To this day, "Xiaochen" has been in Zongheng for a whole year, and I am very grateful to the brothers and sisters who collected, read, cheered, and commented on "Xiaochen".

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"Command!"

Li Zhuo knelt in front of the incense case and listened to Zhang Ximiao read the holy decree, stood up with his knees, and knelt on the ground for a short time, as if he had exhausted all the energy he had left, stood up, staggered, and almost fell to the cold ground.

Li Zhuo took the holy decree, held it in his hand, stood firm, ignored Zhang Ximiao, stared at Hao Zongcheng with bloodshot eyes, and said word by word: "Liaoyang must not be beaten!" The Jizhen Army is the last reliance of the Dayue Dynasty, and it can't be taken lightly to take risks, I, Li Zhuo, will not hesitate to lose my reputation, you can't be a sinner of the imperial court through the ages! ”

Although Li Zhuo was an old man with exhausted energy at this time, when he spoke like this, his power made Hao Zongcheng unable to look at each other.

Hao Zongcheng turned his gaze away, and said with a sneer: "You are the boss, you say that you can't fight, naturally you can't fight." It's just that you and I, as courtiers, should share the worries of the court, we have already reached this point, and we can't hide in Songshan City and don't do anything. What does the Holy Lord think of you and me, and what do the guilds of the court think of you and me? ”

Among the generals in the tent, only Geng Quanshan and Chen Dingbang were Li Zhuo's cronies, and the other generals were cold-eyed, disdainful, unconvinced, and winked at each other......

Zhang Ximiao saw all this in his eyes, Geng Quanshan, Chen Dingbang and others were old generals in Eastern Fujian, and they were loyal to Li Zhuo, but the attitude of most of the other generals in Jizhen was worth playing.

During the period when Hao Zongcheng was in charge of Jizhen, these generals were corrupt and well-prepared, and all of them were proficient in enriching their own pockets.

After Li Zhuo took charge of Jizhen, he rectified the whole army, strictly enforced military law, and severely cracked down on the deduction of food and salary.

Although this move made Li Zhuo extremely prestigious among ordinary soldiers, and also significantly improved the combat power of the Jizhen army, the generals who were used to slackness and greed and pleasure were full of resentment towards it.

Emperor Chongguan's support for Li Zhuo was limited, and the biggest restriction was that if Li Zhuo wanted to adjust the rank of general above the battalion general, he had to get the approval of Hao Zongcheng, the military supervisor. This made it impossible for Li Zhuo to rectify the entire general system at all, and also made the entire general group of the Jizhen Army actually surround Hao Zongcheng.

"Withdraw your troops!" Li Zhuo was haggard, and sat on the handsome chair in the middle with the support of Geng Quanshan, and still tried his last hand to persuade Hao Zongcheng, "After leaving 10,000 soldiers to guard the Songshan Palace, the other 50,000 horses will immediately withdraw to Linyu, and prevent the captive cavalry in the direction of Datong from borrowing the road from Jinzhong to enter Yannan ......"

"Although the old man is not a general's material, he has been in the army for many years. At this time, it is the extremely cold season, even if the captives on the Datong side do not return to Liaoyang and want to play a play of encircling Wei to save Zhao, they must also have this ability," Hao Zongcheng said with a smile, "According to the news from the Datong side, the captives on the periphery of Datong have already been wiped out. It is difficult for them to return to Liaoyang, and what ability do they have to borrow from Jinzhong to re-enter Yannan...... Datong, Xuanfu and Jinzhong are not as generous as the previous two years, and the captives want to rely on looting to get food, I'm afraid they can't! I know that it will be very difficult for us to continue fighting, but the life of the Eastern Prisoner will not be better than ours, and the Holy Lord also expects you to fight the Liao and achieve eternal achievements. Today, you will be named the Duke of Yan Guo, and Liaoyang will be conquered, and the king with a different surname is just around the corner, at that time you are the second person besides Cao Hongfan, why are you unwilling to leave or right? ”

"If there was such a situation before the ninth year of Chongguan, or if you could barely fight, there would always be a chance of winning three or four percent," Li Zhuo persuaded bitterly, "If you rush into battle today, there is no chance of victory." The battle of the ten deaths, Lord Hao, do you still want to persist in the battle? You are not afraid of being buried in this cold place! ”

Li Zhuo's words were terrifying, which made Hao Zongcheng's back chill and made him very unhappy.

