Chapter four hundred and ninety nine loyal ministers fall
Qin Zi said to Wu Han: "General Wu can kill my concubine, but don't humiliate me. If General Wu wants to use force, I will die to prove my ambition."
Wu Han was happy when he heard this, and his eyes brightened when he looked at Qin Zi.
Even though Qin Zi is just a woman, she has a character that is not inferior to that of a man. At this moment, the stubbornness on Qin Zi's face and the determination in her eyes were as dazzling as pleasing to the eye in Wu Han's eyes.
He raised his finger and pointed at Qin Zi, and said with a smile: "I'm going to settle on you, woman, but you can rest assured that Han will not use force on women."
Liu Xiu sent Wu Han to conquer Yecheng with lightning speed. This was a blow to Xie Gong.
At this time, Xie Gong was completely unaware that Chen Kang, the governor of Wei County, had already switched his side to Liu Xiu, and that his wife fell into the hands of Wu Han, and that his general Liu Qing was killed by Chen Kang.
Now Xie Gong is leading his men to march towards Linli. You Lai's army fled north and has taken refuge in Linli. What Xie Gong has to do now is to lead his army to Linli and annihilate You Lai's army in one fell swoop.
In his opinion, although Yu Lai's army was outnumbered, it was frightened by Liu Xiu's army of 3,000 and fled. It was really just a mob. It was easy for him to lead his army to Linli and annihilate Yu Lai's army.
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But he ignored one thing. The reason why You Lai's army fled without fighting in Shanyang was not only the three thousand Youzhou cavalry commanded by Geng and Jing Dan, but what they were really worried about was Liu Xiujun behind these three thousand cavalry.
Main force.
Liu Xiu's reputation was too great, and You Laijun was unwilling to fight to the death with Liu Xiujun's main force, especially when they still had a way out.
The Youlai army who fled to Linli had no way out. They had fled to the northernmost part of Hanoi and had no way to escape. At this time, Xie Gong led his men to attack, and the Youlai army had no other choice but to fight to the death.
One battle.
The confrontation between Xie Gongjun and Youlai's army in Linli took place under such circumstances. The more than 100,000 Youlai army had no way to retreat. They made a determined effort to fight to the death. In the decisive battle with Xie Gongjun, they showed extraordinary performance.
Ordinary fighting ability.
In this battle, Xie Gong's army was severely defeated by You Lai's army. Corpses were scattered all over the field, and there were countless casualties. Of the more than 40,000 soldiers, only a few thousand escaped with Xie Gong in the end.
In this battle, Xie Gong's army was completely defeated, and was almost wiped out by You Lai's army. Instead of leading his remaining troops to defeat south and join Liu Xiu's army, Xie Gong chose to go north, enter Wei County, and go to Yecheng.
The defeat in this battle made Xie Gong suspect that he had been plotted by Liu Xiu. Liu Xiuming knew that his side only had 40,000 troops, but he asked his side to deal with Yu Lai's army of more than 100,000 men. Wasn't this deliberately letting his side attack a stone with an egg?
However, Xie Gong forgot that Liu Xiu only asked him to lead his army to block Yu Lai's army from going north, but did not ask them to pursue the enemy and fight in Linli.
Xie Gong planned to take the remnants of his troops back to Yecheng, regroup, and then fight back to Linli to fight to the death with Youlai's army. However, Xie Gong never dreamed that the current Yecheng was no longer the same Yecheng where the imperial court was reformed, but that of Liu
Beautiful Yecheng.
After arriving at Yecheng, Xie Gong did not doubt his presence at all, and led the remaining defeated soldiers under his command directly into the city.
As soon as they entered, the city gate behind them was closed. Xie Gong, who was walking in front, heard the sound of the city gate closing and couldn't help but frown secretly. Why did Yecheng close the city gate in broad daylight?
Before he could react, he saw densely packed soldiers holding crossbows standing on the city wall. At the same time, groups of cavalry also appeared on the streets around them.
Xie Gong looked around with his brows furrowed. At this moment, two people walked up the street in front of him. One was Chen Kang, the prefect of Wei County, and the other was Wu Han.
