Strange Tales from the Northern Qi Dynasty

Chapter 238 Killing the King

Liu Taozi was sitting in the upper seat, and his attendants were taking off his armor.

At this moment, Yao Xiong had already knelt in front of him, crying loudly.

Liu Taozi was still taking off his armor when Kou Liu hurried forward to help him up.

When Yao Xiong saw Kou Liu, tears welled up in his eyes, "Liu!!"

Liu Taozi finally took off his heavy armor. His whole body trembled and he clenched his fists. Wearing this heavy armor for a whole day would be too much for even the strongest man.

He then looked at Yao Xiong in front of him, "Why are you crying?"

"Brother, I am incompetent. I was defeated by the Turks and they invaded me."

"It's all my fault, please punish me, brother!"

Yao Xiong was about to bow again, but Kou Liu quickly stopped him and looked at Liu Taozi, "Brother, Xiong's defense line is too long and he faces too many enemies. Moreover, the garrisons he personally guarded have never been lost. The enemy came from Yan and An."

Speaking of this, Yao Xiong suddenly woke up, and he gritted his teeth and said, "I almost forgot about this!"

"Brother, I am guilty and I deserve to be killed, but the governors of Beiyan, Dongyan, Bei'an, An and other states! They are all bastards!"

"I discovered in advance that the enemy was gathering in the direction of Dongyan, so I sent someone to inform the governor of Dongyan and asked them to gather the local troops and prepare for resistance!"

"As a result, after the governor of Dongyan learned about this, he ran away!"

"The Eastern Yan army had no one to lead it, and it was immediately defeated. The governor of Northern Yan didn't run away, but this idiot drove 5,000 people to attack the Turkic army. A full 5,000 people, who traveled a long distance, just encountered the Turks and were defeated in one battle! This guy might as well run away!"

"The other states were also in all kinds of messes. I sent people to rescue them, but they refused to give us food and refused to let our troops enter, saying they were following orders from the Emperor!!"

"Brother, I am really wronged!!"

At this moment, Yao Xiong was like a bullied child, telling Liu Taozi about all the inhumane operations in the neighboring states.

In order to besiege Liu Taozi and prevent him from fleeing to other states and counties, the imperial court promoted some close relatives to the states to the east of Liu Taozi to carry out the siege.

The result was that Yao Xiong was trapped. These people were more outrageous than each other, and they were more active in dealing with Yao Xiong than the Turks. After listening to Yao Xiong's words, Kou Liu even suddenly felt that Yao Xiong was quite capable to help such a person defend the border.
Liu Taozi's expression became increasingly ugly.

The corner of his left eye twitched, revealing a hint of ferocity.

"We will go to Hengzhou first, and attack Wang Jie from both inside and outside with Zhang Heizu. Then, Yao Xiong, you will follow Zhang Heizu to capture Beiyan, Dongyan, and Anzhou, and integrate their local armies. If there are officials who disobey, they can be killed."

"Capture?"

Yao Xiong's eyes lit up, Kou Liu was also stunned, he hurriedly asked: "Brother, are we going to capture the four eastern states?"

In the past, when facing Shuozhou and Hengzhou, my brother only used words like "stationed" and "suppressed the rebellion". This was the first time he directly stated that he wanted to capture them.

It’s the same thing, but different words represent different ways of advancing.

"First, we need to repel Wang Jie and the Turks around him."

"The Turks may seem to have 100,000 soldiers, but in fact they have no intention of fighting. As long as we defeat the Zhou people who are leading the way for them, we can repel their army."

"Now, while they are still unaware of the situation here, send troops immediately!!"

"only!!!"

Shuozhou, Guang'an County.

"Good news!! Good news!!"

The scouts rode their horses and shouted along the way, and the people in the city looked around. The scouts rushed all the way to the government office.

Only a group of people were left talking excitedly.

The scout rushed into the government office and went all the way to the villa. After reporting, he quickly walked into the house.

"Meet Tian"

As soon as the scout opened his mouth, he discovered that Tian Zili was sitting on the side, and the person sitting in the main seat was Gao Yan.

The scout quickly changed his words, "Provincial Governor!"

Gao Yan smiled and asked, "What good news?"

The scout did not answer him, but looked at Tian Zili, who was a little angry, "The governor is asking you! Why don't you answer?"

The scout then said, "Report to the governor! General Anxi led his troops to Beiheng and Hengzhou and won a great victory. He killed the pseudo-Zhou general Erzhumin, defeated the rebel general Wang Jie, the rebel chieftain Ashina Yandu and others, and drove more than 100,000 Turks out of Hengzhou and outside the Great Wall."

