Memoirs of the Heavenly Khan

Chapter 228 Tell him there is danger

Hou Mochenyue and his six hundred followers stayed in Chang'an for more than a month before finally setting off for Longxi.

It wasn't that he himself was in such a hurry, but Erzhu Rong, who was preparing to deal with Ge Rong, was furious when he heard that Houmo Chenyue had not yet arrived in Longxi. He sent an envoy to give him a severe scolding.

After being severely scolded, Hou Mochenyue had no choice but to set off for Longxi with his uncle and six hundred followers.

Before his departure, Hou Mochenyue and Li Bi waited at the west gate of Chang'an. Li Shuang did not come in person, but sent Su Chuo to see him off.

Everyone in Chang'an knows who Su Chuo is; he is Li Shuang's closest civil official and holds great power.

"Longxi is bitterly cold. My lord has instructed me to present this fur coat to the general. I hope the general will take good care of it!"

Li Bi touched the black fur coat that was so close to him, feeling reluctant to part with it.

"Please thank the Duke on my behalf!"

Hou Mochenyue's urging voice came from beside him.

"Jinghe, the military situation is urgent. Let's not delay any longer and set off immediately!"

Li Bi frowned, feeling somewhat impatient, but he couldn't show it in front of Su Chuo.

After bowing respectfully in farewell, Li Bi turned and mounted his horse, following Hou Mochen Yue as they left Chang'an.

After walking a short distance, he turned back and looked back, sighing in his heart:
I wish I could ride alongside such heroes and conquer the world together!
……

The six hundred chapters, all mounted on horses, galloped off to distant lands in a grand procession.

Inside the Duke of Tang's mansion, Li Shuang, along with Hou Jing, sat down with the people who were cursing Hou Mochen Yue, and they had a small drink together.

"Long time no see, you've actually become an official."

Hou Jing tried to get close to Liu Gui, who was quite pleased with himself.

"To be honest, Wan Jing, I didn't want to be this official, but what can I do? I'm from the same hometown as General Tianzhu! That's why they asked me to manage the livestock around Taiyuan."

Li Shuang listened and asked:
"Isn't the livestock around Taiyuan always managed by Erzhudul? Why did you take over, Second Brother?"

Liu Gui chuckled upon hearing this.

“That bastard Erzhu Dulu is greedy! After General Tianzhu went south, he was granted the title of county earl, but the bastard was not satisfied and was full of complaints, so he became even more greedy. One day, General Tianzhu went to inspect the animal pens and found that only half of the livestock were left, and they were all old animals. Upon further investigation, he found out that Erzhu Dulu had sold them all and turned them into money.”

As Liu Gui was speaking excitedly, Hou Jing poured him a cup of wine and asked:
"What does this kid need money for?"

Liu Gui's words carried a hint of contempt, and he said disdainfully:

"What else can we do but learn from others and start a business?"

Liu Gui's father was the governor of Sizhou, but he himself was a merchant. At this point, he couldn't help but spit out a curse.

"This guy only wants to take advantage of people when he does business with them. After they make money off him, he refuses to acknowledge it and leads his troops to ransack their shops, demanding that they return the money. After that, who would dare to do business with him? Later, seeing that no one in Bingzhou and Hengzhou paid him any attention, he colluded with Erzhu Zhongyuan, trying to get involved with Goguryeo and dabble in ginseng, sable fur, and the like. But he ran into a tough opponent and lost everything. That's how the animal pen incident came to light!"

Hou Jing shook his head and reminded him:

"You'd better watch out, kid. Erzhu Dulu is no good. You took his job, so be careful he doesn't try anything behind your back."

Liu Gui scoffed:
"I'm afraid of him!"

After saying that, Liu Gui patted his chest, looking as if he didn't take Erzhu Dulu seriously.

"I have a group of brothers from Huai Shuo Town behind me. He dares to touch me?"

Sima Ziru, Jia Xianzheng, Dou Tai, Duan Rong, Wei Jing, and Cai Jun were either from Huai Shuo Town or had close ties with it.

