Three days later, Wu Qing ordered the king of Qiuci to handle the affairs of the city, leaving nearly 1,000 wounded soldiers to recuperate and assist the king of Qiuci in defending the city. He led the army to Shule, Shule, most of the four towns of Anxi were in his hands, as for the city of Khotan, he had already played the empress to flee in the Great Zhou Dynasty of the late Khotanese king Wei Chi Fu Yan Xiong's son Wei Chi Fang as the king of Khotan, as far as Kuài came to Khotan to preside over government affairs.

What Wu Qing didn't know was that now the empress has changed her Yuan Ruyi and banned hunting and fishing in the world, and many people in the world are starving to death. And this bad idea was offered by Xue Huaiyi, the face of the empress, who believed that the empress advocated Buddhism and established the country with Buddha, and the Buddha forbade killing. At this time, the sun was eclipsed, and the empress thought that it was a curse, so she changed her mind to Ruyi, hoping that everything would go well, so she forbade the people of the world to hunt and fish.

And not long after the change of yuan, she got the news that Wuqing had broken Tubo, which made her feel that there was a providence in the dark. Originally, she didn't have much meat, and she was a vegetarian at every meal, which made the palace miserable.

The business of the Wei Wangfu was also reduced by half because there was no meat, but fortunately, whenever night came, the ladies could still taste some meat regularly. In short, the empress's decision made the world hungry and cold, the people's livelihood withered, and the people's resentment boiled.

The empress is at ease in the deep palace but does not know it, but the only change is that the empress is becoming more and more tired of informants, and some auspicious rui is beginning to be discredited. So he asked Yan Shansi, the supervisor of the Right Suzheng Observatory, to re-check the case file, and after half a month, it was found that more than 850 people had been falsely informed. The empress knew that these guilty people were killed by the cool officials, and the reason for this was the reason. Or because of her connivance, so Yan Shansi was exiled to Qiangzhou.

At this point, Lai Junchen and others became even more arrogant. Although it made people weave Ren Zhigu, Di Renjie, Pei Xingben, Si Nongqing, Cui Xuanli, Qianwenchang Zuo Cheng Lu Xian, Yu Shi Zhong Wei Yuanzhong, and Luzhou Assassin Li Sizhen rebelled. So the empress was furious, put all these prime ministers in prison, and entered the magistrate's house in Lijingmen.

When Junchen came to try these people that night, he first lit up all kinds of torture instruments in front of everyone, and said: "Confess your sins and subdue the law, and have less flesh and skin suffering." ”

Wei Yuanzhong was furious and scolded non-stop. So Lai Junchen ordered Hou Sizhi to interrogate Wei Yuanzhong.

Hou Sizhi used to buy cakes as a business, and lived in poverty, so he worked as a slave in Gao Yuanli's house in Bohai. Later, seeing that all the informers in the world were awarded guerrilla generals, Gao Yuanli was afraid that the servants would falsely accuse him, so he asked Hou Sizhi to secretly accuse Li Yuanming, the king of Shu, of rebellion and was awarded the title of guerrilla general. Hou Sizhi entered the court. Gao Yuanli was introduced as the upper seat. Call Hou Sizhi Hou Da.

"The state does not employ people secondarily, if the Hou is illiterate, that is, the clouds: 'The beast is also illiterate, but can touch evil.'" Hou Da will definitely be favored. ”

Hou Sizhi was illiterate and could not understand writing and ink, nodding again and again, when the empress asked about Hou Sizhi, he replied according to his words, and sure enough, the empress was happy. Awarded the imperial history of Hou Sizhi Zuo Su Zhengtai.

Since then, Hou Sizhi has been a guest of honor to Gao Yuanli, and he talks about it every time. Don't get drunk and don't go home.

Gao Yuanli taught Hou Sizhi and said, "When the empress rewards Hou Da in your mansion in the future, it must not be accepted. ”

Hou Sizhi was stunned for a moment, to be honest, it was a matter of smoke from the ancestral tomb in a mansion in Shendu, and now he didn't want to accept it, so he raised his eyebrows and asked, "Why is this?" ”

Gao Yuanli said: "Don't ask why, Hou Da knows that Hou Da has no house, if you borrow it from the official mansion, you can thank you and accept it." Now I will ask the reason, and Hou Dake will say: 'All the rebels are disgusted with their names and do not want to sit in their houses. 'Today is set to be a great joy, Hou Da is promoted to become a wealthy official, and it is just around the corner. ”

Sure enough, not long after, the empress wanted to give the house to Hou Sizhi, Hou Sizhi replied according to his words, the empress was overjoyed, rewarded Hou Sizhi with gold beads, and awarded the imperial history of Dr. Chaosan and Zuo Su Zhengtai. Since then, Hou Sizhi has been proud and began to be proud.

