Yang Kai, Prince of Xu Commandery, looked back at Li Xiaozong, shook his head and said, "The closer we get to the rebel west camp, the less dangerous it is. Besides, I'm lucky, and Li Yuanshan can't even stab me with a knife from behind. Now it's Meng Niu'er, and he doesn't have the same luck."
Li Xiaozong hummed: "But you are too close after all. If you are discovered by the rebel scouts, we don't have many guards around you. If something happens to you, I can't afford it."
Hearing what he said was sincere, Yang Kai felt a little softer. Cui Lueshang sent someone to come back all night, saying that Fang Jie suspected that Li Xiaozong was an undercover agent sent by Li Yuanshan. This matter has always been a knot in his heart, and he can't get rid of it. After thinking about it carefully, he really felt that Li Xiaozong was suspicious. But when I thought about how Li Xiaozong had followed me for the past two years and made many military exploits, I felt it was impossible. He didn't understand the situation well, so he was unwilling to believe the one-sided words of someone who didn't understand the situation in the northwest.
Fang Jie knows nothing about what happened in the northwest in the past two years. It is obviously a bit arbitrary to deny a person's credit based on speculation. Therefore, although Yang Kai has had doubts in his heart for so long, he has never revealed anything in front of Li Xiaozong.
"This battle is very important, I have to be more careful."
Yang Kai breathed a sigh of relief and said in a calm tone: "Two years ago, it was because I did not check the personnel that led to the defeat of the 700,000-strong army in Shanxi. I am a knife hanging in my heart, poking at it anytime and anywhere. My heart. If I had been more cautious and listened to Master Mou, the army in the west might not have been defeated so quickly. I doubted Li Yuanshan, but he was unwilling to verify anything. He was dragging his feet and being indecisive. I actually know the nature of this. ¡±
"No matter what I have done in the past two years, it cannot be considered as a contribution to the Sui Dynasty. I am just trying my best to forgive my sins and recover some losses caused by my mistakes."
He pointed at the rebel west camp: "Now the imperial army has arrived at Hexi Road, and your majesty is marching to march in person. Once a million-strong army crosses Qinshui, the rebels can't stop it! Although Li Yuanshan is anxious and deep, he is not your majesty even if he is ten. Your Majesty is here personally and the people are convinced. How can the rebels be invincible? We have been hiding in Langru Mountain for two years. It is time for us to share the worries of your Majesty. As long as we capture the Western Camp, the rebels will be in chaos. , the defense line deployed by Li Yuanshan will collapse from behind At that time, the rebels will not be able to hold on for long. "
Li Xiaozong hummed: "Because of this, you are the commander-in-chief of the three armies. It is best to retreat a little bit to avoid any accidents. In the past few months, my subordinates have been sending people to investigate outside the West Camp. They have already mapped out After reading dozens of maps, there shouldn¡¯t be any omissions.¡±
"You are still dedicated to your work, I have always believed in you."
Yang Kai answered almost subconsciously.
"Does the prince really believe me?"
Li Xiaozong asked.
Yang Kai heard that his tone was a little strange, and his heart tightened for no reason: "Of course I believe you. I see all the achievements you have made in the past two years and keep them in my heart."
Li Xiaozong looked left and right, and after being silent for a while, he said: "Since the prince mentioned this matter, I have to ask. I heard General Cui sent someone back from Yongzhou urgently, and met in secret overnight. Your Majesty. Since then, Your Majesty has kept me out of the war. If Your Majesty believes in me, why is this so?"
"You are too worried."
Yang Kai said: "The people Cui Zhongzhen sent back just reported some things about Luo Yao and have nothing to do with you."
"I'm not in the camp at this time, Your Majesty, why don't we talk openly and honestly."
Li Xiaozong found Kuai Shitou and sat down, looked at Yang Kai and asked: "Does the prince suspect that I am the person sent by Li Yuanshan?"
The topic came to this unexpectedly, Yang Kai did not expect to mention this. He subconsciously looked around and saw that his closest bodyguard was dozens of steps away, and he suddenly felt a little uneasy.
