Constant warfare often makes human life as light as a mustard, whether it is a soldier or a general, or the psychology of the people. Similarly, as the war continues, in addition to human life becoming worthless, various human values will also undergo huge distortions and transformations in the face of cruel war, and ethics, sincerity and kindness will inevitably be replaced by various evils at this time.

War destroys the enemy at the same time, but also makes human life cheap, a city is destroyed, often in addition to the war that will befall the head, there will also be evil people with distorted internal values, auxiliary war to destroy a city. A dangerous city that is about to be destroyed by war often gives birth to evil people such as burning, killing, looting, theft and rape.

The three views of the front-line soldiers, the same will be with the huge pressure given by the meat grinder of war, so that they are unconsciously changed, life is no longer the most important in the eyes of the soldiers, and the regret in the heart has become the most important, in order to regret at the end of life, human beings often burst out of unimaginable huge potential, but this potential will never be positive.

Just as when human beings are dying, terminally ill, or in the midst of despair, human beings often feel the most emotional: what is the biggest regret in my life, etc., it is difficult for anyone to maintain a strong and positive fighting spirit at the spiritual level when they are desperate.

So at this time, Ye Qing had to drive away those women to stabilize the morale of the army. After all, the saying "three years as a soldier, sows race sable cicada" is a bit exaggerated, but it obviously has some truth.

At this time, Yelu Yixue had to use more ruthless means to suppress the scum that appeared in the remnants of the Wild Army, so as to protect Princess Chengli to continue to advance eastward.

The wind and snow are getting heavier and heavier, and God, who had just stopped and sprinkled a little light on people's hearts, began to be ruthless again in the middle of the night, scattering snowflakes on the white earth.

The 20,000-strong army is now only more than 3,000 people left, and they began to flee east all the way from the Liao Wangcheng after it was broken, but because of the heavy snow, they have only escaped from the Wangcheng for a distance of only more than 100 miles, and they still have not been able to get out of the range that the Mongol forces can reach.

The original remnants of more than 5,000 people, the defectors who defected along the way, the surrenders who surrendered, and now, the unbridled army that can be willing to follow Princess Yeluyue of Chengli all the time, there are only about 3,000 people left in front of them.

Even among them, there are a small number of them who have now lost their horses, and have to rely on their legs, in knee-high snow, to follow the large army to continue to flee eastward.

Yeluyue looked at the soldiers in front of her in the wind and snow, at this time, even if she wanted to cry, she was already tired to the point of despair that there were no tears to fall.

Originally, she had plenty of time to flee eastward, but in the end she chose to continue to hold on to the royal city because of a glimmer of hope, but in the end, the 20,000-strong army did not become a great army to turn the tide, and was finally defeated by the iron hooves of the Mongols.

In the end, Yelu Yue had already made up her mind to live and die with Wang Cheng, but when she had just handed over the last letter she wrote in tears to Yelu Yixue, she was knocked unconscious by Yelu Yixue, and when she woke up again, Yelu Yue was even a little unclear whether she was dead or alive now.

The cold wind blew across her cheeks like a knife, and the already extremely heavy armor on her body was worn on Yeluyue's body at this moment, making Yeluyue even more weak and helpless.

"Your Highness, as long as we go all the way to the east and join Lord Ye Qingye and them, we will still have a chance to return to the country." Yelu Yixue's eyes were firm, and he looked at Yelu Yue, who looked sad and helpless: "Your Highness...... You are now the only hope for my Great Liao, as long as you are still there, the people of the Great Liao Kingdom will still be there, as long as Lord Ye supports us, we can retake our royal city from the Mongols again. ”

"Restoration?" The corners of Yeluyue's eyes didn't know whether it was tears or the melting snow that fell from the corners of her eyes, slowly flowing down her flushed cheeks, and then shook her head sadly.

If she hadn't fought with the Mongols before, if she had predicted that the royal city would be breached, then she might still have some confidence that she would be able to restore the country successfully, but when she fought with the Mongols after the founding of the country and called Khan, she was shocked to realize that the Mongols were so strong, so strong that they couldn't even be defeated.

How easy is it to restore the country under such a strong, ghostly army that comes and goes like the wind?

In Yeluyue's mind, Ye Qing couldn't help but think of the words that Ye Qing had been reminding her, the strength of the Mongols is far beyond your imagination, they may be inferior in battle to conquer cities, but if they are in the grassland, in the endless open area, almost no one is their opponent.

