In the summer of the first year of civilization, the ancient city in the clouds. A majestic general in black armor was urging his soldiers and men to repair the ruins, his sturdy whip in his hand and his glittering horizontal sword at his waist, as he walked through the earthen city, patrolling back and forth, followed by four tall guards.

The general has reached the age of sixtieth, but he is still immortal and has taken on the heavy responsibility of the Tang State to resist the Turkic invasion.

He looked at the ancient city in the clouds under the scorching sun and the sweaty craftsmen, and said loudly: "At this time the year before last, the Turkic Ashina Gu Dulu established himself as the Jieqiu Lishi Khan in the Black Sand City of Zongcai Mountain, broke away from the fetters of our country, and began to invade our country. First invaded Lanzhou, killed Lanzhou assassin Wang Demao, and then killed the ancient city in the clouds, fortunately, all the soldiers worked together to resist the invasion and defend this glorious city!

It has not been a day or two since the Turks became a serious border trouble, and last year they invaded Dingzhou and Yanzhou, surrounded the ancient city of Yunzhong, and were repelled by us. But they then invaded Ulju and Pyoju, and captured Choi Zhiwen, the governor of Pyoju! Therefore, we must always be vigilant, strengthen our precautions every day, and repair the city! ”

The craftsmen who were working said in unison: "Please reassure the ambassador, for our own safety, we will build the city wall to eight meters high and eight meters wide, tamp the soil layer, and pour glutinous rice pulp, which will definitely make this ancient city impregnable!" ”

The general bowed his hand and saluted: "Okay, thank you for your hard work!" Please, everybody! At this time, the adjutant general Tang Xuanbiao came to report: "A cavalry came from the direction of Wolf Mountain, dusty, and coming into the clouds!" ”

The general laughed and said, "That's not an enemy army but a friendly army, let's go and meet it!" The general took the lieutenant general and the guards on fast horses and patted their horses out of the city.

Rushing across the creek, they came to the steppe with flat terrain, fertile land, and abundant water and grass, and a cavalry unit came from the opposite side. The leader was an old general, who came to the nearest place to restrain the reins of the horse, and bowed his hand and said, "Brother Cheng, I haven't seen you for a long time, don't come here unharmed?" ”

Brother Cheng returned the salute and said, "It turned out to be Brother Pei, I am very healthy." My brother is not fighting against Tibet in Shanzhou, what are you doing here? ”

Brother Pei said with a smile: "There has been no war between my dynasty and Tubo recently, and according to the order of the imperial court, the old man came to assist the old brother in fighting the Turks, guarding the Wolf Mountain, and strengthening the defense line in the northern Xinjiang!" ”

Brother Cheng smiled: "Wow, welcome, welcome!" Inside the city, please! "Return to the city to appease the ambassador's brother, hold a feast, and wash the dust for the guests who come from afar.

Cheng's younger brother's name is Cheng Wuting, the son of the famous Tang Dynasty general Cheng Mingzhen, who began to follow his father to fight in the south and north when he was a teenager, and is famous for his bravery and strength.

Brother Pei's name is Pei Shaoye, the eldest son of Shi Peigui, the second governor of Pubo, who started as a left-guard and guard, and brought a knife to defend Emperor Taizong. Later, he was awarded the title of guerrilla general and participated in the Battle of Goguryeo.

The two old generals drank grassland wine and butter tea, ate mutton, cheese and milk skins, and began to praise each other and talk and chat after they were full.

Cheng Wuting asked, "Brother Pei, what is your current position?" ”

Pei Shaoye replied: "The history of Qinzhou's assassination, knowing the military affairs of Qin, Cheng, Wu, and Wei!" ”

Cheng Wuting said with a smile: "Haha, Brother Pei, the place under your jurisdiction is 108,000 miles away from here!" ”

Pei Shaoye said: "The military defense situation of the Celestial Empire has changed. Have you heard of Lou Shide? ”

Cheng Wuting said: "I've heard that this person is a few years younger than me, wise and brave, the Sima of the Heyuan Army, and the Tubo Army fought in Baishuijian in Qinghai, and won eight battles and eight victories!" It's amazing. ”

Pei Shaoye said: "Yes, he is now replacing me as the deputy envoy of the Heyuan Army, because because of his rise, I am almost unemployed, haha!" After speaking, he took a sip of butter tea.

