Li Mu pondered for a moment and said to Wu Siman: "The flying pigeon passed a message, informed the king of Hejian County, and invited him to come to Qiuzi to discuss matters.

Usman took the order and left, Moham was even more surprised, he originally thought that Li Mu's position was below the king of Hejian County, but now it seems that it is on top of it. It seems that this Hou Ye is not just simple.

Li Xiaogong was already on the way back, not far from Qiuzi. After receiving the pigeon herald, he set off immediately, and the next evening arrived.

Li Mu welcomed him into the hall, without greetings, and asked directly: "Where to go next, what is the high opinion of the county king?" ”

Li Xiaogong was mentally prepared for Li Mu's question, he pursed his lips and hesitated for a long time, and said, "The old man feels it...... Well, I think, forget it. ”

"Tong'e has escaped the dark sun, and we may not be able to catch up with us now. The terrain in the depths of the grassland is complex and the climate is changeable. We are not familiar with it, and there are too many uncontrollable factors in the chase, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to achieve results! ”

"The Turks have lived in such an environment for generations, and we cannot entangle with them for a long time. Chase and chase until the end, maybe they will be eaten by them in turn! ”

Li Mu nodded, didn't speak, just looked at Li Xiaogong, Li Xiaogong was a little hairy by him, avoided his gaze, and said: "Look at what I have done, this is the case, I can't fool you?"

Li Mu was silent for a while, and then said: "This time it is a mortal enemy, if you give Tong'e a chance to breathe, he will definitely make a comeback." Moreover, we can't rejoice too early, although the Turks have suffered a great loss of vitality this time, they still have a certain amount of power, and they are still the hegemon among the countries of the Western Regions. If he is determined to stir up the Silk Road, this trade route may be abandoned. ”

"It's nothing to make a small fuss, just send troops again." Liu Li Xiaogong said indifferently: "The imperial court set up the Xiangdu Protectorate, isn't that what it does?" If we really slaughter all the Turks, it will not be a good thing for our Datang, the countries of the Western Regions will not have a crisis, and their dependence on us will be small. ”

"That's all?"

Li Xiaogong's heart was weak, and his voice became louder in vain: "That's all, what else can there be, of course that's all!" ”

Li Mu smiled and said, "Why should my uncle hide it from me? In your heart, there is no one who is worried about the high merit? ”

Li Xiaogong's face turned ugly, but Li Mu turned a blind eye, and simply picked it out, and said: "This great defeat of the Turks is an unprecedented victory since the founding of the Tang Dynasty, and Your Majesty's Eastern Expedition has not achieved any results so far. If at this time, take advantage of the victory to pursue and annihilate the Western Turks. Coupled with your previous martial arts, you will compare your majesty to the bottom, and you are worried about pursuing the Turks and winning a big victory, so you can't explain it. ”

Li Mu looked at Li Xiaogong and said, "You are worried that you will not be able to protect yourself!" ”

Li Xiaogong was annoyed and embarrassed, and said, "I'm worried that something is wrong? Li Mu, don't think you're smart! What you can think of, why can't the old man think of it? You're not wrong at all, I'm just worried, what's wrong with my worries? Human nature, I don't want to rebel, I just want to spend my old age in peace, is this wrong? Do you have this idleness, or do you worry about yourself! Your Majesty is the Holy Ming Sovereign, and he can see at a glance whether the credit for this battle is greater than you or me! ”

"I'm not afraid!" Li Mu said indifferently: "If there are too many lice and don't bite, I don't care." ”

"You don't care?" Li Xiaogong laughed angrily: "Okay, if you don't care, then I don't care, let's chase it!" After the first war, Lao Tzu was still happy to be famous in history! ”

"No!" Unexpectedly, Li Mu looked at Li Xiaogong and said, "You can't go." ”

"Huh?" Li Xiaogong was puzzled: "If you don't let me go, who will go, you go?" He smiled: "How many miles to go to Mobei, you kid wants to seal the wolf Juxu, you have to have that ability!" ”

"I'll go." Li Mu ignored Li Xiaogong's ridicule and said, "Your Majesty's will for you is to garrison Dingxiang. And the will given to me is to deal with the enemy who is coming. What's more, the crown prince is in Dingxiang, and you must protect the prince. The pursuit can only be left to me. Uncle, please rest assured, I have been planning for this battle for a long time, and I have already made a plan in mind. Now that the first battle has been won, morale is flourishing, it is the time to drive straight into the long drive and pursue the victory, and furthermore, Tong'e is newly defeated, and now there are only forty or fifty thousand defeated army divisions left, and thousands of miles away from the old nest of Mobei, it is a good time to wipe it out, if this scourge can be removed, Datang will be able to completely dominate the Western Regions in one step, at least within three or five generations, there will be no more disasters in the Western Regions. ”

Li Xiaogong understood that Li Mu wanted to pick up the scourge of 'high merit and cover the master', so that he would be liberated, and even if Li Shimin targeted him, he would not target him. But this is indeed a dead end for Li Mu. If he is defeated, thousands of miles of yellow sand will be the place where his bones are buried, and if he wins, I am afraid that the king who fights again will not be able to tolerate him.

