The moment the bundle of cloth was unveiled, Zhao Kuangyin finally felt relieved. Although the bloody head was still a young man, it was obviously not Xu Xian, and his nostrils were obviously not that big.

Wang Jing asked: "Whose head is this?"

Xiaozi cupped his hands and replied: "Go back to Wang Linggong, this head belongs to Shu general Li Jin. According to the captives, this Li Jin is the son of Li Tinggui."

"Li Tinggui's son? Hahahaha..." Wang Jing laughed crazily upon hearing this, "So you guys defended Huanghua Valley and won the battle?"

"Since we won the battle, our emperor cut off the enemy general's head and asked the little one to bring it over in a hurry, saying that it was for the public use!"

"It's useful! It's useful! Hahaha... Send someone quickly to deliver this head to Li Tinggui. He has been waiting for this news for almost a day! Alas... The most painful thing is losing a son in old age, and Li Tinggui is unfortunate enough."

Wang Jingmao lamented, and ordered Li Jin's head to be sent to Li Tinggui, and then watched the enemy's reaction with interest.

Zhao Kuangyin asked Xiaozi, "I heard that the Shu army set fire to Huanghua Valley. How did you escape?"

When Zhao Kuangyin asked about this, Xiaozi immediately became interested, "The Shu army did set fire in Huanghua Valley, but we didn't escape. The fire surrounded us tightly and we thought we were dead. Who could

Knowing that our palace is straight, we also ordered us to set fire to it.

At that time, we all thought he was scared out of his wits, and since we were all dead anyway, we still did as he asked, and just like that, the fire inside and outside burned together, and the head of the fire was as high as the sky."

Xiaozi stood on tiptoes and stretched out his arms, trying to figure out the height of the flames. "At that time, I thought it was doomed. I didn't expect that in the blink of an eye, the flames were gone. Yuhou, don't you think it's amazing!"

Zhao Kuangyin laughed and said: "I just said that Zhixian Gui has many ideas. I really didn't expect that he not only escaped death but also made great achievements."

"Haha..." Wang Jing suddenly burst into laughter, pointed to the opposite side and said: "Li Tinggui fell off his horse, hahaha..."

I saw a man in the handsome banner across from me falling off the horse with his forehead covered. Poor parents in the world. No matter who saw his son's head, he would probably have the same reaction.

From a distance, I could only see the soldiers helping Li Tinggui onto his horse again, and then the Shu army began to retreat in an orderly manner.

Xiang Xun asked: "Wang Linggong, do you want to take the opportunity to cover up the killing?"

But Wang Jing bowed his hand and said: "They have Fengzhou City as their back, so we can't get much advantage. We will only lose men and horses in vain. As long as Li Tinggui is not blinded by hatred, he will get out of Fengzhou tonight."

The Zhou army did not move. By the time of Haishi, Wang Wandi, the governor of Fengzhou, personally came out of the city to ask for surrender. As for Li Tinggui, he had already fled from the south gate with more than a thousand cavalry more than an hour ago.

As for why the remaining 5,000 or 6,000 soldiers were not taken away, it was because those people belonged to the vassal town and would not be given enough money to resettle their families, even the military lords of the Land of Abundance would not go.

After hearing the news of Li Tinggui's evacuation, the Shu troops and officials from the other three states also fled. Some of the officials left behind were originally appointed during the Later Jin Dynasty. They sent people to Wang Jing to ask for surrender without the Zhou army attacking. Longyou was the most

In this way, the four important states returned to the Central Plains Dynasty.

Xu Xian galloped all the way and returned to Kaifeng with more than 400 red scarf soldiers. After a hand-to-hand battle with real swords and guns, nearly 20% of the red scarf soldiers were injured.

More than 50 people were killed in the battle, more than 20 people were seriously injured, and almost everyone else was injured, including Xu Xian himself. If the Zhou army in Mighty City had not rescued them in time, the casualties would have been even more severe.

This battle taught Xu Xian that he could never fight hand-to-hand without wearing armor.

After entering Kaifeng City, he asked everyone to go back to camp to repair and went to the palace alone.

It was noon and Chai Rong was having dinner. Li Tingfang was not pouring wine and serving dishes, but was reading memorials to Chai Rong in a hoarse voice.

