Chapter 449 Chapter Two: The Way of Survival and Death

Wang Shichong shouted: "Don't talk nonsense, my son." Wang Xuanying stood up abruptly, glared at Kou Zhongji on the other side, and pointed: "Dare to admit it, Kou Zhong, when you were in Chang'an, did you surrender to Li Shimin early under Li Jing's gossip?" Kou Zhong still had a leisurely look, and said with a smile: "Why is the prince so angry? This is the first time my younger brother has heard of such an important rumor. I don't know if the news came from our Luoyang beauty, Rong Jiaojiao?" Wang Xuanying obviously told him the truth, and immediately discounted his straightforwardness, and continued to hold on with a stern look: "You don't need to worry about where the news comes from, do you dare to answer my question?"

There was no sound in the hall. Kou Zhong laughed relaxedly and said, "What kind of person I am, Kou Zhong, the world has its own opinion. If others don't understand, I don't need to waste my words in vain." Zhang Zhenzhou said in a deep voice: "I'm afraid the prince has misunderstood, the young commander is definitely not this kind of person." Seeing that Wang Shichong hadn't spoken, Wang Xuanying became bolder and said angrily, "If it's really a misunderstanding, why did he insist that we not use troops against Li Shimin?" Kou Zhong thought to himself that it is not appropriate to quarrel with Wang Xuanying too much, took the opportunity to let him step down, slapped his forehead and said: "It turns out that the prince misunderstood my younger brother because of this, prince please sit down and listen to what my younger brother has to say."

Wang Shichong nodded to Wang Xuanying. Although Wang Xuanying was deeply upset, he still sat down and listened to Kou Zhong's explanation. All eyes focused on Kou Zhong. Kou Zhong Zhengrong said: "I like to imagine it personally. If the younger brother is Li Shimin, I will never go to war with the Holy One under this situation, because I must reserve my strength to deal with Song Jingang who is overwhelming." Wang Shichong asked in surprise: "Since this is the case, why did Li Shimin station troops outside the pass? Is it just to contain us and prevent us from engaging in activities involving Li Shiji?"

Kou Zhongdao: "This is one of the reasons, and the other reason is to test the mind of the Holy One. Assuming my guess is correct, Li Yuan is absolutely unwilling to use force against Luoyang now, and at least hopes to postpone the matter to ten months later." Everyone was stunned, and they didn't understand how the ten-month deadline was determined. Even Yang Gongqing couldn't help but said: "Why did the young commander say that?" Kou Zhong smiled and said: "The reason is very simple. It's because Concubine Dong Gui was just pregnant with Li Yuan's flesh and blood. If Tang and Zheng went to war, Concubine Dong might panic and hurt the fetus. With Li Yuan's character, he would not want this to happen. .”

Everyone was stunned, yet unbelievable. Wang Honglie was puzzled and said, "Didn't the young commander say that the Tang army was coming to attack Luoyang? Is it contradictory to say this now?" Kou Zhongdao: "It is imperative to attack Luoyang, but the order is different. Just look at the Tang army divided into two groups, one against Song Jingang, one against Yu Wenhuaji, and Li Shimin stayed behind. It can be seen that Li Shimin's strategy is to Consolidate the north bank of the Yellow River first, and then plan the Tongluo official road. If the official road falls into Li Shimin's hands, the Tang army will cover it from both water and land, and first eat away all the cities around Luoyang. .”

Wang Xuanying said eloquently: "Since this is the case, should we still sit and wait for death, allowing Li Shimin to show off his might?" Kou Zhong said calmly: "If we send troops to attack Tang at this time, we will do Li Shimin a big favor in vain, so that he will no longer have to pay attention to Li Yuan's will, and Li Yuan will also have something to say to Miss Shuni. At that time, Li Shimin only needs to cross the Yellow River. May I ask if the prince dares to cross the river and pursue him?" Wang Huying was at a loss for words.Although they gained a few strongholds on the north bank of the Yellow River, they were all north of Luoyang, and they were pinned down by Li Shiji's army. It is certainly not a good strategy to lose the defense while the other side rushes to nothing.

Wang Shichong pondered: "Does the young commander think that we should stand still and wait and see what happens?" Kou Zhongdao: "In the battle between Zheng and Tang, the Holy Majesty actually had the advantage of the geographical advantage. If he can reconcile the people and make the whole team work together, Li Shimin is very likely to repeat Li Mi's mistakes after a long period of fighting. The Holy Majesty should also fight with Dou Jiande. Form an alliance and fight against the Tang army together, this will be more foolproof." This can be said to be Kou Zhong's last earnest warning and reminder to Wang Shichong, pointing out his greatest weakness.