Now according to Wei Yuanzhong, this colleague, how can he not be happy? first tied Wei Yuanzhong's hands and feet together, and then said loudly: "Urgently recognize Bai Sima, otherwise, eat my Meng Qing stick!" ”

Wei Yuanzhong was furious and scolded: "Hou Sizhi, you are just a cheap slave who sells cakes, and now as a servant of the imperial history, you don't know what to see, and you don't do your best for the court, but you punish the court officials, you are guilty!" ”

Hou Sizhi was furious and ordered someone to hang Wei Yuanzhong up, and came to hang an upside-down golden hook.

Wei Yuanzhong laughed, "My life is thin, like riding an evil donkey, my feet are hung by stirrups and dragged down." ”

Hou Sizhi saw that Wei Yuanzhong still had such strength, so he asked someone to drag it higher, and said in a cruel voice: "Wei Yuanzhong, you defend and resist the envoy, you should be killed!" ”

Wei Yuanzhong is also resolute and not afraid at all, and he also knows that if these cool officials are pressed, there is a chance that they will be beheaded, so he didn't take it to heart even more, and said angrily: "Hou Sizhi, you are now the imperial history of the imperial court, and you must know the importance of etiquette." If you must take my Wei Yuanzhong's head, why not cut it off with a knife and saw, and do nothing to restrain me. Naihol admires Zhu Zi, personally holds the mandate of heaven, and does not do righteous things, but Bai Sima and Meng Qingbang, what is the word! If it is not Wei Yuanzhong, no one suppresses the teaching. ”

Hou Sizhi lived happily for a few years, but he still learned a little more about his appearance, and saw that Wei Yuanzhong was not afraid at all, and pointed out "Bai Sima, Meng Qingbang", which showed that he did not seem to be bullying him, so he quickly ordered someone to put Wei Yuanzhong down.

Wei Yuanzhong sat on the low couch, and Hou Sizhi bowed and saluted: "Sizhi capital crime, fortunately Professor Zhongcheng." ”

This matter was passed out by another servant Huo Xianke, and became the talk of the hundred officials after dinner, but one day he was told by the palace that the empress summoned Huo Xianke, Huo Xianke can be based on the truth, it turned out that this Bai Sima is the Bai Sima Po of Beibi Mountain, and Meng Qing's stick is the Meng Qing's stick that killed Li Chong, the king of Langya. When the empress heard this, she couldn't help but laugh.

Lai Junchen saw that Di Renjie and the others did not admit their deaths, so he said: "If you confess your guilt, you can avoid death, what are you waiting for the prime minister?" ”

Di Renjie knew that Lai Junchen was fierce, so he said: "Did you want to use torture when you came to Zhongcheng?" With that, he hit his head against the wooden fence, and suddenly his head broke and blood flowed, and Lai Junchen was furious, and took the prime ministers into custody and left in a bad mood. Although there are not a few prime ministers he has killed, but now the empress is obviously tired of informing, if she is tortured, isn't it just someone who has caught the handle?

Wang Dezhen was a jailer, eating an ancestral iron rice bowl, he wanted to go further, so after a few days of struggle, he came to Di Renjie's cell.

"Di Gong. Di Gong, the little one has brought you wine and meat. ”

Di Renjie's hair is a little messy, and his spirit is a little poor when he is old. When he raised his head and opened his eyes, he saw the jailer who had been sneaking around for the past few days, and when he saw that the jailer had put in the wine and meat, he couldn't help asking, "Say, what do you want to do?" ”

Di Renjie walked up to him and took the wine and meat. I took a big gulp.

