On July 29 of the first year of Tang Xianheng, Chang'an.

After several days of running, Li Xian finally returned to the capital, and it was completely different from the previous situation where there would be a grand welcome ceremony after each return, this time there were no officials and clans outside the city to greet him, Li Xian and his two hundred people came to the city gate in such a cold and deserted manner.

What's even more infuriating is that when Li Xian came to the city gate, the soldiers guarding the gate asked him for a fish talisman as if they didn't know him.

Gao Sheji, who was accompanying Li Xian, was furious when he heard this, and jumped off the horse to teach the eyeless gatekeeper a lesson, but was stopped by Li Xian: "Sheji, stop!" The brother also acted in accordance with the constitution and was not at fault. ”

Then Li Xian took out the fish talisman and handed it to Gao Sheji and said, "Let this brother check it." ”

Seeing Li Xian like this, Gao Sheji didn't dare to disobey, so he responded respectfully, and then took the fish talisman and handed it to the guard.

After carefully inspecting the fish talisman, the guard suddenly asked, "Dare to ask your lordship, but is it the king of Zhou?" ”

Gao Sheji snorted coldly when he heard this, and just wanted to speak, but Li Xian suddenly said coldly: "Isn't there one above?" What rap? ”

It turned out that Li Xian was also dissatisfied with the gate guard, because he had entered and exited the city gate before, which of the city gate guards was not respectful and did not dare to make a sound? Now that he has won the battle for the country, but he has been treated like a defeated battle, not to mention the princes and ministers of the court, even a small city gate guard is so arrogant when he sees him, how can he not be angry in his heart?

Li Xian originally thought that he would be further ridiculed, but what happened next was something he never expected, only to see the guard quickly knelt on the ground, and said respectfully: "The villain worships the king, the villain has eyes and no beads, collides with the king, and asks the king to punish the crime heavily, whether it is killing or chopping, the villain has no complaints, just when the villain sees the appearance of the king, he is vaguely the king, but the king is full of dust, and there is a lot of difference when he goes out of the city, so the villain is not sure, in fact, he does not hide from the king, Since hearing the news that the king is going to return to the court, the villain and the brothers have taken turns on duty, looking forward to knowing the news of the king's arrival as soon as possible. ”

Then, Na Ma Jing stood up and shouted behind him: "Brothers, King Zhou is back, come out and meet him quickly." ”

I only heard the first few voices coming from inside the city gate: "Ma Jing, this black guy is in Mongolia again, tell me, how many times have you used this trick in just the past two days?" If you lie about the military situation again, believe it or not, the masters will beat you up. ”

saw Ma Jing say loudly: "Really, which one lied to you?" Why don't you wait here to come out and take a look? If you deceive you, I will pay for tonight's wine. ”

"Really?" With the sound of those voices, I immediately saw more than a dozen figures rushing out from behind the city gate, and then saw that the dozen or so figures surrounded Li Xian and others, carefully identified for a moment, and immediately cheered: "Sure enough, the king of Zhou is back, and the villain sees the king." ”

"Rank brother, hurry up and excuse me." Li Xian was suddenly so welcomed by these city guards, he was a little flattered, and hurriedly came to Ma Jing, helped him up, and then said apologetically: "Fang Cai Xiao Wang is very rude to Ma Zhuangshi, and please don't be strange to the strong man." ”

"Hehe, the king said this, but he tormented the villain. The king worked hard for several months, killed and injured countless Tibetan thieves, kept our country peaceful, and the people lived and worked in peace and contentment. ”

Ma Jing smiled, and then lined up with all the goalkeepers to welcome Li Xian and his soldiers into the city.

Seeing the respect that these soldiers had for him from the bottom of his heart, the depression in Li Xian's heart suddenly alleviated a lot, and he said silently: "Everything I have done for the country and the people, even if those princes and ministers don't remember, there are always people who remember, in this case, why should I care about whether the credit is credited or not?" Anyway, it's a burden to have a lot of credit, so I'll leave it to them, hehe, only poisonous snakes hiding in the shadows are the deadliest. ”

And after Li Xian entered the city gate, the scene in front of him was even more unforgettable for his life, and he even had some involuntary tears, because all the people stopped what they were doing, surrounded Li Xian and the warriors under his command, and cheered loudly with a look of almost worship: "King Zhou, long live, King Zhou, long live." (At that time, "long live" was just a high-level cheer, which was different from the "long live the lord" that later generations specifically referred to the emperor.) ）

Immediately after, many people stepped forward and offered gifts to Li Xian, including eggs, vegetables, melons and fruits, and so on, Li Xian smiled and declined, but the people did not give face, put down the gifts and ran, and in a moment, all kinds of gifts were piled up into a small mountain.

Looking at these "gifts" in front of him, Li Xian shook his head with a wry smile, and after some thought, he decided to pack them into a cart and donate them to the people who were living in poverty due to the drought.

After these "gifts" were processed, Li Xianfang returned to the mansion.

Although there are no relatives in the house, all the people are loyal to him and are extremely eager for his return, including Li Xian's maids Chunyan and Qiufang, the two nurses Gan and Gao, and the personal eunuch Gao Cheng and others.