Gao Yan was completely stunned. He looked at Tian Zili beside him in amazement, "General Liu is truly invincible!"

"We defeated Yang Zhong in Shiben before, and now we have defeated the Turkic army of 100,000 in Hengzhou!!"

"It's not an exaggeration to say that he is the most famous general in the Great Qi!"

Tian Zili cleared his throat and said quickly: "This is because the Turks have no intention of attacking. General Anxi is still young after all."

Gao Yan shook his head and said, "That can't be said. General Anxi's ability in marching and fighting is truly extraordinary."

The scout hesitated to speak, Tian Zili looked at him, "Any other good news?"

The scout whispered, "General Liu is leading his troops to Dongyan and other states to pursue the Turkic cavalry who have fled there."

Tian Zili was stunned and quickly looked at Gao Yan, "Your Majesty, this is not good."

"General Anxi will certainly enter the eastern states if he pursues these bandits. Many of the governors of the states have fled or died in battle. Those in the court who dislike General Anxi will surely spread rumors that the general is trying to capture the Yanzhou states, sowing discord between the emperor and his subjects. Your Majesty doesn't like General Anxi."

Gao Yan laughed, "Don't worry!"

He immediately began to write, and wrote for a long time before handing it to Tian Zili.

"Send someone to give this order to General Liu, and tell him that it was me who ordered him to go and attack. Although I am only a governor, I still hold the title of Grand Tutor, and I was ordered to supervise the border areas. I ordered him to chase the bandits and pacify the various places, so the court has no reason to punish him."

"In addition, I will write a letter to King Pengcheng and ask him to report to His Majesty. You don't have to worry."

Tian Zili hurriedly thanked Gao Yan.

Gao Yan said happily: "The war is going so smoothly, and your majesty is going to Jinyang in person to take charge of the front line to defeat the bandits! The world will be pacified!"

Tian Zili looked at him, silent.

Jinyang, Jinyang Palace.

Gao Zhan sat in the upper seat, looking at the generals on both sides. He felt particularly relaxed at the moment.

No wonder his brothers don’t like staying in Yecheng and prefer to come to Jinyang.

Sure enough, Jinyang is still the best.

He looked around, and the nobles looked at him with extremely complicated expressions.

Gao Zhan smiled and raised his wine cup, saying, "This time, General Anxi has won victory after victory. Even Yang Zhong is no match for him. I have gained a powerful general!"

After saying that, he looked at the people around him again.

The faces of these old nobles from Jinyang really turned ugly.

Murong Sanzang took several sips of bitter wine in silence. Po Liuhan snorted again and turned his head away. Modulou Jingxian's face became ferocious, and Duguzhi gulped down the wine.

Compared with the pro-Tao trend among the top leaders, these military leaders still hold ill will towards Liu Taozi.

Military leaders are the simplest group of people. They don’t have too many thoughts. As long as their superiors do not weaken their power, they are willing to do things for them.

Gao Zhan had originally been thinking about how to weaken these military leaders, but he now realized that if he weakened these military leaders, those ministers would take advantage of him!

I almost went astray and forgot my roots.

Gao Zhan cleared his throat and continued, "The Equal Land Distribution Order has been implemented for a long time, but there are no results. There is chaos everywhere, which has caused many problems."

Everyone's eyes suddenly brightened.

Duan Shao was sitting at the front of the crowd. He couldn't help but frowning as he listened to Gao Zhan's words.

Since the time of Gao Cheng, the emperor has been trying to suppress the old military leaders in Jinyang. They have tried various methods, and now the power of the military leaders has begun to be partially weakened. What does this mean now? ? Want to support them again?
Gao Zhan did not continue speaking. He continued to use his old skills to greet and chat with everyone, and the conversation was lively.

Gao Zhan was quite eloquent and was close to these people, although he had never looked for them after he ascended the throne.

The banquet was lively and the nobles returned happily.

Duan Shao was left behind.

Gao Zhan took Duan Shao along the road. At present, Duan Shao was the general Gao Zhan trusted the most. Even on the layoff list in his mind, Duan Shao's name was not on it.

"King Pingyuan, I plan to send you to Pingyang to resist Da Xiwu."

Even though he trusted the other party, Gao Zhan still wanted him to leave temporarily.

Because Duan Shao was generally pro-Tao, even though he had never spoken for Liu Taozi, when Gao Zhan sent Gao Anagong to Sizhou, he still intervened and asked Gao Changgong to go with him.

Duan Shao asked: "If I leave Jinyang, who will be stationed here?"

"Huolvguang can."

Gao Zhan answered without hesitation. Duan Shao was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "That's fine. I will send troops to Pingyang tomorrow."

Gao Zhan looked at him with gentle eyes, "Prince Pingyang."

