Zhu Nao

Just a few days later, the news spread back to Yanzhou.

In the hall, Zhu Nao and Xie Wuji sat side by side, and there were several other officials below.

After listening to the spies' report, Zhu Nao smiled and said, "Do you charge extra money for each battle? That's how it is."

When he sent people to Taiyuan, he didn't expect to be able to convince Wei Bian with just one lobbyist.You must know that Han Fengxian, Wang Zhan, Huang Dongxuan and others who rebelled before did not rebel because of a few words.It was because the situation forced them to that point, and Zhu Nao used coercion and lure at the right time, so they were able to surrender smoothly.

So the main purpose of the people he sent to Taiyuan this time was to investigate information, and by the way, test Wei Bian's personality and understand his relationship with Henry Zhang.Then find some unsteady people from the Black Horse Army and Xuantian Sect, and open more gaps from those people.

And the news about how the Xuantian Sect paid the black horse army that the spies inquired back was very important and useful news.

It turned out that in addition to the first sum of money for inviting the black horse army out of the mountain, Henry Zhang would give them another sum of money every month. Although this sum of money was quite a lot, it was affordable.More importantly, Henry Zhang has to pay a very high remuneration every time the Dark Horse Army plays for Xuantianjiao.In order to encourage the dark horse army to fight bravely, another reward has to be calculated for the victory.

This request must have been made by Wei Bian. After all, fighting would kill people, not to mention fighting against the ever-victorious General Xie Wuji.After Henry Zhang thought about it, he agreed.

After knowing this information, Xie Wuji already knew it without Zhu Nao saying anything.He immediately said: "I will order troops right away, ready to go to battle."

Going to war now is not to annihilate the cult in one fell swoop, but to alienate.Since Henry Zhang gave money according to the number of battles, the bet was that Zhu Nao and Xie Wuji would not send troops easily.Then they will do the opposite, go to attack, and close when they see a good deal, and then fight again after closing.How much money can Henry Zhang afford the Dark Horse Army?When all the money is given, the Dark Horse Army will be heading home.

And before the dark horse army returned home, there should be a conflict between them and Henry Zhang.With frequent wars, the dark horse army can always win easily and get a lot of rewards easily. Are you afraid that Henry Zhang will not be suspicious of them?

The enemy's weakness, this is in their hands.

Zhu Nao did not rush, took out the abacus and simply flipped it a few times, resting his chin in thought.

Because of defeating Shi An and Jiao Bie, Zhu Nao obtained the accounts of Yanzhou's quarterly tribute to Henry Zhang, from which he can roughly calculate how much money Henry Zhang has in his hands.

In fact, even if they don't fight and only pay monthly, the Xuantian Sect's family can't afford to support the black horse army for too long. After all, besides the salary, they also have to pay for the army's rations, which is not a small sum.So in the future, Henry Zhang will definitely intensify his efforts to search for the money of believers...

Zhu Nao thought for a while, and he was confident, he nodded with a smile, and said, "General Xie, go and gather troops to prepare for battle."

He also instructed his subordinates: "Send some people to Taiyuan to release the news that Henry Zhang spends tens of thousands of dollars a month to support the black horse army."

Everyone immediately understood: Recently, the Xuantian Sect has made great efforts to promote that Wei Bian came to help Henry Zhang after receiving a dream from the gods, and successfully fooled many believers.If those believers know that the so-called being inspired by the gods is basically doing things with money, and what they get is the money they gave to the master, how would they feel?

It doesn't matter if they don't believe it, at least they have such a thing in mind.If Henry Zhang wants to collect money next, he will definitely use many methods. At that time, are you afraid that believers will not be suspicious?

Lies are always exposed.No matter how long it takes, that day will always come...

=====

Time flies, and two months have passed in a blink of an eye.

Two months later, at a pass dozens of miles away from Fenyang City, two armies fought a mighty battle.

Wei Bian stood at the height of the valley, he could see the turbulent water hitting rocks below, and the collision of blades, and he could hear the sound of killing and drums beating thunderously.He watched the changes in the battle situation with fear, ready to issue orders and adjust formations according to the situation at any time.

The pass here is the grain road in and out of Fenyang, which is very important.Once this road is robbed, the exchange of money and food in Fenyang City will become very difficult in the future.A month ago, when Wei Bian was lying in the yard basking in the sun, he suddenly received news that Xie Wuji had ordered thousands of elite soldiers to attack Fenyang.

