Since the Pingzhou defenders flew carrier pigeons to notify the others of their arrival, Li Zhongyong and Chen Liqiu arranged for their people to prepare two banquets in advance. The banquets were set up in the main hall of the government office, with a large table in the outer room and a small table in the inner room.

Son.

There were ten seats at the big table, and Datou and others sat in the outer room, accompanied by Chen Liqiu's cronies. Chen Liqiu originally had twelve loyal and brave officers. When Chen Liqiu entered Chang'an to avenge Miss Zhao, in order to cover Chen Liqiu's retreat, ten

Four of the two loyal and brave lieutenants took the initiative to stay behind, and eventually they were all killed. Originally there were supposed to be eight people left, but only six were seated.

He didn't know whether the other two were leading troops outside or died in the previous imperial expedition, but it was inconvenient for him to ask questions on such occasions.

Although he only glanced at the seats at the big table, Chen Liqiu had already guessed what he was thinking. He raised his hand and patted his shoulder, "Stop counting. There are no immortals in a war."

After hearing what Chen Liqiu said, he knew that the two absent men had been killed in battle. After sighing, he followed them to the back room.

The table in the back room is very small, with only three chairs placed. In fact, I was lucky before I came in. If four chairs were placed, it means that Takeda Mayumi is here. Takeda Mayumi has been jealous and despised by the Japanese. Indeed,

It was possible that he came to look for them, but it turned out that he thought too much and Takeda Mayumi was not here.

After entering the room, Li Zhongyong raised his finger and said, "Lao Wu, sit down and talk."

"Hurry up and sit down," Chen Liqiu casually pushed Li Zhongyong to the upper seat, "Even if you give it to him, can he sit down?"

"Yes, yes, that's what Third Senior Brother said." He sat at the last table.

Chen Liqiu took his seat last and called for the food to be served.

"Third Senior Brother, Fourth Senior Sister, have you been here?" He was very worried about Takeda Mayumi.

"No," Chen Liqiu shook his head and said, "Our life is very difficult, and you can't expect anything good to greet you. We managed to get a sheep and a chicken. There are many people in the outhouse, and the sheep

Give it to them and give us the chicken."

"You have come all the way and we can't give you anything decent to entertain you. It's really rude." Li Zhongyong said.

"Second Senior Brother, what are you talking about? I'm not here to eat." He picked up the teapot and poured tea for the two of them. "You can't starve me even if you don't eat. We all carry dry food with us."

Chen Liqiu sat sideways and tilted his head, "Second brother, why are you so polite to him? Not to mention he is a prince, even if he becomes the emperor, we are still his senior brothers."

He nodded repeatedly, poured tea for the two of them, and sat down again. He then picked up the tea cup and took a sip. However, he found that the tea was astringent in the mouth and the tea taste was also very weak. It was obviously old tea.

After more than a year of blockade and siege, Li Zhongyong

Life with Chen Liqiu was really difficult, and we were really stretched to the point where we were at the end of our rope.

"Second Senior Brother, Third Senior Brother," Zhengse said, "I know that you have been holding back because you don't want to meet me in battle one day."

"It's good that you know," Chen Liqiu said with a smile, "We really don't pay attention to the imperial court's wine sacks and rice sacks. If we are determined to raise troops and expand abroad, those idiot generals will not be able to stop us. By then, the imperial court will definitely treat us

You sent it here."

After Chen Liqiu finished speaking, Li Zhongyong, who had always been calm, unexpectedly nodded in agreement, "Lao San is not exaggerating. Although we only have 20,000 soldiers and horses, they are all highly trained soldiers, and the captains under our command are no more ordinary than ordinary ones."

Military generals are no match for them."

I don't doubt what the two said, because the master collected many magic secrets when he was alive. Except for Batulu, who was not very bright and did not participate in memorizing, the other four people each memorized many secrets. Li and Chen undoubtedly

He passed these magical secrets to his subordinates.

The meal had been prepared long ago, and it was served quickly after everyone sat down, including a hen, a fish, two vegetables and three bowls of corn rice.

"Don't look at it, there is no wine, just a jar of wine for outside." Chen Liqiu took a bowl and ate.

He didn't really like drinking at first, so he picked up his rice bowl and ate with the two of them, "Second Senior Brother, Third Senior Brother, what are your plans for the future?"

"Tell me what you think first." Chen Liqiu said casually.

"I don't have any ideas. I respect your opinions," he said. "The name of my coming here this time is to recruit peace, but in fact I am here to pardon you. There are no conditions. You can do whatever you want in the future."

"Pardon?" Chen Liqiu curled his lips and sneered.

Seeing the disdain on Chen Liqiu's face, Li Zhongyong frowned and said, "Is it possible that you still think that you are not guilty? What you killed was a relative of the emperor, and what you burned was an inner palace. According to the law of the imperial court, this is already a heinous crime."

Facing Li Zhongyong's rebuke, Chen Liqiu did not refute, but picked up a chicken head and chewed it.

Li Zhongyong continued, "If you have a disobedient heart, that's all. The key is that you don't want to rebel or change the dynasty. Putting it off like this is not the answer. You have to find a way to solve it and make things better."

Chen Liqiu did not answer, but pointed at the pot of stewed chicken with his chopsticks, "It tastes good, you can eat it too."

