Fei Gaozhang waved his hand, motioned for Zhang Yilou to get up, lifted the tea kettle, poured the tea in the tea bowl for Zhang Yilou, and took a sip with Zhang Yilou. After drinking, Fei Gaozhang looked at Zhang Yilou and said, "Since you want to vote for the Lord this time, on the 'occasion of departure', you will give a word to the teacher." ”

"Teacher, please speak." Zhang Yilou said respectfully.

Fei Gaozhang put down the tea bowl, looked over the windowsill, and cast it farther away, he said: "Speaking of Your Majesty earlier, you can tell me what kind of king Your Majesty is in your heart. ”

Zhang Yilou's expression was awe-inspiring, such words are undeclared secrets, and the ministers are talking about the master behind their backs, which can be described as a taboo move, Fei Gaozhang asked, it can be said that it is a secret language of teachers and students. Zhang Yilou was puzzled, but he still said in a regular manner: "Your Majesty is eloquent and strategic, and can be called a generation of masters." But then ......"

"So what?" Fei Gaozhang asked.

Zhang Yilou sighed slightly, and said: "Your Majesty has the talent to pass through the heavens and latitudes, and when he was ordered to be in danger, when Hedong was in turmoil, he succeeded to the throne as the king, survived in a desperate situation, rose against the current, and showed his edge, that is, let the heroes of the world look sideways, defeat Zhu Wen, defeat the strong enemy, and keep the land of Hedong not lost." Since then, the Quartet has been invincible, fighting a country in a single place, and it can grow stronger and stronger, so that the pseudo-beam can not be controlled, and finally achieve the general trend of "heaven and earth are all working together, and the heroes of the world can not compete with it", destroy Liang in one fell swoop, and create a hegemony. When His Majesty was still the king of Jin, he was said to be the most accomplished monarch in the world, and he deserved it. ”

"What about Your Majesty after he enters the Central Plains?" Fei Gaozhang asked.

"After Your Majesty entered the Central Plains...... What he did was not unsatisfactory. Zhang Yilou shook his head and said, his face full of regret. To say that it is 'unsatisfactory' is a subtle word.

Fei Gaozhang then asked: "How is it unsatisfactory?" ”

Zhang Yilou looked at Fei Gaozhang suspiciously, I don't know why the other party asked knowingly, and after thinking about it, this must be Fei Gaozhang has something to say, so he replied to the other party's question: "With the momentum of my Tang Dynasty to destroy Liang, if I worked hard, I could have taken the world by taking advantage of the situation, but in the past two years, Your Majesty has indulged in pleasure, ignored the government, rewarded the evil and the good, was jealous of the heroes, and reused the villain of the former pseudo-Liang, so that the villain stole a high position, and the meritorious person could not accept his inherent position. Although the Tang Dynasty has been in charge of the Central Plains for more than a year, the monarchs and ministers have the meaning of detachment. ”

Listening to Zhang Yilou's words, Fei Gaozhang said meaningfully: "Do you really think so? ”

Zhang Yilou was stunned, this is something that anyone with a discerning eye can see at a glance, I don't know why Fei Gaozhang asked like this, and the doubts in his eyes are even worse, "Teacher, this matter is known to both the government and the opposition, isn't it so?" ”

Fei Gaozhang shook his head and said, "First floor, if you really think so, then you are wrong." ”

"Wrong?" Zhang Yilou was stunned.

Fei Gaozhang nodded solemnly, his eyes full of wisdom after the vicissitudes of the world became brighter and brighter, "If you talk about the heroes of the Tang Dynasty, how many people can compare with Li Congjing?" If His Majesty is suspicious of the heroes, why is he not suspicious of Li Congjing? You must know that Li Congjing has been in Youzhou for more than a year, and what he has done has been quite encroachment, but the court has not had the slightest word of it, not only that, but whenever Li Congjing needs the support of the court, whether it is people, material resources or financial resources, he can get the support of the court, why is this? ”

Li Congjing acted in Youzhou, whether it was appointing officials, big or small, or asking the imperial court for grain and farm tools last year, the imperial court did not interfere with it at all, but gave it convenience all the way. The reason why this happened, including Zhang Yilou, many people thought that it was because Li Siyuan, Ren Yuan, and Guo Chongtao were in the court, because of their support, so Li Congjing started to do this, so it seemed that it would be effortless at all.

