(Chapter 1.) ）

and Wang Yanzhang's military report on the capture of Desheng Nancheng, which was sent to Xingtang Mansion together, as well as the emergency military situation of the Khitan southern invasion, as the envoy of Youzhou Lulong Jiedu for the Tang Dynasty to sit in the north of Li Cunxian, had to end his days of recuperating in Xingtang Mansion, and returned to Youzhou to preside over the military and resist the Khitan invasion.

"When students heard that the grassland people invaded the south, they like to choose the season of high autumn and horse fat, but now it is only the spring and summer period, why did the Khitan choose to go south at this time?" In Li Cunxian's east study, Li Congjing, who came to meet and see him off, asked his doubts.

Looking at this student who had not known each other for a long time, but was very satisfied with himself, Li Cun said: "This is naturally the case in ordinary times, but now it is different, do you know the current situation in the grassland?" ”

"The students only know that Yelu Abaoji unified the Mobei grassland a few years ago, but the rest is unknown." Li Congjing did not speculate, but humbly asked for advice, "How is the grassland, how is Yelu Abaoji, and I also ask the teacher for guidance." ”

Li Cunxun sorted out his thoughts and said eloquently for Li Congjing: "Let's talk about the grassland first. In the early years of the Tang Dynasty, the Turks on the steppe were the most powerful, and the Jieli Khan, who signed the White Horse Alliance with Emperor Taizong outside Chang'an, was the generation of the Turkic heroes, and then the Jieli Khan was defeated by Emperor Taizong, and the Turks were also divided, and there was a situation in which the Uighurs, Xi, and Khitan successively prevailed. ”

Li Congjing, the alliance of the white horse, was aware, when Li Shimin first ascended to the great treasure, the Central Plains because of years of war and the national strength withered, Jieli Khan and Tuli Khan repeatedly joined forces of hundreds of thousands of troops to the south, and they were beaten to the bank of the Weishui River, Li Shimin endured the humiliation, in order to strike the army with the Turks, and Jieli Khan killed the white horse on the Weishui Bridge as an alliance, and gave a lot of gold and silver goods, so that the Turks retreated.

After that, Li Shimin worked hard, worked hard to accumulate strength, and finally sent troops deep into the grassland to level Jieli and Tuli, which later led to the glory of Li Shimin's "Heavenly Khan". Speaking of which, this is also a story of revenge and hatred like Gou Jian.

Li Cunxian continued: "The Khitan was originally a branch of the Xianbei tribe, scattered on both sides of the Huang River, taking advantage of the decline of the Tang Dynasty, to do the things of rebellious ministers and thieves, and to conquer the east and west, and then become a northern power. The country is divided into eight parts, each has a chieftain, and the public recommended a person as the leader, Yelu Abaoji became the leader of the eight departments, often invaded the south, captured the city, abducted the people of the Central Plains, forced them to open up the land and cultivate the fields, by the population increased sharply, the national strength is growing, and then it becomes a great disaster in the north. ”

Hearing this, Li Congjing nodded secretly, it seems that this Yelu Abaoji is indeed a talent. In fact, anyone who has achieved great things in the world must first accumulate strength, and only after having people and money and food can they compete for the world and become a generation of heroes.

"If it's just like this, although the Khitan is a big disaster, it is not enough to shake the rivers and mountains of my Kyushu. Congjing, let me ask you, if you were Yelu Abaoji, at this time, what would you do next? Li Cunzhen looked at his protégé and asked this question.

Li Congjing was also thinking about it, if this is the case, the Khitan will be strong, but in the future, he will invade the Central Plains, help Shi Jingjiao destroy the Later Tang, and easily destroy the Later Jin after Shi Jingjing's death, but his strength is still insufficient, not to mention that in the face of the long-term strong troops of Song Taizong's Northern Expedition in the future, he can win again and again.