Cheng Wuting laughed and said, "Unemployed? With the Turks and Tibetans here, my brother will never lose his job! There is nothing to do in the west for the time being, but there is something to do in the north all year round! ”

Pei Shaoye said: "It is more than enough to have a brother in the north to guard the town, and I just came to make up a number!" The elder brother is now the general of Zuo Weiwei, the ambassador of Shan Yudao to pacify, and the governor of the armies to defend against the Turks. ”

Cheng Wuting said: "Brother, the northern border defense line is thousands of miles, and my army alone is not enough even if I have three heads and six arms!" The Turks are all cavalry, coming and going like the wind, armed with spears and horses, like tigers, leopards, and eagles! ”

Pei Shaoye said: "Although the Turkic cavalry is powerful, I heard that as soon as my brother came, they all fled and did not dare to approach the frontier fortress!" Ha ha. ”

Cheng Wuting said: "That's all the saying that people who don't understand the border situation are smeared with fat and whitewashed in order to strengthen our country's prestige, and my brother will understand it after a battle with the Turkic cavalry!" ”

Pei Shaoye said: "I came to assist my brother in defending against the Turks, I heard that the imperial court also recruited the Heyuan Army Economic Strategy Ambassador Hei Yachang to come to help, and changed to the general Zuoying Yangwei and the deputy general of Yanran Dao, and the general Li Jinxing replaced him through the Heyuan. There are black teeth often coming, my brother can sleep well! ”

Cheng Wuting said: "The imperial court's dispatch is very timely and reasonable, you, I and Chang Zhijun have become the horns to resist the Turks, and the command ability of the Empress Wu is admirable, it is really a woman who does not let her eyebrows!" ”

Pei Shaoye said: "I once listened to Deyin in the palace, and I am indeed a rare heroine in the world!" Oh, it's getting late, it's time for me to go back to defending the city! Brother Cheng, farewell! ”

After speaking, Pei Shaoye led his cavalry out of the city, galloped away, and returned to the Wolf Mountain Governor's Mansion to station.

In addition, the Empress Wu took charge of the government and made great efforts to make the country prosperous, taking advantage of the Lu Yuanrui incident to carry out a large-scale rectification of officialdom style, adjusting, dismissing, and degrading a number of officials, and changing the Yuanguang Mansion to implement the reform of the etiquette system, so that Vientiane was renewed.

One day, Empress Wu was preparing to deploy the next move, when he suddenly received a secret report from Li Siwen, the assassin of Runzhou, saying that his nephew Li Jingye was preparing to rebel in Yangzhou, and asked the court to prepare as soon as possible.

Empress Wu immediately sent an eight-hundred-mile urgent messenger to Yangzhou to verify, and the result was exactly the same as what Li Siwen said, so he praised Li Siwen.

Next, Empress Wu ordered Wu Sansi to strengthen the palace guards, and sent a messenger to Yanran Metropolitan Protectorate to recruit the general Heiya Changzhi, and at the same time sent a messenger to Shan Yudu Protectorate to reward Cheng Wuting and Pei Shaoye, and appointed Pei Shaoye, who had defended the palace, as Shan Yudao's deputy envoy to pacify him, and Cheng Wuting knew each other well.

At night, the Empress Wu and the maids came to the Shanzhai Courtyard together, and ordered the maids to wait outside the door, and they entered the hall to burn incense and worship the golden and bronze Buddha.

Empress Wu respectfully lit the nine-pillar incense, bowed to the golden and bronze Buddha statue, and said silently: "Nan Wu Amitabha Buddha, may this incense cloud reach the Three Jewels, plead for great mercy, according to my great mercy, give me great wisdom, and subdue all the demons and monsters in the world!" ”

Then the incense is respectfully inserted in the big incense burner in front of the hall, kneeling down and bowing, palms together, and silently reciting in his heart: Nan Wu Amitabha Buddha, the good female disciple Wu Yue, worship the Buddha's seat, willing to receive full precepts, do not kill as long as possible, but have no eyes, identify all monsters!

Empress Wu meditated for a long time in front of the golden and bronze Buddha statue before getting up and going back to the dormitory to rest.

A few days later, the general Heiya Changzhi returned to Shendu from the frontier and was cordially received by Empress Wu. Hei Tooth Changzhi is a Baekje Buyeong, about two meters tall, brave and strategic, a genius general, who has made a lot of contributions in the war against the Tibetans and Turks.

Empress Wu asked him about the situation of the frontier garrison, and he made a detailed report and gave an example of fighting the Turks. He said: "Once, when I was patrolling the border to a desert area, I encountered 3,000 cavalry of the Turkic Eagle Division, and I only led 200 cavalry of the personal guard to gallop and attack, and the 3,000 men on the other side were so frightened that they abandoned their armor and fled.

I returned to the divisional camp in victory, and in the evening a large number of Turkic troops arrived nearby. I ordered more fires to be lit in the barracks, and I ordered the detachments to light torches in the southeast and southwest directions, so that the Turks suspected that we had other troops to meet them, so they withdrew in the darkness and fled. ”

Empress Wu praised again and again, and asked him what he thought of the other generals. He said: "Cheng Wuting is very disciplined, and he can share weal and woe with his subordinates, and he has won the support of his subordinates.

