The next morning, Li Zhiyun took a late nap and it was already three o'clock in the morning when he got up. After washing up and having breakfast, he wanted to go for a stroll in the market. So he took Ying Gu and two subordinate officials to the street.

Scarface led a dozen soldiers to escort him.

After all, Xihe City is the seat of Zhouye. Although it is not as good as Chang'an, the streets are full of shops and filled with cars and horses, making it very lively.

They walked for a while, and suddenly heard the sound of gongs, drums, cymbals, and turned around. It turned out that there was a procession coming from behind to send off the bride. Li Zhiyun stood and watched, and saw a percussion band of dozens of people in the front, and an eight-person group behind it.

A large sedan was carried by people. Behind the sedan was the queue for the bride. Some of these people were carrying boxes, silks and other dowries, and some were carrying geese, ducks and golden pheasants. The entire procession of sending off the bride consisted of two to three hundred people, and one or two of them were dragged behind the sedan.

The land is long.

At this time, there were many people watching the excitement on both sides of the street. Li Zhiyun asked an old man next to him: "Whose family is hosting such a grand wedding?" The old man glanced at him and said: "Young man, you are from out of town, right?

?You don’t even know this? This is a wedding held by Xue Qiang’s family.”

"Who is Xue Qiang?"

"Xue Qiang is a local powerful man who once served as a county magistrate. His family is extremely rich, with several manors outside the city and dozens of shops in the city."

"Wow! So powerful?"

The procession of sending off the bride passed in front of Li Zhiyun. He was such a lively person, so he followed the procession forward. After walking for more than a mile, he saw the procession entering a very grand mansion. All the people seeing off the bride walked in.

In the courtyard, Li Zhiyun also walked to the gate and looked inside. The courtyard of Xue Qiang's house was very spacious, with dozens of banquet tables inside, and many guests sitting around the tables, happily drinking and playing guessing games.

At this time, an old man in his fifties came over. Judging from his dress, he should be a housekeeper. Seeing Li Zhiyun and others peeking into the door, he asked, "Are you guests giving gifts?" Li Zhiyun shook his head.

Said: "No! We are just passing by to watch the fun!"

"What's there to see? Go away quickly! Otherwise, you won't block other guests!" the butler shouted in surprise.

Li Zhiyun was too lazy to talk to this vulgar and rude guy. However, Scarface got angry when he heard this, and glared: "Old guy! See what's the big deal about the excitement? You are so arrogant, believe it or not, I will give this house to you."

You demolished it!..." The two were arguing.

At that moment, a middle-aged man in his forties came out of the door. This man had a fierce appearance and was not a good person at first glance, but at this moment he was smiling all over his face and cupped his hands and said: "My dear officials, today I am a child.

It's a wedding, if you don't mind it, how about we invite you in for a wedding drink?"

Li Zhiyun raised his hands and returned the courtesy: "May I ask who your honor is?..."

"I am Xue Qiang".

"It turns out it's Mr. Xue. I'm disrespectful. I'm disrespectful." Li Zhiyun said, "It's better to choose a different day than to hit it. Since we met by chance today, let's go in and ask for a wedding drink. Zhang Zheng, please give me twelve taels of silver." Zhang Zheng heard this and was sincere.

He took out a silver ingot and put it into the butler's hand.

Xue Qiang invited Li Zhiyun and others into the courtyard, arranged them at a wine table, then said goodbye and walked into the hall of his home. The housekeeper followed him in and whispered: "Master, the origin of these people is unknown.

It looks like he is an official. How can you tell him?

Have you invited us to the mansion?" Xue Qiang lowered his voice and said, "There's going to be an incident tonight. If you argue with someone at the door, if there's a conflict, wouldn't it ruin my business? Why don't we invite them into the hospital and drink them?

A few glasses of water and wine, and then send them on their way..."

While the two were talking, a servant came over and whispered: "Master, it's bad! Two thousand officers and soldiers were suddenly added to the barracks!" When Xue Qiang heard this, he was shocked and stared: "What's going on?

?”

"I've made some inquiries. It seems that a King of Chu has come to the city. It was he who brought the two thousand officers and soldiers!"

“King of Chu?”

?Great! Let’s capture him and sacrifice him

Give it to Marshal Liu!" Xue Qiang thought for a moment, shook his head and said: "No! Didn't you see there was a group of officers and soldiers outside the gate? If we catch him, we won't even be able to get out of Xihe City! Besides, Marshal Liu wants Xihe City.

, not the King of Chu!"

The steward listened, nodded, and asked again: "The number of officers and soldiers in the barracks has increased. What should we do?"

In the courtyard, after Li Zhiyun drank a few glasses of wedding wine, he stood up and left. After he led a group of people around the market, they returned to the inn.

After lunch, Li Zhiyun lay on the couch and took a nap, then got up and sat on the floor to read. Suddenly, there was a "swish" sound, and a dart flew over his head and was nailed to a wooden pillar next to him.

Zhang Zheng rushed into the room after hearing the sound, and Li Zhiyun pointed to the rear window. Zhang Zheng immediately jumped out of the window. After a while, he jumped back again and shook his head at Li Zhiyun.

Li Zhiyun stood up and walked to the pillar. He saw a piece of paper tied to the dart. He quickly took it off and took a closer look. He saw the writing on the paper: Tonight, someone is trying to rob the weapons warehouse.

