Chapter 522 What's going on?
"Master Xu, we'll take you there." Liang An chased after him.
Xu Junfan was surprised, but he couldn't refuse.
The two of them walked out of the palace slowly, and Liang An asked 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 quickly knelt down and begged for mercy, "Master General, please spare my life."
"Eunuch Liang, what is this?" Xu Junfan picked up the notebook at his feet, revealing the inner pages of the notebook. The words inside were all red, which was shocking to look at.
Liang An paused and said, "This is the Ksitigarbha Sutra."
"Isn't this kind of scripture a bit scary?"
"What Zhang Xianxian presented was said to have been written with his heart and soul." Liang An told him that the "Dipankara Sutra" can eliminate disasters and increase blessings, and his intentions towards the emperor were sincere, but the emperor just refused to see him.
"Poor thing, why bother?"
Xu Junfan said sternly, "Eunuch Liang, you must not be soft-hearted. Just accept the scripture. Don't present it to the emperor and cause him trouble."
"Furthermore, if the Emperor relents and lets Zhang Xian accompany him..."
"After all, Zhang Xian and Lü Desheng have a history. The Lü family is now a rebel, so we can never be too careful."
Liang An: ...
Good man, you have already said everything, what else can we say?
"Eunuch Liang, I'm returning this scripture to you. It's getting late, and I have to leave the palace." Xu Junfan threw the scripture to Liang An like 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 even the slightest connection with Zhang Xian."
After hearing 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 very happy.
Outside the palace, Xu Junfan finally relaxed after getting on his own shabby carriage.
During the period after Zuo Yi's death, Pingzhou arranged people to take him to visit many places. He was not allowed to enter some places and was only allowed to walk around the periphery.
It was announced to the outside world that he was ill.
The freedom of the people he brought with him was restricted.
They told him to look, so he looked. It was like that anyway. After touring these places, he actually saw something. The people of Pingzhou were incredibly energetic. They toiled through their hard work, yet each one was incredibly optimistic, seemingly tireless, and filled with anticipation and yearning for the future.
Later, Lu Songli met him and had a conversation with him that lasted half an hour.
Xu Junfan knew very well that by killing Zuo Yi, he had already put half a foot on the boat.
If he insisted on being loyal to the court, he would have only two options: death or being held hostage by the Pingzhou authorities.
Although the latter option could allow him to survive, it would be uncomfortable to have someone hold a handle against him.
Faced with Pingzhou's recruitment, he accepted it.
A wise bird chooses its own tree to roost in, doesn't it? And he can't beat them, so he might as well join them.
Lingnan
Dong Guowei, the commander of the Zhenxi Army, led an army of 100,000 to Lingnan. After a short rest and giving all the soldiers a good meal, he prepared to fight.
Before the battle, Dong Guowei ordered people to beat drums, and then gave a speech to the generals in the army and the common people to recruit them.
They did this to see if they could incite some soldiers and civilians to rebel.
These people are also the people of Dali. Dong Guowei is certain that some of them must be loyal to the Dali court.
At the very least, it would be good to cause some trouble for Xie Zhan.
During this period, the imperial army also took other actions.
"General, our eagle has been released."
"good."
The imperial court raised hawks of its own. When the two sides were at war, the State of Dong would have people release hawks so that they could patrol and scout and detect the enemy's weak points.
In Lingnan City, this was Lingnan’s first battle against the imperial army, and Xie Zhan was also watching.
At this moment, a loud whistle came from the sky.
Xie Zhan looked up at the sky with his eyes narrowed, "Is that an eagle?"
"Yes, sir. They should be the imperial eagles. General Dong has two of them."
"Can you shoot it down?"
The subordinate shook his head. "The eagle is flying too high. Even a master archer would have difficulty in killing it."
The imperial army had a good plan, but it soon failed to proceed.
After learning that the imperial court had resorted to such a tactic, Xie Zhan wanted to have his men shoot the soldier who was reciting the script in a loud voice. However, 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 his men to beat the drums to disrupt the other side's voices.
Xie Zhan had fought against the father and daughter of the Lu family many times and knew too well that language was very powerful. If he allowed Dong Guowei to do this, it would have a great impact and blow to the morale of their Lingnan soldiers.
The rebels' response made Dong Guowei realize that his wishful thinking had been seen through.
In that case, let’s just start fighting.
Next, Dong Guowei waved the main flag.
The bugles sounded, the drums roared, and the sounds of soldiers charging and fighting resounded throughout the world.
Dong Guowei stood on a high place and watched his soldiers working hard to capture the city.
He felt that with the same army of 100,000, attacking Xie Zhan should be easier than Sun Ming attacking Pingzhou.
Pingzhou has experienced generals like the Qin brothers, but what does the South have?
The Southern Expedition Army originally had three generals: Sun, Shen, and Liu. First, the court summoned Sun Ming and his army to Yanmen.
Soon after, Xie Zhan rebelled, a mutiny broke out in the Southern Expedition Army, and the Shen faction was gone. Now the Southern Expedition Army only had the Liu faction's generals and some generals supported by Xie Zhan.
The first battle did not last long, and the imperial court called off the battle, with few casualties on both sides.
The main generals of both sides are veterans of the battlefield, so this result is not surprising.
In the first battle, the opponent was just testing us.
In the second and third battles, both sides started to fight seriously.
Both sides continued to increase their troops.
Xie Zhan was also paying close attention to the progress of the entire battle.
As the military forces suppressed them, the gates of Lingnan were gradually lost.
Xie Zhan frowned, "Why is there no movement from Prince Cheng?"
Jiang Boya said, "It should be soon."
Outside the city, the imperial scout reported to Dong Guowei, "General Dong, there are unusual movements in the southwest."
"What's going on?" Dong Guowei frowned. Southwest? Could it be King Cheng?
"Remaining soldiers, listen up! Form your formation and prepare to meet the enemy!"
At this moment, a surprise attack from the southwest attacked the imperial army.
Fortunately, Dong Guowei was used to holding back when fighting, otherwise he would have been caught off guard.
But in this way, not only would the troops he was planning to deploy be tied down by Prince Cheng's army, he would even have to send people back for reinforcements.
Dong Guowei took a look at the Lingnan City gate that was about to be breached and sighed. Prince Cheng actually helped Xie Zhan. What was going on?
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