Zhi Shisi was very hospitable, not only preparing a grand reception ceremony for Li Jue, but also a sumptuous banquet.

In addition, he even vacated his own general's mansion to serve as a royal residence for Li Jue.

However, Li Jue politely declined.

Li Jue still preferred to live in his own military camp, with his brothers who had risked their lives for him.

Li Jue's actions greatly pleased Zhi Shi Si Li, who then secretly wrote a letter to Li Shimin, reporting Li Jue's every move in Xia Prefecture.

That's right, he was Li Shimin's spy!

Zhi Shi Si Li was a clever man; otherwise, he wouldn't have become a great general in the Tang Dynasty. Now, Li Shimin is sending him three letters a day asking what's going on. If he still doesn't understand, his head can be ripped off and used as a football.

Therefore, he did everything he could to curry favor with Li Jue, hoping to earn a share of credit for his service in the future.

However, Li Jue was too independent and had no desires, which made it difficult for him to know where to start.

While Li Jue was getting familiar with Xia Prefecture, Li Zhi, far away in Chang'an, finally set off.

Li Shimin had intended to compare the two, but after seeing Li Zhi's performance, he shook his head helplessly.

There's no comparison, absolutely no comparison.

After all, Li Jue had already arrived in Xia Prefecture, while this young master had only just left the city...

Although Li Shimin was very dissatisfied, he softened when he saw Li Zhi's eyes longing for his father's love.

"Zhi Nu, on this trip to Shuozhou, you must heed General Xue's advice and absolutely must not act rashly..."

"Mmm!"

"Father, rest assured, I will obey General Xue in everything..."

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin felt an overwhelming sorrow once again. This was his son, the crown prince he had chosen for the Tang Dynasty.

Doesn't he have any opinions of his own?

Li Shimin never thought his demands were too high; he only felt that his sons hadn't done enough.

In fact, Li Zhi was already very outstanding as the crown prince.

He was not competitive or greedy, and he was very filial to his father, the emperor.

However, with Li Jue as a conspicuous example to compare him to, Li Shimin found Li Zhi increasingly unpleasant to look at.

"well!"

"Take care of yourself on your journey..."

"Father, you must also take care of your health and not let matters of state affect your well-being..."

"good!"

Li Shimin watched Li Zhi leave, and sighed inwardly. The competition was over before it even began.

Chang'an is over a thousand miles from Shuozhou, and it took Li Zhi twenty days to reach Shuozhou.

To be honest, this speed is not slow.

After all, it's normal for a large army to travel fifty li a day.

But at this time, Li Jue was already leading his troops, swaggering and chasing the Hu people across the grasslands outside Xiazhou City.

After reading the secret letter handed over by Zhishi Sili, Li Shimin bent down and wrote a line of small characters on the letter.

"Keep an eye on Li Jue's movements, and don't let him pursue us like a fleeing fugitive..."

After Li Shimin finished writing his reply, he immediately ordered someone to bring over sealing wax, and personally placed the letter into a brocade box, sealing it with sealing wax.

"Ananda, order someone to send this to Xiazhou City immediately and personally hand it over to General Zhishi Sili!"

"promise!"

After Li Shimin finished all this, he strolled to a huge geomantic map and looked at the two cities of Xiazhou and Shuozhou on the map, falling into a long period of thought.

He had a feeling that the Xueyantuo would attack soon, but he didn't know whether they would choose Xia Prefecture or Shuo Prefecture as their main target!

If it were Xia Prefecture, with Zhishi Sili's bravery, there certainly wouldn't be any problem. But if it were Shuo Prefecture, would his useless son abandon the city and run away?

Thinking of this, Li Shimin immediately ordered Cheng Zhijie, Yuchi Jingde, Niu Jinda and others to be summoned to the palace, where he secretly talked with them for an entire night...

Xiazhou City.

Since arriving in Xia Prefecture, Li Jue felt as free and exhilarated as a dragon swimming in the ocean or a tiger roaring in the mountains.

Although Xia Prefecture is located on the border and is inevitably subject to various tribal raids, it is precisely because of this that his thousand elite warriors have a place to use their skills!

He led his men out to hunt for grass and grain almost every day, and they always returned with a full load.

Sometimes it's human heads, sometimes it's cattle and sheep, and sometimes it's beautiful women from the Central Asian region...

Today he brought home a beautiful woman named Tana.

This woman was truly stunning; even with Li Jue's discerning eye, he couldn't find any fault with her. However, he was still too young, and he was afraid that experiencing matters of the heart too early would affect his future height…

In fact, Li Jue is already quite tall, but he hopes to go even further and become the tallest person in the history of the Li family!

Therefore, he has been restraining his desires.

Based on this, he simply ordered his men to lock Tana up and make her do mundane chores like sweeping the courtyard every day.

Tana was also very obedient. She spent her days either cleaning the room or washing herself until she smelled nice, then lying in bed waiting for this noble Tang Dynasty man to come and favor her.

She knew the significance of her existence: as long as she could please this benefactor, her people could survive on the grasslands.

To her great disappointment, this important man seemed to have no interest in her body...

On this day, Li Jue returned from another expedition, bringing back over a thousand cattle and sheep.

As Tana looked at the herds of cattle and sheep outside the tent, tears streamed down her face.

When she saw a butcher in the Tang army raise his knife, about to kill a ewe, she could no longer control herself and ran over to shield the ewe with her own body.

"You mustn't kill it!"

The butcher couldn't understand Turkic and was completely dumbfounded when he heard her babbling a long string of words.

It wasn't until Li Jue came over that Tana, as if seeing a savior, ran straight to Li Jue's horse, grabbed his reins, and cried out.

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