Before the eunuchs who went to announce the decree set off, Li Qing'an had already arrived outside the Huaqing Palace, which was not only a palace, but also included hundreds of hectares of woodland in addition to the palace, and there were still three miles away from the Huaqing Palace, and Li Qing'an was stopped by the Yulin Army.

Nearly a hundred Yulin soldiers lined up and aimed their bows and arrows at him, and an officer rushed forward and shouted arrogantly: "This is a royal important place, idle people, etc., all go away!" ”

Li Qing'an stepped forward and said with a smile: "I am Li Qing'an, the envoy of the Anxi Festival, and I have come to ask to see the saint, please let me know." ”

Hearing the words 'Li Qing'an', the Yulin soldiers were in awe and put away their bows and arrows, but the officer's face changed, and the war horse took a few steps back, looking up and down, "You are Li Qing'an?" ”

Li Qingan also immediately knew who he was, Pei Xiao, Yang Guozhong's brother-in-law, a bold and reckless person who intercepted letters without authorization, seeing that he was only twenty-four or five years old, although he was wearing a military uniform, he did not have the temperament of a soldier at all, and he had a kind of ruffian spirit in his bones.

Pei Xiao came to Chang'an from Chengdu Mansion last summer, before that he was a soldier of the Jiannan Jiedu Embassy Cao participated in the military, eating, drinking, gambling, omnipotent, relying on Yang Guozhong's power to run rampant in the township, is a cancer in the Jiannan Army, Gao Xianzhi served as the Jiannan Jiedu Envoy, could not tolerate him, and drove him out of the barracks, Pei Xiao came to Chang'an to defect to Yang Guozhong, with his little experience in Jiannan Jiedu Mansion, he was soon promoted to the general of the Yulin Army.

The ease of promotion, coupled with the Yang family's monstrous power in Chang'an, made him even more arrogant and invincible.

Li Qingan smiled silently and said: "It's me, please ask this general to report to the Holy Lord for me, I have military affairs." ”

"Really? What's the matter with you? He asked something he shouldn't have asked.

Li Qingan's face immediately sank, and he shouted angrily: "Bold! What are you to dare to be so presumptuous? ”

Li Qing'an's sudden turn of face frightened Pei Xiao all over, and the knife in his hand fell to the ground, he has been in Chang'an for more than half a year, and no one has dared to scold him like this, even if the general Sun Quanxu is soft-spoken, talking to him with a consultative tone, Li Qingan actually scolded him in public, let him fall to the ground, and lost face in front of everyone.

Pei Xiao was annoyed and ashamed, he pointed at Li Qing'an, crossed his waist and scolded: "The thief from Anxi is with the army, you dare to be rude to Lao Tzu, acquaintance, get away, if you dare to say a word, Lao Tzu will shoot you to death." ”

Li Qingan sneered, "If you have the guts, you can shoot, I'll wait for you!" ”

After saying that, he took off his saber, threw it to his own soldiers from a distance, took two steps forward, and snorted contemptuously: "Aren't you going to shoot me?" Come on! I'll let you cum, don't fucking bark like a dog. ”

"Bastard!"

Pei Xiao was furious, his face was flushed, blood poured up on the top of his head, he suddenly lost his mind, and pointed his bow at Li Qing'an is arrow.

Li Qing'an had already prepared, his hands were quick and his eyes were quick, and he grabbed the arrow shaft on one side, and at this moment, a few horses rushed out in the distance, and it was immediately the eunuch who went to announce the decree, and the eunuch saw Pei Xiao's arrow shooting Li Qing'an, and he was so frightened that he shouted: "Stop!" ”

Pei Xiao shot an arrow, he suddenly regretted it in his heart, although he was reckless, he also knew that Li Qing'an was not an ordinary person, and now the arrow fell on Li Qing'an's hand again, which made him feel a trace of fear in his heart, and he didn't dare to say anything more, so he turned his horse and retreated to the side.

