On the fifth day of the first month of the second year of Changxing in the Later Tang Dynasty, the sea north of Dengzhou.

Three pointed bottom boats were floating on the sea, and on a larger building boat in the middle, the Khitan emperor Yelubei had a solemn face, staring at Wang ~ Yang in front of him without turning his eyes.

"Suddenly, there is no news from Dengzhou?"

Sudden desire is Yelubei's Khitan name, at this time Yelubei looked back, only to see a monk walking over, so he smiled and said, "Master Yuanjing can't wait?" ”

Yelu Beitong is a good teacher, well-read and strong-remembered, advocating Buddhism, and is very proficient in Buddhism. This round mirror master is a close minister of Yelubei, who often discusses Buddhism with Yelubei all night on weekdays, and is deeply trusted by Yelubei, and is regarded as Yelubei's think tank.

"Amitabha!"

Master Yuanjing chanted a Buddha name and said: "The assassin history here in Dengzhou is said to be Li Congyan, the righteous son of the Tang Emperor, who is still martial and benevolent, and is a character. It's just that why he never saw us this time, it stands to reason that even if Li Congyan is unwilling to accept the sudden desire, he should have a response, why does he always let his subordinates receive Donggu? ”

The Donggu mentioned in the mouth of the master of the round mirror is Yelu Donggu, this person is the henchman general under Yelu Bei, who is brave and strategic, and the 400 parts that escaped from the Khitan this time are the elite soldiers and horses under the command of this person.

Yelubei shook his head and said, "Maybe it's a big matter, and Li Congyan needs time to weigh the pros and cons. I think we'd better wait, and if there's no news tomorrow, we'll move elsewhere!" ”

While he was talking, a small boat appeared on the sea, heading towards the three building boats, Yelubei looked at the red flag erected on the ship, and immediately laughed: "Haha! It seems that Donggu has seen Li Tingshi. ”

"Amitabha!"

Master Yuanjing said: "I have to prepare for the sudden desire in advance, and after I land on the shore, I will be able to go to the state for a while." ”

"Haha, it's nature!"

An hour later, thirty miles north of Dengzhou City.

Li Congyan led his troops to rush back to Dengzhou City day and night, and without resting, he found Li Ren and Li Wei to inquire about the specific situation, and happened to meet Yelu Donggu who came to submit the credentials and documents that day.

Li Congyan met with Yelu Donggu, reassured him with kind words, and then agreed to Yelu Bei's request to land.

At this time, Li Congyan stood on the dock, behind him were Wu Conghan, Li Ren, and Li Wei.

According to Li Congyan's arrangement, Captain Wang Zuhe led his troops to guard the dock and disperse all the idlers. At this time, more than 1,000 soldiers of the New Army assembled on the dock with helmets and armor, which was a military parade prepared by Li Congyan for Yelubei, which could be regarded as a little "meeting gift" for Yelubei.

Soon, three building ships appeared in the field of vision of Li Congyan and others, and this was the first time Li Congyan had intuitively seen the sea ships of this era.

I saw that the hulls of the three buildings were wider, the deck was a three-story building, the bow was a sheep's head hammer used to ram the enemy ship, and on both sides of the hull were several levers used to slap the enemy ship at close range. On the foredeck of the three ships, the shadow of a ballista or trebuchet could be faintly seen.

Li Congyan observed for a while, and said secretly: "At this time, the warships used ballistas and trebuchets at a long distance, and used a clap rod and bow and crossbow at close range, although they could not be compared with the warships of later generations, they were already the most powerful warships in this era. ”

At this time, Li Congyan also had the idea of building a naval fleet in his heart, but then sighed heavily: "Alas! What is impossible to achieve with the power of a single state, let's wait and see. ”

Just when Li Congyan was thinking about it, the three building ships slowly docked, and Li Congyan took Li Ren, Li Wei, and Wu Conghan to greet each other.

When Yelu Bei took Master Yuanjing and Yelu Donggu downstairs to the boat, Li Congyan began to look at the three of them carefully.

Yelubei is wearing a light-colored Tang round-necked robe, and he looks extraordinary like an elegant Confucian scholar, and even his hairstyle is like that of a Han person.

