My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 309 Old vs. Old, Young vs. Young

Yang Xuanzong, clad in armor and panting heavily, was at the head of the group, staggering along.

As he ran, the armor on his body grew heavier and heavier, like a mountain pressing down on him. His steps became extremely heavy, each step so difficult that he could hardly feel his own legs anymore.

Yang Xuanzong also received military training when he was young. Although his performance could not compare with his elder brother, it was still considered to be within the normal standard of a noble son of the Guanzhong region.

However, since Yang Su's death, Yang Xuanzong has not trained for many years. He has been busy accompanying his elder brother in fighting with others, and has indeed neglected his martial arts skills.

The intensity suddenly increased, and Yang Xuanzong simply couldn't handle it.

The group ran for an unknown amount of time before their speed gradually decreased. Li Xuanba, who was leading the group, stopped, and the rest of the group staggered to a stop behind him. Yang Xuanzong almost fell to the ground, but no one came to help him. He could only stand there, covered in sweat and panting heavily.

He looked at Li Xuanba, "General, General, General."

"eat first!"

"After dinner, we'll begin the assault drills!"

Li Xuanba had already given the order, so Yang Xuanzong could only grit his teeth and persevere. He persisted for half a day, but when it came time to start practicing the cloud ladder, he could no longer hold on and collapsed.

When he woke up, a military doctor was feeding him medicine.

Li Xuanba and several officers stood not far away, just watching him.

Yang Xuanzong blushed and struggled to get up.

No matter what, it's really embarrassing for the son of a military family to faint during training.

"General!"

Li Xuanba gently shook his head, "I didn't expect General Yang's body to be so weak. How about this, from now on, General Yang doesn't need to participate in the training. He can just stay by Yuan Zhizhai's side and supervise the training."

Yang Xuanzong couldn't stand to hear that. He suddenly raised his head and said, "General! This time it was just that I wasn't prepared, not that I'm incapable of training. I can continue to participate!"

Li Xuanba looked at the army doctor beside him, who nodded and said, "There's nothing seriously wrong, just drink more water."

Li Xuanba then said, "Alright, then we'll train together from now on. But, General, you don't have to force yourself. If you can't take it, just say so. No one will look down on you because of that."

"Here."

In the days that followed, the training continued, and Li Xuanba often took the lead in training. Even when the soldiers were resting, he was still training, and his training intensity was significantly greater. He would often organize various competitions in the army, between military officers and soldiers, to compete in horsemanship, archery, swordsmanship, spear fighting, strength, running, and so on.

As a valiant general, Yang Xuanzong was always the first to challenge Li Xuanba.

This wasn't Li Xuanba targeting Yang Xuanzong, after all, Yuan Li was the first to go before Yang Xuanzong arrived.

Yang Xuanzong's performance can be described as utterly pathetic. He had always regarded himself as an equal to Li Yuan and considered himself an elder to Li Jiancheng and Li Xuanba. However, when he fought against Li Xuanba, he vaguely felt as if he were fighting against his elder brother. Whether it was hand-to-hand combat, shield bashing, short weapons, long weapons, or even horse combat, he lost extremely badly.

It was a crushing defeat, almost the kind where they couldn't even last one move.

However, Yang Xuanzong quickly regained his former form. Although he still couldn't defeat the commander, he could at least exchange blows with some soldiers and wasn't easily defeated.

The Duke of Xu's Mansion.

Yuwen Shu stood in the courtyard, his expression excited, and he grabbed Li Yuan's hand beside him.

Why must things be like this between us?

At this moment, several strong servants, leading a few fine horses, stood in the courtyard. These were gifts from Li Yuan to Yuwen Shu, and they were the kind of gifts that Yuwen Shu liked the most.

Li Yuan lowered his head and said, "These past few days, I have been very grateful for the Duke's help. This is just a small token of my appreciation."

"Oh! Not at all! Our two families are already close! What's this talk of helping each other out?"

"Come on! I'll treat you to some drinks!"

Yuwen Shu chuckled and pulled Li Yuan into the house. He immediately ordered livestock to be slaughtered and wine to be prepared, making it seem as if he wanted to drink with Li Yuan until they were both drunk.

