Li Bochen also walked over and looked at the picture carefully.

He had also seen the map in the army, but it was only a small piece near the city of Wuliang. Larger, more detailed maps are classified, and even if they were once in command, they had only seen the northern borders of the Sui Kingdom. However, the map in front of him is extremely detailed, marking the terrain of the entire territory of Li Kingdom. Although the Sui border in the east is only marked with a general outline, the state capital also indicates it.

Li Bochen glanced at it a few times, and felt that although the proportions of each place might be a little wrong, it should not be much different, so he thought about it, stretched out his hand, and said, "We're here." ”

The whole territory of Li Guo is actually like an obese last quarter moon. Linxi is on the back of the moon, and Mengjiatun is at the end of a hook above. To the south of Mengjiatun is Hou City, and to the east is Xuansu City. Further east, Xuansu City is a north-south mountain range that separates Li from Sui. This mountain range is noted as a thousand mountain ranges on the map. There is a large river between the Qianshan Mountains, and Li Bochen knows that it is the section of the Trench River south on the Northern Plains, which is called the Lanjiang River, and it is also the natural boundary between Li and Sui.

He pointed to the mountains to the east and said, "Sui Wuyi's people should be here." ”

The Qianshan Mountain Range, the Siheng Mountain Range and the Dangtu Mountain Range constitute a "Ding" character, and the horizontal side above is very thick, which is composed of the Dangtu Mountain Range and the Siheng Mountain Range.

At the beginning, Sui Wuji led the army to retreat from the Wuliang City in the Zidangtu Mountains into the Siheng Mountain Range, which was actually very close to the Li Realm. Li Bochen was referring to the junction of Qianshan and Siheng Mountain, and he expected that Sui Wuji should be there.

Chang Xiu said: "It should be." Sui Buxiu said that they were thinking about crossing the Lanjiang River. ”

Li Bochen thought about it again and said, "Grandpa, look, is it because of this - we are here, and now we are actually surrounded by Hou Cheng in the south and Xuansu City in the east. It is more than 40 miles away from Houcheng and more than 200 miles away from Xuansu City. If Sui Wuyi wants to go to take Hou Cheng, then after he comes out of the mountain, he should pass through Xuansu first. His soldiers were hungry and tired, and Xuansu City knew that when they entered the Li Realm, they would inevitably be strong and clear. ”

"Xuansu City sent a thousand troops to intercept our north, and their side should be short of troops. But Sui Wuyi can be regarded as being sandwiched between the thousand soldiers and Xuansu City. If I had brought these soldiers, I would have given them a break to recuperate. Otherwise, if they go around Xuansu City, and when they reach our vicinity, the thousand soldiers of Xuansu City will be in a bad situation. Therefore, I will take advantage of the emptiness of Xuansu's garrison and go to fight the autumn wind first. I heard that Sui Wuyi is a cave in the Xuan Realm, and Xuanwu is not as big as Hou Cheng, so it should not be difficult to capture it. ”

"In this way, they will first help us abolish the Xuansu in the east, so that we have one less threat. However, what if Sui Wuyi occupies it and doesn't leave?" Li Bochen frowned and said, "Grandpa, you asked him to occupy Hou City, you should want them to guard the south for us - if the Sui army in the south wants to fight our idea, they have to pass the Sui Wuyi level first." But if they occupy Xuansu City, it will be us who will guard the door for them. ”

Chang Xiu said: "Okay, you said it well." But I'm not worried about Sui Wuyi taking Xuansu. Because this map only shows the terrain, there are many other things that are not on it. ”

"Xuansu is bordered by a thousand mountains, and the nearby terrain is treacherous and the land is barren. The people there barely made a living from farming, but by hunting in the forests. Sui Wuyi is extremely ambitious, and he will definitely expand his power in the future, but Xuanwu is not enough to support it. However, there are thousands of acres of fertile land near Houcheng, and it is not a problem to be able to make people live and work in peace and contentment, and to raise tens of thousands of soldiers. He wants to take a corner of Xuansu, but in the future, Houcheng will be won by us, so it will be too late to regret it. ”

Li Bochen frowned and thought for a while, and said, "Grandpa, why do you think he will definitely let us go? No matter compared to Xuansu or Hou Cheng, we are the easiest to deal with here." If you want to talk about the land, it is actually very fertile. Behind and leaning on the mountains, it is not a problem to attack and retreat. ”

Chang Xiu said with a smile: "First, because Sui Wuyi wants to attack us, it has become an attack on the Li family, and the law has been lost in the territory of Li. Li Shengyi will not ignore it for the sake of his orthodoxy. Whether he likes it or not, he will send troops to fight. Sui Wuyi should want to get this layer. So before he enters the country, we have to ask Li Shengyi for a seal. ”

"Second, even if Sui Wuyi really braves the world's disapproval, Bochen, you have Beichen's luck. Sui Wuyi's cave realm is certainly not to be underestimated, but you can canonize a place of spirit gods and control them with the power of mountains, rivers and lakes. He understands this, and he shouldn't be asking for trouble. ”

"Canonize the spirit god of a place" - Li Bochen's heart jumped violently when he heard this. He had wanted to find out about these things, but he had been unable to ask. Chang Xiu said this at this time, did he mean that he understood the key?

