In the cold and snow, cooking a pot of thick and fresh mutton rouge soup and grasping two pieces of mutton fat scones is the supreme enjoyment in yùmenguan.

After a day in the large military camp outside the city, Qin Mubai and Xue Rengui were hungry, so they ate their fills first, regardless of the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner. Later, when the two of them arrived in the kitchen, they couldn't help but smile. It is said that it is difficult to drink without rice, and the so-called Chinese New Year's Eve rice, that is, pancakes and lamb rouge soup, is just a few more urns of nai wine.

However, Chen Yan prepared these things very much, at least enough for twenty people to eat. Qin Mubai asked curiously, who did she invite, Chen Yan just laughed at first, and then couldn't help but ask repeatedly, before answering: "People have come thousands of miles to help you, shouldn't you please have a Chinese New Year's Eve dinner?" ”

"Oh, please the Turkic and Hui generals, it should be, it should be." Qin Mubai nodded and chattered a few words, and walked out of the kitchen.

Chen Yan shook her head and smiled, "Pretend!" ”

Xue Rengui was also laughing when he heard their conversation, and said, "Mu Bai, I want to tell you something. ”

"I know what you're trying to say, the matter of the blood lotus, right?" Qin Mubai grinned, sat down next to Xue Rengui and drank a few sips of hot soup, smacking his lips and said, "Actually, these days, I have also been thinking about how to deal with this little girl." ”

"Deal with?" Xue Rengui was stunned, "She's not an enemy." ”

"Not an enemy, but more difficult than an enemy." Qin Mubai twisted his brows and said, "Actually, I understand Blood Lotus's intentions, and after my observation, I have a slight understanding of her personality, she is a very upright and simple girl, with a different kind of wild charm, which is enough to attract any man." From the perspective of men and women, no man would refuse such a woman. But from the perspective of the big picture, I have to think more about the consequences. ”

"What consequences?" Xue Rengui asked blankly, "Although Blood Lotus is a grassland nobleman, the Ashina family has long since declined, and she only has a little bit of noble bloodline in the eyes of the grassland people, and there is nothing special about it. She and her sister are recognized as great beauties on the prairie, and there is no man who does not want to pursue them. But they have never been in love. Although Blood Lotus is very strong in martial arts and can bend her bow and charge into battle like a man, she is actually an ignorant and young girl. Otherwise, how could they not even see your face, and admire you so much just by some rumors? ”

"You're not wrong at all. I think that at the beginning, Princess Wencheng was just like her. Women are born for feelings, and girls who are just beginning to fall in love are more blind and fanatical in their pursuit of love. This may seem unreasonable to us, but in their hearts, it is a matter of course that they do not regret. Qin Mubai sighed and said, "As I said, I don't know much about the Blood Lotus, so I can't talk about good feelings or disgust. The reason why I snubbed her was also because I had no choice. ”

"As a last resort? The reason? Xue Rengui asked.

"Politics." After Qin Mubai spit out these two words, he took a few sips of soup and was silent for a long time.

Xue Rengui secretly pondered and seemed to have an understanding, but he still didn't think it through, so he waited for Qin Mubai's next words.

"Rengui, think carefully about your experiences on the grassland." Qin Mubai reminded, "When you arrive at the grassland, the Ashina clan has been wiped out by Xue Yantuo, right?" ”

"Yes." Xue Rengui nodded, "Xue Yantuo led Yi Nan, his ambitions were uncontrollable, and he tried to unify the grasslands and establish a khanate. The first one to be eliminated was the aristocratic Ashina tribe of the old Turkic Khanate. Blood Lotus's parents and clansmen were all killed, and the Ashina family was almost cut down. And the Blood Lotus sisters survived because they went out to visit their uncle. ”

"Their uncle is the Hui Da Ling, right?" Qin Mubai said.

"Yes."

