In the Great Inner Wucheng Palace, the courtiers and important ministers sat on the seat, the atmosphere in the hall was dull and depressing, and only Xiao Zhizhong, the scholar in the middle of the house, played the voice of reporting the military situation.

"Since the establishment of the Daibei Road march, the Duke of Xin has been diligent and does not dare to slack off, spreading the word to the states and making an appointment to meet in Youzhou to attack the Turks. The frost and snow in the northeastern states were troubled, and the Khitan Li was loyal to the postponement, but Zhao Wenhui, the governor of Yingying Prefecture, was widowed and compassionate, and did not take the border situation as a danger, forced him to be very anxious, and forcibly drove him away.

When the Khitan tribes entered the state, the horses were already frozen, and the grievances of the tribes were profound. Xin Guogong patrolled the camp into the Khitan tribes, Li was loyal to the tent to set up a seat to extend, and attacked and killed Xin Guogong in the tent, stealing the talisman order, that is, the department occupied Jicheng and counted the Kou Zhufang.

Yang Xuanji, the deputy head of Shan Yudao, heard that he had turned back to attack, and although his loyal troops retreated in a panic, more than half of the military horses and equipment gathered in Youzhou had been lost......"

Xiao Zhizhong's speech has been reprocessed. But even if there is some pretension, it still can't hide the stupidity of Dou Xiaochen, the Duke of Xinguo. Even if the rest of them don't care about it, just one of them incorporated the resentful people of the Khitan into the city, and even entered the camp to meet Li Quanzhong at night, which is completely his own death, and people can't figure out what this guy wants to do.

At that time, there were more than 30,000 people gathered in Youzhou, and Li Qianzhong's troops were only a few thousand tired soldiers, both in strength and armament. If you are a little precautionary, even if the Khitan soldiers make trouble in the camp, there will be no such a catastrophe that disturbs the whole army!

Although Xiao Zhizhong said that Li Quanzhong bribed Youzhou officials to enter the city, who was the bribe? Even if this bribe-taker has the energy to arrange the Khitan soldiers to enter the city, then he also has the energy to arrange for Dou Xiaochen to visit and condole?

Combined with the fact that Dou Xiaochen has had many disputes with Zhao Wenhui, the governor of Yingzhou, since he entered the state, people with a little intelligence can think that Dou Xiaochen planned to use the power of the Khitans to suppress Zhao Wenhui, but he underestimated the wolf ambitions of the Khitans, and even the command to control the whole army was stolen by the Khitans.

As a result, the Khitans were able to frequently spread the chaos of their lives, and with their weak crowd to disturb the whole army, and once occupied the entire Jicheng, plundering weapons, rods, cattle and horses, resulting in a catastrophe.

So when Xiao Zhizhong finished his report, there was no shortage of courtiers in the hall who couldn't help frowning, it was obvious that the emperor was planning to keep Dou Xiaochen's reputation of mourning and give him a martyr's name of a dead country. But the question is, who should be responsible for such an avoidable man-made disaster?

Although the ministers were dissatisfied in their hearts, Wang Xiaojie had not yet returned to the dynasty before he unified the army, and for a while they were still considering the wording, and no one spoke directly or regardless of it.

However, before the ministers could speak, the emperor in the hall had already stood up from the seat, his expression complicated and sad.

The emperor stood in front of the imperial bed, with his back to the ministers, standing with his hands in his hands, and after a long time, he suddenly sighed, and when he turned around, he already had a sad face, and looked down on the ministers in the palace and said in a sad tone: "Since Gaozu started his business, although the family and the country are often entangled in danger, there are monarchs and ministers who work together to govern China and deter Yuanyi. There is governance inside and outside, and all the Tibetans come to the court. The power of Huanghuang, the emperor's order, no one dares to resent! Why is there so much difficulty in this world? The remnants of the Turkic sins first made trouble in Hedong, and the Khitan clowns dared to jump into chaos in Hebei! There are so many things in the society, who is to blame? ”

