The suburbs outside Jiuqu City gradually become covered with ice and snow as the season turns to deep winter. Although the sun is in the sky, it is still difficult to drive away the cold.

In front of the city lord's mansion in the city, Li Renjie, Wei Xuan and other generals lingered here from early in the morning, repeatedly knocking on the door to ask for a meeting, but they were told that it was inconvenient for the general to see guests, but they still refused to leave.

In the inner house, the warm pavilion with the earth dragon is as warm as spring, and the baking of several charcoal stoves is a little hot. Li Tai sat cross-legged on the couch, with a square table in front of him, and a copper hot pot on the table.

The hot pot was steaming, and the new tent cronies Li Ya carefully cut the thin slices of raw mutton, while paying attention to the heat of the meat slices in the hot pot, and took the soft and tender meat slices into the porcelain bowl, and hurriedly served them in front of the general.

This series of movements is smooth, and the most important thing is the eyesight and knife skills. Seeing the general smiling and enjoying the fruits of his labor, Li Ya also smiled diligently, and glanced at a number of phoenixes and others who were cooking at each table with some pride. Although they are in the same pavilion, they can't even get close to the general in front of him, what kind of henchman is hefty!

The door curtain was lifted, and the young man Han Baohu walked into the warm pavilion, looked at the general and the robes with a comfortable face, sighed in his heart, and then stepped forward and said: "General, Li Yi still refuses to leave, and will definitely ask to see the general to face the matter." ”

"If you don't want to go, then let it go."

When Li Tai heard this, he waved his hand and said, just arranged for his soldiers to send two skinned raw sheep to the front of the house, as for whether they ate it or not, and how they ate, he didn't bother to care.

After all, Han Baohu was still a little unbearable, so he asked again: "How many people does the general really refuse to summon?" ”

When Li Tai heard this, he was a little irritable, raised his eyes and glared at Han Baohu and said, "If you are hungry, sit down and eat." If you're not hungry, quit! ”

Seeing this, Han Baohu didn't dare to say anything more, closed his mouth and found an empty seat in the room to sit down, and then guarded the hot pot to cook meat and eat.

Li Tai knew that Li Renjie and others wanted to see him, just hoping that he could strengthen his strategy for Heluo, and it was best to stay here for a long time.

After all, he entered Heluo twice before and after, and he was able to turn the situation around in a very short period of time, so that these righteous teachers could get rid of their previous bad situation. In the eyes of these people, it seems that General Li has been regarded as the only savior of the situation in Heluo.

But Li Tai had no way to agree to this request, even if Daxingtai had previously ordered him to entrust him with all the Heluo situation, he couldn't really take it over. It's not that he doesn't have this idea, after all, the strength and timing don't allow it.

Today's Jianghan in Chubei, everything has just been on the right track, and if he has to invest a lot of personnel resources in Heluo as soon as the stall is rolled out, if he wants to do everything, the result is more likely to be a failure at both ends.

This time the soldiers entered Heluo, and he was just simply dealing with Chinese and foreign errands. Although the situation seems to be good at the moment, and the south of the Yellow River is under control, Li Tai knows that this is only because the main force of Jinyang in Northern Qi needs to stay in the nest before, if the other party increases troops to the south, the price of maintaining the current situation is very high, and it will also greatly restrict the development of Li Tai's own forces.

Li Tai knew that he could not meet the generals' requests, so he simply avoided them. The reason why he has not yet withdrawn his troops is to wait for the latest instructions from the Chinese and foreign governments in Huazhou.

Although Daxingtai said that everything here is up to him, he really wants to pat his ass and leave, and as a result, a large area of Heluo's territory will fall into the hands of the enemy again, and who will be responsible for the loss of land by the Chinese and foreign governments?

So even if you have to leave, this matter has to be settled clearly.

After learning that the main force of the hegemony had withdrawn from Pusaka, Li Tai invited Han Xiong, Wei Fabao and Pei Kuan and other major generals here to draw up a finishing plan to retain the fortress cities between Yiluo such as Yiyang Jiuqu City and Yichuan Fuliu City, and as for the Heluo Plain, it was still strategically abandoned.

Even though Han Xiong and the others were unwilling, they had to admit that this was the biggest result that could be preserved based on reality. Relying solely on the local personnel forces of Heluo, it is simply unrealistic to firmly hold the river line and resist the southward arrival of the Qi army.

If you really want to stick to the line of the Yellow River, the biggest possibility is to be directly pressed by the Northern Qi people and horses to destroy a large number of their living forces, so that they can't even rely on the Yiluo River Valley to confront the enemy next.

Of course, Li Tai will not completely ignore the Heluo area, after all, the Heluo Plain is the emperor's residence in the sky, and Li Tai is not capable of long-term possession at the moment, but from a distant point of view, the Heluo area is also an area that he can't bypass.

Therefore, Li Tai still has to give a certain amount of personnel investment here as much as possible, and the most important thing is to make sure that the Yishui River Valley connected to the Sanya Road is in his own hands, so as to ensure that he can enter the Heluo Plain smoothly at any time. And the retention of this passage can also bring a certain restraining and deterrent effect to the people of the Northern Qi Dynasty.