Li Congjing thought for a while, and said tentatively: "Looking at Abaoji's behavior, this person should be extremely ambitious, the Khitan Eight Divisions, he should want to unify them and be the real master, but at that time, although his power was growing, it was not enough to attack the other eight Divisions." Moreover, Abaoji's power is growing, and it is easy to cause the eight departments to be jealous, and they are jointly suppressed and squeezed out, in the opinion of students, next, Abaoji should get rid of this predicament and accumulate strength in order to come to the future. ”

Speaking of this, Li Congjing sighed in his heart, how similar was Abaoji's situation at that time to him now?

"You're exactly right." Li Cunxian cast an appreciative look at Li Congjing and continued to explain to him, "When Abaoji was the commander of the eight Khitan tribes, he used his power to cast a Han city, imitate my Youzhou system, rectify the city, set up officials and officials, and be in good order. When the chiefs of the eight tribes were dissatisfied, he offered to no longer rule the ministries, but only to rule Seoul, which was a part of his own. In this way, the chief of the eight tribes naturally agreed. Because of this, Abaoji was able to get rid of the shackles, train and build weapons in Seoul, and based on Seoul, his strength expanded day by day. ”

The more Li Congjing listened, the more chilled he became, this Abaoji really has the essence of establishing a hegemonic way.

It's just that since Abaoji can do this and eventually become a hegemon, if the Hundred Battles Army wants to succeed, can it also learn from such a road?

Seeing Li Cunxian's view, Li Congjing answered: "At this time, when Abaoji's strength gradually surpasses that of the eight chiefs, he will have to attack these eight departments." ”

Li Cunxun nodded, sighed, "That's true", and said with mixed feelings: "After Abaoji decided to do something to the eight ministries, he used the salt and iron of Seoul to supply the eight ministries, and said to them, 'I have a salt pond today to supply salt to the ministries, and the ministries have got salt, don't you know that there is a salt master, why don't you come to thank me?' So the chief of the eight tribes brought cattle, wine, and other things to meet the salt pond of Abaoji as a reward...... In the end, at the banquet, Abaoji killed all the chiefs of the eight tribes, and sent a large army that had been assembled long ago to attack the eight tribes. Eight were defeated, and Abaoji became the lord of the Khitan country, and the Mobei grassland was all in the hands of Abaoji. ”

After Li Cunxun finished speaking, the master and apprentice looked at each other and sighed, and they were speechless for a while.

Li Cunxian sighed because he was worried about Kyushu, and Li Congjing was also sighing for Abaoji's road to hegemony, and said in his heart: Big husband, it should be like this.

Since then, Abaoji has repeatedly violated the border, attacked cities and plundered land, and looted people's food and materials, without stopping for a while. Although His Majesty has made a series of northern expeditions to defeat the Khitan army, he has not been able to fundamentally eliminate the Khitan threat, so there is a continuous beacon fire in the border area of Youzhou! At the end, Li Cunzhen looked up to the sky and sighed, very worried.

"It's a pity, it's a pity, now the old man is sixty years old, he is injured and sick, and he can't afford to fight. If he is 20 years younger, the old man will definitely mention 100,000 heroes of the Tang Dynasty, follow the example of the pharmacist, go deep into the grassland, and fight the Khitan with three lilies, and calm the border troubles for the Tang Dynasty! In the end, Li Cunxian gritted his teeth and said such a thing, his dry eyes were moist, and his hands on his knees were clenched into fists, and his expression could not be calm for a long time.

The sun shone on the old general, illuminating his whole body, but it could not illuminate his long-cherished wish in his old age.

The most important thing is that the world can't stay, and Zhu Yan is a flowery tree. The beauty is white-headed, and the hero is in the twilight, which is the most unbearable.

Li Cunxian, formerly known as Fu Cunxian, was given the surname Li by Li Ke because of his bravery and outstanding achievements. Li, the surname of the Tang family. He fought with Liang, defeated Zhu Wen several times, and then sat in Youzhou, expelled the Khitan for the people of Kyushu, and fought horses all his life, without a defeat, and was as famous as Zhou Dewei.

He is a martial artist, and he is the god of the Tang Dynasty.

Now, he is old and riddled with vulgar diseases, and in the face of an opponent like Abaoji who can make his blood boil, he can no longer gallop on a horse, and compete with him with a long lance.

