Three days later, a big news suddenly broke out in the Xiliang army: the former pro-soldier team of the governor, the current Di Dao soldiers and horses envoy Chen Ping actually used moldy brown rice as rice for the Hexi refugees to eat, filling his own pockets, and found out that he had repeatedly risked the army's salary, and embezzled a total of 20,000 yuan from it, and the governor had decided to behead the public two days later.

Early that morning, more than a dozen ferries were moored on the banks of the Yellow River, and groups of soldiers were lining up to board the boats.

"After arriving in Hehuang, we must strictly train new soldiers, pay special attention to intensive training on the plateau, and prepare for our future attack on Tibet.

He Lou Wuji nodded, "Please rest assured, I will definitely train them with the strictest requirements, and in two or three years at most, they will become real soldiers." ”

"With your words, I'm relieved." Zhang Huan pondered for a while, and said: "There is one more thing to tell you, this time the pension method for the fallen soldiers in Hexi and Hehuang has been introduced, and the family members of each fallen soldier can get a pension of 200 yuan, but there is not so much money for a while, so pay one percent first, and the rest will be provided monthly for ten years, and another ten acres of pension land will be added. ”

"Thank you, Governor." He Lou Wuji's eyes showed a hint of relief, he knew that according to the system set by the imperial court in the fifth year of Qingzhi, a soldier who died in battle would pay his family a maximum of fifty yuan, and he was exploited layer by layer, and in the end, there were only ten or twenty yuan in the hands of his family, but the governor set the standard of two hundred. This time, more than 23,000 soldiers from the Hexi Army and Hehuang were killed, that is, 4.6 million Guan, which shows that the governor really made a bloody investment, and he gratefully saluted Zhang Huanshen, "I gave a salute to the governor on behalf of the brothers." ”

Zhang Huan shook his head slightly, and he smiled faintly: "I also know that the financial burden is a bit heavier, but if you don't pay more compensation, how can the dead soldiers turn their eyes on Jiuquan?" How can a living soldier fight for us? I have always believed that only by giving soldiers enough dignity can they be loyal to the death and do not give up. ”

Speaking of which. Zhang Huan rode to a small hill, and he immediately stood on top of it. Facing the hunting river wind, I watched the soldiers line up and get on the boat. These soldiers are the capital of his country, how can he not treat them well?

"The Governor is very good to the soldiers, but sometimes he is unfair to the old troops." Seeing that the breakup was imminent, He Lou Wuji hesitated again and again, and he finally said the words that had been pressed in his heart for the past few days.

Zhang Huan didn't speak, he was silent for a long time before he said coldly: "You mean I shouldn't kill Chen Ping?" ”

He Lou Wuji sighed. In the past two years, Zhang Huan's authority has become more and more important. There were few things as unforgiving as playing polo and joking with the brothers in the East Inner Garden, and the generals felt more majesty and pressure in front of him. But if he didn't say some things, I am afraid that no one in the Xiliang army would dare to mention these things in front of Zhang Huan.

He gritted his teeth and said: "Chen Ping has seriously violated military regulations, and he should be killed!" I have no objection to that. It's just that now is not the time to kill him. ”

Zhang Huan was slightly stunned, "Why?" ”

He Lou Wuji turned over and dismounted, knelt down on one knee and gave a military salute, and said loudly: "In the past month, the governor has wantonly reused the children of the Longyouwang clan, Xin Lang has been with the governor for a long time, I don't talk about him, and Ma Guorui, Bai Sheng, and Li Fei Ming Erlang Although their Lao Tzu is a hero, what military merits do they have?" But they are all in high positions, for this reason, many old departments in the army have a lot of complaints, but at this time, the governor wants to kill Chen Ping, he is the old man who followed the governor when he first joined the army, what does this make the brothers think, please think twice! ”

Zhang Huan looked at him silently, after a long time, he finally sighed, turned over and dismounted to help He Lou Wuji up, and then took his shoulders to a big rock and sat down, groaned, Zhang Huan said to him softly: "In my memory, I always think about how the old troops raised troops with me, and how to create a foundation with me, when we were in Tianbao County, the food was almost exhausted, and we could only eat one meal a day when we were most embarrassed, and then we braved the snowstorm for a hundred years to march for a few days and nights to take Wuwei County, which I remember in my heart, Do you remember that before the surprise attack on Lu Sigong's camp, I promised you to make an expedition to the West and make you the king of the West? ”

He Lou Wuji nodded silently, he also remembered these things, and he said solemnly: "I have always admired the ambition of the governor. ”

