Nowadays, there are many talented people from the noble families in the North, and Liu Yuanzhen has always considered himself to be the leader among them.
But recently, something made him feel a little frustrated...
Before the New Year's Day, as Kublai Khan's edict on his ascension to the throne was conveyed to the world, many people also followed the edict and went north to meet him, such as the surrendered ministers Liu Zheng and Yang Dayuan.
On the Guanlong side, the two great princes Wang and Liu also had many children heading north.
Liu Yuanzhen did not receive the summons.
At that time, he knew that the war between Guanlong and Guanlong was imminent, and he needed to stay and assist his father.
Just a few days ago, on the second day of February, Liu Yuanzhen heard that Kublai Khan admired Zhang Jiajiulang very much and appointed him as the general manager of the Imperial Bureau.
Zhang Hongfan then wrote a poem that goes like this: "Achievements and fame come in the prime of life, but I am lazy and careless in remembering those days."
Liu Yuanzhen did not have the talent for poetry and planned to overwhelm Zhang Jiulang in terms of military exploits.
The battle in Longxi was very important. Liu Yuanzhen didn't want to lose, and he shouldn't have lost.
However, Li Xia is disturbing his mood...
"Li Xia deliberately let me know that he would take the Qishan Road to attack the Wang family with Hunduhai. In fact, he would take the Ziwu Road to attack Chang'an."
"No, Li Xia has figured it out and I can guess that he wants to trick me into adding more troops to stay in Guanzhong. In fact, he still has to take the Qishan Road..."
Liu Yuanzhen suddenly opened his eyes and stood up.
Only then did he realize that he was sleeping, and he was thinking about this even in his sleep.
I didn't sleep last night, and I had only fallen asleep for more than an hour now.
Very sleepy, but can't sleep.
He waved his hand to comfort his wife who was awakened, and then turned back to the military meeting hall.
Light the candle and stare at the map stolen from Li Xia again.
Because it was Liu Taiping who said that the troop deployment in Hunduhai on the map was more detailed than what the Liu family had discovered, he couldn't help but not care.
Hunduhai currently has troops stationed in Liupan Mountain.
Liupan Mountain is located in Yuanzhou, Shaanxi Province. Liupan Mountain and Longshan Mountain form a long and narrow mountain range with steep mountains overlooking Guanzhong.
In other words, Hunduhai's army has formed a condescending advantage over the Liu family's Guanzhong defenders.
The elite Mongolian cavalry are ready to swoop down at any time. Who can resist?
Fortunately, there is Longxi, and it is Wang Jiazheng in Longxi who is confronting Hunduhai, which eliminates this terrible military power.
The Wang family is also under great pressure, with 60,000 people facing off against more than 100,000 people. The Liu family cannot garrison troops in Longshan, so they can only wait for the war to break out and fight their way along Longshan.
Ten thousand Song troops marched out of the Wang family's back, which was enough to change the situation, but the Wang family could not hold on.
The Liu family cannot sit back and watch the Wang family's defeat...
At the same time, we cannot leave Guanzhong empty and allow the Song army to counterattack.
There are no more troops, because this is only a west-route war, and Kublai Khan has summoned the remaining princes to go north to Kaiping to prepare for Alibaba's east-route army.
Another key point is that the terrain in Hanzhong is so good, with four Shu roads heading north and one Qishan Road heading west, you can hit wherever you want.
This forced Liu Yuanzhen to guess where Li Xia was going to attack.
"No."
Liu Yuanzhen murmured.
"You damn...you damn...you shouldn't have mobilized so many troops to go north. Open your fucking eyes and look at those three melons and two dates in Sichuan and Sichuan. You are crazy to dare to come...
"
According to his previous expectations, Li Xia shouldn't do this.
In the battle of Longxi, Kublai Khan and Ali were not brothers. No matter who lost or won, they still had some background. But Li Xia didn't have this strength. He shouldn't have taken all his family wealth, that is, a few infantrymen, and took risks on the plains.
Even if you win, you can't hold on.
Rationally speaking, Li Xia should not be considered.
But Li Xia doesn't look like a rational person.
"I have the ambition to clear up the emperor's universe and help all living beings..."
If you still have some sense, can you say such crazy things?
"It's the first year of the reign of Du Zhongtong and you are still fighting for the world. If you were born thirty years earlier, made the same contribution as Meng Gong, and stood on your own before you were angry to death, you might still have a chance."
Liu Yuanzhen didn't realize that he casually told the reason why Meng Gong died with regrets, and he was still thinking of Li Xia.
