Dong Tianxing asked Ma Hongjie very seriously, under what circumstances they could be loyal to the emperor without any worries.

Ma Hongjie said very frankly that no matter when, they will be loyal to the emperor without any worries.

Obviously, the emperor that the two of them talked about is not the same thing at all.

Dong Tianxing said that the emperor refers to Li Bing; When Ma Hongjie said that he was the emperor, he meant Li Jiong or Li Bing.

Seeing that the other party was like this, Lao Dong didn't pretend anymore, and directly singled out: "General Ma, why don't you accept the fact that the new monarch has succeeded to the throne and the crown prince has become the emperor of the Holy Tang Dynasty?" ”

Ma Hongjie looked very calm: "Lord Dong, we have heavy troops in our hands, and we are a sharp weapon of the country, we are really afraid of being deceived, and in the end, we will ruin the foundation of Shengtang." You said that the edict of succession, the prince has it, and the king of Huaiyang also has it, and now there are different opinions about who is true and who is fake. To tell you the truth, I have sent people to Yizhou to inquire, some adults are convincing about this, but some adults are deeply suspicious, even the imperial court is like this, how can you tell us rough men? ”

He paused slightly, and continued: "You said that King Huaiyang rebelled, yes, some of his previous practices did commit a big taboo, but how good can the prince be? Don't forget, back then, when the Xuanjia Legion threatened the imperial capital and conspired to make trouble, the prince stood with the thief Xie Guang in a grand manner, and even the death of the commander He Jingming had nothing to do with them! ”

These words made Dong Tianxing a little speechless. Six years ago, the school army test, the Xuanjia army suddenly broke into the imperial capital, and the Qilin army confronted, he was in the military department at the time, the feeling of shock and panic, is still fresh in his memory. At that time, Lu Yaofeng, the secretary of the Ministry of War, was Xie Guang's descendant, and he directly forced the officials of the Ministry of War to act together, but Dong Tianxing was almost killed by the rebels because he sternly refused on the spot.

At this time, Ma Hongjie brought up this old matter again, even if Li Bing came in person, I am afraid that he would not be able to explain it clearly.

Dong Tianxing shook his head helplessly, and tried his best to say: "You are right, it is true that everyone knows it, but at that time, the prince was still young, and he was deceived and coerced by Xie Guang, so it was inevitable that he would go the wrong way." Didn't the first emperor pursue him? ”

"Then who knows?" Ma Hongjie said coldly: "During the period when the prince was in charge of the country, Xie Guang's power grew stronger and stronger, and the governance of Jinhe almost caused a big disaster. Although the crown prince was later placed under house arrest by the Xuanjia Army, it was rumored that it was because of the infighting between him and Xie Guang that he and Xie Guang did not share the spoils evenly, which led to the final break, but it was not a dispute between loyalty and treachery. ”

Lao Dong's face sank: "So, you resolutely refuse to recognize the emperor?" ”

Ma Hongjie waved his hand: "It's not that I resolutely deny it." It's just that I can't say what is right and which is wrong at the moment, so as I said today, let's take a look again. ”

"Then tell me, what exactly do you want to see?" Dong Tianxing asked: "How can you be sure of who you should be loyal to?" ”

Ma Hongjie hesitated for a moment and said his answer: "In the case of difficulty in distinguishing between truth and falsehood, there is only one way left, that is, whoever is qualified to be the emperor, we will support whom." ”

Dong Tianxing was stunned: "What do you mean...... Let them fight? ”

Ma Hongjie nodded bitterly: "The only thing we can do now is to be impartial and not help each other." Whoever can prove that they really have the strength to be an emperor and can make Shengtang prosperous and powerful again, we will be loyal to whomever we are allegiant. You let us go north to fight now, it is indeed helpful to fight against foreign enemies, but that also means that we will become an army under the command of the crown prince, once he suddenly asks us to let go of the Turks and turn around to fight the king of Huaiyang, what will we do? Disobedience? ”

"I understand," Dong Tianxing said in a deep voice, "Are you afraid that the emperor will seize the military power in his hands in the name of crusading against the Turks, but in fact, he is trying to eliminate the King of Huaiyang." So you decided to stand still for the time being, and let the emperor go to fight the civil war first? ”

Ma Hongjie responded: "Although this is very cruel, it is time for Shengtang to face the cruelty. There is no internal turmoil, there is no way to talk about the outside, the prince and the king of Huaiyang can only keep one, and then everyone can work together to fight against foreign enemies. ”

"It's ridiculous!" Dong Tianxing couldn't help but say angrily: "This is a fallacy at all!" What would the Turks most like to see right now? I most hope to see a civil war break out in Shengtang, so that they can watch the fire from across the shore and reap the benefits! It's good for you, whatever the enemy thinks, you can cooperate, don't you think the country is dying fast enough?! ”

Ma Hongjie is still very stubborn: "We just don't want to be used by others and become a tool to harm Shengtang." Master Dong, I know that you are a righteous man and a gentleman with a patriotic heart, but I also hope that you can be rational and see the foundation of the dynasty clearly. ”

Dong Tianxing felt that Ma Hongjie was really unreasonable, and he also knew that this guy had already identified his inner thoughts, and it was difficult to change them for a while, so he calmed down his emotions a little and said from a different angle: "General, you said that your army does not want to be used as a tool to participate in the struggle for imperial power, but there is no problem in dealing with the Turks, right?" ”

Ma Hongjie looked at Dong Tianxing and nodded slightly: "Yes, it is our duty to resist foreign enemies." ”

"Okay, let me ask you a question," Dong Tianxing said, "If the emperor agrees to give you full autonomy and only asks you to fight the Turks, are you willing to go north?" ”

