——March of the fifth year of Jingzhi, Jiujiang County, Liyang Kingdom——

Liyang, one of the thirty-one royal families of the Li family of the Great Zhou Dynasty, the feudal state of Li Chen, the king of Liyang, was originally one of the few vassal kings who were interested in the Jijing court, but his son Li Jiong had a grudge with Xie An and Li Xian three years ago because of Su Wan, the daughter-in-law of the Lu family in the Nangong Mansion, and the Jijing court intended to withdraw the feudal domain, which forced Li Chen, the old prince, to take a risk, turn the gun to support Li Shen, the king of Qin, and confront the Jijing court.

As we all know, the Rebellion of the Three Kings was a rebellion related to the rise and fall of the Great Zhou Dynasty and the stability of the society, and this rebellion seriously affected whether the Taiping Army Wu Heng still had the strength to encircle and suppress Jiangdong in the follow-up of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and Li Mao, the overlord of Northern Xinjiang, who still remembered the position of the Son of Heaven of the Great Zhou. Because of this, Li Chen, the king of Liyang, has been paying close attention to the war in the Jiangling and Xiangyang areas of Jingzhou, and this is not just because his son and son Li Jiong led his troops to assist Li Shen, the king of Qin.

In fact, in addition to Li Chen, the king of Liyang, there are countless pairs of eyes in the whole world who are closely watching the battle of Li Shen, the king of Qin.

However, what the old prince Li Chen never expected was that after only half a year of rebellion, Li Shen, the king of Qin, raised troops to rebel, and was exterminated by the new emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty, Li Shou, the most trusted Aichen, the secretary of the Imperial Court Criminal Department, together with Li Xian, the king of the Eight Sages, and Li Cheng, the king of Anling. And the former ally of Li Shen, the king of Qin, Liu Qing of the Taiping army, was also annihilated by Xie An, who was the secretary of Shangshu.

I have to say that when the news of the defeat of Xiangyang by Li Shen, the king of Qin, reached Li Chen's ears, Li Chen's thoughts were discouraged, and at this time, it happened that Li Xian, the king of the Eight Sages, was discussing with Xie An, and wanted to take a step forward and rush to Jiangdong to restrain the Taiping army Wu Heng, lest the latter expand its power rapidly and be difficult to encircle and suppress in the future.

But how did the old prince Li Chen know that Li Xian's purpose was just to check and balance Wu Heng, and he thought that the latter was from Xingshi to ask for guilt, and in fear, he actually committed suicide by drinking poison and wine in his palace, which made Li Xian, the king of the eight sages who arrived in Liyang and learned about it, sigh with emotion.

After all, to tell the truth, Li Xian, the king of the eight sages, was indeed very dissatisfied with the rebellion of this once close uncle Wang who helped Li Shen, the king of Qin, to rebel, but it was not to the point of forcing this uncle to death.

It's not that he is prejudiced against Li Jiong, the problem is that when Li Xian set out to come to Liyang, Li Jiongshang assisted Li Shen, the king of Qin, together with Li Bo, the prince of Qiuyang, and the other two good cousins, so Li Xian was not easy to speak too slowly. Otherwise, he relieved Li Jiong's guilt, but Li Jiong was beheaded on the battlefield by the generals under Xie An, what is this called?

In fact, Li Xian's concerns were not wrong, in the battle of Xiangyang, which ended the lives of Li Shen, the king of Qin, and Li Cheng, the king of Anling, seeing that the general trend had gone, the panicked Li Jiong and dozens of guards planned to break through, but they ran into Fei Guo, the commander of the Jizhou army, and was beheaded by the latter.

The old prince Li Chen committed suicide in fear of crime, and the son Li Jiong also died in the chaos of the Xiangyang Campaign, which made it easier for Li Xian to grasp the feudal state of Liyang, although there were almost no soldiers in Liyang, but at least there was enough money and food. Therefore, Li Xian came to a magpie's nest and used the money and grain in the treasury of the Liyang Wangfu to recruit the green forest heroes from all over the south of the Yangtze River.