The eunuch urged him to step forward and saluted Li Qing'an: "Li Envoy, I am hereby ordered by the emperor to summon you to meet you." ”

Li Qing'an shook the arrow, pointed at Pei Xiao and sneered: "This military master said that seeing him is like seeing the saint, so I don't have to enter the palace, I am very embarrassed now, who is the saint in the end." ”

Pei Xiao's face changed in fright, and he shouted: "Li Qing'an, you are spewing blood, when did I say this!" ”

Li Qing'an's eyes were wide, and the gaze in his eyes was fierce, and he approached Pei Xiao, "In that case, do you dare to confront the saint?" ”

The eunuch sighed in his heart, this Pei Xiao is notoriously high-flying, and now he actually offended Li Qing'an, he hurriedly persuaded him: "Why does Li Yuanjun have the same knowledge as him?" Come with me to the Holy One! ”

"Well, I'll go and ask the Holy One, who is this person? A small lieutenant general can make decisions for the saint. ”

After speaking, Li Qingan turned over and dismounted, threw the arrow on the ground, and said to several Yulin soldiers: "Routine, come and search me!" ”

"No need!"

A few horses galloped in the distance, and it was immediately Sun Quanxu, the general of the Zuo Yulin Army, who stepped forward and glared at Pei Xiao fiercely, and said to Li Qing'an: "The general can take off the weapon, and the body search has its own palace guards, the general, please follow me into the palace." ”

When the eldest grandson Quanxu arrived, Li Qingan didn't want to leave, he pointed at Pei Xiao and said: "This person is guilty of arrows, and he will be beheaded according to military regulations, and General Changsun will not want to shield this person!" ”

The eldest grandson Quanxu had already arrived, Li Longji ordered him to find out the person who detained the court and the central government within one day, making him extremely embarrassed, of course he knew that it was Pei Xiao who did it, but this Pei Xiao was Yang Guozhong's brother-in-law, he didn't dare to offend, he wanted to find a few Pei Xiao's subordinates to take the blame, but he happened to see Pei Xiao's arrow shooting Li Qing'an.

The eldest grandson Quanxu reacted very quickly, he immediately realized that Li Qingan was going to make trouble with this matter, of course, Li Qingan was not targeting a small Zhonglang general, Li Qingan was targeting Yang Guozhong, in this case, if he still arrested two little minions according to the original plan, once Li Qingan stabbed the matter away, then he might commit the crime of bullying the king.

Although arresting Pei Xiao will offend the Yang family, it is more risky not to arrest Pei Xiao, and Pei Xiao is a cancer planted by Yang Guozhong in the Yulin Army, if it is not removed as soon as possible, the harm will be even more severe in the future, why don't you use this opportunity to kill this person?

The eldest grandson Quanxu quickly weighed the pros and cons in his heart, he immediately decided to repay the saint with the truth, if the saint still spared Pei Xiao lightly, then he also wanted to drive this person out of the Yulin army, thinking of this, the eldest grandson Quanxu immediately became furious, pointed at Pei Xiao and shouted: "Come on, arrest him for me!" ”

Immediately rushed up to several Yulin soldiers, dragged Pei Xiao off the horse, and tied him up, Pei Xiao's face turned pale with fright, and he was so anxious that he opened his throat and shouted: "You can't treat me like this, my brother-in-law is Yang Xiangguo." ”

Li Qingan suddenly realized, "Oh! It turned out that Yang Xiangguo instructed you to do it, then the problem is serious, you go and explain it to the saint! ”

He glanced at the eldest grandson Quanxu, then turned over and galloped towards the Huaqing Palace.

At the gate of the palace, Li Qing'an turned over and dismounted, followed the eunuch to the palace, the palace was packing up items everywhere, a mess, walked through a corridor, here is the connection between the inner palace and the outer palace, Li Longji's imperial study is on the edge of the inner palace.

At this time, he suddenly heard Yang Guifei's voice, "Don't take these winter things away, you have to come at the end of the year anyway, and you can't use it if you bring it back, just stay here!" ”

Li Qing'an turned his head to one side, and saw that in the side hall next to him, Yang Guifei was instructing a few palace maids to pack up things, Yang Guifei also felt something, and at a glance, she happened to see Li Qingan.

A hint of surprise flashed in her eyes, "General Li! She hurriedly stepped forward and said, "General Li, when will you come back?" ”

Li Qingan bowed and saluted, "The minister sees the noble concubine." ”

"You are my master, don't be so polite, hurry up and be polite!"

Li Qing'an received Mingyue's letter, knowing that Yang Guifei loved Mingyue very much, and seeing that she still remembered that she taught her to throw arrows back then, she couldn't help but be a little moved, so she smiled and said: "Thank you Niangniang for your concern, the minister just arrived in Chang'an early this morning, and it happened that His Majesty summoned him." ”

Yang Guifei nodded and said with a smile: "Then you go to get busy with business first, and I'll tell Your Majesty later, you can stay for dinner." ”

"Thank you, Niangniang, the minister will leave first."

