Joy of Life: I'm really not a saint

"Yes, sir!" Before the battle, the deputy general saluted with his fists.

After hearing the order, the deputy general returned to the formation, led the soldiers to search for the surviving subordinates, and brought them out, while also supporting many wounded soldiers who had lost their combat effectiveness.

-

Fearing that Fan Xian would make a surprise attack, Li Chengzong deliberately stayed where he was for a day before turning back.

During this process, he was cautious and alert whenever he passed through open roads, fearing that Fan Xian would launch a sneak attack, but fortunately this did not happen, which made Li Chengzong breathe a sigh of relief.

After returning to the camp, Li Chengzong handed over the military power, said hello to the deputy general, and went to the tent where Li An was.

Li An had just finished observing and analyzing various intelligence sources. He also learned about Li Chengzong's information in advance and calculated the time of his return. He had been waiting in the tent for a long time.

He pushed the tea over and asked, "How is it going?"

"To reply to the Imperial Master, we have repelled Fan Xian, killed more than 200 Black Cavalrymen and more than 500 Dongyi City Cavalrymen. We have lost more than 1,200 men and more than 2,000 wounded!"

"."

"Is it a 2:1 casualty ratio? It seems that we can't take it lightly when facing the Black Cavalry." Seeing Li Chengzong's pale face and sweat on his forehead, Li An knew the general situation of this battle. "Don't you have anything to say?"

"Because of my selfishness, more than 1,200 people died."

Li Chengzong knelt on one knee and began to remove his armor. "These people died unjustly. I am uneasy. Please punish them, Imperial Master!"

Unexpectedly, Li An did not make any move, but just shook his head slowly.

"Have you repaid your favor?"

"National Master." Li Chengzong looked a little incredulous. He understood that Li An didn't seem to want to punish him this time. Although it was difficult to say, Li Chengzong still smiled bitterly and responded, "Please!"

Nodding, Li An threw the paper with the information in his hand into the brazier. Watching it burn slowly, he raised his teacup to drink water and fell into deep thought.

There was no conversation in the tent for a while, and only Li Chengzong was left kneeling on one knee, at a loss as to what to do.

After an unknown amount of time, Li An's voice finally rang out: "I can predict the true situation."

"Even if we were to fight the Black Cavalry with real weapons, it would be very good for the Northern Qi soldiers to achieve a two-to-one casualty ratio with the Southern Qing Black Cavalry. Moreover, the order I gave you was to force Fan Xian to retreat, and you did just that!"

In fact, Li Chengzong did not let up when commanding the troops in battle. His only mistake was in capturing Fan Xian and letting him go.

It would be wrong to say that it was because of him that those 1,200 people died.

He simply made the deaths of those twelve hundred people no longer have the value they should have.

Forcing Fan Xian to retreat is meaningful, but it is of little value.

"I used to use the favors that Fan Xian owed me to achieve my goals. He paid a huge price to repay his debts, just like you are doing now."

"The eldest princess is your majesty's sister. I hope you understand. Once you repay the favor, you won't owe her anything. This kind of thing can only happen once. If it happens again next time, I will kill you!"

Li Chengzong was silent.

Silence represents acceptance and recognition.

Chapter 380 Did Ku He fail and die?

In Shangjing City, Hong Kaijia and Yan Shendu put on their armor, took their weapons and led their teams to leave the capital of Northern Qi.

Their destination was the front-line military camp bordering the Western Hu.

The order from Li An was very concise. Although they didn't know the specific situation, they could only do it this way.

However, Li An is still fighting a desperate battle with Dongyi City and Qing Kingdom, while Xihu has a great master. Although both of them have the ninth-grade cultivation, can they really resist the attack of Xihu?

The team that left the city was led by Yan Shendu, assisted by Hong Kaijia.

After all, the former has been in the army for many years and is very familiar with all aspects of the military, while the latter only has experience in fighting alone, and the rest is some knowledge learned from books.

In the military academy, this batch of students graduated early and headed in another direction. They were majoring in the navy. News had come from the coastal Donghai County that the navy of Dongyi City had fought several small battles with the Northern Qi garrison there.

Although the Northern Qi defenders were now able to defend themselves with ease, they knew that this war would last a long time as they saw that the enemy's ships were still sending reinforcements in a steady stream.

They will also go to the battlefield to put what they have learned into practice.

Inside the Imperial Palace of Northern Qi.

"Mother."

The little emperor smiled slightly, as if he did not feel the shadow of war. He seemed to be somewhat relaxed, but his words were full of longing. He asked, "I wonder what the imperial teacher said in his reply?"