Zhang Zhenzhou and other generals with foreign surnames all praised them in their hearts, but they dared not express anything on their faces. Wang Shichong nodded and said: "The alliance with Dou Jiande is imperative. He once went to Luoyang to talk with me for a night, but because of some differences in interests, we still can't get together." Kou Zhong was surprised: "Divergence?" Wang Shichong was a little embarrassed, coughed dryly and said, "Since Xu Yuanlang surrendered to Dou Jiande, Xia Jun's forces have directly reached Tongji, which caused us to have several conflicts with Xu Shiji and Dou Jiande in the west of Yingyang, which made us very unhappy."

Kou Zhong heard his ambiguous words, and vaguely guessed that maybe the matter had something to do with him.Because the south of Tongji Canal is Liangdu, which is his territory of Kou Zhong.Because of Liu Heitai's relationship, Dou Jiande had long regarded Kou Zhong as his own. Maybe Wang Shichong had plans for his young commander, but Dou Jiande opposed it, so Xia Zhengcai couldn't get along. Of course he would not expose it, and suggested: "This matter is on my shoulders. As long as the Holy Majesty agrees, I can go to Leshou to speak to Dou Jiande, tell him my interests, and guarantee that he will fight against the Tang army."

This proposal hit Wang Shichong's heart. You must know that Kou Zhong has established a high reputation and status in the Zheng army since he defeated Li Mi. Therefore, Wang Shichong and Li Shimin joined forces to deal with him and Xu Ziling, which aroused fierce dissatisfaction in the army.With Wang Shichong's selfishness, of course he was afraid that Kou Zhong would join forces with other foreign generals to replace him, so Kou Zhong was willing to leave Luoyang, Wang Shichong wished for nothing. Haha laughed and said: "As long as the young commander can persuade Dou Jiande, Tang Jun has nothing to fear."