Li Xiaogong sighed: "Why are you doing this? Whether you go or not, it's not good for you, it's best not to go. This battle is not a sure win, it is risky! ”

"No war is a sure victory, but at this time, the victory is far greater than the defeat. Now our army is far superior to the enemy in terms of strength and morale, and the enemy has become a frightened bird, and they themselves now do not believe that they can win, let alone combat effectiveness. If you miss this opportunity, you don't know when the next time will be. ”

"I have made up my mind, you lead 10,000 back to Dingxiang to defend the city, 30,000 cavalry to me, I will take down the head of Tong'e and completely exterminate the Western Turks!"

Li Xiaogong looked at Li Mu and stopped talking. But in the end, he didn't say anything. In his opinion, Li Mu's city strategy is far above him, and he has naturally thought of everything he can think of, and no matter how much he says, it is all nonsense.

"Listen to you, listen to you, you are Shang Shuling, you are a hussar general, and the last general will take the order!"

……

Li Mu led a large army to attack the Western Turks, and every move affected the heart of the Tang Dynasty. Because of the existence of the flying pigeon, the news was transmitted quickly, on the fourth day of the siege of Qiuzi, Chang'an City received the news, and on the seventh day, Li Shimin, who was far away in Liaodong, had also received a secret report from Dongchang Fanzi.

The news of defending Qiuzi City made Li Shimin breathe a long sigh of relief, and at the same time, he looked forward to the twenty Tiger Venerable cannons sent by Li Mu even more. The Tiger Cannon is not a flying pigeon, it can't fly over, it still has to be transported honestly, count the days, and there will be seven or eight days, and it will be about there. Li Shimin sent people to urge him every day, and he couldn't wait to pull the cannon over the next moment and bombard the city wall of Liaodong City, so that he could immediately return to the court and support the war in the northwest.

In order to boost morale and deter Xiaoxiao, Li Tai published the news in Datang Daily. When the people of Chang'an City heard of the victory of the army, they all cheered excitedly. Originally, they were worried that Li Mu was young and would not be able to fight this battle. Now that the news has come back, it can be regarded as a reassuring pill.

And from the most realistic point of view, if Li Mu can't defend himself against the enemy, then after the Turks break through Dingxiang, they will directly attack the city of Chang'an, just like Jieli back then. Now that the emperor and the crown prince are not in the court, and there is no one to make up their minds, the fate of Chang'an City can be imagined. At that time, all the people of the city will suffer......

But fortunately, Hou Ye is Hou Ye, the gods are immortals, and the name is well deserved, and the turtle is guarded, not only to achieve the enemy outside, but also outside the world, there are still hundreds of miles away from Dingxiang, and Chang'an City is even more worry-free.

Before I could be happy enough, an even happier news came back. Li Xiaogong, the king of Hejian County, made a surprise attack and set up an ambush with the Tamu River, and actually blocked most of the Western Turks who wanted to bypass the Tamu River to attack Dingxiang, and gave them a half-crossing attack. Most of the people couldn't understand the word halfway through, but they could understand the results. In this battle, the 150,000 Turkic army annihilated 50,000, captured more than 10,000, and captured countless horses, grain and grass. The Turks were left with only forty or fifty thousand remnants of their defeated army and fled to their lair.

With such a magical plot, no one could have imagined. At the beginning, the people talked a lot, thinking that it was a plan used by the regent Li Tai to calm the people. That's the Turkic cavalry, Datang's biggest opponent, how could it be defeated so easily?

Li Tai didn't believe it either, and sent dozens of pigeons to ask, but the reply he got was that this was the case. Even after counting the results, it was even more exaggerated than the previous report.

The people of Chang'an City are boiling!

God bless the Tang Dynasty, the Turks are still defeated! Don't worry about the safety of Chang'an City, relieve your anger! Lift your breath! Great relief! Li Xiaogong's prestige immediately spread throughout Chang'an City. Many young people don't know about him, and then some people who are a little older start to popularize science for them. When Li Xiaogong was young, how to take Jiangnan, Li Jing used to be his general.

Blowing Li Xiaogong to the point that there is no heaven and no earth, the name of the Tang Dynasty military god was immediately transferred from Li Jing's head to Li Xiaogong's head.

