My older brother said I'm invincible.

Chapter 359 The Valiant General
"General!!"

The officers and captains of the Xiaoguo Guard stood neatly in front of Li Xuanba.

They looked extremely excited, their eyes filled with fervor as they gazed at Li Xuanba.

After the foreign troops gradually began to withdraw, the army in Liaodong City began to garrison near Liuhe City. The foreign troops moved out of Liuhe City, and the Xiaoguo Guard, as the imperial guards, officially moved into Liuhe City and officially assumed the responsibility of protecting the emperor.

The formation of the Xiaoguo Guard has been ongoing for a long time, and so far, only two Zhechong Lang Generals have been formed.

The first Zhechong Langjiang was naturally Li Xuanba, and the second Zhechong Langjiang was Zhao Xingshu, who was recommended by Yuwen Shu, who usually addressed him as his son.

These two armies together numbered over 40,000 men.

This is already enough to allow them to clash with the armies of the Left and Right Martial Guards and the Left and Right Valiant Cavalry Guards.

Moreover, these elite guards are all hand-picked, and if it really comes to a fight to the death, ordinary military units might not be a match for them.

At this moment, whether it was Zhao Xingshu, who was also a Zhechong Langjiang, or Yuan Li under his command, or the captains, they all bowed to Li Xuanba in greeting.

They had just arrived in Liuhe City and had not yet met the emperor or Yuwen Shu, but they came to pay their respects to Li Xuanba.

Yang Xuanzong and Qin Qiong stood behind Li Xuanba, looking at the people in front of them.

Yang Xuanzong laughed, "Why are you only arriving now? If I had brought you all with me, I wouldn't be so exhausted!"

Zhao Xingchu was still a little reserved, but Yuan Li laughed as well.

"We're late! I'll toast you a few times at the victory celebration banquet! When you first came to the army, I looked down on you a bit, thinking you only got in because of your father and brothers. But now I'm truly impressed!"

"The news has spread!"

"That dog, Pei Yun, wanted to send us to our deaths! It's all thanks to the general that so many soldiers survived!"

Li Xuanba gestured to the soldiers to close the door, then led everyone into the house and had them sit down.

After his officers were all seated, Li Xuanba asked, "Has the deployment within the city been arranged?"

Zhao Xingshu hurriedly replied, "General, everything has been arranged."

"We have taken over all the city gates, and our troops have been replaced outside the camp. Not a single foreign soldier has been left behind, and the generals have all returned to their own camps. Only our troops remain inside the city!"

Li Xuanba nodded. "Very good."

"Thank you, General!!"

"What did you hear in Liaodong City?"

Li Xuanba asked.

The group exchanged glances, and Yuan Li, who was closest to Li Xuanba, spoke first: "General, at first everyone was very worried. Some people said that the emperor wanted to summon you to Liuhe City to kill you. The captain and the brigade commander came to me several times to inquire, speaking urgently and looking resentful."

"I was just trying to reassure them and tell them not to do anything rash."

"Later, when General Li arrived, everyone knew his character. He stepped in to calm the army down, and that's how the army was able to avoid any unrest."

"But soon, we heard about Emperor Pei."

"That's it."

“They said the emperor wanted to send us to carry a hundred days’ worth of provisions to raid Pyongyang. The soldiers couldn’t believe it. Later, General Li admitted it. The soldiers were furious, as was I. They all said we couldn’t follow the edict.”

"Then, someone said that the general had killed Pei Yun and occupied Liuhe City, so we no longer needed to rush to Pyongyang City."

"General Li summoned everyone together and said not to believe the rumors, that it was all organized by Pei Yun, not the emperor, and that the general was loyal to the emperor and would not do anything to rebel."

"Later, we received an imperial edict saying that everyone could evacuate and that we were to come to Liuhe City to escort His Majesty back!"

"How does Li Jing look?"

Yuan Li was taken aback. "He wasn't very happy the whole way."

Li Xuanba frowned and said, "Sending Li Jing away under the pretext of appeasing the front lines was the right thing to do. It seems we still need to let Lord Su and Guo Rong appease him."

Yang Xuan nodded repeatedly, like a chick pecking at rice.

