Taking advantage of the fact that the Turkic army was advancing eastward and blockading Zijin Pass and Shengyu Pass with all their might, while the rebels in the western Xinjiang were busy fighting for territory and had no time to take care of the precious opportunity of Metasequoia City, Li Jiangyao and the others began a fierce army rearmament war.

Ma Mu mobilized the young and strong people of the whole city, according to the construction drawings designed by Li Jiangyao, rushed to work day and night, and constantly strengthened the city defense fortifications of Metasequoia City. At the same time, they also built several wooden and stone fortresses on the north and south sides of the city to strengthen the strength of the coordinated defense of the city.

The people who used to live in the tent areas outside the city were all moved into the city and properly resettled in batches. Correspondingly, the people entered the army and went out, except for Lin Feng's rear army, which was still stationed in the city, and the rest of the army moved into the military village outside the city, training soldiers and horses while guarding Metasequoia.

The reorganized Fifth Route Army, in accordance with the training methods that Li Jiangyao brought from the modern world, combined with the professional discipline of the Shengtang Yanwu Hall, began to improve its combat strength on a large scale.

According to his requirements, the soldiers got up every day, put on heavy armor, brought weapons, and were fully armed, carrying a weight of 30 catties, and running ten miles on foot. After reaching the finish line, the people continued to lift stone locks, carry giant logs, and push grinding plates to strengthen everyone's physical fitness level.

And his white-robed Chinese army, the training standard has been directly doubled.

In addition, all white-robed warriors must be proficient in various combat techniques on horseback, especially good at using strong bows and crossbows, and must be able to penetrate the yang in 100 steps.

While carrying out intensive training, Li Jiangyao also personally presided over the work of improving weapons and armor. Metasequoia City was originally an important trading town, and there were many blacksmith workshops in the city, including many famous skilled craftsmen in Western Xinjiang. Under his guidance, hundreds of craftsmen improved the raw materials of long knives, iron spears, and armor, resulting in a significant increase in hardness and toughness. The most exaggerated thing is that Li Jiangyao also ingeniously designed a new arrow, which not only allows the bow and arrow to shoot farther and penetrate, but also has a barb, once the arrow is pierced into the body, and if you want to pull it out, you must tear off a large piece of skin and flesh, which makes the person who is hit by the arrow feel painful.

In the later war to recover the western frontier, the Turks and rebels who had suffered from this arrow gave it a resounding name - "Arrow without Conscience".

In the year 821 of the Holy Tang Dynasty, when the entire ghost desert in Western Xinjiang fell into a huge chaotic situation, a weak force known as the "Metasequoia Garrison" quietly appeared and slowly grew stronger under the watchful eye of strong enemies.

It is like a faint flame, stubbornly holding on to that little bit of light and heat in the raging wind, and when the time comes, it will be obligated to set off a prairie flame.

-

Murong Xue came out of the Xu Mansion, and as soon as he returned to the guard of the forbidden army's tiger and leopard cavalry, he received an order from the East Palace, asking him to go and discuss the matter of the garrison shift next month. Murong Xue hurriedly sorted out her clothes, and while rushing to the East Palace, she was thinking about the scene of chatting with Old Man Xu Lie Xu just now.

The dignified imperial capital, where the imperial car is, I am afraid that there has never been such a complicated situation in front of me in eight hundred years.

Outside, there was the fiasco in Western Xinjiang and the border crisis; There are court battles and hidden dangers of power and ministers. Hundreds of thousands of troops gathered outside the imperial capital, each with its own subordination, and its heart was unpredictable.

As the tiger and leopard rider who guarded the safety of the emperor, all the soldiers of the forbidden army, including Murong Xue, felt an unprecedented pressure.

Just yesterday, the 100,000 Legion of Long Knives finally arrived here. Looking at the flags and swords and guns that covered the clouds, his worry couldn't help but deepen a little again.

