In October, the autumn wind in Chang'an was bleak, the wind swept across the land of Guanzhong, the dead leaves were flying in the air, and the cold was already full, but what made Chang'an really in the cold winter was two extremely unfavorable news, one was from the Western Regions, Gao Xianzhi was defeated in Tocharo, and the soul of the four thousand Tang troops was broken in Tocharo, and the Broken Leaf City was broken by the Great Food Army, Duan Xiushi killed a bloody road and led the remnants of the army to retreat to Moon Bow City.

Just when the bad news in the Western Regions shocked Chang'an Mancheng, Nanzhao also came with unfortunate news, Nanzhao Pavilion Luo Feng rebelled again a month ago, bloodbathed Yaozhou, and his son who was hostage in Chengdu Mansion had been rescued in advance.

Jiannan Jiedu made Xian Yu Zhongtong lead 100,000 soldiers to the south, but was attacked by the Nanzhao army and the Tubo army, 80,000 troops died in Nanzhao, Nanzhao officially surrendered to Tubo, Ge Luofeng was named Zampu Zhong, which means the younger brother of Zampu, although Tubo Zampu Chisong Dezan is still young, but Ge Luofeng still gladly accepted this title and recognized Nanzhao as the brother of Tubo.

The two fiascos shocked the Tang Dynasty and the opposition, not only the broken leaves that had just been recaptured were lost, but also the Nanzhao and Tubo joined forces, directly threatening Shuzhong, and everyone inside and outside the court was worried.

Li Linfu, the right minister, Chen Xilie, the left minister, Zhang Yun, the secretary of the household department, and Yang Shenjin, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, and other high-ranking officials and important ministers condemned Yang Guozhong for misleading the country, and he was directly responsible for the fiasco of these two battles, and he even concealed the news of the rebellion of Nanzhao for a month.

In desperation, Li Longji dismissed Yang Guozhong from all his positions except for the secretary of the military department, and issued an edict to the world to mourn the fallen soldiers of the Tang Dynasty.

After an emergency meeting in the political affairs hall, Li Longji once again made a major decision, dismissed the envoy of Jiannan Jiedu, who was not in Zhongtong, and sent him to prison for questioning him for concealing the rebellion of Nanzhao and Nanzhao.

In the history of the promotion of the imperial court, Cheng Wang Heng was the secretary of the military department, and Gao Xianzhi was transferred to the Jiannan Jiedu envoy, and under the proposal of Li Linfu, the Beiting Jiedu envoy and the Anxi Jiedu envoy were officially merged, which was still called the Anxi Jiedu envoy, but Li Linfu's suggestion to appoint Feng Changqing as the Anxi Jiedu envoy did not materialize, Li Longji adopted Gao Lishi's suggestion, and transferred Li Qing'an to Henan Observation to make Li Qing'an the envoy of the Anxi Jiedu after the merger and the deputy capital of Anxi, and Li Linfu served as the protector of the Anxi capital.

To the east of Baqiao, three hundred knights surrounded Li Qing'an, Li Qing'an was back to Beijing to report on his work in Tongguan received his appointment as the envoy of Anxi Jiedu, although Gao Xianzhi's defeat was his expectation, but the death of thousands of Tang army soldiers still made a heavy heart.

Especially Duan Xiushi's 3,000 troops guarding Broken Leaves, less than 1,000 of them were defeated back to Moon Bow City, which made him sigh even more.

Li Qing'an immediately stared at the majestic Chang'an City in the distance for a moment, after more than half a year, he once returned to the power center of the Tang Dynasty, Li Qing'an whipped hard, and the war horse galloped towards Chang'an City.

....... "There is a decree in the saint to summon Li Qing'an to meet him!" ”

...."There is a decree in the Holy Order, summon Li Qing'an to meet him!" ”

．．．． A high-pitched shouting echoed in the empty hall of the Zichen Hall of the Daming Palace, and reached the upper pavilion door next to the Xuanzheng Palace, where the two eunuchs led Li Qing'an to wait for a long time.

