For Liu Yan, the emperor of the Silk Kingdom who was in Chang'an City, the autumn of 812 in the Gregorian calendar began with bad news. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

The first is that the former military department Shangshu An Jingbian died of illness. An Jingbian's illness has been a long time, since Abichilir attacked Chang'an unsuccessfully, An Jingbian fell ill, and then had to return to his hometown, but his condition still showed no signs of improvement, and he barely died until the end of the summer of this year. Although An Jingbian is no longer an official in the court, his death is still of great significance - since the right servant Yan Ming was deprived of real power as the crown prince, An Jingbian has become the only person who can carry the banner in the original party of the queen mother and the party of the old ministers. His death also means that these old parties have completely lost power, which is really an earth-shattering event for the court of the Silk Country.

Due to the actual collapse of the old party, the latter party headed by Empress Hua and the prince of the country, Hua Tianyu, and a group of Confucian scholars led by Qiu Yiru, who was promoted to the rank of secretary of the ministry, were busy expanding their own power and winning over those old party officials who had become lost their dogs, which caused an invisible bloody storm in Chang'an City.

In this secretly fierce political competition, the most tired person is the emperor Liu Yan himself. Not only does he have to pay close attention to the changes in power and secret actions of both sides of the game, but he also has to make corresponding adjustments in time to avoid creating a situation where one is dominant, and at the same time, he must also make an unaware appearance on the surface so that the two sides will not tear their faces and intensify the conflict, which is definitely a job that is completely contrary to pleasure and comfort.

In fact, in addition to these, Liu Yan's biggest headache is the collapse of the original three-legged situation, once it becomes a competition for favor, this is actually not a good thing for the emperor himself. However, he did not want to raise his military secretary Xue Boren as the leader of the third force to check and balance, although Xue Boren's prestige and insight are very suitable for doing this, but Xue Boren himself and the people who will stand on his side are mostly military generals from the military, not only are they not very good at political struggles, but also a considerable number of them are generals who lead the army on the border, so that they are too deterrent and too dangerous to be involved in political struggles.

So the rest that can be counterbalanced with the two major forces is the power of the clan, the current strength of the clan in the country of silk is insufficient, and the greatest power is of course Liu Xianzhi, the king of Zhongyi County, who led troops outside. It's a pity that Liu Xianzhi, as a concubine, does not have a high status in the clan, and as an unfilial son who betrayed his biological father, his prestige in the clan is not high, and it is impossible for him to be the leader.

For this matter, Liu Yan has discussed with his confidant, Taichang Shaoqing Wu Sicheng, more than once, but unfortunately Wu Sicheng is also powerless about it. Wu Sicheng's insight and ability are first-class, but the intelligence work he is good at cannot create a faction or talent out of thin air. In the end, Liu Yan had to decide to put this matter on hold for the time being, and leave it for later to slowly consider and screen. However, Wu Sicheng worked too hard to collect inside information about the struggle between the two factions, and as a result, he fell ill.

Without Wu Sicheng, Liu Yan is even more anxious, and in the hard work day after day, the only comfort is the time with Lu Guiren.

Lu Guiren's real name is Lu Yu, and she is the daughter of the late martyr Lu Qinghan. Strictly speaking, Lu Yu can't be called a stunning beauty, and Queen Hua and Concubine Li are far superior to her in this regard, but Lu Yu has practiced martial arts since she was a child, and she is skilled in martial arts, which I am afraid that no one in the entire harem can match. Liu Yan was originally accustomed to practicing martial arts as a pastime in addition to handling government affairs, and happened to meet Lu Yu, an opponent, so he naturally liked to run to her bedroom. The two of them studied martial arts together, learned from each other, and slept together when they were tired, and gradually, Lu Yu became the concubine who occupied the emperor for the most nights in the harem.

Everyone has a lot of complaints about Lu Yu's mediocre appearance but being able to win the emperor's favor, but they can only stare at this fact. This news soon became widely known to everyone, so many officials began to befriend this nobleman, but Lu Yu had no interest in gold, silver and jewelry, and she accepted all kinds of rare treasures sent by others, and then directly handed them over to the emperor Liu Yan to request that these treasures be sold for military expenses, so Liu Yan was even more happy and loved her more and more.

On this day, when Liu Yan got up in the morning, and after washing, Lu Guiren personally served him to change clothes, Liu Yan suddenly rolled his eyes and asked, "I remember that you have a brother named Lu Mingxian, who is now serving in Gao Dingbian, right?" ”

"Back to Your Majesty, exactly. Lu Mingxian is the cousin of the concubine, and Gao Dingbian is the cousin of the concubine. ”

"Oh, do you know of any official positions he holds now?"

"This concubine is not very clear, I only heard that he became the Weiyuan general of the sixth grade, and I don't know if he will be promoted or dismissed in the future."

Liu Yan nodded and said, "En." Well, I'll know if I ask the military department. If this cousin of yours had real talent and learning, I would have intentionally promoted him, and that Gao Dingbian, if it wasn't for the last time he was wiped out, I would have let him sit on the defense envoy of Youzhou. ”

Lu Guiren hurriedly knelt down on the ground and said: "The concubines don't dare to talk about political affairs, if the two brothers of the concubines can make great meritorious contributions to the emperor, then Your Majesty should be rewarded for their merits, if there is a meritorious service, if there is no merit, the concubines dare to ask Your Majesty not to promote them easily, and the concubines think that they themselves do not want to be criticized because of Your Majesty's favor to the concubines and the two of them." ”

Liu Yan gently touched her hair and said with a smile: "I'm very happy that you can think so, but I'm afraid you don't want to, I want to do this not only to glorify the lintel of your house, but also for other considerations." ”

"In this way, the concubines are all up to Your Majesty, but please think twice before acting."

The two were talking, when they heard messy footsteps outside, and someone shouted: "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, good news!" ”

Liu Yan could hear that this voice was his guard captain Ji Chongxin, Ji Chongxin was not a person who would make a fuss, he would break in so disregard of etiquette, it must be a big deal.

At that moment, Liu Yan opened the door and raised his head and said, "What's the matter, so flustered?" ”

Ji Chongxin saw Liu Yan, hurriedly knelt on the ground, held the good news above his head and said: "Your Majesty, Lord Sun Kewang, the protector of the Western Regions, has just sent a good news, and the general of Zhenxi, King Jianweibo and King Han Xinwang, led his troops to start a decisive battle with the Tuqi army on the front line of the Tianshan Mountains, and repelled the invading Tuqi army in the Shihezi area. It was the battle that killed Badr, the right sage king of Tukhi, as well as Abicheril, the Great Khan of Tukhi! ”