Screams, fighting sounds, and the clash of weapons echoed outside Cao Yijin's bedroom in Qingyuan Palace.
The three brothers Cao Yuande gathered 400 warriors, plus a hundred Khotanese warriors from the Khotan Princess Tiansheng, and launched a surprise attack on the more than 300 Uighur warriors controlled by Princess Tian Li.
The two sides started a fierce fight in Qingyuan Palace. Cao Yijin, who had suffered a stroke and could not speak, was carried and evaded by the rebel army.
The fighting parties started chasing each other from house to house. In this dark night, this kind of palace struggle seemed particularly cruel.
Finally, in Yinshi, the three Cao brothers, who were more numerous, won the victory, but they also reduced the Qingyuan Palace to ruins. In the raging fire, the desperate Uighur princess Li set herself on fire and died.
The two daughters she gave birth to to Cao Yijin, the eldest was sixteen years old and the youngest was nine, were all ruthlessly killed.
Three hundred and seventy Ganzhou Uighur warriors and Shazhou Uighur desperadoes recruited by Princess Li were all beheaded.
"People from Pei She! Fortunately, Pei She took the initiative to capture and kill such an evil woman! Unexpectedly, this evil woman actually raised more than a hundred Uighur desperadoes in Qingyuan Palace. Her heart is to be punished!"
In the bloody water all over the ground, Cao Yuanshen, the second son of Cao, laughed and ran towards Pei Yuan. It was indeed thrilling.
The three Cao brothers originally thought that Princess Li's subordinates would only have two hundred warriors, but in the end, there were nearly four hundred warriors.
Pei Yuan also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, his head was finally saved, and he finally understood the despair that Huan Fan felt when he tried to persuade Cao Shuang not to listen.
It was as if he was watching himself walking on the Silk Road without any solution. Fortunately, Cao Yuande made the right decision in the end.
In an inconspicuous corner of the Qingyuan Palace, a generation of heroes overthrew Zhang's Guiyi Army and established Cao's Guiyi Army, and brought the then-precarious Guiyi Army into prosperity again. Cao Yijin, the leader of the resurgence of the Guiyi Army, lies
On the simple wooden board, it looked like a dead body.
Not far away, his eldest son Cao Yuande had just led his warriors to fight with his official wife, Princess Li of Uighur Heaven. The price was that after Li committed suicide, her two sons and two daughters were also eradicated.
"Aweng, don't cry! Yanxi is with you!" Everyone, all the second and third generations of the Cao family were busy liquidating and chasing. Only Cao Yanxi and Princess Tiansheng were kneeling beside the wooden board.
Cao Yanxi kept wiping the tears of Cao Yijin, who was unable to move and could not speak, with a handkerchief.
"Nineteenth sister, you stay here and guard Aweng, I will go look for Yeye and the others!" Princess Tiansheng said to Cao Yanxi, the relationship between the two of them was particularly close.
Because before Princess Tiansheng got married, Zhang Zhao had already conquered Shule for the Kingdom of Khotan, and she clearly knew the status of this cousin who was not related by blood but was far superior to blood relatives in her father's heart.
When everyone in the Cao family still thought that Li Shengtian would not choose between the Cao family and Zhang Zhao, Princess Tiansheng knew that her father had actually made his choice long ago.
However, Princess Tiansheng doesn't care about this. Her eldest uncle Cao Yuande will inherit the position of Jiedushi of the Guiyi Army. I'm afraid it will be beneficial to her without her cousin Zhang Zhao's succession.
Because she is Zhang Zhao's cousin, and her sister-in-law is Zhang Zhao's wife, she is far closer than an uncle or father.
Princess Tiansheng was about to go out when a group of people poured into the hall. Cao Yuande and the others finally remembered that their old father was still in the corner.
"Father, the child is unfilial and has disturbed the father! There is nothing I can do about it! If I don't take action, people will kill me!"
A group of people began to cry and perform vigorously, perhaps with a bit of authenticity mixed in!
Princess Tiansheng retreated to the side a little bored, and felt a little sympathy for the Uighur Princess Li.
In fact, King Ling Gong was not seriously ill at Youshi yesterday. Instead, his condition became milder and he was able to speak clearly.
As a result, this time Princess Falcon thought that Cao Yijin was returning to his former glory, and was so frightened that she was afraid that Cao Yijin would say something unfavorable to him, so she refused to let Princess Tiansheng in for a visit, which resulted in this bloody fight.
In fact, it is not a bad thing that King Linggong wakes up. Princess Tiansheng feels that King Linggong will at least choose to send Li back to Ganzhou so that she can save her life.
However, Princess Tiansheng frowned in disgust, because not far away, there was a scholar who didn't look like a good guy and smiled mysteriously at her.
