The next day, in the early morning of August 23, Xie An received a letter sent to him by Liu Qing [Heavenly Ji], which only wrote four short words.

[Do you really want to fight?] ]

Laying the letter flat on the table of the handsome tent, Xie An let out a long breath.

This was the first time he had written to Liu Qing since he had fought with [Heavenly Ji], and there was no doubt that Liu Qing had been almost forced to the point of almost exhaustion by Xie An, as if only one battle could end the stalemate between the two armies for a month and a half.

However, this last battle is not easy to fight......

If both humans and beasts lose their only way out, it will stimulate them to burst out with a power that they do not normally have.

And the current Taiping army, if the whole army fights with their backs and puts life and death on the line, even if the Great Liang army has the advantage, it may not be able to win steadily.

To fight, or not to fight?

Xie An closed his eyes and thought quietly, beside him, Qin Ke'er was waiting to hand the preserved fruit to the mouth of the man next to him, while peeking at the letter on the table full of war intent and threat, and secretly snickered in his heart.

The more discordant this guy and that Liu Qing are, the more they make trouble!

I have to say that although [Mirage] Qin Ke'er seems to have made up her mind to stand on the side of Xie An, who has gradually gained a good feeling, she is still quite concerned about the matter between him and Liu Qing.

Although in her opinion, Xie An seems to trust her very much now, even if it is a military meeting, she still does not have much confidence. To put it well, the biggest uneasiness in a woman's life actually comes from the imaginary enemy in her heart.

"Is the master going to war with the thief army?" Qin Ke'er asked tentatively.

Just as Qin Ke'er felt, Xie An did trust her very much at the moment, after all, he knew from Mo Yan that that precious information came from this woman's pen. Arguably. If it weren't for the information provided by Qin Ke'er, whether it was Xie An or the Great Liang Army under his command, most of them would not be able to force Liu Qing to such a point. Because of this, Xie An didn't feel that there was anything that could not be revealed to this woman.

"No Fight...... If it drags on for too long, I'm afraid that there will be big trouble on the side of [Pit Man King] Li Xian, but if there is a war, ......" Speaking of this, Xie An couldn't help but glance at the letter on the table, although there were only four words on the letter, but he undoubtedly felt Liu Qing's consciousness of not hesitating to burn jade.

"A dilemma. Dilemma! With a remark, Xie An sighed and shook his head. Due to the inconvenience of information transmission, even until now, he didn't know that Ji Jing had invited [King Anling] Li Cheng to support Li Xian, therefore. Xie An was very worried about Li Xian's current situation.

Although his relationship with Li Xian cannot be called a friend, let alone a close friend, and even the two were political enemies for a time, Xie An did not want Li Xian to have any accidents, whether it was public or private.

Officially. Li Xian was one of the most virtuous courtiers of the Li Shou court in Jijing, he had the talent to be an emperor, but because he did not want to divide the Great Zhou court, he willingly ceded the throne to Li Shou, who was supported by Xie An. thus alleviating the tension between him and the forces in Xie An and Li Shouyi's faction, and he can indeed be called a respectable gentleman.

From a selfish point of view, Xie An felt that it was precisely because of Li Xian who served as the prime minister, a drudgery that needed to manage all the domestic policies, people's livelihood, criminal, taxation, etc. in the Great Zhou. It made him, one of the six Shangshu, more relaxed. It can be said that Li Xian became the prime minister. I only get three points of rights, but I do seven points of work, like such a conscientious doer, where can I find it in the world?

Therefore, although he was dissatisfied with Li Xian taking the position of prime minister of his master Ruan Shaozhou, Xie An still acquiesced to the fact that Li Xian was the prime minister of the Great Zhou, perhaps, he was moved by Li Xian's conscientiousness, character and ethics for the country and the people.

Of course, if His Royal Highness the Virtuous King wasn't so picky in terms of finances, Xie An would probably support him even more. But on the other hand, if it weren't for Li Xian's firm control of the household department over the years, in charge of the economy and taxation of the Great Zhou, I am afraid that the current Great Zhou court would not be able to fight with the [Three Kings] and the [Taiping Army] on two fronts, after all, it costs money to fight, and a lot of money, the money for purchasing military rations, the money for hiring people to transport grain, the soldiers' salaries, the soldiers' pensions, and so on.

"It's not easy to do......" Rubbing his hands that were a little cold, Xie An let out a long sigh.

