The atmosphere in the main hall of Qingxi Palace was awkward and solemn. The sound of the explosion attracted the guards outside the palace, but they did not dare to move outside the door because the Cao Yuande brothers and the leaders of the Dunhuang clan were all in the main hall.
At the same time, Zhang Zhao couldn't get out. He was sure that as soon as he showed up, he would be shot to death by random arrows.
Taking a deep breath, Zhang Zhao glanced secretly in the corner, where a skinny old man was resting with his eyes closed, looking very relaxed.
Old fox! Zhang Zhao complained in his heart. This old man was Murong Nobunaga’s grandfather and Cao Sanniang’s father-in-law Murong Guiying.
In fact, before Zhang Zhao entered Dunhuang, Cao Sanniang secretly returned to Guazhou and negotiated terms with Murong Guiying on behalf of Zhang Zhao.
It was agreed that as long as Zhang Zhao takes power, the Murong family will be able to get the most spoils from Zhang Zhao, and the sixteen-year-old Murong Nobunaga will become the Suzhou observation envoy.
It was equivalent to giving half of Suzhou to the Murong family, and Murong Guiying happily agreed at the time.
But now it seems that the old fox is betting on both sides, or that he will only come out to add to the cake, and will never be prepared to provide help when the time is right.
If this is the case, Zhang Zhao can only use the one hundred Uighur warriors under Princess Tiansheng, but this is a last resort and should not be used unless it is absolutely necessary.
"Erlangjun, my third uncle is here, he is coming in!" Cao Yanming approached Zhang Zhao and whispered.
It seems that Cao Yuanzhong, who was under house arrest, must have been released by the junior Cao family outside. After all, he is the only one who can take charge.
"Okay! Let him in!" Zhang Zhao decided to give face to his double father-in-law.
In fact, he was not prepared to start a fight with the Cao family. Even the wooden tubes on Cao Yuanshen's body, except for a few, were filled with fine dry loess.
"Cao Shishi, you are really my good boy!" Cao Yuande, who was sitting in the chair, had a face so dark that he couldn't even look at it.
He stared at Cao Yanming angrily. A strong anger at being betrayed by his beloved son filled his mind. Now he wanted to arrest Cao Yanming and reward him with thirty family tips.
"Sir, I will apologize to you again at the age of fourteen!" Cao Yanming was also a little awkward, but he felt more and more that the Cao family had no future like this. Today, while the Cao and Zhang families still have some good feelings, it is best to retreat quickly.
chosen.
"Zhang Erlang! Why are you so impulsive? Is there something you can't say properly? Do you think the whole family must fight against each other?"
With a dark face, Cao Yuanzhong pushed open a small gap and walked in, pretending to be his father-in-law and lecturing him.
Zhang Zhao grinned. Among the second generation of the Cao family, he was the only one whose father-in-law had some ability, but he was only at the level of a paper framer.
His words were obviously meant to teach Zhang Zhao a lesson, but secretly he was turning the serious incident of Zhang Zhao's detention of a whole room of people into a child's nonsense. As expected, he had the ability to make peace with others.
"Come here! I haven't seen your maternal grandfather, first uncle, and second uncle yet!" Sure enough, in the next second, Cao Yuanzhong made the matter look like acknowledgment of relatives.
Zhang Zhao looked in the direction of Cao Yuanzhong's finger and saw two short and sturdy men protecting an old man. The old man was looking at him with extremely complicated eyes.
How damn embarrassing! Zhang Zhao suddenly felt that he had been a bit hasty in coming to Dunhuang.
Because he is not yet ready to disown his relatives, and at least one-third of the people in this house are his relatives and elders. Cleaning? This is a big deal!
"My grandson has met my grandfather, and today he is really offended!"
You are so talented, I am trying to stage a coup! Zhang Zhao knelt down and kowtowed to the old man without tears. He was a real grandpa, so I couldn’t do it without kowtow!
Song Tongshan's lips moved. He was also very embarrassed!
He said he was his grandson, but in fact, in order to avoid suspicion, he had seen his grandson no more than ten times in the past twenty-three years, mostly when he was a child, and almost never as an adult.
The first time they met as an adult was on this occasion. He was almost frightened by the thunderbolt thrown by his grandson just now.
After swallowing, Song Tongshan stretched out his hand stiffly to help him.
"Get up... Erlang, get up, no need to be polite!"
Fortunately, Cao Yuanzhong did not continue to ask him to kowtow to his two uncles, but his father-in-law pointed his hand back again.
