The days are shorter in winter, the sky is gloomy on this day, and it gets dark earlier.
The 50,000 infantry troops behind him had not been able to catch up despite being driven day and night. Li Yi, who was in a hurry to leave Shouzhou, only brought 10,000 forward troops. At this time, he did not dare to rush out at night for fear of being ambushed by gangsters, so he ordered to camp on the spot.
Rest.
Li Yi was still restless.
An aide comforted him: "Coach, please be patient and the army will follow tomorrow."
Another person also said: "In four more days, we will be able to rendezvous with the 80,000-strong army in front of us, and we will be able to reach Yangzhou in a short time."
Previously, Chang Kuo ordered 100,000 troops to support Hezhou. However, except for the 20,000 former troops that Chang Kuo took with him, the remaining 80,000 troops were ordered by Li Yi to "take the opportunity to capture" Yangzhou.
Naturally, the 80,000-strong army had never really engaged in serious combat with Xu's rebel army. At this time, they were camping two hundred miles away from Yangzhou to "wait and see."
The deputy general Yu Zai who led the army was Li Yi's confidant. He knew that Li Yi was on his way to Yangzhou and only wanted to meet up with Li Yi.
The staff said: "When the two divisions are reunited, and the commander has an army of 140,000, we can have a good discussion with Xu Zhengye on the terms of cooperation."
This vision of the near future is certainly tempting, but at the moment Li Yi's mind is filled with the thought that Chang Kuo will come to kill him, and he has no time to think about anything else.
He simply ordered: "...Send a message to Yu Zai, telling him not to just wait there, and to quickly send troops to meet me, just in case!"
Since there is only four days' journey, if he goes forward and Yu Zai comes to meet him, then it will only take two days to meet him - after all, traveling in both directions is the fastest.
The staff thought for a while, but felt that this two-way trip was not very necessary. It was very useless and a waste of manpower and material resources, so they advised: "If Vice General Yu and the others want to break camp and come to greet them, they need to make a lot of preparations and make people
Sending a message also takes time, and it won’t be much faster if you are afraid of going back and forth.”
"Who asked them to break camp? So, tell Yu Zai and let him come with a light horse, and the rest will stay where they are to guard the camp!" Li Yi insisted on letting Yu Zai come to meet him. Yu Zai was his most trusted confidant.
, has followed him for many years and is loyal to him.
In order to prevent the 80,000-strong army from not being subject to his military orders, he reluctantly let Yu Zai lead the army out.
When people are scared and uneasy, they always want to have people they trust around them.
Wanting Yu Zai to help him was an urgent intuition deep in Li Yi's heart, and soon he would find that his intuition was correct - it was just too late.
The staff could not resist him, so they obeyed the order and sent a letter to Yu Zai overnight.
Li Yi paced back and forth in the tent, sometimes asking his staff if the army behind him could catch up tomorrow, and sometimes asking Yu Zai where he could be reached as soon as possible.
He calculated again and again, asked again and again, and was still uneasy until a secret letter was sent to his tent.
It's a secret message from Chuzhou.
After showing the letter, Li Yi was suddenly overjoyed. He felt that the sharp sword hanging above his head suddenly disappeared.
"...Chang Kuo is finally dead!" He said with great surprise.
Died in Chuzhou!
Xu Zhengye said that he would help him reach Yangzhou smoothly, so he set up an ambush to kill Chang Kuo along the way. Wei Jun, the governor of Chuzhou, was Xu Zhengye's man, which Xu Zhengye had already informed him in his letter.
Wei Jun also had someone send him a letter to exchange news with each other, which can be regarded as a face-to-face meeting in the letter.
After hearing this, the two staff members hurriedly read the letter.
"Great!" Li Yi felt that happiness came too suddenly, and he was a little scared: "He really wanted to kill me, but he led his army to Chuzhou..."
Chuzhou is only two days away from where he is at this time!
Fortunately, Wei Jun was reliable and allowed Chang Kuo to die in Chuzhou!
Thinking about it now, Chang Kuo only has a few wounded and disabled generals around him now, what kind of situation can it become? It is because he has always been too afraid of the other party, that is why he is so uneasy and regards the other party as a serious problem.
But no matter what, once the person dies, everything will be fine!
"This letter from Governor Wei also said that he learned that the commander-in-chief only had 10,000 forwards to protect him, and was willing to lead the Chuzhou Army to escort the commander-in-chief to Yangzhou. He is already on his way here..." A staff member looked at the letter and said doubtfully:
"Is this also Xu Zhengye's arrangement?"
"Not necessarily." Li Yi laughed: "What about escorting me? I think he clearly wants me to escort him to Yangzhou -"
"My 140,000-strong army is about to rendezvous, and we still lack the escort of Chuzhou Army?" Li Yidao said: "He killed Chang Kuo, which was equivalent to breaking up with the court. After the matter was exposed, he naturally could not handle it alone."
His analysis was sound and logical, which was in line with the current situation and human nature: "So he is going to Yangzhou to ask for credit from Xu Zhengye, and he is also seeking asylum by the way!"
"Didn't it say in the letter? He will come with Chang Kuo's head!"
If this is not asking for merit, what is it?
Out of caution, the two staff took out Wei Jun's last letter and carefully compared the handwriting and seal, but found nothing unusual.
Li Yi no longer had any doubts and felt at ease, and even asked people to prepare wine to celebrate.
