Only God is left

"At this time" Li Cunshen is by no means the only one among the superior commanders of the Hedong Army who has this idea. He is the only one who puts this metaphor into action.

When the first snow fell in the winter of the first year of Qianning, almost everyone in the Jin army breathed a sigh of relief. No matter what the next year will be, they will finally survive until the twelfth lunar month of this year.

At the beginning of the year, Li Cunxiao's rebellion was suppressed without any suspense. Regardless of whether it was out of heart or not, that legendary young man on the battlefield had already ended up on a bloody corpse.Afterwards, Li Keyong, who was already violent, became even more erratic. Although Li Cunxin, who contributed to the incident, has not been dealt with until now, Kang Junli, the governor of Zhaoyi, was accused of being Li Cunxin when Li Keyong was drunk when he mentioned Li Cunxiao. After breaking down a few sentences, he was immediately chased by the furious Li Ke with his sword. Fortunately, the left and right sides tried their best to stop him before he died. He was immediately imprisoned in the army, and died there not long after.

And this is just the internal military affairs of Hedong.Still in the same year, Li Maozhen, who was entrenched in Guanzhong, became more and more unscrupulous, sending troops frequently to expand his power; At the same time, he captured Gunyun and opened the northeast gate. Zhu Quanzhong, who was in the limelight, sharpened his sword and stared at Youyan, ready to strike.

At this time, Li Keyong had already dealt with the Tuyuhun tribe who had been restless in the north of him. Ever since Li Kuangwei, the envoy of Lulong Jiedu, was driven out by his younger brother Li Kuangchou to stand on his own feet, Liu Rengong, an old general of Youzhou, who had defected to Liu Rengong, had been in constant attack. Urging him to send troops to Youyan, the urging is even more urgent now.

Hurry up, Liu Rengong took Gai Yu, a counselor who was quite respected by Li Ke at the time, to make a sound analysis. If Zhu Quanzhong took the lead, he would be flat when he was about to go to Taiyuan.

Everyone knows that most of this is scaremongering. Li Keyong has long wanted to send troops to Youyan. He is just waiting for the opportunity, and now it seems that the opportunity has come.

If people at the time said that Li Ke used to move troops like a god, it was obviously ironic. Relying on the power of Shatuo's iron cavalry, Li Ke's strategy in the Central Plains was simply to go on a rampage and follow his will.At that time, he only wanted to compete with the Liang people for Xingzhou, so he casually asked Liu Rengong to bring thousands of people to shut the gate of Youzhou. Of course, these people did not have any effect on Li Kuangchou.Li Kuangchou, who blocked Liu Rengong, thought that the Shatuo people were nothing more than that, and took the initiative to invade the border of Hedong. This really annoyed Li Keyong.

This time he ordered Li Cunshen, envoy of the Righteous Army, to go with Liu Rengong. Liu Rengong heaved a sigh of relief when he heard the appointment. Picking Li Cunshen also shows that this time Li Keyong is really serious about getting rid of Li Kuangchou.After Li Kuangchou fell, Youzhou belonged to him as a matter of course according to the rules. Li Keyong, who was busy dealing with Zhu Quanzhong at that time, must have no time to manage Lu Longjun's territory. It would not be long before You Yan's surname was Liu, and Li Keyong wanted to take care of it. I'm afraid it's also powerless-don't look at Liu Rengong who is running around everywhere now, sooner or later one day Li Ke will use Zhu Quanzhong to act according to his face!

Liu Rengong was very proud of his calculations, but there was another person here that made him shudder when he thought of it: Gao Siji from Kong Lingguan.

The Gao family is a rich family in Yan, he and his elder brother are well-known in running the army, and the soldiers of Yan are popular.Fortunately, he doesn't seem to have much interest in competing in the Central Plains, and he has an attitude that if no one offends me, I won't offend others.When Li Kuangwei was in Yandi, he did not dare to openly oppose him, and he even let him form a cavalry army among the villagers in his own territory to fight against the Khitan people who came to plunder; Regardless, when Li Kuangchou got the title of Lulong Jiedu envoy, he didn't say anything, but Li Kuangchou couldn't get angry either—Gao Siji didn't even look down on the Li brothers, so naturally there was no possibility of him bowing his eyebrows to Liu Rengong It's pleasing to the eye; besides, after all, Mrs. Li is a Jiedu envoy personally conferred by the imperial court. Mrs. Gao still has three points of courtesy, but how can he respect Liu Rengong? ——He was timid at the thought of meeting this person head-on—so before leaving, he hurried to see Li Keyong, and tried his best to explain how prestige the Gao family had in Yandi. Pull out this nail.

