Li Mao went back to discuss with Qin Niang, Qin Niang said: "The eldest brother of the Qi family is easy to provoke, staying in Chang'an is not a blessing after all, Luoyang is the eastern capital of the Tang Dynasty, the water is unfathomable, and it is not suitable to be settled, it is better to let him go to Taiyuan, he has nothing to rely on there, or he will be restrained." Li Mao said: "Why do you want to go to Taiyuan, you have acquaintances there?" ”

Qin Niang smiled: "Why do you hide it from me, isn't General Li Guangyan your good brother?" ”

Li Mao said: "You're right, let him go to Taiyuan, no one over there buys my account, Li Guangyan is my good friend, but he is now in the river." Without a backer, he can't be arrogant if he forgives him, if something really happens, Li Guangyan can save him again. ”

The plan has been decided, Li Mao told him to work together, and said in unison: "The second brother has a bad temper, you have to find someone who can lower him, otherwise you will get into trouble wherever you go." ”

Knowing that he would be taken care of by Li Guangyan when he went to Taiyuan, Qi Xin relieved himself and asked Li Mao not to tell him about his relationship with Li Guangyan first, lest Qi Hao have no fear and start again.

After preventing and appeasing Qi Xin, Li Mao appointed Qi Hao as the manager of the branch on the grounds that he wanted to set up a Haidong business store in Taiyuan, and sent him to Taiyuan.

On the last day of the second year of Yuanhe, Wu Shaocheng died of illness in Caizhou, and the news officially reached the capital on the sixth day of the first month. However, the Right Dragon Xiang Army only got the news on the morning of the eighth day of the new year, which was a day slower than the regular channel.

This made Li Chun very dissatisfied, and Lin Ying was demoted to the judge of Dali Temple, although he still presided over the affairs of the right army, he fell a big step in front of the emperor.

Li Chun summoned Li Mao, talked about the matter of Huaixi, and said hatefully: "Wu Shaocheng died last year, and I didn't know until a year later, no matter how clever you are like a 'flower', it has become an afterthought." So how can I get it? ”

The emperor complained, Li Mao didn't dare to defend Lin Ying, so he could only listen patiently.

Li Chun asked Li Mao to go back and re-plan the system of the Longxiang Army, and make sure that this "Eye of Heaven Observation", which he had single-handedly supported, became sensitive, and could respond in a timely manner to the big and small affairs that happened in the world, not to mention missing anything important.

According to the division of labor between the two armies, Li Mao was in charge of counter-espionage in western Beijing, and it was the right army's responsibility to monitor the military and political dynamics in Nanya. Malicious speculation that this is the emperor consciously provoking the two armies to compete with each other, even vicious 'sexual' competition, so that he can balance the control from the side.

This is a big pit, once Li Mao jumps down, it will be difficult to climb up in the future.

After careful consideration, Li Mao decided to talk to Lin Ying, it was not an easy task for the supreme leaders of the two armies to meet, and Li Mao had a lot of brains to find a flawless excuse.

As soon as Lin Ying met, he sighed and said, "The Son of Heaven doesn't trust me anymore, and I'm going to have a big disaster." Maohua, save me, save me. ”

Although Lin Ying is not very old, he is quite calm, otherwise he would not be able to sit firmly in the position of the right army and military governor, and Li Mao was also a little surprised that he was so out of shape now.

According to Lin Ying, before Huaixi showed signs of turmoil, he suggested that he send men to Huaixi to monitor the every move of Wu Shaoyang and others, but Li Chun did not agree, but warned him not to forget his duties.

"The right army can only take care of Heluo and Liangjing, and we are not allowed to set foot in other places, this is framed above, but something happened, but they want to ask me for the crime, Maohua, do you think I can still 'survive' this pass?"

Li Mao said: "Even if the Son of Heaven is inappropriate, he should not be resentful as a courtier. In my opinion, this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so let's plan well and turn the crisis into an opportunity. ”

The four words "turning crisis into opportunity" Li Mao said very seriously, and Lin Ying's 'spirit' was shocked, and he suddenly realized. The so-called "eye of the sky" is actually the eye of the west of the sky, if you want to spread your eyes all over the world, you must find a breakthrough, and now it may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The Son of Heaven accused me of being ineffective and asked me to rectify, so I took the opportunity to extend my tentacles to every corner of the empire, you allowed me to increase my strength greatly, but you didn't allow it, you just slapped yourself in the mouth, and don't blame me for my inability to do things in the future.

