My father, King Chu, was besieged at Gaixia

Chapter 112 Blood for blood
"What are you going to do?" Shusun Tong blinked a few times and asked.

"Since he wiped out my entire family, I will naturally repay blood with blood and justice with justice." Huang Jizhong stood up, his face full of murderous intent.

Shusun Tong frowned, instinctively feeling that this matter was very strange. But seeing that General Huang Jizhong was in a trance and in a state of madness, completely overwhelmed by hatred, he was filled with anger and eager to vent it. He not only lost the ability to distinguish clearly, but also lost the patience to listen to persuasion.

Shusun Tong changed his mind and thought that since Huang Jizhong was still hesitant to make up his mind to rebel, then killing all the members of Grand Marshal Chu Licuo's family would be a good choice. As long as he took this step, he would not be able to retreat. In this way, step by step, he would eventually embark on the road of rebellion.

After realizing this, Shusun Tong kept silent.

"Oh my god!"

Suddenly, a sharp howl like that of a wounded wolf was heard outside the side hall, and the howl sounded strangely familiar.

"Is it Huang Baer?" Huang Jizhong keenly recognized the voice of his eldest son. He stood up and ran out of the side hall and came to the backyard. Sure enough, he saw a young general with a strong back and a thin waist and a face as red as a date. He was holding his mother's coffin tightly and had fainted from crying.

Another general, who was about thirty years old, with a pale face and no beard and a calm demeanor, was also howling miserably while holding a coffin.

It was his son Huang Ba and son-in-law Luo Dian, who served as the General of the Central Army in the Northern Army. Apparently, they had heard the news in the Northern Army and hurried back to attend the funeral.

Shusun Tong quickly asked the servants to help the two men into the side hall, and wiped Huang Baer's forehead and neck with a cloth dipped in cold water to wake him up.

Then Huang Jizhong, his son and son-in-law hugged each other and cried bitterly again.

"Father, who did this? Was it really the thief Xiang Chang from the Great Chu envoy group? If it was really him, I, Huang Baer, ​​swear to capture him alive at all costs, and cut out his heart and liver in front of mother's coffin to pay tribute to her spirit in heaven." Huang Baer wiped the rolling tears with his sleeves, jumped up, drew his sword, and swung it hard, screaming, "Ah Ah".

Huang Baer was hot-tempered and bloodthirsty. Whether in the military camp or in the government, once he was offended, he would kill him to vent his anger. Now that his entire family had been slaughtered, how could he bear such hatred? He wanted to rush to Xiang Chang immediately, drag him back, chop him into pieces, and grind his bones to ash.

"You've come back just in time! Huang Baer is right. How can such a blood feud of exterminating an entire family go unrequited? As for who did it, I've already found out." Huang Jizhong calmed down and said coldly, "Not only Xiang Chang, but also the thief Grand Marshal Chu Licuo. How many guards did you two bring back? Three hundred? That's enough, more than enough."

Huang Baer was invigorated and shouted:
"Father, give the order. I'm going to kill Xiang Chang, the bastard. As for Grand Marshal Chu Licuo, I'll kill his entire family after I kill Xiang Chang. And as for Gong Wei, the old thief, just charge into the palace and chop him all off."

Gong Wei protected Xiang Chang and stopped Huang Jizhong from taking revenge, which obviously made him deeply hated by Huang Baer.

Hearing his words, Shusun Tong's eyes lit up. Just as he was about to speak out to encourage him, Huang Jizhong cursed:
"How dare you! Do you think rebellion is just a game? Since you have decided to take revenge, you must make a quick decision first. How can you just chop down every family one by one? You lead 300 guards to attack the guesthouse and cut Xiang Chang into pieces. Bring back his head to sacrifice to our whole family. Luo Dian, you lead 600 soldiers of your family to raid Chu Licuo's mansion and kill him. Blood for blood. All the soldiers must wear masks and must not reveal their identities. The time is tonight at midnight."

Huang Baer had a ferocious look on his face, and he and Luo Dian, who had a solemn look on his face, nodded heavily at the same time to receive the order.

Luo Dian was careful and said softly, "Sir, the guesthouse is guarded by guards. I'm afraid it will be difficult for Huang Baer to charge in with his 300 guards. It would be better to swap with my 600 soldiers."

Huang Jizhong looked at him with satisfaction and patted her shoulder. "I am very pleased that you brothers love and support each other. Don't worry, Meng Xia, the chief guard of the guesthouse, was originally my subordinate. I have sent someone to invite him here. He is a person who values ​​self-interest and is eager to be promoted in the military. As long as I promise to keep him safe and promote him by two levels, he will definitely obey."

"When the time comes, let him make way under the pretext of changing shifts. The Great Chu envoys are only about thirty people, and half of them are injured. Huang Baer will lead three hundred guards to rush in and kill them all. On the contrary, you are going to destroy the Chu Licuo mansion. Although it is a surprise attack, don't you know that desperate dogs will jump over the wall? You will definitely encounter desperate resistance from the guards in the mansion. It is a tough nut to crack. You need to be careful."

