Thief Emperor

Chapter 969 Really Like
Meng Qing is five or six years younger than Li Yun. As of now, he is only in his early thirties, which is actually quite young.

Although he is young, he joined the army very early. Basically, he followed Emperor Li in the early days of the Jiangdong Army. Now, it has been seventeen or eighteen years.

After seventeen or eighteen years of experience, and with his calm personality, he rarely panics no matter what happens.

But now, he was really panicked.

After taking several deep breaths, he looked at Liu Bo and whispered, "Brother Jiu, did he go to fight the Khitans?"

Meng Qing naturally knew that the second prince was in his army. Even his assignment as a scout was arranged by Meng Qing.

Scouts can satisfy the prince's wish to meet the Khitans. Moreover, the scouts' mission is only to discover the enemy. There is no need to confront the enemy head-on, let alone go to the battlefield.

Moreover, there would be people from the Nine Departments secretly keeping an eye on the prince. Theoretically, it was unlikely that anything would happen to him. But now, Liu Bo came to tell him that the scout team that the King of Yue was with had encountered the Khitans, and a field battle had taken place!

This sentence made Meng Qing feel very confused.

He was not worried that something might happen to the prince and that he would be convicted as a result.

In fact, he was the commander-in-chief on the front line and needed to be in charge of the central army. The prince served as a scout and secretly clashed with the Khitans. As the commander-in-chief, he did not have much responsibility. Even if something really happened, the emperor would most likely not hold him responsible if he investigated.

After all, His Majesty the Emperor is reasonable.

But Meng Qing himself couldn't accept it.

To him, the current emperor is his benefactor, his elder brother, and finally his sovereign.

The superior handed his son over to him, but Meng Qing never told him anything that happened.

Liu Bo looked at Meng Qing, shook his head slightly and said, "The scout team was very alert, and the people from the Nine Departments couldn't keep a close eye on them. When they found out, the two sides had already started fighting, so they immediately sent the news back."

He paused and continued, "He has practiced martial arts since he was young, and his skills are not bad. It shouldn't be a big deal. Let's go and take a look together."

"Walk."

Meng Qing said only this one word before striding out of his tent, mounting his horse as quickly as possible, and running out of the central army tent with his personal guards.

The place where the incident happened was only more than 20 miles away from the central army camp. They ran all the way and soon arrived nearby. The people from the Nine Departments also arrived at this time. They first gathered beside Liu Bo and reported something to Liu Bo with their heads down. After Liu Bo heard it, he breathed a sigh of relief, looked at Meng Qing, shook his head slightly and said, "Nothing happened."

Meng Qing breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this. He got off his horse and walked towards the forest where the incident happened. After walking a dozen steps, he could see bloodstains.

After walking forward for dozens of steps, he finally saw some horses and seven or eight Khitan corpses. Meng Qing continued forward and finally saw a stream in the distance. By the stream, seven or eight men were washing the blood off their bodies.

These seven or eight people were all scouts of the Tang army. They soon discovered the movement. After turning around and seeing that it was their own people, the leader, Captain Chen, immediately washed his face and led his subordinates to the shore. He bowed his head and saluted Meng Qing who had rushed over: "I am Chen Feng from the Yizi Scout Battalion. I am here to meet you, General!"

He did not recognize Meng Qing. In fact, at his level, it would be difficult for him to see Meng Qing unless he went to report the news. However, when he saw the armor on Meng Qing, he knew that Meng Qing's level would not be low.

Meng Qing glanced around, then looked at Li Er who was standing behind Captain Chen with a stern expression.

At this moment, everyone bowed their heads respectfully to Meng Qing, except Li Er, who was covered in blood. While wiping the blood off his body, he winked at Meng Qing and waved his hands cautiously.

His meaning was simple, that Meng Qing should not expose his identity.

Meng Qing looked back at Liu Bo beside him, took a deep breath, and asked, "What's going on?"

"Return to the general."

Captain Chen said loudly: "Our team was ordered to investigate the situation nearby. We found a group of Khitans. I immediately sent someone back to report the situation. Because the number of Khitans was small, I was worried that they would escape, so I approached them under the cover of night."

"There were eleven Khitans in total, and all of them have been executed."

"Nine members of my team participated in the battle, two were killed, and the rest were slightly injured."

Meng Qing couldn't help but be a little surprised when he heard this: "You have achieved a lot."

Apart from anything else, this kind of record alone is rare in the entire Tang army. Fighting the Khitans in close combat, not only did they not suffer any loss, but they also gained such a huge advantage.