Li Zhiyun was stunned for a few seconds, then raised his head and said to Zhang Zheng: "Go to the Governor's Office quickly!" He led people to the Governor's Yamen, found Liu Fan, and handed the note to him. Liu Fan immediately asked Huang Qi to be called.

, hand the note to the other party.

Huang Qi read the note and asked, "Who delivered this news?" Li Zhiyun shook his head and said, "I don't know, it was shot into my room with a dart." Liu Gan said, "Whoever delivered the news?"

, regardless of whether the news is true or false, we must take more precautions! Huang Sima, you quickly mobilize five hundred soldiers to strengthen the guard of the warehouse, and there must be no omissions!"

"Yes!" Huang Qi cupped his hands and turned around to make arrangements.

In the evening, in Xue Qiang's mansion, Xue Qiang and several cronies were planning in a secret room. The housekeeper suddenly opened the door and barged in, panting: "Master, it's not good! Tang Jun suddenly strengthened the guards of the warehouse, and there were people everywhere around the warehouse.

It’s a soldier!”

When Xue Qiang heard this, he was shocked and said: "What's going on? Is the news leaked?" The housekeeper shook his head in confusion and said: "I don't know!"

Xue Qiang is holding a wedding for his son today, in order to let the servants and farmers of the manor sneak into the city in the name of seeing off the bride. Together with the nursing home in the house, as well as the shopkeepers and clerks in the shop, he can gather hundreds of people.

He planned to use these hundreds of people to rob the weapons in the warehouse, and then some of them would attack the governor's mansion, and some of them would open the city gates to welcome Marshal Liu's army into the city, and then occupy Xihe City.

However, now that the Tang army has strengthened the defense of the warehouse, they are obviously aware of it, and the number of soldiers in the barracks has also increased from 3,000 to 5,000, almost doubling. It seems that the original plan is no longer feasible. Xue Qiang

After pondering for a while, he decisively said to a close confidant: "Get out of the city quickly and tell Marshal Liu that the situation has changed. The plan is postponed and we will look for another good opportunity!" The confidant said yes, turned around and hurried away...

The Marshal Liu mentioned by Xue Qiang was Liu Wuzhou, one of the local separatist forces in the late Sui Dynasty. Liu Wuzhou was born in a wealthy family. When he was young, he was brave and good at shooting and liked to make friends with heroes. His brother Liu Shanbo often warned him: "You don't choose your friends.

, will eventually destroy our entire family." He scolded and humiliated him. Therefore, Liu Wuzhou left home and went to Luoyang, where he went to the Sui Dynasty's servant Yang Yichen.

Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty made three eastern expeditions to Korea. Liu Wuzhou was recruited to participate in the Eastern Expedition and was promoted to the rank of Jianjie Xiaowei for his military merit. After the Eastern Expedition returned, Liu Wuzhou returned to his hometown of Mayi County and served as the Yingyang Prefecture Xiaowei. Thirteen Days of the Sui Dynasty

In 617 AD, Liu Wuzhou took advantage of the chaos at the end of the Sui Dynasty and raised troops to kill Wang Rengong, the prefect of Mayi, and opened the granary.

and weapons depot, recruited more than 10,000 soldiers, and called himself the prefect. At that time, Li Yuan was still staying in Taiyuan, and Liu Wuzhou made trouble in the territory under his jurisdiction. Yang Guang blamed him for his inability to suppress the bandits, and planned to send someone to detain him to Jiangdu for punishment. Later,

He changed his mind and asked him to perform meritorious service. This was also one of the factors that prompted Li Yuan to raise troops in Jinyang.

In order to gain the support of the Turks, Liu Wuzhou sent an envoy to profess his tribulation to the Turks. The Turks named him "Dingyang Khan" and gave him the "Hard Touqi". The Sui Dynasty sent troops to attack him, and he asked the Turks for support. The Turks sent cavalry to fight with him.

Liu Wuzhou attacked the Sui army from both inside and outside, and defeated the Sui army. Liu Wuzhou took the opportunity to attack the city and capture the territory, occupying Fenyang Palace, and presented the beautiful women in the palace to the Turkic Shibi Khan, who gave him many war horses. As a result, Liu Wuzhou's military strength increased.

Liu Wuzhou claimed to be the Grand Marshal of the World's Armed Forces. He had occupied several counties such as Mayi, Yanmen, Dingxiang, and Loufan, and had tens of thousands of elite soldiers. He became a dominant separatist force and a strong enemy of the Tang Dynasty.

Xihe City is not too far from Liu Wuzhou's territory. Xue Qiang met Liu Wuzhou when he was the magistrate of Shanyang County, and the two had a close relationship. Liu Wuzhou sent someone to contact Xue Qiang and promised that if he helped him capture Xihe City, he would be

Haozhou governor,

Although Xue Qiang, the general of the feudal state, had accumulated a lot of wealth through plunder and robbery, he was not willing to be just a commoner. Wealth can only be found in danger, so he decided to take a gamble. If Liu Wuzhou conquered the world, then he would be

Founding hero.

Li Zhiyun originally planned to stay in Xihe City for one day and then continue on his way. However, the woman he met outside the city, the mysterious dart, and the local powerful Xue Qiang all interested him. He felt that this Xihe City

There is some kind of paradox and weirdness in it, and it seems that there are still some unsolved mysteries waiting for him to solve.

So, he decided to stay for a few more days. Anyway, the team had been walking for more than ten days. They were exhausted, so let the brothers rest for a few more days! Besides, he also wanted to inspect the market situation in Xihe City to see if he could
Chapter completed!