Li Qing'an turned around and followed the eunuch towards the imperial study, Yang Guifei looked at his majestic back, and couldn't help but sigh secretly, "Not bad!" It has the momentum of a man's husband. ”

．．．．．．．． A quarter of an hour later, Li Qing'an walked into Li Longji's imperial study in Huaqing Palace, and he respectfully bowed, "Minister Li Qing'an sees His Majesty the Emperor, may my Emperor Long live!" ”

Li Longji hadn't seen Li Qing'an for more than a year, he looked at Li Qing'an carefully, and saw that he had become more mature and more calm than before, and he couldn't help but think of the situation when he threw arrows with Shi Siming a few years ago.

Li Longji's eyes showed a gentle smile, nodded and said apologetically: "General Li, I originally wanted to hold a ceremony for you to enter the city, but due to some special circumstances, I am still in Huaqing Palace, I am very sorry!" ”

Li Qingan bowed down and said: "Your Majesty's gift of heart, the minister and the Anxi soldiers are in mind, the ceremony of entering the city, the minister thought that it could be placed later, and after the minister recovered Tocharian for His Majesty, at that time, the minister waited for His Majesty's favor." ”

Li Qing'an's mention of Tocharian lifted Li Longji's spirits, and he hurriedly said, "I was also about to ask you, what are your plans for recovering Tochar?" ”

Li Qingxin already had a case in his stomach, and he smiled slightly: "Your Majesty, the minister must first explain that the withdrawal of the Great Food from the river is not the result of the minister's victory in the Battle of Talas. ”

"General Li, please continue, and I will listen to you."

"Your Majesty, Talas is located in the north of the Stone Kingdom, thousands of miles away from Samarkand, if the Great Eclipse has the intention to keep the river, they can continue to increase the number of troops in the river, and the minister is also anxious to rest after a big battle, but in fact, when the minister led the army to Samarkand, the Great Eclipse army has all withdrawn, as far as the minister knows, this is due to the large-scale uprising of the Sogdians, and the Umayyad dynasty has risen again in the distant east of Spain, so that the Great Cannibals are unable to suppress the Sogdian uprising, so they are forced to abandon the river, but the minister asserts that it will be a year later, The Great Food Army will definitely make a comeback, and that is the beginning of the real contest between my Tang Dynasty and the Great Food Army, so the minister's plan for Tocharian is to attack Hezhong again before the Great Food re-attacks Hezhong, take Tochar, and threaten Khorasan from Tocharo, so that they have worries and dare not attack the countries in the river with all their might. ”

After speaking, Li Qing'an took out the 10,000-word debriefing report he had written and presented it to Li Longji, "Your Majesty, the detailed process of the Battle of Talas and all the plans of the ministers are in the report, and Your Majesty can read it slowly and carefully." ”

The eunuch Yu Chaoen stepped forward to take the fold and transferred it to Li Longji, Li Qing'an's corner of his eyes quickly glanced at the imperial study, he felt a little strange, why did Gao Lishi disappear and become Yu Chaoen?

He didn't know that Gao Lishi had been sent by Li Longji to check the progress of his return to Chang'an, and Li Longji did not want Gao Lishi to be present when he met Li Qingan.

At this time, Li Longji had already opened his work report and was looking at the paragraph on Li Qing'an's handling of the Sogdian countries after the war, and he asked with some curiosity: "What does this joint conference mean in your report?" ”

Li Qing'an said with a smile: "Your Majesty, to put it simply, let the Sogdian countries unite and jointly deal with the Great Eclipse, so as not to have their own thoughts, and finally be broken by the Great Eclipse, the Hezhong region can not completely rely on the Tang Army to resist the Great Eclipse, and mainly rely on themselves, in fact, the Anxi Army not only has to fight against the Great Eclipse, but also to prevent the invasion of Tubo and Hui, the battle line is very long, so this time the minister returned to Chang'an to report on his work, but also wanted to put forward some suggestions to the imperial court." ”

"Tell me, what do you suggest?"

"The minister has three suggestions!"

Li Qing'an quickly sorted out his thoughts and said: "The first is to hope that the imperial court can move the Anxi Protectorate to Broken Leaves, with Broken Leaves as the center, so that not only can you control the Anxi Northwest Court, but also go south to Tocharo and west to the river, taking into account all aspects." ”

Li Longji pondered for a moment, Li Qing'an's plan to move the Anxi capital to the west should be said to be in line with the current situation, and it is feasible, but this matter still needs to be discussed in the political affairs hall.

