After the two explosions, there was no loud noise from the Yellow River, but the more this happened, the more flustered Qu Tutong and his son, Wang Xingben and others were, and they hurriedly sent people to the ferry to check the situation, and at the same time ordered the entire army to Be alert, gather elite soldiers to wait for orders, and send scouts to scout Li Erjun's camp to prevent Li Er from taking advantage of the fire to rob.
Not counting the distance, the ferry quickly sent news that the sound of the explosion was indeed coming from the west bank of the Yellow River. At the same time, the soldiers of the Sui army guarding the wharf also saw the torches around the Daxing Army campsite on the west bank. Hear the sound of killing. After hearing Qu Tutong's complaints, the Qu Tushou brothers over there were even more anxious, and hurriedly said: "Father, Zhao Peng, Captain Zhao, and the others escorted the baby and others to Fenyin. They took good care of our family on the way. Jia, I respect my grandma very much, they take turns to carry the sedan chair for grandma for more than three hundred miles, you have to save them quickly, otherwise, we will be too sorry for others."
"Ambassador, please give the last general five hundred elite soldiers, and immediately cross the river to rescue them." Wang Xingben also eagerly volunteered.
"Okay, go quickly." Qu Tutong agreed, and then ordered: "Take more ferry boats, remember, we must rescue the soldiers sent by Chen Liushou as much as possible."
Wang Xingben sang the promise, and immediately flew away from the tent to lead the troops to attack, Qu Tutong felt a little relieved, but after a little calculation, Qu Tutong immediately felt that the situation was wrong, and the soldiers under his command would never make a surprise attack The camp of the friendly army, the small group of rogues who are fighting in the area of Fenyin dare not approach, and ordinary people will not take the wrong medicine to attack the regular army. Who went to attack the Sui army camp? Thinking of this, Qu Tutong's eyes immediately turned to Guo Wenyi who was still in the tent. Although Guo Wenyi was secretly looking at Qu Tutong, he had no ghosts in his heart and was not timid, and he didn't let Qu Tutong show any weakness. . Qu Tutong was puzzled, so he called his own soldiers to deliver an order to Wang Xingben, asking Wang Xingben to investigate who had attacked the Sui army in Daxing.
Let's take a look at the situation on Wang Xingben's side. He led five hundred elite soldiers and rushed all the way to the ferry pier. Although the shouts and explosions on the other side of the Yellow River had disappeared, Wang Xingben still let the army quickly board the ferry and forcefully crossed at night. The Yellow River rescues the West Bank. As the ferry gradually approached the pier on the west bank, what made Wang Xingben and others heave a sigh of relief was that the flag of the Daxing Sui Army was still flying in the light of the flames, and it was vaguely possible to see that the Daxing Sui Army was surrounded by wooden carts with their backs against the rock wall. We formed a semicircle to form a defensive position, the frame of the car array is still there, even if there is a loss, it will not be too big, Wang Xingben was a little relieved, but immediately became suspicious again, "Who sneaked into our Daxing friendly army? "
At the same time, something even more strange happened. Seeing Qu Tutong's ferry approaching the pier, the soldiers of the Daxing Sui Army not only rushed to the pier to join Qu Tutong's army, but also left the chariot formation and fled south. , I can still hear nervous shouts, "The old thief Qu Tutong is here again. There are more than a dozen boats. Stop guarding and go back to Chaoyi!"
Hearing this shout clearly, Wang Xingben and other Sui army officers and men in Hedong were dumbfounded on the spot, and hurriedly let the ships dock as soon as possible, while shouting one after another: "Brother Daxing, don't be afraid, we are here to rescue you, come out!" What's the matter? Why are you running?"
