My General Cai wants to be honest with Xiangguo, and I ask Xiangguo to include it. He bowed respectfully to Li Qing, then took out a letter from his bosom and held it above his head, took it from his own soldiers who were watching him, and handed it to Li Qing.

General Cai is Cai Xide, he was responsible for defending the western section of the city wall attacked by the Anxi army and suffered heavy losses, seeing that more than half of the troops were lost, and An Qingxu did not have the intention of helping, but took the opportunity to send henchmen to supervise the army, trying to take away his subordinates, seeing that the Tang army was about to break the city, and the rebels were gone, Cai Xide made up his mind to surrender Li Qing.

Li Qing didn't rush to open the letter, but asked the man in black coldly: "In the afternoon, when the Tang army attacked the city, he was fiercely resisted by your general Cai, and he didn't see that he had the heart to surrender at all, and now less than three hours apart, he said that he wanted to surrender, how can people believe in his sincerity?" ”

The man in black was stunned for a moment, and he immediately said urgently: "Lord Xiangguo doesn't know, General Cai's son was taken hostage by An Qingxu, and he had to obey his fate, but as soon as the war subsided today, An Qingxu sent Zhang Tongru, the left minister, to supervise the army, accusing our general of not fighting effectively, and privately met with his generals to persuade them to oppose General Cai. ”

Li Qing nodded, "Cornered, this is the truth!" He immediately opened Cai Xide's letter, in which Cai Xide was extremely flattering, and swore allegiance to Li Qing, but did not mention the imperial court, it seems that these rebels are also well aware of the situation in Chang'an.

Li Qing pondered for a moment, and the root of the division of feudal towns in history came from the fact that when the Tang Dynasty pacified the Anshi Rebellion, the rebel generals who surrendered failed to completely purge them. Instead, they were allowed to keep the army and reuse it, which was of course the inability of the imperial court at that time to completely quell the rebels. He was also worried about the recurrence of Shi Siming's rebellion and adopted a compromise approach, but in the end it caused a catastrophe.

Now he Li Qing naturally will not take this step again, but blindly killing is also politically stupid, there must be a trade-off, and judging the situation is the best choice. Thinking of this, he said to Cai Xide's envoy: "General Cai wants to abandon the dark and turn to the light. Of course, this commander welcomes it, and it is better to do it sooner rather than later, and in order to show sincerity, I will also send someone back with you to assist General Cai. ”

The so-called assistance, to put it bluntly, is to monitor Cai Xide and prevent him from cheating or backsliding. Li Qing immediately called Xin Jing, the head of the account, to give him a few words, and finally wrote a letter and handed it to him: "In addition to monitoring Cai Xide, you will do one more thing for me, and give this letter to them."

Late autumn is the foggy season. The night was dark. The fog gradually rose, casting a dark veil over the towering Luoyang City, and Li Qing looked at the city from Tang Ying. The fog was so thick that he couldn't see the light of the fire in the city, and he didn't care about what would happen to Cai Xide? It is solemn, which involves whether a plan can be successfully completed.

"Xiangguo is worried that Cai Xide is cheating?"

Li Qing hurriedly turned around. I saw Guo Ziyi smiling and Mimi came over. Although Li Qing had just killed Gu Huaien an hour ago. and took away his subordinates, but Guo Ziyi acted as if nothing had happened. Still smiling. This is his tactfulness, and he also knows that Li Qing's purpose in killing Fugu Huaien is just to beat the Hedong Army and build a prestige in the Hedong Army, and the other purpose is to take away the five thousand elite horsemen in the hands of Fugu Huaien. In fact, although he Guo Ziyi is Shuofang and Hedong envoys, the time is still short, and he can't control some generals who are attached to him, such as Li Baoyu, Wei Boyu and Fugu Huaien, so Li Qing killed Fugu Huaien, and it didn't have much impact on him, his direct troops, about 60,000 soldiers stayed in Hedong, led by the general Li Guochen, and did not go south with him.

Li Qing smiled lightly and said, "Cai Xide really surrenders or fakes to surrender, so what's the matter?" However, the stakes are high in this attack on Luoyang, so I should naturally be cautious. ”

Stopped, but didn't see Guo Ziyi's answer, Li Qing was slightly surprised, he looked up at Guo Ziyi, and saw that his eyes were worried, but he wanted to speak, but he stopped, as if he had something to say to himself, so he pointed to the two big stones beside him and said with a smile: "Old General Guo might as well sit down and talk." ”

"I heard that Xiangguo's family has returned to Chang'an?"

