The Emperor ordered Zhao Tang

Chapter 283 One-Eyed Dragon (Part )
But to be honest, it is hard to count on it. Chengde and Wei Bo have never been on good terms. After losing their ally Youzhou, they are almost alone in Hebei. They will not take the initiative to fight Li Keyong before they fight back.

Wei Bo’s anger value is not enough. If Li Keyong robs it a few more times, maybe he can pull it onto the chariot.

Youzhou has the strength and relationship foundation to challenge Li Keyong alone and may respond.

Henghai probably wouldn't make friends far away and enemies close.

Moreover, several families did not want to see a powerful imperial court. However, this is a later story. Besieging Li Keyong and protecting Li Keyong do not conflict with each other. If he gets the upper hand, these people should be able to be mobilized. First, they should work together to eliminate the external threat of the one-eyed dragon.

"This..." Zhao Jia frowned and said, "If you do this, there will be no turning back."

"Haha." The saint patted Zhao Jia on the shoulder and suddenly laughed: "I don't plan to play against him. Either he dies or I die, it's that simple. Since I established the dictatorship, either we don't make enemies, or we fight to the death."

Zhao Jia had nothing to say, but confirmed: "Those who will be deposed include Li Luoluo, Li Cunxu, Li Miaowei, and your majesty's aunt?"

The saint nodded: "Yes, all of them."

Zhao Jia was shocked. It seemed that he had to be more careful with his words and actions in the future.

After Zhao Jia left, the saint pointed on the map and looked at the dark wind and rain outside the temple from time to time, as if thinking about something.

There are only seven days left to Weibei, and the critical decision point has arrived again.

Should we have a tough fight with Li Keyong?
This issue should start from the highest interests of the court, rather than one's own emotions or anyone else's feelings.

But even if everything went smoothly and Li Keyong's tens of thousands of main forces were annihilated, their own losses would definitely not be small. This guy had various problems, but there had never been a case of tens of thousands of elite troops being annihilated in one battle. Even under Zhu Wen, it could be said that he was very stable.

So, is this really consistent in terms of estimated losses?
Not necessarily. Li Keyong was severely wounded, and he himself would not feel good. But if he is not given a lesson, he will continue to be harassed when there is a conflict of interest in the future. Will a toad sitting on the back of your foot kill you? No, but it is disgusting.

There is another interesting thing.

The Hedong Army was planning to conquer the Three Prefectures, but Li Keyong remained unmoved in Meiyuan. He did not go there himself as he had done before, but announced to the outside world that it was not that he wanted to rob, but that the soldiers coveted the prosperity and he "could not control" it.

Shit!

Can this be understood as - it is true that he is an expert in robbery, but when his subordinates rob, he can put the blame on them afterwards and kill some minions to explain. This is also consistent with the outside world's consistent impression of the Hedong army, and is completely different from him personally looting the capital?

It seems that this is a kind of restraint and hypocrisy? A kind of restraint and hypocrisy based on equal strength.

In history, he repeatedly invaded Weizhou for money, which caused Wei to break away from him completely. The sage did not believe that he had no military advisor to point out the seriousness of this practice - the two great states sought independence, and the people of Wei could send annual tribute to Zhu Wen, or to Hedong. How could the people of Wei tolerate your open robbery? But Li Keyong still did his own thing, so there was only one reason, the weak were not worthy of his rationality and hypocrisy.

I just want to rob you because you are rich, what do you think?

But on the other hand, would he dare to rob Youzhou? The answer is obvious.

He was trying to rob me now, but he hypocritically said that he couldn't control the army. Does this mean that in my one-eyed eyes, after judging people by their appearance, I thought that if I provoked someone, something would happen, but the risk was controllable?
The saint twirled his beard, having made his decision.

The strong will be robbers and the weak will be submissive. It is the nature of most people to admire the strong and despise the weak. This is determined by the animal characteristics of human beings.

We have to let Li Keyong bleed a little so that he can understand from his own perspective who is the leading wolf of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms.

Just try to lose as little as possible.

This is a test of one's military capabilities.

If you can only do one for one, it’s better not to fight.

If you don't have better skills and are in a worse situation than your opponent, you can only take the blow silently.

He came galloping like a pig, dismounted outside the temple, led a group of officers and soldiers into the temple and bowed, "Your Majesty, Li Keyong is still in Meiyuan, and the troops that went out to plunder are returning quickly to assemble. The Weibei and Zuofengyi areas are full of bandit troops. After a hasty search, it is roughly estimated that there are 50,000 to 60,000 people. In addition, the bandit troops have conducted large-scale reconnaissance in the north, and may have learned that Your Majesty has returned to Sanchuan."

