On the fifth day of the seventh month, Chang'an fell.

"Your Majesty's health has improved slightly, don't let Your Majesty know this news for the time being." The queen looked at Qin Zhao, Xue Ping, and Tian Lingzi in front of her.

"Got it." All three nodded yes.

Zhu Wen has taken Chang'an, but Luzhou is still a stalemate. As the main force attacking Luzhou, the Wuwei army has not moved at all, and Li Ze is still making a dojo for his deceased mother, and the dojo of seven seven and forty-nine days has only passed for more than ten days.

Li Ze does not move, the Hedong army will naturally not move, compared to the hundreds of thousands of troops in Wuwei, the tens of thousands of horses in Hedong will not be able to gnaw Luzhou City.

"What does Li Ze want?" The queen looked at the three people in front of her, they were real henchmen.

The three of them glanced at each other, and finally Xue Ping hesitated for a moment and said, "Niangniang, I'm afraid that Li Ze himself doesn't know what he's going to do!" ”

"What are these words?" The queen was stunned and said: "He is not a three-year-old child, and a person in his position must have a purpose for what he thinks and does." ”

"Niangniang, although Li Ze has risen very fast, judging from his past actions, he is indeed a far-sighted person, but in Chen's opinion, this time, he is afraid that he really doesn't know what he wants, just simple anger and sadness. After all, he was only twenty years old, and considering what happened to him as a child, it was understandable that he was in this state of mind at this time. ”

"If we want something, we can meet his needs, and if he doesn't want anything, that's the most troublesome." The queen sighed: "How is this good? ”

"It's really not the way to go." Tian Lingzi hissed: "Zhu Wen has taken Chang'an, and if you breathe a sigh of relief, you will definitely not watch Luzhou fall into our hands, watch us control Zhaoyi, and watch Zhu Youzhen be held by us, and will inevitably organize an army to come to the rescue." If it comes to this point, it will be really difficult to say who will die in this battle. ”

The queen's gaze fell on Qin Zhao's body.

These people in the house, when it comes to military affairs, it is naturally Qin Zhao who is the best.

"General Qin, if Zhu Wen wants to come, how long will it take?" The queen asked.

Qin Zhao thought for a while and said, "Niangniang, Zhu Wen has now taken Chang'an, but it is not something that can be done in a short period of time to keep the land of Heluo in Guanzhong, so it is impossible to draw a large number of elites to come to Zhaoyi." ”

Hearing this, the queen's face paleated slightly.

"But although he could not draw the main force to come, he could also send a force to support. In this way, the morale of the enemy besieged in Luzhou will inevitably be greatly boosted, and it will be more difficult for us to attack, and more importantly, it may cause new problems in other places. Qin Zhao hesitated for a moment and said: "We have surrounded Luzhou now but have not attacked for a long time, so naturally there will be no problems in a short period of time, but as time goes by, the outside world will inevitably know that there is something wrong with us." I'm afraid that the people who originally leaned towards us will also fall to Zhu Wen's side, this is a vicious circle. ”

Taking a deep breath, the queen asked again: "Then if we attack Luzhou, how long will it take to take it?" ”

Qin Zhao glanced at Xue Ping with some embarrassment, and saw that the other party lowered his eyebrows and drooped his eyelids, so he could only say: "Niangniang, if the Wuwei army does not move, it is impossible to take Luzhou with us and Hedong alone." Luzhou Tianyue, originally arranged, in Luzhou Tun gathered a large amount of grain and grass, built countless camps, Zhu Youzhen and his army, the strength is now more than 60,000, if you consider the young and strong, the people, is 100,000 is also available. ”

"What if the Wuwei army enters the war?"

"If the Wuwei army enters the war, it will shake Luzhou first on top of the momentum, if the other side is united, with the combat effectiveness of the Wuwei army, I estimate that two to three months at most will be enough to end this war. If there were internal problems in Luzhou, it would be possible to end the war in just a month. ”

"Are you saying that there may be problems within Luzhou?"

"Yes, something could go wrong." Xue Ping raised his head and said, "Actually, earlier, the minister had contact with Xue Jian and Pei Zhiqing, and he also persuaded them, and according to the news they came back, Tian Ping is also shaken now. But all this must be built under strong external pressure. Without strong external pressure, they would not have made any moves, and if they could still see the hope of victory, how could they surrender to us? ”

"Therefore, we still need the intervention of the Wuwei army." The queen said sullenly.

"Yes." Xue Ping nodded.

"In other words, without Wuwei, we can't do anything!" The queen looked at the three.

All three hung their heads. It's a plain deal. In Beidi, it was originally the Wuwei family that was dominant, and originally Hedong was also regarded as a hero in Beidi, but with the death of Gao Biao, Hedong has long lost its majesty, and now it has fallen into a situation of infighting, and the former Hedong general has long become a chess piece in Li Ze's hands.

