His eyes fell on Gao Junjin's corpse in front of him, his eyes were a little sad and restrained.
Over the years, too many of his relatives have died, and he has long been used to it.
"Okay...Xu Tuduo, don't chop his head off."
Li Xia didn't pay much attention to what happened at the cell door. He turned his head and continued talking to Gao Qiong.
"Where were you talking about?"
"If you ask me for my opinion, Feiyu can leave me in Tongya City."
Gao Qiong was lying on the stretcher, very weak, and explained: "After Muru arrives at the Wumeng tribe, someone needs to provide him with supplies... I agree with your idea of 'official and merchant bandits'... Dali is too broken now."
, but I can sell the goods from Song Dynasty to Tianzhu for you...provide horses, information...it is better for me to do these things than others."
"That's what I planned from the beginning." Li Xia said, "But your identity has been exposed."
"I am still the Lord of Tongshi City granted by Meng Ge." Gao Qiong said: "Duan Shi is not qualified to deprive me of my title or remove me from my position."
"How much evidence does Duan Shi have?"
"The witness, Gao Junjin, is dead. Duan Shi only has a letter from me to Sarimonk. But I actually wrote that letter with my left hand. If I were to confront him in front of him, he would not be able to overthrow me.
"
Li Xia pondered: "It's still too risky."
Gao Qiong said: "Only by taking risks, Meng people will continue to trust me. Duan Shi exposed me, I should have left with you, but I didn't leave, but I gained trust."
"You have another option. After arriving in Wumeng, you can contact the old department to smuggle it secretly. There is no need to stay."
"It's necessary." Gao Qiong said: "The Dali family is afraid of the Mongolian people like tigers, and many of them, like the Duan brothers, are willing to be the Mongolian people's lackeys. If it were anyone else, there is no guarantee that they will not betray again... I can feel at ease if I handle it myself."
"You have basically been completely exposed, and it is difficult to come back."
"I have an old army, which is hidden in Longhua Temple in the north of Tongyacheng. My wife and children are also there." Gao Qiong said: "When Feiyu leaves, I will let them come to 'recover' Tongyacheng. I can make the Meng people
trust me."
"Okay." Li Xia said, "I will consider this matter and see if I can come up with a seamless plan."
"How does Feiyu plan to cross Shanchan City and return to Wuchi Road?"
"Don't go to Shanchan City. Go to Guanbei, Luopo tribe's territory."
"No." Gao Qiong shook his head, turned to look at Gao Mingyue, who had been standing behind Li Xia, and asked, "What did you tell Feiyu?"
"Yes." Gao Mingyue responded.
"I'm afraid you don't know yet, but the leader of the Luopo tribe, Yege, has sincerely surrendered to Mongolia. It was just decided at the beginning of the year to build an additional Luopo Wanhu Mansion. Yege was granted the title of Marquis of Wanhu and was awarded a golden talisman. This was precisely because he wanted to make contributions to Mongolia.
Now... you must not go east again."
Gao Mingyue was startled and looked up at Li Xia with apologetic eyes.
"It's okay." Li Xia whispered: "The situation is unpredictable and you can't know right away."
"But where are we going?"
"If there is enough food and grass, it doesn't hurt to take a detour through the mountains and forests."
Gao Qiong coughed and said: "Tongyacheng still has some food and grass, but the food and grass for nearly ten thousand soldiers and horses were spent on this a while ago, I'm afraid there won't be much left."
"It's not much. Most of it was burned by Duan Shi tonight."
"Come here, I know where the food is."
After hearing this, Li Xia seemed to have thought of something, and put his ear to Gao Qiong's mouth, and sure enough, he heard him say something softly.
"There is food in the temple..."
Although most of the granary in Tongya City was burned down, Qingfu Army still received supplies. At the same time, there were still some wound medicine, arrows, and armor in the city.
Li Xia rested for a whole night and a day in Tongyacheng, allowing his soldiers to regain their strength.
He has no intention of staying here for a long time. With only this small number of troops under his command, tens of thousands of Dali soldiers may surround him at any time.
If you want territory, you should be able to rely on territory that can be defended by the Song Dynasty, rather than an isolated city trapped deep in the enemy's territory, with no supplies, no support, and no possibility of development at all.
After resting, Li Xia began to think about how to be "repelled" by Gao Qiong.
…
"Feiyu also trusts my cousin too much." Gao Changshou said, "I think he is unwilling to follow us, so he may not have the intention to continue to join Mongolia."
Li Xia had felt before that Gao Changshou did not trust Gao Qiong too much. For example, Gao Mingyue called him "second brother" and Gao Qiong "eldest brother", but Gao Changshou always called Gao Qiong "cousin" with a tone of
A little distant.
Seeing that Li Xia smiled but did not answer, Gao Changshou said again: "My cousin's eldest son is being held hostage in Mongolia. He is unwilling to abandon the dark side and turn to the bright side. He is afraid that he will use some words to deceive us. If we follow what he said, we will pretend to be defeated by him."
, withdrew from Tongya City. He took this credit to claim credit in front of the Mongols and continued to be the lord of his Tongya City. He may not be willing to sincerely resist the Mongols in the future."
"I think what you said makes sense."
Gao Changshou smiled bitterly and said: "It is true that I am narrow-minded when I whisper about my cousin behind my back. But this matter..."
Halfway through his words, he sighed and murmured: "It is true that my father, uncles and brothers died in the war, but there are also many people from the Gao family who returned to Mongolia, but they are all greedy for life and afraid of death. My cousin is not reckless.
People who have to get out.”
Li Xia waved his hand and said, "I know."
"If you had considered it, would you still agree to him?"
"His hands and feet are disabled." Li Xia said: "You said he can't take any risks, but he has become like this without even frowning. Rather than saying that he is greedy for life and afraid of death, it is better to say that... he can see the situation clearly."
"Can……"
"We have to withdraw from Tongya Castle after all. What's the difference between withdrawing voluntarily or being repelled by him?"
Li Xia said this, and then said: "As for your cousin, if he really has the intention to continue to join Mongolia, maybe it will be better and it will be easier to survive."
Gao Changshou said: "Are you really going to leave the wounded, women and children in the city and give them to your cousin for protection?"
"Um."
"He can't even protect himself. Look what Duan Shi did to him."
Li Xia didn't answer, but just said: "We don't want to continue marching like this with all the women and children. There is no other way. I believe your cousin can take good care of them."
…
Regarding Gao Qiong, Li Xia had a different view from Gao Changshou.
But only when facing Gao Mingyue, Li Xia would speak his mind.
"It's not that your cousin is incapable of protecting himself. He is like this now precisely because he is protecting others. Suppose...I mean suppose, he betrayed Muru or Sarimonk at that time, and Duan Shi couldn't catch him at all.
Take the handle and take him down.
He had a chance to leave when he sent his wife and children away, but he didn't leave. He planned to reverse the case for himself from the beginning. He knew what to do, was firm and restrained. He saw clearly that Duan Shi didn't dare to really touch him.
The only thing he didn't count was probably Gao Junjin's betrayal."
Gao Mingyue thought for a while and asked: "Do you believe brother?"
"Well, I believe in him." Li Xia said: "Not only do I believe in his character, but also in his abilities. After all, even I didn't expect that he would dare to stay in such a situation."
"But I also feel that it will not be easy for the eldest brother to continue to gain people's trust."