In the Tang Dynasty, although there is a perfect, but that is to examine the merits of officials, as a superior, more concerned about the safety of the throne, the Tang Dynasty from the founding of the country, palace coups, sibling rivalry, women to interfere in politics are endless, involving almost every generation of monarchs, so the rulers of the Tang Dynasty pay special attention to the secret, there is a record of the Tang Suzong set up the prosecutor's office, by the great eunuch Li Fuguo in charge, in fact, from Wu Zetian set up four, the wind of whistleblowing rose in the Tang Dynasty, to Li Longji, He is also the bloody court won the country, pay more attention to monitoring the royal family and the generals in charge of the movement, he built ten royal mansions, hundred grandchildren's courtyard, many historical materials say that this is Li Longji's family affection performance, in fact, it is not, it is just a collection of residence to facilitate monitoring, correspondingly, the princes of the Tang Dynasty all live rotten, drunk and dreamed of death, and also have their last resort.

For the border generals, because from the 25th year of Tianbao, the border soldiers have been changed from government soldiers to recruitment, and in order to maintain stability, the term of office of the border generals is generally longer, Li Longji has strengthened his precautions against them, and secret agents are indispensable, especially for the war in the Western Regions, where there are many small countries, and secret agents alone cannot do it, and eunuchs must be sent to supervise the army to prevent the generals from supporting the army.

Of course, Li Longji himself will not bother with these trivial espionage matters, his spy agency is in charge of Gao Lishi, and does not monitor all officials, and is generally distributed in the capital and important prefectures and counties, and Shazhou is the capital governor's state, so it is also installed and is under the jurisdiction of the state branch.

And said that Li Qingfei ran to catch up with the pigeon, he just thought of something, his letter is so heavy, it is impossible to send away with a pigeon, so whether Liu joined the army to contact him, he is not sure, but raising pigeons to pass the message is a very common thing in the Tang Dynasty, Shazhou is alone, with the flying pigeon to send the message is the most suitable, and Shazhou pigeon is the only one, Li Qing suspects that Liu joined the army and is naturally reasonable.

When the flock of pigeons appeared in the sky, Liu ran home to feed his beloved pigeons, comb their feathers, and take care of their pigeon cages.

Li Qing came sweating profusely, just in time to see the pigeons put away their long and beautiful wings, flew into the hospital, and found a place. Li Qing was not in a hurry, he first looked at Liu Shenjun's house, the house is short and old, but it covers a lot of land, the courtyard is very wide, mixed with fences and yellow mud, split into a circle of low courtyard walls, two tattered wooden planks as courtyard gates, but it is nothing, although Liu Shenjun's home looks very dilapidated, and the surrounding houses are no different, but Li Qing's eyes have a perspective function, as if he saw that his family's cellar was full of money and grain.

Li Qing's heartbeat calmed down, and he walked towards the gate, only to hear a pigeon 'coo' from the courtyard! The chirping of 'Goo', as well as Liu Shenjun's loving call for food: "Captain Yuncai, you have already eaten, you should eat in Shangzhuguo below, and Doctor Guanglu, you slow down.

In the courtyard, Liu Shenjun was holding a love pigeon, and was caressing its feathers with infatuation, as if this was his lover's smooth skin.

"I didn't expect Liu to join the army and have a hobby of raising flying slaves."

I don't know when, Li Qingran appeared behind him with his hand, looked at it, and said with a smile: "It's fat!" ”

I don't know if it was because of Li Qing's appearance or the three words he said, which made Liu Shenjun's hand shake, pull out two pigeon feathers, the pigeon was in pain, and flew away.

"The subordinates know their mistakes, so go back to the barracks." Liu joined the army like a mouse seeing a cat, bowed again and again, and turned around to escape.

"Huh! These pigeons are good, they are strong and they are just right for me. ”

When Li Qing was about to escape from the hospital, he casually added a sentence, this sentence is more effective than the holy decree, Liu Senjun seemed to be playing a movie backwards, took a few steps back, returned to Li Qing, bowed three hundred and fifty degrees, and begged: "Lord Dudu, it's not that your subordinates don't want to honor you, these pigeons are really the lifeblood of your subordinates, you can spare them!" ”

"I can't talk about the root of life, I think your job is about the same, you can go back and forth for thousands of miles, and even go to Chang'an to deliver letters, of course Liu is reluctant to join the army."