"And what's the second suggestion?"

"Your Majesty, the second suggestion is to increase the migration of Han people to the Western Regions, the minister thinks that the reason why my Tang Dynasty has not been able to control Lingxi for a long time is that there are basically no Han people in the rest of Lingxi except for broken leaves, which leads to the fact that these areas have no centripetal cohesion for the Tang Dynasty, on the contrary, if the Han people move west in large numbers, they will bring the culture of the Central Plains to Lingxi, so that Lingxi will gradually be sinicized, so that my Tang Dynasty can control the Western Regions for a long time, and there will no longer be the worry of small countries centrifugal betrayal, and at the same time, it can also alleviate the intensification of contradictions caused by land annexation."

Li Qing'an's last sentence said that Li Longji's heart was right, in the past year or two because of the land annexation caused by peasant rebellions, there have been endless incidents, and there have been reports of landless peasants occupying the mountains as kings and falling grass as cowards, which has made the imperial court anxious, if it can really alleviate the contradictions in the Central Plains through immigration, this is a good policy, but Yang Guozhong also kept reminding him that Li Qing'an should not be allowed to control too many people, so that the number of troops he has will skyrocket, which will lead to serious consequences.

Anyway, this matter will be handed over to the political hall for discussion, he doesn't want to ask too much, Li Longji smiled and said, "What is the third thing?" ”

"Your Majesty, the third thing is a trivial matter, the minister begs Your Majesty to allow the silver money to circulate in the Tang Dynasty, although this matter is small, but it is related to the vital interests of tens of thousands of soldiers in Anxi, the minister begs Your Majesty to consider it?"

"Why is it about the vital interests of the Anxi soldiers?" Li Longji asked a little strangely.

"Since His Majesty delegated the power of Anxi to mint money, in order to pay the rewards and military expenses to Anxi, but in fact, Anxi has very little copper, minting copper coins at most 30,000 yuan per year, and His Majesty's reward to the Anxi army has reached 600,000 yuan, in order to solve this problem, the minister decided to mint a higher value of silver coins to pay the reward, Lingxi silver mines are quite a lot, the output of silver is far greater than copper, so the minister minted 30,000 pieces of silver, used to pay the reward, but Anxi is short of materials, to come from the Central Plains through merchants, if these silver coins can not circulate in the interior, The merchants would not accept the money, so that the rewards in the hands of the soldiers would become waste, which would greatly affect morale, and the ministers had no choice but to beg His Majesty to order the circulation of money and silver in the Central Plains. ”

At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Tang Dynasty minted a batch of gold and silver coins, which was ready to cooperate with the circulation of copper coins, but because the amount was too small, so it could not be circulated, and what he was concerned about now was not the circulation of gold and silver coins, but how much silver could Li Qingan extract in a year? Is it possible to pay a part of the tribute to the imperial court every year?

"General, it's not a big problem to give the order to let go of gold and silver money, but I'm worried that the amount is too small, and it doesn't make sense, so I want to ask you, how much silver can Anxi mine every year? Can you help solve the financial difficulties of the imperial court? ”

Li Longji's thinking was expected by Li Qingan, and of course he was willing to lose the silver to the Central Plains, so as to gradually grasp the economic lifeline of the Tang Dynasty.

"Your Majesty, due to the sparse population and not many miners in Anxi, the annual output of silver mining is 15 to 200,000 catties, and the minister is willing to dedicate all the surplus silver to Your Majesty on the premise of ensuring military expenditure."

"How much is that? You've got to tell me a number. ”

Li Longji is unequivocal in terms of money, and Li Qingan made it very clear that this silver is for his private money, and he can't care about it.

"This time the minister returned to Beijing to report on his work, and specially brought a large number of booty to His Majesty, including 200,000 catties of silver, which is the minister's intention to His Majesty, and the minister will hand over 70,000 catties of silver to His Majesty every year, if His Majesty can properly immigrate to Anxi, in order to increase the number of miners, the minister is confident that he will give His Majesty 100,000 catties of silver every year."

Li Longji was overjoyed, Li Qingan actually brought himself 200,000 catties of silver, he quickly calculated in his heart, 100,000 catties of silver every year, according to the official price, it is equivalent to more than 160,000 yuan of copper coins, this is an amazing wealth, how could he not want it? However, it seems inappropriate to let Li Qingan control the source of this wealth, and he should send eunuchs to control it.

