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Outside Hangu Pass, on the shore of Jingshui Lake.

The evening breeze blows, and the green willows hanging on the surface of the lake gently sway, stirring up a circle of ripples and stirring a pool of still water.

In the pavilion on the east side of the lake, Li Li was dressed in a dark yellow dragon robe, standing in the pavilion with his hands behind his back, staring intently at the ripples that were swayed by the weeping willows, from the willow gently swinging and rolling up the waves to the ripples gradually expanding and extending, until the ripples dissipated and merged into the clear lake water again. Li Li watched the whole process repeatedly from beginning to end, watching it attentively, seeing that he was in a peaceful state of mind, and he could see that he was forgetful and completely out of things.

At this time, it was the third day of the outbreak of the war in Sili, and as the sun set, the three days had passed quietly.

As of this moment, the front army of the Western Jin Dynasty has arrived in Luoyang, and the Chinese army will also enter Luoyang tonight, only the rear army is lagging behind, and it is still a hundred miles away from Luoyang, and it can only arrive at this time tomorrow.

Li Li is in the rear army, this is the first time since he ascended the throne and called the emperor the first imperial expedition, although it is not the first time to lead the army to go out, but it is the first time to lead the army as the emperor to fight again, the significance is heavy, far-reaching influence. In the past, he could quietly lead the army out of the city, and then personally lead the Chinese army, and even act as the vanguard of the army, taking the lead in leading the troops to the front line. But this time he couldn't do so, and the change of identity left him with a lot of seemingly inconsequential but essential baggage.

First of all, there are more etiquettes and ceremonies before the expedition. When the emperor goes on an expedition, he must pay homage to the temple, meet with the elders and listen to the teachings, and then deal with the government affairs, and must carefully choose the civil and military ministers who stay in Beijing to properly arrange military and political affairs. If necessary, the crown prince must be selected to sit in the court. These are all indispensable etiquette and matters, and none of them can be sloppy. There should be no carelessness, let alone hasty. It must be handled in an orderly manner, and it must be meticulous and thorough, and it must be thorough, and it will not leak.

Secondly, the royal expedition must have the majesty of the emperor in the world, and he cannot go out of the city quietly, and he must inform the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty in advance. The civil and military officials who stayed behind in Beijing were responsible for preparing the swearing-in ceremony, and wrote about the many evil deeds of the Southern Han and Northern Wei dynasties, listing the crimes of the traitors. Then he took the oath on the altar in a dignified manner, and promulgated the crusade in public to announce it to the world. Only in this way can we win the understanding and support of the people of the world, be the teacher of the royal road, the teacher of justice, and hold the royal road to crusade against the vassal kings and thieves.

Finally, the expedition of an emperor is different from the expedition of a general. Usually, the former army pioneers set off in advance, opening roads in the mountains and building bridges when encountering water; The Chinese army followed, checking along the way for possible dangers. Eliminate potential threats and build a palace for the emperor. The rear army is where the emperor is driving, and he needs to take Luan to drive for hundreds of miles out of the city, and he must establish the prestige of the Son of Heaven in the hearts of the people along the way. Show military might. If it is not necessary, the emperor cannot go out on horseback, on the way or even in front of the two armies. All should take the Luan drive, so as to show the supreme majesty of the Ninth Five-Year Supreme. The demeanor of a king who reigns over the world. Perhaps, the so-called finale of later generations and the last set of important figures on stage. That's how it evolved.

Li Li didn't like this, he didn't like to mobilize the people, and he didn't want to publicize it everywhere with great fanfare, so that everyone in the city would know about it, so that those people who had sons or husbands in the army were needless to worry about, and they lived in fear and fear all day long. However, the proper etiquette and rituals must be carried out, because he is the emperor, and his words and deeds are an example for the tens of millions of people and the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty. If he doesn't follow the rules, how can he demand them to behave?

This is the supreme authority of the emperor and the unspeakable helplessness. It's one thing to like it or not, it's another thing to do it or not, dislike doesn't mean you don't do it, and liking it doesn't mean it's necessarily feasible. Imperial power is a symbol of the emperor, while restraining others, he also draws a framework for himself, requiring others to do it, he must act as an example for all people, be willing to be a model for all generations, and take the lead in doing it; Not only to do it, but also to do it as well as it can be, so good that it is impeccable.

Of course, these are all things on the table, and the emperor's privileges are both noble and helpless in the face of these great events, and everything must be done beautifully, almost flawlessly, and must not be done at will according to his own preferences. The rules are formulated by him, and the first person to practice the rules is also him, and it is not so easy to be the example of all the people and the model of all generations. If his body is not right, how can he make others square?

It is precisely because of the constraints of many rules and regulations that although Li Li has repeatedly stressed that he must not be quiet, extravagant and wasteful, and must work hard to mobilize the people, and must do his best to set out the whole army, in fact, there are many rituals and ceremonies, and they must be gone through one by one. After some tossing, he delayed the departure time of the generals by two days, and was not able to make the trip until yesterday evening. Because it was a night march, Li Li walked out of Luan after leaving the city, changed to the Golden Lion Beast Throne and rode the starry night to lead the army to gallop, and did not arrive at Hangu Pass until an hour ago.

After arriving at Hangu Pass, Li Li did not choose to camp in the pass, but continued to lead the army forward, and rushed to the shore of Jingshui Lake to set up camp before sunset.

