Mrs. Pei saw that her husband was a little distracted today, holding a copy of the Beijing News in his hand, but ended up taking it down without paying attention.
Wei Zheng stroked his goatee and said, "It's been three days since the second son of the Wu family came back to Beijing. Why haven't you come to sit down with me?"
"I've been away for a year and must have been very busy when I came back. If you want to see me, just come and visit me."
Wei Zheng stroked his beard.
"Why, the prime minister is so arrogant?"
"Bring me two jars of sake brewed on the winter solstice, and I'll come and sit at your door."
Wei Zheng carried two jars of Wei's home-brewed wine, and even changed into a new robe. As soon as he went out, he saw a row of carriages parked in front of Wu's house next door.
Qiu Xinggong, who had just been reinstated as General Youwuhou and Duke of Tianshui County, was standing at the door of Wu's house. The servants of the Qiu family were carrying gifts down from Ma's house.
"My Erlang went hunting in the countryside early in the morning." Wu Cheng, the hunchbacked concierge, told them.
Qiu Xinggong cleaned up very neatly today. He wore a newly tailored purple robe and a goldfish charm, and the cruelty in his body was also much restrained.
Yesterday, Mr. Qiu called him to the study and talked for half the night, asking him to restrain himself. He also told him that he must come to visit the Wu family in person today.
Qiu Xinggong was very unconvinced, but the old man glared. Qiu Xinggong, who was not afraid of anything, felt his bones were sore. He was afraid of his father when he hit Xiaoqiu Xinggong. That was the fear of being whipped since he was a child, which is engraved in his heart.
Deep in his bones. Even though the old man is old now, he was very brave when he was young and can still wield a sword even now.
"Please inform Duke Yi that Qiu Xinggong is here to visit."
As he spoke, he took out a golden bean and handed it to Wu Cheng.
Wu Cheng looked at the golden beans and was very excited, but the Wu family had many rules. He dared to collect ordinary small things, but he did not dare to collect them randomly.
I had to reluctantly refuse.
"My Erlang really went out early in the morning, and he won't be back for the next two days,"
Qiu Xinggong didn't believe it and thought the Wu family was rude.
At this time, Wei Zheng came forward with wine, "Erlang is really not at home?"
"I went hunting in Lishan Mountain and took a dip in the warm soup." Wu Cheng was very familiar with Wei Zheng and respected the old man with the goatee. After all, he was the father-in-law of the dynasty.
Only then did Qiu Xinggong notice Wei Zheng, and he quickly crossed his hands and bowed to see him.
"That's not a coincidence,"
Wei Zheng nodded to Qiu Xinggong and turned back. Qiu Xinggong followed a few steps and wanted to pay a visit to the Wei family, but Wei Zheng said it was inconvenient and left directly.
Qiu Xinggong was left stunned on the spot.
After a long time, he suppressed his blush and opened his mouth. Finally, he looked at the servant of the Wu family on the side and shut up.
I actually remembered Wei Zheng in my mind.
It's so shameless.
"Go home."
Qiu Xinggong asked his servants to leave all the carts of gifts at the door of Wu's house and rode away directly.
Wu Cheng looked at the large carts of gifts and was secretly speechless.
······
Tongzhou, Shayuan.
Dr. Zuo Guanglu of the Shangzhu Kingdom led the army from the left, and the general and the governor of Youzhou, Peng Guogong and Wang Junkuo, went to Beijing to gather and passed by here. Chang'an was in sight.
Several riders suddenly arrived.
When I saw Wang Junkuo's team, I ran directly to them.
Immediately rolled down a dusty knight.
"Aye,"
Wang Junkuo almost didn't recognize that this person was his son Wang Yong'an.
"What happened?" Wang Junkuo was surprised.
Wang Yongan didn't care about the dust, hugged his father's legs and cried, "Something serious has happened."
"What's going on?"
Wang Yongan leaned close to his father and whispered, "Aye, please step back."
The two men were alone together, and then Wang Yongan hurriedly told his father that it was impossible to go to Chang'an.
"In the past two days, many new faces have appeared around our house, and the nearby street shop Wuhou has added a lot of people,"
"I also found out that Li Xuandao's son, Li Yunjiang, has quietly returned to Beijing."