As the so-called name of the person and the shadow of the tree, I have to say that the prestige of Li Xian, the king of the Eight Sages, in Jiangnan is indeed extraordinary, obviously he is a son of the Li royal family of the Great Zhou Dynasty, and he is obviously a descendant of the enemy who destroyed the Southern Tang Dynasty, but Li Xian enjoys a prestige and prestige far beyond Jin Ling'er in Jiangnan in black and white. So much so that when Li Xian set up a banner in Liyang, the heroes of the green forest from all directions actually let Li Xian win over an army of more than 20,000 people in just two months.

Although this army is composed of former bandits, river bandits, and road tyrants, with the appeal of Li Xian, the king of the eight sages, these unruly heroes of the green forest are actually obedient, I have to say that the former crown prince Li Wei regarded Li Xian as a fierce rival who was not inferior to Li Mao, the overlord of northern Xinjiang, which is not unreasonable.

On the other hand, Wu Heng of the Taiping Army heard that the third-generation commander Liang Qiuhao had died in battle, and he was overjoyed, claiming to be the fourth-generation commander, and quickly launched a comprehensive control of Jiangdong.

In fact, Wu Heng was not unaware of the news of the arrival of Li Xian, the king of the Eight Sages, in Liyang, but he underestimated Li Xian's appeal, after all, in Wu Heng's view, Jiangnan was the territory of their Taiping army, and since Li Xian was a child of the Li royal family of the Great Zhou, how could he get the support of the people of Jiangnan?

It is precisely because of this mentality that when Li Xian gathered 20,000 green forest heroes in just two months, Wu Heng was shocked, and then he felt bad, and immediately sent his henchman and the second generation of Tianshu God to lead 30,000 Taiping troops to Tunniuzhu and Wuhu to resist Li Xian, the king of the eight sages, and he himself led 50,000 troops out of Beigu Mountain, and the soldiers pointed directly at Guangling, a major city on the other side of the Yangtze River.

Maybe Xie An couldn't have imagined that in fact, the situation on the side of Li Xian, the king of the Eight Sages, was not optimistic, and even precarious.

"Withered Sheep ......"

While pacing back and forth in the room, Li Xian muttered the name.

I remember that a month ago, Li Xian had not even heard of this name, but in that cross-river battle, Li Xian finally realized that the young general of the Taiping Army he was facing was by no means the kind of reckless man who was brave and resourceful.

Perhaps in the eyes of many green forest heroes under his command, Li Xian, the king of his eight sages, was able to gather people in a short period of time to block the power of the Taiping Army south of the Yangtze River, which was a very remarkable thing, but only Li Xian knew that if it weren't for the young general of the Taiping Army called Withered Sheep, he would have already attacked the other side.

"Ji Hong, have you ever heard of this name before?" Frowning for a while, Li Xian turned his head and asked about his most trusted advisor, that is, Ji Hong, the current official of the imperial court.

A few months ago, when Li Xian discussed with Xie An, he wrote a letter to Ji Jing on the way to the road, recruiting Ji Hong, who was most trusted, to rush to Jiangdong to support him, after all, Ji Hong was not only a subtle swordsman, but also resourceful. When he was dedicating himself to the strategy, he used five grains of rice to clearly explain to Li Xian the pattern of all the forces in the world, so he was nicknamed Five Rice Shi by Li Xian. Although this title is a bit witty and ridiculous, it is undeniable that Li Xian attaches great importance and trust to Ji Hong.

"The Heavenly Pivot God will ...... withered sheep" Ji Hong frowned and pondered, and shook his head after half a sound.

Suddenly, he seemed to think of something, and said in a low voice, "Your Highness, do you guess that the withered sheep is the murderer who killed the Northern Army and the original Taiping Army's first Tianshu Divine General three years ago?!" ”

"......" A trace of surprise flashed in Li Xian's eyes when he heard this, and he remembered the murder case on the street three years ago where the murderer had not been caught.

You must know that at that time, the withered sheep was under the noses of the two Dongling people, and he forcibly assassinated Geng Nan, who was a martial artist superior to him, which can be called both wise and brave.

"I see...... Is that him? The only one who successfully assassinated the six god generals of the Taiping Army......" Li Xian frowned and recalled, and suddenly asked strangely, "Ji Hong, Xiao Wang suddenly remembered that three years ago, Xie Shangshu had mentioned Xiao Wang and returned the jade plate of your Heavenly Power Divine General to the Taiping Army......"

