Chapter 186: Take every step

The winter sun is particularly warm, and the windows of the room are wide open. Li Qing faces the window and looks at the distant mountains like darkness. White clouds float slowly above his head, at a very slow speed, as if he is experiencing the joy of the New Year in the city.

On the table behind him were two rolls of paper of the same size, rolled loosely into two balls, pressed by paperweights. One was Li Longji's secret decree, asking him to hand over the military power of Longyou to Dong Yanguang immediately; the other was the prince's secret letter, so that he could persevere until Huangfu Weiming's return no matter what.

The conflicts between the two interest groups gathered here. Gao Zhandao could get out of his way without taking away any burden, but what about him? Can he leave? The safety of the family, the rewards of bloody battles between the soldiers of the Doulu Army, and the Anshi Rebellion were like mountains from small to large, pressing heavily on him. He wanted to close his eyes, but the two secret letters were engraved in his mind without missing a word, making him unable to erase them. He had to make a choice, with a clear stand and not ambiguous.

If he didn't know history, he would tear off the prince's secret letter without hesitation, but his pain lies in his knowledge of what will happen in ten years, whether the train of history will continue on the same path, or whether it is because of his arrival, a gear that deviates from the original track.

The history of Nanzhao has been changed. Is it just a fork or is it a train of history not stopping on the scheduled platform? He just knows history a little bit, and this is his second pain. He does not know the details of history.

When a person cannot make a correct judgment on the dilemma of life opposite him, the best way is not to catch one casually with his eyes closed, but to wait, just like a train slowly driving out of the culvert, looking at its front, you cannot tell whether it is carrying people or cargo, where its end and origin are, and when its full picture comes out, you will understand everything.

As long as you learn to wait patiently, you will know your choices, and in fact you don’t need to know history.

Li Qing turned around silently and put away the two secret letters one by one. He took out another piece of white paper and sat at the table to write a letter to his relatives far away:

"Liang'er, I may not be able to come back for the New Year, there are too many things to deal with here that need me to deal with.

I have already thought about my daughter's name. I remember two lines of poetry: "There is only the spring moon in the garden, but it is still the fallen flowers when she is born.' Since the moonlight is bright when she was born, let's call her Li Tingyue! The nickname is "Gao Gao", which is my nickname when I was young.

After the New Year, I will go to Chang'an to report my work, and then I will go back to Shazhou directly. If I am not at home, everything depends on you.

I greeted Xiaoyu on my behalf, kissed our Gaojiao on my behalf, and took good care of Jingyan.

Husband Li Qing

December 28, 4th year of Tianbao”

After writing, Li Qing read it twice, added New Year's greetings, then dried the ink, stuffed it into an envelope and put it on fire, and told the two personal soldiers to send it back to Shazhou.

But at dusk, the answer Li Qing was waiting for had already arrived. When five hundred light cavalry escorted the new deputy envoy of Longyou Jiedu and the eunuch Bian Lingcheng appeared in front of the steps of the official office, the deputy envoy of Longyou Jiedu, who was acting as the deputy envoy of Longyou Jiedu, ended.

When he heard that Dong Yanguang had arrived, Li Qing led a group of civilian officials such as Liu Cao to greet him with a smile. He quickly walked down the steps, but suddenly found that Bian Lingcheng was also there, and felt a little wrong in his heart.

Bian Lingcheng urged him to step forward, held the gold medal high, and said in a long voice: "Talking to the emperor and saying, Li Qing receives the order!"

Li Qing hurriedly knelt down, and a group of civil servants behind him also knelt down and crushed them.

"My minister Li Qingjing listened to His Majesty the Emperor."

"Shazhou Governor Li Qing immediately took the post of acting as Deputy Envoy of Longyou Jiedu, and returned to Beijing to report his duties immediately without delay. General Dong Yanguang is the position of Deputy Envoy of Longyou Jiedu. I will be the post of Deputy Envoy of Longyou Jiedu. I will be the post of Deputy Envoy of Longyou Jiedu. I will do this!"

"My minister Li Qing received the order!"

The next group of civil servants looked at each other, and they didn't know what was going on. Li Qing was dismissed just five days after being the deputy envoy of Longyou Jiedu. In this way, there is still any need for appointment. Just wait for Dong Yanguang to take office.

Li Qing's heart was like Mingjing. He appointed him only because Li Longji wanted to relieve Huangfu Weiming to go to the capital. Now that his goal has been achieved, he has no need to stay in Shanzhou. He sneered in his heart and broke the bridge after crossing the river, which means that Li Longji did not believe in him at all, otherwise why should he send a Dong Yanguang?

A trace of loss and bleakness flashed in Li Qing's eyes, but his face was not revealed at all. He only bowed to Dong Yanguang, and smiled faintly: "Congratulations to General Dong!"