Guo Ziyi sat down and smiled at Li Qing: "I heard that when I entered Chang'an, there were thousands of cavalry guards, which caused a sensation in Chang'an, and even my local family wrote to tell me. ”

"That's no way, Li Qing has offended a lot of people by doing things recklessly, of course the guards should be tighter."

Guo Ziyi seemed to be chatting with him about family life, and his demeanor was calm and calm, but Li Qing knew that he was getting to the point step by step, and sure enough, after only saying a few words, Guo Ziyi's words turned sharply and cut to the point.

He pondered for a moment and said: "Although people say that it is taboo to talk shallow and deep, and my status is low, it is not easy to sit side by side with Xiangguo, how dare I say anything else, but the old man is more than sixty years this year, and has been in the army for nearly forty years, I dare not say that he is the predecessor of the general, but the veteran can always be counted, some words I have suppressed in my heart for a long time, but I have never had the opportunity, and now it is rare to be alone with the general, these words are like a fish in the throat, do not vomit unpleasantly, if there is any rudeness, please bear with the general." ”

Li Qing saw that he had gradually changed his address to a general, and knew what he was going to say, so he only smiled and said, "Old general, it doesn't hurt to talk about it." ”

Guo Ziyi coughed lightly and said: "Xiangguo can anticipate the enemy first, break Cui Qianyou's fine horse, and save my Datang from danger, this one thing alone is enough to make Ziyi admire, but if Xiangguo can take a step back, then Ziyi will not only admire, but also admire Xiangguo's character." ”

"According to the old general's wishes.

"With the wisdom of a general, do you still need me to break this?" "Doesn't the general know that it is dangerous to walk on this road?" In fact, there are many things that the general can do a little more tactfully, and he can tolerate a little more, such as those recruiting land and land, the general can find some big businessmen to open the knife, and why bother to move the clan and embarrass the emperor, this will bring death to the general in the future! ”

"Sleek?" Li Qing sneered, "I've been in Tianbao for three years. Doing things has always been tactful and compromised, in order to get to where it is today, step by step, but some things cannot be done only by tactfulness and concessions. Let's just say that land annexation, how many times has the Emperor Taishang issued an order to restrict land, and then made concessions again and again, and finally it was over, but what was the result? The trend of land annexation has intensified, and eight or nine out of ten of the world's fertile land has been occupied by the powerful. Among them, the clan accounts for more than sixty percent, they are like locusts, endlessly greedy, thousands of people in the Tang Dynasty have no place to stand, God bless me in the Tang Dynasty, in the end, it was An Lushan who rebelled, giving us a chance, if Chen Sheng and Wu Guang raised their arms, can you and I still talk here? ”

Speaking of which. Li Qing paused. Controlling his slightly agitated emotions, he looked up to the sky and let out a long sullen breath, and continued: "My local mentor Zhang Qiu Xiangguo has also realized the seriousness of the problem, and if the land annexation continues, it will threaten the hundred-year-old foundation of the Tang Empire, and he knows that it is difficult. I still did it without hesitation. I remember him putting his arm on my shoulder and saying. If he fails, hopefully I can follow on with his legacy. He really failed, and died painfully, and he couldn't even blink his eyes when he died, and since then I have known that if you want to solve the land problem, relying on a gentle order to restrict land will not work at all, no one will willingly give up vested interests, and you must use strong means to change, at this point, forbearance is not in exchange for land, and the principle cannot be given in to tactfulness! ”

Speaking of which. He gently patted the back of Guo Ziyi's hand and said, "Does the old general understand?" Li Qing's actions are by no means just for his own selfishness, but for the Tang Dynasty to be strong for thousands of years, and now some people say that I monopolize power, bully the clan, run the party for personal gain, and some people even compare me to Han Zhixunzhuo, I don't want to justify, and I don't bother to pay attention to it, but I hope the old general can understand my painstaking efforts. ”

Guo Ziyi was silent, and he said for a long time: "But the emperor is also young and promising, and he has great ambitions in his chest, why didn't the general give him a chance, so that everyone in the world knew that the monarch and the ministers were not in harmony, and they all pointed to the general's backbone and said that this was Tang Zhi Dong Zhuo, but in fact, this was a big misunderstanding?" ”