At this time, Yeluyue really knew what Ye Qing meant by this sentence, and she was even clearer that at the beginning, she led the army without reins, Qu Qu Lu, and the army of Mo Xiaobao and Zhong Silkworm to secretly fight with the Tatars on the grassland, which was completely incomparable with today's Mongolian cavalry.

Although the people are still those people, since the Tatars unified the numerous tribes of the steppe and established the Mongol state, their morale is sometimes even more important than the strength of the war in a war.

"Your Highness......." Yelu Yixue looked at Yelu Yue who was in tears, and hurriedly shouted: "Your Highness, now is not the time to be sad, we should find a place to hide from the wind and snow before it gets dark." ”

Looking at Yeluyue, who turned to the front of the war horse, Yelu Yixue could only sigh silently, watching Yeluyue get on the horse, and vaguely heard a sentence to continue to the east, and finally stood up from the snow with a happy look on his face, and ordered everyone to continue to move forward immediately.

As the wind and snow got heavier and heavier, Yelu Yixue also dared to take the scouts

Placed a little farther away, although it has not yet gone out of the sphere of influence of the Mongols attacking the royal city, because the wind and snow are getting stronger and stronger, the marks on the snow are more likely to be quickly submerged by the heavy snow, so that the Mongols cannot find the marks to pursue them.

"Your Highness, the last general looked, as long as we keep moving forward, crossing a small stream, and then crossing the distant hills, we can see a small tribe, and we can choose to settle there, rest for the night, and then set off." Yelu Yixue looked at Yelu Yue, who was bowing her head and silent on horseback, and said with joy.

Although since the Mongols began to attack Liao, Yeluyue broke off the letter with Ye Qing, of course, there are also unavoidable reasons for this, after all, with the beginning of the Mongols' attack on Liao, there is almost no Xia and Song business travel in the entire Liao Kingdom.

Originally, I thought that it was because the merchant travelers were blocked by Kedun City and could not pass, but it was not until Ye Qing secretly sent him a letter that Yelu Yixue also knew that when the Mongols attacked Liao, the Song people were attacking Xia.

"So as long as Lord Ye captures Xiping Mansion now, as long as we don't get lost, we will be able to meet Lord Ye in Xiping Mansion." Yelu Yixue poured it into his mouth regardless of the wind and snow, and continued to say loudly next to the silent Yelu Yue in a vague voice: "Your Highness, I believe that Lord Ye will also send scouts from Xiping Mansion to my Great Liao, maybe when we don't reach Kedun City, we will be able to meet with Lord Ye's scouts, and then you can borrow troops from Lord Ye, and the last general is willing to lead troops to recover my Great Liao King City......." ”

Yelu Yue, whose hands and feet were already frozen on horseback and were about to lose consciousness, was still silent, and she didn't know Yelu Yixue's words, how much she listened, her red cheeks gradually gave birth to red bloodshot because of tears and cold weather, and the originally bright and beautiful eyes were godless and desperate at this time, and her long eyelashes were covered with white snowflakes.

The left and right front and back are all the soldiers of the Loose Army with straight waists, using their tall bodies to shelter Yeluyue in the middle from the wind and snow, and the numb Yeluyue stars are surrounded in the center like holding the moon, and the difficulties along the way are still Yelu Yixue's hoarse voice, still saying this to her loudly, afraid that she will fall asleep because of it.

The goose-featherlike snow drifted from the Liao Kingdom to the sky above Xiping Mansion, Mo Xiaobao scolded and walked into the military tent, drank the liquor in front of Liu Keshi in one gulp, and then sat on the chair.

Liu Keshi wrinkled his nose slightly, and could faintly feel the faint smell of blood on Mo Xiaobao's body: "How many more have you killed?" ”

"Seventeen." Mo Xiaobao poured himself a glass of wine again and drank it all again, and then said with a calm face: "There must be a defeated army of Xia in Xiping Mansion, they must be pretending to be ordinary people, always ready to stab us in the back, it is simply impossible to prevent it." ”

"It would be nice if it didn't snow, and when the supplies arrived, I would have a way to tell whether it was a defeated army or a common man." Liu Keshi sighed regretfully, since the wind and snow in the Great Northwest were able to slow down the Mongols, it also allowed them to slow down the speed of all supplies.