No one paid any attention to Wang Xingben and others' questioning. The soldiers of the Daxing Sui Army on the shore just ran south desperately. The Daxing soldiers, and relying on their familiarity with the road terrain and physical strength, quickly caught up with the Daxing soldiers. Zhao Peng, the school lieutenant of the Daxing Sui Army, probably saw that the situation was not good, and quickly ordered the troops to turn around and stand in front of the formation with a horizontal knife, and shouted at Wang Xingben and others: "You guys, don't think that there are too many of you! We are afraid, I have followed Chen Liushou to fight north and south, I have seen dozens of times more thieves than you, if you have the ability, let them come here, I will fight with you!"
Wang Xingben also hurriedly ordered the army to stop, and shouted at Zhao Peng: "Isn't Captain Zhao? What happened? We are under General Qu Tu's command and your friendly army. How could we fight you?" ? I am Wang Xingben, General Jinwu under the command of Ambassador Qu Tu, tell me something!"
"I know you are the old thief Qu Tutong!" Zhao Peng waved the horizontal knife and said viciously: "The old thief Qu Tutong is ungrateful, despicable and shameless. We sent his family hundreds of miles away. Just thank us and send people to attack us and send you to kill us, it's shameless!"
"Ambassador Qu Tu sent someone to attack you?" Wang Xingben and the others almost dropped their jaws to the ground, and then Wang Xingben blurted out in shock: "How is this possible? I am Ambassador Qu Tu's deputy. He sent someone to attack you, why didn't I Know?"
"Still pretending?" Zhao Peng said with a sneer, "The person who attacked us just now, do you dare to say that he was not sent by the old thief Qu Tutong?"
"I can swear to the sky, it's really not!" Wang Xingben stuck the horizontal knife on the ground, stroked his chest with his left hand, pointed to the sky with his right hand, and said very seriously: "Gods of the past, if I, Wang Xingben, tell a lie, tell me to beat me up." Five thunders, no place to die! After leaving the pier today, I have been with Ambassador Qu Tu, and I have never seen Ambassador Qu Tu send someone to attack you!"
"It's really not you?" Zhao Peng was also taken aback.
"It's really not us." Wang Xingben nodded quickly, and then asked: "Captain Zhao, what happened just now? Please tell me."
After hesitating for a while, Zhao Peng still said truthfully: "Just now, the old thief Qu Tu sent a few people to say that he wanted to enter our camp. The ambush soldiers sounded the warning, so we quickly stopped them. Seeing that the situation was wrong, the ambush soldiers also rushed forward, saying that the old thief Qu Tu had received the imperial edict from His Highness the King of Yue, and wanted to attack Chen Liushou and take us to sacrifice the flag. Then attack our car formation."
"Fortunately, we have gunpowder bottles." Zhao Peng asked the soldiers beside him to show a gunpowder bottle, and said, "We saw that something was wrong, so we quickly threw two gunpowder bottles to disperse them, and then shot some arrows to death." , Those people ran away, and took away the wounded and corpses. But our brothers were also injured several times by their bows and arrows, and then you came."
"This is a coward pretending to be us, and wants to put shit on Ambassador Qu Tu's head!" Wang Xingben, a native of Yuncheng, cursed a dirty word from his hometown in a panic, and then quickly explained: "Lieutenant Zhao, someone is deliberately trying to alienate you The relationship with us, the relationship between Chen Liushou and Ambassador Qu Tu! Don't worry, if you send Ambassador Qu Tu's family here, our brothers in Hedong will never thank you. How could they harm you? Come back with us, we will Take you to see Ambassador Qu Tu, ask him to thank and apologize to you in person, and I will immediately arrest those cowards who pretend to be us, and hand them over to you to cut them to death!"
The other Sui army officers and soldiers in Hedong also scolded those impostors one after another, and persuaded Zhao Peng and others to follow them back to the Qu Tutong camp. However, after discussing with his subordinates in a low voice, Zhao Peng said to Wang Xingben: "General Wang , we believe your words for the time being, but we also have to consider our own safety, so we can't go back, we can only go back to Chaoyi overnight. Fortunately, our mission has been delivered. General Wang, if you understand us, let us go , when we arrive in Chaoyi, we will naturally report the truth to General Liu, if you insist that we go with you, then we have no choice but to kill and go back to Chaoyi."
