Linzhi

He Rongde wrote a memorial to defend his position to the court Chen Mingfu Nian Khan sent an envoy to intercede.Because he knew that with the emperor's soft ears and the fact that he had offended so many people before, even if he wrote this memorial, someone would take eye drops in front of Emperor Jiayou. If he didn't write it, the consequences would only be more serious.

He hated writing this kind of defense memorial, which made He Rong feel like a waste of time, what could he do with the time?But the imperial court is there, he has made many enemies, and the identity of the prince is destined to be subject to all kinds of precautions and suspicions.

Many people think that what He Rong wants to do is not impossible, and they are not even afraid of offending any party. In fact, He Rong knows that he might be able to take two steps, but due to various constraints, he can only take two steps in the end. One small step.

The blank memorabilia was opened and flattened, and the draft next to it had already been written according to his intentions, and he just waited for him to copy it again. Seeing the signature on the letter, the corners of his mouth involuntarily raised a slight arc.

The letter was written by He Zhan on the way back to Lingnan. He left Chang'an half a month ago and set off for Lingnan. There is even a small jar of pickled plums, pickled with honey and salt, sealed tightly, and when opened, there is a sweet smell of plums, as if the whole spring and early summer have been stored in it.

After He Rong left Chang'an, although He Zhan stayed for a while because of King Ji's persuasion, and because Empress Pei was pregnant, he found that the fight between the crown prince and King Ji was beyond his ability. Get started, let alone hold back.

After Yunzhou was in an emergency, he discussed with King Ji, and King Ji asked him to ask for a battle first, saying that he would go to Shushu later, so that His Majesty would have a better chance of agreeing, but after he went to Shushu to ask for a fight, King Ji did not follow closely Later, on the contrary, the prince, who had never advocated war with the Turks, suddenly became radical. He not only agreed with the war, but also hoped to go to the front line and guard Yunzhou.

One stone stirred up a thousand waves. Naturally, there were people in the court who opposed the prince's expedition, but there were also those who praised the prince's courage and yelled at him. King Ji then went to the shuffle leisurely, expressing his willingness to go to Yunzhou.It's good that King Ji didn't make a statement. With this statement, the prince's attitude to go to Yunzhou became more firm. Emperor Jiayou didn't want the prince to leave Chang'an, but at this time he couldn't stand the prince's repeated soft words, so he agreed. Prince's request.

Don't say that He Zhan is not stupid at all, no matter how stupid he is, he has already reacted at this time, and he has unintentionally become a pawn in the fight between King Ji and the prince. The prince was anxious, which also stimulated his determination. If it weren't for this, the prince might not be so determined to go to Yunzhou now.

No one likes to be used. He Zhan was unhappy, but he didn't show it, let alone question anyone. After Emperor Jiayou agreed to go to Yunzhou, he also expressed to Emperor Jiayou that he hoped to return to Lingnan as soon as possible.There was chaos in the north, but there should be no more chaos in the south. Emperor Jiayou quickly agreed to his request, and He Zhan was able to embark on the journey back to the south.

In his letter to He Rong, he only picked out irrelevant anecdotes and did not mention this matter, because He Zhan felt that it was enough for him to be upset, and there was no need to involve the third brother, let alone the The third brother's cleverness may not fail to guess the ins and outs of it.

In any case, seeing He Zhan's letter made He Rong feel better. After reading the letter carefully, he picked up a plum from the clay pot and put it in his mouth. The sweet and sour taste quickly spread in his mouth. Only then did He Rong pick up the draft memorial again.

He suddenly frowned.

First, the Turks and Xiao Yu rushed to Ganzhou.

Then Fu Nian Khan personally led the troops to Yunzhou.

Now Fu Nian sent someone to Lingzhou again, saying that he would marry his younger sister to He Rong.

He Rong sorted out everything again, and suddenly felt something was wrong.

The Turks used to attack the Central Plains because they were short of food and clothing every winter, so they could only come to the Central Plains to rob, and then leave. They would not settle down to recuperate after capturing a city. This is the characteristic of the Turks, so For a long time, He Rong, Xue Tan and the others have used this way of thinking to figure out the Turkic people, but this time, Fu Nian Khan is obviously different from the previous Turkic Khans. His thoughts are unpredictable and seem weird and unpredictable.

He Rong never believed that Fu Nian really wanted to marry his younger sister to him, so the other party's purpose was just to sow discord?Even if he successfully provoked the relationship between He Rong and the imperial court and made the imperial court suspicious of He Rong, what does this have to do with the Turkic attack on Ganzhou and Yunzhou?You don't want to wait for the court to transfer him away from Lingzhou so that you can attack Lingzhou?I'm afraid it may not be able to achieve the goal even after making a big circle in the end.

He Rong realized that he couldn't use the old way of thinking to speculate on the enemy. The other party must have a purpose in doing so, but it may not be what he thought.

If the other party wasn't for the purpose of getting married or sowing discord, then there was only... delaying time?

Fu Nian Khan sent envoys to Lingzhou and Chang'an respectively to show his sincerity in the marriage. The court will definitely be surprised and consider Fu Nian's proposal. It will take at least half a month to go back and forth. Let your guard down and let the enemy take advantage.

Therefore, the target of the Turks is probably not Ganzhou or Lingzhou, but several other border towns.

Yunzhou has been plundered once, and there is nothing to rob. Everyone thinks that the Turks will not go there again. Even He Rong thought so before, thinking that the Turks were just bluffing, but if the Turks really rushed Did you go to Yunzhou?The defense there is empty, and it is easy to be captured again. The Turks can go south from Yunzhou, go straight to Taiyuan, and go deep into the hinterland of the Central Plains...

More importantly, the crown prince is in Yunzhou!

