At nightfall, when Li Xia's hundreds of horses rushed into the night and headed towards Jianmen again, Lu Wenfu looked at the collapsed tent and shook his head helplessly.
"Kill whoever you want, squeeze out, suppress, dismiss from office and exile, even if you force someone to rebel, there are plenty of ways! How can I use the knife?"
"I didn't use the knife." Lu Wende was thinking about something and said casually, "I used the axe."
Lu Wenfu made a "tsk" sound and said: "Liu Zheng, Xiang Shibi was so arrogant, but the eldest brother didn't kill him. At least Li Xia was polite, and he was still a civil servant. Wasn't he just a few days late? How about..."
"Shut up, isn't he dead?"
"It's going to be troublesome if you die." Lu Wenfu said anxiously, "If you kill an official openly, aren't you afraid of being regarded as a rebel?"
"The little beast provokes me and deliberately makes me angry, do you understand?"
Lu Wenfu was stunned.
He had never thought that Li Xia had such a scheme... However, his elder brother's anger needed to be dispelled.
He took a few steps forward and leaned into Lu Wende's ear, chatting endlessly.
"Li Xia is secretly Enxiang's man, but openly he is Ding Daquan's disciple. Kill him today, let Ding Daquan get our handle, and ruin Enxiang's important matter..."
"Shut up!"
Lu Wende kicked Lu Wenfu in the leg and cursed: "I understand, you don't need to make a fuss. Let's go to your tent. I have something important to say."
…
The two brothers entered the tent.
"Bring me the map."
Lu Wende sat down with his arms straight, raised his hand and pressed hard on the map, and said: "Let's take over this place, and when the peace talks are over, we can start negotiations with the Mongols."
"Hanzhong?" Lu Wenfu shook his head and said, "This place is not suitable and the road is difficult to walk."
"Fart, to the north is Longxi, and to the north is Shanxi. It is very convenient to open a shop. The road is difficult to walk, so it is better to walk if it is difficult. The court cannot control it."
This brother is rough in speech but shrewd in calculation.
Lu Wende can clearly explain the benefits of Chengdu's Land of Abundance and Hanzhong's Cornucopia of Treasures with just a flick of his finger.
Going north out of Shu Road is the Silk Road, which is convenient for trade.
However, if the road to Shu is blocked, it will be difficult for the Mongols to attack and the imperial court to control it.
"This is the same as in the Liao and Jin Dynasties. After the war, peace talks, paying some tribute, and calling yourself a minister, once the border market is opened, we will still earn a lot of money, and the Song Dynasty will be prosperous for another three hundred years."
Lu Wenfu fully understood.
"That eldest brother is like Wu Jie at that time. He defended the whole of Shu from danger and was ranked among the seven kings. Coupled with trade with the Mongols, it was really an inexhaustible glory and wealth that could be enjoyed from generation to generation."
"That's the truth."
"If the Wu family hadn't produced a fool, Wu Xi, who rebelled against the Song Dynasty and became independent, they would still be rich and wealthy today. I'm afraid that our Lu family will have such an unworthy descendant a hundred years from now."
"Haha." Lu Wende waved his hand and said, "That is a fool. He can't stand on his own. He can occupy Hanzhong and has power and money. How is he different from Wang Jue?"
Lu Wenfu consciously told a joke, raised his fists to the sky, and said: "The Lu family must be the same as the country."
"Don't say it's that far away." Lu Wende's face turned gloomy and he said, "Did you see that little beast Li Xia is holding my nose and walking away."
Lu Wenfu was stunned and said: "I think this guy is a good person, willing to share the merits and benefits."
"Idiot." Lu Wende spat angrily, "Think clearly, he is not willing to share my benefits. It is him who is taking advantage of me."
"Brother is saying that after we capture Hanzhong, kill Li Xia, and then we will swallow it ourselves?"
"nonsense."
"Okay." Lu Wenfu's eyes flashed and he said: "I will think of a way to prevent the court from finding any clues. Brother, please don't be impulsive, like today..."
"Don't make such a fuss about me. If I really want to kill him, he's already lying down."
Lu Wende said in a low voice, patted his knees, and then said: "After all, he is still a minister of the Song Dynasty, how can he mess around?"
Although he was domineering and greedy for money and had personal agendas, he revealed his loyalty to the Song Dynasty in private conversations with his brothers.
It doesn’t matter if they are more or less, but if they don’t have loyalty, how can they defend the country for more than twenty years, deal with three sides, and go through more than a hundred battles?
It was not until dawn that more than a hundred riders rushed back to Jianmen Pass.