Seeing Xu Xian come in, it was like seeing a life-saving straw. He said softly to Chai Rong: "Your Majesty, Xu Dianzhi is back."

Chai Rong looked up at Xu Xian, "You're back so soon, where is Zhao Kuangyin? You're injured!" He pointed at Xu Xian's arm with his chopsticks.

"I fought with the Shu army on the way here and was slightly injured." Xu Xian took out the memorial written by Zhao Kuangyin from his arms and handed it over, "Marquis Zhao Yu is still in Longyou. Your Majesty will understand after reading it.

"

Chai Rong put down the bowl and chopsticks, held the memorial in his hand, and scanned it with a glance, "Wang Jing is very discerning, and he also knows that Liu Yuen Long is by his side to help with the military aircraft. As long as he is willing to continue beating me, there is nothing to say. Li Tingfang,

Immediately asked Zhongshu Sheng to draw up an edict, and appointed Wang Jing to be the commander of the camp recruitment in the southwest to take charge of the recovery of Longyou. He was rewarded with a thousand pieces of silk, and he also took 50,000 pieces of money from the treasury to reward the frontline soldiers."

"Your Majesty, if there is nothing else to do, I will retire."

Chai Rong nodded and said: "Go ahead, recover from your injuries and come back on duty."

Old Mu Tou winked at Xu Xian and said softly: "Don't run around. I'll go to Changle House to have a drink with you at night."

"I'm afraid I can't do it tonight. I'll invite Boss Mu as a host tomorrow."

Lao Mu Tou was afraid that there might be some misunderstanding. He looked like he understood. He patted Xu Xian on the shoulder and said, "It will be the same if we have a drink tomorrow."

Chai Rong picked up his chopsticks and continued eating. He raised his eyes and looked at Li Tingfang beside him, "What are you doing here? Let's continue reading the memorial from the governor of Qingzhou."

Li Tingfang had no choice but to continue reading in a hoarse voice. It was not until Chai Rong finished his meal that he felt relieved. Taking advantage of the opportunity to change Chai Rong's tea, he poured the remaining tea into his mouth. His throat, which was smoking with thirst, finally calmed down.

Not so uncomfortable anymore.

As soon as he brought the tea, he saw Wei Renpu, the envoy of the Privy Council, hurried into the back cabinet, "Your Majesty, a great victory at Longyou! A great victory at Longyou!"

Chai Rong was confused when he heard this. The imperial edict just issued probably hadn't reached Zhongshu Province yet. "How can we achieve such a great victory?"

Wei Renpu handed over three memorials with a smile, "Here are the memorials given to Your Majesty by Wang Jing, Zhao Kuangyin and Xiang Xun respectively. Your Majesty will know after reading them."

Chai Rong reached out and opened Wang Jing's memorandum. He only took a glance at it and stood up, "The land of the four states has been recovered! Wei Qing, is this true?"

Wei Renpu smiled and said, "Your Majesty will know whether it is true or false by reading the other two books."

Chai Rong hurriedly opened the other two books and read them carefully. Zhao Kuangyin's memorial was obviously more detailed, especially the battle in Huanghua Valley.

After all, the battle in Huanghua Valley was indeed the key to the entire battle, but Zhao Kuangyin also listened to the dictation of Aozi. In addition to his agility, Aozi was also good at telling lies. Of course, he did not forget to praise Hong Jindu and Xu Xian.

Chai Rong put down Zhao Kuangyin's memorial, read Xiang Xun's memorial again, and then threw his head up and laughed. Just now, he was worried about Longyou's war, but in the blink of an eye, Longyou was already in his pocket, and he felt like he picked it up for free.

Same thing.

"Li Tingfang, go to Zhongshu Province to withdraw the decree just now. I want to draft a new decree. In addition to the two taxes that must be levied in the four states of Qin, Feng, Cheng, and Jie, all the various taxes and corvees set by the Shu people

, were all abolished. In addition, Wang Jing was granted the title of Duke of Bao Guo, taking charge of all affairs in Longyou, and Xiang Xun and Zhao Kuangyin were ordered to return to Beijing as soon as possible."

Wei Renpu hesitated and said: "Your Majesty does not seem to intend to destroy Shu in one go?"

