Upstairs at the South Gate.

Li Li squinted his eyes slightly with a calm expression, stared at the railing under the city, and watched quietly, as if he was thinking.

Behind him, Xu Huang, who hurriedly ran up to the city tower, was stopped by Teng Xiao, and then the two walked to the corner and whispered.

"Ahh This 、、、 general is terrified, lest he will have the high hopes of the general. On the side corner of the city tower, after Teng Xiao relayed Li Li's words to Xu Huang, Xu Huang was quite surprised, and said in a low voice in fear.

Teng Xiao smiled slightly, waved his hand and said, "Gongming doesn't have to be like this. The lord is known as a discerning person, and so far he has not lost it. Let me tell you this, but all the civil and military generals who are appreciated by the lord must be entrusted with important tasks, and those who are suspicious are not used, and those who are not suspicious are not suspicious. You may not know that many of the generals in our army have been promoted by the lord recently; There are a few in front of me: Du Lieutenant Xu Ding and Su Gu, Captain He Yi, Right Army Division Guo Jia, etc., all of them.

In addition, there are also the new Anbei generals Zhou Yu, Bingzhou Assassin Shi Lusu, Du Wei Xu Chu, Chen Zhi and He Man, etc., the same. These generals and ministers were recently recruited by the lords, and were immediately put to good use, and they were all good performers, and they would soon be promoted again. ”

Speaking of this, Teng Xiao patted Xu Huang on the shoulder and said in a low voice: "Just now, the lord also said that he would temporarily appoint you as General Pei and receive the Jin Qiwei Left Army Sima, but this is only a temporary arrangement, as long as you can make new achievements in the next battle, it will be adjusted again at that time." So, don't have any worries, you can do whatever the lord tells you to do, and don't worry about other things. ”

"Ugh!" Xu Huang was stunned when he heard this, and hesitated: "The last general was not even a county soldier before, but now he was suddenly transferred to serve in the Lord's personal guard, which is too sudden and a little unbelievable. ”

Teng Xiao shook his head and said with a smile: "Gongming, it seems that you really don't know anything about the lord's style. That's why it feels like something happened suddenly, and you will be suspicious. Then let me tell you, today, the lord is full of words, words must be done, deeds must be fruitful, although he is not the Son of Heaven, but it is more effective than the holy decree of the Son of Heaven. In our Xiliang army, the lord is the supreme existence in the hearts of the officers and men of the whole army, and every word he says must be strictly implemented, and no one can question it. We must not disobey military orders, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable.

Therefore, any general appointed by the lord himself, regardless of his origin and what he has done before. The soldiers will gladly obey it, and they will definitely not disobey it. Criticize the military orders of the lord. Therefore. Your worries are unnecessary, and in the future, you just need to live up to the trust of the lord and do your best to do what the lord commands. ”

The words changed sharply, and Teng Xiao smiled and said: "As for the Hedong County soldiers where you were before, they have not yet been included in the sequence of our army, and they are not under the name of the county soldiers. In the words of the lord, it is a straggler who manages daily security. At present, our army has more than 400,000 soldiers and horses in name, but in fact, only half of them are actually incorporated into the main battle camp sequence, and the rest are all incorporated into the county government soldiers.

However, in this battle of Sili, the lord used a large number of county soldiers to participate in the battle. After the war, it will definitely be reorganized and the infantry battalion will be expanded. Therefore, there will be a lot of change at that time, and many generals will be transferred out of the original barracks, and correspondingly, a large number of generals will also get the opportunity to take charge of themselves. I hope you can seize the opportunity to take charge of the future and lead a battalion of people alone, not only for yourself, but also for the Lord to fight for the world! ”

Teng Xiao's words can be described as heartfelt and unreserved, which moved Xu Huang and made his gratitude indescribable.

"The general's kindness, Xu Huang will never forget it, and he will repay it in the future." Xu Huang said excitedly.

Teng Xiao shook his head lightly and said with a smile: "Gongming's words are wrong. In fact, I didn't do anything, just a gesture, and the person who really has the grace of knowing you is not me, but the lord. In the future, you just need to do your best to be loyal to the lord, as for the repaying kindness, you can't mention it again in the future, otherwise wouldn't I, Teng Xiao, become a villain who wants to repay his kindness and only seek profit? Hehehe! ”

After speaking, Teng Xiao waved his hand to signal that Xu Huang didn't need to say much, and then took Xu Huang into the city tower and walked gently to Li Li's side.

