In the Penghou Mansion in Chang'an, Liu Quyu and Li Guangli sat opposite each other in the study. Since the suicide of the crown prince Liu Ju, the two have moved more and more frequently.

"Now that the war in Youzhou has started again, the prime minister must have been in a hurry recently, how can he have time to recruit officials today?" Li Guangli asked with a smile, but he didn't take the initiative to visit today, but Liu Quyu invited him.

"Li Duwei said with a smile, there is a doctor of the imperial history, the old man, the prime minister of Zuo, is very relaxed....." Liu Quyu said self-deprecatingly, the left word was a little heavier. Now Sang Hongyang exercises power as the imperial historian, and the emperor also relies on Sang Hongyang, and Liu Quyu, the left prime minister, is indeed a little embarrassed in the court now.

"Alas...... Doctor Yu Shi did a little too much......." Li Guangli looked at Liu Quyu and said with a sigh, looking very sympathetic to Liu Quyu.

"Doctor Yu Shi can be relied on by His Majesty, and it is also his ability, and the old man is also at ease." Liu Quyu smiled, his tone was a little apprehensive, and there was a feeling of breaking the jar.

Li Guangli glanced at Liu Quyu, leaned forward slightly, and said in a low voice: "Xia Guan recently heard that Your Majesty is now obsessed with seeking immortal alchemy, and there are many more monks beside him. I also heard that after His Majesty took some pills, it seems that his body is indeed much better than before. ”

"The old man has also heard of this matter a little, but the precedent of Emperor Qin's politics is in the past, and His Majesty's move is ...... Alas......" Liu Quyu said with some unnatural expressions on his face. He wanted to say that Emperor Wu of Han's move was tantamount to drinking water to quench his thirst, but he didn't dare to say it.

Ancient emperors were keen to seek immortality and immortality, especially when they were about to die, and some alchemists who made a living from this came into being. Most of the so-called elixirs of immortality are just some that stimulate the body's potential and overdraft the life span to produce a feeling of excitement and ethereal feelings. However, it is this short-lived feeling of dead wood and spring that makes those late emperors have the illusion that it is really possible to live forever.

And the side effect of these elixirs that stimulate the potential of overdraft longevity is the deposition of toxins, which kills people without warning. This kind of ending has been verified in those emperors who like to take pills.

Emperor Wu of Han has now begun to take pills, and he does feel a little more energetic than he did half a year ago. Whether he can live immortal Emperor Wu of Han himself has no bottom in his heart, but he needs this state right now. Because there are still many things in this world that he needs to do, Wei Youqu's invasion of Youzhou is in full swing, and the rest and Huo Guang in the northwest have also been anxious, these internal and external troubles need to be dealt with by him, and the most important thing is that he needs to find a qualified successor for this empire.

"Exactly..... Xia Guan is also worried! This prince's position is vacant, after all, it is not good for the country! Li Guangli said with a worried face, and finally led the topic to the issue of the crown prince.

In fact, this problem is not only Li Guangli and Liu Quyu who are enthusiastic, but also the Han Dynasty, the emperor and the three dukes, and even the common people are very concerned about this issue. As Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty got older, an empire without a prince became more and more unsteady.

"Now among His Majesty's several heirs, King Qi died early, King Guangling has courage and no strategy, and he is not loved by His Majesty when he has not yet taken the country, but King Yan is erudite and famous, and King Yan may be the first choice among the kings of the country. In addition, the king of Changyi, who is still in Chang'an, and the prince Fuling. Liu Quyu told the sons of the dead monk of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty one by one.

Originally, Liu Hong, the king of Qi who was the most promising to win the crown prince after Liu Ju's death, died not long after he became the queen of Qi. In addition, Liu Xu, the king of Guangling, basically has little possibility, and now the most promising is Liu Dan, the king of Yan. This Liu Dan has been smart and studious since he was a child, and he became the queen of Yan and the corporal of Lixian, and now his reputation is quite good, and he is slightly inferior to King Liang among the kings surnamed Liu.

"Why does the prime minister like to do the thing of putting the cart before the horse? The king of Yan is now more than twenty years old, and the so-called son of heaven and a courtier, I am afraid that His Majesty has a heart, and the courtiers will try their best to oppose it. The best result is the king of Changyi and the prince Fuling, if Fuling succeeds to the throne, the emperor will definitely take care of the imperial doctor, and on that day the imperial doctor will really be in power. If the prime minister does his best to help the king of Changyi, he will be the prime minister when he enters the dynasty, and he will be the king if he is in the country! Li Guangli looked at Liu Quyu with a puzzled expression, and finally threw out a more generous promise.

Originally, Li Guangli had already hinted at Liu Quyu, as long as Liu Ji, the king of Changyi, succeeded to the throne, Liu Quyu would be the Duke of Zhou. Now there is a promise of kinghood. Liu Quyu is a royal family, if he is crowned king, he is the prime minister in the court, and he will be crowned king if he is not the prime minister, this is an unprecedented precedent, and Liu Quyu can't stop such a temptation.