"Your Majesty, now is not the time to cry. The big families in Dunhuang City have not expressed their stance yet, and we need to get their approval as soon as possible, because as soon as the Li family dies, the Ganzhou Uighur army will be right in front of us!"
Seeing all the big and small officials crying together in the room again, Pei Yuan sighed in his heart and spoke quickly.
"What Sheren said is that the current plan is to stabilize Dunhuang first, so it would be better for my brother to take office immediately and return to the rebel army to stay behind.
Then summon the three chief masters of the Guasha clan, Kaiyuan Temple, Guanyin Temple, and Lingyuan Temple and the Du Sengtong Wang Sengtong to the scene.
It is stated that the Li family wanted to do evil to the common people of Wei, and plotted to kill King Ling Gong, and then prepare for a bloody battle with the Ganzhou Uighurs!"
Cao Yuanshen immediately realized this problem and quickly said to the tearful Cao Yuande.
Cao Yuande glanced at the angry old father on the wooden board, hesitating in his heart, while Cao Yijin looked at Cao Yuande with his eyes wide open, his lips trembling slightly.
Seeing this, Cao Yuanshen suddenly took a step forward and stood between Cao Yijin and Cao Yuande.
"Brother! Now that things have come to this point, what is there to hesitate about?"
Cao Yuande looked at the corpses being moved outside the door. The strong smell of blood wafted around. He stretched out his hand to push aside Cao Yuanshen who was blocking the way, and respectfully kowtowed to Cao Yijin three times.
"Yeah! If you want to blame, just blame the kid!"
After saying that, Cao Yuande turned around and looked at his second son Cao Yanjing, "Go to my grandfather's house quickly and ask my grandfather to come on Pegasus!"
The maternal ancestor that Cao Yuande asked Cao Yanjing to inform was actually not Cao Yanjing's maternal ancestor. Strictly speaking, this was Cao Yanming's maternal ancestor, Cao Shishi, Luo Yingda, the commander of all the internal and external armies of the Guiyi Army.
This man married Cao Yijin's ninth sister, who was Cao Yuande's uncle, and then married his daughter to Cao Yuande, who was Cao Yuande's father-in-law.
He was the military attache second only to the Jiedushi in the Guiyi Army. When Cao Yijin went on an expedition to Ganzhou, Luo Yingda was the commander-in-chief.
The Luo family is also a large family in Dunhuang, and the family is particularly good at martial arts. Many generals in the Guiyi army came from the Luo family.
Luo Tongda, the first military general of Zhang Zhao's father Zhang Chengfeng, was Luo Yingda's cousin.
Ma Yaozi's former benefactor, Luo Xianda, the envoy of Shouchang Military Town, was also Luo Yingda's cousin.
It can be said that only by winning the support of the Luo family can Cao Yuande's Jiedu Liuhou claim to be recognized by everyone.
"Liu Lang, please leave the city quickly, go to Guazhou, and report this matter to Governor Murong!"
Cao Yanlu's eldest sister Cao Sanniang is the daughter-in-law of Murong Guiying of Guazhou, so it is most appropriate for him to inform the third-ranking figure in the Guiyi Army.
"The rest of the Cao family's sons, wearing armor and carrying swords, sealed all the gates in the inner city and escorted the Taibao Duke to Qingxi Palace!"
After Zhang Chengfeng proclaimed himself the Emperor in White, he built two adjacent palaces in Dunhuang, both of which were of course small in scale.
After the Cao family replaced Zhang, the two palaces became Cao Yijin's living place. Now that most of Qingyuan Palace was destroyed, he had no choice but to return to Qingxi Palace.
"Brother, Commander Xue is here!" After Cao Yuande finished making arrangements, and everyone had just dispersed, Cao Yuanzhong quietly came over and whispered.
"He came in person?" Cao Yuande's eyes widened and his heart began to beat violently.
Xue Daling refers to Xue Shantong, the magistrate of Shouchang County. The control of Shouchang County was returned to the desert west of the rebel army. The place where Zhang Zhao caused trouble was Shouchang County. What was the purpose of Cao Yijin sending his confidant Xue Shantong to be the magistrate of Shouchang County?
it goes without saying.
"Take him to the back hall, quickly!" Cao Yuande really had a headache.
No way? It can’t be such a coincidence, right? Zhang Erlang won’t come back at this time, right?
"Pei Sheren, please come to the back hall with us!" After some hesitation, Cao Yuande called Pei Yuan.
Cao Yuande, who had just been promoted from Deputy Envoy of the Guiyi Army to Jieduliu of the Guiyi Army, felt that he wanted to show the magnanimity of his superior.
