In the imperial study room of Xingqing Palace, Li Longji was reviewing the notebook, he took a notebook and read it again, this is the final decision of the three divisions of the Jianghuai capital transfer envoy Liu Changyun to participate in the Yangzhou salt case, Li Longji couldn't help frowning, and asked Gao Lishi: "Didn't I remember that this case was closed two months ago?" How can the conclusion be made now? ”

Gao Lishi hurriedly said: "Your Majesty, because Du Bosheng committed suicide in fear of crime on the way to Beijing, Liu Changyun resolutely refused to admit his guilt, and the superintendent Yushi went to Yangzhou to collect evidence, so it was delayed. ”

"And now?"

"Now the evidence is conclusive, Liu Changyun did give a lot of convenience to the salt lord Du Bosheng, resulting in a heavy loss of salt tax in the imperial court, and the three divisions will be tried, Liu Changyun should be beheaded if he is guilty, and his family property will be confiscated for tax deduction."

Li Longji pondered for a moment, and then asked, "Then did he say anything that shouldn't be said?" ”

"Your Majesty, please rest assured, the three divisions will only look at the evidence and will not listen to the words of the person in charge of exoneration."

"Oh well! Closed the case early. ”

Li Longji took the pen and approved the word 'quasi' on the conviction of the meeting, handed it to Gao Lishi and said: "Immediately return it to the Zhongshu Province, I don't want to hear about it anymore." ”

Gao Lishi took the fold and hurriedly walked out of the imperial study, handed it to a eunuch and said, "Quickly hand it over to Li Xiangguo, and His Majesty orders him to execute it immediately." ”

The eunuch took the recital, and Gao Lishi was just about to turn around, but when he saw a eunuch hurrying over, he asked, "What's wrong?" ”

"Gao Weng, Brother Shu Han of Longyou has arrived, and he is waiting to see His Majesty outside the palace."

"I see, let him wait."

Gao Lishi walked back to the imperial study and said to Li Longji: "Your Majesty, Ge Shuhan is here." ”

Li Longji stopped his pen, nodded and said, "Call him to meet him immediately!" ”

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A eunuch went to Xuange Shuhan to enter the palace, Li Longji had no intention of reviewing the folds again, he slowly walked to the map of the Helong area on the wall, and stared at it for a long time.

The Tang Li family started in Guanlong, the capital is in Chang'an, to the west is Longyou, close to the strong enemy Tubo, therefore, since the Turkic decay and split, Tubo has become the first strong enemy of the Tang Dynasty, Tubo is strong, the whole country is a soldier, repeatedly invaded the Tang territory, plundered the population and food, especially the Tubo occupies the land of Jiuqu in Hexi as a logistics base, and constantly raids the Helong area, seriously threatening the Guanzhong region, and the Tang Dynasty is on the strategic defensive.

In the autumn of the second year of Kaiyuan, the Tubo generals Kun Dayan and Qili Xu led more than 100,000 troops to attack Tang Lintao, Lanzhou, Weizhou and other places, Tang sent Longyou defense envoy Xue Ne, Taifu Shaoqing Wang Hui led troops to counterattack, in October, the Tang army launched an attack with a night attack, and defeated Tubo in Wujie.

After years of campaigning, the Tang gradually consolidated the defense of the Helong area, and since the seventeenth year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, the Tang army began to turn to a strategic offensive.

In the offensive and defensive battles between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo, the east, west and south were advancing simultaneously, including the Helong area on the eastern front and the Jiannan area on the southern line.

But the first to break the deadlock is the Anxi region of the Western Front, last year's Xiaobolu Campaign, the Tang Army marched thousands of miles on the plateau, with a blitzkrieg to capture Xiaobolu, in the Western Front achieved a major strategic victory, the Western Front victory, greatly boosted the morale of the Tang Dynasty, so that the long-delayed Helong Battle gradually surfaced.

