Li Qingan was already injured, although he was exhausted after three days of rushing, but the family members of the soldiers who were crying miserably on the other side made him haggard, Rao was his iron-beaten man, and he could no longer withstand the torment of his body, and finally fell ill, and he had to hand over the rest of the aftermath to Captain He Yingchuan.

In the evening of this day, the Anxi army and his entourage entered Chang'an City, the people inside and outside the Mingde Gate were crowded with people entering and leaving the city, it was very lively, the young men and girls who returned from the trip, the villagers who were buying goods in the city and preparing to go home, plus the city gate was being repaired, so that the entry and exit of the city became quite difficult.

"This is our army!" The captain who led the team handed a piece of paper to the military academy guarding the door.

It turned out to be the Anxi Army who had returned from Longyou, and the captain guarding the gate was in awe, and hurriedly waved his hand and said, "Let's let them go into the city." ”

The people who crowded at the gate of the city and waited to enter the city heard that it was the soldiers who had returned from Longyou, and they all dodged a way to both sides, and looked curiously at this group of thin soldiers, and two hundred Anxi soldiers walked into the city cave in silence, and soon, the people on both sides whispered and discussed.

"Is that them?"

"Brother Gu, what are you talking about?"

"Don't you know? The Anxi army, which intercepted the main force of Tibet, was almost wiped out. ”

"You mean Li Qing'an's Anxi Army? But I didn't see him! ”

"It must be, look at the carriage, I guess he's in it."

The discussion is getting louder and louder, these days, about the battle of Longyou, the legendary story of the 3,000 Anxi army intercepting the 80,000 army of Tubo spread all over Chang'an, and the people of the Tang Dynasty knew that the victory of Shibao City was at the cost of the annihilation of the entire army of the 3,000 Tang army, and countless people sighed.

I don't know who took the lead, but thunderous applause suddenly broke out at the city gate, and someone shouted: "Good job, you are the real heroes of the Tang Dynasty!" ”

The soldiers of the Anxi Army clasped their fists and saluted and slowly walked into Chang'an City.

Today is the eleventh day of the first month, Chang'an City is busy preparing for the Shangyuan Festival, this year's New Year coincides with the victory of Longyou, Li Longji in the excitement, the decree of the whole country to celebrate, the first month of the fifteenth Shangyuan Festival should be prosperous and prosperous, become a very grand celebration of the festival, Shangyuan Festival is also called the Lantern Festival, as the name suggests is to enjoy the lanterns, each city will be lit up, large families will also hollow out their minds to seek new curiosity, in order to continue to prosper in the new year, but whether it is a fang market or a wealthy family, can not be compared with the official lights of Chang'an, Every year, the lantern festival is based on Suzaku Street and Chunming Street as the north-south-east axis, and countless splendid camouflage colors are spread out on these two streets, becoming the focus of the city.

Laying lights on two streets dozens of miles long, this is a huge project, because although it is only the eleventh day of the first month today, but the lights have already entered, countless errands and craftsmen on Suzaku Street are busy nervously, Li Qingan and his party stopped after entering the city gate, waiting for Li Qing'an's arrangement.

Li Qing'an was too weak to ride a horse, he was half lying in a temporarily rented carriage, silently looking at this unparalleled metropolis from the window, the towering palaces in the distance, the flow of people on the street, the prosperity and grandeur of Chang'an made him feel an inexplicable feeling in his heart, a tragic and tragic battle, a baptism of life and death, made him feel as if he was ten years old.

"General, do you not know where to go?"

The one who spoke was Li Qing'an's new pro-soldier team leader, named Jiang Xiaonian, who, like He Yanming, who died in battle, was also a second-generation disciple of Anxi's Long March athletes, he was originally a commander of the Anxi Scout Battalion, and the young man was only twenty years old, not only burly and tall, but also very clever.

"Go to Guangfufang!"

Guangfufang is where Li Qing'an's new house is, although the house is not big, it can accommodate 200 people and is slightly crowded, but he really has no place to go, as soon as he finished speaking, a middle-aged man ran across the road, and shouted from afar: "General Li!" ”

The person who came turned out to be Steward Luo from the Gaolishi Mansion, and he ran forward and said with great joy: "I have been waiting here since the morning, and I have been waiting until now, and I have finally waited for General Li." ”

"It turned out to be Steward Luo."

