In the Hou Mansion.
Dou Huaishan had been sitting there for a long time, and the sounds of fighting coming from outside the house from time to time seemed to have nothing to do with him.
No one dared to disturb him.
"Master Marquis, the prince suddenly left with nearly half of his troops, leaving only tens of thousands of troops to besiege but not attack. Do we want to break out?" His subordinates came to report at this time, with a hint of joy on their faces.
After all, now might be a good time to break out of the siege. Although the cost may be a bit high, protecting the Marquis and escaping shouldn't be a big problem. .
"Breakout?" Dou Huaishan raised his eyelids, "Even if I break out, where can I go? How do you know whether the prince did this on purpose or if he just hopes that I will break out and the prince's mansion will be destroyed."
The man was startled, this possibility was really not impossible.
It's just that Mr. Hou's words seemed to reveal pessimism.
But if you think about it carefully, even if you break out of the siege and are constantly pursued, it may be difficult to leave the capital.
Dou Huaishan didn't say anything else, he just stood up and came to the entrance of the tunnel that was blown up.
The men followed him.
Dou Huaishan stared at the tunnel entrance for a long time, not knowing what he was thinking.
"How many days has it been since Li Qian returned to Beijing?" After a long time, he suddenly asked without looking back.
The man raised his head and didn't understand why the Marquis asked this question, but he still replied, "Today is exactly the third day since he showed up."
"Li Qian's wife once said that when Li Qian comes back, I will abandon the army and flee within three days. She is quite accurate. Although I have not escaped now, the situation is almost the same." Dou Huaishan said with a hint of self-mockery. He said, "It seems that I am really no match for Li Qian, not even his wife."
"Master Marquis, you just accidentally missed it. Li Qi'an has too many tricks, which are really hard to guard against." His subordinate said quickly.
"Being unprepared can only mean that I am not as good as him. Not everything he can do can be accomplished by me." Dou Huaishan sighed, "Actually, it is not all his fault that I am in this situation today, but that I am not able to do it." You should have despised him from the beginning. If you make one wrong move, you will lose everything!"
"Master Marquis, as long as the Hou Mansion is not breached, we will not lose. Since breaking through is not possible, can we escape through this tunnel? As long as we clean it up, we will definitely be able to clear it up." The subordinate said.
He didn't know if the Marquis had been staring at this tunnel entrance and was thinking of escaping through this tunnel, but it was obviously a good way.
Dou Huaishan turned around and said, "This tunnel is the fatal tunnel that Li Qi'an left for me!"
The man was startled.
"Even if the prince doubles his troops, I am confident that I can hold on for a few days. But once I choose to take this tunnel, I will definitely die!" Dou Huaishan said.
"Master Marquis, can we just defend now?" The subordinate's heart also trembled. It seems that this time, he is really desperate.
Even if it can be defended, although the grain and grass reserves of the Hou Mansion are sufficient, they will be exhausted one day. Besides, the imperial army is far more than those outside.
"Actually, as long as I hold on, the crown prince should be worried," Dou Huaishan said.
"W-why is this?" the subordinate asked puzzledly.
"Li Qian didn't kill the emperor. The emperor also acted with him in a play. In other words, the emperor had planned to get rid of the prince and give him troops. In addition to testing whether I had any trump cards, he was also looking at how the prince would go. Which step, so the prince's fate will be near soon!" Dou Huaishan said.
"But even if the prince dies, the imperial army will not stop attacking us, and we will still be trapped." The man lowered his head and said.
Dou Huaishan looked at the tunnel entrance again.
"Sometimes timing is important. A dead end can turn into a way out. It all depends on the timing!"
"Master Marquis, I still don't understand something. Even if Li Qian is more capable and can find the location of our other Xizhou Army, taking the leader's head among tens of thousands of Xizhou Army is not something that can be done by one person alone. It can be done, besides how come we haven’t even received any news.”
Although the subordinate did not understand what kind of timing the Marquis mentioned, this question was what had been bothering him.
"I couldn't figure it out before, but after thinking about what happened in Xizhou, I understand." Dou Huaishan said.
The subordinate was still confused and didn't understand what the Marquis understood.
Dou Huaishan turned his head and glanced at his subordinates, "Besides me, who is the most familiar with the Xizhou Army?"