"Li Yuanjun, please come with us!"

The two eunuchs took Li Qing'an through the corridor quickly, and walked into the Zichen side hall, where a meeting of the political hall was being held, Li Linfu, Chen Xilie, Yang Guozhong, Wei Jiansu, Yang Shenjin, Wang Hui, and the six prime ministers sat on both sides.

Li Linfu's expression was calm, with his signature smile, no one could tell what he was thinking from his face, but the unconcealable look on his face revealed the secret of his heart.

The gloomy and sickly color of the months had been swept away, and although he was still thin, his cheeks glowed with a luster that he had not seen for many years, and this brilliance had been entrenched on his face for a long time after Li Shizhi's resignation in the early years of Tianbao, and now it appeared again.

It is no wonder that from Cui Qiao's dismissal to Yang Guozhong's dismissal of the military department and Xian Yu Zhongtong's dismissal of Jiannan Jiedu envoy, in just a few months, Yang Dang was hit hard, he glanced at Yang Guozhong, Yang Guozhong's expression was gloomy, and he sat down dejectedly, with a look of disappointment and frustration on his face that could not be concealed.

Li Linfu snorted softly in his heart, this mediocre man who climbed up by nepotism, can he also handle the most complex frontier affairs of Datang that require the most strategic vision? It had been decades since the Tang Dynasty and Da Shi had repeatedly fought each other, but he turned a blind eye and agreed to Gao Xianzhi's battle against Tocharo.

There is also the new master of Nanzhao playing with fire last year, seeing that the Tang Dynasty can solve the hundred-year-old problem of Nanzhao sitting in one fell swoop, and it is this Yang Guozhong who actually strongly agreed to Nanzhao's peace, giving Nanzhao a chance to breathe, and now Nanzhao is prepared, and he has taken refuge in Tubo, the situation in Nanzhao is more complicated, and the situation in Jiannan, which has always been stable, has fallen into a crisis.

Li Linfu couldn't help sneering, Li Longji didn't use people properly, and in the end he had to rely on him Li Linfu to turn the tide, of course, Li Longji, the son of the Tang Dynasty, would not admit his mistake, but he appointed Wang Heng as the prime minister, and appointed Gao Xianzhi and Jiannan Jiedu envoys, these appointments showed his concessions from another angle.

He couldn't help but glance at Li Longji again, the haggard state was undoubtedly revealed on his face, the sharp-eyed Li Linfu suddenly found a copper coin-sized old age spot on Li Longji's neck, he was shocked in his heart, and then looked at Li Longji's hand carefully, and there were obviously two old age spots on the back of his hand, but a month ago, Li Linfu had not seen Li Longji have age spots, only a month, Li Longji was old.

Li Linfu was secretly vigilant, Li Longji was old, and the position of the East Palace was empty, and the Tang Dynasty was very likely to be in a kind of turmoil without an owner.

At this time, a eunuch appeared at the door and reported: "Your Majesty, Li Qing'an has been brought!" ”

Li Longji waved his hand, "Announce him into the hall!" ”

As Li Linfu guessed, Li Longji is indeed exhausted, since he moved back to Daming Palace, he immediately fell into the harem concubine's Yingying Yan language, the past favorite concubine, the past lover, and appeared in his life one after another, perhaps because he knows that his time for pleasure is running out, he has fallen into an extreme thirst for carnal desires in the past few months, looking for pleasure night after night until all night, Yang Guifei, who was once crazy in love, also because of the incident out of the palace, the relationship between them has cracked a fine line, showing it, It's that they spend less time together with each other.

The unrestrained squandering of physical strength and energy made Li Longji no longer have the energy to deal with the two major frontier crises suddenly in the Tang Dynasty, which was also the reason why he fell into passivity, and he was forced to agree to the joint strangulation of Yang Guozhong by the Xiangguo Party and the Zhang Party.