Seeing that Chen Liqiu is confused

After starting the topic, Li Zhongyong ignored him and turned to look, "Lao San is a man, but he made a huge mistake. Not only did he kill the emperor's relatives and court officials, but he also burned down Pingkangfang.

, there are many people inside who are guilty of crimes that will not lead to death, and what Lao San did was really to anger innocent people."

"Oh, here we go again." Chen Liqiu was very impatient.

Li Zhongyong ignored Chen Liqiu and continued to say, "The crimes we committed should not be pardoned. You have made great contributions to the court. If we could be pardoned, the emperor would have already taken the initiative to pardon us. The reason for this delay is that

The main reason why we are undecided is because the third child killed a relative of the emperor. If the emperor pardons us, it will be true and we will be criticized."

"Eat quickly, it's cold." Chen Liqiu interrupted again.

Li Zhongyong continued, "The emperor's gold medal given to you by the emperor should have other uses, but he must have thought that you would use the gold medal to pardon us. In this case, we can't make it difficult for you. We must do something to make the emperor open to the outside world.

If you have an explanation, you won't owe the emperor too much favor."

Hearing Li Zhongyong's words, he turned around and asked, "Second Senior Brother, what do you think?"

"Although we have little information, we are not completely ignorant of the external situation," Li Zhongyong said. "Now that the imperial court is in the midst of employing people, we can help the imperial court suppress rebellion."

"Second Senior Brother, people will die in war." He said.

"If you die, you will lose your ears. What are you afraid of? The ancients said that if you are poor, you can be good for yourself, and if you are rich, you can help the world," Li Zhongyong said seriously, "Wars are everywhere, and wars have been going on for years. It is the common people who suffer. We practice qi and martial arts, and we should do what we can for the world. What is it? Besides, Lao San burned down Pingkangfang earlier, which affected a large number of innocent people. I am very worried that he will follow in the footsteps of Zhuge Kongming, killing too many sins and damaging his moral character."

While Li Zhongyong was talking, Chen Liqiu picked up one chicken leg and put it in the bowl, and then picked up another and put it in Li Zhongyong's bowl. But after hearing what he said, he didn't like it, so he put the chicken leg back in the basin and rummaged through it. Later, I gave him a chicken butt.

Li Zhongyong has known Chen Liqiu for more than a day or two. He knows that most of the time he is just idle and not very interesting. He doesn't take him seriously and doesn't even look at him.

"Third Senior Brother, what do you mean?" He looked at Chen Liqiu.

"Anything is fine," Chen Liqiu said casually, "I just can't make my brothers suffer."

After pondering, he said, "Now the imperial court has formed a new army of 300,000 people. The troops are divided into three groups to suppress the rebellion. One of them is led by Zhang Shan, the abbot of Longhu Mountain. You must already know my relationship with Zhang Mo, but

I'm not very inclined to join forces with them."

"Oh?" Li Zhongyong and Chen Liqiu were surprised, and they looked up at him at the same time.

He picked up the tea cup and took a sip of water, and then told the two of them briefly and comprehensively that the Japanese coveted the Chinese dragon vein. After they had a general understanding, they continued, "My idea is that you will return other states and cities to the imperial court. Stay in Shuzhou. Shuzhou is located in the north of the Yangtze River. It is very convenient to go south to north or east to west. If one day I need to dispatch troops to fight against the Japanese, I will ask you to send troops. If the new army of the imperial court is in urgent need of war, you can also send troops. rush to the rescue."

After saying this, Li Zhongyong and Chen Liqiu both nodded. Although they wanted to quell the rebellion, they did not do it to achieve success, nor did they seek fame and fortune. They just wanted to do something for the people of Li, and deep down in their hearts, they did not want to do anything. After being recruited into the army, even if they were incorporated into Zhang Shan's new army, they would not be free, let alone being incorporated into other armies, because the armies that had been recruited into the army in the past dynasties would not be reused.

Seeing that the two agreed, he continued, "The Ni family left a lot of property when they left for the Western Regions. I have disposed of some of it before leaving Beijing, but there is still a lot left. I will be responsible for the military expenses of your 20,000 soldiers and horses. Let's There is no need for the court to allocate silver."

"Aren't you afraid that the court will doubt your self-respect for supporting troops?" Chen Liqiu asked casually.

"No," he said, "The emperor dares to give me the Emperor's Gold Medal because he has absolute trust in me."

Chen Liqiu put down his chopsticks and sighed, "In order to fulfill Master's last wish, you owe Longhu Mountain a huge favor, which is equivalent to selling yourself to others. In order to save us, you owe the Emperor a favor, oh my old man Wu, how can you repay these favors in the future?"

"Third Senior Brother, it's not as serious as you said," he immediately changed the topic, "Since you have no objection, let's do it. I will give a note to the court tomorrow to explain the situation, and you will also transfer our troops back to Shuzhou.

However, I have to treat you as a death row prisoner, and I will sentence you to death in prison. However, the imperial court has always had a system of exchanging merit for crime during war. Although you are guilty, you can make up for your mistakes by performing meritorious service. In this way, the emperor can also be kind to the people of the world.

An explanation.”

"Okay, just as you said." Li Zhongyong made the final decision.

After discussing the official business, the three of them continued to eat.

At this time, Datou and others were also eating outside. Although they could talk and toast each other, they did not make any noise.
Chapter completed!