Chapter 378: The Storm of Jianghuai (Five)

Jiang Kaiyuan returned to the camp in a heavy mood. He had long heard of the power of the Longyou Army's sky-shaking thunder, but he was shocked when he saw it for the first time today. He actually understood that it was easy for Wang Siyu to cross the river. His catapult was dead, but the other party's ship was alive and was not threatened at all. As for crossbow arrows, can they still beat the other party's sky-shaking thunder?

But it doesn't matter whether Wang Siyu crosses the river or not. There are 30,000 elite cavalry behind him. In fact, he has lost this battle. Jiang Kaiyuan sat blankly for an hour, and before he knew it, he fell asleep with his clothes. When he woke up, he was quiet in the tent, and a blood-red sunset shot into the gap in the tent.

"Is there anything wrong with me when I'm asleep?" Jiang Kaiyuan opened the curtain and asked his personal soldiers.

Several personal soldiers were gathering together for dinner. When they saw the commander awake, several personal soldiers immediately stood up and one of them replied: "Report to the envoy, General Liu has come to see him twice in the afternoon. He heard that the morale of the army seemed to be unstable."

"Bastard! Why didn't you wake me up in such a big deal?" Jiang Kaiyuan was furious and pointed at his personal soldiers and scolded him angrily.

Several personal soldiers said tremblingly: "It was General Liu who refused to wake up the envoy. He said that the envoy would not have any solution when he woke up. He was in a very depressed mood."

"What are you saying? Go and ask Liu Bingsheng to see me immediately." Without waiting for the personal soldiers to run away, Jiang Kaiyuan stopped him again, "Forget it, I'll go by myself!"

It was time for dinner. The soldiers ate in groups, and they gathered together, talking loudly while eating. Generally speaking, the topics were mostly women and food. Every time this time, the barracks would be very lively, with laughter and scolding, but today's supper was very silent, and everyone was eating in a heavy mood. Occasionally, some soldiers were whispering something, but when they saw Jiang Kaiyuan coming, they immediately lowered their heads and stopped talking.

Jiang Kaiyuan naturally knew it well. He shook his head and left quickly without asking much questions. When he walked behind a tent, Jiang Kaiyuan suddenly heard someone in the tent talking loudly about the explosion at noon. He felt curious and stopped.

"What's the point of fighting this battle? They threw a row of thunderstorms, and we all fried them into roast pork, just to serve them wine."

"Hmph! Ignorance, do you think we can beat him without shaking the sky thunder? Li Shidao knows! A wolf in the Central Plains was slaughtered by others in Yancheng, and most of the 20,000 people were killed. That was the Anxi Army, the invincible first cavalry of the Tang Dynasty, and the even more powerful Modao Army has not arrived yet!"

"You guys! You only care about who is so good, but don't think about it. Who are we fighting with? The court! What are we? Rebels! Do you understand? No matter whether we win or lose, we are destined to be scolded by the people of the world. I am worried that after the war, our family will be labeled as rebellious. At the very least, they will not be an official slave, or at worst, they will be exiled to the Western Regions. Now that we think about it, it is really stupid for us to work for the Chu family."

"Shh! Sigh it down, it's amazing to be heard from above."

"I'm afraid of it! I'll slip away tonight. I can't escape and surrender. The Chu family is playing with women in Guangling, but I ask me to work hard for them and dream!"

Jiang Kaiyuan could no longer listen. He snorted heavily, turned around and left. At this moment, he had no intention of talking to his subordinates anymore. He returned to the commander's tent in a depressed manner. He was still more than ten steps away from the commander's tent. A personal soldier ran over panic and whispered in Jiang Kaiyuan's ear: "Encourt, Zhang Huan sent someone to see you, right in the big tent!"

Jiang Kaiyuan was surprised, "Who brought him in?"

"It was General Zhao who led it, and he happened to be on duty today."

Jiang Kaiyuan looked at both sides and immediately ordered: "The news of this matter is blocked and no one should know."

"I understand." Several personal soldiers immediately went to make arrangements.

Jiang Kaiyuan walked quickly towards the tent, and he sneered in his heart. He used the thunder to intimidate the sky at noon, and sent someone to persuade the surrender at night. Zhang Huan was so smart! He opened the curtain and saw a thin middle-aged man sitting in the tent, who was about the same age as himself, but his appearance was vaguely familiar.

When the man saw Jiang Kaiyuan coming in, he stood up and laughed and said, "Brother Jiang, I haven't seen each other for thirty years, so why don't you be fine!"

"You are..." Jiang Kaiyuan was able to confirm that he was his acquaintance, but he could not remember the past thirty years ago.

"Did Brother Jiang forget it? We went to Beijing to take the exam together back then. When your family was poor, we would use a travel fee to eat and sleep together...."

Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Kaiyuan remembered who he was. This man was his fellow villager Qi Lu. He was quite good at that time. He heard that he had been Zhu Li's aide and later defected to Zhang Huan. Although he was an old man thirty years ago, Jiang Kaiyuan did not have the joy of meeting an old friend in a foreign land. He said coldly: "Are you here to lobby me for Zhang Huan?"

Qi Lu's smile also disappeared, and he said solemnly: "I am here to save your life, would you like to listen?"

"Sit down and talk! For the sake of my fellow countrymen, I will give you a chance to speak."

Qi Lu sat down, and he pondered for a moment and said, "You must have heard of the battle in Yancheng. Li Shidao's 20,000 troops fought head-on, but most of them were killed or injured, while the Longyou Army suffered less than 20 casualties, of which only twenty were killed."

"Are you threatening me?" Jiang Kaiyuan interrupted him coldly.

"No!" Qi Lu shook his head and continued, "My governor asked me to bring you a word. Everyone is a Tang army. He doesn't want to kill each other, so he has been slow to attack you. If you are willing to surrender, you can leave it alone. Your army is still the Tang army, and you can be named the governor of Shangjun. Otherwise, once the two armies start a war, he will be killed!"

Jiang Kaiyuan laughed to the sky, with a hint of mockery in his laughter. His laughter gradually faded and he glanced at Qi Lu and said, "I, Jiang, are from a civil servant, have unfast legs and feet, and have weak arms, but my place is very hard."

He pointed to his neck and said in a stern manner: "If Zhang Huan wants to kill me, he will ask him to raise his sword to chop, but he wants me to bow his head to him and dream in the daytime!"

Qi Lu looked at him with pity, "If you don't think about yourself, you should also betray the Tang Dynasty for the private interests of a noble family. How many people do you think will be as noble as you."

"Stop!" Jiang Kaiyuan shouted angrily, pointing at Qi Lu and scolded: "I won't kill you because of my fellow countrymen, but if you dare to talk nonsense again, I will take your head to the public."

Qi Lu was not afraid at all. He straightened his waist and said proudly: "Put my head on the public? Humph! You should keep your head first!"

Jiang Kaiyuan suddenly felt a little reminiscent, and he stepped forward and stared at Qi Lu and said, "What do you mean?"

Qi Lu sneered and said nothing. At this moment, a noise came from outside the camp. A personal soldier ran into the tent and said anxiously: "Empress, there are dozens of generals outside the tent. They want to see the special envoy of the supervisor."

Jiang Kaiyuan was shocked. He looked at Qi Lu and suddenly walked out of the tent quickly. The outside of the tent was illuminated by torches. More than 50 generals were saying something excited. When he saw the commander coming out of the tent, everyone surrounded him.

"The envoy, the special envoy of the state supervisor, must be persuaded to surrender. What is the attitude of the envoy!"

Jiang Kaiyuan was furious and shouted: "Bastard! I am the main general, how can I decide to make the decision? Do you dare to threaten me?"

At this time, his deputy general Liu Bingsheng stood up and bowed to him, "Please understand everyone's difficulties. We are unwilling to betray the court or the Tang Dynasty. Since the governor sent people to the country, it means that he knows our thoughts. The Chu family is just for the self-interest of the family, but we are the people of the Tang Dynasty and are unwilling to betray the court for the Chu family!"

"Good words!" Qi Lu walked out of the tent, and bowed to everyone, "In Xia Qi Lu, he is the special envoy sent by the Lord of the Supervisor. The Supervisor said that the Anxi army can kill the Uighurs, the Tubo people, the big cannibals, and the Khitans, but they cannot kill the Tang Dynasty's own soldiers. The battle in Yancheng was forced to do so. He did not want to have a tragedy of killing each other again. He hoped that everyone would submit to the court and work together to open up territory for the Tang Dynasty and defend our Tang people from being bullied by foreign races. This is the duty of the Tang soldiers, but your commander refused to be loyal to the court. I don't understand why he protected the interests of the Chu family so much. What is his relationship with the Chu family? He wanted everyone to bury the Chu family together!"

Everyone glared at Jiang Kaiyuan together, and several people raised their arms and shouted in anger: "He is the son-in-law of the Chu family, of course he doesn't care about our lives or death."

"Everyone keep calm!" Liu Bingsheng waved to everyone and told everyone not to be excited. He then bowed to Jiang Kaiyuan and said, "I can tell the envoy the truth. We have all decided to surrender to the court and be soldiers of the Tang Dynasty. If the envoy is willing to lead everyone to surrender, we will still follow the arrangements of the head coach. But if the head coach is unwilling to surrender, then for the sake of our many years of getting along, please leave yourself and don't force us to turn against us."

After saying that, Liu Bingsheng took a step back, pressed the handle of the knife, staring at Jiang Kaiyuan coldly, waiting for him to make the final decision. Jiang Kaiyuan smiled miserably, "Okay! OK! OK! You all have decided, then what else can I say? Let me write a letter to Dashen and reply to you immediately."