"Later, in the battle of Erhun He, you defeated Xue Yantuo and almost beheaded Zhenzhu Khan Yinan in front of the battle. Immediately afterwards, Li Tao led the Tang Dynasty to arrive and began the battle against Xue Yanyi. When Qin Mubai said this, he paused and said, "At that time, the Hui Leader Tumídu, pulled up the banner of the Blood Lotus Sisters, the descendants of the Ashina family, and in the name of the Tang Dynasty, gathered the nine Tiele tribes to form a coalition to conquer Xue Yantuo together. It was at that time that you were elected commander of the coalition forces and married the sister of Blood Lotus, Xiyan. Is that right? ”

"Exactly. The main marriage is still Li Tao. Xue Rengui said.

Qin Mubai smiled and said, "Regardless of whether the Blood Lotus sisters are really emotional, they were used by her uncle like this. This Hui Da Ling Tu mí degree, ambition is not under Yi Nan. ”

"Oh?" Xue Rengui was slightly taken aback, "How come?" I see that he is frank and enthusiastic, and he is loyal to the Tang Dynasty as the country of the suzerain, so I agreed to work with him to fight against Xue Yantuo. ”

"You did nothing wrong, and in that environment, you had to join forces against the enemy. At that time, Tumídu must have been sincere in his alliance, because his desire to survive was even more urgent than yours. Qin Mubai twisted his brows and said, "However, people's expectations will continue to expand and upgrade. When seeing the grassland overlord Xue Yantuo being knocked down, the leaders of each grassland tribe will be thinking about a question - who will be the next grassland overlord? Do you dare to say that Tu mídu does not think about such a question? Will he run out of ideas? ”

Xue Rengui nodded lightly with deep eyebrows, and said, "Not bad...... At first, Tumídu was not very enthusiastic about me, because we were just a defeated army on the run. Later, after the first battle of the Erhun River, his attitude immediately changed, and he very actively began to gather the steppe tribes to form a coalition army. Although I was elected as the commander of the coalition army at that time, after all, all the tribes were summoned by him, so in fact, Xue was just a pioneer in front of the formation, and the real person in charge behind the scenes was Tumídu. ”

"Yes, this person is scheming, and anyone dares to take advantage of it." Qin Mubai smiled and said, "Do you think he was really so generous and gave 40,000 elite iron horses as a dowry?" To put it bluntly, he is making a bloody effort to buy you and me. Like a businessman, he makes an 'upfront investment' in order to make a huge profit. Now Li Tao is fighting to destroy Yi Nan, and it is a matter of time before he uses his ability to clean up the stormy Xue Yantuo. Once Xue Yantuo is exterminated, the new overlord tribe on the grassland will definitely rise up. There is no doubt that this title of overlord will fall on the heads of the Hui tribes, who have the strongest forces and have made great achievements in counterinsurgency. And Tumí will also be trusted and rewarded by the imperial court, and become the new uncrowned king of the grassland. Who can say that in a few years and ten years, he will not become a second Jieli or a man? ”

"That's true...... On the current Mobei grassland, the tribes of Daxiao have been wiped out or annexed by Xue Yantuo, and there is still some strength left for the Hui tribe to compete with. Xue Rengui said, "Once Xue Yantuo is destroyed, the Hui family is dominant—but I'm strange, there are lessons from the Xue Yantuo clan and Yi Nan, and the Hui people and Tu Mí still dare to have ambitions?" ”

"Huh!" Qin Mubai smiled and said, "Ambition and hope are beyond the control of people themselves. If you want to talk about the lessons of the past, didn't Yi Nan have it before? A few years ago, didn't Duke Wei just destroy the Turkic Khanate and capture Jieli Khan? ”

"It's ......" Xue Rengui sighed, nodded and said, "As you said, this spitting is indeed scheming and ambitious. He sent two nieces and 40,000 cavalry in order to make allies in the Tang Dynasty and expect a big return in the future. Maybe one day he will follow Yi Nan's example and call him sweat, and you and I will be quite passive. ”

"It's just passive, it's self-sufficient." Qin Mubai smiled meaningfully, "I'm afraid that he will be like Li You, the king of Qi who rebelled a few years ago, openly claiming that you and I are his allies - you see, we not only married his niece, but also received his soldiers and horses, this is all evidence!" Or, when the Tibetan people know about these things, they fanned the flames and spread rumors, and we really jumped into the Yellow River and couldn't wash it away. It's okay for you and me to die unjustly, I'm afraid that it will affect the military plan at that time, and it will be very bad! ”