Han Xiong and the others also agreed with Li Tai's idea, knowing that it would be difficult to obtain a large amount of personnel assistance from the Guanzhong overlord, and if they could maintain the connection with Jingzhou through the Yishui River Valley, it would be tantamount to supporting them in the snow.

Therefore, after the unification of opinions, Li Tai sent Pei Kuan, who was then the county guard of Henan, to Huazhou to inform Daxingtai of this resolution and ask for instructions.

Pei Kuan was not able to return until he entered Layue, although the Eastern Crusade was retreated without a fight, but the end of various personnel also made Daxingtai very busy, first dealing with various urgent matters in the Chinese and foreign governments, and then taking time to listen to Pei Kuan's report.

The failure of this expedition brought a lot of blows to the morale of Daxingtai, so he also agreed to this plan after learning about it, and did not get entangled in abandoning Heyang Nancheng again.

In addition to this Heluo closing plan, others are some personnel adjustments proposed by Li Tai.

Although the overlord returned without a fight, the war on Li Tai's side was very beautiful, even if he was forced to give up some city strongholds, the number of Northern Qi men and horses captured alone reached tens of thousands, if it wasn't for the defeat of the overlord, it could definitely be called a brilliant victory.

Li Tai knew that several pillars of the country had the same result but returned in vain, and it was estimated that it was unlikely that he would use this to gain a position promotion, but the generals under his command could not and did not have a reward.

Therefore, he first promoted the meritorious generals under his command in the name of the governor's office, and then put them together and submitted them to the Chinese and foreign governments for approval.

The Chinese and foreign governments did not raise any objections to this, and Daxingtai not only approved the various promotions and personnel reported by Li Tai, but also wrote a reply letter to Li Tai in his own hand, recounting in his heart the helplessness and regret of not cooperating with the expedition to the east, and even asked Li Tai if he thought he could completely pacify the thieves in his lifetime.

Li Tai has nothing to say about this, he can't say no, you give way to give me a try, so I can only express my regret along the way, and confidently say that the next time I go to the east, I will give you back as a flag-carrying soldier, and we won't stop if we don't kill them!

Pei Kuan's return this time also had an unexpected situation, that is, He Ruodun, who had just been transferred to the Chinese and foreign government, was packed and returned with him.

He Ruodun was dragged back by a cart this time, and there were many whip marks and scars on his body under his robe, Li Tai was greatly surprised when he saw this, and asked while arranging for a doctor to diagnose and treat him: "Could it be that he was surrounded by the enemy and was seriously injured?" ”

"There is no enemy! The servants and other soldiers just stopped outside the carriage and drenched in the cold rain for nearly a month, not to mention the enemy, even the barking of enemy dogs has not been heard! ”

After hearing this, He Ruodun said with a look of grievance: "The teacher is out of the house, and he has been in vain for a long time, and I heard that Lord Lang Yu Heluo bravely opened up, and broke through the thief city and thief army one after another, and the servant felt very sad in his heart, and he was angry that he could not follow Lord Lang to kill the enemy, and he lost his will in vain!" A few words of wrath were heard by the late opening of the Mansion of the Duke of Pyeongchang......"

"So Yu Chi Bora beat you to this point?"

Li Tai knew what kind of urine He Ruodun was, and the contrast between the two battlefields was so obvious that it was not as simple as a few words of anger, but as soon as he heard that it was related to Wei Chigang, he immediately lowered his face and asked in a deep voice.

"Lord Lang, please rest assured, although the Duke of Pingchang is dignified, the servant has not insulted the prestige of Lord Lang. This disciple took advantage of the fact that the disciples under the Daxingtai were still young, and they had to be assigned to the middle cousins, and when the Daxingtai was strong, he could be a pillar of the country with such a meritorious and powerful conspirator as the master of the court, how could there be a foothold for such a stealing of grace in the court! ”

Although He Ruodun was covered with whip marks, he still said with a strong face.

After listening to He Ruodun's words, Li Tai was silent for a moment, and then said, "Yu Chi Bora just beat you up? ”

After hearing this, He Ruodun said with a proud face: "He did draw a knife to my neck, but I just smiled and said that although I am not named, I have my own benefactor to look up to, it is easy for Pyeongchang to kill me, but it is difficult to know where to return in the future!" ”

"That's it, don't treat it, you go out!"

After Li Tai listened to He Ruodun's loud answer, his face suddenly darkened, and he directly waved his hand to drive away the doctor who was preparing the plaster, and after a long while, he could barely suppress this breath and then pass the doctor in, but he didn't bother to stay here anymore, and walked out directly.

When he didn't see him in front of him and didn't hear his voice in his ears, Li Tai's breath gradually smoothed out, and he laughed proudly, now he is really different from the past, and He Ruodun can return to him alive is a proof! No matter how unhappy those people are, they can only hold back.

It must be known that earlier Wei Chigang was unhappy that he dared to do it directly in person, but now even one of his protégés gave him such a mean evaluation, Wei Chigang did not dare to really ask for He Ruodun's life. As for the whip marks all over his body, after all, Li Tai didn't work hard enough.