On the sixth day of April, more than 25,000 troops of Zhao Sui, who had evacuated from Baoding Mansion, arrived at Zhending Mansion. This place had been captured by Liu Liu and others not long ago, which gave Zhao Sui a chance to breathe.
But Zhao Sui understood that he would not stay here for long. Zhang Yanling's troops would come soon after resting, and this was just a temporary place to stay.
Compared with the embarrassment of the officers and soldiers about to catch up, another thing is more urgent and difficult to deal with. That is how to face Liu Chong and Yang Hu. He lost the city and Liu Qi died. It was really a loss.
The lady lost her troops again.
After Liu Liu and Yang Hu captured Shunde Prefecture, they received the news that Baoding Prefecture had been lost and Liu Qi was killed in action. Liu Liu beat his chest and regretted that he should not have let Liu Qi stay in the rear, but he lost his life.
What made him even more unacceptable was that he learned from a letter sent by the military general who stayed in Baoding Prefecture that Zhao Sui had a chance to save people at that time, but he refused to save people. As a result, Zhang Yanling, who led the army in the imperial court, ordered
In front of tens of thousands of rebels, the people in the city chopped off the brother's head in front of Zhao Sui.
Liu Chong's first reaction was to go to Zhao Sui to argue. Yang Hu was also furious. Zhao Sui did this in complete waste of brotherly love and was really hateful.
"This guy is so hateful, I'm going to skin him. How dare he not save Brother Liu Qi?" Yang Hu threatened.
Liu Chong and Yang Hu immediately led hundreds of cavalry back from Shunde Mansion and went to Zhending Mansion to find Zhao Sui. But halfway through, Liu Chong calmed down.
"Brother Yang Hu, after arriving at Zhending Mansion, promise me one thing. Don't blame Zhao Sui for Liu Chen's death in battle. Don't say a word." Liu Liu confessed to Yang Hu.
"Why? Don't you blame him for this? Aren't you angry?" Yang Hu said in surprise.
Liu Liu sighed and said: "Of course I am angry, but at this time, I have to take the overall situation into consideration. Zhao Sui is a talent. Although I don't know what he is thinking, I think he must not have done this on purpose."
"Are you still speaking for him? He just wants to prove that his idea is correct. We have decided on a strategy to go south, but he wants to stick to Baoding Mansion, forcing us to divide our troops. Brother Liu Chong, we are not brothers who think too much
, I think this person is unreasonable and has different ambitions. Maybe others have already thought of setting up another business. But he is capable." Yang Hu sneered.
Liu Chong did not comment, and just said in a deep voice: "No matter what, people cannot be resurrected, and there cannot be civil strife at the moment. We cannot blame Zhao Sui too much. We will talk about this matter later. From now on, we will mainly support and comfort him.
Join them and go south together. If you don't agree to my request, you can go back to Shunde Prefecture to reorganize the army."
Yang Hu had no choice but to say: "That's all, I won't say anything. But I have something else to ask him. He has more than 30,000 soldiers and horses, guarding Baoding Mansion. There is a strong city guarding it, how can he not fight?
And retreat? Give away Baoding Mansion? I must ask him to explain this matter clearly."
…
When Zhao Sui came out of the south gate of Zhending Mansion and saw Liu Chong and Yang Hu's entourage, he quickly stepped forward, knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly.
"The sinner Zhao Sui has come to see the Generalissimo Fengtian. Zhao Sui was incompetent and lost his Baoding Mansion. Brother Liu Qi... died in front of me. I really have no face to see the Generalissimo Fengtian. If it were not for the responsibility of leading the army, I would not dare to let him down.
After killing so many brothers, Zhao Sui has committed suicide."
Liu Liu jumped off the horse, quickly helped him up and said in a deep voice: "Brother madman, what are you doing? Victory and defeat are common matters for military strategists. This is nothing. As for my brother... well, it's just because of his bad luck.
.When we rebelled, we just did things with our heads in our trousers, so that’s not surprising.”