This time Li Ke used his unusual patience. He listened to him without saying a word before slowly opening his mouth: "Then what is the best way to persuade him to vote?"

Advise him to vote?Will he take the initiative to vote?This Liu Rengong didn't even think about it, but the words have come to this point, he thought again and again before he answered bravely: "...Yansu values ​​righteousness, if Gao Siji heard that the Duke took revenge for the old envoy, he would agree with him... ..."

Liu Rengong's voice was getting softer and weaker. This was pure nonsense, he knew it all, but talking is talking, how to do it in the end is another matter.

Li Ke narrowed his right eye and thought for a moment, then turned his head to look at the soldiers behind him, and his eyes finally fell on Li Siyuan.

"Miaozhuo*, you have heard what General Liu said, so go to Kongling Pass and send General Liu's words there." (*Based on the pronunciation "Moh- JEE-leh", according to Turkic habits, it is speculated that the nickname should be "Moh-DRee", because "leh" is no longer pronounced, so the frictional "J" will become a retroflex "DR" ~ very sexy, right ~: D～The habitual translation of retroflex in Chinese is "Zhuo")

Li Siyuan bowed his head and clasped his hands, saying: "Your servant takes orders."

Liu Rengong wailed in his heart, could Li Keyong fail to realize that he made up those words on the spot?When such words were sent to Kong Lingguan, Gao Siji was not even sure whether the city gate would be opened, and it would inevitably be another tough battle in the end.If he is lucky enough to enter Youzhou City this time, he swears that he will never conspire with the Shatuo people again. These people are completely barbarians!Apart from hard work, there is no consideration of transfer!

Before he could speak any more, Li Keyong called to see off the guests: "General Liu will be exhausted by sending troops tomorrow, so let's rest early today!"

When Li Keyong said to stop here, the most sensible and only choice is to stop here.

Liu Rengong went out of the tent in embarrassment, Li Keyong turned around and asked Li Siyuan, "Have you seen that Gao Siji?"

This is a rather inexplicable question. How could the Gao family have settled in Youyan for generations, how could they have anything to do with the Shatuo people?Li Siyuan's expression and voice didn't change, he thought for a while before saying: "I haven't seen it before."

As if immersed in memories, Li Keyong nodded slowly and said to himself: "That's right, you shouldn't have seen it."

He untied a dagger with a glazed horse-head handle and handed it to Li Siyuan: "Take this, call Gao Sji by name, and hand this to him personally."

After finishing speaking, he patted Li Siyuan: "Let's go now, be smart."

Without further explanation, Li Siyuan also handed over the account without asking any more questions.There is no manuscript, no seal, no notification, why did Li Keyong let him ride alone to pass such nonsense to Kong Lingguan, a proud soldier and warrior, he didn't think much about it, it was just another order. In the past 14 years, he has experienced many frontlines of life and death. He never said a word of nonsense to do the orders given to him by Li Keyong. No matter the mountains of swords and fires ahead, orders are always orders.

His father was a general of Li Guochang, Li Keyong's father, and he was initially under Li Guochang after he lost his father at the age of 13.At that time, it was the critical moment of Shatuo tribe's unlucky time. Tang Ting and Ma Lianhelian's troops from the two towns went to exterminate the Shatuo Zhuxie clan who ruled in the north and settled Yunzhou's old debt. Shatuo tribe was forced to go north to Tatar.After leaving Weizhou, Li Ke took a chance to find someone in the tent when Li Guochang was not around. When he found the horse, he immediately pulled him out and brought him out. Everyone in the army knew that the young master had a violent temper and no one dared to bar.

