The 20,000 Crane Army under his command was wiped out, and he wanted to draw his sword to commit suicide, but he was stopped by his own soldiers, the first member of the Crane Army, the commander of the soldiers and horses, Wang Huaizhen, led more than a dozen soldiers all the way to the Anyuan Gate in the west of Chang'an City, and then stopped the horse. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Once Hezhou was lost, it was impossible to hold Jingzhou with the 2,000 government troops under Tang Kuan's command who had just been recruited, so Wang Huaizhen did not choose to flee back to Jingzhou, but ran directly back to Chang'an. According to his idea, he wanted to report the news of the large-scale invasion of the Tubo people to the Generalissimo's Office, which had just been formed, as soon as possible, so as to urge the imperial court to send troops westward and start a decisive battle with the Tubos.

However, after galloping for a day and two nights, Wang Huaizhen's hot head was blown by the wind and began to calm down. According to the law, all generals in the army who are defeated and flee from the battle will be beheaded regardless of the reason. Although he used 20,000 soldiers against the main force of the 60,000 Scorpion Army in Tubo, and destroyed and wounded more than 30,000 enemies, after all, he lost the garrison city, and he was afraid that the hat of this defeated general would have to be worn. What made him even more worried was that Li Qi, the eldest son of the emperor who had just become the marshal, not long ago, put aside for the time being, just in front of the deputy marshal Jing Yuncong, it would be difficult for him to save his life.

Jing Yuncong has always been known for his strict management of the army, and if he hadn't been too strict with his soldiers, he would not have been dug up his ancestral grave two years ago. In addition, because Yu Chengen, who served as the military supervisor a few years ago, in order to cultivate his own power in the army, he ignored Jing Yuncong's repeated opposition and created this Divine Crane Army, so from the day the Divine Crane Army was formed, there was an inherent contradiction with the Shuofang Army under Jing Yuncong.

Wang Huaizhen originally only wanted to return to Chang'an as soon as possible to report the news, but when he arrived outside the Anyuan Gate, he suddenly remembered that there were many inappropriateness in going directly to the city to report the number to the Generalissimo's Mansion. So, he immediately ordered, including him, more than a dozen sergeants immediately dismounted, pretended to be ordinary people, abandoned their horses and walked, mixed into Chang'an City, and first found a temple in the city to live.

He has followed Yu Chengen for many years, and naturally he is no stranger to the situation in Chang'an City. Since there was a risk of being directly beheaded by going directly to the Generalissimo's Mansion to see King Mu and Jing Yuncong, Wang Huaizhen naturally chose another path that seemed relatively safe to him: first find a person who could exonerate himself from capital crimes by the emperor's side, and then directly enter the palace through his introduction, and tell the emperor about the military situation in Western Xinjiang in person.

After sending people to inquire around, Wang Huaizhen decided to find Shang Jing, the provincial supervisor of the Inner Chamberlain, as a candidate to introduce him to the king.

Shang Jing was first taken aback when he received the news that Wang Huaizhen was defeated in Hezhou and fled back to the capital, and then began to feel at ease.

However, what Shang Jing was worried about was not the precarious war situation in Western Xinjiang, what he was worried about was that once Wang Huaizhen entered the palace to meet the emperor, would he reveal that he had deliberately concealed the military situation in Western Xinjiang a few days ago, thus causing trouble for himself. Wang Huaizhen lost 20,000 soldiers and horses under his command, out of the consideration of shirking responsibility, it is very likely that he will mention in front of the emperor that the first few military reports to the imperial court to inform the invasion of Tibet, if that is the case, not only can he not be invited by Wang Huaizhen to be the person who introduced him, but must try to block Wang Huaizhen's mouth as soon as possible, only by doing so, can it be called the best policy.

Without much thought, Shang Jing arranged an excellent place for Wang Huaizhen: the Hall of the King of Hades. Carrying the plea that Wang Huaizhen entrusted him to present to the emperor, Shang Jing rushed to Yanying Hall to see the emperor without revealing his face.

The emperor has been in a rather disturbed mood for the past two days. The great cause of counterinsurgency has just taken a turn for the better, and the three major things that he vowed to do at the beginning of his ascension: the ban on the Neijing Palace, the Beiping Rebellion, and the Southern and Princely Domains, can be completed in less than half a year, which is a good thing that makes the emperor feel complacent, but it has only been calmed down for less than two months, and there are waves in the harem, so that the emperor is now difficult to find a place to sleep well.

From more than two months ago, when King Mu was left in Jiangling City by King Jiangling, the emperor adopted Jing Xuan's suggestion, did not rush to send troops to conquer Jiangling, but sent a Qin messenger to summon Li Shu to return to Beijing to see Jin, so that later received good results, until not long ago, Jing Xuan proposed to appoint King Mu Li Qi as the generalissimo of the world's soldiers and horses, unified the army orders, in case the generals from all walks of life support the army and self-respect, the emperor was pleased to find that since his father appointed to marry and marry himself, he has shown a faint Jing daughter in the pleasure of the boudoir, actually completely inherited his father's Wen Tao Wu strategy, with her in the harem to assist, to give advice for herself, just like Empress Wende in Taizong, can bring great help to her own governance.

Out of gratitude and favor to Jing Xuan, after the emperor was drunk in Baoxiang Palace once, in a half-joking and half-serious tone, he casually said to Jinping who served him to change clothes: When the spring flowers bloom next year, I will appoint the crown prince and make your mother the lord of the six palaces. Unexpectedly, it was this drunken sentence that caused an uproar in the harem within ten days.

Between the concubine and the queen, although there is only a difference of one order, there is a distinction between monarchs and ministers. Once the concubine is canonized, she has an almost equal status to the emperor, and from then on, she can not only be openly commensurate with the emperor's husband and wife, but also can sit on the phoenix throne with peace of mind and accept the morning and evening worship of all concubines, including the concubine.

Wanrong was already resentful about everything falling behind Jing Xuan, and once she heard that the emperor was going to set up Jing Xuan in the spring of the next year, she couldn't help but have a seizure on the spot, not only provoking Shang Jing to send Shang Jing to monitor her eunuch Gu Xi Chao beat her up, that is, even Ying'er, who had come up with ideas for herself for many days to subdue Wang Bao'er, was scolded by her for no reason, and hid back in her room crying. Just beating and scolding the palace people and eunuchs around her, Wanrong still didn't feel enough to relieve her anger, so she ordered someone to go to the residence of the concubines in the harem to spread the word: From tonight, no one is allowed to sleep for a month. She wants to force the emperor to come to Yaohua Palace, and ask him face to face, is she who has a deep affection for the emperor, or is she an ape with a heart, and Jing Xuan who belongs to her heart is worthy of being this queen?

Coincidentally, after listening to Jing Xuan's report on Lai Xing'er's private indulgence in Li Shu in Baoxiang Palace that night, the emperor did not stop in Baoxiang Palace, but ordered people to go out of Beijing overnight to send a message to Li Qi, the king of Muzhou in Puzhou, asking him to send troops to carefully search the surroundings of Wangwu Mountain, and after arresting Li Shu as soon as possible, he drove to Yaohua Palace.

Wanrong was pregnant, and the emperor had already fallen asleep when he came. The emperor waved his hand to stop Gu Xichao, telling him not to inform him that he had arrived, and then walked straight into Ying'er's room.

At that time, it was nearly the second watch, and Sakura sat alone in front of the dressing table in the room, carefully wiping a short sword with a square silk handkerchief, while thinking about her thoughts in a daze. (To be continued.) )