"We still have gunpowder bottles!" The Daxing soldiers beside Zhao Peng also held up the gunpowder bottles and yelled, "Don't look at how many of you there are, if we really fight, you may not be our opponents!"
In history, Wang Xingben, who defended Hedong City with Yao Junsu and refused to surrender to the Tang Dynasty, was of course a loyal person. He did not hesitate to hear the request of Zhao Peng and others, and immediately said: "Okay, you go, I know you can't believe it now." We, I will let you go back to Chaoyi to prove that the person who attacked you just now is not our brother, you can leave now. But... "
"But what?" Zhao Peng asked quickly.
"But you want to tell us, where did those cowards who pretended to be us go?" Wang Xingben yelled angrily, "I'm going to get those cowards out and cut them to death with a knife one by one!"
"Run to the north! Run to the upper reaches of the Yellow River!"
Zhao Peng pointed to where Wang Xingben and the others came from without hesitation, and Wang Xingben didn't hesitate even more. He drew his sword and turned around and walked north, saying loudly as he walked, "Go back and thank Chen Liushou for me. Yao Junsu took revenge, and I will definitely repay him when I have the chance! Brothers, follow me, find out those cowards who pretend to be us, and chop them up!"
All the officers and soldiers of the Sui army in Hedong agreed one after another, and followed Wang Xingben to chase those fake Sui troops without saying a word. Seeing the backs of Wang Xingben and his party gradually going away, Zhao Peng, who was actually He Er's deputy, also showed a smug smile and secretly said: "Go, go chase, anyway, this is something unclear, you can't catch up, those who pretend to be you are running too fast, you have nothing to do, it has nothing to do with us!" Zhao Peng gave an order At that time, more than a hundred soldiers of the Sui army immediately went south to return to Chaoyi overnight, and did not give Qu Tutong any chance to confront them and find the murderer.
…
When Wang Xingben went north to pursue the fake Sui army, he naturally had to send someone to report the specific situation to Qu Tutong. He heard that someone under his own banner attacked the people sent by Chen Sangliang. Immediately, he yelled at Guo Wenyi, roaring and asking: "Guo Wenyi, is it one of your subordinates pretending to be an old man, and sneaking into the camp of Daxing soldiers?"
"Old general, it is extremely courageous to be an official, and you dare not do this?" Guo Wenyi hurriedly called out for grievances.
"Are you a fool when you think I'm an old man?" Qu Tu said angrily, "You and Li Shimin's traitors are colluding together and attacking Daxing soldiers under the banner of an old man. When the news reaches Chen Liushou, Chen Liushou will definitely think that this old man is declaring war on him." If you meet this old man with swordsmen, you can take the opportunity to force this old man to submit to you, right? Thanks to you, you still have the face to appease this old man under the banner of His Highness the King of Yue. Such insidious and despicable shameless villains like you, this old man disdains to be with you The palace is my minister!"
Guo Wenyi's face became extremely ugly. After thinking for a while, Guo Wenyi sneered and said, "Old General, you have nothing to say about this subordinate. But old general, you are going to put the sneak attack on mere words." Is it too arbitrary to accuse Chen Yingliang's subordinates of crimes on the subordinates? The heroic spirit of the former emperor of the Sui Dynasty, old general, if you can produce evidence that we pretended to be you to attack Chen Yingliang's subordinates, then the subordinates will bow their heads and plead guilty immediately without saying a word. , Behead Ling Chi, never frown! But if you can’t produce evidence, old general, and you want to take the opportunity to refuse to accept the new emperor’s will, and return to Daxing to establish a new emperor with Chen Yingliang, then ask yourself, old general, whether you are worthy of the Sui Dynasty and the Sui Dynasty? Daixianhuang?"
