On the seventh day of November in the first year of Xianheng, the good news of the first battle of Tuyuhun reached Luoyang, Gaozong was ecstatic, issued an edict to amnesty the world, rewarded the meritorious soldiers, renamed Li Xian, the king of Zhou, as the king of England, and added 400 households, and allowed him to marry Zhao Qiong, the daughter of Luoyang Shaoyin Zhao Mingquan, as the main concubine, and married Chi Mingyue, the daughter of the king of Khotan, as the side concubine.

The emperor's edict, that is, there is a servant of the imperial history Yao Wangshu said: The king of England commands the Western Regions with the respect of the prince, and there is a difference with the system, and now he is married to the prince of Khotan, which is even more inappropriate. On this chapter, the government and the opposition were shaken, and the people who spoke of it, or praised or refuted, the public had different opinions, the arguments were fierce, the emperor could not decide, asked it to the martial queen, and then said: Xian'er is jealous of the people, and should be caressed, and it is a good policy to return to Beijing for a little rectification, the emperor thinks of it, thinks it is good, and then issued an edict, so that Li Jin acts as the protector of the capital of Anxi, and the general system of soldiers and horses from all walks of life, and the towns of Anxi are restored within a limited time, and Li Xian is summoned to return with the prince and daughter of Khotan.

Guanshan blocked, heavy snow closed the road, even if it is the transmission of the holy decree, it is also impossible to break through the limits of nature, when this edict reaches Li Xian's hands, the time is the ninth day of the second month of the second year of Xianheng, although as early as a few months ago through the secret channels in his hands to know the origin and content of the holy decree, but really received the holy decree one by one, Li Xian still can't help but be a little annoyed - this time the first Yao Wangshu is the prince's person, but there are many Li Xian's henchmen who seconded the proposal, of course, Obviously, none of the forces on any side were willing to see Li Xian holding Anxi, Liang and Lan Zhuzhou in the palm of his hand, and this kind of patronizing the party struggle but ignoring the overall situation of the society really made Li Xian depressed, even if he had expected this situation before the expedition, but Li Xian was still a little difficult to let go.

The holy decree is the holy decree, even if there is more dissatisfaction, Li Xian can not dare to disobey the decree, fortunately, there are a few months to deploy, the situation in Anxi can basically be ensured worry-free - in the four towns of Anxi, except for the most remote Shule Shang controlled in the hands of the remnants of Tubo, the remaining three towns have been recovered, in terms of the current strength of Anxi, it is not difficult to clean up Shule's 5,000 remnants of Tubo, the specific combat deployment Li Xian has already been arranged, and taking Shule is just a matter of turning over hands. Although the peace negotiations of Qinling are still in the mushroom at the moment, the ** side has the absolute initiative, attacking and defending from the heart, and is not afraid of how big the waves can be stirred up by Gar Qinling, of course, with Li Xian's departure, Gar Qinling may breathe a sigh of relief, and it is very likely to take the opportunity to make some small moves, however, it is not much of a problem in the overall situation, and the only thing that makes Li Xian regret is that he cannot further tighten the neck of the Tubo people - the holy decree is very clear, Li Jinxing's task is to recover Anxi, Instead of attacking Tuyuhun, in fact, as far as Li Jinxing's ability is concerned, unless he has an absolute superiority in troops, otherwise, he is definitely not Gar Qinling's opponent, and there is no problem in defending it, if he attacks, I am afraid that he will have to repeat the mistakes of Xue Rengui.

On the first day of March in the second year of Xianheng, the first pass of the business road, Li Xian led more than 300 people to guard Princess Mingyue and his party, bid farewell to the monarchs and ministers of Khotan, and embarked on the road back to Beijing, all the way through the end, Xingxing Gorge, Yumen Pass, Liangzhou, and arrived at the city of Lanzhou on the third day of the first month of April. Jiang Ye, who returned to Beijing with Li Xian, cried when he heard this, and even fainted, and Li Xian was also quite sad, so he asked people to set up a mourning hall at the post station to pay tribute to him, and he kept the spirit in person, and stayed awake all night, until the next day, he took the time to summon Lin Mingdu and Ling Zhong to the side room to discuss matters.

