Although they have survived two winters, when the weather suddenly turned cold, the soldiers of the Sui Army still felt a little unbearable. In the past two winters, they never came down from the cottage in Langru Mountain, so it was not difficult to live by the stove. But now they have to face hundreds of thousands of rebels, and the howling north wind.
The cold cavalry soldiers in the Northern Liao region did not feel uncomfortable with this kind of weather. In their opinion, it was already much warmer than the Shiwan Dashan. If you haven't been to that place, you can't understand what is really cold and cold.
Li Xiaozong huddled in a chair covered with a thick velvet blanket, staring at the smoke rising from the stove in a daze. For some reason, he suddenly thought of his days in Fan Gu.
On a sunny day after the snow, the young man named Fang Jie came in from the outside, and as usual, he pouted his buttocks and warmed himself by the fire, then took out a stack of bank notes from his pocket and handed it to him. That is the bonus of the three major industries in Fangu City, because of this young man, the people in Fangu City and the frontier army are living better day by day.
After going out to suppress horse thieves, the boy would always bring his friends to drink at Yunji's dog meat shop. When thinking of this, Li Xiaozong couldn't help pursing his lips.
He thought of the smell of the pear blossom brew in the dog meat shop, and it seemed that he had never drank such a mellow wine in the past few years. He thought of that simple and honest Su Tugou, and that charming proprietress. Then he thought of the words the proprietress said to him on that night with a bright moon.
That night, he planned to kill Fang Jie.
Then he thought of the scene of Li Yuanshan's iron cavalry general Fan Gu's eight hundred frontier troops slaughtered. At that time, he saw all that happened with his own eyes, but he didn't even have the courage to stop it. He remembered the faces of each of the eight hundred people, and when he closed his eyes, the voices and smiles of those people were still so familiar.
He can still call those names, and he can't call any of them wrong.
When thinking of this, Li Xiaozong felt even colder. He tightened the blanket wrapped around his body, feeling that the cold wind could still penetrate into his heart unscrupulously. He has never regretted any decision, nor does he believe that there is any karma in this world. He only firmly believes in one truth... Only the strong can gain a foothold.
For some reason, he couldn't sleep last night.
He had never felt this way in all these years. No matter what embarrassing things or happy things, he can keep himself a good sleep. He can fall asleep in the snow, in the wilderness, even among the dead.
It was still dark outside, and it was not yet time to raise the tent.
It was dark outside, and even darker inside the big tent.
The stove fire was the only light source in the tent, but for some reason Li Xiaozong suddenly found that the area illuminated by the fire light was very small today.
Is it because of excitement
he asked himself.
probably.
The answer I gave was not certain.
He really should be excited, because he just made a decision yesterday. He planned to ask Cui Zhongzhen to take people to the rebel army's west camp to call for battle. His confidant Liu Silang had already rushed to the rebel army's west camp to meet Meng Wansui. If there is no accident, Cui Zhongzhen will die under Liu Silang's arrow after dawn. He is very confident in Liu Silang's shooting skills, just like he had the same confidence in Fang Jie's shooting skills back then.
Three days later, he will order the army to march back to the stronghold. He asked Mou Liangbi to lead a team of people to protect the luggage and go first. Of course, there was not much luggage left to bring down the mountain, so even if he was ambushed by the rebels, the loss would not be unbearable. He had observed the terrain of Jiazigou long ago, and it was the most suitable for ambush. Mou Liangbi is the best logistics officer, he can sort out and arrange everything comprehensively. But he is not a qualified general. Once he is besieged by the rebels, he will only die. As long as Li Xiaozong's rescue is a little slower, Mou Liangbi will become a corpse.
All of this has even formed a picture in Li Xiaozong's mind.
As long as Cui Zhongzhen died, the only evidence that could be known to be that he killed King Xu would be gone. In fact, Cui Zhongzhen didn't see him kill Xu County King Yang Kai. But Li Xiaozong was not sure, so Cui Zhongzhen must not stay. As long as Mo Liangbi dies, this team of nearly 50,000 people will completely fall into his hands. Fifty thousand elites are enough for him to settle down in the Northwest.
