"The old man was captured alive by Chen Yingliang's little thief? This old man was captured alive by Chen Yingliang's little thief? This little thief even sent someone to negotiate with you, asking you to exchange the old man with Hulaoguan? Hahahahaha...!"
Hearing what happened at Hulao Pass after his brief disappearance, Zhai Rang, who had already had enough food and sleep in Hulao Pass, was in a good mood. As a matter of course, he let out a burst of comfortable laughter, and said with a big laugh: "I didn't expect that the little thief Chen Yingliang could really joke. Just relying on him to catch the old man, or to capture the old man alive? He is not afraid of flashing his tongue when he speaks big words. The old man really admires him." Shameless! Hahahahaha!"
"Uncle, not to mention, my nephew and father were really taken aback." Zhai Mohou said flatteringly: "That little thief Chen is too good at acting, the envoy he sent has his nose and eyes, Luokoucang There are also rumors everywhere that you have unfortunately been captured. My nephew was so anxious that I cried. If my uncle hadn't come back in time, my nephew might have been fooled. I really want to force the generals to exchange you with Hulaoguan .”
Zhai Rang laughed again. Although none of the generals in Wagang could remember when Zhai Mohou cried anxiously, they all agreed, admitting that they were indeed fooled and believed that Zhai Rang was captured alive by Chen Sangliang, and they all made up their minds To exchange Hulao Pass for Dao’s highly respected Wagang leader King Zhai—although no one was determined to do so at the time, but they definitely thought so in their hearts—you can swear to God on this point. Zhai Rang felt more comfortable and funny when he heard it, and couldn't help asking Li Mi: "Pu Shangong, Mohou and the others have no brains to believe the nonsense of the little thief Chen Yingliang. How can you trust the little thief Chen Yingliang? What the hell?"
To be honest, even at the most wavering moment, Li Mi always had serious doubts about whether Zhai Rang would be captured, but in front of Zhai Rang himself, Li Mi had to say some beautiful words to flatter Zhai Rang, and cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, As the saying goes, care leads to chaos. The students were also worried about your safety at the time, and seeing that the little thief Chen Yingliang did his tricks realistically, they were really fooled, and decided to exchange you with the tiger prison. Come back and expose the treacherous and despicable face of the little thief Chen Yingliang."
Zhai Rang smiled happily for a while, and then said: "Little thief Chen dared to deceive our army like this, and ruined our army's surprise attack on Luokou Cang. This revenge must be avenged. Brothers, hurry up to rectify the troops and investigate Enemy situation, wait for the opportunity to fight, I will personally lead you out of the customs, and fight to the death with that little thief Chen Yingliang, and you will be ashamed!"
"No!" All the generals in Wagang clasped their fists together and sang the promise loudly. Li Mi, who had voluntarily returned the command, also sang the promise, but somewhat sneered in his heart. , even if I give you a million troops, you are destined to be tricked by Chen Yingliang's traitors, and you will not be able to keep Hulao in the end."
Zhai Rang is not a fool either. In front of Li Mi, Zhai Rang would only ask about what happened at Hulao Pass during his disappearance. During the disappearance, what was the reaction of Li Mi and his Pushan Gongying? As a result, there was a possible mysterious envoy who met Chen Yingliang before Wang Rumo, and Li Mi's explanation, of course, inevitably spread to Zhai Rang's ears.
Fortunately, Zhai Rang, who was in a good mood, did not delve into this matter. On the contrary, he was full of praise for Li Mi's cleverness and vigilance, and said: "Pu Shangong is really powerful. I mean it, and I think this must be Chen Yingliang's little brother." Thief's trick. We can't make wild suspicions, and spoil the plan to join hands to capture Luokou Cang. This matter ends here, and no one is allowed to mention it again."
This incident seems to have really come to an end. After learning that Zhai Rang had successfully returned to Hulao Pass, Chen Sangliang really stopped all swindling and abducting. , While heightening and reinforcing Luokou Cangcheng, while cutting down wood to make siege weapons, the intention of counterattacking and retaking Hulao Pass is very obvious. The Wagang Army is also resting and preparing for the battle, while strengthening the defense of Hulao Pass with all its strength. It also has a clear tactical intention to take root in Hulao Pass and wait for opportunities to advance.
