As soon as he turned the wall, Deng Jingshan saw Zhang Zhongwu standing at the door of the lobby, looking at him with his hands behind his back and smiling. Hurriedly took a few steps forward, clasped his hands into fists as a salute: "Lord Wang, how dare you do this?" ”

Zhang Zhongwu smiled, went down the steps, and helped Deng Jingshan up with both hands, "You and my brother, this is what should be due, what dare not be." In this kind of weather, you have rushed all the way here, and it has been hard. ”

It is the hottest time of the year, and it is indeed not a simple matter to rush all the way from Liaozhou.

"It's okay, but this way, looking at the villages along the way, the reclamation points, and the crops that can't be seen at a glance, the momentum is rising out one by one!" Deng Jingshan said with a smile: "This reminds me of the appearance when we first came, it was desolate!" ”

A word brought both of them back to the original sad season, at that time, they were really confused, and they didn't know where the road ahead was.

sighed for a while, but Zhang Zhongwu seemed to react suddenly, slapped his head and said, "Look at me, I have been chatting with you for so long under this big sun?" ”

"Xiaguan and the prince haven't seen each other for nearly a year, and the last time they met was during the New Year's Festival last year!" Deng Jingshan reminded the other party.

"yes, yes, life flies so fast!" Zhang Zhongwu laughed, took Deng Jingshan's hand, and walked into the hall side by side with his opponent.

Zhang Zhongwu treated Deng Jingshan like this, but it was not always like this. When Zhang Zhongwu was still Lu Longjie's envoy, Deng Jingshan was just one of the many governors under him, but his strength was stronger.

But now, it's different.

The current Deng Jingshan is in charge of Liaozhou, accounting for one-third of the territory under the rule of the Liao king. After losing the contest with the Tang Army, Deng Jingshan decisively reached an agreement with the Tang Army, abandoned a large number of troops, and returned to Liaozhou with only some of his most elite henchmen, and then annexed a group of powerful wealth and people led by Liu Siyuan, and re-strengthened his strength.

More importantly, in the process of annexation, Deng Jingshan also cleaned up many people who were originally attached to Zhang Zhongwu and were originally used by Zhang Zhongwu to check and balance Deng Jingshan.

In the past few years, Deng Jingshan has reused Sima Song Yu, judge Ke Rong and others, rewarded the soldiers, and distributed land and women to the soldiers, and has firmly controlled Liaozhou.

In addition, Liaozhou borders the area controlled by the Tang army, and in recent years, the business dealings between Liaodi and the Tang people have basically been carried out in Liaozhou, with this convenience, Liaozhou's commerce has become more and more prosperous, forming the largest business field between Liaodi and the Tang people, just collecting taxes is a huge income, plus their own business, the annual income, compared to Zhang Zhongwu, who controls Jizhou and Yingzhou, is only a lot more. If it weren't for Zhang Zhongwu and a backyard like Goryeo that could be wantonly plundered, then Deng Jingshan's strength would be above Zhang Zhongwu.

Status has always been related to strength.

When you are not strong, you can only be a follower, do what people tell you to do, and have no bargaining capital.

But when you reach a certain level of strength, you can become a collaborator, and you can measure whether your own interests are hurt in the process of cooperation.

And Deng Jingshan has risen from a follower to the status of a collaborator little by little. Correspondingly, Zhang Zhongwu's attitude towards him has changed.

Walking into the spacious hall, there are four huge icebergs placed in the four corners, and the rising white smoke makes the whole hall shrouded in a coolness. Since Wuyi's ice-making method was introduced to Liaodi, for a powerful person like them, summer is no longer a difficult season.

"The emperor took the stage to pay respects, and Li Ze has already left Wuyi." Zhang Zhongwu got straight to the point: "When he arrives, I'm afraid that the Liang army has completely lost Henan, and only Luoyang is left as a lonely city." ”

Deng Jingshan nodded: "It's expected." ”

"Are you ready?" Zhang Zhongwu picked up the tea bowl and took a shallow sip of tea soup, the tea was green, this is this year's new tea, and it was also transported by merchants from the Tang Dynasty, because Liangzhejiang and other places were captured by the Tang people, and the price of this year's tea has fallen a lot.

"I've been preparing for it all along." Deng Jingshan took a deep breath, looked directly at Zhang Zhongwu, and said, "But below, there are many different voices. ”

"How?" Zhang Zhongwu put down the tea bowl.

