In the political hall, there was a chaotic stalemate.

Xue Shao sat calmly, like an outsider. Observe, he's watching everybody in the hall.

It was only at this moment that Xue Shao deeply realized the importance of the political affairs hall. This small team of less than ten people is like a person's brain directing all actions - if there are one or two reliable spokespersons in the political hall, plus their influence in the military, they may be mutually beneficial!

Xue Shao, who was silent, swept his eyes over the prime ministers present one by one, and judged them in his heart.

The internal history of Cen Changqian, known as the chief prime minister, but the real power is far less than the name. I have worked with him for many years and have some personal friends, but they lack a deep understanding of each other and direct interest collusion. In addition, Cen Changqian is too principled. remembers that when the Queen Mother granted her the Purple Gold Fish Talisman, Cen Changqian had been desperately opposing. As the prime minister, he has never heard of Cen Changqian promoting a relative or protégé, nor has he formed any political allies. Because of this, Cen Changqian has always believed in Wu Zetian's trust and reuse. When there were frequent changes in the political hall, even goods like Wu Chengsi joined the group of demons and danced together, but Cen Changqian was a stable and stable living in the history of the country.

Xue Shao's final conclusion - Cen Changqian may be the last prime minister in the true sense of the word in this dynasty. He is not fit to be in an alliance with me, he is not fit to be in an alliance with anyone!

Wei Xuantong? As Pei Yan's close friend, it is a miracle that he has been standing above the court for so long. But Liu Qixian has already fallen into bad luck, is he still far away? And because of Pei Yan's incident, there is already a mustard gap between himself and him, and it is really difficult to cooperate again.

Wu Chenghei and Wu Yougui? It doesn't have to be thought about at all.

Others such as Wang Benli and the like? The little prime ministers who made their fortune by opportunism only by means of small words, they climbed fast enough, but they would fall quickly and miserably, and maybe one day they would be exiled to Lingnan to feed mosquitoes, which was not enough and conspiracy.

In the end, Xue Shao locked his eyes on the Fengge squire and the three products of the same Fengge Luantai, Liu Yuanzhi......

At this moment, Liu Yuanzhi had already stood up and arched his hand: "Queen Mother, the minister thinks that the Heyuan Army is the best!" ”

Everyone turned their heads to look at Liu Yuanzhi, a rising bird, with different expressions.

Xue Shao smiled to himself, Liu Yuanzhi, you really dare to bet!

"Reason." Wu Zetian asked.

Liu Yuanzhi said: "The black tooth is often invincible in a hundred battles, the veteran general of the battlefield, the deputy Lou Shide is loyal, righteous, brave and resourceful, and the Heyuan army has been stationed on the border for many years, so that the strong enemy of Tubo does not dare to attack, and the battle is invincible." Lingzhou is in danger, and non-generals are not enough to turn the tide. The minister strongly recommends, and the black tooth often takes on this role! ”

As soon as Liu Xiangzhi's words fell, one person stood up suddenly, and his voice was like a drum beat - "Why should Liu Xiang favor one over the other?" Shuo Fangjun, isn't it very bad?! ”

Everyone saw that it was the former general of the Shuofang Army and the current commander of the Imperial Forest Army, Li Duozuo!

Xue Shao suddenly felt that his brain hurt, and he really grabbed Li Duozuo's collar and scolded him. But he really can't be blamed for that. There was no communication in advance when the incident happened, and naturally there was no tacit understanding, Li Duozuo just felt that Shuo Fangjun was slighted and insulted, and his behavior was understandable.

Liu Yuanzhi was obviously shocked by Li Duozuo's thunderous aura, but he immediately calmed down, "General Li is angry, and this cabinet will talk about things, and there is no intention of slighting the Shuo Fang army." ”

Xue Shao also took the opportunity to say, "General Li is here for the imperial meeting, don't interject if you don't ask you to speak." ”

Li Duozuo suddenly came back to his senses in a daze, and hurriedly clasped his fists and bowed, "The last general is reckless, the Queen Mother forgives her sins, and the princes forgive me!" ”

"Sit down." Wu Zetian was calm and said: "Liu Xianggong, although General Li was angry for a while, what he said was not unreasonable. Isn't the Shuo Fang Army up to the task? As you know, the Shuofang army is closer to Lingzhou than the Heyuan army, and the soldiers are very fast. ”

Since Liu Yuanzhi dared to stand up and take over this hot mountain, he naturally had some planning, and then he replied unhurriedly: "Queen Mother, just from the geographical analysis, the Shuofang army is indeed more suitable to fight. However, the minister thought that the Shuo army must not be moved lightly. ”

"Why?"

