The clouds in the sky were tinged with blood, and a trace of the remnant sun was half-pulled against the sky, and gradually, the sky began to darken, and the five fingers were gradually lost in sight, and the crow began to cry, and the cry seemed to be the summons of a ghost.

The gate of the temple creaked open, and there was a heavy trembling sound, and three Mongolian soldiers with sheepskin bamboo tubes on their backs hurriedly walked out of the temple, and each mounted his prepared horse and galloped away in the south, east, and northwest directions.

Every time they rode to a post station, they immediately handed the bamboo tube on their backs to the soldiers in the post station and explained: "Eight hundred miles are urgent, delay for a while, and the head will fall to the ground." ”

The soldiers did not dare to delay for a moment, and after several days and nights, they finally arrived at their destination one after another.

At this time, the scorching heat had passed, and Kublai Khan was leading his army to confront the Song army outside the city of Ezhou, and the battle had reached a very critical moment.

The Mongol army was stationed ten miles outside the city of Ezhou, and the soldiers in the Mongolian barracks were walking and patrolling in an orderly manner. Suddenly, a fast horse rushed in the distance, and rushed to the door, and the Mongolian messenger on the horse fell to the ground, and the soldiers guarding the camp gate immediately stepped forward to help the messenger.

I only heard the letter use the last of his strength to say: "Quick, quickly hand over the letter to King Monan." After saying this, he fainted, and one of the soldiers hurriedly took off the sheepskin bamboo tube on the messenger's back and hurried to the tent of the king of Monan.

The soldier walked into the camp of the king of Mo Nan with a sheepskin bamboo tube and reported: "My lord, there is a messenger who has sent a letter in an urgent manner for eight hundred miles. With that, he handed the parchment to Kublai Khan.

After Kublai Khan turned the lid of the cylinder to tear off the sealed paper, he took out the letter, looked at it fixedly, his expression changed greatly, his face showed a look of horror, and then he ordered the soldiers in front of him: "Quickly send Tumian Nayan Zhang Rou, Kuoduan and Minhan Nayan Dong Wenbing, Dong Wenyong, Zhang Xi and others to the Chinese army camp to discuss matters." ”

"Yes, my lord. The soldier replied and immediately left the tent to summon him.

After receiving the order, the generals immediately rushed to the camp of the Chinese army, sat down and waited one after another, and Kublai Khan walked into the camp with the letter with a solemn expression, and walked deeply.

The generals stood up to greet them, and Kublai Khan motioned for them to sit down. Then he said in a deep tone, and said in his mouth: "Just now I received a messenger for 800 miles to urgently, the Great Khan was hit by a cannon stone in Diaoyu City, and now my life is in the Hot Spring Temple, the Great Khan ordered me to rush to the Hot Spring Temple immediately, I don't know what everyone here thinks?" Kublai Khan looked at the generals.

After hearing this, everyone sighed at the injury of Möngke Khan, and there was a lot of discussion for a while, and they did not rush to give Kublai Khan's advice.

Kublai Khan couldn't bear it anymore, so he couldn't help but shout: "Everyone, I'm asking you, should this king rush to the hot spring temple to meet the driver immediately?"

Tumian Nayan Zhang Rou took the lead in suggesting: "Great Khan, I thought you should rush to the hot spring temple immediately, the Great Khan's life is on the verge of death, it must be a heavy trust before his death, it may be related to the Khan's position, the matter is big, you should rush to it as soon as possible." ”

After listening to what Zhang Rou said, Dong Wenbing also agreed: "I agree with General Zhang Rou's proposal. "The voice is loud.

Kuoduan is a belligerent person, and his vision is inevitably a little limited to the battle situation, so he suggested: "King, I think that the current war against the Song Dynasty has reached a critical stage, and it is not good for the whole battle situation for you to leave at this time, we have been attacking Ezhou for so long, this is about to make progress, and we can't give up all our efforts." ”

Dong Wenbing listened to what Kuoduan said, he disagreed very much, and said bluntly: "General Kuoduan's words, I don't agree, Mongolia has only ended the internal fighting for Khan since Meng Ke Khan succeeded to the throne, if Meng Ke Khan has any accidents, the King of Mobei and others will definitely unite with the Mobei nobles to compete for the Khan throne, and then don't say that the army will attack the Song Dynasty, I am afraid that Mongolia will fall into the point of endless internal fighting." ”

Zhang Xi thought about it for a while, and also felt that General Dong was in his words, and suggested: "I also agree with General Zhang Rou's proposal, only by stabilizing Mongolia's interior can we dominate the world." ”

Kublai Khan listened to the words of the people, pondered for a while, and decided: "The Great Khan has specified in his letter that I will inherit the throne, and this king has not made any achievements in this trip, so how can he serve the people, this king has decided to stay here and command the army to attack the Song Dynasty." ”

Zhang Xi and Zhang Rou wanted to dissuade him again, but Kublai Khan looked majestic and said in a heavy tone: "This king has made up his mind, you don't need to say much. ”

Dong Wenbing immediately knelt on the ground and persuaded earnestly: "King, if you insist on not going, I will kneel here for a long time." ”

Zhang Rou, Zhang Xi and other generals who advocated going all knelt on the ground one after another.

Kublai Khan was a little embarrassed when he saw this situation, not because what the generals said was unreasonable, but because he had another consideration.

Mongolia since the sudden death of Ogedai Khan, the struggle for power has been a great drain on domestic strength, although the Torre family subsequently grasped the actual power, however, it is only the surface of stability, Torre's sons are not ordinary, whether it is Meng Ge, Hulegu, Kublai Khan, or the last brother, all have a certain military strength, but there is no lack of brothers, the biggest problem in front of us is the difference of political views, Kublai Khan is very clear about this.

