Tang Dynasty

"Brother!" Li Shimin turned pale with shock, ran over to support him, leaned on himself and sat up, and then raised his voice, "Come on, hurry up..."

"You don't need to call someone!" The person in his arms shouted hastily, and his breath became chaotic again.

Li Jiancheng's five fingers were tightly clutching the position of his heart, clearly in pain.However, he just frowned and bit his lip, tightly suppressing the disordered breath.Li Shimin had never seen such a big brother before, and he was a little at a loss for a while, so he just said cautiously: "Brother, what's wrong with you?"

Li Jiancheng didn't reply, just closed his eyes, frowned, and tried his best to calm down.After a long time, just then said in a low voice: "Shimin, medicine..."

Li Shimin was taken aback for a moment, then hurriedly helped him up and leaned against the bed.Walking to the door, he picked up the pills on the ground, wiped them with his sleeve, brought tea, and brought it to the bedside.

"Brother, but this medicine?" Li Jiancheng handed the pill to Li Jiancheng, who opened his eyes slightly and nodded slowly.

Li Shimin fed Li Jiancheng medicine with tea, thought for a while, and said softly: "Brother, I will take off your clothes for you, you can rest now."

After Li Jiancheng took the medicine, his breath gradually calmed down. Hearing this, he only closed his eyes and nodded weakly.

Li Shimin was originally a martial artist, he had never done this kind of thing of serving others, so he was a little flustered at first.However, the moment he stretched out his hand to Li Jiancheng, he felt a strange feeling in his heart.

The fingertips paused for a moment, and finally continued the previous action.He took off the accessories, loosened the belt, opened the front, and slowly let it fall from the shoulders...

Li Shimin's hands were cautious, but his thoughts were already drifting away.No one knew that this scene was too familiar to him.It's just that the past was just a fantasy in a dream, but today is a real touch.

Slightly exerting force with the fingertips, slowly pulled out Shuguan's hair.In an instant, the ink-like silk hair poured down and hung down on the shoulders, which made the man's complexion paler, but also added a sense of weakness.

Li Shimin's hand holding the hairpin trembled, and finally supported the other person's shoulders, letting him lie down on his back.Compared with his body as a martial arts practitioner, Li Jiancheng's shoulders looked thinner and thinner.Hold it through the cloth, but you can already feel that there must be a piece of icy muscle and bone between the tentacles.

Li Shimin stood up, looking down, the other party's originally frowning brows had calmed down a lot, but his eyes were still closed, he didn't know if he was unconscious or awake.

A drop of sweat slowly slid down from his forehead and landed on the pillow.Only then did Li Shimin come to his senses, he squatted down again, grabbed his sleeve and wiped it off for him.

From the forehead, to the cheeks, to the chin... the sleeves froze, replaced by a fixed gaze.He had never looked at his elder brother so carefully, but now that he looked at it, he felt that he was quite different from usual.

The eldest brother's eyebrows and eyes usually have seven parts of smile, two parts of romanticism, one part of indifference, but just that one part of indifference is enough to repel people thousands of miles away.Closing his eyes at this moment, he felt that the long eyelashes drooping slightly, concealing all expressions of disguise, could it be his truest appearance?

The eldest brother's nose bridge is delicate and straight, just like his own person, soft and hard, making people unpredictable.However, at this moment, he was lying on his back without a sound, leaving only the fragility that was particularly clear in his eyes.

The eldest brother's lips are a little thin, and he is used to pursing them slightly, thinking that he must be planning something in his heart.But at this moment... at this moment...

Li Shimin stared blankly at the other party's slightly pursed lips, stood up suddenly, and staggered back a few steps.

He knew...he couldn't stay here any longer.

"Brother, you, you have a good rest. Shimin will leave now." Almost fled the room hastily, regardless of whether the other party could hear him, and forgot to ask what the illness was.

Even when he returned to the room, he found that Li Jiancheng's hairbend was still tightly held in his hands.

----

Before dawn the next day, when Li Shimin came to the camp, he found that Li Jiancheng was already standing in the tent.