Li Longji took a pen, made a heavy circle on a mountain ridge west of Shanzhou, and clicked in the circle, this is Chiling, as if a giant lies in the west of Shanzhou, the mountain is steep, it has become the strategic demarcation point between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo, the Tubo people are on the high ridge of the prancing horse, looking down on the Helong area, it is this Chiling, so that Tubo has always occupied a strategic advantage for decades, retreating to hold the steep mountain, attacking and sweeping down.

There is only one desperate road to go up above the Red Ridge, and the center point of the circle drawn by Li Longji on the map is the top of this desperate road, Shibao City.

Shibao City seems to be a stake nailed to the heart of the Tang Dynasty, for decades to make the Helong army and civilians sleep restlessly, and like a mirror, reflecting the rise and fall of Helong for decades, the seventeenth year of Kaiyuan, Tang Shuo Fang Jiedu made Li Yi lead the army to run long-distance, in one fell swoop to capture the Shibao City, so that Tubo lost its strategic advantage, the Tang army was divided into troops to defend the important locations, expanding the territory of more than 1,000 miles, Kaiyuan 25 years, Hexi Jiedu made Cui Xiyi rely on Shibao City again, to the west to attack Tubo, the Tang army went deep into Tubo to the west of Qinghai, and broke the Tubo army; In the following year, the Tang general Du hoped to capture Xincheng, Heqiao and other places in Tubo, so that the Tang Dynasty occupied a strategic advantage in the Helong area.

It is a pity that in the twenty-ninth year of Kaiyuan, Tubo raised the strength of the whole country, and Tubo Zampu personally went to the front line to boost morale, and the Tubo army captured Shibao City again, making the Tang army's decades of efforts come to naught overnight.

Stone Castle City has also become a nightmare for Li Longji.

Xiao Bolu's victory made Li Longji's chest rekindle with ambition, and at this time, the voice of Ge Shuhan came from behind him: "Minister Ge Shuhan see Your Majesty, I wish Your Majesty long live, long live, long live!" ”

Li Longji struck a heavy cross in Shibao City with his pen, turned around and said resolutely: "No matter how much it costs, you must recapture Shibao City, you may be able to do it?" ”

"The minister will definitely be able to do it!"

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In the afternoon, Li Qing'an rode to the West Market, he did not enter the West Market Gate, but walked into an alley next to the West Market, he opened a note and looked at it, and continued to go deep into the alley, this alley is called Xiling Lane, it is the place where the Hu people live in Lingxi, at the end of the alley is a three-story Hu people wine shop, because the alley is very deep, ordinary drinkers will not come here, they are generally old customers.

Li Qing'an walked to the door, he looked at the flag, and there were three words written on it: 'Atami Ju. ’

Early this morning, someone sent him a letter, and there was only one line in the letter: Xiling Lane Atami Ju Wine Shop Broken Leaf City Shen Shi is seeing you.

There is no signature, no reason, just such a bare sentence, Li Qingan thought about it and decided to come again.

At this time, it was Shen Shi, lunch had passed, dinner had not arrived, the wine shop was empty, and there was no guest, he just walked to the door, and immediately ran out of the wine shop Two beautiful orchids, smiling like flowers, said: "Guests, please come into the back room to drink." ”

Li Qing'an handed over the horse to the men and followed them into the wine shop, and an orchid asked again: "It seems that the guest is here for the first time!" What kind of room do you like? ”

"I made an appointment with a friend, in Shattered Leaf City."

"Guest, please follow me upstairs!"

Broken Leaf City is the name of a private room, located on the third floor of the wine shop, it is the most luxurious elegant room in this wine shop, consisting of two rooms inside and outside, there are two orchids standing at the door, seeing Li Qing'an coming up, he immediately smiled and said: "Guest, I'm sorry, there are already people in this room." ”

"I made an appointment with someone inside."

"Then the guest please come in!"

