier, so I had a conflict with the guard when I arrived at Yunding City. He was afraid of messing up the overall situation and was not happy to do it again.
It’s inevitable.”
"Yao Shi'an is already arrogant, but we made Kong Xian unhappy after we entered the city." Nie Zhongyou turned to look at the soldiers stationed at the small east gate and said, "I'm afraid we will always be idle.
It’s here.”
"It doesn't matter." Li Xia said, "I deliberately provoked Yao Shi'an. It's strange that he didn't really get angry."
"Provoke him? Why?"
~~
On the other side, Yao Shian arranged everything in an orderly manner.
He arranged for people to watch Wu Xin's army to prevent it from causing trouble; he arranged for Zhang Wei to guard the north of the city tonight in preparation for the Mongolian army to open the city; he laid a good ambush for the swordsmen and axemen, and entertained Kong Xian and Xiao Shixian at a banquet.
Finally, night fell.
Kong Xian and Xiao Shixian each brought only four personal guards to Yao Shian's residence.
"Shou Yao, the war is imminent, so there is no need for a banquet." Kong Xian said as soon as he entered the hall, "If you have a strategy to defeat the enemy, just call us at any time to give us instructions."
Yao Shi'an said: "Discussing how to defeat the enemy is one of them. In addition, I had a small conflict with Li Xia yesterday, and I was worried that you might misunderstand."
Xiao Shixian sat down directly and said: "I just defend the city, there is no need to explain to me."
Kong Xian hurriedly said: "Don't blame the guards of Yao City."
"Haha, it doesn't matter. I know General Xiao's temperament." Yao Shi'an said: "It's not that I'm making things difficult for Li Xia, but that he is young and energetic and doesn't know what's good or bad... General Kong, you also heard what he said. What a shame."
Arrogant?"
"Yes, yes." Kong Xiandao said: "But these disputes are no longer a day or two. At present, the foreign captives should work together to defeat the enemy."
"You always say that." Yao Shi'an shook his head and said with a wry smile, "But you never care whether I am wronged or not."
Kong Xian was slightly surprised and said: "It's just a young man's angry words, why should you take it to heart anymore?"
"What I'm talking about is not just Li Xia. Didn't Yu Jie send you two to Yunding deliberately to target me?"
"Why did Yao Chengshou say this?" Kong Xiandao said: "Over the years, how many times have General Xiao and I defied Yao Chengshou?"
Yao Shi'an said: "Really? When we defeated Hulagu, why were you two ranked in front of me in the battle report?"
Xiao Shixian finally became impatient and slapped his chopsticks on the table with a "pop" sound.
"The war is raging in the middle of Sichuan, and the people are in hot water. You eat the emperor's food, but you still complain about it all the time. Is there any end?!"
"Xiao Shixian!" Yao Shian stood up suddenly.
Xiao Shixian said calmly: "I have endured it for long enough. Stop making noises. If you have serious business, talk about it. If it's just gossip again, why don't you let me go and defend the city, and you can drink and eat on your own."
"Okay, okay." Yao Shi'an pointed at Xiao Shixian and took two steps back.
Xiao Shixian turned to Kong Xian and said: "You want to join forces to fight the enemy again, so tell him not to ignore me..."
"puff!"
Before he finished speaking, a dagger pierced Xiao Shixian's back...