"A man with a lot of wives and concubines can't stand it for even a few days and insists on visiting a brothel?"
"I'm not."
Liu Yuanzhen was still lying there grinning in pain. Hearing Li Xia's lesson, he felt that he had been wronged.
"Listen to my explanation, I didn't come to Pingkangfang to go whore... I also heard about Hu Zhixun's reputation in the early years. He dated Zhu Lianxiu, a famous prostitute in Chang'an, and wrote several poems as gifts to the Prime Minister, 'A piece of idle cloud is left to roll around'
, hang up the morning clouds and evening rain', I will check her."
"If you were prepared, why would you be assassinated?"
"If I hadn't been prepared, I would have died."
Liu Yuanzhen still wanted to stand up and make a romantic gesture, causing the wounds to be affected and the flesh on his face to twitch.
"Zhu Lianxiu hasn't played the piano for several years. Today, it's because I, Mr. Liu, are here that I am willing to play a piece of music. How can I say that this lady is the best piano girl in the world?"
At this point, Liu Yuanzhen was at a loss for words and said with emotion: "It is true that only Hu Zhiyun's poem can express the beauty of a beautiful woman..." With a cold sound, he rose up, fell into the beams and dust, and did not let the colorful clouds fly. Press the jade fiber teeth to beat
, pour thousands of dendrobium pearls carefully, ha, two arrow wounds, you have to listen to the song, it’s worth it!”
As he finished speaking, his face became paler, but his expression was still free and easy, romantic and heroic.
Literati from the South and the North have similar habits in this matter.
Li Xia was not interested and asked, "What next?"
"I watched Zhu Lianxiu intently, but I was also wary of the assassin. Unexpectedly, the assassin was not her, but a boy delivering tea. He stabbed me with a knife, but was blocked by my guard... There was a sound of fighting at the front door, and I
Exiting Pingkangfang from the back door, arrows were falling from the house like rain, so I was hit by two arrows."
"Why not wear armor?"
"I still wear armor when I go to the Land of Wind and Moon, which makes people look down on me."
"I think you look down on people in the world." Li Xia was displeased and said, "If you don't change your old habit, you always feel that Lian Xixian is not good enough, so you insist on meeting him."
With one sentence, Liu Yuanzhen's free and easy attitude was knocked out again.
Liu Yuanzhen coughed and said, "Aren't you also meeting Lian Xixian?"
"Oh, you see that I can fight with him, so you think you can too?"
"Why didn't you investigate Zhu Lianxiu when you found Hu Zhiyun?"
"Hu Zhiyun has gone through so many things in his life, it's just a blind eye." Li Xia said: "You don't have the talent for intrigues, just follow the civil and military righteousness."
Liu Yuanzhen sighed.
These things were not difficult for him to hear after Li Xia peeled them off. He was still laughing at the two scholars before, but he didn't expect that he was just trying his best today and he immediately fell into a big fight.
It was exactly the same as when Hu Zhiyuan was captured by Li Xia.
This is a trick played by Li Xia and Lian Xixian, and it is not something that a "junior" like him can learn after hearing a few words.
When Li Xia walked out of the Liu family's courtyard, Lin Zi had already led his guards and gathered around him.
When he was in Hanzhong, he never had such a big battle when he went out.
"Commander, blame me for not finding Pingkangfang." Lin Zidao: "Liu..."
"It doesn't matter if Liu Yuanzhen has to suffer a little, but I can't just tell him how to correct his mentality."
Lin Zi responded: "Yes, even I only know today that the commander's methods are different from those of ordinary people."
"Lian Xixian left many dead men behind. If you can't catch them all, it will cause chaos in Chang'an and arrest the principals."
"Yes, we have captured two more assassins today. They are not from the same group as Hu Zhiyun and Yelu Youshang."
"Where is Yelu Youshang? Why haven't you caught him yet?"
"There are no traces of him yet." Lin Zi said: "Chang'an is not like Hanzhong. It is difficult to investigate. Most of them rely on spies to search."
Li Xia walked through the long street, turned around and looked around, but still couldn't feel the enthusiasm of Chang'an City.
The clothes worn by the people walking around had short lapels, narrow sleeves, and left gussets, which were different from those in the Song Dynasty. When they saw the guard of honor, they all avoided it, and their eyes were numb and alienated.
The Jin Kingdom has been governed for more than a hundred years, and Mongolia has been governed for more than twenty years. This is an enemy country, and Lian Xixian can be a spy, which is the appearance of these.
It doesn't take just a few days to bridge the gap.
If you think Chang'an is so easy to control, you are making the same arrogant mistake as Liu Yuanzhen.
"Prevention alone is not enough. It's time to deal with integrity and Xixian...Have Lianping been found?"
"We have some clues."
Li Xia narrowed his eyes and suppressed the emotions in his heart.
"Go back and say..."
"There are several places named 'Lianping' near Chang'an. The most famous one is Huashan's 'Lianping Pine Pillar'. There is a Taoist temple nearby called 'Lianping Temple', and all of them have female crowns..."
"Since ancient times, a road in Huashan Mountain has been a good place to ambush me."
"Since the commander has guessed it, Lian Xixian's ambush is meaningless."
"Let's send someone to check carefully first."
Li Xia looked at the map and thought for a while, then suddenly said: "Huashan Mountain is near Tongguan?"
"yes."
"Okay, let's get ready, it's time to come to an end..."
The fifth day of August.
Li Xia made preparations, mobilized the troops stationed in various areas of Shu, and initially completed the deployment of the prefectures and counties in Guanzhong.