For Li Mi, the next question is of course how to take advantage of the favorable situation to go further. However, when Li Mi racked his brains to figure out how to get rid of his old opponent Chen Sangliang and seize the Luokou Warehouse for a long period of validity, he couldn't even dream of it. What's more, on the night after Zhai Rang successfully withdrew to Hulao Pass, which was also the night of February 19th in the thirteenth year of Daye, Chen Sangliang's cheap trick came out again, and the accident happened again...
On the twenty-ninth day when the accident happened, around the second watch, a Wagang army scout belonging to Xu Shiji's department, after being missing for more than a day, suddenly rushed back to the west gate of Hulao Pass, loudly stating his identity requirements Entering the city, after verifying his identity and being hung up on the city wall with a hanging basket by the defenders, the first thing the scout did was to ask to see his immediate superior Xu Shiji, saying that there was an urgent military situation to report to Xu Shiji, and Xu Shiji, who had already fallen asleep, heard the report. After feeling strange, he immediately put on his clothes and got up, and met the missing scout in his bedroom.
"Brother Xu, this is a letter from Chen Yingliang and Chen Gouguan, and I want it to be handed over to Pu Shangong."
The first sentence of the missing scout changed Xu Shiji's face, and he quickly took the letter presented by the missing scout with both hands. Seeing that the letter was sealed with wax, the envelope was written with the words "Pu Shan Gong Li Mi kisses me". Xu Shiji hurriedly asked about the story of the missing scout, but the missing scout confessed that he was unfortunately captured alive by the Sui army's Qingqi while he was out of the city on the first day of sentry. The soldiers of the Sui army interrogated and interrogated him, but they were unyielding and did not confess any military information. The soldiers of the Sui army had no choice but to temporarily imprison him with other Wagang prisoners of war.
Later, at noon today, an official of the Sui Army suddenly came to screen the prisoners and demanded that all the prisoners belonging to the Li Mipushan Public Camp come out. He had no malice, and said that as long as he was a prisoner of war in the Pushan Public Camp, he could receive preferential treatment. Only then did soldiers gradually report their identities and immediately received good food. The missing scout also falsely claimed that he was from the Pushan Public Camp. The soldiers received preferential treatment, and were referred to the Sui army's Chinese army camp, where they were interrogated separately from the others.
Hearing this, Xu Shiji immediately asked, "Why do you pretend to be Pu Shangong's subordinate?"
"Small, small, the young one was captured the afternoon before yesterday. When he was sent to the prisoner-of-war camp the night before yesterday, he had no time to receive his meal, and he had been hungry all day." I only got a palm-sized miscellaneous noodle cake, and I was not full at all, so I was so hungry that I coveted the dog official's food, so I pretended to be."
"Then what happened afterwards?" Xu Shiji asked again.
"Later, a dog officer kept interrogating me about my identity, and asked me about the situation of Pu Shangong's camp." The scout truthfully replied: "Fortunately, the villain had a lot of contact with Pu Shangong's army, so he pretended to be Pu Shangong. The student Wang Bodang was a soldier under his subordinates, and he gave the name of his army and his superior, but he got away with it unexpectedly. Later, the dog officer took me to the tent of the Chinese army, and met Chen Yingliang and Chen dog officer. Chen dog officer was hypocritical. I said a lot of good things, and I was rewarded with a piece of silver pancake, asking me to take this letter back to Hulao Pass and hand it to Pu Shangong, and said that Pu Shangong would also reward me with gold and silver, and said this The letter must not be discovered by King Zhai's people, if it is impossible, it can be destroyed, as long as you bring the message to Pu Shangong, and let Pu Shangong know about it."
As he said that, the scout who was loyal to the Wagang Army took the initiative to hand over the silver cake, and there was actually Chen Sangliang's stamp of Xuchang Duke's mansion on the silver cake, which was the same as the wax seal stamp on the letter to Li Mi . After reading the letter and the silver cake with a sullen face for a long time, although Xu Shiji felt that the matter was too coincidental, he didn't dare to hide it privately, so he stood up and shouted sharply: "Go, follow me to see King Zhai!"