Unexpectedly, he could see Wu Han in Yecheng. Xie Gong was startled and urged his horse forward. He raised his hands and said, "General Wu, why are you in Yecheng?"
Wu Han bared his teeth and smiled at Xie Gong, but his face changed as if he were turning over a book, and he shouted in a deep voice: "Take it!"
Following his order, the guards around Xie Gong didn't even react. A figure jumped out from the streets on the left and right sides of Xie Gong, came to Xie Gong's horse, and pulled him off the horse directly.
"ah"
Plop! Xie Gong screamed and fell heavily to the ground. Seeing this, the guards behind Xie Gong and many soldiers were all shocked. Just as people were about to step forward, Wu Han shouted loudly: "Which one should I look at?"
Dare to move?"
While he was shouting, a large number of soldiers appeared on the rooftops on both sides of the street. Similarly, people were holding crossbows and pointed their swords at the soldiers of Xie Gong's army on the street.
The two men who jumped up to Xie Gong pulled Xie Gong's shoulders, gathered his back, tied him tightly, and then pushed him to his knees. Xie Gong raised his head, glared at Wu Han, and shouted sternly: "Wu Han,
What are you doing?"
Wu Han chuckled and asked: "Thank you, do you know your guilt?"
"What is my crime?"
"What crime are you guilty of? You disobeyed the king's order and privately led the army to fight in Linli, resulting in tens of thousands of soldiers dying in vain. How dare you say that you are guilty of it?"
Xie Gong was startled at first, and then shouted angrily: "It was Prince Xiao who harmed me..."
"Did the king ask you to go to Linli to fight?"
"this……"
"The king ordered you to stop the bandit army, but instead of failing to do it, you privately led the army to fight in Linli, which resulted in a disastrous defeat for our army. Now you want to blame the king?" Wu Han asked in a loud voice.
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The officers and soldiers of Xie Gongjun who had originally raised their weapons put down their weapons after hearing this. If it is true as Wu Han said, then the responsibility for our side's disastrous defeat does lie with Xie Shangshu!
Xie Gong's expression changed unsteadily, and he didn't say anything for a long time. After a long time, he gritted his teeth and said: "Wu Han, you are just a partial general. I am the minister and the shepherd of Jizhou. You have no right to arrest me!"
Wu Han nodded with a smile, calmly reached into his arms, took out a copper token from his arms, stretched it out in front of Xie Gong, and said: "I, Wu Han, have no right to arrest you, Xie Shangshu, but your Majesty does."
Let’s arrest you and hold you accountable!”
Seeing Liu Xiu's Xiao Wang token, Xie Gongquan understood that Wu Han did not appear in Yecheng for no reason, but was ordered by Liu Xiu to return to Yecheng to ambush him.
He turned his eyes and looked at Chen Kang behind Wu Han, and shouted sternly: "Prefect Chen! Chen Kang!"
Chen Kang was like a quail, with his head lowered and his neck shrinking, not daring to take a breath.
Wu Han walked up to Xie Gong, bent down, and leaned close to his ear, saying: "Although I don't want to ask, the king has already told me, I still have to ask Xie Shangshu if he is willing to assist the king.
, to create a great cause together?”
"Hehehe, hahaha." Xie Gong looked at Wu Han who was very close at hand. He chuckled lightly at first, then smiled, then turned into a big laugh.
After laughing for a long time, he stopped smiling and said word by word to Wu Han: "Bow, you will be a minister of Gengshi in life, and you will be a ghost of Gengshi in death! You want to help rebellious ministers and traitors, what a wishful thinking!"
"Yeah! Okay! Well said, that's what I've been waiting for!"
The smile on Wu Han's face deepened a little, he raised his hand and patted his cheek, and said: "Thank you, you can go on your way in peace, Liu Qing is waiting for you on the Huangquan Road, and as for your wife, I, Wu Han, will naturally take care of her in the future!
"
A look of horror immediately appeared on Xie Gong's face. He opened his mouth and was about to speak when Wu Han drew out his sword as fast as lightning. Without even hesitating, he cut off Xie Gong's neck with one sword and cut off his neck.
The head was chopped off directly.
