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After the dispersal of the dynasty, Xu Qing proposed to hold separate talks with Emperor Li Zhi and Crown Prince Li Hong, and Li Zhi and Li Hong's father and son agreed. Xu Qing knew that the reason for today's Wu Zetian's dictatorship was that Li Zhi was not in good health, so he gave power to Wu Zetian, and after Wu Zetian was full-fledged, Li Zhi was timid and afraid of things, and did not dare to cut Wu Zetian's power. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Li Zhi's performance in the Tang Dynasty today made Xu Qing and the loyal royalist backbone very disappointed, but Li Zhi is the emperor, the imperial power has not been completely lost, and it is still terrible to be angry, Xu Qing did not dare to blame Li Zhi in person, but just avoided the important and said lightly that his subordinates are all military generals, there are no civil officials, there are nearly 10 million people under the rule of the Andong Protectorate, and one Tang Jia is far from enough. Di Renjie, the chief of the judicial department, was transferred to his side as a strategist, nominally in the Andong Metropolitan Protectorate, because the strategists had no official position, and they probably did not want to be them. Xu Qing had no right to transfer the positions of these three people, and he had to ask the emperor for a holy decree.

Li Zhi was secretly ashamed of his cowardice and fulfilled Xu Qing's request to poach people from his side and from local officials.

That night, Xu Qing, under the protection of Zhao Mengchen, Zhao Tuozhi, Nie Hu, Jia Quan, and a platoon of new army masters, together with Xue Rengui and Cheng Wuting, secretly visited Pei Yan and Xiao Shuo, and did not immediately read out the holy decree, but recruited them to join the royalist party and fight against Wu Zetian's dictatorship and misguided country together, to see how strong his personality was, and to see what Pei Yan and Xiao Shuo's original intentions were without the pressure of the holy decree.

Pei Yan is a centrist, in terms of political position, he neither stands on the side of the rear party, nor on the side of the royalists, nor does he wait and see, whoever is strong will fall to whomever side, but has his own principles of doing things, that is, benefiting the country and the people, doing things that are in line with courtesy, morality, and law, and preventing them otherwise, regardless of personal honor and disgrace, safety, gains and losses.

Pei Yan refused to take sides. Xu Qing had to show the holy decree and transfer Pei Yanping to his subordinates as the deputy protector of the Andong Metropolitan Protectorate and the chief of the Political Affairs Section of the Central Command of the Anton Metropolitan Protectorate. However, Xu Qing gave Pei Yan a salary in addition to the salary given by the imperial court, which doubled his salary. Xu Qing didn't tell Pei Yan about this, and Pei Yan didn't know until he received his salary.

Xu Qing is a celebrity next to the emperor and the prince, but he is a thorn in Wu Zetian's eyes, a thorn in the flesh, and an official under Xu Qing, to paraphrase a famous saying of later generations, "If you don't break out in silence, you will perish in silence", Pei Yan will either soar or die without a place to be buried. However, Pei Yan pretended to be the country and the people in his heart, and held the belief of "being an upright official and being a frank and honest person", but he was not afraid, and calmly received the order to thank him.

After Xiao Shuo was the founder of the country, he was originally a royalist, but he was an emperor attendant and civil official who knew martial arts, not a military general who led troops to fight, and he was not familiar with Xu Qing and had no contact. Xu Qing invited Xiao Shuo to join the royalist party, Xiao Shuo was stunned for a moment and said: "Xiaguan's grandfather Xiao Yu is one of the twenty-four heroes of Lingyan Pavilion, and he has served as Shangshu's left servant in the Gaozu and Taizong dynasties (in the list of prime ministers), and Xiaguan is an out-and-out royalist. Anton Guogong just doesn't win over the lower officials, and the lower officials will also be loyal to the emperor. ”

Xu Qing said: "I know your background, and I also know your loyalty to the emperor." There are many people who are loyal to the emperor, but everyone works in their own way, does not interact with each other, and does not fall together, so they are always at a disadvantage when fighting with the post-party group. After a pause, he continued: "One arrow can easily break, but a hundred arrows are tied together, and no matter how strong a person is, he will keep breaking. Therefore, if the royalists want to defeat the Hou Party and regain the lost imperial power for the emperor, they must unite together, and there must be a core figure, who thinks they can assume the position of the core figure of the Royalist Party, I am the imperial court horse and the county horse, I have won the trust of the emperor and the prince, and I have a heavy army, and I will lead everyone to fight with the Hou Party group, which is more appropriate, does Lord Xiao think I said it? ”

