Chapter 482: To fight or not to fight

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When Li Mao came to the right chamber, it happened to be Zeng Zhen's duty, since he assisted in managing the affairs of the right chamber, Zeng Zhen consciously weakened her identity as a book history, and tried not to see Li Mao as much as possible, her intuition told her that Li Mao was not dead to her, he was like a beast hiding in the shadows and had been coveting her, and what was worse was that her existence had caused the jealousy of a famous vinegar jar, Sugar

Li Mao's sudden arrival made Zeng Zhen feel nervous, especially the dark and calm face made her feel at a loss, and she didn't know what to do. A while ago, Li Mao explained that she was particularly concerned about the movements of Silla, but she analyzed various intelligence and came to the conclusion that Silla was now in a crisis in the country, and it was unlikely that she would have any thoughts about Liaodong, and Li Mao's reminder was probably an excuse to take the opportunity to approach her. She pressed the matter down for the time being, without spending more energy, and without even informing Qin Fengmian and Li Taitai.

But just yesterday, the steward stationed in Silla suddenly sent back a hundred thousand urgent news: Silla was recruiting soldiers on a large scale, distributing grain, grass and ordnance, the northwest border was tightly fortified, foreigners were forbidden to approach, and all trade routes to Xincheng were cut off, and no entry or exit was allowed unless there was a special guard.

Generally speaking, the stewards stationed in various places in the right wing are only responsible for truthfully reporting the news, and do not make judgments, which requires taking risks, but this time the Silla stewards clearly concluded that Silla was very likely to launch a military operation against Liaodong.

Zeng Zhen's intuition also told her that the judgment of the Silla steward was accurate, and that Silla was indeed brewing a big operation, and the target was the fledgling Liaodong.

Li Maolai's right compartment has always been light and simple, and the person in charge can be waiting in the courtyard, and generally does not leave the hospital.

The sun was shining in the courtyard, and Zeng Zhen's skin was creamy, but his face was a little nervous, and his lips were pale. Although Qin Mo is the leader of the right wing, it is Qin, Li, and Zeng who are actually responsible, and this matter is personally assigned by Li Mao, she smashed it up, and she didn't know how to explain it to Li Mao.

Li Mao greeted the staff on duty in the right compartment who was waiting in the courtyard with a kind face, and everyone dispersed, busy with their own work. Zeng Zhen, who was on duty, couldn't leave, she wanted to stay and accompany Li Mao.

Li Mao's face gradually became grim, and he stood for a while in front of the enlarged geographical map of Liaodong on the wall.

These logos are from Li Mao's hand, except for him, only a few core figures in the right compartment can understand it, Zeng is really one of them, but Qin Mo, the nominal leader of the right wing, knows nothing about it.

Zeng Zhen took a deep breath, settled down, and wanted to make a briefing on the latest situation in Silla, as for the future, let's talk about it later, be criticized, punished, and admit it himself.

Zeng Zhen was about to speak, but Li Mao said, "Go to the conference room."

This conference room refers to the common conference room pattern in later generations, with stone walls on all sides, no window, the wall is very thick, there are guards patrolling on the outside to prevent being eavesdropped, there is only one door, the wooden door with copper-clad corners, very thick, and the surface is covered with a layer of leather for sound insulation.

Ishiku and a few guards stayed outside the door, and Ishiku sent mobile sentinels to guard the surroundings to prevent anyone from eavesdropping on the wall. This is a prescribed action, not that the defense strength of the right wing cannot be trusted.

Zeng Zhen pushed open the door and asked Li Mao to go first, she came in and closed the door.

If she had been in the past, she would have taken a step back, her face like frost, a cold face that rejected people thousands of miles away. But today, she was weak in her heart, so she stood where she was and didn't dare to move.

Li Mao gently supported her, leaned sideways to kiss her cheek, Zeng Zhen did not dodge, his face was pale, and he trembled.

Li Mao hesitated for a moment and gave up: "I want to hear about Silla." ”

Pulling out a chair, Li Mao sat down at the conference table, feeling lost. He was very comfortable to sit on this kind of high-backed soft chair made according to his wishes, but according to Qin Mo's reaction, many people in the right compartment were not used to sitting, they were still used to sitting on the ground, or sitting on that kind of hardwood bearded chair.

Zeng Zhen settled down, pulled out a high-backed chair and sat opposite Li Mao, the right compartment was engraved with Li Mao's traces everywhere, and the wide conference table in front of him and the high-backed chair in his hand were one of them.

Li Mao sat on the chair made by Qin Mo in the past, leaning back slightly, looking at the ceiling.

Without looking directly at herself, Zeng Zhen was slightly relieved, she cleared her throat and began to report.

After receiving the Silla emergency report yesterday, she made a summary of all the recent information about Silla, and made three inferences based on it:

First, the target of the Silla conscription was Liaodong.

