Time flies quickly, and the day of departure to Chang'an is about to come soon, Li Zhen has already completed the formalities and resigned from the post of internal security general, but his title is still general, just yesterday, Wu Zetian finally issued an order to reward the heroes of the battle of Liaodong, which is a moment that countless people are looking forward to.

Although Li Zhen was not the commander, he captured Sun Wanrong, and his army killed Luo Wuquan, ranking second in the merit book, he was named General Yunlu, given a purple gold fish bag, and his wife Di Shi was also named Mrs. Sipin, and a bounty of 3,000 taels and 5,000 horses of silk.

Li Zhen only accepted the position of General Yunlu, and he transferred all the gold and silk to the families of hundreds of soldiers who died in battle.

In the room, Di Yan was packing up the last things, all their belongings had been packed, only some clothes were left, and the eldest sister Li Quan had rushed to Chang'an seven days ago because she was not worried about business.

Di Yan glanced back at her husband and saw that he seemed a little uneasy, so she bit her lip and asked in a low voice, "Is the husband worried about the second brother?"

Last night they went to meet Di Renjie, Di Renjie made a suggestion, he suggested that Li Zhen take several civil officials to Chang'an, one is Chen Ziang, the other is the second son Di Guangyuan, Di Guangyuan is currently the prime minister's palace Cangcao to participate in the military, in fact, it is an idle position, he hopes that Li Zhen can bring his son.

Of course, this is understandable, with a shrewd and capable brother-in-law by his side, he is also considered one more confidant, Li Zhen readily agreed, but Di Yan was a little uneasy, she didn't know if this arrangement was appropriate, and whether it would be criticized.

Li Zhen put down the book in his hand and said with a smile: "I didn't worry about Guangyuan, because I was going to Chang'an tomorrow to take up my post, and I was a little nervous." ”

Di Yan couldn't help laughing, "You were so embarrassed when you fled Chang'an, but now you are back in a beautiful situation, you should feel proud." ”

Li Zhen slowly stepped forward, hugged her into his arms, kissed her red lips and said with a smile: "It's really a little proud, but thinking of someone snatching my relics from the beginning, wouldn't she have imagined that I have today?"

Di Yan happened to hug his neck, and when she heard this, she pinched him on the neck and said with a smile: "You guy is so thick-skinned, if you don't have me, will you escape to Chang'an?"

"That's too!"

Li Zhen smiled and picked up the crook of her legs, and walked quickly towards the bed, "Then let me repay the kindness of Di Nuxia." ”

Di Yan smiled like silk, stretched out her white and tender fingers and scraped his face twice, "Shame on you......!"

Chang'an since Tang Gaozong moved the capital to Luoyang, then renamed Xijing, Luoyang in Wu Zetian's painstaking management, gradually become the world's most prosperous and spectacular city, Chang'an is like a neglected beauty, although it has deviated from the political center, it is still the second most prosperous city in the world, and even in the scale of the city to pass Luoyang.

The entire Guanzhong area is divided into five or six prefectures and counties, including Yongzhou, Longzhou, Huazhou, and Tongzhou, but the core is in Jingzhao Mansion, and the core of Jingzhao Mansion is Chang'an City.

At present, Jingzhao officialdom is also divided into two systems, military and government, with Jingzhao Yin as the main official, in charge of the two core counties of Chang'an and Wannian, as well as more than 30 surrounding counties such as Gaoling, Lantian and Xianyang.

The army is a little more complicated, but it is roughly divided into two types: local government soldiers and court guards, the local government soldiers directly belong to the military department and obey the orders of the military department, and the court guards are nominally under the jurisdiction of the central twelve guards, but in fact they are ordered to stay in Xijing, and the Xijing guards are directly responsible to the emperor.

The main reason for the Tang Dynasty to move the capital to Luoyang was not entirely to turn over food and materials, but more to get rid of the control of the Guanlong nobles over the imperial court, which is the same reason why Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty moved the capital to Luoyang.

