At the third watch, hundreds of internal guard soldiers rushed into a village outside the south city of Chengdu from all directions and surrounded a large courtyard. The soldiers climbed over the wall and opened the door, and countless soldiers rushed in.
Not long after, a middle-aged man was pulled out of the room by soldiers. It was Tu Luohan, and his two sons were also arrested.
Tu Luohan looked desperately at the dark soldiers in the yard. He knew that he was completely doomed and couldn't help but burst into tears.
The internal guards searched Tu Luohan's home comprehensively. In just a few moments, they found a large amount of evidence. The key was to find many written instructions written by Cui Wei to him. These were the instructions written in the early days. Later, after killing two officials,
, Cui Yuan did not allow him to leave any evidence, so he changed to a verbal notification.
In the early written instructions, Cui Wei also ordered Tu Luohan to burn them all. Tu Luohan only agreed verbally, but actually hid them quietly. Now they were all searched out by the internal guards.
Tu Luohan was led in front of Xie Sen and was forced to kneel on the ground. Xie Sen said coldly: "Selling illegal salt will kill everyone. However, if you are willing to cooperate with the internal guards, we can spare your two grandsons. If not,
If you agree, forget it!"
Tu Luohan only regretted that he did not have the chance to make atonement. After hearing Xie Sen's words, he kowtowed repeatedly, "I am willing! I will do my best to assist the inner guards!"
Xie Sen waved his hand, "Take them all away!"
Soon, the internal guards sealed off the Tu family, loaded more than a dozen members of their family into carriages and took them away.
At five o'clock, Cui Wei was also grabbed from the bed of a prostitute in Baihua Building by the guards and tied up. Cui Wei was so anxious that he shouted: "My father is the governor of Chengdu, you can't arrest me! My father is the governor of Chengdu."
Yin!”
At this time, an internal guard soldier came up and slapped him hard, "Shut up! Your father has been arrested in Lizhou!"
Trevi was stunned. He suddenly realized that he was in danger. He was so frightened that he trembled all over, his lower body became hot, and he became incontinent to urinate.
He could no longer walk and fell down on the road crying. Several guards came forward and blocked his mouth with rags, covered his head with a black cloth bag, lifted him up, and dragged him into a carriage.
.
Over the next ten days, hundreds of internal guards launched an all-out attack. All the salt lords and their men, and all those selling illegal salt, were arrested. All warehouses storing illegal salt were also sealed, and the source salt wells were also seized.
It was seized and confiscated, and the owner of the salt well was also arrested.
In just half a month, thousands of people suspected of selling illegal salt were arrested, millions of kilograms of illegal salt were confiscated, nearly a hundred salt wells were sealed, and millions of dollars were confiscated.
The internal guards had already figured out everything, and were waiting for Cui Yuan to be caught before taking full action.
In early November, Cui Yuan died of illness in the post station, and his son Cui Wei was publicly executed in Chang'an along with hundreds of salt lords and illegal salt traffickers. This case was known as the largest salt case and shocked the world.
On the west bank of the Yellow River in Yanzhou, the Longtang Army has been stationed at Sanwanguan for nearly a month. The leader is Li Fei Yuanli. As the leader of the West Route Army, he will cross the Luliang Mountains from the west and attack Taiyuan Prefecture.
In the early morning, Li Fei Yuanli led a large group of generals to the Yellow River. The Yellow River had frozen several days ago, but it was one thing to freeze the Yellow River, and another thing to be able to walk on the ice.
Li Fei Yuanli looked at the more than one hundred soldiers walking on the ice. Each of them had a long rope tied around his waist for protection. The more than one hundred soldiers carefully walked towards the other side.
Half an hour later, the captain returned to the west bank with a hundred soldiers, bowed to Li Fei Yuanli and said: "General, the Yellow River has frozen solid!"
Li Fei Yuan Li was overjoyed and immediately ordered: "Send the whole army to prepare to cross the Yellow River!"