Zhang Yilou was about to answer Fei Gaozhang like this, but when he saw that the other party asked knowingly, he was shocked, could it be that the real root cause was not like this?

Seeing that Zhang Yilou was speechless for a while, Fei Gaozhang said: "You don't want to think about it, with Your Majesty's control over the court now, if Your Majesty is unwilling, Li Congjing can do these things?" Without His Majesty's approval, how could those villains who only know how to speculate on the king's will, flatter and flatter, and steal high positions, let go of these opportunities and not attack Li Congjing? The reason why Li Congjing was able to succeed in Youzhou was to the end, it was with His Majesty's tacit approval! ”

These words subverted Zhang Yilou's consistent cognition, and he was deeply shocked, and he was surprised: "Teacher, isn't Your Majesty suspicious of the hero?" ”

"Not really." Fei Gaozhang shook his head, "Your Majesty is not suspicious of heroes, but not so suspicious that you don't distinguish between right and wrong." His eyes sharpened, "Lu Long is concerned with the tranquility of the northern border, and he plays a vital role in blocking the Khitan from going south. When the old general Li Cunzhen was too ill to stay in office, His Majesty didn't need anyone, only Li Congjing, was there no reason? Li Congjing has always been His Majesty's personal guard before leading the army alone, and he has followed His Majesty for a long time, and His Majesty's understanding of Li Congjing must be very deep. It is precisely because of this that His Majesty dared to hand over the important land of Youzhou to Li Congjing. In the final analysis, this is His Majesty's trust in Li Congjing! ”

Zhang Yilou realized something, and said: "No wonder, the students heard that the policy of the DPRK and China to deal with the Khitan was originally to get along with each other temporarily, and for this reason, Li Congjing even sent an envoy to the Khitan at the beginning of his northward journey. However, as soon as Li Congjing arrived in Youzhou, he used his sword and soldiers, first attacking the Khitan army in Hululi, and then recovering Pingzhou, capturing Yingzhou, and provoking the Great War of Mo. It stands to reason that Li Congjing's move has greatly deviated from the DPRK-China policy, but His Majesty has never blamed Li Congjing. I always thought that this was Li Congjing's merit of recovering Pingzhou and repeatedly defeating the Khitan, which diluted his guilt. Now it seems that His Majesty did not mean to blame him at all! ”

"Not bad! Your Majesty is at war with the Khitan, how can he not know the true nature of the Khitan? What's more, when the first emperor was dying, he also asked His Majesty to avenge an arrow. Fei Gaozhang said, "If Your Majesty blames Li Congjing at the beginning, then Li Congjing will not be able to get the support of the imperial court for what Li Congjing did in Youzhou later." ”

These words are too amazing, and the truth contained in them is thought-provoking, Zhang Yilou was silent for a long time, and then sighed: "It seems that Your Majesty is not as suspicious of heroes as the world thinks!" ”

"No, Your Majesty is suspicious of the heroes, but this matter is true!" Fei Gaozhang shook his head again and denied Zhang Yilou's conclusion, "If it weren't for the suspicion of the heroes, for more than a year, how could Your Majesty do things to reward evil and punish good, so that villains are arrogant in the court, and it is difficult for heroes to move an inch?" ”

"This ......" Zhang Yilou was a little confused, "Teacher, what the hell is going on?" ”

Seeing that his proud protégé was confused by his two words, Fei Gaozhang smiled, looking very profound, he looked at Fei Gaozhang kindly, and said: "Everyone in the world knows that Your Majesty is suspicious of heroes, but how many people know, why does Your Majesty want to be suspicious of heroes?" ”

"This ......" Zhang Yilou didn't know how to answer Fei Gaozhang, and secretly thought in his heart, isn't this an obvious thing, Your Majesty is afraid that the power of the hero is too great, and the tail will not fall, and finally usurp his throne! Aren't all the masters thinking like this?

