Chapter 392 Three Kings
To the north of the Helan Mountains, large groups of people were struggling to move eastward on the muddy and slushy road.

Li Maozhen rode his horse expressionlessly past the large group of Hu soldiers whose swords and armor were simple, their horses and mounts were not very complete, and many of them did not even have a pair of good shoes.

At this time, the robe he was wearing was already in grassland style, and he no longer wore the Chaotian crown on his head, but only a sable hat as a decoration. However, the lapel of his outer robe was still turned to the right, which distinguished him from the Hu people.

“Yelü Lage is really incompetent. The tens of thousands of troops he has gathered are extremely poor.”

The fake Li rode behind him, his dark and rough face full of anger, and his tone was full of dissatisfaction: “It’s fine that all the good clothes and armor were distributed to his central army. He said that he would allocate several thousand soldiers to us, but look at these people, they have no armor or weapons, what’s the difference between them and bandits? Even the mountain bandits in the Central Plains look better than them!”

Li Maozhen ignored them and rode his horse up a slightly undulating slope before turning his horse’s head to look at the large group of people and horses that were struggling to move forward.

A year ago, Yelu La Ge failed to besiege Shulido in Mobei. In fact, it was not a failure, as he almost succeeded. Unfortunately, he was defeated by Xiao Yan who suddenly came out of the border. Tens of thousands of royal troops were almost wiped out, and some of the Yelu relatives and tribes who supported him were also defeated. So, in order to save his life, Yelu La Ge had to give up the throne of Mobei and flee westward into the desert.

However, although Yelu Lage fled, he also took a lot of belongings with him, such as the remaining horses under his command, some hastily collected goods and equipment, etc. Although in the end there were only two or three thousand remaining soldiers and horses, which was not comparable to the rebellion and the thousands of chariots and horses when he became the King of Mobei, but relying on only these two or three thousand people, Yelu Lage was able to sweep across the large and small tribes of Liangzhou and dominate the area of ​​Xiu Tu Ze.

Over the past year, Yelu Lagu has won over and incorporated the various large and small tribes near Xiutu Lake, and the number of his men has exploded to tens of thousands. After his strength soared, Yelu Lagu also became arrogant, and even wanted to expand his sphere of influence to the Hengshan Dangxiang area east of Liangzhou.

This move immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of the Tuoba clan of the Dingnan Army in Xiazhou. The Tuoba tribe has always been the leader of the Hengshan Dangxiang and would not tolerate Yelu Lage, a foreigner.

Although the Dingnan Army had been sandwiched between the Jin State and the Qi State for many years and had only been managing its own territory without any aggressive attitude, it launched a heavy attack against Yelu Lage. After several battles, Yelu Lage was beaten so badly that he almost had to flee westward with his remaining troops.

If Li Maozhen had not suddenly appeared in Xiutu Ze to find Yelu La Ge, and then led the latter’s main force to win several battles, Xiutu Ze, the base camp that Yelu La Ge had worked so hard to build, might have been razed to the ground by the Tuoba clan.

Fortunately, Yelu Lager was very aware of the current situation and took the initiative to cling to Li Maozhen’s thigh. He appointed Li Maozhen as Mobei Yilijin, the first person under him as the Khan, with the power to command troops.

Later, with the assistance of Li Maozhen, Yelu Lage not only defeated the Dingnan army several times, but also captured a lot of Hengshan Dangxiang tribes. His strength not only did not weaken compared to before, but it became even stronger. Yelu Lage originally wanted to fight again to encompass the entire Hengshan Dangxiang, but Li Maozhen advised him not to push his luck. The Shuofang and Dingnan towns have always advanced and retreated together, and they have a tacit understanding with each other. If the Dingnan army had the help of the Shuofang army, with Yelu Lage’s current strength, I am afraid he would really have to continue to flee westward.

Li Maozhen refused to help Yelu Lage continue fighting, so the latter had to take advantage of the situation and sign a peace treaty with the Dingnan Army, agreeing that both sides should not cross each other’s boundaries and live in harmony.

However, Yelu Lage realized the terrifying side of Li Maozhen and feared that he would seize power, so he always kept the real main force in his own hands, and only assigned some poor and useless foreign troops to Li Maozhen.

At this time, because of the rain, the road was extremely muddy. The Helan Mountain Road had not been repaired for who knows how many years, and thousands of people rolled over, and the road was crushed into a deep mud.

A cart carrying food often required more than a dozen people to pull it with all their strength because of the lack of horses. Some foreign soldiers rolled around like mud monkeys, exhausted. On both sides of the road, there were elite Hu cavalry belonging to Yelu Lage’s central army, riding big horses, just guarding the large group of people and horses moving eastward in the rain.

After the fake Li climbed up the gentle slope and saw this scene, he was speechless again: “If we rush to Yinshan like this, I’m afraid the daylilies will be cold…”

Li Maozhen touched the sable hat on his head and looked back at Qi Wangwei who was following the fake Li.