Kublai Khan has been influenced by Han culture since childhood, and is quite capable of governing the Central Plains and the Han people, from the cautious and far-sighted, he has already taken a long-term view, rather than being limited to the war situation of winning the world, Taizu Genghis Khan once valued Kublai Khan a lot, and wanted to grant the position of Khan, but unfortunately, Kublai Khan did not accept it, he was very young at that time, and he knew very well that Mongolia was the time to fight the world, not the time to govern the world.

He also knows very well that after Meng Ke Khan's ascension to heaven, according to the current situation, he and Ali Buge will inevitably have a war, no matter who ascends to the throne, there will be a fight internally, because he represents an emerging force, this force contains the blood of Han culture, which is somewhat contradictory to the traditional Mongolian power represented by Ali Buge, and now he does not fight for this short time, in order to completely sweep away the opposition forces in the future, so that Mongolia can realize the true unity of the ancestors when they were in power, instead of being so alienated today.

Kublai Khan elaborated his thoughts to everyone in the military tent, and the generals understood Kublai Khan's intentions a little, and also felt that the king of Mo Nan in front of him was far more far-sighted than he imagined.

Kublai Khan concluded: "First, due to the difference in political views, there will inevitably be a war in Mongolia, and whoever ascends the throne will be like this; second, it is just at this time to see clearly the forces of the two factions, and it will be stable in one fell swoop; third, the war situation has become a scorching situation, if it retreats, it will inevitably attract the Song army to chase and kill, and the consequences are unpredictable; therefore, for the sake of a more long-term plan, and in order to cope with today's predicament, this king decided not to rush to the hot spring temple to meet the driver." ”

In fact, after saying this, everyone knows that according to Kublai Khan's long-term thinking, whether to see or not to see Meng Ge and accept the Khan position will have no great impact, but everyone still has a trace of hesitation and worry, the situation is always changing, who can predict what will happen if you don't go forward to accept the will?

Kublai Khan lifted everyone up one by one, and everyone hesitated to stand up, and a dispute was settled, and a decision was made. The people did not dissuade them from now on.

That night, Kublai Khan left himself alone in the tent, his mood was extremely heavy, he valued brotherhood the most, although Meng Ke Khan and himself had disputes from time to time, but he was his own sibling, was his eldest brother, every time after the dispute, he would patiently explain to himself, in Kublai Khan's heart, he could not accept this sudden blow.

Meng Ge repeatedly explained in the letter that he would set off immediately when he saw the letter, but now he secretly decided not to go, thinking of the eldest brother who was struggling and waiting on the sickbed, Kublai Khan's heart tightened, his face frowned slightly, and he felt a little sad. A deep sense of guilt and apology left eternal life in his heart, after all, it was the last wish of the eldest brother to see him for the last time.

Kublai Khan raised a jar of wine, put it to his mouth, and drank wildly, and when he put down the jar, his eyes were already moist.

The crescent moon in the sky was obscured by a layer of clouds, and the light was dimly visible, and the star was dim, but no one noticed it.

In the camp of Sala and Lin, Ali Buge, Asutai, and Alan Daer were enjoying the dance, listening to the huqin raising a glass and drinking, so they were so happy and happy.

Suddenly, a messenger rushed into the tent, fell to his knees, and said, "Oh no, the Great Khan is wounded, and his life is on the line." ”

When Asutai heard Meng Ge's news, the wine glass in his hand fell to the ground, after all, it was his father, this sudden change made this young and immature young man a little unbearable, Asutai sat down on the ground, and the energy of the wine and joy poured out instantly, and the letter who knelt on the ground stood up and said: "Another messenger of the Great Khan's message: order Ali Buge to continue to guard Helin, and immediately rush to Taizhou Hot Spring Temple with Asutai." ”

After finishing speaking, he stepped forward and took off the sheepskin cylinder on his back and handed it to Ali Buge, and said to Ali Buge: "This is a letter from the Great Khan to you, ordering you to open it after the return of King Mo Nan and Marshal Hulegu. When Ali Buge heard what the messenger said, he realized the seriousness of the matter, and thought that his eldest brother was really seriously injured.

Ali Buge took the parchment tube from the messenger's hand, and then vigorously helped Asutai up and said: "Go quickly, the Great Khan is waiting for you, it's too late to go!" Thinking of seeing his beloved father Khan for the last time, Asutai lifted his spirits again, and immediately rushed out of the camp, leading a team of ten guards to gallop to the southwest starry night.

Since He Lin to Taizhou fast horse whip at least seven or eight days, plus the journey back and forth, at least more than half a month, Meng Ge has been a horse all his life, marching and fighting when calculating the distance, how can he not know, since the day he was hit by the flying stone, he blocked the news, his body is only clear to himself, this majestic son of heaven after listening to the diagnosis and treatment of the accompanying military doctor, he secretly sent a tripartite messenger on the same day, counting the days, he can only suffer half a month.

Since Zongzheng left Diaoyu City, Meng Ge led the whole army to stay in Shizishan City, he lost the grain and grass he dragged the war to the summer, in the hot season, more people are prone to malaria, soon, the whole army seems to be stared at by the disease, all one by one fell ill, for the sake of a breath in the chest, Meng Ge did not want to bypass the Diaoyu City, but wanted to take advantage of the condition has not yet worsened, step up the attack on the Diaoyu City, after the death of the pioneer Wang Dechen, Meng Ge became more and more crazy, so that he personally led the army to attack the city, unfortunately the body of the flying stone.

Thinking about it carefully, Zong Zheng played an inexplicable role in Meng Ge's death.