Dong Yanguang snorted, not to congratulate Li Qing. He is about forty years old, with a slender figure, thin and slim bones, gray face, tall cheekbones, and two crab eyes bulging outwards, and they are very far apart, and they are tilted upwards, looking down at Li Qing from the horse with a contempt and arrogant look.

"Governor Li, since the emperor officially appointed me as the deputy envoy of Longyou, your term will be over. I will give you an hour and ask you to pack up your belongings. I don't want the government officials to have two deputy envoys tonight."

Dong Yanguang's rudeness suddenly attracted a buzzing sound.

Li Qing was also annoyed by his arrogance, but he suppressed his anger and said to Dong Yanguang: "General Dong, I have no objection to you to take over me, but I have not handled the handover with you yet. You are not the deputy envoy of the Jiedushi. Besides, even if we do the handover now, I have no residence in Shanzhou. If you ask me to move out of the bureau overnight, where can I live? It is unreasonable to reason, so I hope General Dong will consider it clearly."

"consider?"

Dong Yanguang sneered for a while and said, "Didn't you hear the emperor's words clearly? Immediately remove your position, which means you are no longer the deputy governor of the army, but you are dismissed! Do you still need to transfer it? As for your residence, you might as well stay in the inn."

"What!"

Li Qing took a step forward, pressed his hand on the hilt of the sword, staring at Dong Yanguang, "If you are surnamed Dong, don't bully people too much!"

Seeing Li Qing angry, Bian Lingcheng quickly came over to persuade Li Qing away, pulled him aside, and whispered: "Governor Li, don't be dissatisfied with this matter, let alone act recklessly. Dong Yanguang has 20,000 troops 30 miles outside the city. If you have a breakup, it may be bad for you. Besides, the emperor naturally has his deep meaning. You might as well live with me tonight, and we will go back to Chang'an together tomorrow."

Li Qing vomited a long period of stuffy breath in his chest and whispered to Bian Lingcheng: "I understand what Your Majesty means, but I have not done the things he has given me yet. I am worried that if this person doesn't handle it well, it will ruin His Majesty's major affairs."

Li Qing refers to the matter of purge Huangfu Weiming's confidant. He had no time to do it. This matter was extremely sensitive and very difficult, and he needed to be handled with caution. If it was not properly done, it would lead to a mutiny.

Bian Lingcheng pondered for a moment, then looked back at Dong Yanguang who was giving lectures to civil servants. He also secretly despised him in his heart, but he was responsible and could not be biased towards Li Qing. He said, "Although I don't know what it is, judging from the emperor's careful style of playing chess, I'm afraid the emperor has already considered it, so General Li doesn't have to think about it anymore. He will go back to Chang'an with me tomorrow."

Li Qing sighed in his heart. Li Longji was indeed thinking too carefully. His army was far away in Shazhou. Huangfu Weiming left another move when he left, and did not give the military power of the Longyou Army to himself. In these battles, he became the weakest link. Therefore, Li Longji sent Dong Yanguang to seize power so quickly, which actually included the possibility of being on guard against his reversal of the prince.

"Well, let's take a short rest of the burden. Let's talk about it after returning to Beijing. Besides, if I don't go to Beijing for a day, I guess I won't be able to get the rewards from the soldiers of Doulu Army."

Thinking of this, Li Qing ordered his personal soldiers beside him and said, "Go and pack all my things and give them the office to Deputy Envoy Dong."

He ignored Dong Yanguang, turned around and left.

In Xingqing Palace in Chang'an, Li Longji set up a political affairs hall here. Except for the monthly dynasty held in the Hanyuan Hall or Xuanzheng Hall of the Daming Palace, the rest of the daily political affairs are handled here. The place is small and the court cannot be set up. Only the heads of major departments such as prime ministers, ministers, ministers, and ministers come here to discuss, "From now on, the king will not cede early," which refers to this.

Li Longji's imperial study room was also moved to Xingqing Palace. At this moment, the Emperor of Tang was sitting behind the imperial case and listening to the report of Huangfu Weiming, the governor of the two towns who had just arrived from Longyou. The report itself was very simple, but it required a lot of copywriting work in advance to summarize the population, taxes, people's livelihood and other political achievements under the rule of the year, first hand it over, and then answer some questions from His Majesty the Emperor. Every year, envoys sent by the emperor to various places, such as the governor, the army envoy, the observation envoy, the supervision envoy, and the kings of various countries in various places, all come to Beijing to report their duties. Like a lantern, you sing and I will come to the stage. This is actually more of a gesture, and the symbolic significance is greater than the actual significance.

", Your Majesty, in this battle of Longyou, the Tubo people came in full force. Our army avoided its edge, lured it into the hinterland and cut off its retreat. It turned defeat into victory in one fell swoop, killed nearly 10,000 enemies, captured more than 3,200 people, seized countless war horses and armor. I took this opportunity to report my duties and offered prisoners to the emperor."

