After staying with Wei Chi Xunyan and Cheng Dazhi and Qin Zhan for a while, Li Hong hurried back to the palace, from last night to now, if he doesn't return to the palace, if Empress Wu and Gaozong look for him, it will be a big trouble if he can't find anyone, as the prince of the Tang Dynasty, how can he go out of the palace to play casually? This will not only be reprimanded by Gaozong and Empress Wu, but also impeached by the imperial historians. novel

Li Hong returned to the East Palace, and just after bathing and changing clothes and wanting to rest, he saw the chamberlain Wei Zhiqiang coming in a hurry, "Your Highness, Your Majesty and Niangniang sent someone to say that you should go to the Zichen Palace." ”

Li Hong frowned slightly, could it be that he left the palace last night and chased Wang Fangyi, and the matter was known by Gaozong and Empress Wu? Or did he gamble with the children of foreign nobles, and sent Wei Chi Xunyan to cut down the big cannibal Muhammad?? Ngawang's affair was discovered by Gaozong and Empress Wu?

"Inform Chen Gong and let him prepare, and Gu will enter the palace now." Li Hong said. So he went back to the Cheng'en Palace. He had to change into the clothes he had to wear.

After changing his clothes, Li Hong went to the Zichen Hall of Daming Palace under the entourage of Chen Gong and the guards, and he found that there were not only Gaozong and Empress Wu inside, but also the seven prime ministers had arrived, obviously they were deliberating.

Seeing Li Hong walk in, all the prime ministers got up and saluted. With Li Hong's previous performance towards the Tubo people, the current prime ministers are much more polite to him. Li Hong waved his hand slightly to signal that they didn't need to be polite, and then walked up to Gaozong and Empress Wu and bowed and said, "Son, see father and mother." ”

"Hong'er doesn't need to be polite, sit down!" Gaozong said kindly.

"Thank you, Father!" Li Hong got up and said, and sat in Xu Jingzong's upper position.

Because Li Hong interrupted their deliberations when he came in, Empress Wu said, "Li Qing, you continue." ”

"It's a sissy." Li Ji nodded slightly, and continued to speak, "Bai Tieyu's rebellion has been quelled, and now it's time for the imperial court to reward meritorious soldiers." ”

"What does Li Qing mean?" Empress Wu asked.

"Back to Niangniang's words, although the rebellion was quelled by Wang Fangyi, but his subordinates also suffered heavy losses, and the old minister's opinion is that this reward is not easy to be too heavy, just reward him with some finances." Li Ji said in a calm tone. Because Wang Fangyi is not a person from his line, but belongs to the Northwest Army, and the Northwest Army is the foundation of Su Dingfang, and now Su Dingfang has become Li Hong's person again, Wang Fangyi has received a lot of mentions from Su Dingfang before, so he naturally wants to suppress Wang Fangyi. "As for Cheng Wuting, the right-leading leader Wei Zhonglang who participated in the counterinsurgency with him, there is no merit and hard work, plus the rebellion has been quelled, congratulations, so give him some rewards!"

is also a counterinsurgency general, Wang Fangyi quelled the rebellion, and it is understandable that he suffered heavy losses, Cheng Wuting did not participate in the judgment, and he still had to be rewarded, which is a bit unfair. As long as it is a person, it can be seen at a glance that this is Li Ji's private message at work. It's just that as soon as Li Hong's words fell, all the seven prime ministers had no opinion, and unanimously said that they could do this. Because there is only one reason, Wang Fangyi is the cousin of the deposed queen, the Empress Wu does not like Wang Fangyi, and Gaozong is unwilling to support Wang Fangyi, so the prime ministers are unwilling to do it against Empress Wu without Gaozong's permission in this matter.

Seeing that Li Hong didn't say anything, Empress Wu moved her gaze to Li Hong and asked, "What does the prince mean?" ”

"The advice of the sons is the opposite of that of the British duke." Li Hong said loudly.

Because after chasing Wang Fangyi at night last night, when facing the discussion of Wang Fangyi's reward today, Li Hong can't help but fight for Wang Fangyi, because it doesn't matter if he fails to fight for Wang Fangyi, as long as he has this heart, not only Wang Fangyi will be very moved when he knows it, but also the soldiers of the Northwest Army who were born in Wang Fangyi's system will also be very moved after they know it, and they can also leave a good influence on Su Dingfang and Pei Xingjian and others, so why not do it?

"What is Your Highness's suggestion?" Xu Jingzong asked.

"Wang Fangyi has made meritorious contributions to quelling the rebellion and needs to be rewarded heavily, but Cheng Wuting marched slowly and delayed the military plane, so he should be punished!" Li Hong said word by word.

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has said it." Li Ji immediately retorted, "Wang Fangyi put down the rebellion, but his losses were not small, there were only 4,000 wounded and disabled soldiers left in the 10,000 army, so what is the point of such a loss even if the counterinsurgency is successful?" And although Cheng Wuting did not reach Pingxian before Wang Fangyi, the distance he traveled to Pingxian was twice as far as Wang Fangyi, which is understandable, so how can we punish him in turn? ”

"Hehe-" Li Hong sneered, "British duke, you are also a veteran who leads the army to fight, you should know that military orders are like mountains, military orders are orders, there is no excuse, and they are obeyed unconditionally." If he didn't immediately take a strong attack and let the rebels escape from Pingxian, it might only be more difficult to quell the rebellion in the future, and he would lose so many men and horses, and if Cheng Wuting could march in a hurry, rush to Pingxian earlier, merge with Wang Fangyi, and flank the traitors together, his losses would not be so great. Gu now said that Cheng Wuting delayed the military plane is merciful enough, and if he is stricter, he is guilty of dereliction of duty, and he should be removed from his post and joined the army according to military law. ”

Li Hong's words were very reasonable, and they were also very domineering, so that Li Ji didn't know how to refute it for a while.