"All signs indicate that Li Keyong may fight a major battle with Your Majesty."

"When two sides are at odds, which side does the pig stand on?" The saint took a handful of soybeans and fed them into his mouth, then gave the pig a handful and asked.

"Your Majesty, do you doubt me?" Zhazhu took the soybean and cursed, "I wish I could kill this old thief with my own hands! Since he betrayed me and acted like a son, the relationship between him and me as master and servant has ended. I have repaid the kindness of his father and son, and I don't owe him anything. Now that I am the commander-in-chief of the country, he wants to be a thief, what can I say? If Your Majesty doubts me, I ask to cut off my arm."

Zhazhu pointed to his right hand.

The saint held down his left hand that was about to draw his sword and said, "If you wanted to betray me, you would have gone to be his vanguard or a traitor. I'm just asking this for fun. It's hard to be alive, and there are many times when you're caught in the middle."

Zhazhu sighed and said, "In fact, if I want to take care of both, I can only commit suicide. I will thank my father and my king, and I will not let the old villain down. But if I do this, the old villain will not let you down, but I will not repay your majesty's kindness. I have no choice but to sacrifice the small righteousness for the big one and become the enemy of the old villain."

"You should be a civil servant." The saint laughed.

At this time, two loud cries were heard from Guanyin Temple one after another.

"Your Majesty, great joy, great joy!" Xu Shifu ran out with his bloody palms raised, grinning, "Lord Lingyin is blessed with a princess. Lord Tianxian has given birth to three saints! This is the second time I've encountered triplets since I started practicing medicine."

Twins were considered a disaster these days, but Xu Shifu, who understood Zhang Hui's position in the saint's heart, could only interpret it as a happy event.

"Three Saints in one pregnancy?" The Saint was stunned, too happy to know what to say. We have a triplets, which is one in a hundred thousand, and it's the first one. It seems that we are really a match made in heaven.

He rushed into the room in one swift step, shouting, "Rewards! The common women doctors who helped deliver the baby will each be rewarded with 300 pieces of silk! The maid doctors who have been serving the Queen Mother these days will each be rewarded with 100 pieces of silk. The monks from the Prajna Temple who helped will each be rewarded with 50 pieces of silk! Xu Shifu, I will promote you to the position of Imperial Physician! And I will also give you a generous reward! Definitely!"

Xu Shifu and others were so happy that they couldn't hold back their smiles, but they were also very scared. The reward was so generous, otherwise, everyone would probably die.

In the room, the Queen Mother had already fainted. Several maids were there washing her body, and an old imperial physician was sitting by the bed, taking her pulse and preparing medicine.

"Is there any serious problem?" The saint's heart trembled and he asked worriedly.

"The Queen is tall and strong, and everything will be fine once the baby is born." Lao Deng replied, "There are many reasons for fainting now, but don't worry. I will prescribe some medicine for treatment, and she will recover slowly after taking some tonic."

The saint breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile, "Thank you for your hard work. When you are done, go out and claim your reward."

"Thank you, Your Majesty." The old imperial physician thanked him cautiously: "We, your servants, have peeped into the private parts of the Empress Dowager. We are guilty of death."

"Haha." The saint waved his hands and said, "It is a great achievement to have both mother and child alive. I don't care what means you used. Just go out and don't tell anyone."

"How dare I!"

After everyone had left, the saint admired the unconscious queen for a while, straightened her hair that was stuck to her forehead, and smelled her messy armpit hair. Then he took the three children in his arms and looked at them with a smile.

"Born in Guanyin Temple, Dalang should be called Li Guanyin."

"They meet in September, and when they have a child, the yin energy falls, and it is the Mid-Autumn Festival of the following year. The Prajna Temple is located west of the Luo River... Erlang is called Li Shaoyin. The pregnancy occurred in the rain, and the ground merged into three rivers. According to astronomy and geography, water travels heavily, so Sanlang can be called Li Zichuan."

"Let's leave it like this for now. When the Queen Mother wakes up, we can change it if she doesn't like it." The saint smiled and held up the three sons to look at them again and again: "You really look like mother! Your facial features, ugh. Compared with you three brothers, my other sons are just like pigs and dogs!"

"Your Majesty, don't say that. If Concubine Shu and the others knew about this, they would be so sad." Shi Yuan reminded him. "My, I was so overjoyed that I lost my mind." The Saint said in great joy.