Luo Dian straightened his chest and said generously, "Don't worry, sir. Just sit in the mansion and watch how Huang Baer and I defeat the bandits. Chu Licuo was born a scholar and hates military strategy. The guards in the mansion look rough and fierce, but they are just a bunch of drunkards with nothing but pretense. I will definitely return with complete success."

Shusun Tong interrupted and filled in the gaps, saying, "The general cannot just sit in his house and gather his colleagues to discuss matters, while opening the door to the house for outsiders to see, to prove his innocence. In addition, he needs to gather the scattered forces of the family and transfer them back to Jiangling City in case of emergency."

Huang Jizhong nodded and agreed to everything.

Under the escort of Captain Mengxia and accompanied by Dianke Zhuang Rong, Xiang Chang led a group of thirty envoys, most miserable group in history, with arrow wounds and blood-stained clothes, through the city. Amid the pointing and poking of the onlookers, including common people, merchants and nobles, they arrived at the guesthouse not far from the northwest side of the palace.

The guesthouse occupies a large area.

In the shade of a large area of ​​dense trees, there are more than a dozen independent, quiet, gorgeous and comfortable houses of various sizes. Each house is different, with different architectural styles, pavilions, towers, rockeries, streams, and flower gardens, which are quite pleasing to the eye.

After all, the Linjiang Kingdom was a vassal state that owned a piece of land, and the guesthouse was the kingdom's first impression on foreign envoys, and it could be considered its facade. It was understandable that it was built with such care and luxury.

Zhuang Rong, the head official of the guest house, smiled and led Xiang Chang into the largest and most magnificent single house.

Although the Chu State was beaten so hard by the big man that it could not breathe and looked in danger, it was still powerful. Moreover, the Chu State had not been completely defeated. It was still the common ruler of the princes in the world. How could Zhuang Rong, a small guest, dare to neglect it? He obediently assigned the most luxurious and spacious house to the Chu State envoys. Captain Meng Xia, who was ordered by the king to protect them, snorted coldly, greeted Zhuang Rong, and then ordered the soldiers to deploy defenses around them without even looking at Xiang Chang.

After entering the mansion, Xiang Chang found that Zhuang Rong had already arranged for maids and servants to serve him. They were standing in the courtyard with their hands hanging down waiting to welcome him. He immediately waved his hand to drive them all away, and only asked Zhuang Rong to send in a few live sheep and some firewood every day. He did not need anything else, and his cavalrymen would do the work on their own. As for drinking water, there was a well in the courtyard, which could be used by oneself.

It was unexpected that Xiang Chang, at such a young age, was not only not self-pampered and greedy for enjoyment, but also so cautious. A hint of surprise and admiration flashed across Zhuang Rong's eyes, but he did not say much. He simply nodded and agreed, and did exactly what Xiang Chang ordered.

After Zhuang Rong left, Xiang Chang saw that there were no more outsiders, so he and the other cavalrymen took off their clothes one by one, and then took off the shrunken and broken blood-covered leather bags from their chests and threw them on the ground. The cavalrymen who were not "injured" drew water from the well, and everyone washed their bodies one by one, put on new clothes, and laughed at each other.

When everything was finished, Qu Fu ordered the cavalry to go forward and roll up all the tattered and dirty clothes and blood bags, then dug a deep pit in a remote corner of the yard, threw all the blood into the pit, burned it first, and then buried it.

It has to be said that Huang Jizhong is worthy of being the top general of Linjiang Kingdom. His prediction was correct. The attack on the envoys of Da Chu at the east gate was indeed a good show planned by Xiang Chang in which Xiang Chang attacked himself.

It was already confirmed that General Huang Jizhong had completely turned to the Han camp and became the enemy, and could kill him at any time. How could Xiang Chang dare to rashly enter the city? Since they were already enemies, not friends, Xiang Chang was not polite and decided to give Huang Jizhong a hard blow, making him feel heartbroken.

After some consideration, Xiang Chang decided on this plan. He would take the initiative to attack himself. This would muddy the waters and make Huang Jizhong and Shusun Tong's long-term plan come to nothing. At the same time, it would also force the King of Linjiang to come forward to appease him and send heavy troops to protect him, thus ensuring his safety during his stay in Jiangling.

When he told Zhou Yin and Bo Pi all about his plan, they were really shocked. They had never thought that it could be played like this? Especially Bo Pi, although he learned from Zhou Yin's letter that Xiang Chang "set an ambush and killed Guan Ying" and "talked about three kings in one day" in Gaixia City, he had not experienced it in person, and the feeling was not intuitive enough. He admired it in his heart, but it was not so shocking! Now seeing Xiang Chang's extraordinary and unconventional operation, he was really shocked for a while.

