Late Tang

"Li Quanzhong sent assassins to assassinate my father, this hatred is irreconcilable!" Li Keyong, dressed in white linen and black gauze around his arms, gritted his teeth, and shouted at the white army gathered under Yanmen City, "I have learned all about you today!" Raised a large army, wiped out Yizhou, killed Li Quanzhong with ten thousand swords, and wiped out Li Thief's family, Fang Xue hates it!"

Li Keyong left his wife Liu to sit in Yanmen, and his brother Li Kexiu guarded the four prefectures of the New Confucianism Wugui.

Before sending out troops, Li Keyong ordered that after entering Hebei, but won the city, all the Yiwu soldiers in the city would be executed without leaving a single one.All the people in the city were captured and sent to Yanmen as slaves to avenge Xue's father.

Chengde Army Jiedu envoy Wang Jingchong met Li Keyong's envoy in Zhenzhou and heard that Li Guochang was assassinated by Li Quanzhong's men. Li Keyong took revenge and asked him to send troops.Wang Jingchong was unwilling to send troops at this time. The last time he sent troops to Dingzhou to capture Quanzhou, the Qin army finally sent troops from Hejian and took back the seven counties in a blink of an eye. If the Qin army hadn't taken the initiative to withdraw troops later, Dingzhou would have been lost.But Wang Jingchong also knew that the Lu Long army had been removed, the Yiwu army was half dead, and had become a vassal of the Qin army. In the towns of Hebei, only Chengde and Wei Bo remained.However, Wei Bo was far to the south. The Chengde army, facing the huge pressure of the Qin army, must have a solid ally.

This is also the reason why Wang Jingchong became brothers with Li Keyong last time, and gave his nine-year-old son Li Keyong's daughter-in-law as his fiancée.

In the Youzhou incident last time, they all made a huge mistake, which not only made them miss the chance to defeat Li Jing, but also completely disintegrated the alliance in Hebei, putting them at a complete disadvantage against Li Jing.But right now Li Keyong sent troops angrily, no matter whether the time is right or not, if he stays still, Li Keyong will be defeated once, his lips will die and his teeth will be cold, and it will be Chengdezhen's turn to fall under the iron hooves of the Qin army.

After thinking for a long time, Wang Jingchong decided to send troops, not only troops, but also a large army.Wang Jingchong left half of his soldiers and horses to guard Zhen, Yi, Zhao, and Shenzhou, and then gathered [-] soldiers and horses to go north to Dingzhou to support Li Keyong.

Zheng Congyu, the envoy of Hedong Jiedu, heard that Li Keyong had sent troops to attack Yizhou, so he sent envoys to persuade him to make peace.

Li Keyong was the king of Jin at this time, higher than Zheng Congxuan's county throne, but Zheng Congxuan's current official position is not only the Jiedu envoy of Hedong and the left-bearer of Beidu, but also the deputy marshal of the soldiers and horses of the world, the marshal of the soldiers and horses of Hedong, controlling the armies of Hedong .Li Keyong didn't want to offend Zheng Congyun too much at this time, so he had to invite him to meet him in the account.

The envoy entered the account and said: "Now Zheng Gong heard that the king of Jin sent a large army to Yizhou to avenge the king of Yanmen County. Wherever he went, he wanted to kill all the people. Zheng Gong specially sent someone to speak. Li Quanzhong of Yiwu Town and the king of Jin are both from the Tang Dynasty. The courtiers are ministers in the same palace. Even if Li Quanzhong was responsible for the murder of his father, what crimes do the people of Yizhou have? Think twice, besides, now that Huang Chao is in rebellion, all the towns in the world will send troops to serve the king and recover the two capitals. The king is an important minister of the imperial court, and the Shatuo army is also an important force in the Hedong coalition army. At this time, it is time to send troops to the south to fight against the rebels, how can they turn their swords and soldiers to attack the people of Tang Dynasty at this time?"

Li Ke said angrily: "What does Zheng Gong mean? Could it be that if the king doesn't follow his order, will he gather troops from all the towns in Hedong and plan to attack me Shatuo again? You go back and tell Zheng Congyu that your father is against you!" The king must avenge this hatred. If he believes in XX, then XX will definitely send troops to the south to serve the king after XX has avenged his revenge. If he doesn't believe it, let him decide, but we Shatuo have never been easy to provoke , let him think twice before acting!"

The envoy resigned and sighed: "Li Keyong is too arrogant. He really is not of my race, and his heart must be different!" He didn't stay any longer and went directly to Taiyuan, Hedong.

Li Keyong marched quickly, with the three counties of Yizhou under control. This time Li Keyong passed the Feihu Road very smoothly, crossed the Taihang Mountains and entered Hebei.After Shatuo's army entered Yizhou, wherever they went, they killed people and excavated graves.None of the soldiers of the Yiwu Army were captured, and all of them were executed.As for the Yizhou people, the young and strong were conscripted into the army, and the rest were sent back to Yanmen as slaves, and many were directly sent to the grasslands to exchange these slaves for Khitan's cattle and sheep.

