This year's winter seems to be exceptionally cold, and people in the Guanzhong area can feel that the wind and snow are heavier than usual. However, the interior is fine, and the Anbei area of Hetao to the north is even more bitter cold, and the soldiers and civilians of the Tang Dynasty's "Three Surrendered Cities" near the Turkic Khanate also have difficulties in the lack of materials for the winter, and in the past two months, there have been grain and materials from the interior one after another; The nomadic people further north are expected to have a bit of a hard time this year, and it is inevitable that livestock will freeze to death, and it will be difficult to provide for the ice and snow.

"Three surrendered cities" that is, from the territory of the country to the outside of the "east surrender city", "middle surrender city", "west surrender city", located on the north bank of the Hetao, although named "surrendered", but not to accept the surrender of the Turkic nobles to build, but the foreign garrison city group, and the surrounding military towns, states to form a defense system inside and outside the Hetao, with a prominent military garrison nature, at the same time have a variety of other functions, such as military and political center, transportation hub and economic center. The city and its surrounding areas organized land reclamation, which partially solved the supply of military rations and the expenditure of funds for the local garrison.

At this time, Shuofang to the west of the surrender city has a total of about 70,000 Han soldiers, soldiers and horses, stationed in various military towns, under the control of Zhang Renyuan, the head of the Shuofang army, Lingzhou and other places also have the attached Xianbei people and other tribes of cavalry coordination, all ethnic groups form a joint defense system (the Tang army does not build the Great Wall), the biggest threat to the north is still the Turkic Khanate. Although the Turks have been defeated by the Tang army many times in recent decades, it is no longer the same as the situation that they could march to Chang'an before, but the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse.

Zhang Renyuan, the governor of Shuofang, served as an envoy in the palace in Beijing, and also served as an official in Youzhou, but the place where he made contributions was in Turkic. Managing the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks, the combination of war and pacification has made him where he is today and famous.

Every feudal official has a place where he can become famous, usually in one direction, because dealing with foreign relations in one place for a long time can make him more familiar with the local situation. For example, the place where Cheng Qianli and Du Xian achieved was the Western Regions and Helong in the west...... And Zhang Renyuan is in the north.

In recent years, the northern border of Datang has been relatively peaceful, which is inseparable from Zhang Renyuan's ability and contributions. He has a son, Zhang Zhifu, who is also in the same system as his father, as a helper of his right-hand men.

Zhang Renyuan's base camp is located in Lingzhou, Shuofang Dao, and there is another person who has been exiled here and is almost forgotten: Li Yixun.

Li Yixun is the king of Size, he is the son of Li Shangjin and the grandson of Tang Gaozong. Tang Gaozong had several sons, in addition to the few born with Wu Zetian, he also had children with other concubines, but most of them did not die well. After Wu Zetian came to power, almost all the princes who were not born to her died of illness or accident "inexplicably".

Li Shangjin (the father of Li Yixun, the king of Heze) is one of them, Li Shangjin's biological mother was the palace man Yang of Gaozong, and his fate has been bumpy since then, and he has been in fear for a long time. Until the first year of Zai Chu (690), Wu Chengsi asked Zhou Xing to falsely accuse Shangjin and Sujie of rebellion, so he recalled the two of them to Luoyang and handed them over to Yushitai for processing. Later, Su Jie was killed at Nanlongmen Station, and Shangjin was quite frightened when he learned about it, so he hanged himself...... In this way, Li Shangjin was frightened to death by the sinister political struggle.

After his death, the seven sons he left behind were also unlucky, and all of them were exiled to Xianzhou at first, and six of them were successively eliminated there. Only the surviving heir of Ze King Li Yixun survived, and after Tang Zhongzong was restored, he got rid of the dangerous situation that he could be killed by others at any time, and lived in obscurity in Lingzhou.

Perhaps only those who have gone through these ordeals will be reluctant to show off their bloodlines, and usually prefer to live a low-key life. Li Yixun has never interacted with people in Chang'an, and he is almost in a state of seclusion in Lingzhou, and the locals have rarely seen him go out hunting and playing, and he has faded out of people's sight.

Not to mention contacting Chang'an, he didn't have much contact with local officials, just like a monk who had gotten rid of the world. However, few people know that he has a very good personal relationship with Zhang Renyuan, the head of Shuofang, and he can be regarded as the kind of person who can have a heart-to-heart relationship. Every time Zhang Ren returned to Lingzhou from inspecting various places, he would wear cloth clothes in a very low-key manner and go to have a drink with Li Yixun with three or two entourages. This kind of friendship has been freed from the constraints of secular etiquette, but is very casual.

They often talk about Taoism or Buddhism, or about things on the northern border. Neither of them has a very obsessive religious belief, and talking about monks is just an elegance or a hobby.

This time, Zhang Ren was willing to come back from the Sanshou Surrender City, and went to the government as usual to hand over the affairs, and when he was ready to rest, he went to visit Li Yixun.

Zhang Renyuan looks like he is in his forties, and his facial bones are a little prominent, so he looks thin and angular, because he has been at the border for a long time and is still a little dark. However, even if a person from a literati background is not very white in appearance, he can still easily reflect that temperament.

He took a jar of wine and went away, not even any other gifts, as if the jar had just been dug out of the earth, and was stained with some dirt. Walking to the gate of the palace, those slaves were very familiar with Zhang Renyuan, and immediately came up enthusiastically to shush and talk, and then took him in.

