The Qingzhou palace of Liang State, Li Jian has nothing to do all day since he took the initiative to hand over his military power and seal the king here, and Qingzhou is too guarded and governed well, so he doesn't need to worry about anything at all.

On this day, Li Jian enjoyed the flowers and drank tea in the palace, Wei Sheng came to visit with two jars of Qingzhou's special barley wine, saw Li Jian, picked up the wine jar and shook it, and said: "The lower official has seen the prince, it is inconvenient to salute, and I ask the prince to forgive the sin." ”

Li Jian smiled: "You are a splash, less flamboyant, sit down." The two obviously have a very good personal relationship, and Wei Sheng is not particular about it, so he sat down casually, handed the wine jar to Li Jian, and said with a smile: "Lord Wang, taste it, your favorite barley wine." ”

Li Jian uncovered the cover, did not take the wine glass, raised his head and drank, the liquor entered the stomach, hot and spicy, spit out a mouthful of rich wine, Li Jian laughed at himself: "I think that back then, this king fought in the south and the north, after more than 100 large and small wars, I firmly believe that drinking is wrong, almost not a drop of wine, I didn't expect to just arrive in Qingzhou less than half a decade, but I fell in love with this barley wine that can't be on the table in the capital at all, it's really impermanent, plus you Lord Wei has a good way to rule, and it seems that this king ' It's useless', I'm afraid that in the eyes of the people of Qingzhou, this king is just a drunken person who sells his reputation and reputation. ”

If ordinary officials heard such words, they would have been trembling like pins and needles, but Wei Sheng just smiled slightly, also drank a sip of spicy barley wine, and said: "The prince is too worried, the prince has been fighting on the battlefield for many years, and has accumulated great military exploits, and he is quite worthy of being crowned king." The people of Qingzhou are simple, the people are martial, for the prince, there is only awe in their hearts, not to mention those generals, but also the prince is worshiped as a god, Qingzhou does not need the prince to intervene in political affairs in the eyes of the lower officials is a great thing, if the government affairs of Qingzhou are a mess, the prince is the first to ask for me to be too guarded, how can it be the turn of the lower officials to drink with the prince. ”

Li Jian just shook his head and smiled bitterly. After many years of fighting in the south and the north, he has already developed the habit of falling asleep when he closes his eyes and opening his eyes to fight.

Wei Sheng continued: "Lord Wang, can we talk drunk while we are drunk today?" ”

"Lord Wei, but it doesn't hurt to say it."

Although Wei Sheng and Li Jian have not known each other for a long time, they have already figured out that this dynasty only has the temperament of a king with a different surname, and he is not ambiguous, and said directly: "There is news from the capital, Your Majesty gave General Cao a death order, ordering him to suppress the rebellion of Xiping within half a year, and now the army is pulling out and going straight to the border, Xia Guan has never experienced the battlefield, I don't know the details, dare to ask the prince, Xiping is just a small barbarian country in the south, why has the war been continuous for decades, and has never been pacified, this time General Cao personally led an army of 100,000, can it be successful?" ”

Li Jian shook his head and said: "Although Xiping Kingdom only occupies a corner of the Central Plains territory, it is surrounded by the sea on three sides, and my Liang is not good at water warfare, so it is not easy to destroy Xiping." The reason why Xiping is difficult to attack, in addition to occupying the natural danger, there is another point, Liang State claims to have millions of soldiers, but the soldiers who can really go on horses to fight are only seven or eight hundred thousand, if half of the country's strength is used to destroy Xiping, how can the remaining half of the troops be able to stop Chu and Yan from joining forces? Besides, King Nu's ability to lead troops is far better than Cao Bo's, and his subordinate A Shan's crossbow is also a rare general's talent, no matter who leads the troops, when the two sides are close to each other, Cao Bo's 100,000 army has no chance of winning. ”

Wei Sheng also read a few military books on weekdays, and after hearing this, he thought for a moment, and then asked: "According to the prince, this Xiping Kingdom is like the yellow mud in the crotch of his pants, it is not wiped, and it is not wiped if it is not wiped, so what is it to fight in this battle?" ”

Li Jian smiled dumbly: "Lord Wei's statement is ironing, although my Daliang has a big family, but if the matter of dealing with Xiping Country is not handled well, it will also hurt the muscles and bones, but it is Xiping Guo, who is barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes, and if he loses, he will only return to Daliang, if he wins by luck, I am afraid that the pattern of the world will change." ”

Wei Sheng muttered: "Since it is a deed that does all kinds of harm and has no benefit, why does the Holy Lord insist on crusading against Xiping? ”

Li Jian sighed and explained, "Master Wei knows what is the most expensive thing in the world? Seeing that Wei Sheng was silent, he continued, "The most expensive thing in the world is to raise soldiers!" My Liang million male soldiers, is the most good at eating money in the world, every year just to feed the army, it costs countless silver taels, if there is a war, silver taels need more. The maintenance of swords and armor, the supply of war horses, and the food and salary of the soldiers and border troops all need to be supported by white silver. If this king's guess is correct, if it continues to be consumed like this, the silver inventory of my Great Liang State can only last for twenty years at most. Moreover, it is the eternal law of every dynasty to emphasize literature and suppress martial arts, Your Majesty is ambitious, and wants to complete the feat that his father and brother have not done, and now Daliang has produced me, a king with a different surname who violates the ancestral system, in order to prevent the military generals from supporting their own troops after pacifying the world, this battle must be fought. ”

Wei Sheng looked indignant, and said angrily: "It's such a clumsy imperial mental technique, is it for someone's eternal emperor, do you want to bury my Liang for nothing!" ”

Li Jian was noncommittal about these heart-wrenching words, but gently patted Wei Sheng on the shoulder and said, "Lord Wei's inappropriate complaints, just tell this king, so as not to bring yourself to death." ”

Wei Sheng looked sad and sighed: "This is nature, the prince can rest assured, the lower officials know the severity." ”

Li Jian stood up alone and looked into the distance, as a military general, it was already the glory of the heavens to tear the earth and seal the king, but Li Jian still had a regret in his heart. Among all the generals in the world, it is recognized that Sikong Li and Baili Jin are unparalleled in their art of war, although Li Jian has fought with these two people several times, and none of them have been defeated, but there is still a big gap between the two people in their ability to lead the troops, but they can only win under the premise of having an absolute advantage in troops, and it is inevitable that they will be suspected of winning in the eyes of the world. Now that he is the king of Qingzhou, if nothing else, I am afraid that he will not have the opportunity to fight on the battlefield in the future, and I don't know if I can win these two people once in this life.

After Cao Qiong was stopped by Sikong Li on the border of Great Chu, he didn't have the heart to find Feng Jingquan again, and turned around and returned to Sword God Mountain, where Lu Xiong had already fallen asleep at this time. Cao Qiong stood in front of the bed, looked at the newborn little apprentice, and sighed: "Apprentice, your great enemy master failed to avenge you, and when you learn the ability in the future, you will definitely personally kill Feng Jingquan and avenge your father and mother!" ”

Cao Qiong is now a newcomer to the realm of heaven and man, and his foundation is not stable, so he needs to retreat to consolidate the realm, so that the village women can take care of Lu Xiong during this time, and he himself will start retreat.

On the first day of the eighth month of the sixth year of Yonghong, Cao Bo, a famous general of Liang State, led an army of 100,000 troops to Heding City in the south of Jingzhou, looking at Xiping Kingdom from afar, and the war was about to break out.