It is conceivable that Zhai Rang was surprised and puzzled when he learned of this situation. He repeatedly asked the missing prisoner's statement, but found nothing abnormal. Only then did the sealant be removed, and the letter inside was taken out for a closer look. It turned out that it was alright not to read it, but after seeing it, Zhai Rang's face changed drastically, and Zhai Hong and Zhai Mohou were also furious.
Except for the polite greetings and nonsense, the content of the letter is roughly as follows: "Brother Fazhu, you are too mean, aren't you? You sent an envoy to deliver the letter to me, and asked to secretly spy on the truth of Zhai Rang who was caught by me. I agreed. Misled by stupid soldiers, you took a fake Zhai Rang as real, and when you found out it was fake, you immediately regretted it and stopped contacting me. Are you too snobbish? Don’t think you are hiding in Hulao Pass If you don't see me, I will have nothing to do with you. Don't forget, the letter you wrote to me is still in my hand. You don't want me to hand that letter to Zhai Rang, do you? We are old friends, Everything is negotiable. I will keep my word when I promise you. I hope you will keep your promise. I hope you will take the initiative to send Someone come and get back in touch with me, otherwise, you know the consequences."
"Li Mi, how dare you contact the traitor Chen Yingliang behind my back!" Zhai Rang's anger was no small matter, and he slapped the table with his hands, roaring, "How dare his people secretly identify the old man's true identity?" Fake, what does he want to do? What does he want to do?!"
"Uncle, don't ask, the dog thief Li Mi definitely wants your life!" Zhai Mohou immediately yelled, "Uncle at that time, if you were really killed, the dog thief Li Mi would be able to dominate Wagang immediately, You take his place!"
"Brother, act first, take advantage of Li Mi's dog thief not knowing about this, kill him immediately!" Di Hong also urged impatiently.
"Brother Zhai, don't be in a hurry, don't be in a hurry." Xu Shiji hurriedly stopped, and reminded: "Brother Zhai, this is too coincidental, we have to guard against this being Chen Gouguan's plan to divorce, Chen Gouguan is treacherous, so He can definitely do it!"
Hearing Xu Shiji's persuasion, and thinking of Chen Sangliang's cunning and viciousness, Zhai Rang calmed down somewhat, and subconsciously shouted: "Hand over Li Mi right away, and ask him face to face what's going on!"
"Brother, you can't do this. Doing this is tantamount to telling Li Mi that we already know, and he will definitely destroy the evidence. Maybe he will attack us first."
Di Hong hurriedly dissuaded him, but Xu Shiji was worried that doing so would cause estrangement and even lead to unpredictable consequences, so he strongly opposed it. Zhai Rang said angrily, "Then what should we do? If we don't let Li Mi know, how can we tell the authenticity of this letter? "
"Uncle, don't worry, my nephew has a trick to tell the truth from the fake." Zhai Mohou came up with a bad idea and said: "Tomorrow morning, uncle, you might as well order Li Mi to write a letter to Chen Gouguan, pretending to lure Chen Gouguan to come. Storm the strong city, let Li Mi mock Chen Gouguan's stupid idiot with a letter for you, and fail to fabricate the illusion of capturing you alive, insult him, and motivate him to storm Hulaoguan Jiancheng. Then we will send someone pretending to be Li Mi's subordinates, Send this letter to Chen Gouguan, at that time Chen Gouguan will take action, and we can take the opportunity to distinguish the authenticity from the fake."
After hearing Zhai Mohou's plan, Xu Shiji felt that it was unreliable, but Zhai Rang immediately praised it, and said: "A wonderful plan, let's do it this way, and at dawn tomorrow, we will act according to the plan!"
