Mountains and Seas

Chapter 67: First meeting with Li Cunxiao

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They didn't know that it was not their conspiracy that was exposed, but the news that Zhu Li passed on through Guo Qizuo instantly made him guess almost exactly how they would deal with them.

Once Zhu Li determined that Tian Lingzi and Li Sigong would unite against him and Li Keyong would most likely intervene, would Zhu Li dare to continue staying in Guanzhong? So he said nothing and immediately fled north. There was no chance for Tian Lingzi and others to carry out their conspiracy. If it came to that, it would be too late.

Li Keyong and Tian Lingzi looked very unhappy, and seemed to be on the verge of internal strife. Li Sigong quickly said, "Master Tian, Governor Li, now is not the time to hold them accountable. We should quickly gather our troops and generals, chase down the Shuozhou army, and kill Zhu Li. This is the most important thing."

"Yes, Duke Li is right. What we need to do now is to announce to the world that Zhu Li is plotting a rebellion and send troops to pursue them. This is what is important." Li Xiaochang also spoke out to comfort them at this time.

After being interrupted by Li Sigong and Li Xiaochang, Tian Lingzi knew that this was not the time to blame each other, so he stopped blaming Li Keyong and said, "The Shuozhou army broke camp and returned north at dawn. It has only been half an hour since then. If we use all the Yue cavalry to pursue them, we should still be able to catch up."

"There's no need to go through so much trouble. I sent Cunxiao to lead 3,000 Flying Tigers to chase after him. With Cunxiao's strength and the strength of 3,000 Flying Tigers, it will be absolutely not difficult to hold back Zhu Li." Li Keyong said confidently.

"What we need to do now is to continue to send out large armies to catch up with Cunxiao and his men. At the same time, we should also send a message to the northern states, asking them to try to stop the Shuozhou army. With a two-pronged approach, I don't believe Zhu Li can still grow wings and fly back to Shuozhou."

As soon as these words were spoken, the eyes of Tian Lingzi and the other three lit up at the same time. If they sent a message to each state by express horse, ordering them to help intercept the Shuozhou army, even if they could not catch up with Zhu Li for the time being, they would not be afraid of not being able to catch up with Zhu Li in the end. It was indeed a brilliant move.

Without mentioning how the four conspirators planned to pursue Zhu Li, it was said that Zhu Li had just arrived at Wei Bridge with the Shuozhou Army when a scout came on horseback to report: "Report, Commander, a group of cavalrymen are chasing us. Judging from their flags, they should be Shatuo people."

Zhu Li heard this and thought to himself, as expected, he had expected Li Keyong to intervene, but he didn't expect that the first person he would have to face was this person. Zhu Li turned to look at Shi Yan and said seriously, "Shi Yan, urge your subordinates to cross the river quickly. I will go meet them first and try to delay them for a while."

"Governor..." Shi Yan hesitated to speak.

"No need to say more. Now is not the time to be fussy. Hurry up." Zhu Li said with a blank expression.

"Yes." Shi Yan's face was solemn. Although he was helpless, he still bowed and accepted the order immediately. He understood that as long as he urged the army to cross the Wei Bridge quickly, he could help the governor escape from danger earlier. Therefore, after receiving the order, he tried his best to urge the army to take action and refused to relax at all.

After instructing Shi Yan, Zhu Li turned to look at the 3,000 Yue cavalrymen behind him and shouted, "All guards follow me, and the rest of the soldiers quickly cross the river."

"Yes." Although the soldiers looked puzzled, they still responded immediately.

On the south bank of the Wei River, Zhu Li led eight hundred soldiers.

He rode his horse to the rear of the Shuozhou army, stood still with his spear in hand, and waited quietly for Li Keyong's Shatuo pursuers.

In less than half an incense stick of time, three fierce generals, Li Cunxiao, Xue Atan, An Xiuxiu and others, led 3,000 Flying Tigers to the rear of the Shuozhou army.

From a distance, they saw Zhu Li standing there with his spear across his chest, as if he had been prepared and was waiting for them. The three of them did not dare to be careless. When the Flying Tiger Army was two or three hundred meters away from Zhu Li, Li Cunxiao waved his hand to stop them from advancing and they slowly stopped.

Zhu Li looked up and frowned slightly. If he were to say which general in Chang'an he was most reluctant to face at the moment, it would obviously be Li Cunxiao. It was not because Li Cunxiao was so good at commanding troops, but because he was too fierce. In the era of cold weapons, the role of an invincible general, although compared with the atomic bomb of later generations, seemed a bit exaggerated, it was no less deterrent than several thousand kilograms of explosives.

Perhaps because he had just made his debut, others knew little about Li Cunxiao's bravery, but Zhu Li was from later generations after all, so how could he not know his opponent's strength? It is no exaggeration to say that Li Cunxiao was absolutely the number one general in this era, and even if Wu Dao were here, he would probably not be his opponent.

Looking around, I saw Li Cunxiao wearing an iron helmet and armor, holding a Bi Yan Lao, carrying a Yu Wang spear, and a bow on his shoulder. He lightly tapped the black dragon horse under his crotch and rushed out of the main formation. He ignored the tens of thousands of Shuozhou soldiers behind Zhu Li and ran to a place two hundred meters away from Zhu Li. He stopped his horse, waved his Lao Lao and pointed at Zhu Li and said, "Is that the rebel Zhu Li in front of you?"