Liu Yuanzhi replied: "Since the Turks have Yuanzhen, they have frequently used tricks and soldiers like ghosts. Tactics such as striking the east and moving the tiger away from the mountain are not uncommon. The front line of Fengzhou, the military town of Shuofang, these are all thorns in the eyes and flesh of the Turks. Therefore, compared with the Lingzhou that has been lost, the heavily guarded Xiazhou Governor's Mansion should be the focus of their operation. If the Shuofang army of Xiazhou is sent to Lingzhou to defend against the enemy now, it is very likely that the enemy will fall into the trap. Therefore, the minister suggested that the Shuofang army should stick to its own position and not move without permission, and the Heyuan army should go to defend against the enemy instead! ”

Xue Shao listened carefully word by word, and after listening, his heart lit up and his brain opened - I can't see it, Liu Yuanzhi is quite smart in military affairs, and most of his ideas actually coincide with me!

"What Liu Xiang said is not unreasonable." After listening to this, Wu Zetian said, "But the garrison under the command of the Xiazhou Governor's Mansion is divided into two parts, one is the Fengzhou frontier garrison, and the other is the military town garrison in Shuofang County. Now we are just transferring the soldiers and horses of Shuofang Military Town to defend against the enemy, and the Fengzhou frontier is still a pass. Moreover, the responsibility of the Heyuan Army to defend Tibet is equally heavy, and what will happen if the Tubo take advantage of the situation and move the army to attack? ”

"This ......" Liu Yuanzhi was speechless. After all, he is not a general who commands the army to fight, and he can only judge the affairs of the front line and the border pass by hearing about it, so how can he say accurately about such a thing as "what if"?

"Queen Mother, the minister has something to say." Xue Shao stood up.

In an instant, everyone's eyes looked at Xue Shao, as if they were all saying-You finally came forward in person!

"Say it!"

Xue Shao arched his hand and said, "Tubo's main attention now is all in the Western Regions, all in the area around the four towns of Anxi that I just gave up. The Western Turks regrouped after the transfer of the Anxi Tiger Division, and gradually formed a powerful force enough to compete with the Tibetans in the Western Regions, making it difficult for the Tibetans to send troops from Dafeichuan to attack Shanzhou. Therefore, the Heyuan Army can completely free up their hands to rush to the aid of Lingzhou. ”

Wu Zetian frowned slightly, "Go on." ”

Xue Shao continued, "On the other hand, looking at the Shuo Fang Army, the minister agrees with Liu Xianggong's statement, in order to prevent the Turks from having different plans, they should not be moved lightly for the time being. In addition, it is very necessary to increase the number of troops in Fengzhou and strengthen the defense. In addition, our defense line in Hebei has weaknesses......"

"Newspaper—"

Xue Shao's words were suddenly interrupted by a shout, and a fast horse scout staggered into the political hall, knelt on the ground to present a military intelligence report, and vomited blood on the spot and fainted to death.

"Call the Imperial Doctor for help!" Wu Zetian ordered repeatedly, "The military report is fetched." ”

Xue Shao personally stepped forward to take the military report, unfolded it and looked at it, and was speechless, and handed the military report to Cen Changqian.

Cen Changqian took it and took a look, and hurriedly said: "The Queen Mother, the princes, the Xiazhou Governor's Mansion urgently reported that the Turks continued to advance eastward to invade Xiazhou after occupying Lingzhou, and the Shuofang army was already at war with the Turks. The battle was stalemate, with each other winning and losing. Wei Bei, the governor of Xiazhou, wrote a letter to ask for war, asking the governor Helong to expel the Turks and recapture Lingzhou. ”

"Queen Mother, no!" Xue Shao immediately stopped it and said in a loud voice, "It is necessary to force the Shuofang army to stick to the mainland, and it is the best policy to let the Heyuan army rush to help!" ”

"The two armies are already at war, how can they hold on to their homeland?" Wu Zetian slapped the table and stood up, "Feng Pavilion drafted a decree to order Wei Bei to be the general manager of the Lingwu Dao marching army, and the governor of Helong Prefecture has all the soldiers and horses, and must expel the Turks and recapture Lingzhou!" ”

"Queen Mother......!!" Xue Shao's eyes widened in astonishment.

