Under the repeated insistence of Yueying and Wu Nashi, Li Ye finally turned down the eldest prince's invitation.
Even Yang Kaiyi also pushed it, saying that he needed to be energetic enough to cope with the war in the beginning of spring.
Seeing Li Ye's tough attitude, the two had no choice but to give up and have people send a lot of new year's goods over, saying that they would wait until the fifth day of the lunar month before paying New Year's greetings.
Li Ye called Nalan Yu, and together with Mu Mu and Yue Ying, they went out of the city for a day and caught a lot of hares and snow chickens and brought them back to be roasted and eaten slowly.
It made Mumu and Yueying, who had been bored in the city for many days, really happy.
In Mu Mu's words, she learned etiquette from the female officials and maids in the palace a few days ago, so that she couldn't even walk, which made Yueying who was accompanying her laugh for days.
It wasn't Li Ye's first time celebrating the New Year with Mu Mu, but it was his first time with Nalan Yu, Yue Ying and his son. The five of them closed the door and spent a few prosperous days around the stove.
On the afternoon of the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, before the eldest prince, Yang Kaiyi and others came to pay New Year greetings, two unexpected visitors arrived, which surprised Li Ye.
I took Mumu and Yueying out for a walk, and when I came back I was about to call Nalanyu out for a barbecue.
After opening the door, he discovered that there were two strangers in the room. Li Hehe was stunned, looked at Nalan Yu and asked, "Who are these two..."
Before Nalan Yu could reply, a man and a woman who were sitting stood up and greeted Li Ye.
The man was about 20 years old, wearing a black robe, a little over five feet tall, and with a heroic air. He cupped his fists and saluted Li Ye: "I am Wang Tianhua, my father is the Minister of the Sixth Department."
The woman is about eighteen years old, wearing a green skirt and a black cloak. She has a pair of willow eyebrows and phoenix eyes, which are very charming.
He met Li Yefu and said softly: "My little girl Wei Qingyu, my father is General Wei Xian. Brother Tianhua and I heard the sound of the imperial master's piano in Huamanlou."
Nalan Yu looked at Li Ye and smiled and said, "Well, it was the night we came back from Prajna Temple, but we have never met, but he and I are very fascinated by you."
Li Ye looked at the two of them with a bitter smile and said, "You haven't even spent the New Year at home, so you are in a hurry to come to Southern Xinjiang?"
Wang Tianhua stood up, cupped his hands and replied: "In order to catch up with the decisive battle in southern Xinjiang, it doesn't matter whether the New Year is over or not!"
Li Ye shook his head, looked at Wei Qingyu and asked, "What about you? How are you doing?"
Wei Qingyu stood up like Wang Tianhua and replied: "Brother Wang and I have the same idea. If we can't catch up with the war that only happens once in these decades, wouldn't our life be in vain?"
Li Ye glanced at Nalan Yu, pointed at the two of them and said, "These are people who are not afraid of death. I will follow you from now on."
Wei Qingyu glanced at Mu Mu who was sitting aside chatting with Yue Ying, and said softly: "Who is the Princess of Nanyun? This little girl wants to make great achievements with the Princess."
Li Ye was stunned, thinking that after traveling thousands of miles to join the army, he still wanted to recruit people?
Mu Mu raised her head, looked at the girl in front of her who was much older than herself, pointed at Li Ye and said, "That's me, but I don't have an official position. I always hang out with my brother."
Wei Qingyu was stunned. She was in a hurry when she came with Wang Tianhua and did not inquire about Mu Mu's situation carefully. Now she was really stunned when she heard what Mu Mu said.
Li Ye knew that Mu Mu was deliberately making trouble, so he didn't bother to pay attention to her.
He smiled faintly and said: "Since you two are here, please feel at ease. Brother Wang will follow General Nalan, and Miss Wei, you can stay with Mu Mu from now on."
"Yue Ying, go ask your mother to prepare a brazier and have a barbecue tonight." Li Ye waved to Yue Ying, who was sitting aside in a daze.
