In Jianghu, it was a dark and windy night to kill. On the battlefield, it was autumn when the horses were fighting.
Fortunately, it was not autumn yet and it was summer. In the temple of the Southern Dynasty in Beimang, there were many basins of ice and it was chilly.
An old woman wearing an old yellow dragon robe made in the style of the Southern Tang Dynasty was sitting leisurely on the steps in front of the dragon throne instead of sitting high up on the dragon throne.
There were more than forty people standing in the spacious hall but it was not crowded. The hall was not divided by civil and military officials. On the right side of the hall were people wearing yellow and purple official robes, no different from the officials who attended the court meeting in Liyang. On the left side, most of them were wearing casual clothes, but almost all of them had Xianbei jade belts on their waists. Among them, there was the first person of the old Southern Dynasty, Huang Songpu, who had returned to command military power; Dong Zhuo, who still held the title of King of the Southern Courtyard; Helian Wuwei, who was in charge of the Hexi Province; Wang Yong, who was in charge of the Aquarius Province; Murong Baoding, who was in charge of the Tangerine Province; General Zhong Shentong; Liu Gui, who had lost in the battle of Liu Province in Beiliang; Wang Yong, who was in charge of the Aquarius Province; and Wanyan Jinliang, who was in charge of the Longguan Aristocracy. Not only were these Beimang generals and heroes gathered, but there was also Beimang's only surviving minister for three dynasties, Yelu Hongcai, the leader of the Rouran Cavalry, Hong Jingyan, and Crown Prince Yelu Hongcai. In addition, the younger generation had Tuoba Qi Yun, who rose to fame in the first battle of Liang Mang; Zhong Tan, who was in charge of the Beimang Bo Er Hui; King Jingchong, Yelu Dongchuang; and Princess Yelu Meiyu, who was once known as Fan Bainu and had the reputation of being the best player of the Beimang Horse Drum; and Yelu Yuhu, who had missed the title of Xia Jubo; and so on.
These people were undoubtedly the most prominent figures in the Northern Court and the Southern Court. At this time, everyone was quietly looking at the old woman who rarely appeared in the Southern Court. It was said that the dragon robe was made by the old Southern Tang weaving family of the remnants of the Spring and Autumn Period. Back then, His Majesty liked its graceful and luxurious appearance, so he specially chose this robe from the six patterns of dragon robes, and it had never been changed. Today, after the old woman had gathered everyone in this splendid hall, she was not in a hurry to start the discussion. She just sat on the comfortable steps covered in a beautiful lichen with nine golden dragons. Next to the old woman's feet was a thin, crystal-clear porcelain basin with a delicate dagger in the ice. The old woman picked up the dagger and casually fiddled with the ice. She said without reason, "I heard that Li Gongde, the Taoist Administrator of Beiliang, has a son who has made great military achievements. As a White Horse Crossbowman, he has been to the Gentlemen's Pavilion?"
Li Mibi, who had single-handedly created the Beimang Spider Web, said in a deep voice, "Your Majesty, there is indeed such a person. His name is Li Hanlin. After he entered the Beiliang Frontier Army, he participated in more than 20 battles, big and small. In every battle, he always took the lead. Now, he has become a crossbowman lieutenant."
The old woman laughed and said, "In only three years, he has become a Beiliang crossbowman lieutenant? Isn't it said that in the world, the Beiliang Frontier Army is the most difficult to be promoted, and the White Horse Crossbowman is even more difficult to be promoted? Either this young man's father is really powerful, or our Beimang Frontier Army is too easy to chop off. "
When the Beimang Empress said this, Dong Zhuo, Liu Gui, and the other people's faces were obviously a little ugly. However, the big shots like Zhong Shentong and Murong Baoding, who were not involved in the war of Liang Mang, were much more relaxed. There was even a subtle smile on their faces.
The old woman glanced at Li Mibi, who was standing apart from the others. She seemed to have thought of something and said with a smile, "Among the five great sects of the Northern Mang, not to mention the one-man sect Huyan Grand Temple, Tao Virtue Sect, Chess Sword and Music House, Bubing Mountain, and Princess's Tomb, the four great sects can be said to be powerful in numbers. Their Sword Qi is close to yellow and green. The Bronze Man Ancestor, Thirsty, and Small Thoughts are all top masters. Even I have heard of them. In the end, they all died in Northern Liang. I also heard in Norland that the Liyang Jianghu has always looked down on our Northern Mang's Jianghu. They said that each of them would choose ten masters to fight in pairs. Even the martial arts masters of Liyang Jianghu are not worthy of carrying shoes for them.
The old woman laughed to herself without a trace of anger. She found Hong Jingyan, who was born "blind" in the crowd. She raised her head and looked at the leader of the Rouran Cavalry, who had a mixed reputation. "Hong Jingyan, you were once ranked in the top ten of the old martial arts evaluation. That demon Luo Yang can be considered your junior in the Chess and Sword Music School. Tell me, can you kill the King of Beiliang, one of the four grandmasters of martial arts evaluation?"
Hong Jingyan cupped his fists expressionlessly and said, "I can't kill him."
The old woman nodded. "Then what if you, Murong Baoding, and Zhong Shentong's younger brother, Zhong Liang, join forces?"
Hong Jingyan still shook his head and said, "I can't kill him."
