Chapter 322 Banquet at Hongmen

On March 3rd, when spring returned to the Splendid Central Plains, light snow began to fall at the junction of Xixia and Xiliao Kingdoms.

The "Dunwu Army" has been stationed here for more than two months, but has not yet waited for a reply from the King of Western Liao. Meng Gong was reading books in the military tent, but Zhao Chengyu could not hold back his anger.

"Shuai Meng, please tell me something. In this snowy day, are we just going to wait here like this?"

They have sent three notes to the Western Liao Kingdom, and each time the messenger came back, they said that the Western Liao Kingdom would give a reply immediately.

Unfortunately, more than two months have passed from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, but there is still no information coming from Hu Siyu's ears.

"Report—report to Commander Meng. Several people came to the military camp, saying they were sent by His Majesty. The general recognized that the leaders were the two seniors of the 'Black Wind Shuangsha'."

At this moment, a school captain came in from outside the tent to report.

"Oh, hurry up and follow me out to meet -"

After Meng Gong and Zhao Chengyu joined forces, Guo Mo temporarily gave Meng Gong the title of "General of the Expedition to the West" and made him the commander-in-chief of the army in order to facilitate unified command.

Although "Double Black Wind" does not serve in the army now, he was the capital commander of King Yan's guard army many years ago, and he can be considered on the same level as Meng Gong.

What's more, the two of them are senior brothers and sisters of the current Empress of the Song Dynasty. Even His Majesty the Emperor has to address him as senior brother and senior sister, and Meng Gong naturally has to show the courtesy.

Sure enough, a few people came to the camp gate. Meng Gong recognized the two people standing at the front as the "Black Wind and Two Evils" at a glance. These two people were so recognizable in their appearance and dress.

At the end, there are four people standing in a row, all dressed in brocade clothes, wearing large cloaks, and carrying wild goose feather swords on their waists. They are actually the people in "Jin Yi"?

There was also a person standing in the middle, wearing a felt hat on his head. Perhaps because it was too cold, he was wearing a black cloak with the collar turned up.

From a distance, almost the entire person's body is covered. Only when you get closer can you see his exposed eyes, mouth and nose.

"Your Majesty... why are you here?"

Meng Gong immediately recognized that the person coming was Guo Mo, but he did not dare to reveal Guo Mo's identity at the camp gate.

"Come inside and talk—"

Everyone entered the camp gate and walked straight inside without stopping.

"I will finally see your Majesty——"

When they arrived at Meng Gong's handsome tent, Guo Mo, Meng Gong, "Black Wind and Two Evils", and Zhao Chengyu entered one after another, but the four men in "jinyi" stopped outside the handsome tent.

"Okay, to make a long story short, Tingfeng has received reliable information. Now the king of Western Liao, Qu Chulu, is coming with an army of 50,000 people."

"Years ago, Qu Chulu had already met with Brother Tiemu. With Ouyang Ke's mediation, the two actually reached a reconciliation. Qu Chulu even allocated 10,000 horses to Brother Tiemu."

"As far as I know, there are only 70,000 or 80,000 horses in the entire Western Liao Kingdom. Now I have taken out 50,000. It seems that I want to completely devour you 30,000 horses. I have a big appetite."

"I have ordered Monk Wanyan Chen's 10,000 heavy cavalry to come quickly. You can discuss the battle. I am here just to deal with that Ouyang Ke."

Lu Chengfeng's trip to Baituo Mountain was not in vain. At least he had a basic impression of about one-third of the country in the southeastern corner of the Western Liao Kingdom.

After returning to Zhongxing Mansion, Lu Chengfeng sent Lu Shangde out again, along with a hundred elite "Ting Feng" people.

After all the visits to Baituo Mountain, Lu Chengfeng completely believed in the godson he picked up for free, and even introduced him to Guo Mo.