Pei Shaoye is old and strong, and his courage is not diminished. I heard that when he was patrolling the desert, he suddenly encountered a group of Turkic cavalry, and immediately brandished his sword, stepped forward, and cut off the body and horse head of the enemy chieftain with a single sword, and the blood spattered ten steps, which frightened the Turkic cavalry to turn around and scurry! ”

Empress Wu was very happy to hear this, and appointed Heiya Changzhi as the general of Zuo Yulin, who lived in the Forbidden Garden, and guarded the safety of the palace.

At the beginning of October, the news of Li Jingye's large-scale army in Yangzhou came, and Empress Wu summoned Wu Chengsi and Wu Sansi to discuss countermeasures and discuss the candidates for the commander.

Wu Chengsi advocated that Pei Yan, who was stumbling first, and then it was not too late to talk about the expedition, he had already greeted and ventilated with Yushitai.

Empress Wu said: "Pei Yan is just a civil official, I can take him at any time if I want to." Who will be in charge of the expedition is related to the overall situation and success or failure, and it is very important! ”

Wu Chengsi said: "The minister saw that the Queen Mother recalled the black tooth Changzhi, and it seems that she intends to appoint him as the commander-in-chief?" ”

Empress Wu nodded and said, "I do have this intention, I don't know what the two of you want?" ”

Wu Chengsi said: "Hey, doesn't the Queen Mother want to get rid of the Li Tang clan? Li Xiaoyi, the general of Zuo Yuxuanwei, is in charge of the palace forbidden guards together with Sansi, he is a genuine Li Tang clan, such as a fake bag! ”

Empress Wu was taken aback and said, "You mean to let Li Xiaoyi take command of the expedition?" That's a great idea! Hehe. ”

Wu Sansi said: "Although Li Xiaoyi has always been very loyal to the Queen Mother, he is a relative of Li Tang after all, if the Queen Mother kills other clan kings, it is difficult to ensure that Li Xiaoyi cannot afford to disagree!" Once you have elbows and armpits, it's too late to regret it! ”

Empress Wu nodded and praised: "That's right, let him take command and go on the expedition with one stone, you can not only use his name as a genuine Li Tang clan, but also transfer the tiger away from the mountain, in case he fails, there will be black teeth always behind!" ”

Wu Sansi said again: "If he cowers or fails, you can also take the opportunity to get rid of him!" ”

The next day, Empress Wu took Neishi Pei Yan, and then appointed Li Xiaoyi as the general manager of the Yangzhou Road march, leading 300,000 troops to conquer Li Jingye.

After Empress Wu took down Neishi Pei Yan, she deliberately hung up and didn't make a decision to see how many fish were hooked!

Sure enough, Nayan Liu Qixian and Fengge squire Hu Yuanfan couldn't hold it back, jumped out to defend Pei Yan, and were sent to prison.

Soon, Zuo Weiwei's general Cheng Wuting also pleaded for Pei Yan on a secret table, saying that it was similar to Liu Qixian, nothing more than saying that Pei Yan was the minister of the society, who contributed to the country, helped the queen mother to abolish the establishment, and was honest and honest.

In this regard, the Empress Wu was very vigilant, because it was the emperor's taboo for the generals and the court ministers who had always controlled the heavy army to collude with each other.

The next day, he received a secret report that Cheng Wuting also had dealings with Tang Zhiqi and Du Qiuren, who rebelled in Yangzhou, and they were friends. Empress Wu then made up her mind to get rid of Cheng Wuting, but Cheng Wuting, who was far away on the frontier, did not know.

On the one hand, Empress Wu often issued edicts to reward Cheng Wuting to make him relax, and on the other hand, he strictly controlled the spread of news in the capital and prevented the news of Pei Yan's killing from spreading to the frontier.

He strengthened supervision over his brother Cheng Wuzhong, the crown prince of Xima, and his son Cheng Qizhi, who were in Beijing, and prevented their families from going out of the city to report the news.

Empress Wu summoned Wu Chengsi and Wu Sansi to discuss how to get rid of Cheng Wuting. Wu Chengsi suggested that Cheng Wuting be recalled directly, and when he returned to Beijing, he would be suddenly arrested and his crime declared.