Fei Gaozhang seemed to be able to see through Zhang Yilou's thoughts, and he said: "Since the Anshi Rebellion, there have been temperance envoys in the world, and because of the temperance envoys, who led the military and government of a place, they gradually became small princes, and those who did not obey the imperial edict abounded. Why can An Lushan and Shi Siming's disciples cause trouble in the world? Why was Zhu Wen able to usurp the throne and stand on his own, and why was the king of Jin able to be the master of the people? This is all because the power is too great to be controlled. Since the destruction of the Liang Dynasty, the military generals with outstanding achievements in the DPRK and the Central Committee are all envoys of the festival, they are already in high positions and have great merits, at this time, how can Your Majesty have no scruples about them? ”

"After Your Majesty entered the Central Plains, why didn't you take advantage of the situation to seize the world? Of course, you need to recuperate after the war, but more importantly, your Majesty needs to completely control and stabilize your newfound power! ”

Zhang Yilou said in surprise: "But when Your Majesty did not enter the Central Plains, he never had such deep scruples about his subordinates!" ”

Fei Gaozhang looked at Zhang Yilou, his eyes became a little terrifying because of the sharpness and profundity, "You must know that King Jin and Your Majesty are two completely different identities. When His Majesty was the king of Jin, the rebellion was made, and even if it was successful, all he could get was a king; And after Your Majesty is Your Majesty, the festival will make the turmoil again, once it is successful, what you get is the world, and it is the throne of the Ninety-Five! ”

Zhang Yilou was shocked and didn't dare to answer any further.

"The way of the master of the man and the minister is nothing more than the word balance. Since the merits of the old ministers of Hedong are too great to be restrained, in order to disperse the power of these old ministers, His Majesty has no choice but to reuse the old ministers of the pseudo-Liang. Using the old ministers of the pseudo-Liang to restrain the old ministers of Hedong to achieve the purpose of balancing the forces in the country, this is the root cause of His Majesty's 'suspicion of heroes and reuse villains'! Fei Gaozhang's words are not shocking, "The so-called 'rewarding evil and punishing good' is nothing more than that." Duan Ning, these pseudo-Liang ministers, can now be in a high position, it's not that His Majesty doesn't know their temperament, it's not that they really have any talents that His Majesty values, and it's not that His Majesty is moved by the money he contributed to them - the whole world is His Majesty's, and all the property in the world is naturally His Majesty's, Duan Ning and their property are just their own things, just moved a place. The reason why His Majesty uses them is only because of their identity, which is completely different from the old ministers of Hedong! ”

"This is the truth of His Majesty's current 'excesses'!"

Zhang Yilou was stunned there, completely forgetting to answer, Fei Gaozhang's words, like morning bells and dusk drums, deeply hit his heart and brought him an unparalleled shock. A gust of cold wind blew from the window, making Zhang Yilou shiver, and he suddenly realized that the back of his palms was already full of sweat.

The room fell silent again, except for the faint sound of a burning fire and the whirring of the wind outside the window.

I don't know how long it took, Zhang Yilou barely stabilized his mind, he said: "Teacher, in this way, regardless of whether Your Majesty's move is appropriate or not, but at least it can be shown that Your Majesty is not really immersed in pleasure and has lost his past ambitions, Your Majesty is still the Majesty who destroyed Liang in the First World War!" ”

"Of course." Fei Gaozhang said in a deep voice, "On the first floor, the teacher told you these things, and now you can tell me that Your Majesty indulges in pleasures and ignores state affairs, what is the reason?" ”

