Chapter 140 - War again

A hot pot of water boiled and made a "whine" sound.

The little practitioner wrapped the hot copper handle with a towel and carefully poured the bubbling water into the red clay pot for tea.

There were three open spaces, and only a small, narrow room. The blue curtain on the left covered the small kitchen, and the thin door on the right covered the room. Inside was the bedroom.

He wiped the table three or four times repeatedly, and then brought the tea plate. Besides the newly-made hot tea, there were two plates of nuts and snacks.

"General, General Mo, please have tea."

This time, it was normal. When he was in the alley, he was afraid that Xiao Xiu was really scared. Otherwise, he would not blurt out the name "stepfather" in any case.

"And this one..." He raised his eyes timidly and looked at Gu Mang in fear, "er..."

What should I call him?

Stepmother? Little mother?

This man was covered with a mask and he couldn't see his face after that, so Xiao Xiu was not sure what to call him. However, just now in the alley, he felt that he was absolutely right. Their god-like cold and indifferent General Mo Xihe Jun must have wanted to kiss the other person's face.

Although after Mo Xi coughed gently and explained that the sand was in his friend's eyes, and he was helping him to blow it. But who would believe it?

The little practitioner was scared, nervous, and curious. Oh my god, I broke Xihe Jun's love on the way home!

What to do? Would Xihe Jun kill him? What kind of fairy face did this stepmother have? How long had they been together? Was Princess Mengze in the dark?

He didn't know if Mo Xi, who was sitting at the table with a cold face, was turning bubbles in his seemingly respectful mind. Each bubble was wrapped with an extremely dangerous problem.

Mo Xi took a sip of tea, and Xiao Xiu stared at his thin, pale lips. There were several bubbles in his head.

It was said that men with thin lips were very fickle. He thought Xihe Jun was an exception, but he didn't expect it to be the same. Alas, Princess Mengze was such a poor person. She had been waiting so hard for so many years, he couldn't believe she was abandoned. How miserable!!

But on second thought, this "stepmother" has not spoken since he saw him. He did not know her voice or her appearance. The clothes she wore were very loose, and it was difficult to judge her size. Maybe she was Princess Mengze? The princess wanted to travel with Xihe Jun together. She was afraid of being seen by others. It was normal to wear a mask.

Most of the ups and downs in his heart were too big, and they appeared on his face unconsciously. Mo Xi looked at him speechlessly for quite some time, then put the teacup down. "What are you thinking?"

"No, no, no! I wasn't thinking anything! I am a wood without ideas!"

Mo Xi: "..."

Xiao Xiu covered his face, looked out between his fingers after a while, and sulkily said, "General Mo, your… Er, friend… What does she drink?"

"He'll drink the same as me. We just came to send some dumplings to the workshop for Elder Qingxu. We won't stay for long. You don't have to busy yourself anymore."

As he spoke he took out some sweet and salty wrapped zongzi from Jiang Yexue's house from the spatial bag.

Mo Xi did not know how many zongzi to leave, so he asked, "How many people are in your family?"

Xiao Xiu scratched his head. "Just me."

Gu Mang listened to him, and couldn't help but let out a low "huh?" sound.

Xiao Xiu turned around and looked at him in disbelief.

It was no wonder that Xiao Xiu was in a panic. Although his voice was light, he could clearly hear that it was not a sister's voice.

Gu Mang couldn't help but murmur in secret. When he was embarrassed, he suddenly heard Mo Xi lightly say, "He got cold last night, and his voice was a little hoarse, so he couldn't speak very well… Would you please make him a pot of hot ginger tea?"

"Oh, oh… It turned out to be hoarse... " Xiao Xiu mumbled and said, "Of course."

Finally, they got rid of him. After drinking tea, they left Xiao Xiu with the zongzi and after a few words they left his home.

Walking on the road, Mo Xi asked, "Why were you so surprised when you just listened to him?"

Gu Mang said, "Well, it's a long story. That kid, he was one of my men."

"... I know."

"You know? At that time, all of my thirty thousand remaining men were later included in your northern border army. I didn't think you could distinguish between my original brothers and those you recruited later."

Mo Xi said, "Very good recognition."

"Why do you think?"

"The practitioners you brought, they call me stepfather."

"..."

The black leather army boots embedded with iron were walking on the green brick path, making a crisp and hard sound. Mo Xi said lightly, "They thought I didn't know, but in fact, I knew all about it. Just now, that nervous person who called out stepfather in the alley was also one of your people."

Gu Mang rubbed his nose awkwardly, and only a few moments later he said,

"How can those naughty little bunnies give you nicknames?"

"Nothing. It's good," Mo Xi said. "You were more close to them than I am. You had seen them for so many years, you could still remember the appearance of a minor soldier. But I don't have much impression of them, I'm not good at remembering names. I'm not so close to the soldiers."

Gu Mang said with a smile, "Your brain has been used to memorize border scrolls and techniques. You really can't remember people."

"..."

He was afraid they'd talk about the reorganization of the northern border army. Mo Xi didn't intend to continue this story - he didn't want to let Gu Mang know about the heavenly oath.

In fact, his military style was just like that of his character. It was hard and cold. It was easy to misunderstand that he didn't take soldiers seriously. He was not very able to inspire people with words, and he was not very able to attract the sergeant with tenderness.

So he took over the northern army for such a long time. His practitioners still respected him, feared him, but did not love him.

In addition to the emperor, it was obvious that some people knew that he had spent ten years to protect the army. The soldiers of the northern border army did not know what their "stepfather" did for them.