Wei Bian was taken aback, and immediately went to see Henry Zhang.Henry Zhang was obviously frightened, and ordered Wei Bian to prepare for the battle quickly.So Wei Bian quickly ordered people to come here to intercept the Yanzhou army at the pass.

Half a month ago, the Yanzhou army had actually arrived near the pass and launched an attack on the black horse army guarding the pass.But they were quickly repelled.

A few days ago, the Yanzhou Army attacked again, and retreated not long after the fight.

Today, in the past half a month, the Yanzhou army launched a charge against the dark horse army guarding the pass for the third time.Although Wei Bian had already won two games, he didn't dare to relax at all, and he didn't dare to underestimate the enemy. He was afraid that the previous two offensives were all means by the Yanzhou Army to make them paralyzed. Once they underestimated the enemy, they were very likely to lose ,

However, it didn't take long before the enemy's gongs and drums suddenly changed their rhythm, and the attacking soldiers also began to change their formations according to the gongs and drums.

Wei Bian became more and more vigilant, holding his breath to observe the battle situation, and prepared to deal with it.

However, after a while, the messenger at the side suddenly said, "Your Majesty, they seem...to withdraw again?"

Wei Bian frowned.Indeed, the enemy began to retreat in an orderly manner, which was clearly a sign of retreat.

However, he didn't dare to relax, for fear that the enemy would be deceitful, so he continued to work hard to deal with the changes that might come at any time.

Facts have proved that he was thinking too much.The enemy did not have any backup, and the soldiers retreated in an orderly manner amidst the sound of orders, and slowly withdrew from the pass.

Wei Bian watched the enemy retreat with a complicated expression, and he didn't know what words to use to describe today's battle, or what words to use to describe the last three battles.Crash?Vulnerable?No, neither is accurate.

The Yanzhou army obviously still has spare strength, or it should be said that they have not used their strength at all.The three attacks in a row were all tentative, as if teasing a cat, with a feint shot and turned around, there was loud thunder and little rain.

Why did Xie Wuji do this?If it's just once or twice, it may be that they are not ready yet, so they retreated.But this was already the third time. Similar things happened three times. Obviously, the enemy did it on purpose.

The messenger at the side asked, "Your Majesty, are you chasing me?"

Without any hesitation, Wei Bian shook his head and said, "No, don't chase!"

Of course it is impossible for him to chase. One of the tasks Henry Zhang gave him was to let him defend Fenyang, and he did not let him kill the enemy; the other is that the enemy is not defeated and fled, but retreats in a neat formation. Who knows if this is the case? A trick they did to lure the snake out of its hole?Whether it was or not, he didn't need to take the risk.

So after confirming that the enemy retreated, Wei Bian also ordered: "Retreat!"

The messenger hurriedly beat the drum and trumpet to notify the army to retreat.

Not long after, several officers who had completed the retreat came to Wei Bian's side.Everyone was beaming with joy.

One person said triumphantly: "Then Xie Wuji and his Yanzhou Army are really worthless and vulnerable! This is the third time, right? It's too easy to win!"

"Haha, that's right. I thought he was a tiger at first, but it turned out to be a paper tiger!"

"In the past half a month, he has returned home three times, without even taking an inch of land. What kind of general is always victorious, I think he is an invincible general, he changed his name to Xie Wusheng!"

"I said he didn't think he thought about our brother's hard work and came here to give us money, right? This battle was so easy."

The reason why everyone is so happy is naturally because they have won the battle and they have a large reward to receive.The person who said that Xie Wuji came to give them money just made an unintentional joke to ridicule Xie Wuji, but Wei Bian changed his face unexpectedly.

The officers leading the troops below may be blinded, but Wei Bian always stood at the highest point to see the overall situation, and he saw it more clearly than anyone else.Does Xie Wuji know how to fight?No, not at all!You must know that even if it is a feint attack, it is a test of the general's formation ability and the cooperation between the soldiers.The retreat is often the most chaotic time for the army. If the enemy seizes the opportunity, the retreat will turn into a rout, and the enemy will lose the ability to resist and be chopped up.But Wei Bian didn't order the pursuit three times, because he didn't find the Yanzhou Army's weakness three times.Otherwise, he didn't need to be so cautious.

As a general, Wei Bian asked himself that his dark horse army was not as good as the Yanzhou army, and his command ability was not as good as Xie Wuji.If Xie Wuji really attacked with all his strength, even if he occupied the defensive position, it would be hard to say who would win.