Come to think of it, a few decades ago, Li Jing was still the big soldier under Li Xiaogong's account, how can it be compared?

The people of the capital were extremely happy, and they went to the store to buy wine and meat, ready to celebrate. Many shops even served free meat and wine to celebrate Wangshi's victory. As a result, just after noon that day, the wine and meat in the capital were sold out. On the way home, Fang Xuanling, who sent someone to fight for wine and was ready to have a drink at night, didn't buy a drop of wine.

Not drinking is a trivial matter, but Fang Xuanling is the best at seeing the subtleties, and immediately realized that there seems to be something wrong behind it. He hurriedly ordered someone to get off the sedan chair, personally paid a private visit, and observed the people's feelings.

Fang Xuanling walked on the street, and all he heard was how the king of Hejian County loved soldiers like a son, how he was heroic and good at fighting, how he took the lead, how clever and strategic...... He secretly counted, walked a hundred steps, and heard eighty-one times about the king of Hejian County, and all of them were praiseworthy, and there was not a word of slander!

This made Fang Xuanling's hairs stand on end, and he suddenly thought that the prince was now in Dingxiang. If Li Xiaogong was dissatisfied with what the Emperor and His Majesty had done to him back then, he would blackmail the prince to order the princes...... The world is in turmoil immediately!

"No, enter the palace!" Fang Xuanling was forced to make a decision at this time, turned around and got into the carriage and walked towards the imperial city.

Li Tai is the regent, not the prince, so he doesn't dare to live in the East Palace, so he lives in the palace of his mother, the eldest grandson empress. Every day he receives hundreds of officials, and he is also in this palace, and when he can't make a decision, he asks his mother, and he can suddenly open up.

As soon as he finished answering the hundred officials, Li Taizheng was talking to Empress Changsun, and when he saw Fang Xuanling going and returning, he was puzzled. Before he could speak, he heard Fang Xuanling say: "Oh no, no, something big!" ”

Li Tai respected Fang Xuanling very much, and when he saw this, he hurriedly said: "Don't worry, Fang Xiang, something big has happened, say it slowly!" ”

"Oops!" Fang Xuanling was so anxious that he stomped his feet and told the cause of the incident. After that, Li Tai and Empress Changsun's faces also became a little ugly.

Fang Xuanling sighed and said: "Now the prestige of the King of Hejian County among the people is unparalleled for a while, and the people worship him as a military god!" After a pause, Fang Xuanling said again: "The streets are all talking about how powerful he is, but no one praises Your Majesty!" His Majesty's side has not opened the situation, and if it continues like this, the common people are afraid that they will only know that there is a king of Hejian County, but they don't know that there is an emperor! ”

"Not really." Empress Changsun is a virtuous person in the end, and shook her head and said: "The temperament of the king of Hejian County, this palace thinks that he knows a thing or two. He is not a great rebel, and now he is leading the army to defend the country and kill the enemy on the front line, we can't be so suspicious of him, it will chill the hearts of meritorious soldiers. Speaking in an accentuated tone, as if he was emphasizing to Fang Xuanling, and as if he was emphasizing to himself: "Although it is loud now, the news that has come back also says that there are at least more than 50,000 Turks, in fact, they are equal to the strength of our army. ”

Li Tai also nodded and said, "What the queen mother said is very true, you are too worried." ”

Fang Xuanling was so anxious that he stomped his feet: "How can the old minister be the one who doesn't care about the overall situation." He said in a low voice: "What the queen said is not bad at all, but she thinks about it a little less. Prince! ”

Seeing that the two of them hadn't reacted yet, Fang Xuanling said loudly again: "Li Mu! ”

"Prince? Li Mu? "Empress Eldest Sun was extremely smart, and instantly understood what Fang Xuanling meant. She waved her hand back and asked, "......What do you mean by Fang Xiang?" ”

"Queen, the old man has dealt with the king of Hejian County a lot. The king of Hejian County uses soldiers, and there is only one stable word, if you talk about surprise soldiers, it is not that the old man looks down on him. He doesn't have that ability, this big victory, with treacherous soldiers, must not be the handiwork of the county king. Queen, think about it, who can do this? ”

"You mean...... Li Mu? ”

Fang Xuanling nodded and said, "Think about it again, Li Mu sent troops this time, he could have left the prince in Chang'an, but why did he temporarily change his mind and take the prince away?" Thinking about the causes and consequences, it's scary to think about it! ”

Empress Eldest Sun frowned, and said, "Thinking about it is extremely terrifying, how can you think about it carefully?" Could it be that Fang Xiang suspected that Li Mu took away the prince, it was done on purpose, and there was another purpose? ”