They were called the Qi Wang Guards, but in fact they were all the bad guys who followed the fake Li. The reason why Li Maozhen was able to quickly gain a foothold in Xiu Tu Ze, apart from his own ability to command troops which was enough to leave Yelu La Ge far behind, was because of these Qi Wang Guards.

Although these Qi Wang guards of the fake Li have no more than a hundred people, each of them can fight ten people at once. With their support, it is easy for Li Maozhen to build up his own team. This is the real reason why he can have a status only lower than Yelu Lage in Xiutu Ze.

“Where is Yelu Lage?” Li Maozhen asked.

Yiqi Wangwei said, “Their people have the most mounts, and they should have arrived at Wolf Mountain by now. They sent people to urge them half a day ago.”

“What the hell.” Over the past year, the fake Li had acquired a lot of fierce temperament, and swearing had become the norm: “Yelü Lage is a jerk, he insisted on dragging everyone along. With the mixed quality of the soldiers and horses, it would be strange if they could go fast!”

As he said this, the fake Li couldn’t help but look at Li Maozhen sideways and said, “I told you to listen to the commander-in-chief and just kill that Yelu Lage and be the master of the house yourself. Otherwise, why would you do this?”

“If you keep making noise, I will destroy you.” Li Maozhen said coldly without even turning his head.

The fake Li snorted coldly, but his face was sullen and he remained silent.

He believed that Li Maozhen was capable of doing such a thing, and the Qi Wang guards behind him were no more than a few slaps from Li Maozhen.

However, the fake Li was also somewhat puzzled as to why Li Maozhen did not accept the Marshal’s kindness. At that time, he was released from Fengxiang by Xiao Yan, and although he did find Li Maozhen, he was cautious and did not tell Li Maozhen that the Twelve Cave Saint Child was in Xiao Yan’s hands.

The fake Li vaguely knew some of the inside story of Li Maozhen’s escape from the Twelve Caves. For the past fourteen years, Li Maozhen had been practicing the secret method of awakening the holy children of the Twelve Caves. This was his only role to the commander-in-chief. Li Maozhen must have known this.

If Li Maozhen knew that the Twelve Cave Saint Child was in Xiao Yan’s hands, he would know that he had lost his most important value to Yuan Tiangang. In other words, Li Maozhen knew that he was a dead chess piece that Yuan Tiangang could abandon at any time, so there was no need to continue cooperating. He knew that Yuan Tiangang was a monster who would do anything to achieve his goal and had no human feelings. If he tried to work with him, he would most likely die without knowing why he died.

If this is the case, it is understandable that Li Maozhen ignored the Marshal, but the key point is that he did not know the news of the Twelve Holy Children!

The fake Li was completely puzzled and had no idea at all, so he had to follow Li Maozhen all the time, hoping to find some clues.

“You stay here and tell them not to stop for a moment. They must arrive at the designated location on schedule.”

After thinking for a while, Li Maozhen suddenly gave an order to the fake Li: “If there are those who can’t walk or keep up, just leave them there and let them fend for themselves. Don’t waste time on them.”

The fake Li didn’t object, but just frowned and asked, “What are you going to do?”

Li Maozhen glanced at him and was willing to explain to him: “Go ask Yelu Lage whether he really wants to fight back to the Mobei royal court. If he does, just select the best troops and march forward. Don’t waste too much time on the journey.”

“Yelü Lage wants to take everything with him. He is extremely stingy.”

Fake Li Shen was a little annoyed: “It’s time to let him go into battle lightly.”

Li Maozhen did not respond to this, but turned his horse and headed east. He did not let the Qi Wangwei follow him, but took two trusted confidants from the Fan tribe with him. He soon disappeared in the distance. The fake Li watched him leave, and felt that something was a little strange. But after thinking for a moment, he just shouted to his subordinates: “Go and collect the horses quickly. We can’t delay on the road with these useless people.”

——

Li Maozhen led his men to rush eastward for more than 20 miles and stopped in a ruined city. There, he met several men in black clothes wrapped tightly around their faces in the ruins of the city.

If the fake Li was here, he would be able to recognize that these people belong to the Shang organization of the Jin State.

“Li Cunhui from Tongwenguan greets King Qi.”

Guarded by several members of the Shang group was a blind young man with fluttering clothes and a wooden umbrella to protect himself from the drizzle. He looked surprisingly handsome under the umbrella.

“Li Cunhui?” Li Maozhen thought for a moment and asked, “Among the Thirteen Guardians, where do you rank?”

“I am the eleventh.” Li Cunhui closed his umbrella and bowed amiably: “Just like my thirteenth sister Li Cunren, I work exclusively for my adoptive father.”

Li Maozhen looked at Li Cunhui’s closed eyes, but he was not surprised. He just asked on horseback: “Tell me, what can Li Keyong do to help me?”

Li Cunhui was not annoyed at all, and smiled faintly: “Money, food, people, as long as it is what King Qi needs, my foster father can support it.”

Li Maozhen sneered: “Li Ya’er is really generous. Knowing that I am poor and destitute, she is kind-hearted, right?”

