At this time, Li Mi was worried that it was not how to deal with Li Qing'an, but the Supreme Emperor interfered in politics. He had been a staff member of Li Heng for a while and knew Li Heng's desire for power very well. Logically, since his son Li Yu had ascended the throne, as a father, Li Heng should retreat behind the scenes and no longer ask about political affairs. However, Li Heng did not retreat, but instead interfered in the government affairs under various pretexts, especially when he seized the power to recruit soldiers, which was even more uneasy.

Of course, he is a father, and it is natural to care about his son, but Li Mi always feels that Li Heng's hand is too long, and Li Mi does not agree with his strategy of attacking An Xi first. He always feels that Li Heng has other plans.

"What about Your Majesty's thoughts?" Li Mi was not in a hurry to object. He wanted to hear Li Yu's thoughts.

"I really want to take back Hexi and block Li Qing'an in Anxi."

"But your Majesty has thought about it. According to the strategy of the Supreme Emperor, reset the Hexi Jiedu and appoint Guo Ziyi as the Jiedushi. This will not only cause a break from trust Li Qing'an, but at that time, His Majesty personally agreed to assign the four prefectures of Hexi to Anxi. Moreover, the court officials already knew that this would also cause a break from trust from court officials and the world, but Li Qing'an would get the sympathy of the people of the world. Your Majesty, you are unwise!"

"What can the master do to get me back to Hexi without losing my credit."

Li Mi was speechless. Li Yu was good at everything, frugal and diligent, worked hard to govern, not greedy for women, and did not get close to eunuchs. He was the lord of the revival of the Tang Dynasty, but he had one thing wrong, that is, he was unable to make up his mind on matters related to principles. Originally, they had decided to use the strategy of getting along with each other and attacking each other to win over Li Qing'an and take Hedong and Jingzhou first. However, under the instigation of his father, Li Yu changed his mind and wanted to weaken Li Qing'an and destroy the trust relationship he and Li Qing'an had finally established. This is a fatal weakness of Li Yu!

Li Mi wanted to persuade him again, but he also knew that too much would make him distrust himself. He could only use silence rather than blocking the emperor with insufficient political experience.

"Does Your Majesty just want to take it back to Hexi?"

"Yes!" Li Yu's tone was very affirmative, "I really wanted to take back Hexi. I admit that I made a mistake at the beginning, but at that time it was also to appease Li Qing'an. But now Li Qing'an has been in Hexi and has made his Anxi silver dollar a Tang currency, so I can't sleep at night."

Li Mi pondered for a long time and said, "It's better to do this. Your Majesty will use the method of side attack to seize the real power of Hexi without moving the nominal system. Hexi splits the world to Longyou and Anxi. Since Your Majesty has dictated the world with oral instructions, there is no need to change it. Guo Ziyi doesn't have to serve as the governor of Hexi, but is changed to the commander of the stables, in charge of the Hexi Mazheng. The Hexi garrison was originally from Hedong, and it has not been long for the time being to submit to Li Qing'an, and Li Qing'an has not transferred them to Anxi. It can be seen that Li Qing'an is also suspicious of this army and dare not let them enter Anxi. Therefore, as long as Your Majesty promises their high-ranking officials and generous salaries, and with the prestige of the Old General Guo, it is not impossible to regain the military power of Hexi. And let Li Qing'an suffer a loss, but he is not easy to speak out. Your Majesty, this is the safe and effective method."

"Okay! Great." Li Yu said excitedly: "The master's strategy is indeed difficult for ordinary people, so you can act according to the master's strategy."

Li Yu became excited. He immediately took a piece of letter paper and was about to write a handwritten letter to Guo Ziyi. At this time, Li Mi hesitated and said: "Your Majesty, I... I have another suggestion."

"Master, just say it."

"It's about the Supreme Emperor."

"What's wrong with the Supreme Emperor?" Li Yu put down his pen.

Li Mi really couldn't speak, this was to instigate the relationship between father and son, but he had to say something, and he had to say in a subtle and tactful tone: "What I mean is that the Supreme Emperor is old, and Your Majesty should be filial to him to support his old age, rather than running around for recruiting soldiers. You can hand over the recruitment and training of soldiers to Changsun Quanxu, Wang Sili and other generals who are loyal to Your Majesty, do Your Majesty understand what I mean?"

Li Yu is a smart man. How could he not hear what Li Mi meant? This is actually a very difficult thing for him. He recruited 100,000 troops, but in the end he was in the hands of his father. There was also the original 100,000 Guanzhong troops, which was also controlled by his father. He could only take 20,000 troops from Li Qing'an, which made him feel a little uncomfortable. But after all, he was his father, so Li Yu had to endure it. Now that Li Mi raised this matter again, he didn't know what to do, so he could only sigh and said, "I understand, let's talk about this matter later!"

Li Mi did not dare to say much, so he changed the topic and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, let me tell you about the new policy of salt deliberation!"

Anxi and Li Qing'an were on their way back, but one unfavorable news had been transmitted to Shuye by Feige's letter, which made the officials who were left behind by Shuye very nervous.

As soon as dawn, Yan Zhuang hurried out in a carriage. His current identity is still Li Qing'an's aide, but everyone in Anxi knows that Yan Zhuang has real power, and even Wang Changling, who is in charge of the government, may not have much power.

In the past few days, Yan Zhuang was also very upset. Recently, a series of incidents targeting Anxi caught him off guard and were passive. Moreover, voices of dissatisfaction with him in the officialdom of Saiye also appeared. Wang Changling publicly accused him of inciting Li Qing'an's southern campaign, which led to the situation where Anxi was unprisoned today. In fact, Yan Zhuang was also suffering from this incident. He had also privately advised Li Qing'an that faith was too far away after all, and hoped that he would send his deputy general Nanzheng instead of personally expeditioning himself. However, Li Qing'an was stubborn and must personally expedite faith. Yan Zhuang considered that this was the usual tradition of the governor of Anxi, so he expressed his support for Li Qing'an's personal expedition to faith. But now that the matter has come out, he took responsibility.

This is not counting. There is another saying recently, which is also directed at him, saying that he is jealous of talented people and possesses the position of Anxi's strategist. This statement is also well-founded. Last year, Li Qing'an set up a recruitment hall in Kucha to recruit talents from all over the world, and was in charge of Yan Zhuang. However, the final result was that he recruited hundreds of skilled craftsmen, and there was no strategy. Li Qing'an has been busy outside and has no time to ask about this matter, but many Anxi officials remembered it in his heart. When Wang Changling publicly accused him, this dissatisfaction voice erupted, making Yan Zhuang anxious.

If Wang Changling's accusations were somewhat unfair to him, then he was indeed unreasonable to blame for the failure of the recruitment hall. Yan Zhuang did have some selfishness. This selfishness was actually revealed as early as when he was an aide to An Lushan. At that time, he fought with Gao Shang openly and secretly, all thinking about killing the other party. However, Yan Zhuang failed twice to offer advice, and finally abandoned An Lushan by An Lushan. Later, he was valued by Li Qing'an and became Li Qing'an's first counselor. After a long time, the dark side of Yan Zhuang's heart was gradually exposed. Li Mi left Li Qing'an, and he breathed a sigh of relief. Yan Kai, the old aide of King Qing, wrote several letters to express his willingness to serve Li Qing'an, but he hid the letter and did not tell Li Qing'an.

This time, when Anxi had a crisis, many voices of dissatisfaction with him broke out, including Wang Changling's public accusations against him, which was actually venting his dissatisfaction with him.

Yan Zhuang was both wronged and annoyed. He didn't dare to go to the Anxi Political Affairs Hall. Once he went there, the fiercely tempered Wang Changling would ask him to slap the table and hit the bench. The Anxi officials would also poke his backbone from behind. Wang Changling was keen on reforming and reforming all day long. Why didn't they poke Wang Changling's backbone? Because they cut the salary increase for Anxi officials last year, these guys were revenge.

Until now, Yan Zhuang still believes that the Anxi officials are actually liquidating his feud for cutting salary increases last year.

Yan Zhuang could only go to find the princess. The crisis in Hexi became more and more serious. Guo Ziyi was appointed as the commander of the stable and was in charge of Hexi Ma Zheng. It is said that he had left Lingzhou and went to Ganzhou to take office. Now he can only reduce the losses in Anxi as much as possible, and only Princess Mingyue can do this.

The carriage rushed to the Zhao Palace. The Zhao Palace was the mansion that was built in the past, that is, Mrs. Luo's home. In a sense, it was also Li Qing'an's home, so it was natural for Li Qing'an's family to move into this huge idle house. It was renamed the Zhao Palace.

"Hurry!" Yan Zhuang kept urging the driver, and at this moment, the driver suddenly stopped.

"Master, someone stops the car."

"Eunuch Yan, I have something to say, please stop."