"It's true!" Ji Hong nodded and said, "At that time, Lord Xie's second wife, Changsun Clan, also privately rebelled against the young general of the Taiping Army called Wei Xuan, that is, the later second-generation Tianquan Divine General, His Royal Highness has also seen it, but it's a pity that Wei Xuan didn't act secretly......"

At the mention of his successor, the second-generation Heavenly Power God General Wei Xuan, Ji Hong couldn't help but feel a lot of regret in his heart. After all, Wei Xuan is also a talented person with both civil and military skills, and if time will become a great weapon, the eldest grandson Xiangyu can rebel against this person, so that this person can lurk in the Taiping army, as the eyeliner of the Great Zhou court, which is simply a great thing for the imperial court. But it's a pity that when Wei Xuan was plotting against Yang Yu, the commander of the Tianfu Army, he was killed by the latter before he died. Afterwards, when Ji Hong learned about it, he couldn't help but sigh.

"Hmm, Wei Xuan...... A talent indeed! Li Xian nodded thoughtfully, after all, Wei Xuan was not only not exposed in those three years, but also climbed to the high position of the six god generals, Li Xian once counted on this person to annihilate the Taiping army for their Great Zhou Dynasty in one fell swoop, but unfortunately many unsatisfactory things happened during the period.

"Wei Xuan is indeed a rare talent, and this withered sheep ...... Better! ”

Because there were no outsiders in the house except Ji Hong, Li Xian did not hesitate to praise the enemy general Withered Sheep. It's not that he is pretentious, but Li Xian really rarely encounters opponents, in his opinion, looking at the size of the world, I am afraid that there are only Li Wei, Li Shen, Li Mao, Li Shen, Changsun Xiangyu, Liang Qiu Wu, Liang Qiu Hao, Zhen Lei and a few other people, and even Xie An can't talk about the word opponent.

In all fairness, Li Xian really never thought that the second-generation Tianshu God General of the Taiping Army, a young general so many years younger than him, could frequently see through his schemes, firmly refuse to hold the area of Niuzhu and Wuhu, and repeatedly sabotage his good deeds that Li Xian wanted to cross the river to enter the army.

"It's not easy...... It's not easy to do! ”

Pacing back and forth in the room, Li Xian muttered worriedly.

Seeing that his lord was full of worries, Ji Hong thought for a while, and arched his hand and said, "Your Highness, your subordinates think that although our army is not allowed to advance an inch, it is difficult for the Taiping army to touch the north of the Yangtze River, and this all depends on His Highness's foresight......"

For this matter, Ji Hong admired Li Xian very much, after all, few people could trust Xie An to defeat Li Shen, the king of Qin, in a short period of time as Li Xian, and almost no one could gather more than 20,000 green forest heroes in just two months.

Now, 20,000 soldiers under Li Xian's command are stationed in Liyang, and Guangling, Liang Shu, the capital of Xuzhou, has 30,000 Danyang soldiers who refuse to defend the Yangtze River, plus the city guards in the counties north of the Yangtze River.

The only problem is that compared to the Taiping army on the other side of the river, Li Xian has insufficient troops and generals, so he worries from time to time whether Guangling will be conquered by Wu Heng, after all, once Guangling is conquered by the Taiping army, the war in Jiangnan of the Great Zhou will fall into passivity, and it will be difficult to rely on the Yangtze River to prevent the Taiping army from expanding its power to the north.

And the culprit who caused Guangling to be in danger......

"The head of the Guangling Assassins, Wan Li!" Li Xian gritted his teeth and cursed, after all, there were all kinds of signs that the Guangling Assassins had completely defected to Wu Heng of the Taiping Army, and assisted Wu Heng in using troops against the Guangling area.

With such a powerful assassin lodge assisting Wu Heng of the Taiping Army, how could Guangling not be defeated in consecutive battles?

Because of this, Li Xian did not reprimand Liang Shu, the capital of Xuzhou Prefecture, and Zhang Qi, the prefect of Guangling, who supervised the war in Guangling, but told them to pay attention to defense, not to easily start a war with the Taiping army, and to step up the search for internal thieves. After all, no one dared to guarantee how many Guangling assassins lurked in Guangling City who had already defected to the Taiping Army.