Xiao Shuo was shocked when he heard this, Xu Qing's words hit the nail on the head, knelt down on one knee to Xu Qing, and said: "In the words of Anton Guogong, the lower officials are willing to serve the dogs and horses for Anton Guogong, but Anton Guogong is the first to look forward." ”

Xu Qing happily helped Xiao Shuo up and said, "Lord Xiao is serious!" Hurry up, please! ”

Xiao Shuo stood up and said to Xu Qing sincerely: "Anton Guogong is wise and martial, he is the most outstanding young talent in my dynasty, Xia Guan has heard of many heroic deeds of Anton Guogong, and he has long been willing to make friends, but the position of Xia Guan is low, when Anton Guogong talked with the emperor and His Royal Highness the Prince, Xia Guan did not have the opportunity to be present, and he had no opportunity to listen to Anton Guogong's high opinions, nor did he have the opportunity to get to know Anton Guogong." Every time the emperor talks to Anton Guogong, he is very happy, and sometimes he praises Anton Guogong in front of us attendants for his ability and ability to do things! ”

Xu Qing said: "Oh? Is it? My father never praised me to my face, but he praised me behind my back, and I knew it for the first time. ”

Xiao Shuo said: "A son-in-law is equal to half a son, not to mention that Duke An Dongguo married two daughters and four nieces of the emperor, which is equivalent to one son." The emperor must have high expectations for Anton Guogong, so he should not praise you to your face, so as not to make you proud. ”

Xu Qing smiled and said, "Maybe." "You are willing to serve me as the leader of the royalist party, and you believe in me like that?" ”

Xiao Shuo said confidently: "The lower official is a casual attendant, both the emperor's attendant and the emperor's adviser, I dare not say that I am rich and rich, and I still have the ability to observe words and colors." Xia Guan believes that the future of Anton Guogong is limitless, and Xia Guan can also be stained by following Anton Guogong. After a pause, he continued: "Xia Guan has two questions, I don't know if I should ask them or not?" ”

Xu Qing said: "But it doesn't hurt to talk about it. ”

Xiao Shuo asked: "The first question, I don't know if the lower officials openly worship you as the leader of the royalist party, or secretly worship you as the leader of the royalist party?" ”

Xu Qing replied: "Ming worships me as the leader of the royalist party. ”

Xiao Shuo asked: "The second question, it stands to reason that the crown prince is more suitable to be the leader of the royalist party than you, but the prince seems to be unwilling to rush to the front and fight against the Empress Wu. After all, Empress Wu is his biological mother, and he is afraid of being accused of unfilial piety. So you came from behind, replacing the crown prince and gradually becoming the leader of the royalists. At present, the prince is very close to you, but the lower officials are worried that there is no hundred days of red flowers, and no thousand days of purple people, in case the prince has a conflict with you one day, I am afraid that he will not be able to tolerate that in the territory of the Tang Dynasty, in addition to the emperor and the queen of martial arts, there are people whose status and prestige are above him. What will you do then? Will you retreat and give up the position of royalist leader to the crown prince? ”

Xu Qing praised: "You asked this question well!" It's hard to answer what will happen in the future, but I can tell you with certainty that, firstly, the Crown Prince will not turn against me, and secondly, even if you are unfortunate enough to be convinced, I will give up the position of Royalist leader to the Crown Prince. Because my purpose in protecting the emperor is to help the emperor recover the lost imperial power. And the emperor's imperial power will be passed on to his children and grandchildren after all. The royalist and the crown prince are actually the same thing, so I will give up the position of the head of the royalist party to the crown prince. ”

"Anton Guogong said this, and the next official was relieved." Xiao Shuo smiled embarrassedly and said, "It's too early for the lower official to salute the Guogong just now, and it shouldn't be too late to salute the Guogong after listening to this passage." ”

Xu Qing said: "I'm also an acute child. He said in a long voice: "Xiao Shuo takes the order-"

Xiao Shuo knelt down and took his fingers.

Xu Qing read out the holy decree and was promoted from Xiao Shuo, a sixth-rank official, to the deputy chief of the Government Affairs Section of the Central Command of the Andong Metropolitan Protectorate, and from the fifth rank to Fenglu, he doubled several times. Xiao Shuo also learned about it when he was paid.

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