After this banquet, Li Qi stayed overnight at the Luzhou Post House.

That night, he was also cautious to make the pro-army vigilant.

What if this Kong Qing goes home and regrets it!

There was nothing to do this night, and the next day, Kong Qing really wrote to say that he was sick and resigned, and Li Qi went to Kong Qing's house to visit, and after a while, he accepted his resignation half-pushing.

Subsequently, Li Qi ordered Kong Qing to be promoted to Taifu, returned to the dynasty to serve, replaced the Zhaoyi Festival envoy with Xia Luqi, and appointed Yang Hongxin, the inspector of Jinyang, as the assassin of Luzhou.

After receiving the edict, Yuan Xingqin quickly rushed to Luzhou within two days with 2,000 soldiers and horses that had been drawn from the three armies of Jinyang garrison, handed over his duties to Kong Qing, and officially took over the defense of Luzhou.

Li Qi was in Luzhou, and after Yang Hongxin officially assumed his new duties, he prepared to go to Zezhou again after sending Kong Qing to Jinyang.

Although Zezhou nominally belonged to the jurisdiction of the Zhaoyi Army, the current state of Jincheng was occupied by the general Heyang Jiedu envoy Xia Luqi. Although Xia Luqi did not turn his face with Li Siyuan on the surface, he listened to Li Qi's persuasion, moved troops from Mengzhou to Zezhou, and blocked the Taihang Tianjing Pass. Although Li Siyuan was resentful, he didn't have any good ways to deal with him. Charucci has 15,000 troops, and if he raises troops to fight, it will be a big battle.

Li Siyuan learned the lesson of Li Cunmiao's demise, and was mainly gentle and gentle for the festivals in various places, although he did not cause a big mess, in fact, the imperial court's control over the military towns in various places was weaker, and the whole world seemed to have returned to the period of the late Tang Dynasty when the feudal towns were divided.

Not to mention the crown prince who was proclaimed emperor in Jinyang, in addition, Ren Yuan, the envoy of the Yongping Army, Xia Luqi, the envoy of the Heyang Festival, Gao Yuntao, the envoy of the Yanzhou Festival, Li Jiyan, the envoy of the Nanxi Road of the Hanzhong Mountain, Dong Zhang, the envoy of the Dongchuan Festival, Meng Zhixiang, and the envoy of the Yiwu Festival of Dingzhou, all did not listen to the orders of the imperial court at all, and ceded the land and stood on their own.

In addition, Zhu Shouyin, Zhu Shouyin, Wei Bo, Zhao Zaili, Fu Xi, and Gao Jixing, the envoy of Shannan East Road, were nominally obedient to the imperial court, but they all had their own thoughts and could not be trusted.

The territory that Li Siyuan can control is even inferior to the Liang State in the past.

On the second day of the first month of November, Li Qi arrived at Jincheng in Zezhou with 300 guards and cavalry.

Zezhou is known as the Hedong barrier and the gateway of the Three Jin Dynasty, which controls the throat of Taihang Mountain in and out of Jin. Due to its dangerous geographical location, it is highly valued in military affairs and is a battleground for soldiers.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, the Jin and Liang dynasties fought for hegemony, and the two sides fought for control of Zezhou, and there were more than a dozen large and small wars. Occupy the place, advance can be attacked, retreat can be defended, from the Jin land to the south of Zezhou, it is the plain area of a horse and a flat river, and there is no natural danger to defend.

If Li Siyuan wants to attack Jinyang, there are only two ways to go: one is to go north from the river and drive directly to Jinyang. However, this road has the three Yangliang passes on the Bird Mouse Valley Road, all of which are easy to defend and difficult to attack. The other is to cross the Tianjing Pass from Taihang and attack Jinyang from Zelu Shangdang to the north.

It was precisely because Li Qi was fleeing back to Jinyang that he sent his close attendant Zhang Gan to contact Xia Luqi, the envoy of Heyang Jiedu, and as a result, Xia Luqi retreated to Zezhou and defended the Taihang Heavenly Danger, which made Li Siyuan a little helpless, and finally let Li Qi pass the initial critical moment.