Qu Tutong was speechless, because Qu Tutong did have a plan to seize the opportunity to refuse to recognize Yang Tong as the new emperor, and he had already almost announced that he would return to Daxing and join hands with Chen Sangliang to establish a new emperor. Although there were excuses for these things Reasons, but deep in his heart, Qu Tutong still knew very well that he did this because he felt sorry for the two generations of emperors Yang Jian and Yang Guang.
"Report!" The new news came suddenly, and a scout rushed into the account, and Jishou played: "Ambassador Qu Tu, General Wang and the others have caught up with the thieves who pretended to be our soldiers, and they are fighting against the Fenshui River estuary." They are fighting! In addition, our army scouts found that Li Shimin's rebel army showed signs of increasing troops at the Yellow River Ferry!"
"It's good to catch up!" Qu Tutong was overjoyed, and hurriedly shouted: "Wang Xingben is ordered to bring me back at any cost! Xun Tianyu, let the cavalry gather immediately and be ready to attack at any time!"
The messenger and Xun Tianyu sang promises together, and immediately rushed down to execute their orders. Qu Tutong, who had been shaken before, immediately regained his spirits, and looked at Guo Wenyi with a sneer. Guo Wenyi was sweating profusely, and did not dare to confront Qu Tutong. Looking at it, I complained even more, secretly said: "Tang Guogong (Yang Tong gave Li Er's title back), it must be you who did it?"
…
Guo Wenyi was still complaining endlessly, but Li Baiju, the Cucumber Lord with a ridiculous title, was complaining endlessly. He led fifty rebel fighters dressed in Sui army uniforms and sneaked south, but he hadn't had time to touch Fen. Yindukou was carrying out a secret mission, and a large number of torches were seen coming from a distance. Realizing that the number of enemies was ten times greater than his own, Li Baiju quickly ordered his army to turn around and flee northward. Who would have thought that his army would not be able to move fast at night without torches, but the pursuers behind rushed quickly with torches. We are about to catch up.
Unaware of the enemy's purpose, Li Baiju cautiously ordered his troops to ambush in the lush vegetation by the roadside. Who would have thought that the moment he hid with his men, the Sui army would have already approached, and the Sui army soldiers would light torches to keep a close watch on them. Search any hidden place where people can hide, and the location where Li Baiju and others are hiding has become the focus of the search because of the dense vegetation. Then, a few rebel soldiers were discovered because they did not hide their bodies well, and immediately attracted a group of soldiers from the Sui army to attack. Li Baiju and others were forced to fight, and retreated to the ferry for their lives.
What Li Baiju couldn't figure out even more was that the Sui army that suddenly came out was not only well-prepared and elite soldiers, but also rushed and slashed fiercely one by one, cursing constantly, "Count Baby! Those who dare to pretend to be Lao Tzu and attack Chen Liushou will be killed! Pretend! I tell you to pretend!"
Of course, the 500 elite Sui troops under Wang Xingben beat Li Baiju and others to the brim, crying and howling. Only 15 of the 50 or so escaped to the ferry and escaped to the east bank. Although Li Baiju He was also one of the fifteen people who escaped by chance, but in the confrontation with Wang Xingben, Wang Xingben chopped off his left forearm with a knife, and became permanently disabled on the spot. Most of the remaining rebel soldiers were chopped into dumpling stuffing by the angry Sui army soldiers, and five or six people were captured because of serious injuries or coma, and after being tortured by Wang Xingben himself, several prisoners also confessed to them honestly It was a crime of disguised as Sui army officers and soldiers to attack Daxing Sui army under the order of Li Er.
