As Chang Suining deduced, this merging of states was bound to not take too long due to the clear situation.
At this moment, in Bingzhou, which is two thousand miles away from Xuanzhou, the war has entered its final stage.
All this started when Xiao Chuan, the governor of Hedong Province, suddenly led his troops to attack Cui Jing six days ago.
Xiao Chuan accused Cui Jing of unjustly killing Bingzhou Governor Shi Daicong and being a real traitor. Once this statement spread, with the help of Xiao Chuan's internal support, civil strife soon broke out in Bingzhou City.
There have always been governor's offices in various places. Most of the governor's posts were remote leaders, but the person who really managed and controlled the affairs of a state was Chang Shi, and Bingzhou was no exception. Those who were loyal to Dai Cong, under the instigation of thoughtful people, soon
He defected to Xiao Chuan.
However, Cui Jing's prestige was here, and although he did not personally manage and manage Bingzhou, more than half of the people still did not believe Xiao Chuan's words and were willing to defend Bingzhou with them, which prevented Bingzhou from being lost to the internal rebels.
At the same time, someone secretly went out of the city to ask for help, but most of the news was intercepted by Xiao Chuan's people on the way.
All of this proves that Xiao Chuan's ambition to kill people and seize the city was not a sudden move, but was premeditated.
On the third day, Xiao Chuan broke through the defenses outside Bingzhou City and led his army to the gate of Bingzhou City with great momentum.
The people in Bingzhou City were so frightened that they closed their homes and did not dare to go out.
Xiao Chuan did not rush to order people to attack by force, but spoke out words of benevolence and righteousness, claiming that he only wanted Cui Jing's head to avenge Dai Xiandi, and as long as Cui Jing was handed over to the city, he had no intention of hurting innocent people.
Duan De has a clear sense of grudges and great righteousness. Before entering the city, he has established a stable position.
Hearing this, Cui Jing took the initiative and climbed onto the tower on his own without the help of others.
Seeing the young man wearing black soft armor appear, the atmosphere among the army in the city suddenly became tense and alert, and they did not dare to relax in the silence.
The reputation of the Xuance Army has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and this young man who led the Xuance Army to fight countless victorious battles at a young age has always been known as the number one general in Dasheng. Everyone knows about his numerous achievements.
Xiao Chuan sat on the horse and looked at the imposing young man on top of the city tower. Even if he had any fear in his heart, it was all washed away by the strategizing at the moment, and was replaced by the excitement and heat in his eyes.
So what if the famous commander of the Xuance Army is about to die at his hands?
Kill Cui Jing and take his head, and his name as Xiao Chuan will spread throughout the states!
Thinking of this, Xiao Chuan pointed his gun at the top of the city tower and asked loudly: "Do you dare to fight Xiao alone first, Governor Cui?!"
Cui Jing: "That's inappropriate."
After Xiao Chuan was startled, he laughed sarcastically: "Why, Governor Cui doesn't dare!"
"I mean -" the young man looked down at him and explained: "It's too early and inappropriate for you to be so eager to die."
Xiao Chuan's smile froze and turned into humiliated anger.
Although he is not as capable as Chang Kuo in speaking in front of the battle and greeting everyone's eighteen generations of ancestors without discrimination, Cui Jing has the ability to choke people to death with just one sentence, and never uses curse words - in line with the innate arrogance of the Cui family's children.
If eaten together with the temperament, the effect of infuriating people will be even better, and it is easy to break people's defenses.
At this moment, Yuan Xiang, who was next to Cui Jing, laughed "haha". Seeing Xiao Chuan's angry gaze, he pursed his lips and kept silent, with an expression of "I'm sorry, I couldn't hold it back for a while."
Xiao Chuan became even more angry and sneered from between his teeth: "... But how can a dying person show up in front of me? The eldest son's family is dead. I guess the day when your Cui family will be exterminated is not far away.
!”
"You, the sons of aristocratic families who claim to be noble and upright, are actually shameless and sinister people! I think of my good brother who has been diligently governing Bingzhou for many years, but in the end he ended up taking the blame for others and died in vain. Last night, he told me his grievances in a dream..."
