Datong Town General Office.
"General, we have arrived." Zhao Wu entered the room to announce.
Liu Heng looked away from the official document in his hand and said to him: "Bring the person in. By the way, make him a cup of hot tea. After all, they are all acquaintances. Don't be harsh."
Zhao Wu retreated.
Soon, two soldiers escorted a man in from outside the house.
After entering the room, the man saw Liu Heng behind the table and said, "Dr. Liu, I haven't seen you for a long time. I didn't expect that the last time I saw you, I was already a prisoner."
"Find a seat for General Li." Liu Heng said to the soldiers escorting Li Kaiyang, and then added, "General Li considers himself a prisoner, but I don't really regard you, General Li, as a prisoner."
There is a bench in the room.
Zhan Bing moved a bench and placed it behind Li Kaiyang.
Li Kaiyang sat down with a golden sword and said in his mouth: "Dongzhu Liu sent someone to escort me all the way from Shanxi to Datong. It must be more than just to meet him. If you have anything to say, just say it!"
At this time, Zhao Wu, who had made tea, walked forward with a teapot.
"Drink tea first. Although it is not as good as the tea at General Li's house, it is still good." Liu Heng raised his hand and made a sign of invitation.
Li Kaiyang was not polite at all. He took the big tea vat from Zhao Wu, held it in front of him and looked at it, and said: "Drinking tea with this thing, Mr. Liu is really open-minded. If there is a shortage of tea sets, I will write a letter and send it back. The family gave Dongzhu Li a good set of gaps."
"Thank you General Li for your kindness, but I'm used to using this." Liu Heng picked up the big tea vat on the table and took a sip of the tea inside.
Li Kaiyang said: "With Dongzhu Liu's current status, he can't get what he wants. It's not very honorable to entertain guests with such things."
As he spoke, he twirled the big teapot in his hand in front of his eyes.
"It's just for drinking water. This thing is very good. It contains a lot of water and can quench your thirst when you drink it." Liu Heng smiled and raised the tea jar in his hand.
Li Kaiyang picked up the teapot and took a sip, then took it away from his mouth and said, "Take it away, I'm not used to this thing."
"Give General Li another cup with a blue and white tea set." Liu Heng said to Zhao Wu.
Zhao Wu came over, took the big tea vat from Li Kaiyang's hand, turned and left the room.
"I won't be your prisoner, but I won't be a thief. I can't use the teapot." Li Kaiyang leaned back and found that there was no backrest on the back of the chair. It was not the Taishi chair he usually sat on. He quickly sat down just.
Liu Heng looked at Li Kaiyang with a smile and said, "General Li is not optimistic about the future of the Tiger Flag?"
"What future can the thieves have?" Li Kaiyang said contemptuously, "The imperial court has sent 300,000 troops, including 100,000 of the Liaodong army that defeated the slave thieves. They will soon arrive at Xuanda. Liu Dongzhu should take advantage of the opportunity now. If you hold great power, you might as well enjoy it and live your life in vain.”
Liu Heng said with a smile: "An army of three hundred thousand is a bit exaggerated. It can only deceive people who don't understand. It can only be an army of one hundred thousand, of which there are only fifty thousand soldiers and horses from Liaodong."
"Impossible. Liaodong has just been victorious. The slaves and thieves dare not pry anymore for the time being. It is a good opportunity for the imperial court to send out a large army to announce the suppression of the rebellion. How could it be possible that only 50,000 troops were sent? I don't believe it." Li Kaiyang frowned.
He works as deputy commander-in-chief in Yulin Town.
When he dispatched soldiers and horses from Yulin Town to Shanxi to suppress the rebellion, he had already learned the news that a hundred thousand troops were dispatched from Liaodong, and the imperial court transferred another two hundred thousand troops from the Twelve Guards, for a total of three hundred thousand troops, to encircle and suppress Xuanda and other places. thieves.
The imperial court deployed so many soldiers and horses to encircle and suppress Liu's thieves. No matter what, he could not think of the possibility of failure again.
After listening to what he said, Liu Heng smiled and said: "It seems that Governor Li is away and the news about General Li has been blocked a lot. I really believe that the imperial court has dispatched 300,000 troops."
"Isn't it?" Li Kaiyang asked.
Liu Heng shook his head slightly and said with a smile: "I just said that there is no such thing as an army of 300,000 people. Now the 100,000 troops sent by the imperial court have arrived at Yanqing Guard, and 50,000 of them are soldiers and horses from Liaodong. , the commanders of these 50,000 soldiers and horses are the two generals Jiang Yingzhao and Mangui."
"This is impossible! How could the imperial court send just this few troops and horses? Liaodong can definitely send some more troops and horses. With the troops and horses of Liaodong here, what kind of rebellion cannot be quelled." Li Kaiyang didn't want to believe it. He thought Liu Heng was deliberately lying to him.
Liu Heng said: "Whether you believe it or not, this is the fact, and even if the imperial court wants to send more troops and horses from Liaodong, I'm afraid it can't be done."
"Liaodong is temporarily free of the threat of slave thieves. Let alone 100,000, even 150,000 troops can be sent." Li Kaiyang retorted.
The two great victories in Liaodong made many people believe that the situation in Liaodong would change from defensive to offensive, and that the slave thieves would be put down sooner or later, and he was one of the people who supported this view.
Liu Heng took a sip of water and explained: "The threat of slaves and bandits is always there. The so-called two great victories in Liaodong are actually only the Ningyuan victory. The Jinzhou victory does not exist at all. It was just concocted by Liaodong officials in collusion with some people in the DPRK." Although the Ningyuan victory was a great victory, the losses suffered by the slave thieves were not great and far from damaging their roots. As long as the slave thieves have enough money and food available, they can completely besiege Ningyuan City again."
"This is impossible." Li Kaiyang said, "Even if it is true, how could you know such a thing."
He thought Liu Heng was lying to himself.
Liu Heng spread his hands and said: "As long as you inquire carefully about whether it is true or false, you can naturally find out, and you can't deceive people about this kind of thing for a long time, so why should I deceive on such a matter."
"Tell me this, what do you want to do?" Li Kaiyang stared at Liu Heng and asked.
Liu Heng leaned back and said: "I am just stating a fact to General Li. It is impossible for the imperial court to send one hundred thousand soldiers and horses to destroy our Tiger Flag. What's more, among these one hundred thousand soldiers and horses, there are really some capable ones." , there are only the 50,000 soldiers and horses from Liaodong. As for the virtues of the soldiers and horses sent by the Twelve Guards, I believe General Li knows better than me. Such soldiers and horses are not even as good as the peasant soldiers under the Tiger Character Banner."
"Fifty thousand Liaodong soldiers and horses are enough. They are elite soldiers and generals who defeated Lao Nu's army of 130,000." Li Kaiyang said in a deep voice.
The Twelve Guards of the pro-army have long since been abolished. It is okay to bully ordinary bandits and thieves. Facing the powerful soldiers of the Tiger Flag, such Twelve Guards of the pro-army are not even capable of fighting.
Liu Heng chuckled lightly and said: "The soldiers and horses from Guan Ning are indeed better than the ordinary border troops, but the soldiers of our Tiger Character Banner were also defeated in one battle. After several battles with Beishang and Beilu, we later fought with The border troops in Xuanda and Dazhou are fighting, and now they are attacking cities and territories in Shanxi. Does General Li think that our tiger-character banner army is afraid of the imperial court's Guan Ning troops?"