Chai Rong lit Wei Renpu with his hand and said with a smile: "I remember that when I asked Wang Jing to conquer Longyou, Wei Qing was the most opposed. Now he encourages me to come and destroy Shu."

Wei Renpu smiled and replied: "At that time, the Battle of Gaoping had just ended, and I thought it was not appropriate to start the war again. I didn't expect the Shu Kingdom to be so unwilling to fight. With only the power of a town and a few elite soldiers, in just a few months,

So I took down Longyou."

"It is enough to capture Longyou. The Shu Kingdom no longer poses any threat to our great Zhou Dynasty. Expeditions to the Shu Kingdom at this time are only a waste of national strength. When I conquer the north and south in the future, I can send a message to the southwestern corner to determine the outcome."

…

The two chatted for a while, Chai Rong arranged some matters for Wei Renpu, and Wei Renpu went back to the government office.

Chai Rong suddenly smiled inexplicably, "I didn't expect young people to be quite calm, and they kept silent after making great contributions."

Old Mutou asked curiously: "Which young man is your Majesty talking about?"

Chai Rong handed Zhao Kuangyin's memorial to Old Mutou, "Read it yourself!"

Old Mutou was not an ordinary big-headed soldier who knew the words. He took the memorial and slapped his thigh before reading it, "This is a great achievement... Well, maybe Zhao Yuanlang took the opportunity to gain credit for his sister-in-law."

"That's not true. Xiang Xun also said so. Wang Jing's memorial also mentioned the war in Huanghua Valley, but it was not as detailed as it was."

"That's true. Speaking of which, Wang Jing is still in his favor. He usually loves to be in the limelight, but this time he has accomplished a great feat. His Majesty didn't even mention it when I met him just now."

"Haha... There is a big difference between credit coming from other people's mouths and credit coming from your own mouth."

"Indeed, how will your Majesty reward him?"

Chai Rong couldn't help but frown when he heard this, scratched his scalp and said: "You are only twenty years old, and you are serving as a sixth-rank official in front of the palace. How can I give you a reward?"

The sixth rank official does not sound very high, but Zhao Kuangyin is only from the fifth rank, one level higher than Xu Xian, but no one dares to say that Zhao Kuangyin, the second-in-command of the front department, is not a high-ranking official, especially when the front department is unprecedented.

The moment of expansion.

When Chai Rong was in trouble, Xu Xian was also in trouble. When he came out of the palace, he didn't go home, so he went to care for the families of those who died in battle. He had done this kind of thing in future generations and in this life, but no matter how many times he did it, he would never do it.

You will become more accustomed to it.

He sometimes envied those great emperors and generals. Victory or failure could be replaced by a string of numbers, and he would not feel sad or guilty. Perhaps his womanly character was destined not to be a big leader.

figure.

It was already midnight when he got home. Zhao Ningxiu opened the door for him with an oil lamp and was surprised. "When did you come back? You didn't come to the store to say hello. Have you had a meal?"

"We've already eaten outside, let's go to bed early."

Zhao Ningxiu saw that the clothes on Xu Xian's disgraced face were also dirty, either black or stained with blood, and said, "Don't be in a hurry to sleep. I'll boil some hot water and take a shower before sleeping more comfortably."

Not long after, Zhao Ningxiu had brought out a basin of hot water, moved a small bench for Xu Xian to sit on, took a loofah and rubbed it vigorously on Xu Xian's body. Seeing that there was an injury on the dotted arm, "It's not just that it's just

Are you going to Longyou to supervise the battle? Why are you injured?"

"When we encounter the enemy, we have a small fight."

Zhao Ningxiu persuaded in a harmonious voice: "Victory and defeat are common matters for military strategists. Why should the gentleman take it to heart?"

"Do you think I'm unhappy because I lost?"

"Is not it?"

"It's because dozens of brothers were killed in the battle that I feel unhappy."

It was obviously a very sad thing, but Zhao Ningxiu laughed out loud. She probably realized that it was inappropriate and stopped quickly, "Some people outside say that the husband is righteous and generous, while others say that the husband is cunning and ruthless. I am still the third wife."

Once I discovered that Lang Jun has a kind side, I suddenly felt that Lang Jun was a bit like a person."

"who?"

"My father, my father would be as unhappy as Lang Jun if his soldiers suffered too many casualties when he returned from the expedition."
To be continued...