Xu Huaile stopped his horse in front of the city, looked up at the majestic city tower of Gong County, and waited for the city gate to slowly open.
The tombs of the seven generations of Dai Viet emperors are all located in Gong County, in the valley south of Yanshi.
As the residence where officials led their clan members to pay homage to the imperial mausoleum, Gongxian City, which stands on the bank of the Yiluo River, is small in shape, but it gives people a sense of grandeur. In addition to the blue and black city bricks that surround the city wall, the city gate
and the entire city tower were built with a kind of white stone mined from Wangwu Mountain; the official road outside the city was paved with crushed sand and gravel. When the city gate slowly opened, Xu Huai saw that the long street after entering the city was paved with stone.
The main street, known as Xiaoyu Street, is much wider than ordinary prefecture and county cities, with neatly decorated shops on both sides.
Due to the freezing of the Yellow River, the captive soldiers and scouts could easily bypass the mountain passes. In the past month, Gong County has been invaded by the captive cavalry. Many people were killed and injured. There were even defenders in the city who were shot after being approached by the captive soldiers.
kill.
Xu Huai and the others were still dressed as captive soldiers at this time. They noticed that the eyes looking out from the battlements were mixed with fear, anger and other complex emotions. Wang Ju said with a smile: "These people look at us with such expressions, they will not mistakenly think that the guards are all generals."
You weakling, do you want to dedicate Gong County to the Red Husbands?"
"If there is a misunderstanding, the city can still be so peaceful. I'm afraid this city will be uncomfortable!" Guo Junpan said with emotion.
Zhou Jing, Yuan Lei, Fan Zongqi, Wei Daya, and Xu Sihu all looked thoughtfully at the top of the city, feeling that what Guo Junpan said was very reasonable.
If the defenders in the city are still bloody, and they add more troops, the city of Gong County is strong and small, and can still be defended for a period of time. But the defenders are not bloody, so how can the five hundred soldiers behind them be enough?
"One sheep leading ninety-nine lions cannot defeat ninety-nine sheep led by one lion," Xu Huai said calmly, "Even if the tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in the city are all sheep, now that we have five hundred lions in, how can we beat them?"
What’s there to worry about?”
Xu Huai did not dare to fight in the field with the Chihu people. There was indeed a huge gap in strength between the two sides, which could not be made up by a lot of enthusiasm. However, there was a strong city to rely on. If he did not dare to defend for a long time, he might as well throw his armor aside.
, and dived back into Liu Qiong'er's arms.
The city gate creaked open, and King Jing Zhao Tuan and a group of officials stood waiting behind the city gate.
Xu Huai, Wang Ju, Guo Junpan, Zhou Jing and Niu Er dismounted first and walked over to salute.
"My father was deceived by traitors, causing Wang Shuai to die unjustly for many years before he could be vindicated. However, Wang Ju, Xu Huai's uncle and nephew have always been loyal to the court over the years, and have made countless military exploits in the border states. I was lucky enough to meet Xu Huai in Yanling this time and was able to escape.
…”
King Jing Zhao Tuan kindly grabbed Xu Huai's arm and introduced to him and Wang Ju the envoy Qiao Jien who guarded the mausoleum, Chen Yougui, the commander of the army guarding the mausoleum, Gao Huihong, the county magistrate, and others.
Before many things can be done, they need the support and permission of King Jing Zhao Tuan. Xu Huai was patient at the moment. He first exchanged greetings with officials such as Qiao Jien, Chen Yougui, Gao Huihong, etc., then went to Wu Chihai, Yuan Lei, Fan Zongqi,
Wei Daya, Xu Sihu and others led their troops to the military camp, led by the defenders' military officers, and settled down to seize the time to rest and recuperate.
He, Wang Ju, Guo Junpan, and Zhou Jing took Niu Er with them, and then went directly to the mausoleum guarding envoys along with King Jing Zhao Tuan and others.
Although Gong County has magistrates, county magistrates, and county lieutenants appointed by the imperial court, in addition to the responsibility of protecting the imperial mausoleum, there are also palaces in the city where officials and their descendants come to Gong County to pay a visit to the mausoleum.
In the county, the power was higher than that of local officials; the army guarding the mausoleum was also under the control of Qiao Jien.
The Mausoleum Guarding Office is not only the government office where Qiao Jien usually handles official duties, but also the place where the accompanying ministers work and discuss matters when the officials and their clan descendants visit the mausoleum and move into the Gongxian palace.
The Mausoleum Keeper's Office is much more magnificent than the county government office, and it is also close to the Gongxian Palace; in terms of architectural structure, it can even be said to be the outer courtyard of the palace.
Xu Huai and the others did not stop when they arrived at the mausoleum guarding envoy, but went directly through the hall to transfer the house and entered a quiet place with woods. Seeing that the shape of the house was different from ordinary houses and much taller, they knew that they had entered the palace.
When the prince took refuge in Gong County, it was impossible for him to arbitrarily use the main hall of the palace, but the temporary use of the front hall and side halls was subject to regulations.
When the officials are inconvenienced, it is also common practice in Dai Viet for the princes to visit the imperial mausoleum on their behalf; otherwise, the officials would have to go to the imperial mausoleum once a year for a month or two. Even if the officials can afford it, the states along the way will
The county will also be very annoyed.
Everyone walked into a side hall. In addition to a few copper braziers filled with charcoal that had been brought into the four corners of the hall to ward off the cold air, a dozen maids were busy placing wine and dishes on the table.
Seeing this, Xu Huai knew in his heart that Qiao Jien was going to arrange a banquet for Prince Jing Zhao Tuan at three o'clock in the morning.
