After receiving Gao Kuo's affirmation, Zhao Hongrun could not recover for a long time.
Born in the royal family of the King of Wei, he did not cherish many relatives, such as brothers Zhao Hongjing and Zhao Hongxin. Although they were related by blood, they actually had little friendship to speak of. In addition, his sixth uncle, Zhao Ren, and his father, the king,
Zhao Si, fifth uncle Zhao Ji and others passed away one after another, which made Zhao Hongrun cherish his recognized biological mother "Wei Ji". His cousin Wei Yu was one of Zhao Hongrun's recognized relatives.
It is for this reason that Zhao Hongrun tolerated Wei Gong Ziyu's secret protection of Xiao Luan, and even gave Wei Yu the information about "refractory bricks" that he needed. All of this was actually based on family ties.
Basically, if it were any other Prince Wei who had no connection with Zhao Run, let's see if Zhao Run would still be so kind.
Zhao Run's kindness is only shown to the people he cares about. In front of irrelevant people, the new king's traditional image is that he is arrogant and domineering.
"Is this...true?"
Zhao Hongrun's face darkened unconsciously, and Zhao Hongrun asked in a deep voice.
Gao Kuo nodded and said: "It's the news sent by the Green Crows...it's absolutely true."
Previously, when civil strife broke out in the Wei Kingdom, Zhao Hongrun had asked Gao Kuo to send the Black Crows to keep an eye on the Wei Kingdom, lest Xiao Luan take the opportunity to fish in troubled waters. Subsequently, Zhang Qigong, the right captain of the Tiance Mansion, and his deputy Bei Gongyu also led the Black Crows.
The crowd pounced on Weiguo and successfully arrested Xiao Luan and returned to the country, but the Green Crows had not yet withdrawn from Weiguo.
Anyway, they were idle. The Green Crows simply paid attention to the civil strife in the Wei Kingdom, that is, the confrontation between Wei Wang Fei and the young master Wei Yu. They never thought that in just ten days, the situation would suddenly change.
The invincible young master Wei Yu actually died. Not to mention Zhao Run was dumbfounded. Even Gao Kuo was a little dumbfounded after receiving the news. He couldn't believe it. Someone actually dared to kill Mr. Wei Ziyu?!
Young Master Wei Yu is the cousin of Wei King Zhao Run, and the two cousins have always had a good relationship. Therefore, even if it is for the sake of Wei King Zhao Run, the Wei State can put Wei Yu under house arrest or exile Wei Yu, but it absolutely cannot
Wei Yu was killed.
"Bang!"
Zhao Hongrun slapped his hand heavily on the table in front of him, and saw his eyebrows condensed, his eyes filled with anger, and he asked in a deep voice: "Who... harmed Wei Yu?"
"This...it's not clear yet." Gao Kuo shook his head and said.
"Go and check!" Zhao Hongrun ordered in a deep voice.
"yes!"
On that day, Gao Kuo and his deputies traveled day and night to Puyang to defend the country.
Daliang is not far from Puyang. The straight-line distance is about two hundred miles. If you ride a fast horse, you can reach it in about three days. However, Gao Kuo and Zhong Zhao chose the faster waterway.
Langsha took a boat to Puyang, and within a day and a half, he landed in the waters around Puyang.
After landing, Gao Kuo, Zhong Zhao and others led the Qingya people and rode to Puyang.
On the way, they encountered many Weiguo people coming towards them. They saw these Weiguo people carrying packages and traveling in groups, as if they were preparing to move to other places.
Out of curiosity, Gao Kuo, Zhong Zhao and others stopped and asked these Weiguo people the reason.
However, when the common people of the Wei Kingdom saw Gao Kuo, Zhong Zhao, and the Green Crows, all riding mounts and carrying weapons, they knew at a glance that they were not ordinary people, so they were inevitably a little frightened and trembling.
Dare to speak.
Seeing this, Gao Kuo explained to them: "We are the imperial guards of Daliang. We learned that your country is facing civil strife, and our monarch ordered us to come and inquire about the situation..."
In fact, in the Wei Kingdom, the status of the Tiance Mansion is higher than that of the Imperial Guards, but the people of the Wei Kingdom have not necessarily heard of the Tiance Mansion. Therefore, Gao Kuo simply calls himself the Imperial Guards. After all, the Imperial Guards are currently
It is the king's division in Daliang, the capital of King Wei, and it is the army under the direct control of King Zhao Run of Wei. This is more convincing on the side of the Wei people.