But that's not enough.
He made an agreement with Meng Wansui a long time ago, and the two will advance and retreat together. Once Li Yuanshan was defeated, the two of them joined forces to attack Xiangzhou from behind. Xiangzhou is the foundation of Li Yuanshan, and was designated as the capital by Li Yuanshan. Of course, the most perfect capital in Li Yuanshan's mind is Chang'an, the most powerful city in the world.
As long as Xiangzhou is broken, the court must recognize Li Xiaozong's achievements. King Xujun is dead, Mou Liangbi is dead, and the two main people responsible for the fiasco of the Western Expedition are both dead. Will the court still point the finger at him? You must know that during the Western Expedition, he was just one of Li Yuanshan's subordinates. He resolutely left the rebel army and made many achievements in the past two years. These are all real and not fake.
Of course, this is not enough.
Because these alone are not enough to make the court pay attention to him.
So Meng Wansui is also going to die, as long as he kills Meng Wansui again and takes the nearly 300,000 rebels for his own use, even the emperor dare not underestimate him. Sitting on hundreds of thousands of troops, and then breaking the capital of the rebels, wouldn't it be enough to change to a third-rank general
enough
Thinking of this, the chill in Li Xiaozong's heart finally dissipated a lot.
"I'm not very greedy, am I?"
He murmured, feeling that he was really not very greedy. Compared to Li Yuanshan, he is really not greedy. What Li Yuanshan wanted was Jiangshan, Li Xiaozong knew that he didn't have that appetite, all he wanted was glory. A great general of the third rank, founding a mansion, building a government office, and establishing a family that belongs to him, is much smaller than the dream of Jiangshan in Li Yuanshan's heart.
One cannot be too greedy, especially greedy for illusory things.
Li Xiaozong knew that the road has to be taken step by step.
At this time, the horn sounded to wake up outside. Soon the sun will shine and a new day will begin.
He lifted the blanket wrapped around his body and stretched his body.
A rough night passed.
I hope that when it gets dark again, I can sleep well.
He is in the dark, waiting for the light.
…
…
The soldiers helped Li Xiaozong put on the armor. Li Xiaozong looked down at the iron armor on his body, and suddenly he was in a daze... The sunlight outside shone in, and the iron armor reflected a light golden brilliance. It seemed that the iron armor on his body had turned into a golden armor.
Li Xiaozong smiled, thinking it was a good omen.
"Have all the generals gone to the tent?"
he asks.
"It's in the past."
The soldier replied: "The general ordered yesterday that he will go to the rebel camp to call for battle today, so the generals have been waiting outside the big tent early, just waiting for the general to raise the tent."
Li Xiaozong hummed and ordered: "Go and release Cui Zhongzhen, you don't need to go to the big tent to listen to orders. Choose a Zhechong camp with a lack of personnel and let him be ready to lead the battle."
"Here."
The soldiers agreed, and gave Li Xiaozong a fastening of the armor sash.
After Li Xiaozong dressed neatly, he stepped out of the tent. When he went out, he took a deep breath of the cold air, and the sleepiness from not sleeping all night was dispelled a lot.
When the soldiers saw him, they saluted respectfully, which made Li Xiaozong feel very comfortable. He likes to sit in the big tent and distribute military affairs, it feels like he is pointing the country. He is a child of the concubine of the Li family, and if he wants to become a master, he can only rely on his own efforts. He was sure that one day, sooner or later, the descendants of those big families would also pay homage to him.
Man, who doesn't have a dream of being a master
Sitting down in the big tent, Li Xiaozong made arrangements for today's battle, and then mentioned to the generals that if they couldn't defeat the rebel army's West Camp, they would have to retreat. When he said this, his tone was very heavy, and his eyes were full of sadness. After fighting the rebels for a month, he failed to avenge King Xu. It seemed that he was extremely unwilling.