Li Qing shook his head, "The current emperor is the one who supports the throne, of course I know that he is a Ming monarch, otherwise why don't I support the kind of mediocre and incompetent clan that only knows how to enjoy himself in the palace all day long?" Wouldn't that be more convenient for me? ”

He looked at Guo Ziyi and said very sincerely: "Emperor Taishang is also a promising monarch, but it has only been more than ten years from the prosperity of the Kaiyuan Dynasty to the rebellion of An Lushan, why is this?" Did the old general think about it? ”

Guo Ziyi was shocked, he had also thought about this question, but he couldn't find an answer, and in the end it could only be attributed to Li Longji's lack of notice, and An Lushan's wolf ambition, Li Qing suddenly said this question today, which really shook his heart.

"Please speak up, General!"

Li Qing slowly walked into a circle of night fog with his hands behind his back, stared at the dark city wall, and suddenly turned around and said with a faint smile: "In fact, the old general can also imagine that the decline of the military system began in the time of Gaozong, and the people have no land, how can they be soldiers?" It's just that the aura of the Kaiyuan Dynasty is too dazzling, covering up this serious problem, and in the last years of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, the halo is fading, and the problem of fighting without soldiers will be highlighted, and the emperor of the ether can not solve this problem, and the emperor is young and weak, how can he touch the interests of those clans, no way, this wicked person can only be me, and one day I alleviate the land contradictions, and realize that the people of the world have their land, I will naturally hand over the power to the emperor, let him play his ambitions! ”

After a deep conversation, Guo Ziyi was obviously a little moved, he lowered his head and was silent for a long time, and finally sighed and said: "Maybe the general has a little truth, although Guo Ziyi can't do his best, but he will never obstruct the general, today's matter of servant Huai'en will be revealed!" ”

Li Qing breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, he walked forward quickly, held Guo Ziyi's hand and said: "The late autumn night is cool, please rest the old general earlier, tomorrow will be the most critical day, Li Qing has to rely on the cooperation of the old general to take Luoyang City!" ”

Guo Ziyi nodded, "The general should also rest early!" ”

The two arched their hands and went back to their tents.

It is said that Li Qingdi's envoy Xin Yun and Cai Xide's cronies came to the west city wall together, waiting for the people here to pull them up to the city wall with baskets, Xin Yun immediately saw Cai Xide, saying that Li Xiangguo accepted his surrender, and the time should not be delayed, and it was set for tomorrow morning, Cai Xide was overjoyed, and convened a meeting of his henchmen overnight to discuss tomorrow's surrender and arrangement.

And Xin Yun quietly hid in the thick night fog, Xin Yun is the younger brother of Xin Yunjing, the current lieutenant general of the Yulin Army, and he is tall and powerful. Strong in martial arts, he is a rare fierce general, in the Anxi army. Only he can match Li Siye, but contrary to his appearance, Xin Yun is cautious and eloquent, so Li Qing promoted him to be a general in front of his account, that is, a general of 2,000 personal soldiers. The real purpose of Li Qing sending him into Luoyang City tonight was to let him complete one of his plans.

Yan Zhuang and Gao Shang are quite similar in appearance, with a burnt yellow complexion and a thin face

Pang Shang has a handful of goatee, tall and thin, like a prawn, and is noble and strategic. He is better at domestic affairs. When he was in Hebei, it was precisely because of his extensive collection of money and grain that An Lushan was able to recruit troops year by year, and slowly grew stronger. He handed over all the local government to him.

At this moment, the minister of the Great Yan Kingdom sat in the study in a daze, his eyes were full of worry, he had proposed to An Lushan to delay the title of emperor and divide the land, but An Lushan did not adopt it, and he hurriedly became the emperor not long after capturing Luoyang. As a result, the support of the noble class was lost. It's just that at that time, the military was victorious. Yan Zhuang didn't persuade much. But just after Cui Qianyou's entire army was wiped out and Tongguan was regained. Yan Zhuang saw the crisis. He also strongly persuaded An Lushan to give up Luoyang or return to Hebei to re-operate. Either go to Shengzhou (i.e., today's Nanjing) to build the capital. Seize half of the southeastern land.