When Li Quanzhong was in Yizhou City, he heard that Li Keyong led an army of [-] troops from Yanmen to enter Yizhou, and Wang Jingchong led an army of [-] troops from the south to enter Dingzhou. Said that several counties had been lost, the Second Army was unstoppable, their faces twitched, and their hearts were terrified.

The former ally, now wants his life.

"If you want to add a crime, why have no words?" Li Quanzhong bit his lower lip, clenched his fists, his face turned purple.The reason why Li Ke sent troops was that he sent assassins to kill his father Li Guochang, but there was no such thing at all.He never sent assassins to Yanmen, although he did think so in his heart, but he is not enough to protect himself now, so how dare he easily provoke Sha Tuo, his evil neighbor.

His eldest son, Li Kuangwei, said: "Father, this is basically Li Ke's excuse to send troops. The purpose is just to see that Yiwu Town is weak, so he wants to swallow it."

"But our spies did find out that Li Guochang died at the hands of the assassins, and I heard that one of his fellow assassins confessed that they were sent by his father." Li Kuangchou said.

Li Quanzhong glared at his second son: "Could it be that I, Li Quanzhong, are the kind of people who dare to do things but not to be? It is something I have done, and I will not deny it, but it is not something I have done, and I will never recite it on my body indiscriminately." .”

There was a moment of silence in the hall, the assassin was not sent by them, so there are only two possibilities.One is that Li Guochang didn't die at all. This is just a scene that Li Keyong is going to send troops to Yizhou from beginning to end, but this possibility is very small, or Li Guochang died, but he was not assassinated, but was killed by Li Keyong. Ke Yong used this to attack them.In addition, there is another possibility, that is, other people sent assassins to kill Li Guochang, and then put the blame on them.

Li Ke used many enemies, it was not surprising that someone sent assassins to assassinate, but what was strange was that they were going to blame them.This is a strategy that kills two birds with one stone, not only dealing with Li Keyong, but also dealing with Yiwu Town.

Everyone in the hall thought of a person's name almost at the same time, Li Jing.

It would not be surprising if Li Jing was behind the scenes in this matter.Li Jing once sent people to assassinate Liu Yue, which led to a series of civil strife in Lulong, which broke up the entire anti-Li alliance, and finally captured Youzhou without bloodshed, and made Yiwu Town have to attach itself to Li Jing.Later, the assassin went to assassinate Li Keyong and was captured, but Li Jing took Shatuo captive in exchange for the assassin.

Now that another assassin assassinated and killed Li Guochang, they immediately thought that it was Li Jing who did it again.If the assassination of Li Keyong was successful, it would be a great thing for Li Jing. If it failed, it would be blamed on Yiwu Town, causing Li Keyong to send troops to deal with Yiwu Town.

Or this assassination went straight to Li Guochang from the beginning, with the purpose of blaming Yiwu Town and luring Li Keyong to send troops.

Li Quanzhong has also seen countless strong winds and waves, but when he thinks of all these possibilities, he still can't help but feel cold all over his body.If it is what he thinks, then Li Jing is too ruthless. Li Keyong sent troops at this time, and it is difficult for him to protect himself in Yiwu Town. In the end, he would either be swallowed by Li Keyong and Wang Jingchong, or be swallowed by Li Jing Lose.Moreover, Li Jing has always been scheming, either preemptively strikes, or sets up a dark game to lure the enemy to make a move, and then strikes later.

After Li Jing captured Youzhou, he has not made any major moves, but sooner or later in Hebei, there will be a big battle to determine the final winner.Li Jing is the most powerful, but has been standing still. Now it seems that Li Jing is really scheming. He is using Yiwu Town as a bait to lure Li Keyong and Wang Jingchong to leave their lair and fight in Yiding again.

The Qin, Jin, and Zhao families fought, but in the end Yiwu Town was used as the battlefield. The situation was obviously more favorable for Li Jing.Because not far from Yiding, there are three passes in Mozhou, where Li Jing stationed heavily, and the Hejian Fortress in Yingzhou.And setting the battlefield in Yiding, Li Keyong left his old nest in Hedong and crossed the Taihang Mountains to fight in Hebei. The logistics supply line was very long.On the other hand, if the second town left the base camp to send troops, they would have to stay behind, which weakened their troops.

The more Li Quanzhong thought about it, the more he felt that he had discovered the truth behind the fog of the entire chess game.

It was Li Jing who led all this behind the scenes. Not only did he take Li Ke into account, he also put Wang Jingchong in his pocket, and Li Quanzhong was just a piece of bait for this battle, nothing more.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a burst of sadness, struggling for so many years, but ended up like this in the end.

