Chapter 117: Mysterious invitation to meet

In the imperial study room of Xingqing Palace, Li Longji was reviewing the memorial. He took a memorial and read it. This was the final decision of the three departments of the Yangzhou salt case, Liu Changyun, the transferee of Jianghuai Capital, participated in the trial of the three departments of the Yangzhou salt case. Li Longji couldn't help but frowned and asked Gao Lishi: "Don't I remember that the case was settled two months ago? Why is there a conclusion now?"

Gao Lishi hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, because Du Bosheng committed suicide fearlessly on his way to Beijing, Liu Changyun refused to plead guilty. The Censor went to Yangzhou to collect evidence, so he wasted time."

"What about now?"

"The evidence is conclusive now. Liu Changyun has indeed given the salt lord Du Bosheng a lot of convenience, which has caused heavy losses to the court's salt tax. The three departments will try it. Liu Changyun should be executed if he is guilty and his property will be confiscated to deduct taxes."

Li Longji pondered for a moment and asked again: "Then did he say anything he shouldn't say?"

"Your Majesty, please rest assured. The three departments will only look at evidence when they are tried, and will not listen to the words of being the person who is accused of being punished."

"Okay then! The case will be settled soon."

Li Longji wrote a pen and approved the word "accurate" on the conviction letter of the meeting, and handed it to Gao Lishi: "Immediately return it to the Secretariat, I don't want to listen to this matter again."

Gao Lishi took the memorial and hurried out of the imperial study room and handed it to an eunuch and said, "Take it to Li Xiangguo quickly, and His Majesty ordered him to implement it immediately."

The eunuch took the memorial and Gao Lishi was about to turn around, but he saw an eunuch running over and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Gao Weng, Brother Longyou Shuhan has arrived, and I'm waiting outside the palace to see Your Majesty."

"I got it, let him wait."

Gao Lishi walked back to the imperial study and said to Li Longji: "Your Majesty, Ge Shuhan is here."

Li Longji stopped writing and nodded and said, "Call him to meet him immediately!"

A eunuch went to Xuange Shuhan to enter the palace. Li Longji had no intention of reviewing the memorials again. He slowly walked to the map of Helong area on the wall and stared at him for a long time.

The Li family of the Tang Dynasty started in Guanlong and established its capital in Chang'an. To the west was Longyou, which was close to the powerful enemy Tubo. Therefore, since the decline and division of the Turks, Tubo has become the number one enemy of the Tang Dynasty. Tubo is strong, and the whole country is full of troops. He repeatedly invaded the Tang territory and plundered people and food. In particular, Tubo occupied the Jiuqu area of ​​Hexi as a logistics base, and continued to plunder the Helong area, seriously threatening the Guanzhong area. The Tang Dynasty was on a strategic defensive.

After Li Longji ascended the throne, he immediately started to counterattack Tubo. In the autumn of the second year of Kaiyuan, Tubo generals Di Dayan, Qili Xu and others led more than 100,000 troops to attack Lintao, Lanzhou, Weizhou and other places in Tang. The Tang Dynasty sent Longyou defense envoy Xue Ne and Taipu Shaoqing Wang Shi to lead troops to counterattack. In October, the Tang army launched an attack with a night attack and defeated Tubo in Wujie.

After years of war, the Tang Dynasty gradually consolidated its defense in the Helong area. Since the 17th year of Kaiyuan, the Tang army began to move into a strategic offensive.

In the offensive and defensive battles between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo, the three lines of the east and south advance were advanced together, and the Helong area on the east and Jiannan area on the south.

But the first thing to break the deadlock was the Anxi area on the Western Front. Last year, the Tang army marched thousands of miles of plateau, and won Xiaobolu with blitzkrieg, achieving a major strategic victory on the Western Front. The great victory on the Western Front greatly boosted the morale of the Tang Dynasty, causing the Helong Battle, which had been delayed for a long time, to gradually surface.

Li Longji took a pen and circled heavily on a mountain ridge west of Shanzhou, and then pointed it in the circle. This was Chiling, as if a giant was lying across the west of Shanzhou. The mountains were steep and steep. It became the strategic dividing point between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo. The Tubo people jumped over the high mountain and looked down at the Helong area. It was this Chiling that made Tubo have always had a strategic advantage for decades. When retreating, they defended the steep mountains and swept down when attacking.

There is only one dead end on Chiling, and the center point of the circle drawn by Li Longji on the map is the top of this dead end, Shibao City.