Speaking of this, Li Qing looked at him with a smile, but Liu Shenjun's face changed greatly, took a step back, and said vigilantly: "What Lord Du Du said, his subordinates don't understand, my pigeon can fly thousands of miles, but when you send a letter, where to start?" ”

The rapid change in his face and the urgency of his tone made Li Qing further believe in his judgment, and he continued to probe: "Since it is Liu Senjun's beloved thing, you don't want to take people's favor, so I don't want it, so that Liu Senjun can't explain to the above." ”

Liu Senjun saw that Li Qing's words became more and more explicit, and his heart became more and more shocked, he was indeed an undercover agent planted by Li Longji's secret service in Shazhou, but he was not the one who delivered the letter for Li Qing, he didn't know about sending a letter to Li Qing in three days, Li Qing found him, just like an officer and soldier ambushed on Liangshan Road to catch the rebel leader Wu Yong, and only after he was caught did he know that he had made a mistake, and it was Song Jiang who was caught.

Liu joined the army and hid it very deeply, but Li Qing only came for a long time and doubted himself, which really made him feel incredible, and now the plan is to pretend to be confused to the end, he didn't dare to say more, the topic changed, and said: "I see that Lord Du Du seems to have something to find his subordinates, but the matter of noon has been concluded?" ”

For Li Qing, it doesn't hurt to wait for another three days, but this undercover agent is not just as simple as delivering a message for himself, from the fact that he has been staying in Shazhou, it can be inferred that his duty is to monitor the governor of Shazhou, if he can catch him, it is equivalent to blindfolding Li Longji, and he has now determined that Liu Senjun is an undercover agent.

Li Qing took two steps with his hands in his hands and sneered: "Not bad! I'm here to ask you something. ”

He raised his eyes, and his gaze pierced him and said: "At noon, Liu joined the army and said, the 2,800 sons of my Doulu army were taken away at the beginning of the year, and it has been nearly half a year since the beginning of the year, and the imperial court still distributes grain and rice according to the standard of 4,000 people, so I want to ask Liu to join the army."

Where has the surplus gone over the years? I don't think Liu Senjun will answer to Lord Huangfu! ”

Sweat has rolled down from Liu Shenjun's forehead, everyone has a share in this matter, and he takes the largest share, originally wanted to take advantage of tonight's dinner to have a good relationship, but now he brought it up, what can I do?

Li Qing knew that this person was afraid of intimidation, and when he saw that he had frozen, he couldn't help but smile coldly, and poured a basin of ice water on him, "I once served as the acting county magistrate of Yibin County, and I also have a group of brothers under me, and I am worried that there is no job placement, if I guess correctly, everyone has a share of the grain and rice in this half year, haha!" Isn't it God's will? ”

He looked up to the sky and laughed, turned around and left, Liu Senjun's face was white for a while and red for a while, his heart seemed to be stepping on the air for a while, his identity is special, if he commits a crime, not only will he not help, I am afraid that he will die in prison first, although he knows that Li Qing is only threatening himself now, but reselling military rations is a capital crime, and no one can save it, if he dies, what will happen to his wife and children? What about old fathers and mothers? The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, and then he thought about it, if he cooperated with him, it would be beneficial to both parties, presumably he would never betray himself, there was really no need to die for a special subsidy of fifty yuan a year, thinking of this, he was heartbroken, and said to Li Qing urgently: "Governor, please stay!" ”

Li Qing turned around and smiled slightly: "Liu Senjun wants to talk to me about this group of flying slaves?" ”

.

When Li Qing learned that Liu Senjun was indeed an undercover agent, but he was not the one who delivered the letter for himself, his heart actually gave birth to a feeling of accidental windfall, as if a thorn hidden on his back had been pulled out, he was relaxed, patted Liu Senjun's shoulder and smiled Mimi: "Aren't you going to write a report to the top first?" said that after I knew about the Doulu Army, I was very angry, and scolded Huangfu for being a disaster to the country, and was deeply worried about the safety of the Tang Dynasty. ”

Liu Senjun agreed with a bitter face, Li Qing thought about it and said with a smile: "Don't embarrass you, you won't believe it if you write it like this, you just say. I said to myself, what should I do if Tubo comes to attack Shazhou? ”

Liu Senjun hurriedly nodded in agreement, and was about to leave, Li Qing remembered something again, stopped him and said: "Tell Cao, I will invite Brother Jun to dinner tonight, and I will have dinner with you tomorrow night, and I will talk to you about the grain and rice for half a year." ”

.