The smart Qin Ke'er naturally knew that Xie An's sentence came from the letter sent by Liu Qing, and after hearing Xie An's emotion, he felt a little surprised in his heart. So the smart woman is tired, worried about this, worried about that, look at Wang Xin's stupid girl, since Xie An had time to play with her again, I don't know how happy she has been these days.

Still thinking about Liu Qing's little girl?

"Where's that kind of green girl?" Qin Ke'er muttered in a whisper full of complaints.

"Huh? Did Ke'er say anything? It seemed that he didn't hear clearly, Xie An asked suspiciously.

"No, there is no ......" Qin Ke'er came to her senses, shook her head with a smile, thought for a while and said, "The little slave said that the master needs to guard against thieves and dogs jumping off the wall." The little slave heard that the rabbit will kick the eagle when he is in a hurry, not to mention the more than 40,000 Taiping thieves! ”

may be because he has experienced a period of being inadvertently snubbed by Xie An, Qin Ke'er doesn't want Xie An to fall behind in the confrontation with Liu Qing again because of a momentary negligence.

To tell the truth, how many casualties the Great Liang Army has, in Qin Ke'er's opinion, has nothing to do with her, the key is that if the Great Liang Army is not in a good situation, the commander of the Great Liang Army next to her will have a headache, if it is like a few days ago, the general in the middle of the army is convened day and night to discuss the military situation, then Qin Ke'er can't stand it, after all, in this kind of unrelated place, Xie An, the man who took her innocent body, is undoubtedly the closest person to her, and she enjoys the feeling of being doted on by Xie An.

"Ke'er is right!" Xie An chuckled and nodded, and suddenly shouted outside the tent, "Someone is coming, pass Liang Cheng, Wang Huai, Feng He and other generals to the tent to discuss matters!" ”

"Yes, sir!" Outside the tent came the response of the guards and soldiers.

"The lord wants to recruit someone to discuss the military situation again?" Qin Ke'er said a little sullenly, "Obviously, I still said that I want to talk to the little slave......"

"War is important!" Xie An glanced at Qin Ke'er a little helplessly, and then said jokingly, "Besides, Ke'er just said that she was unwell. But look, Kerr is fine......"

Qin Ke'er's face flushed slightly, indeed, she didn't know how many times she had used the trick of pretending to be sick in the past few days.

Unlike strong women like Liang Qiuwu, Jin Ling'er, and eldest grandson Xiangyu, and even not as strong as Su Wan, who is soft on the outside and strong on the inside, although Qin Ke'er seems to be strong on the outside, she is quite weak on the inside. Unconsciously choosing a strong man to cling to is a common problem for most women in Da Zhou. At the end of the day, such women lack a sense of security.

Because of this, Xie An treated her more and more domineeringly, and Qin Ke'er felt more and more inexplicably happy. However, there will be times when this joy will be tired. Occasionally, Qin Ke'er also wanted to get rid of the status of a slave for a while, and tried to be a hostess, so she pretended to be sick and coquettish to Xie An, so that Xie An was called to do this and that, which can be regarded as a kind of emotional adjustment, after all, Xie An really loves her now.

It's a pity. Xie An is not stupid, he may not be able to see it once or twice, but if the trick of pretending to be sick has been used for a long time, how can Xie An not be able to see it? It's just that he didn't say it. After all. Xie An can be regarded as a veteran of the love scene after all, how could he do such an uninteresting thing? Occasionally tease Qin Ke'er.

"Little ...... Is the little slave really unwell...... Dizziness, nausea, or something......" Qin Ke'er argued with a slight blushing face, in fact, she didn't know how good her physical condition was recently.

"Dizziness, nausea...... Ke'er won't be happy, right? Xie An said with wide eyes.

"Sir!" Qin Ke'er glanced at Xie An with a slight shyness. Suddenly, his face was stunned.

was reminded by Xie An that she remembered that she had taken contraceptive drugs in advance a few times. But after Xie An inadvertently snubbed her, she forgot about it.

It's no wonder, after all, she gradually lost the hatred she had for Xie An, and as the days of getting along with each other increased, she vaguely felt that she seemed to be Xie An's woman, and it was a matter of course to do that kind of thing with him, and even if she gave birth to a son and a half daughter for him, it was not an unacceptable thing.

Therefore, it is quite a terrible thing to take for granted, and it will gradually change a person's original attitude towards things.