The white clothes and silver armor are clearly plainly dressed, but they are paired with a bright red cloak, which makes people unable to move their eyes away once they touch it.At this moment, he was still as usual, bowing his body and staring at the sand table in front of him, seemingly unaware that he was standing outside the tent while he was concentrating.

Li Shimin stepped into the tent, clasped his fists and said, "Brother."

Li Jiancheng raised his head when he heard the sound, his expression was so calm that there was no wave, and he only smiled slightly and said, "Shimin is here." After the words fell, he lowered his head again, gesturing on the sand table.

Recalling what happened last night, Li Shimin hesitated and finally said, "Did brother feel better?"

Li Jiancheng looked down at the sand table and said calmly: "Shimin, I intend to send out troops this afternoon. I will lead most of my troops to fight in front of the north gate to restrain the main force of the enemy. In addition, I will send another elite force to lie down at the west gate and see the momentum to attack the city. What do the people of the world think of taking down Xihe in one fell swoop?"

In his eyes, what happened yesterday seemed never to have happened.Li Shimin was stunned for a moment when he heard the words, and then walked to the sand table. After a long time, he said: "Although Gao Deru is the governor of the county, he is not good at running the army, and most of the generals under him are mediocre. The day before yesterday, he didn't have time to confront him directly." He was beheaded by me and returned to the city in a hurry. According to this human nature, he uttered bold words against our army the day before yesterday. At this time, he must be very depressed in his heart and eager to make meritorious deeds. If he uses a small trick at the north gate to lure his main force out of the city, It must be feasible to contain it. Since then, Ximen is empty, and if you take advantage of the situation and attack, the city will be destroyed."

"The people of the world can rest assured that the North Gate lures the enemy. I have my own way to lure his army out of the city." Li Jiancheng nodded and smiled. Go to Ximen's elite teacher." After a pause, he looked up at Li Shimin and said, "I don't know if Shimin is willing to go through this for big brother?"

Li Shimin clasped his fists immediately, "Shimin is duty-bound!"

Li Jiancheng smiled and said, "Then I will give you two thousand cavalry, one thousand infantry, and five hundred archers."

Li Shimin said: "Brother, if there are too many people in the small land of Xihe, it will be difficult to ambush. Shimin only needs [-] cavalry, [-] infantry, and [-] archers."

Li Jiancheng nodded slightly and said: "That's fine, Ximen [-] is completely under your command. I lured Gao Deru out of the city, and I will send someone to inform you. Remember, after entering the city, you need to strictly enforce military discipline, and don't disturb the people. Wait for my army to enter the city. "

"Yes." Li Shimin said, "It's really worthless to spend too much time on this small Xihe River. Shimin will go down to count the troops and make preparations. This trip must be a quick decision to wipe out the enemy army in one fell swoop!" After saying that, he cupped his fists and saluted, turned around and left.

"Shimin." However, when he reached the tent door, he heard someone behind him calling softly.

Li Shimin stopped in his tracks, and before he could turn his head, he heard the voice whispering: "What happened last night... no one should know about it."

Li Shimin's heart tightened suddenly, and he nodded immediately, wanting to ask something, but in the end he only said "yes".

"That's all." The voice behind him sighed softly, "Go ahead."

Li Shimin clenched the sword hilt around his waist, nodded, and stepped forward.

----

At dusk that day, Li Jiancheng led most of his troops to the city gate of Xihe.

Gao Deru boarded the tower, but he saw Li Jiancheng standing in the front row in white robe and silver armor, with tens of thousands of horses behind him.

He is contemptuous and arrogant, when he first heard that Li's son led an army to beg for him, he never put them in his eyes.Even though he suffered a sudden defeat yesterday, he didn't take it seriously, he just felt that he had lost some face.

When Li Jiancheng was in Luoyang with Li Yuan in his early years, he had some contacts with this person, so he knew his nature well.He ordered the army Chen Bing to come down to the city, and yelled and cursed at the city, uttering all the vulgar words, which made the soldiers couldn't stop laughing after they finished swearing.

Gao Deru was holding his breath in his heart, how can he just sit and watch now?He picked up his helmet and went straight to the city.