"Grandpa Xu, Lu Yaokun of the Ministry of War can be punished!" As a junior, Murong Xue has always been straightforward in front of Old Man Xu Liexu: "I don't know what they think?" The Sixth Army exercise, just send a few battalions to participate, why do you want to make almost the whole army dispatched? Not only that, but they also brought all kinds of siege equipment, trebuchets, crossbows, building carts, and rams, adding up to hundreds! Is this an attack on the imperial capital? ”

"Hmm...... Hmm......" Xu Lie grunted while dozing with his eyes closed, "Go on...... Hmmm......"

Murong Xue sighed helplessly, and then said, "There is also the issue of the deployment of the camp. Originally, it was agreed that the troops participating in the exercise would be stationed in Bashang, close to the exercise ground on the western plateau, so that it would also be convenient for military operations. However, when it came to the front, it was suddenly decided to camp around the imperial capital instead, the reason was to hold a military parade in the holy car, so that His Majesty would not have to suffer from the fatigue of traveling and traveling. The two legions of Xuanjia and Long Knife were spread out in all directions, seemingly intentionally or unintentionally, occupying various key areas outside the city. On the contrary, the main force of your old Qilin Army was left far away in Jiyang City, and only the original Golden Qilin of less than 20,000 was stationed in the imperial capital, which was ......"

"Ahem, ahem...... In case of...... What in case? Ahem......" Xu Lie asked with difficulty.

Murong Xue gritted her teeth: "What if Xie Guang plots against him?" ”

Hearing this, Xu Lie suddenly opened his wrinkled eyelids, stared at Murong Xue, and snorted lightly: "Xie Guang? Does he dare? Ahem...... Will those soldiers outside follow him to attack their emperor? ”

Murong Xue was stunned when she heard this, and didn't answer for a while.

I only heard Xu Lie continue: "My soldier of the Holy Tang, cough cough...... The most important thing is the word 'loyalty'. Traitors and thieves are also the most shameful. cough cough cough ...... Xie Guang? He's not the key ......"

"Xie Guang is not the key? So who is? Murong Xue asked in surprise.

Xu Lie didn't answer him, just pointed outside with his finger, and then closed his eyes again and dozed off.

As Murong Xue walked, she pondered Old Man Xu's actions, and the more she thought about it, the more shocked she became.

In particular, the old man's last gesture of pointing out the window can be understood as letting him leave, or it can be specifically pointed out the so-called "key".

Judging from the location of the Great Commander's Mansion, where is Xu Lie's finger heading?

The nearest one should be the Liang Wang's Mansion opposite the Great Commander's Mansion. The old Liang King Li Jinqi is the uncle of the emperor Li Chengwu, who is nearly ninety years old and has been a carefree prince for a lifetime, he may not be a key figure. And then what? It's the water supervisor. Next to the water supervisor is the yamen of the Ministry of Industry. One street further back from the Ministry of Industry is the Taifu Temple, and behind the Taifu Temple, there is the Imperial Palace.

Palace?

Murong Xue thought carefully about the layout of the palace, and the location of that direction was the East Palace where he was going now.

East Palace!

This question suddenly shocked Murong Xue into a cold sweat.

Li Bing, the crown prince of the Holy Tang Dynasty, who sits in the East Palace, is the orphan of the former emperor Li Chengwen and the nephew of the current emperor Li Chengwu.

Twenty years ago, the first emperor died suddenly, and then the rebellion of the king of Jin broke out, Nian Jinsong, He Jingming and others supported the accession of Li Chengwu, the king of Lu, and made a sacred covenant with him.

Since then, Li Bing has entered the East Palace as the crown prince of the Holy Tang Dynasty and the sole heir to the throne.

Now that the crown prince has passed the age of the weak crown, will he have any secret connection with Xie Guang?

To tell the truth, in the past 20 years of the reign of Li Chengwu, the "top emperor", the governance style of "ruling by inaction" has won the hearts of the people. On the whole, Shengtang can be regarded as smooth and peaceful, so the throne is becoming more and more stable.

