After a while, the senior generals who stayed in the camp were summoned to Pei Xingjian's big tent.

In addition to Li Zhishi, Cheng Wuting, Cui Xiantun, Cao Huaishun, He Jiami and other generals who had already been ordered to set off, other generals such as Qiu Shenxian, Li Wenxuan, Zhou Daowu, Quan Xiancheng and others were all summoned to the tent.

After all the generals arrived, Pei Xingjian immediately conveyed the urgent edict sent by the imperial court and announced the latest order, ordering Li Wenjian and Zhou Daowu to return to Youzhou and Yingzhou with their subordinates, and the other departments to return to Beijing with his class.

After Pei Xingjian announced the order, he also immediately sent people to recall Cheng Wuting, Li Zhishi, Cao Huaishun, Cui Xiantun, He Jiami, etc., who had embarked on a new journey, and only ordered Cheng Wuting to lead the army back to Fengzhou, and the army led by other generals followed him together.

For Pei Xingjian's order, the generals were very puzzled, especially the urgent recall of several armies that had embarked on a new journey. These soldiers have run out for hundreds of miles, and the sergeants who gave the order rushed over at the fastest speed they could, at least a few days, and in these days, these armies will go forward for a distance, so that the back and forth, the journey is at least nearly a thousand miles, the physical wear and tear of the soldiers is very large, and it will also have a great impact on the morale of the entire army.

The generals looked at each other in surprise, and they all saw doubts on their faces, and finally someone couldn't help it, and stood up and questioned Pei Xingjian, who was expressionless, this is Li Wenyun, the governor of Youzhou. Li Wenyun strode forward, hugged his fist at Pei Xingjian and asked, "Dashuai, why is this?" ”

Pei Xingjian still didn't have any change in his expression, but just held up the edict in his hand and said: "From Songzhou to Qinghai, there are Tubo troops assembled, and the Tubo people want to take advantage of the time when my elite army is gathered in Anbei to invade the western border of our Tang Dynasty. Anbei's military affairs, the imperial court also sent Cui Shangshu of the household department to take charge, the emperor's holy decree, no one can refuse the decree and disrespect, everyone should prepare according to the arrangement just now!"

"Yes, Dashuai!" The generals did not dare to have any more doubts, and they all left the account after answering the order in unison.

After Liu Yi followed the generals out of Pei Xingjian's big tent, he walked around outside and slipped back, and the sergeant guarding the big tent did not stop the regular visitors in the boss's big tent, so he let Liu Yi in.

Pei Xingjian didn't have the slightest surprise when he saw Liu Yi coming in, pointed to the soft felt in front of the case and said, "Virtuous nephew, I know you have a lot of questions, sit down and talk for a while!"

"Marshal, the army is going to be a class teacher so soon, is it really the Tubo army pressing the border?" Liu Yi asked suspiciously.

"This edict sent from the imperial court does mean that the Tubo people are mobilizing a large army to coerce the border states in many places of mine!" Pei Xingjian pointed to the edict thrown on the case, and said lightly.

"Dashuai..."The doubts in Liu Yi's heart became heavier, did Pei Xingjian suspect the invasion of Tubo?

"The Tubo people are attacking, if our border army does not go out of the city to meet the battle, the Tubo people who are not good at attacking the city will not be able to help us!" Pei Xingjian sighed, "Our side defended the city, the Tubo people attacked the city, and there was not a large city that was captured by the Tubos, even if some small towns were once captured by the Tubos, but the Tubos who were not good at defending the city finally gave up... Over the years, the battles between our army and the Tubo people were mainly for the land of Qinghai, and the battles took place on the flat grassland, if the fortified city did not come out, the Tubo people had nothing to take advantage of..."

Listening to Pei Xingjian's words, Liu Yi also understood a little, there is no big city in Tubo, even if it is the capital of the country, they are the same as the grassland tribes in the north, almost all of them live by water and grass, of course, they are not good at attacking and defending the city, the border cities of my Tang Dynasty in Tubo are all high walls and solid cities, very easy to defend and difficult to attack, we only have a thousand soldiers to guard the city, and the Tubo people sent 10,000 or 20,000 people to attack the city, and there is not necessarily a cheap advantage. Several major battle mistakes between my Tang army and the Tubo people occurred only when the large-scale corps battle between the Tubo people occurred on the flat river valley or on the grassland, and the defeat of the Dafeichuan army under the command of Xue Rengui was wrapped, and the defeat of Li Jingxuan and Liu Yi's father Liu Xianli in Qinghai two years ago, and the later Qinghai defeat was also after Li Jingxuan led the remnants to retreat to Shanzhou, the situation was alleviated, and the Tubo people were at a loss for the tall city wall of Shanzhou, and concentrated their forces to attack several times, and suffered heavy losses. But nothing came of it.