Several generals saw that he could not bear the yelling and wanted to go out of the city to fight, and tried hard to persuade them: "Li Jiancheng has several times as many people as us. If we don't take advantage of the advantages of this city, rushing to fight is like hitting a stone with an egg. Just stay in this city and spend a lot of time." Its vigor is the best policy!"

Gao Deru looked sideways at the city, saw that although Li Jiancheng was leading the charge, he was clearly looking thin, so he spat and said: "You mere scumbag, how can I be so spoiled by him!" Then he went down to the city again Fortunately, both sides tried hard to persuade each other and put them in the way.

At this moment, there was a commotion in the city.Follow the prestige, but see that Li Jiancheng's former army is in a mess.Among the chaotic crowd, a white shadow could be vaguely seen.

"General, Li Jiancheng seems to have fainted!" One person pointed to the place.

Gao Deru took a closer look, and sure enough, he saw Li Jiancheng being dragged to the center of the army, and the front was clearly stained with dark red blood.

"Have you ever heard that Li Jiancheng has any serious illness?" He hesitated and asked left and right.

One person replied: "I have never heard of it, but this person looks weak, not like the material to lead troops to fight."

Gao Deru slowly nodded his head with a sneer, expressing his agreement, and watched with fixed eyes as Li Jiancheng, the general under the city, was hunched on the horse, and hurried away to the distance.There is still a trace of hesitation in my heart.

Then, only the golden sound was heard, and the army retreated immediately, gathering backward like a tide.

Gao Deru clenched the helmet that he hadn't put on in time, watched the army drift away, and suddenly said: "Pursuit!"

Someone still wanted to persuade that Li Jiancheng's army did not retreat too hastily, it was suspected to be fraudulent, Gao Deru said with a nonchalant smile: "Li Jiancheng's army is not a defeated general, why did he retreat so quickly? The old man decided not to pursue him. At this time, although the others are retreating, they are in a hurry and orderly. It is because the main general is ill, but the general is still able to take good care of him. Obviously, Li Jiancheng is afraid of some kind of disease. , how can we not pursue such a good opportunity?" After saying that, he immediately ordered a few generals, and brought [-]% of his horses to the city to pursue them.

Li Jiancheng had a large number of people and walked slowly, so he was right in front of him in a short time.Gao Deru asked the two generals to lead a group of troops to cover up and kill him from both sides, while he brought most of the troops to capture Li Jiancheng alive.Seeing the situation, Li Jiancheng's men and horses dodged in a hurry, while resisting indiscriminately, they still kept retreating.

Gao Deru rode his horse and followed the crowd, anticipating that Li Jiancheng was in a hurry to go back for treatment, so he ordered the army to attack even more eagerly, only wanting to break through the encirclement and capture the king directly.However, just as he was looking up his head and kept searching for the silver armor on the horse's back in the chaotic crowd, Yi Jiang rushed to his side and said: "General, it's not good!"

Gao Deru's heart tightened, and he said, "Why are you panicking?"

The man said: "The news came from the city just now that Li Shimin is leading a force to attack the west gate. The city is resisting with all its strength, but I don't know how long it will last!"

Gao Deru patted the horse's back when he heard the words, and said angrily: "Oh no, how did I forget Li Shimin!" Thinking that if there is a mistake and lost the city, he would be a bereaved dog, so he immediately said, "Give the order, and the whole army will return immediately In the city, there must be no mistakes!"

Gao Deru's men listened to the order, and even turned around and ran wildly.He himself was about to turn around, but he heard a chuckle from far behind, "Why did Gao Juncheng leave in such a hurry?"

Gao Deru turned his head back, but saw Li Jiancheng walking out slowly behind the people on his horse. Under the already dark sky, he could vaguely see bloodstains on the silver armor on his chest, but he spoke and smiled calmly, so how could he look sick?

"Okay, Li Jiancheng," Gao Deru wished he could rush out and cut him down, but he knew that the city in the rear would not be safe, and he knew he would not love to fight, so he cursed, "Little boy, you just made such a conspiracy plot against me." If there is a next time, I will never forgive you!" After finishing speaking, there was another burst of curses, and all the bad words and bad words that Li Jiancheng's army had scolded before were returned.