"Is ambition enough?" Zhang Huan stared at the mighty water of the Yellow River, and a touch of pain slowly flowed out of his eyes, "This time the Guanlong upheaval, we lost the Wuwei nest, the 20,000 soldiers were wiped out, and Pei Jun took the opportunity to take away most of the foundation, I think everyone should reflect, especially me, I want to win the world but I am narrow-minded, I can't tolerate dissent, and I am arbitrary, and everything is in my own hands, take Xizheng Hehuang as an example, Hu Yong advised me not to be in a hurry, Pei Mingyuan has even mentioned that Zhangye may change, but I don't listen to the plan and can't objectIn the end, I planted a big heel fight, but it was okay to plant it, but it woke me up with a palm. ”

Speaking of this, Zhang Huandi's eyes gradually brightened, he straightened his waist and said earnestly to He Lou Wuji: "You must know that the reason why I reuse the children of the Longyou clan is precisely because of long-term consideration, strength is the foundation, but just by fighting and killing will only become Zhu Jun's second, and a strong interest group must be established in order to win the greatest benefits in the future court struggle." ”

'Strong interest groups. He Lou Wuji muttered a few times, and he suddenly stood up and saluted Zhang Huan, "Governor, I understand, I will advise everyone, please understand the hard work of the governor." ”

"Don't talk too much." Zhang Huan patted him on the shoulder and smiled slightly: "You just need to tell the brothers for me that in the future, we will conquer Luo, and the Tubo beauties will be at their mercy." ”

"There are beautiful women in Tibet?" He Lou Wuji grinned, he had never seen it before.

At this time, a fast horse galloped from the east, walked in front of Zhang Huan, and immediately reported to the knight:

"Governor, the Empress Dowager's envoy has entered the city, Mr. Hu, please return quickly."

"I see." Zhang Huan turned over his horse and bowed his hand to He Lou Wuji, "General He Lou, I will hand over the Hehuang recruits to you." Bon voyage! ”

"Please take care too!"

He Lou Wuji strode onto the boat, and more than a dozen big boats slowly started, sailed north along the Yellow River, and gradually disappeared at the end of the sky.

As early as the beginning of June, several idle old houses about a mile away from Xingyuan have been demolished, covering an area of nearly 100 acres of vacant land, thousands of craftsmen have been busy nervously, judging from the simple structure that has appeared at present. A massive complex was apparently being built here, and there were hundreds of soldiers patrolling the perimeter of the site. No idlers are allowed to approach, and its mysterious place has aroused the curiosity of the people of Jincheng County. Many discerning people immediately made a judgment that this must be in the construction of a new festival to make the line, indeed, a mile away the festival degree to make the line or in the Yonghui period with a private house rebuilt, is a little old.

For this rumor, the official did not deny it, and no denial is naturally acquiescence. In a calm day. Change is the most desirable thing, so every day groups of idlers come to the neighborhood to point fingers. There's a puddle there, a back garden pond! ''And the basement, which must be a secret prison.'' As long as the idlers did not cross the red line to see what was going on, the patrolling soldiers did not bother them.

But there is not a single idler today.

Nearly 1,000 cavalry blocked both sides of the road and did not allow pedestrians to pass, the road seemed empty, only hundreds of palace guards from Chang'an were waiting in front of the ya, they escorted the envoy sent by the Empress Dowager Cui Xiaofu of the Tang Dynasty who had just arrived an hour ago.

The envoy is naturally Li Chuanyun, but this time it is not only Li Chuanyun who came to the place, but also a prince of the clan who also came with him, he is the biological father of the current emperor, the original heir Qingwang Li, but he has now been named King Luo, in addition to the title of prince, he is also the emperor Zongzheng Siqing, in charge of royal affairs.

Li Li is about 50 years old, his body is abnormally obese, he always likes to squint his eyes to look at people, it is said that squinting his eyes can make his eyes converge, can gather a few fine lights, give people a sense of deterrence, and over time, he has developed a habit.

He especially likes to be judged by others that he is scheming, but he is a person who can't help but talk, and a few words can make his heart open.

Li Lidi's biological father is Li Ying, the first prince of Tang Xuanzong Li Longji, in the twenty-fifth year of Kaiyuan, the crown prince Li Ying prematurely exposed his ambition to ascend the throne and was killed by Li Longji, he passed on to Li Longji, the eldest son of Li Longji, who had no children under his knees, and now, his five-year-old son is the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, and it is precisely because of these relationships that Li Yu has always regarded himself as the leader of the clan.

At this moment, in Zhang Huan's reception room, Li Li was holding tea, but his eyes were squinting at Zhang Huan opposite, Zhang Huan's identity he had heard of for a long time, but he didn't take it too seriously, an illegitimate child, not a member of the royal family, but with the rise of Zhang Huandi in the past two years, Li Li's mentality has changed slightly, even if Zhang Huan is the son of Prince Yu, but he has not visited the temple, or he can't rank the royal family, and the temple is in charge of him Li Li, in other words, Zhang Huandi's identity has not passed his nod, It can only be a pseudo-royal family forever.

