Jinyang, Military Governor's Office.
Li Keyong returned home in a dishevel. He carefully instructed his subordinates to make sure to take good care of Yuchi Jin and his three servants. Then he walked towards the mansion with a gloomy face, thinking in his mind how to deal with Zhu Wen in order to get rid of his hatred.
Even he himself did not expect that he fainted as soon as he entered the camp. His younger brother Li Kexiu did not dare to disobey his order to return to Jinyang, and actually brought him back all the way.
When he woke up, the army had already passed Tongguan and arrived at Zhaocheng, Jinzhou. He was furious and had no place to vent his anger, but he had no reason to punish Li Kexiu for it. After all, the order he gave to Li Kexiu was to return to Jinyang.
Li Kexiu is the son of Li Decheng, and Li Decheng is Li Keyong's uncle. In Li Keyong's eyes, this guy's character is not like a Shatuo person at all. He is frugal, weak, and has no blood at all. It is really a disgrace to their Li family.
In fact, in the eyes of outsiders, Li Kexiu was simple in character and gentle in personality, and was indeed a sincere gentleman. Li Keyong thought so because it was all his own prejudice.
After returning to the backyard, Li Keyong prepared to take a shower, change clothes, and then summoned his civil and military officials to discuss countermeasures against Zhu Wen.
"Alang is back. What's wrong? Why do you look so unhappy?" As Li Keyong walked into the hall, a virtuous and dignified woman came up to him.
The woman was about twenty-four or twenty-five years old, and was described as very elegant and intelligent. If Zhang Hui was a snow lotus that made people calm and admired, then this woman was a delicate and elegant, fragrant and pleasant Duzhan Spring.
She is calm and noble, elegant and peaceful, a typical image of a good wife and mother.
The woman was none other than Li Keyong's wife, Liu. Behind Liu was another beautiful woman, as beautiful as fire. The fiery aura she exuded seemed able to melt any strong and tough man. She was Li Keyong's concubine, Cao, the mother of Li Cunxu, the Emperor Zhuangzong of Later Tang.
Li Keyong's two women had a very good relationship with each other, like real sisters. Liu was smart and capable, and even when she went to war, she was not inferior to others; while Cao was delicate and weak, and was simply a woman among women.
Their very different personalities and beauties made Li Keyong extremely fascinated by them.
The two of them were surrounded by a large group of maids and servants, who seemed to be preparing to go out to greet someone. Apparently, they had just received the news that Li Keyong had returned and were preparing to go out to greet him.
When he saw the two women he loved most, Li Keyong's frustration and anger instantly dissipated a lot.
But he still couldn't hold it back. The one-eyed man looked a little gloomy and gritted his teeth and said, "Zhu Wen is a bastard. He has bullied me too much. Soon I will lead my army to Henan and cut him into pieces."
The anger of their husbands changed the expressions of Liu and Cao. Cao, who was originally full of passion, instantly suppressed her fiery passion and became as docile as a well-behaved kitten.
But Liu frowned when she heard this. In her impression, although Li Keyong was arrogant and domineering, he seldom lost his temper in front of his beloved woman. Now he was furious. It was obvious that Zhu Wen had done something heinous to her husband, which made him so angry that he almost went crazy.
Confused, Liu pulled Cao's Rouyi and walked forward together to help Li Keyong take off his armor gently. Liu then asked in confusion, "What happened to make you so angry
His wife's gentle words and earnest consolation made Li Keyong calm down again. After a short silence, Li Keyong told her about his defeat of Huang Chao, Zhu Wen's banquet, the resentment among the generals, and Zhu Wen's night attack and killing him at Shangyuan Posthouse.
As he spoke, Li Keyong's eyes rarely turned blood red, with tears glistening in them. This time it was not about his personal honor or disgrace, as four of his loyal subordinates had remained in Bianzhou forever. When he thought of his four old brothers dying in battle in Bianzhou, he felt a grief-stricken heartache.
Liu listened to her husband's story silently and let him vent his anger. Her expression was always very calm, like a female bodhisattva who had seen all the sorrows in the world.
While the man was venting his feelings, Liu did not forget to silently signal the maid to prepare hot water for her husband to bathe.
Only when Li Keyong had vented for a while and leaned back in his chair with a somewhat exhausted look did she calmly ask, "Are you going to send troops to attack Zhu Wen?"
"That's right. If we don't kill the dog thief, we won't be able to get rid of this hatred." Li Keyong said viciously.
"I don't agree with you raising an army to attack Zhu Wen." Liu was neither hurried nor slow, as if she was just discussing with her husband whether to sell the big dog at home.
"What? You..." Li Keyong stood up suddenly, his anger surged out again, his only eye flickered, his face flushed, and the look he gave Liu seemed extremely incredible and unbelievable.
He seemed to want to open his wife's chest and abdomen to see what color her heart was. She had been bullied like this, but she didn't even approve of him taking revenge. Was she still his wife
Liu was not afraid of his gaze at all and still looked at him gently, but her attitude was very firm and unquestionable.