He used to be the Shaoqing of Taichang Temple, and he often dealt with the royal family, so he naturally knew a lot!

But he thought about it, and did not let the eagerness overflow. At this time, although we are getting along more and more harmoniously, it is not good to ask for it like this.

He only said: "Grandpa has a point." However, Sui Wuyi won Hou Cheng and sat back, what should we do?"

Chang Xiu sighed: "There is actually nothing that can be done about this. Bochen, the situation in Li Di is staggered, and the five countries each have their own evil intentions and hinder each other, and Li Shengyi has become the climate because of this. This is because Gao Xin is not enough to eat Li Di alone, so he set up a Li Shengyi and found an external trouble for the forces of the five countries in Li Realm. ”

"But here, there can only be one Li Shengyi - you have Beichen luck, and we will grow and develop in the future. Once you become a little bit of a climate, Gao Xin will either provoke you to fight with Li Shengyi, or he will exterminate you. Therefore, Sui Wuyi had to be allowed to enter the game - if there was such a force in Li Jing, it would become troubled waters. Sui Wuyi has no foundation in the Li Realm, and even if his power grows stronger in the future, he will always have to return to the Sui Realm - then, at least the Sui people will deal with him first, not us. ”

Chang Xiu thought for a while and said, "So for a long time, the stronger Sui Wuyi is, the safer we are." We are here, and it is the legal principle that he left in Li Realm. He is our crescendo barrier. ”

Li Bochen felt that he was not stupid, but it took a while to digest these slowly. He couldn't help but say in his heart, sure enough, he still had to have someone else to help. In the past, just thinking about the relationship with Li Shengyi, he was already dizzy and couldn't make up his mind. But my grandfather was able to identify the Five Kingdoms, Linxi Jun, Sui Wuyi and other forces in Li Jing one by one, and even used the contradictions between them to find a dangerous balance for himself, worthy of being a human spirit who has lived for more than a hundred years.

Such insight comes not only from brilliant minds, but also from many years of experience. In the future, with his help, I really saved too much heart.

He nodded: "Grandpa has a point. Then, what does this have to do with asking Li Shengyi for a seal?"

Chang Xiu said: "Li Shengyi has established himself as a king. If we want to ask for a title for you, we will ask for a duke - although Sui Wuyi is also self-reliant, the king of Sui is still there, his name is not right, and he is just a Duke of Chebei. In the future, the two sides will cooperate, and you will be both dukes, and you will get along well. ”

smiled again: "But I don't think Li Shengyi will be willing to give up this title, maybe he will make you a marquis." As for what kind of marquis it is...... If he confers on you, it means that he also knows our intentions and is willing to be at peace with us for the time being. ”

Wu Weihou is the title of his grandfather who has never seen him. Although Li Bochen has always felt that he is a person who is indifferent to fame and fortune, he still can't help but beat in his heart when he hears these three words. A few months ago, he was still a little ten generals, and if he really became a prince, he would still be happy in his heart.

But he also knows that if that's the case, he will also enter the overall situation of the world, and he will only move forward in the future, and he will die if he retreats.

He thought for a moment and said in a deep voice, "Okay, grandfather, I'll listen to you." ”

Chang Xiu squinted and laughed, and said, "The minister is just a suggestion." ”

At this time, he was also called a minister, but he was much more cordial than when he called himself the lord of the country before. Li Bochen felt a little more comfortable in his heart, so he said, "Grandpa, and - Zhu Houzhen is dead?"

Chang Xiu said: "Qiuwu, you come." ”

Chang Qiuwu stood aside, and after listening to Chang Xiu's words, he saluted Li Bochen and said, "Yes." Junhou, I personally went to Jinghu Mountain to see it that day. ”

He changed his tune so quickly. But Li Bochen felt that even if he called himself "Monarch", it was much better than calling him "Lord of the Country" and "Grandpa Cousin".

He said, "You saw his body?"

"I didn't see the body, but I saw a left arm, and there was blood. I've examined the wound on my left arm—it should have been cut off when Zhu Hou exerted his strength. That Zhu Hou, I have seen him perform martial arts, in fact, it can be regarded as the peak of the Qi Cultivation Realm, and he is almost in the Dragon and Tiger Realm. If he had been prepared and had time to strike, I wouldn't have been able to sever my arm with a single blow. However, there were no signs of a fight in his room, suggesting that the Assassin's kung fu might have been frighteningly high. ”

Chang Qiuwu said this and looked at Li Bochen.