Li Linfu's suggestion to raise Xianzhi as the envoy of the Jiannan Festival and use Li Qing'an, he also accepted, but in addition, he couldn't think of a better way to deal with it.

At this moment, Li Longji pressed his forehead with his hand, and was half-leaning on the dragon throne, when he heard a sound of footsteps, he raised his head slightly, and once again saw Li Qingan's vigorous and heroic posture, Li Longji couldn't help but sigh secretly, Li Qingan's young and powerful steps made him think of when he was the prince, was it forty years, or thirty years...... He couldn't remember it anymore.

"Minister Li Qing'an see His Majesty the Emperor, long live Your Majesty!"

Li Qingan bowed and saluted, and his sonorous voice echoed in the main hall.

"Aiqing is exempt!"

Li Longji sat up straight, a gentle smile appeared on his tired face, he took a book of ten thousand words, this is the book of ten thousand words given to him by Li Qingan when he was deposed, and all the worries in the book were verified one by one in the book of ten thousand words.

There is no doubt that Gao Xianzhi was transferred from Anxi, not because he failed in the Battle of Tocharo, after all, it was not entirely his responsibility, but the loss of the broken leaf was Gao Xianzhi's unshirkable responsibility, and his insufficient prior estimation of the Great Food made him not timely deploy troops to protect the broken leaf, resulting in the fall of the broken leaf, so Gao Xianzhi must bear this responsibility.

However, the reappointment of who was the envoy of the Northwest Court of Xin'an caused a controversy, and Li Linfu suggested appointing the deputy capital protector Feng Changqing as the envoy of the Anxi Festival, and it was obvious that Gao Xianzhi was Li Linfu's person, and he could continue to influence Feng Changqing through Gao Xianzhi.

And Zhang Yun proposed that Zhang Qiqiu, the envoy of Hedong Jiedu, be the envoy of Anxi Jiedu, but Li Longji thought of Li Qing'an's book of ten thousand words, and he ordered someone to find this dusty book of ten thousand words from the library.

'Join the vertical and horizontal, and hit the big food together!' ’

This is the essence of Li Qing'an's book of ten thousand words, the last time Li Longji just read it hastily, he ignored many of the contents in it, and this time he re-read this book of ten thousand words, and the book defined Da Shi as a big country as strong as the Tang Dynasty and with the same territory of thousands of miles.

"It must not be regarded as the same as Kang Shi and other Hu countries...."A sentence in the book points to the root of Gao Xianzhi's failure, and it is this book of ten thousand words that makes Li Longji force the public to reject public opinion and reactivate Li Qing'an.

"This time Aiqing served as the envoy of the Northwest Court of Anxi, it can be said that he was ordered in danger, and now the interests of my Tang Dynasty in Lingxi have been lost, the pro-Tang Ningyuan monarch was killed, Princess Heyi's whereabouts are unknown, the broken leaves fell into the hands of Dumo Branch again, and the pro-Tang forces were slaughtered, I am extremely heartbroken, I hope Aiqing has the ability to turn the tide and change the decline of the Tang Dynasty."

Li Qing'an nodded slightly, and said: "When the minister was in the North Garden, he entrusted the Han merchant of Broken Leaf to investigate the situation of Da Shi, and at that time the minister knew that the civil war of Da Shi was coming to an end, so the minister did not praise the minister's use of troops against Tocharo, but now the minister thinks that the situation may not be completely biased to the side of Da Shi, and we still have a chance in Datang." ”

Li Qing'an's last sentence lifted the spirits of the six important ministers and Li Longji, and Li Longji hurriedly said: "What is the opportunity, Aiqing will talk about it quickly!" ”