Guo Mo really had some impressions of this person, and Murong Yan was even more familiar with him. Seeing him like this, she felt a little disgusted deep in her heart.

However, now that he has surrendered to Guo Mo, Murong Yan naturally can't say much. She just told him to work diligently and never have the intention of courting Qin and Muchu!

Murong Yan's words were a bit harsh, and Lu Shangde didn't dare to argue with him, he kept nodding his head in assurance.

"Since you have recognized the fourth senior brother as your adoptive father, you will be considered one of your own from now on. When I go to Xiliao this time, after the matter is settled, I will reward you with a set of internal skills and mental techniques."

Guo Mo has seen many people like Lu Shangde, no matter in his previous life or in this life. If you have breasts, you are a mother.

We cannot completely deny this kind of person, it just depends on how the superior controls him. As long as the Song Dynasty remains strong, such a person can often play a greater role.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, uncle——"

Lu Shangde can really climb along the pole?

However, Guo Mo didn't care. It was rare for such a person to appear.

Lu Shangde left with a hundred elite "Tingfeng" people. After leaving Yumen Pass and heading west, whenever he passed a city, Lu Shangde would leave three to five people behind.

In two months, the seeds of "Tingfeng" were planted in dozens of cities in the central and eastern part of the Western Liao Kingdom, close to the Xixia side.

More than half of these one hundred people were recruited by Lu Chengfeng in the past few years after he arrived in Xixia, and most of them were from various ethnic minorities.

Some people, even those who came from Xiliao, naturally have no obstacles in speaking or acting when they return to Xiliao again.

There are many cities in Xiliao, but they are not fixed. It's just that where there are more water and plants, more people will gather there.

There are only a few places where the city is really built with bricks and stones, and there are also officials and sergeants sent by the Western Liao Kingdom authorities. These places are often the best places for "Tingfeng" to settle.

As soon as February passed, Lu Chengfeng, who was in Zhongxing Mansion, began to receive information from the Xiliao Kingdom one after another, but many of them had little reference value or were not timely.

However, the news that Ouyang Ke surrendered to the King of Western Liao, and that Ouyang Ke intervened to allow Qu Chulu and Tiemu Ge to settle their differences, are still worthy of attention.

In order to win over Ouyang Ke, Qu Chulu even gave him the title of a prince and granted him the entire 200-mile radius of White Camel Mountain.

He even responded to his wishes and gave Ouyang Ke twenty young girls, including Uighurs, Geluolu, Naiman, Tajiks, Kipchaks, and even two Khitans.

Qu Chulu dared to personally lead an army of 50,000, which was the result of the double instigation of Ouyang Ke and Tiemu Ge.

Ouyang Ke hated Guo Mo from the bottom of his heart. Of course he would be happy if he could cause him some trouble, or he could just destroy Xixia directly.

Tiemu Ge pretended that the 30,000 troops stationed on the border of Liao and Xia were mostly the original troops of Xixia, and that the 50,000 reinforcements from Mongolian Ogedai Khan were already on their way to Xixia.

The combat power of the Xixia army was about the same as that of the Xiliao army, but the strength of the Mongolian cavalry was still fresh in Qu Chulu's memory.

As for the Song Dynasty, the two sides have never fought against each other, and who will win and who will lose is still a matter of uncertainty.

Qu Chulu was somewhat in favor of the Western Liao and Song Dynasty's foreign policy of maintaining close ties with each other and maintaining close ties with foreign countries.

However, if Xixia really fell into the hands of the Song Dynasty, then Qu Chulu might not have the final say in the northwest.

Besides, if there are 100,000 troops attacking 30,000 troops, is there anyone who can't win?

Qu Chulu's ambitions are not big. After winning this battle, he only wants a few cities in the southwest of Xixia, Yumenguan, Shazhou, Guazhou, Suzhou and so on.

The Mongols occupied the entire northern Xixia. In this way, one-third of the country was left for Xixia. It was directly bordering the Song Dynasty. Qu Chulu did not have that ambition.