Although it seemed that the heavenly calamity oath was not important now, Gu Mang had already made a protection for them. The oath of Mo Xi was only the second time one had been used by the emperor. Even if he didn't make the oath at that time, the emperor wouldn't let the blood of thirty thousand men down. But so what?

When no one in the game knew the truth.

Their "stepfather" was very stuffy. He didn't like to talk well. People are not gods, and they couldn't see the secrets hidden under the surface. He might not be good enough, but he had tried his best to protect those who he thought were going to suffer.

Nevertheless, he only got a "stepfather" in fear…

"General Mo in the end is a noble. He won't be together with us."

Who said class discrimination was only top-down? In fact, the commander who was involved in the mud storm of a noble group had been discriminated against by his soldiers.

Mo Xi said, "Talking about that small soldier, why were you so surprised to hear his family was only himself?"

"Oh, that's it," Gu Mang said. "Don't look at that kid. He joined the army when he was 16. At that time, he was the youngest group of recruits under my command. At that time, I asked him why he wanted to join the army. He told me that he had three brothers, each of whom had come. He was too busy to be left at home."

When Gu Mang said that, his eyes were dim. "His three brothers were excellent and decent. If I remember correctly, all three of them should have been alive in the year when I left Chonghua. I didn't expect... "

Mo Xi was silent for a moment and said, "Swords will never be merciless, and you should not think too deeply. It's impossible for anyone to hold on to everyone and do what they do well. It's enough to have a clear conscience."

Gu Mang didn't say a word. After a while, he suddenly said, "The eldest brother of that family said that as long as he had money to buy a house, he wanted to marry and live a stable life."

"..."

After a long silence, Gu Mang sighed in a daze. "If only the war could be finished soon."

It was impossible for the war to be over soon. On the contrary, the days of peace would soon be over.

Shortly after Duanyang passed, an urgent report came from the northern border, saying that Liaoguo had broken the two-year truce agreement and suddenly attacked the weakest Shituo Pass at the Chonghua border was in a state of emergency.

When the news came, the cold disease of the emperor was so severe that he couldn't even walk down. He asked Murong Mengze to take charge of the situation on his behalf. However, the civil and military officials who did not understand the internal situation were mostly dissatisfied with the emperor's move, and talked about it for a while——

"What's wrong with his body?"

"If there were any differences, he should have consulted with the three elders of Shennongtai, and then tell the important officials of the court. How could the emperor just shut up without leaving a word? There are no such rules in all dynasties!"

In fact, Mo Xi could clearly sense the surging atmosphere in the court: people didn't know that the emperor suffered from an incurable disease, but paper couldn't contain fire after all. Many people with active minds had guessed. They were close to the truth, but they were still uncertain and didn't dare explore it rashly. In addition, there were some old people who were not intelligent. Although they didn't realize the difference of the emperor, Mengze's power as substitute undoubtedly pricked their nerves. They dared not target the monarch for the time being, but it was more than enough for them to target Mengze.

Mengze meant to send Chonghua's cavalry to rescue them, and then they could call some of the garrison from two nearby gateways to consolidate the danger at Shituo Pass. According to Mo Xi, her way of handling was indeed sound and proper, but she was rejected by a large number of people——

"The calvary camp is directly under the emperor. How can it be easily transferred from the Imperial City?"

"It's a big thing to dispatch troops. Even if the princess wants to dispatch troops, she must hold a military and political meeting first."

All of these were reasonable. What's more, depending on the fact that he was an honorable elder, he said directly to Mengze, "Murong Mengze, why do you control the military order when you are a female?"

"If you don't have a title, who is lower than Wangshu Jun? We obey the emperor's will, and it's just for you to preside over the court meetings. But we can't listen to you as a female doll to dispatch troops, can we? Who can bear the burden when something happens!"

With such wrangling and procrastination, checks and balances of official power, even if some of the important officials of the military department headed by Mo Xi were willing to guarantee Mengze, the military order was still difficult to move quickly. Therefore, Shituo Pass was finally lost, and Liaoguo's black devil division marched southward with their flag. In one stroke, they broke through the three border cities of Fengcheng, Daze City and Dicheng, captured a large number of people in the cities, and killed tens of thousands of defenders.

By the time the news came, though the emperor had recovered his health and was able to go to the court, but it was too late.

He sat on the throne, in front of the spread of the border newspapers for more than twenty days. His face was cold and gloomy.

"Before Shituo Pass was rushed, they had made an urgent report for help fourteen times and had been struggling for seven days," said the emperor, throwing the stack of military newspapers on the table. He looked up from the fur white collar with cold eyes. "At that time, I had fully entrusted Mengze. Were you all dead or are all pregnant and need to have a baby? Why did you shrink back and not transfer the troops?"

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The author has something to say: I'm too busy recently. I'm a little tired and my immunity is down. I got varicella and herpes due to virus infection What's speechless is that I thought it was too hard to pull out the cupping, and later I thought it was bitten by a spider. I dragged on for three days until the lymph nodes were swollen, and then I went to see it. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha burp! When I edited this passage, it was 8:00 p.m. and I was waiting for the blood test sheet to prescribe medicine in the emergency department of the hospital I don't have time to finish my speech tonight. Anyway, I have to save my manuscript. I'll get better first. If my nerves are too painful to rest and I can't save my manuscript, I'll come earlier to ask for leave. QAQ, please remember to exercise more and enhance immunity I have almost half of my shoulders numb This is probably Frequently let the protagonist's shoulder injury report eight times