"Han Qi also sees it that way?"

Tian Lingzi said dissatisfiedly: "Niangniang, Han Qi is unreliable. ”

"What do you mean by that?" The queen exclaimed: "In my opinion, Han Qi should be a loyal minister. ”

"I also believe that he is loyal to the imperial court, but his loyalty is based on his own intentions, and at this juncture, he is still trying to provoke General Li to anger, which is pushing the imperial court into the fire pit." Tian Lingzi puffed out his mouth and said indignantly. "Xue Shilang, let's talk about it!"

Tian Lingzi's mouth was full of teeth, his words were leaky, and he was a little vague, and everyone was very difficult to hear.

Xue Ping looked at the queen a little helplessly and said: "Han Jiedu's loyalty is naturally there, but at this time, he tried his best to win over people and wanted to fight against General Li. All his actions are to establish that he is on an equal footing with General Li in front of everyone, so as to gather people and expand his power. ”

Qin Zhao continued: "Niangniang, if at other times, Han Jiedu's approach is not disgusting, because if General Li's family is dominant, it will naturally be problematic, and only balance can maintain the stability of the government." In the past few decades, although the prestige of the imperial court has been lost, it is still very calm on the whole, because the various festivals contain each other, but with Zhang Zhongwu's rebellion, this balance was broken, and powerful jiezhen began to appear, and began to really threaten the rule of the imperial court, so that in the end, Zhu Wen's rebellion appeared. ”

"In this case, Han Jiedu's approach is not wrong!" The queen was puzzled.

"Yes, yes, but the timing is wrong." Xue Ping said: "At this moment, we should unite together, take Luzhou first, and completely pacify the north, and then we can talk about anything else." Now that Han Jiedu is moving frequently, what I am most worried about is really angering Li Ze. ”

"Will they have infighting?" The queen asked.

Xue Ping shook his head: "Li Ze won't do this, but he is very likely to withdraw." For example, he no longer fights Luzhou, but turns around and goes to fight Weibo, and then goes to fight Lu, and sits back and watches us fail in Luzhou. And once we fail in Luzhou, Zhang Jia of Shuozhou will inevitably send troops to Taiyuan, and then sweep Hedong, Zhang Jia is also Li Ze's person! In this way, Li Ze can still become the most powerful person in the Northland, and re-establish a confrontation with Zhu Wen, but he can completely abandon the imperial court. Niangniang, if you really come to this point, I am afraid that Your Majesty will have no place to go. ”

Tian Lingzi cried and said with a sad face: "Niangniang, to put it bluntly, now we have to ask Li Ze, not Li Ze who needs us." Don't we know that Li Ze's power is too great now and needs to be checked and balanced? But that's not the time! Li Ze is still willing to serve the emperor and serve the imperial court, once he feels that the imperial court has failed him and stands by and ignores it, it will be all over. When the time comes, he can instead dominate the northern land and rule with Zhu Wen, then the Tang Dynasty will really be over! ”

Hearing this, the queen's face turned pale.

After a long time, he said: "But we rely on Li Ze so much, how can we balance him in the future?" ”

"First of all, we have to win Luzhou quickly." Xue Ping raised his head and said: "As long as the Wuwei Army joins, then the Hedong Army can be preserved, and after the defeat of Luzhou, although the imperial court still lives on Li Ze's territory, the strength of loyalty to the royal family is still very strong." The ministers are here, the general Qin is here, the servants are here, Han Qi can also be counted as one, in addition, Gao Lei in the river can be fought for, and Yiwu, Fengdu, Xia Sui and other places will inevitably move closer to the royal family, otherwise, they will inevitably be gradually embezzled by Li Ze. Actually, this is a very simple truth. At that point, those who are dependent on the strong will be eaten away, and the weak will be able to compete with them in a group for warmth, so that a balance will be formed in the court. At that time, even if Li Ze was given the power to take charge of the government, with these constraints, the royal family could still sit back and relax. ”

Speaking of this, Xue Ping paused for a moment before continuing: "This is also what Gao Yu and Gao Shuai said when he was leaving, Li Ze can be both a hero in troubled times and a capable minister who governs the world. And what we have to do is to do everything we can to turn him into a capable minister of the world. ”

But how can this be done? How can Li Ze immediately send troops to attack Luzhou and end this war? The queen looked at the three.

The three of them were speechless.

After a long time, Xue Ping said: "Minister, I will go to his camp again, if he refuses, the minister will die there." ”

The queen was silent for a long time, and then said: "Xue Qing doesn't need to say angry words, but I can understand the truth here, I want to think about it, you guys go." ”

"Yes!" The three stood up, saluted, and withdrew.

Looking at the backs of the three of them, the queen sat down in a daze.

"Li Ze, as long as your anger is calmed down, you will send troops, right?" She muttered.