Li Qingan smiled slightly and said, "How does Steward Luo know that I will enter the city from Mingde Gate?" ”

"It's not bright Demen, all the city gate lords have sent people to wait, the lord said that General Li may not have a place to place his subordinates, so he ordered us to invite General Li back to the house, my lord has arranged it, specially vacated five large courtyards, boiled hot water, prepared meals, and waited for General Li to take people to live."

Colliers's meticulous arrangement made Li Qingan a little moved, he nodded and smiled: "Okay then!" So he went to the house of Gao Weng. ”

"Great! Come with me, everyone! ”

Steward Luo successfully completed the task assigned by Gao Lishi, and he happily led the Anxi army to Yishanfang.

"Steward Luo, is Gao Weng in good health?"

"My lord is in good health! Yesterday, I accompanied the saint to the school field to inspect the Longyou Army, and I heard that he also shot a few arrows, which attracted the applause of the audience. ”

Speaking of this, Steward Luo asked strangely, "General Li, why didn't you participate in the city entry ceremony the day before yesterday?" It's really grand! I and many people in the house also went, and when they came back, they all said that they wanted to join the army, hey! It's a thrilling feeling of majesty. ”

Li Qingan smiled and changed the topic: "Is there anything interesting in Chang'an recently?" ”

"Interesting? Or it will be the Shangyuan night lantern four days later. ”

Speaking of this, Steward Luo suddenly remembered something, slapped his head heavily and said, "That's right!" In two days, the concubine Niangniang will hold a Yuefu competition, which will be held in Qujiang Xingyuan, I heard that the scale is large, and ordinary civilians are also allowed to participate, General Li may wish to take a look if he has time. ”

"I'm not in good health, let's see when the time comes!"

Not long after, they walked into Yishanfang, came to the gate of Gao Lishi's house, Gao Lishi has not come back in the palace, but his son has already been instructed, heard that Li Qing'an is coming, immediately ordered to open the side gate, hundreds of house slaves ran out, gave them horses and bags, one to serve one, and made the Zhong'an Xijun a little overwhelmed, Li Qing'an smiled and said to his subordinates: "This is not an official yamen, it is my personal friendship, everyone is free to order, just go with them, take a bath and eat again, and sleep well." ”

After Li Qing'an's order, everyone followed their families into the mansion, Gao Lishi's son is called Feng Jihei, is the adopted son of Gao Lishi's eldest brother to him, the official worships Dali Temple, and is also a very shrewd and capable official, he arched his hand, stepped forward and lowered his voice and smiled: "General Li doesn't have to worry about what will happen to the military department, let General Li's subordinates live in Gaofu, it is specially approved by the saint." ”

"Then I'm relieved."

Li Qingan smiled and asked, "I wonder when Gao Weng will come back?" ”

"A little longer! In the past two days, the saint has been busy with the affairs of the Longyou army, and my father has to serve the left and right, but he has already ordered it, and General Li will listen to my arrangement. ”

"Then it will bother Brother Feng."

Feng Jihei arranged very thoughtfully, not only sent people with experience in serving the injured to bathe Li Qing'an, but also invited several famous doctors to treat Li Qing'an and his subordinates.

The place where he lives is still the former Furong Building, and the furnishings are still the same, but there are no picturesque sisters by his side, which makes Li Qingan inevitably a little thoughtful.

Li Qing'an slowly walked to the window, pushed open the window, a night breeze with a chill blew on his face, he silently stared at the frozen lotus pond, his heart was full of thoughts, although the Battle of Stone Castle City brought him indelible memories, but Li Qing'an knew that the most important thing for him now was to come out of the shadow of this battle, those brothers who died in the battle have been laid to rest, but their families are still there, arranging their families for the dead brothers is something that those of them who are alive need to do well, in short, It is the unshirkable responsibility of him Li Qingan.

Arrange the families of the fallen soldiers to have resources in their hands, money is one thing, but more importantly, so that their parents can spend their old age in peace and worry-free; Let their children be able to study and be able to support themselves in the future, just as their sons, their husbands, and their fathers are still alive, so that the brothers who died in battle can look at Jiuquan.

For this reason, he needs to get a piece of land, so that he can become the master who can dominate this land, in the Tang Dynasty, such an identity, the civil official is the Taishou, the military general is the Jiedu envoy, at least the governor of a state.

Li Qingan couldn't help but think of Ge Shuhan again, when he broke up with him in Jincheng County, Ge Shuhan was extremely unhappy, in fact, when Longyou handed over the order, he felt that behind Ge Shuhan's hearty smile, there was a trace of vigilance and uneasiness, which was an inevitable result of taking the lead, and the Anxi Army was too strong, which had threatened the interests of the Longyou Army.