Wang Dezhen said in a low voice: "Di Gong, little one, I know that you are wronged. But do you also know that after entering this competition, is it possible to get out? So the little one wanted to ask Di Gong to give the little one a piece of wealth, so he admitted that he had rebelled. ”

Di Renjie almost scolded angrily. But there was a flash of inspiration in my head. So he said, "You can come tomorrow to get it." ”

Wang Dezhen was happy, so he hurriedly retreated, "Di Gong, you use it slowly." ”

Di Renjie saw the pen, ink, paper and inkstone in the corner, which was prepared by Lai Junchen for the ministers to falsely accuse, and now he is using it. So he took advantage of the jailer's inattention, and quickly wrote down a small note and put it in the futon.

Early the next morning. Wang Dezhen really came mysteriously, Di Renjie sighed in his heart. Today, even a jailer wants to get an official title by informing, what kind of country is this?

Di Renjie took the futon and said, "My futon is already damp and useless, and I hope you can take it to my house, let them open it and dry it again, and then I will send a new bed." ”

Although Wang Dezhen was reluctant, for the sake of high-ranking officials, he decided to send a futon, so he said: "Di Gong must not scold me." ”

Di Renjie was slightly stunned, his face was gloomy, and he said, "Di Mou, who is about to die, what are you doing?" ”

Wang Dezhen went to Di's house with the futon, and the second son Di Guangyuan took the futon and rewarded the jailer, telling him to take a new bed back first. Wang Dezhen was happy when he saw the consistent money, it was so easy to get the consistent, it seemed that his official fortune was coming, so he went happily.

The whole family of Di Fu was heartbroken during this time, and now they suddenly got the quilt, and they couldn't help but wonder in their hearts, so they opened it to dry according to their words. When a note appeared in front of him, Di Fu suddenly saw hope.

So Di Guangyuan presented the empress in a letter, and the empress ordered Zhou Lin, the secretary, to go to inspect, Zhou Lin didn't dare to offend Lai Junchen, so he walked around, and returned to the empress that Di Renjie and others had confessed.

But there was an accident, Luantai Shilang and Pingzhang Shi Le Sihui was killed, his son was filled into Sinong Temple, and now Si Nongqing Cui Xuanli was sent to prison, and he was taken care of more on weekdays, so he gave Cui Xuanli a grievance.

After the empress summoned her, she finally understood that there was another hidden secret, but didn't the empress really know about the minister who came to Junchen to kill unjustly?

At this time, Di Renjie had already admitted to rebellion, and he just said, "The Great Zhou Revolution, everything is new, and the old ministers of the Tang Dynasty are willing to be killed, but it is true." ”

After Lai Junchen got it, he discussed with Wan Guojun and others, and felt that giving it to the empress in this way would definitely arouse suspicion, so he cut out the "old ministers of the Tang Dynasty" and "the opposite is real", framed them, and then handed them to the empress.

After the empress saw it, she was a little strange, does this death watch still need to be framed, but since she admitted to the rebellion, no matter what, she still has to summon it once.

So Di Renjie wore a flail to the palace, after the salute.

The Empress asked, "Why do you confess to rebellion?" ”

Di Renjie bowed down and said, "If the minister doesn't admit to rebellion, he will already die of torture." ”

"Then why did you write another thank you form?" The Empress asked, confused.

Di Renjie kowtowed and said, "The minister has never written a thank you form. ”

The empress was furious, so she ordered someone to take out a death note, which only read, "The old ministers of the Tang family, but the truth".

Di Renjie reprimanded angrily: "Weichen once wrote, 'The Great Zhou Revolution, everything is new, the old ministers of the Tang Dynasty, willing to be killed, but it is true', but it is not a seven-word thank you death table, please see it." ”

When I got here, who in the hall didn't know that Lai Junchen was cheating. Lai Junchen prostrate on the ground, without saying a word, as if waiting for the empress's ruling, he knew that begging for mercy at this time would definitely be beheaded, and only by letting the empress fall, he would have a glimmer of life.

The empress looked at the people in the palace and immediately understood that these prime ministers, no matter how they were promoted, still cared about the Tang Dynasty, and they were still not loyal to the Great Zhou. It is a crime to come to Junchen to deceive himself, but these high-ranking and powerful people are really hateful, holding the salary of Da Zhou, but they miss Datang!