After leaving Li Guochang's camp, Li Keyong took out the hip flask and took a big gulp, then spit on the ground and hummed, "The old man is almost out of control himself, who else do he want to control!" He raised his green one-eyed sideways. Glancing at Li Siyuan, who was still a boy, he threw the jug over: "Your father is my brother, he asked me to take care of you, and I will be your father from now on."

Li Keyong really controlled him very tightly, keeping him by his side all these years and never letting him out.Only Li Cunxin was really ineffective on the battlefield, and his relationship with other generals was very tense. When he saw that there was no one in the army who could help him, he was called to suppress him, and it was really effective.

It took only two days to travel from Jinyang to Kongling Pass. When he arrived at the northern pass, it was midnight, but the city was brightly lit. Thinking about the severe situation in the north recently, he must be vigilant.On the side of the moat, he loudly announced that the Jiedu envoy from the east of the river would come to see him, and the torches on the top of the city immediately gathered on him, and it was as bright as day. He squinted his eyes, and heard someone shouting on the city wall:

"——The night is dark and you can't tell the characters, come and ask the dawn to see you again!"

A rude but not unexpected answer. It is not uncommon for the emissary to be turned away at the moment of the imminent battle between the two towns. Whether it is intentional or not, it is equivalent to handing over the visitor to the enemy camp for slaughter. Life and death can be determined entirely by the luck and ability of the person who comes.Fortunately, although the battle is imminent, this place has not reached the front line, and the order to evict guests from the city is not shouted, which means that Li Kuangchou's hand has not yet reached here.

I can't go back to find the village, so what if I spend a night under the city after two days' journey.

He found a place completely covered by shadows at the foot of the forest outside the city. After tethering the horse, he took out his knife and sat cross-legged on his lap. It was a posture that made people extremely sensitive to every wind and grass around them. , ready for war pose.

When the moon rose over the top of the city, he heard a small sound, which was the sound of human footsteps.

He didn't move, the footsteps stopped five feet away from him, and came towards him after a while.

Is it the locals who are familiar with the surroundings, so is it the people in the city?

He stood up silently, holding the knife tightly.

"It is a good habit to be vigilant at all times."

Li Siyuan was a little surprised that the visitor actually spoke the Xihu language used by the upper-class nobles of the Shatuo tribe, but he did not relax his vigilance: "Who is it?"

"You didn't tell me your name, why should I tell you mine?"

Hu and Han live together in the north, and it is not surprising that someone knows many tribal languages, but that person speaks a truly beautiful and fluent Turkic language that has gone west with the glory of the Turkic people and has almost disappeared in the old place of Yinshan.Quite different from the grunting in the throat of those people in the tribe nowadays, with few connective words between words, like silk laid on a jeweled floor, every turn and connection in his sentences, as well as the rise and fall of every retroflex sound, are smooth Fluid like music.

"Passing by, unknown person."

The two confronted each other silently for a while, and when they spoke again, the man's voice was very relaxed, and seemed to be smiling: "I guess we all have identities that are not convenient to report, so please don't waste time on this: I am not an enemy , at least not now."

The man actually took a few steps forward, a tall and slender silhouette gradually became clear, and the faint light of the crescent moon reflected a beautiful and terrifying face: that face was like the Tianzhu Buddha statue he had seen when he was a child, deeply The contours of his facial features seem to be sculptures, every line is meticulously crafted so that it is terrifyingly perfect, but it is actually a person who breathes freely.

And his eyes were actually golden.

The moment their eyes met, Li Siyuan quickly looked away, who could he be?A name immediately came to mind.

"How old are you?"

A completely unexpected question, Li Siyuan still put his hand on the waist knife: "What does it have to do with you?"

There was a slight smile on the corner of the man's mouth. His next words were a pun. If he had to explain it in Chinese, it could probably be understood as "I am optimistic about you" or "You have to be careful". At the same time, there are some extremely subtle provocative component.

It's him, is there a second person here who dares to go out of the city alone in the middle of the night when the dark clouds are pressing down on the city?Before the figure of that person disappeared into the night again, Li Siyuan said loudly: "General Gao, stay here—"

The shadow of that person was no longer visible, only his voice came from a distance, this time in Chinese: "It's dark in the dark night, you can't distinguish between people, if you have something to do, we will discuss it tomorrow."