There were other ministers in this side hall. They also sensed the implication in His Majesty's tone and were somewhat surprised. They looked at each other with ambiguous eyes, not caring about being rude, and all raised the corners of their mouths and smiled slightly.

To this day, they have not fully awakened from their status as His Majesty.

After so long, they actually failed to figure out the identity of His Majesty's daughter. This mother and daughter are really good at hiding the truth.

"The Imperial Master wrote back, asking us to first eliminate the foreign spies in Shangjing City, and even gave us information about many people and the bases where they concealed their identities."

The Queen Mother's voice was sonorous and powerful. She used a lie that could not fool even a maid to solemnly reprimand the current emperor, who was also her daughter: "In his letter, he emphasized that Your Majesty should focus on state affairs, not pay too much attention to the personal affairs of your children, sort out the internal affairs first, and then guard against the possibility of the Western Hu sending troops."

Although the ministers did not believe that the imperial teacher's letter would mention matters of love between children, they still nodded silently, as if agreeing with the empress dowager's words, with focused and serious expressions.

Sure enough, the young Emperor of Qi became more serious after hearing this. He said in a serious manner, "Since this is the intention of the Imperial Master, I will treat it seriously!"

"Master Xiao, I'll leave this matter to you!"

Sean knelt on one knee, with a respectful smile on his face, and responded.

But his smile was filled with a bit of inexplicable sadness, as if he was lamenting that his colleague from Nanqing had ended up like this.

The situation between countries is now clear.

Dongyi City is more than capable of defense but lacks the ability to attack. It has a total of less than 100,000 soldiers. According to the feedback from Donghai County, most of the strength has been invested in that battlefield, and the remaining forces can only be used to defend the city, with no possibility of other actions.

Transferring a large number of graduates from the Royal Military Academy to the navy, and cooperating with the local garrison, is enough to resist it on the sea. The investment in the military academy in the past two years has begun to show results!

As for the Kingdom of Qing, after Li Chengze has gathered his domestic forces, he will certainly try to win over the many vassal states in the southernmost part first. At the very least, he will reach an agreement and promise various benefits to prevent the other party from rebellion. Then, he will transfer all the garrisons left there and the rest of the border troops to the border of Northern Qi, making a gesture of preparing for a decisive battle.

This means that the real war will break out later, and it may take one or two months.

At the beginning, the enemy will not take the initiative to attack, but will only passively defend, wear down the will of Northern Qi, and wait for news from Western Hu.

Only by cooperating with each other can they attack together at the same time and decide once again whether to have a few decades of rest and recuperation!

Naturally, the most critical one is Xihu.

However, the Black Ice Platform under Sean's jurisdiction gave him disturbing news. Among the people who returned to Northern Qi with Li Ang, there was no sign of National Master Ku He!

Does this mean that Master Ku He is dead?

Or is he doing something else important alone?

There are so many possibilities!

Northern Qi had more than 400,000 soldiers, and the total force was even smaller than that of Southern Qing. If the opponent added the Western Hu, it might not be able to resist. Although Southern Qing suffered heavy losses due to the civil strife and was hit by floods in the south of the Yangtze River, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse.

I don’t know where Master Li Ang’s confidence comes from?

"Master Xiao?" Zhan Doudou looked at Sean in confusion. Seeing that he was obviously distracted by his thoughts, she gave him a gentle reminder.

When Sean came to his senses, he sighed in his heart that he was old after all, and his thoughts were complicated and disordered. Then he bowed and turned away to carry out the task of clearing out the spies in the city.

The look in Sean's eyes before he left made Zhan Doudou feel a little uncomfortable. After frowning slightly, he put the matter aside and turned to ask the ministers about the country's food and military equipment reserves.

After all state affairs had been discussed, the Queen Mother allowed all the ministers to go back and do their own business.

After everyone left, only the mother and daughter were left in the hall.

"Mother, is there anything you want to tell me?"

The Queen Mother's expression was not right, and not only her daughter, but even the ministers who were in the palace just now could see some clues.

It was obvious that there were several ministers in the hall who had things to report, but after seeing the empress dowager's expression, they chose to suppress the matter and leave the hall.

"Doudou, I suddenly feel uneasy!"

The current empress dowager is only over 40 years old. She wears a pair of silk shoes embroidered with gold. Her behavior seems casual, but she is extremely luxurious. Although she is called the empress dowager, she looks more like a worried lady.