"The Holy Lord has high hopes for you, so let the Governor do it!" Hao Zongcheng dropped a sentence and walked out of Li Zhuo's handsome account. The military discussion broke up unhappily again, Zhang Ximiao, Yang Wenchang and others chased them out, and the generals also left one after another.

Li Zhuo sat on the handsome chair that was too wide, his thin hands grasping the armrests and trembling, which had consumed the last bit of energy in his body, making him look like an old man in his last years.

Geng Quanshan suppressed his voice and said, "Did I take someone to detain Hao Zongcheng and them!" ”

Li Zhuo shook his head weakly, he had never really mastered this Jizhen army, if he could do it, he would never delay it until today, if he could retain a little vitality for Da Yue, what would it be if he was ruined? At this time, Hao Zongcheng, Zhang Ximeng and others were forcibly detained, and without the Donghu people to fight, the entire Jizhen army would immediately fall apart.

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"Li Zhuo is not gut, the Holy Lord and the princes of the imperial court are all counting on you, Lord Hao......" Zhang Ximiao said in a suppressed voice.

"Jingli is all young and old, but they all look forward to the adults earning this merit to increase the face of the Inner Servant Province!" Yang Wenchang persuaded, "Li Zhuo, that timid child, compared to adults, how can He De be crowned a prince first?" ”

The bright candle in the room was feverish, and Hao Zongcheng's face was cloudy, and the secret decree brought by Yang Wenchang was lying in his arms.

Li Zhuo, although he is arrogant, but he has his own set of leading troops to fight, and Hao Zongcheng is still a little self-aware.

Hao Zongcheng thought that he was already the head of the Inner Servant Province, that is, he successfully defeated Liaoyang, there was a reward, there was no reward, it was of little significance, and the Dayue Dynasty did not have a precedent for ministers to worship the prime minister. If, as the old man said, Liaoyang is not so easy to gnaw and jumps out by himself, it will be to kick himself to the iron plate.

As long as it is possible, Hao Zongcheng still hopes that Li Zhuo will lead his troops to fight Liaoyang. It's just that this old man has a very hard temper, and there is no room for accommodation at all, which makes Hao Zongcheng hate it so much. Now that the secret decree has been brought over by Yang Wenchang, if he misses the fighter and lets the soldiers and horses of the Donghu people come back in Datong, he Hao Zongcheng will not be able to put the responsibility on Li Zhuo's head.

Hao Zongcheng hesitated in his heart, and Zhang Ximing said: "Do you invite the two generals Cheng and Yuan to come over to discuss?" ”

The reason why the secret purpose is the secret purpose cannot be revealed until the last critical moment. But seeing Li Zhuo's attitude, he was also unwilling to send troops, and Hao Zongcheng couldn't take too much care of it, so he called his cronies and asked him to secretly invite Cheng Tinggui and Yuan Lishan to come to his tent to discuss matters.

Cheng Tinggui and Yuan Lishan are both senior military attachés at the level of lieutenant of the light car, one as the town guard of Jizhou and the other as the town guard of Linyu Pass. Of the 60,000 soldiers and horses who marched north to Songshan this time, sixty percent of them were under his command. These two are also Hao Zongcheng's cronies in Jizhen.

Cheng Tinggui and Yuan Lishan quickly rushed over, but Hao Zongcheng was not in a hurry to give them the secret decree, but only asked them about their attitude towards sending troops to attack Liaoyang.

Yuan Lishan hesitated and said: "Posongshan City, it has been nearly a month, and the soldiers and horses of the Donglu in the direction of Datong have only shown signs of returning to help today, maybe it is really as Li Zhuo said, the Dongyu is not afraid of me to fight Liaoyang!" ”

"There are two thousand miles of road from Datong to Liaoyang, at this time, the northland is closed by heavy snow, and the road is much more difficult to walk than from Linyu to Songshan, and it is fast to be able to rush back within two months," Cheng Tinggui has his own opinion, "And the captives come back along the way, there are no supplies along the way, it is better to lay down Datong and force us to return to the division - Li Zhuo is afraid of this, isn't it the trap of the Dongyu?" At this time, seeing that Datong could not be attacked, the captives had no intention of returning to Liaoyang, which was normal. Fight Liaoyang here, it is better to be as fast as possible. Although the northland is closed by heavy snow, it will not take two months for the captives to rush back with a strong heart. ”

"Do you think you should fight Liaoyang?" Hao Zongcheng asked.