Li Jiancheng smiled when he heard the words, and still had a gentle and gentle attitude on his face.Waiting quietly for him to scold for a while, before opening his mouth and saying: "Even though this junior is very much looking forward to competing with Jun Cheng again," paused, and raised the corners of his mouth, "But I'm afraid... there won't be a next time. " After saying that, he suddenly put away his smile, looked at Gao Deru's soldiers and horses going away, and said, "Send the order and chase!"

As soon as the general order came out, the people behind him immediately reborn and leaped out like fierce tigers.Gao Deru led his men and horses to flee in a hurry, and this time it really became a trend of throwing away their helmets and armor.

When approaching the city, Gao Deru took the lead and shouted "quickly open the city gate" towards the top of the city.But as soon as the words fell, countless archers suddenly appeared on the empty city, with thousands of arrow clusters already on the strings, pointing directly at him.

Then a person appeared with a big smile, "Gao Juncheng, welcome back!"

It was dusk, and the sky was full of colorful clouds.The man was standing with his sword in his arms, his body was high-spirited, his armor was dyed red.And behind him, a big flag fluttered in the wind, with a big "Li" character on it, which was particularly eye-catching.

Gao Deru instinctively turned his horse back, but saw Li Jiancheng with the army behind him, standing still not far away.There are thousands of troops and horses, the momentum is like a rainbow, and the same "Li" banner is buzzing behind him.

----

When Li Jiancheng led most of the troops into the city, it was already dark.Li Shimin brought his men and horses to wait at the gate of the city. There was still a little blood on his face and armor, obviously he had experienced a fierce melee.

"Brother," seeing that Li Jiancheng approached with his men and horses, he immediately went up to meet him, and said, "Brother's clever plan, he really broke the Xihe River in one fell swoop, captured Gao Deru alive, this time..." Speaking of this, he suddenly saw Li Jiancheng The blood on the silver armor tightened his expression, "Brother... where is the injury?" In the flashing firelight, Li Jiancheng's eyes were bright and unusual.

Li Jiancheng followed his gaze to look at his chest, smiled, and explained lightly: "Fake illness before the battle, so naturally we have to act more realistically."

Only then did Li Shimin's expression soften a little, and he said with a smile: "Brother is thoughtful, it's Shimin who is worrying too much." Fang has experienced a big battle, and there is still obvious excitement in his words.

But in comparison, Li Jiancheng looked quite calm.At this moment, he just nodded and said: "The people of the world have worked hard today, let's go and rest for a while. I will hold a banquet in the evening and reward the three armies."

"Yes! Brother..." Li Shimin was overjoyed when he heard the words, but before he could finish speaking, Li Jiancheng had already galloped away.

Li Shimin watched the attendants behind him walk past him one by one, feeling disappointed for a while, and the smile on his face gradually became stiff.

Li Jiancheng entered the city, taught people to count the number of prisoners of war, and gave orders to pay for the common people. Seeing that it was getting late, thinking that the celebration banquet had been arranged properly, he stood up, straightened his clothes, and prepared to go out.

However, at this moment, a small school suddenly rushed in and said, "Young Master, it's not good!"

Li Jiancheng recognized that it was the little school he ordered to go down to arrange the banquet, frowned, and asked, "Why are you so flustered?"

The little principal said: "Second young master was drinking and talking with others, but for some reason he suddenly got angry, took his sword and left, and said that he wanted to kill Gao Deru, the young one had no choice but to come and inform the eldest prince."

Li Jiancheng asked, "Where is Li Shimin now?"

"Who can stop the second young master from going?" The little principal said bitterly, "I'm afraid he has already arrived at the place where the prisoners of war are being held!"

"You go back, the banquet is still set up, just say that I have something to discuss with the second son, and I will be there later. The people who talked to the second son before, pass on my words, and let them not make this matter public. mistaken."

The school responded and left in a hurry.Li Jiancheng didn't dare to delay, so he immediately ordered a few people to accompany him, and went to Gao Deru's prison.