Chapter 396 Chapter One

Xu Ziling arrived in Xingchanglong, fortunately Duan Zhixuan hadn't arrived yet, but Bu Jie and Buting had already waited impatiently, and they were really afraid that he would cowardly break the appointment. Hastily washed and changed clothes, came to the hall, Duan Zhixuan had just arrived, was talking with Bu Jie and Buting, saw Xu Ziling coming out of the hall, said: "The plan has changed!" Xu Ziling sat down next to him in a daze, and asked, "What changed?" Duan Zhixuan said: "King Qin originally decided that if he could challenge my Tiance Mansion again, Mr. Mo would take the initiative to deal with it. Now that this plan is cancelled, Mr. Mo doesn't need to do anything tonight."

Xu Ziling was slightly taken aback, but Bu Ting explained: "Teacher Mo, don't misunderstand, it's just because a master from the Tiance Mansion just came back from other places in time, so there are other arrangements." Xu Ziling immediately thought that it was Li Jing and Hong Funu who would come back, but he didn't know who was ordered to meet Da Zhi's challenge, so he took the opportunity to say, "Of course I obey the young master's orders. If that's the case, can I not attend the palace banquet tonight?" Duan Zhixuan said apologetically, "But the King of Qin specially ordered that Mr. Mo must attend tonight so that he can observe Dazhi's wild sand knife technique."

Xu Ziling sighed inwardly, so he had no choice but to agree. Duan Zhixuan stood up and said: "It's almost time! Let's go to Tiance Mansion first and have a banquet with King Qin." Steaming. Kou Zhong pressed one hand on the side of the half-full giant bucket of hot water, put the other hand into the bucket to test the water temperature, and said with a smile: "Little brother is going to take a bath, do you want to admire the beauty?" Hou Hou, who was hiding in the room, said with a coquettish smile, "Don't make such noise, she's going to sleep!"

Kou Zhong raised his brows, laughed and said, "Your name is up to you!" He just took off his clothes, sat in the bucket for a hot bath, and hummed a relaxing tune. Wan Hou floated out of the room like a ghost, and couldn't help but said with a smile: "Your singing voice is really ugly. Is this a popular ditty in Yangzhou? Be careful that you will show your feet in these places." Kou Zhong was stunned, this is indeed a ditty that he learned from eavesdropping on prostitutes singing in Yangzhou when he was young, but he still didn't forget that Wan Wan's eyes were taking advantage of him, he shrank into the bucket, frowned and said: "Don't look at evil. , I am most afraid that you will fall in love with my mighty majestic body and cannot extricate yourself, then my little brother will have a headache."

Hou Hou came to the chest-high giant bucket, looked at him, and said with a "puchi" coquettish smile: "There are men who are as twisted as you are, gentlemen are magnanimous! People have long been unable to extricate themselves from you." , why wait until this moment.” Kou Zhong covered his important parts with a bath brush, and said with a wry smile: "Don't play tricks on me! It's Ling Shao, not my little brother, who makes you unable to extricate yourself. If you don't move away, I'll drag you into the bucket and have a bath together. , don’t blame me for not warning.”

Wan Hou smiled faintly and said, "People miss you and miss Ziling so much, you can think whatever you like! Sigh! But you are shrewd in big things, but careless in small things. How can you be sure that Miracle Doctor Mo is your Young Marshal Kou?" Kou Zhong was stunned and said, "Where did I show my weakness?" Hou Hou was about to speak, but suddenly showed a vigilant look, and said in a low voice, "Someone is coming!" After finishing speaking, he sneaked into the bedroom like a smoke. Kou Zhong heard the approaching footsteps a split second later than her, and he knew that he was still a step behind her in this regard.

Then Chang He's voice sounded outside the door: "Little Brother and Brother Mei come to accompany Brother Mo into the palace together." Before Kou Zhong had a chance to complain that he was taking a bath, Mei Xun pushed the door in and said with a smile, "Hey! Mr. Mo is—ha! Please forgive us for disturbing us." . Kou Zhong was startled and furious, but luckily he didn't take off his mask because of Wan Hou's relationship, otherwise his true colors would be revealed.However, those who come are not kind, and those who are kind do not come, Mei Xun must still have doubts about him, so he came here sincerely to find his flaws.

Chang He saw the strong man Kou Zhong coming out of the bath, felt very embarrassed, complained to Mei Xun and said: "Hey! The little brother said he was waiting for Brother Mo in the hall." Mei Xun was examining Kou Zhong with sharp eyes, if he had put on the mask hastily, or if his face was made with disguise technique, it would be strange if he didn't show any flaws. Although Kou Zhong wished to jump out of the barrel and crush Mei Xun to death, he had to put on a joyful expression on the surface, saying: "It's okay, it's the honor of the villain, Brother Mei, to give face to the villain like this." Seeing his perfect physique, Kou Zhong has nowhere to hide.