Subtly, they all gathered around Gao Huan again.

The military merits of Huai Shuo and Wu Chuan towns under Er Zhu Rong's command were an important force.

After Liu Gui finished speaking, he reminded him again:
"Duke, you really need to be careful."

Li Shuang smiled and said:

"How to say it?"

“You don’t know, among the Erzhu clan, apart from Erzhu Tianguang, there’s no one who doesn’t speak ill of you. They seize every opportunity to slander you to General Tianzhu, trying to sow discord between you brothers. Now that the Prince of Shangdang is in Luoyang, General Tianzhu is lacking support.” Liu Gui’s words were tinged with worry, and he glanced at Li Shuang as he spoke.

"Your Majesty, if we let them continue like this, even the brilliant General Tianzhu might make a mistake. We must be careful!"

Li Shuang gave Hou Jing a wink, and Hou Jing poured Liu Gui a glass of wine.

"According to your plan, how should we prevent this?"

Liu Gui waved his hand.

"I have heard in private that after General Tianzhu quelled Ge Rong's rebellion, he plans to move all the troops of the Six Garrisons to Jinyang to oversee and control the Hebei region. This will create vacancies in the provinces. I'm afraid the Erzhu clan will not let go of such a great opportunity. At that time, the Duke will not need to worry, and the criticisms will naturally cease."

The land of Hebei was the foundation upon which the Tuoba clan rose to power.

Especially after the Northern Wei Dynasty moved its capital from Pingcheng to Luoyang, the ties between the Northern Wei imperial family and the aristocratic families of Hebei became even stronger.

After Erzhu Rong marched south to Luoyang, his next step was to take over Hebei.

With a firm grip on Shanxi and Hebei, and remote control over Luoyang, Erzhu Rong finally gained complete control of the Northern Wei Dynasty.

The situation in both Hebei and Shanxi is somewhat strange now.

On Ge Rong's side, relying on his superior numbers, he almost consolidated Yuan Shen's power after Du Luozhou's defeat, and disregarded Er Zhu Rong's calls for a punitive expedition.

Despite having fewer men, Erzhu Rong's side was filled with confidence, with no one from top to bottom believing he would lose.

As he spoke, Liu Gui whispered:

"There is no need to worry about the big picture, but we need to be careful about the small details. I heard that the Erzhu clan wants to capture the leader of the Tongxin Alliance in order to find fault with you and force him to give some evidence."

Li Shuang and Hou Jing smiled, and Liu Gui asked curiously:
"My Lord, who exactly is the leader of this Alliance of Unity?"
-
Jinyang.

Inside a small house, Erzhu Zhongyuan knelt on the ground, with a small box in front of him.

When the small box burned in front of him, he asked devoutly:

"How is it?"

"Your request is a bit difficult to fulfill!"

Liu Lingzhu stroked his beard and smacked his lips.

"Tell me the truth, do you want to kill Ohno Sawa?"

Upon hearing this, Erzhu Zhongyuan's expression became somewhat tense, filled with vigilance and suspicion; he even placed his hand on his waist.

There, there is a dagger.

Liu Lingzhu, however, remained completely unperturbed.

"General, there's no need for that. To be honest, every month there are at least eight hundred to a thousand people who come to me to pray for the demise of Da Ye Shuang."

Erzhu Zhongyuan breathed a sigh of relief.

"Is this Ohno Sou really that hateful?!"

Liu Lingzhu waved his hand and said:
"God said, 'This is not an easy task!'"

Erzhu Zhongyuan nodded.

"Since we can't kill Ono Sō in the short term, let's deal with his subordinate first, the leader of the Tongxin Alliance."

"..."

After Liu Lingzhu sent Erzhu Zhongyuan away, he immediately summoned his servant boy.

"Quickly send a secret message to the Duke of Tang. He is in danger. It would be best to send someone to bring me to Guanzhong!"

……

(End of this chapter)