King Qi is in a dilemma.

The crux of the matter is whether King Qi's efforts can win the trust of the Holy Lord, whether he can make the Holy Lord believe in his loyalty, and whether he can become the first person to inherit the imperial throne again.

However, in today's Middle Earth, the centralized system and the gate lord clan system fought bloodily, the two political concepts of reform and conservatism collided fiercely, and the holy lord who was determined to reform and the moderate and conservative king of Qi walked on two different political paths, so whether the king of Qi can win the trust of the holy lord is not how to work hard, but that he must agree with and support the centralized reform of the holy lord.

King Qi sighed gloomily, dazed.

A lesson from the past, a teacher for the future. At the end of the first emperor's reign, no matter how hard the crown prince Yang Yong tried to prove his loyalty to the first emperor and Empress Dugu, he could not win the trust of the first emperor and his wife, the fundamental reason was that the political ideas of the two generations were completely different.

Is it too late to change course? The most intolerable thing in politics is betrayal, whether it is betraying one's comrades-in-arms or betraying one's own thoughts, it will be branded with the mark of defeat and cowardice. How can a defeated and cowardly person turn things around in the cruel struggle for imperial reunification?

Therefore, Wei Fusi and Li Shanheng's conclusion is correct, stay in Huaiyuan now, tie your hands, and then enter the cage, a dead end, only by going north to meet Li Pingyuan, can you fight a bloody way in a desperate situation.

But what was the goal of Li Pingyuan's crusade? Is it to preserve strength, to serve the yang and disobey the yin, to do things perfunctorily, or to destroy Goguryeo at any cost? If it is the former, what is the significance of the King of Qi going north to meet Li Pingyuan? Conversely, if Li Pingyuan's goal was to destroy Goguryeo at any cost, what would he gain from it? Will the benefits he received compensate for the huge costs he has paid? If these key questions are not clarified, how can the King of Qi work closely together after he went north to meet Li Pingyuan? And how to profit from cooperation?

And more importantly, after the end of this crusade, the king of Qi has been convicted of the crime of "thief", where will he go? Under the coercion of the Holy Lord, he returned to the Eastern Capital with him and re-entered the cage, or did he never look back on the path of father and son's opposite?

After weighing it repeatedly, King Qi was unwilling to deviate from his principles and cross his bottom line, so he made a decision.

"What is the goal of Li Pingyuan's crusade?" King Qi asked, "Will Li Pingyuan fulfill his promise to capture Pyongyang at all costs?" ”

As soon as these words came out, Wei Fusi and Li Shanheng looked at each other, and they both smiled helplessly and were extremely disappointed, but they didn't want to give up, and they couldn't give up, as long as there was a glimmer of hope, they had to work very hard.

After a long silence, Wei Fusi replied, "Great King, the goal of Li Pingyuan's Eastern Expedition must be to capture Pyongyang and strengthen himself by destroying Goguryeo, there is no doubt about this, so Li Pingyuan's promise is completely credible, but whether he can fulfill his promise depends not on Li Pingyuan's sacrifice to die and the destruction of the Anton Army, but on the unity and concerted efforts of the expeditionary force, and on the trust and support of the Holy Lord, the Central Hub, and the Wei Mansion for Li Pingyuan and the Anton Army." ”

Speaking of this, Wei Fusi glanced at King Qi and said with a pun, "If the Holy Lord turns the Goguryeo people into tools to kill people with swords, and turns the battlefield of the Eastern Expedition into a trap to attack and weaken the Anton army, and wantonly restrain Li Pingyuan, putting Li Pingyuan in the predicament of suffering the enemy on his back and dying in his life, will Li Pingyuan still fulfill his promise?" Still delivering on promises? ”

King Qi was expressionless and said nothing.

Wei Fusi insinuated that he was nominally the Holy Lord, but in fact he was accused.

Before the Eastern Crusade began, they tried every means to frame Li Pingyuan and attack the Anton Army, and it is conceivable what the outcome of the Third Eastern Crusade would be, so the generals of the Weifu were very sober and would rather bear the charge of rejecting the Anton Army than give the high-ranking politicians such as the Holy Lord and the King of Qi the opportunity to sabotage the Eastern Crusade.

The First Crusade was a bloody example, it was the soldiers of the Weifu who died, the commander of the Weifu who bore the responsibility, and the Holy Lord and the central politicians who fought so hard not only pushed the responsibility away, but also intensified it, continued to fight, continued to use the expeditionary force as a pawn, and said that the righteousness of Middle-earth and the great interests of the country were great, but in fact they did the shameless things that brought disaster to the country and the people.

It is precisely because of this that the generals of the Weifu did not have much expectation for the Third Eastern Crusade, and did not dare to expect to capture Pyongyang and destroy Goguryeo, but only wanted to force Goguryeo to surrender at the lowest cost, so as to achieve the minimum expected goal of the Third Eastern Crusade.

Li Shanheng saw that the King of Qi was silent, so he opened his mouth to persuade, "The king's goal is to destroy Goguryeo, and Li Pingyuan's goal is also to destroy Goguryeo, but as far as the current situation of the Eastern Crusade is concerned, it is too difficult to achieve this goal, but the difficulty does not mean that there is no opportunity." ”

King Qi secretly sneered.

In this way, he can unite with Li Pingyuan's forces to influence the process of the Eastern Crusade, so as to put pressure on the Holy Lord and the Eastern Expedition Command, and Li Ping's principle is to use his own mediation to win more support from the Holy Lord and the Eastern Expedition Command.