The Li Tang Dynasty received the full support of the Guanlong nobles to replace the Sui Dynasty, and at the beginning the Li royal family and the Guanlong nobles got along well, and the two sides had common interests, and they married each other and supported each other, so that the Tang Dynasty quickly moved towards stability.

But as time passed, the Guanlong nobles' control over the imperial court became deeper and deeper, and the Li royal family gradually became dissatisfied, and the contradictions between the two sides finally exploded, reaching a peak with the eldest grandson Wuji being strictly investigated.

Although the Guanlong nobles were severely attacked by Wu Zetian and restrained a lot, their forces were still deeply rooted in the Guanlong region, and the relationship between them was intertwined, and the entanglement of interests was extremely complicated.

They also continued to influence the situation of the imperial court in their own way, for example, the prime minister Li Dan received the full support of the Wang family, the first giant merchant in Chang'an, and the Wang family spent hundreds of thousands of yuan of wealth every year to support Li Dan, but the Wang family's backstage was the eldest grandson of the Guanlong nobles.

Similarly, the Dugu clan among the Guanlong nobles also fully supported Li Xian, the king of Luling, and the Dugu clan supported Li Xian through the Wei family, the maiden family of Li Xian's wife.

The rest of the major Guanlong aristocratic families, such as the Dou family, the Yuan family, the Yu family, the Zhao family, the Hou Mo Chen family, etc., also secretly supported Li Dan or Li Xian in their own ways.

The Guanlong aristocracy controls the land and wealth of the Guanlong region, is the de facto king of the Guanlong region, and has deep connections in the military.

At night, a large and gorgeous carriage slowly stopped in front of a huge mansion under the escort of a dozen samurai with swords, and out of the carriage came a man about fifty years old, his name was Changsun Yan, the grandson of the eldest grandson of Zhao Guogong Wuji, and the head of the Changsun clan.

Changsun Yan currently does not hold an official position, only one of the rank of the Pillar State, but this does not mean that he has no power, many people supported by the Changsun family hold high-ranking officials in the imperial court or localities, such as Yongzhou Governor Shi Zhao Suinian is the son-in-law of Changsun Yan.

As soon as the eldest grandson Yan stepped out of the carriage, a young man who had been waiting on the steps hurriedly greeted him, his name was Dugu Han, he was the youngest son of Dugu Mingxi, the head of the Dugu family, and he was only in his early twenties, he stepped forward and saluted respectfully, "Nephew see Uncle Shi!"

Eldest Sun Yan smiled slightly, "Is your father here?"

"My father was waiting for Uncle Shi in the study, and my nephew came to greet him. ”

"Okay! ”

Although the Changsun family and the Dugu family have different objects of support, one is the prime minister Li Dan, and the other is the king of Luling, Li Xian, but in the current state, how to regain power from Wu Zetian is their common goal.

Dugu Mansion covers an area of about 100 acres, in fact, the Dugu family has more than a dozen houses in Chang'an and Luoyang, where their clansmen live, and this Dugu Mansion is the mansion of the head of the family, Dugu Mingxi.

Like the eldest grandson, Dugu Mingxi did not hold an official position, and there were also officers of the Zhu Kingdom, both of them were relatives of the emperor, the Dugu family was the mother of the founding emperor Li Yuan, and the eldest grandson family was the wife of Taizong Li Shimin.

They all have a common characteristic, they are rich and rival the country, they control huge financial resources, they are the real chaebols of the Tang Dynasty, the so-called Chang'an rich royal family, but they only earn a little money by relying on the Dugu family.

"Why does Brother Xian have time to come to Brother Foolish's house today?"

In the courtyard, Dugu Mingxi smiled and bowed to the eldest grandson, and the eldest grandson stepped forward and said with a smile: "Brother Dugu said that he was joking, the younger brother was afraid of disturbing his brother's rest, and it was a little trivial today, so he took the liberty to disturb him." ”

The two looked at each other and smiled, both knowing it, Dugu Mingxi waved his hand, "Brother Xian, please come in!"