But the generals also knew that the weather was so cold that it was not suitable for fighting at all. The rebel army is strong, and there is no shortage of food and clothing. The Sui army couldn't do it. If they want to survive this cold winter, they can only return to the cottage to rest.
No one doubted the sadness in Li Xiaozong's eyes, and no one could detect the joy in his eyes.
Li Xiaozong suddenly felt that if he was an actor, he would be popular all over the world.
Just after the military affairs were arranged, the soldiers outside came in and whispered something to him. Li Xiaozong's face changed slightly, and then he asked the generals to wait for him in the big tent, and he left the big tent alone. The soldier said as he walked, "This subordinate went to release Cui Zhongzhen just now, but he refused to come out. He only told you to come over in person. He has something to ask. If you don't go, general, he would rather die than leave the cage. "
Li Xiaozong frowned: "Has anyone ever seen him?"
"Wan Yan Chongde went to see him last night and gave him a jug of wine and a plate of cooked meat."
"What did you say?"
"Just say that the weather is cold, let Cui Zhongzhen take care or something."
Li Xiaozong hummed, although he felt a little weird, but he didn't care much. The place where Cui Zhongzhen was detained was very close to Wanyan Chongde's cold cavalry garrison, which was requested by Wanyan Chongde at that time. Li Xiaozong knew that Wanyan Chongde and Cui Zhongzhen had a good personal relationship, so he agreed. After all, if he wanted to kill Cui Zhongzhen, there was absolutely no need to do it in the camp. Locking Cui Zhongzhen near the Hanqi camp will make people think he is generous.
This is an independent tent, and inside the tent is a wooden cage. When Li Xiaozong walked to the door, he felt a lot more at ease when he saw his own soldiers. Outside the tent were all his people, and anyone who approached would give an early warning. He opened the curtain and walked in, and saw Cui Zhongzhen sitting with his back to him.
"What do you want from me?"
Li Xiaozong asked
Cui Zhongzhen didn't turn his head back, and after being silent for a while, he suddenly said, "That day, I actually saw it."
As soon as these words came out, Li Xiaozong's expression changed suddenly.
Cui Zhongzhen said in a calm tone: "I know you sent me to call the battle today, saying that you are scapegoating and making meritorious deeds. In fact, you want to kill me, right? Li Xiaozong, I still misunderstood you... Even though I saw it with my own eyes that day I saw that you killed the prince, but I still helped you hide it. What I didn't expect was that you wanted to kill me. I didn't say it all the time, but I still had fantasies about you. I thought, as long as I don't If you say it, you probably won't kill them all."
"What are you talking nonsense about?"
Li Xiaozong looked around and said coldly: "The reason why you are trapped in the cage is because you are not good at fighting. The prince was killed by the rebels. It is my fault that I failed to rescue the prince."
"There is no one else here, why do you have to be hypocritical?"
Cui Zhongzhen turned his head fiercely, looked into Li Xiaozong's eyes and said seriously: "Let's make a deal, as long as you don't kill me, I promise not to tell about you killing the prince, how about it?"
Li Xiaozong was silent, then shook his head: "I don't know what you are talking about. If you don't go to fight today, I can't help you. You have to make up for your mistakes. If you can't make up, I will punish you according to military law .”
Cui Zhongzhen sneered: "It seems that I must die no matter what... In fact, I also know that you found the prince because of Li Yuanshan's instruction, right? Your purpose is to kill the prince, and then send all the soldiers to the tiger's mouth! Li Xiaozong, Do you really think Li Yuanshan will win?"
"I did not think."
Li Xiaozong shook his head: "So now I am very conscientious to be a general of the Sui Dynasty, Cui Zhongzhen, you are really an idiot, no wonder you can't even enter the Academy of Martial Arts, if you are smart enough, you won't say these things, because After you say it... I won't keep you anymore. "
Hearing this sentence, Cui Zhongzhen's eyes lit up.
He couldn't help applauding: "You are finally willing to admit it."