When I saw Li Yixun, I saw that the prince was only in his thirties, and his face was very pale, probably because of the lack of outdoor activities. That kind of paleness seems to have a saying called noble white, which is a bit of a sick feeling. However, his face is born in a phalanx, the heavenly court is full, his chin is square, and his facial features are upright, which is the blood of the Li Tang royal family.

The two of them sat down, and the servants came up with the marigold, but Zhang Renyuan patted the wine jar Kaifeng and poured wine into the wine jar himself, "When I dug it up today, this jar of wine has been buried in the ground for three years." ”

Li Yixun picked up the wine glass and put it in front of his nose, half-closed his eyes and sniffed, and praised: "No wonder it is full of mellowness." ”

Zhang Renyuan said with a smile: "A good wine that has been hidden for one or two decades is called a fragrance." ”

The two of them gossiped around without a match, only old friends could get along like this, and after a while, they fell into a short silence, only to find that the surroundings were already very quiet, and the servants in the palace were okay and did not dare to come in and disturb.

Zhang Renyuan said in a very casual tone: "I went to the vicinity of Yinshan a while ago, and the snow was too big, so I had to transfer grain from the big warehouse near the left to survive this winter. The Turks were also upset, and sent people to ask for help...... Fortunately, the border has been quiet in recent years, otherwise in this kind of year, the nomads in the north will definitely want to enter the customs to plunder......"

Zhang Renyuan casually chattered about the border affairs, and then Li Yixun suddenly said in a deep voice: "I heard that there was an accident in Chang'an not long ago, and now I want to Zen the Xue family, have you heard?" ”

"Hmm." Zhang Renyuan's expression froze, and he answered quietly.

They suddenly fell silent again, and after a long time, Li Yixun's face showed a rare indignation: "My century-old foundation of the Tang Dynasty is going to bury the hands of the wolf's ambitions, which can be tolerated!" Zhang Ren was willing to listen to it without saying a word, and his face had become very stern.

Li Yixun suddenly looked at him excitedly, and said earnestly: "Those two thieves are in the Huaqing Palace outside Chang'an, if you get the help of Zhang Gong's divine soldiers, my Tang warriors will ride south to eradicate them in one fell swoop, and restore the foundation of Li Tang, which is the work of eternity!" If Zhang Gong is willing to help me, Datang Jiangshan is willing to share it with the Zhang family! ”

"Rest easy, the prince." Zhang Renyuan frowned and said cautiously, "Please Lord Mingjian, although the minister is the general manager of Shuofang and controls tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, but there are many Taiping henchmen in various towns, and some of them are very hidden, and we can't guard against it at all." If you want to mobilize the soldiers of Shuo Fang to do such a big thing, I am afraid that the Taiping Party, which has not yet left Chang'an, will know, and then a holy decree and an imperial history can put Zhang to death, or the other party will be prepared to encircle and suppress Shuo Fang with the elite military funds of the whole country, even if the gods go down to earth, there is no possibility of victory, what is the benefit? ”

Li Yixun suddenly burst into tears and cried: "I knew that there was today, and it would have been easier to go to Jiuquan with my father and brother more than 20 years ago." Living now, seeing that the society is suffering from difficulties and powerlessness, it is really better to live than to die! ”

Zhang Ren was willing to hurriedly say: "Zhang has been a close friend with the prince for many years, and there is no reason to take care of himself, but everything will fail, and sending him to death in vain is not only worthy of the prince, but also useless......"

Li Yixun was heartbroken, and the more he cried, the more fierce he became.

At this time, Zhang Renyuan pondered for a moment, knelt on the ground and said: "The minister has a plan, how about the prince?" ”

Li Yixun stopped and wiped his eyes with his sleeve, looked at him hopefully again, and said, "It's okay for you to say it." ”

"Without Chang'an's military order, the Tang army in the north cannot be mobilized to the south, otherwise the risk is too great, which is tantamount to throwing yourself into the net, but the Turks are ......"

Li Yixun asked in a deep voice: "Do you want to use the entry of foreigners to quell the chaos?" Will this be criticized by the corporal of the world, and public opinion is not in my favor? ”

Zhang Ren said: "The plan for the present can only be like this, and there is no other way. This year, the heavens are not good, and the Turks have difficulty surviving the winter, and they have sent people to me many times for help. We took this opportunity to secretly negotiate with them to borrow troops with food and grass, and the Turks had no reason to refuse. Because I garrisoned troops after the Tang Dynasty built the Three Surrendered Cities, the chances of the Turks trying to turn their faces against us are very small, and the resistance to progress will also be great; In this case, they can only negotiate peace with Datang and ask for food. Both sides have their own needs, and there is a great chance of negotiation. ”

Li Yixun looked pensive, pondering the joints. Zhang Renyuan analyzed: "At that time, let the Turks ride quietly south, we just need to make sure that the people at the critical pass can be trusted, and I will rely on my power to hold the head of Shuofang, and it is not difficult to arrange some people...... At least the risk is much smaller than directly transferring the Tang Army south, and it is easier to hide big things. ”

"The Turks are more than thousands of miles away from Chang'an, and they are willing to take this risk if they go deep alone, so they are willing to take this risk?" Li Yixun began to ask some detailed questions.

Zhang Ren said: "Let them go out day and night, as long as they can reach Huaqing Palace and kill those two people, there will definitely be changes in the world next." After the Turks completed their mission, they surrendered directly to the Tang Dynasty, and when the political situation was settled, they were innocent and meritorious, so what was the risk? ”G