"Why did the general say that?" Li Xuanba was shocked when he heard this, and he was puzzled: "Although Xuanba is occasionally willful and runs back to Luoyang, it has never affected the general's deployment!" ”

Zhang Xutuo shook his head, stroked the cold wall tiles with both hands, and said in a deep voice: "I asked you to leave Xingyang, not to drive you. After a pause, he continued: "The Wagang thieves are growing stronger and stronger, and Xingyang is afraid that he will not be able to hold it soon. ”

Just let the Wagang thieves return in vain, the people in Xingyang County were jubilant, Li Xuanba really couldn't understand why Zhang Xutuo said such depressing words at this moment.

Because he couldn't figure it out, Li Xuanba didn't know how to answer.

"Ben is already old." Zhang Xutuo was still staring at the night, and sighed faintly: "You and Shixin are still young, as long as you live, there is still hope for the imperial court, and there is still a future for the Great Sui." ”

"There are still hundreds of thousands of heroes in the imperial court, as long as Your Majesty returns to Beijing, what is the difficulty in pacifying the world?" Li Xuanba tried his best to save Zhang Xutuo from death, how could he be willing to see him lose his fighting spirit?

Zhang Xutuo smiled dismally and said, "The general trend has gone, why should we deceive ourselves? The traitors are inexhaustible, and His Majesty reuses traitors, how can the Great Sui see the light? ”

"Your Majesty has lofty ambitions and grand plans, how can he really be as mediocre as the people of the world think?" Li Xuanba saw that the soldiers around him were standing far away, and said in a low voice: "Now these traitors seem to be huge, but most of them are ordinary people who are alive and well, and the reason why Your Majesty ignores them is because he has other plans." ”

"Lure the snake out of the hole?" Zhang Xutuo said quietly: "If it is a group of poisonous snakes that are drawn out, how should Your Majesty face it?" ”

"It turns out that the general knows everything." Li Xuanba smiled bitterly and said, "In that case, why didn't the general persuade Your Majesty?" Looking at the court, the only one who can be qualified to convince His Majesty is you, the general. ”

"If this will be played, Xuanba, do you think Your Majesty should listen to it?" Zhang Xutuo asked rhetorically.

Li Xuanba pondered for a moment and understood.

Yang Guang has already made up his mind to try to eliminate the traitors hiding in the shadows, no matter how Zhang Xutuo persuades, it is impossible to change Yang Guang's mind, otherwise the deaths of Wang Airen, Cui Minxiang and others will become meaningless. Of course, Zhang Xutuo can also risk death to face the saint, but this will only make Yang Guang in a dilemma, and it is even possible to remove Zhang Xutuo's official position and continue to pretend to be unconscious.

How many generals are there in the Great Sui today who are really capable of fighting? Zhang Xutuo was grateful for the emperor's grace and devoted himself to serving the court, so he could only accompany Yang Guang to gamble at this time.

"The general is willing to follow His Majesty, how do you know if I am willing to wait?" Li Xuanba said very calmly: "The traitors claim that the officials are forcing the people to rebel, these words can only deceive the ordinary people, Xuanba only knows that the army of the imperial court is protecting the people of the Great Sui, and these traitors are plundering everywhere like locusts. ”

Zhang Xutuo nodded appreciatively, looked back and said: "You understand this truth, but the people can't understand it, in order to survive, they can only rely on the local magnates, and good and evil have lost their meaning to them." ”

"Xuanba doesn't think so." Li Xuanba was a cut shorter than Zhang Xutuo, he raised his head slightly, looked directly into Zhang Xutuo's eyes, and said: "Wherever the general goes, the people welcome him, how can it be said that they can't distinguish between good and evil?" In order to consolidate the Great Sui River, His Majesty made several expeditions to Goguryeo, and at the beginning, didn't the people support it without hesitation? ”

Yang Guang sent troops to attack Goguryeo for the first time, and in less than a month, he gathered more than a million troops, and the people who transported grain and grass were countless.