Time passed quickly, two days passed, and the person who came to get his letter did not show up for a long time, Li Qing was not in a hurry, he believed that the person would definitely appear automatically.

In Shazhou, Li Qing's identity is the governor and assassin of the history, both military and political, although Shazhou is poor, but he is not anxious, after all, the wealth of a place can not be achieved at once, it needs a long accumulation process, just like the development of Suzhou began to accumulate in the Song Dynasty, of course, it does not need to be so long, but three or five years are always needed.

What Li Qing wants to do is to position the future of Shazhou, and then develop by itself according to this law, the geographical location of Shazhou is excellent, very suitable for the transfer station of Tanghu trade, the merchants cross the long desert, the camel bell echoes in the wind, a big city lying on the Gobi Desert, shining with the brilliance of gold, hope and land, this is Dunhuang.

This is Li Qing's positioning for Shazhou, to develop and transfer trade, but now it is the arrogant horse bandits who threaten his plan, and they must be eliminated.

The day has reached the month, in the later generations, this is the midsummer of July, the scorching sun of Dunhuang is still better than Chang'an, the day is so hot that it is crazy, this afternoon, the fire, some like clouds and non-clouds, like fog and non-fog ash gas floats low in the air, making people feel suffocated.

The group easily got to the gate of the state government, only to see dozens of war horses tied there, dozens of tall and burly Tang soldiers sitting on the ground under the shade of trees, without saying a word, everyone with big shoulders and round waists, and solemn eyes.

Li Qing was puzzled, but he heard a burst of hearty laughter from the yamen, "Thank you, Lord Wang, for arranging food and lodging for my brothers, I am grateful." ”

"It's Li Siye!"

Li Qing was pleasantly surprised, Gao Xianzhi was willing to let him go, he couldn't care about sweating all over his body, he rushed into the yamen in three steps and two steps, there was no direct sunlight, the state yali was relatively cool, in Wang Changling's official office sat two people in military uniforms, one was extremely tall, with long hands and feet, a face full of unkempt beard, his eyes were solemn, and his eyes shot a sharp light, this is the Mo Dao general Li Siye, who had just been named the captain of the cavalry and the general of the Yulin Army, after returning from Nanzhao, he returned to Anxi, ten days ago he received an order from the Ministry of War, He was appointed as the deputy general of the Doulu Army, and he is here to take up his post today.

The other person has a long white beard and a straight waist, but there is a little worry in his eyes, he is the undercover Gao Zhandao that Li Longji once placed next to Zhang Qiu and Qiong, he has just come from Anxi, but because he received a task that made him extremely reluctant but had to do.

'Boom! Boom! The footsteps made Li Siye and Gao Zhandao stand up at the same time, the former was excited, and the latter was nervous, who dared to run so recklessly in the state yamen, who else could there be besides the supreme leader of this yamen?

"You're finally here!"

Li Qing was a little excited, the days in Nanzhao with him flowed through his mind like flowing water, vividly, although he had not been separated from them for a long time, he felt that many years had passed.

He said to Li Siye again: "I thought that Gao Xianzhi would refuse to let you go, and I was worried for a long time. ”

Li Siye smiled bitterly, shook his head, pointed at Gao Zhandao and said: "He refused to let go at first, and the order of the military department was useless, but in the end, thanks to Zhandao's intercession, he let go." ”

Li Qing looked at Gao Zhandao in surprise, as if he had an understanding, he lightly punched him and smiled: "You are small, you can't hide anything."

I won't be going undercover again this time! ”

In a word, Gao Zhandao's heart disease, his eyes showed helplessness and sadness, and he was silent, Li Qing nodded slowly, "I understand!" ”

Suddenly, he smiled again, patted Gao Zhandao's shoulder and said, "You know what? When he told me about it, I thought to myself, how nice it would be if I had a knife, but now it's really you, and that's the best outcome. ”

"Yang Ming, what is the matter, you must tell me this time!" Wang Changling on the side said urgently.

Li Qing shrugged his shoulders absently and said, "It's nothing! The current emperor asked me to write a report to him every three days! ”

Seeing Wang Changling's stunned look, he couldn't help but laugh and said, "It's a trivial matter, don't talk about it, let's go!" Go to my official office, and I will ask you to drink the water of a deep well that is cold to your heart. ”

He grabbed one with one hand and walked out, but Gao Zhandao pointed at Wang Changling and said with a smile: "I still have something to do with Wang Xiancheng, you guys go first!" ”

Li Qing knew that he wanted to explain the undercover matter to Wang Changling, and he didn't force him, so he pulled Li Siye to his room, one of the two confidential secretaries went to the county office, and the other just arrived today, a little hot, and was lying in the dormitory to recuperate, the room was quiet, only Si Bi sat there and dozed off, and when he saw the master come in, he quickly rubbed his eyes and stood up.