"By the way, where is Xie An's army?"

Hearing Li Xian's question, Ji Hong calculated in his heart, and said, "Back to Your Highness, count the days, you should cross the lake, if you are faster, you may reach the Tiger Forest......"

"So fast?" Li Xian was slightly surprised, after all, the road was closed by ice and snow in winter, and 60,000 Jizhou soldiers rushed from Xiangyang to Jiangdong, which was not a short-distance march.

Ji Hong smiled when he heard this, and said, "Has Your Highness forgotten?" Xie Shangshu annihilated the rebels of Li Shen, the king of Qin, in the middle of November, and ended the rectification of troops and horses a year ago, and set off directly from Xiangyang after the year, about a month earlier than His Highness expected, so His Highness felt that it was ...... soon."

"I see!" A smile finally appeared on Li Xian's tense face.

In fact, his previous request to Xie An was that it would be best to end the war with Li Shen, the king of Qin, before the end of the year, and then spend a month or so to reorganize the soldiers and horses, prepare the grain and grass needed for the journey, and set off from Xiangyang to Jiangdong at the end of January, so that he could probably arrive in Jiangdong around mid-April. And Xie An is obviously better than he imagined, remembering that Li Xian received the good news from Xie An a few years ago, and bluntly said that when the three kings such as Li Shen, the king of Qin, were all ambushed, Li Xian was shocked and overjoyed.

"Oh, by the way, what Your Majesty Fang Cai is talking about is the Jizhou soldiers, as for Lord Xie, this subordinate is not easy to guess......" Glancing at Li Xian, Ji Hong said with a smile.

A trace of warmth flashed in Li Xian's eyes when he heard this, after all, he also received the news that his eldest grandson Xiangyu gave birth in Lingling, and he was so happy that her mother and son were safe.

[Maybe His Highness still reciprocates affection for the eldest grandson, right?] Otherwise, why not get married? ]

Thinking like this, Ji Hong secretly looked at the smile on Li Xian's face, and suddenly asked thoughtlessly, "What does Your Highness plan to do with it?" Xie Changsun's proposal ......"

"What...... What proposal? For some reason, Li Xian's expression looked a little embarrassed.

With a secret laugh in his heart, Ji Hong said in a low voice, "Although I can't say it, in fact, His Highness really wants to do this in his heart, right?" The eldest son of the Lord of Thanksgiving is his godson...... Since Xie Changsun mentioned in the letter that he asked His Highness to be her beloved son's teacher in advance, why didn't His Highness ......"

"Who knows if that kid will be Xiwen or Xiwu in the future? - If he likes the text, Xiao Wang is naturally willing to learn the talent in his chest, ...... "Speaking of this, Li Xian suddenly realized something, glanced at Ji Hong, who was smiling teasingly, coughed and diverted the topic, and said, "That...... Mr. Ji, the soldiers and horses under Xie Shangshu have been delayed, Xiao Wang is very worried, please write a letter on your behalf to urge you! ”

"Yes, yes...... Your Majesty, go now! - Hehe......"

“……”

- At the same time, Nanjun Lingling -

"Li Xian, the king of the pit man? - Xiangyu, you said that you have sent a letter asking him to be our son's future teacher? ”

In the room of the eldest grandson Xiangyu's confinement, Xie An sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the second lady who gave birth to a son for him in surprise.

Ji Hong guessed correctly, although the Jizhou soldiers had already arrived in the Hukou area, and they would be able to arrive in Liyang, where Li Xian was located, in half a month, Xie An was also a little reluctant to accompany his wife Xiangyu, who was weak after giving birth, in Lingling.

Although the time of companionship will not be very long, only three months, but in any case, the two can be regarded as getting along warmly. So, Xie An asked Fei Guo and others to lead the troops forward, and he accompanied his wife in Lingling, and after the big deal, he Xie An caught up with the front army day and night.

And this intention made the eldest grandson Xiangyu particularly moved, after all, after giving birth, if a woman sees that her husband can't be by her side, most of her mood will be very lost, even if it is a strange woman like the eldest grandson Xiangyu, it is difficult to avoid vulgarity.