Next, Xiang Chang made full use of the energy and resources controlled by Bo Pi, the great pillar of the country. He first disguised the 1,000 cavalrymen he brought with him and quietly transported them into the city over a few days. Then he used all means to frame, intimidate, and bribe the servants in Huang Jizhong's mansion, and closely monitored the movements of the Han envoy Shusun Tong and the general Huang Jizhong.

The conspiracy between Huang Jizhong and Shusun Tong was consciously kept secret and no one knew about it. In fact, all the information about the mobilization and assembly of the soldiers in the mansion, the allocation and distribution of armor and weapons, etc., were continuously transmitted through the bribed servants in the mansion and had already been mastered by Xiang Chang.

Therefore, when Xiang Chang appeared at the east city gate, Huang Jizhong and Shusun Tong, who had learned the news, led their soldiers excitedly into the preset ambush site. The elite troops of the Great Chu who had entered Jiangling City several days in advance were able to break into Huang Jizhong's mansion with such precise timing and thoroughly ploughed through his mansion which had lost its effective protection.

After all, Huang Jizhong is a powerful general of the Linjiang Kingdom. It is easy to wipe out his entire family, but what is more important is whether we can withstand his crazy counterattack.

Xiang Chang didn't care about Huang Jizhong's counterattack. As long as Huang Jizhong didn't rebel, there was nothing to be afraid of. The only thing he needed to worry about was the attitude of Linjiang King Gongwei.

If Gong Wei chose to fully support Huang Jizhong and thus sided with the Han Dynasty, it would be bad, and their Great Chu envoys would have no way out; if Gong Wei tried to smooth things over, then things would be interesting, and Huang Jizhong's entire family would have died in vain. Based on the information from the Great Pillar State Bo Pi and the historical materials of his previous life, he realized that Linjiang King Gong Wei not only had a rock-solid neutral attitude, but also had a deep conflict with Huang Jizhong.

According to Bo Pi, nearly half of the kingdom's military power was controlled by Huang Jizhong, which made Gong Wei, a vassal king, extremely fearful and uneasy. He tried to take it back several times, but was blocked by Huang Jizhong without a single leak. Therefore, Gong Wei was always fearful and wary of the great general Huang Jizhong.

It was because Xiang Chang had all this information under his control that he made up his mind to kill Huang Jizhong. Of course, the subsequent development of the matter was no different from his prediction. Huang Jizhong was furious and wanted to kill him and his group to vent his anger and revenge, but was stopped by Linjiang Wang Gongwei, who also sent heavy troops to protect him.

"BAA Baa baa……"

A burst of sheep bleating sounded, and several slaves drove six or seven sheep and carried large bundles of firewood to the yard again. After Xiang Chang asked the slaves to put the firewood in the yard, he signaled the cavalry to take the sheep, and then waved his hand to drive them away.

The Chu cavalrymen, who had been eating dried horse meat for a while, were all delighted when they saw the live sheep. Xiang Chang scolded them with a smile and told them to kill them all, then roast them over a charcoal fire and enjoy their feast.

Then, Dian Ke Zhuang Rong came over with two jars of fine wine, all smiling, and presented them to Xiang Chang. Xiang Chang thanked him with a smile, and after taking them, he handed them to Xiang Xi behind him, and then took him to the pavilion on the west side of the yard.

"Have the Yelang Kingdom's envoys hidden themselves? Are they safe and sound, with no problems?" Xiang Chang asked casually as he sat down on a stone in front of the pavilion and watched the cavalrymen in the yard happily slaughtering, cleaning and grilling sheep.

"Please rest assured, sir. They have all been chained and locked up in a dungeon in one of my manors. They are under strict surveillance by my family's private soldiers. I guarantee they won't be able to escape." Zhuang Rong stood in front of Xiang Chang with his hands hanging down, and reported respectfully, like a minister.

This Zhuang Rong Dian Ke was actually a member of the Great Pillar State Bo Pi, and now he had also secretly turned to the Great Chu. The reason why the Yelang State envoys escaped so cleanly and without a trace was that Zhuang Rong secretly captured them and put them in a strict custody.

"Captain Meng Xia just went to the General's Mansion to pay his respects, and was received by General Huang Jizhong alone. The two had a secret conversation for a long time in the palace. After returning, Captain Meng Xia looked nervous and excited. He walked around the mansion several times, and kept checking the low walls and weak defenses in detail. I wonder what his intentions are." Zhuang Rong stepped forward and whispered.

Zhuang Rong's other identity is the head of the intelligence network planted by Bo Pi in Jiangling City. Using the convenience of his power, he is not only able to obtain intelligence from various countries through the envoys of various countries, but also knows a lot about the various secret affairs of the nobles in Jiangling City.

Bo Pi handed it over to Xiang Chang, which greatly increased the convenience for Xiang Chang to act in Jiangling City.

(End of this chapter)