The most reasonable guess is that Li Xia will still go to Gongchang to loot, which will not only increase his strength, but also hurt both the Wang and Liu families and Hun Duhai.
But it was too easy to steal the book, and it looked too much like a counter-intuitive plan. From this point of view, it is more likely that he wanted to take Chang'an.
"Did you figure it out so that I can figure it out, or did you figure it out so that I could figure it out and you figured it out?"
While rambling, Liu Yuanzhen stared at Bingtu with his black eyes for a long time, and decided to send another agent to Hanzhong.
He wanted to see how many troops Li Xia could mobilize...
The eighth day of February, Hanzhong, Shuai Mansion.
When the sky dimmed, Li Xia opened his eyes.
He always slept well and felt refreshed when he woke up.
Next to her, Gao Mingyue was still sleeping deeply. Because she had been tossing so hard last night, her hair was scattered and she looked even weaker.
Li Xia quietly left the house and walked to the courtyard.
After flexing his muscles, he raised his stone locks and squatted deeply.
In the small bamboo forest, the bamboo bear lazily stood up. When he saw it was Li Xia, he lay down on the ground with some dissatisfaction, too lazy to move.
For this person who only moves around in front of its eyes every morning, it seems to feel that... the paths are different and they are not in harmony with each other.
When Tang Anan carried the water basin to the courtyard, he saw only this man and a bear, moving and still.
"Want to wash up?"
"Okay, why are you doing this?"
"It's getting cold. Qiao'er and Nian'er like to stay in bed. I think Madam hasn't gotten up yet."
"I mean it's okay to let the servants do it."
Tang Anan didn't want her servants to do this, so she dipped a toothbrush in tooth powder and handed it to Li Xia. She then twisted a handkerchief to wipe Li Xia's sweat.
"Mr. Jun, please take off your shirt and wipe it for you."
"Um...ok..." Li Xia brushed his teeth and responded vaguely.
"I heard from Qiao'er that Alang wanted to regain the north." Tang An'an said, "When I was a child, my home was in Kaifeng Xiangfu. When I was five years old, my father and brother and a group of people rebelled against the Mongols and were beaten to death. I was taken by the refugees,
Fleeed to Jiangnan..."
Li Xia listened to what she said, brushed his teeth and said: "There are indeed righteous people in the Central Plains. No wonder someone said to me, 'There are no heroes in the Central Plains'. It is shameless. If I had been born twenty years earlier, I would have stood shoulder to shoulder with your father and brother."
And fight. Over the years, too many righteous people who dared to die have fallen, and the remaining people have learned to be wise..."
Tang Anan knew what he liked to talk about and wanted to chat with him.
But it was not the kind of thing that Mrs. Hu taught her to do. She didn't want to tell others about these things that happened when she was a child.
I want to talk to Li Xia because she knows he really cares.
She cares too.
But it was rare that she could be alone with Li Xia, and she finally found the opportunity, which seemed unnatural.
Time passed quickly, and after only talking for a short while, Li Xia had already changed her clothes and went to the front office again.
Tang Anan lowered his head regretfully.
Speaking of which, she lived a very fulfilling life in Hanzhong. She spent a lot of time every day improving her music, chess, calligraphy and painting. Li Xia also asked her to help write a few books, such as teaching people how to understand his simplified Chinese characters, such as marking some rhymes.
To teach people how to read and so on...
I originally thought that this way we would have many opportunities to get along with each other, but Gao Mingyue was in charge of these things.
As for Li Xia, who is busy with work, he naturally spends more time with Gao Mingyue when he has free time. Sometimes he also stays in Nian'er's house, so he seldom has free time to spend time with Tang Anan.
She felt like something was missing.
It was agreed that he would "help" write the book, but Tang Anan was a little worried about whether he would become Li Xia's "subordinate that he would not touch."
In short, he hasn't fallen in love with her yet, and he has no shortage of women.
She stood in front of the steps thinking about this for a long time, and suddenly a gentle voice sounded behind her.
"An'an, let's find a way to pursue Mr. Lang."
"Huh? I've met Madam."
Gao Mingyue smiled and said: "You must first be yourself and boldly show your good qualities before you can teach Alang to like..."
"It's time to show my strength to the Northerners."
In the meeting hall, Li Xia said jokingly: "Kong Xian, Zhang Jue's troops have set off?"
"Reply." Han Qi'an said: "Kong Xian can mobilize 1,800 elite troops from Lizhou West Road, and Zhang Jue can mobilize 3,000 elite troops from various places in western Sichuan. They should have started heading north by now."