"That's your great-uncle from the Yin family. You haven't seen him before. He's not in good health. If you scare people, let's see how you end up!"
Yes! Another relative, but this is not his grandfather, but his father's uncle.
Zhang Zhao's grandfather, Zhang Huaiding, married a daughter of the Yin family, that is, Zhang Zhao's grandma was from the Yin family. This great-uncle was Zhang Zhao's grandma's biological brother and Yin Yaozi's cousin.
Zhang Zhao was extremely embarrassed and could only kowtow in greeting. Now he felt that letting Cao Yuanzhong in was a mistake. How could he be cruel? My God, it was like a marriage recognition meeting.
Seeing Cao Yuanzhong pointing to the right again, Zhang Zhao suddenly had two heads. The one named Suo Shengquan was the grandson of Suo Xun, the third-generation Jiedu envoy of the Guiyi Army, and his grandmother was Zhang Yichao's ninth daughter.
The tall and strong man next to Suo Shengquan is called Li Shaozong. His grandfather is Li Mingzhen, a general of the Guiyi Army, and his grandmother is Zhang Yichao's fourteenth daughter. Speaking of which, they are all Zhang Zhao's blood cousins.
As for the old man who stared at Zhang Zhao in amazement, he was even more amused. His name was Zhang Huaiqing. Just by looking at his name, you could tell that he was from the older generation of the Zhang family.
Zhang Zhao's grandfather was named Zhang Huaiding. He was originally named Zhang Huaiding, but after he became the governor of the Guiyi Army, Huai was changed from Huai to Huai.
This 'grandpa', who is over sixty years old, is Zhang Yichao's nephew and the only remaining figure in Zhang Jihuai's generation. He is also the patriarch of the Zhang family in Nanyang, Shazhou, and Zhang Zhao's cousin.
Come on! Zhang Zhao sighed, all the people in this circle are relatives.
However, Cao Yuanzhong's actions were not without benefits, that is, everyone put back the short knives and long daggers they had taken out, and Cao Yuanshen, the tool bomber, also recovered a little from his extreme fear.
Gu Lao
Zhang Zhao looked at Cao Yuanzhong and then at the faces of everyone in the hall, knowing that there was some trouble today.
Originally, he wanted to directly control these people, then capture the two brothers Cao Yuande and Cao Yuanshen, and then throw out some benefits to appease them.
He brought back millions of dollars of goods, and at worst he would use money to buy them off. With the support of his father-in-law Cao Yuanzhong and his half-father-in-law Murong Guiying, he could directly take over the position of Jiedushi of the Guiyi Army.
But now it seems that everyone in the hall includes his maternal ancestor Song Tongguang and Luo Tongda, the former general of Jinshan Kingdom in the Western Han Dynasty.
These people had forced his father Zhang Chengfeng to abdicate to a certain extent back then, and they were still somewhat resistant to Zhang Zhao, the only living direct bloodline of the Zhang family in Shazhou. After all, their behavior back then could be called rebellion.
For Zhang Zhao, this coup led to his father's death in depression, his brother's death from a fright and illness, and he was trapped in Dunhuang for more than ten years. No matter how you look at it, it is logical that he wants to take revenge on everyone in the house.
Therefore, in the minds of ordinary people, no matter what Zhang Zhao says, even if he promises now that he will never pursue the past twenty years ago, these people will not believe it.
If you don't pursue it now, what will happen if you think about it later? Original sin is not so easy to cleanse.
If this is the case, then the only way is to use the second plan. The power base of the Guiyi Army Jiedushi comes from two aspects. One is the blood inheritance, this Zhang Zhaoyou, and the second is to open up Ganliang and connect the great cause of the motherland.
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But at this time, the great cause of opening up Ganliang and connecting with the motherland is no longer realistic.
In history, only Zhang Zhao's great-grandfather Zhang Yichao and cousin Zhang Huaishen, two Jiedu envoys, had accomplished this. Even Cao Yijin, the "Lord of ZTE", had broken Ganzhou and could no longer advance eastward.
So if we lower the standard of opening up Ganliang and connecting with the motherland, and turn it into defeating the old enemy Ganzhou Uighurs, now is the time.
Because if the Ganzhou Uighurs get news of the death of Princess Li, they will definitely send troops to march westward, and the two families have long been in conflict because of Suzhou.
