Before the team contacted the court, Mou Liangbi knew that his name would definitely be on the list of fallen soldiers. This battle has been fought so far, even if he can return to the court alive, the best outcome is that he will be dismissed from his official position and go home to be idle. And after King Xujun sent someone to contact the court, Mou Liangbi knew that Zong Lianghu had replaced the post of minister of the Ministry of War, but he didn't have any grievances, bad luck, who is to blame
If he and King Xu Jun had been more decisive back then, that disastrous defeat might not have happened. In fact, it was not without warning that Li Yuanshan conspired against him. Both he and King Xu had noticed it, but they both had the same thoughts and the same indecisive temperament.
After more than ten years in prison, he originally thought that his life would end like this, but he did not expect that the emperor would use him before the war, and he would be directly promoted to Minister of the Ministry of War. At that time, Mou Liangbi was full of high spirits, but who would have thought that fate would be so difficult, with such ups and downs
He also knew that there was something strange about the death of Duke Xu.
In the whole team, only he and Duke Xu had seen the secret report Cui Zhongzhen sent back. He was more wary of Li Xiaozong.
But it was still this indecision that made him miss the opportunity to eradicate Li Xiaozong.
Sitting in the big tent, looking at the soldiers arranged by Li Xiaozong outside, Mou Liangbi couldn't help shaking his head and smiling wryly.
"Eat a pit without gaining a wisdom..."
He murmured, with bitterness on his brows.
The water on the stove was already boiling, but he didn't notice it at all. His mind was actually blank, nothing at all. Just stared blankly, thinking nothing.
At this moment, the voices of the soldiers guarding outside pulled him out of the chaos, he looked outside, and it happened that Wanyan Chongde opened the curtain and walked in.
"Why is Your Highness here?"
Mou Liangbi got up quickly.
Wanyan Chongde held a jug of wine in his hand, smiled and said: "There has been no fighting in the past two days, and my whole body is sore. I went out to hunt some game in the morning, and cleaned it up myself. Come and have a drink with Mr. Mou."
He waved his hand, and the soldiers behind him came in with food boxes, lowered their heads and arranged the food and wine on the table. Mou Liangbi didn't care about the strangeness on the soldier's face, he shook his head and said: "Where is the mind to drink, now that the war is so stalemate, it's time to retreat, sooner or later there will be big trouble."
The soldier filled the glass with wine, and said in a low voice, "Master Jiumou should still eat today, but the food cooked by His Highness himself is naturally special."
Mou Liangbi thought that this soldier had no rules, and when he looked back, he was immediately taken aback. The soldier straightened up, with a gentle smile on his delicate face.
"Fang..."
He opened his mouth, but subconsciously stopped.
"Once you get drunk to relieve your worries, why don't you just have a drink with His Highness!"
He walked to the table and sat down, keeping his eyes on Fang Jie.
Fang Xie looked out, then took out the note he wrote earlier from his cuff and put it on the table. Outside is Li Xiaozong's personal soldiers, and no matter how soft his voice is, he can't hide it from others, so Fang Jie wrote everything he wanted to say, put it on the table, and then left. He nodded to Mo Liangbi, with a smile on the corner of his mouth. It can make people feel at ease. Mou Liangbi also nodded to him, with surprise and excitement in his eyes.
"You go back first, I will go back to the camp by myself after drinking with Mr. Mou."
Wanyan Chongde waved his hand, and Fang Jie immediately backed out.
As soon as he went out, he saw a group of people walking towards him in the distance. Although he just glanced at it casually, Fang Xie couldn't help but feel his heart tense. The group of people walking towards this side is led by Li Xiaozong! Behind him, more than a dozen generals of the Sui Army followed step by step, as if they were listening to Li Xiaozong's military affairs arrangements.
Fang Jie pulled down the leather helmet, stood aside and bowed to salute.
Li Xiaozong didn't look at him at all, he brushed Fang Jie's body while talking with those generals. Fang Jie waited for them to pass by, straightened up and walked towards Hanqi's camp in Beiliao. While walking and talking, Li Xiaozong suddenly felt a chill on his back, subconsciously looked back, but found nothing.
"Who is that soldier?"
He asked the soldiers guarding outside Mo Liangbi's tent.
"Return to the general, that's His Royal Highness Wanyan's personal entourage, who just came to deliver the wine."
"His Highness is here?"
"Just drink with Mr. Mou in the tent."
Li Xiaozong hummed, waved his hands and told the generals: "You all go back first, and discuss how to enter the army after raising the account tomorrow."
The generals made a promise, turned and left. Li Xiaozong opened the curtain of the big tent and went in, smiled and said: "The two of you are in a good mood, the weather is getting colder and colder, and a pot of wine can relieve fatigue and keep warm."
When Mou Liangbi heard the conversation outside, he had already put the note into his sleeve, got up with Wanyan Chongde, and invited Li Xiaozong to sit down and have a drink with him.
"It's a rare game!"
Li Xiaozong looked at the wine and dishes on the table and said: "There is no war today, so I will borrow your Highness's wine for a drink."
The three of them sat around and chatted a few gossips, and naturally turned the topic to the war against the rebels.
"The weather is getting colder and colder. Our soldiers lack winter clothes. Meng Wansui is just being cautious. We can't find a chance to defeat the enemy, can we..."
Li Xiaozong interrupted Mou Liangbi's words: "If you don't avenge your lord's revenge, how can you easily retreat? Tens of thousands of soldiers returned without success, how can I explain to them?"
"However, as long as the rebels can't guard against it, how can they take revenge?"