Second, the Silla State had strong domestic opposition and inadequate preparations, and the intention was to achieve a quick solution.

Third, Xue Qingbao of Liaodong City will become the vanguard of Silla.

Zeng Zhen is quick and agile, articulate and gentle, but he can't help but stumble a little when he reports nervously, and he seems to be lacking in confidence. Counting it, this is the first time she has reported such a big incident to Li Mao alone, and it has a relationship with the overall situation of the war, if there is a miscalculation, this crime is terrible.

After the report, Zeng Zhen had a thin bead of sweat on her forehead, and she quietly wiped her face with a handkerchief while Li Mao was still looking at the ceiling. She is naturally beautiful, her muscles and bones are delicate and creamy, and she never applies powder.

After hesitating for a moment, Zeng Zhen plucked up the courage to say: "It was my negligence that caused today's passivity, and I am the only one who is at fault, and I am willing to accept the punishment." ”

After saying that, Zeng Zhen was much more relaxed, she simply looked at Li Mao generously, waiting for him to decide her fate. At this moment, in addition to respect, fear, and alienation for him, there was a trace of attachment in her heart. She suddenly felt that the man in front of her didn't seem to be so annoying.

Li Mao was still silent, the slightest good feeling that Zeng Zhen had just had was gone, and she only heard her heart pounding, which was the sound of fear.

"This matter should be taken as a warning, after the battle of Songmu Pass, the Khitan forces were expelled from Liaodong, and the Murwei people are not our enemies for the time being, and our enemies are only three: Bohai and Silla. The more prosperous we are, the more fearful the enemy becomes, and they will come and fight us, that is, it is better to fight early than late. ”

Of the three big enemies, Li Mao only said two, and one did not say it, but Zeng Zhen knew it well, he was referring to Zhu Wei in Yingzhou, although Zhu Hu was self-defeating, he was still a courtier of the Tang Dynasty, and Li Mao was inconvenient to say.

Zeng Zhen stood up and said: "Please rest assured, I will definitely keep in mind the lesson and never make similar mistakes again." ”

Li Mao pressed his hand, let Zeng Zhen sit down, and asked lightly: "The things in the right compartment are very complicated, and it is not easy to do, it is already great to be able to do it with patience, your judgment is still accurate, but it is a little inexperienced." The reason, although you have followed me for many years, you have always been estranged from me, of course, this fault is me, I make you insecure from time to time. ”

Zeng Zhen stood up and wanted to explain something, but was stopped by Li Mao: "I admire your talent, intelligence, motivation and ambition, and I also covet your beauty, but I can't force you if you don't want to." When a man gets married, a woman should get married, maybe it will be better if you get married, and it will save someone from coveting you. ”

Zeng Zhen said: "The handsome man is recreated with my kindness, and if he doesn't repay his kindness, how can he be a human being." Zeng is really willing to follow the handsome man for the rest of his life and serve the work of dogs and horses. ”

Li Mao was silent for a long time and said: "I just want to help you, you, alas"

Seeing that Zeng Zhen had reverted to his indifference of rejecting people for thousands of miles, Li Mao was angry and couldn't calm down anymore, so he sighed and walked away. Zeng Zhen opened the door for him first, and stood at the door respectfully.

There was one person at the door who couldn't dodge, so he had to pretend to be surprised and said: "Hey, it turns out that there are people inside, you, you, what are you hiding inside?"

Li Mao punched Qin Mo back with a punch in the chest, and the latter pretended to be injured and coughed as he covered his chest with his hand.

Li Mao came to the right compartment in micro-service, someone reported that Qin Mo, Qin Mo was sleeping, lazily said that he knew, then turned over and continued to sleep, the person who came was about to say goodbye, but he jumped up and asked who was on duty today, and when he learned that it was Zeng Zhen, Qin Mo jumped up, ran over without combing his head and washing his face, and sure enough, he blocked people in the conference room as he wished.

It's a pity that I couldn't eavesdrop, but I was beaten. Qin Mo clutched his chest and followed Li Mao out of the market town. Li Mao said: "If you don't brush your face or wash your teeth, you'll be embarrassed, look at you, the right wing chief."

Qin Mo said: "Whoever wants to take this job, if you can't do it, you will withdraw me, and I will be quiet." ”

"You think beautifully, of course you do such a good thing, don't say that I don't take care of my brother."

"Brother, brother is the one who suffers for the eldest brother."

"Don't complain, didn't you say that there is an important military situation to report to me."

Qin Mo sent the envoy to the Wei Department, and when he came back the day before yesterday, he said that there was a top-secret message to report to Li Mao in person. Li Mao forgave him and couldn't say one, two, three, so he hid and didn't see him.

"Tell me, what have you found out, don't tell me that Sprite is really a woman."

"I guessed wrong, Sprite is a man, but Sprite doesn't like women, and likes others to treat him as a woman."

"Consciously, there is such a thing"

"It's true, he still wants me to pity him."

Li Mao covered his nose and leaned back: "You promised him"

"I'm stupid, how can I agree to such an unreasonable request."

Li Mao smiled: "What kind of discovery is this, you ran away in vain this time." ”

"This kind of news is not top secret, we can use a beautiful man to deal with him in the future, which is better than making a beauty plan."

"How do you say this?"

"Women are watery, and it is inevitable to change their minds after going out for a long time."

"It looks like I was dumped by a woman again, who is it this time"

"Liu Huahua, before leaving, she swore to me that she would marry someone as soon as I left."

"Huahua, I know, you are not worthy of her, she is five years older than you, I asked her to marry."

"You"

"It's useless for you to stare at me, people are already married. Find another one. ”

"You think I don't want to, it's not that it's not suitable, people who have been in the sea, it's so easy to find a desirable one"

"How was it true"

"It's good, it's a pity that the famous flower has a master, I don't have this blessing."

"I'm innocent with her, I admit that I used to think badly about her, but now that it's clear, it's okay."

"Ghost belief is good, I believe it, I believe it. It's just that I married your old love, will my brother still do it in the future?"

"I gave you the opportunity, and you gave it up yourself."

"I knew that you didn't die of a thief, but in fact, you took her in ruthlessly, and the sky couldn't fall."

"Twisted melons are not sweet."

"Twist it down and raise it to be sweet."

Based on the intelligence of all parties, Li Mao concluded that this battle with Silla was inevitable.

To this end, he convened a joint military-political meeting on the No. 1 farm in the suburbs of Dongzhou, which was personally grasped by Li Mao, and had rice, flour, grain, oil, vegetables, poultry, livestock, aquatic products, fruit trees, and flowers.

The core of this farm is a fish pond of more than 40 acres, a green embankment will divide one into one, the embankment is planted with weeping willows, there are lotus, water chestnut near the shore, and there is some artistic conception of the water town in the south of the Yangtze River in summer, but now it is early autumn, the residual lotus and willows, there is no scenery, only a depression of water is left in the vast white.

There is a three-entry courtyard built near the water, the appearance is simple, the interior furnishings are even more simple, Li Mao came here to live for a while every other time, personally went to the field to farm, experienced the difficulty of the crops, and reminded himself at all times.

Early in the morning, Li Mao went to the water to catch a basket of fatty fish, which was being cleaned up by Lan'er and Wu, Zeng Zhen also wanted to help, but was forced back by Lan'er's fierce gaze.

The meeting was held in the hall of the middle hall, Jin Daoan, Zheng Xiaozhang, Wen Cheng, Zhao Guangliang, Xie Biao, Su Pimao, Chang Mucang, Qin Mo four system eight directors were all present, Zeng Zhen was responsible for the meeting minutes.

"Silla claimed to inherit the mantle of Goguryeo and had sovereignty over Liaodong, and took advantage of the decline of the Tang Dynasty and the difficulty of separating the local tyrants and powers, and sent a large number of spies to Liaodong to collect all kinds of intelligence extensively, and made full preparations for the capture of Liaodong. It is only because of the containment of the Bohai State that it has not been able to achieve its wish. Since they played the banner of Liaodong's economic envoy, they felt that if they waited any longer, Liaodong would return to the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and it had nothing to do with him, the legitimate successor of Goguryeo, so they decided to take a risk. ”

Li Mao's opening remarks set the tone for this meeting, Silla is planning to invade Liaodong, this point is not to be discussed, the following is the question of how to deal with it.

"In order to start a war with our Liaodong, they made certain concessions to the Bohai State, relinquished the land of the Bohai Jiangnan Prefecture that they had invaded, and married the prince and princess to the Bohai King, which eased the tension on the border and freed them up to transfer a large number of troops from the south to the northwest.

"On the side of the Balhae Kingdom, they also hope that Silla will have a conflict with me, if Silla offends the Tang Dynasty because of this, they will form an alliance with the Tang Dynasty and occupy the moral high ground, even if the Silla State occupies Liaodong and faces pressure from the east and west, they can only make peace with them and give up some of the benefits they have in hand, then they can surrender the army without a fight and take advantage of it for nothing.

"If Silla is unfortunately defeated by us, then they will immediately raise the banner of hanging the people and attack Silla, and help Li Mao to attack Silla in the east, and take the opportunity to occupy the land and population they want."

Qin Mo's briefing materials were prepared for him by Zeng Zhen, and he spent a night getting acquainted with them, and now he is talking about the Tao, which makes those who don't know the truth impressed.

Qin Mo took a sip of tea loudly after finishing the briefing, and threw a gentle glance at Zeng Zhen, who just smiled reservedly and continued to make her records.

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