Kou Zhong laughed with him, but what he thought in his mind was that he and Xu Ziling had to seize the opportunity to avenge their mother before Yu Wenhua and Li Shiji or Dou Jiande died. Under Yang Gongqing's arrangement, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling met in Chenliu, Xu Ziling came with Xu Xingzhi, Xuan Yong, and Bu Tianzhi. They were discussing on a boat moored at the pier. After Kou Zhong explained the situation in the north, he asked, "How is the situation in the south?" The Way of False Action: "On the surface, Li Zitong seems to have a great momentum. Not only did he severely injure Shen Lun, but Du Fuwei also temporarily retreated. Li Zitong even led his troops across the river to attack Shen Faxing and occupied Jingkou. Shen Faxing sent Jiang Zhiqi to fight, and was defeated Li Zitong was killed on the spot, forcing Shen Faxing to abandon Piling and flee to Wujun, and even Danyang fell into Li Zitong's hands." Kou Zhongdao: "This is indeed a great momentum, why do you only say that it is superficially prosperous?" Xu Xingzhi analyzed: "Li Zitong had to take the risk of attacking Shen Faxing, because his old nest in the north, Donghai, was occupied by us, and in the west, there was Du Fuwei's invincible Jianghuai force, so the only spearhead for development was Shen Faxing, the old enemy in the south of the Yangtze River." Xu Ziling was surprised and said: "Compared to Shen Faxing, the Young Commander's army is obviously weak and outnumbered. Why did Li Zitong choose the strong and give up the weak, instead of counterattacking, he turned to Jiangnan." The way to do it: "Shoot the weak and choose the strong to find out the key point. Li Zitong knows that we are unable to invade Jiangdu, so first we will do our best to deal with Shen Faxing who poses a threat to him." Kou Zhong nodded and said: "Because of the serious differences between the two giants Du Fuwei and Fu Gongyou, the Jianghuai Army has no time to pay attention to Li Zitong for the time being. No wonder he is so presumptuous." Xuan Shui said: "How long does the young commander think Luoyang can defend?" Kou Zhongdao: "Wang Shichong's appointment of his clan is not useless. He himself is a commander who has experienced many battles, and now he is desperately piling up food and grass in the city. Even if Luoyang becomes an isolated city, he can at least defend it for a year or so." Xu Xingzhi sighed: "Then Li Shimin will most likely be defeated. He will not only have to overcome Song Jingang's army mixed with Turkic elites, but also deal with Dou Jiande's army. In addition, the soldiers in Guanzhong have been fighting for a long time and miss their relatives. If they attack Luoyang, they will suffer heavy casualties. , the situation is very bad for him.” Bu Tianzhi said: "After defeating Song Jingang, Li Shimin can switch from attack to defense to consolidate the lost ground." Xuan Yongdao: "This is the worst strategy. Once Yuhuaji is destroyed, Dou Jiande's army will sweep along the north bank of the Dahe River like a tidal wave without a dike. If Li Shimin fails to capture Luoyang before this situation happens, he will lose all his hard work outside the pass. If you are forced to retreat to the pass, you can only sit back and watch Dou Jiandexiong dominate the outside of the pass." Kou Zhongdao: "It is precisely because Li Xiaozi knows the key to this that he adopts a strategy that seems incomprehensible. However, if Li Shimin is the reincarnation of Marquis Wu and Sun Wu is reincarnated, it will be a year and a half before he captures Luoyang. Regardless of who wins and who loses, unless we are willing to give up our weapons and surrender, the fire will burn us, so what is the best way to deal with it?" Falsely speaking, he said with a smile: "Young commander already has a well-thought-out plan, why do you need to act ugly?" Xuan Yong said in a deep voice: "Attack Jiangdu?" Kou Zhongdao: "Only by acquiring Jiangdu can we hope to resist North and South. Now that we have all the gold in our treasury and don't worry about financial shortages, we will take advantage of Luoyang's fall and prepare for war with all our strength. But don't expand the army blindly. It will not only damage local production, Increasing the burden on the warehouse will further reduce the quality of the Young Marshals." Xuan Yong patted his chest and promised: "This bag is on us, all soldiers who are not up to standard will be eliminated, and we will never recruit recruits indiscriminately." Bu Tianzhi said: "We can claim to the outside world that we have obtained a large amount of gold from Cao Yinglong, then even if we have plenty of money, it will not arouse suspicion." Xu Xingzhi smiled and said: "Peng Liang's development is very ideal, young commander can rest assured to deal with Yu Wenhuaji." Kou Zhong patted the table and praised: "Xing Zhi must be a roundworm in my stomach, and he can understand my mind." Xu Ziling smiled and said: "Just because you asked us to meet here, I know that your brother has no intention of returning to Pengliang." Kou Zhong smiled wryly, "Young Master Ling is here to play tricks on me again." Turning to Xu Xingzhi and others, he said: "During the preparation period, there are two things that must be carried out separately. The first is to get in touch with Gui Xiliang of the Bamboo Flower Gang, and use them to grasp the situation in Jiangdu and the south; Ma Muma secretly bought a batch of first-class war horses, which Shang Xiuxun personally agreed to. The day Kou Zhong returns to Pengliang is the time to attack Jiangdu." The three of them suddenly agreed. After bidding farewell to the three of Xu Xing, Kou Xu disguised himself as a fisherman and sailed his fishing boat to the north. The weather suddenly turned bad, and the wind and snow hit. They had to moor their fishing boats to the shore for shelter.Not afraid of the cold, the two sat outside the canopy to enjoy the snowy scenery of Tongji Canal. Kou Zhongdao: "In another hour, you can reach Da'a in the north, then turn right and go down the east, and you can reach Xucheng, the old nest of the Yuwen Clan in two days. Back then, Emperor Yang had not returned to the west. Thinking about how powerful the Yuwen Clan is, now But it is the end of the road, Xu Yuanlang surrendered to Dou Jiande, doomed to the fate of Yuhua's bones." Xu Ziling watched a gust of wind blowing rain and snow across the vast canal like a wall, and