"What about defeat?" Liu Yan knew that Jiang Cong didn't like his eldest son very much, and his father had warned him not to inquire about the reason, so he agreed with this statement.
Someone said for Jiang Shan:
"According to the news from the Northern Zhou Dynasty, a large army has gathered in the direction of Jiayuguan, and the attack may be launched within half a month at the earliest. Zhang Zhiyuan has promised not to use any troops from other places, and will rely on the Ganzhou Army to defend it.
In this way, the emperor would most likely let the most powerful Yulin Army, Youzhou Army, and Bingzhou Army attack as the main force.
If the war goes unfavorably, the Xiao family's Jizhou army is likely to all retreat to the south of the Yellow River and serve as the main force to defend the capital. At this time, the emperor should make Jiang Zhu the crown prince;
And if the Jizhou army cannot stop Zhou Qi, they can only move the capital to the south of the Yangtze River. Then the Chen family located in the south of the Yangtze River may eventually take advantage of the landlords, and the crown prince position will definitely fall to the King of Qi.
So what we should consider is maintaining an invincible momentum." The person who spoke turned out to be Pang Yue, who had always been considered Qingliu!
"Nonsense! Of course I will win if I can win. If the emperor wants to change his throne, I, Liu Yan, will risk my life and fortune to make him take it back!"
"What Ming'an said is true. How can one selfishly ruin national affairs?" Jiang Shan said.
"The emperor is aggressively pursuing military affairs. The other princes are mediocre and young. You are the only one who is a benevolent monarch and a wise ruler. If such a day comes, the old ministers will definitely remonstrate to death! However, if we can place enough people in the army this time, the emperor can do anything if he wants to.
I can't touch you anymore." Hu Mao said.
"It's a pity that this matter is even more difficult. If my father finds out that I am interfering with the army and the Royal Guards, I'm afraid he will replace me at any cost." Jiang Shan sighed.
"As far as I know, the Xiao family is already wooing Mo Dezheng, and they are also preparing to marry the Zhang family. Your Highness, we can't just sit back and do nothing anymore!" Another man in his forties said.
"How dare the Xiao family do this? Have you informed His Majesty?" Liu Yan asked.
"Not yet. The matter involves the Xiao family. If there is no solid evidence, we don't dare to report it casually. But someone did see Mo De entering Yumen Xiaozhu in disguise." The man continued.
Liu Yan said: "You Jin Yiwei are indeed very knowledgeable. I guess every move I make is under your nose, right?"
"Don't worry, Mr. Liu, I'm in charge of you here, and not a single word that is unfavorable to you will fall into His Majesty's ears." The man said with a sneer.
"Ming'an, I know you have a bad impression of Jin Yiwei and Wu Cha Si, but Zhang Qianhu is not like other people. I also told him that I won't really spy on you. You can do that.
Don't worry." Jiang Shan said.
Liu Yan said: "Your Highness, don't worry, Zhang Qianhu is one of our own, how can I mind?"
The prince said: "Today's court meeting, the emperor has also invited Prince Cheng. What do you think?"
Liu Yan said: "The emperor mentioned King Cheng many times during the peace talks a few days ago. Now most of the powerful people in charge of the army are from the Armed Forces. I guess the emperor is going to let King Cheng take command. Only he can control all the forces."
Princes!"
Pang Yue continued: "I guess that's the case. The day before yesterday, the emperor specially asked me and Liu Jin'an to go to the imperial study and asked about the impeachment of some people, including King Cheng!"
Hu Maodao: "Your Highness, it seems that we have another opponent. Prince Cheng seems to be a leisurely prince, but he has been clinging to the armament center for decades. In terms of influence in the military, I am afraid that no one can compare with him!
"
Jiang Shan said: "Don't think too much, Jin Yue, Mo Dezheng is where you have the opportunity to move around more;
Mr. Hu, it seems that this time we will recruit people from the four schools again. Now that Tianxingyuan is gaining momentum, we will try to find ways to insert more people;
Zhang Qianhu, keep an eye on Mo Dezheng. If there's nothing important, you don't have to come every time;
Mr. Pangda, you are the same. It’s not a very important matter, so I won’t call you. The proposal to reduce the vassal can’t be given up, but you must let Xu Qinghan take the lead. Sooner or later, he will anger the clan members. It depends on whether the Zhang family can protect it or not.
If he did, it would be beneficial to both of us anyway.
In fact, Xu Qinghan is right. Although those clan members are of my Jiang family's blood, most of them are no different than moths. If their privileges are not reduced, it will be difficult for Qi to prosper;
Ming'an, the Privy Council cannot do anything without your cabinet. Any news will be discussed in a timely manner. Thank you for your hard work, please leave."
…
"Why is it windy again? Can we still walk today?" Xiaoxue asked with a frown. The two of them hid behind a pile of gravel. The wind was raging on the Gobi Desert, and the fine stones were flying all over the sky in the wind, as big as a fist.
The rocks rolled forward like bones.
"It seems we can't leave." He Qizhou sighed: "The stones are piled up so high, so let's spend the night here today."
"Ah? We've only walked less than twenty miles, right? Were you injured when you were stacking rocks just now?"
"How can it be? He is dressed like a bear, and besides, there is armor inside!" He Qizhou said nonchalantly. In fact, the gravel in the strong wind was still painful when it hit his body.
"Have you really decided to turn northeast?" Xiaoxue asked.