Yueying replied "Oh" and ran out the door in a blink of an eye.
"What kind of training does Princess Nanyun need to participate in daily?" Wei Qingyu looked at Li Ye and Mu Mu and asked in a low voice.
"Training?" Li Ye was startled, pointed at Mu Mu and said, "You have to ask her about this, I never care about her."
Mu Mu looked at Wei Qingyu, thought about it seriously, and replied: "I just teach my sister to read, teach her how to practice swordsmanship, and then take her shopping to buy something to eat!"
"That's all?" Wei Qingyu could hardly believe her eyes. In her mind, she had to participate in inhuman physical training like male soldiers every day.
Li Ye looked at the confusion in her eyes, shook his head and said, "Don't ask me. If you want to endure hardship, go to the military camp with General Nalan. If you don't want to train hard like the male soldiers, just follow Mu Mu."
"Can I?" Wei Qingyu was shocked again. He didn't believe that the boy in front of him was actually the national master who commanded thousands of troops in southern Xinjiang.
Nalan Yu looked at Wei Qingyu's appearance, sighed, and said with a smile: "If you were just like him!"
Pointing at Wang Tianhua. "I guarantee you won't survive three days before you want to return to the imperial city."
Wang Tianhua was startled when he heard this. He looked at Nalan Yu and Li Ye and asked, "Master Imperial Master, is it so scary?"
Li Ye glared at Nalan Yu and thought that he would take care of the trouble he caused.
Nalan Yu looked at Li Ye waving his hands away from the shopkeeper and couldn't help but want to curse. "It's not that scary. It's just that the snow will melt in a few days. If there is no war, the army will be plowing the fields outside the city.
"All the troops are going to farm outside the city? No need to train?" Wang Tianhua asked in surprise.
"Who told you that you don't need to train? If you had come more than ten days earlier, you would still have to open up wasteland in the ice and snow!" Nalan Yu rolled his eyes at him.
Wang Tianhua closed his mouth.
Wei Qingyu's eyes widened.
"Don't believe it, my brother was with the army from beginning to end, burning wasteland and reclaiming land. I also stayed there for a few days."
Mu Mu thought about the fireworks and dust all over the sky, and she still wanted to cough.
Just as he was talking, Ouna entered the house carrying a brazier, followed by Yueying, carrying a barbecue rack and seasonings.
Li Ye processed the hare and snow chicken he brought back, and sprinkled the meat with seasonings to marinate.
At the same time, he said to Wang Tianhua: "If the grassland tribes are not in a hurry to attack after spring, the army will spend half a day plowing and training."
After speaking, he looked at Wei Qingyu and said, "Mumu is my sister. I never care about her training, but during the war, she can fight wherever I tell her to fight. Do you understand this?"
Wei Qingyu nodded and Juesheng replied: "I seem to understand a little bit."
"Just understand. I have a younger sister here who is only in the middle stage of Qi gathering. Bring her with you during training to hone his will." After speaking, Li Ye pointed at Yueying and smiled.
When Yueying heard what Li Ye said about herself, she squinted her eyes and said with a smile: "Brother, my archery skills are very good, but my strength is a little weak, not as good as my sister." After speaking, he raised his head and looked at Mu Mu.
Mu Mu giggled, touched her hair and said, "You are already very powerful. When you grow up to be as big as my sister, you will definitely be even more powerful."
Wei Qingyu looked at Yueying and asked softly: "This is also your sister. She seems to be eight years old, right?" What she meant was that she was already eight years old and was only in the middle stage of Qi gathering, which was too low.
Li Ye looked at her and smiled lightly: "Yes, my sister will be nine years old after the Chinese New Year, but she has been practicing for less than two months." After saying this, Li Ye looked at it quietly. she.
Wei Yuqing was so shocked that he couldn't speak. Two months is the middle stage of Qi gathering. I have never heard of this in the five realms?