Li Yuan drank his wine, but a hint of melancholy lingered in his eyes; he didn't seem very happy. Yuwen Shu was puzzled. "Duke of Tang, is this wine perhaps not to your liking?"

"That's not the case. The Duke's wine is rare in the world."

"Then why are you so unhappy?"

Li Yuan put down his wine cup, his expression slightly grief-stricken. He said, "Duke, haven't you heard? That scoundrel Pei Yun has requested His Majesty to create more than a hundred additional positions for censors!"

Yuwen Shu laughed. "I know about this, but those censors are there to supervise the local areas. What does it have to do with us?"

"The Duke probably doesn't know this, but the censors he promoted are all his cronies, mostly southerners and people from Guandong. Those who were unwilling to submit to him were expelled by him. His censors are not only responsible for supervising the prefectures and kingdoms, but also for supervising military governments, garrison commanders, and various vassal states!"

"What exactly is this guy trying to do?"

"I had prepared dozens of fine horses to send to you, but they were stopped at the city gates before they even entered Luoyang. They said they were smuggled horses from the Turks. The censor wrote a memorial, and His Majesty sent people to reprimand me. The horses were also taken away. His power has reached such a level that I can't even bring ten horses into the capital!"

As he listened to Li Yuan's words, Yuwen Shu gradually narrowed his eyes.

He took another sip of wine. "This fellow has just become the Imperial Censor, and he's already lost sight of himself."

"A southerner, coming all the way to Luoyang to ruin our livelihood?"

Yuwen Shu sneered, then looked at Li Yuan and said, "You should go back first. I will handle this matter."

"Thank you, Duke!"

"Don't be so polite."

Li Yuan left the Duke of Xu's residence, got into his carriage, and hurriedly headed towards his own mansion.

As soon as he got home, Madam Dou rushed over, helped him sit down, and asked, "How did things go?"

Li Yuan sat down with a smile, then stroked his beard. "That bastard Pei Yun is really in trouble this time. He's still gloating over stealing some of my horses and impeaching me in front of His Majesty!"

"The Duke of Xu said he would handle this matter."

"Did he say how he planned to resolve this?"

"No, that's not true. However, he is a man of his word. Besides, Pei Yun really went too far. He dared to touch my horses today. Who can be sure he won't touch Duke Xu's things tomorrow? Duke Xu will not let him off the hook."

After Pei Yun orchestrated Yang Xuanzong's scheme and forcibly inserted him into the new army, Li Yuan began his own actions. He first obtained some horses of dubious origin and secretly transported them to Luoyang. Pei Yun, as expected, seized the opportunity and impeached Li Yuan. The emperor also sent someone to reprimand Li Yuan.

However, Pei Yun, a southerner, was clearly unaware that buying Turkic horses was perfectly normal for nobles. As long as you didn't secretly buy them from the border yourself, but bought them from someone else, and didn't go too far, the emperor would just say something and let it go.

But once Pei Yun made his move, the nobles wouldn't let him put on a show.
Lady Dou looked at the smug Li Yuan and laughed, "My husband is really amazing. These rascals in the family all think they are very capable, but they don't know that it is because my husband is protecting them."

Li Yuan was delighted to hear this. "That's right! If it weren't for me, would these brats dare to be so arrogant? They would definitely suffer a great loss!"

As Li Yuan spoke, he took out a letter from his bosom and handed it to Lady Dou, who was standing to the side.

"Oh, right, there's also a letter from the second son here."

"The second son said he was having a hard time in Loufan, training every day and unable to even leave the gate. He misses this place and wants to come back as soon as possible. I think sending him to Yingyang Mansion for training was the right thing to do. At least it has calmed him down and stopped him from causing trouble. We should let him stay here a little longer. What do you think?"

Madam Dou looked at the letter, her eyes flickering uncertainly.

"Um"

"Madam, is there anything amiss?"

"No. Then let him stay there for now. By the way, I can also write a letter to my son-in-law, asking him to keep an eye on Erlang."

“That’s true. Our son-in-law is kind and gentle. He can keep Erlang in check now, but who knows what will happen in the future? We should let him know.”

(End of this chapter)