Guo Mo entered Meng Gong's camp without letting anyone know about it. In order to keep it secret, Guo Mo even put on a human skin mask, which he got from Huang Rong.

Three days later, monk Wanyan Chen's heavy cavalry arrived first and stayed ten miles east of Meng Gong's army, preparing to deliver a fatal blow to the Western Liao army as a weapon.

Two days later, Meng Gong received a letter from Qu Chulu, King of Western Liao. The person who wrote the letter was actually a Han Chinese, to be precise, he was a descendant of the Han people who was born and raised in Western Liao.

"I have met General Meng of the Great Song Dynasty. This is my king's reply to you. My king has fully complied with General Meng's previous request to my king. The Mongolian Brother Tiemu has been captured."

"This time, my king personally led 10,000 troops here just to meet with General Meng. My king has long admired you as the number one general in the Song Dynasty. I hope to take the opportunity of escorting Brother Tiemu to get closer to General Meng.

Close."

This messenger looked to be in his forties, but he didn't look like a member of the military. He had a fair face and a chubby face. He didn't smile or speak. He looked more like a businessman.

Meng Gong took the letter handed over by the messenger.

Sure enough, what the letter said was similar to what the messenger said, and it also explained that the reason why he had not responded to the previous three letters was that he was busy searching for Brother Timmu.

Half a month ago, Brother Tiemu was captured, and he personally delivered it to Meng Gong.

The letter invites Meng Gong to meet at the Xia-Liao border at noon tomorrow. To show sincerity, both sides will only go with twenty guards tomorrow.

"I won't write a reply anymore. I'll bother the messenger and go back and report to your King Liao that Meng will attend the meeting on time at noon tomorrow -"

After reading the letter, Meng Gong agreed directly without even thinking about it, and even felt a little impatient and happy.

Meng Gong's reaction fell into the eyes of Xiliao's messenger.

"General Meng is indeed so heroic! Then I will report back to my king truthfully. I will look forward to seeing General Meng at noon tomorrow -"

After the messenger finished speaking, he turned around and left Meng Gong's military tent.

Guo Mo, the "double evil spirit" was there from beginning to end, acting as Meng Gong's bodyguard, standing on both sides without saying a word, just watching and listening quietly.

"Your Majesty, do you think there is nothing wrong with the general's handling just now?"

The messenger left, and Meng Gong handed the letter from Xiliao to Guo Mo, who briefly glanced at it.

"Without good wine, there is no good party. Qu Chulu's move is just to use Brother Tiemu as a bait to arrange this Hongmen Banquet to plot against you, the coach of the Song Dynasty."

"Haha, fortunately we have already arranged for 'Tingfeng' in Xiliao Kingdom, otherwise we would have suffered such a boring loss."

Chen Xuanfeng said from the side.

"Your Majesty, the general thinks that the other side may use a two-pronged approach. First, use this Hongmen Banquet to capture Meng Shuai, and then either blackmail him or directly use his troops to cover him up to deal with our leaderless 30,000-strong army."

Zhao Chengyu also took the opportunity to say.

"Your Majesty, since the matter is so clear, we might as well do a 'take advantage of the situation' and 'turn against the guests.' Don't they want to have a Hongmen Banquet?"

"We took the opportunity to seize Qu Chulu, and then sent out 30,000 troops, and monk Wanyan Chen's 10,000 heavy cavalry, which is enough for these Xiliao people to drink a pot."

Everyone analyzed the matter thoroughly in just a few words, but the tactics of the Xiliao people seemed so feeble.

Meng Gong was also very excited, and even more fortunate. Fortunately, Guo Mo came in person, not only bringing the real situation in Xiliao, but also being able to suppress the opponent's top master.

Otherwise, Meng Gong felt that he might not be able to evade the opponent's plan.

There was nothing to say all night, and it was dawn the next day.
To be continued...