Tang Dynasty

Li Yuan's army stopped in Huoyi City for more than half a month. One was to rest soldiers, and the other was to wait for Li Shimin's injuries to heal.

As far as the whole army is concerned, this half month has been idle for a while.After Li Jiancheng got up every morning to investigate in the army, most of the rest of the time he and Duobi were drinking and chatting together.

The two had a very happy relationship, as if they had returned to those days when they first met in Luoyang and did not know each other's identities.However, even though Li Jiancheng admired his magnanimity, he knew in his heart that no matter how close the two were, they were still hostile identities.

So even though Yan Yan was smiling on the surface, in reality he was always observing the aggressive, always wanting to verify his true intention of coming, always wanting to see if his bold and unrestrained gestures were really so open-minded.

Maybe it's because the price of the confidant in the previous life was too heavy.Li Jiancheng gradually realized that it was difficult for him to trust a person easily.

It was night, he said goodbye and walked to the mansion alone.Walking halfway with some remnants of drunkenness, I suddenly remembered that it seemed like a long time ago that I hadn't seen Li Shimin.As soon as I thought about it, I walked to another corridor.

However, when he came to the mansion and opened the door, he saw that Li Shimin was not inside.

Just when he was wondering, a servant girl walked by the corridor, saw Li Jiancheng and hurriedly saluted, "I have seen the prince."

Li Jiancheng asked, "Where did Shimin go?"

"My son," said the servant girl, "after dinner, Second Young Master went to the backyard by himself, saying that no one should disturb him."

Li Jiancheng nodded, turned away the servant girl, stood on the spot and looked towards the backyard, finally took a step and walked over there.

The night was extremely quiet, and as soon as Li Jianchengfang entered the courtyard, he heard the wind blowing inside, like the sound of a fight.Taking a quick look, he saw that Yuan was just dancing with a silver gun alone.

Li Jiancheng was startled, and wanted to step forward to stop him, but for some reason, he just stood still in the same place and looked quietly into the distance.Li Shimin was dressed in black, and almost disappeared in the night. Except for the constant gusts of wind in his ears, what he could see in his eyes was only clusters of moonlight condensed on the tip of the gun, which was as cold as frost, and drew out cold streaks in the dark night. arc.

Li Shimin's agility has been praised since he was a child.When he got older, he grew up to be a brave general who won the three armies, wise and brave.Some scenes from the past emerged in Li Jiancheng's mind, and he suddenly realized that in fact, he could clearly see every minute of his growth.

If it wasn't for the lesson from the Xuanwu Sect, perhaps he would have smiled gratifiedly when he saw this.Xu Shihui thought that this younger brother who was becoming more and more independent would become his right-hand man in the future.

Thinking of this, Li Jiancheng still laughed, but it was by no means comforting, but only self-deprecating.Shaking his head, he turned around and left.

But I don't know who will die under whose hand when swords and soldiers meet each other in this life?

The wind behind him stopped suddenly, and Li Jiancheng heard a voice behind him saying, "Brother?"

Li Jiancheng came back to his senses and saw Li Shimin walking over with a spear in his hand, so he said: "Just drop by here to have a look."

Li Shimin stood still in front of him, his body was still emitting some heat, looking at Li Jiancheng, his eyes were particularly bright, but he didn't speak.

Li Jiancheng looked down at his wound, stretched out his hand, and said with a little blame: "Shimin, you still have wounds on your body, how can you dance like this?"

However, before touching the wound on the opponent's chest, Li Shimin was startled suddenly, took a few steps back, and said: "Brother, my injury is no longer serious, I have taken care of myself."

Unexpectedly, he reacted like this. Li Jiancheng paused for a while with his hand hanging in the air, slowly retracted it, and sighed: "Forget it. You also know that my father has been stationed here for a few days, and he intends to treat you well. You... ...just be careful."

Li Shimin was a few steps away from him, and upon hearing this, he only nodded and did not speak.

Feeling his resistance vaguely, Li Jiancheng said: "If that's the case, then you should rest earlier. Big brother will go back now." However, when he was about to turn around, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a faint patch on Li Shimin's left chest from the corner of his eye. Unusual color.

His heart tightened, and Li Jiancheng immediately pulled him under the lantern at the gate of the courtyard, and stretched out his hand to wipe it there, but saw blood on his palm.

"Shimin, you are..." Li Jiancheng couldn't speak, but Li Shimin took a step back while clutching his left chest.

"Brother...I don't want people to know about this."

Suddenly he didn't know how to say the reproach, Li Jiancheng looked at him, sighed for a long time, and said: "Shimin, come with me to bandage first."

Li Shimin was silent for a while, and then gave a low "hmm".

