"Therefore, the pursuit of profit is like the gathering of birds, and the clouds are scattered when they are defeated." [Book of Han·Biography of the Xiongnu]
It was May 24th, the third year of the Han Dynasty.
Li Jue, Guo Si and others finally responded to their requests. The generals of Liangzhou gathered their troops several miles outside the city. They saw the Chang'an city gate slowly opening toward them, and a team of dozens of people came slowly.
The leader was Zhao Wen, the current guard, and beside him was Yilang Zhongshao, who had gone to the city last night to report the situation. At this time, Zhong Shao looked so sad that everyone's heartstrings suddenly tightened, and a trace of disbelief appeared on his face.
of surprise.
Li Jue and others had a premonition of the court's determination to recruit people this time, but Fan Chou and others could not restrain their excitement.
After it was announced that Wang Yun had committed suicide in prison, Hu Zhen was the first to jump out and express his disbelief: "You said Wang Yun died when he died? Who can testify!"
Zhong Shao couldn't bear it anymore and glared angrily: "Traitor! If you don't believe it, forget it. You really think the imperial court will be afraid of you!"
After saying this, Zhong Shao turned around and prepared to leave angrily. This negotiation would also be declared a failure. Seeing that Zhong Shao's behavior did not seem to be fake, Fan Chou suddenly stepped forward and grabbed him, and said kindly: "Don't blame Yi Lang."
! As the saying goes, seeing is believing, this is related to the safety of the imperial court and one hundred thousand soldiers, so we must not be careless. Otherwise, if we send a few people into the city to see what happens, won’t everyone know what will happen to Wang Situ by then? "
Hu Zhen didn't expect that Fan Chou also had such a rough and delicate side, so he couldn't help but look at him a few more times and said: "Okay, since you said Wang Yun committed suicide, then you can carry him out and let me see him. Is it true?"
You can tell by looking at it.”
"How can we be disrespectful to the dead?" Zhong Shao said resolutely, "If you want to see it, go to the city and see it yourself!"
"What Zhong Yilang said is right. The dead person is too important to be disturbed casually." Zhao Wen stepped forward and said, "How about you select a few people who have met Wang Situ in the past to follow Zhong Yilang into the city to meet him?"
Hu Zhen was extremely reluctant to take on this task. He did not believe that Wang Yun died like this. If the other party's purpose was to gain his entry into the city, he would probably be killed without any explanation.
He didn't speak, and Yang Ding on the side didn't say anything. Li Jue couldn't force the two of them to enter the city. After all, their reputation and status were there and they couldn't be manipulated casually.
After thinking about it, Li Jue looked around at the generals and said, "Who among you brothers is willing to enter the city?"
Few of Li Jue's men had ever met Wang Yun, and even the captains under Niu Fu had only met Wang Yun a few times before. But at this moment, Hu Zhen and Yang Ding couldn't move, and he and Guo Si didn't dare to easily
Entering the city, Fan Chou and his gang couldn't trust him.
There was really no other way, so he had to focus on Zhang Ji. Zhang Ji was a good man in the army and would not offend anyone. He would not refuse even if he had to fight a hard battle. In Li Jue's eyes, he was just a follower who was easy to handle.
They are not opponents worth watching out for like Guo Si and Fan Chou.
Zhang Ji reluctantly agreed, but he didn't expect that this trouble would actually fall on him. On the surface, he was extremely reluctant, but in fact, his heart skipped a beat.
Early this morning, Jia Xu visited his camp alone, explained the pros and cons to him, and advised him to follow Fan Chou and others to submit to the court, and not to follow Li Jue down a dead end.
Zhang Ji's troops are weak and it would be disadvantageous for him to continue fighting, not to mention the personal persuasion of Jia Xu, whom he usually admires the most?
Li Jue had no idea that Zhang Ji had changed his family, and secretly followed Jia Xu to join the court, claiming that Zhang Ji and he were of the same mind.
Seeing Zhang Ji pretending to be reluctant and agreeing, he nodded with satisfaction. Just when he thought that nothing happened, he heard Fan Chou dissatisfied: "Only let people from your side enter the city? I don't think it can be done. What can we do here?"
Also send someone to follow you so that no one talks in vain."
"What do you mean?" Zhang Ji said dissatisfied: "Am I going to deceive you?"
"It's hard to say." Fan Chou said casually, and his unintentional words made Zhang Ji even more annoyed.
Fan Chou didn't care about Zhang Ji's ugly face and just looked for the person he thought was suitable. Soon, he found him: "Dong Cheng, you and the Grand Master are from the same family. The Grand Master was close to you during his lifetime. You have also met him."
Wang Yun several times, how about I trouble you to enter the city this time?"
Dong Cheng smiled and said cheerfully: "Isn't it Chang'an City? Just enter, what are you afraid of!"
With a smile on his face, Zhao Wen quietly watched the generals in front of him become divided into two factions. He despised Zhuzi for not being able to accomplish anything, and he also gained confidence for what was to be done next.
He said: "Now that you have discussed the candidates, please follow Zhong Yilang into the city. I might as well take this opportunity to talk about the rewards you will receive after accepting the pardon edict."
"I don't know whether Wang Yun is alive or dead, who wants to talk to you about a reward?" Hu Zhen repelled; "Besides, when did I say that I would submit to the imperial court?"
In Hu Zhen's opinion, the possibility of Wang Yun being killed is very high. In this case, he should simply tear his face and let the court work in vain. The court will definitely give up the recruitment after being humiliated in this way. Fan Chou and the others will have no way to go.
, can only follow Hu Zhen to continue to attack Chang'an.
Zhao Wen was not annoyed at all, but asked with interest: "Oh? Can this matter be decided by you alone? If everyone takes you as the leader and has no objections, then I will have nothing to say about this trip.
.”
"How can a person who stabs someone in the back be worthy of being worshiped as our master?" Fan Chou replied dissatisfied. He was so outspoken that in one day he not only offended the good old Zhang Ji, but also Hu Zhen and Yang Ding.
Scolded.
Hu Zhen was not happy about this matter. He had planned loudly at the beginning, intending to use his life-saving grace to Li Jue and others to rebel against the enemy and win the support of the generals and become Dong Zhuo's second best.
Who would have known that after the war in Xinfeng, Li Jue and Guo Si were outwardly submissive to him, but in fact they were very resistant to Hu Zhen's attempts to dominate the army. As for Fan Chou and others, they even looked down on Hu Zhen's disgraceful behavior of betraying him in battle.
.
The huge gap between expectations and reality has made Hu Zhen very depressed in recent days. Not only is his army inferior to Li Jue's, he even lacks prestige to command everyone. If he had known this, why would he have done such a thankless and stupid thing in the first place?
!
Although now in order to maintain his current status and future power, he had to change his strategy and show enough respect to Li Jue, the most powerful person in the army, and Wei Snake. Li Jue also reciprocated the favor.
But he still regretted it. If he had known this, why would he have given up his legitimate official position in the court and instigated Li Jue and others to rebel?
At this time, hearing Fan Chou mention Hu Zhen's pain point, Hu Zhen suddenly said angrily: "If it weren't for me, how could you have defeated Lu Bu so easily? Now that your life is saved, you don't even admit it!"