After the departure of the army of the Jinshan Road marching department, Chang'an City temporarily calmed down, except for the relevant officials of the various departments who were still doing follow-up busy for the expeditionary army, most of the other people no longer needed to worry about the affairs of the army, and the only thing that some people still remembered about this war was that they expected the news of our army's victory and the Turkic rebellion being quelled from Anxi.

Liu Yi was very concerned about the progress of the war at the front, as a senior official of the Ministry of War, he had the right to have access to any war report from the front, which also made him familiar with the war situation in the Anxi area, and when Wu Zetian and Li Xian summoned him, he had many opinions on the progress of the war that were different from ordinary people, judging the next action plan of our army, and some unique insights were recognized and appreciated by most people.

As the crown prince of the state, Li Xian, who was in charge of the state, also showed unusual concern for this war, and since the army set out, he often inquired about where the men and horses of the various departments were marching and what the latest situation in Anxi came, and after the news came from the king of Anxi, he immediately summoned the officials of the military department and some other ministers who understood military affairs, such as Pei Xingjian, Liu Renliang, Liu Yi, Cheng Wuting and other generals, to discuss relevant matters.

The weather is already a little hot, although Emperor Li Zhi has recovered when the weather is warmer, and he can get up and move his body, but after the summer, the weather gets hotter, and his physical condition is worse again, lying on the bed all day, unable to get up, Wu Zetian basically accompanies Li Zhi all the time, personally takes care of Li Zhi's treatment and care, and asks less about court affairs, and Li Xian, the prince of the prison country, takes responsibility for the handling of most of the court affairs, which also makes Li Xian feel that the burden on his shoulders is very heavy, and he doesn't dare to be sloppy in doing anything. The army went on an expedition and did not dare to let it go.

Because of the tense situation in Anxi, after the troops led by Li Zhishi assembled in Shanzhou, they did not wait for the 50,000 horses led by Tang Xiujing who set off from Chang'an, but advanced Tang Xiujing's troops, and the two men and horses went to the northwest one after the other.

Wang Fangyi of Anxi constantly sent military reports, reporting the situation in Anxi to the imperial court, because the number of troops in Anxi was insufficient, and the war was still a little tense, and my Datang did not have too much strength to take the initiative to attack, but lived in Xizhou, Tingzhou, Broken Leaves, Gongyue City and other large cities to defend against the attacks of the Turkic rebels, and during the march of the army to the northwest, it has repelled the siege of the Turkic rebels several times. Another gratifying news is that after receiving that my Datang general sent nearly 100,000 horses into Anxi to quell the rebellion, some tribes that were originally wavering did not follow the rebellion of the ten Turkic surnames led by Ashina Chebo, and some tribes also went to these cities where our Datang army was stationed to ask for orders, and were willing to work with my Datang army to attack the rebellious Turks.

These people, including Li Xian, Pei Xingjian, and Liu Yi, are most worried that before our expeditionary force arrives in Anxi, the defenders in our Anxi will be defeated by the Turkic rebels, the city will be captured by the Turks, and the personnel will be wiped out by the Turks.

By the middle of May, the war in Anxi was in a state of strangulation, and the fierce offensive of the Turkic rebels began to subside, and at this time, the first step of Li Zhi's ten divisions had arrived in the area of Yizhou, entered the edge of the Anxi Protectorate, and immediately arrived in Xizhou and Tingzhou, and heard that our army would reach Anxi, and more small tribes came to attach, and the situation was further developing in the direction of our favor, but Xizhou and Tingzhou were still nearly a thousand miles away from the Anxi Protectorate Broken Leaf City, where the men and horses led by Wang Fangyi lived. It will take at least twenty days to arrive, and the situation in Anxi cannot be said to be risk-free, and Li Xian also personally signed several orders and sent them to the expeditionary army, ordering them to further speed up their march and strive to reach Gongyue City and Broken Leaf City as soon as possible, so as to solve the critical situation in that area.

Li Xian also went to the Penglai Hall where Li Zhi lived every day to visit Li Zhi, and reported the affairs of the court and the war in the Anxi area to Wu Zetian, Wu Zetian only listened to Li Xian's report most of the time, and did not express his opinions, and the mother and son maintained a superficial harmony in front of the seriously ill Li Zhi, but in fact, the open and secret struggle between the two forces was still very fierce.

The intensity Liu Yi could feel that during this time, Wu Zetian often summoned people including Wu Sansi, Pei Yan, Wei Xuantong, Cen Changqian, Qiu Shenxian, Liu Yi, and Cheng Wuting who were cited as cronies to discuss affairs.

Liu Yi also received reports from Li Jingjia and Hua Dazhi, who were appointed as the generals of the Jinwu Guard Inspection School, saying that Wu Zetian also summoned them from time to time at these times and showed them special favor.