Zhu Li felt relieved when he heard that. Fortunately, the fight did not start immediately without saying anything. He needed to buy time now. If it was just nonsense, he would be happy to keep him company.

With a cold snort, Zhu Li lightly knocked his horse's belly and rushed out of the formation. When the two were a hundred meters apart, he stopped his horse and raised his head to the other party and said, "I am ashamed to be called a traitor. Your Majesty the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty is far away in Chengdu. I am a third-rank general of the Left Guard of the imperial court. Your Majesty has not yet spoken to convict me. How can I convict someone just because someone else says so?"

In ancient times, when people confronted or conquered others, they always had to have a legitimate reason. It was not possible for Li Cunxiao to say that Zhu Li was a traitor and Zhu Li would just admit it. This would not only damage his reputation, but would also lower the morale of his subordinates.

Besides, even if Zhu Li did not accept the imperial decree, he was still the General of the Left Guard and the Protector-General of Shanyu, both high-ranking officials of the third rank. Not everyone could convict him of a crime. Emperor Xizong was far away in Chengdu. Since he did not accuse Zhu Li of treason, it would not be justified to rely solely on Tian Lingzi's conviction. He would certainly not admit it.

Li Cunxiao was indeed brave and invincible. He directly declared Zhu Li a traitor in order to gain the upper hand and have a legitimate reason to do so. However, Zhu Li's words froze his expression, and he argued: "In Taiji Hall, you disobeyed the emperor's order, which was contempt for the emperor and rebellion against the court; when attacking Cao's army, you were publicly going south to defend the emperor, but secretly ordered your subordinates to attack Hetao, harassing the local area and committing treason. What else could this be but rebellion?"

"Hahaha" Zhu Li laughed when he heard this. His laughter was full of injustice that was like tearing the sky apart and roaring at the sky. As his laughter stopped, his expression straightened and he shouted, "In the Taiji Hall, Tian Lingzi conferred titles on all the generals who served the king, but only kept the imperial edict to confer title on Zhu. This is obvious to everyone. If it is said that he disrespected the emperor and disobeyed the imperial order, Tian Lingzi did it so obviously, why didn't the general go

What about attacking him?"

"General Li said that Zhu disobeyed the order in Taiji Hall. Did you see this with your own eyes?"

"General, you said that I was ostensibly serving the king, but secretly sent people to attack Hetao. Where is your evidence?"

"If Zhu is not truly loyal to the king, then I would like to ask whether the fierce general Meng Juehai of the Cao army was captured by Zhu himself?"

"If Zhu was not truly loyal to the king, why would he have personally braved the rain of arrows and set fire to the camp outside Yiting City?"

"If Zhu was not truly loyal to the king, then the strategy of making a feint to the east and attacking the west, concealing the truth and recovering Chang'an, was it Zhu who made it?"

... ...

Zhu Li became more and more excited as he spoke. His series of impassioned questions left Li Cunxiao speechless, the entire Flying Tiger Army silent, and the entire Shuozhou soldiers excited. If this was also pretending to be loyal to the king, then were Li Xiaochang, Wang Chongying and other such supporting roles really loyal to the king

Zhu Li's attack on Hetao may not be right in the eyes of people today, but as someone who came from later generations, he knew clearly that this fertile land, which was won by the blood and tears of Han martyrs, fell into the hands of the Khitans due to the incompetence of the Dangxiang people. Shouldn't he have seized it as soon as possible and made early preparations

Hetao not only has fertile farmland, but also rich resources and minerals. Instead of letting it fall into the hands of the Khitans in the future, allowing them to use it to strengthen themselves and then bully the people of the Central Plains, why not take it over earlier? Using these resources to strengthen the Han people themselves will also allow the Han people to gain some advantages in future battles against the Khitans.

Thinking about it this way, Zhu Li didn't think there was anything wrong with him taking over Hetao. Instead, he felt that it should be so, and it was supposed to be so. If he didn't do so, he would be aiding the enemy and committing treason, which would be a serious sin.

Seeing that the other party was speechless, Zhu Li continued: "General, you don't answer, not because you are at a loss for words, but because these things are ironclad facts and cannot be disputed. Despite the facts, the general still pursues me. The general must know the reason in his heart."

"General, you are here not for public purposes, but for your personal grudge against Li Keyong and Tian Lingzi. Why bother to list some charges to frame Zhu?" Zhu Li summed it up with these words and looked at Li Cunxiao jokingly.

The mistake was that Li Cunxiao wanted to seize the initiative and have a legitimate reason to do so, so he talked nonsense with Zhu Li. He shouldn't have stopped his horse and talked nonsense with Zhu Li. Instead of suppressing the morale of Zhu Li and the Shuozhou army, he aroused their indignation. Although Zhu Li was not as strong as him, when it came to eloquence, Li Cunxiao could not catch up with Zhu Li even if he flattered him.

Li Cunxiao's skinny face turned red from Zhu Li's series of aggressive questions. After a long while, he spoke stiffly, "No matter what, this general has been ordered to pursue you. You just wait for your death."

"Hahaha, General, are you finally speechless? Wouldn't it be better if you did this earlier, because this is your true face. However, it is not so easy for you to take Zhu's life. Come and take it if you have the guts." After laughing, Zhu Li's face darkened and he replied fiercely. Although he knew he could not win, Zhu Li still wanted to fight. How could he know the gap if he didn't fight? How could he improve if he didn't know the gap? What's more, he had countless comrades behind him, so he had to fight.