The sound sounded a little familiar. Yan Zhuang opened the curtain and saw a down-and-out middle-aged scholar standing in front of the carriage. The reason why he was down-and-out was that he was still wearing a shabby single shirt, which was summer clothes. It was already late autumn, and it was very cold in the morning and evening, and everyone was wearing a jacket.

Yan Zhuang suddenly recognized this person. This person was Yan Kai, the former aide of King Qing. I wonder why he was so incompetent and couldn't even afford to wear a piece of clothing?

King Qing is now under house arrest in Shiguo. Yan Kai has already left him. He wrote letters to Li Qing'an several times to express his willingness to serve, but the letters he wrote were like mud and entered the sea. There was no news. Yan Kai had been in Anxi for more than half a year. He could not pick up his shoulders or carry his hands. He had no capital to do business. He felt unwilling to be a accounting room, so he taught in a school in Suoye, and lived a little bit of grain, rice and change. In fact, he did not have such a miserable life. However, in order to gain sympathy and to vent his resentment in his heart, he dressed in a miserable manner. Every day, he came to Li Qing'an's mansion to try his luck to see if he could meet Li Qing'an back. Today he happened to see Yan Zhuang, so he couldn't help but come out to block the road.

Literary people are despised, and Yan Zhuang has always looked down on Yan Kai. He once advised Li Qing'an not to use this person to betray the master, but seeing that he was so down-and-out, Yan Zhuang felt a little more or less sympathy in his heart.

"It turned out to be Mr. Yan."

Yan Zhuang walked out of the carriage and bowed and smiled, "I haven't seen you for a long time. I thought Mr. Yan had returned to the Central Plains. It turned out to be in Anxi."

Yan Kai was in a poor and indignant state, and the little bit of the arrogance of a literati in his heart was gone. He bowed deeply to Yan Zhuang and said, "Envoy Yan, I wonder when His Highness King Zhao will come back?"

"I don't know this very well, but it should be soon!"

Speaking of this, Yan Zhuang suddenly had his eyes rolling. When Li Qing'an came back, the Anxi officials would inevitably report to Li Qing'an about the recruitment hall. It would be better to recruit Yan Kai first and block the officials' mouths. It is also an explanation. Moreover, he knew that Li Qing'an did not like this person and would not threaten his position.

He immediately frowned, stepped forward and pulled him affectionately, and blamed him, "Why don't you come to me? I'm asking about my whereabouts everywhere, and finally I found it."

Yan Zhuang was still cold just now, but now he suddenly became more enthusiastic, which really made Yan Kai unacceptable. However, enthusiasm is better than coldness. He also became warm in his heart. He couldn't help but secretly regret why he didn't go to Yan Zhuang early and wouldn't be teased by those little kids all day long.

"I don't know anything, I've been waiting for His Highness Zhao."

"You mean the general? I will recommend the sir to the general, but today is not possible. Mr. may as well go back first. Come to me tomorrow morning. I will arrange a position for you first. When the general comes back, I will recommend it immediately."

Yan Kai left with great gratitude. Yan Zhuang watched him walk away, and finally felt a little clear in his heart. Seeing that he was not far from the Zhao Mansion, he tidied up his clothes and walked quickly towards the Zhao Mansion.

Many things never come when they are looking forward to it, but when they don’t think about it, things come one after another. Li Qing'an’s offspring is a typical example. Now, not only Ru Shi is eight months pregnant, but Mingyue is also pregnant, and she is four or five months pregnant.

The mansion added more than a dozen maids and mothers to this end, and the original residence was a little too small. At this time, the imperial decree came and officially appointed Li Qing'an as King of Zhao and Dugu Mingyue as Princess Zhao. Taking this opportunity, the Anxi Political Affairs Hall renovated the thirty acres of this huge house covering an area of ​​30 acres and officially designated it as the Zhao Palace.

Early in the morning, Mingyue was writing a letter to her mother, and suddenly a maid came to report that Mr. Yan was here and asked for an urgent matter to see the princess.

"Please wait in the living room, and I'll come immediately."

Mingyue put on an outer robe, and with the help of a maid, she slowly walked towards the outer hut and entered the living room. She saw Yan Zhuang sitting there drinking tea, looking worried.

"Why did Mr. Yan think about coming here today?" Mingyue walked out with a smile.

Yan Zhuang quickly stood up and bowed, "I am not good at seeing the princess!"

Like Li Qing'an, Mingyue didn't like others to call her a princess, but it was a habit for Anxi people to call Li Qing'an a general, but he was not ambiguous about his name for Mingyue. Everyone called her a princess, and no one called her a wife anymore.

