There is a road in the mountains, and at the end of the road there is a city.

On the road in front of the city was a winding procession of marchers, with clear banners and iron armor, and the heavy wagons wrapped in them were like giant beasts, being dragged forward. This is a real ironclad torrent.

Before entering the city, Meng San on horseback held his helmet, and looked up to see a general in bright light armor standing at the head of the city, with an outstanding posture, a cold face, and the whole person stood like an iron sword.

Meng San turned around and said to his cronies and laughed: "If you want to say that Li Shaocheng is a bird, he really has the demeanor of a military commander, and he looks like a person from afar." It's just a little colder—straight thief, this winter, can make people think that he is made of ice—how extreme does this person have to be in his heart to be so unsmiling? ”

The cronies also saw Li Shaocheng at the head of the city, and said with a smile: "Deputy Marshal, if you want to say that Vice Marshal Li is similar to the military marshal, it is not without reason, after all, the head of the Eight Tiger Generals!" ”

"Eight Tiger Generals? What's that? Meng San was stunned, he had never heard of this term.

The cronies said with great interest: "There have long been rumors in the land of Lulong that there are four talented men and eight tiger generals under the command of the military commander, who are his right-hand men who fight in all directions and make meritorious contributions, hasn't the deputy marshal heard of it?" ”

"Tell me!" Meng San was a little interested.

"Lu Long has poems: the merry and famous man Mo Shenji, the gentleman who is dedicated to the practice has a thousand books, he is dedicated to the people, and he goes to the next level to see Wenbo. It is said that it is Mo Li, Du Qianshu, Wei Dao, Wang Pu four gentlemen, and the eight tiger generals are Li Shaocheng, deputy marshal, Guo Wei, Meng Ping, Lin Ying, Lin Xiong, Li Yanchao, Li Yanrao eight generals, the people said: Guo Meng is really a hero, three Li Ping world! ”

The cronies said with their eyebrows fluttering, and Meng San was stunned when he heard it.

"Guo Meng is really a hero, three Li Ping the world - well said, very well said!" At the end, Meng San laughed, "I, Meng San, am not a real hero, who is a real hero?" Haha, that's so well said! Yelu Abaoji has eight generals, and our military commander also has eight tiger generals, hmph, but our eight brothers are better than those Khitan barbarians! Straight mother thief, sooner or later, cut off the heads of Yelu Xiangyin's grandsons, and use them as urinals for our eight brothers! ”

After thinking about it, I felt that something was wrong, and my face sank, "Guo Meng, Guo Meng, why is that kid Guo Wei in front of me?" Who's ranked here, it's just bullshit! ”

Fang Cai was still praising it, and scolded again in an instant.

The cronies saw that the momentum was not right, and immediately reminded: "Deputy Marshal, this ranking is not like this, the real ranking order, that is, Deputy Marshal Li Shaocheng is in the first place, the head of the Eight Tiger Generals, and General Guo Wei is still behind!" ”

"Oh?" Meng San was suddenly, a little satisfied, and held his chin and groaned: "If you want to say that Li Shaocheng is a little paranoid, the general still obeys him and lets him rank in front of the general, and the general is second, okay, okay." ”

The cronies glanced at Meng San, saw that he was immersed in his own imagination, hesitated for a moment, and said sincerely: "Deputy marshal, in fact, General Li Yanchao is the one in second place."

"What?" Meng San was immediately furious, "Li Yanchao, that kid, why is he in front of the general?" As the deputy commander of the Hundred Battles Army, he commanded the thousands of elites of the Hundred Battles Army, fought in all directions, was invincible, and attacked everything, he Li Yanchao was just Lu Longjun" Speaking of this, he felt that something was wrong, his tone eased, and he had to admit: "It is also a man in the Lu Long Army, but in terms of merit, how can it be compared with this general, this guy has been guarding the frontier all the year round, and has fought with the Khitan barbarians for more than ten years."

In the end, he couldn't go on, glared at his cronies angrily, and said: "Okay, even if this kid is ruthless, he jumped out of his mother's womb relatively early, and Lao Tzu was third, this is always okay!" ”

The cronies paused, opened their mouths, and hesitated: "Actually"

"Shut up!" Meng San shouted angrily and interrupted his cronies' words.