He planned the governance policy for Guanzhong and asked Liu Heima, Wu Qian, and Yang Guo to begin measuring the more than 100,000 hectares of fertile land that had been taken back from the Mongolian nobles.
Afterwards, Li Xia personally took charge of the army and mobilized 2,000 Guanzhong cavalry and 4,000 infantry, with Liu Yuanli as deputy commander, to prepare for the attack on Tongguan.
In this battle, Liu Yuanzhen was originally planned to go out...not because Liu Yuanzhen was better at fighting, but because Liu Yuanli was calmer and more suitable to lead the defense of Chang'an City.
Although Liu Yuanli had fallen into one or another trap, he always fell into the trap "passively" and only gave it a try when he was forced by the situation.
Liu Yuanzhen was different, he always liked to try his skills, so Li Xia originally planned to take him with him.
On the contrary, he was injured this time, which may not be a bad thing. He just needs to calm down his conceited temper and defend the city step by step.
For Li Xia, the difference is not big, and it is even easier.
In this battle, he acted more as a military governor, leaving Liu Yuanli to take command. It was not difficult to attack Tongguan from the west, and it was still a step-by-step process.
On the seventh day of August, the troops were stationed outside Huazhou City, at the foot of Mount Huazhou.
That night, Liu Yuanli followed Li Xia onto the battlefield and looked towards the mountains to the south.
Li Xia raised his hand and pointed, saying: "Lian Xixian deliberately released information to lure me to Mount Huashan."
"Is there an ambush?" Liu Yuanli pondered: "It is adjacent to the Weishui River in the north, Tongguan in the east, and Huashan Mountain in the south. This location..."
"Yes, this position is very delicate, isn't it?"
Liu Yuanli said: "But why did Lian Xixian remind the commander?"
"Because we must attack Tongguan and station troops in Huazhou. This is unchangeable." Li Xia said, "Without reminding us, we can only station troops here."
Liu Yuanli came over with some understanding.
"Huashan Mountain is dangerous, and it is difficult for us to find out if he has an ambush hidden there. But we got the news, and when we attacked Tongguan, we were inevitably uneasy and wanted to find out more. But only sending dozens of sentinels to search Huashan Mountain was not enough, so we sent an army
But his troops will be wiped out one by one. If you ignore it, are you worried that you will be attacked by surprise when you attack Tongguan?"
"Well, this matter is not easy to handle. I suspect Lian Xixian came here in person."
"He is on Huashan Mountain?" Liu Yuanli was surprised, "But if he didn't remind us, if we didn't expect that the Mongolian army could ambush in Huashan Mountain, wouldn't we be able to defend Tongguan?"
"It's not enough for him. He was too good at making decisions before, which is already a serious crime in Kublai Khan's eyes. If just holding Tongguan is not enough to save the situation, he must kill me and take back Guanlong."
"In order for the commander to come?"
"I think so." Li Xia said, "He knows that as long as I get this information, I will not trust you to lead the army alone, so I will definitely come."
"Then what do we do?"
"Zhongmin just ignore it." Li Xia said, "You can attack Tongguan with peace of mind. I'm here just to deal with him."
Liu Yuanli was more obedient, unlike his eldest brother who insisted on asking for the reason and responded: "Okay, then I will prepare to attack..."
The next day, the Song army began to attack Tongguan, which was nothing more than making weapons first and testing Tongguan's defenses.
Li Xia only left 500 personal guards to guard the camp. He used a lookout on the battlefield in the camp to watch Liu Yuanli's command.
After a long time, Lin Zi came back and reported in a low voice.
"Commander, none of the sentinels sent to Huashan came back. Two bodies were found in the rift valley. There is indeed an ambush by Lian Xixian on the mountain."
Li Xia frowned and asked, "How many people are there?"
"I don't know yet, it shouldn't be too much."
Li Xia pondered: "There are people who are good at mountain climbing in the North. Shi Zhang once climbed the mountain with elite troops to capture Kuzhu Pass. It is easier to hide troops in Huashan, but for such warriors, Lian Xixian can only scrape together a few hundred
People..."
"The commander-in-chief wants to attack the mountain?" Lin Zi said: "But the terrain of Huashan Mountain is really steep."
"No, don't pay attention to him."
"Will the commander move the camp?"
"No need." Li Xia said, "I'll just wait for him here to see who loses his composure first."
At this point, he has understood Lian Xixian's arrangement.
The purpose is very simple, to kill him Li Xia.
Assassinate first, and prepare the information left behind after the assassination fails. This information is all an obvious conspiracy. Even if Li Xia sees through it, he must still pay attention.
If Li Xia pays attention, he can track down Hu Zhiyuan, and in the process, he can create more opportunities for assassination. For example, Liu Yuanzhen was assassinated in this way.
If the assassination still fails, then continue to give information and "invite" Li Xia to Huashan.
This is an invitation.
"Look, I am assisting the defense of Tongguan in Huashan Mountain. I have the news you want to know. I have been assassinating you. My spies are endless... there are so many things, but you can sort them out as long as you come and kill me.
.”
In order to create a battlefield where he was not so weak and Li Xia was not so strong, Lian Xixian used Tongguan to divide Li Xia's troops and the terrain of Huashan.
As for all other espionage methods, they are all designed to achieve this goal.
The art of war is ultimately aimed at weakening the enemy's potential and strengthening one's own.
Li Xia is also willing to accept this invitation.
Because he doesn't care where the battlefield is, as long as he can win...