Speaking of this, the emperor slowly walked down the hall, looked back at the empty imperial case in the hall, and suddenly bowed to the ground, his eyes were already full of tears: "Since the emperor's great trip, the country has lost its hero, and evil feelings and demons have arisen inside and outside. I am at the end of the family, idle and sick, and the public weapon has been lost several times, and I have no choice but to bear the great difficulty. After all, my ambition is short and weak, although I have the talent of the Manchu Dynasty to help me, I can't keep my business and prosper the country, what is the crime in the world? What is the crime of Li Min? If all kinds of disasters arise, then begging the heavens to condemn one person, I will accept it respectfully, and there will be no abuse of my people and harmless our country! ”

The ministers in the palace originally had their own thoughts, but when they heard the emperor's sad words, they were all shocked for a while, and they didn't dare to settle down anymore, so they got up and bowed behind the emperor and said loudly: "The ministers are lost in the auxiliary, which makes the society uneasy, the royal road is covered with dust, and the ministers are guilty!" ”

"The good ministers of the country, only the wise lord is not the wise lord, the old words of Emperor Taizongwen, within the feudal domain, all of them are innocent. Since I inherited the industry, contrary to the ancestral teachings, the grace and power are not as good as the four sides, so that all the people despise China, and the number of riots is chaotic, and I cannot be excused, and I dare not blame the courtiers. ”

The emperor ignored the pleas of the ministers, and then bowed up, tended to go to the side, and actually grabbed the blade of the armor weapon of the straight hall and held it in his hand and said loudly: "The country has not been able to shake up for a long time, disasters are frequent inside and outside, it is difficult for people to hold the big weapon, and the evil members cannot settle the country, if the will of heaven has been lost, I should be the sword of the sword, if the sons have the weapon of keeping the business, please ask the princes to assist the staff, if there is no such weapon, only choose the wise choice of the clan......"

"Your Majesty, don't ......"

Seeing this scene, the ministers were even more stunned, and several important ministers of the front class rushed forward, Jiang Xi, the prince of the country, grabbed the blade in the emperor's hand with his arms clasped together, and the other two prime ministers supported and sent the emperor back to the imperial bed.

"The Khitan Donghu remnants, the thieves with the hair, the blood of the father and the mother, the outsiders are born and the like, fortunately in the imperial court, they are born in the desert, the thieves who rebel against the lord and are ignorant of kindness and righteousness, how can they be induced by heaven and man! Only send troops to ask for it, behead the police, the minions are dead, and the arrows are killed! ”

Wei Chengqing, the waiter of the Chinese book, paused his head, and said with a blue expression: "The ministers are under the control of the Zhongshu, but they fail to clearly declare their authority inside and outside, so that the city fox society rats are repeatedly extinct, disturbing Chenju, committing politics, and the minister's crime is great!" Knock on the hanger and expose the corpse of the minister, announce the emperor's order, use the police inside and outside, use the force, and break the thief! ”

Although the Khitan has grown in the northeast in recent years, it is only a Donghu tribe under the Tang Dynasty's fetter order. Even the Turks, who have long been the overlords of the steppe, and Goguryeo, which was once prosperous, have become a history under the iron hooves of the Tang Dynasty, and a mere Khitan turmoil is not a big trouble.

But the reason why this is unacceptable is that the timing is really unlucky. The Turks had just plundered Hedong, and the imperial court's war situation in Hedong was no longer glorious enough, and as a result, the Eastern Hu Khitan, which was originally requisitioned and used to counterattack the Turks, was rebellious, which at least said that the feudal order in the north had almost collapsed, and at worst, it was that the great achievements of Gaozong in the old years were almost destroyed. This Dan is not the time that refers to the current saints!

The emperor wept in the court, lost his morality and lost his treatment, and even wanted to draw his sword and commit suicide, but of course the ministers did not allow such a situation to happen. But someone must stand up and bear such a sin, inside and outside, only Wei Chengqing, the true prime minister, has such qualifications.