The master of the round mirror is thin and has a kind face, and he looks like a monk at first glance. As for Yelu Donggu, he had seen Li Congyan, he was not wearing a hat at this time, he was a typical Khitan appearance, with only a handful of hair on both sides on the top of his bare head, and he was also wearing Khitan skin-wrapped iron armor.

Li Congyan also led everyone to greet him, and then Yelu Donggu introduced each other to the two sides, Li Congyan laughed and saluted, and said: "Dengzhou Assassin Li Congyan, I have seen the emperor of the Khitan Dongdan country!" The king of the people has been bumpy all the way, and it has been hard! ”

Yelubei gave Khitan etiquette and said: "This time, we have fled here for some reason, but fortunately Li Tingshi did not give up and took him in, and Yelubei is grateful!" ”

Li Congyan was naturally polite for a while, and then led Yelubei to inspect the soldiers of Wang Zuhe's department.

The three of them followed Li Congyan through the military array, and saw that the thousands and hundreds of soldiers were in high spirits and their morale was like a rainbow, and the phalanx formed was neatly aligned.

Especially Yelu Donggu, his eyes lit up, and he secretly said in his heart: "It is said that the Tang soldiers are weak and have long since lost their glory, but they don't want to see such elite soldiers and horses here in Dengzhou, it seems that even if the Tang people are a little weaker, but the heritage is still there, and they are still not to be underestimated!" ”

And Yelubei was secretly happy in his heart: "If most of the Tang soldiers are like this, then I can sit back and relax!" ”

At the same time, Yelubei also had the idea of befriending Li Congyan in his heart, after all, he has such a strong army in his hands, and his identity is still the prince and the history of local assassins, such a person is a hero wherever he goes, and it is not harmful to make friends with such talents!

After the military parade, Li Congyan and Yelubei and others came to the side of the wharf, where a huge camp tent had been set up, and inside was a banquet set up by Li Congyan. According to Li Congyan's order, all the generals who joined the army and the new military academy and above attended the meeting, and they were here to wash the dust for Yelubei.

During the banquet, Li Congyan relied on his knowledge reserve of more than 1,000 years in later generations, and Yelu Bei chatted with him, the two talked about the art of governing the country and the army to the ability of technology, from Buddhist culture to historical anecdotes, no matter which topic Yelu Bei discussed, Li Congyan can easily deal with it, and has quite an opinion on each aspect, which makes Yelu Bei amazed, I didn't expect Li Congyan to be so knowledgeable, and introduced Li Congyan as a confidant on the spot.

In fact, how did Yelubei know that Li Congyan was used to seeing the information explosion in later generations, and the knowledge he dabbled in was naturally much broader than in this era, and Li Congyan could be regarded as a college student in later generations, and he could say some opinions in any aspect, so there was nothing strange.

Master Yuanjing and Yelu Donggu were even more shocked in their hearts, in the eyes of the two, the human emperor Yelu Bei was the most knowledgeable person in the entire Khitan, even if he looked at the whole world, he was the best among the people, and there were few opponents in terms of knowledge. But today, Yelubei has met someone more knowledgeable than himself, and some of the topics thrown by Li Congyan are unheard of even by Yelubei, and they can't be refuted.

For example, when Li Congyan and Yelubei were talking about Confucius walking the world with benevolence and virtue, Li Congyan believed that Confucius was able to travel to various countries not only by virtue but also by force, which completely subverted everyone's impression of Confucius.

"Confucius was originally from Shandong, nine feet six inches tall, strong and powerful, such a body type is a strong man in Shandong, and he will never be a weak person. Moreover, Confucius was proficient in the six arts, could drive, ride horses, and was proficient in the way of bows and arrows, and he never left his sword all year round, and he was also quite good at swordsmanship. Moreover, Confucius had seventy-two disciples and thousands of disciples around him, so how could Confucius be a weak man with benevolence and virtue? In my opinion, Confucius is kind and benevolent, but there is also the force to make others willing to sit down and listen to him talk about benevolence! ”

Such remarks subverted the worldview of Yelubei and everyone on the spot, but after careful consideration, it was impossible to refute it, because what Li Congyan said was true and reasonable.