"I was deceived by the thieves before and did a lot of foolish things. From now on, I will definitely correct it."

"I will make use of the wise officials in the country, inherit the will of my father and brother, and pacify the world."

Duan Shao pursed his lips.

Gao Zhan continued, "I plan to marry the daughter of Hu Changguang to the crown prince. I want to arrange their marriage as soon as possible. What do you think?"

Duan Shao was stunned, "Your Majesty, the prince is still young at the moment."

"No problem! I'm still thinking of choosing a virtuous woman from the Pingyang royal family to marry my second son!"

"My family will definitely become something great in the future!"

The two chatted, Gao Zhan did not hide his love for his youngest son at all, and his eyes almost sparkled when he talked about his youngest son. Duan Shao also put aside his nervousness and chatted with Gao Zhan with laughter.

The next day, Duan Shao led his troops away from Jinyang.

Hulugu then received an order to go to the palace.

Hulugu went to Jinyang Palace alone without any hesitation or bringing anyone with him.

Outside the hall, there were crowds of soldiers, all fully armed and murderous. On both sides of the steps, there were soldiers holding spears, staring fiercely ahead.

Hulugu walked quickly and started to climb the stairs. When he came over, these soldiers who were as fierce as tigers and wolves immediately panicked. They no longer had the ferocity they had just now. They all lowered their heads and dared not look at him.

Hulugu walked over with big strides, and suddenly, he stopped and looked at the soldier beside him.

"Who taught you to carry your quiver on your back?!"

The soldier hurriedly took off his quiver and hung it in front of him. Hulugu nodded and continued to pass.

Only after he passed by did the soldiers breathe a sigh of relief and their faces turned fierce.

Gao Zhan smiled and took his hand, and his attitude towards him became kind again.

The two sat down one after another. Gao Zhan asked about his family situation and said helplessly, "What a pity. The Queen Mother personally granted the marriage. My prince can't marry your daughter!"

"When are you going to marry Liu Taozi?"

Hulugu replied: "I will prepare to get married in three years."

"Yes, yes, when the time comes, I will definitely personally congratulate both of your families!"

Gao Zhan smiled, then frowned again, "Prince Pingyang told me about the situation in various places before he set out. The current border defense is really weak, and there are not enough checkpoints and garrisons."

"It is like this. I intend to have you build Xunzhang City to the west of Chenguan Pass, build a 200-li long wall, and set up thirteen garrisons to strengthen the surrounding defenses."

Hulugu frowned, "Your Majesty, now is not a good time to build a fortress. I have always been worried that Yang Zhong will attack Jinyang. When King Pingyuan and I discussed the enemy's strategy, we thought that Yang Zhong might take a detour. Now that King Pingyuan has left, how can I leave Bingzhou to build elsewhere? If Your Majesty is determined to do so, please send someone to stop King Pingyuan. I will go to Pingyang in his place, keep an eye on Da Xiwu, and build the city wall and the garrison."

"Wouldn't that be hard for General Hulu?"

"Besides, you don't have to worry too much. I have already sent Yi Di Huiluo to Sizhou to guard the important pass. The enemy can't get in."

"Your Majesty, Yi Di Huiluo is good at fighting, but he is too old to serve as the commander!"

"I plan to have Duguzhi stationed in Bing to guard against it."

"Your Majesty, General Duguzhi is a greedy man. He often withholds rewards from his soldiers and treats them very rudely. He is not suitable for this position."

Gao Zhan was a little angry. "Why? According to you, all the generals in the court are not as good as you? Without you, Da Qi would be destroyed?!"

Hulugu didn't dare to say anything more.

"Just do as I say!"

"only"

Yecheng.

In the Shangshu office, Gao Runzheng took out a few documents and handed them to his brother Gao Yin.

Gao Run ranks fourteenth among the fourteen waters of the Gao family, and he is the youngest one.

At most, I’m just twenty years old.

And his mother is the famous Zheng Dache.

When Gao Huan was still alive, Gao Cheng had an affair with Zheng Dache, which was later discovered by Gao Huan. At that time, Erzhu Ying'e had just given birth to the fifth son Gao Yan. Gao Huan wanted to depose Gao Cheng from the position of crown prince, prevent Lou Zhaojun's sons from taking the throne, and make the fifth son Gao Yan the heir.

Sima Ziru designed a plan to dispel Gao Huan's idea of ​​deposing and enthroning the emperor, but he didn't know whether this was a good thing or not.

However, Zheng Dache did not suffer persecution and gave birth to a son, Gao Run. Later, there were rumors that there was something wrong between Gao Run and Zheng Dache, but it cannot be clearly stated here.

