The autumn wind is bleak and the weather is cool, and the grass and trees shake and fall into frost.

At the turn of the fourth day of October in the thirteenth year of Tianbao (754) (more than 11 o'clock in the morning), Chen Xuanli, the general of Longwu who was full of worries, wore a flat scarf and black leather boots, and climbed the Xuanwu Gate Tower of Taiji Palace alone and heavily guarded.

"Xuanwu Gate...... What is the meaning of His Majesty's order to come here? "The Suwei Palace has been forbidden for most of his life, how could Chen Xuanli not know how many conspiracies, swords, and swords have been staged in the Xuanwu Gate, and the sage specially ordered him to come here, he is inevitably a little uneasy.

Looking north from the Xuanwu Gate, the grass and trees in the west inner garden of the royal garden are withered and yellow, and the fallen leaves are flying.

"More than forty years!" Chen Xuanli, who was nervous, sighed, and couldn't help but recall the earth-shaking night of Gengzi Day in June in the first year of Tang Long (710).

At that time, Chen Xuanli was only the commander of the right battalion of the 10,000 cavalry battalion of the Beiya Forbidden Army, because he was disgusted with the Wei clansmen controlling the forbidden army and blocking his own steps, he and Ge Fushun, the commander of the left battalion of Paoze, took a ride with Wang Maozhong, who was born in the prince's mansion, and made a desperate attempt to take refuge with the heroic King of Linzi.

And the king of Linzi really lived up to expectations, Yu Gengzi personally infiltrated the West Inner Garden, and with the assistance of Chen Xuanli and other generals, he plotted against the left and right Yulin troops stationed outside the Xuanwu Gate, and entered the Taiji Palace, and simply got rid of the Wei party that killed Emperor Zhongzong, and supported the king to ascend the throne.

Two years later, Ruizong became the crown prince of Zen, and the former king of Linzi became the son of heaven who ruled the four seas; Three years later, the sage sent troops to kill Princess Taiping, who wantonly interfered in court politics, completely quelled the chaos in the court since the abdication of Emperor Zetian, and saved the Tang Dynasty, which was about to fall off the cliff.

For Chen Xuanli, the wisest decision in the first half of his life was to resolutely bet all his life on the King of Linzi. After the destruction of Wei, he rose step by step, and became the general of Longwu in the second rank, and took charge of the Longwu Forbidden Army, which personally guarded the saint.

After Wang Maozhong was convicted and killed, and Ge Fushun died early due to illness, Chen Xuanli and Gao Lishi became the only remaining Tang Long heroes, and they were also the most trusted ministers of the sage's domain.

For more than 40 years, Xuan He's power for a while has been like a carp crossing the river, spinning up and down. But no matter whether he is as powerful as Yao Chong, strong as Song Jing, or cunning as Li Linfu and arrogant as Yang Guozhong, he does not dare to despise the low-key and introverted Chen Xuanli.

For more than 40 years, there are countless border generals who have expanded their territory and sealed the wolf, but whether it is Zhang Shouqi who is in the border area of the earthquake, Wang Zhonghe, who also leads the four towns, or Gao Xianzhi who has brilliant military achievements, and An Lushan where Jian is in the emperor's heart, they have trekked mountains and rivers, overcome dangers, bowed their armor, and braved arrows to achieve their achievements, although they can win the praise and reward of the saints, but they cannot gain the trust of the emperor.

Therefore, Chen Xuanli neither cared about the war in the border town, nor did he care about the strange and obscene skills such as fierce oil and fire, his eyes were only firmly fixed on the saint, the Long Wu Army, and Chang'an City. Because he knows that he is the most trusted military general of the saint and the emperor. A blade that scares the courtiers.

Since the saint ascended the throne, it is inevitable that there will be "all the birds, the good bow hidden, the cunning rabbit died, and the lackeys cooked", but he is still tolerant of the heroes who sacrificed their lives and forgot their lives to plot the coup d'état. Except for Wang Mao Zhong, who was self-inflicted, the sage never killed his old ministers for no reason, and the most severe punishment was only exile in the border states. And Chen Xuanli has always been simple and self-examining, abiding by his duty, so he is deeply favored and loved by the saints.