"A lot of people are very satisfied with their current lives!" Deng Jingshan sighed: "Lord Wang, to be honest, I can't wait for the life in front of me to continue like this." In the past few years, everyone has slowly become richer, they have a house to live in, they can eat enough, the bandits and rogues have been almost wiped out by us, and life has become more and more peaceful. ”

"Who wouldn't want to live a day like this?" Zhang Zhongwu shook his head and said, "But Jingshan, do you think Li Ze will allow us to be so calm and quiet in Liaodi?" ”

Li Ze has great ambitions, and it can be seen from the time when his strength was not absolutely above everyone else, he had already brazenly sent men and horses to march towards the Western Regions. This person is only reproducing the glory of the Han and Tang dynasties, or this person's ambition may be higher, so as long as this person is in power, he will never allow the existence of separatist forces. Even if we call him a courtier, and listen to the tune or not listen to the announcement, he will not agree. Deng Jingshan said: "So, I have been preparing. At present, it is just a headache, how can it mobilize the enthusiasm of the people below and arouse the hearts of the same enemy. ”

"Leave these things to those literati below you, they have more ways than us martial artists!" Looking at Deng Jingshan's attitude, Zhang Zhongwu was relieved. "Actually, at the beginning, I didn't have the same mind as you, but after seeing Li Ze's actions in the Western Regions, I completely gave up my thoughts about a corner of peace and decided to give it a go."

"The Western Regions?" Deng Jingshan was a little puzzled.

"Li Ze is in the Western Regions, changing the land and returning to the stream, setting up a state and a government, and not allowing the former Detention State to exist anymore." Zhang Zhongwu said: "Think about it, he won't let go of places like that, we are here, can he let go?" ”

"So the fight is for sure, and now my only worry is how to win!" Deng Jingshan nodded. "Lord Wang, it's not that I don't have confidence, I naturally don't worry about Xue Chong on the other side, but Xue Chong can't be a guard, and if he fights the small one, the old one will naturally come out. And I don't think the pseudo-Liang can give us any help, maybe we haven't completely eliminated Xue Chong, and the pseudo-Liang has already been destroyed by Li Ze! ”

Zhang Zhongwu smiled and said, "It's not that simple. You must know that in this world, we are not the only people who want Li Ze to fail or even die. There are also Zhu Youzhen, Zhu Youqi, and Xiang Xun, and even the emperor of the Tang Dynasty who has a name, maybe the living dead emperor who is now lying on the bed is also looking forward to Li Ze's early death! ”

Deng Jingshan's spirit perked up: "Zhu Youzhen aside, his only role now is how long he can resist Li Ze and how long he can contain Li Ze's main force, for us, the longer the better, and the greater the damage to Li Ze, the better." But Xiang Xun is a great variable, does the prince have any plans with him? ”

"They found me. This was a year ago, and it was precisely because of my thorough insight into Xiang Xun's mind that I finally made up my mind to fight to the death. Zhang Zhongwu said: "Jingshan, do you remember the grand blueprint when we raised the flag?" ”

Deng Jingshan laughed: "Naturally, I remember." At that time, our subordinates all hoped that you could sit on the largest chair in Chang'an City, and we could also leave a portrait in the Lingyan Pavilion. ”

"Now, we have another chance." Zhang Zhongwu said with a smile: "Of course, the premise is that Li Ze is dead." ”

Obedient and listening, Deng Jingshan was shocked: "The Xiang clan has a plan to deal with Li Ze? After thinking about it, he frowned again and said: "If it is assassination and poisoning, I don't think they have much chance of success, Lord Wang, we can't pin our hopes on this." ”

"Xiang Xun is not so naïve." Zhang Zhongwu said: "He must have a set of plans that are quite feasible, and there is a very high probability of success. Only in this way did he have the capital to compete for the world. Of course, what exactly this plan is, he will naturally not reveal to us. ”

"Xiang Xun also wants to compete for the world?" Deng Jingshan laughed: "Just him? ”

"If Li Ze is really dead, he really has this qualification!" Zhang Zhongwu said: "Now he is the strongest person in the south, if Li Ze is really going to die, his command will inevitably split, and the Xiang clan holds the title of Guozhang, maybe he can also absorb some of the original Li Ze's manpower." ”

"If Li Zezhen dies, then Xiang Xun can only make wedding clothes for others!" Deng Jingshan's eyes lit up again, he was afraid that Li Ze was real, but Xiang Xun, he really didn't take it seriously.

"Jingshan, no matter whether Li Ze dies or not, we only have the only way to send troops, Li Ze is dead, we have a bright future, the future is promising, if Li Ze does not die, we must also send troops, otherwise when he enters Chang'an and occupies such a pivotal place, we will not be spared in the future." Zhang Zhongwu said: "In the past few years, we have been lying on our salaries and trying our courage, recuperating our energy, isn't it just to be able to take revenge one day?" ”

"Yes, we don't have a choice!" Deng Jingshan Road.

"Let's talk about the specific military deployment of the Tang Army now, I think you are clear about Xue Chong's movements." Zhang Zhongwu said.

"It's just each other, and he will never know me less than I know about him!" Deng Jingshan said: "Xue Chong is still a very self-aware person. He knew very well that we were going to do it, so he was shrinking his forces. ”