"Your Highness, the death of Jiang Gong is the loss of Sheji, however, the deceased has been long gone, His Highness must not be overly sad, if there is a loss, I am afraid it is not beautiful, today, it is too early, why not take a rest, and the lower officials will come to listen to His Highness's instructions in the afternoon?" Lin Mingdu accompanied Li Xian to guard the spirit all night, but the Lingtang Master had many eyes, Lin Mingdu really couldn't find a chance to persuade Li Xian, and at this time, seeing that Li Xian was exhausted, he hurriedly and cautiously said a word of persuasion.

"Lonely is not in the way, Jiang Gong is the pillar of the country, Yu Gu has old friends, he is gone, he is lonely and should be the younger generation, Ming Gong does not need to persuade again." Li Xian and Jiang Ke actually don't have much contact, but this time the great meritorious service is from Jiang Ke's help, for this veteran who has guarded the Tang frontier for more than 30 years, Li Xian is admired and grateful from the bottom of his heart, for his day of vigil, it is the right thing to do, Li Xian will not listen to Lin Mingdu's advice, so he shook his head, replied in a calm and resolute tone, and then, no longer talked about this matter, but looked at Ling Chong, who was standing on the side, and said in a deep voice: "Ling Chong, you have been following Gu for more than six years?" ”

"Back to Your Highness, it's been seven years since I was a month away."

Ling Zhong couldn't understand the purpose of Li Xian's question, so he couldn't help but be stunned, and then hurriedly replied.

"Well, it's been seven years, it's not a short time, speaking of which, except for Lin Hu, you have been by Lone's side for the longest time, Lone has been reluctant to let you go out to work, but it has delayed you." Looking at Ling Chong's slightly aged face, Li Xian had a lot of emotion in his heart, so he said apologetically.

"Your Highness, the last general can follow His Highness, it is a blessing that has been cultivated in three lifetimes, how dare you have the slightest resentment, the last general is willing to follow His Highness to the death, and please don't drive the last general away."

As soon as he heard Li Xian say this, Ling Chong couldn't help but panic a little, hurriedly nodded to the ground on one knee, made a big salute, and replied with a trembling voice.

"Get up." As soon as he saw Ling Chong so emotional, the corners of Li Xian's eyes moistened slightly, took a deep breath, stepped forward, stretched out his hand to help Ling Chong up, and said with a hint of sadness: "It's not that Lone wants to drive you away, it's really limited by the law of the court, Er's meritorious service is not small, according to the law, it is not appropriate to stay by Lone's side, now, Lone has two choices for Yuer, one of them, into the Sixteenth Guard as a general, Yi'er's qualifications, military exploits, and the promotion of generals is a matter of course; Second, when the place is released, it can be the official of the governor, and there is no limit to it, but you can choose it. ”

"Everything is under the orders of His Highness, and the last general will have no objections!"

Ling Chong has been working in the Prince's Mansion for a long time, and he knows the law system, and when he heard Li Xian say this, he knew that it was inevitable for him to leave the Prince's Mansion, but he never wanted to leave Li Xian's family, so he did not hesitate to express his attitude and put the decision in the hands of Li Xian.

"That's good, Lone won't hide it from you, the deputy governor of Longzhou is vacant, Lone wants you to succumb to this post first, after a year and a half, Lone will try to correct Yuer, I don't know what you mean?" Li Xian nodded with satisfaction, and didn't hide much, and directly pointed out the official position he had obtained for Ling Chong.

"The last general obeys!"

Ling Zhong did not have the slightest resistance to Li Xian's decision, and simply accepted it neatly.

"It's so good, you can live up to your loneliness, and you won't lose your loneliness!"