"This is natural, the king of Changyi is known as a virtuous person, and he plans for the world, and the old man should help the king of Changyi." The words have already been said for this part, Liu Quyu does not need to be reserved, and he also gave a clear answer.

The matter is finalized, as for how to do it, Liu Quyu naturally has his own means. The two looked at each other and smiled, both showing satisfied expressions.

"Prime Minister, Your Majesty has issued a decree to urgently summon the Prime Minister to Weiyang Palace." The voice of the housekeeper in Liu Quyu's mansion suddenly sounded outside the house, but he didn't want Emperor Wu of Han to summon Liu Quyu again at this time.

Liu Quyu hurried to Weiyang Palace, and when he arrived, he found that Emperor Wu of Han had not only summoned him this time. The imperial historian Sang Hongyang, as well as Jiuqing and several other important ministers are there.

This time, without waiting for Emperor Wu of Han to announce anything, two reports from the Shuofang Thorn History Department and the Bingzhou Thorn History Department at the same time had already begun to circulate in the hands of these important ministers.

Liu Quyu took the report in his hand, and his hands couldn't help shaking. The content of these two reports is basically the same, that is, the 200,000 Xiongnu army has marched south, and has already landed in Wuyuan and Yunzhong two counties. Because at this time, the Shuofang Thorn History Department had not yet merged with the Bingzhou Thorn History Department, and although the two counties of Wuyuan Yunzhong were close to each other, they belonged to two Thorn History Departments.

"Passing on His Majesty's will, he appointed Captain Lu Bode as a former general, and controlled the two troops and horses of Shuofang and Prefecture to resist the enemy of the Huns. In addition, Li Guangli, the commander of Shuiheng, was appointed as the general of the second division, and led the right Fufeng 90,000 troops to be stationed in Anding County, and responded to the former general's headquarters to prevent the Xiongnu army from bypassing Yongzhou. This time, Emperor Wu of Han did not consult with the courtiers, and when everyone arrived, Zhang Anshi began to read out the will of Emperor Wu of Han.

After years of war after Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty succeeded to the throne, the population of the entire Han Empire has now dropped from nearly 50 million in the early days of Emperor Wu to about 35 million. The standing army is mainly concentrated in the ministry prefecture where the border counties are located. Among them, Youzhou, Bingzhou, and Shuofang have the most standing soldiers, and Shuofang and Bingzhou together have almost 150,000 troops, which is the capital that Lu Bode used to resist the 200,000 iron cavalry of the Xiongnu. The original tens of thousands of troops in Youzhou, plus the 30,000 troops in Jizhou, now a total of 80,000 are now fighting with Weiyouqu. The rest is the 90,000 army of Yanzhou, Yuzhou, and Jingzhou, which was placed by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty in Anding County, a place where the Xiongnu can be attacked in the north and the river can be held in the west.

The total number of troops in these three places is about 320,000, plus the building boats, and the emperor's Praetorian Guard army in Chang'an, which is the largest number of troops that Emperor Wu of Han can mobilize at present, totaling about 350,000. As for Qingxu Erzhou, there are mostly feudal countries, and Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty can't easily mobilize the armies of the kings surnamed Liu, and he doesn't dare.

There are still a few places left, which are Jiaozhi, Yongzhou, and Yizhou. However, the population of the nine southeastern counties of Jiaozhi is already sparse, and with Huo Guang's sweep once and for all, the population here is even more withered, even if it is forcibly transferred, it is only 20,000 or 30,000 troops, and the road is long, and it is difficult to fight the fire from far away. The situation in Yongzhou and Jiaozhi is similar, a few years ago, the Qiang people entered the customs, after a flood in Songruozan, Yongzhou was ten rooms and nine empty, and now it is worse than Jiaozhi. Yizhou is a rich land, and there are large counties like Shu County, but it is close to Southwest Yi, and there are dozens of large and small countries, so it is impossible to rashly mobilize the army here.

If you add the hundreds of thousands of troops of Hexi Huoguang, the Han Dynasty in this period actually had more than 500,000 standing troops, and the number of troops reached the highest peak in the period when the population was the smallest in the Western Han Dynasty, and the pressure on logistics can be imagined.

When the Xiongnu rekindled the war in the north of the Han Dynasty, Weiyouqu, who was fighting with the Han army in Guangcheng, Ping, Youbei, also received the news that Yang Fu was attacking his rear Wang Weicheng by water.

When the news of his rear being totaled appeared in Wei Youqu's hands, he did not have a trace of panic as he imagined. There was even an inexplicable smile on his face.