Empress Wu said: "I have heard from the black tooth Changzhi that he is good at appeasing his subordinates, and his prestige in the army is great, and he has done his best, and even the Turks are very jealous of him. If he is rashly summoned back to Beijing, it is likely that he will be forced to rebel, and in that case, there will be a lot of trouble! ”

Wu Sansi said: "I heard that His Majesty the Emperor once held a post in the capital to protect the capital, it is better to borrow the tiger talisman and military sword of the capital to appoint a trusted general to carry out this task!" ”

Empress Wu said happily: "Think twice, you have really opened up recently, your strategy has made great progress, and in time, you will become a great tool!" I heard that Shan Yudao appeased the deputy envoy Pei Shaoye and was brave and strategic, and he worked in the same office with Cheng Wuting, if I could convince him to help, I would definitely succeed! Think twice, you can go to this matter yourself! ”

Wu Sansi readily agreed. Empress Wu appointed Wu Sansi as the inspector of the Xia Guanshangshu, and went to the ancient city in the clouds with the tiger talisman, the military and Li Dan's edict from Shan Yu Daduhu.

Wu Sansi and his entourage first came to the Wolf Mountain Governor's Mansion, and heard that the deputy envoy Pei Shaoye was staying in the ancient city of Yunzhong, and the ambassador Cheng Wuting went to Ulzhou and Fengzhou to patrol the border, Wu Sansi was overjoyed and immediately rode out of the city.

When he came to the ancient city in the clouds, Wu Sansi showed his military card, and the guards guarding the gate immediately reported to the Shuai Mansion. As soon as Pei Shaoye heard that it was Wu Sansi who arrived, he thought that there must be something big, and immediately went out to greet him.

The two sides exchanged pleasantries, and Pei Shaoye invited Wu Sansi and his entourage to the Shuaifu to sit down and hold a banquet to catch the wind.

After Wu Sansi was full of wine and food, he asked: "When will Cheng Wuting, the appeasement ambassador, return to the camp?" Pei Shaoye replied: "According to the previous practice of patrolling the border, it may take three days. ”

Wu Sansi said: "Very good! General Pei, I don't say secret words, I have a very confidential and urgent matter to ask the general to help with this time! ”

Pei Shaoye got up and arched his hand: "Please ask Wu Shangshu to come to the secret room to talk!" "The secret room is in the east wing behind the garden of the Shuaifu. The two went to the secret room, ordered the guards to retreat to guard outside the garden, and began to talk in secret.

Wu Sansi showed Pei Shaoye the Tiger Talisman of Shan Yu Daduhu, the military and Li Dan's edict, telling him of the emperor's worries and the signs of Cheng Wuting's rebellion.

Pei Shaoye knelt on the ground and bowed, weeping and being ordered, saying that he would definitely live up to his mission and complete the important and confidential task assigned by the emperor.

The conversation ended, and the two walked out hand in hand. When he came to Hutang, Pei Shaoye sent people to the Wolf Mountain Governor's Mansion to mobilize his army into the ancient city of Yunzhong to assist in the defense.

After the army entered the city, Pei Shaoye showed the tiger talisman that was protected by Shan Yu Dadu, announced the order to change the guard, and transferred all Cheng Wuting's personal soldiers to the Wolf Mountain Governor's Mansion to defend, and the ancient city in the clouds was defended by his own army.

Arrange properly, wait for the prey to fall into the net!

Two days later, Cheng Wuting led the cavalry into the city and dismounted in front of the Shuaifu, feeling that something was wrong along the way, but he did not retreat.

Pei Shaoye greeted him as usual, and suddenly shouted to the soldiers on the left and right: "Surrender their weapons!" ”

Cheng Wuting was very tired all the way, and was about to go to the hall to rest, but he was caught off guard, the saber on his body was confiscated, and he shouted angrily: "Brother Pei, what is this for?" ”

The left and right guards were also disarmed. Wu Sansi walked out of the hall slowly and announced the edict, to the effect that Cheng Wuting colluded with Pei Yan and Yangzhou traitors to rebel, and ordered Pei Shaoye to correct him on the spot.

Cheng Wuting shouted that he was wronged, saying that he was favored by the emperor in his life, how could he rebel? wanted to grab the knife and resist, but was thrown to the ground by several strong men and tied up.

Pei Shaoye arched his hand and said, "I'm sorry, Brother Cheng, if you don't do it, you won't die." The Holy Purpose is supreme, and the will of Heaven is irreparable! Come on, push Cheng Wuting out of Yuanmen and behead him! ”

Several strong men pushed Cheng Wuting out of the gate, knelt down on the ground, and the executioner waved a sharp knife and beheaded Cheng Wuting. Its head was put into a box and brought back to the divine capital by Wu Sansi to restore his life.

After Empress Wu learned of the success of the event, he awarded Pei Shaoye the title of Shan Yudao's pacification ambassador, General Zuo Ying Yangwei, General Zuo Yulin, and Shangzhu Guo.