However, this Zhang Huan didn't seem to realize this, not only added him to the last seat, but even served him the last bowl of tea, Li Li, who prided himself on paying attention to details, began to be a little dissatisfied, he wanted to have a seizure, but the things he was going to talk about today made him have to endure this breath.

Sitting in the main seat is the envoy Li Chuanyun, she has been expressionless since she came in, it seems that she and Zhang Huan are just new acquaintances, just skillfully and professionally asking one question after another, the number of soldiers killed in Wuwei? How many refugees have fled? What about them? And so on and so forth, and it was not Zhang Huan who answered her question, but Zhang Huan's chief staff Hu Yong, Zhang Huan sat far away, looking a little careless, and talked for half an hour with one question and one answer, Li Fanyun changed the topic and raised a question that obviously had nothing to do with today's envoy.

"May I ask Mr. Hu, when we came, we saw that construction was going on nearby, and I don't know what we were building?"

At this time, Li Li on the side couldn't hold back any longer, he coughed heavily, signaling Li Chuanyun to hurry up and get to the point, Li Fanyun's face changed, and his eyes couldn't help but show extreme disgust, but suddenly he returned to normal, could it be that he didn't understand that he shouldn't stay here after asking questions for more than half an hour?

Regarding Li Li's follow, Li Chuanyun never understood what Cui Xiaofu's intentions were? Cui Xiaofu didn't tell her, and even Cui Xiaofu wrote in Zhang Huan's letter. She doesn't know what it is? More than a month ago, Cui Xiaofu ordered Zhang Huan to hostage his son to Jingshi, and she only learned about this matter after the fact, it is obvious that Cui Xiaofu no longer trusts her as much as before, and this subtle change is probably from shortly after she can attend cabinet meetings, without any prior warning.

Li Chuanyun is an extremely sensitive and intelligent person, she has already guessed that Cui Xiaofu's snubbing of her may have something to do with Zhang Huan, just after Li Li coughed heavily, she suddenly understood.

Cui Xiaofu and Li Li must have reached some agreement, and she was on the mission of Longyou this time. It is very likely that it has something to do with Li Li.

At the moment, the task was in a gold-painted ivory box held by a eunuch beside her, which had never been done before. In the past, Cui Xiaofu's secret letters were carried by her, but now the special envoy is a special envoy, and the secret letter is a secret letter, she can't see the content of the letter, but she doesn't make a move, and the letter can't be handed over to Zhang Huandi.

After understanding that the content of the secret letter was very likely to have something to do with Li Li, Li Chuanyun fell silent for a while, what role did he play in this mission?

Then. Zhang Huan, who had been absentmindedly beside him, suddenly smiled and said: "The house that is being built is the new yamen of my land." It's so old, it's time for a change of place. ”

On the face of it. Zhang Huan was indeed a little absent-minded sitting on the side, and his eyes looked out of the window from time to time, but this was just an appearance. He was actually speculating about Li Li's intentions, Li Li's every move, and even a subtle expression fell into his eyes, from the obvious dissatisfaction on Li Li's face when arranging the seats, to his almost seizure when serving tea, and then looking at his impatient appearance at this time, Zhang Huan could infer that this was an impatient and shallow prince.

However, Zhang Huan himself is also very interested in the secret letter in that box, since this prince urges him to read the letter, then Cui Xiaofu arranged that this prince must also be present.

He didn't delay any longer, and said with a slight smile: "I don't know if the Queen Mother has any letters to me?" ”

"Yes!" Li Li stood up suddenly, he strode up to the eunuch, took the box, and pushed it to Zhang Huan, "This is the letter from the Queen Mother to Zhang Yuanjun." ”

After that, he also sat down next to Li Chuanyun unceremoniously, his fat flesh trembled, and he leaned against Li Chuanyun's slender body, Li Chuanyun moved to the side in disgust, but in this way, Li Li replaced Li Chuanyun's landlord position, forming a noisy momentum.

At this time, Hu Yong, who was sitting opposite, also moved to the left, giving up his position to Zhang Huan, Zhang Huan sat forward, took the ivory box and opened it, there was only a handwritten letter from Cui Xiaofu inside, 'Champion General, Longyou Jiedu Envoy Zhang Huanqi', the credit fire paint was sealed tightly before and after, Zhang Huan tore open the envelope and took out the letter inside.

He looked at it roughly, and couldn't help but think heavily, 'Huh! The content of the letter was to recommend six people to him as the assassins of the counties of Hehuang, these six people are all royal families, and the first person on the list is Li Yun, the son of Li Li, who is recommended as the assassin of Xiping County.