It was just another sleepless night. The next day, someone opened the second gate on the city gate. This time, there was no questioning too much. After the gate was opened, someone was already waiting to take him to the meeting hall.

The generals on both sides had already lined up, and the person sitting in the top chair at the back of the commander-in-chief case was indeed the man he had seen outside the city last night.In daylight, there was less of the monster at night, so he saw clearly that the man's eyes were not golden, but bright light brown. Because they were too bright, they would almost be mistaken for golden under the moonlight.He is 34 to [-] to say the least, but he has a completely different temperament from people of the same age, like a flame, too eye-catching, too bright, too bright.

So proud.

No one even searched him for weapons in the outer hall!

"Prince Jin's cavalry commander, honorable guest," he said with a smile on his face, folded his hands under his palate, and raised his head slightly: "Gao Siji, the commander-in-chief of the Kong Lingguan, has not received you well. Commander forgive me."

No more gossip, Gao Siji asked directly: "Where's the letterhead you brought? Bring it here."

Li Siyuan took out the dagger when he was rude, his expression and voice didn't fluctuate: "Father Commander didn't entrust the letter, he just ordered me to send this dagger to General Gao for review."

Gao Siji let out an oh, and beckoned to Yajun next to him to bring the thing up. He took the sword, looked at it, and put it on the case: "You said King Jin has something to say, what is it?"

Li Siyuan cupped his hands and bowed his head, repeating Liu Rengong's words word by word - this is his only choice now, he has never been a smart person: "Li Kuangchou replaced his elder brother and acted unrighteously. Raising soldiers and horses to avenge the old envoy, I have heard about General Gao Yilie for a long time, and I would like to ask for help in the army."

Hearing that the generals on the side of the tent immediately started talking, Gao Siji leaned his hands on the table and smiled, and waited for a while before waving his hands to signal silence, the two sides fell silent for a moment, but they all glared at Li Siyuan, completely ignoring Li Siyuan Gao Siji asked the generals in the two corridors: "You generals have heard what General Li said, so please speak up if you have any thoughts."

As soon as the voice fell, the human voice rose:

"—Is he who he says he is? No one knows the truth without proof or proof! It's probably Zhu Quanzhong's spy!"

"So what if it's true? I have never had any contact with He Dong, and if I come here suddenly today, there must be no good intentions!"

"How does the struggle for profit in a big town affect us? General Gao, don't be fooled!"

There was a lot of voices for a while, but Li Siyuan's eyes never left Gao Sji who was above him.Gao Siji also didn't interrupt from the beginning to the end, and still maintained the posture of propping his cheeks with a smile on his lips, it was obvious that this was all for him to see.There was half a stick of incense in the chaos, and Gao Si Jicai waved his hands to stop talking.Turning to Li Siyuan again, his tone was still very polite:

"Commander Li, you can see that this is a major matter, and there are different opinions. This general is not good at making decisions. We always have to discuss and discuss. How about an answer to you at noon tomorrow?"

Li Siyuan frowned, although he didn't know Gao Siji's intentions at all, but if he asked for a moment here, he immediately clapped his hands and said: "The military situation is urgent, and I ask General Gao to consider it quickly."

Gao Siji stood up and made a farewell gesture, still smiling: "Young man, you've finished talking, go down."

——It’s none of your business here.

He was taken to the side hall. There were people coming and going outside, but no one was watching his actions. He pulled out a chair and sat down at the table and began to wait.This is an extremely strange mission. There are many reasons for Li Ke to choose him. One of them must be that he is a person who can keep calm in any situation and has a card that never speaks nonsense when he should not speak. Mouth.

"General."

A child's voice came from the door.

When he raised his head, he saw a child who was only ten years old standing by the door. Gao Siji's shadow was evident in his immature facial features. His eyes were a little darker in color, but they were so clear and bright that he could see it even in sunlight. Subtle golden.

"Is the general the envoy of King Shatuo?"

King Shatuo.

It was a title that no one had mentioned for a long time, Li Siyuan was a little surprised, and asked coldly, "Is there something wrong, Master?"

"My father ordered my nephew to come and see you."

After speaking, the child stopped talking, and just stared at Li Siyuan up and down, as if he was some strange object.After about half a stick of incense, the child turned around and left without saying a word.

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