The imperial court and Tibet exchanged letters of state twice, during which there were incidents of invasion of the Emperor in the Western Regions and Jiannan. The Tibetan king Chide Zanpo claimed to be young and defended himself in a letter: "My nephew is a princess of Zandai Wencheng and a princess of Jincheng today, and he knows how to be rude. Because he was young and young, he was slandered by the border generals in vain, which made his uncle blamed. ”

The Tang Dynasty has decided to send Jincheng into Tibet in mid-April, so he replied: Princess Jincheng, my own daughter, grew up in the palace, and her words are suitable for the distance, don't you like it! But I am a parent, sympathetic to Li Yuan, if I pray sincerely, and I am reconciled, then I will be on the side of Ning Yan and rest in the military. Then cut deep mercy, for the great plan of the country, received the construction of the outer pavilion, Yu Yingjiali, and descended to Tubo Zampu.

Princess Jincheng was the daughter of Emperor Li Shouli, but she was raised by Tang Zhongzong, the adopted daughter of Tang Zhongzong, and according to the nominal generation, she turned out to be the "sister" of her biological father. But Li Shouli is the emperor, no matter how you calculate it, the princess of Jincheng is a real princess, but there is no doubt about it. So Li Shouli also felt a little sad.

Princess Wencheng, who used to be close to Tibet, although she was named a princess, was actually just a clan girl; Now I want to give the real princess. Out of father-daughter affection, Li Shouli personally summoned Jincheng, rewarded him with a lot of gifts, and also ordered Jincheng to make a dish of "red worm breast" to practice.

Jin Cheng is also very unfamiliar with his biological father, and he can't even figure out the generation, so he can only be called "Majesty".

The father on the Penglai Palace side is in love, but the Taiping on the side of the Zichen Palace is discussing major matters with the ministers. Just received an urgent report from Longyou, the Tubo Department set out from the stone castle to Koubian, burning, killing and looting along the way, and the Hexi Corridor was also under its threat.

The ministers of the court and the central government discussed a lot, and Zhang Zhang, the secretary of the military department, said that he had built a new envoy to Hexi Jiedu Cheng Qianli as the head of the march, and raised troops to fight. But most of the courtiers did not support it, because since the late period of Wu Zetian, the fierce generals who could fight well have been cleaned, and the new batch of generals has not yet grown up, and there is really no one to use; In addition, because of the land annexation and destruction of the military system, the army has been greatly weakened, and the army has been greatly weakened.

The most important reason why the prime ministers did not say it was that the political situation was unstable, and the new regime should have been consolidated during this time, and if there was a major war, it would definitely affect the stability of the imperial court.

Xue Chongxun was also present at this court meeting, but today he was calm and did not raise any objections.

Dou Huaizhen stood up and said: "The policy of harmony and pro-country cannot be changed for the time being, enter Tibet with Jincheng, try our best to promote tranquility, win time, and wait for my country to stabilize the situation and reform the military system, and then fight again." During this period, it was only necessary to vigorously maintain the establishment of the four towns in Anxi and prevent the eastward expansion of Tibet, and the situation could still be controlled. ”

Xiao Zhizhong, who has a close relationship with Dou Huaizhen, also supported his construction, saying: "Tubo Zampu has succeeded to the throne for more than ten years, and he has been unable to control the country because of his youth, and now he also needs time to rectify the interior, and he has asked for relatives many times in recent years. Therefore, Tibet has no desire to attack our country on a large scale for the time being, and it is beneficial for both sides to stop the war. ”

Taiping pondered for a long time before saying: "Yesterday, His Majesty said to me that he was very reluctant to Jincheng and wanted to send it off in person. Now that Longyou and Guanzhong are in danger, we must protect the safety of His Majesty, and I have decided to let Zhang Shuo, the secretary of the military department, lead the soldiers of the Nanya to escort him, and the itinerary on April 15 will not change. ”

At this moment, Xue Chongxun saluted and said, "Mother, please lead the Flying Tiger Regiment guards to protect Your Majesty...... I also send Princess Kaneshiro. ”

Taiping glanced at Zhang Shuo, hesitated for a while and said, "Okay, Your Majesty should also bring the forbidden army when you go abroad, so you can go." ”

Xue Chongxun said: "The son will not fail in his mission. ”

After the gang dispersed, he came out of the Zichen Palace, went straight to the forbidden military residence in Xuanwu Gate, found Zhang Wulang, and asked him to prepare a trip to escort the emperor to his relatives.

On April 15 of the first year of Changyuan, the emperor personally sent a team of relatives from Chang'an, and sent a lot of dowries, in addition to tens of thousands of silk, there are also miscellaneous workers, turtle bands, and the entourage of hundreds of workers, many of them belong to "technical personnel", with the most advanced agricultural and industrial technology in the Tang Dynasty. It really responds to Xue Chongxun's opinion, and being close to each other is equivalent to greatly improving the social productivity of Tibet.

A team of more than 2,000 people marched out of Chang'an and arrived at Shiping, Guanzhong. At this time, they got the news that Longyou Dao had reported to Chang'an, and the Tubo nobleman Lang led his army to break through Shanzhou and destroy the city. Li Shouli was very worried when he found out, and decided not to continue his westward journey and to return to Chang'an.

After he stopped, he felt that the road to Jincheng was uneven, so he instructed Zhang to protect his life. Zhang said with a long face: "The things of the affinity team were originally given to Tubo, and they will not rob their own things if they want to rob them, Your Majesty can rest assured." ”

Li Shouli hunched his back and said obscenely: "It was given to Tubo Zampu, who knows if those people below will listen to Zampu?" ”

When everyone heard this, their expressions were strange, and they said to themselves?