"My order has been issued, and there is no need to discuss it again. That's it for today's Imperial Meeting. Wu Zetian flicked his sleeves and left.

Everyone dispersed in turn, and Xue Shao stood for a long time as if he was petrified. Li Duozuo, Zhou Jitong and others wanted to ask him to go together, but they didn't dare to speak, so they had to go first.

It was Wu Chengsi who was the last to leave, and deliberately went around to Xue Shao's side, and whispered: "Xue Shangshu, could it be that Shuo Fangjun is really your own son, so you insisted on not letting him go to the battlefield, for fear that he would be hurt by something?" ”

Xue Shao turned his head and looked at him coldly with eyes like knives.

"Don't stare at me, it's none of my business. My hand is not that long, and I can't reach for Xiazhou. Wu Chengsi smiled nonchalantly, "I only advise you, don't overdo everything." Let you settle down and defend the divine capital, don't worry too much. ”

"Get out."

Wu Chengsi's expression froze, "This is the political affairs hall, it's you who should get out!" ”

"Get out."

- Murderous!

Wu Chengsi's neck shrank and walked quickly.

After sitting alone in the political hall for a long time, Xue Shaoqiang took a breath and stood up and slowly walked out of the political hall.

Around the corner, Xue Shao saw Liu Yuanzhi.

"Xue Shangshu, how about you come to my official office and sit for a while?" Liu Yuanzhi sent out an invitation.

In the past, when Pei Yan was the prime minister, he moved the political affairs hall from Menxia Province to Zhongshu Province. Liu Yuanzhi, who is currently the Fengge Shilang (formerly known as Zhongshu Shilang), has an official office not far from the political affairs hall.

Xue Shao walked into Liu Yuanzhi's official office without saying a word and took a seat. Liu Yuanzhi served tea and sat opposite him.

"What does Xue Shangshu think about today's events?" Liu Yuanzhi asked straight to the point.

Xue Shao glanced at him, "Liu Xiang didn't think that I was deliberately planting you?" ”

"Definitely." Liu Yuanzhi shook his head and said, "I remember it vividly, and this pavilion has no reason to complain about Xue Shangshu. On top of the military arrangement, hasn't the Queen Mother always obeyed you? This time, why? ”

"I want to know more about the reason than you do. But ......" Xue Shao looked at Liu Yuanzhi and said, "Don't forget, I'm just an ordinary courtier after all, and it's my duty to give advice." In the end, only the Queen Mother can make a decision. ”

Liu Yuanzhi smiled slightly, "Then what if her decision is wrong?" ”

Xue Shao took a sip of tea and said indifferently, "The Queen Mother won't be wrong." The mistake will only be Wei Zhi, who took the initiative to ask for the war. ”

"Haha!" Liu Yuanzhi smiled, "It's really a word to wake up the dreamer!" ”

"I thought Liu Xiang had always been awake, could it be that he had been dreaming before?" Xue Shao put down the teacup and got up to leave.

Liu Yuanzhi smiled and said: "Wei Zhiqi is the empress dowager's confidant, and the empress dowager single-handedly promoted him to replace Xue Shangshu in Shuofang. But all this time, Wei Zhiwei has never proven himself in the war. A general who has not won a battle will not be able to gain the recognition and support of his subordinates. Now that there is a rare war, Wei Zhiwei, who is eager for meritorious service, will certainly not let go of such an opportunity. And the Queen Mother, of course, is willing to make such a favor. She is very willing to see Wei Zhiwei win and make meritorious contributions, so that Shuo Fangjun may completely sever relations with its old master, Young Marshal Xue. At the same time, Xue Shangshu himself had no excuse to lead troops to the battle. Xue Zizhenguo, the Queen Mother just wants to keep you by her side. Honkaku, are you right? ”

Xue Shao squinted at Liu Yuanzhi with a smile, and said in his heart: Liu Xiang, Liu Xiang, don't you understand - the more you know, the faster you will die?