"Lord, Xu Huang is here."

Hearing Teng Xiao's report, a smile appeared on Li Li's calm face, and he slowly turned around and waved his hand to signal that Teng Xiao did not have to be formal.

"The last general, Xu Huang, greets the lord!" At the same time as Li Li turned around, Xu Huang leaned down and bowed.

Li Li walked in front of Xu Huang in one step, stretched out his hand to help him up, and said with a smile: "Gongming is calm and calm, brave and brave, save Wang Fang, fight against the enemy generals Huang Gai and Cheng Pu, and win the battle." I have just seen all this, and the meritorious service of the generals has greatly boosted the morale of our army, and he can be called the talent of a general. is such a handsome talent, but he was buried in the county soldiers before, which is really a jewel covered in dust, which is my Li Li's fault. ”

"The Lord is serious, and the last general will not dare to take it." Xu Huang's cheeks were slightly red, he bowed in response, and then looked up at Li Li.

"Ahh At this look, Xu Huang was greatly surprised, he almost couldn't believe his eyes, he never expected that the legendary all-powerful hussar general Li Li would be so young, handsome, with a lovely smile, as sunny and handsome as the big man next door, approachable. This is not in line with his imagination of Li Li's image, once he subconsciously thought that Li Li should be a stern person with a cold demeanor, a young man and a very majestic person. However, when he really saw Li Li himself, he realized that he was very wrong, knowing that Li Li was not very old, but he instinctively ignored his age, so that the imaginary person did not match Li Li in front of him at all.

"Do I look very young, very different from the image of the lord in Komeito's mind?" Seeing Xu Huang's surprised look on his face, Li Li asked with a smile.

Xu Huang heard that his voice changed, and he immediately bowed down and saluted, and said frankly: "The lord's eyes are like torches, and the last general is indeed a little surprised, I didn't expect the lord to be so young and handsome." ”

"Hahaha!" Li Li was slightly stunned when he heard this, but he laughed heartily, picked up Xu Huang casually, and said with a smile: "Gongming, you are the first military general to praise me for my good looks in person!" If someone else said that, I would think that he was deliberately flattering me, but when this sentence came out of your mouth Xu Huang, I think it was a big truth and pleasant. ”

After speaking, seeing that Xu Huang was about to bow down again, Li Li grabbed him and said with a smile: "Gongming doesn't have to be formal. Today, we and the other ministers met for the first time, and we still don't know each other, and you will know who I Li Li is in the future. That's right. Does the injury on Komeito's back matter? ”

"Thank you for your concern, the end will be fine." Xu Huang replied.

Li Li bowed his head and said, "That's fine." Presumably Yunlong has explained to you, from now on you are the Sima of Jin Yiwei's left army, and you are at the disposal of Zicheng. I don't know what the public wills? ”

"No!" Xu Huang bowed down to receive the order, and then seemed to think of something, his expression was a little hesitant, as if he was hesitant.

"It's okay to be clear, but it's okay to speak." Li Li smiled.

Xu Huang was slightly surprised when he heard this, and said respectfully: "The lord is good, the last general originally had a battalion of men, and more than 300 of them have followed the last general for many years. Like brothers. Now that the last general has been able to enter the Golden Guards thanks to the appreciation of the Lord, I wonder what will happen to them in the future? ”

Li Li bowed slightly, and said with a smile: "Gongming values love and righteousness, he is really a real man!" However, whether your soldiers can enter the Jin Yiwei depends on whether they have excellent skills, if they are qualified to enter the Jin Qiwei. I grant you permission to incorporate them into your own army; If their skills are not good, they will be included in the order of the county soldiers. This matter will be assessed by Zicheng who will return to the camp with you. Yunlong is in charge of the aftermath. What does Komeito think? ”

"Thank you, Lord!" Xu Huang bowed over joy and thanked him.

"Hmm. Komeito is wounded, so let's go down and rest. Li Li smiled and waved his hand.

Xu Huang looked surprised, and said respectfully: "Now that the war is about to break out, how can the last general stay out of the matter, please allow the last general to stay behind and defend the city!" ”

Li Li smiled when he heard this, nodded and said, "It's okay." Since Komeito insists on this, then stay! ”

After speaking, Li Li slowly turned around and walked to the front of the city tower, watching the battle between Ma Chao and Sun Ce in front of the city.

