Whether Zhang Zhixin believes it or not, Liu Xin is really here this time. Liu Xin came prepared, he took 200 Flying Tiger guards and 300 elite soldiers selected from the Fourth Legion, and entered Lingling City under the escort of Dian Wei and Gan Ning. Liu Xin had Zhang Zhi's invitation letter in his hand, and the soldiers guarding the door did not dare to stop him, except for Pegasus to report to Zhang Zhi, they could only watch Liu Xin and his party go to Taishou Mansion.

Hearing that Liu Xin had entered Lingling City, Zhang Shi got up from the bed with a bone, and his mind was spinning fast. Do you really want him to give up Lingling? Then it is better to let him die!

Zhang Zhi soon had a bold idea. It only took an hour and a half for the Jingzhou army to capture Jiangxia City, how powerful this army is, Zhang Zhi knows very well that he will never be able to fight with his Lingling strength alone. But what if Liu Xin died? So will the Jingzhou army still be so strong? When the time comes, the dragons will be leaderless, and they will only be a plate of loose sand.

Thinking of this, Zhang Zhi immediately called his henchman Zhang An, and whispered in his ear.

Liu Xin led the men and horses straight to the Taishou Mansion, and he was not afraid at all, because he had already made careful arrangements. Zhao Yun led three thousand elites, and at this moment they were already ambushed outside the east gate. In the city, there are more than 1,000 elite soldiers dressed in disguise, distributed near the four gates and the Taishou Mansion.

It is definitely impossible for all of the five hundred people he brought to enter the Taishou Mansion, but it should be no problem to bring in twenty or thirty guards, plus Dian Wei and Gan Ning, even if Zhang Shi ambushes a thousand people in the mansion, Liu Xin is confident enough to support the reinforcements outside the Taishou Mansion.

Zhang Shi had already taken a group of subordinate officials of Lingling County to wait in front of the Taishou Mansion. Seeing Liu Xin and his entourage, he hurriedly greeted him, bowed to the worship, and said: "Lord Liu can come to Lingling in person, it is a blessing for the people of Lingling, and the grass people Zhang Shi thank you on behalf of the people of the county!" ”

Liu Xin turned over and dismounted, took two steps forward, held Zhang Shi's hand, and said, "Why did Zhang Taishou say this, you are still Lingling Taishou now, you can't pretend to be a commoner." ”

Zhang Zhi said with a humble face: "When Lord Liu came to Lingling, it was when Zhang stepped down, and Zhang was just an ordinary person from then on. However, today I also asked Lord Liu to allow Zhang to hold a banquet for the last time in this Taishou Mansion to wash the dust for Lord Liu. ”

A smile flashed in Liu Xin's eyes that was not easy for others to detect.

A few days ago, as soon as Pang Ji came to Wuling, he was pulled to the banquet by him, in order to get Pang Ji drunk and give him a "big gift", so that he would die to himself from then on. Today, as soon as he came to Lingling, Zhang Shi couldn't wait to catch the wind for himself, what did he do?

Liu Xin turned his head excitedly and said to Dian Wei, Gan Ning, and the soldiers behind them, "Let's go, go with me to Zhang Taishou's banquet." ”

Zhang Shi hurriedly stopped with both hands and said: "Lord Liu, slow down, there is no room for so many people in the hall of the Taishou Mansion, I have prepared wine and meat to reward you soldiers." ”

Liu Xin stopped his steps, stared at Zhang Shi and said in a deep voice: "Oh, could it be that Zhang Taishou only allowed me to enter the Taishou Mansion alone?" ”

Seeing Liu Xin's face change, Zhang Shi hurriedly said: "Lord Liu misunderstood, where did the grass people have the courage to do this." The hall in the palace is too narrow, and the adults' guards go in together, and it is indeed impossible to arrange it, if you only bring a few retinues, there will naturally be no problem. ”

Liu Xin's face turned cloudy at this time, and he said: "I see, evil come, Gan Ning, you bring a few people to go in with me." ”

Zhang Shi's back was cold, Liu Xin's face changed just now, which really scared him a lot, but fortunately he was bluffed by a few words from himself, otherwise he would have fallen short. When he came back to his senses, Liu Xin had already raised his feet and entered the gate of the Taishou Mansion. Zhang Shi hurriedly grabbed a few steps and led Liu Xin and a few others into the hall.

Everyone sat down, Dian Wei and Gan Ning each held their swords and stood behind Liu Xin. Zhang Shi secretly sneered, what can you do with just a few people. Zhang Shi ambushed five hundred sword and axe men around the hall, and when he heard the code, he would rush out and chop Liu Xin and the few people he brought with him into pulp.

Zhang Zhi patted his hands lightly, and a team of maids rushed in, came to the hall, and helped Liu Xin and the officials pour wine. This hall is not like Liu Xin's state pastor in Xiangyang, the guests and hosts are all sitting cross-legged behind the low table, among the hosts, Zhang Zhi's status is the highest, and his cases are naturally the closest to Liu Xin. He picked up his wine glass, stood up, and said to the officials: "Ladies and gentlemen, Lord Liu was able to come to Lingling in person, which shows how much he values us Lingling. In order to express his gratitude, Zhang asked you to accompany me to toast Lord Liu with a glass of water and wine, and also asked you to drink this cup to the fullest. ”

All the officials really got up and said to Liu Xin together: "I will respect your lordship." With that, everyone drank all the wine in their cups.

Liu Xin also picked up the wine glass and stood up, he hesitated in his heart, should he drink this glass of wine or not?

Zhang Zhi stared at Liu Xin and said, "Please also ask Lord Liu to drink this cup." ”

Liu Xin shook his head and was silent, only a moment later, he thought clearly, he would not drink this glass of wine no matter what, who knows if Zhang Zhi poisoned the wine?

