Linzhi

The atmosphere of the court has never been so dignified as it is at this moment.

Rao is that when the first emperor was in power, the Turks came to threaten the marriage. But at that time, the imperial court and the Turks still had exchanges, and they still had a certain right to speak. So later, the first emperor considered it again and again. You He Rong formed an alliance with the Western Turks and established diplomatic relations, so he completely gave up the peace talks with the Eastern Turks.

But now, the famous generals Zhang Tao and Ji Cuo have passed away, and the talents are in a state of shortage. Taking advantage of the unpreparedness of the Central Plains, the Turks first looted Yunzhou, and then sent envoys to Beijing pretending to attack Ganzhou, saying that they would fight with the Central Plains. The conclusion of the marriage, the marriage of the younger sister to King An, is actually heading towards Yunzhou. Before everyone has time to react, the Turkic people have broken into the city, and the entire army of guarding the city was wiped out, and even the prince was defeated and killed. .

What a humiliation this is!

Rao is such a heartless emperor like Emperor Jiayou, who fell ill immediately after hearing the news, and only managed to get up from the bed until today, lying sickly on the throne, to carry out this small pilgrimage.

On the throne was He Rong's memorial, which was delivered five days ago, but at that time the Turks had already invaded Yunzhou, let alone the imperial court had no time to send troops, even if it was in time... Jia Jia who received the letter at that time Emperor You didn't take it seriously, and even felt that He Rong's words were a little alarmist.

Now that Emperor Jiayou was reading this memorial, he felt his heart ache.

He didn't know who to blame.Blame the crown prince for asking for orders to go out?Blame Saburo for coming late?Or blame the court for failing to pay attention to vigilance in time?

Regardless of the assumption, a big mistake has already been made, Emperor Jiayou kept flashing the crown prince's head in a box, and his heart throbbed with pain.

He couldn't help but think of the scene of the prince babbling when he was young, Cheng Huan's knees, and the scene of the prince supporting the whole family when he was in Fangzhou. Although the eldest son was a concubine, he carried a lot of expectations from Emperor Jiayou on his shoulders. Later, the prince got close to the poor boy, even interceded for him, and contradicted his father. A rift arose between father and son. Emperor Jiayou actually never thought of deposing the prince.

On the contrary, the prince was restless and paranoid, always afraid that his position in the East Palace would be unstable if he failed to achieve an inch of merit.Emperor Jiayou knew that the prince did not believe in himself, so he desperately wanted to go to the front line to make meritorious service.Now he only regrets that the father and son didn't untie this knot earlier, and he didn't explain it to the prince earlier, otherwise, why would this be the case?

"Zhuqing... If you have any suggestions, let's talk about them."

Emperor Jiayou's voice was already hoarse, it was caused by being angry and anxious, overwhelmed by anger, and fell ill after excessive grief.

Fan Yi, Minister of the Ministry of War, did his part and said first: "Your Majesty, the current plan is to send people to stop the Turkic people from going south as soon as possible. There are few soldiers in Taiyuan, so I'm afraid they won't be able to stop them. When they pass Jinzhou, they will not be far from Chang'an." Now, this matter is extremely urgent, and troops must be dispatched immediately."

Li Kuan said: "At present, there are more than [-] imperial guards in the capital. It is acceptable to maintain daily guard patrols. If you want to divide the troops to resist the Turks, there will be gaps in the guards of the capital."

Fan Yi said angrily: "Li Xiang is also a man who knows how to fight, but what he said is putting the cart before the horse! If the Turkic people drive straight in, Chang'an will be in danger. I am afraid that the great rivers and mountains in the Central Plains will be ravaged by them! Now Chen Wei is guarding Ganzhou, and King An is guarding the spirit. The prefectures are all important passes and should not be moved lightly. King Xing is in the south of the Lingnan, far away from here, and it may be too late to arrive. Apart from mobilizing the defenders of Gyeonggi to fight against the enemy, does Xiang Li have a better way?"

Left Prime Minister Zhang Song smoothed things over: "Everyone is for state affairs, so we can seek common ground while reserving differences. For the present plan, keeping Chang'an is the most important thing. The behavior of the Turkic people this time is extraordinary. I am afraid that their purpose is not only Just killing people and robbing wealth, I am afraid the intention is even bigger."

"I agree with what Zhang Xiang said. It is precisely because their plans are not small that we cannot take them lightly." Li Kuan's tone was still very calm, not as angry as Fan Yi's, which also made Emperor Jiayou calm down a little. Come.

"Jinzhou has few mountains and flat land, which is easy to attack and difficult to defend. It is difficult to stop the Turkic cavalry. Once the defense line of Jinzhou is broken, there will be no obstacles in front of Chang'an. And your majesty is in Chang'an, where the imperial capital is. The fate of the dynasty depends on it. Put His Majesty in danger!"