Apparently Qiao Jien, Chen Yougui, Gao Huihong and other officials all thought that King Jing Zhao Tuan was in danger on the way to inspect the army and was stopped by the captive soldiers and could not return to Bianliang, so they fled to Gong County to avoid disaster under the escort of Xu Huai's troops. During the banquet
They also appropriately suggested that King Jing Zhao Tuan should be in Xu Huai, and Zhang Xin should lead his troops to escort him to Luoyang City, where the city was stronger and the soldiers more numerous.
As for King Jing Zhao Tuan's inquiry about the city's defense situation in Gong County, Qiao Jien, Chen Yougui, Gao Huihong and others all answered truthfully, but neither their tone of voice nor their expressions suggested that King Jing Zhao Tuan should get involved in defense matters.
King Jing Zhao Tuan calmly finished the feast in a hurry, then said that he was tired from the journey and needed to rest first.
After Qiao Jien, Chen Yougui, Gao Huihong and other officials resigned, he ordered his maids to withdraw from the side hall, and asked Xu Huai directly: "With Qiao Jien, Chen Yougui, Gao Huihong and others in charge of defense affairs, with your help, Xu Junhou and General Wang Ju can defend it."
Gong County?"
Xu Huai knew what King Jing Zhao Tuan was worried about.
On the one hand, King Jing Zhao Tuan was worried that if he ordered Qiao Jien, Chen Yougui, and Gao Huihong to hand over the defense command to him, Qiao Jien and others might sternly refuse, and the two sides would have a fierce conflict from the beginning, which would be detrimental to the subsequent defense of the city;
On the one hand, although everyone is furious, the ancestral law is still a sword hanging over everyone's heads. King Jing Zhao Tuan has to consider how it will end afterwards. Will he be impeached for this matter?
Although he was the second prince, the queen who was in charge of the harem regarded him and the prince as a thorn in her side.
After years of estrangement, the official family had long thought of abolishing the crown prince, and Zhao Tuan didn't know how much weight he, the prince, held in the official family's eyes.
Although they had discussed the countermeasures on the way, Zhao Tuan couldn't help but hesitate when he actually entered Gong County. He couldn't help but wonder whether he should hold his troops back first and see if Zhengzhou could withstand the strong attack of the Japanese soldiers? If Zhengzhou defended, Gong County would
There will not be much threat, so there is no need to take too drastic measures.
"If Your Highness is spared his life, I can escort His Highness to Luoyang for temporary refuge!" Xu Huai said.
"What you say is really unpleasant. Do you need to speak so directly?" King Jing Zhao Tuan shook his head and said with a bitter smile.
"The situation is critical, Xu Huai dare not deliberately mislead His Highness - the mountains and rivers are broken, the country is in danger, and His Highness cannot turn the tide unless he has the ambition and courage to be different from ordinary people," Xu Huai said, "I don't know that His Highness is trapped by many worries.
There is a slight chance that Gong County can be defended, but I know that His Highness can put aside these worries and stand up. The morale of tens of thousands of soldiers and people in Gong County will be aroused. Everyone can give their last drop of blood to defend the city. No one will
Surrender to the sword of a powerful enemy! If Gong County cannot be defended in the end, the captive soldiers will pay a heavy or even tragic price, so that they will never dare to spy on the bloodless men of Vietnam!"
"Zhang Xin, you tried your best to prevent me from coming to Gong County at first, but judging from your appearance now, you must have been persuaded by Xu Huai and General Wang Ju - tell me, what do you think?" King Jing
Zhao Tuan looked at Zhang Xin and asked.
In the past two days, they and Xu Huai passed through the enemy-controlled area. Under his leadership, more than 40 guards from King Jing's Mansion protected King Jing Zhao Tuan. In fact, they were well protected in the inner circle by the soldiers of Tongbai Mountain; sometimes
They had to march separately, and Xu Huai arranged for people to confirm that there were no captive soldiers and scouts along the way, so that they could take the safest route.
The guards of Prince Jing's Mansion are all imperial troops affiliated with Sanya. The selection criteria are of course strict. They usually think highly of themselves, but they don't want to be killed by the soldiers who only have less than one-third of the number; it is precisely because their performance is too poor.
So much so that the group of soldiers they encountered didn't even realize they had missed a big fish.
When marching to Gong County, although Zhang Xin could not hear any complaints from his guards, he knew that they were frightened from beginning to end.
But what about the soldiers of Tongbai Mountain?
Not to mention figures like Xu Huai and Wang Ju, even ordinary soldiers were so calm and calm when the captive cavalry scouts approached. At least they could not see any obvious flaws in Xu Huai's troops pretending to be captive soldiers.
But Yanling, Tongxu, Yongqiu and other cities fell under the strong attack of the Japanese soldiers, so easily.
Therefore, he would rather King Jing be reprimanded by the officials for forcibly intervening in the defense of Gong County later than leave King Jing's personal safety in the hands of people like Qiao Jien; after all, it is impossible to really escape to Luoyang City.
However, Zhang Xin abided by his duty and said, "Whatever His Highness says is whatever it is. Zhang Xin only knows how to obey."
"You are being naughty - what can't you say here? Are you still worried that Xu Huai and General Wang Ju will reveal your words?" Zhao Tuan shook his head and said, "Okay, Zhang Xin, since you don't
If you are willing to speak, then please run hard and find Qiao Jien here for me. Although these people have to be captured one by one, it is best if there is no trouble, but there is not so much time to waste, so we will take the hardest bones.