Li Qing'an walked into the room, but he was slightly stunned, but there were eight burly men standing here, all of them with strong physique and vigorous posture, one of them glanced at him, knocked on the door of the inner room, and whispered: "Your Highness, he is here!" ”

The door opened, and a man in his forties walked out from inside, with a white face and beard, holding a whisk in his hand, he looked at Li Qingan and laughed sharply: "It's really General Li who is here, very punctual, under Li Jingzhong, he is a waiter in the East Palace." ”

Li Qingan suddenly understood who was going to see him, and he arched his hand and said, "I came as promised." ”

"We know that we are just going to offend General Li according to the rules, please don't blame General Li!"

He swept the dust, and immediately came up and searched Li Qing'an's body, and searched very carefully, even the soles of his hair and boots, and the big man put his crossbow, horizontal knife, and some gold and silver on a plate, and then nodded to Li Jingzhong.

Li Jingzhong smiled: "General Li, please come in!" ”

Li Qing'an walked into the inner room, the curtains in the inner room were half closed, it seemed dimly lit, and the furnishings were very simple, only a small table and two cushions, and a man was standing in front of the window with his hands in his hands, staring out from the corner of the curtain.

From the back, the man was thin and tired.

Li Jingzhong stepped forward and whispered, "Your Highness, he's here." ”

The man turned around, and with a pale face and slender eyes that resembled Li Longji, it was none other than the current crown prince Li Heng.

Li Heng looked at Li Qingan and smiled slightly: "Does General Li know me?" ”

Li Qingan hurriedly stepped forward, knelt down on one knee, and saluted: "Minister Li Qingan sees the prince Chitose!" ”

"General Li has a good memory, we met Hanyuan Hall once last time."

Li Hengyi waved his hand and said with a smile: "This is not the East Palace, don't worry about so many rules, feel free to sit!" ”

Li Qing'an sat down face to face with him, and next to him, Li Jingzhong served Li Qing'an a cup of tea, but poured a cup of white water for Li Heng.

Li Heng smiled and said: "I'm not in good health, and the imperial doctor said that it is not appropriate to drink more tea, so I have always drunk white water, General Li, please feel free." ”

"Your Highness feels much better than what I saw in Hanyuan Hall last time."

"That's right, it's been almost half a year since I moved into the East Palace, and I feel a lot stronger, thank you General Li for your concern."

Li Heng smiled and went straight to the point: "This Yangzhou salt case, thanks to General Li's great help to Lu Taishou, I can win a big victory." ”

"It is the honor of the minister to serve His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, and the minister only hates that he did not have this opportunity before."

Li Heng's eyes narrowed into a slit, and he said slowly: "Does General Li know that there is a risk for coming to me for a private meeting today?" ”

"The minister knows!"

"Do you really know?"

"The minister knows about Wei Jian's case!"

Li Heng's face turned even paler, and he muttered, "Not bad! In the case of Wei Jian, all my foreign ministers who saw me privately were all executed. ”

His gaze fell on Li Qing'an again, "Since you know, why do you dare to come?" ”

"I don't know if the prince summoned me!"

Li Heng was stunned, and he suddenly burst out laughing, "Well said!" I like it when you're so honest. ”

At this time, Li Jingzhong said in a low voice: "Your Highness, the time has come, it's time to go back to the palace." ”

"I see."

Li Heng waved his hand and said to Li Qing'an: "General Li, I heard that you are going to offer King Qing's salt to me, but is this so?" ”

Li Qing'an's heart turned sharply, he suddenly understood that there must be some kind of communication channel between Gao Lishi and Li Heng, and he only told Gao Lishi last night that Li Heng knew it early in the morning.