"General Li Yun, isn't he in Youzhou? When I came back, both Li Xuandao and Master Li stayed in Youzhou, and he asked me to bring a message to Fang Xuanling."
Li Xuandao is the chief historian of the Governor's Mansion of Youzhou. He was originally the chief secretary of the Prince of Qin's Mansion and one of the eighteen bachelors. He was born in the aunt of the Li family in Longxi, one of the Five Surnames and Seven Sects. He is one of the forty-four families of the Five Surnames and Seven Sects.
Emperor Li Shimin also respectfully called him Uncle Shengzu.
In addition, Li Xuandao was also a clan brother of Fang Xuanling's mother, so he was Fang Xuanling's cousin, and both Li Xuandao and Fang Xuanling were married to the Lu family. The two Lu families were also clan sisters, and they were related by blood.
After Li Yuan was executed for his rebellion, the emperor asked Li Xuandao to go to Youzhou to serve as chief historian. Wang Junkuo also knew very well that he was here to monitor him. The two had been together for more than a year, and they had always had conflicts. This time he went to Beijing to attend the meeting.
As usual, he stayed behind for a long time.
Li Xuandao asked him to bring a family letter to Fang Xuanling, but he didn't think much about it.
But now his son says that General Li Yun actually secretly returned to Beijing, arrived in Chang'an before him, and even hid his whereabouts and acted in secret. This is something wrong.
"What else did you find out?"
"My son heard that many new faces appeared near the palaces of King Changle and Ngee An."
When Wang Junkuo heard this, his expression changed drastically, "That's terrible."
He quickly called his entourage and asked him to find the letter home from Li Xuandao to Fang Xuanling.
Looking at the wax-sealed envelope, Wang Junkuo gritted his teeth and tore it open, but it was all written in cursive script. Wang Junkuo, who didn't know a few words, didn't recognize it at all. He gave it to his son to read, but his son was also uneducated and was no better than him.
Where to go.
He called two more close men, but they were also rough and didn't recognize him.
Li Xuandao's calligraphy is very good, and his cursive script is also very good, but ordinary people really can't recognize it.
"It must be Li Xuandao who told bad things about his father. If it were really a letter from home, why would it be written like this? It's basically a coded secret book, just to prevent his father from checking it." Wang Yong'an didn't read much, but he had a lot of bad ideas.
Wang Junkuo, who has always been cunning and suspicious, also thinks it makes sense.
"what to do?"
"I can't return to Chang'an."
"Then go back to Youzhou quickly." Wang Yongan said bitterly, "Why don't we go back to Youzhou and rebel."
Wang Junkuo's face was uncertain, and he finally shook his head, "I can't go back to Youzhou. I guess Li Xuandao has taken control of Youzhou now. If we go back, we will be in the tiger's mouth."
"Li Shimin, Li Shimin, you are trying to kill everyone."
Wang Junkuo was like a frightened bird, and there was a reason why he was so uneasy.
At the end of the Sui Dynasty, he had his own territory and troops on a mountaintop. He pretended to surrender to the Sui army, and later surrendered to Li Yuan, but then switched to Li Mi in Wagang. Because he could not be reused, he later led his troops to surrender to Li Yuan. Li Yuan still treated him well.
Yes, he once enjoyed the same treatment as Qin Qiong, and was directly granted the title of Shangzhu Kingdom.
He was even given the special treatment of riding a horse to the Golden Palace.
Therefore, Wang Junkuo was indeed very convinced of Li Yuan. Later, Prince Jiancheng deliberately won over him and arranged for him to become in-laws with Li Yuan, the king of Lujiang, and arranged for him to go to Youzhou to assist Li Yuan, the governor of Youyi Province.
Of course, Wang Junkuo was indeed brave. He once set a glorious record of leading 13 cavalry to defeat ten thousand troops. Although when he was pacifying Hebei, he also made the mistake of letting Luo Shixin enter the city to replace him, which resulted in the death of a general.
But Wang Junkuo, a cunning man, was capricious but difficult to fight. He was once very loyal to Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng.
But after June last year, these became the reasons for his uneasiness.
