Late Tang

In Datong in mid-winter, the wind is biting, the wind blows up dust all over the sky, and the air is filled with a chilling atmosphere.

On the outskirts of Yunzhou, in front of the cockfighting platform, Shatuo Grand Commander Li Siyuan led the Shatuo nobles and other civil servants and generals to stand on the side of the road to welcome the envoy from Yanjing.After Li Siyuan took over the power of Shatuo, he stayed in Yunzhou on the grounds of guarding against the Qin army, and made Yunzhou the base of Yacheng, Shatuo's new feudal town.

His current official position is the commander of the Shatuo Army in Yanmen Town, the Fan Han, the inner and outer horse infantry, and the commander of Hengchong.After Li Keyong disappeared, the generals supported him and temporarily assumed the temporary position of Commander-in-Chief of Shatuo.

However, the arrival of Qin Wang Li Jing's envoy brought him a new official position.

Liu Yunniang's letter to Li Siyuan received very good results. Li Siyuan was worried about the Qin army's attack at this time, and when he received the letter, he saw that Li Jing could stop fighting as long as Shatuo and him expressed surrender. After hesitating, he agreed, and the other generals also wished for this respite.Sha Tuo in Yacheng, Yunzhou quickly replied to Li Jing, accepted Li Jing's proposal, and submitted a letter of surrender to Li Jing.

Li Jing also quickly sent out a mission, and with the Marshal of the World's Army and Horses, the Order of the Minister, and the fake Huangyue, the envoy Chijie Dadu supervised all the internal and external military forces, and was in charge of the world's soldiers and horses. The king of Yanmen County, the inspector Taibao, the envoy of Yanmen Jiedu, the acting governor of Peking University, the commander of Shatuo, the left leader of the army, the general of Wei, the general of Shangzhu and Fuguo!In addition, he also served as the governor of Yunzhou, the inspection and disposal envoy of Yanmen, and the land and water transfer envoy and many other official positions.

Although it has not been confirmed that Li Keyong is dead, the official position that Li Jing requested for Li Siyuan now is completely as if Li Keyong does not exist.

In this way, Li Siyuan will completely replace Li Keyong and become the new Shatuo King.

Li Siyuan didn't raise his head, his eyes kept staring at the ground. The dazzling Shatuo crown was held in the box in his hands at this moment, and he was going to hand it over to the envoy to bring it back to Yanjing and present it to Li Jing later. This is also Li Jing's. One of the additional conditions.Even though Li Jing invited him to many official positions from the emperor, he actually wanted him to be a king of Shatuo without the crown of Shatuo's inheritance.The sound of horseshoes approaching from far to near made Li Siyuan's heart twitch.

He knew that this was Li Jing's envoy and his team.

At this moment, Li Siyuan couldn't tell what it was like. The Shatuo tribe, known as the strongest soldier in the world, who once fought alone in eight towns, was about to surrender at the moment he handed over the crown. Isn't he a sinner of Shatuo?

But this crime was charged on his head, and he felt that he was really wronged.

The just-concluded Battle of Daibei was because Li Keyong insisted on forcibly sending troops to Hebei despite the objections of him and his wife. As a result, Shatuo had just been defeated in Yizhou and Junduguan, and Shatuo's army was seriously injured. However, he sent troops again. As a result, he fell into Li Jing's trick and lost five states in a row. Not only was his wife captured, but even his life and death were unknown.Had it not been for him to turn the tide in Yanmen, not only defeated the [-] soldiers of the Datong army with a few, but also counterattacked and captured the two prefectures of Yunshuo in Datong, Shatuo might have lost his last foothold.

However, although Shatuo still has five states on the surface, in fact, more than 3 soldiers and generals were trapped in Yizhou in Hebei, blocked to the east of Taihang Mountain, unable to return to Yanmen.And even though he defeated the Datong army, he had no more than [-] soldiers and horses. Even if he recruited soldiers day and night these days, even disregarding hidden dangers, he also organized a large number of prisoners of war from the three tribes of Datong into the army. There were no more than [-] cavalry on board, less than [-] well-trained infantry, and the rest were [-] new recruits.

10 horses sounds like a huge number, but only Li Siyuan knows that this armed force is not as powerful as it appears on the surface.

His new army lacked armor, and even lacked weapons. They couldn't even equip a man with a bow, and arrows were also in short supply. Many recruits only had a spear or a knife.Except for his rampage, almost none of the cavalry had horses.

In addition, he was short of food and grass.

And seeing that the spring plowing was approaching, a large number of young and strong laborers in Yanmen Town were conscripted into the army, and a large number of men were conscripted into the Yao service to help the army build and fortify the city, make ordnance, and transport food and grass.

