Kui Huan finally followed Wang Yuan's advice, took his family and the soldiers under his command, went out of the city through the north gate of Xicheng, fled all the way to the north, and went straight to Jicheng.

Because Kui Huan left in too much hurry, not only did a lot of gold, silver and jewelry be lost in Xicheng, but even many ministers under his command did not have time to take them away.

Of course, some of these ministers who stayed in Xicheng really didn't keep up with the hustle and bustle, while some deliberately stayed and didn't want to leave, including Zheng Xing and Shen Tugang.

The news of Kui Huan's abandonment of the city and fleeing soon spread back to the Han army camp, and when he heard the news, Wu Han slapped his thigh and said urgently: "Oh no! ”

Taking Xicheng is not the main purpose of the Han army, the real goal of the Han army is only one, that is, Kui Huan, and now that Kui Huan has run away, what is it?

Wu Han stood up and arched his hand to Liu Xiu and said, "Your Majesty, you must not let Kui Huan escape, Wei Chen is willing to lead the troops to pursue Kui Huan!" ”

Liu Xiu thought for a while, nodded, and said, "Ziyan, you immediately lead the main force of our army to go!" ”

"Wechen obeys!"

Wu Han bowed down to receive the order, then turned around and walked out of the Chinese military tent quickly.

Kui Huan ran from the northern city, and if the Han army wanted to catch up with them, they had to go around the city first, which was bound to delay a lot of time.

Wu Han first sent his own cavalry, let the cavalry take the first step, and try to delay the hustle and bustle.

As long as he can delay for an hour, he can lead the main army to catch up.

As the vanguard, the 3,000 Han cavalry went straight to the north of Xicheng to pursue.

When the Han cavalry bypassed Xicheng and chased more than ten miles north, they happened to run into Wang Yuanbu, who was in charge of the broken queen.

Wang Yuan's department has a total of more than 5,000 soldiers and horses, and it seems that there are a lot of troops, but these 5,000 soldiers and horses are the local troops that Wang Yuan put together in the east and west of Wudu and Longxi.

With 5,000 soldiers and horses led by Wang Yuan and 3,000 Han cavalry on the enemy formation, there was no suspense from the beginning of the battle.

The Han cavalry launched a cavalry charge and attacked the Long army formation head-on, but only one round of charge, the Han cavalry rushed the formation of the Long army into chaos, and the soldiers passed through the formation.

Then, the cavalry turned around and launched a reverse charge against the chaotic Long army formation.

The cavalry rushed into formation, only a few back and forth, and then broke up the formation of the Long army into a plate of scattered sand, and the next battle was even more one-sided.

Wang Yuan took advantage of the chaos, took his own henchmen, and fled to the north on horseback.

Although the 5,000 Long army was defeated by the Han cavalry, they did delay the Han cavalry's pursuit of Kui Huan.

When Wu Han led the main army to arrive here, the battle was over, 5,000 Long troops, more than 1,000 casualties, and the rest of the people all disarmed and surrendered, and became prisoners of the Han cavalry.

Seeing this scene, Wu Han was furious, he asked the cavalry to drag Kui Huan, what are you doing now to capture so many prisoners of the Long army?

He ordered the cavalry to continue the pursuit of Kui Huan.

However, after such a delay, the Han cavalry could no longer catch up with Kui Huan, and Kui Huan and his family successfully escaped to Jicheng on the bank of the Weishui River.

After that, Wu Han led the main force of the Han army, arrived at Jicheng, and ordered the whole army to attack the city.

As Wang Yuan said, the city defense of Jicheng is stronger than that of Xicheng, and the most important thing is that almost all the generals under the command of Kui Huan are now concentrated in Jicheng, such as Xingxun, Wang Meng, Zhou Zong, and so on.

These generals were all 'dispatched' to Jicheng because they lost the battle.

After they arrived in Jicheng, they made every effort to strengthen the city defense, and hoarded a large number of city defense weapons such as rolling wood, stones, fire oil, and arrows in the city, and waited for them.

The Han army's attack, the effect is not ideal, firstly, the defense of Jicheng is perfect, and there is a moat to assist, easy to defend and difficult to attack, secondly, the Han army came in a hurry, the army lacked large siege weapons, in the attack on Jicheng, can not pose too much pressure on the defense of Jicheng.

At the same time that Wu Han led his troops to attack Jicheng, Liu Xiu led his troops into Xicheng.

As soon as Liu Xiu entered the West City, he hadn't walked far into the city, when a group of people came to him, looking at his clothes, all of them were ministers under the command of Kui.

The soldiers of the Han army swarmed up and surrounded this group of ministers.

When the ministers saw this, they trembled with fright, their legs weakened, and they knelt on the ground one after another, their heads on the ground, and did not dare to lift them.