Despite many bizarre rumors about him such as "eldest brother is father" and "eldest sister-in-law is wife", Gao Run was not a mad king. He was similar to Gao Xun and Gao Yan. Apart from his handsome appearance, he was an honest and upright official. He exposed the false and corrupt officials and ignored the powerful.

Gao Yin was very nice to him, and when others humiliated him with gossip, Gao Yin would always stand up to protect him.

"Brother, this is Cui Ang's confession. He admitted that he had met He Shikai and helped him embezzle the transportation money and grain."

Gao Yu was a little surprised, "He admitted it so quickly?"

“I detained the officials separately and told them that the first one to surrender would be pardoned.”

"When Cui Ang heard this, he immediately admitted his crime."

Gao Yu's expression softened a lot. Looking at his brother in front of him, he was very pleased. "You did a good job. Those spies haven't been caught yet?"

"He has not been caught. There must be many fake Zhou spies in Yecheng. I searched everywhere but couldn't find any trace of him."

"However, I found many granaries hidden in Yecheng. I discovered that some officials were secretly hoarding food in Yecheng, lots and lots of food."

Gao Yu's eyebrows twitched, "I understand, I will take care of it."

"Brother! There are traitors and corrupt officials in the city, we must not let them go!"

"I know"

As the two were talking, Gao Rui rushed into the room. As soon as he walked in, he pointed at Gao Run and cursed, "Look at what you have done!"

He looked at Gao Yu, "Is this the order from King Pengcheng?!"

"Let him lead people to search the whole city?!"

Gao Yu was stunned, and then looked at Gao Run. Gao Run frowned, "It's me! Why, those granaries are yours?!"

"What granary!"

"How can you send officials to search every household?! What are you doing?! Do you know what kind of people these officials are?"

"Why don't you just send in the army and plunder the entire city?!"

Gao Run was shocked when he heard Gao Rui's question. He quickly looked at Gao Yu who was standing beside him and said, "Brother, no, I have always told those officials not to bully the people."

Gao Yu's eyes widened, seeming to want to say something but stopping himself.

Gao Rui sneered, "Prince Feng Yi is incredible! These emperors have not been able to stop the things, but as soon as you open your mouth, they dare not do it anymore, is that right?"

Gao Run's face flushed, and he suddenly lowered his head, "I was wrong."

Gao Yu sighed, "You really shouldn't have done that. This is also my fault for letting you be in charge of the search."

Gao Rui said: "Now that things have come to this, there is no need to say more. Let's think about how to comfort and help the people!"

"Run, you have to pay for the mistakes you made! Do it now."

"Forget it, let me do it."

Gao Rui interrupted Gao Yu, "Prince Feng Yi is young after all, so it would be better for Prince Pengcheng to keep him by your side and let him study with you for a few more years."

Gao Rui sneered and left.

Gao Yu looked at his brother helplessly, "You."

Gao Run lowered his head and dared not speak. Gao Yin led him out of the office.

A carriage was parked on the side of the road, and in the distance there were soldiers patrolling back and forth.

Gao Yu led Gao Run to the car. As they sat inside, Gao Yu said again, "Come back with me. I still have some food at home. Take it out and send it to Shang Shu Ling to appease him. You also have to take out your own food!"

"Thank you very much, brother."

The carriage drove forward and passed the main road. At the entrance of a distant alley, there were several merchants pushing carts. When they saw the approaching people, they hurriedly dodged.

In the carriage, Gao Run said seriously: "I will definitely correct it in the future"

"You are just too young to know the evil of these people. You dare not imagine how bad they can be."

"Whoosh~~"

"Whoosh~~"

"Whoosh~~"

"Whoosh~~"

"Pfft~~"

Just as the soldiers were moving forward to drive them away, the merchants suddenly took out powerful crossbows, and another group of people rushed out from both sides. The soldiers were horrified and hurried to stop them.

But the powerful crossbow had already fired a round of shots at the carriage.

Covering the carriage in the distance from three directions.

These merchants looked fierce and shouted, "For General Wei!!"

"kill!!"

The soldiers fought with them, and in a moment, these people were hacked to death. Soldiers came from all over the place and hurriedly stationed themselves around.

The soldiers hurriedly got on the car to protect the two kings.

Gao Yin's face was covered in blood, and he sat motionless in the car.

In his arms lay the body of Fengyi Prince Gao Run, with several arrows stuck in his chest.

He was trembling and wanted to say something, but blood kept oozing from the corners of his mouth. He looked at his brother with wide eyes, and finally lowered his head weakly.

Gao Yu slowly lowered his head and looked at his brother who was dead and lifeless in his arms.

"what!!!!!!"

(End of this chapter)