"Can you guarantee that there won't be any trouble at the station?"
"able."
"In this way, the elite troops we can mobilize are more than 8,000 people."
Han Qian said: "While ensuring the garrison of Sichuan and Shu, this is our best effort."
When he said this, his face became embarrassed again.
"The 60 million yuan allocated by the imperial court are still being transported from Jinghu and other places. Now that the money and food have not been fully transported, Alang has used up all the money for this year..."
"As long as we can win Guanzhong, we can have enough money and food next year, right? There will be land tax the year after that."
"Alas." Han Qi'an sighed and said, "After this time, please be more careful, Alang."
Li Xia smiled and said comfortingly: "Okay, I promise Mr. Yi Ning that I will keep enough money and food in the future."
"In this case, should the plan to conquer Dali be slowed down?"
"No need, I am in charge of Guanzhong, that's enough. We still let Nie Zhongyu, Yi Shiying, Gao Changshou take Dali."
"This is a two-sided battle..."
"Fighting on both sides, you can at least win one, right?" Li Xia asked again, "Where is Gao Changshou?"
I have to say that Zhaotong City is too far away.
Li Xia returned to Sichuan and Shu years ago and invited Gao Changshou to go north to discuss the attack on Dali. It was not until the tenth day of February that Gao Changshou and his party arrived in Hanzhong.
He has matured a lot and has a beard under his chin. Unlike the handsome young man in the past, he is much calmer and has gone through many changes.
When they met again, he hugged Li Xia hard and his eyes were red.
After that, Gao Changshou talked a lot.
"How many years has it been? You have become my brother-in-law, but I was not present at your wedding banquet..."
"Zhaotong and Weining City have been built, and caravans pass by every day. It's not easy...it's really not easy..."
"I gave birth to another son, and I haven't named him yet. I want you to give him a name..."
After finally talking about their farewell, Li Xia took Gao Changshou and Nie Zhongyou to the meeting hall to discuss the Southern Expedition.
"The garrison in Hanzhong cannot be withdrawn. The troops I can mobilize are only 6,000, and I have to plan for Guanzhong. I can only let Nie Zhongyou lead 3,000 elite troops to march south with you. I have ordered Tongchuanfu Road to mobilize 10,000 troops. They are led by Yi Shiying, but they are not elite soldiers."
"That's enough. With the addition of Zhaotong and Weining, I barely have 20,000 troops. Among them are 5,000 elites, which is enough to level Dali." Gao Changshou said: "But what I am worried about is...the money and food in the future."
"Yes." Li Xia said: "I have prepared the first batch of grain and grass and transported it to Xuzhou by water from Jinghu. After that, I will transfer the money and grain every three months."
Gao Changshou suddenly smiled.
He stepped forward, held Li Xia's head with both hands, and pressed his forehead against Li Xia's.
"Brother-in-law."
"Um?"
"You believe me."
Li Xia said: "It's not that I don't believe you, it's that the money and food I transferred from Jinghu are not that fast..."
"I know, I mean... you have to believe me."
The excitement in Gao Changshou's heart could not be suppressed at last, and his hands began to tremble a little.
"I'm going to expel the Mongolians from Dali. I know I can't do it without you. If I hadn't met you back then, I, Gao Changshou, would have been a bone gnawed by dogs on the roadside. I remember all this... You have to believe me.
"
In comparison, Li Xia was a bit too calm.
There are not many enemy troops in Dali, and he is more concerned about Guanzhong.
Li Xia was confident that the Gao family would not betray him after taking Dali. On the one hand, it was trust, and on the other hand, Yi Shiying was in charge, and money and food were properly arranged, which made him really not worry about this anymore.
Up until this point, there were emotional differences between the two of them.
The reason is that after several years of separation, Li Xia has moved much further than Gao Changshou.
He has more courage and majesty.
"I believe you. You can fight as you want without any worries. I remember what we said back then."
"I remember it too." Gao Changshou said: "You conquer the world, and the Gao family will rule Yunnan for you forever."
What he said was "Yunnan". Needless to say, it already represented his commitment.
Finally, after being rejected time and time again by the princes of the North, Li Xia heard the voice of support again.
Some people believe that he can bring peace to the world.
It was always these people who were the first to bet the fate of their family on him, and they remained as firm as ever.
"Okay, when you regain Dali and when I secure Guanzhong, we will show the world that our aspirations are not just words..."