When Gaozong heard Li Hong say this, the expression on his face did not change, but Empress Wu's face became a little gloomy.

"And what do you mean?" Empress Wu asked in a cold tone, it was obvious that she was very angry, Li Hong refuted Li Ji's suggestion, but because she didn't like Wang Fangyi, Li Hong supported Wang Fangyi and refuted Li Ji, in fact, he was refuting her face.

"Cheng Wuting should deal with it, presumably my father knows it, and the sons dare not speculate, but for Wang Fangyi's reward, the sons have a suggestion, I don't know whether to say it or not." Li Hong moved his gaze to Gaozong when he said this.

Gaozong likes to listen to what Li Hong said just now, how to punish Cheng Wuting, it's up to him to have the final say. He could let Empress Wu meddle in government affairs, but he was not stupid enough to let Empress Wu meddle in military affairs, which he did not allow, and Li Hong's words also reminded him.

"Say, let me hear it." Gaozong opened his mouth and said, the meaning of his words was already obvious, that is, to support Li Hong's suggestion.

"Anji Ambassador Su Dingfang will soon return to Chang'an City, so the position of Anji Ambassador will be vacant, and the task of Anji Ambassador is to guard against Tibet, not ordinary people can fill it, and it must be capable, and familiar with the situation in the northwest of the general, Erchen feels that only Pei Xingjian can take over Su Dingfang's position in this regard, and Pei Xingjian is the protector of the Western Regions, he wants to take up the post of ambassador of Anji, the post of the protector of the Western Regions will be vacant, the Western Regions is the Tang Dynasty to operate the countries of the Western Regions, and the Tang Dynasty passes through the main road of the Western Regions trade route, You have to have a person who is deeply versed in government affairs and military affairs to serve, Wang Fangyi has done a good job in the post of Xiazhou Assassin, and can lead the army to fight, Erchen suggested that he should be appointed as the protector of the Western Regions, which can be regarded as a reward for his counterinsurgency this time! Li Hong said his thoughts to Gaozong in one breath.

"I think it's feasible, I don't know what the queen means?" Gaozong asked Empress Wu.

In fact, this matter involves military affairs, and he can decide alone, but this will make Li Hong and Empress Wu go to evil, which is not what he wants to see, so he will consult Empress Wu's intentions.

Su Dingfang returned to Chang'an City, this is a sure thing, and Su Dingfang left, his position needs to be replaced, but Tubo is now eyeing the northwest of the Tang Dynasty, and sending ordinary people to take Su Dingfang's position, there is no credit for doing a good job, because you can do a better job than Su Dingfang? If you do it, you will be punished. Therefore, this ambassador of Anji seems to have a lot of power, but not anyone can do it. Therefore, let Pei Xingjian take over the position of Ambassador Su Dingfang Anji, and Empress Wu had no objection. Because, if you want to arrange someone in this position, there is no such person in the hands of Empress Wu.

As for the position of the Western Regions Metropolitan Protector, the Empress Wu is indeed very interested, but the total strength of the Western Regions is less than 20,000, and the Western Regions are too far away from Chang'an.

Thinking of this, Empress Wu also nodded slightly, "This palace has no objection, just do it according to Your Majesty's wishes!" ”

Seeing that Empress Wu said this, the people of Empress Wu's family didn't say anything anymore, only Li Ji's face was a little gloomy, so his goal was not achieved, and Wang Fangyi was promoted after all. Maybe in the eyes of Gaozong and Empress Wu, there is no difference between a Xiazhou assassin and a Western Regions protector with less than 20,000 troops, all of them are their courtiers. However, in Li Ji's eyes, the problem changed, he thought about it farther, he knew that after the war in the Northeast was over, once the Tang Dynasty pacified Goryeo, Silla, and Baekje, it would definitely use troops against Tubo at that time, and at that time, the army sent to the Western Regions was more than 20,000 as simple as that, and Tubo was not like Goryeo and Silla and Baekje, it was a behemoth, and if you wanted to deal with Tubo, it would not work for more than ten years, so that in the future, the army of the Western Regions Protectorate is estimated to maintain about 40,000 people.

You can ignore a metropolitan protector with a unified army of less than 20,000, but for a metropolitan protector with a unified army of more than 40,000, you can't help but be vigilant. However, at this time, Empress Wu had already agreed, and if he objected again, it would not only hate Gaozong, but also make Empress Wu lose face, so Li Ji, who had always been tactful, would not say anything.

In this way, the most important step in Li Hong's plan was to send Wang Fangyi to the Western Regions, and the plan to run the Western Regions had been realized. However, Li Hong knows very well that Empress Wu is agreeing so happily now, not because she is really willing to agree, but because of Gaozong, he also knows a little bit very well, that is, Empress Wu gave him a favor, and she will definitely have requirements for herself later, otherwise she will not be her own queen mother, otherwise she will not be a generation of empresses