A piece of news suddenly came out from the Jizhou camp.
The coach, Pugu Huai'en, is now bedridden and unable to move due to the fatigue of traveling and horse racing, as well as the cold.
Originally, the Jizhou army led by Pugu Huai'en was supposed to go south to join forces with Li Guangbi and go to Henan for a decisive battle with Shi Siming, but now it had to be delayed.
But in the Jizhou camp, Pugu Huai'en was really sick, but it was not because of the cold, but because he was overcome by anger.
Pu Gujun was standing outside the tent at this time. When he saw the doctor going out, he quickly asked: "How is my father?"
Doctor: "The commander is depressed and may need to rest for a while."
After the doctor left, Pu Gujuan and several familiar generals secretly walked aside.
Pu Gujuan said to the others: "The commander-in-chief already knows that we are smuggling tea. This matter must not be made public. You must remember."
The other generals had all benefited from the private market and knew that this matter was of great importance, so they all nodded.
Pugu Jun asked the others to leave, then carefully walked into the camp, came to Pugu Huai'en's bed, knelt on the ground and said: "I know that my father is loyal to the court, so I have never dared to mention the matter of smuggling tea to you.
And, if it weren’t for that vicious dog Yuan Zai who persecuted us too much, everyone would be happy about this and no one would be dissatisfied.”
Pugu Huai'en slowly opened his eyes, looked at the big tent above his head, and weakly said two words: "The traitor."
Pu Gujue: "As for the Jin Yiwei, father can rest assured. We waited for them to leave Jizhou's territory before taking action. The location was a barren mountain with no one in front or behind, and the corpses, waist badges, etc. were all taken care of.
It is absolutely foolproof, no one will be able to see the flaw, at most they will just think it was done by a tiger or leopard."
Pugu Huaien said softly: "You underestimate the court..."
Pu Gujun was stunned for a moment, and then said: "The issue of selling tea to Huihe is really closely related. Once the incident comes to light, not only the Pu Gu family, but also many generals in the army and many officials in Pinglu will be implicated. I
It’s also helpless.”
Pugu Huaien took a long breath and said to Pugu Jian: "Do you really think that everything is perfect? Little do you know that the court has been eyeing the Pugu family for more than a day or two. Now that Nanzhen Fusi has sent Jin Yiwei to Pinglu, then
There will definitely be a back-up plan, and killing someone can only leave someone with evidence, which is the stupidest way."
Pu Gujuan's expression changed several times, and finally he smiled bitterly and said: "If disaster strikes and it is really impossible, I have also thought of a way out for the Pu Gu family."
When Pugu Huaien heard this, he was silent at first, then suddenly thought of something, and looked at his son with wide eyes, a look of disbelief on his face.
Pu Gujun knelt on the ground and said: "Father, please rest in peace and recuperate, and don't be impatient for a while. If the outside world is calm, it means that the tea selling incident has not been exposed. Everyone understands this tacitly, and just pretend that nothing happened."
Pugu Huai'en glanced out the window and saw a crowd of people, and asked in a deep voice: "Is this house arrest?"
Pu Gujian was speechless, stood up, and left the room.
Half a month after Pugu Huai'en fell ill, the imperial court sent Yang Lun from the Internal Supervisor as a consolation envoy to visit Jizhou.
After Yang Lun arrived at the Jizhou camp, he met Pu Gujuan, who was in charge of the military on his behalf. The latter kept silent about his inspection, but instead held a banquet to entertain the envoys who arrived.
When the envoys entered the banquet, Pu Gujian saw that among the people attending the banquet, there were actually several royal guards. His face changed greatly and his scalp went numb.
Pu Gujuan stared at the Jinyi guards and stammered to Yang Lun, "I don't know... these guys...?"
The leader of the Jinyi Guards, Shangguan, raised his hands to Pu Gujuan and said, "I am Zhang Yanling, the judge of Fusi in Nanzhen."
There was faint sweat on Pugujuan's forehead.
Zhang Yanling: "Commander Pugu is lying ill in bed, and the Holy One issued an order for Duke Yang to come to Jizhou with his royal guards to visit him."