Ever since, the tragic life of poor Li Mi and Li Fazhu started again. In the early morning of the next day, which was also the morning of February 20th, Zhai Rang really found Li Mi and said that he wanted to lure Chen Sangliang to launch a siege under the unprepared situation. , ordered Li Mi to write a letter mocking Chen Sangliang for himself. Li Mi smiled wryly and immediately persuaded him to object, saying that Chen Sangliang's face would be thickened by three points at the corner of the Great Wall. Such aggressive tactics are not only doomed to be useless, Maybe Chen Sangliang, who is extremely treacherous, will take advantage of his tricks and in turn design to entrap the Wagang Army.
Of course, Li Mi's objection had no effect. The suspicious Zhai Rang insisted on forcing Li Mi to write a letter. Li Mi was forced to write a letter mocking and insulting Chen Sangliang and handed it to Zhai Rang. As a plan, he ordered his confidant soldiers to pretend to be Li Mi's subordinates and go to Luokou Cang with books to contact Chen Sangliang. At the same time, Zhai Rang also secretly confessed to his confidant soldiers, asking him to take the initiative to explain to Chen Sangliang, saying that he forced Li Mi to write this letter, and Li Mi had no choice but to obey.
The envoy sent by Zhai Rang returned to Hulao Pass in the afternoon. After confessing to Zhai Rang that he falsely claimed to be Li Mi's subordinate, he was treated politely in the Sui army camp, and was rewarded with wine and meat. After reading the letter Later, Chen Sangliang became angry for a while, and asked Li Mi what he meant by roaring. The messenger reported that Zhai Rang forced Li Mi to write this letter, Chen Sangliang turned his anger into joy, and immediately asked Li Mi if he had any other letters or oral messages to take with him. After the messenger denied, Chen Sangliang became a little angry again. Let the messenger bring a message to Li Mi, asking Li Mi to resume secret contact with Chen Sangliang before sunrise tomorrow, otherwise Li Mi will be at his own risk!
The truth gradually surfaced, and Li Mi's suspicions became more and more serious. Although Xu Shiji tried his best to persuade Zhai Rang to think calmly and focus on the unity of the overall situation, Zhai Rang listened to the instigation of Zhai Hong and Zhai Mohou. Ordered the Wagang Army to be on guard secretly, closely monitored every move of the Pushan public camp, and at the same time decided to continue to conceal the situation from Li Mi, sealed off the city, and prevented the envoys Li Mi might send from the city from contacting Chen Sangliang, and waited until the next day Look at Chen Sangliang's reaction again. Xu Shiji persuaded again, but was reprimanded by Zhai Rang. Xu Shiji had no choice but to obey.
As a smart man, of course Li Mi secretly set up eyeliners to spy on every move of the Wagang Army. In history, Zhai Hong, an idiot, secretly encouraged Zhai Rang to kill Li Mi and become the emperor himself. Li Mi can find out such confidential matters. Of course, it is impossible for the Wagang Army to secretly guard and monitor such a big move by the friendly army to deceive Li Mi's eyes and ears. Surprised, in addition to trying his best to find out the reason, in order not to be unable to fight back, Li Mi naturally had to let his confidant lackeys organize the direct army to secretly prepare for the war, just in case.
As a result, a vicious circle immediately emerged. The Wagang Army who discovered Li Mijun's actions were more vigilant. Naturally, they had to secretly raise the alert level and mobilize more troops to prepare for the war secretly. Not daring to sit still, can only mobilize more troops to guard overnight, and so on. Li Mi himself was so worried that he didn't sleep all night. He didn't understand why Zhai Rang suddenly got water in his head and did this, but he couldn't figure out the reason. Due to the shortage, it is impossible to know the truth and arrange countermeasures.
Fortunately, on the night of February 20th, although there was a lot of turmoil inside Hulaoguan, nothing happened. Li Mijun and Wagangjun were very restrained and kept calm. There were no real swordsmen like Du Fuwei and Miao Haichao. Fire and. After finally surviving until dawn, Li Mi immediately went to see Zhai Rang to test the reason why Zhai Rang ordered the army to be on guard last night, but he got the news that Zhai Rang had gone to Hulao Pass to inspect the city wall of the west gate. Li Mi had no choice but to take another The team's cronies went up to the west gate of Hulao Pass, and only then did they see Zhai Rang surrounded by a large group of Wagang Army generals.
