Li Ke, the king of Wu, came, with the soldiers and horses of Songzhou.

Songzhou is located in the Central Plains, and close to the Grand Canal, the strategic position is very important, so the Tang Dynasty specially stationed a team of soldiers and horses here. As the governor of Songzhou, Li Ke, the king of Wu, became the master of this army and horses, Li Ke is very talented in military affairs, heroic and extraordinary, whether it was in Anzhou or now in Songzhou, the training is impressive.

In this Qizhou rebellion, the Songzhou garrison was undoubtedly the closest, so Li Ke mobilized troops and horses to support as soon as possible. However, the strange thing is that Emperor You's clear edict only asked Li Ke to transfer soldiers and horses to Qizhou, but did not allow him to command the battle, but handed over all the soldiers and horses to Xie Yi.

This arrangement is very strange, but Li Ke is an extremely smart prince, so he naturally understands the problem. At the same time, Concubine Yang also sent news from Chang'an, asking him not to intervene in the Qizhou Rebellion, which had reached the extent of a simple rebellion, but involved a struggle between princes.

As a prince who is heroic and has military merits, it is better not to participate in it. At least that's what Concubine Yang thinks, whether she wants Li Ke to do nothing, be safe, or make a difference in the future, she can't participate in it.

Based on this, Li Ke, the king of Wu, should be avoided, but there is one thing that he can't bear a little, that is, the death of Quan Wanji.

Quan Wanji was originally the long history of Wu Wangfu, and he has been by Li Ke's side for many years, and he has been teaching and caring for him since he was a teenager.

During his years in Anzhou, thanks to Quan Wanji's careful teaching, in his heart, Li Ke respected this long history very much and regarded him as a teacher.

Later, Quan Wanji was transferred out of Wu Wangfu, and Li Ke was reluctant to give up, but it was difficult to disobey the king's fate. Later, after Quan Wanji arrived in Qizhou, Li Ke still often exchanged letters with his teacher, and had a very close personal relationship.

Li Ke never thought of it. Quan Wanji will die in Qizhou, even if Li You doesn't like this long history and doesn't respect it, but he won't use the sword?

But it happened, and Li Ke, the king of Wu, was naturally extremely indignant in his heart, and wanted to avenge Quan Wanji, but this enemy was his own brother. Even if you rebel now, you can't ......

At this moment, Li Ke understood that the reason why his father, emperor and mother prevented him from leading troops to quell the rebellion. Probably there is such a layer of concern!

It was Li Ke who was full of depression and came to Dongping County with soldiers and horses......

……

When Xie Yi arrived, His Royal Highness King Wu was sitting expressionlessly, seemingly a little unhappy.

"I've seen His Royal Highness King Wu."

"Huaiyang Hou Mo is polite, I brought you the army, and my deputy general Xue Jiang will obey your dispatch......" Li Ke explained the situation as soon as he came up, obviously he didn't have the heart to take care of these troublesome things, and he didn't want to be in it.

Xie Yi smiled: "Thank you, Your Highness!" ”

"Well, I've explained it. Then the king took his leave. Li Ke arched his hand, and seemed to have the intention of leaving immediately.

"Why is Your Highness in such a hurry? It's hard to go all the way, so I can stay and rest before leaving. Xie Yi smiled and kept Wu Wang Li Ke.

Li Ke said: "No, the holy decree is clear. The soldiers and horses will be handed over to you, and this king will not stay long. ”

"Your Highness, but Your Majesty did not explicitly order His Highness to leave immediately." Xie Yi said: "The minister is not good at military affairs, is it good for His Highness to stay as an adviser?" ”

"Advisor?"

"Yes. The minister needs to ask His Highness for some advice on arranging troops and marching to fight. Xie Yi's answer was very solemn.

But Li Ke still refused without hesitation: "Master Xie has talent, this king knows...... Regarding the military, if you must consult. You can ask my lieutenant general, and he will answer them one by one. Xue Jiang is a member of the Xue family, knows the military, and is a good hand at arming and fighting, and he will definitely be able to cooperate with Master Xie to fight this battle. ”

"Your Highness just doesn't want to stay here?" Obviously, Xie Yi wanted to keep Wu Wang Li Ke.

"This king ......" Li Ke hesitated for a moment, still wanting to turn around and leave, he didn't seem to have any nostalgia, and his attitude was relatively firm.