Only two of them stood without kneeling.

Liu Xiu looked at these two people, they were both dignified, personable, and extraordinary.

He stepped forward and asked, "Who are you?" ”

The two people who stood but did not kneel bowed to Liu Xiu together and said, "Cao Min Zheng Xing (Shen Tugang), meet Your Majesty!" ”

Yo! It turned out that these two people were Zheng Xing and Shen Tugang, Liu Xiu's eyes flashed, he took two steps forward, and arched his hand and said: "It turned out to be Mr. Zheng and Mr. Shen Tu, disrespectful, disrespectful!" ”

As he spoke, Liu Xiu bowed and returned the salute.

Zheng Xing and Shen Tu Gang quietly glanced at each other, and nodded secretly in their hearts, their current identity is a thief and a sinner, and when His Majesty saw him, not only did he ignore his past suspicions, but he also treated each other politely, which shows that His Majesty is broad-minded.

"Your Majesty tortures the grass people!"

As he spoke, Zheng Xing and Shen Tu Gang both knelt on their knees and bowed forward.

Liu Xiu stepped forward, bent down, stretched out his hand to hug each other, and said, "Hurry up, two of you!" Mr. Zheng and Mr. Shen Tu are both world-famous scholars, and although they are not talented, they have been admired for a long time! ”

Zheng Xing and Shen Tugang are both university scholars, academics, and they are commensurate with national scholars, which is not an exaggeration.

To fight a war, it is necessary to rely on the generals in the army, but to govern the country, it is necessary to rely on these scholars.

The war cannot be fought forever, but the country must be governed forever, and the talents that Liu Xiu needs most now are these celebrities who are good at governing the country.

Zheng Xing said: "Your Majesty Corporal Lixian is a blessing for the country's society, and it is also a blessing for the people of Limin!" Xing served under the command of Kui Huan, guilty in the world, guilty with Your Majesty, and ask Your Majesty to surrender! ”

As he spoke, he fell to his knees again and bowed forward.

Shen Tugang on the side also knelt down and kowtowed, saying, "Please condemn Your Majesty!" ”

Liu Xiu smiled, helped the two of them up again, and said: "The fact that the two gentlemen can stay in Xicheng is enough to prove that the gentleman has the heart to abandon the dark and turn to the light, as long as the two gentlemen can do their best to help the Han family in the future, not only are they not guilty, but they will have great achievements!" ”

Zheng Xing and Shen Tu Gang didn't even hesitate, and said in unison: "Weichen is willing to serve Your Majesty!" ”

Liu Xiu was overjoyed when he heard this, laughed, and said: "With two gentlemen helping each other, the Han family is like a tiger with wings!" ”

For Zheng Xing and Shen Tugang, Liu Xiu was very important, and immediately named Zheng Xing as the Taizhong doctor and Shen Tugang as the imperial envoy.

As for the other ministers under Kui's command, Liu Xiu was also retained, and those who were let go were let go, and no one was killed indiscriminately.

This was true for the ministers, and it was true for the captured Long army, and even for the people of the city.

Liu Xiu did not stay in Xicheng for long, and the next day, he sent a message to Wu Han, explaining that he was ready to return to Luoyang first.

The reason why Liu Xiu was in a hurry to leave was mainly because the body of the priest could no longer be delayed, and he had to be sent back to Luoyang as soon as possible.

Even if the corpse has been embalmed, it will slowly decay if it is left for too long.

On the third day of the destruction of Xicheng, the 20,000 Han troops led by Liu Xiu left Xicheng and went all the way east to Luoyang.

When the army passed by Chang'an, Liu Xiu picked up Hua Feiyan.

He originally planned to take Xin Linglu back to Luoyang with him, but Xin Linglu did not agree, during this time, she lived very comfortably in Weiyang Palace, and she liked it very much, so she didn't plan to leave again.

Liu Xiu didn't force it, so he left Xin Linglu behind, of course, Dahua, Ermao and Heimao also stayed in Weiyang Palace.

Not long after, Liu Xiu finally returned to Luoyang.

Liu Xiu left Luoyang for nearly two years, but after fighting for so long, the war was still not completely over.

However, in the second Battle of Hanyang, the Han army had dealt a fatal blow to the Kui Huan forces, which greatly damaged the vitality of the Kui Huan forces, and it was impossible to restore the peak of the year.

Soon after Liu Xiu returned to Luoyang, he left for Henan City.

Henan City is located next to Luoyang, and the home of the priest is in the city of Henan, and the priest will also be buried there.

Liu Xiu took the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty to Henan City for funeral.

