The rain crackled on the roof of the pavilion and fell on the pond in front of you, splashing one after another. The stumps of the pond floated listlessly above the water, and occasionally one or two fish could be seen poking their heads out with their heads wagging their heads, spitting out bubbles, and then diving silently. In summer, this pond must also be a lotus leaf, and the leaves are green and the flowers are very beautiful.

But at this time, there is really nothing to look at, but it just adds a lot of sorrow.

Tengjian's mood is like these remnants and leaves in this pond, and he can't say that he will slowly blow away with the rain and wind with this autumn rain.

The location he is in now was originally a Zhuangzi in the countryside of Pingxiang Zhixian, but now Pingxiang Zhixian has lost his head, and all the wealth he has accumulated in his life has become Tengjian's spoils.

This Zhuangzi is the place where Tengjian was stationed at this time.

It's quiet inside Zhuangzi, but it's lively outside Zhuangzi.

His troops are replenishing their manpower, and the personnel will be recruited from Liu Chen's department first, and of course, some will be recruited from outside to make up for the shortfall.

Tengjian prepared to expand his left army to 1,500 men.

The second-line troops led by Liu Chen are not without combat effectiveness, but Teng Jian doesn't want too much, and it would be good to be able to select some obedient people to add them. The hearts of these people are already ambitious, and the strict restraint of the army is already a kind of shackle for these people, and recruiting these people will not only not strengthen the combat effectiveness of the army, but will become a kind of drag.

The army must not become like bandits, otherwise their combat effectiveness will be seriously affected.

Teng Jian is willing to pick some good family to retrain. Of course, the so-called training now is to replace training with combat, and in this way, the casualties will definitely be higher, but the soldiers trained in this way are also the best to use.

Liu Xinda and Teng Jian have a consensus on this point. Therefore, for things like looting, Liu Xinda will never allow his front-line troops to join. The first-line troops only need to take the money, and the dirty work is tiring, so the second-line troops will do it.

On the opposite side of the pond, in the direction of the gate, several men wearing hats and robes were guided by an officer.

Teng Jian narrowed his eyes, the one sitting at the top, although he couldn't see his face clearly, but this person had obvious characteristics, on the muddy road in the rain, the footprints of a line of deep and shallow footprints were particularly obvious.

After bypassing the pond, all the rest of the people, except for the one in charge, stopped. Only the lame man was left, on crutches, one foot deep and one foot shallow.

He took off his hat and robe, revealing the man's true face.

With an unremarkable face and a disability, such a person walking on the street will generally arouse a lot of sympathy, and perhaps some disgusted people will even tease such a person to satisfy their deformed psychology. However, Teng Jian knew that this person was definitely one of the most terrifying people in the world.

Li Ze is terrible, but no matter what he does, he still seems to be reasonable, even if he wants to kill someone, he will first explain why he wants to kill you before he makes a move. But this cripple in front of you, killing you, doesn't think it will give you any reason, you don't even know when you will lose your head inexplicably, and you won't understand why you died until you die.

Tian Bo, the commander of the Datang Internal Guard.

Now one of the team of the Northern Tang Emperor Li Ze when he first started.

Unlike other people who first followed Li Ze and were already famous all over the world, there are very few people in the outside world who know the name Tian Bo, let alone see his true face.

But Tengjian has seen it.

And it was when Tengjian was at its most embarrassed.

Li Mi shelled Ezhou, captured Ezhou City in one fell swoop, Tengjian's whole army was scattered, in the process of fleeing all the way, he was repeatedly surrounded and intercepted by the Tang army, although he tried his best, he still could not escape in the end.

He was captured alive.

It wasn't until he met Tian Bo that he realized that he had been targeted for a long time. Otherwise, tens of thousands of scattered troops fled in all directions, how could the Tang army accurately bite itself and not let go?

Everything is going according to the plan of the Tang people.

Then, there is no then.

Where else is there any choice for Tengjian?

The families who stayed in Ezhou City were captured by the Tang people and taken to the territory of the Northern Tang Dynasty to hide. In order to hide people's eyes, they even set a fire to the bottom of Tengjian's house in Ezhou City, and threw the corpses of some men, women and children inside to pretend to be Tengjian's family.

"General Teng, this road is mighty! Open the road in the mountains, build bridges in the water, kill the gods when you see the gods, and kill the Buddha when you meet the Buddha! Tian Bo looked at Teng Jian with a smile and said.

Teng Jian smiled bitterly and arched his hand: "Why should the Great Commander laugh at me, the Great Commander came to see me today, I don't know what to order?" ”

Walking over on crutches and sitting on the railing, Tian Bo said: "There are indeed some things to discuss, and then you will fight Zhuzhou and break Xiangtan, and wait until next year, you will go far away, and our footsteps will also stop at this line." The way forward is for yurg. So I'll talk to you first. ”

Teng Jian took a deep breath: "In this way, after passing Xiangtan, there will be no more weapons and ordnance, right?" ”

"There will still be, but there won't be so many. Before you leave Xiangtan, you will get one last ample replenishment! Of course, you have to pay for it. But you're going to have to save a little bit later. Because it's still risky for us to ship things over, we can only supply you on a small scale. ”

"I've traveled thousands of miles, and I don't know if we can get to our destination all the way!" Teng Jian sighed.

"Based on our judgment of your opponent's strength and determination to fight, you should be able to reach your destination." Tian Bo said with a smile. "Do you know what to do when you get there?"