Mei Xun looked around and said casually: "Little brother and Mr. Mo hit it off, so I met General Chang on the street and knew that he was coming to enter the palace with Mr. Mo, so I joined in the fun and followed him." Finally, his gaze fell on Jing Zhongyue hanging on the wall by Kou Zhong, a pair of handsome eyes immediately lit up in multiples, he walked towards the place where the knife was hung, and said: "Mr. This knife must be extraordinary, can you open my little brother's eyes." Kou Zhong's body in the barrel immediately broke out in a hot sweat, and his soul flew away.

Although the scabbard and handle were heavily wrapped in oilcloth, the appearance looked worn out, but the inside was hard to hide, especially because it was a peerless sword that became famous all over the world. Chang He frowned, knowing that Mei Xun had doubts about Kou Zhong, so he came here to investigate his details, but there was nothing he could do. Mei Xun acted so boldly, of course, Qi Wang Yuanji was behind him. Kou Zhong was like a condemned death row prisoner, watching Mei Xun take Jing Zhongyue off the wall with numbness, he lost all his senses for a moment. "Clang"!

Without waiting for Kou Zhong's consent, Mei Xun pulled the knife out of the sheath. This is the second time for Xu Ziling to visit Yeting Palace. In fact, there is no palace called Tiance Mansion in the palace. Li Shimin was named Tiance Admiral because of his meritorious service. The Chengqian Palace where he governed is called Tiance Mansion. . The layout of Tiance Mansion is like the halls of rich and powerful people, but it is not flashy. The north end is the main seat, and there are eighteen sets of chairs on the left and right. Two large flags crossed behind the main seat, namely the national flag of Datang and the handsome flag of Admiral Li Shimin Tiance.In addition, the east and west walls are covered with various types of exotic weapons from home and abroad, creating a majestic and intimidating momentum on the battlefield, which impressed Xu Ziling deeply. When Xu Ziling followed Duan Zhixuan and others into the Tiance Mansion, Li Shimin was chatting with the generals of the Tiance Mansion in the north seat, with a graceful and composed demeanor. On Li Shimin's right was Du Ruhui, followed by Hou Junji, Chai Shao, Luo Shixin, Shi Wanbao, Liu Dewei, Pang Yu, and several civil and military officials whom Xu Ziling did not know. The chief on the left was Li Jing, followed by Hong Fu Nu, Shen Luoyan's husband-in-law Li Shiji who was given the surname Li, Changsun Wuji, Yuchi Jingde and others, but Shen Luoyan was not seen. When everyone looked at them, Li Jing trembled slightly, and immediately recognized Xu Ziling.It was only then that Xu Ziling remembered that he had seen Li Jing with the mask of the "Scarface Man" in Luoyang, and now he regretted it. Li Shimin obviously valued his "Mo Wei" very much, so he stood up and greeted him personally, and the Bu family brothers were also honored because of him. After some courteous conversations, Bu Jie, Buting and Xu Ziling sat at the last seat on Li Jing's side. Since Duan Zhixuan competed for the last seat, Bu Jie and Buting also felt respected psychologically. After Li Shimin offered tea to everyone, he suddenly shook his head and sighed, and said: "This afternoon, my father hastily summoned His Highness the Crown Prince, King Qi, and this King to meet with us, and instruct the Ministry of Industry to send the Guantong Yeting and East Palaces to the public immediately after the Spring Festival. And all the gates of the Taiji Palace are closed, what do you think about this?" After he finished speaking, the whole Tiance Mansion fell silent, everyone looked at each other, but no one said a word. This matter concerns Li Yuan, who dares to talk nonsense. Only Xu Ziling here grasped the deep meaning behind Li Shimin's words. Just now in Yuhe Nunnery, he used Dazhi and Yang Wenqian, two evil men, Shi Zhixuan and Zhao Deyan, to use Jiancheng and Yuanji's conspiracy and tricks on him, which made Li Shimin feel very touched. Li Shimin is a man who does great things. His many years of fighting career has made him understand that winning the king and defeating the enemy, the decisive victory of life and death, does not allow the benevolence of women to have a place. He wants to kill Xu Ziling and Kou Zhongzheng in Luoyang, which means that once he recognizes his goal, he will be ruthless and will not give up until he achieves his goal. This is the condition of every successful general, otherwise he will be eliminated. Kou Zhong also has this character and traits. Now Li Shimin has given up his heart to Jian Jian and Yuan Ji, because this is no longer limited to the internal fighting in the palace, but involves the common people in the world, as well as the struggle with foreigners and demons. But Li Shimin still has longings and fantasies about Li Yuan, especially when Li Yuan suddenly closed the