Shibao City seemed like a pile nailed to the heart of the Tang Dynasty. It has made the soldiers and civilians of Helong sleepless for decades, and it is like a mirror that reflects the rise and fall of Helong for decades. In the 17th year of Kaiyuan, Li Yi, the governor of Tang Shuofang, led his army to attack from a long distance and captured Shibao City in one fell swoop, causing Tubo to lose its strategic advantage. The Tang army divided its troops to defend various important locations and expanded its territory for more than 1,000 miles. In the 25th year of Kaiyuan, Cui Xiyi, the governor of Hexi, used Shibao City as a supporter, and attacked Tubo deeply into the west. The Tang army went deep into Tubo to the west to Qinghai and defeated the Tubo army. The following year, the Tang general Du Ying successively captured the Xincheng, Heqiao and other places in Tubo, making the Tang Dynasty gain a strategic advantage in the Helong area.

Unfortunately, in the 29th year of Kaiyuan, Tubo mobilized the whole country's strength, and Tubo Zanpu personally went to the front line to boost morale. The Tubo army once again captured Shibao City, causing the Tang army's decades of efforts to silence overnight.

Shibao City also became a nightmare for Li Longji.

Xiao Bolu's victory ignited ambition in Li Longji's heart again. At this time, Geshuhan's voice came from behind him: "My minister Geshuhan meets His Majesty, I wish His Majesty a long live His Majesty!"

Li Longji used a pen to make a heavy fork in Shibao City, turned around and said resolutely: "No matter how much the price is, you must regain Shibao City. What is the price, you can do it?"

"I will definitely do it!"

In the afternoon, Li Qing'an rode his horse to Xishi. He did not enter the gate of Xishi, but walked into an alley next to Xishi. He opened a note and looked, and continued to walk deep into the alley. This alley is called Xiling Lane, which is where the Hu people in the west of Lingxi. At the end of the alley is a three-story Hu people's wine shop. Because the alley is very deep, ordinary drinkers will not come here, and they are usually old customers.

Li Qing'an walked to the door, and he looked at the banner, which had three words written on it: 'Rehaiju.'

Early this morning, someone sent him a letter with only one line of words: Xilingxiang Rehai Jijiu Shop Sui Yecheng Shenshi.

There was no signature, no reason, just such a bare sentence, Li Qingan thought about it and decided to come.

It was Shenshi at this time. Lunch had passed and dinner had not arrived. The restaurant was empty and there was no guest. As soon as he walked to the door, two beautiful beards ran out of the restaurant, smiling like a flower, saying, "Customer, please enter the inner room to drink."

Li Qing'an handed the horse to the servants and followed them into the restaurant. A Hu Ji asked again: "It seems that this is the first time the guest is here! What kind of room do you like?"

"I made an appointment with my friend in the city of Thunder Leaf."

"Customers please follow me upstairs!"

Ruiye City is the name of an elegant room. It is located on the third floor of the tavern. It is the most luxurious elegant room in this tavern. It consists of two inside and outside rooms. Two hu Ji stood at the door. When he saw Li Qing'an coming up, he immediately smiled and said, "Customer, I'm sorry, there are already people in this room."

"I made an appointment with the person inside."

"Then please come in!"

Li Qingan walked into the room, but was slightly stunned. There were eight burly men standing here, each with strong physique and agile figure. One of them glanced at him, knocked on the door of the inner room, and whispered: "Your Highness, he is here!"

The door opened, and a man in his forties walked out of it. His face was pale and his beardless, holding a whisk in his hand. He looked at Li Qing'an and laughed sharply: "It's really General Li is here. It's very punctual. Li Jingzhong is here, he is an eunuch in the Eastern Palace."

Li Qingan suddenly understood who was going to see him, and he bowed and said, "I came as promised."

"We know that we just want to offend General Li according to the rules. Please don't blame General Li!"

He waved his whisk and immediately came up to search Li Qing'an's body. He searched very carefully, and even the soles of his hair and boots were not spared. The man put his crossbow, horizontal knife, and some gold and silver on a plate, and then nodded to Li Jingzhong.

Li Jingzhong smiled and said, "General Li, please come in!"

Li Qingan walked into the inner room. Most of the curtains in the inner room were pulled up, which looked dark and the furnishings were very simple. There was only a small table and two seat cushions. A man stood in front of the window with his hands behind his back and stared outward from a corner of the curtain.

Judging from the back, the man was thin and looked a little tired.

Li Jingzhong stepped forward and whispered: "Your Highness, he is here."

The man turned around, with a pale face and slender eyes that looked very much like Li Longji, which was the current crown prince Li Heng.

Li Heng looked at Li Qing'an and smiled slightly: "Does General Li know me?"

Li Qing'an hurriedly stepped forward, knelt down on one knee, saluted and said, "My minister Li Qing'an meets the prince Qiansheng!"

"General Li has a good memory. We met once in Hanyuan Palace last time."

Li Heng waved his hand and smiled, "This is not the Eastern Palace, don't worry about so many rules, just sit there!"

Li Qing'an sat down face to face. Li Jingzhong next to him put a cup of tea for Li Qing, but poured Li Heng a cup of white water.

