knife

Chapter 511 Big Trouble

Linghu Shili spurred his warhorse forward like a madman.

His helmet was nowhere to be seen, his hair was disheveled, and streaks of blood streamed down his head. His fine armor was riddled with arrows, making him look like a hedgehog.

The horse I was riding had already been changed to the third one.

With a loud crash, Linghu Shili was thrown off his horse, somersaulting backward several times before landing and stumbling back several steps before regaining his balance. He then held his sword across his chest and looked at Fang Xiaomao, who was slowly approaching on horseback.

He roared in anger and resentment.

“Linghu Shili, surrender!” Fang Xiaomao looked at him and said, “For the sake of the fact that we once fought side by side against the Yuan people, as long as you are willing to surrender, I will let you go back.”

Linghu Shili leaned on his knife, staring wide-eyed at Fang Xiaomao: "You sick cat, if you were in my shoes, would you surrender to me?"

Fang Xiaomao pondered for a moment, then shook her head: "I can't!"

"Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you. You don't know that, so why should I surrender?" Linghu Shili said coldly, "Do you look down on people that much?"

"You lost!" Fang Xiaomao said. "If you don't surrender, you die!"

"So be it!" Linghu Shili laughed loudly, "How could any man of the Linghu family be afraid of death!"

After saying this, Linghu Shili actually held the sword to his neck and roared to the sky, "Uncle, I was wrong, brothers, wait for me!"

Before Fang Xiaomao could say anything more, he slashed hard with the knife in his hand, and blood spurted out. Linghu Shili's burly body fell backward with a thud.

They died so cleanly and efficiently!

Fang Xiaomao knew that this kid was going to die. Even if he returned to Chang'an, Linghu Ye would still kill him.

Family ties cannot dictate military law.

Linghu Shili acted on his own initiative, disregarding Linghu Ye's orders. He was greedy for merit and acted rashly, falling into the enemy's trap. He directly lost more than 5,000 elite troops that Linghu Ye had brought from beyond the Great Wall. Losing even one of these veterans would be heartbreaking. Now, all 5,000 of them have been boiled alive by the enemy. Even if Linghu Shili were Linghu Ye's own son, let alone just his nephew, he would still have to go to the execution ground.

Dying like this is actually cleaner.

At least they won't be prosecuted anymore.

After all, death is the greatest tragedy.

Li Guohua sat in the earthen house at the end of the main street in the small town of Linwu.

This room has been used by the Emperor, Wei Zhengdao, and Linghu Shili, and now it has become Li Guohua's temporary residence.

Li Guohua did not bring many people with him, only a few hundred guards.

According to Linghu Ye's orders, Linghu Shili was to advance slowly, maintaining pressure on Hanzhong. Wei Zhengdao had no other choice.

Linghu Ye was not worried about Shu.

Hanzhong is strategically located and controls key routes. If Shu wants to seize Hanzhong, there are only two routes: Jinniu Road or Micang Road. Given the capabilities of Wei Zhengdao and his son, they would not fail to send troops to guard key locations. No matter how powerful the Shu army is, it would not be possible to conquer these places in a short time.

A slow and deliberate advance, allowing Wei Zhengdao to feel the pressure from the Shu army, would be beneficial for the subsequent negotiations.

But Li Guohua never expected that Linghu Shili would not slow down, but instead accelerate.

He couldn't understand the hidden story behind it all at the moment, but something must have happened to cause Linghu Shili to do this.

Could it be that the Shu army has already arrived in Hanzhong?
The sound of rapid hoofbeats rang out outside, and a moment later, several guards rushed in, supporting a man dressed as a captain, his body covered in blood.

Li Guohua's heart sank to the bottom.

"General, we've been ambushed! We're all gone! Everyone's gone! Even General Linghu is dead!" The blood-soaked captain looked at Li Guohua. "Five thousand brothers! Three thousand were trapped inside the city, and two thousand were surrounded outside. Only a handful managed to escape!"

Unable to catch his breath, the captain suddenly fainted. Everyone was stunned.

Li Guohua took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing his fear, and said, "Call a physician to treat this brother's wounds first. Immediately send scouts to scout the direction of Hanzhong City and, at the same time, bring back the brothers who escaped!"

"Yes, sir!" Several soldiers clasped their hands in obeisance and left.

Li Guohua paced slowly around the room, his mind momentarily confused.

Wei Zhengdao has no reason to do this!

Does he think he's too old to live?
A long, drawn-out exhale reached his ears, and the captain slowly awoke under the physician's care.

"Who is the enemy?" Li Guohua stepped forward and asked.

"It's the Shu army!" the captain said. "I recognize Fang Xiaomao. He's the leader of those enemies who surrounded us outside the city!"

Li Guohua chuckled, and upon hearing this answer, all his doubts were instantly resolved.

Hanzhong Commandery no longer belongs to Wei Zhengdao.

When Li Dachui plotted to seize Shu County, the plan to take Hanzhong must have been executed simultaneously. To accomplish all this, all that was needed was to capture the most important figure.

This person was Zhou Xuan.

Although he didn't know the specifics yet, Li Guohua could guess the general situation. It was nothing more than that after Shu County turned Zhou Xuan against the government, they easily captured Wei Zhengdao and Wei Yi at this time.

Then, taking advantage of the fact that everyone believed Wei Zhengdao could only surrender to the Wei clan, they set a trap in Hanzhong County to lure Linghu Shili into falling for it.

As for why Linghu Shili, who always followed the rules, fell for the enemy's trap, we'll only know the reason once more people escaped.

"Let's retreat!" Li Guohua sighed and said to the soldiers around him.

Everyone was also dejected. The main army ahead had been wiped out, and they only had a few hundred men. If they didn't leave soon, the enemy would catch up and they would only add more merits to the enemy's record.

Li Guohua's influence far surpasses that of Linghu Shili.

"General, what should we do next?" an officer asked.

Li Guohua said with a wry smile, "We're about to be in big trouble!"

"Although we unexpectedly lost Hanzhong Commandery, disrupting our plans, we only need some time to prepare. We can still mobilize a large force to attack Hanzhong Commandery again. What is the reason for the General's statement that there is big trouble?" someone asked, puzzled.

“The big trouble I’m talking about isn’t military, it’s political!” Li Guohua said with some distress. “I guess Wei Zhengdao and his son Wei Yi must be dead.”

"So what if they're dead? How much trouble have these Wei father and son caused us over the years? How many brothers have died at their hands along the way!"

"It doesn't matter if the Wei family father and son die, but there is an extremely important person who is with them. What if he also dies..."

The officer beside Li Guohua looked at him in horror: "General, are you talking about that little emperor?"

Li Guohua nodded. "This is our biggest problem! If the young emperor really dies in Hanzhong County, who do you think killed him?"

"Of course it's the Shu army! It's Wu De, it's Fang Xiaomao!"

Li Guohua shook his head: "No, we must have killed them!"

Everyone looked at Li Guohua with blank expressions.

What does it have to do with us?

(End of this chapter)