Therefore, these three battles are all strange...

Wei Bian muttered puzzledly: "Could it be that they already know the terms Zhang Shijun negotiated with us? How did they know?"

Lin Shen was standing not far away, and when he heard this, his face suddenly changed.He hurriedly hid behind the others, for fear that Wei Bian would see his guilt.

Fortunately, Wei Bian did not suspect his subordinates.The more he thought about it, the more he felt that his conjecture was extremely possible, and he couldn't help but squeezed his fist in annoyance.

Previously Junau sent lobbyists to lobby him without success, so there was no other move.On the one hand, he felt that Jun Nao was nothing more than that, and on the other hand, he felt that Jun Nao should not give up so easily.

Sure enough, Zhu Nao didn't give up, not only didn't give up, but even resorted to such a vicious method!

To know that he played so frequently, according to the agreement, Henry Zhang would frequently pay him a huge amount of remuneration.But he won so easily and so unreasonably, how could Henry Zhang not suspect that he had colluded with Zhu Naoxie Wuji to cheat Xuantian Sect's money?But he didn't do that, so he was bound to be unconvinced, and when the two started to argue, conflicts were inevitable.Didn't Zhu Nao's plan of alienation succeed?

Wei Bian was very annoyed, not reconciled to being tricked by Zhu Nao.At the same time, he also knew that Zhang Xuan was very good at spreading rumors and deceiving people.If he turned against Henry Zhangzhen for the reward, Henry Zhang would definitely spread rumors unfavorable to him and ruin his reputation.The principles he has adhered to for so many years are likely to be wiped out by the cultists with a few words.

Wei Bian thought about it, and finally made up his mind.Gentlemen love fortune, in a proper way.He was righteous again.

So he turned to the officers and said, "Brothers, I'm sorry. I'm afraid we won't be able to receive the reward money for this battle."

Everyone was stunned, the excitement dissipated, and they asked in doubt: "Brother, why is this?"

Wei Bian said: "In addition to not being able to receive the reward, we have to return the previous reward to Zhang Shijun. In these three battles, we will only receive one part of the money to comfort the brothers who were killed or injured."

Everyone was shocked again, and the pot exploded in an instant.

"What?! Return it? Why???"

"Brother, did that Henry Zhang tell you something? What did he say? Did he want to renege on his debt?"

"No! We have agreed on something long ago. We will keep our promise and go through life and death for him. How can we allow him to say yes?! Is he easy to bully when he treats us as a brother?!"

Wei Bian comforted everyone and said, "This is not Zhang Shijun's intention, but my own intention."

He hurriedly explained to everyone his guess about the Yanzhou Army's feint attack. He voluntarily refunded the reward in order to prove his innocence, so that Henry Zhang would not think that they were secretly colluding with Zhu Nao and breaking their promises.

Of course everyone was not reconciled.How can there be any reason to spit out the money that has already been obtained?But Wei Bian has clear rewards and punishments, and he has great prestige in the army, and everyone is used to following his lead.Since Wei Bian said so, no matter how much everyone disagreed, they could only swallow it.

Fortunately, the three battles were fought with ease, and neither side suffered many casualties, so it would not be a loss if they only received one payment.

Ever since, after the class teacher returned to the city, Wei Bian hurriedly went to meet Henry Zhang.

……

Before Wei Bian arrived, news of the battlefield had already reached Daxuantian Temple.

In the temple, a group of ministers surrounded Henry Zhang, agitated and arguing endlessly.

"Master, this is the third time!" One person spattered, his face flushed with anger, "As the saying goes, there are only three things, but now, in half a month, the third time!! This is simply too much! The Black Horse Army must have colluded with the Shu Army and the Yanzhou Army to play us for fools!"

"That's right! We fought three battles and won all of them so easily. It took less than half an hour before and after. If the Yanzhou Army is so easy to deal with, why do we spend this money to hire the Dark Horse Army? We can win by ourselves!! "

"Master, you shouldn't have agreed to their conditions in the first place! We have already spent money to invite them to come, and they should fight to the death for us. How can there be any reason to pay another sum of money for each battle?!"

"Anyway, this time, we must not give them any money! They should spit out all the money they gave before!"

The reason why everyone was so angry was that they followed Henry Zhang for profit.Seeing that Xuantianjiao's family property is about to be emptied by the black horse army, how can this be tolerated?