Unlike the imperial brother Li Chengwen, who has only one queen, Li Chengwu is gentle and elegant, with a free and easy temperament, in his harem, there are many beauties to the point of overcrowding, and his sons naturally gave birth to a lot. There are as many as 36 princes who have passed the coronation ceremony alone, and 12 of them have been canonized as princes and county kings, with prominent status.

On weekdays, these princes and princes are all full of energy, looking for all kinds of opportunities to show their so-called "imperial talent" of cultural and martial arts everywhere, and Emperor Li Chengwu seems to have a lot of appreciation for his sons, and often encourages them in front of courtiers.

The court has long begun to discuss in private: The sacred covenant made when the emperor succeeded to the throne is still counted? Will the throne of the prince of the East Palace change hands?

Murong Xue thought to herself: Could it be that in the face of the current situation, the crown prince Li Bing couldn't bear it?

Don't say it, Murong Xue guessed really eight or nine.

At this moment, Li Bing, the crown prince of the Holy Tang Dynasty, was planning to end his career as the crown prince ahead of schedule and directly ascend to the throne of the Ninth Five-Year Supreme.

The reason for Li Bing's determination, in addition to the pressure of those cousins and the slightly ambiguous attitude of the imperial uncle Li Chengwu, the most important reason is: Nian Jinsong and He Jingming are dead.

As early as three years ago, that is, in 818 of the Holy Tang Dynasty, Lao Jianhua, who had served in the Reverse Scale Division of the Northern Ya Forbidden Army, and later disappeared, suddenly sent someone to visit the crown prince Li Bing, and matched Xie Guang, the commander of the Xuanjia Army, and proposed that the Xuanjia Army was determined to be loyal to the prince and support Li Bing's idea of succeeding to the throne in advance.

Although Li Bing at that time had already deeply experienced the sense of crisis on the throne, he did not easily agree to Xie Guang and Lao Jianhua's plan.

The reason is very simple, Nian Jinsong is still there, and He Jingming is still there. He firmly believed that the existence of the two giants of the Holy Tang Dynasty was enough to ensure the validity of the sacred covenant, and the foundation of the throne was not fundamentally shaken.

Therefore, as the only legitimate heir to the throne, the crown prince Li Bing really has no reason to take a huge risk and choose the path of rebellion and seizure of power.

Besides, speaking seriously, the emperor's uncle Li Chengwu is still very good to himself, and he takes care of everything very intimately, but the eunuchs and maids in the East Palace are half less than those in his son Prince Rui's mansion; It's just that the idea of going to the six parts to exercise and study by himself was rejected by him, and he let his son Prince Jun go instead; It's just that he fell in love with the princess who came to Goryeo to kiss, but in the end he gave it to his son, King Rivejun.

These things are nothing.

Li Bing comforted himself, I am already the crown prince, why should I bother with my cousins? Why do you have to be embarrassed by the imperial uncle who has always been good to himself?

However, the death of Taifu Nian Jinsong last winter finally began to disturb him.

Just after the seventh year of Nian Jinsong's first seventh, the crown prince Li Bing sent his henchmen to secretly contact Xie Guang and ask if the matter that Shangzhuguo told him before still counts? Unexpectedly, the other party sent a reply letter on the same day: As long as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is willing to ascend to the heights, Weichen Xie Guang should serve as a dog and horse!

To be honest, Li Bing still feels a little unbearable in his heart because he is afraid of heights. As a result, the idea of ascending the throne early was temporarily shelved by him. Li Bing planned to wait and see, after all, Commander He Jingming was still there, and if he concealed his old man's nonsense from Xie Guang, it would make Commander He embarrassed.

But Li Bing didn't expect that it didn't take long for the news of He Jingming's unfortunate murder to reach the imperial capital, the famous general of the Holy Tang Dynasty, the national pillar, the commander of the Fierce Blade Legion and the protector of the Zhenjiang Metropolitan Protector He Jingming, who was ambushed on the way to the front line of Western Xinjiang and unfortunately fell.

As soon as he got the bad news, the crown prince immediately stopped hesitating: let's hurry up and shout, if you don't climb again, I'm afraid you won't be able to climb it.