Then. Guo Jia, who had never spoken, whispered to Li Li: "I underestimated Sun Ce before, mistakenly thinking that he was a brave and unscrupulous person, but now it seems that this is not the case. Just now, he actually stirred up right and wrong in front of the two armies, trying to extract some secrets of our army from General Ma Chao's mouth, but Ma Chao didn't want to talk to him at all, they didn't speculate with each other, and they fought together without saying a word. However, this Sun Ce is really good, he can actually fight with General Ma Chao for forty rounds without winning or losing, and this posture can support at least dozens of rounds. From this point of view, Sun Ce is really a brave and resourceful person, and he should not be underestimated! ”

"Oh, that's it?" Li Li was stunned when he heard this, and after thinking for a while, he chuckled: "Sun Ce and his father Sun Jian have extremely similar personalities, their father and son have fought side by side for several years, so Sun Jian's influence on Sun Ce is very great, almost deep-rooted, and it is difficult to change. Sun Bofu is arrogant by nature and proud to the core, but arrogance does not mean that he lacks resourcefulness, let alone impulsive and reckless. But he has a fatal flaw, that is, he would rather bend than bend, and he will not bow to anyone at all except his biological parents. Because of this, he ran into walls everywhere before, so that he had nowhere to settle down, so he had to throw himself into Yuan Shu's account.

However, this son is by no means a subordinate to others, and he never forgets to inherit Sun Jian's last wish, divide Jiangdong, and establish a hegemony. It's just that what makes me wonder is that Yuan Shu has always been stingy and has been very strict with Sun Ce, why did he hand over 20,000 horses to Sun Ce this time and let him lead his troops to join the alliance? This move doesn't look like Yuan Shu's style of doing things, when did he become so generous? ”

After Guo Jia heard this, his brows moved slightly, and under the rapid turn of his mind, a sudden look flashed in his eyes. Then he asked softly: "Has the lord ever heard of Sun Jian's invasion of the Luoyang Palace to find the heirloom jade seal?" ”

"Huh?" Li Li was stunned, and immediately remembered a memory that he had left behind, and the key word was the heirloom jade seal that fell into the hands of Sun's father and son, but this matter fell silent with Sun Jian's death, and no one has mentioned this matter in recent years. Because of this, Li Li put this matter behind him, and he didn't even connect Sun Ce with the jade seal of the country for a while.

"Feng Xiao means that the reason why Sun Ce was able to get 20,000 horses from Yuan Shu this time was that he mortgaged the heirloom jade seal that Sun Jian exchanged for his life to Yuan Shu, so as to borrow these soldiers and horses?"

"Exactly!" After hearing Li Li's inquiry, Guo Jia nodded happily in response, and sneered: "With Jiujiang Yuan Shu's personality, Hugh said that there are 20,000 soldiers and horses, even if it is 2,000 soldiers and horses, he will not hand them over to Sun Ce." Because he didn't trust Sun Ce at all, he didn't even trust the old subordinates left behind after Sun Jian's death, and he was wary of Sun Ce and others everywhere, for fear that they would rebel. Therefore, if Sun Ce wants to get soldiers and horses from Yuan Shu, he must come up with something that makes Yuan Shu excited, so that he can get what he wants. And Sun Ce is currently sending people under the fence, and his self-protection is not enough, how can he have valuable things to give to Yuan Shu. So. Now Sun Ce can still have this army in his hands, and there is only one explanation, that is, he dedicated the heirloom jade seal to Yuan Shu, so as to exchange for some soldiers and horses.

In addition, a jade seal alone may not be worth 20,000 horses, although Sun Ce is very willing, but Yuan Shu must be reluctant. Therefore, the reason why Sun Ce was able to bring 20,000 must have been due to Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others who repeatedly urged Yuan Shu to send troops to join the alliance. Yuan Shu was upset by them, but it was difficult to refuse outright. It was at this time that Sun Ce was willing to offer the jade seal of the country in exchange for the opportunity to lead the troops to join the alliance, so that under the matchmaking of the two, Sun Ce was able to get 20,000 horses from Yuan Shu to come to the alliance. ”

Li Li happily bowed his head and said: "20,000 horses, not too much, not too little." Even if Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others were not satisfied, they could not find an excuse to blame Yuan Shu. This is Yuan Shu's consistent style!

In the past, Chen stayed in the alliance. Yuan Shu took 20,000 soldiers and horses to participate in the alliance. got the position of a deputy alliance leader, responsible for the food and grass of the alliance army, but as a result, most of the grain and grass that was deducted was obtained by Yuan Shao, but Yuan Shu himself made a fuss, which made the princes of all walks of life extremely dissatisfied with him. So, if nothing else. Yuan Shu will definitely not come to the alliance again this time, so as not to be used by Yuan Shao again.