Sure enough, upon hearing that Gao Kuo, Zhong Zhao and others were from Wei, and were soldiers from the "King of Wei", the fear in the hearts of the people of Wei immediately disappeared. After all, the relationship between Wei and Wei has always been harmonious.
, although there has been a little friction in recent years because of Xiao Ni, Wei Yu and other reasons, in general the relationship between the two countries is still harmonious.
Just looking at the fact that there are no border troops stationed on the border between Wei and Wei is enough to prove this point.
"It turns out to be Master Daliang Wang..."
The person Gao Kuo and Zhongzhao stopped was a Weiren family with about seven or eight members. The male head of the family was about forty years old. After Gao Kuo explained the identity of his group, he lifted the barrier.
The other party was wary and suspicious, and then explained: "We are all civilians living in Puyang City. Because the armies in the city are fighting each other, we want to flee the country and move elsewhere."
As he said this, he looked thoughtfully at Gao Kuo, Zhong Zhao and others, possibly thinking that moving to Wei State might be a good idea.
"The armies in Puyang City are fighting fiercely?"
Zhong Zhao frowned and couldn't help but ask: "Brother, is it true that your country's young master Wei Yu died unfortunately?"
Hearing this, the man sighed, shook his head and said: "I don't know the details. I only know that in the past few days, there has been a rumor in the city that "Gongzi Yu was harmed by Gongzi Jie"... But I heard that,
The group of people from the Eastern Army attacked the inner city like crazy and kept saying that they wanted to kill Young Master Jie to avenge Young Master Yu. I thought about this..."
At the end of the sentence, he sighed heavily.
"Young Master Jie? Wei Jie?"
Gao Kuo and Zhong Zhao looked at each other, feeling a little weird in their hearts.
As high-ranking officials in charge of the Green Crows and the collection of various intelligences in the Wei State, Gao Kuo and Zhong Zhao had of course heard of Gongzi Jie, also known as Wei Jie.
As far as they know, Wei Jie is a complete loser and a playboy. Although it is said that he is good at flattering and flattering, which is why he has won the favor of King Fei of Wei, his own talents and personal charm are not comparable to Gong Ziyu.
How could such a useless person kill Wei Gong Ziyu?
"You and I should go directly to Puyang to see what's going on."
Zhongzhao said to Gao Kuo.
Gao Kuo nodded, and after bidding farewell to all the Puyang people here, went straight to Puyang City.
After about half a day's journey, Gao Kuo and his party finally arrived in Puyang.
Just as the fleeing Puyang people said, Puyang is now in chaos. Even from a long distance away, Gao Kuo and Zhong Zhao can hear the loud killing cries in the city.
When you get closer to Puyang, you will see that the city is in chaos. In fact, there are corpses almost everywhere inside and outside Puyang City. Some are soldiers of the Eastern Army or the Western Army in bright armor, and some are innocent people.
The level of chaos was no less than the legendary "Daliang Civil War" when a civil war broke out between the Shunshui Army and the Yushui Army.
From a distance, Gao Kuo saw a group of rangers fighting with a group of soldiers whose armor looked like that of the Wei army. The two sides were killing each other in complete darkness.
Even without being close, Gao Kuo could feel a very strong sense of madness.
Almost all of those people were so furious that Gao Kuo saw with his own eyes that some innocent fleeing people were cut down to the ground by the soldiers of the enemy and ourselves.
"Are these guards crazy?"
Gao Kuo murmured and decided that it would be better not to get close for the time being.
However, even though they didn't get close, it didn't take long for a guard to find them.
There were only about two hundred people in this guard, half of whom were soldiers with relatively complete armor, but there were also some rangers who only wore leather armor and held single swords. They were the "Eastern Army" at first glance.
Seeing the opponent charging towards him with murderous intent, Gao Kuo was not afraid because he had more than a hundred Green Crows under his command, but considering not to engage in a unnecessary battle, he immediately revealed his identity: "Stop! We are from
The soldiers of the King of Daliang are not your enemies!"
After hearing this, the Eastern Army who rushed over with murderous looks on their faces stopped in disbelief.
Not long after, a man dressed as a knight-errant stood up and asked with a frown: "Wei people? Why did Wei people come to Puyang?"
Gao Kuo clasped his fists and said: "I, the monarch of the Wei Dynasty, and your country's Gong Ziyu are cousins. A few days ago, I learned that Gong Ziyu might have been harmed. Our monarch was furious and sent us to investigate!"