Li Qing'an gave a salute, and nodded slightly to the six Xiangguo, and then smiled: "Your Majesty, all Xiangguo, the so-called knowing oneself and knowing the other, can win a hundred battles, if you want to fight with the Great Food, the first thing is to have a deep understanding of the Great Food, the minister not only inquired from the broken leaf merchants, but even sent Pei Yu, that is, Pei Xiangguo's eldest grandson, to go deep into the Great Food as a businessman, in order to understand the politics, religion, geography and other detailed information of the Great Food, Gu Chen knew that during the Great Food Civil War, there were three major forces on the rebel side to participate in the war, Shia, Khorasan, The Abbasids, at the beginning of the uprising, were unanimously agreed to appoint the Shiite leader Shariq as the new caliph, but in the end it was the Abbasid leader Abu Abu Abi. The Abbasids seized the caliphate, so the seeds of civil war have been planted between the Shiites and the Abbasids, and when the civil war between them will break out, the minister does not know, but this is an opportunity, the main sphere of influence of the Shiites is in the Transoxiana region, once the civil war breaks out, the Abbasids will not have time to take care of the broken leaves, this is our chance to recapture the broken leaves. ”

Li Qing'an's words, everyone looked at each other, Li Longji nodded slowly, this is the person he wants to use, a thorough understanding of the national situation of the Great Food, at this time, Li Linfu asked: "Li Yuanjun, if the infighting in the black clothes has subsided, what should you do?" ”

Li Qingan arched his hand and smiled: "Please Xiangguo Mingjian, if the black-clothed Dashi internal strife subsides, General Gao will not be able to sweep Tocharian for a while, the black-clothed Dashi has already sent heavy troops to garrison Tocharo, and he humbly asked the Kangguo Hu Shang in Luoyang, three months ago, the Shiites were not suppressed, of course, they may resolve the internal strife in a peaceful way, but in any case, the dissatisfaction of the Shiites must be a fire within the Dashi." ”

"Well said!"

Li Longji praised: "Whether it is a big food opportunity to take advantage of, or flawless, these are not important, the important thing is Li Aiqing's understanding of the big food and the situation in the river, you can't do this job, I don't know what kind of support Aiqing needs from the imperial court?" ”

"Your Majesty, the minister has three expectations!"

"Aiqing, please speak."

Li Qing'an had already had a case, and he said loudly: "First, the minister hopes to have full authority to deal with the dangerous situation in the river, and I ask Your Majesty to authorize the minister." ”

"The minister is resolutely opposed!" Zhang Yun stood up and objected: "It has always been decided by the imperial court to launch a large-scale campaign against the outside world, and if the power is delegated to the Jiedu envoy, it will cause the situation that the power of the Jiedu envoy is too large and the court is difficult to control, and the ministers oppose it!" ”

Li Linfu also said: "The minister also thinks it is inappropriate, if the power is delegated to the Northwest Court, then if Fan Yang makes the same request, how will the court deal with it?" Shuofang, Jiannan, Longyou, and Hexi all have the same problem, and the minister also hopes to prudently handle the issue of decentralization. ”

The two important ministers objected, and Li Longji, who originally wanted to agree, also hesitated, he thought about it and said: "What Li Aiqing said is also the truth, the broken leaves are too far away from Chang'an, and the report will miss the fighter plane, the so-called general is outside, and the king's order is not affected, this is the truth, in this way, I can partially delegate power, Li Aiqing can have full authority to deal with the affairs of the big food, and other major matters such as involving Hui and Tubo, etc., still have to report to the imperial court, and must not make decisions without authorization, do you have any opinions?" ”

At this time, Li Qing'an said: "The minister's second hope is military supplies and money and grain logistics, if it is transported from the Central Plains, it will be laborious and inconvenient. ”

Li Longji nodded, and without waiting for the other ministers to object, he said: "The function of managing the defense of the river is not completed, and I have appointed you as the envoy of the Anxi Yingtian Branch, and you can have full authority to handle the internal affairs of Anxi." ”

The reason why An Lushan was able to rebel successfully was because he got the right to dispose of local government affairs, the integration of military and government, and his strength rose sharply, generally speaking, he would not ask for a grantor, but Li Qingan had already obtained the right to dispose of local government affairs when he was the envoy of Beiting Jiedu, so his request was actually to hope to restore the power of the past.

