Yang Liu Beicheng, the camp of the Jin army.

Li Cunmiao, the king of Jin, handed over the battle situation in Nancheng to Li Zhou, Zhu Shouyin, Shi Jingjiao and others, and now he has returned to Beicheng.

These days, the war on land has been in a state of stalemate, although the Jin army has few troops, but the combat power is strong, and there is a strong city as a backing, they continue to go out of the city to challenge the Wu army under the leadership of Shi Jingjiao and other generals.

Although not all of these battles were victorious, the continuous attacks greatly boosted morale and made the Jin army full of optimism about the battle situation.

Of course, such frequent battles also caused a lot of casualties, but thanks to the existence of the pontoon bridge, those wounded soldiers could be sent back to Hebei in time to recuperate, and at the same time, new soldiers were transferred as supplements, so that the defenders of Nancheng were always in the strongest state.

On the other hand, on the Wu army's side, after these days of fighting, it seems that they have to take a break because of heavy casualties, so there is no action in the past two days.

Everything seems to be proceeding according to the Jin army's plan: use Yang Liu Nancheng to consume the enemy army, and when the enemy army is exhausted, then concentrate forces to launch a counterattack and break the enemy army in one fell swoop.

Tapping lightly on the table, Li Cunqiao reflected on the battle situation in the past two days, and carefully thought about whether there was anything missing.

At this time, his personal eunuch Jiao Yanbin came in and said softly with a worried face: "King, I just got the news that the Yicheng Festival Envoy has been driven back. ”

"Kicked back? What do you mean? Li Cunxuan paused for a moment, frowned and asked.

Before Li Sizhao was killed in battle, Li Cunqiao ordered Li Sizhao's sons to escort the coffin back to Jinyang and bury him there.

However, Li Jineng, the son of Li Sizhao, refused to accept the order to return to Jinyang, and instead led thousands of personal soldiers left by his father to escort them back to Luzhou from the military camp.

When Li Cunmiao learned the news, he was immediately furious.

It was originally planned to send Li Sizhao's coffin to Jinyang for a grand funeral, but now Li Jineng and others will actually disobey the order, which is also a recent headache for Li Cunqing.

If it had been in peacetime, or if ordinary people dared to disobey orders in this way, he would have ordered him to be put to death a long time ago, but now that it is wartime, he has no extra energy to have headaches about these things; Second, Li Sizhao has made a lot of contributions after all, he can't kill his son before his bones are cold, right? For the sake of Li Sizhao's face, Li Cunqiao could only let go of this matter lightly.

Therefore, he sent his younger brother of the same mother, Yicheng Jiedu, to make Li Cunwu ride a horse and quickly catch up with Li Jineng, and persuade him to escort the mourner to Jinyang.

"The king, after the Yicheng Jiedu envoy saw Li Jineng, he persuaded him to protect the funeral to Jinyang, but he was still refused."

"Still rejected?" Li Cunmiao's face suddenly became difficult to look at.

Jiao Yanbin's face was full of worry, he glanced at Li Cunqiao cautiously, and then said: "Not only did he refuse to return to Jinyang, but Li Jineng and others also wanted to kill the envoy of Yichengjie, but fortunately he escaped quickly, so he saved his life." ”

"Presumptuous!" Li Cunmiao was furious, slapped the table hard, and said, "Is there still loneliness in the eyes of him Li Jineng and others?" Is this trying to rebel? ”

Although Li Cunwu has no ability, he only hangs the false title of a righteous and temperate envoy, and he is basically idle, but in any case, he is also Li Cunmiao's half-brother, if Li Cunmiao ascends the throne in the future, Li Cunwu will have to be crowned king.

In addition, Li Cunwu was specially sent by Li Cunmiao, which represents Li Cunmiao's face, Li Jineng and others even killed Li Cunwu, what is the difference between this and rebellion?

Of course, Li Cunwu also knew that it was impossible for Li Jinneng and others to kill Li Cunwu for no reason, there must be other reasons for this, but even if there were many reasons, Li Cunwu was the face of the King of Jin, and killing him would be tantamount to rebellion.

On the side, Jiao Yanbin was already so frightened that he was sweating, and he only knew that he kept persuading: "The king is angry!" ”

After a while, Li Cunmiao gradually calmed down, sat down again, and said, "Where is their team now?" Can you catch up if you send someone now? ”

"Your Majesty, their troops are marching fast, they have already passed the Jingcheng Pass a few days ago, and now they may have arrived in Liaozhou. If you send someone now, I'm afraid it's too late. Moreover, the king, looking at Li Jineng's attitude, it is obvious that their brothers have already made up their minds to return to Luzhou for burial, even if the king sends someone to persuade them. Jiao Yanbin replied.

