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Chapter 213 The Troubled Times (1)

It seemed that Huiming did not notice Li Keyong’s agitation. He replied calmly, “Because Wang Duo has gained control of military power and has already left Sichuan.”

“Wang Duo?” Li Keyong was taken aback by his words, “He’s just a civil officer, not indifferent to Zheng Tian. So even with military control, how could he make a difference in the situation?”

“He certainly could,” answered Huiming. His answer was unusually short.

Li Keyong asked in a deep voice, “And how so?”

Huiming replied, “Because Wang Duo is a loyal officer.”

Li Keyong continued to ask, “And loyal officers could win wars? How?”

Huiming answered, “Loyal officers might not win wars per se, but they could give the talented patriotic men a chance to make a name for themselves on the battlefield.”

Li Keyong tightened his eyebrows for a second and soon realized what Huiming had meant. “So you’re saying Wang Duo could give me the opportunity to make a name for myself?”

Huiming then asked, “General, what is that reason that you are lingering in Hedong and not down south?”

Li Keyong then said, “Master knows exactly why. I don’t have the grain to feed the troops.” Then it quickly came to him. “So Wang Duo could solve the grain problem?”

Huiming nodded and said, “By not giving general the grain, Hedong commissioner Zheng Congdang is holding up the imperial court’s defense against the rebels. If Wang Duo could convince Zheng Congdang to let go of bygones and provide grain for you, then general could lead your troops south.”

Li Keyong thought for a moment and added, “Could Wang Duo convince Zheng Congdang?”

Huiming revealed a smile. He was already a fair-skinned monk with smooth and snow-like skin, add to that the fact that his lips were really red. That smile was even more beautiful and charming. “The reason why Zheng Congdang doesn’t want to give you grain is that he’s afraid that general might turn once you’re in the Central Plains. And for that he was even willing to take the responsibility of missing the opportunity to attack, he too is a loyal officer. So it’s not hard to convince Zheng Congdang since they are both loyal officers.”

Li Keyong carefully studied Huiming and wondered, “How could a monk be so clever and strategic, very unlike a man who’s taken up monkhood. But then, there are no true masters in the world.”

He mused and asked, “Why would Wang Duo enlist me to go south? Especially now that Li Ye had taken over the Central Plains and east of Tongguan. The situation is great in those regions, there are almost no rebels left.”

Hui Ming replied, “Because general wrote to Wang Duo, stating your ambition to serve your country. And Wang Duo would not refuse because he too wants to wipe out the rebels.”

Li Keyong was a little shocked and asked then, “When did I write such a letter?”

Hui Ming smiled again and answered, “Now.”

On the same day, Li Keyong sent a letter to Wang Duo requesting to join forces with Li Ye and battle Huang Chao.

When Wang Duo received Li Keyong’s letter, he hadn’t been in office long. So it was really great news for him. Because once Li Keyong led his troops down south, it was bound to greatly enhance Li Ye’s strength. It would also turn a new page for imperial troops’ battle to wipe out the rebels.

Wang Duo immediately wrote a proposal to Li Yan for conferring Li Keyong as the Yanmen commissioner. And he wrote a letter to Zheng Congdang, asking him to provide grain for Li Keyong’s troops. After receiving the letter from Wang Duo, Zheng Congdang hesitated for a long time. Finally, he heaved a sigh and adhered to Wang Duo’s military order.

There were rumors that after Zheng Congdang acceded the order, he said to a confidant, “Today, in order to destroy the thieves in the house, I might have led the wolf into the room. What the future holds is beyond me!”

Li Keyong had gathered 200,000 troops and horses in Daizhou. When he headed towards the south with his troops, Li Ye had already passed through Tongguan with his army.

After defeating Zhu Wen, the Pinglu Army, Zhongwu Army and Caizhou Army were ferocious in the many days of battle under the leadership of Li Ye. The Huang Chao rebellion army east of Tongguan had already been wiped out. Now, all that was left to enter the Guanzhong was to breach Tongguan, then they could directly force themselves into Guanzhong and hone in on Chang’an. Then they could battle with Huang Chao’s main force.