If the Tibetans are good at attacking cities, then I really don't know what the result is.

Liu Yi didn't understand even more, Pei Xingjian meant this, that is, he didn't believe that the threat of the Tubo people was so serious, since the threat of the Tubo people was not so serious, why did the imperial court summon a large army back to the division?

"Marshal, are you saying that in addition to the threat of the Tubo people, there are other more important factors in the imperial court's summoning of the army?" Liu Yi asked cautiously.

"What do you say?" Pei Xingjian was a little depressed, "If I say that this edict is mainly the meaning of the queen of heaven, will you still not understand?" ”

"Ahh Liu Yi secretly exclaimed, if this was Wu Zetian's idea, then the meaning would be too unusual.

Wu Zetian must have been afraid that Pei Xingjian would support the army and do something against the sky, so the rebellion in Anbei had just been quelled, and when the other pacification and suppression operations were just about to begin, he urgently called for a large army.

This kind of shape is too short-sighted, the main rebellion has just been quelled, and there are many things to do next, treating the Turks, suppressing and appeasing must go hand in hand, so that this piece of land that has just experienced a rebellion and has had bloody killings can slowly restore peace, Liu Yi originally thought that Pei Xingjian would lead the army to guard this area for a long time, and also discussed many governance issues with Pei Xingjian, but he didn't expect that before everything was implemented, the edict of the imperial court ordering the army to be a division came.

"Dashuai, the major event of counterinsurgency is only half underway, and there are still a lot of things to be done, the last general thinks that Dashuai should go to the court and explain all this situation clearly, presumably His Majesty the Emperor and the Queen of Heaven will understand!" Retreating now, Liu Yi felt a bit anticlimactic.

Hearing Liu Yi say this, Pei Xingjian shook his head slightly, "It's useless, if I go on the table like this, it will make the queen of heaven have more doubts and fears, maybe the next edict will remove me from my post... Let's obey the edict of the imperial court and lead the army! Cui Shangshu will be responsible for the rest of the matter!"

"But, Dashuai, we are now in the class, which is equivalent to leaving a mess, these strong Turks were annihilated, and our army withdrew from the Yinshan area, leaving the guards of several armies back to the area of Shan Yu Duhu Fuzhi, hundreds of miles away from here, this has become a vacuum, it is an ownerless territory, and there will definitely be other tribes to occupy it. In a few years, or even a few years, there will definitely be chaos here again, and then our counterinsurgency operation will lose most of its significance!" Liu Yi was very anxious, "If this situation really happens, what should I do?" Cui Shangshu has never been in charge of military affairs, can he handle everything here? ”

Hearing Liu Yi say this, Pei Xingjian seemed to be a little moved, and after staring at Liu Yi for a while, he still sighed, "Virtuous nephew, what you said is very reasonable, and I also thought of it, but the imperial court sent such an edict, if we don't return to the court, then what awaits us will be a prison sentence, you must know that the imperial court is using the great threat of Tubo to let us teach the class, and order a group of people to support the Qinghai area... When our army was not in charge, Cui Shangshu was entrusted to take charge of Anbei's military affairs!"

"Marshal, then the squad division of my army, the few people and horses left behind can't help but return to the Shan Yu Duhu Mansion and camp in the Yinshan area, can't they?" Liu Yi pointed to the outside of the tent and said, "In the past few days, the last general has taken advantage of hunting, as well as the patrol opportunity of the previous two days, to check the terrain in this area, and found that the vicinity is very suitable for habitants, there are rivers, there is fertile land, you can graze in the fields, build a city to guard, if our army of the Tang Dynasty has a city in the southern foot of Yinshan Mountain, and send troops to guard it, then the area of Monan is completely under the control of my Datang, and the land recovered after this counterinsurgency will always be the territory of my Datang!"

Liu Yi's words moved Pei Xingjian completely, "What the virtuous nephew said is reasonable, the marshal went to the court and asked the remaining troops to guard the line from Yinshan to Daqingshan, and build a city to guard it!" But all this still needs the consent of the imperial court, and our other armies must return to the court!"

Liu Yi still heard the hesitation in Pei Xingjian's words, and he also understood that the commander of the army had a lot of concerns, it was precisely because of Wu Zetian's suspicion of him, Pei Xingjian was also afraid that many things would go against Wu Zetian's will, and he would be impeached and punished after returning to the dynasty.