Although he still didn't like Pei Yuan's eyes, he decided to listen to Pei Sheren's opinion in the future.
....
"For today's plan! We should lure him with a trick and then kill him!"
In a relatively intact room in Qingyuan Palace, Pei Yuan showed off his classic posture in public again, slashing down with his right hand in a killing gesture.
"Still killing? This is not a Uighur with only a few hundred soldiers. He is the deputy king of the Jin Kingdom of Khotan, the leader of a party with thousands of troops in his hands!"
Cao Yuanzhong's cheek twitched three or four times in succession. In front of him, he said that he wanted to kill his son-in-law, or his double son-in-law. Are you fucking serious?
Cao Yuande also slowly shook his head. He glanced at the livid third brother Cao Yuanzhong, and then remembered that his youngest son Cao Yanming was still with Zhang Zhao, and he did not want to agree to this so-called plan.
"I know that Mr. Zhang Erlang is the son-in-law of Yamen, and I also know that the relationship between the Cao and Zhang families is really unusual, but people do not harm tigers, and tigers are harmful to people's hearts.
Zhang Erlang's good deputy king in Anxi should not return eastward. His intention has been made clear. He and the Yamen do not want to conflict with Zhang Erlang. I would like to ask how to arrange it?"
Pei Yuan's words made Cao Yuande stunned. That's right! Where will Zhang Erlang be resettled?
If this was the time when the Guiyi Army was strong, Zhang Erlang could settle down anywhere, including Yizhou, Suzhou, and Ganzhou.
But now only the two states of Guasha are left. Shazhou belongs to their Cao family, and Guazhou belongs to the Murong family. There is no place to resettle them!
"If it were Duke Lingyong, he wouldn't be in a dilemma like the other three. He would definitely make a decisive decision to trap and kill Zhang Erlang!" Pei Yuan showed a sneer at the corner of his mouth and suddenly said something else.
The three Cao brothers were stunned at the same time, because they all remembered the time when Cao Yijin had someone trick Zhang Zhao's mother into sending a letter to summon her.
At that time, Cao Yijin made it clear that if Zhang Zhao was deceived, Cao Yuande would immediately lead his sword and ax hands to chop him into pieces.
"Alas!" Cao Yuande let out a long sigh. If he had chopped Zhang Zhao into pieces right then and there, how could he have the troubles he has now?
"Pei Sheren, don't mention it at this time. I can't do such a thing."
"Liuhou Yaliang, but even if he can't be killed, Zhang Erlang should still be placed under house arrest.
Xue Dalingyan and more than 2,000 troops and horses under his command have appeared to the west of Shouchang. It happens that the Uighurs from Ganzhou will come west to retaliate.
It is better to lure Zhang Erlang into the city in the name of Duke Ling, then place him under house arrest in the palace, then release the treasury, reward his soldiers, and make him the vanguard to conquer Ganzhou eastward and slowly digest it!"
Cao Yuande's eyes lit up, this is feasible! Put Zhang Erlang under house arrest and recruit the two to three thousand soldiers and horses he brought back. At most, it will ensure that he will be rich and prosperous throughout his life. This plan is feasible!
"Sanlang! I'm going to give you a hard time! Call Yanxi, Yanding and others to Qingxi Palace! You can stay in the palace for the next few days."
Cao Yuanzhong was startled, and then his face turned very bright, a bit sad and angry, a bit stunned.
He did not expect that his brother Cao Yuande would first put his whole family under house arrest in order to deal with Zhang Erlang.
"Erlang! Go to the west of Shouchang in person and be sure to find Zhang Erlang. Tell him that your father is seriously ill and you want to see him one last time. Please ride here!"
"Here! I'll go right away!" Cao Yuanshen, the second eldest brother, stepped in to say "Hey" to his elder brother Cao Yuande, and then glanced at the third brother Cao Yuanzhong, who looked very unhappy.
"Sanlang, don't blame the boss. He also has difficulties and tempers. You can let it go in the future, but not today!"
....
Outside the Qingyuan Palace, there is a young man as tall as jade, with a strong back and a strong waist. He carries two bows, one long and one short. He holds a long bow, a horizontal knife on his waist, sword eyebrows and starry eyes. There is a heroic spirit between his eyebrows. Anyone who sees it will praise him.
What a good athlete!
The young man held two horses in his hands and cupped his hands in front of a woman in black robe. The woman in black robe was clearly the Holy Princess of Khotan.
"Mother Jin is speechless, Nobunaga'er is not a child, he knows the importance!
Zhang Erlang wants to be someone, but it depends on whether someone has a spear in his hand and a strong bow on his back, but today is a matter of life and death, and someone will definitely deliver the news."
This chapter has been completed!