The cronies shrunk their necks and didn't dare to say anything more. But he still finished that sentence in his heart: Actually, you are the third in line, deputy marshal.

At the head of the city, Li Shaocheng raised his hand, beckoned left and right to approach, and asked without squinting: "Where has the Khitan North Route Army arrived?" ”

"Forty miles away." Left and right answers.

Li Shaocheng's face remained unchanged, and he didn't see any response from him, so he fell silent again, but his eyes extended from the marching team in front of the city and looked south.

After a while, Li Shaocheng said concisely in his usual calm voice: "Report to the army commander: the three-way army has been assembled, and the Khitan army has reached forty miles away, and the former army commander Li Shaocheng is ready to go out of the city tomorrow to meet the battle, in order to defeat the enemy in front of him!" ”

Left and right wrote down Li Shaocheng's words word for word, and when they saw Li Shaocheng waving his hand, they immediately left the city, stepped on fast horses, and galloped out of the city.

Li Shaocheng, who was not moving at all, said when the messenger walked down the city wall: "Send the order, and after the army enters the city, it will be rested." Tonight, the three watches will make dinner, and the five watches will be assembled! ”

"The battle of tomorrow is the first battle after the army enters the Bohai Sea, and it can only be won and not defeated.

With a series of military orders being uploaded and issued, the actions of all units of the army have become clear. It was only at this time that Li Shaocheng moved his footsteps, walked down the road, turned over his horse behind the city gate, and merged into the sea of iron armor in the military city.

Compared to the front line, Itai, as the rear, was much calmer, and although there were armor soldiers in the city, it was only for regular patrols, and most of the people who came and went on the streets were ordinary people. In remote places, children still run freely in the alleys, unclothed, and occasionally there are even traces of chickens and ducks fluttering their wings.

The official office in the center of the city is thick and high, graceful like a city within a city, compared with the outside world, here is heavily guarded, ironclad soldiers and Tsing Yi guards, shuttling among them, expressionless faces are like knives, and even breathing is with a murderous aura.

It was already early afternoon when Li Congjing received Li Shaocheng's military report, and he was discussing the situation in the Bohai Sea with Damingan and others.

Da Ming'an asked Li Congjing what he meant, and he said without the slightest pause: "Li Shaocheng's decision is exactly what I want. ”

Getting Li Congjing's judgment, Da Mingan nodded and had no objections.

Li Congjing immediately replied to Li Shaocheng, and the letter was only four words, concise and to the point: act according to the plan.

There is no room for discussion in this matter, but it is just necessary to wait for the development of the situation, Wang Pu said another matter, "The Khitan Northern Route Army knows what is in front of you, but I don't know where the other two Route Armies have gone?" ”

The Khitan Northern Route Army is closest to where the main army is, and the Route Army and the Southern Route Army are far apart, and it is necessary to know their whereabouts to be known after the scouts and the military intelligence department.

Regarding the effective information of the Khitan Middle Route Army and the Southern Route Army, Li Congjing did not wait too long, and that night, he got the latest news from the Military Intelligence Department. It's just that this news can't be called optimistic.

The hand holding the information did not let go for a long time, Li Congjing's eyes flickered, so that in the end, he simply closed his eyes, leaned back in the chair, and pressed his eyebrows.

Tao Xiaoyao, who handed the information to Li Congjing, saw the change in Li Congjing's face after reading the information, in the flickering candle flame, the lazy brows under the broken green silk hair were slightly wrinkled, following Li Congjing for so long, Tao Xiaoxiao was naturally clear about Li Congjing's self-cultivation, which made her ask: "Is the situation really so serious?" ”

Li Congjing closed his eyes, his figure was like a green mountain in the thick fog, majestic and blurred, he said: "I underestimated Yelu Abaoji." ”

Tao Yao was stunned,

The cold wind was howling outside the closed window, the ghost was crying wolf, but the house was extremely quiet, the curtains were low, the red candles were silent, Li Congjing's voice was low, and he continued: "Capture Fuzhou, that is, the troops are divided into three routes, and the big Fuyu is out, and in an instant, 200,000 Khitan troops swept through the entire territory of the Bohai Sea. Now, the Khitan North Route Army has not yet eaten, and Yelu Abaoji, who was originally going straight to Xiande Mansion, personally led the Middle Route Army to the north, so that we have no foothold in the tactics of fishing in troubled waters and encroaching on the Khitan army, and the situation has taken a sharp turn for the worse, and we have to fight with the Khitan head-on at the very beginning with inferior forces - the 60,000 army is trapped here, and the three cities of Shuangtong, Yitai, and Jiuyang are no longer the gate of life, but a place of death, and there is nowhere to go in advance and retreat. ”