Some time ago, she forced her son to enter Beijing as a hostage to please Pei Jun, but now she actually put her hand into Hehuang in a grand manner, she Cui Xiaofu is really good at being a person, and there are only eight counties in Hehuang, so she wants to go to six at once, and she is really sorry that she can open this mouth.

Zhang Huan raised his eyes and quickly glanced at Li Li, only to see him looking at himself with expectation, at this moment, Zhang Huan suddenly understood Cui Xiaofu's sinister intentions.

On the surface, if she agrees, Li Li will be overjoyed, but this favor is her Cui Xiaofu's, and if she doesn't agree, it is herself who offends Li Li, and generally speaking, she will think so.

can think about it a little more, why did Cui Xiaofu let Li Li come? What does Li Yu do, Zongzheng Siqing, who is responsible for identifying the identity of the royal family, and what is his true identity? What are the consequences of offending Li Li? Cui Xiaofu knew that Xiping County was the center of Hehuang, and she would never agree, so she specially proposed it to Li Yun, not to mention Xiping County, any of the eight counties of Hehuang would not give it up, and she Cui Xiaofu was also very clear about this.

Why did she do this? Zhang Huan smiled coldly, he thought that the contradiction with Cui Xiaofu would be exposed in the future for a long time, but he didn't expect it to show up so early.

At that moment, he accepted the letter and said to Li Li with a smile: "I already know the wishes of the prince, but the rules of the court must also be known, and this matter cannot be bypassed by the ministry, since it is the intention of the queen mother, I will explain it to the ministry." ”

Li Li saw that Zhang Huan spoke very tactfully, his face immediately sank, and he simply said:

"Don't forget, Zhang Yuanjun, I'm Zongzheng Siqing, doesn't Zhang Yuanjun have a place to ask me?"

"The prince is far away, please rest first!" Zhang Huan stood up, glanced at him, and said coldly: "Mr. Hu, send off the guest for me!" ”

After that, he strode into the back room, and when he entered the room, he found that Li Chuanyun quickly gave him a look.

"Zhang Huan, don't be ignorant!" Li Li's roar came from outside the house.

"Lord Wang, please!"

"What are you that deserve to be given to me?"

Inside the house, Zhang Huan smiled coldly and tore Cui Xiaofu's letter to shreds.

"Governor, in fact, why don't you promise him?" After Li Chuanyun and the others left, Hu Yong said to Zhang Huan with a smile: "They just want to come to plate a layer of gold and make a nominal history of thorns for them." ”

"What if they don't want to make a stab in name?" Zhang Huan shook his head slightly, he paced in the room with his hands in thought, "You may not know Cui Xiaofu, she is a very ambitious woman, if she can put her hand into Hehuang, how can she let some gentlemen take up the post?" These must be her handpicked capable people, and we can't take them for granted. ”

"What about the Governor's thoughts?"

Zhang Huan said without hesitation: "Hehuang will never allow anyone to get involved, since someone has already reached out, then our action should also start immediately!" ”

At this moment, there was a report from the soldiers outside the door, "Governor, Special Envoy Li sent someone to deliver a letter. ”

Li Fanyun gave himself a look when he left just now, and he knew that she must have a follower, and sure enough, Zhang Huan smiled slightly and said, "Let the messenger come in." ”

After a while, a maid walked in quickly under the guidance of her own soldiers, and she gave Zhang Huan a salute, "My young lady asked me to hand over a letter, and she also asked me to tell me that it was inconvenient for her to come out to see her, so she decided not to see Zhang Yuanjun." ”

After that, she took out a letter and handed it to Zhang Huan, Zhang Huan knew that it was because Li Yu was by his side, so the eldest sister couldn't come to see him, he didn't say anything, he opened the letter directly, the handwriting was very sloppy, it could be seen that she was writing in a hurry, and there was only one sentence in the letter, 'There may be a big change in the court.' ’

Zhang Huan was stunned, what does this mean, after thinking for a while, he asked the maid again: "What else did Miss Li say?" ”

The maid shook her head and bowed to leave, but Zhang Huan stopped her, he quickly wrote a letter, handed it to her, and said, "Please forward this letter to Miss." ”

After the soldiers took the maid down, Zhang Huan handed Li Chuanyun's letter to Hu Yong, "Mr. Hu, you can refer to one or two." ”

Hu Yong took the letter and read it, and couldn't help but smile faintly: "The governor found that no, Li Chuanyun originally wrote 'there may be changes in the court', but she crossed out the word 'different' and changed it to the word 'big', which shows that the matter may be very serious, since even Li Chuanyun thinks it is serious, then what will the governor say?" ”

Zhang Huan didn't answer, he stood in front of the window with his hands behind his back, staring at the east from afar, I don't know what big incident broke out between Cui and Pei? Pei Er went east this time, I hope she won't get involved and come back a day sooner.