Qu Yunmie understood, but he still insisted on his opinion: "I don't need people who are not firm."

Gao Xunzhi asked him, "What if Xiao Rong also passed away one day?"

Qu Yunmie stared at him with a fixed gaze. After a moment, he lowered his head as usual and said, "Let's go, there's nothing to say."

Gao Xunzhi shook his head, "Your Majesty, that's not the truth. In the past, you were a junior general, a general who destroyed the barbarians, and a general who guarded the north. All you had to do was kill the enemy. But now you are the King of the North. You have driven out the Hu people and brought light back to the north of the Huai River. Countless people regard you as hope, Xiao Rong is like this, and so am I. In order to follow you, Xiao Rong was willing to drag his sick body for a long journey of 3,000 miles. What he wants to see is the King of the North who knows how to appoint people and is ambitious."

"If one day, he finds out that the king is not what he expected, and the path the king is taking is not the path he wants to take, then with Xiao Rong's character, will he still follow you so firmly?"

Qu Yunmie recalled what Xiao Rong had said to him under the cool moon at Yanmen Pass.

But his final answer to Gao Xunzhi was the four words Xiao Rong had taught him at the beginning: "The human heart is hard to predict."

Gao Xunzhi sighed, "Yes, there will be many more people like Xiao Rong in the future. Perhaps none of them can win the king's heart like him, but their ambitions and ideas are similar. The king is now in a state of turmoil. Now that he has taken the throne of the King of Zhenbei, he must never step down. We need more Xiao Rongs, and we also need to take care of their wishes."

There are fewer and fewer old people in the Zhenbei Army. Now when Gao Xunzhi walks in the army, he hardly sees any familiar faces. The Zhenbei Army is no longer what it was when he was young, but Qu Yunmie seems to still stubbornly want to maintain the Zhenbei Army's simple appearance as it was when his father and his elder brother were still alive.

As Gao Xunzhi talked, he was almost heartbroken. In fact, he was also puzzled as to why Qu Yunmie always wanted to guard Yanmen Pass. In terms of ancestral origin, none of them were from Yanmen Pass. In terms of memories, the two fierce battles had already covered up all the smiles and laughter.

At this time, Qu Yunmie raised his head and asked him a question in a low voice, just like when he was a child: "If we are not at Yanmen Pass, where else can I and the soldiers go?"

Gao Xunzhi was stunned for a moment, then lowered his head and took a sip of wine. When the wine cup landed on the table, he looked up again with his usual warm smile on his face: "Let the gentlemen discuss it. No matter where we go, as long as we are still here, it's fine."

Qu Yunmie played with the wine cup for a while, then shook his head and said, "Let's talk about it later."

After Li Xiuheng was brought back, he was brutally beaten. He had abandoned the pass and fled, leaving others to fight alone. Almost everyone who had experienced this hated him to the core.

Jian Qiao was one of the best among them. His parents both died in that war, and he wished he could kill Li Xiuheng with his own hands.

But he would not do that. To kill him, the king had to come in person. When it came to blood feuds, he and the king had a deeper hatred.

After having a good sleep and a good meal, Xiao Rong also went to see them once. He wanted to find out who the Qingfeng Sect was cooperating with, but unfortunately, Li Xiuheng was too useless. He had only met the leader once and was completely in the dark about the situation within the sect. According to him, the Qingfeng Sect promised to give him 20,000 soldiers and food after the success.

Twenty thousand... This was equivalent to a small warlord. No matter how rich the Qingfeng Sect was, they would not cut off their own flesh and feed the tiger. Xiao Rong knew it was a lie when he heard it, but Li Xiuheng believed it.

Xiao Rong: “…”

He truly is the chief general who was deceived by the imperial court for a little benefit.

Since Li Xiuheng couldn't get any useful information, Xiao Rong left. As soon as he left, the waiting soldiers came over and continued to beat and kick Li Xiuheng.

After going out, Xiao Rong ran into Qu Yunmie outside.

Xiao Rong asked, "Your Majesty, are you here to see Li Xiuheng?"

Qu Yunmie glanced at the cell door. Screams were coming out from inside. He ignored them and asked Xiao Rong, "I heard you have a younger brother?"

Xiao Rong: “…”

This topic jumped too quickly.

After a moment of silence, he nodded: "I have a younger brother and an elderly grandmother."

Qu Yunmie: "Why don't you take them over?"

Xiao Rong was even more puzzled. Caring about his family in front of the cell, was this some new type of workplace care?

After thinking it over, he replied, "My younger brother is young, and my grandmother is old. The mountains in Yanmen County are high and the roads are long. There are many dangers along the way. I am worried—"

Before he could finish his words, Qu Yunmie suddenly turned around and left.

Xiao Rong: “…”

He watched Qu Yunmie leave quietly.

In his heart, he was so angry that he was deformed.

Is this what you call respecting him? Caring about him? Go to hell, you bastard!

The author has something to say: