Coincidentally, when Zhao Deyan ordered Xuan Ye to gather troops and prepare to attack Taiyuan Posthouse, Li Junxian was also arranging troops and preparing to go to Tongfu Inn.
Although the two parties started to act almost at the same time, there is a problem, that is, Li Junxian's cavalry can only be more than ten people. As for Zhao Deyan, since he dared to attack the post house, it means that the number of his men is not enough. It is absolutely impossible that there are only more than ten people, there are probably one or two hundred people, and it is impossible for all of these two hundred people to live in Tongfu Inn (that would be too conspicuous). In this case, the speed at which Zhao Deyan can gather people must be It’s much slower than Li Junxian’s!
The house where Li Junxian and others were staying temporarily was less than a mile away from Tongfu Inn. Therefore, no matter how he calculated it, it was impossible for Zhao Deyan to arrive at Tongfu Inn between Li Junxian and others. Gather all the troops and set off!
"Master of the Guard! It's not good!"
In the guest room of Tianzi No., Zhao Deyan was about to go out to see how the gathering of troops was going. As soon as he arrived at the door, he heard Xuan Ye's voice coming from outside the door. Zhao Deyan was shocked. At this critical moment, he was most afraid of an accident. He was most afraid of others telling him "It's not good", so he quickly opened the door and Xuan Ye stepped in. After closing the door, without waiting for Zhao Deyan to ask questions, he clasped his fists and said:
"Master Wei, my subordinates just went to the innkeeper's room to ask him to help inform our people to gather, but there was no one in the room. Shopkeeper Sun... disappeared!"
"Gone~?"
Zhao Deyan frowned, and a bad premonition suddenly arose in his heart. He thought that when his group came to Taiyuan City, they did not choose to stay at Tongfu Inn because there were so many of them that it would be difficult to hide when they stayed together in the inn. The innkeeper and waiter noticed the clues, so only Zhao Deyan and two masters, Xuan Ye and Tianying, were living in the inn at that time, while the rest were lurking in various places in the city.
But later Wang Xinyuan and Wang Kui surrendered to them, and Zhao Deyan learned that the owner behind Tongfu Inn was actually closely related to the second room of the Wang family. In this way, he didn't have to worry about the innkeeper or the innkeeper's trouble if all their people moved in. The waiter was alert, and he directly ordered Xuan Ye to gather all the people they were lurking in the city to the inn, and "stuff" them into the spare guest rooms in the inn. As for those who couldn't be "stuffed", Gao Yong and Wang Kui Help, arrange it in several houses near Tongfu Inn!
It is precisely because Wang Kui, Gao Yong, Sun Dafu and others helped Zhao Deyan to "cover up" that they were able to hide and escape under today's city-wide manhunt by the government.
Based on this, now that Zhao Deyan ordered Xuan Ye to gather people, Xuan Ye would think of asking the innkeeper Sun Dafu to help. Only in this way can all their people be gathered in the shortest time.
But Xuan Ye never expected that Sun Dafu, who had been staying at the inn these days, would disappear!
"Didn't Gao Yong say that Sun Dafu will stay at the inn these days to cooperate with us? Why did he suddenly disappear? Could it be...?"
Zhao Deyan muttered dissatisfiedly, and then he suddenly thought of a possibility. His face instantly became extremely gloomy. He frowned and said in a deep voice: "No! It's possible that someone has been eyeing Tongfu Inn. Let's It’s been exposed here!”
"Are we exposed here~?"
Xuan Ye was shocked when he heard this and asked subconsciously. Then he hurriedly clasped his fists and said, "Please evacuate immediately, Lord Guard. My subordinates and others are willing to risk their lives to escort you!"
Zhao Deyan took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down. From the moment he planned Taiyuan, he knew that he was dancing on a tightrope. The more critical the moment, the less he could panic, otherwise he would be doomed!
"How long has it been since Sun Dafu~?"
After regaining his inner calm, Zhao Deyan looked at Xuan Ye and asked.
Xuan Ye shook his head and said, "I don't know! I saw him in the hall during dinner. Oh, by the way, when I went to Shopkeeper Sun's room, I saw a cup of tea on the table, which he usually My favorite tea, the fairy tea, was already cold when I drank it. With the temperament of shopkeeper Sun, there was no way he would waste this good tea like this. Based on this, it can be inferred that shopkeeper Sun should have been missing for at least two quarters of an hour, or even more. Long!"
"At least two quarters of an hour!"
Hearing this, the expression on Zhao Deyan's face became more serious. He thought for a moment and said:
"I'm afraid someone has already targeted Tongfu Inn, and this old guy Sun Dafu is timid and afraid of trouble, and he is greedy for life and death. As long as he is pressed for a moment, he will definitely not be able to hide the matter. If the person who arrested Sun Dafu is someone from the Tang Dynasty government, They must have become suspicious of us because of this, and sent troops to surround the inn! Immediately notify our people in the inn to gather in the backyard, and without waiting for others, we will go directly to the post house to capture the King of Wei!"
Xuan Ye was shocked when he heard this and said: "Don't wait for the others? But there are only more than a hundred of us in the inn, how can we defeat the two hundred forbidden troops in the posthouse~? In the opinion of my subordinates, we You should evacuate the inn first, and then wait until you find a safe place to stay, then take your time!"