However, there is one thing that cannot be ambiguous, that is, Li Longji will never hand over the right to appoint personnel to Li Qingan, and any appointment by Li Qingan must be approved by the imperial court.

Li Qing'an got the military and political power, and as soon as he was relieved, he smiled and said: "The minister still has two small requests, I hope Your Majesty and all the ministers can agree." ”

This is his third request, in fact, two requirements, combined into one, played a side ball that is not more than three, since Li Longji has appointed him to deal with the affairs of the big food, as long as it is not an excessive request, he should be able to accept it, he smiled and said: "Say it!" What other small requirements. ”

"Your Majesty, Anxi is actually attacked on three sides, there is Tubo in the south, there is Hui in the north, and the Great Food is to defend on the thousands of miles of battle from Tochar to Broken Leaves, and the defeat of Gao Xianzhi is largely caused by the lack of troops, so the minister refers to the old practice of the eighteenth year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty, and hopes that His Majesty can transfer the Tianwei army to assist the minister to seize the broken leaves."

The Tianwei army is the 30,000 garrison of Shibao City, composed of the elite army of Longyou, Shuofang, and Hexi, and the three Jiedu Prefectures, it should be said that Li Qing'an's request is not excessive, in the eighteenth year of Kaiyuan, Hexi Jiedu made Niu Xianke be ordered to attack Broken Leaf, and mobilized 60,000 troops from Shuofang, Hexi and Longyou.

However, Yang Guozhong is a little anxious, he and Ge Shuhan have been fighting hotly recently, seeing that Ge Shuhan is going to become his sphere of influence, but Li Qingan has snatched the army with a knife and snatched away Ge Shuhan's 30,000 elites, and Ge Shuhan will definitely complain that he does not stop him.

Yang Guozhong hurriedly got up and said, "Your Majesty, the minister opposes this plan. ”

Originally, Zhang Yun also wanted to object, but Yang Guozhong took the lead, he didn't speak well, so he was silent, Li Linfu was very clear about Ge Shuhan's intention to take refuge in Yang Guozhong, if he could take this opportunity to knock Ge Shuhan, he would also be happy to see it, so he also remained silent.

Yang Guozhong walked out of his seat, stood next to Li Qing'an, knelt down and kowtowed: "The minister is worried that the withdrawal of the elite of Longyou will affect the pressure on Tubo, and now Tubo has supported Nanzhao, indicating that his ambition is rekindled. ”

Yang Guozhong's words also made some sense, and Li Longji asked Li Qingan with a smile: "What does Aiqing think?" ”

"Your Majesty, far water does not quench your thirst! Moreover, the minister demanded that the families of the 30,000 Tianwei army also be moved into Anxi. ”

A sentence reminded Li Longji, he pondered for a while, and then said: "If I agree to Aiqing's request, but Aiqing also has to give me a time limit, how much time will it take to recapture the broken leaves?" ”

"The minister promises that if he wins the heavenly army, the minister can recapture the broken leaf within a year."

Li Longji's heart suddenly warmed up, and he was eager to recapture the broken leaves to make up for the dissatisfaction of the government and the opposition with him, so he generously agreed: "Okay! I will appoint you as the soldier and horse envoy of the Tianwei Army, that is, I will transfer the Tianwei Army to garrison Beiting, and order Ge Shuhan to recruit a new army and change its name to the Zhenwu Army. ”

Li Longji was in a good mood, he looked at Li Qingan and Yang Guozhong, who were fighting side by side, and suddenly had an interest in comparing the two in his heart.