Then everyone was more literate, and when Yelubei mentioned it, Li Congyan wrote a lyric on the spot.

"The scenery of the northern country, thousands of miles of ice, thousands of miles of snow. Looking inside and outside the Great Wall, only reckless; Up and down the river, suddenly lost and surging. Mountain dance silver snake, the original Chi wax elephant, want to be higher than the heavenly public test. It must be a sunny day, and look at the red dress, which is extraordinarily enchanting.

There are so many delicate rivers and mountains, leading countless heroes to bend their waists. Regret the Qin Emperor and Han Wu, slightly lose the literary style; King Guangwu Wei is slightly less coquettish. A generation of Tianjiao, Jieli Khan, only knows how to bend the bow and shoot the eagle. The past, the number of romantic figures, but also look at the present. ”

Li Congyan recited the Qinyuan Chunxue of the great men of later generations, replaced the Tang Dynasty and Song Zu with the Guangwu Wei kings, that is, Liu Xiu and Cao Cao, and Genghis Khan with the Turkic Jieli Khan.

After the recitation of this poem, the whole banquet was silent, and then there was a sudden applause, everyone applauded, and Yelubei was even more excited to borrow a pen and paper to record it, and after asking Li Congyan's consent, he kept this poem close to him.

Then everyone toasted Li Congyan one after another, and Yelubei and Li Congyan talked happily.

After three rounds of drinking, Yelubei hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Listening to Li Tingshi's words today, Yelubei only felt like seeing the sun through the clouds, and he was very happy in his heart. If Li Tingshi doesn't dislike it, Yelubei wants to have a lot of dealings with Li Tingshi, and he will have a good response in the future. ”

Li Congyan said with a smile: "This is nature! In the future, if the emperor has difficulties in the territory of Datang, I should approach it. ”

"In the future, Li Tingshi will have a place where I can get Yelubei, and I can send someone to say that Yelubei will also go to the soup and fire, and there will be no complaints!"

After the two finished speaking, they looked at each other and smiled, and a political deal was agreed in the middle of talking and laughing, and the atmosphere of the banquet reached its highest point, and everyone toasted each other, so it was not lively.

Then, Li Congyan took the opportunity to inquire about the situation in the Khitan, and Yelubei also knew everything about it.

"Now the Khitan lord Yelu Deguang is the second son of Taizu, my younger brother, and my mother Shu Luping has taken the throne, which is also the root cause of my forced exodus."

Speaking of this, Yelubei sighed, suppressed the dissatisfaction and grievances in his heart, and continued to talk about the situation of the Khitan, Li Congyan also listened carefully, after all, he will definitely meet the Khitan in the future, and this is a good opportunity to understand this opponent.

"Yelu Deguang selected the elite of each department and named it the Leather Room Army, which means King Kong, which means that this army is as strong as gold and iron. At the beginning, the leather room army began to place the left and right skin rooms to be detailed, or the south and north skin rooms were detailed, and the details were the generals, who led the left and right armies. Later, he added the Yellow Leather Room and the Enemy Lie Skin Room, and was in charge of the Leather Room Army composed of the Murwei and the Enemy Martyrs. In the leather room army, it is often called the name of the bird of prey, which is called the Eagle Army, the Dragon Army, the Phoenix Army, the Tiger Army, the Bear Army, the Iron Pigeon Army, the Falcon Army, etc., with a total of 30,000 horsemen. took turns to enter the direct palace tent, and was stationed in the Khitan capital and border areas, becoming a strong force in garrison operations. ”

Li Congyan firmly remembered this, the Khitan leather room army is also famous in history, and it is the strongest force in this era. However, Li Congyan didn't have much fear of the leather room army, but there was a trace of expectation in his heart: "When I confront the Khitans, is it the strong army built by technology and later experience in my hands, or the Khitan leather room army?" ”

Late that night, the banquet dispersed, and Li Congyan settled Yelu Bei, Master Yuanjing, and Yelu Donggu in the Assassin's Mansion, and ordered the four hundred Khitan soldiers on the ship to settle in the west of Dengzhou City, and ordered them to camp on the spot.

The next day, Li Congyan sent a fast horse to Luoyang City to report the matter to the imperial court.