Teng Jian glanced at the other party deeply: "According to your request, I have already suggested that General Liu start to expand the army, start recruiting local mountain bandits or select local young people to join the army, and even prepare to wrap up a large number of young people, among these people, there should be a large number of people arranged by the commander, do you need me to take care of them?" ”

"No, you don't!" Tian Bo did not deny his arrangement, but said directly: "These people will gain a foothold in your team by their own ability, if they can't get up, or die in the process of fighting, it is also fate." You just have to do your own thing, and you don't care about these people. Maybe one day, they will even become your enemies, and you won't have to show mercy to you. ”

"I can't even tell who they are, so how can I show mercy?" Teng Jian said with a wry smile. "I don't think these people will have the obvious characteristics of the Tang Army."

Tian Bo laughed: "This is good, you all do your own thing, and it will be more beneficial to us in the future." ”

"What do I need to do if I can get there?" Tengjian Road.

"Once there, you're complete invaders." Tian Bo said with a smile: "If you want to survive, you have to grab territory, resources, and population with the locals. After arriving at the destination and gaining a firm foothold, you don't need to be tightly tied to Liu Xinda, at this time, you have to have your own territory and a team that you can fully control. ”

Teng Jian said: "Now I also have a team that I can control. ”

Tian Bo pointed to the lively outside and said, "Even if it is an army of more than 1,000 people in front of you, are you sure that it is all your people?" ”

Teng Jian shook his head: "It's okay to get in the way." ”

"When you get there, you have to slowly build up your own power and territory, so that you can compete with Liu Xin and even suppress him." Tian Bodao.

"I'm afraid this is a little difficult, when it comes to wrists, I'm not as far as General Liu." Teng Jian sighed and said.

"It's okay, when you get there, you still rely on strength to speak, and you will always be supplemented by us, even if it is not much, but it will not be broken." Tian Bo said: "Do you understand what I mean? ”

"Constantly encroaching and suppressing local forces. When you have your own territory, there will be more people to help you, establish order, and establish rule. And you, at this time, want to send out the capable people under your command, let them work hard, to establish their own territory, as for these people in the end still listen to you, don't care. ”

"I see."

"One day, we will call, maybe five years, maybe ten years!" Tian Bo said: "I can't say for sure when it is, but Your Majesty said that there can be no strong enemies around the Tang Dynasty, and there can be no people outside the Tang Dynasty, and we must include these territories under our rule." So, we're definitely coming. ”

"I'm looking forward to it. At that time, maybe I can take off this disguise and walk in the sun without hiding my head and tail as an upright person. ”

Tian Bo smiled and said, "I can hear that you still have resentment in your heart." But Tengjian, just like I talked to you for the first time, what you are doing is for all the people of the Tang Dynasty to have a more glorious future, and for the long-term peace and stability of all the people of the Tang Dynasty. You're not that old, you're definitely going to see this day, and when that time comes, you'll be proud of what you've done today. You can tell your children and grandchildren that you, in this life, have no regrets. ”

"I'm a soldier."

"The soldiers of Datang should be happy for the people of Datang to fight for life." Tian Bo raised his head and said: "I don't know how many Tang soldiers, for this point, died silently, these people have been, there are now, and there will be in the future." It will not be that every hero will leave a name, nor will it be that everyone will be praised, admired and remembered by future generations. We are to be content. ”

Teng Jian nodded.

"I'm trying to adjust to my new identity."

"No, no, no, keep your style." Tian Bo said: "You are not our spy, you are our collaborator, a collaborator to liberate the south." Even if you arrive at your destination in the future, our internal guards will not have direct contact with you, and even if you replenish your weapons, it will only be in the form of commerce. You need a dignified identity to lay the groundwork for what lies ahead. ”

"Is that so?" Teng Jian was finally a little moved.

"You are not on the list of our internal guards!" Tian Bo said: "In the report to His Majesty the Emperor, you are also a collaborator. ”

"Thank you, Commander Tian!" Teng Jian finally crossed his hand and saluted the other party.

Tian Bo laughed, took out a stack of papers from his arms, and said: "Here, there are letters written to you by your parents, letters from your wife, and graffiti by your eldest son, although it is not very good-looking, but I think you must want to see your eldest son's work the most, right?" Your little girl is already able to walk on the ground. ”

"Are they alright?"

"Except that they can't disclose their identity, they're all right." Tian Bo said: "We supply them with all their needs according to the identity of the third-rank generals, which is enough for their daily expenses, and there are also five hundred acres of land. Next year, your eldest son will be in school. Maybe one day, your son will come to you to help establish local order. Haha, the days are long, but when they really go, it's very fast. Like my son, in my image, it seems that he has not grown up, but one day, when he suddenly appeared in front of me, I suddenly found that he was an adult, graduated from Wuwei Academy, he came to me and said that he was going to Liaodong, to the most difficult place in Datang! ”

"My son, can he also go to Wuwei Academy in the future?" Teng Jian asked.

"What's not to do, not only your son, but also your daughter!" Tian Bo said with a smile: "But now the best school in our Datang is not just Wuwei Academy, Wuwei Academy has been divided into several academies. If you can be admitted to these colleges, your future prospects are naturally limitless. ”

"Tengjian, your family will always be taken care of, of course, there is no need to hide it from you, they will always be under our supervision, this is a work need, you should understand, right? This monitoring is carried out without them being aware of it. ”

"This is the right reason, someone looks at them, and someone protects them, and I still understand this reason." Tengjian arched his hand.

"You are a reasonable person. I think we may not see each other again for a long time, maybe the person who will sit in this position in the future will no longer be me, but Tengjian, no matter where we go, you have to remember that we are Tang people, and we fight for Datang. Tian Bo said solemnly.

"For all eternity, open peace!" Teng Jian said suddenly.

Tian Bo shook his head and immediately laughed.