----

Li Shimin sat on the head of the bed with his upper body naked, and most of the white gauze on his chest was stained with blood.But he didn't seem to notice anything, just sat quietly on the bedside, watching Li Jiancheng unfold the white gauze little by little under the dim light.

The white gauze was as light as the wings of a cicada, fluttering with his movements from time to time, sometimes covering the face at the end of his sight like a mist, and sometimes showing it faintly.

He watched intently until Li Jiancheng walked up to him holding it.

Li Shimin subconsciously tried to remove the bandages on his body, but Li Jiancheng held down his wrist and said, "Don't move."

Li Shimin immediately put down his hand and pressed it on the bed beside him.He watched Li Jiancheng lean forward slightly and leaned over to him.He closed his eyes hastily, and vaguely felt that the bandages on his shoulders were being gently untied, peeling off layer by layer.The corners of Li Jiancheng's sleeves and robes brushed lightly across his body, and the seemingly invisible touch made his whole body tighten up suddenly.

Soon, all the bandages on the chest were taken away, replaced by a cool and slightly painful touch on the chest.He opened his eyes, and saw Li Jiancheng was bending over, applying medicine for himself.

The slightly open lapel was facing the place where he was looking directly at, and his skin was like jade.Li Shimin fastened the bed sheet with his five fingers little by little, but he couldn't take his eyes off him no matter what.

As if sensing his movement, Li Jiancheng paused slightly, looked at Li Shimin and said, "Shimin, why are you sweating?"

Li Shimin shook his head and said, "I'm fine, brother just continue."

Li Jiancheng put down the ointment in his hand, turned around and took a new bandage, and walked back to the bed again.Li Shimin closed his eyes subconsciously, only thinking that this was undoubtedly another torment for him.

But I couldn't refuse after all.

Li Shimin wanted to ask Li Jiancheng, why didn't he ask himself why he practiced martial arts with injuries?He hesitated for a moment, but finally did not speak.But Li Jiancheng just carefully wrapped the white gauze around him, without saying a word.Therefore, between the two, only silence flows slowly.

Li Shimin tried his best to restrain himself, not to pour too much thought into the seemingly invisible touch.With his eyes closed, he suddenly recalled many pictures in Li Jiancheng's unique atmosphere.

He remembered the first time he dreamed of his elder brother, the other party's forbearance under his body, and also thought of countless times at night, in the picture of his elder brother full of eyes and mind, he had no choice but to fall asleep; he remembered when his elder brother fainted in pain , the palpitating fragility on his face reminded him of the panic that flashed in his eyes when he took the sword for his elder brother; he remembered his gentleness in white clothes and his solemnity in black clothes, and he also thought of him. Sitting in silver armor and white robes, sitting on a horse, the heroic and stunning cape behind him is like fire; I think of the calm and distant eyes of my elder brother, but I also think of his sharp and direct eyes when he looked at the Turkic Pillar Kingdom;...

As if he had been hit by a demon, Li Jiancheng had already been deeply hidden in his body and mind, lingering and unable to get rid of it.It is clearly close in front of your eyes, but you can't reach it no matter how you stretch out your hand.

When Li Shimin saw how intimate he was with the Turkic Pillar Kingdom that day, Li Shimin knew that he was jealous.He has been with his elder brother day and night for decades, but he still can't get such a look. How can a mere Turkic Pillar country who has just arrived can be like this?

Afterwards, rumors that Li Jiancheng drank and had fun with that person every day also drifted into his ears sporadically.He knew that he might be thinking too much, but for some reason, he only felt that Zhu Guo looked at his elder brother in his eyes, which was directly annoying.

If Li Shimin was a literati, he might have thousands of words to write, but for him, the best way is undoubtedly a gun.Only when the silver gun was brandished in his hand, the figure of that person might be able to dissipate a bit.

While pondering, Li Jiancheng approached suddenly, causing Li Shimin to suddenly open his eyes.However, the feeling of tightness around his waist immediately brought his thoughts back to the present.

Li Jiancheng was using a little force to tie the white gauze tightly for him.Every time of binding is like a hugging gesture; every touch makes Li Shimin's breath a little short.

Finally, when Li Jiancheng reached out his hand to Li Shimin's back again, his waist suddenly tightened, but it was Li Shimin who stretched out his hand and wrapped his arms around his waist.Immediately afterwards, the hand on the waist exerted force, and the body leaned against the chest that was coming forward.

"Shimin..." Li Jiancheng was startled, but felt that Li Shimin lowered his head and buried his face in his neck.

"Brother, don't move." Li Shimin's voice was a little vague, "Just wait like this for a while..."