Li Bochen shook his head: "Xiaoman, she...... Is it really so high?"

If she wanted to take her own life before, it wouldn't be difficult.

Chang Qiuwu said: "Either the skill is high, or the ether magic method is raided." Zhu Houben was a Jiangyang thief, and his knowledge was not wide, so he didn't expect that the methods of Taisu magic were also very common. ”

"But whether Zhu Hou is really dead or not, it's actually hard to say. I think he's more likely to have escaped. But since he was no longer there, he simply said that he was dead, so that some people would not be shaken. ”

When he mentioned this stubble, Li Bochen immediately said: "Zhu Hou is a strange person. ”

Chang Xiu and Chang Qiuwu were stunned and said, "What do you say?"

Li Bochen said: "I inquired about him on the way back. He should have been cruel and perverse in the past, and he had no ink. But how did you get to Jinghu Mountain, but suddenly your temperament changed drastically? I don't think it can be explained by 'wanting to do great things'. Grandpa, Brother Chang, I heard that there used to be a sect nearby called Thundercloud Cave - could it be that something happened to him there?"

"There's one more thing - the monster that Brother Chang and I killed that day, I think it should be Shanjun. At first, I thought that it was the luck of this place that was vacated, and a yin spirit of some wild thing collided with it and merged with the luck, so it would harm people. But I couldn't imagine what kind of wild thing it looked like that day, but a few days ago, I figured it out. ”

Li Bochen said in a deep voice: "I have heard of a kind of demon beast called a foot toad on the Northern Plains, which is rumored to be a human-faced spider body, with dozens of pairs of legs, and it seems to be exactly what that thing looks like. If so, what does it mean? There may be a toad who died in the mountains, and the Yin Spirit happened to merge with luck!"

"So, how did that thing come to the mountains on our side? Some mountain people say that they have seen demon beasts in the mountains, and what they saw is the one we killed, or is it a real demon beast?

Chang Xiu was stunned for a moment before he said: "As far as I know, the northernmost part of the Five Nations Army only attacked Houcheng back then. When I arrived in Houcheng, there was no resistance, and it was a city dedicated by the prefect. Then the mountain lord here should not have appeared at that time. ”

Li Bochen said: "That's what I'm worried about. If, Shanjun died recently—who killed him?Is that a toad? I think one toad must not be enough, then, is there anything else? I saw a wound on the Zhou family that day, and I saw a similar wound on this Shanjun—I guess there was something else nearby, which injured this Shanjun before. Could it be a monster?"

"Grandpa, this matter needs to be carefully investigated. If the demon beasts in the mountains of northern Sui get lost and fall behind, and happen to come to our side, then it doesn't matter, it's terrible, I'm afraid, there are demon beasts that have crossed the Dangtu Mountain and the Yan River in the north, then we are in danger!"

Chang Xiu and Chang Qiuwu glanced at each other, Chang Xiu only paced two steps, and said slowly: "If it is really as you expected, it is indeed important." But...... But ......"

Li Bochen knew what he was hesitating about—the matter of the demon beast crossing the Yan River, in fact, he didn't think it was possible. The river is wide and deep, and the current is fast. The next section of the mountain is thousands of meters long, and it is really not surmountable by manpower.

These two heavenly dangers may not be a cause for concern for the cultivators among the demon beasts, rakshasas, and Sumeru, but it is extremely difficult for a large army to pass south. If you want to turn the moat into a thoroughfare, you have to cut off the river and make the mountain peaks crack.

This kind of thing may be something that the monks of the Six Kingdoms who have turned into void and reborn the Divine Realm can do, but it is not something that can be achieved in the short term. The people of the Rakshasa and Sumeru tribes can't practice magic in the eyes of the people of the Six Kingdoms, but this is a misunderstanding - they can also practice, but what they can practice is the magic of the Demon Kingdom, and they practice spontaneously. For example, Li Qiuhu was born with the ability to make fire, and when he reached the realm of the Demon Kingdom and the Heavenly Demons, it is said that he could turn a land within a radius of thousands of miles into a fire hell.

This kind of ability is naturally invincible when used to kill people, but when it is used against the great power of nature, it is not enough.

Moreover, when the first line of Tushan had just been lost for more than a month, even if the Demon Kingdom had built a bridge to dig the mountain by hand, it would not be able to complete such a huge project.

Li Bochen saw him muttering for a long time, so he said, "The reason why I am so worried is because I suspect that the Kongming Society may be a little unclear with the Demon Kingdom. It's also because when I was in the Sui realm, I saw a ghost clan. ”