He staggered back to the tent and ordered all his personal soldiers to withdraw the tent. After a long time, there was no movement in the tent. Qi Lu suddenly felt something was wrong. He turned around and opened the tent curtain, but he was so shocked that he took a step back. Jiang Kaiyuan had already committed suicide at his desk.

On April 20, the 40,000 troops deployed by the Chu family in Linhuai under mutiny. The middle and lower-level officers were unwilling to work for the Chu family and collectively surrendered to the Longyou Army. The commander Jiang Kaiyuan would rather die than surrender and committed suicide. Zhang Huan was moved by his loyalty and righteousness and ordered people to bury him at the foot of the capital Liangshan. On April 22, Chu Xingyun, who had arrived from Huainan, arrived in Linhuai County.

Chu Tan's original wife had two sons and one daughter, her sons were Chu Xingshui and Chu Xingyun, and her daughter was Zhang Huan's mother Chu Wanlan, so Chu Xingyun was Zhang Huan's second uncle, but it was their first time meeting. Although Chu Xingyun was Zhang Huan's second uncle, his official position was the deputy envoy of the Huainan Jiedushi and the Bianguan of Guangling County, and he could not lose his courtesy in front of Zhang Huan.

He was taken into Zhang Huan's tent by his personal soldiers and bowed respectfully, "He was the subordinate of Guangling County, and Chu Xingyun, who was the governor of the country."

"I have worked hard all the way, please sit down!" Zhang Huan put down his pen and asked him to sit down lukewarmly.

When Chu Xingyun heard Zhang Huan call him the Chu envoy, he couldn't help but smile bitterly. It seemed that he could not recognize this relative today. Chu Xingyun already knew the news of the Linhuai mutiny. The 100,000 Huainan army had already gone 60,000, and the remaining 40,000 troops were mostly naval troops. He could not compete with Zhang Huan's most elite Anxi army. The Chu family was in a desperate situation. Even if the head of the family did not give instructions, he knew what he should do.

"I am here at the order of the head of the family to discuss ways to resolve the crisis in Huainan with His Highness. The head of the family is unwilling to hurt civilians and is willing to hand over the army to the court. I wonder what the court can leave for our Chu family?"

Zhang Huan smiled faintly and asked him back, "I wonder what your Chu family wants?"

"This..." Chu Xingyun could not answer this question. Before he left, his elder brother was to hand over the army. Everything else was the same, including his position as Minister of Justice, but Zhang Huan's tone made him feel that the prospects were not good.

He hesitated for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth and said, "The Chu family's army was cultivated by the Chu family's decades of hard work. Unlike Cui, the Pei family handed over the broken army, and the Chu family's army was handed over intact, so the conditions should be better than Cui and Pei families. The Chu family requires that except for handing over the army, everything else will be the same, including the position of the head of the family in the court."

"Super it in full?" Zhang Huan sneered, "I don't understand what it means to hand over in full. Who was the one who defeated me in Yancheng? Who was the one who surrendered to me in Linhuai? Is it all unrelated to the Chu family?"

He stood up and said coldly to Chu Xingyun with his hands behind his back: "If the Chu family had taken the initiative to hand over the army a month ago, I might have considered all the conditions of your head, but now, I might as well tell you the truth. Except for Chu Wei, I can spare his life, your Chu family no longer has the right to bargain with me."

Chu Xingyun's face turned red, and he made a fuss in his heart and simply tore his face apart, "Zhang Huan, my Chu family still has 40,000 troops. If you force people too much, my Chu family will destroy Yangzhou and burn with you."

Zhang Huan's eyes suddenly became sharp, "Then go! You go and destroy Yangzhou! Look at my brows and will you frown? Yangzhou is razed to the ground and I can build it again, but I will kill you all the Chu family."

He suddenly shouted loudly: "Come here! Behead Chu Wei for me."

"Well, wait!" Chu Xingyun's voice changed in fear, and his lips trembled, "I offended His Highness the Superintendent just now, I apologize! I apologize!"

Zhang Huan waved his hand and said, "Stay down the knife first."

He walked a few steps behind his back, and finally stated his conditions for rescinding. "First, the Chu family unconditionally handed over all the troops and slaves, and the armed servants they owned must not exceed 100 people; second, the Chu family can retain 10,000 hectares of land and ten shops, and the rest of the land and shops will be handed over to the court, and the money and grain stored in the Danyang County warehouse will be confiscated; third, Chu Xingshui dismissed the Shangshu and the Secretariat of the Secretariat and the Secretary of the Central Committee and was appointed as the governor of Yuzhang."

Zhang Huan said one condition, and Chu Xingyun's face turned pale. When the three conditions were finished, Chu Xingyun's face was already ashamed. It was obvious that Zhang Huan wanted to kill the Chu family to warn him. But if he agreed to these three conditions, the Chu family's decades of foundation would be over. Chu Xingyun stood up and bowed: "It's important. I can't make the decision alone. Please allow your highness to go back and discuss with the tribe members and reply within ten days. Is that good?"
Chapter completed!