Zhao Sui cried and said: "General Marshal Fengtian said this, and I feel even more sad. If you punish me severely, I will feel better."
Yang Hu couldn't help but said coldly: "Brother Zhao, you are really heartless when you say these things. Marshal Fengtian endured the pain of losing his brother to comfort you, but why are you being pretentious? You regret it so early,
Why not save him?"
Zhao Sui looked at Yang Hu blankly, not knowing what to say.
Liu Chong said hurriedly: "Brother Yang Hu, don't say such things. Brother Madman doesn't want to do this either. The city of Baoding Mansion...well...is indeed more important than the life of my seventh brother. Brother Madman is taking the overall situation into consideration. It just backfired.
, just failed to defend the city."
Zhao Sui's heart felt cold. Although Liu Chong's words were words of comfort and consideration, Zhao Sui heard the meaning behind his words. The implication of Liu Chong's words was that you lost my brother's life for the sake of Baoding Prefecture.
Life. In the end, not even the city was saved.
Liu Chong's words were good, but Zhao Sui felt guilty, so he naturally didn't understand.
"It's my fault, it's all my fault. I shouldn't have stayed in Baoding Mansion in the first place. It's because I didn't listen to Brother Qi Yanming's advice that we are in today's situation. Marshal Fengtian, Brother Yang Hu, I, Zhao Sui
I am not an ignorant person. I will be responsible for this matter. I will avenge the Liu Qi brothers. In front of General Fengtian, Zhao Sui first cut off one of his fingers and swore an oath."
As he spoke, Zhao Sui stretched out his right hand to grab the middle finger of the injured left arm that was hanging on his chest. He yelled and squeezed hard. There was a muffled sound and the finger was violently broken by him.
.The phalanges of the fingers were exposed through the flesh, and the sight of the white bone stubble and rolled flesh was truly mind-numbing.
"Crazy brother, what are you doing? Someone come and bandage the wound." Liu Liu exclaimed loudly.
Zhao Sui's face turned pale and he whispered: "Brother is incompetent. If I cut off the finger of General Fengtian, I will cut off one of my own. If I hadn't spared my life to take revenge, I would have died in front of the Generalissimo today."
Liu Liu frowned and said, "I don't blame you. Lao Qi has no ability and was caught by others. This matter has nothing to do with you. If he was threatened by the officers and soldiers, then he fell into their trap. Why are you bothering?"
Zhao Sui said in a deep voice: "Fengtian Grand Marshal Sheng Ming. I couldn't accept his threats, so I cruelly refused to agree to Zhang Yanling. For one thing, this case cannot be made. If I, Zhao Sui, are captured in the future, I will never invite him."
Dayuan
Shuai and all the brothers made a deal for me and the officers and soldiers. Secondly, Baoding Prefecture is a strategic place and our foundation. That is our hometown. What I thought at the time was that I could hold on there. As a result, it backfired."
Liu Liu nodded and said: "I understand, I understand. Let's not talk about this matter. Has my seventh brother's body been restrained? Have you asked the army for it? They won't even agree to this request."
Zhao Sui was stunned and said softly: "I was busy defending the city at that time, and I was nervous to evacuate that night. I didn't mention it to the officers and soldiers..."
Yang Hu couldn't hold it back any longer and yelled: "Crazy Zhao, you are so useless. We treat you as a brother, but you treat us like shit, right? It's fine if you don't save Brother Liu Qi, you
We can’t say anything about you taking the overall situation into account. But you don’t even want to bring back his body, and you still
Are we human? You don’t think of us as brothers at all. Those of us who live in this world value loyalty the most. What does victory or defeat mean? Without loyalty, can we still be human? You talk about big principles all day long, and you plan a few games.
Even if we win the battle, we don't care about it, right? It's okay for a brother like you not to do it."
Liu Liu frowned and did not speak. In fact, he was thinking the same thing as Yang Hu. Zhao Sui was too unloyal. Although his brother's death was not Zhao Sui's fault, this man even left the body without helping.