The empress felt tired for a while, and the important ministers of the Manchu Dynasty actually missed the Tang Dynasty, and he couldn't cage the hearts of the courtiers in this big Zhou. Moreover, Wu Chengsi and Wu Sansi still bother her every once in a while for the position of prince. Not long ago, she listened to Xia Guanshangshu Li Zhaode's "Wu Chenghei's power is too heavy, which is not conducive to the saint". He then deposed Wu Chenghe's Wenchang Zuo Xiang and let him withdraw from the center of power. And Li Zhaode's words, why not for the sake of the Li family?

This time. The empress thought of Wu Qing's suggestion, maybe it was really a newcomer from the bottom up who would be loyal to the Great Zhou.

So, a few days later, Zhigu was demoted to Jiangxia County, Di Renjie was Pengze County, Cui Xuanli was Yiling County, and Wei Yuanzhong was Fuling County. Lu Xian was appointed as the commander of Xixiang County, and Pei Xingben and Li Sizhen were exiled to Lingnan.

Western Regions, outside the city of Shule.

Wu Qing ordered the army to surround Shule City. It is called on the surrender of Qinling, and on Qinling is the great minister of Tubo, how he will surrender, and he insisted on it for three days. Finally, there was a sudden breakthrough. Wu Qing was stunned and didn't block it, but let Non Qinling run away. Fortunately, Shule did not suffer many casualties and captured it. King Shule offered the beauty of the royal family, but Wu Qing didn't ask for it, but ordered his heir to temporarily act on behalf of the civil affairs, and let him go to the god capital to ask the empress for guilt, so that the Qinling ran away, Wu Qing was on fire, and he had to find the guilt for this King of Shule.

Wu Qing ordered the army to rest for half a day. Then he pulled out to Khotan and took Khotan. If the broken leaves have been taken, then the four towns of Anxi will return to Da Zhou, and they will be considered to have completed the task.

When the king of Khotan attacked in Tibet, he fled to Shendu due to the lack of soldiers and horses, which was a very pro-Tang town, which was also what Wuqing was willing to see. Therefore, when fighting Khotan, Wuqing was not worried at all, and the rule of Tibet in Khotan was not popular at all, and there were many rebellions, so the ordinary army in Khotan reached 10,000.

But in Wu Qing's view, before the reinforcements of Tubo Zampu arrived, the Tubo soldiers in Khotan were just like chickens and dogs.

Eight days later, the Wuqing army came to the outside of Khotan, and saw the Red Flag of the Great Zhou raised at the head of Khotan, and the people of Khotan opened the door to greet them, Wuqing was quite strange, but he still walked into Khotan City, walking on the sand-paved streets, he always felt a little strange, so he ordered people to investigate everywhere, and ordered the scouts to release thirty miles.

When night fell, Wu Qing's right eyelid jumped wildly, and he looked at the corner of the wall illuminated by the torches on the street, and there were a lot of grass piles. He walked down the city, came to the haystack, it turned out to be a pile of hay, he kicked the hay, bang, as if he had kicked something, so he opened the hay, and saw three wooden barrels, Wu Qing pulled out his long sword, a sword split the barrel, and a stream of black juice flowed out. Immediately, a pungent smell entered Wu Qing's nose.

This taste is too familiar to Wu Qing, who came from his previous life.

Petroleum!

When a guide saw the black liquid, he immediately said, "Governor, this is fire oil, which will burn when it meets fire." ”

Suddenly, Wu Qing shouted: "Order all the troops, within a quarter of an hour, line up to go out of the city!" In the event of an attack, kill him! ”

The soldiers didn't know why Wuqing issued such an order, but for the military orders, these people were very strict in carrying out the orders, so suddenly the whistle and drums sounded, and soon the procession began to go out of the city.

Just when the last group of Great Zhou soldiers went out of the city and evacuated the people in the city, a large number of Tubo soldiers poured out from the corners of the city, and they set fire to them everywhere and killed people everywhere! In a matter of moments, a raging fire broke out in the city, and the cries were incessant, and the flames burned half of the sky.

The generals were also covered in cold sweat, and if they were delayed for a while, they would also be buried in the fire.

Wu Qing immediately ordered, "The whole army is encamped and waiting for dawn!" ”

While the Tibetan soldiers set fire to the city, they themselves were burned to death inside.