said in a deep voice: "Since Yu Wenhua attacked Liangdu and returned with lost troops, all they have left is to be slaughtered, Xu Yuanlang Taking refuge in Dou Jiande made them even more trapped in all directions, with no way out." Kou Zhongdao: "Now Yuwenhua's relatives are leading an army in Wei County on the east bank of Yongji Canal to fight Li Shiji and Li Shentong's army to fight for the control of Yongji Canal. In my opinion, Yuwenhua's bone can't last long. Go straight to Wei County, and there is a high possibility that you will miss nothing." Xu Ziling frowned and said, "If you don't come to Wei County, where should you go?" Kou Zhong analyzed: "What we lack is news and intelligence, so there is no way to get started." Xu Ziling said: "You want to ask Liu Heita for help?" Kou Zhong smiled wryly and said: "I will see Dou Jiande sooner or later, just because the relationship between you and me is ambiguous, so I have to go around a few times before I speak out to test Master Ling's reaction." Xu Ziling laughed dumbly and said, "It's called a guilty conscience. But finding Liu Heita is not as easy as finding the bones of Yu Wenhua, and it takes time to get back and forth. If Li Shiji kills the bones of Yu Wenhua, we will regret it." Kou Shen scratched his head and said, "I can't say enough about you..." Xu Ziling cut him off and said, "Because you have selfish intentions, you can't speak against me." Kou Zhong lost his voice and said: "Selfishness, I, Kou Zhonghui, have no selfishness for my mother's affairs?" Xu Ziling said with a hearty smile: "It's never easy to get to know someone, but it's even more difficult to get to know yourself clearly. I haven't had the chance to ask you yet, how did you pass Ning Daoqi's test?" Kou Zhong said harshly: "My good boy, make it clear that you won't give me a chance to defend myself. Okay, my lord has a lot, so I don't care about you." Xu Ziling laughed and said, "My lord, there are a lot of them, I'm afraid it's Ning Daoqi instead of you kid?" In fact, Kou Zhong grabbed Xu Ziling's sore foot, took the opportunity to "take it as soon as he sees it", nodded and said: "Ning Daoqi is indeed an outstanding figure of the immortal generation, he has no desire to win, like running water, no matter whether he passes through the stone through the forest, So free and easy, unrestrained, and free. Frankly speaking, if he really dealt with me by any means as we thought earlier, I should not be able to tell you the words of the highest respect for him here." Xu Ziling said in a deep voice, "Are you pretending to be modest?" Kou Zhong patted him on the shoulder vigorously, and said with a hearty smile, "I'll let you see through again, but except for the last sentence, everything else is true. When I followed Ning Daoqi's full-strength slap, I knew that I really had something to do." Fight hard." Xu Ziling said: "Is his 'Sanshou Bapu' useful?" Kou Zhong said: "No, definitely not." Xu Ziling became interested and asked, "Since your brother has never seen Sanshou Bapu, how do you know if he has used it?" Kou Zhong shrugged and said: "Sanshou Bapu should be a complete set of martial arts essence, and there is a coherence between moves, including the spiritual and substantive laws, just like my little brother's eight methods in the well. Cough! Ha, the reason why I want eight methods instead of nine or ten methods is just a tribute to his Bapu." Xu Ziling said: "Another question, why didn't Ning Daoqi use his best stunt? It seems that you can't stop his eight pounces." Kou Zhong smiled wryly: "Because he only can use one hand to deal with me, how can he attack me?" Xu Ziling said: "Will Ning Daoqi, who is so intelligent and outstanding, be willing to let the tiger go back to the mountain? If so, he should not have agreed to Shi Feixuan's action at all, and Shi Feixuan would not ask him to do it." Kou Zhong showed a thoughtful look, and said in a deep thought: "Yes: there must be some changes in it that we don't know about." Xu Ziling's eyes were shining with a light as deep as the sea of ​​wisdom, and he said slowly: "We should know about those changes, if I guessed correctly, Shi Feixuan is not absolutely optimistic about Li Shimin this time, that's why I let you go. In the current situation, Li Shimin is still the first choice, and Marshal Kou is the second choice." Kou Zhongju said in shock: "Is there such a thing?" Xu Ziling analyzed: "Think about it, even if Yang Wenqian's rebellion is so serious, he can still be exempted from guilt after being completed. We can see how powerful the combined forces of the Prince and Concubine's Party are. Li Shimin has only two options now, one is to support troops outside Self-reliance, if you want to take this road, you must conquer Wang Shichong's territory, otherwise you will just seek your own death." Kou Zhong went on to say: "The other way is to stage a coup in Chang'an, which is even more difficult. With the support of the Turks, Jiancheng and Yuangu combined are only stronger than Li Shimin, not to mention Jiancheng and Yuanji even have Li Yuan." Ha, you are right to say that Shi Feixuan is not optimistic about Li Xiaozi." Xu Ziling said: "What is still puzzling is that since this is the case, why did Ning Daoqi make a move?" Kou Zhongdao: "I'm afraid it's our longevity formula. Ning Daoqi took this opportunity to force me to do my best so that he can spy on the reality of the longevity formula." Xu Ziling nodded in agreement.Kou Zhong patted his forehead and said: "I'm so stupid, I forgot Yang Gongqing, we can ask him to help and provide information about Yuwenhua bone." Xu Ziling frowned and said, "Aren't we going to Luoyang again?" Kou Zhongdao: "Mr. Yang should be in Yingyang instead of Luoyang in the daytime. Looking for him is just passing by." Xu Ziling said, "Just do it like this." Kou Zhong smiled wryly: "After avenging my mother, where will Young Master Ling go?" Xu Ziling said: "I want to visit the eldest lady and Xiao Lingzhong." Kou Zhong sighed, "I want to see them too." Xu Ziling shook his head and said, "Unless you know how to clone yourself, how can you be free? I will take a trip outside the Great Wall to see Lao Ba's prairie and Da Dazhi's favorite desert." Kou Zhong was speechless, he understood that Xu Ziling wanted to avoid the Central Plains so that he could stay out of his affairs, otherwise if he heard the news that Kou Zhong was in danger, would Xu Ziling just ignore it?