Yesterday there were dark clouds, but now the sky is clear.

After all, the dark clouds that had been condensing all day did not brew heavy rain, and the next morning, the morning glow crossed the sky, and the morning mist shrouded the mountains and rivers.

The first wisps of the morning are sprinkled to the world, Chang'an City ushers in the arrival of a new day, and the haze that squeezed on the hearts of many people yesterday dissipates, just like the dawn of the night.

North Gate Campus.

In five days, an imposing altar was erected, nine feet nine feet high, and the steps were divided into five levels, each with four steps.

Huge tripods are placed on both sides of the altar, the high case is backed by the eastern sun, and the incense burner and three animal sacrifices are placed on the table.

In front of the altar, more than 50,000 soldiers of the Jinyi Guard's war cavalry, bow and crossbow battalions, baggage battalions and county soldiers are all lined up, and there are tens of thousands of defenders of the imperial city around, with guns and halberds.

This time, Li Li's army claimed that there were 100,000 war cavalry, plus the soldiers of Beidi County and the tiger camp stationed in Beidi, known as 150,000 troops, which was comparable to the strength of Yu Fuluo's army.

At three o'clock, the army was assembled, and the generals who accompanied the army all rode their horses and stood in front of the queue, looking up at the Ninety-Five Supreme Altar in front of them.

Under the altar, at the front of the army, all the civil and military generals under the command of the hussar general were present. Among them, there are six people standing in the first row, they are: Jia Xu, the left army division, Guo Jia, the right army division, Li Xuan, Li Ru, the servant, Lu Su, and Zhou Yu, the left middle general. The second row is the generals who went out this time, Zhang Liao, Cao Xing, Xu Chu, Chen Dao, Hu Che'er and dozens of generals above the rank of captain.

"It's still early, Gongjin doesn't have to be so strict, Zijing is the same, relax, it's just a matter of swearing to go on the expedition, it's not worth so much trouble."

At this moment, Guo Jia, Zhou Yu and Lu Su were standing on the left. And Jia Xu, Li Xuan, and Li Ru stood on the right. Zhou Yu and Lu Su, who experienced such a battle for the first time, stood with their heads held high, their postures straight, and their expressions solemn. Comparatively speaking, Guo Jia, who has long been accustomed to going out with the army, is much more relaxed and natural, turning his head from time to time to look around, and persuading Zhou Yu and Lu Su not to be so formal, they can completely relax their minds and save themselves from standing with back pain before they have even set off.

Zhou Yu stood on Guo Jia's left, and Lu Su stood on his right, seeing such a grand occasion. Guo Jia actually spoke lightly, and the two of them were immediately stunned, and turned their heads to look at Guo Jia with a rather incomprehensible expression.

"Why did Feng Xiao say this? The oath of the army has been the most solemn ceremony for the generals throughout the ages, and it is the supreme honor of our peers. Shouldering a sacred mission can not be regarded as child's play? Zhou Yu turned his head and whispered to Guo Jia.

Guo Jia nodded when he heard this. He said softly: "What Gong Jin said is not bad at all. Worship heaven and earth. Going out in blood is naturally the glory of our life, and I know this. However, this oath is indeed different from the past, and the deep meaning is quite intriguing, and naturally it is not worthy of such a solemn treat. ”

"Oh? I would like to hear about it. Zhou Yu and Lu Su were stunned and listened to Guo Jia's next explanation.