Moreover, although he was elected by the generals to take over the power of Shatuo's soldiers and horses, his prestige is still insufficient.The generals in Yizhou have not yet replied to express their support for him, which makes Shatuo's military morale unstable.

In such a situation, how to start a war with Li Jing?

Even if he refuses to hold on to the city, as long as Li Jing fights against them, traps them to death in castles one by one, destroys their crops, kills their cattle and sheep, and burns down their houses, within a year, they will die. Self-defeating.

Because of this, he had no choice but to accept Li Jing's proposal of a truce. He told himself that he was not doing it for power, but for the future of the entire Shatuo tribe.

He once refused Li Jing's offer to confer him the post of Yanmen County King and Yanmen Jiedushi, because that would make others mistakenly believe that he took refuge in Li Jing, and did this for the sake of the prosperity and power. Decide.But Li Jing also rejected him, saying that this is also one of the additional conditions, and he must agree to continue the cooperation.

He knew that Li Jing was not that kind of kind person, and there would be no good things to do with him.He is always used to throw out a little bit of sweetness first, let you pay off, and then throw out a little bit of condition, every time it is always just right, so that you can't refuse, and then when you suddenly find something wrong, you are already deep in it, can't Extricate yourself.

Can Li Siyuan refuse to stop fighting with Li Jing now?

No!

In order to get a chance to breathe, even if he knew that what Li Jing handed him was a poisonous fruit, he had to swallow it.What's more, he did this not all for Sha Tuo, at least, in his heart, part of the reason for doing this was also for her who had already fallen into Li Jing's hands.

Unfortunately, his behavior was not understood by everyone.At least, Li Cunxin accused him of wanting to plot Shatuo's throne.He never liked Li Cunxin, and he also knew that Li Cunxin was always jealous of him.But Li Cunxin shouldn't demolish him at this time and cause internal strife.He had no choice but to use thunderous means to imprison Li Cunxin.Although this approach stopped the signs of civil strife and reunited Shatuo's hearts, he knew that his behavior would definitely cause endless troubles if King Jin came back in the future.

Thinking of this, Li Siyuan could only lament the injustice of fate.

God gave the Shatuo people a Li Keyong, let him lead the Shatuo people to rise up, and finally created a piece of their own territory.Success is also Li Keyong, failure is also Li Keyong, and it is Li Keyong that makes Shatuo experience crisis after crisis, and each time is more tragic.

The Shatuo tribe is now at the point of life and death, and now he has a chance to save the building from falling. Although the Shatuo tribe is in danger at the moment, he must not let it collapse in his own hands.

Han Xin once endured the humiliation under his crotch, and Gou Jian once paid for his courage!

I must be able to endure the humiliation and lead the Shatuo tribe to rise again!

He is not completely desperate. In his opinion, the Shatuo tribe still has a chance.His secret envoy had already set off for the grassland outside the Great Wall to meet the Khitans.If anyone can be Li Jing's opponent now, I am afraid that there are only Khitan people outside the Great Wall.Chengde and Weibo in Hebei, and even Shatuo, are now hard to match with the Qin army.

Last time Li Jing called for the Northern Expedition, but he played tricks on the Khitan people.The Khitans fought on the grassland, but Li Jing raided Xijing with a surprise army, defeated Dongxi who was attached to the Khitan, and ambushed Shatuo's 2 troops from Li Jinzhong's troops who went to the grassland to help in the Xijing.

However, although the Khitan people were tricked, their strength did not lose a bit.The Khitan people are still the overlords outside the Great Wall with 40 string-controlling men and more than 200 million troops.Although the Khitans were repeatedly defeated in the battle with the Qin army for western Liaoning, and lost all the land in the Liaohe River Basin, and now they even lost the vassal Xijing, but they still cannot be underestimated.

The Khitan had fought countless battles with Tang armies, big and small, with fewer defeats and more victories.If he could use this army to lure them into the Central Plains, Li Siyuan believed that the Qin army could be contained.

In addition, the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses in Yizhou, although these tens of thousands of soldiers are only infantry, are also veterans who have experienced many battles.Moreover, Li Sizhao and Li Cunzhang were the only generals left in Shatuo today who led this army.

If he could withdraw this army back to Yanmen Town, his confidence would be a little stronger.

Filled with resentment, Li Siyuan clenched his fists and dug his nails into his palms.The Qin army's ability to break through the barriers was too strong, and Black Stone Fort and Bauhinia Pass had no effect at all in front of them. Although there was also a surprise attack by Li Jing's air force, the reason why the defenders had not experienced such battles.But now that the Qin army is occupying Heishibao and Zijingguan, Shatuo and Chengdezhen can only look at the pass and sigh.

"It's all due to King Jin's reckless impulsiveness. Perhaps, the current King Jin is no longer suitable to lead the Shatuo tribe." Li Siyuan suddenly had a thought in his heart, which shocked him.