Huangfu Weiming was the military and political governor, and his report was more important than military affairs. Especially the battle between Tang and Tibet a month ago, which was the focus of his report. He had been telling it for nearly half an hour and explained the detailed process of the Battle of Longyou. Of course, the credit for repelling the Tubo army and forcing the Tubo people to seek peace was his, and Li Qing's Doulu army acted without his consent. Ignore this. Even if Li Qing occupied Shibao City, it was the result of his bloody battle and transferring the enemy. Li Qing just picked up a ready-made advantage. Therefore, when Li Qing asked him to seek rewards for Doulu army, he was just perfunctory. In fact, it was impossible. If all the credits belonged to Doulu army, then what was he? Chu Zhilian died in battle and injured nearly 20,000 people. How could he cover it up?

Li Longji smiled with a smile. He never said a word and listened quietly to Huangfu Weiming's statement. After he finished speaking, he turned to Chen Xilie, the left prime minister who was listening to the report together, and said: "Crime Chen, you are in charge of the Ministry of War. What suggestions do you have for this battle in Longyou?"

Although Chen Xilie was in charge of the Ministry of War, he asked Li Linfu for advice in everything, and had no opinion at all. After a long time, he developed the habit of asking less questions and pretending to be confused. Therefore, he directly asked the Ministry of War to report to Li Linfu in this battle in Longyou, but he knew it but was unknown. He only heard that Li Qing killed Tubo Zanpu and captured Shibao City. The official documents and the battle report were also full of praises. The details and things that were not suitable for the table were even more confused. He was also at the scene of this report. If there was anything, Li Linfu would naturally come forward, and he would not need to participate in the relationship.

But Li Longji asked him, instead of Li Linfu beside him. Chen Xilie was nervous and dared not speak out. He first observed his face and saw that the emperor was very happy. When Li Linfu stroked his beard and smiled, he felt a sense of confidence. He bowed slightly and replied: "Your Majesty, I think that soldiers are nothing more than clear rewards and punishments. Those who have military achievements should be rewarded heavily, and those who commit crimes should be punished heavily, and even beheaded; the soldiers of Longyou defeated Tubo and deserved a lot of rewards."

After pausing for a moment, he saw that the two of them were still smiling, and then said slowly: "But the governor of Shazhou Li Qing killed Tubo Zanpu without authorization. The impact was extremely bad. Now the Tubo envoy has come to Chang'an to question the crime. Such a bold and arbitrary act should indeed be punished heavily. I think Li Qing is not competent to be the governor of Shazhou and should be dismissed!"

Although this sentence was re-talked by the old tune, it was said at this time, and the room was quiet. After a while, Li Longji asked Li Linfu: "What does Li Xiangguo mean?"

Li Linfu pondered for a moment and said, "Although Li Qing killed Tubo Zanpu without authorization, he made contributions to seizing Shibao City, but his merits and demerits were settled and he would not be investigated. However, the soldiers of Doulu Army made contributions to the attacks of thousands of miles and should be rewarded with the soldiers of Longyou."

"Your Majesty, I think it is inappropriate!" Huangfu Weiming said in a deep voice: "As the army under the Hexi Jiedushi, the Doulu army should obey the overall command and be unified institution. However, their operation was to send troops privately and not inform me in advance. They even killed Tubo Zanpu without authorization, resulting in a resentful attack on the Tubo military rank, causing heavy casualties in our former army. Moreover, they peeked at the side but did not come to rescue them. Their capture of Shibao City was also standing on the corpses of countless soldiers in Longyou. If such behaviors were to be commended, it would inevitably encourage other troops to disobey the command and do all without authorization. The emperor, I agree with the words of Prime Minister Chen and should be severely punished. However, he is now acting on Longyou's military affairs and can be dealt with after I go back."

Logically, Li Qing was a princeling, and Huangfu Weiming should highly recommend it, but now it seems that he has been defeated. He strongly derogatory to Li Qing. On the contrary, Li Linfu spoke for Li Qing, which seems a bit funny, but this is human nature. Huangfu Weiming must shirk the responsibility of Zhu Zhilian's death in battle. He does not allow anyone in the princeling who threatens his status to appear. It is also for this reason that he and Wang Zhongsi are in a relationship. As for the prince's plan, he knows that tomorrow is the New Year. Even if Li Longji really wants to dismiss Li Qing, it will be half a month later. At that time, the great things have been fulfilled.

However, Li Linfu did the opposite and used his strength to fight. In this way, there would inevitably be differences within the princely party, and once the prince fell, the princely party would fall apart.

At this time, Li Longji spoke, and he said lightly: "I have considered this matter. Let's talk about it after the New Year. Huangfu has made contributions to the country and must be rewarded. Huangfu Weiming will be granted!"

Huangfu Weiming stood up and knelt on the ground, "I'm here!"
Chapter completed!