"Well, let Gu think about it." Li Cunqiao nodded.

Although he was annoyed in his heart, he also knew that he was powerless to deal with Li Jineng now, the war in Zhenzhou had dragged down too much energy of the Jin army, Li Cunxian on the Weizhou side had not made progress for a long time, and the victory on Yang Liu Nancheng's side was even more far away, and the Jin State really had no extra strength to deal with others; Even in order to stabilize the rear, perhaps he has to take some measures to win over and appease Li Sizhao's sons.

Li Sizhao has a total of seven sons: Li Jiyu, Li Jitao, Li Jida, Li Jizhong, Li Jineng, Li Jixi, and Li Jiyuan.

Among them, the eldest son, Li Jiyu, is the assassin of Zezhou, and according to the system, he should take over his father's title.

However, Li Jiyan's character is relatively weak, and he has no prestige among the seven brothers, but his second brother Li Jitao has a cunning and resourceful personality, and he is more majestic among the brothers, and the army generals in Zhaoyi Town obey his orders.

As for Li Jineng, this person's personality is a little naïve, and if he doesn't sound good, he is a dumbfounder.

"Maybe it should be Li Jitao who is secretly making ghosts, as for Li Jineng to kill Li Cunwu, it should be Li Cunwu who accidentally said something that collided with Li Jineng and angered him, so he wanted to kill people...... Li Cunqiao thought in his heart.

Why did Li Jitao have to get Li Sizhao back to Luzhou for burial? In fact, the reason is very simple, that is, to inherit the position of the envoy of the Zhaoyi Festival.

It is not uncommon for the father and son to succeed in the late Tang Dynasty, but if you want the father and son to succeed, after all, you still need to be officially recognized by the imperial court.

In the Jin Kingdom, although the system of festival envoys is still very "popular", the control of the imperial court over the local festival envoys is much stronger than that of the Tang Dynasty, and there are not many phenomena of father and son succession, and it can even be said that there is none.

Under normal circumstances, after Li Sizhao's death, his son would inherit the position of assassin at most, and then slowly establish military merits, and gradually improve in the future, and it is impossible to directly inherit the throne of Jiedu.

What's more, Li Jitao is not the eldest son, only the second son, and it is even more impossible to inherit the power of the Jiedu envoy.

Normal means are impossible, so Li Jitao can only use extraordinary means to force the court to agree.

And to force the court to promise him to inherit the power, the most important thing is to have military power in his hands.

Among the military power under the command of the Zhaoyi Jiedu envoy, the most critical army is the tooth army, that is, the pro-army that escorted Li Sizhao's coffin.

In other words, if this army escorted Li Sizhao's coffin to Jinyang, then this army would be controlled by the imperial court, and Li Jitao would not be able to hold power in the future; If this army returns to Luzhou and has the support of the army, Li Jitao will have hope of inheriting power.

This is the reason why Li Jineng did not hesitate to disobey the order of King Jin to escort the coffin back to Luzhou, and it is also an important reason why Li Cunqiao insisted on burying Li Sizhao in Jinyang.

It's a pity that now it seems that Li Jitao's goal has obviously succeeded, and the pro-army escorting the coffin is about to return to Luzhou, and the situation is irreparable.

Thinking that there might be problems in Zhaoyi Town in the future, Li Cunqiao had even more headaches.

"My lord, what should you do now about this matter?" Seeing that he didn't answer for a long time, Jiao Yanbin asked carefully.

"What else? Since they want to be buried in Luzhou, let them go, lonely and not unsympathetic! Li Cun said.

This sentence can also be regarded as a conclusion to the matter, in order to calm the matter for a while; As for what will happen in the future, it is not for him to manage now.

Next, after dealing with some official business, Li Cunmiao felt a little tired, so he took a rest in the barracks to recuperate, and ordered Jiao Yanbin to guard outside, and not to disturb him if there was nothing important.

These days, whether it is the war between all sides, or the funeral of Li Sizhao, or the news from Jinyang about Zhang Chengye's critical illness, etc., none of the news is very good, which makes him feel deeply tired.

After a while, he fell into a deep sleep.

However, only half an hour later, he was woken up.

"King, something is wrong!" This time, Jiao Yanbin's expression was even more ugly than before, and the panic on his face couldn't be hidden.

Li Cunmiao was taken aback by his face, and hurriedly asked, "What happened?" Could it be that the battle was lost? Or did the Khitans invade again? ”

"Our pontoon bridge was burned down by the enemy!"

"What pontoon bridge was burned? How is this possible? How did the enemy manage it? Li Cunmiao was taken aback, and his expression became a little flustered.