King Qi looked at Wei Fuhei and then at Li Shanheng, and asked in a cold voice, "In order to win the victory of the Eastern Crusade, you have used all means and done everything, but have you ever considered that after the Eastern Crusade is over, where will you go?" ”

"Of course, the king stays in the northern frontier." Wei Fusi said without thinking.

King Qi smiled dumbly, "You said to stay, can you stay alone?" ”

"Of course." Wei Fusi said with a smile, "After the end of the Eastern Crusade, as long as there is evidence that the Great War between the North and the South is about to break out, the king will have every reason to stay on the edge of the town. ”

"Evidence?" King Qi questioned, "Where is the evidence?" ”

"If there is no evidence, create evidence." Li Shanheng said the answer without hesitation, "As long as you win Li Pingyuan's cooperation, what evidence the king wants, Li Pingyuan can give any evidence." ”

King Qi shook his head and smiled bitterly, "Whether Lone can stay in the Northern Frontier or not, the decision is up to the Holy Lord, and if the Holy Lord insists on returning to the Eastern Capital, what can the Lone disciple do?" ”

Li Shanheng raised his hand and shook it gently, "Whether the king can stay in the northern Xinjiang or not, the decision is indeed in the hands of the Holy Lord, but has the king considered that if the situation between the north and the south deteriorates sharply and the Great Wall is in an emergency, the king must stay in the northern Xinjiang to effectively alleviate the crisis, and the Holy Lord still insists on asking the king to return to the Eastern Capital?" ”

King Qi frowned, "This speculation is groundless and meaningless. ”

"It's man-made." Wei Fusi said, "As long as the king is determined to cooperate with Li Pingyuan and work together for the future, anything is possible." ”

King Qi pondered for a long time, shook his head and sighed bitterly, "Li Pingyuan? You have so much faith in him? ”

"We don't have confidence in Li Pingyuan." Wei Fusi said, "What brought us confidence was Pei Shiju. ”

"That's the crux of the matter." King Qi smiled bitterly, "Perhaps, Li Pingyuan will cooperate, but Pei Shiju will definitely refuse." Pei Shiju is on the side of the Holy Lord, and Li Pingyuan, under Pei Shiju's opposition, how can he help Guliu Town in the northern frontier? ”

"That's why the king must resolutely go north and unite with Li Pingyuan to attack Goguryeo, so that the holy lord must think that Li Pingyuan and Pei Shiju are on the king's side, and once the misunderstanding is generated, the two will be speechless, and the future situation will be favorable to the king."

King Qi thought for a moment and shook his head, "Not only are you overly optimistic, but you are also wishful thinking. Have you ever thought that now Pei Shiju and Li Pingyuan are on the side of the Holy Lord, and Gu Bei is cooperating with them, just looking for death, and in the end, he will definitely be betrayed by them, and Gu Hui will die faster. ”

Wei Fusi and Li Shanheng still wanted to persuade again, but King Qi shook his hand categorically.

"The Great War between the North and the South is about to break out, and if Middle-earth wants to win this battle, the premise is that it must be united internally, so it is conceivable that Pei Shiju and Li Pingyuan's attitude is that it is impossible for them to stand on the side of Lone and openly confront the Holy Lord."

At this point, King Qi had no intention of saying more.

Wei Fusi and Li Shanheng's countermeasures are not wrong, but they are not standing on the position of Middle-earth and Guozuo, but with personal and group interests first, although they also want to destroy Goguryeo, and also want to win the Civil War, but they are all for their own interests to maximize, in order to strengthen their own strength, the ultimate goal is to push the king of Qi to the battlefield of the imperial war, and fight to the death with the holy lord, in order to seek the greatest power and wealth.

The King of Qi did not want to repeat the mistakes of the previous generation of fratricide, did not want to turn himself into the former crown prince Yang Yong and the Han king Yang Liang, and did not want to see the Yang royal family, the Jiangshan Sheji and the great cause of the unification of China and Earth being severely damaged and bloodied in the cruel and bloody political struggle.

Wei Fusi did not give up, retreated to the second, and persistently advised, "In this case, we will not consider the future, we will only consider the Eastern Crusade." Does the king still want to destroy Goguryeo? If the king can build the cause of opening up the territory, then even if the holy lord believes that the king is guilty of thieves, but considering that the king is willing to tie his hands and return to the eastern capital with the holy lord, and the Great Northern War is about to break out, the eastern capital needs to be united, and the holy lord will not kill the king in the short term, so the king will have the opportunity to participate in the Great Northern War, once he makes another meritorious service, he will be able to win a glimmer of life. ”

King Qi can still accept these words. Since he does not want to turn against the Holy Lord, he will inevitably return to the Eastern Capital after the end of the Eastern Crusade, and since he has to return to the Eastern Capital anyway, whether he can take the credit for the destruction of Goguryeo will have a great impact on his future. In the current situation, if he wants to take the credit for the destruction of Goguryeo, he can only hope for Li Pingyuan and Andong's army, that is, he still has to go north to meet Li Pingyuan, and as for the series of bad consequences caused by this, he can only temporarily forget about it. Thinking too much, looking ahead and looking backwards, suffering from gains and losses, will definitely achieve nothing.

"Going to the north to meet Li Pingyuan and escort Li Pingyuan can increase the chances of capturing Pyongyang?"

Wei Fusi and Li Shanheng were secretly happy, and nodded in unison and said, "There is no doubt about it." ”

King Qi looked at them, his eyes suspicious, worried, "How can you persuade Li Pingyuan to attack Pyongyang at any cost?" ”

Wei Fusi stroked his beard and smiled, "If the king is determined to go north to meet Li Pingyuan, you can visit Huangtai Gong (Cui Hongsheng) tonight." ”

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