As a senior official with great power, Tian Lingzi had to rely on this method to plunder the merits of his juniors. It was impossible to say that he had no grudges in his heart. After all, Yang Fuguang was a junior in their lineage.
Now that others mentioned Yang Fuguang to his face, he felt a little awkward, but at this time, everyone was planning to deal with Zhu Li together, so he did not show his displeasure. Seeing that Li Keyong strongly recommended his adopted son Li Cunxiao to deal with Zhu Li, he readily agreed and said, "General Li is blessed by heaven to have such an adopted son. Then let Li Cunxiao lead the armies from all sides to deal with Zhu Li."
The old eunuch decided who to deal with Zhu Li. He continued, "Zhu Li's rude retreat without accepting the imperial edict has given us a good excuse. We will charge him with disobeying the imperial edict, defying the majesty of the emperor, allowing his subordinates to spread cholera, defying the law, and plotting rebellion. How about that?"
Li Keyong was a little hesitant when he heard this, but he still said, "Master Tian, I'm afraid it's not appropriate to send a large army to attack him. Battle formations are what Zhu Li is best at. If we mobilize a large army to attack him, he might even escape."
Hearing this, everyone nodded silently. Li Keyong's concerns were not unreasonable. Think about it, Zhu Li has been on the battlefield almost all the time since he became famous. When it comes to commanding troops in battle, that is what he is best at, and he definitely does not brag about his abilities.
What's more, on the battlefield, every commander has so many subordinates who are willing to die for him. Under the protection of those subordinates, even if Li Cunxiao is brave, he cannot guarantee to kill Zhu Li 100%.
"Then what does Commander Li want to do?" Although he was refuted, Tian Lingzi was not angry. As long as Zhu Li could be killed, the safer the method, the better. He hoped that Li Keyong could come up with a foolproof plan.
Li Keyong glanced at the other three, clasped his hands and said solemnly, "It is getting late now. In my opinion, Master Tian should summon him to the palace tomorrow. I have thirteen generals under my command, all of whom are fierce generals. Cunxiao is one of them. If we add your fierce generals, we can gather at least twenty first-class generals. I intend to have them ambush behind the palace. Then, Master Tian only needs to read out Zhu Li's crimes in public and order us to capture him. At that time, all the fierce generals will rush forward and work together. It will not be difficult to kill Zhu Li."
When the others heard this, they were very excited.
"Yes, it's a good idea. It would be a wonderful choice to kill this beast in the palace hall. When Zhu Li enters the hall, he may not be able to bring his subordinates with him. At that time, he will be alone, and it will be the best time to kill him." Li Sigong immediately agreed.
"Yes, Commander Li has considered everything carefully. Let's do it this way." Tian Lingzi's eyes lit up and he made the decision.
"Haha, Governor Li is really smart. I, Li Xiaochang, also agree to do this." Li Xiaochang also quickly spoke up to echo.
The conspiracy here was already set, so everyone left to prepare.
Besides, after Zhu Li left the hall at noon, he quickly rushed to the military camp outside the city with a feeling of resentment in his heart. Obviously, he could imagine that he might be harassed by Tian Lingzi after offending him.
The Shuozhou army had been stationed outside Chang'an City, and Zhu Li had been living in the military camp.
Therefore, he did not hear Li Sigong's roar, and he did not know that Gao Su had made a mistake.
Zhu Li has been unhappy because he thought Tian Lingzi would make things difficult for him. Eunuchs, who are neither male nor female, are usually very difficult to deal with whenever they appear in history. They are flawed by nature and their methods are extremely vicious. Maybe Tian Lingzi is currently thinking about how to deal with him.
After entering the military camp, he still felt very irritated and had no intention of staying in the camp. He casually called a few close soldiers, rode out of the camp on horseback, and strolled around the suburbs of Chang'an to relax. While thinking about how to deal with Tian Lingzi's upcoming attack on him, he looked around blindly to relieve his annoyance.
The sunset is beautiful, but it is almost dusk.
The afterglow of the setting sun sprinkled on the grass and trees, as if covering the entire suburbs of Chang'an with a layer of golden gauze. The sunset will always disappear, but it always leaves the most beautiful evening scene to this chaotic world.
He is definitely not like an old fellow like Tian Lingzi, who becomes more troublesome as he gets older.
Zhu Li rode his horse alone in the middle, silent. Dozens of meters around him, several close guards were extremely vigilant, constantly patrolling around, not daring to slack off.
But after thinking about it, he still had no clue. He suddenly remembered that Tian Lingzi had not yet launched an offensive. What was the use of him thinking more at this time
It would be better to wait for him to make his move, and then deal with it as it comes. Understanding this, Zhu Li seemed to have put his worries to rest, but he was still inevitably in a passive position.