internal passages from the east and west palaces to the Taiji Palace in the middle palace, which aroused his hope, so he couldn't help but say these words. On the one hand, he wanted to hear from the audience. People's opinions, and more importantly, the reactions of the people on the test seat. After an unnatural silence, Li Shiji, whose surname was changed from Xu to Li, coughed dryly, "Is this a warning from the emperor?" Xu Ziling was astonished, he didn't expect that Li Shiji, who had just joined Tiance Mansion, would be the first to speak, and then he understood again. Li Shiji is actually a powerful pawn for Li Shimin to deal with Li Mi and Li Jiancheng. After Li Mi took refuge in the Tang Dynasty, Yi Jiancheng resisted Li Shimin. Of course, he had bad intentions and hoped to split the Tang Dynasty or even replace it.However, it is not that Li Shimin has no way to deal with it, that is, take Li Shiji, who no longer has high hopes for Li Mi, for his own use, and further split Li Mi's remaining strength. Since Li Mi's defeat, the myth of Li Mi's invincibility was shattered, and his reputation fell to the lowest point. When he surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, the overlords of all parties had long regarded him as the number one figure.On the contrary, Li Shiji led Li Mi's remnant soldiers to defend Hebei to resist Wang Shichong, and his reputation soared, which not only impressed the world's heroes, but also gave him the momentum to replace Li Mi in the Wagang Army.Even among the generals of the Tang Dynasty, he is still an important figure.Whether Liu Wuzhou wanted to go south, or Dou Jiande wanted to come east, he had to break through his defense line first. Because of his special status and the fact that bystanders are clear, he spoke first. Chai Shao said in a deep voice: "What does the emperor want to warn?" Just looking at the expression of Kou Zhong, the number one rival in love, one can tell that the relationship between him and Li Shiji is not very good. Li Shiji smiled slightly, and replied calmly: "The emperor wants to warn anyone who has a different intention not to act rashly, because what the emperor did just shows that he is definitely not guarded." All the people in the seat were moved. Li Shimin nodded with a smile and said: "The Shiji coincides with this king's opinion. Who can tell this king why my father didn't give an order sooner or later, but it was announced in a solemn and solemn manner this afternoon when the Spring Festival is approaching." What about this order?" Du Ruhui coughed dryly and said, "Can we discuss this matter later?" Everyone agreed. Although Li Shimin seemed to have something to say, he didn't insist anymore, looked at Li Jing who had been silent all this time, and said, "If Kedazhi is beyond our expectations and doesn't challenge us, should we take the initiative?" Xu Ziling praised in his heart when he heard that, Li Shimin is worthy of being the commander of the army, he kept asking questions, motivating the people below to use their brains, so as to listen to their opinions, so as to compare and correct their own opinions. Before Li Jing could answer, Changsun Wuji said first, "I don't think it is appropriate to start a war lightly unless we are absolutely sure. If we lose unfortunately, the damage to our Tiance Mansion's prestige will be even more difficult to make up for." Changsun Wuji's analysis is very insightful, and at the same time, it can be seen that this super expert who once suffered under the hands of Dazhi and ranked among the top three in Tiance Mansion still has lingering fears about Dazhi and has deep scruples. In fact, Dazhi's malicious challenge of "making friends with martial arts" did deal a heavy blow to the prestige of Tiance Mansion, and Li Shimin had to plan well to deal with it. Yuchi Jingde continued: "Jingde supports General Changsun, and even thinks that even if Dazhi challenges head-on tonight, General Li or Mrs. Li don't need to fight, otherwise if Dazhi succeeds again, he can spread the word everywhere. Defeat all the generals in my Tiance Mansion." Hong Fu girl snorted coldly: "So what if we are the ones who win? Wouldn't it be a big blow to his Changlin army's prestige. Tonight, Hong Fu will take the fight and see if he can reach Zhizhi." Li Shimin smiled calmly and said: "Whoever makes a move or not, let us talk about it later." Hu Mu looked at Xu Ziling, and said kindly: "What's your opinion, Teacher Mo? Please come out as you please, don't have any scruples, just treat it as gossip." Xu Ziling dared to make a long speech to respond to him, pretending to be humble and said: "Because I am a foreigner, even if I lose this battle tonight, the blow to Tiance Mansion should not be so serious." Li Shimin shook his head and said, "No! We must not lose." Huo Di stood up, stepped down the steps, walked slowly with his hands behind his back, looked up to the sky and laughed and said, "Unexpectedly, I, Li