After several days of sleepless discussions, a condensation of hope for the two armies to reach the peak was placed in front of them. The biggest highlight of the new plan is to expand the scope of activities of the two armies to all the 300 military states of the Tang Dynasty, breaking the old shackles of dividing the scope of activities of the two armies according to regions and dividing powers and responsibilities according to powers.

The two armies set up separate dispatch agencies according to the road, called sub-stations, to coordinate the pace of action within their control. In terms of the allocation of forces, the left army focused on the layout along the border and important military towns, while the right army focused on the hinterland and inland areas with heavy financial endowments.

In addition, the Left Army set up camps and garrisons in various important cities to supervise the localities on behalf of the imperial court, maintain the legal system of the imperial court, and combat the infiltration of foreign forces nearby, and at the same time serve as a strong support for the right army to carry out its tasks. The activities of the Right Army, on the other hand, were mainly private.

The new plan presented the emperor of heaven in the name of the two armies, but it was like a mud cow entering the sea and never returning.

During the period of waiting for news, the situation in Huaixi has changed again, as Li Mao expected, Wu Shaocheng's sworn brother Wu Shaoyang killed Wu Shaocheng's son and set himself up as the queen of Jiedu.

The voice of the court's crusade against Huaixi was higher than a 'wave', and the proposal was to send a faction headed by Hanlin scholars Li Jifu and Pei Yan, while the prime minister Wu Yuanheng, who had always advocated being tough on the feudal town, had a vague attitude this time.

On this day, Qin Niang made a birthday, and Su Yingfu's 'woman' in the same workshop brought gifts to congratulate. Su Ying was originally familiar with Xiao Ru, often come and go, after Xiao Ru left, she was silent for a period of time and did not come, she came to pay New Year's greetings a year ago, and Qin Niang hit it off at first sight, and quickly became acquainted, after which Qin Niang replaced Xiao Ru, which became a legitimate reason for her to come to the Gushan Hou Mansion.

But it was the first time in my impression that she brought her husband Zhang Pi to Gushan Hou's Mansion. Li Mao got Qinniang's report, and rushed back from the camp, Zhang Pi really came with a mission, Wu Yuanheng advocated a crusade against Huaixi, but he was not very familiar with the situation in Huaixi, he was a steady person, and a high-powered person, since he couldn't be like a young Lang official, the Hanlin who were not actually responsible for the fact that they wanted to be red-mouthed and white-toothed, and they would crusade if they said they were crusading.

Wu Yuanheng hoped that Li Mao could provide him with some additional references. The so-called additional reference was the situation report that was not available from the system at his disposal.

Li Mao wanted to use Huaixi to break the problem and expand the power of the two armies, so he naturally did his homework, and the things he provided were detailed, rich, and balanced, Zhang Pi was overjoyed, and left halfway, leaving in a hurry, and even his wife Su Ying didn't care.

The information provided by Li Mao made Wu Yuanheng's eyes light up, which strengthened his belief, and when he saw Li Chun again, he strongly advocated the use of troops against Huaixi and resolutely defeated Wu Shaoyang's arrogance.

Li Chun is eager to fight this battle from the bottom of his heart, pacifying Xia Sui, Xichuan, and Zhenhai has made him taste too much sweetness, and if he can recover Huaixi, it will undoubtedly make his longed-for Zhongxing cause a big step forward. But Li Chun has not yet been carried away by the victory, and his reason can completely suppress the arrogance in his heart.

After all, Huaixi is not Xichuan, Xia Sui and Zhenhai, Li Xilie and Wu Shaocheng have been running this place for decades, and they are deeply rooted, and the people of Huaixi have only known that there is a military government for decades and do not know that there is a court, so it is not easy to recover Huaixi.

And more importantly, the imperial court did not have effective eyes and ears in Huaixi, and could not anticipate the enemy thousands of miles away like Xichuan. Challenging such a formidable opponent is undoubtedly a huge challenge for the new dynasty.

This time, the second half of the monarch and the minister were transferred to the fruit orchard outside the palace, and no one knew what the two of them said face to face, Li Chun should not have replied to Wu Yuanheng in person, because Wu Yuanheng never mentioned the matter of Huaixi after leaving the palace.

After three days, Li Chun suddenly summoned Li Mao and Lin Ying at the same time, first gave them a face-to-face lecture, and then called the two together, agreeing that the two armies would extend their tentacles to all military states in the entire territory of the Tang Dynasty, and clearly divided the powers and responsibilities of the two armies. Afterwards, Li Mao also got his wish and got the sword of the Son of Heaven he wanted, a war knife made by the internal armory workshop engraved with his name.

But when he returned to the camp of the Zuo Army with joy, he found that there was a price to be paid for obtaining this war knife.