"Your Majesty, just ignores the fact that A Yue gave birth to a daughter?" Shi Yuan glanced at Zhang Yueyi and her son next to them and said again.

"Look at me--" The saint laughed and gave his daughter a name, Li Yi.

Shi Yuan watched with grief as the rabbit died and the fox was heartbroken.

How biased!

In terms of looks, figure, and talent, she and Yueyi were not much worse than the Queen, but the favor they received was different from the heavens and earth. Looking at her flat belly, Shi Yuan also began to hate Zhang Hui.

…………

Meiyuan, Dongluchi.

Li Keyong slammed several letters on the table.

Before the saint returned from Tongwan City, the report arrived that Li Renmei had sent Qi Yanshu and other generals to lead 7,000 troops to kill Lue Lan and Shi.

Of course, if it were just this matter, the one-eyed man would not lose his composure.

But the rumor that Liu Rengong was preparing to take the opportunity to rebel made him angry. He had worked hard to get Liu Rengong to power, and he could not accept the loss of control over Youzhou or Liu Rengong's betrayal. As a result, not only could he not blame him, but he had to hold his nose and pretend nothing had happened, and continue to win him over.

After finishing this matter, Li Keyong's mood brightened up a little, and he slowly read the report about the saint. It has been confirmed that the saint has led the army back, and the goal of sending troops to save Zhao has been achieved. In addition, a huge amount of wealth has been harvested in Guanzhong.

This is really cause for celebration.

The next thing was simple: the first step was to submit a petition to the emperor to return to the capital, explaining the reason for entering the pass, that he was coming to fight the enemy, not to rebel. Since the sage had already killed the traitors and stopped the ridiculous northern expedition, he would go home. The second step was to withdraw the troops, the sooner the better, in case something happened to the sage or the sage caught up with him and forced him to fight, and the sage died in the chaos and was labeled as a regicide.

But before leaving, you still have to seek the benefits you should seek.

"My wish has come true..." Li Keyong held up four fingers, "There are five more things to do before we withdraw our troops. The virtuous concubine and my grandson must not be abolished. Recognize Li Hongdao and Gaozong Yi as the governors of Lingyan and Xiasui. As for the third thing, how can the soldiers go thousands of miles to serve the king without rewards? Two hundred thousand pieces of silk and three hundred thousand strings of money. If I can't afford it, the men will clamor to beat the drums on the Weishui River, Chanshui River, and Bashang River, and I will have no choice."

"Fourth, add Hanzhi, the acting Taiwei, add Wuer Si Zhao, the acting You Pushe, add Cun Xin, the acting Sikong, add De Wei, the acting Zuo Pushe, and add... ... Yi Gai Yu, the Observation Envoy." After announcing the names of the dishes in one breath, Li Keyong thought for a while and said, "The last one is that you are not allowed to retaliate against the disciples of the major families in the Northern Division."

When everyone heard this, they were very happy.

Secretary Wang Gui wrote a memorial with great swiftness and respectful words.

"There is one more thing..." Li Keyong looked at Gai Yu and the others, and said hesitantly, "Can we get Linzhou back?"

He has been coveting this place for a long time and wanted to visit it ten years ago.

Upon hearing this, Li Xiji said, "The Saint went north to fight, but the Zhe and Yang families did not respond. They must be dissatisfied. With resentment, there is a loophole for us to exploit. It is better to report to the court and ask for the two thieves to relieve the emperor's worries. The Saint is so angry that he would like us and the Zhe and Yang families to kill each other, so he will probably allow it."

"Let's try it." Li Keyong nodded and said, "What if the court doesn't allow these things?"

It is simple to propose conditions here, and although the conditions are not harsh, will the saint agree?

This is a real problem.

"I will explain the reason to them and show them the force." Li Hanzhi said with a smile.

Li Keyong immediately shook his head: "But I don't want to really fight with the saint."

This time he was a little arrogant when he entered Chang'an. It felt like he was playing with fire. A real fight would go against his plan and not be consistent with his own personality. He let his son-in-law learn a lesson and lower his head, so that he could quickly go back and deal with Zhao Weiyan.

"Then don't mention any conditions." Li Hanzhi said bluntly.

"Haha." Li Keyong laughed twice, and didn't blame this madman. He paced back and forth thinking.