"Not bad! The minister inadvertently intercepted the salt of King Qing, which was 50,000 taels of gold, and the minister did not dare to take it privately, and was willing to give it to His Highness to strengthen His Highness's power. ”

Li Qing'an took out a drawing and pushed it to Li Heng, "This is where the gold is hidden, please keep it properly Your Highness." ”

Li Heng looked at the map, a hint of appreciation flashed in his eyes, he nodded, took out a gold medal from his arms, handed it to Li Qing'an, and said: "The ministers that my father allowed me to summon directly are no more than ten, and in the future, you will be one of these ten people, and this gold medal can be shown in case of emergency." ”

After speaking, he stood up and walked quickly to the door, eight guards protected him, got into a carriage from the back door, and drove away quickly, Li Qingan stood in front of the window, kept watching the carriage disappear into the distance, and then took a closer look at the gold medal, the front of the gold medal is engraved with the word 'East Palace', and below is a lifelike unicorn, and the back is engraved with Yang inscription: 'Seeing this gold medal, like a lonely person'.

He smiled and said to himself, "Is a small gold medal worth 50,000 taels of gold?" ”

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Two hours later, it was already dark, Li Qing'an was led by Li Linfu's old butler, walked through a heavily guarded water corridor, and entered Li Linfu's inner house, which is the most important place for Li Linfu, where he sleeps at night, only Li Linfu's henchmen can enter, and even other sons other than his eldest son do not have the right to come in.

Li Qing'an is also the first time to enter Li Linfu's inner house, this is actually a small castle made of giant granite, surrounded by water, only a covered bridge is connected to the outside world, the castle has no trees, there is no bush, there is a sentry on the castle is constantly patrolling, Li Linfu eradicated countless political enemies in his life, he also knows that his enemies are all over the world, in order to be able to sleep peacefully, he uses the strictest means to protect himself.

Li Qing'an walked into the inner house of this castle, which was brightly lit and did not have the slightest gloomy atmosphere, he walked to a room and stopped, and the old housekeeper knocked on the door, "Master, General Li is here." ”

"Let him in!" It was Li Linfu's voice, Li Qingan pushed the door into the room, and it was also a study, and the bookshelves on both sides of the wall were full of dense books.

Li Linfu sat in front of the bookcase and read, a favorite concubine knelt behind him to massage his head, Li Qingan stepped forward and saluted: "See Xiangguo!" ”

Li Linfu waved his hand and asked the concubine to retreat, he looked at Li Qingan and said with a smile: "Qilang, I came back from Yangzhou yesterday!" ”

"Yes!"

"Let's sit down first!"

Li Qingan sat down, he took out the gold medal given to him by the prince from his arms, put it on the table, pushed it to Li Linfu, and said with a smile: "This afternoon, the prince secretly summoned me. ”

Li Linfu picked up the gold medal, looked at it carefully, and couldn't help laughing: "Not bad!" Not bad! The prince actually gave you his unicorn gold medal, it seems that he values you very much! ”

Li Linfu explained with a smile: "He has a total of four gold medals, dragon, tiger, leopard, unicorn, in fact, it has no effect, only a kind of grace, as far as I know, his dragon card was originally given to Wang Zhongsi, and then Wang Zhongsi returned it, the tiger card was on his son Guangping Wang, and the leopard card was given to Wei Jian, and then he didn't find it when he searched the house, and he didn't know where to go, it was estimated that it was destroyed by Wei Jian, and he actually gave you this unicorn gold medal, and he didn't even recommend you Lu Lian!" ”

Li Linfu squinted and smiled: "Let me guess, why did he give it to you?" ”

"Xiangguo just guess!"

"I originally thought that maybe it had something to do with Gao Lishi, but you are not Ge Shuhan or Gao Xianzhi, but just an ordinary Zhonglang general, even if Gao Lishi recommends it, he will not give you a gold medal, I think you must have given him the most urgent thing at the moment, hum! What Li Heng urgently needs, I know very well, that is money, you gave him money, right! ”

Li Qingan had to admit that Li Linfu's eyes were vicious, and he actually saw through them.

"But where did you get the money?"