The meeting between Li Mi and Zhai Rang, who used to be close only to wear a pair of trousers, had a very strange atmosphere. Zhai Rang's cronies, headed by Zhai Hong and Zhai Mohou, all pressed their hands on the handle of the knife, carefully keeping a distance from Li Mi, which made Li Mi's The student Wang Bodang and the captain Cai Jiande were also extremely nervous, quietly holding down the handle of the knife, and protecting Li Mi's front either intentionally or not. Fortunately, the two parties concerned, Zhai Rang and Li Mi, were relatively calm. When Li Mi asked about what happened last night, Zhai Rang also nonsense said that he succeeded in provoking Chen Sangliang, and he was worried that Chen Sangliang would sneak attack overnight. , so let the army be on guard at night.
Zhai Rang's words are just deceiving a three-year-old child, and Li Mi can guess with his toes that he is lying. Misunderstand? However, when Li Mi asked Zhai Rang why he didn't tell him, Zhai Rang replied: "Pu Shan Gong, your team has worked hard for days and needs to rest, so I didn't tell you."
Hearing such words, Li Mi could immediately conclude that the situation was wrong, so he simply said directly: "King Zhai, the students have the courage to ask, is there any action by the traitor Chen Sangliang? Or is it an action against the students? If If there is, please tell the king clearly that if the student has done something wrong to the Wagang Volunteer Teacher, the student is willing to break his neck and apologize. In addition, the student would like to remind the king that Chen Sangliang is a despicable and treacherous person, and he is best at instigating flames To sow dissension, Du Fuwei and Miao Haichao went from brotherly brotherhood to enmity because of this traitor, please think carefully, don't repeat the same mistakes."
Zhai Rang's expression was a little ugly, and he forced a smile and said, "What does Pu Shangong mean? Why can't this old man understand? Do you think that what happened last night is because this old man was on guard against you?"
"Your Majesty, the student knows that you are not guarding against me." Li Mi said a lie against his will, and then said: "The student just wants to ask, did Chen Yingliang's traitor have any shameless actions before last night? Please tell the king clearly."
"So what? Are you a guilty conscience?"
A stupid remark by Zhai Hong almost ignited the gunpowder. Wang Bodang and Cai Jiande, who were protecting Li Mi from both sides, immediately clenched the handle of the knife. Fortunately, Li Mi stopped in time. Then Li Mi shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Sure enough, I guessed it!" Hit, little thief Chen Yingliang, you really can get in through every crack. King Zhai, old general Zhai, please tell me clearly, what did little thief Chen Yingliang plant on me this time?"
Di Hong opened his mouth and wanted to spout again, but fortunately Xu Shiji stopped him in time, and said: "Brother Di, don't worry, Pu Shangong, don't worry, let's wait a little longer, if Chen Sangliang's traitor has any despicable tricks, count it." It's time to do something, let's see the actions of the little thief Chen Yingliang."
Only then did Li Mi understand the reason why Zhai Rang came to Ximen City. Li Mi didn't say much at the moment, but just waited together with Zhai Rang. One is how to expose Chen Sangliang's despicable face and clear his innocence. The generals of the Wagang Army over there were also very preoccupied, and many people kept peeping at Li Mi, their eyes full of worry.
After waiting for about half an hour, there was indeed movement on the west side of the pass, and more than ten Sui troops came galloping on light cavalry. Li Mi replied that Chen Sangliang was planning to send envoys into the city. The face of the military envoy exposed Chen Sangliang's shameless trick. Who would have thought that after the Sui army cavalry rushed to the city, they would draw a bow and shoot an arrow at the city wall, and then walk back with a neat mouth. Drink, "King Zhai please give it to me personally!"
None of the Wagang generals requested to send troops to pursue them, and all their eyes were focused on the feathered arrow. After Zhai Mohou personally led people to pick up the feathered arrow, he shouted from a distance: "Uncle, there is a letter on the arrow! The envelope Above, it’s a letter to Chen Gouguan, I don’t know who wrote it to Chen Gouguan?!”