When Li Qi arrived in Luzhou, he took all 1,000 pro-troops with him, in order to seize military power and deter and suppress Kong Qing. is also because Kong Qing moved to the town from Liang Guo's general, and there are not many pro-troops in his hands. Most of the more than 3,000 defenders in Luzhou were still the original Jin army, and they preferred the Li family of Jinyang, who had ruled Hedong for decades since the end of the Tang Dynasty.

And Zezhou is different, Xia Luqi has more than 10,000 generals in his hands, most of them are pro-army soldiers, and Li Qi cannot seek to seize his military power, purely to get in touch with his feelings, and simply show his sincerity. So this time, he only brought a small number of escorts and went to Zezhou.

Xia Luqi has been a personal general by Li Cunqing's side for many years, and has been the "White Horse Silver Spear General" Li Jian and his subordinates earlier, until Li Jianhe died, he began to take charge of himself as the commander of the army. He was a famous fierce general during the Five Dynasties, and he and Yuan Xingqin fought inextricably under Youzhou City, and it was difficult to separate. In order to protect the besieged Jin King Li Cunqiao to break through, he once beheaded more than 100 Liang troops, suffered dozens of wounds, and was covered in blood.

Xia Luqi's most famous deed is the capture of the famous general of the Liang State, the "iron spear" Wang Yanzhang under the horse.

Li Qi thinks that he doesn't have any "domineering spirit" in him, so that such a member of the fierce general will bow down and bow down after meeting him, and be willing to be a little brother. People are all animals of interest, and without enough interests, it is impossible for Charucci to destroy his family for his own sake, and risk the punishment of his family to protect himself.

In fact, he was willing to listen to his own persuasion, retreat from Zezhou, and temporarily prevent Li Siyuan's army from entering Zelu, which was already very much in memory of the old feelings of Li Cunxuan.

Xia Luqi's ancestors were actually from the nine tribes of Zhaowu in Central Asia, so they looked very much like today's southern Xinjiang people, with a high nose and deep eyes, and thick and curled hair.

At that time, Li Keyong was sent by the Tang Dynasty to attack Li Jun and Helian Duo, and after the defeat, he fled with only more than 100 ethnic soldiers, and was taken in by the Tatar department, and then fled to Shatuo Moraine (now Balikun area), and recruited the old Shatuo and some of the Zhaowu tribes who moved here from Central Asia, which made a comeback. It was at that time that Xia Luqi's father and son followed Li Keyong, the king of Jin, and moved from Shatuo to Daizhou.

During Zhuang Zong's lifetime, he trusted his pro-army general, so he was stationed in Heyang, Jingbei, and there were more generals under him, with more than 15,000 people, which was a relatively large military town.

After the "Xingjiaomen Change", Xia Luqi's attitude swayed, and finally remembered the old love of Zhuangzong in the past, moved troops from Heyang, and retired to protect Zezhou, which can be regarded as supporting the prince.

Seeing Xia Luqi leading a group of generals out of the city to greet him, Li Qi did not dare to slack off, turned over and dismounted in advance, and walked forward at a faster pace.

"Greetings to the Holy Driver!" When Xia Ruqi saw Li Qi coming, he first hugged his fists in salute.

"Alas, this is not deserved, General Xia followed Taizu in his early years, and was by the side of the first emperor, I often regard him as an uncle, but I should not be a general." Li Qi also returned the salute with a fist, and was polite in his mouth.

"Your Majesty, the ability of the ministers is limited, and I am really ashamed of the first emperor!" As soon as Xia Luqi opened his mouth, he first expressed his attitude, looking guilty, but in fact, with the amount of troops I have now, it is impossible for me to go to Li Siyuan for revenge.

Li Qi didn't care about this, after all, what Xia Ruqi is doing now is already benevolent and righteous, and he can't force him to do more.

"The general's words are serious, and now that it's like this, I already feel it in my heart and will wait for the report." Li Qi arched his hand, and Xia Ruqi also rode out on horseback, and after he asked Li Qi to get on the horse, he also rode on the horse, accompanied him by his side, and entered the city.

The two rode on horseback and walked on the street, and the generals on both sides of the street stood up straight after seeing the honor guard of the Son of Heaven, and took the initiative to salute when the emperor passed by, and the people in Jincheng also watched the excitement from a distance, and occasionally let out a burst of cheers.

Li Qi didn't speak, only waved his hand occasionally, and entered the Zezhou office in silence all the way.