Mingyue waved her hand and smiled, "Sir, don't be too polite, please sit down!"

Yan Zhuang sat down and said respectfully: "Speaking to disturb the princess' rest, Yan Zhuang is guilty, but the situation is urgent, Yan Zhuang has to come."

Mingyue smiled slightly and said, "Sir, what happened?"

"The princess doesn't know anything. Last night I received emergency information. The emperor appointed Guo Ziyi, the governor of Shuofang, as the envoy of the Xianjian in Hexi. It is obvious that Guo Ziyi is going to seize the military power in Hexi. Now the general is still far away in Xinde, so I can only come to find the princess."

Mingyue was stunned and said for a while: "Although I am a princess, I never ask about military and political affairs. I think Mr. Wang should discuss with Mr. Wang and General Duan. Looking for me may disappoint him."

"The princess doesn't know that the most urgent task now is to transfer the Hexi army back to Anxi, so that Guo Ziyi will not take away military power. The power to transfer troops is in the hands of the general. Whether Wang Changling or Duan Xiushi, they cannot transfer the Hexi army, and I am even more incapable of it. Now only the princess will order the Hexi army to temporarily transfer back to Anxi. Perhaps the Hexi army will obey the princess' orders. The situation is urgent. Please ask the princess to come forward to coordinate the matter."

Mingyue was in a difficult situation. When she came to Anxi with Li Qing'an, Li Qing'an had three rules with her. She was not allowed to ask about Anxi's military and political affairs, especially her mother was the legitimate daughter of the Pei family in the Tang Dynasty, and she herself was the daughter of the Dugu family. This identity made her more cautious. She never asked about Anxi. Now Yan Zhuang asked her to exercise her rights on behalf of her husband. How can this be? But Mingyue also knew that the situation was urgent. She thought about it and said, "Let's do this! Sir, please discuss with General Wang Changshi and General Duan. You jointly propose that the Hexi army withdraw. I can sign it behind you as a proof. If I ask me to order it alone, I may not be able to do it. Please forgive me."

Yan Zhuang pondered for a long time and had no choice but to do so. Although he didn't want to find Wang Changling, the situation was urgent. He immediately stood up and said, "Okay! I'll go and discuss with them now."

Yan Zhuang moved to the Political Affairs Hall again. As soon as he entered the door, he immediately felt the dissatisfied gazes from the officials of the Political Affairs Hall at him. The cold eyes were like sticks, hitting his backbone. This feeling of offending everyone was really uncomfortable.

"I am just an aide, so jealous of the virtuous and capable, a villain!"

"Hmph! I see that he is not only lame, but also his heart is also lame."

Amid the whispering discussions, Yan Zhuang gritted his teeth and came to Wang Changling's courtroom. Wang Changling's official position was the chief of the Anxi Jiedu Prefecture. He was granted the title of the sanctioned official Yinqing Guanglu Dafu. In order to be in charge of the government affairs of Anxi, he can be said to be the highest government affairs officer of Anxi. However, Yan Zhuang did not have any official position. He was just a staff member of Li Qing'an, but he held real power, such as grain allocation, land distribution, and military promotion and judgment. These were originally Li Qing'an's powers, and he had no time to inquire, so he handed them over to Yan Zhuang for acting. This was also in line with the Tang Dynasty system. The staff members often exercised their powers on behalf of the lord.

So to a certain extent, Yan Zhuang and Wang Changling had a little power conflict. In addition, Wang Changling was an extremely upright person and never concealed his dissatisfaction. Last October, Wang Changling wanted to increase the monthly grain subsidy of each household in Anxi. Li Qing'an verbally agreed, but when the specific approval was made, he changed to only increase three dou of each household, on the grounds that military rations were given priority. Wang Changling had already had a big argument with Yan Zhuang three times over this matter.

Especially this time, at the government affairs meeting three days ago, Wang Changling publicly accused Yan Zhuang of his staff of being ineligible in front of hundreds of officials. Not only did he dissuade the general Nanzheng, but he supported and encouraged the general Nanzheng. It was simply a foolish man, and he showed no mercy. Wang Changling's public accusation made Yan Zhuang grit his teeth with hatred for him.

If it weren't for the urgent situation, Yan Zhuang would never have come to find Wang Changling.