"Could it be that my letter was forged?" Li Mi's heart sank, but he immediately felt a little more confident, and secretly said: "Fortunately, ordinary people can't forge my handwriting. I hope Chen Yingliang's traitor didn't notice those three secret marks."
The letter was presented to Zhai Rang, and when all the generals of Wagang surrounded him to read it together, they saw that the envelope was indeed written with the words "Da Sui Dongdu stayed behind and signed by Chen Yingliang". He immediately recognized the familiar handwriting, and Zhai Mohou, who had read some books, was even more precious. He immediately exclaimed exaggeratedly: "Is this handwriting so familiar? Did we read it there?"
Everyone's eyes immediately focused on Li Mi's face, but Li Mi looked calm and said with a smile: "Little General Zhai, it is not difficult to forge handwriting. The student has been handling documents for King Zhai for more than a year. The handwriting has long been circulated. To buy documents for Yang Xuangan. After Yang Xuangan's defeat, those letters and official documents were confiscated by the government. Chen Yingliang's traitor wanted to find the originals. That traitor is as meticulous as a hair, and there is a great possibility of leaving a letter."
Glancing at Li Mi calmly, Zhai Rang then took out the letterhead, opened it, and read it carefully, but saw the familiar handwriting on it: "The sinner Li Mi, the book was sent to Dongdu to stay behind, General Youwuwei, the internal history of the Henan Procuratorate, Your Excellency Chen Yingliang, Duke of Xuchang, the secret book in the box, the sinner read it, sighed three times and shed tears..."
After reading only the first sentence, Zhai Rang showed doubts and asked, "The secret book in the box? What secret book in the box?"
Everyone in Wagang looked at each other, and Zhai Mohou, who reacted quickly in this regard, had come to his senses and howled like a pig: "That wooden box! That wooden box! When Qian Xiangmin Qiangouguan contacted us, On behalf of Chen Gouguan, he gave Li Mi a wooden box, saying that what kind of grandchildren's candy was contained in it, but Li Mi didn't open it in front of us!"
"That's right!" Zhai Hong also roared: "Before Qiangouguan left, he said a word in Li Mi's ear alone! None of us heard it!"
All the people present turned their gazes to Li Mi's face, and Li Mi's black face suddenly turned pale, and his mind quickly remembered the wooden box that was still in his study, the snow-white rock sugar, and the red silk in the wooden box. Bottom…
When thinking of the isolation red silk, Li Mi moaned in despair, "Little thief Chen, you are so ruthless! Too ruthless! What a ruthless chain!"
"Pu Shangong, what kind of trick?" Zhai Rang asked in a cold tone.
"I've been tricked!" Li Mi wailed again, then knelt down on one knee to Zhai Rang, and Ji Shou said, "King Zhai, on the night of February 17th, Qian Xiangmin, the running dog of Chen Yingliang's little thief, did give me a gift. A box of grandparents' candies, with red silk at the bottom of the grandparents' candies, students can now be sure that the so-called secret book is hidden under the red silk, but students can swear to God that they have never read that letter .And the student didn’t eat a few of the box of candy, and kept it in the study room without touching it again. If the king doesn’t believe it, he can send someone to fetch it for inspection.”
Zhai Rang ordered to fetch it immediately, and Zhai Hong who was next to him said in a gloomy manner: "My dear brother, do you think Pu Shangong can still keep that letter?"
Li Mi's face turned pale again, and he immediately thought of a possibility. If Chen Sangliang hadn't hidden the letter in that wooden box at all, he wouldn't be able to clean it even if he jumped into the Yellow River!
I also want to explain here that when Zhai Mohou personally brought someone to fetch the small box of rock sugar, he poured out the rock sugar and uncovered the red silk. There was indeed nothing under the silk and satin, but on the bottom of the box made of fresh wood, there was There is a round trace of wax paint, which seems to be a letter sealed with wax paint, which was put into the bottom of the box before the wax paint was completely solidified, and it was exactly the same that made Li Mi want to cry without tears!