But after a long time of peace and wealth, Chen Xuanli's mind will inevitably come alive. As an internal servant, although he bought a house to marry a wife and received a wide range of righteous sons, he was destined to have no queen, so he could serve the saint wholeheartedly. Chen Xuanli is different, he wants to plan for the descendants of the full hall and keep the family prosperous forever. And decades of life experience have taught him that the best deal in the world has always been from the dragon's work.

However, Chen Xuanli, who is familiar with the saint's heart and is accustomed to watching the secret fighting in the palace, did not rush to bet, but was like a tiger lurking in the jungle, waiting for a new round of competition for succession. Li Linfu colluded with Concubine Wu Hui to support King Shou, but he remained silent; Colliers secretly helped Li Heng to ascend to the throne, but he was silent; The wings of the East Palace Party are growing, and he looks on coldly. It wasn't until the crown prince was seriously injured by Wei Jian's case and Du Youlin's case, and Wang Zhonghei, the giant pillar of the East Palace, was demoted to Hanyang, and Chen Xuanli repeatedly confirmed that the concubine had no ability to have children, so he burned the cold stove and sent charcoal in the snow to show favor to the East Palace.

Of course, Chen Xuanli's support for Li Heng was quite hidden, only slightly revealing a little about the life and words and deeds of the saint. But to his surprise, the prince's actions were sometimes bold to the point of being reckless.

On the Chinese New Year's Eve of the seventh year of Tianbao (748), in order to make the noble concubine happy, the saint put on a mask and went out of the palace, and mixed into the team of expulsors to enjoy with the people. Soon after Chen Xuanli informed the prince of the saint's whereabouts, a riot suddenly broke out in the procession. If it weren't for the fact that the Beiting Tooth Soldiers, who happened to meet him, resolved the crisis, Chen Xuanli did not dare to imagine how far the chaos would have become.

Of course, if the saint "happened" to die due to the crowd trampling, Chen Xuanli would definitely order the Long Wu army to close the city gate and control the Sixteen Princes' Mansion, the Hundred Sun Courtyard and the important ministers of the court in the name of Dasuo......

When the white dragon fish was in danger, the sage Long Yan was furious, in addition to killing a group of chamberlains and palace e, he also ordered Chen Xuanli and Gao Lishi to find out the cause of the riot as soon as possible.

The Longwu Forbidden Army and Jin Wuwei secretly investigated, and Yingying found out that Wang Yuanbao, the proprietor of Ruyiju, was involved. It's just that the clues have long been cut off, and it is impossible to find tangible evidence.

In order to protect the East Palace, Chen Xuanli even covered himself up and attributed the riot to an accident. He was worried that the trick would be seen through by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but fortunately, at that time, Gao Lishi was bent on defending the prince, and he just asked Chen Xuanli to have a drink and knocked on the side, and then exposed the matter.

With the lesson of Chinese New Year's Eve, Chen Xuanli also had more eyes when cooperating with the prince, especially in matters related to saints, but he did not give up on the prince. During the western expedition to Shiguo, the king of Beiting was seeing that he was overpowering Li Xiang's henchman Gao Xianzhi to shine, and the prestige of the East Palace was rising; The saint indulged in beautiful music and beauty, and entrusted all political affairs to Li Xiang, and lost his ambition of the past.

After Chen Xuanli weighed it, he thought that Li Heng's position was stable, and no one among the princes could replace him. King Qing's face was broken, and he was not pleased with the saints; King Yong's neck is crooked and irritable, and he has no royal bearing; As for King Shou, Yang Guozhong once wished to support Li Mao to fight against the East Palace, and tried his best to win a good opportunity for him to supervise Jiannan, but King Shou was not embarrassed to stay in Yizhou for more than a year, although there was a good report of Cui Yuan's victory over Nanzhao in the middle, the sage only praised a few words and rewarded a few treasures as usual, and did not mean to let King Shou lead the border town; As for the rest of the princes, either the concubines were lowly or too young, they could not compete with the East Palace. So Chen Xuanli became more and more sure that after a hundred years of the saint, the throne would go to the crown prince.

