Linzhi

The north gate of Huile City is not big. From the previous dynasty to the present, the owners here have changed one after another, and the dynasties have changed several times, but it is still here. Even if it is reinforced and renovated, you can still see the traces of the past years. Without words, it silently tells the past hundreds of years of history to passers-by, allowing interested people to touch its prosperity and vicissitudes.

Today, Huile City welcomes guests again, or in other words, travelers reunited after a long absence.

The party on the other side entered through the north gate in a mighty manner. The leader was Lin Miao, and the other was covered with a cloak covering half of his face.

But to He Rong, the other party's figure, outline, and even bearing Rongzhi are no strangers.

Because thousands of miles away, they have fought side by side for the common interests, and even experienced critical moments unimaginable by ordinary people.

Seeing that He Rong led the people out to meet him in person, Lin Miao hurriedly got off the horse, helped the woman in the cloak off the horse and walked over.

"Farewell to the royal court, it has been several years, the princess will be safe?"

The woman took off her cloak, revealing a familiar face.

Compared with a few years ago, Princess Zhending seems to have experienced a little more vicissitudes. Although her charm is still the same, her eyebrows and eyes are full of evidence of the twists and turns of this period of time.

"I don't want to be safe, but you have been sick all the time. I'm afraid this leg will be useless for the rest of my life." Princess Zhending smiled faintly.

Hearing the other party's rude words, Lin Miao was stunned for a moment, not sure if he wanted to stand up for King An.

But instead of showing displeasure, Wang An burst out laughing.

"The princess has been wronged, and she will be rescued by a cripple like me!"

Others thought lameness was a big taboo for King An, and they never dared to mention a word in front of him, but King An himself had no scruples when he mentioned it, with a calm expression on his face.

The two looked at each other and smiled, this time Princess Zhending's smile was much more sincere.

It was only then that Lin Miao realized that Dareqing was a unique way of greeting between two big men, but luckily she didn't interrupt just now.

A group of people got on their horses again and walked slowly into the city.

"Is the princess revisiting the old place?" He Rong asked.

Princess Zhending looked at the surrounding scenery, and sighed with emotion: "That's right, when I got married, I also came from here. In the blink of an eye, it has been decades. This place is vaguely still the same as before, but I am already old!"

He Rong said leisurely: "Mo Daosang Yuwan, the sky is full of clouds."

Princess Zhending was startled for a moment, and then she laughed at herself: "I'm afraid Lian Po is old and has no power!"

It was not far from riding a horse from the city gate to the Dudu's Mansion, and He Rong had already had people prepare the clothes in the room for Princess Zhending.

Back in the mansion, He Rong invited Princess Zhending to the seat first, then straightened her clothes and bowed solemnly.

Princess Zhending laughed: "What is His Royal Highness King An doing? Even if you want to salute, I should be the one who salutes you. If you hadn't asked Lin Miao to rush to the rescue, I'm afraid I would not be able to escape the West Turks now."

Fu Nian Khan's westward invasion plan is aggressive. Eastern and Western Turks are divided into strengths and weaknesses. Fu Nian saw that the Central Plains court is now conservative and neutral, and dare not provoke him, so he assembled a large army to advance westward, and began to plan The long-standing process of unifying the Turks.

The Eastern Turkic cavalry quickly broke through the Altai Mountains, passed through Khan Futu City, along the ancient Gaochang area, and approached the Western Turkic royal court.

The population of the Western Turks is not as large as that of the Eastern Turks. In recent years, under the rule of Princess Zhending, the trade routes have been opened, and the caravans going to Persia will choose to pass through the Western Turks. sheep.

The vicious Eastern Turkic army marched straight in, eroding large areas of Western Turkic territory. At this moment, some Turkic nobles who were suppressed by Princess Zhending in the early years seemed to see an opportunity and wanted to take advantage of the chaos to overthrow Princess Zhending and seize power. They killed Lu Ji Khan thought he was smart enough to inform Fu Nian, who knew that the first thing the Eastern Turkic army entered the royal court was to kill these clever Western Turkic traitors.

Princess Zhending had no choice but to lead the people back to Yanqi City. Just as she was about to fight her last battle in Yanqi City, Lin Miao arrived with her people.

At that time, Princess Zhending didn’t think about fleeing back to the Central Plains, but she knew very well that her letter of plea for help fell like a stone and fell into the sea without any reply. It must be that something happened to the Central Plains court and she didn’t want to accept her, so even if she fled back However, the guards of the border city would not open the city gate to welcome her, maybe in order to please the East Turks, those people would hand her over to Fu Nian.

But when Lin Miao came, he told Princess Zhending that King An had never forgotten her, and he never thought of breaking the contract, but he couldn't persuade the court to send troops, so he specially sent someone to help Princess Zhending get out of trouble, as long as a group of them entered After leaving Lingzhou, King An would never throw Princess Zhending out even if Khan Funian came to the city.

Princess Zhending believed him, and withdrew from Yanqi City with the rest of her troops. Following Lin Miao, she abandoned Ganzhou, which was closer to Western Turks, and detoured from the Gobi Desert, all the way to Lingzhou.

He Rong shook his head: "I'm ashamed. I didn't do what I promised you back then. If I broke my promise, I have failed you."

Princess Zhending did have grievances, but she knew that this grievance could not be vented on He Rong's head. It was the utmost benevolence for the other party to send someone to rescue him at a critical moment.

"Whoever told you that you are not the emperor, there is nothing you can do!" Princess Zhending laughed unceremoniously, "You made such a great contribution back then, I thought your emperor should treat you differently, who knew that? Years have passed, and you were kicked to the border town, you really are getting better and better!"