It was a clear and refreshing day in autumn, Li Ye, Yang Fuguang, Zhou Ji and others galloped out of camp with their generals to suss out Tongguan.

Li Ye pointed to Tongguan and said to the crowd, “Dufu has a poem, ‘the crucial spot could only allow a single cart to pass. In crucial moments, if one chooses to guard this position with his life, then he could stop thousands of men.’ The poem mentioned that a single man could guard a crucial spot, and Xiongguan is such a place.”

Yang Fuguang covered his forehead with his hand, and added with a smile, “The general is not only good at commanding troops, but also has vast knowledge. You have earned my admiration.”

Kissing ass and flattery was a talent for the eunuchs. After those complimentary words, Yang Fuguang continued, “North of Tongguan sits the Wei and Luo mountains. The Zhongnan Mountain sits in the south, Huayue Mountain in the west, and joins up to Jingu in the east. The place where all the peaks join and valleys are at its deepest is a spot where only a single horse and cart could pass. Not to mention the twelve cities sitting behind the very spot. Tongguan is indeed a crucial spot easy to defend and conversely, hard to attack. What the general said about one man stopping a force of ten thousand is indeed true.”

When Zhou Ji saw the tight defense structure and the guards defending Tongguan, he was distressed. He sighed and added, “The Huang rebels were able to breach Tongguan that day because the soldiers guarding it was lacking in confidence and starving. They were also short of arrows and reinforcements were nowhere to be seen. Thus it had given the rebels the perfect opportunity. Now Tongguan is well guarded, the rebels’ defense structure is tight. And if we want to breach it, it won’t be easy.”

Li Ye did not comment but he looked out onto the horizon. Suddenly his brows frowned, and two streams of extremely potent Qi had spread from the city wall. Although the Qi energy was not deliberately forced, Li Ye could still feel it. Only Spiritual Master Realm cultivators had such ability.

There were actually two Spiritual Master Realm cultivators hidden in Tongguan.

What Li Ye did not know was that representing the Zhongnan Mountain Taoist sect was the chief himself. He brought with him the grand elder and many Taoist disciples to garrison the place. After Li Ye killed both Wuyazi and Wujizi, they were extremely terrified of him, plus Tongguan was a part of Guanzhong. As long as Tongguan had not fallen, Guanzhong was safe. The reason they were here was to prevent Li Ye and other high leveled cultivators from breaching Tongguan.

Li Ye frowned slightly because apart from the two Spiritual Master Realm cultivators, he sensed the presence of many high-level Qi-refining cultivators.

With so many high-level cultivators gathered, Tongguan were impregnable. Considering his current strength and position, he must first look out for those two Spiritual Master Realm cultivators’ joint attack. Thus, he couldn’t head the charge personally to attack the opponents’ defense like he did in Dengzhou.

Not only was Li Ye hesitant to attack, even the high-level cultivators with him dared not make any sudden moves. Otherwise, they would be handing their lives over to those two Spiritual Master Realm cultivators.

“It’s ridiculous that they’ve sent all of their high-level masters here in Tongguan. I mean, don’t they care about guarding Guanzhong?” Li Ye asked with a bitter smile while shaking his head. The Zhongnan Mountain Taoist sect had given him all the attention that his reputation garnered.

However, Li Ye did not rush things. He knew that Li Keyong would be here soon. He was sure that Li Keyong, the future Jin Dynasty Emperor of the Jin sates, would have many Spiritual Master Realm cultivators with him. Clearly, that Monk Huiming was powerful, albeit not of the Spiritual Master Realm. But it was known that Juexiao Temple had many high-level cultivators.

Li Ye had no intention of keeping the honor of defeating Huang Chao to himself. He couldn’t do it on his own anyway. Huang Chao had hundreds of thousands of sects in Guanzhong and countless generals and elites. If Huang Chao had a few Militarism senior generals, then even if Li Ye had the help of Chu Nanhuai and Zhang Jiuling, it would be useless. Because the enemy just outnumbered them by too much, exceeding what the cultivators could deal with, and influence pertaining to deciding wins and losses.