The smile on Xie Yi's face also disappeared at this moment, and then he said very solemnly: "Your Highness, don't you want to avenge Quan Changshi?" ”

At the mention of Quan Wanji, Li Ke suddenly stopped, and could clearly see that his back trembled slightly, even if he couldn't see his face, he knew that his expression was different, but he was afraid that his heart would be even more turbulent.

"Naturally, I want to, but it's the king's brother who did it, how can this revenge be avenged?" Li Ke can also be regarded as a person with a true temperament, and he has not denied the truest thoughts in his heart at all, nor has he had the slightest duplicity or pretentiousness.

Xie Yi said in a deep voice: "It was not Li You himself who killed Quan Wanji, and the main messenger behind the scenes may not be Li You, and even who initiated the Qizhou Rebellion may not be ......."

"What do you mean?" Li Ke suddenly turned around when he heard the voice, and Li Ji asked, his expression was a little solemn and a little urgent.

"Presumably His Highness already knows that I have been in Qizhou for a long time, and no one may know better than me what the situation in Qizhou is."

Xie Yi said: "Your Highness, think about it, as a brother, you should know Li Youcai better, is he himself the kind of person who is determined and meticulous and good at planning rebellions?" ”

Hearing Xie Yi say this, Li Ke suddenly fell silent, what he said was not bad, this is indeed the truth. The brothers all grew up in Chang'an, although they were not born to the same mother, but there is not much difference in age, and they all know each other a lot. He knows very well what kind of character and personality Li You is, and what kind of ability he has.

If it was Li You's rebellion because of his own ambitions, Li Ke would not believe it, unless Li You was both a careerist and a complete fool. But in fact, Li You does not seem to be such a person, and this rebellion was not deliberately initiated, but more like a hasty incident under accidental circumstances......

Li Ke turned around and asked, "Master Xie, what's going on?" ”

"Your Majesty sent me to Qizhou to secretly investigate some ghosts, but it's a pity that my actions are still a step slow, and let them carry out activities in Qizhou."

Xie Yi said: "In addition, there are some restless people in the Qi Palace, so that something went wrong......

"Glamorous Spirit?" Li Ke muttered to himself, and after a moment of silence, he already understood, as for the so-called restless people in the Qi Palace, he also knew by heart.

Yin Hongzhi, the uncle of King Qi, has a special background and has a deep hatred with the Li Tang royal family, so it is not surprising that he has done something wrong now. Now it seems that perhaps the protagonist of this rebellion is not Li You, the king of Qi, but someone else behind it. Li You may just be a puppet, either controlled or bewitched.

"Your Highness, the minister wants to invite you to stay and help catch ghosts...... Xie Yi smiled: "Don't worry, don't let Your Highness lead troops to fight, this does not violate Your Majesty's holy decree, nor does it damage Your Highness's reputation, it is full of Your Highness's brotherhood, and it is also full of the affection of the imperial power......

Saying this, Li Ke naturally no longer refused. On the contrary, there is still a bit of warmth in my heart, and there is even an indescribable feeling. Being able to avenge Quan Wanji without disobeying the holy decree and hurting his brotherhood and reputation is something he dreams of, how can he not agree?

Li Ke nodded, and then asked, "Why does Xie Changshi bother with this king so much?" ”

"Your Highness, don't be polite, when you were in Chang'an, Your Highness helped you many times, and the ministers owed Your Highness more than one favor. Today, I want to let the ministers tighten their minds a little! ”

Xie Yi smiled lightly, this is exactly what he is aiming for, all the time, for various reasons. Xie Yi owes Li Ke a lot of favors. I have been suffering from not having the opportunity to repay, this time I finally encountered such an opportunity, how can I not seize the opportunity? In the end, if you can't repay it, or you need to pay too much price. That's a problem.

Xie Yi didn't want these favors to become a burden to him one day in the future, so it was better to have a chance to return it early. Before Li Ke arrived, Xie Yi was determined. His Royal Highness King Wu will not ignore the killing of Quan Wanji, and will definitely be haunted.

So take this opportunity to let Li Ke stay, give him some convenience and help, and let him avenge Quan Wanji, but he has a wish. This can be regarded as a favor, of course, Li Ke has helped the Xie family more times, and he has helped a lot, so this little thing is nothing, and the favor is still owed, but there are not so many of them......

Li Ke is naturally beneficial to stay, in addition to being able to provide military advice, he can also help Xie Yi deal with those ghosts.