"Zhu Wen has killed Pu Gu, Quan Zhong, Jing Si and Jing Zhu. They were all my old brothers. How can I let this go?" Li Keyong was very excited. Fortunately, he had no habit of beating women, otherwise, looking at his expression, he would have wanted to eat Liu.
"Even if I don't care about the humiliation I suffered, would my old brothers have died in vain? Are you my wife?"
Facing her husband's rage and the look that seemed to burn her to ashes, Liu seemed very calm and asked directly: "If you want to attack Zhu Wen, under what pretext will you raise an army?"
"Zhu Wen attacked Shangyuan Posthouse at night, almost got me burned to death, and also killed four of my subordinates. Isn't that enough?" Li Keyong shouted at the top of his lungs, almost jumping up.
"If you, my husband, start a war because of this, and bring personal grudges to the local area, you will be charged with the crime of 'putting personal interests above public interest'. If the name is not right, then the words will not flow. If someone takes the opportunity to slander you, have you thought about how to deal with it?"
Liu's words calmed Li Keyong's anger a little. It turned out that Liu was worried that someone would take advantage of the organization to frame him. When this thought came to his mind, he fell silent.
"Weapons are the most important tools of the country and should not be used unless absolutely necessary. As a minister of the Tang Dynasty, your husband has sacrificed public interests for personal gain and ignored the emperor. This is disrespectful and deceiving the emperor. If someone makes a fuss about this, how do you plan to deal with it?" Liu continued.
Now that the Tang court is still in existence and the imperial throne is still alive, it is a serious crime to wantonly attack other places. Just look at Zhu Li, who was beaten to a pulp because he secretly attacked Hetao.
I haven't dared to show up for more than a year, and this is the consequence.
The charge of deceiving the emperor is not something that anyone can ignore. Moreover, no matter how others view him, Li Keyong has always claimed to be a loyal minister of the Tang Dynasty and was even more unwilling to be charged with this crime. Liu's suggestion made his anger disappear completely and he frowned instead.
Seeing that her husband had finally considered the consequences seriously, Liu continued to analyze: "My husband, you have rashly started a war and brought disaster to the people. This is unkind. If someone takes advantage of the opportunity to plot, you will definitely be charged with plotting rebellion. Moreover, this expedition to Henan is not for public good, but for personal grudges. All food and supplies are borne by Hedong. Hedong has just been settled, and the people are not attached to it. Your husband's expedition is far away, and there is no guarantee that there will be no chaos."
"Also, even if you are powerful and are not afraid of villains making up stories and making false accusations, don't forget that there are still five states in the north, namely Shuo, Xin, Lan, Dai and Yun, that have not been recovered. Alang's revenge is still there, and the hatred for his father is irreconcilable. You don't avenge your father, but instead get entangled in your own personal grudges. This is unfilial. No matter how you look at it, it is not the act of a wise man." Liu was not polite at all and directly labeled Li Keyong as unwise.
After listening to his wife's analysis, Li Keyong did not refute at all. After a long while, he said angrily: "So are we going to let Zhu Wen go?"
Liu carefully poured him some tea and said solemnly, "Of course it's impossible. Zhu Wen's move clearly showed his intention to kill my husband. This hatred is deeply engraved in my heart. It's not that I won't take revenge, but the time has not come yet."
"We must first ask the emperor for a decision. If the court agrees, your husband's attack on Zhu Wen will be justified. Even military rations can be obtained locally, and we can even get support from all parties. We must have an imperial decree, do you understand?" Liu said earnestly.
Li Keyong finally calmed down his anger. What Liu said made sense. To attack Zhu Wen, one must have an imperial decree. If the imperial decree did not allow it, now was definitely not the best time for revenge. What he had to do first was to stabilize Hedong, and then attack Dai Shuo in the north. Dai Shuo was a member of Zhu Li's party, and they were all rebels. He could attack them at will as long as he wanted.
"Oh, right." Liu suddenly thought of something and continued, "The Taoist priest Haichanzi from Yanshan sent me news that he has already found out about the feud between you and Zhu Li. He will not ask about the feud between you two anymore. As long as you keep your promise, he will not mind that you lied to him."
"What?" Li Keyong's face immediately turned bitter again when he heard that.
Since the master has found out the grudge between him and Zhu Li, he will naturally understand the right and wrong. Moreover, Hai Chanzi also declared that he will no longer interfere in the grudge between him and Zhu Li. Does this mean that Zhu Li is still alive
The thought gave him even more of a headache. Since Zhu Li was still alive, he might have returned to Shuozhou long ago. Zhu Li, who was just a governor of a lower state, was already so difficult to deal with. Wouldn't it be even more troublesome for him to deal with now that he controlled several states including Hetao and Daishuo
Since Zhu Li is still alive, it is even less likely that he will come into conflict with Zhu Wen. Fighting on two fronts is something that even if Hedong is rich, it will definitely not be able to sustain.
Thinking of this, Li Keyong finally gave up the idea of leading his troops to Henan to take revenge on Zhu Wen.
One cannot help but envy the two most famous heroes of the Five Dynasties. Both Zhu Wen and Li Keyong were so lucky that each of them got a wife who was both virtuous and beautiful. This is the envy of countless heroes. It shows how important it is for those who accomplish great things to have a virtuous wife.