There is no need for him to go around in circles with Zhang Shi here. Liu Xin was sure that as soon as Zhang Shi saw him coming, he arranged this banquet, and the outside of this hall must have been filled with ambush soldiers. It's still early before dusk, if Zhang Zhi really hands over power, he can wait for the handover of various affairs to be completed, and everyone can have a drink easily, why do they look like they are roaring in such a hurry.

Everyone in the hall stared at the wine glass in Liu Xin's hand, and the scene was suddenly silent. Liu Xin suddenly laughed, he raised the wine glass in his hand high, and then fell heavily to the ground.

There is such a sentence recorded in many books, called "Breaking the cup for the number", and Liu Xin also wants to break the cup for the number. Liu Xin also remembered that there were such scenes in many TV series he watched, where the protagonist threw the wine glass full of poisonous wine in his hand on the ground, and the wine spilled out, a large amount of white foam appeared on the ground, and the bricks on the ground instantly turned black.

The wine glass fell to the ground, and the wine spilled out, but there was no white foam, and the color of the ground did not change in the slightest, but the doors and windows around the hall suddenly fell apart, and Zhang An swarmed in with a large group of swords and axes.

All this happened between lightning and flint, and the officials at the scene had not yet reacted to what was happening, and Gan Ning's big knife was already on Zhang Shi's neck.

Zhang Shi was also stunned, yes, he agreed to drop the cup, but who would have thought that Liu Xin would drop the cup first, and how could Zhang An, who was ambushed outside the hall, know who dropped the cup.

Liu Xin waved his hand at Gan Ning and said, "How can you be so unreasonable to Zhang Taishou?" ”

As soon as Gan Ning put away the big knife, Zhang Zhi secretly breathed a sigh of relief, just wanted to take a step back, but before he could take a step forward, he felt a heart-piercing pain coming from the crook of his leg, and his knees were weak, and he knelt on the ground. It turned out that Gan Ning had put away the knife, but he only moved the knife from his neck to under his leg, and smashed it hard with the back of the knife on his leg. This time the force was so strong that Zhang Shi almost fainted.

All the officials looked at Liu Xin, but Liu Xin didn't mean to blame Gan Ning in the slightest, but walked up to Zhang Shi with a smile and said, "Zhang Taishou, you just said that this hall is too narrow to accommodate many people. However, I don't think there are a lot of people coming in now than there are people I have brought. ”

It turned out that what Liu Xin said just now was the opposite, where did he ask Gan Ning to stop, but let him do it! Zhang Shi's legs had been smashed by Gan Ning just now, and the pain was so painful that his forehead was covered with cold sweat, and he could still speak.

When the knife and axe men who rushed in saw this scene, they all looked at each other, Zhang An was also in a dilemma, Zhang Zhi was now controlled by them, and he was not in advance, nor was he retreating. Dian Wei waved the big iron halberd in his hand and shouted: "Put down the blade in your hand, otherwise you will be killed!" ”

Zhang An gritted his teeth and said, "You let Master Zhang go first!" ”

Where was Dian Wei willing to talk nonsense with him, and took a step forward, and the big iron halberd smashed down on Zhang An. Zhang An didn't know what to do, and with a move of the long knife in his hand, he wanted to fight. Hearing a loud sound of "dang chang", Zhang An let out a miserable scream, both arms were broken, and the long knife was broken in two. The castration of the big iron halberd did not decrease in the slightest, and it smashed on Zhang An's head at once, splitting him in half from head to toe.

Many of the officials in the hall were only civil officials, and he had never seen such a terrifying scene, and a few people had already vomited with a few cases in their arms.

Dian Wei danced the bloody iron halberd, turned his head to look at the group of sword and axe hands, and wherever his eyes went, there was a sound of "clanging", and the spear and short knife were thrown to the ground, and in the face of this killing god, no one could afford to resist.

At this time, there was a shout of killing outside, and the five hundred soldiers brought by Liu Xin killed the guards in Zhang Shi's mansion, and rushed into the hall in a moment.

Liu Xin saw that the situation here was completely under control, so he turned to the panicked Lingling officials who were still in the hall and said, "Zhang Shi pretended to invite me to Lingling, but he dared to set up an ambush here in an attempt to harm this official, the crime is unforgivable!" As for you, whether you are involved in this matter or not, I will open up to you and hope that you will do it yourself. ”

The frightened officials breathed a sigh of relief, Zhang Zhi died and died, they didn't want to be the one who backed their backs. It doesn't matter if you work under Zhang Zhi or under Liu Xin, it's just an errand, so why bother with your family name. Who can get mixed with an official and a half-job, who will not understand this truth, so everyone knelt on the ground and said in unison: "We will obey the orders of the lord!" ”

With the surrender of these officials, Lingling calmed down without a little turmoil, after all, they were the managers of Lingling City, and they were more familiar with the situation here than outsiders, so they were naturally easy to deal with. The soldiers of the Jingzhou Army outside the ambush city did not come in handy at all.

The situation in the counties of Jingnan is said to be stable, Liu Xin left Huang Zhong and Zhao Yun behind, and the size of the local army has been reduced, but there are still some bandits and water bandits in each county to a greater or lesser extent. In the future, Liu Xin will also let other armies move back and forth between Jingnan and Jingbei.

When Liu Xin returned to Xiangyang, it was already mid-March, peach and willow green, birds and flowers, and he had been away from home for a month and a half, and his heart had already been a little impatient. It is said that Xiao Bie is better than a newlywed, shouldn't you relax tonight? Liu Xin was dreaming, but when he just stepped into the house, he saw her greet her with a sad face, and said, "You are finally back, there is one more person in the family now." ”