Henry Zhang was quarreled by everyone, one head and two big.When someone questioned why he agreed to Wei Bian's conditions, he was really happy: Otherwise, why do these people think that the Dark Horse Army is willing to fight for him?It's so simple, these people are fighting on their own!

Another person said: "Recently, many people in the city said that the reason why the Dark Horse Army came to Taiyuan is not a fairy dream at all, we spent a lot of money to hire them! It must be that the Black Horse Army's population is not strict and leaked the news. They Taking so much money from us, but doing things like this is simply too much! Shijun, you must not tolerate it!"

Henry Zhang’s head hurt even more, and he wished he could drive out the noisy crowd and leave him alone.

The reason why he spent a lot of money to hire the Dark Horse Army was firstly to give his subordinates an explanation, and secondly, he wanted to use the Dark Horse Army to buy him time so that he could build his own army in a safe and secure manner, so as not to rush. Get burned.

And the reason why he agreed to the conditions of the Black Horse Army was because, like Wei Bian, he thought that Zhu Nao and Xie Wuji would not use troops easily.If Xie Wuji really came to fight, he would definitely fight with all his strength and fight to the death.Then no matter how much money he spent to let the dark horse army die for him, it was worth it.Who would have thought that things would turn out like this... Now, his subordinates have not been appeased, and his soldiers have not yet been trained.

Henry Zhang quickly thought: The news must have leaked!It was Jun Nao who found out about his agreement with the Black Horse Army, so Jun Nao came up with this method of feint to drive a wedge!

Up to now, Henry Zhang still has no doubts...at least not too much doubts that Wei Bian will join hands with Zhu Nao to deceive himself.Leaving aside Wei Bian's behavior, even if Wei Bian has really teamed up with the Shu people, doesn't he have many ways to deal with him?Why bother to play tricks?And it is too obvious to fight so frequently.I'm afraid he won't be suspicious.

From the very beginning, Henry Zhang warned himself that Zhu Nao would definitely provoke them frequently, so he must have more trust in Wei Bian, otherwise he would fall into Zhu Nao's tricks.Up to now, he still warns himself like this.

However, he can not doubt Wei Bian, but there is a more serious problem than whether he trusts or not: he can no longer continue to pay the black horse army according to the original agreement.

Although the Xuantian Sect has accumulated a lot of wealth, the wealth is also limited, and the asking price of the Dark Horse Army is not low at all.If the money is paid according to this momentum, in just ten days and a half a month, the Xuantian Sect's family will be wiped out.At that time, they couldn't afford to hire the dark horse army to continue fighting, and his own army hadn't even shown up yet. When Xie Wuji's army attacked, he still had no choice but to run away.Then what is the reason for his tossing about losing his wife and losing his army?

But if he doesn't pay the money as agreed, can Wei Bian comply?Can everyone in the Dark Horse Army follow?In case the two sides fall out, it's okay for the dark horse army to go away, and it's really fatal to fight back!

Thinking of this, Henry Zhang’s head almost exploded.

Junao... all because of Junao!

Thinking of Zhu Nao, Henry Zhang was so angry that he wished that he really had immortal skills, and he could not relieve his hatred by cursing Zhu Nao to death seven or eight hundred times.He also wants to give Jun Nao a thousand or eight hundred lives, and let Jun Nao experience all the cruelest ways of death in the world before he can stop!

Just as he was gnashing his teeth, an announcement suddenly sounded outside: "Master, the Dark Horse King is here, and he is asking to see you outside."

Hearing Wei Bian's name, all the ministers in the Palace of Heavenly Kings suddenly broke out again.

"This Wei guy has the face? If he comes to ask for money, let's take him down immediately, take him as a hostage, and ask his subordinates to spit out all the money they collected before!"

"Yes, that's how it should be!"

The most excited people have already rolled up their sleeves, as if planning to do something.

Of course, Henry Zhang couldn't let his subordinates conflict with Wei Bian, let alone let these people tie Wei Bian.He sternly reprimanded him with a straight face: "What are you messing around with? Quit them all! I have my own concerns about this matter!"

"Master, but..."

"No but! Whoever dares to act rashly, I will never forgive!"

"..."

Although everyone is not reconciled, Henry Zhang is the master of Xuantian Sect after all, and they should not be too presumptuous.

After driving everyone away with great difficulty, Henry Zhang was exhausted, and sat on the futon for a while, before ordering to the outside: "Please come in, the Dark Horse King."