At this time, Li Jing's envoys came to Li Siyuan.

Surrounded by everyone, the slim and tall Gai Yu sat on the horse, overlooking Li Siyuan and the welcoming crowd, a smug smile could not be concealed from the corner of his mouth.His gaze swept over the crowd, and then landed on the cockfighting stage, a place full of memories.

It was here that Yunzhou dental school Gai Yu, Kang Junli, Li Jinzhong and others supported Li Keyong to rebel against the Tang Dynasty, executed Duan Yunchu and other court officials Lingchi here, and then raised the banner of Shatuo's rebellion against the Tang Dynasty.

At that time, he wholeheartedly planned for Li Keyong, and once opposed Li Keyong's killing of Duan Yunchu and others, but Li Keyong not only refused to accept it, but even shared the chopped-up human flesh with the generals.

Later, when Li Keyong was defeated, he also surrendered to Li Jing here, and then changed to Li Jing's command. After many years, he is now an important minister of Qin Fan.

Who are the seven generals of Yunzhou back then?Apart from himself, it seems that there is only one Li Cunzhang left, who is still trapped in Yizhou.People like Kang Junli who are extremely loyal to Li Keyong are most afraid that they will only end up being poisoned for no reason.

Who would have thought that Shatuo today would be led by a young boy back then.

Seeing him distracted, Zhou Dewei, the deputy envoy standing beside Gai Yu's horse, hastily tore off his robe, and said in a low voice, "Going back to Yunzhou, Gai Gong must be deeply moved."

Gai Yu's envoy to Daibei this time is also considering that he was originally from a powerful army in Daibei, was once a dental school in Yunzhou, and was the number one counselor under Li Keyong. He is familiar with Shatuo, so he was specially appointed to come Come, and Zhou Dewei, who was born in Daibei, acted prudently, and it happened that he led the mission guard.

After such a reminder, Gai Yu came to his senses, straightened his back on the horse, and looked directly at Li Siyuan.

Li Siyuan was also raising his eyelids to look at Gai Yu at this time, this frail looking man was once also the core member of the Shatuo group.It was this group of people who first supported Li Keyong and launched an army against the Tang Dynasty, and witnessed the fierce record of the Shatuo people who once fought alone in the eight towns.

However, after the defeat in the first Daibei War, the counselor who had been most admired by King Jin resolutely turned to Li Jing.With a majestic appearance and long beard fluttering on his chest, he looks like a Wen Zuo military adviser, but in fact, he is just a spineless grasshopper. Li Siyuan is full of contempt for Gai Yu. "shameless!"

"Miao Jilie! It's been a long time since we've seen each other again. The wild boy in the past is now the king of Yanmen County and the governor of Shatuo. I'm really happy to congratulate him!" Gai Yu said to Li Siyuan with a smile.

Li Siyuan held back the unhappiness in his heart, forced a smile on his face, and bowed his hands in salute: "Gai Gong is still handsome, and this return to the old place should bring back many old memories. I still remember that when I was a child, The events of Duke Gai and the King of Jin are still in front of our eyes."

Gai Yu smiled and motioned Zhou Dewei to go over and take the Shatuo crown from Li Siyuan's hand.

Li Siyuan opened the wooden box, and there was a gold box inside, and then opened it again, and inside was a silver box, and then opened it, and inside was a jade box, in which was the Shatuo crown that had been passed down for hundreds of years.

Zhou Dewei took the translucent jade box and held it in front of Gai Yu.

Gai Yu is no stranger to this treasure that symbolizes Shatuo's authority. When he followed Li Keyong, he had seen this crown several times.However, he had never seen Li Keyong and his son actually wear it. When Li Keyong wore the crown, he was already in the Qin family.

For Li Kehe, Gai Yu actually doesn't have any hatred, but only gratitude and guilt in his heart.He was born in a powerful frontier army, so when he grew up, he inherited his father's career and became a dental school in Yunzhou. However, he was weak and difficult to excel in martial arts, so he was ridiculed by many people in the army.But even though Li Keyong was young, he attached great importance to a dental school who liked to read books but not to ride swords, horsemen and shooters.

If it weren't for Li Keyong, he would be just a weird and weak dental school. It is because of Li Keyong's trust that he can display what he has learned in his chest and gradually become a counselor. In the end, he was valued by Li Jing and has his current status.

If it weren't for a coincidence, he would never have thought that he would use his strengths against Li Keyong in the end.Speaking of which, when he surrendered Li Jing back then, he also thought that Shatuo was over, never thought that Li Keyong would have a comeback day.

However, Li Keyong was still defeated in the end!When he returned to Yunzhou, he could no longer see the original shadow here!