Zhang Yilou, who had already stabilized his mind, was silent for a while, and said slowly: "Indulging in past achievements, being arrogant, indulging in pleasures, and ignoring state affairs, these are just a cover for Your Majesty to suppress the old ministers of Hedong, promote the old ministers of the pseudo-Liang, and balance the forces of the DPRK and China." If this is not the case, His Majesty's move will be too obvious, and it will inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the old ministers in Hedong, and if you are not careful, it may backfire and cause turmoil in the old ministers of Hedong. Only under the guise of a great change in the heart, becoming 'stupid', and then doing these 'mediocre' actions, will the old ministers of Hedong not see the truth of this matter, so that everyone is in danger, and the evil thoughts are born in a group! ”

Fei Gaozhang nodded approvingly, "Exactly." ”

At this point, Zhang Yilou sighed and said: "When Your Majesty first came to the Central Plains, he often had a wise national policy, lightly dispensed with meager endowments, cared for the people and valued agriculture, and every courtier gave good advice, nothing should be allowed. Later, His Majesty acted excessively, and the students felt deeply sorry for it every time they heard it, but they never thought that the truth was like this. Your Majesty is still the same Majesty, but there are few people who can see it as thoroughly as a teacher. If you don't concentrate power and stabilize the government first, how can you talk about conquering the world? Even if you conquer the world, I am afraid that it will fall short; It is to conquer the world, or it may be to make a wedding dress for others. ”

Zhang Yilou sighed with this emotion, although Fei Gaozhang was clear-minded, he couldn't help but sigh: "Youzhou can have today's prosperity, half of it depends on Li Congjing, and the other half depends on Your Majesty." It's just that I don't know, when Li Congjing is satisfied with his merits, will he be able to know His Majesty's trust in him? Among the old ministers of Hedong in the Tang Dynasty, except for Guo Chongtao, he is the only one who can make His Majesty treat each other so sincerely. It's just that Li Congjing can understand His Majesty's high hopes for him? ”

Zhang Yilu was silent.

There was silence again.

This time, the silence lasted longer.

Liaodong. Somewhere between Yingzhou and Jian'an.

Mo Li and Tao Yaoyao led the sharp soldiers of the Military Intelligence Department to run on the not very wide avenue, galloping, and the horses' hooves rolling, leaving a messy horse's hoof prints on the muddy road.

The snow on the road had almost melted, but the snow on the trees beside the road was still quite thick, and it was colder when it snowed than when it snowed, and the temperature in the field was frighteningly low, and many of the horizontal knives on the waists of the soldiers of the Military Intelligence Department were frozen in their scabbards, and it was difficult to pull them out for a while.

Even so, everyone on the way, whether knights or horses, was covered in sweat. It's just that although his face is covered with sweat, his ears are still frozen in the cold wind.

On this morning, the MI encountered the Khitan cavalry, and after a fierce battle, the 300 sharp men of the MI Department killed the 500 Khitan cavalry without staying for half a minute. In fact, the army that fought before was still the smallest Khitan cavalry that was 'carefully selected' when the brigade was surrounded and intercepted by the Khitan horse army, and there was no way to avoid it.

Although the personnel of the Military Intelligence Department Brigade killed through the Khitan Horse Army and continued to gallop on the road back to the south, many of them stayed in this ice and snow forever.

In the past few confrontations with the Khitan Horse Army and the Rangers, An Chongrong, Zhao Hongyin and several other students of the Performing Arts Academy were placed in the middle of the team by Mo Li's "unreasonable", and they were not hurt by half of them. In the queue, An Chongrong glanced back, the backs of those military intelligence officers who left behind the broken were no longer visible, but they resolutely raised their knives to the Khitan and galloped, but it seemed to be one in front of him, as long as An Chongrong turned back, he could see it.

An Chongrong, whose eyes were red, turned his head, his teeth were clenched, and the hand holding the horse's reins was frozen into bruises, but he kept clutching it tightly.

was put in the middle of the queue to "protect", as a bloody man, although An Chongrong could not change the situation of the military intelligence department, but he did not want to "hide", watching his comrades die in battle, he once asked Mo Li for his life, asking to stand on the front line and fight with the Khitan barbarians he encountered.