Youzhou, the land of the northern wilderness, has been bitter cold for many years, and the Khitan is the first to bear the brunt of the south. There, a lonely city rises from the flat ground, the desert grass is green, he is wearing the armor he has worn all his life, dragging his stump covered with old age spots, standing at the head of the city, facing the Khitan 100,000 heroes, holding the long knife that has been held tightly in his hand.

The border land is smoky, and countless creatures are smothered under the swords and guns.

He wanted to fight out of the city and drive the 100,000 Khitans out of the Great Wall. But he couldn't do it because he was old. He stood at the head of the city, like a spear nailed there, and all he could do was not to retreat a penny.

He said that if he was twenty years younger, he would definitely lead the royal division into the grassland and return a peace here.

He's old, but he's still fighting here. He didn't know when his war would end, perhaps, until the moment he took his last breath. But even at that moment, he would look north at the steppe.

Northern Expedition, Northern Expedition, Northern Expedition......

…………………………

After cleaning up his emotions a little, Li Cunxian sighed: "When people are old, they just feel a lot of emotion, and there are always some emotions that can't be controlled, hey, it seems that it's not okay to be old and old, when you are young, the old man will not be like this." ”

"The teacher has fought for the country all his life, worked hard and made great achievements, and his heart is for the people, and the students admire him very much. Lao Ji is in aspire, aiming for thousands of miles, and the teacher is in the Khitan, and the heart of the border is stable, which makes the students awe-inspired. Li Congjing clenched his fists and said sincerely.

Li Cunxian waved his hand, "When the old man was young, he didn't have many Li people in his heart, he just wanted to make contributions, just like the king of iron guns said, leopards die and people die and people die and their names are left." However, as I get older, I can see many things more clearly, perhaps because I have seen more things, I know what is the most important, and in my heart, I really know what it is to serve the country and the people. ”

Li Congjing was silent when he heard this, in all fairness, his mentality is just like what Li Cunxian said when he was young, what he does today is just to make meritorious contributions, for the country and the people, it is not that he has not thought about it, he always feels that those things are too empty, and he has no strength, and he really can't take care of it.

Li Cunxun seemed to see Li Congjing's thoughts, and he didn't mind, but asked him with a smile: "The old man once heard that you said such a sentence: If you can gain power once, you will go north to the clouds, step on the grassland, break the trend of the Khitan for decades, and prevent it from having the opportunity to harm the Central Plains." But so? ”

Li Congjing nodded, this was what he said when he attacked Huaizhou, but somehow it reached Li Cunxian's ears.

He said at this time: "Since ancient times, the war between the Central Plains and the northern nomads has not stopped, the Qin and Han Xiongnu, the two Jin and five Hu, the Sui and Tang Turks, its harm is not great, so that there is a disaster in the Central Plains. From Jing Bucai, every time I think about it, I can't help but feel sad and can't help myself. Now the Central Plains has been fighting for years, Kyushu is fragmented, the people cannot be unified, the country cannot raise strength, and the Khitan is growing stronger day by day, like the momentum of the sky, over time, the result of the military struggle between the two sides is really unimaginable. In order to ensure that our Central Plains will not be looted by the Khitan at this critical juncture, and the chaos will be even worse, Jing has said this from the beginning. ”

Li Cun looked at his head, his eyes were gratified, and said: "Now that the old man is about to return to the north, among the old man's students, he has the shortest time with you, but whether it is your ambition or talent, it is not outstanding." The old man is old and has no power to crusade against the grassland, but if there is a younger generation as the successor, the old man will die if he dies, so why worry about it? ”

Speaking of this, Li Cunxian looked at Li Congjing with blazing eyes, and asked with a straight face: "If there is an opportunity, are you really willing to go north to Youyun and fight Khitan for Kyushu?" ”

Li Congjing said solemnly: "The students are willing to go." ”

"Haha!" Li Cunxian laughed, laughed, and said in a serious and somewhat sacred tone: "Congjing, the old man is waiting in Youzhou, I hope that in my lifetime, I can see you immediately and go out of the grassland!" ”