Guo Jia smiled slightly. He said softly: "Actually, this sacrificial expedition ceremony can be completed by the lord alone, and there is no need to invite the Son of Heaven to go to the altar to worship the heavens." However, the lord did just that. Surrender such prestige to the Son of Heaven. This is quite intriguing, very strange, and completely inconsistent with the actions of the lord in recent days. The two of you know why the lord intends to raise the prestige of the Son of Heaven this time? ”

Lu Su and Zhou Yu looked at each other in surprise, and then Lu Su said in a low voice: "The matter mentioned by Feng Xiao, I also discussed it privately with Gong Jin yesterday, but I didn't know what it was after all. Normally speaking, as Feng Xiao said, this time the lord personally took command of the expedition, there is no need to invite the Son of Heaven at all, it is completely possible to directly allocate soldiers and horses, mobilize grain and grass to swear to go to the expedition. However, the lord mobilized the people to build an altar and sacrifice to heaven and earth, and missed a few days in vain, giving the army of Yu Fuluo a chance to breathe, and it was inevitable that he would be a little suspicious of delaying the warplane. It's just that the lord insists on doing so, and it is inconvenient for us as courtiers to advise, so we can only obey the order. ”

Guo Jia chuckled when he heard this, and said, "Zijing's words are untrue. If Zijing really felt that the lord's move was inappropriate, he was afraid that he would have made a direct statement and asked the lord to take back his fate. I wonder if I'm wrong? ”

Lu Su's expression changed slightly, and he nodded lightly and said: "The military advisor's eyes are like torches, and he can guess as soon as he guesses." I did guess a half-claw, but I couldn't figure it out, so I hesitated and didn't give advice to my lord. Gong Jin is the same, so neither of us took the initiative to ask the lord for the reason. ”

Zhou Yu happily continued: "What Zijing said is just as I think. What the lord has done in the past few days is quite intriguing, not only deliberately suppressing the Son of Heaven, but then lifting it out to establish his prestige after suppression, which is unexpected and unpredictable. I wonder if the military advisor can solve the doubts of the two? ”

Guo Jia nodded slightly and said in a low voice: "Zijing and Gongjin don't have to be so polite. The two of you are new to Xiliang and don't know enough about many things, so it's hard to make accurate judgments. In fact, the reason why the lord invited the Son of Heaven to preside over the expedition ceremony this time was not to deliberately elevate the prestige of the Son of Heaven, but to borrow the name of the Son of Heaven to warn the princes of the world not to take advantage of the chaos to rob and send troops to attack and disturb our Xiliang border. Because I am waiting to go out to fight the barbarian army, it is a famous division, and it is actually a righteous army, and it is to contribute to the Han Dynasty, which is different from the disputes and wars of the princes. If someone takes the opportunity to rob my Xiliang border, it is to help the barbarians to abuse and indirectly help the barbarians to become enemies of our Han Dynasty, and they are really Han thieves, and then they will be spurned by the people of our Han Dynasty.

However, if you want to achieve the effect of intimidating the princes of the world, you must only do it if the Son of Heaven personally ascends the altar to worship the heavens. After all, although there is chaos today, most of the people still regard themselves as the people of the Han family, and the Son of Heaven represents the orthodoxy of the Han family. Therefore, the lord must give up the matter of going to the altar to worship the heavens to the Son of Heaven, no matter what happens in the future, at least for now, this little emperor is still the irreplaceable true dragon son of heaven in my Han world. ”

"I see." Zhou Yu and Lu Su nodded suddenly, and after thinking about it for a while, they already knew it in their hearts, and they agreed with Guo Jia's explanation.

As Guo Jia said, there is no doubt that the Xiliang Army is the most powerful now. But there are many princes in the world, and there are many powerful princes, and the Xiliang army is not the only one. At present, the Xiliang army needs to face the Fuluo army head-on, and it is absolutely impossible to ignore the existence of the princes, let alone leave it behind. Otherwise, once Li Li personally led his troops to fight against the Yufu army, and the surrounding princes took advantage of the chaos to send troops to attack the border of the Xiliang army, the Xiliang army would be attacked by the enemy on its back, and the situation would be extremely passive, and the situation would be worrying.

After all, no matter how fierce the tiger is, it can't stand the wolves, and it will lose when the enemy is on its belly and back.