Except for Wei Chengqing, it is not that no one else is qualified. For example, the emperor's eldest son, Li Chengqi, the king of Yu, but Li Chengqi himself has nothing to do with Youzhou, and before that, King Yu served as the chief administrator of Tianbing Dao to expel the Turks, although there was no conclusive success, but at least the Turks were driven out of Hedong.

—————

Of course, in addition to the people in the court, there is another person who is more weighty, that is, Li Ji, the king of Yong, who is in Shaanxi. Although King Yong is less involved in the situation in the Northeast, since King Yong's separation, he has conquered and intimidated Zhuhu, destroying the feudal order formed since Zhenguan, which also makes the contradictions between the surrounding Zhuhu and the Tang Dynasty more prominent and more acute.

In fact, in the past period of time, there have been some voices in the court and China who have taken the initiative to direct the grievances aroused by the large-scale expropriation of military service in Dugi Province to King Yong. King Yong's martial arts are good, and he has repeatedly provoked and accumulated anger on the sides, so that the border situation is tense and critical, and it also forces the court to have to lose sympathy to the people and prepare for military force on the side.

However, the logic of this kind of statement is really not worth scrutinizing, of course, the most important thing is that there are frequent border troubles, and the court really does not dare to anger King Yongwang too much, so this kind of voice is suppressed.

Not long after the New Year, after the Tianbing Dao army arrived in Bingzhou to drive away the Turks, the imperial court added the title of King Yong's thousand households, in order to reward the states of Shaanxi Province to actively respond to the court's previous recruitment, but was rejected by King Yong, and did not take it as a credit.

At this time, under the emperor's behavior, Wei Chengqing had to take the initiative to stand up and take relevant responsibilities, which was quite interesting. Of course, the emperor could not really condemn and kill Wei Chengqing, but he just moved him to the left as the secretary and superintendent and dismissed the governor, which can be regarded as setting the tone for dealing with the chaos in Youzhou.

As for Dou Xiaochen, the Duke of Xinguo, it can only be the loyalty of the dead country, and he needs to be given a posthumous gift. Zhao Wenhui, the governor of Yingzhou, connived at the Khitan to hide traitors, failed to investigate it early, and sent an envoy to the state to behead him for the crime.

In addition to the indications that should be pursued, the most important thing is naturally how to put down the rebellion.

The outbreak of the rebellion at this time was both unfortunate and fortunate for the imperial court.

Needless to say, the unfortunate thing is that at this time, although Li Qianzhong rebelled, but because of the weakness of his troops, and coincided with the cold and heavy snow in winter, although he stole Youzhou in a short period of time, but with the return attack of Yang Xuanji, the striker of Shan Yu Dao, he had to lead the people back to his Songmozhou clan, and the rebellion did not affect the rest of Hebei Prefecture.

Therefore, it is necessary to control the chaos, but it is not as urgent as the Turkic invasion last winter, and the imperial court still has no time to control it. At least before the snow melts in spring, the Khitan does not have enough strength to send troops to Hebei for the time being. In other words, the imperial court still had more than two months to regulate the power of the characters in order to arrange the chaos.

But the problem is that even if there are more than two months, the imperial court may not be able to raise enough manpower and material resources. In the first battle of Hedong years ago, there were 100,000 people in Dugi, and the characters were all exhausted.

After a plundering by the Turks, the prefectures of Hedong have suffered heavy losses, and they can no longer make up for it on the spot, and they must also guard against the Turkic resurgence. It can be said that the 100,000 soldiers gathered in Hedong, whether they were stationed on the spot or transferred to Hebei to suppress the Khitan, the imperial court did not have enough money and food to spend!

As for the Hebei Prefectures, not to mention, after a round of requisition before the year and the New Year, the characters gathered in Youzhou to prepare to send troops to Monan, but they were disrupted by the Khitan rebellion, and it was difficult to make a new round of requisition in a short time.