Just when he was somewhat dissatisfied with the result of his consideration, suddenly, a tooth soldier suddenly shouted angrily: "Who, come out, don't think I didn't see you."
The angry shout of the guard instantly alarmed the other guards and the depressed Zhu Li. They all looked in that direction at the same time. The Shuozhou guards who were closer to the guard heard their comrades' shouts and rushed towards the guard with spears raised.
"Misunderstanding, misunderstanding, don't be impulsive, we are on the same side." Seeing that the teeth soldiers on the opposite side looked as if they were facing a powerful enemy, a panicked and even urgent voice suddenly came from the nearby woods.
As the voice spread, three men in shorts and tight warrior uniforms slowly walked out. They all had long swords on their waists and masks with fangs and ghost faces. When they walked out, they had raised their hands and had a harmless look on their faces.
Seeing these strange men and their strange attire with swords and masks, the several guards who were facing them did not dare to let down their guard. The guard who first discovered the three people, after receiving support from his comrades, immediately grew bolder and shouted angrily: "Who are you? Who are you? What do you do? Why are you sneaking in the woods and spying on us? What's your purpose?"
The leader of the three warriors ignored the barrage of questions from the guards and turned to look in the direction of Zhu Li. When he saw Zhu Li on horseback looking towards them, he immediately shouted, "Envoy, we are from Shuozhou. Mr. Guo asked us to come."
Mr. Guo from Shuozhou, if others may not know who he is, but Zhu Li knows that these people should be sent by Guo Qizuo. Although Guo Qizuo has no reputation in the Central Plains,
However, in Shuozhou, when people mention Mr. Guo, they generally know that he is Guo Qizhao in the governor's mansion.
Hearing this voice, Zhu Li immediately tapped the belly of Yu Qilin horse, drove the horse forward, stared at the three people, and said, "Mr. Guo asked you to come here, what's the matter?"
Seeing Zhu Li's indifferent expression, the three knew that they still did not gain his full trust. They looked at each other, as if they were about to speak but stopped, as if they had some difficulties. However, after a short silence, the ghost-faced warrior who was the leader finally bowed to Zhu Li and said, "General, we failed to execute the military order and we know that we are guilty. But even so, we still have to inform you of the news."
It seems that these people don't know that Zhu Li has been promoted to a third-rank general and still call him "Envoy". In addition, the other party said that they came from Shuozhou. Zhu Li estimated that it is unlikely that these people are lying, and the possibility that they are Shuozhou guards is 90% true.
However, the words of the ghost-faced warrior made Zhu Li suddenly feel ominous. He frowned and asked calmly, "What's the matter? Just tell me."
The ghost-faced warrior did not dare to neglect and said quickly: "We came to Guanzhong to hunt down Li Ren. We are a team of ghost warriors. Your Excellency should know that General Gao is conquering Hetao, right?"
"Well, what's wrong?" It was almost impossible for anyone who was not from Shuozhou to know about Zhu Li's expedition to Hetao. Upon hearing this, he became even more certain that the other party was one of his own.
"When General Gao Su's troops surrounded Youzhou, Li Sigong's son Li Ren took advantage of General Gao's unpreparedness and led a group of the most elite Tangut soldiers. They suddenly attacked and broke out of our army's encirclement. General Gao was unable to stop them and let them escape." The ghost warrior explained.
"General Gao knows that if these people are allowed to escape to Guanzhong, it will be disadvantageous to you, but sending a large army to encircle and suppress them will be too drastic and will also attract the attention of those who are interested."
"General Gao acted decisively and reported the matter to Mr. Guo immediately. After Mr. Guo learned about it, he immediately ordered us to hunt down the fleeing Tanguts along the way. At the same time, he also told us that if even one of the Tanguts escaped and entered Chang'an alive, we must find a way to inform the envoy of this news immediately."
"But we are incompetent. Although we tried our best, Li Ren still escaped into Chang'an City and entered Li Sigong's mansion. So we had no choice but to follow Mr. Guo's instructions and come to report the news to the governor." The ghost warrior spoke the truth with guilt in his voice and dejectedly.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Li frowned even more tightly. He had just offended Tian Lingzi, and he didn't know what means this eunuch would use to retaliate against him. Now Gao Su had made another mistake. Since Li Ren had escaped into the Li Mansion in Chang'an, Li Sigong must have known that Zhu Li was secretly attacking Hetao. The vengeance of destroying the family and the clan was no small grudge, and Li Sigong would definitely not let him go.
In addition, when suppressing the Shatuo rebellion, Zhu Li killed more than ten Shatuo generals in a battle array and defeated the Shatuo army in the east, almost single-handedly destroying the Shatuo people's aggressive intentions. If Tian Lingzi and Li Sigong attacked him at this time, I believe Li Keyong would certainly not remain indifferent. If he intervened again, the situation he faced would become even more severe.