Saizun has no sons, only daughters, and women cannot inherit the title, so Liu Xiu asked Saizun's younger brother to sacrifice Wu and inherit the title of Marquis of Yingyang.

At the funeral of the priest, not only the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty wore white mourning clothes, but even Liu Xiu was also wearing white mourning clothes.

The Son of Heaven mourned the minister who died of illness, which was not very common at the time, but it was not very rare.

During the Han Dynasty, the relationship between the Son of Heaven and the ministers was one of mutual respect, which was completely different from that of the Manchu Dynasty.

In the Manchu Qing Dynasty, ministers were slaves, and only favored ministers were worthy of being the emperor's slaves, and other ministers were not even as good as slaves.

At the funeral scene, Liu Xiu held the coffin and cried.

After the funeral, Liu Xiu personally presided over the ceremony of the prison and sacrificed to observance.

The Son of Heaven personally presided over the sacrifice of the Taigao Ceremony, and the ministers of the Han Dynasty were able to receive this honor, but before the sacrifice, only Huo Guang was alone.

The ceremony of the prison is much larger than the funeral organized by the priest himself, and the queen Guo Shengtong and the noble Yin Lihua of the harem have come to participate.

Da Changqiu Chen Zhi, the confessor Zhang Kun and others were busy running before and after personally handling all the matters of the sacrifice.

After the sacrifice, Liu Xiu returned to Luoyang, and on the day of the burial, Liu Xiu came to Henan again to send the funeral to the funeral with the highest standard military salute.

The carts on which the coffins were loaded were specially made, and the wheels were painted red.

In front, there are armored samurai in front of the road, on both sides there are cavalry coffins like forests, and behind there are armored samurai halls.

The funeral procession first detoured around the city of Henan, and then went out of the city and went around the city.

At the time of the burial, Liu Xiu came to the scene again, put the general's seal ribbon and the marquis's seal ribbon on the coffin one by one, and sealed the sacrifice as a marquis.

After the funeral, Liu Xiu personally summoned the wife and her daughter.

The wife of the priest is in her early fifties, and has three daughters under her knees, the eldest daughter and the second daughter are all married, and only the younger daughter is waiting to be married.

Seeing that Mrs. Sacrifice and her three daughters were crying so much that their eyes were red, Liu Xiubei came from her heart, and her eyes became wet and red again.

"Concubine to see Your Majesty!"

The priestess and the three daughters knelt down together to give the salute.

Liu Xiu hurriedly stepped forward, stretched out his hand to help him, and said, "Mrs. Sacrifice, please get up quickly!" ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"If there is any difficulty for Mrs. Sacrifice, even if I bring it up now, as long as I can do it, I will definitely help Mrs. Sacrifice deal with it."

Liu Xiu Zhengse said.

Mrs. Sai took out a letter, handed it to Liu Xiu, and said, "Your Majesty, this is the gentleman's suicide note for the concubine." ”

Liu Xiu took it and looked down carefully, this is the suicide note left by the priest to his family, which did not explain much, only emphasized that now the country is in ruins, the treasury is empty, as a courtier of the Han family, he should be considerate of His Majesty and the court, at his funeral, everything is simple, after the funeral, don't trouble the Son of Heaven and the court.

Seeing this suicide note, Liu Xiu couldn't suppress her emotions and cried again.

As soon as Liu Xiu cried, the ministers around him, whether they had tears or no tears, all made a look of wiping their tears.

The priestess and the three ladies of the priesthood were crying very sadly.

Or the sacrificial lady said in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty's mourning, Your Majesty take care of your body!" ”

After a while, Liu Xiucai wiped his tears, carefully folded the suicide note of the priest, exchanged it with the priest's wife, and said in a choked voice: "I have been with the first grandson, the monarch and the minister for ten years, and I owe the first grandson a lot. ”

Xizun has followed Liu Xiu for so many years, but in fact, he has not had a few days of peace, and most of the time he has been fighting in the army, fighting everywhere in the south and the north.

Thinking that the sacrifice was due to the fatigue accumulated over time, Liu Xiu's heart was like a knife.

He said: "I can buy a big house in Luoyang, and the priest can move to Luoyang to live." ”

Mrs. Priest shook her head and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, concubine!" The concubine lives in Henan, is used to it for a long time, and does not want to move away. ”

Seeing Liu Xiu's disappointment, Mrs. Sai said: "Little girl Manwan, the boudoir is to be married, if Your Majesty can choose a family affair for the little girl, the gentleman can also smile at Jiuquan." ”

Liu Xiu subconsciously looked at the little priestess Manwan, the little girl looked like she was sixteen or seventeen years old, and she was indeed at the age of marriage.

Her appearance is a combination of the advantages of the priest and the lady, and she is beautiful, one in a million.