This war-fighting envoy named Zhang Rongfang has been involved with Li Mao from the very beginning, picking thorns everywhere, always looking for trouble with Li Mao, and he is a "clean official" who does not enter the oil and salt and has an extremely decent style, which makes Li Mao depressed.

Because there were new changes in the duties of the left army, some things had to be done by Li Mao himself, and Li Mao returned to the city seven days after leaving Beijing, and learned that Zhang Jingjiu had "done" Zhang Rongfang. Li Mao hurriedly drove his horse to Anshanfang to find Zhang Jingjiu.

Zhang Jingjiu didn't know that he had caused a big disaster, but happily said to Li Mao: "This eunuch actually colluded with the Tubo people, and he 'exposed' the confidential information he had obtained by taking advantage of his position to a person named Mai Nongcheng, and this Mai Nongcheng was the subordinate who had the wrong teeth!" "Na Wrong Tooth is a very famous Tibetan intelligence leader who is active in Chang'an and Luoyang, and the left and right armies have always wanted to arrest him but have nowhere to start.

Zhang Jingjiu presented two confessions, one from Zhang Rongfang and one from Mai Nongcheng. The two confessions corroborated each other, and Li Mao judged that Zhang Rongfang was indeed suspected of eating inside and out. As for Mai Nongcheng, even if he is not the wrong person, he will not be able to clear the suspicion of being a 'treacherous' in Tubo.

But even so, Zhang Jingjiu still caused a big disaster, Li Mao said openly and honestly: "The power of the two armies has expanded, and the Son of Heaven is jealous, so he sent a war to garrison the army, just to have peace of mind." In less than a month since I arrived, such a big thing happened, and you stabbed it out, how do you let the top look at me, and how do you look at me inside? ”

Zhang Jingjiu was taken aback and said, "I didn't think about it so much, I heard that Zhang Rongfang's dog thing is against you, so I want to ...... This is terrible, what should I do, suppress this matter and not show it, as if nothing happened? ”

Li Mao said: "It's late, it's too late." ”

After being silent for a while, Li Mao said to Zhang Jingjiu: "Chang'an, you can't stay any longer, Taiyuan is the land of the Tang Dynasty, and the status of Taiyuan is higher than that of ordinary branches, just like Xichuan and Huainan, it is the place where the prime minister returns." I can only wronged you first. ”

Lin Ying heard that Zhang Jingjiu had arrested Zhang Rongfang, and was about to remind Li Mao, but Li Mao took the initiative to find the 'door', Li Mao was his old boss, and if he had something to say, it should be him who went over, and he personally came to the 'door', there must be something important to discuss.

Li Mao said: "Zhang Jingjiu has sinned for me, Chang'an is afraid that he will not be able to stay, and I plan to let him go to Taiyuan." ”

After the two armies expanded their powers, they set up separate stations in key geographical locations to take charge of internal affairs and coordinate the pace of the two armies. According to the weight of the powers and responsibilities of the two armies, the left army is the main one along the border and the place where there are many garrisons, and the right army is the main place of the heart and wealth, Taiyuan is the land of Longxing of the Tang Dynasty, Beijing in the five capitals, and the Hedong Jiedu envoy station, which is the heart of the Tang Dynasty, and the right army is responsible for example.

Zhang Jingjiu is one of the founders of Longshou Mountain, with very deep seniority in the organization, and has always been regarded as Li Mao's team. This will naturally touch Lin Ying's interests, which is why Li Mao took the initiative to go to the 'door' to explain.

Li Mao should focus on the overall situation, and he didn't want to affect the relationship between the two families because of this incident, and misunderstand in vain.

Lin Ying said: "Jingjiu's work is indeed a bit reckless, it's okay to go to Taiyuan to avoid it, I have no opinion on this." ”

Lin Yingken gave in, Li Mao was deeply pleased, and took the initiative to say: "Xing Mu Long's virtue and ability are enough, all that is lacking is qualifications, and now the two armies are expanding too fast, and there is a shortage of people everywhere, I think it is necessary to promote some people out of the ordinary, so it is better to start with Xing Mu Long and let him take over from Jing Jiu in charge of the important department." ”

Lin Ying almost didn't laugh, exchanging a Taiyuan for a confidential place, this deal is really cost-effective. Naturally, he agreed without hesitation. After settling Zhang Jingjiu, Li Mao personally proposed Zhang Rongfang to the prison, so that he could comfort him, Zhang Rongfang's buttocks were not clean, and he also suffered a lot in prison. Zhang Rongfang returned to the left army and continued to be his ambassador to the war, his majesty was still there, and he had no confidence, and he no longer dared to make it difficult for Li Mao.