Fan Yi looked unhappy: "Then what better suggestion does Li Xiang have?"

Li Kuan said: "I have something to say, I don't know if it should be said or not, please forgive me for the crime of lying."

Emperor Jiayou said anxiously: "When is this now, Li Xiang should stop being tricky, just speak freely!"

Li Kuan arched his hands and said, "I suggest that you protect the holy driver and move the capital to the south."

"Li Xiang!" Fan Yi jumped up and said angrily, "You also know that the emperor is all dependent on luck, how can you easily persuade the emperor to move south?!"

Li Kuan asked indifferently: "Then Fan Shangshu is talking about it, what better way do you have?"

Fan Yi said solemnly: "Where the Son of Heaven is, where the country is, the strong enemy invades, and he does not think about resisting, but thinks about abandoning the city. This is not what the Son of Heaven did. In this autumn of life and death, Your Majesty should stick to Chang'an, so that the morale of the army can be as stable as a mountain." , otherwise the soldiers and civilians see His Majesty abandoning the city and fleeing, how can they resist? Naturally, they will be defeated for thousands of miles!"

Emperor Jiayou's face was a little ugly.

In fact, when he heard Li Kuan's suggestion, he was a little moved, but abandoning the city and moving to the south has a bad reputation after all, and what Fan Yi said is not unreasonable. The emperor ran away before the enemy was fighting. What do other people think?

The movement of clenching his hands behind his back showed Emperor Jiayou's inner struggle and hesitation. He did not respond to Fan Yi's or Li Kuan's proposal clearly, but instead said: "The Turkic people are coming fiercely, and they are facing up and down. It seems that no one can fight... ..."

"Your Majesty, I am willing to go!" He Xiu said loudly.

Emperor Jiayou shook his head without even thinking about it: "You can't leave my side, don't talk too much about it!"

With the lessons learned by the prince, now he naturally refuses to let another son take risks.

He Xiu was a little disappointed, and was about to say more, but saw Li Kuan secretly shaking his head at him with a look of disapproval, so he had to forcefully swallow the next words.

Emperor Jiayou continued: "After all, Chen Wei is a veteran in the battlefield, and he rarely loses. I want to transfer Chen Wei to Jinzhou to resist the Turks. What do you think?"

Fan Yi frowned: "Your Majesty, as soon as Chen Wei leaves, Ganzhou will be unguarded. Xiao Yu has been eyeing Ganzhou for a long time, and I'm afraid he won't miss this opportunity!"

Li Kuan said slowly: "I think it is feasible. Although Xiao Yu is also an enemy, compared with the Turkic people, after all, it is the difference between a small problem and a big problem. Ganzhou has a hundred thousand troops, and Chen Wei can take half of them away. Gyeonggi allocated [-] troops to him, and made up [-] to set up a card in Jinzhou to intercept the Turks. With Chen Wei's ability, [-] troops are enough for him to have a chance of winning."

Fan Yi disagreed and said, "Then who will stay behind in Ganzhou?"

Li Kuan said: "Chen Wei has a deputy general staff officer who has been with him for many years. His name is Ying Ziyu. He also went to war with Fan Shangshu back then. You must be familiar with him. With him around, Xiao Yu will not easily succeed."

Fan Yi: "But in that case, Ganzhou will only have 5 troops left. No matter how powerful Ying Ziyu is, [-] people may not be able to defend Ganzhou!"

Li Kuan pondered: "Then let Lingzhou rush to help. It is said that King An has stockpiled [-] troops in Lingzhou. It is time to use them."

Fan Yi wanted to say something, but Li Kuan said, "Could it be that Fan Shangshu has a better suggestion?"

"The body of the son of heaven is the foundation of the country and the heaven of the subjects. No matter what, you must not easily abandon the city and flee south, otherwise, the hearts of the people will be defeated." Fan Yi sighed heavily in his heart, and said earnestly.

Li Kuan said: "Although this is the case, preparations must be made first in case something happens. Otherwise, if even Chen Wei can't stop the Turkic people, do you want His Majesty to stay in Chang'an and wait for the Turkic people to come?"

Emperor Jiayou waved his hands disturbedly: "That's it, send Chen Wei to Jinzhou to fight against the Turks, and order Chen Qian, the commander of the Beiya government, to lead [-] troops to help Chen Wei and listen to his orders; order Ganzhou governor Tao Xuan And Ying Ziyu defended Ganzhou to the death, and could not take a step back; he sent another letter to King An, telling Lingzhou to pay attention to Ganzhou's movements, so that he could rush to help at any time. Also, what Fan Shangshu said is right, I am the Son of Heaven, and I should be a model for all people. Before the last moment, you can't easily abandon the city, Emperor Gaozu made his capital here, if I escape easily, wouldn't I become an unworthy descendant?"