Zhang said: "It has been ten years since the civil strife in Tubo ended, and the Qinling (general of the Battle of Dafeichuan) family was slaughtered by Zampu, and now no one can disobey Zampu's wishes, let alone rob his people and things, Your Majesty should not be confused by the letters of the Tubo people." ”

At this time, Xue Chongxun noticed that the curtain of Jincheng's carriage moved lightly and opened a corner. Xue Chongxun's heart was sad for a while, she must be blaming herself for not saying a word, watching her enter the tiger's den.

However, Xue Chongxun did not make a big mess and acted recklessly. According to the established method, he clasped his fists at Li Shouli and said: "Wechen asks the southern soldiers to escort His Majesty back to Beijing, and let Wechen escort the princess to the eastern section of the ancient road and enter the border of Tubo before going back." ”

Zhang Shuo was a little unhappy and said: "There are ministers who lead the army to guard, and the forbidden army guards His Majesty." ”

Li Shouli thought for a while and said: "The customs are quite peaceful, and there is no need to worry about my safety, but Jincheng makes me worry about it...... At the request of the king of Hedong, let him send it for a while, and it is always better to have more people. ”

After all, he is nominally the emperor, and no one disobeys his wishes for this kind of thing, and Zhang Shuo no longer says anything. After Li Shouli finished explaining, he watched the team go west, and he himself was going to hide back in the capital.

Zhang said that after the group parted ways, there were more than 1,000 horses, carrying tens of thousands of silk, gold, silver, jewelry, and various objects, and walked very slowly. At such a speed, it would not take several months to reach the city of Lhasa (present-day Lhasa). The journey is long and tiring, and no one wants to live such a life, and Jincheng, who grew up in the court, is miserable and doesn't say much.

The route is to take the ancient road, a road that existed a hundred years ago. Along the north bank of Weishui, cross Longshan to reach Qinzhou, trace Weishui and continue west to cross Bird and Mouse Mountain to Linzhou; From Lintao to the northwest, cross the Yellow River through Hezhou and enter Qinghai; Then go northwest through Longzhi City to Shanzhou.

When everyone arrived at Shanzhou City, they could have rested to replenish supplies, but they saw that Shanzhou was in ruins, which had been almost destroyed by the war.

I saw that many officers and soldiers and civilians inside and outside the city were transporting corpses in rack trucks, and some people were digging pits outside the city. When everyone walked to the gate of the city, they saw a civil official in a red robe walking out with a team of cavalry, and the civil official looked at the people on Xue Chongxun's side in luxurious clothes, took out a piece of paper, and said, "You are the team of the old scholar Zhang Ge of the Ministry of War?" ”

Zhang Shuo rode his horse and shouted, "Is it this official? Who are you and what are you doing? ”

The official got off his horse and bowed: "Xiaguan Liangzhou assassin Liu Ne, is ...... Gather the people to bury the corpses. ”

Zhang said angrily: "What about the envoy of Longyou Dao, where is Tao Anmin?" ”

Liu Ne said in a deep voice: "Shanzhou has fallen, and Tao Envoy Jun has consciously failed to fight, and he has already apologized for his crimes. ”

"Damn mediocrity!" Zhang Shuo scolded indignantly, "Such an important town has been attacked by someone like a bag, and the death penalty cannot be escaped!" ”

That Liu Ne entered his name, with a thin face and an expressionless face, but he said angrily: "The lower official received the official document, does Zhang Ge always want to send the princess to Tubo and kiss?" ”

Zhang said that looking back on the messy and tragic city, he was a little embarrassed and speechless.

At this moment, a shout came: "If you want to move the ladder, you go find the secondary ladder and take the child down." When they heard this, they looked back, and saw a spear stuck in the middle of the wall, and a baby nailed there, and I really don't know how it was hung up.

When the army saw this, Li Kuiyong, the round-headed general beside Xue Chongxun, had the loudest voice and shouted: "Kiss with an egg!" Send the princess back to Chang'an, let's find the Tubo army to divide the victory! ”

Those generals said angrily: "It's all at home, what are you talking about, fight!" ”

Zhang Shuo said coldly: "What's the use of just shouting? Fight, why didn't Tao Envoy Jun win? How can the imperial court sit idly by, there must be an arrangement, and the war and the big plan can be said in vain! ”

Xue Chongxun said: "Although Shanzhou is destroyed, the road ahead is far away, let's go to the city to rest." ”

Zhang said that he thought so, and summoned Liu Ne to find a slightly intact house in the city to prepare food and other things. Everyone walked along the miserable streets to the city, and Xue Chongxun said to Zhang Wulang: "Let everyone take a look at the good things that the alien race has done to us, and if we fight in the future, don't and worry about yourself being afraid of death!" ”

As they walked, they looked around at the collapsed houses and corpses, and they were all silent. The corpses of those people, the women were basically unclothed, and they were all humiliated before they were killed. There is a female corpse in the corner of the wall that is the most miserable, and the intestines are pulled out of the lower body, but I don't know what kind of adultery has been encountered, so it makes it so miserable.

There was absolutely no humanitarianism in this medieval war, and once defeated, it was the civilians who suffered the most.

Zhang Wulang said indignantly: "I think it's really his mother's nest, this is not going to be a marriage and peace talks, there is a war nearby, what sincerity does Tubo have at all?" ”

Liu Ne, a civil official who took them into the city, took over and said: "In recent years, the border conflict has never stopped, and the Tubo people call it "fighting the autumn wind", and they will come in and grab a handful if they have nothing to do...... We heard that we were going to get married, and we thought that we could be stable for a few months, but we didn't think that others would not give face at this juncture. ”

Xue Chongxun said indifferently: "They know that there is civil strife in the Tang Dynasty, and they have nothing to fear, so naturally they can't control it for a moment. ”G