It is also a kind of human nature. Wang Changling firmly advocated the abolition of slavery and did not allow wealthy families to occupy more servants. He usually condemns his subordinates and shows no mercy. In theory, these are all things that offend people, but the officials of Anxi do not hate Wang Changling because he is open and honest, without any selfishness. They are all for the public. For the growth of Anxi, and he himself shows his actions. There is only him and his wife at home, without a servant, and there is no land in Anxi. Some people want to play it.

When he impeached him, he secretly ran to his hometown in Taiyuan, Hedong to inquire. He thought that he would be extravagant in his hometown and own a beautiful house. Unexpectedly, his son lived in several dilapidated old houses. There were only ten acres of thin land in his family, which he bought with Anxi's salary. His son and daughter-in-law also went to the fields to farm in person. This moved those who wanted to impeach him. After coming back, they defended and promoted him. Therefore, although Wang Changling faced the ruthless face and did a lot of offensive things, his character was admired by officials.

On the contrary, Yan Zhuang really offended Anxi officials, especially middle and lower-level officials, who hated him to the core. Last year, Li Qing'an planned to raise 30% of the salary for the officials, but Yan Zhuang firmly opposed it, because the salary of Anxi officials itself was far higher than that of the imperial officials, and the imperial officials were owed three years of wages. If the salary increase was further increased, it would make the imperial officials jealous of Anxi and put on small shoes everywhere. The reason was very correct. Li Qing'an adopted it and finally raised 15% of the salary.

But the problem is that Yan Zhuang himself had a salary increase of 50%, but he was very confident. He was just an aide, and Li Qing'an paid for it himself and had nothing to do with the government, so he was not subject to salary increase restrictions. He did not want others to do what he did not want others to hate him.

Yan Zhuang walked to Wang Changling's door, and Wang Changling walked out as anxiously as the wind, and the two almost collided.

"It's you!"

When Wang Changling saw that it was Yan Zhuang, he immediately looked angry and glared at him, "What are you here to do?"

Yan Zhuang was so angry that he wanted to point at his nose and curse, but if he did this, the Hexi Army was really over. He strongly restrained his inner dissatisfaction and said with a gloomy face: "I came for business, please make it clear that you have."

Wang Changling's style is to treat people and things. He does not like someone and never acts like a person. But if he is doing business, even if he hates this person, he will do his business and will not affect his personal emotions.

"Then you come in and talk!"

Wang Changling turned around and entered the court room and sat down directly. Yan Zhuang knew Wang Changling's rules. Except for Li Qing'an, he would not pour tea for anyone, nor would he ask anyone to sit down. He would sit there if he wanted to sit, but if he didn't want to sit, so he sat down without hesitation as soon as he entered the door.

"You know what Guo Ziyi has to do as the commander of the stable!"

Wang Changling nodded, "I just learned this morning that the rumor was to be appointed Guo Ziyi as the governor of Hexi, but why did he become the supervisor of Ma Zheng again? It really makes people feel a little confused about the emperor's intention."

"That's because you don't understand."

Yan Zhuang sneered, "I know very well, this is a clever strategy."

“What strategy?”

Before he knew it, Wang Changling had forgotten his dissatisfaction with Yan Zhuang. He asked with concern: "Tell me quickly, what is the strategy."

"Abolishing the Hexi Jiedushi and dividing Hexi into two. This is the oral order issued by the emperor. Everyone in the world knows that if he suddenly cancels the oral order and then grants Guo Ziyi the Hexi Jiedushi, he will inevitably lose trust in the world. So he used the appointment of the idle stable envoy to let Guo Ziyi go to Hexi to serve in a noble position. At this time, he secretly won over the senior officials of the Hexi garrison. Lizhi Shouyu cannot win over, but Meng Yun, Luo Zhengyi and others are not from the Anxi faction. If the emperor promises them to be the general and then grants high titles, do you think they will be loyal to Anxi again? With Guo Ziyi's prestige, two-pronged approach will lead to the Hexi army no longer protects."

Yan Zhuang's analysis made Wang Changling feel scared. He said anxiously: "But the general is not in Anxi, we have no right to mobilize the Hexi army. What should we do?"

"That's why I came to the Chief Secretary to discuss."

Seeing that Wang Changling seemed to have completely forgotten the incident of offending him, Yan Zhuang couldn't help but say in a bit disappointed: "I just found the princess, and at this time the princess was the only one who came forward. Maybe the Hexi army could be ordered to withdraw Anxi, but the princess was unwilling to issue an order alone. Let us add General Duan, and the three parties jointly ordered, and she signed a name to support her behind the scenes..."
Chapter completed!