But An Lushan has been hesitant, just when he finally made up his mind to return to Hebei, but An Qingxu killed his father and took the throne, An Lushan died, and Yan Zhuang also lost An Qingxu's trust. An Qingxu's henchman Zhang Tongru was named the left minister and governor. Gradually, it replaced Yanzhuang.

Outside, there was a large-scale siege of the city by the Tang army. However, the Yan army had infighting, even including An Qingxu. These leading generals are in their own positions, plotting against each other, demolishing each other, and their troops are originally less than those of the Tang Army, how can they keep Luoyang now? The tide is gone!

Yan Zhuang sighed and threw aside the half-written fold, what's the use of writing, will An Qingxu listen?

At this time, the housekeeper's low voice came from outside the door, "Master, someone outside the mansion asks to see?" He refused to say who he was. ”

"Everybody wants to see me." See! ”

After a long time, he didn't hear the footsteps of the housekeeper leaving, Yan Zhuang frowned, and said very unhappily: "Do you want me to say it a second time?" ”

"Master, he also said that if the master does not see him, he will be in the future. The voice trembled, and I couldn't go on.

"What about the future? Say! ”

The butler finally mustered up the courage and said, "He said that if the master doesn't see him, he will die in the future and have no place to bury!" ”

"Nonsense!" Yan Zhuang slapped the table heavily, and he was about to say that he would drive this person away with a stick, when suddenly, he came to his senses, could this person be.

"Quick! Invite him in! The housekeeper was just about to leave, but Yan Zhuang added, "Don't go through the front door, send someone to bring him in through the back door." ”

Yan Zhuang hurriedly cleaned up the tabletop, waiting anxiously and nervously, he had already vaguely guessed that the person who came was probably from Tang Ying.

After a while, the housekeeper brought an extremely majestic man, about thirty years old, he didn't say anything, and directly handed a name sticker to Yan Zhuang, who only glanced at a few words on it, 'Zhongshu Lingyouxiang', and was panicked, and immediately drove the housekeeper out, and closed the doors and windows himself.

Xin Yun bowed and saluted: "Below is Xin Yun, the former general of Li Xiangguo's account, who came to see Mr. Yan on the order of Li Xiangguo." ”

"Sangkook-sama is looking for me. Now that they are still in a hostile position, how can they lower their voices at will, he adjusted his mentality and continued to ask: "Li Xiangguo, what is the matter with me?" ”

Xin Yun smiled but didn't answer, he took out Li Qingdi's letter from his arms and handed it over, "This is my handwritten handwriting from Xiangguo, Mr. Yan will know when you read it!" ”

Yan Zhuang's hand trembled a little, he swallowed dryly, opened the letter tremblingly, and read it slowly and carefully, carefully scrutinizing the meaning of each word,

In fact, the content of the letter is very simple, let him write a reply letter to Zhang Yi, a servant who is far away in Chang'an, first hinting in the letter that he had written to An Lushan before, and this time he was ordered to use a counterplot to deceive Li Qing back to Chang'an, if he can handle this matter well, Li Qing will at least ensure that he will be solemn and have a way to live in the future, and even make him an official.

Yan Zhuang was extremely conflicted in his heart, Li Qing's letter was written very confidently, obviously he had seen through An Qingxu's military officials who had a heart of self-preservation, and Yan Zhuang was excluded, and the loss in his heart made him more easily moved.

Indeed, An Lushan is dead, An Qingxu is a narrow and reckless man, and it is a dead end to follow him sooner or later, now there is Li Qing's guarantee, how Yan Zhuang is not moved, and the more important thing is to make what he do, it is easy for him, he has Zhang Yi wrote a letter to An Lushan after the imperial examination incident in his hand, of course, he asked An Lushan to intercede with Li Longji, although it was normal to write this kind of letter at that time, but once An Lushan was determined to be a rebel, writing this kind of letter was suspected of being a collaborator.

Yan Zhuang thought for a while, and finally picked up the pen and wrote a letter to Zhang Yi, ordering him to speak in front of the emperor, provoke the relationship between the emperor and Li Qingdi, and transfer Li Qing back to Chang'an.

In the end, Yan Zhuang wrote another reply letter to Xin Yundao: "Please transfer it to Li Xiangguo and tell him that Yan Zhuang is willing to do his best!" ”