Captain Chen looked back at Li Er behind him, then bowed his head to Meng Qing and said, "My scout Li Zhen killed three people and seriously injured several others, so he has made the greatest contribution."

"If it weren't for him, our subordinates might not have won so easily."

Meng Qing looked at the complacent Li Er, his expression did not change, but he slowly said: "You did a great job, go back to the camp first, the military clerk will find you to register your names and give you credit."

After saying that, Meng Qing turned his head to look at Liu Bo, and left with Liu Bo, with his hands behind his back.

Liu Bo also took a look at the scene, and finally looked at Li Er seriously, then turned around and left.

…………

More than an hour later, in the central army tent, since most of the scouts were injured, they had been arranged to go to the wounded camp to recuperate, and Marshal Meng also drove away the others in the central army tent. Only he, Duke of England Liu Bo, and a smiling young man were left in the tent.

The young man first looked at Meng Qing, then at Liu Bo, and finally walked up to Liu Bo and said with a smile: "Uncle Jiu, I fought so well in my first battle, why are you all so gloomy?"

Liu Bo glanced at him and said with a smile: "Your Highness, I am just an eye and ear in this army. I don't care about anything. It's useless for you to tell me these things. You must tell the commander-in-chief."

Li Zheng had no choice but to come to Meng Qing, clasped his fists and saluted, saying, "Uncle Meng, look at me, I'm fine, aren't I?"

Meng Qing looked at his bandaged arm and said nothing.

"This was shot by a hidden arrow from those Khitan dogs."

The second prince didn't care at all and said with a smile: "I didn't pay attention at the time and it rubbed me. It will be fine after a few days."

Meng Qing was silent for a while, then he said, "If it's half an inch off, it will cost you your life."

The Second Prince didn't care at all, he just smiled and said, "Uncle Meng, how can there be a half-inch deviation on the battlefield?"

Meng Qing took a deep breath and said nothing, "In short, Your Highness should not do such dangerous things in the future. You should stay in my army and be my personal guard."

"Or, I will supervise the war as a prince in the future."

"How did this happen?"

His Royal Highness the King of Yue was a little anxious, and almost jumped up three feet high, shouting: "I killed three Khitans. According to the rules of the army, I will be rewarded!"

"Promote me to captain!"

He clenched his fist and said, "I worked so hard to earn this!"

At this moment, he was indeed a little excited.

After all, although he had practiced martial arts since he was a child, this battle was his first life-and-death fight, and also his first time killing a Khitan.

The fight between life and death, even though he had been practicing martial arts since he was a child, he still found it thrilling until now.

More importantly, this time, he completely abandoned his status as a prince and accomplished this feat as a pawn.

For Li Zheng, it was the first time that he accomplished military exploits independently without relying on his father. Now it was going to be taken away by Meng Qing. Of course, the young man was not convinced.

Meng Qing said with a dark face: "I am the commander-in-chief, do you want to disobey the commander's order?"

"I'm not convinced!"

Li Zheng clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, saying, "Since my father founded the army, the army has always had clear rewards and punishments. I worked hard and made contributions, so why shouldn't it be counted?"

This sentence made Meng Qing speechless. After a long while, he said helplessly: "Your Highness, after all, you are of a different status. I can't let you take risks again."

"I will sign a life and death agreement with you."

Li Zheng raised his head and looked at Meng Qing, gritting his teeth and said, "Life and death are none of your business, Uncle Meng."

"Nonsense."

General Meng's face turned ashen with anger. He clenched his fists and glared at Li Zheng. The latter was not convinced at all and looked up to meet Meng Qing's gaze.

Finally, General Meng shook his head and said, "Forget it, I will record your contribution."

"As for promoting you to captain, it's not impossible."

He looked at His Royal Highness the King of Yue and said in a deep voice, "But from now on, you are not allowed to act on your own, otherwise I will charge you with violating military law."

The Second Prince was not a fool. Seeing Meng Qing surrender, he immediately smiled and bowed, saying, "It's settled then. Uncle Meng, remember to give me a promotion."

He walked to the door of the commander's tent and looked back at Meng Qing: "I'm going to the wounded camp now to see those brothers. Uncle Meng will see them later, so I can't reveal my identity to them."

Meng Qing didn't say anything, just said "hmm" lightly, and then watched the second prince go away.

After the Second Prince left, Meng Qing turned around and looked at Liu Bo. Liu Bo was also looking at him. The Chief of the Nine Departments was silent for a while, then shook his head and said with emotion: "Resemblance."

"It's so similar."

Of course Meng Qing knew what he was talking about. Hearing this, he remained silent for a while before sitting back in his seat.

"It's very similar."

(End of this chapter)