Ge Shuhan is the commander of the Longyou Campaign, and Li Longji is bound to rely on him to continue to capture Jiuqu and Dafeichuan, in this case, Ge Shuhan is very important to his own positioning, but will Ge Shuhan praise himself strongly?

Suddenly, Li Qingan felt something, and when he turned around, he saw Gao Lishi standing at the door, looking at him with a smile.

"Gao Weng!" Li Qingan hurriedly bowed and saluted.

"Come on! Sit down and talk. ”

Gao Lishi waved his hand and asked Li Qingan to sit down, and he asked with concern, "Qilang, how are the injuries on your body?" ”

"I invited two famous doctors to see it today, and they said that my muscles and bones are strong, and I am not in the way, as long as the wound does not break again, it will be intact in a month."

Gao Lishi nodded, and said: "The Holy Lord also asked you just now, I hope to see you as soon as possible, and the specific time can be decided by you." ”

Speaking of this, Gao Lishi sighed and said: "Shichiro, speaking of which, the Holy Lord is indeed very tolerant of you, you did not participate in the celebration without authorization, the Holy Lord forgave you, and the Ministry of War should have gone to appease the military family, but you ran away, and this Holy Lord also tolerated you." ”

Li Qing'an nodded silently, pondered for a moment, and then asked again: "Gao Weng, how is the imperial court going to compensate the families of the fallen soldiers?" ”

"The plan has been decided, divided into two parts, one is that the imperial court directly gives 10,000 yuan per person for funeral expenses, and then pays 300 wen and seven buckets of rice per month, for a total of 20 consecutive years, which is borne by the local government, and there are also exemptions and exemptions in taxes."

"It's only ten!"

Li Qing'an raised his head, his eyes burned with anger, "Gao Weng, forgive me for being rude, the soldiers did not hesitate to pay their lives in order to seize Shibao City and defend the Tang Dynasty, but the imperial court despised them so much, who would die for the Tang Dynasty in the future?" ”

"Shichiro, don't get so excited."

Gao Lishi hurriedly reassured him and said: "The imperial court also knows that the money is slightly less, so it is supplemented by paying money and rice every month, and all of them add up to 100 yuan, if the price of rice rises, it will be more than 100 yuan!" ”

Li Qingan held back the grief and indignation in his heart, and said slowly: "Gao Weng, things are not so simple, the imperial court wants to throw the burden to the locality, but what if the local government refuses to bear it?" What if the handler extorts and deducts from it? Twenty years of long years, does Gao Weng really think that the local government will stick to the end? ”

Gao Lishi was speechless, in fact, he also knew that although the money and food were not enough now, but soon in March and April, the taxes of the states would be escorted to Beijing, and a part of them could be paid at that time, but the saint insisted on using the method of monthly payment, in the final analysis, his fundamental purpose was to throw the burden of compensating the fallen soldiers to the local government.

Li Qingan looked at Gao Lishi, he knew that the pension plan was a foregone conclusion and could not be changed, so he said, "Okay! I won't talk about this matter, I want to ask Gao Weng, what kind of reward is Your Majesty going to give me? ”

"That's why I came to you tonight, in fact, the Holy One asked me to come, although he didn't say it explicitly."

Li Qingxin suddenly felt uneasy, and what Gao Lishi brought may be a kind of news that is not good for him.

"Gao Weng, say it! I've heard. ”

Gao Lishi sighed softly and said: "Today, Ge Shuhan officially submitted the battle of Shibao City to the imperial court, although he admitted that you had made a great contribution to intercepting the main force of Tubo, but he thought that taking Shibao City was the main merit, and he also thought that although it was Li Siye who captured Shibao City in the end, Li Siye's success was based on the death of 12,000 people in the Longyou Army, so in his compromises, the first merit was Gao Xiuyan, the pioneer of the Longyou Army, and the second merit was Li Siye, and it was you again. ”

Speaking of this, Gao Lishi secretly glanced at Li Qing'an, and saw that he was not as angry as he expected, Gao Lishi was a little stunned in his heart, so he asked, "Qilang, do you also think this is reasonable?" ”

Li Qingan said lightly: "He is the commander of the Battle of Longyou, how to repay the merit is his power, is it because I am dissatisfied, will the court veto his official performance?" ”

"It's true that the imperial court won't veto the boss's report because of the dissatisfaction of his subordinates, but the saint knows that this is unfair to you, so the saint hopes to talk to you and find a way to get the best of both worlds."