The two walked into the outer study, sat down the guests, Dugu Mingxi let people serve tea again, the two exchanged a few words, and the eldest grandson Yan said in a low voice: "The saint appointed Li Zhen as the deputy guard of Xijing, my brother should know!"

How could Dugu Mingxi not know, he was the first to know that Li Zhen was recommended by Princess Taiping to take up this position, although Shangguan Wan'er wrote to him in a very vague letter, he still understood that Li Zhen was also a member of the Xingtang Society.

However, he understood the confusion of Changsun Yan, it is said that Li Zhen was originally Shangguan Wan'er's confidant, and later served as the general of the internal guard, made many meritorious achievements, and won the favor of the saints, but it turned out that Princess Taiping recommended him, and Changsun Yan was puzzled which faction Li Zhen belonged to.

Dugu Mingxi took a sip of tea and said with a smile: "Of course I heard, this person is Di Xiangguo's son-in-law, young and promising, just married Yan'er took office with his wife, it can be said that the future is immeasurable, but Zhao Huang's life may be a little sad." ”

The eldest grandson Yan was stunned, "What does my brother mean by this?"

Dugu Mingxi smiled faintly, "Do you remember the case of Wushun a few years ago?"

Eldest Sun Yan pondered for a moment, and finally remembered, he hesitated and asked, "Could it be that this case is related to Li Zhen?"

"It's not related to Li Zhen, or it's his hand, Li Zhen was wanted in the whole Guanzhong at that time, and later Gao Fujun greeted Shangguan Sheren, and he got rid of the suspicion, and the case was closed. ”

The eldest grandson Yan understood what Dugu Mingxi meant, although Wu Shun was Wu Chenghe's fake son, but he still had the Zhao family in the background, after Wu Shun was killed, it was under Zhao Huang's coercion that the Chang'an government went all out to arrest Li Zhen.

But I never thought that the mountains would not turn around, Li Zhenju would turn back, and he was in a high position, Zhao Huang's life was really sad.

At this time, Dugu Mingxi smiled again and said, "Don't hide it from Brother Xian, this afternoon, Zhao Huang has already come to look for me." ”

Dugu Mingxi is the leader of the Guanlong Group, and it is normal for Zhao Huang to come to him, and Changsun Yan hurriedly asked, "What do you say?"

"He asked me how to make up for the fault of Wushun, I could see that he was also worried, I told him that there is no need to worry, judging from Li Zhen's actions, he is not a person who holds grudges, but it is necessary to make amends, I let him take care of it himself, I reminded him that Li Zhen also has an eldest sister who does business in Chang'an. ”

The eldest grandson Yan didn't say anything for a long time, he heard Dugu Mingxi's voice, Dugu Mingxi had already figured out the details of Li Zhen, and even knew what he did and his character of not holding grudges.

Even his eldest sister knew that she was doing business in Chang'an, but she didn't know anything, in comparison, Dugu Mingxi was a person with a heart, and she was too far behind him.

Eldest Sun Yan was depressed in his heart, and only said after a while: "Actually, I came to my brother today to discuss, should we hold a banquet for Li Zhen to wash the dust, what does my brother mean?"

Dugu Mingxi shook his head, "Although we have this heart, I know that he will not accept it." ”

"Why?"

"Haven't you thought about it? There are also people in the court who are staring at him, if the nobles of Guanlong invite him, what will the saint think if he knows about it? So he will definitely not agree, he will come in a low-key manner, and he should arrive in Chang'an tomorrow. ”

．．．．．．

The eldest grandson Yan said goodbye and left, Dugu Mingxi looked at his carriage and walked away, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but show a sneer, although the Guanlong nobles were regarded as one by others, but in fact, they each had their own interests, how could the interests of his Dugu family be shared by others?