"It's all come to this point, how can there be any reason not to fight?" Cheng Tinggui said, "Isn't the Holy Lord urging to send troops? The brothers below also worked hard, but they gave Li Zhuo a lot of sharpness! ”

"What if it's not good to fight Liaoyang?" Yuan Lishan said, "Although Songshan was successfully won, Liaoyang is the royal capital of Dongyu after all, how can they not give up easily?" ”

"What if you don't give up easily? If you want to defend it, you have to have troops to defend it, and if you really have troops, who will easily abandon the risk of guarding the door? Cheng Tinggui said, "We should immediately push to Liaoyang City, even if we are not in a hurry to attack the city, we must besiege it, and we can set up a fortress under Liaoyang City to rest." When the Dongyu reinforcements return from Datong, we can wait for work and catch his mother off guard! If you let the soldiers and horses of Dongyu in Datong return to Liaoyang City, it will be too late to take regret medicine! ”

Zhang Ximiao glanced at Hao Zongcheng, and saw that the hesitation on his face became more and more solemn, as long as Yuan Lishan's words "In case it is unfavorable to fight Liaoyang" made him worried, he opened his mouth and said: "Even if it is unfavorable to fight Liaoyang, it is also Li Zhuo's delay and delay in the loss of the fighter, what does it have to do with the two generals?" Besides, if all the soldiers and horses on the front line of Linyu are transferred, even if they can't capture Liaoyang, it will be enough to take the cities around Liaoyang......"

Hao Zongcheng didn't believe that the Donglu still had many troops in Liaoyang, and after the battle of Chentangyi, the Donglu invaded the country and fought, and there were only 100,000 horsemen. This time, Dongyu had 100,000 soldiers and horses in Datong, and Songshan City lost another 5,000 or 6,000 soldiers and horses, and there would never be many soldiers and horses guarding Liaoyang.

Hao Zongcheng was not worried that the Dongyu who stayed in Liaoyang still had the ability to eat them, but he also did not have enough confidence to take Liaoyang City.

Liaoyang City is dangerous and big, if there are 20,000 or 30,000 defenders in the city, Hao Zongcheng is not fully sure that he will lead 60,000 soldiers and horses to capture Liaoyang City.

If it is not good to fight Liaoyang, who will carry this black pot?

This is the fundamental reason why Hao Zongcheng has been unable to make up his mind for a long time.

Zhang Ximiao's words went to his heart: if it was unfavorable to attack Liaoyang, it would naturally be because Li Zhuo delayed and delayed the fighter. Besides, if the soldiers and horses on the front line of Linyu are all transferred, even if Liaoyang cannot be defeated, a few more cities around Liaoyang will be attacked, and a lot of merits will be in hand!

Hao Zongcheng's clenched fist suddenly loosened, and said to Yuan Lishan and Cheng Tinggui: "Li Zhuo still doesn't rely on sending troops today, you all have witnessed it with your own eyes - you kneel, there is still an edict from the Holy One here......"

Zhang Ximao smiled in his heart: If Hao Zongcheng successfully defeated Liaoyang, the merits of Songshan's great victory would still be counted on Li Zhuo's head; If Hao Zongcheng is frustrated under Liaoyang City and retreats to Linyu after defeat, Li Zhuo can't escape from carrying this black cauldron!

There are not many people who can guess that Hao Zongcheng has a secret decree in his hands. Cheng Tinggui and Yuan Lishan were not included, and when they heard Hao Zongcheng say that there was still an edict in their hands, they looked at each other with surprise on their faces.

They were all promoted by Hao Zongcheng, and they were convinced of Hao Zongcheng's words, and they all knelt down to accept the order......