At the end of the hall, there was a man sitting alone. He was tall and broad-backed, with an majestic face. He was listening to everyone talking, with a slight sneer on his face.
His name is Zhang Shigui, his ancestral home is Yu County, Hedong, but he can also be said to be from Guozhou, Henan, because his father has settled in Guozhou, Henan and established a separate family.
The Zhang family in Yuxian County where he was born is a typical family of military commanders. Members of the family have been in the military for generations. From his great-grandfather to his grandfather, they all served in the armies of the Northern Wei and Northern Qi. His father served in the Sui Dynasty and became the governor-general with military merit.
Zhang Shigui has practiced literature and martial arts since he was a child. He is intelligent and honest. His father Zhang Guo once praised him and said that my son has courage and heroic spirit, and he will be a good general in the future.
But to be honest, Zhang Shigui is not an easy person to get along with. He joined the army when he was young, and he is not very friendly with the military officers and colleagues. In other words, this man has been in the army for several years and gives people a bad impression. He is arrogant and talented.
, plus being young and energetic, he committed all the mistakes that young people should make.
Therefore, it has always been a small martial arts school in Dongdu, and it has not established a firm foothold in the military and become famous in the world as his father said.
But God always seems to take care of the "vulnerable groups". As the old saying goes, a blessing in disguise is a blessing in disguise. For example, Zhang Shigui is much luckier than Li Po.
He didn't have a good relationship with others, so he didn't have a share in the first expedition to Liaodong. However, he went there the second time, but he was to escort the food and grass, but he didn't see the shadow of Liaodong. Later, Yang Xuangan rebelled first.
So he turned against the enemy half-way, failed to achieve military merit, but lost his official position.
Zhang Shigui was proud and arrogant, so he returned to his hometown in anger. At this time, the world was gradually becoming chaotic, and Zhang Shigui in Henan also felt the strong cold current.
The third expedition to Liaodong followed. This time, Zhang Shigui saw that the villagers were in chaos and the people were in dire straits. He had no intention of playing with the mediocre emperor, so he simply raised a righteous flag in his hometown and defended the stronghold, ignoring the recruitment order.
not see.
At that time, people in Henan were living a very hard life. There were many people like Zhang Shigui who united with the countryside to seek self-protection. They had to face not only the encirclement and suppression by officers and soldiers, but also the intrusion of the rebel army.
The most miserable period has come to such an extent that even people like Zhang Shigui have to follow their neighbors to dig wild vegetables and chew tree bark. If this continues, Zhang Shigui will probably have to taste human flesh with his own mouth. But before he can see his family wealth,
They were all gone, but there was still no way to survive. Zhang Shigui finally discovered that the Sui Dynasty was about to be finished?
With this idea, Zhang Shigui suddenly cheered up and no longer thought of joining the army and leading the army to suppress bandits in order to gain wealth.
And his intelligence and courage finally burst out in the near desperate situation. He first encouraged his neighbors to lead them to occupy Hongnong County, and then opened the granary to recruit various rebels and refugees. Almost in the blink of an eye, he was in the west of Dongdu and east of Tongguan.
The region has grown.
At that time, Zhang Shigui had nearly 100,000 troops, which was the largest group of forces in Henan except the big bandit Li Mi and the Dongdu army.
Later, Wang Shichong and Li Mi were killed in Luoyang, and both sides had expectations for Zhang Shigui. They did not attack him by force, but only sent letters to appease him. It can be seen that Zhang Shigui did occupy a certain position in Henan at that time.
However, Zhang Shigui disliked these two people. He believed that these two guys wasted each other inside and outside Dongdu Jiancheng, which was very stupid and had no image of human masters at all.
As the saying goes, a good minister chooses a tree to live in. Zhang Shigui, a good man, naturally wanted to find a good master to serve him.
It can be said that Zhang Shigui had no idea at all that he would rather be the head of a chicken than the queen of others. In this regard, he was actually very similar to Li Po at the time. He lacked some ambitions and had no desire to stabilize the country. He just wanted to find someone.
A bigger, more stable backer will be effective.
Li Yuan got up at the right time and appeared in front of Zhang Shigui. Unlike Li Po, Li Po was at the Mayi frontier fortress with few people and no power, so he eventually fell into Li Yuan's eyes.
But Zhang Shigui was different. Li Yuan, who wanted to go south to Chang'an, urgently needed such a person. So as expected, Lang Youqing's concubine deliberately sent a letter to Zhang Shigui and surrendered Li Yuan.
He was granted the title of Guanglu Doctor and Hongnong County Duke, and stayed in place to contain Qu Tutong of Tongguan and Li Mi and Wang Shichong of Henan. When Li Yuan occupied Chang'an, Qu Tutong surrendered, and Liu Wenjing guarded Tongguan, Zhang Shigui was assigned to Liu Wenjing.
Rule over.
It can be said that Zhang Shigui was Liu Wenjing's old subordinate. During this period, he and Liu Wenjing cooperated well and occupied a large area east of Tongguan. Liu Wenjing valued Zhang Shigui very much and wanted to take Zhang Shigui with him when he left office and went to the northwest.
After all these years, Zhang Shigui was the only one who could appreciate and use him seriously and make him his friend, Liu Wenjing. Zhang Shigui couldn't bear to abandon him and was very willing to transfer to the northwest with Liu Wenjing to meet the heroes of the northwest.
But at that time, Zhang Shigui's identity and status were beyond Liu Wenjing's control, so the two of them parted ways, thinking that they would become famous in the future and also create a good story.
Of course, according to their respective personalities, the chance of turning against each other is much higher.
However, things were not as they should have been. When Zhang Shigui heard the news about Liu Wenjing again, Liu Wenjing had already been executed, and all his old party members were implicated.
At this time, Zhang Shigui's life was getting more and more difficult. After Li Jiancheng left Tongguan, he naturally would not reuse Liu Wenjing's subordinates.
The worst thing is that Zhang Shigui's ancestral home is in Jin, and his later hometown is Guozhou. His ancestors are still remnants of the Northern Qi Dynasty, and they are naturally separated from the people of Guanxi.
At that time, the Jin people were being strongly ostracized both inside and outside the court. For many reasons, Zhang Shigui would naturally not recover. His military power was gradually deprived of power by the prince's confidants. When Li Po went south in large numbers, Tongguan's military strength suddenly increased.
After shrinking back, there would be no need for him, a native of Henan.
Therefore, Zhang Shigui was isolated and helpless in Tongguan, and gradually became underestimated by everyone. He himself became increasingly dissatisfied with Li Jiancheng, especially the execution of Liu Wenjing, which made him extremely resentful towards the prince's line.
At this time, it was King Li Shimin of Qin who gave him a hand and appointed him as the gatekeeper of the left prison of the Qin Palace to deliver food and grass to the army stationed along the Yellow River.
After a full circle, Zhang Shigui returned to his old job, from a Henan bandit to a grain transport officer. With such a huge gap, one can imagine his disappointment. According to his character, Li Shimin
Not very satisfied either.
His temperament is indeed similar to that of Liu Wenjing. He is not very broad-minded, arrogant and arrogant, and can easily become dissatisfied. The only difference between the two of them is that Zhang Shigui suffers from the president's memory and is not as arrogant as Liu Wenjing.