His face changed, and Tao Yaoyao gritted his teeth and said: "Yelu Abaoji suddenly went north, which means that he already knows that my army is here, but how did he know about it?" ”

"Da Ming'an retreated from Fuzhou to this place, that is, the Khitan army can't catch up, can't the scouts catch up? In order to destroy the Bohai Sea, Yelu Abaoji has been preparing for many years, and no matter what the strength is, it will not be small. We should have expected this. Li Congjing laughed at himself, feeling helpless for his previous mistake. It's not that I don't know that Yelu Abaoji is well prepared, it's just that it's underestimated.

Tao Yaoyao bit her lip, her eyes were a little gloomy, and she was even more guilty, she opened her mouth, and just wanted to say something, Li Congjing had already waved her hand to interrupt her, "You don't have to blame yourself, this is not a dereliction of duty by the MIA." The situation in the Bohai Sea is different from that of Yannan and Yingzhou, and this battle is not a matter of three or two days, and the Military Intelligence Department cannot hunt and kill all the Khitan scouts here. The actions of tens of thousands of people cannot be concealed by traces. ”

Leaning his head on the back of the chair, he opened his eyes and looked at the eaves, "I thought that Yelu Abaoji was bent on destroying the Bohai Sea, for the sake of this overall situation, even if he knew that my little fish was jumping around, he would not abandon the former to deal with me." As long as Yelu Abaoji does not go all out to deal with the Youzhou army, the Youzhou army will hopefully give him a 'surprise'. This time, he resolutely abandoned the Xiande Mansion and went straight to Yitai, but he looked down on me. It's just that this kind of attention and treatment is not easy to bear. ”

Tao Yaoyao's face was pale, and she stood quietly in front of the table, motionless. Without saying a word, I really don't know what to say.

The Li Congjing in front of him has never been seen before, no matter what kind of opponents and predicaments he faced before, Li Congjing was always confident and quiet. And now, she clearly saw Li Congjing's hesitation and clearly felt Li Congjing's powerlessness. For Tao Yaoyao, this perception is very bad, she has never said it to anyone, but in her heart, Li Congjing is the sky that never changes color, the mountain that never collapses, she looks up to him, and is willing to follow the left and right, whether victory or defeat.

The man she values should not be knocked down, even if it is defeated, even if it is dead.

Li Congjing didn't know the turbulent waves in Tao Yaoyao's heart, he didn't even notice himself, in front of Tao Yaoyao, he had already taken off his disguise and defense. If he is facing someone else at this time, even if he is confused and helpless in his heart, he will leave no trace, even if he takes a hundred horsemen to impact thousands of troops and horses, knowing that there is no return, he will also scream and inspire the soldiers behind him to charge with him.

He does not hide, does not conceal, and allows people to see his true heart, because that person already lives in his heart. Even he may not have noticed it himself

With his hands crossed in front of his chest and abdomen, his fingers slightly curled, and he tapped gently, Li Congjing analyzed the situation over and over again and sorted out the ideas in his mind. He was still calm, and said while thinking: "Breaking Yannan, Keyingzhou, and Liaodong, even in the face of the most prestigious generals under Yelu Abaoji, it is easy for me to defeat them." The road ahead was so smooth that I almost forgot that this time I was uprooted from my homeland and faced Yelu Abaoji himself in a foreign country, or with extremely inferior troops, I had to fight against the Khitan army led by Yelu Abaoji himself! ”

"The hero who single-handedly created the Khitan Empire is different from any of the opponents I have faced before, and is even countless times stronger than those opponents. Yelu Abaoji's chess will not be easy to understand, I should be cautious to deal with Yannan, Yingzhou, Liaodong" Li Congjing muttered repeatedly, muttered for a while, his eyes opened, and his gaze gradually deepened, "I broke Yannan, Keyingzhou, and conquered Liaodong, but until the Youzhou army entered the Bohai Sea, in the past three months, Yelu Abaoji has not made any moves. Of course, Yingzhou and Liaodong are just a small land compared to the Bohai Sea, and their value is not the same, and the destruction of the Bohai State is the purpose of Yelu Abaoji's war, and he really shouldn't be distracted by Yingzhou and Liaodong, however"

"And yet?" Tao Yaoyao asked.