When the captives were escorted back to Qu Tutong's camp, Guo Wenyi had nothing to say. Qu Tutong, who had been extremely shaken before, immediately went downhill in a rage, using the excuse that the people Yang Tong used were too despicable. To act like a lowly person, not to avenge the country's hatred and recruit Li Er, and to connive Li Er to continue to do evil, as a virtue, he is no different from Liu He, the deposed emperor of the Han Dynasty who did 1,127 ridiculous things in the 27 days since he ascended the throne! So Qu Tutong decided to reject Yang Tong's edict, and returned to Daxing to join hands with Chen Sangliang to establish a new king and inherit the great Sui Dynasty!
At this point, Guo Wenyi didn't have anything to say. Fortunately, Qu Tutong, who knew that Guo Wenyi was actually a loyal minister, didn't make things difficult for him. I have killed him, but the old man still does not admit that he is a courtier of the Sui Dynasty, and still treats him as a traitor! If he sincerely wants to repent and atone for his sins, besides not playing these tricks in the future, the old man has to restrain himself Daxing, please surrender! Also, let me tell His Highness the King of Yue on behalf of the old man, if he wins the support of the old man and Chen Liushou to become the emperor, he must first show some kindness and prestige of a king, and first explain clearly his previous slander of Chen Liushou for rebellion Let's talk about it!"
Guo Wenyi was silent and didn't dare to say anything more in order to save his life. He could only obediently leave Qu Tutong's camp with Yang Tong's imperial decree, but after returning to Li Er's camp, Guo Wenyi immediately got angry at Li Er The cannon was fired, and he yelled loudly: "Mr. Tang, why are you so confused? Send someone to attack the Daxing army under the banner of Qu Tutong. Why don't you run away after you succeed? Why do you have to leave it there for Qu Tutong's men?" Arrest certificate? That's it. Qu Tutong, who had hope, was completely irritated by you. He is determined to return to Daxing and hand over his military power. How will His Majesty the Emperor carry out his plan to retake Yongfeng warehouse and Changping warehouse? "
"I am wronged, I am more wronged than that Dou E that Chen Yingliang's traitor said!" Li Er cried loudly, and argued: "I sent someone to do this, but before my people had time to do it, they were killed first." Qu Tutong's people stopped him. Those fake Qu Tutong subordinates who attacked the Daxing army are not my people at all!"
"It's not yours, who is it?" Guo Wenyi asked angrily, "Aside from your army, who else in this area might do this?"
"I've been thinking about this question too, and I've come to a conclusion that you can't believe." Li Er replied helplessly, "I suspect that there are no fake Qu Tutong subordinates at all, and all of them are traitors of Chen Yingliang. The trick is to let his henchmen compose and sing a play, the purpose is to arouse Qu Tutong's anger and make Qu Tutong unwilling to cooperate with me. It's just that I was unlucky, and I happened to think of something with Chen Yingliang's traitor Instead, he sent some witnesses for him, witnesses that I would not be able to clean up even if I jumped into the Yellow River."
At the same time, in Qu Tutong's camp, Qu Tutong announced in front of the whole army the order to leave Wang Xingben to stick to Fenyin City and lead the main force to withdraw to Hedong. Then he clearly told the whole army that after returning to Daxing, the first The matter will be to implore Chen Yingliang to send troops to Hedong, and rotate his subordinates to return to Guanzhong to reunite with his family. As a result, before the words were finished, the soldiers of the Sui army burst into cheers, and many generals and soldiers were so excited that they burst into tears, scrambling to salute and thank Qu Tutong for his decision that reached their hearts and lungs.
Seeing the excited expressions of the soldiers under his command, not only did Qu Tutong not show any joy, but he looked up at the sky and muttered, "The two generations of former emperors, this old minister has done his best. The actions of His Royal Highness the King of Yue made the old minister very sad, and the soldiers under the old minister were so homesick. The old minister led them to fight against Chen Yingliang. Without fighting, they would collapse on their own in a short time. All the old minister can do now is to I tried my best to keep them, and tried my best to persuade Chen Yingliang to only be Yiyin Huoguang, not to imitate Wang Mang and Cao Pi, especially not to imitate you, Emperor Gao Zuwen."