When Li Jingjia and Hua Dazhi returned to Beijing to take up their posts, Liu Yi greeted them ten miles out of the city when they arrived in Chang'an, and set up a banquet to wash the dust of the sea for them, which made the two generals who were able to return to Beijing because of Liu Yi's recommendation even more moved, and expressed their respect for Liu Yi again when Liu Yi invited them to drink, saying that no matter when, as long as Liu Yi has orders, they will listen to Liu Yi's orders.

Liu Yi also placed several liaison personnel around Li Jingjia and Hua Dazhi, and passed on information at any time if there was any situation.

The crown prince Li Xian also often convened more trustworthy ministers to discuss matters on the grounds of discussing court affairs, and Li Xian also showed unusual trust in Liu Yi, telling Liu Yi about some disputes between him and Wu Zetian, which gave Liu Yi a further understanding of the extent of the struggle between Wu Zetian and Li Xian.

Several secret people placed by Liu Yi in the palace also often have news coming out, passing on what they heard to Liu Yi, and these news also confirmed Liu Yi's judgment, the calm on the surface still can't hide the hidden waves.

Liu Yi also preliminarily checked out the people they had brought to their cronies from what Wu Zetian and Li Xian had done, and the people they had gathered.

Under Liu Yi's persuasion, Princess Taiping has not asked to leave Daming Palace since she entered the palace, and has been living in the Lijing Palace.

According to Liu Yi's comprehensive judgment, if it weren't for Li Zhi's serious illness now, coupled with our army's expedition to Anxi, it is likely that Li Xian's current crown prince will be threatened, or there will be variables, but because of these major circumstances, Li Xian, who is in charge of the country, can justifiably take charge of the affairs of the court, although many things still have to be requested from Wu Zetian, but most of the ministers in the court still have to be reported to Li Xian first, so that there is such a situation: Li Xian is powerless to Wu Zetian, Today's Wu Zetian also has a feeling that Li Xian is a little difficult to control.

Liu Yi is very pleased with such a situation, but such a situation is full of unknowns, no one knows which way things will develop, and there is no history to refer to the ending-

At the beginning of July, news came from Anxi that the army led by Li Zhishi and Tang Xiujing had entered Anxi one after another, and Li Zhishi's troops had arrived in Broken Leaf City and joined forces with Wang Fangyi. Due to the arrival of our delayed army, the morale of the Anxi army was great, and the two coalition forces together defeated nearly 50,000 rebels led by the Turkic leader Ashina Yanmian, killing more than 5,000 enemies and capturing nearly 20,000 people. The latter arrived Tang Xiujing's department, and its general Zhang Qianqiao led a rapid attack force of more than 10,000 people, and quickly attacked Ashina Che Bo who was preparing to besiege Gongyue City in the way of two horses, and severely damaged Ashina Che Bo, and the Tang defenders in Gongyue City also took the opportunity to rush and kill, and Ashina Che Bo led more than 20,000 remnants to flee in the direction of Atami in the west; Yang Yuanyan led more than 8,000 light cavalry to attack another Turkic leader, Ashina Yingzhenbu, and also inflicted heavy losses on this Turkic rebel, several rebels fled to the direction of Atami, and the men and horses of our expeditionary force united those servant tribes and concentrated their forces to suppress the remnants of the Turkic rebels in Qing.

Our army of nearly 100,000 people and more than 100,000 men and horses of various servant tribes, totaling about 200,000 people, gathered near Atami (Issyk-Kul Lake in the present-day Kyrgyz Republic, and the then Anxi Prefecture Protectorate Castle was hundreds of miles northwest of this lake), ready to strike the final blow against the Turkic rebels.

The news of our army's great victory came from Anxi one after another, which made the ministers of the court very happy, and also made the prince Li Xian very proud, and Li Xian and the ministers were also beaming with joy when discussing the matter, they were all guessing that according to the progress of such a war, this campaign of counterinsurgency should be over soon, according to the speed of the military report, the general report from Anxi to Chang'an, the fastest will be about 20 days, from the time point of view, now my Tang expeditionary force has almost fought the final fierce battle with the Turkic rebels, Presumably, in a few days, news of the subsidence of the Turkic rebellion will come.

But at this time, Emperor Li Zhi's condition further aggravated, according to the news that Liu Yi found, Li Zhi's condition has almost entered a dying state, during this time, Li Zhi often has a long coma, Wu Zetian is an inch by Li Zhi's side, at this time Wu Zetian also prevented others, including the crown prince Li Xian, from entering the Penglai Palace to visit Li Zhi, so when the prince Li Xian's condition worsened, there was no more opportunity to see his father, but Wu Zetian was blocked, Princess Taiping wanted to visit Li Zhi several times, was also stopped by Wu Zetian on the grounds that Princess Taiping was pregnant.

The other important ministers in the court were also concerned about Li Zhi's condition, but few of them were able to enter their emperor.

Fortunately, Liu Yi was able to roughly judge Li Zhi's condition through his own means, as well as some information provided by Shangguan Wan'er, and he also quietly told Pei Xingjian about Li Zhi's condition, and then told Li Xian through Pei Xingjian... The situation in the Daming Palace is very delicate...

(To be continued)