As the saying goes: there is nothing difficult in the world, only afraid of those who have a heart. Yuan Shu, who made up his mind not to send troops, was stabbed by Sun Ce halfway. Skillfully borrowed the secret letter of Yuan Shao and others, and then exchanged a stone for 20,000 soldiers and horses from Yuan Shu's hands. The jade seal of the country is in line with Yuan Shu's appetite, Sun Ce, this kid finally opened his mind after being stimulated, two years in advance! ”

"Two years? What does the lord mean by two years? Guo Jia asked with a stunned expression.

"Ugh!" Li Li woke up when he heard the sound and smiled vaguely: "It's nothing." I mean, if I had been given two more years, we wouldn't have been as passive as we are now. ”

"Oh, I see." Guo Jia nodded happily and said thoughtfully: "What the lord said is good. Now that we have just solved the problem of lack of food and grass, and we have a lot of money, if we have two more years to prepare, we will be able to build more sophisticated weapons and armor, equip the whole army, and even expand the number of soldiers and horses by another 100,000. At that time, even if the princes of the Central Plains unite, we will be able to defeat them head-on, and then sweep the Central Plains and sweep the states.

It's a pity that the facts are not as good as they should be. Today, although our army is not much less than that of the Allies, its ordnance reserves are obviously insufficient. In the territory of Sili, the allied forces have no advantage at all, even if they win, the gains outweigh the losses, their own soldiers and horses have too many casualties, and they are still unable to capture the states of the Central Plains, but will leave an opportunity for Yuan Shao, Cao Cao and others to catch up. It is precisely because of this that our army will retreat again and again this time, avoid a head-on confrontation with the allies, take the opportunity to drag them down, exhaust them, and then rely on the Xiongguan Tianwei to defeat the allies in one fell swoop and win the final victory. Only in this way can we minimize the casualties of our army and preserve our strength for the subsequent battle against the Central Plains. ”

After Li Li heard this, he bowed his head happily, but in fact, he was secretly smiling bitterly in his heart. In fact, the two years he just said meant that Sun Ce's use of the jade seal of the country to borrow troops from Yuan Shu should have happened two years later, but now it has been two years ahead of schedule, which has completely changed history, and the history in Li Li's memory has completely changed. It was also from this meeting of the princes of the Central Plains that the history of the Eastern Han Dynasty that Li Li was familiar with was completely subverted, and everything that happened after that would become unpredictable and confusing, the only thing that remained unchanged was that the princes and heroes of all walks of life were still those people that Li Li knew well.

It's just that what Li Li didn't expect was that after Guo Jia heard the word two years ago, he actually analyzed the shape so thoroughly, and even directly said the strategy of dealing with the enemy in this battle of Sili in front of the generals. This made Li Li secretly smile bitterly, faintly worried that if he leaked the strategy to resist the enemy, the consequences would be unimaginable. Fortunately, all the generals on the city tower are Li Li's cronies, and the only general who is not a cronie is Xu Huang, who has just been brought under his command.

And the reason why Li Li kept Xu Huang by his side was to facilitate the observation of his conduct and character. Although Xu Huang was a loyal person in history, Li Li still believed in his eyes more. After all, it is better to see than to hear, and to know his people has to watch his deeds, until he is truly confirmed that Xu Huang is truly loyal to him, Li Li will entrust him with important responsibilities and regard him as a trusted general who can be entrusted with big things.

It's not that Li Li is suspicious by nature, it's that the world is chaotic, and everyone is adjusting their position as the situation changes. In troubled times, people are unpredictable, history has changed, and who can be sure that the people who created this history will not change with it. Therefore, in a cautious manner, Li Li usually kept the newly recruited major generals by his side, which not only made them feel very respected, but also made it easier for Li Li to observe their temperament nearby, and also to understand their talents and shortcomings, and then arrange them in the position where they could make the most use of their talents.

Why not do it?

Because of this, most of the generals of the Xiliang Army came from Jin Yiwei, and all of them worshiped the generals and reused them.

In fact, not only Li Li is like this, but everyone in the world is like this; Leaders give the first choice to confidants, and ordinary people will also choose people who have a good relationship with them to entrust them with big things. No matter how things change in the world and how dynasties change, people are of the same mind and the same reason.

―――――――――――― (To be continued)(To be continued......