A wave of exhaustion surged through his body, making him weak and weak.In an instant, he seemed to be more than ten years old. Before the battle started, he had already been eliminated.It turned out that he was still thinking that although he suffered heavy injuries, he was in the Qin, Jin, and Zhao families, so he might be able to deal with it.But now it seems that he was too optimistic at the beginning.

Surrounded by powerful enemies and without strength, this is exactly like a child walking in the vegetable market with a large piece of gold in his arms.

"Father, what should we do? Now Li Keyong and Wang Jingchong are sending troops on both sides. There are many bandits, so we are afraid to resist them." Li Kuangchou asked anxiously.

Li Quanzhong waved his hand, signaling the end of the meeting, and let all the civil servants leave, leaving only Li Kuangwei and Li Kuangchou's two sons.

After everyone left, Li Quanzhong took his two sons into the study.

After a long silence, Li Quanzhong calmly told them the results of his analysis.

"How could Li Jing do this?" Li Kuangwei slammed his fist on the table.

"The law of the jungle is what it is. Now, we can only lament that we are not as good as others." Li Quanzhong sighed.

The father and son all lowered their heads. They had no way out. Li Keyong and Wang Jingchong wanted to seize their territory, but Li Jing also wanted to seize their territory.

After a long time, Li Quanzhong suddenly raised his head, his eyes became clear again.

"How many soldiers and horses do we have now?" he asked.

The eldest son Li Kuangwei replied: "After the last war, there were still 3 soldiers and horses. During this period, we recruited about [-] new recruits. However, these recruits are all newly recruited soldiers and have not practiced battle formation yet. Techniques are not of much use.”

Tens of thousands of horses is not too small, but if compared with the towns of Li Jing, Li Keyong, and Wang Jingchong, it is like a giant man and a child, not at the same level at all.

Gritting his teeth, Li Quanzhong waved his fist, "Immediately bring back all the soldiers and horses from the counties of Yiding and other counties. In addition, transfer all the money, food and equipment to Zhuozhou immediately. If the people from all over the country are willing to go, let them go to Zhuozhou, Yiding Erzhou, we don't want it anymore."

"Father!" Brother Li Kuangwei exclaimed. Although half of Yiding and Erzhou fell into the enemy's hands, they still controlled most of the places.If they just discarded it, then they would only have one Zhuozhou left.And Zhuozhou is almost half surrounded by Li Jing, with Youzhou in the north and Mozhou in the south. It is on a plain and there is no danger to defend.If Li Jing wanted to annex them, they would have no power to resist.

However, Li Quanzhong has already made up his mind, "Son, Li Jing hopes that we will fight to the death with Li Keyong and Wang Jingchong. When the time comes, he will sit and watch, and when we are finished, Chengde and Yanmen Second Town will take Yi Ding Erzhou will also cost a lot of casualties. At that time, Li Jing will wait for work with leisure and send troops again, and the chances of winning will increase greatly. But as for us, we have already become Li Jing's cannon fodder at that time. Listen, in this troubled world, If the territory is gone, we can fight again in the future, but if there are no people, there will be nothing. As long as we have soldiers in our hands, there will be a place for us in the world. Li Jing wants us to be bait and cannon fodder, but we are not as good as he wants The two prefectures of Yiding can't be defended anyway, so just give them to Li Keyong and Wang Jingchong. Let's retreat to Zhuozhou and keep this last bit of strength. If the second state is occupied, then he can only send troops to fight with them and rob them, this has nothing to do with Kaiyuan Tongbao!"

The Li Kuangwei brothers were stunned on the spot, and they never thought that their father would still have this clarity at this time, and be so determined to cut off his wrists.The basic two states of Yi Ding, if you say no, you don't want it. This kind of decision is really impossible for ordinary people.

But they still have some doubts.

"Since Li Jing wants to easily settle Zhuozhou, can he watch us retreat into Zhuozhou? Will he take the opportunity to send troops to Zhuozhou and annex us?"

Li Quanzhong thought for a while, "Maybe, but it shouldn't be for the time being. However, if the soldiers come to block and the water comes and the soil is flooded, if Li Jing really can't tolerate us anymore. The big deal is, we either lead the troops to leave, or simply hand over the military power to Li Jing , like Li Keju, let's go to the lecture hall in Youzhou and be an idle instructor."

Handing over the military power, Li Jing will definitely protect their lives. It is no problem to be a rich man. Li Keju, the former commander of Lu Longjun, is now an idle lecturer in the Qin army. Although he has no power, he is leisurely. Wealth can still be maintained.

However, Li Quanzhong asked himself, can he accept such an ending?

Let's take one step at a time, Li Quanzhong sighed, the key to Jian now is how to ensure that they will not become Li Jing's cannon fodder, and how to preserve his soldiers.

In troubled times, a soldier is a king, even if he is a grass-headed king, the last word is big enough fists!