Li Qing'an stood up, "Gao Weng, I want to meet the Holy Lord tomorrow." ”

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Early the next morning, Li Qing'an was a little better and came to Xingqing Palace, and after waiting for a while, a eunuch led him into the Datong Palace.

"Your Majesty, Li Qing'an has arrived."

"Announce him in!" Li Longji's voice came from the imperial study.

In the past few days, Li Longji has been unexpectedly diligent in government and took Shibao City, and his mind turned to Dafeichuan and Jiuqu of the Yellow River, which were originally the territory of Tuyuhun, and because Tuyuhun was conquered by the Tang Dynasty, Tuyuhun became a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty.

However, due to the rise of Tubo, in the third year of Longshuo in the Tang Dynasty, Tuyuhun was destroyed by Tubo, and Jiuqu and Dafeichuan finally returned to Tubo and became the logistics base for Tubo to attack Longyou.

Li Longji knew very well in his heart that if Shibao City was the bridgehead from Tubo to the Tang Dynasty, then Dafeichuan and the Yellow River Jiuqu were the capitals of the Tubo people to invade Longyou, and the lessons of the past decades told him that only by taking the Dafeichuan and the Yellow River Jiuqu could he truly gain a strategic advantage.

Li Longji stood in front of the map and stared at it for a long time, planning the next battle in his heart, at this time, Li Qingan had already entered the study, he did not disturb Li Longji's contemplation, but stood aside and waited quietly.

"Your Majesty! He's coming. Colliers reminded in a whisper.

Li Longji turned his head and saw that Li Qing'an had already come in, so he retracted his train of thought and smiled: "General Li, the person I want to see the most now is you." ”

"Your Majesty!"

"Excuse me, give me a seat!"

A eunuch moved an embroidered pier to Li Qing'an.

"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Li Qingan sat down, bowed and said, "Your Majesty can understand the mood of the minister, and the minister is grateful." ”

"General Li, I already know your deeds very clearly, you were able to intercept the 80,000 army of Tubo with 3,000 troops, and buy time for the former army to capture Shibao City at the cost of almost annihilating the entire army, I will not deny this credit."

Speaking of this, Li Longji took Ge Shuhan's recital again, shook his head and said: "But there is one thing I also want to make clear to you, the reward of the military department must be decided according to General Geshu's recital, this is a consistent rule, and the rules will not be changed because General Geshu does not have a high opinion of you." ”

After speaking, Li Longji looked at Li Qing'an, waiting for his statement, Ge Shuhan will be the one who will win Dafeichuan and Jiuqu for him, even if Li Qing'an makes great contributions, he will not reject Ge Shuhan's performance because of this, this is the premise, Li Qingan must accept it.

"Your Majesty, the state has national laws, and the army has military regulations, and the ministers can understand it."

Li Longji smiled, Li Qing'an's statement made him feel relieved in his heart, as long as Li Qing'an accepts this, everything else is negotiable, he nodded and smiled: "This battle of Longyou is meritorious and guilty, those who are meritorious, I will give heavy rewards, and those who are guilty, I will also give heavy punishments, I will definitely reward and punish clearly, although in this battle, the interception credit given to you is the third, but you also have other merits, such as gunpowder, just by virtue of this, I can give you an additional reward outside the battle, do you understand?" ”

This is Li Longji's compromise plan, respecting Ge Shuhan's decision, taking the Longyou Army as the first credit, but using other excuses to appease Li Qingan, Li Qingan understood what Li Longji meant, he said in a deep voice: "The minister understands His Majesty's difficulties and has no opinions, but the minister still has two things to report to His Majesty." ”

Li Longji nodded with satisfaction, "Say it!" What else? ”

"One is gunpowder, after the Battle of Longyou, the military use of gunpowder will inevitably be widely known,

The minister implored His Majesty to exercise the strictest control over the production of gunpowder, and not to allow the recipe to leak out. ”

"I know that I have ordered the general to be the supervisor and the ordnance supervisor to manage this matter, and to control the circulation of gunpowder by the strictest means, although General Li is relieved, I don't know what is the second thing that General Li wants to report?"

Li Qingan thought for a while and said, "There is another important thing that ministers can't hide from Your Majesty. ”

Li Longji's face became solemn, "You say, what's the big deal?" ”

Li Qing'an sighed and said: "After the battle, the minister asked his subordinates to collect the corpses of the fallen soldiers, and inadvertently captured two Tuyuhun deserters. ”

"What!" Li Longji was taken aback, and he stood up.

"Y-What are you talking about?"

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(To be continued)