“No.” Li Cunhui used a wooden umbrella as a blind stick and walked a few steps on the rugged road. “King Qi owns the entire Xiutu Lake and has tens of thousands of brave soldiers under his command. How can he be poor? Before I came here, my adoptive father told me that King Qi alone is enough to defeat Yelu Lagu’s tens of thousands of people… King Qi is lying dormant, just letting Yelu Lagu help you raise troops.”

“Li Ya’er has changed…”

Li Maozhen pondered for a while, but in the end he didn’t say anything else. He asked directly, “Li Keyong told me to be careful of the bad commander, but what happened in your Jin State?”

“Does King Qi still remember Li Siyuan, the Holy Master of Tongwenguan?”

“Li Siyuan…”

Li Maozhen thought about it. He had been away from the Central Plains for many years, and some insignificant people were not qualified to be remembered by him. However, when Li Keyong founded the Tongwenguan, he established the Thirteen Guardians, which was a grand occasion. He still had some impression of Li Siyuan. However, after returning from Raojiang, he devoted himself to his own Qi State, and he did not know much about the current Tongwenguan Saint Master.

He then asked, “What about this person?”

Li Cunhui then said bluntly: “Father, I have sufficient evidence to show that Li Siyuan must have been in collusion with the bad commander, and was instigated by the bad commander, and he has evil intentions.”

Li Maozhen burst out laughing and asked a rather ridiculous question: “Li Siyuan is just a mere figure. To put it in a nice way, he is the Holy Master of Tongwenguan. To put it bluntly, he is just a dog of Li Keyong. Even if he has the support of the Bad Commander, what qualifications does he have to make Li Keyong afraid of him?”

“This is exactly why my foster father ordered me to come down to negotiate with King Qi.”

Li Cunhui said solemnly, “If it was just Li Siyuan himself, my adoptive father could have easily beaten him to death. However, what King Qi doesn’t know is that last month, Queen Mother Shuliduo of Mobei led a large army to invade Yinshan. Our Jin crown prince Li Cunxu personally sent troops to fight them. The war was going smoothly, but the bad commander inexplicably persuaded my adoptive father to stop the war. My adoptive father didn’t want to be enemies with the bad commander at that time, so he agreed. In retrospect, this bad commander may have reached some kind of deal with Mobei…”

“What is there to be afraid of the mixed barbarians in Mobei?” Li Maozhen frowned.

“Mobei is just a mere desert. It’s really not worth it for my foster father to start a war, but King Qi should know…” Li Cunhui said calmly, “At present, Xiao Yan of the Liang Dynasty is at the peak of his military power. Not long ago, he defeated Yang Shihou in Guanzhong and has a close relationship with King Qi’s sister… If the Liang Dynasty gets help from Qi, it will be disadvantageous to the Jin State. With such a powerful enemy in front of us, my foster father naturally doesn’t want to free up his hands at a critical moment to prevent Mobei from secretly connecting with the Buliang Commander and Li Siyuan…”

“Li Keyong wants me to help him solve the problem of Mobei?” Li Maozhen interrupted abruptly, “Without the external threat of Mobei, Li Keyong can really concentrate on rectifying the government and the country.”

“Prince Qi’s foresight is exactly the same as my adoptive father’s.” Li Cunhui chuckled, “Speaking of which, isn’t Prince Qi planning to take over Mobei for himself? Yelu Lage has survived until now, I’m afraid Prince Qi didn’t really have any friendship with Yelu Lage, right?”

Li Maozhen narrowed his eyes and did not respond.

He kept Yelu Lage because he did intend to use the latter as a puppet to stabilize the various tribes in Mobei, but Li Cunhui’s words exposed it, which really made him unhappy.

Fortunately, although Li Cunhui was blind, he was very smart. He smiled and said, “Since King Qi is interested and my adoptive father is willing, why don’t we join forces again like we did when we fought against Zhu Wen? King Qi will be the king of the grassland, commanding millions of troops, and my adoptive father will be the barrier of the grassland. The two families will fight against the Liang Dynasty together. Even if Xiao Yan swallows up Qi and Shu and takes over Jiangnan, what is there to be afraid of?”

As he spoke, Li Cunhui had already extended a finger: “As a token of sincerity, I am willing to send one thousand Crow Troops to King Qi’s command. In addition, King Qi can also mobilize the Yinshan Barbarians. King Qi should also know the name of the Crow Troops. I dare to say that no cavalry in the world can match the Crow Troops!”

Li Maozhen raised his lips, and he even saluted on horseback to return the greeting: “Prince Jin is straightforward, I like it.”

“make a deal?”

“It’s a deal.”

——

Hebei, Youzhou.

A carriage drove into the city, and Yebushou Youzhou Qianhu Su Fu An personally came with people to greet it. He clasped his fists and greeted Zhong Xiaokui, who was driving the carriage: “Captain Zhong, I have heard of your great name for a long time.”

After Zhong Xiaokui politely returned the greeting, Fu An pointed to the carriage and said solemnly, “This is…”

“Two months ago, the King of Song personally invited the commander of the Night Guards in Bianjing… Zhu Youwen.”

(End of this chapter)