With a ferocious expression, Fei Mo said in an angry voice, "You must have heard that we Khitan people are mobilizing because we are fighting for the Li family and to restore Li Tang's empire! Right now, we are under attack by the Zhou army and lack rations. We need you local gentry to help us.
If you help us today, in the future, we will help Li Tang restore his empire. You will be meritorious people. At that time, the imperial court will naturally return the money and rations you borrowed today. If you are not willing to hand over the rations, then you are part of the Zhou army, traitors and treacherous officials. This general's saber will not be lenient when it comes to killing people! "
This town was slightly more affluent than most small towns. There was also a very large manor in the town. There were no luxurious buildings inside, which meant that this was not a local landlord, but one of the local residences of a major landlord from the large city of Dafu.
Fei Mo and the others had raided many wealthy families and were very clear that this meant that this family owned a large amount of land. In that case, their residences might not have much, but they would definitely have a lot of rations.
Fei Mo's long experience in raiding made him know that rather than wasting time and energy plundering each family, it was better to intimidate these large families into paying on their own.
Fei Mo grabbed the saber on the side of the mat and forcefully stabbed it into the ground. In a stern voice, he said, "In a moment, all of you go back and gather rations. This general will say the ugly words first. If any of you dare to hide your rations, once we find them, your entire family will be executed, not even chickens or dogs will be spared! Do you want money or your life? Think about what to do! "
Fei Mo's saber was stained with blood. Such a forceful stab had a rather frightening effect. However, he was half-undressed and kneeling on the mat with his large buttocks wrapped in white cloth. It was truly not a frightening sight, but rather a rather ridiculous one.
Among the gentry, the one who had revealed a shocked expression when he first saw Yang Fan had already recovered. Like the other gentry, he listened to Fei Mo's lecture with an expression of fear and trepidation. He no longer glanced at Yang Fan, but he kept glancing at Yang Fan out of the corner of his eye.
After repeated identification, he was convinced: "This person must be Yang Fan!"
This person who had mingled with the gentry group was called Liang Shuang. He was not a local gentry, but a steward of a wealthy family. The wealthy family he belonged to was the Fanyang Lu family, the uncrowned king of the Hebei region.
When Yang Fan returned from the Southern Border and first entered Chang 'an, the second son of the Lu family, Lu Binzhi, had schemed to deal with him in order to avenge his elder brother, Lu Binmi. At that time, the person who was sent to investigate Yang Fan's background was Lu Binzhi, so he knew Yang Fan.
At that time, Yang Fan was just an imperial envoy of the imperial court. Later on, Yang Fan replaced Lu Binmi and became the head of the "Succession Hall". Following that, he fought with Lu Binmi openly and covertly. To others, this might be a big secret, but to Lu Binzhi and his confidant Liang Shuang, it was crystal clear.
When the news of Lu Binmi committing suicide in Hulao Pass reached the Lu family, everyone in the Lu family hated Yang Fan to the extreme. However, it was obvious that Lu Binmi was in the wrong in this matter, and Yang Fan had already magnanimously let him go. He only saved his daughter, so he didn't do anything wrong.
If it was an ordinary family, the Lu family could be unreasonable and use the Lu family's power to kill the other party to vent their anger. But Yang Fan was different. With Yang Fan's current status, and under the circumstances where Yang Fan was reasonable, the Lu family did not dare to act without regard for the consequences.
The tragic death of his elder brother caused Lu Binzhi, who was grounded at home, to be in so much pain that he wished he was dead. Every day, he would grit his teeth and curse Yang Fan to die early. Perhaps it was because sincerity could move metal and stone. Not long ago, the Lu family suddenly received a piece of news that made Lu Binzhi wild with joy. He thought that the heavens had eyes because Yang Fan had gone missing.
Yang Fan had gone missing in the Yellow Deer Valley while accompanying the army on a northern expedition.
In this battle, the imperial court's army of one hundred and sixty thousand was wiped out. Less than twenty thousand of the wounded and defeated soldiers managed to escape. Corpses covered the entire Yellow Deer Valley, and the road from Yellow Deer Valley to Horse City was also littered with corpses. The corpse-refining cauldron in Thousand Gold Smelting City worked day and night, but it had only processed a third of the corpses.
There was still no news of Yang Fan in the 'Succession Hall'. Judging from the death rate of the Great Zhou soldiers, Yang Fan was likely dead. The 'Succession Hall' had been temporarily taken over by the heads of the Seven Great Clans. All major matters and decisions were jointly decided by the Seven Great Clans. While this would seriously affect efficiency and delay some urgent matters, as an emergency measure, it was the best they could do.
As one of the Seven Great Clans, the Lu family naturally couldn't hide such matters from them. As the legitimate heir of the Lu family, Lu Binzhi, who had become the only heir of the Lu family after his elder brother's tragic death, naturally knew everything. As his trusted aide, Liang Shuang was one of the few people in the Lu family who knew.
However, he never expected that Yang Fan, whom his young master believed to be dead in battle, was actually alive and well. Furthermore, he was right in front of him, in the midst of the Khitan army.
The Lu family had a large manor in the local area that had nearly a thousand acres of land. More than a third of the townspeople were tenants of the Lu family. Liang Shuang was here on his young master's orders to patrol the area, but the Khitans happened to attack Zhuolu. The town was caught in the crossfire, and he, who couldn't escape in time, was trapped in the manor.
Upon seeing Yang Fan, Liang Shuang placed all his attention on Yang Fan. He no longer cared about the grain in his manor's grain cellar. Even if all the grain there had been plundered, it was nothing to the powerful Lu family. Yang Fan was the Lu family's greatest enemy!