"Your achievements in the past two years are obvious to all. How could I doubt you? Or maybe you have too many things in your mind that you still can't let go of now, right? Even if you were once Li Yuanshan's general and a member of the Li family, I I have never doubted you from beginning to end, otherwise I wouldn¡¯t have taken you to survey the enemy¡¯s situation this time.¡±
"wrong¡¡"
Li Xiaozong said calmly
"These are not reasons for you not to doubt."
Yang Kai¡¯s expression changed slightly: ¡°Why?¡±
"You don't need a reason to trust someoneyou need to doubt someone."
Li Xiaozong sneered: "Your Majesty, you just said a lot. For example, I have made a lot of achievements in the past two years. For example, I have never left"?In everyone¡¯s eyes, for example, I am very humble in everything I do. These are not reasons for you not to doubt me, they are just reasons for you to comfort yourself. Don't doubt me, you don't need to say this at all, just say four words I believe you. "
"So, the prince has been lying just now."
Li Xiaozong said: "The first lie is that you said you trust me, but you don't believe me. The second lie is that you said Cui Zhongzhen didn't bring back any news about me. If there was no news, how could you not trust me? ?¡±
Yang Kai was silent for a long time, and then took a deep breath: "Since I have said this today, I will be honest. You should understand that even if Cui Zhongzhen does bring back some news, I may not believe it. Otherwise, I Why am I bringing you here to survey the enemy's situation this time? How important is it to mobilize troops against the rebel West Camp? If you don't believe me, I will take you with me?"
"wrong again."
Li Xiaozong shook his head: "You didn't bring me here, Prince, but I asked you to come."
"What do you mean?"
"Because I know that the prince doubts me, that's why I asked the prince to go with me."
Li Xiaozong smiled and said: "It is precisely because you doubt me, but you don't want to doubt me in your heart, that's why you feel guilty. If you really trust me, when I say that I will come to survey the rebel west camp, the prince will be like the first If you leave it all to me, why bother to do it yourself? You came in person because you were afraid that I would do anything in this battle, weren't you?"
"The reason why I asked the prince to accompany me is to test whether the prince doubts me. If not, you will not come. If so, you will come."
Yang Kai was stunned: "Yes, I have doubts about you. After all, you are Li Yuanshan's confidant and his nephew. I didn't doubt you before because I didn't know your past affairs. Cui Zhongzhen went to Yongzhou , happened to meet Fang Jie, the imperial envoy sent by His Majesty to Yongzhou Do you remember this name? Do you remember the Fan Gu murder case? "
"How to solve it?"
Li Xiaozong's eyes flickered for a moment, and then he couldn't help laughing: "No wonder no wonder that little guy can actually become an imperial envoy? He has climbed so fast in the past two years. When I was in Fan Gu, I After all, I still underestimated him. If I had known that I would end up getting involved with him, I really shouldn¡¯t have let him go.¡±
"It seems that you admit what happened to Fan Gu?"
Yang Kai frowned and asked.
"recognize"
Li Xiaozong nodded: "How can you deny what you have done?"
"When Wu Peisheng, the eunuch with a pen, came to investigate corruption, he accidentally found evidence that Li Yuanshan wanted to rebel. Li Yuanshan had to find an excuse to kill Wu Peisheng. But what excuse could there be? We can only blame the Mengyuan people. First, You can kill Wu Peisheng under the pretense of killing the city by the hands of the Meng Yuan people, so that no one will be suspicious. Secondly, this incident may prompt the imperial court to go to war with the Meng Yuan Dynasty. Li Yuanshan has been waiting for this day, why not do it? "
"In order to rebel, Li Yuanshan has been planning for ten years, and there is only one opportunity missing. Wu Peisheng came and gave Li Yuanshan this opportunity. He achieved many things with one stone, and I couldn't help but take action. If only the Meng Yuan people broke through For a small border town, the imperial court may not be able to make the decision to attack Meng Yuan. At most, it can only send troops to slaughter a few small tribes of Meng Yuan. But with the addition of a Bingbi eunuch, this weight is not light. "
Li Xiaozong narrated in a calm tone, as if the whole thing had nothing to do with him.