From this point of view, it is a wise move for Li Li to invite the Son of Heaven to go to the altar to sacrifice to the Heavenly Oath Master. Borrowing the banner of the Son of Heaven to deter the princes of the world, so that they do not dare to act rashly, after the destruction of the Fuluo barbarian army, the northern border of Xiliang can be completely settled. At that time, the Xiliang army will be able to free up its hands and concentrate on dealing with the princes of the Central Plains, and will not be afraid of any princes invading the Xiliang territory.

"Fengxiao seems to be unfinished, why not tell me in detail?" Just as Zhou Yu and Lu Su were secretly thinking about it, a gentle voice came from behind them.

"Meet the Lord!" Seeing Li Li, who was dressed in armor, walking slowly, Zhou Yu, Guo Jia, Jia Xu and others saluted one after another.

"You don't have to be polite, please get up." Li Li smiled and raised his hand, and said with a smile: "The Son of Heaven has not yet arrived, I will just catch up with the old days, and after the army sets off, I am afraid that we will not be able to meet within two or three months." ”

After the laughter, Li Li walked up to Guo Jia and said in a harmonious voice: "I have heard everything that Feng Xiaofang said, and it is very right, almost the same as I thought." However, I heard that Feng Xiao did not say the whole thing, and seemed to deliberately hide part of the truth. Am I right? ”

Guo Jia nodded lightly and asked softly, "Does the lord really want his subordinates to say all the fifteen and ten?" ”

"Uh, why not?" Li Li was slightly stunned and surprised.

Guo Jia bowed and said in a low voice: "In this case, the subordinates should obey the order, and they must know everything and say everything." In fact, the reason why the lord wants to invite the Son of Heaven to swear to go on the expedition is to use this to tell the world that we are fighting for heaven and defending the territory of the Han Dynasty. I would like to take this opportunity to warn some ill-intentioned princes in the Central Plains states that if they dare to violate our borders, they will be thieves of our Han people, and the lord will definitely fight against them.

In addition, the lord suspected that the invasion of Beidi County by the Yufu Barbarian army must have been the result of instigation by some princes of the Central Plains. It must have been they who secretly financed Yu Fuluo to send troops to invade the territory, causing our army to fall into the quagmire of fighting against the barbarians and unable to extricate themselves, thus destroying our long-term strategy of recuperating in Xiliang and taking the opportunity to weaken the strength of our army. If the war does not go well, they will also take advantage of the chaos to send troops to attack our Xiliang territory, further encroaching on our Xiliang territory, leaving us with the enemy on our backs, internal and external difficulties, and eventually our strength will be greatly damaged, and we will not be able to send troops to the Central Plains. I don't know if what my subordinates said is true, please make it clear? ”

Li Li smiled and nodded, and said approvingly: "What Feng Xiao said is exactly what I want." Thinking that Yu Fuluo is just the right virtuous king of the Southern Xiongnu in exile, although he led the position of the Southern Xiongnu alone, he was excluded by the nobles of the Southern Xiongnu tribe, and he was not even allowed to step into the territory. Why did such a down-and-out person unite with all his troops to invade my Xiliangbian County? If it were not for the secret funding of the princes of the Central Plains, the old king of the Southern Xiongnu and the Xianbei and Qiang tribes in the west would not have formed an alliance with them at all, let alone send so many troops to invade our borders. ”

Speaking of this, the expression on Li Li's face became gloomy and fierce, and he said in a deep voice: "Therefore, the enemy we have to face this time is definitely not only the Fuluo barbarian army, the truly powerful enemy is still dormant and waiting. As soon as our army and Yuvro's army are locked in a stalemate, these ill-intentioned masterminds will immediately become apparent and launch a major attack on us. It is precisely for this reason that our army should not attack the barbarian army too many troops this time, and even do not hesitate to use county soldiers to participate in the war; instead of being able to draw troops from various places, we should secretly strengthen our troops and actively prepare for war. ”

Li Li's words surprised everyone, and suddenly everyone's hearts seemed to be shrouded in a lingering haze, which made people feel depressed and worried.

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