The next day, after Wu Qing and his generals entered the city of Khotan, they saw a white ground in the city, and a scorching smell filled the entire city, and he couldn't help but hate the cruelty of the Tibetan soldiers.

And Wu Qing was afraid for a while, this Qinling is worthy of being a person who dares to act, if he withdraws a little later and a half, then the consequences will be unimaginable. I can't say it, as soon as the Tibetan reinforcements arrived, the four towns of Anxi fell into the hands of the enemy again. Then your reputation will be reduced to a low point. It seems that at all times, even when facing weak opponents, you should be calm.

"The Governor of the Metropolis, according to statistics, burned down more than 10,000 houses and shops, and burned and killed nearly 3,000 people. There are countless cattle, sheep, horses, and camels. ”

After Wu Qing heard this, he said: "I will report to the imperial court in the history of the long life, and I hope to get the bereavement as much as possible." ”

After thinking about it, he ordered again: "Wang Xiaojie obeys the order!" ”

Wang Xiaojie knelt on one knee and arched his hand: "The end will be!" ”

"You go to Shule and borrow 10,000 stone of grain from the Shule royal family." Wu Qing ordered.

Wang Xiaojie took the order and took 3,000 soldiers with him.

Wu Qing then left 200 men to maintain law and order, waiting for the arrival of the newly sealed king of Khotan, and he led a large army to Shanshan City, preparing to block the Tibetan reinforcements. But when he arrived at the end, he heard that tens of thousands of Dangxiang Qiang households were attached to the Tang Dynasty, and Tubo Zampu withdrew and returned to Lhasa. Later, Wuqing learned that the great minister of Tubo, Qinling, broke with Tubo Zanpu, and this time to gather reinforcements, it was also Zanpu who seized the main alliance of Qinling, and the goal had been achieved, so he naturally retreated.

Wu Qing thought that this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and the empress increased his troops to attack Tibet.

But half a month later, Wu Qing got such a sentence in Shanshan City, "My son has worked hard and has gone down to the four towns of Anxi to be a soldier to cultivate soldiers and develop the Western Regions." ”

Wu Qing smiled bitterly, the empress was scared by Tubo. Such a good opportunity can at least let the land of Tuyuhun return to the Great Zhou. It seems that the empress is too conservative. So Wu Qing wrote to reset the four towns of Anxi, and set up the Anxi Protectorate in Qiuzi and the Beiting Protectorate in Tingzhou, with 20,000 Zhou elites stationed in each of the two places to ensure the safety of Anxi, and explained the important reason why Anxi was fallen several times, that is, the previous Tang Dynasty's restraint policy. Therefore, Wuqing also implored the poor and landless people who had migrated to the interior and the four towns of Anxi, and gave these people land and exempted them from taxes and miscellaneous labor for five years. In this way, the four towns of Anxi will be completely transformed into the land of the Great Zhou.

In short, after the empress saw Wu Qing's performance, she couldn't help but be overjoyed, and after thinking about it carefully, she adopted all of Wu Qing's proposals. And ordered the household department to count the people of Guannai and other provinces, and moved to the four towns of Anxi.

And Wuqing did not stay in Shanshan City for long, but led Yu Linwei to march towards Broken Leaves, although the Wuzhi Le Department was friendly with the Tang Dynasty, but in the area of Broken Leaf River, it was really a scourge, and it must be eliminated as soon as possible. And the Guanwu Zhile people are not simple people, after breaking away from Hu Seluo, he personally formed the Turgish tribe, which is a Western Turkic branch, stationed in the area of the Broken Leaf River outside the Broken Leaf City. Moreover, the people of Uzile cherished the tribe, and whenever they plundered cattle and sheep, they gave priority to the women and children of the tribe.

In short, Uzhile is a very good chieftain and a character who can fight, because just last year, he defeated tens of thousands of Eastern Turkic troops who came to conquer and completely gained a firm foothold in the Broken Leaves area. However, there has always been a constant war with the ten tribes of the Western Turks.

This time, Wuqing asked Ashina Zhongjie to unite with Wuzhile to capture Broken Leaf City, which was also a last resort, and furthermore, you can also look at the nature of Wuzhile.

After marching for more than 20 days, the Wuqing army passed through Atami, and finally came to Broken Leaf City, and saw the red dragon flag of Broken Leaf City, Wu Qing smiled. (To be continued......)