He Rong was startled and squeezed the paper tightly.

"Come here! Invite Yushen here, I have something important to discuss with him!"

……

The governor of Yunzhou abandoned the city and absconded. After being caught, he was sent to Chang'an for punishment. Now that the new governor has not yet taken office, the affairs of Yunzhou are managed by the prince, and the governor's office of Yunzhou has become the official office of the prince.

With the experience of assisting the government after serving as the Eastern Palace, the crown prince is naturally more than enough to manage a mere Yunzhou.Before he came to Yunzhou, there was no leader here, and many government orders contradicted each other. After the prince came to Yunzhou, this situation has changed a lot. The big Buddha covered the top of his head, and he was not afraid of the sky falling. In private, he also praised His Highness the Crown Prince's ability to govern, and praised that he would be a wise king in the future.

But the prince was not complacent about it. He was worried that the Turkic people would call him and he would be caught off guard, and he was also worried that the Turkic people would not come here at all, so he would be in vain. This kind of worry made him not sleep well for several days. , Until the news that Fu Nian Khan sent someone to Chang'an to ask for a marriage came.

Fu Nian Khan wanted to marry his younger sister to Saburo, and the Turkic people would drink their blood, so the Turkic women would not be much better off, but the imperial court probably would not refuse this matter, because this was an opportunity for the imperial court to make peace with the Turkic, and also There is no need to marry the princess, my emperor's father, and those ministers in the court who do not want to fight will definitely agree to Fu Nian's proposal in the end.

If the two parties get married, then the war must not be fought, right?

The prince secretly breathed a sigh of relief, while continuing to pay attention to the news of Chang'an, when Gao Zheng came to tell him that Yunzhou was short of money, food and armor, and asked him if he wanted some from the court, the prince said no, and told Fu Nian Khan that he wanted to marry him. Tell Gao Zheng about his sister.

Now that the possibility of war has become smaller, if he asks the court for money and food, it will definitely make people feel that he is a prince who is greedy for life and afraid of death and incompetent.

"Take your time. You can use part of the money for building the city wall to stockpile food first, so as not to cause dissatisfaction with the soldiers' salaries if they can't be paid on time." He said to Gao Zheng.

In the dead of night, the prince lay on the bed and began to think about the meaning of his trip.

He had already realized that his behavior in coming to Yunzhou was too reckless. It would be no problem for any prince to do this kind of thing, but the prince, the future prince, would make people think that he was overjoyed, aggressive and reckless.

Why didn't I think twice at that time?

Thinking of his wife and children far away in Chang'an, and the look of the Crown Princess who was about to cry before leaving, he felt that he might suffer from insomnia again tonight.

The prince turned over and sighed again.

Before he could finish his sigh, he heard a passionate gong and drum.

clang!Say it again!

clang!Another sound!

……

The prince pricked up his ears, and as the number of gongs and drums sounded more and more, his face became more and more ugly. By the eighth sound, he had already turned over, pulled off his coat, and didn't even put on his shoes. He staggered and ran outside.

A full nine!

This is the most urgent military situation!

The Turks attacked at night!

The prince couldn't figure out why the Turks suddenly came to attack the city in the middle of the night. They had to marry Saburo before, and Yunzhou was captured by the Turks only once before. Even if they wanted to fight, they should go to Ganzhou!

Accompanied by more and more intensive drumming, the city of Yunzhou was already in chaos. Gao Zheng rushed into the Governor's Mansion without even waiting for someone to report.

"Your Highness! Your Highness!"

Then he saw the prince running out in disheveled clothes, with the same anxious expression.

"What happened!"

"The spies in front reported urgently that the Turkic army suddenly appeared [-] miles outside the city, and it is estimated that there are tens of thousands of people."

The ominous premonition became a reality, and the prince's face turned pale.

Two hundred miles, with the marching speed of the Turkic people, they can reach the city in less than half a day.

"Your Highness, do you want to fight?" Gao Zheng asked anxiously.

Of course there was going to be a fight, so could it be that they abandoned the city and fled before the fight started?Then he will be the crown prince.

"Fight, fight to the death!" the prince gritted his teeth.

In an anxious mood, time passed extremely fast. Gao Zheng mobilized all the soldiers in Yunzhou City to defend the tower. The prince walked through the streets in the city, and had no time to see the people's bewildered fear, so he went directly to the tower.

The sky was getting bright, and on the other side of the horizon, a black line gradually expanded to a dense mass of human heads. Turkic cavalry came galloping, from far to near, even the crown prince and Gao Zheng and others were condescending, far apart, and could still feel it. The momentum of the enemy is coming, unstoppable.

This doesn't look like tens of thousands of people, I'm afraid there are more than one hundred thousand!

Didn't it say that the Turkic people intended to go to Ganzhou? Was the news wrong?

The prince's heart was beating like a drum, and seeing the army getting closer and closer, he felt dry and blank.

"That's...!" Gao Zheng shouted suddenly, then stopped abruptly, as if his throat was pinched by a hand.

The prince turned to look at him.

"What is it?"

Gao Zheng took a rough breath and lowered his voice: "There is Wang Qi in the army!"

The prince's breathing also became quicker. He realized the meaning of this sentence, but he still couldn't help asking: "What Wang Qi?"

Gao Zheng gritted his teeth and said, "Fu Nian's Wang Qi, he personally led the army and came to attack Yunzhou."

He has fought several times with the Turkic people, so it is not surprising to know the Turkic Wangqi.

The prince looked at the several flags fluttering on the cavalry from a distance. The totems on them were different, but in his eyes, at that moment, they all looked like monsters with green faces and long fangs, opening their bloody mouths wide open, intending to take over Yunzhou. Devour completely.