The crown prince probably also realized that the Chinese New Year's Eve was reckless, so he concentrated on fighting his sworn enemy Li Linfu. Knowing that Yang Guozhong, who was eager to be crowned the king and worship the prime minister, instructed the Xiangshi Ren Haichuan to bewitch the arrogant Wang Weld to rebel, Donggong and Chen Xuanli took advantage of the situation and sent Xing Xuan, the eight-faced and exquisite commander of the Longwu Army, to hook up with Wang Weld and induce him to "launch" a ridiculous rebellion, which not only forced Wang Jie to a dead end, but also almost connected Gao Xianzhi and severely injured Li Linfu.

But Chen Xuanli made a lot of calculations, but he never expected that the treacherous and cunning Li Linfu would not take the opportunity to give up the longevity king Li Mao, and use the pear garden banquet to launch Li Qi, the youngest son of Concubine Wu Hui, who was not weak, to arouse the saint's Yi Chu heart; Gao Lishi was suspicious of Long Wujun's actions in the Wang Zhu case, and said that he would move the sage to expand the Flying Dragon Forbidden Army and encroach on his military power.

Being squeezed both inside and outside, Chen Xuanli was a little remorseful, for his own sake, he gradually alienated himself from the East Palace, and ordered his subordinates to swallow their anger at the provocation of the Flying Dragon Forbidden Army. When he heard that Wang Zhun had absconded and returned to Beijing, Chen Xuanli simply threw all the aftermath to the prince to ensure that his hands were innocent and not bloody.

Chen Xuanli originally thought that after Li Linfu's death, King Sheng, who had lost his Olympic aid, might decline in momentum and be defeated. Unexpectedly, although Li Xiang was dead, the tiger was still there, and before his death, he pushed the boat down the river and carefully laid out, not only letting Luo Xizao and Li Renzhi take the Xiangguo Party to continue to assist Li Qi, but also tied Yang Guozhong, Shi Siming and others to the Shengwang chariot.

What frightened Chen Xuanli even more was that he repeatedly pondered the thoughts of the sage, and was stunned to find that the emperor who had entered his old age seemed to be indifferent to pleasure and ignore the government, but his desire for power was even more fiery than when he was young, and no one was allowed to challenge his majesty. The crown prince has been the prince for more than ten years, and the Donggong party has become a climate, and the threat to the saint is obviously much greater than that of King Sheng.

"What should I do?" Chen Xuanli, who was scratching his heart, pondered and meditated, but still couldn't find a way to break the game. Continue to follow the crown prince, Tai Ban will die without a place to be buried; turned the bow of the ship to attach to King Sheng, but unfortunately someone had already taken the lead, and he could only share some scraps with a shy face; Relying on military power to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight, the Flying Dragon Forbidden Army continued to expand through the "exchange of displaced people for elite soldiers", and the weight of the Dragon Martial Army became lighter and lighter......

People's hearts are not as good as water, and the flat ground is rippling.

When Chen Xuanli, who was panicked, was thinking wildly, he suddenly heard a familiar voice from behind him: "General Chen is looking at the distance from the railing, I don't know what to feel?" ”

"Wechen knocks on Your Majesty!" Chen Xuanli knelt down and said: "In the first year of a certain thought and Tang Long, he followed His Majesty to kill Wei and pacify the chaos, and he was in a trance for a while, but he didn't know that His Majesty had arrived, and he really deserved to die." ”

"Let's be flat." Li Longji, who was wearing a red silk robe with a folded scarf on his head, said lightly: "The stars have changed, and I don't realize that it has been forty years. ”

"The old slave was just ventilating and delivering news back then, and His Majesty Wings went into battle to kill the enemy, relying on General Chen." Gao Lishi, who was standing behind Li Longji, said with a smile.

"Lux is always so humble." Li Longji praised: "But it is precisely because of this that I can rest assured that the Inner Servant Province and the Flying Dragon Forbidden Army will be handed over to the helm of the wrestlers. General Chen, do you think that's the reason? ”

"The tall general is loyal and courageous, and he can't do it." Chen Xuanli glanced at the Flying Dragon Forbidden soldiers guarding the Xuanwu Gate, sweating like pulp.