Chen Changde got up and bowed, clasped his fists and said: "I can only rush back to the capital in a hurry to return to the capital in this matter, and the Son of Heaven and the Zuo Xiang will know, as for how to decide, it is not up to me to respond." ”

"Tell the left minister." Li Guorui said very tiredly: "The Northern Captives are not afraid, they have no Donghu to follow their peers, they don't dare to go deep into the territory of our Great Wei at all, they leave thousands of people on the border, spread their banners widely, and when they see the Northern Captives, they bombard to strengthen their momentum, and the Northern Captives don't know the truth and don't dare to go deep at all, and they have nothing to fear." Now at a critical juncture, Donghu is the enemy of life and death of my Great Wei, if you hesitate, a hundred years of good opportunities will be fleeting. ”

Chen Changde didn't say much, how to decide, if he could not agree, he could only promise to repeat himself, and then directly said goodbye, did not stop, set off directly, he took two days from Ningyuan to Yuguan, and four days from Yuguan to Jingshi, which was determined according to the normal itinerary of about 100 miles a day. If you change horses at the post station along the way, you can travel 200 miles or even 300 miles a day, and you will arrive at Beijing in two or three days. Then the big man of the Beijing division rushed with four hundred li, and within a day, the reply letter could be sent to the army.

That is to say, within five or six days at most, whether the imperial court will allow Li Guorui's request will be known at that time.

"Will the Son of Heaven and the two governments agree?" Li Youde was straightforward, and said directly: "At the beginning, it was divided into three roads, left, middle and right, recruiting envoys to lead the middle road, Li Taiwei led the left road as the commander of the left army, and Brother Yue led the right road as the right road commander, the imperial court understood that the middle and right roads were the main divisions of the decisive battle, and the left road said that it was to beware of the northern captives, in fact, according to Pingzhou and Yuguan, they were responsible for trapping the rear road of the army. The imperial court handed over half of the soldiers and horses to the envoys, although they sent an observation envoy to the army, and each governor also had an observation all the way, and each compartment also sent an envoy to observe the army, but the power of the whole country was in the hands of Li Shumi alone, how could the Son of Heaven and the two governments be completely assured? ”

Li Youde paused and did not continue.

Very simply, the army led by Li Jian, guarding against the northern captives is only a secondary task, controlling Pingzhou and Yuguan, preventing Li Guorui from winning a big victory, suddenly put on a yellow robe before the battle, and then led the army to occupy the place outside the pass, and directly entered the Beijing division through Yuguan.

At the end of the Tang Dynasty, there were many feudal towns, and there was once a strong feudal envoy who openly declared: "Son of Heaven, the strong soldiers and horses are the ones who do it." ”

Although in general terms, Li Guorui has no prestige as an emperor, and all the nobles, officials, gentry, and people from all walks of life will not be convinced. But to paraphrase the Son of Heaven, those who are strong in soldiers and horses can do it, as long as Li Guorui can give a generous reward to the 300,000 forbidden army, who says that he can't stand firm and really become the founding monarch? Over the years, the Great Wei has been suffering by the Donghu people, the north is ruined, the south is withered, the Son of Heaven is unpopular, many people are watching the sky and looking at the stars, to see if the Great Wei has reached the edge of the country, whether it is the time of change in three hundred years, if Li Guorui really seizes the opportunity, there is no possibility of success.

Li Jian led his troops in Pingzhou and Yuguan, and his more than 60,000 soldiers and horses did not enter Yuguan, because this part of the soldiers and horses had to defend the northern border wall, so as to prevent the northern captives from really taking advantage of the situation to enter the country and cause uncontrollable trouble, and half of the reason was to control the Yuguan Pass in case Li Guorui suddenly turned against him.

If Li Jian led the army into Yuguan and brought it to Song, Tower, and other mountain forts to Ningyuan, although the rear grain road of the army could be guaranteed, the risk of the imperial court would increase.

If Li Guorui defeats the main force of Donghu in one battle, his prestige will be irreparably high.

Even if he doesn't wear a yellow robe and claim the emperor, but after that, he will spread out his troops and horses along the border, control a large area of territory and half of the forbidden army of the Great Wei, just ask the imperial court to provide money and food, and become self-reliant, which will also make the Son of Heaven and the two governments quite a headache.