Hearing this, Pu Gujuan trembled and said, "Father, he is weak and needs to rest. It is inconvenient to disturb him."
Zhang Yanling smiled slightly and stopped talking.
Seeing this, Pu Gujuan felt guilty. He quickly ordered his men to take out a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry, placed them in front of Yang Lun, and said, "Mr. Yang and all the distinguished guests in the mission are tired of traveling. This is
Some of my thoughts."
If it were normal, Yang Lun might have accepted it with a smile, but today was different. Nanzhen Fusi sent Zhang Yanling to accompany him, so Yang Lun could only laugh dryly a few times and pretend not to see these belongings.
Zhang Yanling glanced at Pu Gujuan and said, "I've always heard that Pu Gu's family is rich, and I saw it today. It's true."
Pugu Jian forced a smile and said: "You are all Shangguan from the capital. You are a vulgar person and don't know what to say. These money are just the wishes of the people in Jizhou and are not the work of the Pugu family."
Zhang Yanling stared at Pugu Jian and asked: "We have received the emperor's order. I wonder when we can see Commander Pugu?"
The more anxious Jin Yiwei was to see Pugu Huai'en, the more panicked Pugu Jian became. He could only deal with a few words and prevaricate.
At nightfall, Zhang Yanling found Yang Lun and said to the latter: "The Pugu family may have treason."
Yang Lun was startled and asked quickly: "Why do you see it?"
Zhang Yanling took Yang Lun to the gate of the mission's residence, and saw Jizhou soldiers everywhere outside the gate.
Yang Lun wanted to go out, but was told that bandits were rampant after nightfall in Jizhou, so it was best to stay at home.
Seeing that he could not go out, Yang Lun could only turn back.
At this moment, a servant from the mission came to report that there were sergeants from the Jizhou camp, and surrounded the stables, saying they were looking after the horses.
Hearing this, no matter how stupid Yang Lun was, he could still tell that something was wrong, and he believed Zhang Yanling's words a little more.
Zhang Yanling was calm and composed at this time, and said to Yang Lun: "Don't worry, Mr. Yang, Jin Yiwei has already prepared for this."
When Yang Lun heard this, he felt a little relieved.
In the next few days, Yang Lun followed Zhang Yanling's suggestion and did not even mention that he wanted to see Pugu Huai'en. He just visited the mountains and rivers every day.
Gradually, Pugujiao lost his guard, and the soldiers responsible for monitoring the consolation mission also gradually relaxed.
Finally, late one night, the Jinyiwei secret agent in charge of the response in Nanzhen Fusi suddenly sneaked into the mission's station, disguised Yang Lun and a group of mission members as soldiers, escaped the defenders' interrogation, and left Jizhou at night.
.
In the early morning of the next day, when Pu Gujian learned that the members of the mission had escaped, he was so shocked that he could not speak for a while.
He knew in his heart that it had been three hours since the envoy left the city. Even if he rode fast to catch up, it was already too late.
Pu Gujun summoned the general from Jizhou who was familiar with him. His face was darker than the bottom of a pot, and his voice was full of despair: "When the envoy Xuanwei returns to the capital with the imperial guards, he will definitely report to the emperor about collaborating with the enemy.
Disaster is coming!"
All the Jizhou generals who participated in the smuggling of official tea looked sad.
Someone said: "The Uighurs have stopped paying tribute and have spoken rudely to the imperial court. The Holy Father has made it clear that we are not allowed to trade with each other to aid our enemies. Once we are found guilty of collaborating with the enemy, our whole family will have no way out."
Pu Gujuan's eyes turned cold: "Rather than sit back and wait for death, it is better to fight to the death."
When the generals heard this, someone asked: "How to fight?"
Pu Gujue: "For us, the Tang Dynasty has no place to stand. It is better to lead the troops to Mobei and lure the Hui people into the pass."
A general was shocked and said: "Led Huihe people into the pass? This is a heinous crime!"
Pu Gujue: "If you stay, you will die. If you don't go north, do you have a better way?"