Chapter 522 What Is This All About?
"Master Xu, we'll take you there." Liang An chased after him.
Xu Junfan was surprised, but he couldn't refuse.
The two walked out of the palace slowly, and Liang An would ask some questions about Pingzhou along the way.
At the last corner, a young eunuch walked too fast and bumped into Xu Junfan, knocking the things in his hand to the ground.
"Bold!" Liang An shouted.
The young eunuch knelt down and begged for forgiveness, "Master General Manager, spare my life."
"Eunuch Liang, what is this?" Xu Junfan picked up the book at his feet, and the inner page of the book was exposed. The words inside were all red, which was shocking to look at.
Liang An paused and said, "This is the Ksitigarbha Sutra."
"Isn't such a scripture a bit scary?"
"Zhang Xianxian presented it, and it is said that it was written with his heart and blood." Liang An told him that the Ksitigarbha Sutra can eliminate disasters and increase blessings. His intentions to the emperor were sincere, but the emperor just didn't want to see him.
"It's pitiful, why do you have to do this?"
Xu Junfan said seriously, "Eunuch Liang, you can't be soft-hearted. Just accept this scripture, don't present it to the emperor, and cause trouble for the emperor."
"Besides, if the emperor is soft-hearted and lets Zhang Xian accompany him..."
"After all, Zhang Xian has a history with Lu Desheng. The Lu family is now a rebel, so it's never too careful."
Liang An:...
Good guy, you've said everything, what else can I say?
"Eunuch Liang, I'll give this scripture back to you. It's getting late, and Xu has to leave the palace." Xu Junfan threw the scripture to Liang An like throwing a hot potato.
Liang An took the "Dipankara Sutra" copied by Zhang Xian and went back to report.
"...Your Majesty, this Lord Xu is really afraid of having any relationship with Zhang Xian."
After listening to Liang An's words, Song Mo couldn't tell whether he was disappointed or what, but Xu Junfan's firm choice to return to the court still made him feel very happy.
Outside the palace, after Xu Junfan boarded his own broken carriage, he relaxed.
During the period after Zuo Yi's death, Pingzhou arranged people to take him to visit many places. Some places did not allow him to enter, but only let him walk around the periphery.
To the outside, it was announced that he was ill.
The people he brought were restricted in their freedom.
They asked him to see, and he saw. Anyway, it was like that. After a round of these places, he really saw something. The people of Pingzhou are so energetic. They do very heavy work, and each one is very optimistic, as if they are tireless, as if they are full of expectations and yearning for the future.
Later, Lu Songli met him and had a conversation with him for half an hour.
Xu Junfan knew very well that he had already stepped half a foot on the boat by killing Zuo Yi.
If he insisted on being loyal to the court, there were only two ways to go, either death or being held by Pingzhou.
Although the latter could allow him to survive, he would not feel comfortable if someone held a handle against him.
Faced with Pingzhou's recruitment, he followed the trend.
Good birds choose trees to roost in, right? And he couldn't beat them, so he joined.
Lingnan
Dong Guowei, the Zhenxi Army, led a 100,000-man army to Lingnan. After a short rest, he gave all the soldiers a good meal and prepared to fight.
Before the battle, Dong Guowei had people beat drums and then gave a speech to the generals and the common people.
They did this to see if they could incite some soldiers and common people to rebel.
These people were also the people of Dali. Dong Guowei was sure that some of them must be loyal to the Dali court.
At the very least, it would be good to cause trouble for Xie Zhan.
During this period, the court army had other actions.
"General, our eagles have been released."
"Okay."
The court had its own eagles. When the two sides were fighting, Dong Guowei had people release eagles to patrol and scout and detect the enemy's weaknesses.
In Lingnan City, this was the first battle of Lingnan against the imperial army, and Xie Zhan was also paying attention.
At this time, a loud shriek came from the sky.
Xie Zhan looked up and squinted at the sky, "Is that an eagle?"
"Yes, sir. It should be the imperial eagle. General Dong has two in his hands."
"Can it be shot down?"
The subordinate shook his head, "The eagle flew too high, and it would be difficult for even a sharp archer to shoot it."
The imperial army had a good plan, but it soon failed.
After learning that the imperial court had come up with such a move, Xie Zhan wanted to have someone shoot the soldier who was reading the manuscript with a loud voice. After learning that the archers on their side could not do it because the distance between the two sides was too far, Xie Zhan decisively asked their people to beat the drums to disrupt the other side's voice.
Xie Zhan had fought with the father and daughter of the Lu family many times, and he knew too well that the power of language was very great. If he let Dong Guowei do this, it would have a great impact and blow on the morale of their Lingnan soldiers.
The response of the rebels made Dong Guowei realize that his wishful thinking was seen through.
In this case, let's just start fighting.
Next, Dong Guowei waved the main flag.
The military trumpets sounded long, the drums roared, and the sound of the soldiers' charge resounded throughout the world.
Dong Guowei stood on a high place and watched his soldiers trying to capture the city.
He felt that with the same 100,000 troops, it should be easier to attack Xie Zhan than Sun Ming to attack Pingzhou.
Pingzhou has mature generals like the Qin brothers, what does the South have?
The Southern Expedition Army originally had three major generals, the Sun family, the Shen family, and the Liu family. First, the court summoned Sun Ming and the Sun family army to Yanmen.
Then, Xie Zhan rebelled, and the Southern Expedition Army mutinied. The Shen faction was gone, and now the Southern Expedition Army only had the Liu faction and some generals supported by Xie Zhan.
The first battle did not last too long, and the court called off the troops, with few casualties on both sides.
The commanders of both sides were veterans on the battlefield, and were not surprised by the result.
In the first battle, the opponent was just testing.
In the second and third battles, both sides started to fight for real.
Both sides continued to increase their troops.
Xie Zhan was also paying attention to the progress of the entire battle.
Seeing that the gates of Lingnan were gradually lost due to the suppression of military forces.
Xie Zhan frowned, "Why is there no movement from King Cheng?"
Jiang Boya said, "It should be soon."
Outside the city, the court's scouts reported to Dong Guowei, "General Dong, there is movement in the southwest."
"What's going on?" Dong Guowei frowned, southwest? Could it be King Cheng?
"The remaining soldiers, listen to my orders, set up your formation, and prepare to meet the enemy!"
At this moment, a surprise force from the southwest attacked the imperial army.
Fortunately, Dong Guowei was used to holding back when fighting, otherwise he would really be caught off guard.
But in this way, not only were the troops he was going to throw in tied down by King Cheng's army, he even had to send people back for help.
Dong Guowei took a look at the gate of Lingnan City that was about to be breached, and sighed. King Cheng actually helped Xie Zhan. What was going on!