"Your Majesty is wise!" All the ministers responded.

The voice was quite neat, but only everyone knew how many different thoughts were mixed in it.

After the discussion was over, although there was a unified result for the time being, Emperor Jiayou's headaches were not relieved, but became more serious. Instead of going back to the apse to rest, he was carried to the empress instead.

Although Emperor Jiayou's favorite in the harem was Li Shi, he would still come to the Empress whenever he encountered major events and difficulties. Even if he heard a few words from the other party, he could calm down the chaotic mood a little.

Empress Pei's belly is growing day by day, her movement is a bit inconvenient, and her body becomes sleepy easily, but the turbulence inside and outside the court still makes her pay attention to the movement outside, Su Shuang is worried about her body, and sometimes refuses to say more , but she said to Sushuang, if you don't tell me now, you will harm me in the future. I lost my mother when I was young, and my father before I left the cabinet. I am not as fragile as you think.

So when she saw Emperor Jiayou rubbing his forehead and being carried in, Empress Pei realized what had happened almost immediately: the result of the court meeting must have made the emperor unhappy.

She went up to greet her, Emperor Jiayou held her hand and smiled wryly: "We two, I am sick and you are pregnant, we can be regarded as a couple in need!"

Empress Pei said softly: "Your Majesty is just in a hurry to get angry. He is a mere barbarian and arrogant for a while, but he wants to occupy the great rivers and mountains and the people. Not to mention the destiny is not his, the hearts of the people will not belong to him. Your Majesty still needs to cheer up!"

She deliberately didn't mention the prince, but Emperor Jiayou still thought of it, his eyes were sour, and he almost burst into tears again.

Empress Pei dismissed the servants.

"... These days, I often wonder, if the crown prince had not been allowed to leave the capital then, would everything be completely different now?" Emperor Jiayou choked up, and only showed his fragility in front of Empress Pei.

Empress Pei said: "I heard that in King An's letter, it was mentioned that Fu Nian was probably directed at the prince. How could his news be so well-informed? Could it be that someone in the court is tipping off the Turks?"

Emperor Jiayou sighed: "I've thought about this, and I'm appointing Li Xiang to conduct a thorough investigation. Logically speaking, it's impossible. Who would lure wolves into the house and do such a thing? Unless..."

Empress Pei took his words: "Unless there are huge benefits."

"That's right, unless the crown prince's death will be of great benefit to him, maybe the crown prince's position..." Emperor Jiayou shuddered, his heart trembled, and he looked at Empress Pei.

Empress Pei was silent, and the two looked at each other in silence for a while.

"Could it be Erlang? But he has always asked to fight, and today he took the initiative to ask for a fight, saying that he would go to Ganzhou to fight Xiao Yu... Or, is it Saburo?" , has always been biased, please Feng Lingzhou, I did treat him badly, maybe he has always been dissatisfied, so..."

"Even if he is dissatisfied, he will not murder the prince! Your majesty is overworked and sick with worry and anger. You should rest more!" Empress Pei didn't let him continue.

Emperor Jiayou was interrupted, he held his forehead and smiled wryly: "I'm also in a daze, let's wait for Prime Minister Li to see how the investigation goes."

Empress Pei said: "I have something to say, I'm afraid His Majesty will not be happy to hear it."

At the end of the day, Emperor Jiayou was restless, and he was very unhappy after hearing this.

"Why do you all come here, you and I, husband and wife, don't you have anything to say?"

Empress Pei pondered and said: "This matter is of great importance. I shouldn't speculate without evidence, but since Your Majesty mentioned the matter of tipping off...Since King Ji and King An are both suspects, then Li Xiang and Zhang It seems that they should also be suspected."

Emperor Jiayou looked at her in astonishment, and after a long while, he finally recovered his voice.

"Li Xiang and Zhang Xiang are my ministers. Li Xiang has rescued people from danger, and Zhang Xiang is even more loyal. Why did the queen say this?"

Empress Pei sighed: "I'm just following your Majesty's line of thinking. I heard that the ancestors of the Li family are the blood of the princess of the previous dynasty, Zhang Xiang is from a high-ranking family, and the crown prince always likes to use children from poor families. In terms of motivation, no matter what. Only King Ji and King An are suspected, and Li Xiang and Zhang Xiang are also inseparable. Your Majesty might as well entrust this matter to Zhang Xiang to investigate together. Whatever happens, I won’t hide it from His Majesty.”

Emperor Jiayou frowned and said: "When the country is in crisis, the monarch and his ministers should be of the same mind. If I do this, I'm afraid it will chill Li Xiang's heart."

Empress Pei also felt that it was reasonable, so she said: "Then why not, I will send someone to investigate in private, this matter may not come to fruition for a while, but if there are people in the court who are secretly colluding with the Turkic people, sooner or later there will be an accident. It will be a big disaster, be careful and make no big mistakes."