Mou Liangbi said: "General Li, the prince died in battle. I am as sad as you. But now that you are in charge of military affairs, you can't act emotionally. As a general, you have to be responsible to tens of thousands of soldiers!"
"I am also responsible for the death of the prince!"
Li Xiaozong said loudly: "I was the one who accompanied the lord to investigate the enemy's situation that day. The lord died in battle, but I just barely lived. If I don't avenge this revenge, how can I explain to the lord's spirit in heaven? Tens of thousands of soldiers are all thinking of one thing, that is Ning You must kill the rebels even if you die! My lord, if you are so timid, the prince will be chilled if he knows!"
"General Lee!"
Mou Liangbi said angrily: "If you accidentally put tens of thousands of soldiers to death, the prince will be chilled!"
Wanyan Chongde quickly picked up his wine glass and said: "Both of you are thinking about the prince, why bother arguing? Presumably the prince would never want to see his two most trusted people like this. Let's not talk about military affairs today, that's good ?”
Li Xiaozong sighed, raised his wine glass and said, "Your Highness laughed."
He picked up the wine glass and drank it down, got up and said goodbye: "I still have military affairs to deal with, so I will leave first."
After saying this, he turned around to leave, and suddenly saw a folded piece of paper at Mou Liangbi's feet: "What is that?"
Mou Liangbi looked down, his expression changed immediately.
He bent down and picked up the paper and handed it to Li Xiaozong: "This is the strategy for retreating troops that I have written in the past two days. How to continue to feed the army for the winter after returning to the village, how to prepare winter clothes to keep out the cold, how to guard against rebel counterattacks, and how to reorganize the army. , How to communicate with the imperial army is all my painstaking thought, since the general is here, I will leave it to you."
Li Xiaozong stretched out his hand, hesitated for a while and said: "Let's discuss the matter of withdrawing troops in a few days."
He didn't take the paper, turned around and left.
After Mou Liangbi waited for him to go out, he couldn't help heaving a long sigh of relief.
The tense muscles on Wanyan Chongde's back also relaxed, and only then did he realize that the clothes inside were all wet.
…
…
Li Xiaozong returned to his big tent, the more he thought about it, the more he felt that today's matter was a bit weird. But when I think about it carefully, I don't think there is anything wrong. Frowning and thinking for a while, he suddenly remembered that just as he was about to leave Mou Liangbi's tent, Wanyan Chongde's men subconsciously supported the handle of the knife beside him.
"Come on."
He shouted to the outside of the big tent, and soldiers came in immediately.
"Go to Mr. Mou and ask for what he wrote today. You only need to talk about it, and Mr. Mou will know what it is."
The soldiers went out and came back not long after to say that Mou Liangbi had burned the thing.
Li Xiaozong frowned and thought for a while, then smiled self-deprecatingly. I am really too nervous these days, Mou Liangbi has already been excluded, and there is only one chance to kill him. Although Cui Zhongzhen is not dead yet, he is a useless person locked in a cage. To kill him, there is only one chance missing. And such an opportunity, he can create it at any time. After the death of Duke Xu, the lieutenant general had the highest prestige in the army, so he naturally took over the command.
Cui Zhongzhen was just a member of his own army. Although he was quite prestigious in the army, Li Xiaozong didn't worry about anything. The reason why he strongly rejected Mou Liangbi's suggestion to retreat was because he had to seize this opportunity and firmly control the general's heart in his own hands.
The soldiers were full of hatred for Xujun King Yang Kai's death, and he had to use this hatred.
"Liu Silang."
Li Xiaozong shouted to the outside, and his personal troops came in immediately: "What orders does the general have?"
"After raising the account early tomorrow morning, I will order Cui Zhongzhen to commit crimes and meritorious deeds, and give him a soldier to go to the gate of the rebel camp for a diplomatic war. You go to see Meng Wansui overnight and ask him to send troops to fight tomorrow. You will hide behind the rebels. Find a chance to shoot Cui Zhongzhen to death."
"The subordinate obeys."
"besides."
Li Xiaozong was silent for a while and continued: "You tell Meng Wansui that after three days, I will ask Mo Liangbi to take the troops to escort the luggage back to the village, and let Meng Wansui set up an ambush in Jiazigou. There's nothing serious about it."
"Then... what about Wanyan Chongde?"
Liu Silang asked.
"I can't eat more than 10,000 cold cavalry soldiers for the time being... Although I look greedy, I don't have such a big appetite. It's not time to move him yet. Let's wait and see what news comes from the east. You arrange people to set off immediately, and go to Hexi Road to investigate the movement of the imperial army. If the imperial army is blocked, we will retreat to Langrushan to garrison. If the imperial army wins, I will contact Meng Wansui to attack Xiangzhou together!"
Liu Silang nodded: "This subordinate understands!"
"Go."
Li Xiaozong waved his hand: "Don't let others find out."
Liu Silang responded, bowed and retreated.
Li Xiaozong drank the herbal tea in the cup in one gulp, the penetrating coldness made his restless heart calm down. He walked to the door of the big tent, looked at the sky outside, thoughtful.
After being silent for a while, he suddenly smiled.
"First kill Cui Zhongzhen, then murder Liangbi, and then find an opportunity to kill Meng Wansui... If the emperor conquers Xiangzhou, even if the emperor doesn't want to reward me generously. Shelter?"
He stretched out a hand and drew a few times in mid-air. The teapot on the table suddenly shattered, but the herbal tea in the teapot was floating in mid-air, changing shape rapidly, and finally turned into an ice knife.
He clenched his fist, and the skate shattered in mid-air and fell to the ground.
"strength."
Li Xiaozong murmured: "I need stronger strength..."