Nalan Yu ignored the two of them, looked at Wang Tianhua and said, "You came from the Imperial City, did you bring some good wine?"
Wang Tianhua nodded and said with a smile: "I brought a little, not much."
Nalanyu slapped his thigh and shouted: "Why keep it? After drinking it, go buy other wine."
Nalan Yu, who had been addicted to alcohol for several days, asked Li Ye for a drink every day, but Li Ye didn't buy it at all. When he saw a cute new guy coming, why didn't he kill the pig quickly?
Li Ye looked at him and shook his head, and said: "Although there has been no fighting these days, I have not missed anything because of drinking. Tomorrow you will take someone to check whether the pipes in the pits outside the city are blocked."
When Nalanyu heard this, he patted his chest and said with a smile: "Leave it to me, I promise you won't make any mistakes!"
Wu Nashi looked at Li Ye, pointed at the brazier, and whispered, "This meat has been marinated and is ready to be grilled."
...
The next day, while Nalan Yu went to check outside the city, Mu Mu took Yue Ying and Wei Qingyu to go shopping, while Li Ye went to pay New Year's greetings to Yang Kaiyi and the eldest prince.
Because the current situation in the house is really inappropriate for the Great Emperor to condescend to come.
The three of them made tea while discussing the upcoming war.
"I estimate that within a month, the grassland tribes will not attack." Yang Kaiyi said calmly.
The eldest prince looked at him and asked softly: "Why? Don't they always like to fight quickly?"
"Because they were tricked by the national master before, and they were not sure, thinking that they might have to face a protracted war, and fighting a protracted war would require more food and grass."
Yang Kaiyi continued to reason with the two of them.
Li Ye nodded and said: "It is impossible for them to set up the battlefield under Nanyun City and then go back to find food and grass."
"So, after the spring snow melts and the roads resume traffic, they need time to collect more food and grass from various tribes. Even if they want to grab it, it will take time."
Yang Kaiyi pointed to the map on the wall and analyzed it quietly.
"That's the reason. We can't wait until we finish eating before looking for food. If something unexpected happens again, an army of more than 100,000 people will starve. This is absolutely impossible!"
Li Ye looked at the two of them and said seriously.
The Great Emperor nodded and replied: "I'm going to write to the imperial court and ask them to prepare more food and grass to send to southern Xinjiang. We can't wait until there is no more food here."
Li Kaiyi also nodded and replied: "Only when the army is well fed will it have the strength to win this war!"
"Then, can we fight there first, just like the Imperial Master did last time?" The eldest prince was a little anxious.
Li Ye looked at the eldest prince, shook his head, and said coldly: "It's impossible. I gave them an accident last time. Now the kings of the tribes have returned. As long as the king is here, the soldiers on the grassland will not dare to be afraid." die."
Yang Kaiyi nodded to agree with Li Ye's statement. "We have an absolute advantage in terms of military strength. If we fight, many soldiers will die. This is inconsistent with the strategy of the national division."
The eldest prince nodded thoughtfully, looked at the two men and said, "Everything is being carried out according to the plan of the imperial master. I hope we can resolve this war as soon as possible."
Yang Kaiyi murmured: "We will take action again after spring, and we will be a little more sure."
Li Ye looked at the two of them, smiled lightly, and began to analyze it calmly.
"I want them to abandon more than half of their troops outside Nanyun City, and then we will send troops to chase them, force them back to the three towns, and surround and annihilate them." We have plenty of time, so there is no need to rush.
Seeing that thousands of acres of cultivated land outside the city are being plowed in the spring, and the harvest will be harvested in a few months, Li Ye is not afraid even if the war is postponed until next year. After all, in autumn, another season of fruits can be sown.
We don't have to worry about our own food and fodder, but the other party's food and fodder is tight. When the time comes, we can take back the three towns without even fighting.
This is Li Ye's strategy for the three towns in southern Xinjiang.
The best policy is to subdue the enemy's troops without fighting.