"Go and fetch two cups of well water, and use my two largest cups."

Si Bi responded, and hurriedly ran to fetch water, Li Qing pulled a chair for Li Siye to sit down, and then asked with a smile: "Did you bring the dozens of big men at the door?" ”

Li Siye nodded and said: "Those are the fifty Modao elites I selected from the Anxi Army, originally I selected three hundred, but the commander refused to let them." ”

"Fifty is very good, they can be coaches, at least my striker team has to be trained to be Mo swordsmen, the cost is not a problem, I can get this money."

"Yang Ming"

Li Siye was silent for a moment, and suddenly asked, "I heard that Dou Lujun has a problem, can you tell me about it." ”

Knowing but not knowing, this must have been told by Wang Changling, but Li Qing didn't intend to hide it from him, so he told him what he knew, and finally said in a deep voice: "I am ready to report to the emperor truthfully, the soldiers of the Doulu army must be replenished, whether it is transferred by the imperial court or recruited by myself, this matter must not be concealed, otherwise we will only have the share of the annihilation of the whole army in the war with Tubo." ”

Although Li Siye is a calm person, but the seriousness of what Li Qing said still made his face change several times, although Gao Dashuai is conceited, but he will never dare to do this kind of thing, to put it seriously, this is a suspicion of rebellion, he pondered for a moment, and said: "Last time, Yang Ming deduced that Tubo might be Koubian this year, so I estimate that the emperor will not move Huangfu Weiming for the time being, nor will he transfer troops from the original, and the new recruits will still have to train, it is too late, most likely from Anxi to transfer troops to supplement, but the marshal cherishes the soldiers as his life, he most of them refuse, Or give some old and weak soldiers, why don't I go back again and tell him about the power, maybe he can agree, without further ado, I will leave tomorrow. ”

Li Qing shook his head and said: "This matter is not in a hurry, wait for the emperor's reply to come, I am anxious to wait for you to come There is a big thing to do, there is a horse bandit in the Hexi Corridor, I heard that there are as many as 3,000 people, I am most worried that if the war in Tangbo breaks out, my Doulu army is transferred to the front line, and they take the opportunity to attack Shazhou, what will our family do?" What should the people of Shazhou do? So you must destroy them first, no matter what! ”

Li Siye smiled, "If that's the case, I want to go back, as you said, our Doulu army only has 1,200 people, and it's still a bit difficult to deal with 3,000 horse bandits, so I want to go back and borrow troops, besides, this group of horse bandits hinders trade, and the marshal has hated it for a long time, but it's not good to cross the border to solicit, if Yang Ming intends to ask for it, I think the marshal will be happy to cooperate, and he should borrow troops." ”

Li Qing was silent, he frowned, walked around the room twice with his hands behind his back, and suddenly said: "I have an idea, I may offend you tall and handsome, but I want to ask you first to see if my idea is feasible?" ”

"You just say it!"

"I think again, if you only say that the Doulu army is weak when you go to borrow troops, you may not be able to completely annihilate this horse bandits, ask Gao Dashuai to borrow 3,000 elites, and then the imperial court will transfer troops, can I directly take this army.

"Absolutely not!"

Without waiting for Li Qing to finish speaking, Li Siye stood up and said bluntly: "Our handsome man hates people to deceive him the most, if Yang Ming does this, he will definitely not forgive you." ”

Li Qing looked out the window with his hands in his hand, and said slowly for a long time: "What if the emperor ordered him to do this?" Won't he either? ”

"This.

Li Qing smiled slightly, waved his hand and asked him to sit down, "I know that the heir is for my good, in this way, you first borrow troops according to my idea, and you must not say that the Doulu army was taken away by Huangfu Weiming, this matter is very important, you must remember." Let's just say that the Doulu army is weak, and after the emperor's decree is issued, I will personally go to Qiuzi and ask Gao Dashuai to ask for this army, if he refuses to give it, it's okay, do you think this is good? ”

Li Siye sighed, this is also a way to do it.

After sending Li Siye away, Li Qing took out the letter he had written to Li Longji again, wrote down his thoughts one by one, resealed them, and solemnly handed them to Gao Zhandao.