Of course, fortunately, before the first heavy snowfall came, they finally took Xiping Mansion, the westernmost section of the Xia Kingdom, as they wished, and in the half day when the heavy snow stopped, Zhong Silkworm and Tian Lin had already taken a small group of troops to sneak out of Xiping Mansion and began to go in the direction of Kedun City in Liao Kingdom.

It's just that not long after they left, snowflakes began to float in the gray sky again, and Liu Keshi, who picked up another wine glass, sighed, and then said: "I don't know what happened to Zhong Silkworm and Tian Lin, it's been two days, right?" ”

"Do you have any way to tell if it's the defeated army of the Xia Kingdom or the people? It's only three days tomorrow, and when they leave Xiping Mansion, it's either an endless desert or an endless grassland, and it's too difficult for the two of them to find Princess Chengli. Let alone....... Mo Xiaobao didn't say any more, but continued to drink.

In fact, whether it is Mo Xiaobao or Liu Keshi, or Zhong Silkworm and Tian Lin who went out of the city to look for Yeluyue, they all know that the possibility of finding Yeluyue is almost zero, and what they are doing now is not only because of the relationship between Yeluyue and Ye Qing, but also because of the love that Mo Xiaobao and Zhong Silkworm had experienced on the grassland with Yeluyue back then.

But now no one knows whether Princess Chengli of Liao has escaped from the royal city, or whether she still stays in the royal city, and even whether the Liao royal city has been broken by the Mongols, they are not very clear.

"Lord Ye said that Princess Chengli may ask for help from our side when the royal city is broken. So I thought, is there something that Lord Ye should know, or is it ...... Princess Chengli sent a letter to Lord Ye asking for help, so Lord Ye and Mrs. Ye ....... Liu Keshi thought about it with his wine glass.

"You haven't answered my question yet, what can you do...... Mo Xiaobao suddenly became a little absent-minded and asked again.

"Nature is a temptation." Liu Keshi smiled quite cunningly and said: "You are attacking cities on the front line, but almost all the cities you capture are appeased by me, whether it is the original Shandong and Bianjing roads, or Jingzhaofu and Hetao three roads, almost all of them are in accordance with my method of luring and benefiting to screen the difference between the defeated army and the people." ”

"How to screen? Didn't you say that troubled times should be re-enacted? Since you want to lure them to profit, why have you been supporting me to suppress them with killing for the past few days? Mo Xiaobao frowned and asked.

"There's no way, the situation in Xiping Mansion before was naturally suppressed by killing, but now those remnants of the army are still hidden among the people, so it is naturally inappropriate to suppress it by killing, and it may even backfire. However, once a large amount of grain and grass arrives, and because of the heavy snowfall, we can distribute food and supplies for the winter to screen everyone in the city. In this way, those defeated troops will not be able to hide no matter what. Liu Keshi said with a smile.

"It's no wonder that in various cities, the soldiers who stayed behind to help you pacify will say that you Liu Keshi is damaged, it turns out that you distributed the supplies of the army?" Mo Xiaobao glanced disdainfully.

"When this kind of thing is said, it seems very simple, but there are still many doorways in it. In your opinion, I sent a lot of food, and then calmed the people's hearts, and it was not worth it. But do you know that there is a saying that others respect me, and I should respect others? Liu Keshi asked inscrutablely.

"What do you mean?" Mo Xiaobao said curiously.

"The wool always comes from the sheep, and I give food to appease the people, but after I have appeased the poor people, I can go to the rich and noble families in the city to ask for food. If you think about it, if I give the people a hundred catties of grain, I can appease almost all the people in the city, and at this time, I am going to the mansions of these wealthy nobles and wealthy merchants to ask for food, how much food do you think I can receive? Do you think the people are facing me or them at this time? Liu Keshi said with a smile.

Mo Xiaobao instantly moved the wine jug to the side, and then said with a disdainful face: "Liu Keshi, you are really fucking bad." ”

"This is what Lord Ye taught me, saying that the people who can't be offended the most in this world are the people, and the people are also the best to fool, as long as you take the interests of the people as the ultimate benefit, of course, this is just a slogan, you must shout it to make the people believe and know." Then, as long as you have a good relationship with the people, then you can also unite the people, choose to stand with the people, and grab the wealth of those local tyrants and inferior gentry. It's called the people's war, the people's war. Liu Keshi said with a smile.