Looking at the behavior of the people in front of him, especially their earlier statement that he could just say it directly, Yuan Li roughly understood what was going on.

The Duke's main tent.

Yuwen Shu sat in the high seat, with many documents in front of him. He frowned, looking helpless.

Su Wei insisted on showing him these things.

Yuwen Shu, however, has never liked this kind of thing since childhood. If he could just concentrate on reading, he would surely be one of the three top positions in the court. Dealing with official documents is more like torture for him.

Duke Xu still preferred indulging in pleasure, waging war, and making money. Just as Yuwen Shu was staring blankly at these things, Duan Da strode in.

"Duke!!"

"Hmm, the Xiaoguo Army is here?"

"Yes, they have taken over the camp, and the general has led my troops out of the city."

"Good, you've done a great job this time, I won't forget it, you can come along too."

Duan Da hurriedly bowed in thanks. He stood up, intending to leave, but then remembered something and stopped abruptly. Looking at Yuwen Shu before him, he hesitated for a moment, "Duke."

Yuwen Shu raised his head and looked at Duan Da, "Is there anything else?"

"Duke, there is something I am not sure if I should say."

"Just say it straight."

"After I left, only the Xiaoguo Army remained in the city. When Zhao Xingshu saw me just now, I asked him if he wanted to go and pay his respects to you, but he said he wanted to pay his respects to General Li."

"He and General Li are both Zhechong Langjiang, and he was promoted by you, yet he still has to pay his respects to General Li first. Perhaps I should stay by your side and lead the troops for the time being."

"Oh!"

Yuwen Shu slammed his fist on the table in front of him. He stood up angrily, about to lash out, but seeing Duan Da's terrified face, he held back his anger.

"Considering your previous contributions, I won't scold you anymore. But don't mention it again in the future."

"And you said you'd stay here? What, do you think your army can stop the Xiaoguo Guard? The fighting has only just stopped after several days, are you just getting a little idle?"

"This humble general dares not!!"

Yuwen Shu shook his head slightly. It seemed that Li Xuanba's behavior these days had really frightened quite a few people.

He said, "Don't tell anyone what happened inside or outside the camp. Remember, General Li saved everyone this time. You should be grateful, understand?"

"Here!"

After seeing Duan Da off, Yuwen Shu stroked his chin, hesitated for a long time, and then called out, "Someone come here!!"

Li Xuanba remained seated, discussing the evacuation with the others.

"We still have to wait for those foreign troops to gradually withdraw. The rear is in chaos, with bandits and refugees everywhere. This withdrawal will probably not be easy."

"We are here to escort the emperor and his officials. There are many things we need to be careful about during the escort."

"Among all the officials, except for Lord Su, none of the others are allowed to approach the emperor's carriage at will."

As Li Xuanba was giving orders, a soldier suddenly entered and saluted him, saying, "General, an envoy has arrived with an imperial edict."

Everyone jumped to their feet. "An imperial edict??"

When Li Xuanba led them out, Yu Shiji was standing outside the door. His eyes were full of fear as he looked at Li Xuanba. When he saw Li Xuanba come out, he even took a few steps back.

"Lord Yu, what edict do you have?"

Yu Shiji quickly raised the imperial edict, saying, "I sincerely congratulate the general!"

"In this rebellion, General, you were the first to expose it, and then you killed the traitor, making a great contribution and saving the court from crisis."

Yu Shiji first boasted for a long time before finally getting down to the facts.

"The general is specially appointed as the General of the Valiant Guard, and his title is changed to Duke of Zhao. He is also granted the title of Grand Master of the Palace."

The people around Li Xuanba were all stunned and looked at him.

Li Xuanba's brows remained furrowed, showing no sign of relaxing.

"Is this an order from Duke Xu or Duke Su?"

"Returning to the Duke, this is the result of discussions between the Duke of Xu and the Duke of Su, and it is an imperial edict personally issued by His Majesty."

Yu Shiji said bitterly, "General, this is what all of us think. It's out of respect for you, so please don't worry about it."

Li Xuanba nodded.

"it is good."

"I am acting on imperial orders."

"Greetings, Duke Zhao!!!"

(End of this chapter)