Hearing her comment on the person she admired in this way, Lin Miao was a little dissatisfied, and blurted out: "Your Highness invited Ying to come here on his own initiative!"

Princess Zhending sneered: "If it's not that you can't get along in the capital, who would want to come to such a place?"

He Rong was at ease as usual, without showing any anger: "Princess is right, but if I hadn't been in Lingzhou, even if I wanted to send someone to rescue you now, I guess the far water would not be able to save the near fire."

After he said this, Princess Zhending couldn't maintain her mocking tone anymore, she let out a long sigh and stopped talking.

He Rong said: "You must have been extremely sleepy after a long journey. Let's take a good rest first. It's not too late to talk about other things when you wake up."

After Princess Zhending and the others left, Xue Tan came back.

"A rough calculation shows that Princess Zhending brought back only about two thousand people this time. It seems that Fu Nian beat them badly!"

He Rong pondered: "The unification of the Turks seems to be within reach."

Even Xue Tan, who usually laughs and laughs and is unrestrained, as if there is nothing in the world that cannot be solved, rarely restrains his smile this time.

"After the unification of the Turks, it will definitely be several times stronger than before. Fu Nian will also set his sights on the Central Plains. Before, we always thought that he would attack the Central Plains, but who knew that the other party would wipe out the Western Turks without saying a word. This person is not only ambitious, It's even more scheming, it's really..."

"It's a terrible opponent." He Rong continued his words.

Xue Tan nodded: "What's your Highness's next plan?"

He Rong asked: "Where is that Li Yun?"

Xue Tan said: "His Royal Highness does not agree to his proposal, he can't take advantage of it, and has already gone back today. The imperial court will soon know about the princess's coming to Lingzhou."

He Rong said: "You get ready first. After a few days, when the princess recovers, I will go to Beijing with her."

Xue Tan immediately understood his intention: "Are you afraid that someone in Chang'an will make a fuss about it?"

He Rong said lightly: "Some people have knelt for a long time, and their bones have been bent for a long time, and they can no longer straighten up. I have every reason to believe that if Fu Nian uses this as a reason to question Zhongyuan Xingshi, someone in the court will definitely encourage His Majesty to hand over the princess to you." Go out, so I have to take the princess back to cross the Ming Road first, and let His Majesty know."

In the past, Xue Tan really wasn't worried, but this time, even a fearless person like him felt that it was not a good thing for He Rong to choose to return to Beijing at this time.

Xue Tan smiled wryly: "You first offended the family and then offended the prince. If you go back this time, even if you are not surrounded and ambushed, you will be alone and helpless. Or, let His Royal Highness Xing Wang also return to Beijing to report on his duties, and help you and Ji Wang ease the situation. How about a relationship?"

He Rong didn't answer but asked instead: "Yushen, you have been with me for a long time, you have seen me from the grandson of the emperor who was not valued to today, and you know my brothers very well, do you think, I Can you completely reconcile with the crown prince and Prince Ji?"

Xue Tan was silent for a long time before saying, "No, the three of you are taking three paths."

Different road non-phase plan.

The prince considers himself the eldest son, and he has everything as a matter of course. He hopes that his younger brothers will be obedient and obedient under his hands. He is also willing to respect and love them as brothers and friends like before.But he forgot that the present is not what it used to be, the younger brothers are no longer satisfied with a bowl of rice and a piece of meat. Their identities are different, and they want more, but the prince can only give a bowl of rice , A piece of meat, of course they will not be satisfied, and conflicts and differences arise from this.

He is not the queen's legitimate son, but he also lived a hard life. He married a wife who was a common people's prince, so he assigned himself to a "poor family" as a matter of course. The aristocratic family treated him lukewarm. An official from a poor family.

Ji Wang Hexiu yearned for military exploits, and once asked for orders to go out, but was deliberately suppressed by the prince. Since then, he has developed a knot in his heart, thinking that the prince is greedy for power, has no regard for family affection, and wants to completely get rid of the prince's control, so he fell in love with Li Kuan.The first wife is Xungui, and the successor is also Xungui's King Ji, who becomes the representative of Xungui's power.

And He Rong took a completely different path from his brothers.

He neither wooed a poor family, nor formed an alliance with a noble family, nor bowed his head to the aristocratic family. Around him were noble children like Zhang Ze, officials from a noble family like Ji Ling, and Xue Tan, Tan Jin and others. There is no way to put a fixed label on him, it can only be said that he employs eclectic people.

However, because He Rong is not in the center of the court now, and his confidantes around him are not in important positions, so it is not eye-catching, and few people will deal with this King An as a confidant.Everyone will only think that he acts unexpectedly, unpredictable, sometimes arrogant and sometimes cautious.

But this time, Zhou Shu was killed first, and then Li Yun was scolded away. In the eyes of outsiders, King An undoubtedly put himself in an isolated position.

Xue Tan, a bystander, knew that He Rong had to do this, so he also knew that He Rong's path was different and extremely dangerous.

Now that this is the case, there is no need to worry about anything. If everything is as they expected, then that day will come sooner or later. Now we must make sufficient preparations. He Rong's return to Beijing is also a step.

"Anyway, I'll keep following you. Don't go so fast that I can't keep up."

After thinking this through, Xue Tan regained his relaxed look and joked.

He Rong smiled: "Okay."

The author has something to say:

He Rong: I really like Xue Tan.

He Zhan:? ?

Ji Ling:? ? ?

Gao Changning:? ? ? ?

Xue Tan's wife:? ? ? ? ?

Volume Five: From the Sea to the Boundless Sky