"Does the master really want the little slave to give birth to a son and a half daughter for the master?" Qin Ke'er blinked and teased Xie An, and said shyly, "It's okay...... The little slave willingly ......"

"Of course!" Xie An smiled, suddenly blinked, and said with a bit of teasing, "But master, I have already summoned Liang Cheng and them to make children, let's wait until the night to talk about it." ”

"Tsk!" Qin Ke'er smacked her lips with pity, feeling sorry for herself for deliberately teasing this man but he easily saw through it.

Who sent the information about this nasty fellow? Obviously it doesn't match the information!

Qin Ke'er secretly cursed the woman in the Guangling assassin intelligence network who passed on her 'false information', after all, after getting along for a while, Xie An was still the same as before, but she Qin Ke'er gradually fell into it, as if she had really become Xie An's female slave, living only for him.

Although this feeling is not bad in Qin Keer's opinion, it is ...... after all It's awkward!

For example, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make Xie An forget about Liu Qing, which made her feel very annoyed, although Xie An's coveting Liu Qing's beauty was only out of her personal speculation.

"My lord? - Do you have something to summon the last general and others? ”

Outside the tent, there was the sound of Liang Cheng and others asking.

Glancing at Qin Ke'er, who was a little sullen, Xie An teasingly raised his hand and hooked her chin, and said softly, "Okay, okay, master, I will finish discussing with the generals as soon as possible, and then I will accompany you...... Be obedient and obedient! The last two words, Xie An deliberately said with a straight face, after all, according to experience, he felt that this trick was the most effective for Qin Ke'er.

If Liang Qiuwu, Jin Ling'er, and the eldest grandson Xiangyu were in a bad mood, Xie An used this tone to scare them again, and the three daughters were afraid that most of them would turn their faces on the spot. But for Qin Ke'er, it seemed to be more effective than anything else, even if Qin Ke'er was dissatisfied at the moment, he was very useful, and nodded helplessly in fear. It is undeniable that the personalities of several women around Xie An are indeed awkward.

After getting Xie An's response, Liang Cheng and the others cautiously walked into the tent, and after entering the account, several people subconsciously glanced at Qin Ke'er beside Xie An, and saw that she was dressed appropriately and her face was as usual, and the three generals secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Since Qin Ke'er can enter and leave the handsome tent at will. Generals in the army such as Liang Cheng, Wang Huai, and Feng He did not dare to rush into the account anymore, and even Gou Gong, Ding Qiu and others would stand outside the tent for a while, giving Xie An and Qin Ke'er in the tent enough time to react. After all, it was not a good thing for his subordinates to bump into that kind of thing, although Xie An would not blame them for that little thing.

"I wonder what happened to the Lord to summon the last general and others?" Liang Cheng asked with a fist in his fist.

may see that Qin Ke'er's face is as usual, and it doesn't look like the one with spring in his eyes and flushed face after he has just been favored, Liang Cheng's heart is really much more relaxed, after all, it means that he has not disturbed the happiness of his own coach.

"I'm calling you to come here. Only for this thing...... Come! Beckoning to Liang Cheng and the others, Xie An pointed to the letter on the table, Liu Qing's handwritten letter.

"Do you really want to fight?" Liang Cheng read the words on the letter suspiciously, and asked puzzledly, "My lord." This is? ”

"It was sent by the Taiping Army!" Glancing at the domineering and delicate pen of the four words on the letter, Xie An chuckled and said, "If this mansion is not bad, this should be written by [Heavenly Ji] Liu Qing himself!" ”

"Provocation?" Wang Huai muttered with a puzzled face, and beside him, Feng He gritted his teeth and scolded, "If you want to fight, you will fight." Why be afraid?! - My lord, I would like to be the vanguard! ”

"Feng He, don't be impatient!" After appeasing Feng He, Xie An took a breath. Zhengse said, "From the point of view of this house, I'm afraid this is not a provocative war letter, but more like a ...... Ultimatum! ”

"What do you mean?"

"Liu Qing wants to tell this government. If our army presses forward step by step, then. The Taiping army also did not hesitate to die and the net was broken, and the jade was burned! -- That's probably what she was trying to say in her letter. ”

"What a rampant enchantress!" Feng He scolded loudly, no wonder, after all, he had a deep hatred for Liu Qing, who set up an ambush and annihilated the entire army of 9,000 cavalry under his command.