But Mo Li ruthlessly rejected his request, and when An Chongrong was annoyed and angry, Mo Li just said lightly: "You students of the Martial Arts Academy, each of them is the elite carefully selected by the military marshal, and the military marshal's hope for the future of our army, after you return to the team, you will and must become the backbone of the army. It is to protect the hope of the future of the army. You can die, but we will not let you die in vain, and you yourself are not qualified to let you die worthless! ”

In this way, An Chongrong, Zhao Hongyin and others could not refute it. In the blood of their comrades, in Mo Li's indifferent but expectant eyes, they were moved, and they silently remembered their responsibilities.

Because the military strength of the Khitan siege and interception far exceeded the strength of the military intelligence department, these days, in the process of avoiding fighting, Mo Li had to take them around in circles, because they had been walking for a long time, they were still within the scope of Yingzhou, and they did not cross the city of Yingzhou.

In the evening, the brigade stopped and chose a windy place to camp.

In order to prevent being discovered by the Khitan, everyone did not build a bonfire, but just lit a pile of small fires that could barely roast raw meat, and such a fire was still in a tightly shielded tent.

It was late at night, but everyone was not sleepy, it stands to reason that after a few days of galloping, everyone should be very tired, but today is a special day.

An Chongrong, Zhao Hongyin and others gathered in front of the extinguished fire and talked in a whisper.

In the light of the fire, Mo left over, sat down beside everyone, threw out a wine bag to An Chongrong, and smiled at them: "This is my last bit of inventory, the end of today's year, tomorrow's Spring Festival, is for Chinese New Year's Eve, this wine, the right is for me to celebrate the holiday with you." Everyone was born and died for the country, and the New Year can only be in the wilderness in this foreign land, which is really difficult, and I thank you on behalf of the military commander. ”

"Don't dare to be!" An Chongrong, Zhao Hongyin and other students of the Academy of Martial Arts were all moved inexplicably, and they thanked each other, but they were all men in the army, but they would not be pretentious and polite, An Chongrong opened the wine stopper, first took a sip, and exclaimed: "Fragrant, really fragrant!" Only then did he take a small sip, smack his lips, and handed the wine bag to Zhao Hongyin.

The students of the Martial Arts Academy and several sharp soldiers of the Military Intelligence Department sitting around here, their eyes were hot, they took the wine bags one by one, and couldn't wait to take a sip, as the warmth flowed into their stomachs, their intuition warmed their bodies. The wine bag walked around the crowd and finally returned to Mo Li's hand.

The moment he took the wine bag, Mo Li smiled dumbly, and scolded with a smile: "You guys, according to the wine left in the wine bag, each of you almost touched your lips, and you are all bold men in the army on weekdays. ”

Everyone looked at each other and fell silent.

In the end, it was Zhao Hongyin who said: "Mr. Mo, we have all drunk the wine, and this year is over, it doesn't matter how much you drink or how little you drink." But those comrades who died in battle and left behind will not be able to drink this wine, and they will not be able to pass this year. Leave the rest to them! ”

Mo Li was stunned, and then nodded seriously.

After a short time, more than 200 soldiers of the military intelligence department assembled in the open space and lined up neatly.

Mo Li, An Chongrong, Zhao Hongyin and others squatted on the ground and raised a handful of black soil in front of the battle with their own hands.

The black soil was built, and everyone returned to the formation, silently and solemnly looking at the pile of dirt that did not seem to have any characteristics. But each of them had a sacred color written on their faces.

There is no monument in the black soil, and there is no name for the martyrs.

Mo Li's white robe was covered with mud, and he couldn't see his original appearance clearly, he took the wine bag from An Chongrong's hand and silently sprinkled it in front of the black soil.

During the whole process, there was only the sound of water dripping to the ground.

When emptying the wine bag, more than 200 soldiers marched together and saluted.

Mo Li looked up at the sky, and in this starless night, he hissed and shouted: "Heroes of the Tang Dynasty, it's the New Year!" ”