Li Ye's order to him was that when the Yellow River froze, that would be the day for him to send troops.
He had been waiting for this day to come, and now it was finally here.
That afternoon, Li Fei Yuanli led an army of 30,000 men and 20,000 camels across the Yellow River and arrived at Shizhou on the other side of the Yellow River. The general stationed in Shizhou was called Du Feng, who was one of Tian Shenyu's confidants and had 3,000 men under his command.
When he heard that tens of thousands of troops were coming, Du Feng led 3,000 troops and fled.
Li Fei Yuan Li did not rest, and the 30,000-strong army continued to march along the Xiangyang Ancient Road towards Taiyuan.
At the same time that Li Fei Yuanli led an army of 30,000 across the Luliang Mountains, Gao Xiuyan, who was stationed in Jiexiu County, also received a military order from Supervisor Li Ye, and he immediately led an army of 20,000 to the north.
Three days later, Gao Xiuyan led 20,000 troops to Qi County, the southernmost part of Taiyuan Prefecture. Qi County currently has 4,000 defenders. Originally there were only 1,000 defenders. In addition, 3,000 troops were withdrawn from Lishi County. General
Du Feng leads.
Qixian County is also the southern gate of Taiyuan City. Whether it is an army coming from the south or an army coming from Shizhou to the west, they will meet in Fenzhou. Qixian County is the only way for both armies to pass.
At dusk, the 20,000-strong army led by Gao Xiuyan camped for a rest more than ten miles away from Qixian County.
At this time, the soldiers came to Gao Xiuyan's tent with a civil servant.
In fact, half a year ago, not long after Gao Xiuyan occupied Jiexiu County, the county magistrate Wang Zheng of Qi County secretly sent someone to contact Gao Xiuyan to inform him of the situation in Qi County. Now that the situation in Qi County has changed, of course the county magistrate Wang Zheng
Gao Xiuyan needs to be notified.
The civil servant's name was Mo Wengu, and he was an aide to the county magistrate Wang Zheng. He had been to Jiexiu County many times and became familiar with Gao Xiuyan.
"General Gao, Du Feng's army arrived in Qi County the day before yesterday. We thought he was just passing through the border, but we didn't expect that he actually stationed here on Tian Shenyu's order. The planned reception in Kaicheng may not be possible."
Gao Xiuyan didn't care whether the other party responded. He nodded and said: "We will still act according to the original plan. We don't need your response. Your task is to appease the people in time."
Mo Wengu took out a drawing and spread it on the small table. "This is the situation of the county wall that the general asked about last time. We have done a thorough investigation!"
Mo Wengu pointed to the corner of the city wall on the drawing and said: "This is the southeast corner of the city wall. It has not been repaired for sixty years. We have applied to the court for ten years but have not been approved."
"To what extent is it decayed?" Gao Xiuyan asked.
"Take a city brick and hit it with a hammer and it will break into small pieces. A normal brick will break after five or six hits."
"I understand! Your information is very important."
"Also, if the general needs a battering ram, he can go to the Luliang Mountains a hundred miles to the west to look for big trees."
Gao Xiuyan waved his hand and said with a slight smile: "We no longer need bulky siege weapons such as battering rams!"
After resting for two hours, Gao Xiuyan led an army of 20,000 men and marched toward the county seat of Qixian County.
Qixian County has always been called the southern gate of Taiyuan Prefecture. Perhaps for this reason, Qixian County is built tall and strong, making it easy to defend but difficult to attack.
Four thousand troops stood on the top of the city, nervously watching the Guanlong and Tang armies coming from a distance, and everyone's heart was pounding.
General Du Feng gritted his teeth and shouted: "The enemy does not have large siege weapons, so don't be afraid of them, they can't capture Qixian!"
Indeed, the Guanlong Tang Army was not found carrying siege weapons, and the soldiers breathed a sigh of relief.