Li Heng smiled and said, "I am in poor health. The imperial doctor said it is not advisable to drink too much tea, so I have always drunk white water. General Li, please feel free to do it."

"Your Highness feels much better than what you saw in Hanyuan Palace last time."

"That's right. I've been moving into the East Palace for almost half a year. I feel much stronger. Thank you for your concern."

Li Heng smiled and went straight to the topic: "This time, General Li is for his strong help to Prefect Lu, so that I can win a great victory."

"It is my honor to serve His Highness the Crown Prince. I only regret not having this opportunity in the past."

Li Heng's eyes narrowed into a slit and he slowly said, "Does General Li know the risk of coming to meet me privately today?"

"I know!"

"You really know?"

"I know about the Wei Jian case!"

Li Heng's face looked even pale, and he murmured: "Not bad! All foreign ministers who have seen me privately will be executed."

His eyes fell on Li Qingan again, "Since you know, why do you dare to come?"

"I don't know if it was the crown prince summoned me!"

Li Heng was stunned, and he suddenly burst into laughter, "Well said it! I just like you to be so honest."

At this time, Li Jingzhong whispered: "Your Highness, the time has come, it's time to return to the palace."

"I see."

Li Heng waved his hand and said to Li Qing'an: "General Li, I heard that you are going to offer King Qing's salt to me, but that's it?"

Li Qing'an felt a sudden turn. He suddenly understood that there must be some kind of contact channel between Gao Lishi and Li Heng. He only told Gao Lishi last night that Li Heng knew about it early in the morning.

"Yes! I accidentally intercepted the King of Qing Yanli, who was 50,000 taels of gold. The minister dared not take this money privately and was willing to give it to Your Highness to strengthen Your Highness's power."

Li Qing'an took out a drawing and pushed it to Li Heng, "This is where the gold is hidden, please collect it properly."

Li Heng looked at the map, a hint of praise flashed in his eyes. He nodded, took out a gold medal from his arms, and handed it to Li Qing'an: "The father allowed me to summon no more than ten ministers directly. From now on, you will be one of these ten people. If this gold medal is in an emergency, you can show it."

After saying that, he stood up and walked quickly to the door. Eight guards protected him and got on a carriage from the back door and drove away quickly. Li Qing'an stood in front of the window and watched the carriage disappearing in the distance. Then he looked at the gold medal carefully. The two words "East Palace" were engraved on the front of the gold medal, and the following is a lifelike unicorn, and behind it is engraved with Yangwen: "Seeing this gold medal, it's like a lonely person'.

He smiled and said to himself: "Is a small gold medal worth 50,000 taels of gold?"

Two hours later, it was already dark. Li Qingan was led by Li Linfu's old housekeeper and walked through a heavily guarded water corridor and entered Li Linfu's inner house. This was Li Linfu's most private place and the place where he slept at night. Only Li Linfu's confidant could enter. Even his sons other than his eldest son did not have the right to come in.

It was also the first time that Li Qing'an entered Li Linfu's inner house. It was actually a small castle made of giant granite. It was surrounded by water and was connected to the outside world. There was no tree or bushes in the castle. There was a guard post on the castle and patrolled continuously. Li Linfu eliminated countless political enemies in his life. He also knew that his enemies were everywhere. In order to have a stable sleep, he used the most strict means to protect himself.

Li Qingan walked into the inner house of the castle. It was brightly lit and there was no gloomy at all. He walked to a room and stopped. The old butler knocked on the door, "Master, General Li is here."

"Let him come in!" It was Li Linfu's voice. Li Qing'an pushed the door and entered the room. It was actually a study room. The bookshelf on both sides of the wall were filled with dense books.

Li Linfu sat in front of the desk and read a book. A beloved concubine knelt behind him and massaged his head. Li Qing'an stepped forward and bowed, "Meet the Prime Minister!"

Li Linfu waved his hand and asked his pampered concubine to retreat. He looked at Li Qing'an and smiled and said, "Qilang, you have come back from Yangzhou yesterday!"

"yes!"

"Sit down first!"

Li Qing'an sat down, he took out the gold medal given to him by the prince from his arms, put it on the table, pushed it to Li Linfu, and smiled and said, "This afternoon, the prince secretly summoned me."

Li Linfu picked up the gold medal, looked carefully, and couldn't help but smile and said, "Not bad! Not bad! The prince actually gave you his Qilin gold medal. It seems that he values ​​you very much!"

Li Linfu smiled and explained, "He has four gold medals in total, dragon, tiger, leopard, and kirin. In fact, it has no effect. It only shows a kind of favor. As far as I know, his dragon card was originally given to Wang Zhongsi, but later Wang Zhongsi returned it. The tiger card was on his son King Guangping, and the leopard card was given to Wei Jian. Later, he did not find the house when he was searched. He was missing. He probably destroyed this Qilin gold medal. He actually gave you Lu Huan to recommend you!"
To be continued...