The restraint shows that brotherly loyalty is very important in his heart. How can he be so cool?
"Brother Yang Hu, it is true that the army attacked the city fiercely. I really..." Zhao Sui tried to explain with a pale face.
"Why are the officers and soldiers attacking the city so fiercely? As far as I know, you don't have any officers and soldiers to fight at all. You have 30,000 troops to defend the city, and there are only more than 10,000 troops to attack the city, but you abandoned the city. What's going on?
?You said how important Baoding Mansion is, more important than the lives of brothers, but in the end it was abandoned like a broken shoe, so what can you say?" Yang Hu sneered.
"That's because... the weapons of the official army are so powerful that it's impossible to defend the city. There's nothing I can do..." Zhao Sui's tone darkened and he defended weakly.
"The army's firearms are powerful? How come you didn't know this earlier? Don't you boast that you are unparalleled in ingenuity? Now you are saying these things. Even if their firearms are ferocious and your troops are three times his, why can't you rush out and fight them to the death? But just
You escaped like this. You are in front of the Generalissimo
What does it mean to break your finger in front of you? Is it to embarrass the Generalissimo? To bring injustice to him? Do others want to say that the Generalissimo forced you, Zhao Sui, to break his finger for the sake of his brother's death? Besides, Brother Liu Qi's life is at stake.
In your eyes, I'm only worth one finger? What a joke."
Yang Hu was full of anger and vented it out at this moment.
Zhao Sui opened his mouth but didn't say anything. He knew that it was useless to say anything at this point. After Yang Hu said these words, he no longer regarded himself as a brother. Liu Chong frowned beside him.
If you don't say anything, you are actually acquiescing to his words, and he must have thought so in his heart.
What does it mean that things have come to this? What I want is to seize the world, but the two top leaders of the rebel army in front of me obviously do not have such ambitions. The loyalty they talk about is to grudge and grudge for the sake of personal feud. For the lives of brothers, they can
Sacrifice the situation in exchange for it. How narrow-minded this is.
They are not people who do big things. In essence, what they do is no different from those who are powerful and powerful in the green forest and dominate the mountain.
Zhao Sui knelt there quietly, with blood dripping from the fingers on his chest. The spring wind blew through the wilderness. The scenery outside the south city of Zhending Mansion was very beautiful. Not far away, a weeping willow tree fluttered in the wind. The air was filled with the fragrance of flowers.
Zhao Sui recalled that when he was teaching in a private school, on a spring day, his wife came with a rice basket to deliver food to him. He sat opposite her in the field behind the private school.
As I ate my meal and looked at my beloved wife in front of me, I felt so happy and satisfied at that time.
Now, Yiren has been robbed. For the past two years, she has wandered through the green forest, racked her brains, and suffered all kinds of hardships. She has lived a life of licking blood every day, with fear and fear of never coming back. How miserable this is.
Originally, with a mentality of revenge and a desire to smash this corrupt world, I still had a goal and a hope. But as of today, I have actually lost nothing.
In the shade of the willows, a cuckoo bird made a hoof call.
"If you can't do it, brother, it's better to go back!"
"If you can't do it, brother, it's better to go back!"
The sound of the cuckoo's hooves seemed to be an omen. It was as if his beloved wife was speaking to him again.
"It's better to go back, it's better to go back!"
The meaning of the cry lingered in Zhao Sui's mind. He stood up suddenly and shouted to the willow forest: "Afang, is that you?"
Liu Liu and Yang Hu were stunned and asked at the same time: "What?"
Zhao Sui didn't answer, with a strange smile on his face. He stretched out his hand and unsheathed his long sword.
Liu Liu and Yang Hu jumped up and shouted in unison: "What are you doing? Do you want to rebel?"
Zhao Sui sneered and said: "I will give your brother's life back. It will save you the trouble of making noise. Go away, Madman Zhao!"
After saying that, he returned his hand with the long knife, and a stream of hot blood sprayed out like a flower, blooming in the spring sun.