Shimin, was not afraid of the great battle with thousands of troops outside, but I was stumped by a small battle fought alone here." Everyone showed shame. When he came to the center of the hall, Li Shimin stood still, his eyes sparkled, and he said coldly: "My lords, don't think that the success or failure of this two-person struggle has nothing to do with the overall situation. serious impact." Xu Ziling agreed from the bottom of his heart. Thanks to Li Shimin's unrivaled military achievements, Tiance Mansion established a supreme and perfect image among the soldiers and civilians of the Tang Dynasty, but Da Dazhi wanted to break a gap in this flawless image with his knives.As the situation ebbs and flows, the prestige of Changlin Army has increased accordingly.If Li Shimin does not try to remedy and restore his reputation, he will be forced to be at a disadvantage in the struggle against Jiancheng Yuanji. Because Li Yuan was instigated by his concubine and villains, his impression of Li Shimin was getting worse day by day, but he still couldn't stop planning to seal Li Shimin because of the situation. Once the situation was reversed, the consequences would be unpredictable. Li Jing jumped up from the chair, knelt down on the ground, and said loudly: "Prince Qin, please let Li Jing fight against Dazhi tonight." All civil servants and military generals left their chairs and knelt down one after another, so Xu Ziling and Buting brothers had no choice but to kneel on the ground in the same way. Li Shimin's words inspired everyone to be full of fighting spirit and willing to die for him. Li Shimin returned to the throne, and said: "Your Excellencies, please stand up." After everyone sat down, Li Shi inspected everyone with gleaming eyes, showing a confident smile, and said spontaneously: "Kada Zhi is the most outstanding master of the new generation of Eastern Turks, only Ba Fenghan can compare with it. But even if he can The person who completely defeats my Tiance Mansion does not mean that he is invincible in the Central Plains." Everyone including Xu Ziling was stunned.According to Li Shimin's previous tone, tonight's battle can be won but not defeated.But at this moment, he changed his tone, as if it didn't matter if he lost. Hong Fu said: "King of Qin, please let Li Jing fight, he will live up to King Qin's expectations." Pang Yudao: "General Li's "Ten Forms of Bloody Battle" is firmly the chief among all the generals in our Tiance Mansion. He is the only one who can save our face. Please allow us, King Qin." Everyone nodded in agreement, the atmosphere was dignified and their fighting spirit was passionate. Li Shimin's eyes fell on Xu Ziling's face, and he said in a deep voice, "Teacher Mo once fought against Dazhi, what are the chances of winning?" Xu Ziling replied that he owed half of it, because it was Hou Xibai who fought Dazhi instead of him, and because Hou Xibai did not dare to fight him with the unique weapon of the beauty fan, his power was greatly reduced, and Dazhi took over. Big and cheap. But he had no choice but to answer Li Shimin's words, so he said: "Victory or defeat is just a matter of five or five." More than half of the people at the table showed that they thought he was boasting too much.If Xu Ziling said this in his original capacity, no one would dare to doubt him, and would even praise him for his modesty; changing Mo Wei's capacity, of course, is another matter.Especially Pang Yu, Changsun Wuji and Yuchi Jingde, who had fought against Dazhi, felt that he was beyond his control. Only Li Jing knew it well: Among all the people present, he is the most qualified to say this sentence. Li Shimin smiled and said: "Okay! Since Mr. Mo has such confidence and courage, this king will maintain the original proposal, and Mr. Mo will fight against Dazhi. Does General Li understand my king's intention?" Everyone suddenly realized that Li Shimin went around and around, just to explain one thing, that is, the Tiance Mansion cannot afford to lose another battle.Let Mo fight for this outsider, even if he loses, it will not ruin Tiance Mansion's prestige. Li Shimin's greatest strength is to balance the opinions of everyone in the mansion, to unify different voices, and to boost morale. Otherwise, only accept one of the opinions, and those who are not accepted will naturally not be convinced. Changsun Wuji and Yuchi Jingde did not take the lead in the battle, let alone accepting outsiders to represent them in the battle.But after Li Shimin's words, he felt that it was natural for You Mo to fight for this outsider, and it was worth a try. Li Jing said sincerely: "Li Jing understands, this is indeed the best choice." Li Shimin stood up, smiled and said: "That's the decision, tonight we will see Teacher Mo's ability!" Xu Ziling knelt down on the ground and said loudly: "The villain will live up to King Qin's expectations." Everyone responded with a bang, and their morale was extremely high.