The still water lake is the masterpiece of Yuan Shao during the First Sili War. After the Great War, there was a small man-made lake here, with inlets and outlets at the north and south ends, and the inlets in the north and south were connected with the Yellow River; To the south is the outlet, which joins the Luo River. Because the entrance and exit are very small, the lake surface is very calm, the lake water is clear, like a huge mirror, people can clearly see their appearance when standing on the shore, even if there is a slight stain or freckles on the face, it is also clearly visible, so it is called "still water lake".

The mountains and forests in the northwest of Jingshui Lake are the largest mausoleums in the Western Jin Dynasty, and they are also the resting places of more than 100,000 Xiliang fallen soldiers in the First Sili War. At present, this is the unique cemetery of the Western Jin Dynasty army, and only the soldiers who died on the battlefield are eligible to be buried here. In the past ten years, more than 100,000 soldiers have been buried here, many of them are buried together, there is only one grave, but their names are on the tombstones.

When the Western Jin Dynasty was founded, Li Li had personally led hundreds of civil and military officials to come to pay respects, and he personally swept the tombs in the spring, and spent two days cleaning the tombstones for more than 100 generals and covering the tombs with new soil. This time he led the army to fight again, and he put his line here, obviously with great intentions, reminding the generals not to forget that there are more than 200,000 warriors sleeping here, not to forget the painful lessons of the battle of Jizhou, and to remember not to repeat the mistakes of the past. This is not only a wake-up call to the soldiers, but also his own self-reflection. One general is incapable of exhausting the three armies, and the general of the unified army is still like this, let alone he, the commander of the whole army?

When facing major events, you must have a calm breath and listen to the thunder in a silent place. Sitting on the shore of Jingshui Lake, facing the huge cemetery in the northwest mountains and forests, Li Li's heart is extraordinarily calm, many thoughts and distractions that have been lingering in his heart before are gone, and his mind is clear, just like the lake in front of him, the waves are not alarmed, and occasionally a circle of ripples disappears, and his mood is unprecedentedly peaceful, and the still water lake in front of him is integrated, dust-free, carefree.

?????? The sound of gentle footsteps came into the pavilion and drifted into Li Li's ears, he didn't look back, his figure was motionless, but he already knew that the people who came were Guo Jia and Zhuge Liang, as well as Li Ru, who was more than ten steps behind them.

"Your Majesty is really here. Weichen was only looking for it for a while, and after turning around the line three times, he was stunned to find His Majesty, or Kong Ming reminded him, and he knew that His Majesty was here to enjoy the cool. Walking lightly behind Li Li, Guo Jia and the three didn't want to disturb Li Li's contemplation, but when they saw him waving his hand without looking back, he motioned to sit down, and suddenly Guo Jia had no scruples, and said with a chuckle.

Li Li turned around when he heard the sound, turned around and walked to the seat of the proprietor next to the stone table, and said with a smile: "It's not such an exaggeration, I just want to be alone and quiet, and I don't mean to avoid you." There are no outsiders here, so there is no need for polite greetings between our lords and ministers, you can say whatever you want, and there is no fault in saying anything. ”

"Your Majesty is wise." Guo Jia and the three of them complimented with a smile. Then Zhuge Liang smiled and said, "I don't know if Your Majesty is in a good mood today?" ”

Li Li smiled dumbly and said: "It doesn't matter if you are in a good mood or not, what should happen and what shouldn't happen is already a fait accompli, and only by facing it calmly can you solve the problem." Speaking of this, Li Li paused, the smile on his face quickly faded, and he said: "The three of you come together, there should be another big event, and it is extremely unfavorable to our army." I guessed right? Let's be honest, I'm not as fragile as you think. ”

Guo Jia and the others nodded when they heard this, confirming Li Li's guess that something big had happened. Immediately, Guo Jia handed the book in his hand to Li Li, and reported respectfully: "This is the latest battle report forwarded by the Luoyang battalion. It is said that the Jingzhou army has conquered most of the county under the jurisdiction of Nanyang County in three days, and at noon today, the troops came to the city to besiege Wancheng from the east, south, and west, and are now attacking the city on a large scale. General Bocai said that the Wuwei battalion was ready to hold Wancheng for a long time, and was confident and capable of completing the mission delivered by His Majesty, and held the city for at least half a month. This is the news of the march of the Southern Han army.

At the same time, the latest battle report of Henan County has also arrived. Two days ago, General Zhao Yun took advantage of the night to attack Cao Ren's camp, and although he did not complete the work, he inflicted great casualties on Cao's army, causing more than 47,000 casualties to Cao's army. However, at the same time that Zhao Yun led the army to rob the camp, Zhu Ling, the general under Cao Ren's account, led the army to attack the south gate of Kaifeng, and succeeded in one fell swoop, so more than 20,000 soldiers in the city were trapped in the east gate and the north gate tower.

At that time, more than 6,000 cavalry under General Zhao Yun and Zhu Ling's army entered the city almost at the same time, and then a fierce battle began in the city, but unexpectedly, Cao Ren then led the army to arrive, surrounded on all sides, and trapped Zhao Yun's army in the city. The battle lasted for an hour, at dawn Zhao Yun led the army to break through, and finally broke out of the encirclement of only more than 8,000 iron cavalry, General Xiahou Lan was killed by a member of the Cao army, General Zheng Gu was hit by seven arrows, seriously injured, fortunately finally rushed out. ”

―――――― To be Continued ―――――――――――――――――― (To be continued......