How could Zhao Deyan not know this? In fact, if he is given some time to gather all his men, there will be no problem at all against the two hundred imperial troops in the post house. But now Tongfu Inn is very likely to be exposed and may be surrounded at any time. There really isn't much time left for them!
He must take the risk!
Zhao Deyan's eyes were like lightning, he stared at Xuan Ye and said in a deep voice: "Are you the leader of the guard or am I the leader of the guard? Act as ordered, you must capture Li Tai alive tonight, don't let me say it a second time~!"
Tonight, the posthouse's defense was rarely empty. For Zhao Deyan, it was a God-given opportunity. He really didn't want to let it go. Even if he was only 50% or 60% sure, he was willing to take the risk!
He even had a vague feeling that if he missed this opportunity, he would never have another chance to catch Li Tai in his life!
Those who are in a position of power are most afraid of being decisive at critical moments, so Zhao Deyan directly gave Xuan Ye a death order.
More than a hundred people faced off against more than two hundred well-trained Imperial Guards. It seemed like there was no chance of winning, but was it really impossible to win? In Zhao Deyan's opinion, this is obviously not the case!
First of all, the number one master of the Forbidden Army, Dugu Xin, is seriously injured and has not recovered from his strength. Without Dugu Xin to participate in the battle, the strength of the Forbidden Army will be greatly reduced;
Under the circumstances, they have gathered a group of top experts led by Xuan Ye and Tianying. In terms of personal strength, his people are simply overwhelming the Forbidden Army!
The only chance of victory for the Forbidden Army is their exquisite battle formation coordination, but Zhao Deyan's men are all masters who can compete with ten, and among them there are many capable people, some who can use hidden weapons, and some who can use poison. There are also those who are good at concealed assassinations. A combination of punches can completely mess up the Forbidden Army. Once the Forbidden Army is in chaos, their hope of victory will be infinite!
Seeing that Zhao Deyan spoke so harshly, Xuan Ye did not dare to talk back even though he was dissatisfied in every way. He gritted his teeth, clasped his fists and accepted the order: "I obey the order!"
After that, he turned around and left.
Zhao Deyan was so anxious at the moment that he naturally had no intention of staying in the room any longer. After Xuan Ye left, he stood there for a while and then walked out of the room.
At this time, most of the guests in the inn had gone to bed, and the servants in the inn had also taken a rest. The door of the inn was closed tightly, and the hall on the first floor was quiet.
Zhao Deyan went downstairs and stood in the hall on the first floor. He could faintly hear footsteps and knocks on the door. He knew that Xuan Ye and the others were notifying his men to come out to gather. If it had been normal, Zhao Deyan would have He yelled loudly, because these noises would disturb other guests and servants in the inn, thus exposing their whereabouts. But now, he was about to take people to the inn to have a "face-to-face confrontation" with Li Tai and Dugu Xin. They There is no need to continue to hide your whereabouts, just come out in the open!
Frowning his brows, Zhao Deyan took the lead and came to the backyard of the inn. After a while, the backyard was already crowded with people. One hundred and twenty people have all arrived! In addition, Tianying has gone out to look for the wind. If anyone follows, he will immediately warn us!"
"good!"
Zhao Deyan nodded and said: "Go out through the back door! Let's go directly to the post house!"
"yes!"
Xuan Ye bowed and accepted the order.
The back door of the inn was opened, and under the leadership of Xuan Ye, everyone quickly walked through the back door of the inn and came to the alley behind the inn.
Under Zhao Deyan's instruction, this team of more than 100 people did not stop at any time after leaving the inn, and rushed directly towards the Taiyuan Posthouse in the north.
The reason why they did not ride horses but walked was not because Zhao Deyan and the others did not ride horses when they came to Taiyuan or that they could not afford horses, but that they were hiding in the city before Li Tai came. If so many horses were all tied together in one The place is really too conspicuous. After they entered the city, they hid all the war horses separately. If they were to look for it now, it would obviously take a long time. What Zhao Deyan and the others were short of right now was time, so naturally they wouldn't bother. It’s time-consuming and laborious to lead the horse!
Fortunately, they all have kung fu, so if they use light kung fu to travel, it will not be very difficult. But there is one exception, and that is their leader—Zhao Deyan!
Zhao Deyan is just a weak scholar with no physical strength. Not only does this guy not know any martial arts, but maybe due to a serious lack of exercise, his physique is even a bit weaker than that of a normal person, so he doesn't run much. Zhao Deyan was so tired that he was out of breath!
When Xuan Ye saw this, he was about to come over and take Zhao Deyan with him. With his martial arts cultivation at the master level, it would be no problem to lead a person on the road using Qinggong.
"Guard Master, be careful!"
Arriving next to Zhao Deyan, Xuan Ye was about to speak when suddenly a figure flashed over from a distance. Xuan Ye subconsciously flashed in front of Zhao Deyan and whispered.
"It's me~!"
The figure stood still in front of Xuan Ye. Only then did Xuan Ye and Zhao Deyan see each other's face clearly. It was Tianying!
"Reporting to the Guard Master, there is a group of troops coming from the east, and they are rushing towards the inn! It is very close to us, we must speed up!"
Seeing that the person coming was Tianying, Xuan Ye breathed a sigh of relief, then turned around and "let" Zhao Deyan out. Tianying clasped his fists at Zhao Deyan and said urgently.
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