Seeing his mother using the most intimate name between them, Zhan Doudou understood that the Queen Mother was no longer pretending to be strong, which was a sign of extreme worry.

Not daring to think too much, he said to the Queen Mother, "Mom, what's wrong with you?"

"Everything is going on in an orderly manner now. The country is managed by many ministers, including Sean inside and Li An, the national master outside. Mother should not have such a premonition, but Doudou, have you missed anything?" The queen mother glanced at her daughter, frowned slightly, and wondered if she was being too suspicious.

"Oversight? Oversight?"

There were no outsiders in the room at this time, so Zhan Doudou directly asked the Queen Mother what she meant.

The Queen Mother did not beat around the bush and spoke out her guess: "All the things going on now are nothing, but where is Imperial Master Ku He? Why is there no news about Imperial Master Ku He?"

"Master Ku He!"

Yes, why do the borders between Da Qi and Qing need two grandmasters to guard them now?

Obviously, the biggest threat now is Xihu. No matter how incompetent Li An is, he should rush to the border of Xihu to make arrangements and guard against Grandmaster Yelu Xuan. But why is he still staying where he is and making things difficult for Si Gu Jian?

The same is true in reverse. If National Master Ku He has nothing to do, he should be asked to guard against the Western Hu, while Li An should concentrate on dealing with Nan Qing!

Could it be that Master Ku He has already...

The little emperor and the queen mother looked at each other and had the answer in their hearts!

At this moment, a young eunuch trotted in and shouted without regard for etiquette: "Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"

"Something big has happened to Xihu. Master Ku He Ku He"

"He died at the hands of Xihu State Master!!"

Chapter 381: Desert Chase.

Yelu Xuan, the national teacher of Western Hu?

That grand master who has just been promoted to the top of the world?

But how could National Master Ku He die at his hands, and in the territory of Xihu!

Zhan Doudou and the Queen Mother listened to the news from the eunuch with bated breath, their eyes wide open, still with an expression of disbelief.

Could it be?

When National Master Ku He returned to the country with Li An, he turned around and went directly to Xihu to assassinate Grand Master Yelu Xuan!

Why doesn’t Ang Lee try to persuade Master Ku He?

We in the Great Qi Dynasty have lost such a great figure!

Zhan Doudou's legs went weak and he was about to fall backwards, but luckily the eunuch was quick-witted and caught the little emperor, preventing him from falling.

"Your Majesty! Don't worry, we have to find out everything before we can draw a conclusion!" The Queen Mother looked calm, but her trembling voice still revealed her inner panic. "Master Ku He is a great master. Even if Yelu Xuan, who is also a master, is his enemy, he will not die so easily!"

“All this may be a misunderstanding!”

The more the empress dowager spoke, the more certain her tone became, as if this was how it should be.

"The Empress Dowager is right. Your Majesty, please stay calm and don't worry about damaging your health!" The eunuch said this when he saw that the little emperor had calmed down.

But just as the little emperor stood firm, the empress dowager's legs and feet became weak and she sat down on the ground.

The eunuch quickly pulled him and shouted to both sides: "Come over and help His Majesty and the Queen Mother!"

After a flurry of activity, the hall finally quieted down.

"How many people know about this matter? " Zhan Doudou came to his senses, grabbed the eunuch's sleeve and asked anxiously.

"This"

The eunuch recalled briefly and confirmed: "Apart from me, there were only the spy who received the carrier pigeon and the eunuch who delivered the message to the palace."

"Lock up everyone who passed on the message, go!"

"His Majesty?"

"Expand the scope a little bit, and detain and guard everyone, regardless of whether they have read the news or not." Zhan Doudou seemed to have thought of something, and his face turned a little ugly. "Don't let the news spread out. Pay attention to whether there are any rumors in Shangjing City these days. If there are any, arrest the people who spread the news!"

"Yes!" The eunuch walked to the door, said something softly to the two guards, and left without looking back.

Judging from its direction, it is heading towards the Black Ice Platform.

After the eunuch left, two guards walked into the hall and arrested several maids and eunuchs. After Zhan Doudou gave orders, a new group of servants entered the hall and waited.

"Your Majesty has done a great job. We cannot let the country fall into chaos now." The Queen Mother was in a bad state when she heard the bad news, but she still kept comforting Zhan Doudou, "We still have Li An, the Imperial Master. The Great Qi will not fall into chaos."

The country is already at war with Dongyi City and Nanqing, and there may be another war with Xihu later. This is a critical period. If Northern Qi becomes chaotic first, the consequences will be unimaginable!