Xiao Chuan said with a look of grief on his face: "Today I will take your head with my own hands to avenge my virtuous brother!"
As he spoke, he was about to raise his hand to order an attack on the city, but the next moment his eyes suddenly widened, as if he had seen a ghost in the daytime.
"I was busy with things in the city last night and had no time to close my eyes all night. Did I ever have a dream with Brother Xiao?" Dai Cong, wearing a black cloak, walked up to Cui Jing, took off his hood, and asked in confusion.
Xiao Chuan immediately looked at his wise brother who was supposed to hold the script of "Death in vain" and his cheeks suddenly trembled: "...!"
Dai Cong is not dead?!
The "virtuous brother who died in vain" looked at him and said: "It turns out that someone stole my private seal, forged letters between me and Xu Zhengye, and framed me. It was you, Brother Xiao."
As he said this, his face looked a little ashamed: "Brother Xiao took all the trouble to set up this situation, trying to steal Bingzhou and trap and kill Governor Cui... However, I did not die, which disappointed Brother Xiao."
Seeing that Dai Cong had "resurrected from the dead", Xiao Chuan's army was already in an uproar under the city tower.
At this point, what Xiao Chuan still doesn’t understand is that Dai Cong originally faked his death and teamed up with Cui Jing to lure the snake out of its hole!
But just now Dai Cong claimed that he had been busy with affairs in the city all night, and he had obviously pacified the city!
"The traitor Cui Jing found a fake product from somewhere, and he also tried to impersonate me, Brother Dai Xian!"
Xiao Chuan sneered and did not acknowledge Dai Cong, but loudly ordered: "Whoever follows me into the city and takes Cui Jing's head will be rewarded with a reward of one hundred taels!"
It doesn't matter if my dear brother fakes his death, he can just turn this fake death into a real death!
Not everyone in his army had seen Dai Cong, and those who followed him in the rebellion also had confidants who knew the inside story. At this moment, they all shouted in agreement and attacked the city gate.
The soldiers behind had no idea what was happening on the tower. When they saw the military flags waving, they all drew their swords and guns and moved. The army rolled up like dark clouds and rolled up dust and smoke, and the shouts almost covered the sky.
Knowing that the city was secured, Xiao Chuan made up his mind to attack the city as soon as possible, so he launched a fierce offensive.
Soldiers were constantly climbing up the city wall on ladders. One group was killed and retreated, and then another group came forward. The city gate was also struck by giant trees with a deafening sound, and iron awls were used to dig through the city wall to create a breakthrough.
Dai Cong felt distressed when he saw it, and felt a lot of banknotes being burned to ashes before his eyes: "Grand Governor, please let your subordinate Dai Zui lead the troops to fight!"
Cui Jing looked up at the sun.
Loud shouts soon sounded: "Open the city gate and fight!"
The soldiers on the tower raised their guns and shouted, "Fight!"
The moment the city gate was opened, the attackers carrying giant trees outside the city gate could not stabilize their bodies for a moment. The Bingzhou army held shields in front, swords and guns in the back, and finally there were archers and crossbowmen, rushing out in an orderly manner.
Xiao Chuan frowned suddenly when he saw this.
If the opponent is locked up and can't come out, or he can hold on for two days, but now with a mere ten thousand troops in the city, he dares to open the door to face his eighty thousand army. Is it because he doesn't want to die fast enough?
Being able to gain the trust of Dai Cong to steal the private seal without leaving any clues and setting up this trap along the way shows that he is not a stupid person. He cannot be completely unwary at this moment and really think that the other party is seeking death.
When something goes wrong, there must be a demon... Dai Cong's fake death may be just one part of it!
But the arrow was on the string and had to be fired. The situation in front of him did not allow him to calm down and think carefully. At this moment, he could only ride his horse and attack.
While the two sides were fighting, there were harsh and loud roars that circled above their heads.
Xiao Chuan felt even more uneasy, and soon he heard soldiers running behind him in a panic, shouting: "...Envoy Xiao, Xuance's army is coming here!"
What?!
Xiao Chuan was in disbelief: "Are you really right?! How many people are there!"