Liang Shuang's first reaction was that Yang Fan had been captured by the Khitans. However, from the Khitan soldiers' attitude towards Yang Fan, it didn't seem like they treated him as a prisoner. At the very least, they didn't show much hostility. This was strange.
Liang Shuang didn't think that Yang Fan was an accomplice of the Khitans. Regardless of why Yang Fan wanted to come into contact with the Khitans, he wouldn't go as far as to disappear and cause chaos in the Succession Hall. Liang Shuang couldn't help but be curious about the role Yang Fan was playing at the moment.
When he dealt with Yang Fan in Chang 'an, including the assassination attempt on Yang Fan by the Quchi River and Furong Bridge, Liang Shuang was only responsible for investigating, dispatching, and arranging in secret. He didn't go into battle himself, so he wasn't worried that Yang Fan would see through his identity. With this doubt in his mind, he wanted to find out why Yang Fan had appeared here.
After intimidating them for a while, she had the Khitan soldiers escort the aristocrats back to gather grain. Liang Shuang was unusually cooperative and took the initiative to contribute all the grain stored in the manor, including several hidden cellars that were hard to be discovered.
After gaining the Khitans' favor, Liang Shuang indirectly inquired about Yang Fan's current situation. He learned that Yang Fan was indeed a prisoner of the Khitans, but the Khitans had no intention of executing him. Liang Shuang was secretly anxious.
He didn't think that the Khitans could achieve great things. In his view, under the attack of the imperial army, the Khitans' defeat was only a matter of time. At that time, Yang Fan would inevitably be rescued.
Moreover, once the 'Succession Hall' learned of Yang Fan's situation, they would definitely do their best to rescue him. He believed that with the 'Succession Hall's' financial resources, they would definitely use a condition that the Khitans couldn't refuse to make a deal with.
Although Yang Fan was now trapped in the Khitan army's chaotic situation, and there was no guarantee that he wouldn't die on the battlefield, it was still only a possibility. Back then, Wang Xiaojie, who had reclaimed the Four Garrisons of Anxi and rendered an unparalleled service, had been defeated and captured and brought to the Tubo Royal City. But in the end, did he not manage to return safe and sound?
The Second Young Master deeply hated Yang Fan, but unfortunately, he couldn't do anything to Yang Fan. If he couldn't take advantage of his weakness and kill him, there was no guarantee that he wouldn't escape.
Thinking of this, Liang Shuang was burning with anxiety. However, in the hands of the Khitans, Yang Fan had an invisible layer of protection. He couldn't do anything to Yang Fan. After thinking about it, Liang Shuang just wanted to quickly report this news to the Second Young Master and let him decide.
However, he was also worried that the Khitans would rob the provisions and leave as usual. If that happened, he would be in a panic and unable to find Yang Fan's whereabouts.
What was strange was that this time, the Khitans didn't leave immediately. In the afternoon, Fei Mo summoned the town's gentry again and asked them to vacate the houses for her soldiers. It seemed that they were going to stay in the town for a few days. Liang Shuang was secretly happy and quickly arranged for people to sneak out during the night to report to the Second Young Master in Zhuozhou.
…
It wasn't that the Khitans didn't want to move quickly, but they couldn't leave.
The Khitans couldn't leave not because Wu Youyi suddenly changed his mind and took the initiative to send troops to encircle and suppress them, but because their 'Supreme Khan' Li Jinzhong was critically ill.
Last time, Li Jinzhong had been shot in the back by an arrow. Although he had applied medicine and bandaged the wound, it hadn't fully healed. After all, he was an old man in his sixties. His recovery speed was far slower than that of a man in his prime. He hadn't even fully recovered from the arrow wound when he led troops out of the mountains to fight in Hebei.
In the process, the arrow wound on his back had burst open. It was a hot summer and he was in the army, fighting everywhere. The arrow wound hadn't been treated well, so it had finally become a fatal problem.
In fact, Li Jinzhong was also aware of his own injury. However, there was no food in the army, so he, as khan, had to lead the troops into battle to solve the food problem. In order to avoid shaking the army's morale, he had been busy discussing the alliance with the Xi people, so he had kept his injury a secret.
Li Jinzhong had dragged his sick body to fight everywhere, and his body was already at the end of its tether. In this attack on Zhuolu City, Li Jinzhong personally supervised the battle. A healthy old man couldn't stand the scorching sun for a long time, let alone him. So when Zhuolu City was taken, Li Jinzhong had just entered the city gates when his vision went black and he fell off his horse.
Only a few people knew of his injury, and Grand Marshal Sun Wanrong was one of them. Seeing the khan faint, Sun Wanrong panicked and hurriedly rescued Li Jinzhong. He temporarily placed him in a large family's home. To the outside world, he only said that the khan had fainted from heat exhaustion and didn't dare reveal the truth. He secretly inquired about the city's famous doctors to treat him.
Under these circumstances, they naturally couldn't move immediately. The Khitans occupied Zhuolu and set up camp there. In the face of the Tang army's superior military strength, the Khitans' greatest strength was their mobility. Now that they couldn't leave and the khan's injury couldn't be announced to the outside world, Sun Wanrong couldn't help but fall into a dilemma.
Wu Youyi's only mobile force had been sent to Lulong and had yet to return. After learning of the fall of Zhuolu, he was worried that the Xi people would attack him from behind when he sent troops to Zhuolu. If he stayed in the city and defended it, he would be suspected of leaving the khan to die. Wu Youyi and Sun Wanrong immediately became a pair of brothers in the same dilemma.
…
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