Upon hearing this, the ranger and the nearby Dongjun soldiers suddenly lost some hostility in their eyes, and were replaced by deep sadness after they heard "Gong Ziyu".
"What's the proof?" the ranger asked calmly.
Seeing this, Gao Kuo immediately took out a gold token from his arms and threw it towards the opponent.
This golden order is quite remarkable. Looking at the entire Wei State, except for King Zhao Run of Wei, only Wei Jiao, the commander of the Imperial Guard, and Gao Kuo, the commander-in-chief of the Tiance Mansion, hold this gold order.
Of course, if you mobilize any army of the Wei State without notifying the imperial court, you still have to report this honor afterwards. Even the two brothers of Zhao Run, King Zhao Jiang of Yan and King Huan Zhao Xuan, are not entitled to enjoy it.
The ranger received the golden order with a snap and looked at it carefully for a while. Although he did not understand how powerful this gold order actually was, from the exquisite workmanship of this gold order and the "like I am here in person"
”, he could probably guess how valuable this gold token was.
"Shua"
The ranger put the sharp sword in his hand back into the scabbard, waved his hand to signal the soldiers behind him to put down their weapons, and then he stepped forward and handed the golden order in his hand back to Gao Kuo.
It is worth mentioning that when he handed back the gold order, he looked at Gao Kuo for a while, then called the hundreds of green crows behind them, and casually asked: "Qingya?"
"Huh?"
Gao Kuo was stunned for a moment, and after taking a closer look at the other party, he guessed: "'Chang Chai'?"
The ranger smiled reluctantly when he heard this, and introduced his hands: "Chang Chai, Wei Zhan."
"guard?"
Seeing that the other party actually had the surname of Weiguo, Zhongzhao looked at him twice in disbelief.
As if he had guessed the intention of Zhongzhao, the ranger who called himself Wei Yun explained with a wry smile: "The surname was given by the young master, not from the royal family."
"Oh." Zhongzhao was relieved.
At this time, Gao Kuo glanced at the surrounding Eastern Army, frowned and asked: "Brother Wei, I met the people of your land on the way and learned from their mouths that Gong Ziyu was unfortunately harmed by Gong Zi Jie...
Is this serious?"
After hearing this, Wei Yun's expression suddenly became gloomy. After a while, he nodded and gritted his teeth and said, "It is true."
"What on earth is going on?" Gao Kuo asked with a frown.
Wei Yun took a long breath, and after calming down the anger in his heart, he said: "I don't know exactly how. I will lead you to see the two generals Xia Yu and Meng Ben..."
After that, Wei Yun led Gao Kuo and recruited the group into Puyang.
At this time, in Puyang City, the fierce general Meng Ben was leading the Eastern Army to storm the inner city, where the royal palace was located, while Xia Yu occupied the east and south cities of Puyang City, assisting Meng Bi on the one hand, and on the other hand, resisting Puyang who was trying to regain the lost ground.
The army was so strong that the whole Puyang was in chaos.
It is worth mentioning that among the troops trying to stop the Eastern Army's crazy move of "storming the palace", there were also troops under the command of Danyuan Marquis Wei Zhen.
Of course, this does not mean that Tan Yuanhou Wei Zhen defected before the battle and returned to the Western Army's camp, but that he could not accept the various revenge behaviors of the Eastern Army after Wei Gong Ziyu's death. Therefore, in trying to dissuade Xia Yu and Meng Ben, they failed
Under the circumstances, Tan Yuanhou Wei Zhen led his troops to separate from the Eastern Army and occupy the west and northwest of the city. On the one hand, he prevented the Eastern Army from attacking the palace, and on the other hand, he protected the people in the area. It is no exaggeration to say that this is currently the most rational army in Puyang City.
, I’m afraid it only belongs to the Tan Yuan Army.
"Report! Wang Street in Beicheng was recaptured by the Puyang Army!"
"Report! Zhou's Rice Shop in Linqu Lane was recaptured by the Puyang Army!"
"Report! Our army has captured the east entrance of Liuxiang and is attacking the west entrance..."
In a deep house that served as a temporary headquarters, General Xia Yu of the Eastern Army stood in the room, looking at a map of Puyang City on the table with bright eyes, and issuing general orders from time to time.
Suddenly, Xia Yu asked in a deep voice: "Has Meng Ben not yet captured the palace?"
"Not yet." Zuo Zuo replied.
Seeing this, Xia Yu slammed the table in front of him.
At this moment, a soldier came in and reported: "General, someone from Wei State wants to see the general. They say they are men sent by the King of Wei to thoroughly investigate the cause of the son's death."