"The Pit King?" Funny at what her husband said, the eldest grandson Xiangyu covered her mouth and giggled, raised her head and asked, "Master Fujun thinks that the concubine is not qualified as the teacher chosen by my son?" ”

"That's not ......," Xie An hurriedly shook his head.

You must know that in Xie An's opinion, if the eldest grandson Xiangyu and Liu Qing are the most intelligent and witty women he has ever seen, then among the men, Li Xian, the king of the eight sages, has thousands of strategies and can be called the top national talents.

In fact, the talents of Li Shen, the king of Qin, and Li Cheng, the king of Anling, are almost the same as Li Xian, but the problem is that aside from the fact that the two have died now, Li Shen, the king of Qin, is scheming, and Li Cheng, the king of Anling, is ruthless, which can compare to Li Xian's kind-hearted, gentle and elegant gentleman. has Li Xian as a teacher to teach his son, to be honest, Xie An can't find the slightest thorn.

After all, if even a gentleman like Li Xian who is full of wealth is not qualified to be the teacher of Xie An's eldest son, I am afraid that it will be difficult to find a more suitable one in the world.

"I remember that you seem to be planning to teach yourself......" Xie An glanced at the eldest grandson Xiangyu strangely.

"Of course the concubine will teach! It's just ......" blinking his eyes, the eldest grandson Xiangyu said weakly, "It's just that the concubine is afraid that she will be soft-hearted in the future, so she can't be strict...... In case he is disobedient after the end of the world, how will the husband treat him harshly when he asks the concubine? ”

[You said that Li Xian was ruthless?] - He's definitely even more pampered than you......]

Pouting, Xie Anxin felt funny.

In all fairness, Xie An's speculation is not unreasonable, after all, just looking at the Eight Sages King Li Xian has never married a wife and concubine so far, it is enough to prove that he still has some affection for the eldest grandson Xiangyu, and asked him to serve as his teacher at the end of the son of Xie An and the eldest grandson Xiangyu in the future.

Later facts proved that Xie An's guess was not bad now.

"Tuk Tuk Tuk-" Just when Xie An and the eldest grandson Xiangyu were in love, there was a knock on the door outside the house, and then Gou Gong's voice came.

"My lord, there is a letter from Liyang!"

After signaling to the eldest grandson Xiangyu and asking her to rest for a while, Xie An got up and opened the door.

"Li Xian's letter?" Taking the letter from Gou Gong's hand, Xie An unfolded it with a smile, glanced at it a few times, and immediately, his brows furrowed tightly.

"Husband, crybaby...... No, did that guy Li Xian promise? Inside the house, there was an inquiry from the eldest grandson Xiangyu, and it could be seen that she was quite concerned about teaching her son in the future.

"It's not ......" Shaking his head, Xie An said in a solemn tone, "What Li Xian gave to his husband is a war report!" ”

"Huh?" The eldest grandson Xiangyu, who was lying on the bed, flashed a little surprise in his eyes, and muttered, "Show off the victory in the war? This is not in line with Li Xian's character......"

"No......" Xie An let out a long breath, and Xie An said in a deep voice, "Li Xian is defeated!" ——The cross-river water battle in the Liyang area, 20,000 against 20,000, Li Xian could not defeat the Taiping army, and had no choice but to return to the ...... of Liyang"

Hearing this, the eldest grandson Xiangyu's face changed slightly, and he exclaimed, "How is it possible?!" - Who are the generals of the Taiping Army? ”

"The second generation of Tianshu God General, withered sheep ......"

"Withered ...... Hey? ”

Looking at the surprised expression on the face of the eldest grandson Xiangyu, Xie Anxin smiled bitterly.

[I just confronted my brother-in-law Liang Qiu Hao on the battlefield, and now I want to face my brother-in-law withered sheep again? ] Yiyi ......]

ps: Thank you for the big tips of [Time Impermanence], [Lonely Wind God], and [Woowu]~~

Then ps: The day after tomorrow, you may have to go with your girlfriend to get the certificate, if the time is pressing, please take a day or two off at that time, and see the leave announcement when the specific time comes, please bear with me, thank you very much.