No one knows the importance of the pontoon bridge better than Li Cunmiao, and tens of thousands of troops in Henan rely on this pontoon bridge to maintain contact and support at any time.

If the pontoon bridge had been burned down by the enemy, he could not have imagined what would happen next.

"My lord, not long ago, the enemy attacked our pontoon bridge with small boats carrying soldiers, and our soldiers returned fire with bows and arrows on the pontoon bridge. Everything was fine, but then a long flame suddenly erupted from the enemy's boat, which set the pontoon bridge on fire at once, and our troops suffered heavy casualties, and the pontoon bridge was completely destroyed. Jiao Yanbin said with a sad face.

"Jet flames? What is this? Could it be a ghost? Also, the pontoon bridge is on the water, since it is lit, why not take water to fight the fire? Li Cunmiao barely calmed down and asked.

At this time, Li Shaorong, who was standing aside and looked equally flustered, said: "King, of course our army took water to put out the fire, but the more water was poured on it, the more the fire burned more violently. ”

"Fierce Fire Oil!?" Li Cunmiao suddenly came to his senses.

"Yes, at first our army didn't know what the enemy was using, and only later did I understand that it was fierce fire oil, but it was too late, and the pontoon bridge was finished!"

Li Cunmiao's face was pale, he patted his forehead lightly, and said eagerly: "The pontoon bridge has been destroyed, is it still possible for us to repair it?" ”

"My lord, the fire is very strong, and it has not been extinguished until now, and if the king goes to see it now, he can still see it. With such a big fire, the last general is afraid that there will be nothing left. ”

"And how much time will it take to rebuild a pontoon bridge?"

"My lord, it takes a lot of small boats to build a pontoon bridge, but we don't have time to collect so many boats at this time! Moreover, the enemy also has small boats, and under the attack of the enemy, it is impossible to build a new pontoon bridge. Li Shaorong said hurriedly.

What is called a misfortune is not a single line, this is a misfortune that is not a single line.

Just now, Li Jineng disobeyed the order and sent Li Sizhao's coffin back to Luzhou for burial, laying a hidden danger for the future; The pontoon bridge was destroyed again, which directly affected the success or failure of the battle.

Without pontoon bridges, it is difficult to ensure the operation of tens of thousands of troops by relying only on small boats to transport troops, money, food and materials; What's more, the enemy's naval army could not let them transport troops in small boats, and they would definitely try to completely block the Yellow River.

As long as the Yellow River is completely blocked, then the tens of thousands of troops located in Henan will become meat on the chopping block and will be wiped out sooner or later.

"King, why don't we just give up Nancheng, use the remaining boats to transport Nancheng's army back to Hebei overnight, and then send someone to negotiate peace with Wu and exchange Yunzhou for Weizhou?" Jiao Yanbin saw Li Cunmiao's ugly expression, and immediately proposed.

"Yunzhou for Weizhou? Do you think King Wu would agree to such a condition now? Li Cunqiao sneered.

If the outcome of the two sides was uncertain and no one was absolutely sure of victory, perhaps Yang Wu, the king of Wu, would exchange Yunzhou for Weizhou; But now that the pontoon bridge has been destroyed, the victory or defeat of the war has been seriously tilted in favor of the Wu army, and in this case, unless Yang Wu is stupid, it is impossible for him to agree to exchange Yunzhou for Weizhou.

"So what now?" Jiao Yanbin said with a sad face.

Li Cunmiao didn't answer, and he had completely calmed down at this time.

He knows that now that the situation is at its most dangerous, he must think carefully and make the most correct decision; But at the same time, he couldn't delay for too long, otherwise when the Wu army completely blocked the Yellow River, he would not have a chance to take measures even if he wanted to.

"Give up Yang Liu Nancheng and withdraw troops overnight?" As soon as this idea arose, it was vetoed by Li Cunqiao.

If the troops are withdrawn now, they can only use small boats to transport troops, and the speed is to death, and they will have to wait until all the tens of thousands of troops in Henan are transported back to Hebei, and I don't know how long it will take.

Moreover, once the troops are withdrawn, the morale of the army will be unstable, and the enemy army will not be able to sit back and watch them retreat, if they launch a fierce attack when they are halfway behind, a major rout will be inevitable.

What's more, the defenders of Yang Liu Nancheng still have hope of retreating to Hebei, but what about Yunzhou? Could the 5,000 elite soldiers in Yunzhou City just give up? There are also famous generals like Li Siyuan, do you ignore them? At least this kind of thing Li Cunqiao can't do.

"Since you can't give up, the only way is to ......"

War!