Li Linfu continued: "You don't have to go to Yangzhou, um! In the Yangzhou salt case, Du Bosheng's family property has nearly 400,000 guan, except for the hundreds of thousands of guan that was robbed by King Qing, the remaining more than 200,000 guan were handed over to the imperial court, you didn't take it privately, but I know that Du Bosheng still has a sum of money in his hand, that is, King Qing's salt profit, this money is not reflected in all the files, was it taken away by King Qing? But if that's the case, he won't have failed miserably in Yangzhou, so King Qingqing didn't get this money, so where did it go? ”

Li Linfu squinted at Li Qing'an, his face seemed to be smiling, Li Qing'an had to sigh and smiled: "Xiangguo is really powerful, this money has 50,000 taels of gold, and I dedicated it all to the prince." ”

Li Linfu stroked his palms and laughed, "Sure enough, I guessed it!" ”

As soon as he laughed, he said to Li Qing'an: "You made the right move, and you bought his trust with 50,000 taels of gold, you are even more clever than I thought." ”

Li Qingan smiled and said: "I have completed the first step of Xiangguo's explanation, please Xiangguo explain the second step." ”

Li Linfu sighed lightly and said: "Qilang, you are smarter than I thought, yes, making you the prince's henchman is just my first step, and I do have a second step." ”

He stared at Li Qing'an, and said slowly: "As long as you complete the second step for me, I will give you Jiang Wuyi, and the position of Anxi Jiedu envoy is also yours, and I will make you the youngest Jiedu envoy in Datang." ”

Li Qing'an smiled and said, "Xiangguo, I would like to participate in the battle of Stone Castle City first. ”

Li Linfu was stunned, "Why?" ”

"No why?"

Li Qingan smiled faintly and said: "My military merits are too small, and it will be a little difficult to serve as the envoy of the Anxi Festival in the future." ”

Li Linfu pondered for a moment and said: "Qilang, I'm not against you participating in the Battle of Shibao City, but Anxi and Longyou are two different army systems after all, if you participate in the Battle of Shibao City, you may make meritorious contributions in the short term, but in the long run, you may not be able to reach the height of the Anxi Festival because of the variables added to the identity of Longyou, Qilang, you should think about it again!" ”

"Xiangguo, I participated in the battle of Longyou Shibao City, and I don't have to give up Anxi's identity, Xiangguo can use a workaround."

"Huh! I didn't expect Shichiro to be a tough temper too. ”

Li Linfu smiled a little reluctantly, he had already implicitly told Li Qing'an that he did not agree with his participation in the battle of Longyou, but he insisted on it, if he had changed to someone else, he would have pulled down his face and ordered someone to fight out, but he didn't do that to Li Qing'an, after all, his second-step strategy had to rely on this person, Li Linfu suddenly had a hint of understanding, this Li Qing'an was bargaining with him! He held back the unhappiness in his heart and asked, "What kind of workaround, can you tell me?" ”

Li Qingan didn't want to understand Li Linfu's facial expression, and he didn't want to understand that he had lost ten pounds in a lap of Yangzhou, and he had to add some night material to raise cattle and plow the fields! How can you just paint bread to satisfy your hunger?

"Xiangguo, the Anxi army has fought Lianyunbao, and has a little experience in this kind of castle attack, I estimate that it is not enough to attack Shibao City by relying on the Longyou army, at least the Hexi army will also be seconded to participate in the war, so in the same way, why not seconded two Anxi battalions?"

"Hmmm! That's a good idea, too. ”

Li Qing'an insisted on fighting Stone Castle City, and Li Linfu was helpless, so he had to finally ask: "Do you have to participate?" ”

"That's right! I must attend. ”

Li Linfu stared at him for a moment, and finally nodded, "Okay!" I'll arrange it for you. ”

"Thank you Sangkook! Please continue what Xiang Guo just said, the second step? ”

Li Linfu smiled helplessly, he suddenly lowered his voice, and said to Li Qing'an: "This second step, no matter what means you use, you have to make the prince and Yang Zhao become enemies of the sky." ”

………

(To be continued)