"Then it's no wonder, when it comes to yin damage, I still admire adults alone in this world." Mo Xiaobao looked at Liu Keshi and said with a wicked smile.

"I didn't hear this, you Mo Xiaobao is a dead pig and is not afraid of boiling water, I, Liu Keshi, don't dare to say that." This time, Liu Keshi held a wine glass and hid Mo Xiaobao far away.

"Then let's do it, tomorrow you try your method, if it is feasible, you will stay in the Xiping Mansion Lord to appease, and I will ......." Mo Xiaobao put away the evil smile when he said bad things about Ye Qing just now, and said, "In any case, Princess Chengli has a great kindness to me and Zhong Silkworm, and I, Mo Xiaobao, must not sit here and wait all the time." Although there are still Mongolians outside, didn't you Liu Keshi also win a few battles in Zhongwei and Jingtai? So how about leaving this Xiping Mansion to you to deal with? ”

"If the three generals of you all run away, the adults will know that they will be dealt with by military law, and now that Tian Lin and Zhong Silkworm have left Xiping Mansion, they have already disobeyed the orders of the adults. The adults just let us wait in Xiping Mansion, and did not let us go out of the ...... Xiping Mansion. ”

"The general will not be subject to foreign military orders, besides, what have you heard of the words of the Lord and the Lady? Have you forgotten what you did two days ago? Who sat helplessly in the snow? Mo Xiaobao said with a glare.

"Yes...... Tian Lin and Zhong Silkworm have already gone out, if you leave again, what if the Mongols really attack Xiping Mansion? Besides, it's snowing heavily, where are you going to go out? Liu Keshi instantly became a little masterless.

If Mo Xiaobao is in Xiping Mansion, then he still has some bottom in his heart about what he does, whether there will be a riot in the city, or there will be Mongols attacking the city outside the city, at least these things will have real generals to call the shots. And he, as long as he does what he is best at, it is enough to relieve the worries of Mo Xiaobao and others.

What's more, what level he Liu Keshi led the troops, others may not know, but he himself knows it clearly, and he was able to win a few battles, which is completely shit luck, and it has nothing to do with ability at all, okay!

"I'll just walk around a short distance outside the city, and make sure that I don't run out of a distance of twenty miles from Xiping, how about it?" Mo Xiaobao looked at Liu Keshi and tugged at his sleeve nervously, as if he was afraid that he would disappear out of thin air in the next moment.

"Don't talk?" Liu Keshi asked seriously.

"What am I lying to you for? Besides, if I lied to you, you could sue me in front of Lord Ye, right? Mo Xiaobao said with a serious face.

"I ...... I still don't quite believe you. Liu Keshi said uneasily, and then watched Mo Xiaobao diligently pour him wine.

"I still want my head Mo Xiaobao, and I don't want to be peeled off by adults, do you think I really dare not listen to anything? Of course, I know the importance of Xiping Mansion, that is, to go around, to turn around places that Zhong Silkworm and Tian Lin couldn't think of, in case we can really meet Princess Chengli, then we will make a great contribution in front of Lord Ye. Mo Xiaobao enlightened.

"Your Excellency won't give you credit for this matter, not to mention that even if you find Princess Chengli, you don't dare to say that you found it outside Xiping City. Don't think that I don't know your careful thoughts with Zhong Silkworm and Tian Lin, if you find Princess Chengli, you will definitely beg Princess Chengli to say that she met in Xiping Mansion in front of Lord Ye. But...... Forget it, I admit it, but you really can't run far. Looking at Mo Xiaobao's thumbs up at him, Liu Keshi finally said helplessly.

It is not surprising that a princess of Liao can get Ye Qing's joy, after all, Lord Ye has always liked to collect beauties, and even Princess Xin, who was peerless and famous back then, has now become Lord Ye's wife.

So Ye Qing wanted to save Princess Chengli of Liao, Liu Keshi could understand, but what he didn't expect was that Mo Xiaobao and Zhong Silkworm were so admired and grateful to the princess of Liao, although he knew some things about planting flowers and soldiers back then, but he still felt a little incredible.

It was precisely because of Liu Keshi's curiosity about Yeluyue that Liu Keshi persuaded himself that he was willing to stay alone in Xiping Mansion, which might be attacked by the Mongols, and let Mo Xiaobao also go out of the city to find Princess Chengli of the Liao Kingdom.