"..."
Xia Yu was slightly stunned. After thinking for a moment, he nodded and said, "Invite them in."
After a while, Gao Kuo, Zhong Zhao and several Green Crows, led by Ranger Wei Yun, arrived at the commander's office.
Out of respect for the Wei envoy, Xia Yu personally went out to welcome Gao Kuo and Zhongzhao out of the house. Then he ordered his soldiers to serve tea: "At this critical moment, there is no good tea to entertain them.
Dear envoys, I ask these two distinguished envoys not to blame you."
After that, when he saw Gao Kuo, he waved his hand to show that he didn't mind, and asked respectfully: "I wonder what you call them?"
"I am the Zongwei of the Great Wei Dynasty, Gao Kuo, the Zuodu Lieutenant of Tiance Mansion. He is my deputy, Zhongzhao." Gao Kuo briefly introduced himself.
"His Majesty the King of Wei's cronies..." Xia Yu nodded to show that he understood, and then asked with a wry smile: "His Majesty the King of Wei, have you heard about the murder of His Royal Highness?"
Gao Kuo nodded and replied: "After learning that Gong Ziyu was killed, our Majesty Long Yan was furious and ordered us to come and find out the truth... General Xia, what is going on? As far as Gao knows, your army is here
When they attacked Puyang, they still had the upper hand, so why was Gong Ziyu killed?"
Hearing this, Xia Yu's eyes flashed with deep hatred, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Just because of the security fee, Wei Jie and his son are despicable and cunning!"
As he spoke, he slowly told what happened.
As Gao Kuo said, when the Eastern Army attacked Puyang City half a month ago, it was indeed the Eastern Army that had the advantage.
More importantly, Wei man Zhang Qigong secretly helped Xia Yu defeat Xiao Luan, who was stationed in Fan County at the time, and eliminated the hidden danger of the Eastern Army in the grain road. After that, Zhang Qigong and Bei Gongyu escorted Xiao Luan to Daliang, and
Xia Yuze led
The soldiers and horses under his command returned to Puyang again. It is no exaggeration to say that Puyang had no chance of winning at that time. Although the Puyang Army was indeed stronger than the Eastern Army, everyone could see that it was only a matter of time before Puyang was captured by the Eastern Army.
Under this situation, Wei Gong Ziyu considered that the Western Army and the Eastern Army had suffered many casualties, and these soldiers who died in the battle were all the sons of Wei State. He couldn't bear it, so he personally came forward to persuade Puyang to surrender, hoping that Puyang City would give up resistance.
However, there was no response from King Fei of Wei. Only Prince Jie stood on the tower at that time and accused Prince Wei of leading an army to attack Puyang as usurping the throne and treason.
In order to show his sincerity, Gong Ziyu brought fifty Changchai rangers into the city, regardless of the obstruction of Xia Yu, Meng Bi and others, hoping to persuade his father, Wei Fei, to hand over state power face to face.
But what I didn't expect was that Puyang suddenly launched an attack at this time, detained Wei Yu, threatened Xia Yu, Meng Ben and others to disband the army, and captured him without mercy.
Seeing that Puyang was so despicable and shameless, even Tanyuan Hou Wei Zhen couldn't stand it. Privately, he and Meng Ben, who had given advice to Xia Yu, decided to pretend to obey Puyang's order and wait for an opportunity to rescue the young master Wei Yu.
Just when Xia Yu, Meng Bi and Tan Yuanhou Wei Zhen were secretly planning to rescue Wei Gong Ziyu, there were nobles in Puyang City who were friends with Wei Gong Ziyu and sent their guards to sneak out of the city and tell Xia Yu that Meng Bi
, saying that Wei Gong Ziyu has been harmed by Gongzi Jie.
Upon hearing this, Xia Yu and Meng Ben were immediately furious and immediately raised their troops to attack Puyang.
As the saying goes, a sad soldier will win, and Wei Yu's status in the hearts of the soldiers of the Eastern Army is unparalleled. Now that they know that this respectable prince has been harmed, the soldiers of the Eastern Army are filled with anger.
At first, Tan Yuan Hou Weizhen was not angry about Puyang's actions and assisted the Eastern Army in attacking Puyang. However, after the city was defeated, Tan Yuan Hou Weizhen felt that the trouble was getting bigger and bigger, and even the Puyang Army and the Eastern Army were fighting each other, which had already caused disaster.
The people who came to the city, therefore, after failing to dissuade Xia Yu and Meng Ben, they parted ways.