While picking up the wine glass, the staff did not forget to ask: "In that case... in the opinion of the commander-in-chief, should the letter just sent to Vice General Yu be recovered?"
"No need." Li Yida said, "Let him come and be prepared."
Without Chang Kuo, there will be other threats. He has already heard that the imperial envoy has arrived in Jiangnan, and there will definitely be action in the near future.
But this does not hinder Li Yi's good mood at the moment. In his opinion, no one will be more difficult to deal with than Chang Kuo. Chang Kuo is already dead, so is he still afraid of a mere imperial envoy?
All the tension and anxiety he had felt along the way was relieved at this moment, and Li Yi drank happily.
His staff advised him not to drink too much, but he listened and did not let himself get drunk.
But under the influence of alcohol, he fell asleep very soundly, and it was almost noon when he opened his eyes the next day.
Without the threat of Chang Kuo, Li Yi no longer panicked. Under the advice of his staff, he decided to wait for the 50,000 troops behind him to arrive before heading out together. This was safer.
When it was getting dark, Li Yi really waited for the news that the army had arrived.
In order to catch up with him, the army came from Shouzhou for many days and was already exhausted. However, Li Yi rested here for a day and night, and now he was full of energy. Regardless of the soldiers' physical fatigue, he said that "military planes cannot be delayed."
As a result, the army was only allowed to rest on the spot for an hour, and then continued on its way through the night.
At noon the next day, when the soldiers and horses were resting and eating, a scout suddenly came to report that they had discovered traces of the Chuzhou Army from the right.
Li Yi's staff asked seriously: "Is it really the Chuzhou Army? Can we find out clearly?"
The soldier nodded: "He is indeed from Chuzhou. The military flag and uniform cannot be faked. He is indeed a sergeant from Chuzhou. The leader is wearing the official uniform of the governor."
Li Yidao: "In that case, let's wait for them here."
He had no interest in the Chuzhou Army, and at this moment he did not pay much attention to the Governor Wei, whom he had never met before, but he obviously wanted to see Chang Kuo's head with his own eyes.
The army took the opportunity to rest here, and after waiting for more than an hour, they saw the Chuzhou army coming.
Li Yi then got off the carriage and, accompanied by two staff, came to the front of the army to meet the Chuzhou governor.
"The lower official is Wei Jun, the governor of Chuzhou. I have met General Li!" A middle-aged man wearing the official robe of the governor saluted Li Yi.
Li Yi glanced at him, nodded, and quickly moved his eyes to the box held by the soldier beside him.
The middle-aged man understood and said hurriedly: "This is my first visit to you. I have prepared a small gift and asked General Li to take a look..."
With that said, he personally held the heavy box and walked towards Li Yi.
But when he was about to approach Li Yi, he was stopped by an aide who raised his hand.
The staff member smiled and said: "It's better to let a certain generation watch it first——"
The middle-aged man complied: "Please."
The staff member carefully looked at the box twice before raising his hand to open it.
At this moment, Li Yi was surrounded by his confidants, so there was no need to worry that Chang Kuo's head appearing here would cause turmoil in the army.
After all, it was impossible for Li Yi to publicize the news of Chang Kuo's death in such a way at this time.
Just check it out.
When the box was opened, it was indeed a dead head.
However, the staff member's eyes changed, and he immediately raised his eyes to look at the "Chuzhou Governor" holding the box: "I'm afraid Governor Wei has admitted the wrong person!"
When Li Yi heard this, he immediately took a step forward, but immediately frowned.
Although he didn't recognize who this head was, it was not Chang Kuo at all!
What does this Chuzhou governor mean? Did he kill the wrong person? What about Chang Kuo? He escaped?!
Li Yi had noticed something was wrong, and the staff beside him pointed directly at the "Chuzhou Governor" and said: "Get this person!"
I'm afraid there's some fraud involved!
This staff member was very vigilant and decisive, and slightly modified the description. Deputy General Jin, who was pretending to be Wei Jun, cursed "bad luck" in his heart, immediately threw the box towards Li Yi, and at the same time pulled out the long knife under his cloak.
The girl said that it would be great if she could take the opportunity to capture Li Yi first!
But the girl also said that if the situation is not good, there is no need to force it, and self-protection must be the first priority.
In order to check the head of "Chang Kuo", Li Yi only had dozens of confidants around him. The other soldiers were guarding ten steps away. Before more soldiers could surround him, Vice General Jin drew his sword together with the soldiers beside him.
Move back while fighting.
Not far away, Chang Sui Ning, who was wearing a Chuzhou military uniform, saw this and immediately led others to ride their horses and go to rescue the people.
Li Yi was protected and hid behind, while angrily ordering: "...These people are Xu's rebel comrades, destroy them quickly!"
The deputy generals and lieutenants in the army reacted temporarily when they heard this.
Why did the fight suddenly start?
Aren't they members of the Chuzhou Army? How could they become allies of the rebels?
However, when the military order came, the army that was still resting immediately stood up on guard, picked up their weapons, and rushed forward in formation.
But suddenly he heard loud shouts from the opposing army: "General Chang is here! Are you going to commit the following crime and kill the deputy commander!"
General Chang?!
When everyone was shocked, they saw a man and a horse from the opposing army approaching the formation. He was tall and tall, with majestic features and eyes. He was undoubtedly Chang Kuo!