Wang Junkuo was a ruthless man, but also a villain. Faced with the crisis, he deliberately instigated the cowardly Li Yuan to rebel. Then he stabbed Li Yuan with his backhand and borrowed Li Yuan's head to ask for credit from Li Shimin.
Although this incident made him very proud, in fact, he had always been very uneasy in his heart, for fear of being exposed.
As Luo Yi was executed, Wang Junkuo became increasingly uneasy.
Last year he found reasons not to join the court, but this year the emperor called him to the court again and again, and he dared not not come.
But he kept dawdling.
Who knew something would happen anyway.
Especially when he heard that something was going to happen to Li Xiaochang and Li Youliang, he no longer dared to go to Chang'an because he knew that these two people were really conspiring to rebel.
Of course, in the words of Li Xiaochang and Li Xiaochang, it was not actually a rebellion, because they did not want to be emperor themselves, but planned to restore the emperor to the throne and restore order to the government.
They contacted Wang Junkuo and invited him to do this important thing together.
Originally, Wang Junkuo pretended to agree, but he actually wanted to report them after entering the court, and wanted to borrow their heads as a stepping stone for his promotion.
But who would have thought that Li Shimin would move so quickly.
Even if he made the first report now, he probably wouldn't be able to convince Li Shimin, and with his keenness, he felt that Li Shimin had already known about his previous involvement with Li Yuan.
Now I'm digging a hole for him to jump into.
"Aye, what should we do?"
Wang Junkuo sighed, "It seems that there is no place for us and my father in the Central Plains. Let's go to the north of Saibei to join Jieli Khan."
"What should we do with our little family?"
"At this time, how can we still care about those things? The green hills are still there, so we don't have to worry about running out of firewood."
Wang Junkuo was furious.
This guy used to be a scoundrel, a good gambler, and when he lost all his money, he would take the fish to the road, trap the merchants, and then steal their money. Later, in the late Sui Dynasty, he led his troops to rebel, and wanted to bring his uncle to ruin his family and finance the team.
, his uncle hesitated, and as a result, this guy falsely accused his aunt of adultery, and tricked his uncle into killing his wife and the innocent neighbor in anger. Then he had no way out and had to fight.
At this time, women were like clothes, so he didn't care about so much, and even his other children couldn't care about them.
After some planning, he directly packed up some belongings, then left his team and followers and ran away. On the way, he broke into a common people's home and killed the family directly. Then he put on their ordinary clothes and even abandoned his own good horse.
He put on an ordinary mule and donkey and ran away. Before leaving, he threw all the corpses into the well, filled it up, and then set fire to the house.
The two men fled north in panic.
But they didn't know that as soon as Wang Junkuo passed Pujin Floating Bridge and before he reached Shayuan, his whereabouts were completely followed by six gates.
When Wang Yongan rushed from Chang'an to Shayuan, Wu Huaiyu led a group of people including Chen Sheng, Zhao Xin and others to a sand dune not far from him.
When he abandoned his entourage and fled, Wu Huaiyu and others were hanging not far away.
Late at night.
On a desert beach by the Luoshui River in Tongzhou, Wang Junkuo and his father were sleeping in the open, and Wu Huaiyu quietly surrounded them with more than a hundred elite cavalry.
There was a sound of arrows, countless torches were lit, and many knights came to kill.
Wang Junkuo woke up alertly. He grabbed his son and was about to jump on his horse and run away. There were bursts of sound piercing the air and countless sharp arrows whizzing towards him.
Wang Junkuo and his son, who had just gotten off their horses, were shot into a hornet's nest with both men and horses.
This hero was shot dead by the Luoshui River in Tongzhou without even saying his last words.
In the light of the fire, Wu Huaiyu rode his horse slowly and looked at the two people who were shooting like hedgehogs.
Several knights stepped forward and held torches to examine the photo carefully.
"Report to Duke Wu that these two thieves are Wang Junkuo, Wang Yongan and his son. The two thieves have been killed!"
Huaiyu looked at the tragically dead father and son, and coldly ordered, "Preserve their bodies and take them back to Chang'an!"
This mission went very smoothly, much more smoothly than the last time I killed Luo Yi.
Wang Junkuo, who was ranked third among the meritorious officials, could not die anymore, and Wu Huaiyu's ranking of meritorious officials automatically moved up one spot.