The soldier's voice was already trembling: "The scouts say it's difficult to tell for a moment, but there are at least 50,000 to 60,000 people! Or more!"
Xiao Chuan was horrified, how could it be possible!
Xuance's army rushed to the north after Cui Jing. They left the capital and headed north. Their marching route should have been the Guannai Road. How could they suddenly appear on the Hedong Road!
Even though he didn't want to believe it, the rear of the army soon showed signs of defeat.
The news that "Xuan Ce's army is coming" quickly spread among the soldiers, and the morale of the army was in chaos.
Xiao Chuan was unwilling to stop there and gave a high-pitched order: "...Capture the thief first and kill the king first. Kill Cui Jing! Seize the tower and close the gates immediately after entering the city!"
Capturing the thief first is indeed a good way to frighten the opponent's military morale.
so……
Taking advantage of the collapse of the opponent's formation, Cui Jing took a bow and shot through Xiao Chuan's right arm.
The battle bow used by Cui Jing is comparable to ordinary cavalry bows. The bow is a nine-strength bow, and the arm strength of the person holding the bow is far beyond ordinary people. Therefore, the shooting power of an arrow is extremely powerful and can break ordinary armor. Xiao Chuan groaned when the arrow was hit.
, was so shocked that he fell off his horse.
Dai Cong took this opportunity to attack with his main force and killed Xiao Chuan's left and right guards.
Xiao Chuan gritted his teeth and pulled out the arrow. Just as he was about to sit up, countless swords and guns were pointed at him, surrounding him.
After receiving Cui Jing's order, Yuan Xiang shouted: "Xiao Chuan's wolf ambition has been captured alive. Those who surrender will not be killed! Those who resist will be treated as rebels and comrades and punished!"
This order was spread out loudly.
In the chaos, Dai Cong captured the military flag of Xiao Chuan's army. Without the military flag to command, he also heard that Xiao Chuan had been captured. Later, Xuance's army pressed forward and some people in Xiao Chuan's army soon surrendered.
Most of them didn't know the truth at all, they were just blindly forced to follow orders. Now that they saw the situation reversed, they quickly lost their fighting spirit.
There will always be people who resist, but looking at the situation, it is destined to be impossible.
Cui Jing stopped watching the battle and walked down the tower.
Yuan Xiang followed quickly and saw the bow in the hands of his Grand Governor, and suddenly felt something was wrong: "Grand Governor... where is your Wanyue? It seems that I haven't seen you with it for a while?"
In the past, as long as the governor wore armor, Wan Yue would never leave his body.
Cui Jing: "Put it away."
Put it away?
Yuanxiang was confused, but soon soldiers came up to meet him. The battle was not really over yet. Yuanxiang was not a careless person, so he didn't bother to ask any more questions for a while and went on his own.
Cui Jing held the war bow in his hand and looked towards the south.
The owner of Wanyue has returned, so it is naturally not suitable for him to use it any more.
He will keep it safe and return it to its original owner one day.
The turmoil lasted until the early morning of the next day, before everything inside and outside was completely quelled.
But there were still many follow-up matters that needed to be taken care of. Cui Jing stayed up all night and interrogated Xiao Chuan all night long. According to Xiao Chuan's final confession, he did have accomplices, none other than Xu Zhengye's party.
He claimed that he conspired with Xu Zhengye to start an uprising in the south, and to seize the northern capital of Bingzhou, and then they would work together to invade the capital and support the crown prince's ascension to the throne.
As for setting up a trap to kill Cui Jing, it was all because he controlled the Xuance Army and was a minion of the Empress. If he was not eliminated, he was destined to be the biggest stumbling block on their way to achieving their great cause.
Because of this, he was able to obtain Xu Zhengye's real autographed letter, successfully deceived the empress, and framed Dai Cong.
After Cui Jing ordered his testimony to be sorted out, he ordered it to be sent to the capital immediately. He also ordered the news that the chaos in Bingzhou to be settled to be spread to everyone as soon as possible to reassure people.
After arranging everything, Cui Jing stood alone in the study and suddenly felt that she might write a letter in person to Chang Sui Ning to report that she was safe, even if it was to report safety to Bingzhou.