"If there is doubt about everything, there is nothing to do in the world." Li Guorui smiled bitterly and said: "Although this dynasty did not order the soldiers to send their families to Beijing, but above the army, the families are under control, and my family urinates in Beijing, am I a figure like Hou Jing, for the so-called great cause, I don't care about the lives of my wife and children?" Again, Ben

People have been reading since they were six years old, and they have read all the books of sages, and since ancient times, there has never been a rebellion of scholars. ”

With Li Guorui's status and status, he can directly tell his heart in such straightforward words, and if he cuts out his heart and liver to show it, everyone who listens to his words is moved, and then they are very moved.

And Li Guorui's words are also quite convincing, from recruiting envoys to generals at the level of managing the army, the family furniture is controlled, and the forbidden army has always been at different levels, and the soldiers only know to abide by the military orders of the Privy Council, if Li Guorui really wants to rebel, I am afraid that except for a few generals, there will not be many generals who are really willing to take the risk of exterminating the clan to follow.

Li Guorui didn't say much, opened the big tent of the Chinese army and stared at the situation outside the tent.

The sun was very dim, like a light white disc, the spring was cold, the ice and snow had not melted, and although it was already March, it seemed that spring was still very far away.

From Yuguan to Tashan and Jinzhou, there are 200 miles of plains, which are enough to accommodate hundreds of thousands of people to open up wasteland and cultivate land. Prior to this, this is the buffer zone between the Great Wei and Donghu, neither side is stationed here, there are some Yuguan Dawei people, secretly sneaked out to open up wasteland here, because it is not registered overseas wasteland, and does not need to pay taxes, so even if they risk being killed after being discovered by the Donghu light cavalry, there are still Yuguan people who sneak out to open up the wasteland and farm, over the years, there are not many people who have died under the strong bow of the Donghu cavalry. The Donghu people did not want to cross the Liao River and the Yushui River to Yuguan to build a city, they even put a small number of soldiers and horses in the nearest Yingzhou to maintain the control of the Yingzhou place, but occasionally sent cavalry to Yuguan to reconnoitre, and the Wei people who saw a kind of land would be killed.

Even so, there are still people who risk their lives to secretly come out to farm, because the wasteland that is opened up does not need to pay a penny of taxes, as long as a small amount of money is paid to buy the soldiers guarding the pass, so that they can enter and exit normally.

Every man in the prime of life, can not use cattle and horses and other livestock power, about can open 20 acres of land outside the Yuguan near the water, this is already to the limit of manpower, after all, secretly out of the customs, at most with a sickle, with a handle hoe, without too many tools and animal power to help, about 20 acres is the limit.

Even if you open five acres or ten acres, it is pure profit for the people, because there is no need to pay a penny in taxes. Even if only one stone of grain is collected per acre, ten acres of land is a net income of ten stone of grain, for ordinary people, at least it is more than double the net income, with these secretly opened land, every ordinary person's life is much better, at least for the children to eat, for the wife in the winter to make a warm cotton jacket, to resist the cold, this is enough.

When he heard the people of Yuguan say this, Li Guorui could only be silent, not knowing what to say. Is the government more fierce than the tiger? The court, the government, the taxation, what is the significance of these things to the people? If there is no Son of Heaven and the court, everyone plows and harvests by themselves, small countries and widows, and the voices of chickens and dogs hear each other but do not communicate with each other, is it more beautiful?

But Li Guorui still shook his head and denied his thoughts.

If there is no imperial court, it is still in ancient times, tribes fight endlessly for arable land, pastures, herds, human history is the history of the expansion of the tribe, Yin Shang when people are martyred to the sky, a kill is hundreds of thousands or even thousands of people, not my race, you can even women and children can be tortured and killed, the establishment of the country, the weekly ceremony, respect for heaven and compassion, this is the existence of China, there is a civilization inheritance, after the establishment of the country, can resist foreign races into China to wanton killing, only then can there be roads, post, goods can be circulated, information can be exchanged, Only then can the place be rich and strong, and there will be the Salesian Bureau, the Nursing Home, and the Leaky Garden. Before the Great Wei was not harassed by Donghu and pirates, the country was also strong and the people were rich, and the people were happy, but now that the country has problems, they fantasize that there can be no country, which is the cart before the horse

set.