The old woman said, "If that's the case, at that young vassal's level, only Tuoba can fight him. What a pity. If not for that little girl from West Chu with the surname Jiang, Li Mibi would have succeeded in the Western Regions. "
Hong Jingyan remained silent. In the Battle of Hulukou, the entire army, including Yang Yuanzan, had been wiped out. Only his Rouran Cavalry had been lucky enough to avoid two of Beiliang's heavy cavalry and break out of the encirclement. Although they had suffered heavy casualties, they had managed to preserve the structure of the Rouran cavalry. They did not fall to the point where they were completely wiped out. However, Hong Jingyan's reputation in Beimang had been greatly damaged because of this. If not for a group of nobles from Beiliang pleading for leniency, the Rouran Cavalry would not have continued to bear the surname Hong. Afterwards, Dong Zhuo hated Hong Jingyan for avoiding battle to protect himself. He blamed the failure of the Battle of Liang Mang on the Rouran Cavalry's desertion of their post. If Hong Jingyan had been willing to delay the Liangzhou cavalry and wait for the Dong cavalry under his command to reinforce Hulukou, even if Yang Yuanzan's army was unable to escape, they would not have all died at Hulukou.
The old woman smiled. "That Lame Xu has only been a Master all his life, but he has a very promising son. No wonder he told Us many years ago that when his father was drunk, he would always say that Xu Xiao should not be too ambitious after growing up. In the future, his grandson will be twice as big as you, Xu Xiao. "
Huang Songpu, Liu Gui, and the other old generals who had made outstanding contributions and were loyal and devoted had a strange and embarrassed look on their faces. Meanwhile, the young generals like Tuoba Qiyun and Zhong Tan also had an eye-opening look on their faces. After all, some of the palace rumors that had been circulating in Beimang for many years could not be taken seriously as long as the person involved did not agree to it.
The old woman joked, "Cao Changqing died outside Tai 'an City, but other than Hsu Fengnian, there was also the Peach Blossom Sword God Đồng Thái. If the two of them called for two or three helpers of similar cultivation levels, such as Sui Xie and Gu, then wouldn't My head be the same as Xu Huainan, the King of the Old North Court by the Ruoshui years ago? That kid Hsu Fengnian took my head away just like that? I don't mind telling you that not only did the Qi cultivators of the Imperial Astronomer of Li Yang die, our Beimang is not much better. Now, those flying land immortals' movements are not easy to grasp. If Hsu Fengnian suddenly appeared outside the main hall today, how would you stop him? "
The main hall was silent. No one could answer this tricky and heart-wrenching question.
The old woman held a dagger and gently broke a piece of ice. She did not make things difficult for these high-ranking Beimang officials. She sighed softly, "It is said that a martial artist in Jianghu is no match for a hundred people, but a general on the battlefield is a match for ten thousand people. It is also said that a county magistrate can destroy a county governor. It seems that as long as one is an official, whether civil or military, it is more impressive than practicing martial arts. Therefore, I don't understand why Hsu Fengnian left His Royal Highness to wander around Jianghu and then went to Wudang Mountain to practice martial arts. I am even more curious why Lame Xu tolerated his eldest son's unscrupulous behavior. At that time, I only thought that Hsu Fengnian had no choice. He wanted to compete with Chen Zhibao for the military power of the Beiliang cavalry. His military achievements and reputation would definitely be hard to match. He could only think of a way out for himself. Since he could no longer stay in the imperial court, he might as well go to Jianghu and show off while he still had some family background. Looking back, if Hsu Fengnian did not become a martial arts grandmaster because of him, Chen Zhibao would not have left Chuliang and entered Shu … "
At this point, the old woman fell into a long silence.
Dong Zhuo quietly sighed. Then, this fat man calmly sized up a young woman out of the corner of his eye. Princess Yelu Yuhu.
Back then, if Hsu Fengnian 'naturally' could not bear this great responsibility and Chen Zhibao ultimately replaced him in Beiliang, then perhaps the Great War of Liang Mang would never have happened. Beimang would most likely have chosen Liaodong or Jizhou to invade from the south. The reason was very simple. On one hand, they feared the White-clothed War Saint Chen Zhibao's godly ability to command troops. More importantly, Chen Zhibao, through Yelu Yuhu, had secretly conveyed a certain attitude to Beimang. That was, if Beimang started a war outside of Beiliang, whether it was going south from Jizhou to the Central Plains or engaging in a decisive battle with Gu Jiantang's two Liaoning Border Armies, the Beiliang Frontier Army would only watch from the sidelines. However, Chen Zhibao only promised that he would watch from the sidelines before Beimang captured Great 'an City. He did not make any promises about his future plans. This tacit understanding naturally could not be kept on paper, but Dong Zhuo believed that Chen Zhibao truly did have such plans back then.
It was not completely absurd to say that it was Hsu Fengnian who had personally dragged Beiliang into the quagmire of war between the two countries. Of course, at the time, all of Beimang did not believe that they would lose. They only believed that even if they captured Beiliang, there was no profit to be gained. In the end, both Beimang and Liyang were caught off guard. Now, Beimang was riding a tiger and could not get off. Even the powerful officials of Beimang who had previously insisted on going down the two Liaos to attack Great 'an City, no matter how much they rejoiced in their misfortune, did not dare to show the slightest objection. This was because, despite the gentle appearance of the Emperor sitting before them, everyone knew that if anyone dared to expose her shortcomings at this time, only death would await them.
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