In May of this year, Liang Xingde, the Marquis of Yu, the capital of Zuomabu of the Guiyi Army, was ordered to go on an envoy to the Later Tang Dynasty. In fact, he was going to do business for the Jiedushi Yamen. On his way back, he was killed in Ganzhou City and all the property he brought was lost.
Haha! The Guiyi Army’s Ma Budu Yuhou, with dozens of soldiers, could be killed in Ganzhou City, and no one could find out who did it, so it’s obvious who has the ability to do it!
Even if Princess Tian Li had not been killed, the fight between the two sides would have been inevitable.
Historically, the war between the two sides was presided over by Cao Yuande. Each side recruited thousands of soldiers and horses. After small-scale contact, the Ganzhou Uighurs, who felt that they could not gain an advantage, retreated to Suzhou and died down.
But that was something that happened in history. For everyone in the Guiyi Army now, they definitely had no idea that this war that seemed to be about to break out would turn out to be so anticlimactic.
Therefore, what Zhang Zhao has to do is to replace Cao Yuande in the battle with the Ganzhou Uighurs, so that the law and morality are in his hands.
Of course, it is impossible for him to just take his troops and go to war with the Ganzhou Uighurs. In that case, he will probably be betrayed by these old guys as soon as he leaves Dunhuang City today.
"Erlang, let go of your second... uh! Second cousin! I'll take you out!"
Cao Yuanzhong said to Zhang Zhao, then sighed and looked at his brother Cao Yuande.
"Let Erlang go to Suzhou! Long Hong from Suzhou came several times to report that Dadan people were harassing the grassland, and people from Ganzhou pretended to be provocative to the people of Suzhou. It is just right for Erlang to go to Suzhou."
Cao Yuanzhong used all his strength for Zhang Zhao and managed to find half of Suzhou among the Guiyi army that had huddled in Guasha.
The current Suzhou is divided into two, with the Guiyi Army and the Ganzhou Uighurs each controlling one half.
Shangsu Prefecture, controlled by the Guiyi Army, still had tens of thousands of people, but its rule was not very stable because of insufficient military strength.
But Zhang Zhao came with an army, so he should be able to control it, and maybe he could swallow the entire Suzhou. By then, Zhang Zhao would have a foothold.
Of course Zhang Zhao will not go to Suzhou, but he will not refuse it directly. This is his father-in-law's suggestion, and it is directed at him. If he refuses it directly, it will appear that Zhang Zhao is too ungrateful.
So Zhang Zhao smiled secretly and decided to break through in another direction, "Although Suzhou is good, it faces the threat of Ganzhou Uighurs. If we can't drive away the Ganzhou people, everything will be like a mirror."
It's better to let me, Zhang Zhao, deal with Ganzhou's westward march this time, which can also be regarded as revenge for the great revenge they forced on certain father back then.
My requirements are not high, you are all the pillars of the Guiyi Army, elders, as long as you all the elders now hand over all the warriors in your family to me, Ganzhou Xianyou will be shouldered by me!"
Everyone in the hall suddenly became excited. Zhang Erlang wanted to use the younger generation of his family as a hostage!
Moreover, most of the younger generation in the family here served in the Yamen Army. They were taken away by Zhang Erlang, and at least half of the standing army that returned to the rebel army became Zhang Erlang's.
When the time comes to go to the battlefield and mix them up, they may be controlled, and these young people can also be used to threaten them. Who dares to stab them, will the lives of their children and grandchildren be at stake?
There was a hint of pride on Zhang Zhao's face. He had 5,000 men and could control hundreds of thousands of Guiyi Army's yamen troops.
And they are all young people. At worst, they can be bought directly with money and Hu Ji, or they can be motivated by their achievements. Zhang Zhao is fully confident in conquering them.
After defeating the Uighurs in Ganzhou, he would return directly to Guazhou and try to force Cao Yuande out of power again.
Everyone knows Zhang Zhao's plan, but there is no good reason to refute it. In fact, it is not that there is no reason, but that it cannot be refuted.
Because Zhang Erlang is still detaining them. If they don't give them any benefits, how can they be released?
But they couldn't agree, because if they agreed, they would just drink poison to quench their thirst.
But if you don’t agree, do you really want to send all the high-ranking officials of the Guiyi Army to the West in the main hall of Qingxi Palace?
In the awkward silence, the voice of an old god sounded.
"If I were Mr. Zhang Erlang, I would never choose Suzhou, nor would I choose to return to the rebel army. There are good places in the world, so why should I stick to this small place?"
This chapter has been completed!