Li Guorui knew a lot of details from the mouths of the people of Yuguan, and he knew that there would be about half a month when spring would begin here in western Liaoning, when the willow trees on the roadside and on the hillside would pull out green leaves, and when he saw green, it was the time when the spring flowers bloomed in the land of western Liaoning.

But at that time, the ground will also turn from hard to muddy, and the ground will be thawed from morning to noon, and the residual ice, snow and heat will make the ground sparse, even if the Wei army has temporarily built a road to transport grain, although it has been tamped, it will still be in a relatively muddy state.

As for the road to Jinzhou, because it is a mountain road, it will be even more slippery and difficult to walk.

It is not until the end of the month, when the number of sunny days reaches a certain number of days, and the moisture on the ground is dried out and no longer freezes, will it return to its normal state.

Li Guorui has read a lot of history books and knows that in the Qin and Han dynasties, this narrow coastal part of the western Liaoning corridor was still a muddy swamp where boats and cars could not be driven, and the situation that the people of Yuguan said should be true.

Li Guorui's face was worried, if the imperial court has a decision, it must not be delayed any longer, otherwise once the spring warms and melts the ice, the army of more than 200,000 people needs at least 100,000 people to supply in advance, because the mountain road is difficult, at least tens of thousands of people must be mobilized first, and tens of thousands of stone grain will be pushed forward with chicken carts, thinking that it is the grain station of the army in advance.

"How do you think the imperial court will decide?" Yue Zhi, who also wore a purple robe with Li Guorui, walked out, there were many high-ranking officials and dignitaries in the army, but those who were qualified to wear purple robes in the army were now only Li Guorui, the privy deputy envoy, and Yue Zhi, who had the status of a captain, and the rest of the observation envoys, transfer envoys, and military envoys, as well as the generals in charge of the army, that is, the commanders of the Xiangdu, were all wearing red robes.

"The court will allow it." At the beginning of winter, when the cold wind blows, there is a kind of follow-up continuous, continuous cold air to follow, and in spring, although the spring is late here in Liaoxi, but in the cold wind, there is still a kind of vitality, this warmth will soon become gradually obvious, until the weather warms up.

"It would be nice if the imperial court could last another half a year." Yue Zhi's face was resolute and calm, but there was also obvious regret in his eyes. Yue Zhi will not worry about the big war that will happen in the future, this is a strange man born for war. Although he is not as aggressive and violent as Li Youde, he is also a best soldier.

War, even if it is a war of hundreds of thousands of people, is as normal as eating and drinking for a soldier like Yue Zhi, who has been in the army for more than 20 years. Even if he is in danger of dying in battle and worrying about death, pure soldiers will not think too much about themselves before the war, but more from the overall situation to consider the gains and losses, marching and arranging, like a national hand cloth, Yue Zhi is strategically inferior to Li Guorui, but its tactical strengths make up for Li Guorui's shortcomings.

The previous idea and strategy of hoarding grain and troops, confronting the enemy, slowly advancing and encroaching, and building the city in two years was completed by Yue Zhi and Li Guorui.

Such a strategy is too consuming of national strength, but it is almost invincible if it is carried out steadily.

Yue Zhi sighed, but then cheered up again, the court insisted on this, there must be a reason for it, he thought about it, and said: "I'm afraid the situation in the south is not very stable...... Most of the Fujian Luliukou were annihilated, but there were still quite a few elite old battalions who ran to Jiangxi with Li Kaiming, and it was true that the imperial court was a little worried. ”

Yue Zhi said with a slight dissatisfaction: "Although King Qin is a master, he doesn't care too much about the overall situation in the north. Although there are pirates and rogues on Fujian Road, but the war here is related to the life and death of the Great Wei, at this time he proposed to reduce the Fujian tax, it is really regardless of the overall situation, the imperial court issued an edict to reprimand it, I think it is also a matter of course. Even the imperial court is anxious to go to war, and I am afraid that it has something to do with this matter. ”