Seeing Pei Xingjian like this, Liu Yi didn't dare to say anything, "Dashuai, then the general will also make preparations!"

"There you go!" Pei Xingjian waved his hand and motioned for Liu Yi to retreat.

"The last general will retire," Liu Yi gave a salute and strode out of Pei Xingjian's big tent.

"Virtuous nephew, wait a minute!" When Liu Yi stepped out of the tent with one foot, Pei Xingjian called him back again.

"What else does the marshal command?" Liu Yi walked back quickly, and Shi Li asked.

"Many of your ideas, after returning to Beijing to face the saint, you can say it in front of His Majesty the Emperor and the Queen of Heaven, tell them all your thoughts, and the last general will also be on the table, but it is possible, what you say may be more effective than what I say!" Pei Xingjian was a little vague.

"Yes, Dashuai, the last general understands!" Liu Yi understood the meaning of Pei Xingjian's words.

"There you go!" ——

On the second day after the imperial court's edict to ask for a large army class teacher came, Pei Xingjian made a statement and sent it to Luoyang urgently, requesting that a city be built in the area of Yinshan Nuozhenshui and garrisoned by troops.

While Pei Xingjian sent out the recital, he still made the army ready for the class.

Fifteen days after sending a herald to order the sergeant who had set off for the return journey of the army to Mobei, those soldiers who had been wandering around the edge of the desert also dragged their tired steps back to the south of Yinshan, and inexplicably knelt for hundreds of miles, but they were urgently recalled by the sergeant sent by Pei Xingjian.

Pei Xingjian didn't explain too much, but replied to the generals with the edict of the imperial court, and the generals didn't dare to say anything, so they made arrangements and prepared to continue on the way back.

At about the same time, the edict replied by the imperial court was also sent to Pei Xingjian.

To Pei Xingjian's disappointment, his request was unexpectedly rejected, which he did not expect, and the imperial court sent back the edict again, ordering Pei Xingjian to speed the army, and at the same time order the tens of thousands of troops stationed there, retreat to the north of Shan Yu Duhufu to strengthen the existing cities.

For such an order, Pei Xingjian was angry and disappointed, but he did not dare to disobey the order, and immediately ordered almost 180,000 sergeants, that is, the same people and horses as when he set out on the expedition, to set off on the road back to Chang'an.

"Great Marshal, the last general can't understand why the imperial court doesn't even agree to such a proposal!" On the way back, Liu Yi, who was ordered by Pei Xingjian to follow him, couldn't help but ask out loud.

This is a very good proposal, you can advance the location of the city where our army is stationed to the north for nearly five hundred miles, and the actual influence and rule of my Tang Dynasty can include most of the places in Monan, and the place where the rebellion originally occurred is under the influence of our army, but this place is a little farther away from the Shan Yu Protectorate, and it is not very convenient to transport supplies or anything, and it will take a certain amount of time to build the city. But at the time of Zhenguan, a large number of governors were set up in the Mobei area farther away than this, as well as prefectures and counties, and there were also officials and sergeants from the Tang Dynasty who went there, and the imperial court vetoed Pei Xingjian's proposal, which was too much to say.

"A wild land, it's not worth sending a large army to garrison!" Pei Xingjian almost hummed with his nose and hummed this sentence.

Liu Yi was stunned for a moment, but also understood that this was expressed in the will of the imperial court's reply, and Liu Yi could also guess that after Pei Xingjian's recital was delivered to Luoyang, Li Zhi and Wu Zetian must have convened the ministers to discuss and discuss, and it may be that most of the courtiers felt that this place was a desolate and barbaric land, and it was useless to occupy it, so it prompted Emperor Li Zhi and Empress Wu Zetian to make such a decision.

There are really not many far-sighted ministers in the Tang Dynasty, and Liu Yi is a little sad.

It was already mid-April when the army set off from the foot of Yin Mountain, in early summer, because it was necessary to return to Chang'an with a large number of prisoners, the speed of the return journey was far less fast than when the expedition came, and when it reached Yunzhong City, the capital protection office, it was already sixteen days later, it was already the beginning of May, and after the mangs, the weather was also hot.

Except for more than 60,000 people from Li Zhi's 10th Department and Quan's Xiancheng Department, which took the lead and rushed to the Qinghai area, the other armies stopped in the Shan Yu Duhu Mansion to rest.

The consolation envoy sent by the imperial court, Cui Cui Zhiyi, the head of the household department, was already waiting in the Shan Yu Metropolitan Mansion...

(To be continued)