After hearing this news, Li Xin was stunned for a moment, then remained silent.

After a while, he looked up at Chen Gang and asked slowly, "What's the matter?"

"The person is already lying in the Duke's Mansion and can't afford to rest."

Chen Gang lowered his head and said, "The news from the capital was seven or eight days ago. More than twenty imperial physicians had moved into the Duke's Mansion seven or eight days ago. It is said that General Xiao Ye from Jimen Pass is also on the way back to the capital. Bei Zhiren went to the Duke's Mansion with the identity of the Li family, and the family of the Duke's Mansion said..."

“It’s not going well.”

Speaking of this, Chen Gang paused and said, "It is said that Duke Ye has been bedridden for several months, and the medicine is useless. It should be impossible for him to survive this winter."

Li Xin had a expressionless face and slowly breathed out.

To be honest, the relationship between him and Duke Chen Ye Ming was far less deep than that between him and Duke Chen Ye Sheng. After all, during those years, Li Xin ran to the Duke's mansion almost every day to play chess with the old man. Ye Ming was either at Jimen Pass or Ningling. The two of them didn't spend long time together, and they were not as harmonious as Ye Sheng.

But Ye Ming is also Li Xin's more respected brother. When he heard that he was critically ill, Li Xin really wanted to go to Beijing to take a look. Yongzhou is more than 2,000 miles away from the capital. If he rides a moma horse and travels overnight, he will only be able to arrive in four or five days.

But... it is not convenient for him to enter Beijing now.

In the past three years, the imperial court had more than one edict to ask him to return to Beijing, but he refused to say he was sick. Moreover, in the past three years, the conflict between the southwest and the court became increasingly intensified. First, the southwest began to reorganize the army under the instruction of Li Xin.

In the past, the southwest troops were reorganized by the Hanzhou Army of the Mu family and the Pingnan Army of Li Shuo. However, there are some problems. The foundation of the Hanzhou Army is a group of mobs, with low military quality and a relatively old age. The battle on the battlefield basically depends on thunder. Otherwise, even the local garrison led by Pei Jin could not be defeated, let alone the imperial guards in Hanzhong.

During the past three years, a large number of old soldiers were discharged from the Southwest Army. All ordinary soldiers who were over 45 years old were returned to their hometowns. If they had no land at home, Zhao Jia would allocate land for them to farm.

Not only the original Hanzhou Army, but also the Pingnan Army in the Southwest Army, most of them were the same people who followed Li Shen back then. However, the Pingnan Army had much stronger military quality, and the standard for retiring was set by Li Xin at the age of fifty. If those over 50 years old still wanted to stay in the army, they would not be forced to retire.

If these people retreat, they naturally have to recruit a group of new people. In the current Southwest Army, young people in their 100,000 years old account for more than half of them, and the scale is also larger than before. There are 50,000 people in Hanzhou, 50,000 people in Jincheng, and 50,000 people in Ningzhou in Li Shuo.

There are a total of 150,000 troops.

Although the number of people has not increased much, the overall combat effectiveness has been raised by a step up compared to three years ago.

The court was not idle either. In addition to the 80,000 to 90,000 people stationed in Hanzhong, Pei Jin recruited more than 50,000 troops in Ankang, the southwest gateway in the past three years. According to the standards of the imperial guards, he has basically formed combat effectiveness. Including some scattered local garrisons, the court also displayed 150,000 troops in the southwest gateway.

The two groups of people competed with each other, and the situation became increasingly tense.

During the past three years, Mu Ying asked Li Xin more than once to lead troops to raid the Ankang Army, which had not been trained yet, and was blocked by Li Xin. Even so, small-scale conflicts between the two sides still occurred from time to time, and many ties were formed.

At the same time, Emperor Zhao of Yuan used the "sky thunder" given by Li Xin and did not test any results. Therefore, during the past three years, the court had almost exhausted all the means to penetrate into the southwest and get the prescription for the heaven thunder from the southwest.

In Jincheng alone, at least hundreds of people from the court were killed in three years, including the elusive plum blossom guards.

The Qiyang County where Li Xin is located is naturally not peaceful in the past three years. At least hundreds of corpses have been buried in the belly of Qishan Mountain behind Li’s house.

The relationship between the two sides is very stiff now. Li Xin entered Beijing at this time, and the court is unlikely to kill him, but it is estimated that it will be difficult to let him go and leave Beijing.

After closing his eyes and pondering for a long time, Marquis Jing'an slowly opened his eyes and said, "The information from the capital is sent to me at any time. I will find a way to enter the Ye family and send me a letter to Senior Brother Ye."

Chen Gang bowed respectfully.

"I'll do it now."

After Chen Gang left, Li Xin's face was a little gloomy. After sitting alone in the room for a long time, he slowly got up, pushed open the door of the study, and came to the eldest princess' yard.

The eldest princess is now studying food in the yard with her eldest daughter Li Shu. The mother and daughter are grilling skewers while brushing oil on top. The mother and the mother sit on a small stool, looking at the skewers with their eyes shining.

Li Shu was ten years old now and was already at Li Xin's chest. When she saw Li Xin coming, she quickly stood up and handed a skewer of grilled meat to Li Xin, and smiled sweetly: "Dad, let me eat this for you."

Li Xin smiled and shook his head: "Dad, don't eat it, you can eat it yourself."

"You two are quite leisurely today."

The eldest princess smiled and said, "Xiaoxiao has been much more diligent in the past two days. She took the initiative to help me watch Jing'er, otherwise I would have no time to grill skewers here?"

There are many servants in the Li family now, but they usually take care of their children by their own family, which is not very at ease with outsiders.

Li Xin coughed at his eldest daughter and said, "Ahan, go and play with your brother first. Daddy has something to tell your mother."

Xiao Ahan's eyes turned, bent down and picked up all the ten ships of barbecue on the grill. He almost grabbed the two chubby little hands and jumped out.

By the time the eldest princess realized, the little girl had already run away.

She glanced at Li Xin with some annoyance.

"After saying that, what's the matter?"

Li Xin slowly let out a sigh and forced a smile: "Madam, I'm going out for a trip."

"Go to the southwest again?"

The eldest princess sat down again and began to fiddle with the grill.

"You, you are not at home for four or five months a year. Every time you say that you have business to go to Jincheng, and you have resigned from office and stopped doing anything. There is no business left? Most of the time you have kept a foreign house in Jincheng, spending half a year with me, and spending half a year with her."

Grand Marquis Li smiled bitterly and sat down to help the eldest princess clean up the grill.

"Look at what the lady said, the old husband and wife are old, when did I have lied to the lady?"

"You have lie to me so much."

The eldest princess gave Li Xin a blank look.

"You just treat me as a fool and don't want to tell me anything. Forget it, I don't want to know what you are doing. If you want to go out, go out. Your Majesty Li is busy with business, so how can I be restrained by a woman?"

When the Marquis Jing'an heard this, he sighed helplessly.

"Madam, news has just been heard from the capital. Senior Brother Ye is afraid that he can't hold on for too long. The Ye family treats me quite kindly. For such a big thing, I can't stay in Qiyang with peace of mind, and turn a blind eye, right?"

The Ninth Princess curled her lips.

"You want to go out, when did I stop you?"

She lowered her head and sighed while flipping through the grill.

"Just remember to come back."
Chapter completed!