"Are you trying to say that the people are not desperate for the court?" Zhang Xutuo said lightly: "What the people think, who cares?" ”

Since ancient times, it has been the ordinary people who hate war the most, but it is also these people who are the most powerless to control war.

"Okay, take a step back, if Xingyang really can't hold it, we can retreat to Luoyang." Li Xuanba saw the servility of the countrymen better than anyone else, so he didn't want to dwell on this matter, so he changed the topic and said: "Luoyang has several granaries and strong city walls, even if it is surrounded by rebels, the Great Sui will still not perish." ”

The two chatted for a long time in the cold wind, and before they knew it, the people who were keeping vigil were jubilant in the city, and the soldiers on the city wall also showed excited expressions. Zhang Xutuo and Li Xuanba involuntarily put their eyes on the city, looking at the brightly lit streets, they each sighed.

When Li Xuanba saw the scene in the city, he suddenly understood that it was impossible for Zhang Xutuo to give up Xingyang, so he sighed, and Zhang Xutuo's sigh was because he thought of the lively county in front of him, which could become scorched earth in the war at any time, and his heart was sad.

"Xuanba, why don't you want to go to Tang Guogong's side." Zhang Xutuo looked at it for a while, retracted his gaze, and said to Li Xuanba: "Now that the general is defending the city, he will never get the opportunity to make military merits, why not listen to the words of the general and take them to other places?" ”

"Since my father was able to defeat the Turks, it was naturally easy to defeat Zhen Zhai'er's thief army, so why should I go all the way to Taiyuan?" Li Xuanba smiled: "Today is the first day of the new year, general, why don't you let Xuanba accompany you to have two drinks?" ”

"You can drink?" Zhang Xutuo laughed out loud and said, "Listen to Shubao, when you were rewarded in the past, you didn't drink a drop of wine. Having said that, he still ordered two pots of wine and a charcoal stove to be sent, and then sat on the city tower with Li Xuanba to drink and talk.

After a few glasses of warm wine, the cold was half gone, and Li Xuanba praised: "Wine is really a good thing." ”

"A drunk can relieve a thousand sorrows, of course it is a good thing." Zhang Xutuo said: "Thinking about it like this, I haven't been drunk for some years. After that, he drank a full glass at the same time as Li Xuanba, and continued: "Since you don't want to go to Taiyuan, then go back to Luoyang." ”

Li Xuanba didn't know how to drink, he wanted to use this to dispel Zhang Xutuo's idea of letting him leave, but he didn't expect Zhang Xutuo to see through his mind and didn't plan to avoid this topic at all.

"Xuanba feels that it is still somewhat useful, since the general thinks that Xingyang is dangerous, then Xuanba should not leave." Li Xuanba poured a full bottle of wine for Zhang Xutuo and said: "Your Majesty reuses the general, but he also loves Xuanba, it is a matter of the imperial court, how can Xuanba be greedy for life and afraid of death?" ”

"Your Majesty understands your intentions, Your Majesty's intentions, don't you still understand?" Zhang Xutuo said with deep meaning: "I have known you for more than half a year, of course I know that you are not greedy for life and afraid of death, but your duty is not here, Luoyang is the place you should guard." ”

"If Xingyang County is lost, the general thinks that when the rebel soldiers come to Luoyang City, Xuanba will still be able to defend Luoyang with his own strength?" Li Xuanba replied: "No matter what Your Majesty's intentions are to keep King Zhao in Luoyang, but the land of the Great Sui is not only a city in Luoyang. ”

The two staggered and argued, and in the end, Zhang Xutuo failed to persuade Li Xuanba to leave Xingyang, at least before Li Xuanba got drunk, Zhang Xutuo did not let Li Xuanba change his mind.

Li Xuanba was indeed a little drunk, but not so unconscious, he pretended to be drunk, just worried that if he was really drunk, he would talk nonsense and expose some secrets.

Zhang Xutuo sent someone to send Li Xuanba back to the mansion, and then poured himself a drink, and inexplicable sighs were heard from the city wall from time to time.