"King, you can be regarded as back, these days are tired of fighting, making great contributions to the court, the whole city is praising you, some of them compare you to a military god like General Xue, according to the slave maid, General Xue has not killed 200,000 enemies at a time, can be compared with the king of your military exploits, in history it is also the killing god Bai Qi, the overlord of Chu Xiang Yu, Zhou Yu who burned Chibi and other people can be compared, alas, it is a pity that the villain in the court is in charge, and he does not want the king to make contributions, and persuade His Majesty to make peace with Tubo, Especially Zhou Guogong, who is the worst, even thought of asking the king for his guilt, but fortunately, Dai Xianggong and others vouched for His Majesty, so the saint did not blame him......"

After the eunuch Gao Cheng saw Li Xian, he chattered endlessly, until Chunyan and Qiufang urged Li Xian to take a bath, and then stopped talking, Li Xian's nurse Ganshi quietly glared at him, asking him not to talk nonsense, so as not to block Li Xian, Gao Cheng realized that he had said the wrong thing, and knelt down to slap his mouth, but was gently pulled by Li Xian, and then said softly: "Gao Cheng, there is no need to be like this, how can this king not know your loyalty to me?" Hurry up, and tell me what's interesting in the palace now? ”

Although Gao Cheng seems to be very honest, he has secretly made friends with a lot of palace people, and he is very well-informed about the news in the palace, and it is precisely because of this that Li Xian asked such a question.

But Gao Cheng said: "There is nothing interesting in the palace these days, and the most discussed thing is actually one thing, that is, the matter of the king, it is said that around how to deal with the king, the princes and ministers of the court quarreled this morning." ”

"Oh? Let's hear it. Li Xian ignored the maid Chunyan's frequent glances at Gao Cheng, and suddenly became interested, and said with a smile.

Although Gao Cheng knew that he shouldn't spoil his master's interest at this time, he also thought that it would be better for his master to know some things in advance, so that he could deal with it at that time, even if he didn't, it was good to have a psychological preparation in advance.

Therefore, Gao Cheng opened his mouth and said: "In fact, this morning's matter is also very simple, mainly around the king and General Xue killed prisoners, it is said that Yuan Gongyu, a member of the Xitai She, played to the saint in the court, saying that the king and General Xue killed the prisoners without permission, so that my Tang Dynasty lost its trust in foreign countries, which is not conducive to the country, so I wrote to the saint, hoping that the saint will punish the king and General Xue, in order to thank the world, but the palace serves the royal Shi Du Gong, the Dongtai waiter, the same East and West Taiwan Sanpin Hao Xianggong, the Si Lie Shaochang Bo Pei Gong, as well as the Xitai waiter, the Daoguo Gong, The prince of the inspection school left the middle to protect Dai Gong and others are opposed, alas, these people are worthy of being the pillars of the country, loyal ministers, they say that the king has a merit to the community, although he committed the killing of prisoners, but he should not be asked, Dai Xianggong and others said that they can offset the merits of the king, even so, the king is at most the merit and demerits, how can he be punished for this? ”

"Hehe, it seems that although Dai Zhide and other members of the East Palace Party oppose their mother and monopolize power, they are also unwilling to make me stronger, so as not to threaten the prestige of the prince, so they want to strike a balance between them, well, this should be the original face of the prince, but this guy has always been good at disguise, and now he is inviting people to buy people's hearts with this, which is really unbearable. Hehe, when I can't bear it anymore, I don't need to endure it anymore, prince, you are trying to use me to balance your mother, but you don't know that quietly, your catastrophe has quietly come, and I didn't remind you of the strange brother. ”

Li Xian sneered slightly when he heard Gao Cheng's words, and he already had some calculations in his heart, but at this time, he heard Gao Cheng continue: "Originally, even the queen had to nod his head when Dai Gong said this, but there was a person in the court who stepped forward to stop him, saying that this was unfair to the king and General Xue, and asked the saint to reward the king. It seems that it was because the saint listened to the words of a Taoist that he finally made up his mind. ”

"What is the name of that man? He was so trusted by the Holy Lord and the Empress! Li Xian suddenly heard that there was a soldier who was making a stumbling block, and his heart was shocked, and he hurriedly asked.

I only heard Gao Cheng say: "It is said that the Taoist priest's name is Ming Chongyan, who has won the trust of the saint and the queen, and it is said that he is quite a Taoist and has lived for thousands of years. ”

"Is it him? Hehe, I didn't expect that the time to come still came, but fortunately, this person did not pose a great threat to me in history, but it was a trouble for the sixth brother Li Xian, and I don't have to pay attention to it. ”

Thinking of this, Li Xian suddenly remembered one more thing, thinking about Gao Cheng and asking: "The palace servant Shi Dugong you said, who is this person's surname?" It's quite protective of me, and when I have the opportunity, I will definitely pay a good visit to this person. ”

But Gao Cheng laughed and said: "This Du Gong is not an outsider, the king should still remember the mad Du Juyan who fought with the king back then, right?" This person who has done his best to defend the king is the one who has contributed the most. (To be continued.) )