In a fight, the strong could decide the outcome. In a war however, only an army could decide the outcome.

At present, the only ally Li Ye could depend on was Li Keyong. As for other Vassal State Armies from the four sides of Guanzhong—If they were not completely useless, then Zhu Wen would not have defeated them to the point where they were screaming for the moms and dads.

Li Ye calmed himself and waited for Li Keyong to arrive.

Meanwhile, Zhu Wen had already taken over Tongzhou.

When Li Ye wiped out the Huang Chao Rebellion Army east of Tongguan, the Qi Empire army in Guanzhong was busy too. Huang Chao’s plan was simple, since it was difficult to control the Central Plains because of its vastness, he decided to leave it first. He just wanted to hold Tongguan. By the time he finished off the Guanzhong enemies from all four sides, then he’ll fight Li Ye to take over the entire world.

When Zhu Wen returned to Dengzhou from Chang’an, he first defeated the armies of Fengxiang, Binning and Xiasui. When Huang Chao saw that the situation in Guanzhong was pretty much under control, he drew up plans to expand his empire. So he gave up the position of Tongzhou Defense Envoy to Zhu Wen.

Since Tongzhou was not in the Qi Empire Army’s jurisdiction, Zhu Wen wanted to lead his troops to take it.

Huang Chao played a similar game with most of his appointments like Inspector General, Defense Envoy and commissioner. He had appointed many of those positions, but most were hollow positions. If they wanted their positions to be cemented, they first had to snatch land out of the Tang army’s hands.

After breaching Tongzhou, Zhu Wen was extremely happy for he finally had his own territory. In the beginning, when he led his troops out of Tongguan and set out to attack Dengzhou, he could have had his own territory after taking it over. However, Li Ye stirred things up, which had annoyed Zhu Wen.

This time, taking Tongzhou meant he had successfully achieved the goal of occupying a piece of land. With his own territory, he would be able to train his soldiers and feed the horses up in the future. He could observe situations first and then decide the actions, whether to attack or retreat.

Having allocated land and housing meant his officers and soldiers could settle down. It also meant that their loyalty and dependence on Zhu Wen was more stable. Even if Huang Chao were destroyed one day, Zhu Wen might not necessarily die with Huang Chao if he handled it properly.

As the leader of the army, Zhu Wen was not lacking the women front. Even if he did not ask for women, his officers would pick the best out for him before they laid their hands on them.

There was a reason why people came up with the term ‘military disaster’, because wherever troops landed, trouble would follow. It wasn’t that the land became barren, but the soldiers would rob the people of everything. Especially the women, both young and old, they just couldn’t escape the ill-fate that would befall on them when warring soldiers came through.

On the next day after taking Tongzhou, Zhu Wen was resting in the hall. Suddenly there was noise outside, and a large number of guards came in laughing and some were crying. Soon generals and officers poured into the door, bringing with them many beautiful women that they pillaged to dedicate to Zhu Wen.

Zhu Wen had always been obsessed with Songzhou Inspector General’s daughter, whom he had accidentally run into on the streets before he joined the army. He had been with many women throughout the years, but he abandoned them after using them. He never had the intention of marrying them.

Zhu Wen was in a good mood after their big victory. He looked at the women up and down.

Suddenly, his eyes were stern while he stared at one of the women. Her hair was scattered and messy, and she was wearing ragged robes. She was sitting on the ground with her head down, crying, it was a sorrow sight to behold. Her skinny shoulders were trembling slightly, though the pitiful state she was in still couldn’t hide her beauty. Her helpless look had made her even more attractive.

Zhu Wen quickly stood up and came to the woman, his hands trembled with excitement, and his facial features were twitching. He lifted the woman up and looked at her carefully. Indeed, it was the Inspector General’s daughter whom he met on the street. In his eyes, she was as beautiful as the renowned beauty Yin Lihua.