These two people have been in the office for about the same time, and their appearance is also somewhat similar, when they were first officials, the two formed enemies, and there were constant contradictions, he used to take these two people as a reference, Li Qingan served as the envoy of the Beiting Festival, and he intended to let Yang Guozhong be the envoy of the Jiannan Festival, and now both of them are important ministers of the court, and Yang Guozhong is promoted to Xiangguo.

But after a few years, the two stood together again, Li Longji found that they were very different, in terms of age, Yang Guozhong was ten years older than Li Qingan, but in terms of temperament and appearance, he was like twenty years old, Yang Guozhong was bloated and fat, his movements were slow, and his excessive wine was revealed, while Li Qingan was radiant, his waist was straight, and he still maintained the perseverance and courage unique to a soldier, but there was a sense of maturity between his eyebrows, which made Li Longji suddenly think of Wang Zhonghei.

People are so strange, when Wang Zhongsi was alive, he hated a lot, but after he died, he missed Wang Zhonghe's heroic spirit back then.

A trace of sadness arose in his heart, so he asked Li Qingan gently: "I heard that Li Aiqing has not married a wife yet, is there a suitable person?" ”

Li Qingan bowed down and said: "The minister has made a lifelong agreement with Mingyue, the daughter of the Dugu family, and I hope Your Majesty will fulfill it." ”

'Dugu Mingyue? ’

Li Longji forgot a little, he pondered for a moment, and suddenly remembered that Dugu Mingyue was not with Ge Lulu, but because Li Qingan killed the prince of Ge Lulu, the matter was over.

He smiled apologetically: "That incident was mishandled by me, and I promised you to officially cancel the peace between Dugu Mingyue and Ge Lulu." ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"Good! Broken Leaves is urgent, I can only give you three days off to deal with the affairs of Chang'an, and then immediately set off for the Western Regions. ”

．．．．．．． Leaving the Zichen Palace, the sky was sunny, and the mild autumn sun shone on him, Li Qingan suddenly had a sense of dazzle, and he let out a long breath, Beiting, he could finally return to the homeland of his dreams.

Life is a spiral, and when he returns to the starting point, he finds that he has stood taller than before.

"Shichiro!" , Someone behind him suddenly called him by his nickname, Li Qingan turned around, but saw Li Linfu running out of breath, he hurriedly saluted: "I heard that Xiangguo was not in good health a few days ago, how is it now?" ”

Li Linfu just likes Li Qingan, others call him Li Xiangguo, but Li Qingan still calls him Xiangguo, he stepped forward and patted Li Qing'an on the shoulder with a smile and said, "Not bad!" Where you fall, where you get up, this is the man who dares to act. ”

"Xiangguo has won the award, I just happened by chance, and I was favored by the saint."

"Do you know that your ability to get today's high position is also related to my mid-line efforts."

Li Qingan knew that this sentence was true, although his reinstatement was Li Longji's decision, but he monopolized the military and political power of Anxi, as well as the Tianwei Army, Li Linfu did not oppose it, especially the Tianwei Army, if Li Linfu supported Yang Guozhong, the final outcome was to adopt Yang Guozhong's plan.

He hurriedly bowed down and thanked: "Xiangguo's love, Qing'an remembers it." ”

"You're welcome between us, hey! Thinking of the time when you came to deliver a letter to the old man for Gao Xianzhi, you were just a small school captain, but now you have replaced Gao Xianzhi, life is impermanent, who would have thought? That panther skin you hunted is still hanging in my study! Do you want to check it out? ”

This is Li Linfu's invitation in disguise, Li Qingan smiled happily: "It's just empty-handed, I'm sorry." ”

Li Linfu laughed: "Your visit is the best gift, go!" Take my carriage with you. ”

In full view of everyone, Li Linfu pulled Li Qing'an into his carriage, which was tantamount to announcing to the courtiers that Li Qing'an was his man

(To be continued)