"Father really expected things like a god, and he actually guessed that the Han army would have this hand, then Wang Weicheng has already been laid out by his father as solid, even if Yang Fu doubles his troops, he can't defeat it in a year or two." The chief of the guard looked at his father with admiration and said. Long before they crossed the river, Wang Xiancheng was rearranged by Wei Youqu, and even before they acted, Wei Youqu had already foreseen that once he entered Youzhou of the Han Dynasty, the Han army's sailors would attack his Wang Weicheng from the waterway.

"This Xun Yan is also considered to be an old man, obviously the strength is slightly superior to our army, but he sticks to the city and refuses to fight, which makes us have no idea where to start for a while. But now it's a great opportunity, are we all ready? Wei Youqu said with some anticipation and excitement, and finally asked his son Wei Chang.

"Everything is ready according to my father's orders." The chief of the guard also replied expectantly.

"Good...... Then order the whole army to abandon the baggage and return to the royal capital! Wei Youqu clutched his fists and gave the order to abandon the baggage and retreat.

When Wei Youqu's order was issued, Xun Yu, the supreme commander of Youzhou in Guangcheng County, also received the news that Yang Fu had arrived in Wang Xiancheng and had begun to attack the city.

"Report ...... General, the Korean army discarded its baggage and a large amount of grain and grass and began to retreat in the direction of Hunshui. The scout reported the news of the retreat of Wei Youqu's army to Xun Yu in time.

Xun Yan showed a relaxed look on his face, but he was thinking about whether to take this opportunity to go out of the city to pursue. In his opinion, Wei Youqu is now rushing back to help, and his own side is full of morale, and if he attacks at this time, he is almost nine out of ten. Xun Yu has not yet been made a marquis, and this battle is an opportunity for him to become a marquis, and he doesn't want to let go of this opportunity. Even the position of the general of the DPRK has been vacant for a long time, Xun Yu can't help but fantasize that if he pursues the victory all the way, recovers the two counties of Liaoxi and Liaodong, and then attacks all the way into Korea, this battle function can't sit in the position of the general?

The temptation of fame and wealth was too great, and these news were all confirmed, so Xun Yu finally decided to go out of the city to pursue.

General Zuo's order was well carried out, and the 80,000 troops gathered in Gwangseong City went out in a swarm of 60,000, scrambling to kill the Korean army, which had become a rout.

Xun Yu led the 60,000 army to chase farther and farther, Guangcheng City head right Beiping Tai Shou Mountain frowned and stared at the mountain stretching in the distance, although he could no longer see the fleeing Korean army and the pursuing Han army, but his eyes were still staring at that direction.

"Don't wait, close the city gate......" A gentle voice suddenly sounded behind Wei Shan, and at some point, a middle-aged man wearing a brocade robe who didn't look like a person in the army walked behind Wei Shan. This person did not belong to the army, let alone an official of Youbeiping or Guangcheng, but there was no soldier on the city tower to stop and interrogate him.

"I've seen Wan Guanhou." Hearing this, Wei Shan turned around and bowed to the person who came, this person was Lu Shu, who had disappeared for two years.

"But if the city is closed now, what if General Zuo really comes back from an ambush?" Wei Shan looked worried, he was worried that if it was really as Lu Shu said, this time it was Wei Youqu's trick to defeat, what should Xun Yu do if he couldn't enter the city after being defeated?

"This is Hou Ye's order. What if it's not General Zuo who comes back, but someone who guards the right canal? Once Guangcheng is lost, Youbeiping will fall completely within two days, and there will be no danger to defend in Youzhou and Jizhou. Is a Xun Yu important or is it important to have a million Li people behind him? Lu Shu said with a serious expression, he had already developed a majesty over the years, and when he said this solemnly, Wei Shan didn't say anything more.

"Order, close the city gates, pull up the drawbridge, and no one is allowed to open the city without my orders." Wei Shan shouted loudly, this is not only Huo Guang's order, but he also has to pay attention to what Lu Hou said in front of him, in case Xun Yu is defeated, Wei Youqu pretends to be the Han army to open the city gate, this situation is really possible.

When the gates of Guangcheng were slowly closed and the drawbridge was pulled up, the remaining 20,000 troops rearranged their defenses in Guangcheng. However, although there were only 20,000 defenders this time, the weather was even more imposing than the previous 80,000 troops. Ballistas were introduced in some houses, and barrels of anointing oil were brought out of the cellars.

When the war in Youbeiping was in full swing, and the twists and turns and changes had not yet fully occurred, Huo Guang, who was far away in Dunhuang, solemnly handed over three letters sealed by his own hands to Huo Tang.

"These three letters will be sent out immediately, these three letters are related to the national fortune of the Han Dynasty, let the best disciples of the Mo family go. This one was sent to Shu County and handed over to Zhuo Junchen, this one was for Liu Kang, the crown prince of Zichuan, and the last one was for Liu Xiang, the king of Liang, remember that it must be handed over to these three people in person. Huo Guang said in a solemn tone that he had never seen before, and even asked to send the best disciples of the Mo family to carry out this task.