"Feng He, pay attention to your words in front of adults!" Liang Cheng frowned and reminded Feng He, then turned his head and hugged his fist at Xie An and said, "My lord, can the last general understand that the thief army has been cornered by our army right now?" ”

"That's exactly what it means!" praised Liang Cheng with a word, Xie An Zhengse said, "When the dying tiger still has a counterattack to devour people, let alone a human?" If the more than 40,000 Taiping troops are the same enemy, they are united in their hearts, and they will not hesitate to burn the jade and stone to fight to the death with my Liang army, which is not a good thing! ”

"More than 40,000 Taiping troops?" Liang Cheng was stunned when he heard this, and asked suspiciously, "My lord, hasn't the thief army started to prepare to cross the river yet?" Counting the days, at least half of the thief army has already crossed the river. ”

"Well...... Xie An touched his nose a little embarrassed when he heard this, shrugged his shoulders and said, "You're right, it's like this, but ...... Last night, Mo Fei went to Xiakou and the Taiping army made a fuss, killing many people and sinking a lot of boats, which frightened the Taiping army and did not dare to cross the river easily, lest our army cover up and kill later. Even the 5,000 or 6,000 Taiping soldiers who were said to have crossed the river one step earlier have returned here......"

Liang Cheng suddenly realized, nodded and said, "I see, it turned out that Captain Mo Du dragged the thief army to cross the river...... In this case, the thief army really does not dare to cross the river easily......"

What Liang Cheng said was exactly what Liu Qing was worried about.

After all, it is impossible for more than 40,000 Taiping troops to cross the river at the same time by warship, and it will take at least several hours to board the ship, and it is impossible to let all the soldiers line up to prepare to board the ship at the beginning, after all, once the Zhou army launches a surprise attack, then the Taiping army will only be defeated, and there is no power to resist at all.

For this reason, Liu Qing had to leave at least half of his troops to guard against the Zhou army, and could only ask half of the people to cross the river first. But in this way, there will also be a problem, that is, can half of the more than 40,000 Taiping troops, that is, more than 20,000 soldiers, be able to stop the more than 60,000 soldiers and horses of the Zhou army?

The answer is obvious, it can't be stopped, it can't be stopped at all!

If more than 40,000 Taiping troops fought against the water, they could still compete with the Zhou army, but if more than 20,000 people were withdrawn, then the remaining soldiers would undoubtedly become victims of the Zhou army's guns.

More than 20,000 people......

Liu Qing couldn't give up her mind, because she knew very well that once the Zhou army attacked, the Taiping soldiers behind the palace would not have the time and possibility to board the ship at all, and there was only a dead end. What made her even more embarrassed was that if the army of the queen of the palace was left, it could not play a role in delaying the Zhou army, and if she left too much, it would be a waste of the few remaining troops.

For this reason, Liu Qing chose to stand still, although there were still hundreds of warships in Xiakou, but none of the Taiping soldiers crossed the river.

She was waiting, waiting for Xie An's reaction to this.

And this is exactly where Xie An feels a headache.

He didn't expect Liu Qing not to run away when he had the opportunity to escape, so he waited for him in Xiakou, which made Xie An only stand still, after all, once he launched an offensive, Liu Qing scuttled all the warships in one blow, which not only ruined the transportation of Xie An's army to cross the river to Jiangling in Nanjun to support Li Xian, the king of the Eight Sages, but also made the 40,000 Taiping army as terrible and fierce as dying beasts.

Historically, there have been many battles that have turned the tables around and completely reversed the unfavorable tide of wars in the case of a back-to-back battle, and Xie An does not want to be one of the negative teaching materials.

In a war, we still have to pay attention to encircling three queyi, that is, the so-called do not do anything to kill and leave a way for the other side to survive, this is not mercy, but an effective tactic that can ensure the reduction of one's own troop losses, after all, an army of sergeants and soldiers who do not care about life and death will definitely not be what any general wants to encounter.

"In short, send troops to test Liu Qing first, if what she said is true, I will make plans later......"

After concluding, Xie An picked up the letter on the table and frowned.

If you really plan to fight against the odds, there is no need to write this letter, isn't this a self-defeating intention? Besides, with this threatening letter alone, he would not have been able to withdraw his troops and let them go.

What exactly does she want to do? Liu Qing......

Wait a minute!

Could it be that she wants to negotiate with our army?