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Chapter 263 Battle Cloud
When Li Chongjiu heard Qu Yanran's question, he asked back: "Master Qu is asking this question, do you really care about this issue?"

Qu Yanran shook her head, and said with a somewhat coquettish expression: "Even if Yanran is very concerned about this question, brother Li please answer me seriously."

It is said that men are most afraid of women acting like a baby, so they should be classified as beautiful or ugly. Li Chongjiu smiled and pondered for a while, and said: "Okay, everyone ask me this question, if it is normal, I can tell you a hundred things. A reason and an answer. But today I don’t want to offend you.”

Qu Yanran asked: "Could it be that brother Li wants to say that he doesn't know the answer, if so, it will be very disappointing."

Li Chongjiu said with a smile: "Master Qu, do you know? I never discuss three issues with people."

"What question does it relate to your answer?"

Li Chongjiu said: "The three questions I never discuss with people are, why does one person live, what is the second emotion, and whether the three powers and wealth can be exchanged for everything."

Qu Yanran's eyes showed interest, she was obviously very interested, and immediately asked, "Why is that?"

Li Chongjiu said: "There is no answer to the first question, there are many answers to the second question, and there is a clear answer to the third question, but you say that in this chaotic world, who do you think will believe it?"

Qu Yanran's eyes lit up when she heard this, she slapped her palm like a little girl, and said, "Brother Li, what you said is really interesting, but you haven't answered my question yet?"

Li Chongjiu took a sip of tea and said: "Beauty of Jiangshan, as I said just now, can power and wealth be exchanged for everything? If you miss something, you will miss it. How can you buy it back? If one day, my wish is fulfilled, If I lost my family members, my subordinates who were born and died with me, then it would be an irreparable regret for the rest of my life. This is the answer in my heart."

Qu Yanran nodded and praised: "Brother Li, not only did you say something that fascinated Yanran, but I haven't heard such a wonderful talk for a long time. I think if Brother Li talked about metaphysics, he might be more famous than he is now. ?”

Li Chongjiu laughed, and said: "Then I don't want to accept your words one day."

At that moment, Qu Yanran showed a slight smile, stood up and said: "Yanran has a habit of taking a nap every day, so she won't talk with Brother Li, brother Li, please feel free to do so."

Li Chongjiu nodded. When the two were having a good time chatting, they stopped abruptly. This is a very good chatter, who understands the way to advance and retreat.

At that moment, Li Chongjiu also stood up and said, "Master Qu, please do your own thing."

So Qu Yanran went upstairs to rest, and Li Chongjiu was downstairs alone. After some thought, she asked Chunxi to take the pen and ink, and distributed it on the table to Li Hu, Su Su, Tu Diji, and Wen Yanbo to write letters.

It was night just after I finished writing, and when the lights came on, Mingyue Tower opened its doors to welcome guests, and it was the busiest time of the day, with the soft sound of pipa, soft singing, and the faint smell of rouge.

Li Chongjiu wrote the letter all afternoon and finally finished the letter. No one disturbed him all afternoon, but during meal time, Chunxi brought Li Chongjiu a bowl of broken gold rice.

Chunxi explained to Li Chongjiu: "The rules in Mingyue Building are that the big stove will not be opened until after the hour of Hai. Our lady said that I don't eat during the time. I am afraid that Uncle Li will not be used to it, so I prepared some more broken gold rice at noon. Please also Uncle Li, don't blame us for being slow."

Li Chongjiu said: "I'm used to it. When I was a bandit in the past, I only had two meals for breakfast and lunch. Now I can eat three meals. Of course I should cherish it."

Chunxi was startled when she heard this, and asked, "Uncle Li, have you ever been a bandit?"

Li Chongjiu saw that the other party looked a little scared, and said with a smile: "Yes, it is still an ancestral business, a business without capital."

After Chunxi finished listening, her teeth chattered slightly, how could Miss Xindao know such a person.Seeing her expression, Li Chongjiu said: "This broken gold rice is said to be the favorite of Yang Su, the Duke of Yue. It sounds nice, but it is actually fried rice with eggs."

"Chunxi, do you know Duke Yue?"

Chun Xi nodded slightly, and said: "I heard that the Duke of Yue conquered Nanchen, defeated the Turks, and killed tens of thousands of people."

Li Chongjiu said: "Yes, Yue Guogong should be a very ruthless person, but have you heard the story of reunion after a broken mirror?"

"This is not."

Li Chongjiu said: "At that time when the Southern Chen Kingdom was about to collapse, an official Xu Deyan and his wife, Princess Lechang, feared that they would not be able to protect each other after the collapse of the country, so they broke a bronze mirror and each held half of it. The mirror was broken in the city, and I hope to see you in the future. After Chen died, the princess went to Yang Su’s house as a concubine. Xu Deyan arrived in Kyoto as scheduled, and saw someone selling a half-mirror, and it was a half-match. Xu Deyan wrote a poem saying that the mirror is gone with everyone , the mirror returns to people but not to it; without Chang'e's shadow, the bright moonlight is left in the sky. The princess gets a poem, she weeps but does not eat."
When Chunxi heard this, her eyes turned red, and she said sadly: "This is a tragedy in the world. But Duke Yue is rich and powerful, how can Xu Yande get his wife back?"
Li Chongjiu continued: "Later, Yang Suzhi, the Duke of Yue, recruited Xu Deyan, returned the princess to Xu Yande, and gave the two of them money from the beauty of adulthood, allowing them to return to their hometown as travel expenses. This is the story of reunion after a broken mirror."