Poof! Xie Gong's head fell to the ground. He walked to the street and looked at the decapitated expression, still filled with horror that had not had time to disappear. Wu Han stepped on Xie Gong's headless body and removed the sword from it.
The blood stains were rubbed on the clothes of the corpse, then he spat and laughed: "You are so self-righteous! You really think of yourself as a person! How can I get married if you don't die?!" At this point, he looked up and looked at
Xie Gong's subordinates pointed at everyone with the tips of their swords and said: "Xie Gong disobeyed the king's order and privately led his troops to fight in Linlu, resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of our soldiers. His crime is unforgivable. Now,
He has already been executed. You are waiting, but do you want to go on the road with Xie Gong?"
The subordinates who thanked each other looked at each other in confusion. In the end, no one knew who made the first move, put down their weapons, knelt down and surrendered. Immediately afterwards, people put down their weapons one by one, knelt down on the ground, surrendered to Wu Han.
Wu Han was always decisive in his work, decisive in killing, and never sloppy. He was like this when he killed Miao Zeng in Youzhou, he was like this when he killed Xie Gong in Yecheng, and Liu Qing was still like this.
Facing the murderous, domineering, fierce and confident Wu Han, Xie Gong's subordinates did not even have the desire to avenge him, and without exception, they all surrendered.
Liu Xiu's evaluation of Wu Han is that one man is against a country. Although it is exaggerated, it also shows Wu Han's ability.
After bowing with his sword, Wu Han still felt uneasy and shouted to the people around him: "Drag this thief's body outside the city and dump it in a mass grave. Let him die without a burial place!"
Chen Kang walked quickly to Wu Han, shrank his neck, and said cautiously: "General Wu, Mrs. Xie..."
"Um?"
Hearing Wu Han's questioning voice and seeing the way he squinted at him, Chen Kang's legs went weak and he almost fell off the ground.
He hurriedly changed his words and said: "Qin... Miss Qin, she and... and Xie Gong have always been deeply in love. If Qin... Miss Qin knows that the general abandoned Xie Gong's body in a mass grave, she will... she will definitely feel resentful towards the general!"
Although Chen Kang is a wallflower and is good at adapting to the changing circumstances, he is not yet a heinous and vicious person to the core.
He felt guilty towards Xie Gong and even Qin Zi. Now that Xie Gong was dead, he really didn't want Xie Gong to be buried in the wilderness without even a burial place.
After listening to her words, Wu Han pondered for a moment and said to the people around him: "Tear down the mass grave and bury it. There is no need to leave a grave head or mark it!"
"Yes! General!" the soldiers agreed, loaded Xie Gong's body into a carriage, covered it with a straw mat, and pulled it out of the city.
Wu Han casually patted Chen Kang on the shoulder, startling the latter and looking at him with fear. Wu Han grinned and said, "Prefect Chen gave you a good reminder just now!"
Chen Kang let out a sigh of relief and smiled apologetically at Wu Han.
Liu Xuan's confidant, the Shangshu Ling of the Gengshi court, and the pastor of Jizhou, Xie Gong, died in Yecheng, under the sword of Wu Han.
Xie Gong did not have any evil deeds. Even Liu Xiu admired Xie Gong and praised him as a "true official", a good official who dedicated himself to the country and the people and could do practical things.
But in troubled times, being a good official does not mean you will get good rewards. The most important thing is to be able to choose the right camp and stand on the right team. But Xie Gong happened to be in the wrong place and on the wrong team.
Since Wang Lang's death, Liu Xiu's power in Hebei has rapidly expanded and reached its peak. At this time, Xie Gong was still loyal to Liu Xuan and opposed Liu Xiu everywhere. How could Liu Xiu tolerate him? wavv
What's even more terrible is that Liu Xuan, who was in Chang'an, did not give Xie Gong any substantial support. He simply left Xie Gong alone in Hebei, allowing him to contain Liu Xiu and let him fend for himself.
Liu Xiu also gave Xie Gong a chance, and not just once or twice. He hinted Xie Gong many times, hoping that he would switch to his subordinates, but Xie Gong was indeed a tough guy and would rather die than abandon Liu Xuan.
In the end, Xie Gong inevitably became a victim of the power struggle between Liu Xiu and Liu Xuan.