As soon as he thought about it, he had a plan, let Li Qingan do it for a few years, develop the silver mine, and then take over.

Thinking of this, Li Longji said happily: "Regarding the circulation of gold and silver money, I can reply to you now, allow the circulation, and I will immediately order the household department to issue a decree to the whole country." ”

At this time, a eunuch at the door reported: "Your Majesty, General Changsun asked to see him, and he said that the truth has been investigated." ”

Li Longji hesitated, he didn't want Li Qingan to know that someone deliberately intercepted the imperial court's performance, which caused the Anxi army to enter the city, but as soon as he changed his mind, he thought that Li Qingan probably already knew about it, if he didn't make a gesture, he really couldn't explain it to the Anxi army, so good!

"Announce him in!"

He smiled apologetically at Li Qing'an: "I just said that I delayed the entry ceremony of the Anxi army into the city because someone was derelict in his duty and missed the fold sent by Ji Shilang, so I didn't know that the general had arrived, and I am investigating this matter strictly." ”

Li Qing'an knew this, and hurriedly thanked: "Thank you, Your Majesty!" ”

At this time, Changsun Quanxu walked in, bowed down and said: "Your Majesty, the minister has already found out that it was the Yulin Army Zhonglang who neglected Pei Xiao's recital in the middle of the court, which caused Ji Shilang's two books to not be delivered to the saint in time, delaying the Anxi army to enter the city. ”

Li Longji scolded secretly, and asked him to investigate, why did he really bring Pei Xiao out? Isn't this a deliberate attempt to embarrass yourself?

If it was said that the eldest grandson Quanxu was still a little jealous at the beginning, he was afraid of offending Yang Guozhong, but now that he has spoken out, there is no way out, if he can't take the opportunity to get rid of Pei Xiao this time, he will definitely be ruined in the hands of this person in the future.

Thinking of this, he was heartbroken, and said: "Back to Your Majesty, just now General Li came to Huaqing Palace, he made things difficult in every way, and shot General Li with arrows, almost putting General Li to death, this person seriously violated military regulations, please Your Majesty severely punished!" ”

Li Longji was stunned, he glanced at Li Qing'an, and saw the anger in Li Qing'an's eyes, Li Longji's face was also a little unbearable, he snorted heavily and asked, "Who is this Pei Xiao?" Is it a child of the Pei family? ”

"Report to Your Majesty, this person is Yang Xiangguo's brother-in-law, who was originally an official in Jiannan, because he did not allow Gao Xianzhi, he was transferred to Chang'an, and joined the Yulin Army last year."

At this point, Li Longji couldn't cover it up, he shouted angrily: "The following offense is a taboo in the army, this person dares to be arrogant to this point, come here!" ”

"Your Majesty, wait!"

Li Qing'an stopped Li Longji, Li Longji was not convicted of privately destroying the central recital, but convicted Li Qing'an of ramming him, isn't this clearly kicking the ball to him? Although Li Mi persuaded him to be appropriately arrogant, this kind of arrogance must have a degree, and a little punishment is enough, if he does too much, he will be politically retarded, and killing people may not be able to solve the problem, pinching but not killing is a clever means, isn't Yang Guozhong afraid of his wife?

He stepped forward and bowed and said: "Your Majesty, although this Pei Xiao collided with me, but he is young and reckless, I hope Your Majesty can give him a chance to change, it is better to give this Pei Xiao to the minister, and the minister will take him to the Anxi Army for training, and within two years, the minister promises to train him into a pillar of the Tang Dynasty." ”

At this time, the eldest grandson Quanxu also took the opportunity to fall into the well, and said: "Your Majesty, General Li is right, the male husband should go to the frontier to practice, although this Pei Xiao is not sensible, but he is dignified and powerful, if he can experience a few years under General Li and become a pillar of the Tang Dynasty, the minister thinks that this is Yang Xiangguo's blessing." ”

Li Longji took a deep look at Li Qing'an, and nodded secretly, yes, this person is really mature, and he can understand his deep meaning, he stroked his short beard, and said happily: "The general is reasonable, it is better to save people than to kill people, this Pei Xiao, I will hand it over to you, I hope he can change his past mistakes and make military merits as soon as possible." ”

After solving Pei Xiao's matter, Li Longji was relieved, and smiled at Li Qing'an: "It's getting late now, you don't have to go back, you can stay in Huaqing Palace, and I will set up a family banquet for you to catch the wind and wash the dust." ”

(To be continued)