"However, if Yelu Abaoji was a plan to kill two birds with one stone from the beginning, what would happen?!" Li Congjing bounced up from his seat, "Yannan, Yingzhou, and Liaodong are just bait, just to let my Youzhou army enter the Bohai Sea!" Because only in this way can Yelu Abaoji have a chance to gather us and annihilate them! Otherwise, under the premise that Pingzhou returns to the Tang Dynasty and the Lulong border defense is built like an iron barrel by me, the Khitan army wants to cross the Great Wall, not to mention that it is impossible, and the price to pay is too great! ”

Li Congjing paced back and forth in front of the table, his thoughts gushing, "Yelu Abaoji has always had the ambition of drinking the Yellow River, and his attack on the Bohai Sea was just to accumulate national strength and stabilize the rear, so he was ready to go south to the Central Plains, the Khitan army will definitely march south in the coming day, and Lu Long is the roadblock that must be kicked away!" I recovered Pingzhou, Yelu Abaoji didn't make a lot of effort to recapture it at all, I helped the Datong army repeat Feng and Sheng, and I didn't see how Yelu Abaoji did - Yelu Abaoji didn't take these things to heart, or didn't think about dealing with Lu Long, on the contrary, he was too careful, so that the plan was bottomless and seamless! And now, it's time for Yelu Abaoji to end! ”

Tao Yaoyao was dumbfounded, "This is too exaggerated!" ”

"No, not exaggerating!" Li Congjing looked at Tao Yaoyao and said solemnly, "My alliance is Daming'an, how can Yelu Abaoji not know?" Even the Tatar Department of our Alliance, Yelu Abaoji may have found clues! After all, Mu Gehua's plan to reunite with Huang Tou and intend to take revenge was revealed early on. Moreover, Yelu Abaoji repeatedly attacked when the old general Li Cunxian was in charge of Lu Long, and now, how could he be appeased to Lu Long, so that I could have several years to keep quiet and recuperate, without planning? The most important thing is that Yelu Abaoji led the Middle Road Bureau to turn from the middle road this time, abandoned the Xiande Mansion and rushed straight to Yitai, to a large extent, it was to suspend the pace of attacking and destroying the Bohai Sea, what is its meaning? It can only be in the Youzhou Army! Yelu Abaoji, you want to destroy me! ”

Speaking of this, Li Congjing stopped talking and sat back in his chair.

The situation is finally clear, and reality shows that Yelu Abaoji is the most forbearing, the most quiet, and the person with the largest layout.

He is the real hero, and he is really using the world as a chessboard.

The most terrifying thing is that he has an army of 200,000 in his hands, and he is already standing in front of you, and he has raised his butcher's knife!

A sense of powerlessness enveloped Li Congjing's whole body.

In Li Congjing's mind, he couldn't help but think of that period of history, the history of the Khitan army going south, poisoning the Central Plains, and devaluing the lives of the Han people.

He remembered the discussion with Li Cunxian in the study.

"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!" He was in high spirits.

Before Li Cunxian left Youzhou, he said with great relief: "I don't have to do it, I hope there will be a successor." ”

How can the Khitan be prosperous?

The general waits for posterity.

It's a pity that he still fell into the trap of Yelu Abaoji.

Li Congjing clenched his fists, but he couldn't suppress the trembling of his hands.

He was not reconciled.

Tao Yaoyao looked at his appearance, sneered, and mocked: "You Li Congjing also have a time when your husband admits defeat before fighting?" ”

Li Congjing stood up suddenly, his eyes red, "No! Until the last minute, nothing will be settled! ”

He was hot all over, as if he was in a furnace, waved his hand, and shouted: "Spread Mo Li, Wang Pu is here to see!" ”

Li Congjing turned his head and smiled at Tao Yaoyao, "You don't have to provoke me. You should know that I wouldn't dare say I've never been defeated, but there's definitely never been a time to throw in the towel! ”

Tao Yaoyao snorted and sniffed. It's just that the sparkle in her eyes betrayed her heart.

There are always things that give you a reason not to give up.

Even in the face of death.