"And I was guarding Fan Gu at the time, and Li Yuanshan didn't want to kill me, so I knew about the massacre of the city from the beginning. Butdon't you think I don't feel sorry for the eight hundred border troops? Those are my old subordinates, it's me It took three years to acquire loyal subordinates! If it hadn't been for the massacre, these people would still be standing by my side and working for me! But if I didn't agree to Li Yuanshan, would Li Yuanshan let me go?"
"I just want to live."
He shrugged his shoulders to show his innocence.
"Shameless No wonder Fang Jie doubts you."
Yang Kai said angrily: "You have known for a long time that Li Yuanshan has rebellious intentions, and you have also known for a long time that Li Yuanshan was waiting for the imperial army to arrive, and then colluded with the Meng Yuan people to stab the army in the back. If you had told this matter before, Could it be such a disastrous failure?¡±
"What should happen will happen sooner or later."
Li Xiaozong smiled: "Should I say it? Unless I want to die!"
"so¡¡"
Yang Kai looked at him and asked coldly: "Is it true that Li Yuanshan arranged for you to come to me?"
"right!"
Li Xiaozong said: "As I said just now, I have to admit what I did. Your Majesty is indeed very kind to me. If you had done it earlier,??Ask me, I shouldn't have told you earlier. "
Yang Kai glanced at his guard in the distance again from the corner of his eyes, and pretended to walk a few steps over there: "If you can tell me the truth, it means that you also feel guilty in your heart. Since what you said is so clear, I will also I won¡¯t hold any grudges. As long as you continue to serve His Majesty faithfully from now on, I will treat this matter as if I have never heard of it, and I will not mention it to anyone.¡±
"No one can guarantee that he will not make mistakes. Over the years, I have made many mistakes. But as long as I can correct my mistakes, there is no need to hold on to the past. You should understand my temper. I will never be right. Li Xiaozong, just let this matter go and you and I won¡¯t have to mention it again.¡±
"Your Majesty what you just said is right. You are indeed too indecisive in your temper. You are a bad person. You doubted me and were afraid of being wrong, so the matter was delayed like this. Just like when you doubted Li Yuanshan, in your heart I¡¯m confused but can¡¯t make up my mind, just like a turtle that hides its head in its shell and pretends not to know anything.¡±
Li Xiaozong watched Yang Kai's steps move aside and couldn't help but laugh: "Your Majesty's words are too ridiculous If I were a humble gentleman who accidentally made a mistake and always felt regret in my heart, I would definitely feel guilty because of His Majesty's words. And I¡¯m so grateful. Unfortunately, I¡¯m not I¡¯ve never regretted anything. I do regret that I didn¡¯t do things beautifully and decisively.¡±
"My lord, there is no need to go over there anymore. You seem to have forgotten one thing. I helped you choose half of the guards when you were choosing them. At that time, you still trusted me. Now that you don't trust me, why didn't you choose the guards?" Change it? Maybe you didn't forget, but you were worried that changing the guard would arouse my suspicion. People like Wang Ye are always at a disadvantage because you are not cold-hearted and determined. How can you pretend not to be suspicious of someone? The personshould be killed as soon as possible!"
Yang Kai's expression changed: "Soyou want to kill me?"
"yes!"
Li Xiaozong smiled brightly: "I am different from you. Now that I have determined that you are suspicious of me, why would I keep you here and wait for you to kill me?"
"You killed me, aren't you afraid of being exposed?"
"how come!"
Li Xiaozong pointed at Yang Kai and then at himself: "I'll kill you first, and then I'll stab myself Let's just say we met the rebels, and I couldn't protect the prince back even though I tried my best. I was among the crowd. I'm crying and bleeding in front of mewho would doubt me?"