In order to bypass the Mongolian defense line, this route was quite far.
"Take a rest for two hours and rush to Zhaohua City."
"yes!"
Liu Jinsuo turned over and dismounted. His legs were so sore that he almost fell and hit his face on the ground.
But such exhaustion could not silence the man's mouth, and he started shouting as soon as he dismounted.
"It really scared me to death. I thought Lu Wende was really going to kill A Lang."
"Won't."
"How can Alang be so sure?" Liu Jinsuo's eyes widened, "They've already moved their axes!"
Lin Zi kicked Liu Jinsuo into Guancheng.
"Shut up, please rest now."
Liu Jinsuo then moved forward, not finishing his sentence.
"Lu Wende is so tall, I thought he was a tree demon..."
…
Although Li Xia was too lazy to answer Liu Jinsuo, he actually knew from the beginning that Lu Wende couldn't do anything to him.
It's very simple, no matter how domineering Lu Wende is, in the final analysis he is still Song Chen.
A military general who started his career as a woodcutter is far from having the background of a northern prince.
Family members like Shi Tianze, Zhang Rou, and Wang Dechen have been running the place for generations, and the land and wealth belong to them.
Lu Wende was different. He relied on the imperial court for food and salary, and was pinched by the imperial court.
Therefore, even if Lu Wende had the courage to do so, he would not dare to kill the imperial official in public...
Li Xia really dared to kill Lu Wende.
He is disloyal and has no bottom line.
Those who have a bottom line will definitely not be able to fight against those who have no bottom line. If they draw their swords in anger, they will not dare to actually cut them.
The essence of this matter is that Lu Wende, a minister of the Song Dynasty, could not control the ambition of Li Xia.
Theorem since ancient times.
In addition, raising soldiers is the most expensive thing in the world. No matter how rich Lu Wende is on empty wages, he has no financial resources that truly belong to him. The court can touch him if it wants.
Lu Wende will definitely be tempted by the idea of opening a discussion forum in Hanzhong.
Maybe he didn't think so deeply, but out of instinct, he couldn't resist it.
Li Xia was extremely certain of this.
To control a general, one must understand the underlying motivations for his actions.
Just like if you want to lead a cow, you must first learn to hook the cow's nose.
Li Xia is studying very hard.
…
After entering the barracks, Li Xia took off his armor and lay down. The official edict he received today fell down.
Only then did he remember to look at his current official position.
He is the general manager of the infantry and horse troops in Chengdu Prefecture. He also knows Yizhou and is also in charge of advising farmers, camps and farmland affairs to control the garrison of troops and horses...
The official title is very long and the actual power is much greater.
From this, Li Xia also guessed what the center was thinking.
The credit for killing the clan king Abgan in the First Battle of Chengdu was only given to Quan Zhijunlian. It can be seen that the officials paid attention to him.
Ding Daquan couldn't promote him too much under the eyes of the officials.
It was different this time. I was able to rise to the top because of the war, because Chengdu was in ruins, and because... the officials were afraid.
This is the difference between Li Xia and all the officials in the world.
When others were promoted three times, they would be deeply grateful for your kindness. But he just casually threw away his official seal and saw through the weakness of the Zhao Song Emperor at a glance...
He fell asleep in endless fatigue.
Two hours later, Li Xia stood up again, called out to the hundreds of beleaguered soldiers, and rode out of the city from the north gate of Jianmen Pass.
"Mount!"
The pavilion road was rugged. Lu Dayong stood at the foot of Guancheng and looked north. He turned around and saw that the city gate of Jianmenguan had been closed.
Li Xia didn't want to kill Lu Da just because he said a few words to him, but he was too lazy to reply to Lu Wende, so he detained the messenger in the army.
As for the future, will Lu Wende be even more angry?
Li Xia doesn't care.
"Hurry up and get on your horse, why are you hesitating?" Liu Jinsuo patted Lu Dayong on the shoulder and said, "Didn't you say that? Your Lu family's army is never bad at war."
"No." Although Lu Dayong was usually arrogant, his face was full of confusion at this time, and he said: "Commander, do you really want me to fight with you?"
"Otherwise? Look, my generals have all received their official status. Have you seen the flag of the commander-in-chief of the infantry and horse troops in Chengdu Prefecture?"
Liu Jinsuo pointed with his left hand, patted the dagger on his waist with his right hand and laughed again.
"However, when you arrive in our army, you must obey military orders, otherwise you will be dealt with according to military law."
Lu Dayong was really troubled and reluctantly got on his horse, still mumbling about how he could end up like this just after sending a message.
Liu Jinsuo had already slapped his horse on the buttocks.