Waiting for Xia Yu to tell the complete story of the cause and effect, Gao Kuo and Zhong Zhao looked at each other.
They sincerely felt that Duke Wei Ziyu was a bit... pedantic. To show his sincerity, he personally went to the city to persuade him to surrender? Wouldn't this be asking for death?
However, after thinking about it, Gao Kuo felt a little strange again and asked Xia Yu: "General Xia Yu and Gong Ziyu, were they really killed by Gongzi Jie?"
Xia Yu nodded and said bitterly: "On the first day when I decided to attack Puyang, I personally questioned Wei Jie, hoping to see the young master. I never thought that this person would hesitate and talk about him with excuses, and wait for Xia to expose the young master.
After being harmed by him, he looked frightened again...Young master, he must have been harmed by him!"
"..."
Gao Kuo and Zhong Zhao looked at each other, still feeling a little strange.
They knew that Wei Jie, a tough-tempered guy, how could he have the guts to harm Wei Yu?
Could there be something fishy about this?
At the same time, in the side hall of the palace, the young master they called Jie was pacing back and forth in the hall with an anxious look on his face, murmuring to himself: "I can't stop it, I can't stop it, Meng Ben is that."
Damn this reckless man is about to break into the palace... Damn it! Who killed Wei Yu?!"
After saying that, he glanced around at the few confidants in the palace and asked sternly: "Who are you waiting for?!"
There were about four or five close friends in the hall waving their hands.
"Sir, I don't have one."
"How dare you, a villain?"
"Wei Yu was imprisoned in my house that day, and I asked you to send someone to guard him. If it wasn't you, then who could it be?!" Wei Jie roared angrily.
Several close followers looked at each other, lowering their heads and not daring to answer.
In fact, they couldn't figure it out. Wei Yu was locked up in the house, so why did he die overnight?
After glaring at these people fiercely, Wei Jie turned to look at a middle-aged man standing nearby who was estimated to be in his forties, and said anxiously: "Jin Xu, what do you think we should do now? ...
Get up, this idea is yours, you must solve it for me!"
The middle-aged man named Jin Xu helplessly spread his hands and said with a wry smile: "Sir, I really suggest that you lure Wei Yu into the city, take the opportunity to subdue him, and use it to threaten the Eastern Army outside the city. But
I did not suggest that you kill Wei Yu..."
"you"
Wei Jie glared at Jin Xu fiercely, and then said as if he was frustrated: "I didn't ask anyone to harm Wei Yu. I wonder if some bastard who suffered a thousand cuts put the blame on me..."
Seeing Wei Jie's furious look, the middle-aged man named Jin Xu smiled without leaving any trace.
A closer look at this person revealed that this Jin Xu was not a stranger. He was the jailer Jin Xu who was lurking with Xiao Luan in the Dali Temple in Daliang City, Wei State, and was Xiao Luan's right-hand man.
"...What an idiot!"
Looking at the furious Young Master Jie, Jin Xu secretly sneered in his heart.
Yes, neither King Fei of Wei nor Gongzi Jie actually had any intention of harming Wei Yu. The one who really did it was Jin Xu, who was sent to Gongzi Jie by Xiao Luan as the "deputy general of Dunqiu Army".
The purpose is to take the opportunity to get rid of Wei Yu.
Getting rid of Wei Yu will have various benefits for Xiao Luan, Jin Xu and others.
First of all, there are various signs that Wei Yu is about to take action against them. In this case, Xiao Luan, Jin Xu and others naturally have to take action first to eliminate this hidden danger.
Furthermore, Wei Yu's death will lead to great internal chaos in Wei State.
Only in a chaotic situation can Fu Weijun, led by Xiao Luan, Jin Xu and others, have a chance to fish in troubled waters.
"... When the Wei State is in chaos, the best outcome is that the Wei State will stand still due to various scruples, but as soon as Wei Yu dies, the rest of the people will not know the details of our army. The worst outcome is that the Wei State intervenes.
But in this way, I can also spread rumors that Wei wants to annex Wei and has the ambition to unify the Central Plains. I believe that all the countries in the Central Plains will be wary of Wei because of this..."
Nodding secretly, Jin Xu turned his head and glanced at the sky outside the palace.
"...Anyway, my affairs here are done. It's time to wait for an opportunity to escape and join the young master... I heard that the young master suffered a big loss at the hands of Na Xia Yu when he was in Fan County? Haha, this is really...
...It seems that Xia Yu should not be underestimated."