Ma Hongjie was puzzled: "What does autonomy mean?" ”

Dong Tianxing explained: "For example, the area where you fight is only facing the Turks; The decree given to you by the emperor is only directed at the Turks; And your subordinates, whether they are appointed or dismissed, the emperor will not interfere at all. Your only mission is to stop the enemy's advance and cooperate with the friendly forces to launch a counterattack, can you do it? ”

Ma Hongjie thought about it seriously and said solemnly: "If you simply deal with the Turkic army, this is our duty, even if we fight to the death, we have nothing to say at all." ”

Dong Tianxing took a long breath: "Okay, it's enough to have your words." I immediately wrote a recital to report the matter to the emperor. But you have to assure me that once the emperor agrees to my suggestion, you must cooperate with me unconditionally and persuade all the armies in the Jingxiang region to devote themselves to the war against the Turks, and if anyone does not obey, or intends to go to the king of Huaiyang, you must show a resolute attitude and stop him together! ”

Ma Hongjie patted his chest: "I promise you!" Jing Xiangjun listened to the tune and did not listen to the propaganda, and only fought the Turks. Whoever dares to have a different heart, I will be the first to stand up against him! ”

-

Seeing Ma Hongjie away, Dong Tianxing just wanted to write a chapter, but he didn't expect another visitor to come.

This person is Feng Kun, the commander of Ezhou Zhichong, who met outside the city today.

As soon as Dong Tianxing saw that it was him, he hurriedly let him into the house, and while ordering his subordinates to serve tea, he thanked Feng Kun again and again for his righteous action before.

Feng Kun said politely, bluntly saying that he had long been unaccustomed to Huo Zhenyu's arrogance, and at the same time said that although he was humble and powerful, he also had a loyal and patriotic heart, and was willing to follow the emperor to resist the enemy with all his might.

Dong Tianxing praised this, and at the same time asked who else could fight for it, Feng Kun seriously said a few names, all of them were generals who had come to visit Lao Dong in the evening.

Dong Tianxing was a little curious, and couldn't help asking, "General Feng, why didn't you come with them?" ”

Feng Kun looked around at no one, lowered his voice and said, "Master Dong, I don't want to meet Huo Zhenyu, he has a trick!" ”

"Trickery?" Dong Tianxing was stunned: "What trick?" ”

Feng Kun said: "This is exactly why I came to you late at night. Huo Zhenyu softened on the surface, but in fact, he had another plan, he planned to take his troops to the enemy! ”

Dong Tianxing hurriedly asked, "Which side do you mean by surrendering to the enemy?" ”

"Which side could it be? Huaiyang, of course. Feng Kun said: "I'm afraid you don't know, a while ago, Li Kui, the king of Huaiyang, sent a secret envoy to Xiangcheng, originally planning to meet the king of Anping County, but the old prince didn't want to see them in order to avoid suspicion, so he asked his subordinates to contact on his behalf." And the assigned subordinate was Huo Zhenyu. ”

Dong Tianxing's expression suddenly became nervous: "You mean to say that Huo Zhenyu was rebelled by the King of Huaiyang?" ”

Feng Kun nodded: "Nine times out of ten, this is the case. Moreover, I suspect that the death of King Anping is also related to Huo Zhenyu. He is a close confidant of the old prince, and he has the opportunity to get close to the county king and act in secret. The truth of the matter is likely to be that Huo Zhenyu was bribed by the secret envoy of the King of Huaiyang and tried to persuade the King of Anping to support Li Jiong, but he was categorically rejected by the old prince, so he moved to kill. ”

Dong Tianxing had to pay attention to such important information, he pondered for a moment and asked, "How did you know that Huo Zhenyu had plans to join the enemy?" ”

"I've been keeping an eye on him early in the morning." Feng Kun explained: "Because the assassination of the old prince made me suspicious, so I sent someone to secretly monitor Huo Zhenyu's troops to see what abnormal actions they had. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to rush to help you out today. In the afternoon, Huo Zhenyu's subordinates began to assemble quietly, which looked very unusual. ”

Dong Tianxing asked, "How many troops does he have?" ”

Feng Kun said: "Huo Zhenyu's direct troops are not many, only 3,000 people. But he is the commander of the king of Anping County, and this identity can affect the entire Lingnan Prefecture soldiers, and many people do not know the truth and will be directly instigated by him. ”

Dong Tianxing's face was full of worry, the Lingnan Mansion soldiers were Li Chenglin's descendants, with a total of 80,000 people, once they mutinied and surrendered to the enemy, Jing Xiang would fall into a melee in the blink of an eye.

He rubbed his hands and asked Feng Kun, "General Feng, do you have any good ideas now?" ”

Feng Kun gritted his teeth and said: "The first strike is strong, and the second attack suffers." For today's plan, the only way to do this is to get ahead of them and disarm all the soldiers of Lingnan Prefecture! My lord, think about it, you are the emperor's minister, Huo Zhenyu must want to hold you so that he can give it to the king of Huaiyang. ”

These words made Dong Tianxing even more nervous. He couldn't help but mutter: "I only have two hundred flying horses by my side, let alone against the entire Lingnan Mansion soldiers, even Huo Zhenyu's three thousand men and horses can't cope with it." General, how much strength do you have there, can you hold them down? ”

Feng Kun shook his head: "I can't do it, there are 7,000 people in Ezhou Zhechong Prefecture, at most suppress Huo Zhenyu's cronies, and I can't do anything about the other Lingnan Army." Lord Dong, hurry up and inform those generals who support the emperor, only they have the ability to turn the tide. ”