Xue Rengui's face changed, "Then I'll write a letter of resignation immediately, and I'll take a leave of absence!" - What is the problem of a husband without a wife, although Xiyan is a good woman who treats me with deep affection, but I am not greedy for the overall situation! ”

"Rengui doesn't need to be nervous, I can't let you divorce your wife." Qin Mubai patted Xue Rengui's shoulder with a smile and said, "The rivers and mountains are picturesque, and the beauties are like yù, what man doesn't like it?" Who says you can't have both? I have a way! ”

"Oh, Mu Bai has a plan?" Xue Rengui said with a smile, "No wonder I see that you have always been successful, and you are calm and relaxed when facing the blood lotus's Ren xìng!" ”

"Actually, it's not a clever idea, it's just a bad idea at best." Qin Mubai raised a finger and smiled mysteriously, "One word-drag!" ”

"Drag?"

"yes, hold her back." Qin Mubai smiled, "It's neither rusty nor hot; Neither promise nor refuse. No need to worry that she will go away in a bad mood, absolutely impossible! First, a woman like her who is strong and persevering, the more she can't get it, the more she will hollow out her mind to get it. On the contrary, if you let her get it easily, she may lose interest quickly; Second, among the Hui generals who accompanied her, there must be a few of them who were confidants of Tu Mídu, and they would always stick to her the concept of Tu Mí - therefore, no matter what, Blood Lotus would always follow me, even if I punched and kicked, she would not go back! ”

"Huh!" Xue Rengui smiled dumbly, shook his head and sighed, "No wonder Su Dingfang said that you are 'amazing', it turns out that you have already thought through it inside and out, and you have also seen through other girls!" ”

Qin Mubai also smiled so hard that his eyes narrowed, and said softly: "Actually, which man would think that there are more women around him?" Ashina Blood Lotus is really a foreign Qiba, an alternative demon with a different charm. As long as it's a man who sees her, he doesn't covet it and doesn't like it, it's a lie! However, a woman like her who is wild and has a complex background is not something that ordinary men can afford to mess with. This chiba has a poisonous and piercing thorn on its body. ”

Xue Rengui smiled, "In this world, is there a girl who is more difficult to mess with than Princess Gaoyang?" ”

Qin Mubai laughed, and immediately lowered his voice again for fear that Chen Yan would hear it, and said, "Actually, I can see that she, a young girl who has just fallen in love, is sincere to me, and I don't have crooked intentions to deceive or play with her." Love debts are the most difficult to pay, and I don't want to be a negative man. Therefore, I have to think of a foolproof plan to let Natu lose his wife and fold his soldiers! ”

"It's up to you." Xue Rengui said with a smile, "This kind of thing, I just want to break my head." But you are doing it. ”

"In fact, I already have a preliminary idea in my heart, not only to solve the problem of the blood lotus, but also to solve the problem of long-term peace and stability in the Mobei grassland." Qin Mubai furrowed his brows and said, "I just wiped out the Turkic Khanate a few years ago, and this is immediately another rebellion. It seems that my Datang Dynasty set up a garrison of the Governor's Mansion in the country under Fan, so that the Hu people's self-made 'Jingbian Huairou' policy will not work. Not only does my Datang spend a lot of money and food every year to feed the garrison, but it won't take many years for them to resurrect. ”

"This is related to my national policy of the Tang Dynasty......" Xue Rengui couldn't help but be stunned.

"Yes! Such a major matter is not something that I, a frontier commander, can decide. Therefore, I have to hold the blood lotus first, at least wait until I take her back to Chang'an and see the emperor. Qin Mubai paused, took a sip of hot soup, and said with a smile, "That's not only the Tang Emperor, but also my old Taishan!" I want to take a concubine, always say hello to the old man with him, and give him some face, right? ”

"Haha, that's!"