Li Jiancheng hesitated for a while, and finally put down his hand that was in mid-air, and said, "Shimin, let me tie up your wound first."

Li Shimin buried himself in his chest, didn't speak, just shook his head gently.

Li Jiancheng looked at him silently, and said after a long time: "Shimin, you are far from an ignorant person, knowing that you are injured, why are you still wielding a gun alone today?"

Li Shimin was silent for a long time before letting go.In fact, as soon as he made a move, he knew that he was reckless, and tried his best to calm down, but he didn't want to look at Li Jiancheng again, he just turned his back and sat facing the inner wall.After a pause, he asked in a low voice: "Brother, I'm fine. This matter... will never happen again in the future."

Li Jiancheng was slightly taken aback, not knowing whether his so-called "this matter" referred to practicing martial arts with injuries, or the sudden hug just now.However, he already felt something strange, but he couldn't make it clear, so he just took a step forward, tied up the side of Li Shimin's hanging bandage, and said: "Then Shimin, please rest, I will come to see you later."

After Li Jiancheng pushed the door and left, Li Shimin looked up at the top of the tent and let out a long breath.

Even if this kind of thinking can be suppressed in front of the elder brother for a while, how long can it be suppressed in the future?He laughed self-deprecatingly, he really didn't know.

----

Because Li Shimin tried his best to conceal the recurrence of the wound, Li Yuan stayed in Huoyi City for a few days, and then decided to pull out his troops out of the city.When the army Chen Bing was on the east bank of the Yellow River, Li Yuan called Li Jiancheng and Li Shimin into the tent, saying: "I have received two letters for my father in the past few days. The two leaders of Guanzhong, Sun Hua and Xiao Zao, are willing to submit to me. Look at this." How is it?"

Li Jiancheng pondered and said: "Then Xiao Zao is the prefect of Feng Yi, and Sun Hua is a very powerful member of the Guanzhong uprising army. The two of them must know the situation in Guanzhong very well. It happened that our army was defeated in the first battle of Huoyi." Some people, if they sincerely surrender, accepting them as members of our army would be a good thing."

Seeing the eldest son's statement, Li Yuan turned to Li Shimin and asked, "Is Shimin's injury better?"

Li Shimin withdrew his gaze from looking at Li Jiancheng, and bowed to Li Yuan: "Thanks to my father's concern, Shimin is already fine." Fortunately, there was no march and no war these few days, Li Shimin took peace of mind for a while, but he recovered a bit .

Li Yuan nodded and said, "Shimin, what do you think?"

"When discussing the military situation a few days ago, my father had already decided on a strategy of bypassing Hedong, crossing the Yellow River first, capturing Yongfeng warehouse, and stationing in Guanzhong. However, this strategy saves some setbacks compared to directly attacking Hedong, but Qu Tutong followed the generation The king's order prevents our army, so naturally we will not sit idly by. If our army finds a place to hide when we cross the river, it is still good to let him not send troops in time, but if he sends troops to intercept and kill us while crossing the river, we will undoubtedly be defeated." Li Shimin paused Dun, said, "However, if you take these two people, you can send them to lead some troops to cross the river at Pujin Bridge first, and open the way for us. If Qu Tutong defends the city at that time, our army will quickly cross the river. Let them cut off the rear; and if Qu Tutong pursues them, order them to cut off the bridge cables, and then attack with our army to the east of the river, so that they will be attacked by the enemy."

"Okay!" Li Yuan laughed immediately when he heard the words, "Shimin's words are really a good strategy!"

At this time, Li Jiancheng took a step forward and said, "Father, Jiancheng thinks that although this plan is good, there is a flaw."

Li Shimin immediately looked at Li Jiancheng when he heard the words, but he heard Li Yuan say: "What's wrong?"

"Sun Hua and Xiao Zao have their own faction in Guanzhong, but why did they suddenly intend to switch to father's command?" Li Jiancheng said seriously, "How can father be sure that these two people are sincere in surrendering?"

Li Shimin was silent when he heard the words, Li Yuan said: "The two of them must have seen that our army is so powerful that they will enter Chang'an sooner or later. Instead of losing troops and generals at that time, why not surrender early at this time?"

Li Jiancheng shook his head and said, "Father's words are all speculations. If you don't check it yourself, how can you be sure?"

Li Shimin couldn't hold back and said: "The meaning of what the elder brother said, could it be...?"

"To tell you the truth, I think that if you take your suggestion seriously, the team of Sun Hua and Xiao Zao will be the key to success or failure. How can you not confirm the reality of the two of them and entrust them with important tasks?" After a pause, Turning to Li Yuan, he cupped his fists and said, "Father, Jiancheng is willing to go to Feng Yi in Guanzhong to find out the truth."