But he suddenly thought that he didn't know where she was at this time. She had told Yuan Xiang before that she planned to leave the capital, and she might not be in the capital at the moment.
At this time, Yuan Xiang walked in, holding a stack of letters: "Grand Governor, these are all letters that were previously sent to Bingzhou and were intercepted by Xiao Chuan's men."
"My subordinates have specially selected them for our Governor's Office. Most of them have been dismantled and inspected by them. They are all here. Please take a look."
In order to lower Xiao Chuan's vigilance, they deliberately showed weakness to him, allowing him to "control" Bingzhou and pretending not to notice everything, so they were able to successfully secretly lure Xuance's army here.
Seeing Yuan Xiang put the letters on the desk, Cui Jing didn't know what he thought of. He looked through the letters one by one without rushing to open them. Finally, he saw something on an opened envelope that he wanted to read.
The handwriting I received contains four characters - Cui Jing personally signed it.
Cui Jing then showed his letter.
Chang Suining reminded him in the letter that her trip to Bingzhou might be a scam, and asked him to be more vigilant. She also informed him that she was on her way to Xuanzhou and that she would stay at the mansion of Princess Xuan'an for a few days.
Finally, he warned him that if he had noticed it, there was no need to reply to prevent the secret from being leaked.
"Grand Governor, has something happened again?" Yuan Xiang couldn't help but ask when he saw that the Grand Governor just held the piece of letter paper and looked at it repeatedly.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Cui Jing came back to her senses: "...Nothing happened."
Yuan Xiang breathed a sigh of relief and noticed that his chief governor seemed to be in a good mood.
Yuan Xiang racked his brains and thought for a long time, then tentatively asked: "Grand Governor...is that a letter from Mrs. Chang?"
The corners of Cui Jing's mouth unconsciously raised slightly, and she said "hmm", folded the letter neatly, put it back in the envelope, and put it aside alone before opening the other letters.
Yuan Xiang suddenly realized it, and he said, how come the governor read the letter and read the flower? He picked it up and refused to put it down!
After waiting quietly for the Grand Governor to finish reading the letter, Yuan Xiang suggested diligently: "Grand Governor, won't you reply to Mrs. Chang's letter? How about my subordinates help you grind the ink?"
Cui Jing said nothing and just started laying out the letter paper.
Yuanxiang grinned and stepped forward to grind.
Cui Jing picked up the pen and glanced at the subordinates who were still standing aside.
Yuan Xiang hurriedly retreated a little further, waiting for his own chief governor to finish writing the letter, so that he could arrange the manpower to send it out as soon as possible.
But what happened next shocked Yuan Xiang.
His own chief governor, who always made no mistakes when writing because of his careful and clear thinking, actually ended up writing seven or eight pieces of paper in a row, but he was still not satisfied.
Sensing the strange gaze from his subordinates, Cui Jing was silent for a moment, looked at the pile of discarded letters beside him, and said, "Take these and burn them first."
Yuan Xiang quickly agreed and stepped forward to hold it up.
"No peeking."
Hearing this warning, Yuan Xiang was excited: "Yes!"
After his subordinates retreated, Cui Jing spread the paper again and ground it - this was one of the reasons why he had to send Yuan Xiang away. The entire inkstone had been used up, and he hadn't written a word yet...
If Yuan Xiang is allowed to grind again, the atmosphere will become strange, which will not be good for both of us.
As soon as Yuan Xiang left the study with the pile of discarded letters, he met Chang Shi Dai Cong.
Yuan Xiang hurriedly pulled the person to the corridor and whispered: "Dai Changshi has something important to do? If it is not urgent, we will go in later!"
Dai Cong looked solemn: "I'm here to plead guilty to the Governor. It was my oversight before that gave Xiao Chuan an opportunity, which almost caused the Governor and the entire Bingzhou to suffer..."
Yuan Xiang glanced in the direction of the study: "None of these are important..."
Dai Cong: "...?"
So what is important?
At this moment, he noticed the pile of crumpled letter papers held in Yuan Xiang's arms, and couldn't help but ask: "Are these...?"