"General." Diwu Kefan crossed his arms and smiled charmingly, "What Lord Li said is indeed true. That tyrant king has always been afraid of the strong and bullies the weak. He will never agree without a show of force. But since you have considered it, I have another plan, which is to station troops in Tonghua and not leave or delay for some time. Tonghua occupies a strategic location in Wei, and it is the only way for tribute from the east. If we just intercept the fleet a few times, we can make that tyrant king miserable."

This is a cruel move!

Tonghua Yizhan, Guandong Wei Bo, Chengde, Zibo, and Hezhong, four major tribute-paying households, sent their tribute directly. The court lost a huge amount of wealth and Li Keyong died of gluttony. It won't be long before Li Keyong doesn't need to put pressure on him. The pressure from the court will be enough to suppress the sage's arrogant head.

Fight? I'll build a stronghold and wait for you. Let's see how many casualties you can bear.

The troops Li Keyong brought into the pass this time included 10,000 infantrymen from both wings of the Tielin Army, 6,000 cavalrymen from the Tuqi Army, 5,000 mixed infantrymen and cavalrymen from the Guard Army, as well as the Army of the Military Office, the Qidan Army, the Five Palaces, the Front of the Tent, the Hengchong Army, the Jianzhi Army, the Xiongjie Army, the Congma Army, the Feiteng Army, and the Kuangba Army. A total of more than 50,000 infantrymen and cavalrymen. With less than 60,000 people, it was no problem to defeat the 80,000 troops of Wang Congxun and Zhao Fu.

If it is used to defend the city or the fort, Li Keyong does not think anyone can break through. This is not because he is blindly confident. In later generations, he could not defeat Zhu Wen but could withstand the beatings again and again, and Li Yazi was able to turn the tables, which are all highly related to the quality of the army.

However, it does not mean that Wang and Zhao's soldiers were weak. Emperor Li was able to fight more than a hundred battles with Zhu Wen, so the army he led was naturally not bad. The main reason was that Wang and Zhao could not control them.

It's just a pain in the ass.

Prestige makes the generals who use force suspicious of the higher-ups often get killed. On the contrary, they will often lose battles. This is the dilemma of the Five Dynasties. This is also the reason why Zhu Laosan suffered many setbacks in later generations. Now it seems that the saints cannot get rid of it for the time being.

"This is a very good plan." After thinking for a while, Li Keyong said with a happy face: "But what is the reason for stationing troops? I am not a traitor, I don't want to be blamed by the world for this."

"Of course, it's to protect the saint." Diwu Ke said solemnly, "The imperial guards are in turmoil and looting the city palace. Guanfu is in turmoil, and it is unknown whether Li Hongdao and Gaozong Yi will invade the south because of the previous expedition. The commander-in-chief is a high-ranking official, and it is his duty to support the royal family. For the safety of the saint, he temporarily stayed in the capital to protect the emperor. This supreme loyalty is not enough for people to praise, so why are they criticizing it?"

These words touched Li Keyong's heart. He laughed and clapped his hands, saying, "Bei Si is still loyal! Good, let's do it this way."

After he finished speaking, he looked around and said, "I heard that the virtuous concubine has given birth to another son, and the King of Dai can speak now, and he even asked about me. Now that I am in the imperial court, how can I not go in to see the emperor? Don't I want to see my children and grandchildren?"

"Marshal!" Gai Yu shouted and almost knelt down to Li Keyong. "Can you please stop looking for trouble?"

"If we lead our troops across the Wei River and claim to be marching into the imperial court, I'm afraid it will alarm the capital and provoke the sage to fight to the death..." Gai Yu said repeatedly.

"Alright, alright!" Li Keyong waved his hand and said helplessly, "Even you don't want to, forget it. But when you leave this time, I'm afraid you will never see me again in this life. It's a pity for my two grandchildren, who can't even see each other. I don't know what my grandfather's family looks like, with their doors facing east and west... Secretary Wang, take the memorial. Also, tell the saint to stay away from Zhang Jun! Otherwise, hmph."

"Yes." Wang Gui packed up the memorial, stood up and left.

Li Keyong sat back on his Huchuang and just leisurely admired the rain outside the door.

Sure enough, he was frightened by Zhu Wen’s death before.

Now it seems that the imperial court is still the same imperial court, but its authority has been restored to a considerable extent, but it is not yet to the point where it cannot be played. The next step is to consider how to kill the son-in-law.

If this saint is not removed, the vassal state will be in turmoil and there will be no peace. I believe that we all have a common interest in this matter.

He certainly won't fight alone.

(End of this chapter)