Longzhou is located in a dangerous place, many soldiers and fine, is the military town leading to Longyou in Guanzhong, Li Xian has long been aiming at the military power of this state, but has not been able to do it, this time Ling Zhong not only set up the first merit of breaking through the Datong River Valley, and then led the troops to defend Yunwu for seven days and seven nights, and stubbornly blocked the siege of the 40,000 troops of Tubo, and made great contributions, according to the official title of the original deputy commander of the palace, at this time he could be promoted to the high position of sixteen generals, as for the deputy governor of Longzhou, but it was just a flat adjustment, Speaking of which, there are really some people who have wronged Ling Chong's great achievements, but only Ling Chong is the only trusted military general around Li Xian who can take up this position, and the rest of the people are lacking in qualifications, so they can only do so, seeing that Ling Chong responded very simply, Li Xian's heart immediately relaxed, and he gave a positive promise with a gentle face.

"I am willing to serve His Highness!"

Ling Zhong bowed and replied angrily.

"Well, that's a good thing to believe!" Li Xian nodded with satisfaction, didn't say anything more about this matter, looked sideways at Lin Mingdu, who was a little apprehensive, and said in a deep voice: "Ming Gong is also a hero of the country this time, as usual, he should move inward, and there are two choices for Ming Gong to choose." First, the lonely will marry the daughter of the young Yin Zhao Mingquan of Luoyang Mansion as the concubine, according to the routine it will be released, the post of the young Yin is vacant, if the Ming Gong is intentional, the lonely can be planned on behalf of the Ming Gong, and second, the official secretary Zhao Ren is the party, according to the example, his position should be replaced by the household secretary Yan Liben, after the Shangshu each carried the position, the position of the Ministry of Labor Lang has been vacant, and the qualifications of the Ming Gong can also be appointed, lonely or can be done, I don't know what the Ming Gong wants? ”

"The lower officials and the lower officials obey the arrangements of His Royal Highness, and there is no objection!"

Lin Mingdu had long planned to take refuge in Li Xian, and this time he didn't shy away from himself when he saw Li Xian doing such a secret thing, obviously he regarded himself as a confidant, and he was very moved in his heart, so even if he wanted to choose a more noble position as a waiter in the Ministry of Works, he still put the decision in the hands of Li Xian at the end.

"That's good, I'll give it a try, or I can make Ming Gong take the position of the squire of the Ministry of Works."

Li Xian's previous words have actually hinted very clearly, that is, he hopes that Lin Mingdu will take on the post of Shaoyin of Luoyang Mansion, because Li Xian knows very well that the political center of the future will be in Luoyang, not Chang'an, if someone under his command can control part of the authority of Luoyang Mansion, it is obviously conducive to Li Xian's strategic use, it is obvious that Lin Mingdu, who has been in local government affairs for a long time, is the most suitable candidate, but at this time, seeing that Lin Mingdu's eyes obviously showed reluctance, Li Xian was unwilling to force him, After all, there are still a few candidates in Li Xian's hands who can be appointed as the Shaoyin of Luoyang Mansion, and Lin Mingdu is not inferior to him, so after pondering for a while, he smiled and gave an answer.

"Your Majesty respectfully obeys His Highness's orders!"

Lin Mingdu's mind is to be transferred to the middle of the court, even if he is demoted to Lang Zhongling, he is willing, this can be promoted to the Ministry of Works, how can he be unhappy, he hurriedly bowed to the end and thanked Enlai, and the choked voice between the words can be heard clearly.

"Ming Gong doesn't have to be like this, please get up, I have to leave early in the morning, and I bother Ming Gong to send someone to the ferry to deliver a letter." Since the matter has been decided, Li Xian doesn't want to be long-winded, so he euphemistically issued an eviction order.

"Your Highness has worked hard all the way, Hu will not stay for a few days, and allow the officials to do their best to be the landlord."

Hearing that Li Xian was in such a hurry, Lin Mingdu couldn't help but be stunned, and hurriedly said a word of persuasion.

"Minggong, let's go get busy."

Li Xian didn't explain the reason, but just waved his hand and motioned for Lin Mingdu to go by himself, but he fell into deep thought with a slight frown......