If you want a power group to run smoothly, you must make it not dominant, and this is true for the imperial court and the southwest.

Mu Ying is certainly credible, Li Xin has never doubted his brother who has been dating for more than ten years, but the Mu family behind Mu Ying may not be credible, the Mu family was a big family in Shu during the Southern Shu period, and later His Royal Highness King Min was able to escape from Jincheng, also because the Mu family rescued him, so that the Mu family later replaced Li Xing and became the real talker in the southwest.

Li Xin has not been in the southwest for a long time, and the southwest is Mu Ying, or the Mu family has the final say.

Later, when the imperial court crowned the king of Shu, Li Xin also generously gave up this position to Mu Ying's son, and for various reasons, the Mu family became increasingly arrogant in the southwest.

Although Li Xin had already beaten the Mu family with Zhao Jia before, these were not enough, the reason for the arrogance of the Mu family was because of the status of the Mu family in the Southwest Army, Li Xin did not think about cutting off his arm, but he couldn't let Mu Ying alone take all the credit for the Eastern Expedition, otherwise he really entered the capital, and the Mu family jumped out and said that their Mu family had conquered the capital, why did your surname Li jump out and talk about it?

Li Shuo is the one who is used to check and balance the Mu family.

In the early years of the reorganization of the Southwest Army, if Li Xin had a darker belly, he could directly annex the army, and there was no need to allocate the troops to Shuo Sancheng and let him be stationed in Ningzhou, but at that time, Li Xin was very kind to let Li Shuo lead 50,000 people, so that Li Shuo, who was only in his early twenties at the time, became one of the three giants of the southwest on an equal footing with Muying and Zhao Jia.

This is what Li Xin picked up stubbornly.

Li Shuo is not the same as Mu Ying, there was originally a force behind him, that is, the remnants of the former army, but later the Southwest Army was reorganized, and the remnants of these armies were also incorporated into the Southwest Army, although in the first few years, there were still many thorns in the old departments of these armies, but after a few years, most of them have been completely integrated into the Southwest Army.

In other words, Li Shuo does not have much to rely on behind him now, and in addition to the 50,000 Ningzhou Army that he can rely on in the southwest, there is only Li Xin, a cheap brother.

Therefore, although among the three giants of the southwest, Li Shuo and Li Xin's personal relationship is not as good as the other two, but his loyalty to Li Xin is undoubtedly the purest, the reason is simple, he has no other way out.

This is precisely this reason, after the troops are under the capital, the southwest army will change generals.

This is a taboo in the army, but it is not particularly taboo for the Southwest Army, because the Southwest Army mainly relies on firearms rather than the main general, and if you change a main general, as long as this person is not too stupid, the effect will not be too different.

After the Ningzhou army was prepared in Luzhou for three or four days, Li Shuo led 50,000 people from Luzhou to the capital, and these 50,000 people were obviously not all the strength of the Ningzhou army, but only the vanguard force.

And Li Xin and Mu Ying sat leisurely on the city tower in Luzhou, watching Li Shuo's department slowly walk away.

Mu Ying, who had been covered with armor from the southwest to Luzhou, also took off the armor on his body at this time, wore a blue robe, and stood behind Li Xin. ”

Li Xin smiled: "Brother Mu, don't worry, it's just a temporary establishment, when we enter the capital, the Southwest Army will have to be reorganized, there is no reason to let the number of Ningzhou Army directly double." ”

Mu Ying grinned: "The last general didn't mean this, he just sighed." ”

He looked out of the city, then turned to look at Li Xin again, and asked, "General...... I seem to be very confident that we will definitely be able to enter the capital. ”

Li Xin glanced back at Mu Ying and asked, "Brother Mu has no confidence?" ”

Mu Ying smiled bitterly and said: "Originally, there was naturally, my southwest army from Xiangyang all the way to Luzhou, all the way to the overwhelming, at that time, the last general dreamed at night that we would take the capital in three days, general, you became the emperor, but after arriving in Luzhou, the last general didn't think so......"

After he said the words "be the emperor", he secretly glanced at Li Xin's reaction, and after seeing Li Xin's expressionless face, the black-faced man sighed and continued: "The first battle of Luzhou City was not smooth, and it was fought three times before and after, not to mention the time and effort, and countless firearms were consumed, and even our soldiers were injured a lot. ”

"After the fact, I will carefully calculate, if we calculate according to the casualty ratio of Luzhou City, we will only barely be able to take the capital, but the capital is not the same as Luzhou, whether it is the city wall or the soldiers defending the city, as well as the determination of the imperial court, it is far better than Luzhou."

Li Xin was noncommittal, just narrowed his eyes slightly, and said, "Then Brother Mu, come and see, if we can't beat the capital this time, what should we do?" ”

"Then let's go back to the southwest for the time being."

Mu Ying replied very simply, obviously thinking about it many times in his heart.

"As long as we retreat to the southwest, the imperial court will be helpless against us, and even if we are unable to capture the capital, the imperial court will not be able to pursue us, we can calmly retreat, and we can take away a lot of money and grain in the prefectures and counties along the road, and after a few years, we have accumulated enough strength, and it is easy to make a comeback."

Li Xin glanced at Mu Ying with a serious face, and then slowly shook his head.

"Brother Mu thought about it, this time is our first attack on the capital, and it is also the last, if we can't beat it this time, it will be difficult for us to have another chance in this life, and we can only stick to the southwest in the future, waiting for the court to come out of a stupid faint king, and the southwest may have a chance to go out of Shu again."

Speaking of this, Li Xin pointed to his nose and said indifferently: "The Son of Heaven in the capital, who is only in his early twenties this year, is much younger than you and me, although he is not as good as his father and ancestors, but he is far from being called a faint king, this time he can't beat the capital, so he can only wait for him to die to have a chance, and what's worse is that the next Son of Heaven after him may be even more powerful than him." ”

"This is our last chance."

Li Xin's face was calm, and he said: "If the matter fails, we will withdraw to the southwest, the Shu Wangfu will be officially established in the southwest, and the southwest will be taken care of by a few of you, and I will lead my wife and children to hide in the mountains, be a rural village husband, and live a life in peace." ”

This sentence is not a lie, but Li Xin has long planned a retreat, if the southwest army can't take the capital, there is little hope next time, he doesn't want to be the second Li Shen to support in the southwest for decades, it is better to throw the southwest stall to Mu Ying and these people, and hide in the mountains without asking about the world.

With the current military strength in the southwest, as long as the people in power are not particularly stupid, there is no problem in standing as a country for decades, and their family has lived in peace for a lifetime, and there is no big problem.

Mu Ying's face changed slightly, and he bowed his head to Li Xin and said, "General, no matter what, the last general and others will definitely do their best to capture the capital for the general!" ”

"If it doesn't work, after returning to the southwest, the general will be the son of heaven in the southwest......"

General Mu's voice was a little hoarse.

"Outside of you, the southwest will definitely be divided......"