Chunxi listened and praised: "The Duke of Yue is really magnanimous. Not only does he give a concubine to others, but also the beauty of an adult, so that lovers can finally get married. He is really a good man."

Li Chongjiu smiled when she heard this, stopped talking and continued to eat, while Qu Yanran upstairs heard it clearly, she couldn't help but smiled, and said softly: "Chunxi, that silly girl."

After a while, Yunniang knocked on the door and said, "Master Lin has arrived at Mingyue Building, now I'm waiting in my room."

Li Chongjiu went out immediately and came to Yunniang's room.Lin Dangfeng had already been waiting there, and when he saw it, he went up and said: "Master, after knowing what happened, I was worried for a whole day yesterday. I will definitely try to get you out of the city."

Li Chongjiu smiled and said: "It's okay, this Mingyue Building is a safe place for the time being, there are a lot of eyeliners outside the building now, if I go out easily now, this is the danger, I will wait for a few days to go."

Speaking of this, Li Chongjiu handed the four letters he wrote in the afternoon to Lin Dangfeng and said: "You try to pass on the four letters, otherwise if my father and fourth uncle Su know that I am now trapped in Zhuojun County, I will definitely send you a message." It is impossible to mobilize a large army to attack the city, it will be bad at that time, and to seize Zhuojun, if you attack by force, you will not be able to attack it, you need to use strategy."

Lin Dangfeng said immediately, "Yes."

Li Chongjiu said: "Among the county soldiers, how is our contact?"

Lin Dangfeng said: "Now the defenders of Huairong, Gu'an, and Changping counties have been recruited by us. Roughly calculated, there are at least [-] county soldiers at our disposal. The other six counties also have our people."

Li Chongjiu said in his heart that Huaihuang Town's business route has been cut off in the past few years, and the business route smuggled from Zhuo County to Yuyi Town has become the only business route, and it has become a huge profit monopolized by various companies, and everyone wants to get a share of it.The Lin Family Chamber of Commerce was originally a local snake in Youzhou, but it suffered from being suppressed as a businessman, but its private interests were all intertwined, and both black and white were very popular.

As for the generals guarding this commercial route, the money they have collected in the past two years has also been merciless, and each of them is full of money.

Li Chongjiu said: "Very well, I heard that Xue Shixiong issued another order to let the Lu family and others recruit local soldiers. I think the generals among the local soldiers, in addition to the Qubu of the gentry, must send more county soldiers among them." General, as the commander of the township soldiers, you have to fortify and put our people in. These two are urgent matters at hand, and you need to hurry up. If it is safe, let me go out of the city before it is too late."

Lin Dangfeng promised immediately, saying: "It's just that you are alone in Zhuo County, making it difficult for the subordinates to rest assured."

Li Chongjiu shook his head and said: "I said that the pacification of Zhuojun is not about using large soldiers to suppress it, but about whether we can get the support of Zhuojun's Lu family and other big gentry families, as well as the county soldiers. I seem to be in danger here. There may be other help, there is one more thing that is very urgent, the movement in Beiping County must be close, I am worried that the Lu family may have secretly contacted Luo Yi."

The news of Yang Yichen's going south has not yet come. In Zhuo County, all the counties have posted notices and started to recruit soldiers. Several Zhuo County families headed by Fan Yang and Lu's family, now use their Qubu Zhuang Ding as the backbone. Raise food and fodder, and start recruiting soldiers.

The family property of these aristocratic families is very large, even when the recruitment notice was posted, it immediately attracted countless Yanzhao heroes to watch the list.At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhongshan businessmen Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang sold horses in Zhuo County and supported Liu Bei, a native of Zhuo County, with money. In the end, Liu Bei won Zhang Fei, a fellow villager, and Guan Yu's gang who fled here. Everyone in the county knows it, young and old, and there is even a local legend about Taoyuan being sworn brothers.

Zhuo County has always been fond of martial arts, and among the heroes on the list, those who have the ambition of Liu Bei are not uncommon. In the troubled times, they have an enterprising heart. They joined the army one after another, and within a few days all [-] soldiers from the village were recruited.

But within three days of the recruitment of [-] township soldiers, Yang Yichen personally led an army of [-] Zuo Yuwei, divided into water and land, set out along the Tongji Canal, and went south to attack Dou Jiande.

When the news of Xue Shixiong's army going south came out, it was adjacent to Zhuo County from east to west, but Shanggu County, Huaihuang Town, Yuyi Town, and Liaoxi County were fighting hard at the moment.

The autumn wind is chilling, the grain and grass in Huaihuang Town in Shanggu County and Huaihuang Town have been harvested, and the war horses are at their fattest in autumn.

In Huaihuang Town, because of Li Chongjiu's absence, Li Hu, as the backbone, has taken over everything. When the generals heard that Li Chongjiu was in Zhuojun, they were all eager to send troops to attack Zhuojun and rescue Li Chongjiu.

As a father, Li Hu couldn't help being a bit concerned, but he was more cautious and asked Wen Yanbo what he meant.

Unexpectedly, Wen Yanbo strongly opposed it, and tried to persuade him not to attack Zhuojun at this time, otherwise Luo Yi would take advantage of the situation and take control of Youzhou.

All the generals didn't believe it when they heard about it, thinking that it was Wen Yanbo's negligence for dragging Li Chongjiu to Youzhou alone.

(End of this chapter)