To be honest, Xie Yi is really a bit busy now, and he doesn't have enough energy to worry about so many things at the same time, if he can have more shrewd helpers at this time, it will naturally be the best.

Li Ke may also understand Xie Yi's thoughts, but he doesn't care, first, he really wants to avenge Quan Wanji; Second, maybe Li Ke doesn't take human feelings and relationships so seriously for the time being!

In this way, His Royal Highness King Wu stayed, and the official army and the rebels fought fiercely in Dongping County, and the battle was fierce, and the casualties were relatively heavy.

However, there is one point, the rebels have never been able to break through Dongping County, and are still circling around Qizhou and Laizhou, and their sphere of influence has not been effectively expanded.

As soon as this situation appeared, the rebels could not help but panic a little, and once they could not win on the battlefield for a long time, their morale would inevitably be low. This is especially true of rebellions, which are often against the law, and if they are caught, they are often punished and never recovered, so they must be ruthless and go all the way.

Once the mind is not firm enough, or it is not able to work hard, the consequences are often unimaginable. This is the case now, Li You, the king of Qi, shouted loudly to enter Xianyang, and the beauty and wine were rewarded, but the actual situation was that the small Dongping County of the army could not be conquered, so how could it be said to enter Chang'an?

Once or twice, once or twice, but a little longer, everything will be different. The rebels stopped in Dongping County, and there was no way to change the current situation, and the imperial court mobilized a lot of troops to come to besiege and intercept, and they were besieged in small Qizhou for a little longer, and there was no doubt that they would die miserably.

This is an inevitable situation, and what the rebellion fears most is that it will not be able to spread rapidly in a short period of time, sweeping over a large area and absorbing more troops to participate.

But now obviously none of the conditions have been met, after all, the timing of this rebellion is really not good, the wind and rain are smooth, the Tang Dynasty has been lightly punished for more than ten years, the people's lives are relatively stable, and they can have a good life, who will follow you to rebel inexplicably?

The people who followed Li You in Qizhou City were more of a group of careerists, they were ambitious, but they seemed to be too reckless, so the results could be miserable......

Now concentrated in the territory of Qizhou, it is impossible to move, and grain and grass are also a big problem, after all, since ancient times, the rebellion has basically adopted the method of fighting to feed the war. It is necessary to obtain supplies through constant attacks and plundering.

But now they can't pass through Dongping County, the place under their control is very small, and food supply is also a big problem. You must know that now it is a cold winter, and the food stored in Qizhou City is limited after all, once it is used up, where will the source of the rebels' supplies be?

There was no food, and the scope of the jurisdiction was small, so it was impossible to recruit more soldiers and horses in a short period of time. Even the soldiers who already have them under their hands, when they can't eat enough to be alone, may have considered this job-hopping.

After all, the "creative activities" that risked their lives to participate in were faced with problems that could not even be solved by food and clothing.

The word dream is meaningless in such a place, and in times of rebellion, there is a dream to be a careerist, and careerists tend to die miserably......

When all kinds of abnormalities appeared, Li You in Qizhou City didn't know about it.

He received the news that the army was attacking Dongping County, an important town on the westward route, with all its might, and as long as it was conquered, it could go all the way directly to the Central Plains.

Because there are many reasons why Wang Shichong has old subordinates under his hands, they have their own forces in the Central Plains, as well as a lot of reckless forces. Therefore, one of the ideas instilled by Du Li You is that as long as the army enters the Central Plains, more chivalrous soldiers will participate, and the combat power will be greatly increased.

So Li You is still quite confident in this, of course, I don't know if he is really confident. Anyway, at this point, he has no way out, let it go, maybe there will be a glimmer of life.

Compared to everyone else, Li You's recent life can be called relaxed, and the army is fighting outside. And he himself took the princess to drink in the palace, Yan Hongxin sat beside him, and said with a smile: "Your Highness, don't worry, with us going into battle for you to kill the enemy, you will definitely be able to move forward and win a big victory......

The drunken Li You just laughed when he heard these words, and then there were many words of praise, and then he was often drunk and unconscious.

And all this fell in Yin Hongzhi's eyes, first there would be a sigh, and then a burst of sneering laughter, as for what he was laughing at, no one knew.

However, there is one fact that he knows better than everyone else, and that is the problem of the Qizhou army stagnating in Dongping County.

Xie Yi and Li Ke's army was there...... (To be continued.) )