"Well! As you can see, there is almost no snow on the ground now. The only snow I saw today is as hard as ice. The animal footprints on it are facing northeast. They are the same as what I saw the day before yesterday. I think it must be a valley.
Left behind by the animals that left early."
"Isn't it getting further and further away from Daqi?"
"Survive first. If animals have something to eat, we will also have something to eat. If we go due east, I'm not sure that this little food will last until the day we go out."
"Okay, I'll listen to you."
In the early morning of the next day, as the wind weakened, He Qizhou followed the intermittent footprints all the way to the west. Most of the footprints were left by antelopes and wild horses, and occasionally mixed with wolf footprints. This greatly increased He Qizhou's confidence.
I just walked hundreds of miles in two days, but still to no avail.
By the third day, the terrain gradually became undulating, and the route began to twist and turn. Sometimes it headed northeast, and sometimes it even turned west. The ground was still full of gravel. He Qizhou couldn't care about it anymore. He wanted to walk more.
It was better than starving to death. I could occasionally find some weeds in sheltered areas today, but they were basically chewed into hard stubble less than an inch, which was not enough to fill my teeth in the snow. Fortunately, it was easier to find it at the campsite.
He Qizhou then moved thousands of kilograms of stones to build a stone wall to shelter from the wind.
Although it is getting colder and colder, Xiaoxue's cold tolerance seems to have improved. He has not seen any further weight loss after running around for days, and the toxins in his body are slowly reducing, which makes He Qizhou even more relieved.
On the fourth day after the turn, light snow began to fall in the sky again. He Qizhou secretly thought that something was wrong. Those animals had passed through at least half a month earlier than them. If their footprints were covered by snow, they would have no way out, so he rushed to the center.
The snow speeds up the pace of travel.
In the lee behind some boulders, the snow that fell last time had basically solidified into ice, and the footprints were still clearly visible. After walking for more than ten miles, the footprints became more and more dense, and a huge hill suddenly appeared in front of me.
, all animal tracks go to the top of the mountain.
The mountain is extremely flat. Although it looks no more than a hundred feet high, the slope to the top of the mountain is still a full seven or eight miles away. He Qizhou climbed to the top of the slope in one breath with Xiaoxue on his back. The two of them were once again shocked by the sight in front of them.
arrive.
The top of the mountain was not flat, but sunk deeply. The bottom of the entire mountaintop seemed to have been hollowed out, and it also seemed to be embedded in the top of a giant bowl with a diameter of four to five miles, and they were standing on the bowl at this time.
The edge of the mountain and the entire long circle on the top of the mountain felt exactly the same as the terrain they were standing on!
He Qizhou was not in a hurry to go down to the bottom of the bowl-shaped valley. He first walked a few hundred steps along the "rim of the bowl" because the snowy sky was a bit gloomy and he couldn't see very far. The mountain was still surrounded by endless desert, and the valley bottom
I can't see clearly how deep it is, but I just feel that there are boulders, shrubs and grass below.
"Let's go down from here. The road down to the bottom of the valley is much steeper than the uphill slope." He Qizhou said.
Xiaoxue said happily: "God is really interesting. We have nothing to do after we have enough food. He dug out such a big hole on the top of the mountain, just in time to reward us with a bite of food."
"Well, maybe this is a fairyland. If you eat the strange flowers and fruits below, you can become an immortal. Let the two of us attain the great path here." He Qizhou said seriously.
"Please be careful, be careful where you step!" The place where the two of them went downhill was the east slope. Year-round wind and sun had made the rocks on the slope extremely loose. He Qizhou accidentally stepped on a few big rocks. Fortunately, thanks to his Qinggong Kung Fu,
Dede steadied himself in time, while dozens of large and small pieces of gravel rolled down the steep slope.
He Qizhou changed his walking method. He no longer walked straight down, but walked sideways along the inner wall, spiraling downward for hundreds of feet. After going down for about fifty or sixty feet, the ground gradually became solid and the slope gradually became firmer.
It was gentle. Under the snow curtain, the scene at the bottom of the valley was still unclear. Withered and yellow low weeds gradually appeared on the hillside. The snow dragon and the horse did not nibble. After a long roar, the path really rushed down, and He Qizhou was not parallel.
, carrying Xu Mu on his back and followed closely.
The weeds underfoot gradually grew thicker, and after running down for another thirty-four feet, some low shrubs appeared. The snow dragon horse seemed to hesitate, slowing down a little, and then rushed down again. He Qizhou also followed, and when he reached the bottom of the valley, it was about
There was still half a mile to go, and by now we could clearly see the bottom of the valley.
The bottom of the valley is round, about two miles in diameter, and very flat. It doesn't look like a bowl, but more like the bottom of a basin. However, this basin is extremely deep. From the bottom to the top of the peak, it is at least more than 200 feet. It is actually longer than the outside of the basin.
The level ground is even hundreds of feet lower!
The entire valley bottom is like a magical Tai Chi diagram. On the western slope where I am now, the further down I go, the more lush the vegetation becomes. There is actually a small tree as tall as a person, and some of the grass at the bottom of the valley is still green! Snow Dragon Horse is heading straight for it.
Gone are the green grasses!
Wild horses and antelopes could already be seen among the grass and trees, but they all moved away after seeing He Qizhou and the others approaching;
Completely opposite to the western slope, the closer you get to the east of the basin, the sparser the vegetation. When you get below the eastern slope, the scene is no different from the Gobi Desert outside. The only difference is that there are many more boulders.