Emperor Jiayou nodded, saying it was fine, then Empress Lao would take the trouble to pay attention to this matter.

Empress Pei smiled gently and rubbed her forehead for Emperor Jiayou herself.

Relaxing a little, Emperor Jiayou couldn't help but tell his wife what was in his heart.

"Since I came to the throne, for some reason, there has been no peace inside and outside. These days, I often think, if I knew this earlier, it would be a good thing not to be the emperor?"

He was weak by nature, and he had never been a resolute person. It was only because of a coincidence that the three sons left under the late emperor's knees were selected as generals among the short ones, and finally stood out. There is a destiny in the dark, and Empress Pei is not wise enough to interpret the secrets of the sky. Hearing this, naturally, she can only comfort him.

"Your Majesty's destiny has come. It is not yet the end of the world. For the sake of the subjects, for me and the children, please cheer up and expel the Tartars as soon as possible, and recover the mountains and rivers."

……

He Rong sat on the main seat and remained motionless for half an hour.

Since Gao Changning came in, he hadn't heard a single word from him, and he couldn't help showing worry, but he didn't dare to disturb her, so he could only look to Princess Zhending for help.

Princess Zhending coughed lightly, disturbing the silence of the room.

"Right now is not the time for you to wander off. Fu Nian did not take the prince as a hostage, but killed him directly. It has shown that Fu Nian's ambition is not just what we used to think. Fu Nian is intended for the Central Plains .”

Many people have an inherent prejudice against the Turks. They are afraid of the fighting power of the Turkic cavalry, but also think that the Turks are just barbarians. They invaded the Central Plains just to rob property and slaves. Even Princess Zhending and He Rong were inevitably attacked by such Guided by the inherent impression, he lost his vigilance when judging the enemy's situation, but then again, who would have expected that Fu Nian would kill the prince without saying a word?

He Rong finally moved, and a crack appeared on his calm mask.

These days, he felt tormented and regretted in his heart. He felt that if he tried his best to dissuade the prince from going to war, or if he had seen through Fu Nian's intention earlier and asked the court to increase troops, maybe the prince would not have to die, and Yunzhou would not be lost.

He is always used to taking the responsibility on himself, but Xue Tan and others are well aware of this, and after the news of the prince's death, they always comfort him, for fear that He Rong will be devastated because of this.

But how dare He Rong let his emotions go, he is well aware of the threat of the Turkic people, and understands that many things cannot be counted on the imperial court. He will come to Lingzhou that day. In fact, he has already expected the situation today, but he did not expect it to come so soon .

He Rong was silent for a moment, and handed the letter he had just received to Princess Zhending and the others.

Xue Tan received the letter from Princess Zhending, frowned after reading it, and said, "Ganzhou must guard against Xiao Yu, it is impossible for Chen Wei to take away the soldiers and horses, where can Chen Wei get the manpower to defend against the Turkic people?"

Zhang Zedao: "It should be the Gyeonggi garrison."

Xue Tan said without hesitation: "That's even more nonsense! The imperial guards guarding the capital, how many of them have never been on the battlefield, have been tempered by killing blood, and rashly follow Chen Wei to fight the Turks. Whether they listen to the command is a matter of opinion." What’s the matter, suddenly seeing a Turkic man who kills without blinking an eye, it’s not frightening, Chen Wei is powerless even if Wu Quxing is reborn, right?”

Zhang Ze became anxious when he heard this, and hurriedly looked at He Rong.

"Your Highness, why don't I go back to Beijing and advise His Majesty?"

"useless."

He Rong shook his head, and carefully read the decree sent back to him again.

"Your Majesty's decree must have been set out together with my edict. It should be sent to Chen Wei almost soon. It will be too late for you to rush back. Besides, there is really no better way. I guess the court may still Prepare the back road in case of any eventuality."

Zhang Ze asked in a daze, "What is the way out?"

"Move the capital." It was Xue Tan who answered him.

Zhang Ze was tongue-tied and thought, why did he end up in such a field?

But thinking about it again, the prince took tens of thousands of forbidden troops to Yunzhou, but the entire army was wiped out. Now the forbidden army has allocated some to Chen Wei. If Jinzhou falls again, Chang'an will bear the brunt of it, and no one can stop the Turkic cavalry.

The country will fall, isn't it just around the corner?

The more Zhang Ze thought about it, the more thrilling he became, and he became restless.

"Your Highness..."

"I still have to go back to the capital." He Rong said to him, "Fu Nian can find out that the prince has gone to Yunzhou so quickly, maybe someone will tip him off, I'm afraid that this person will become a hidden danger, and he will cause a lot of trouble in the future. After you go to the capital, find Empress Pei through Wen Jiang, tell her to be more careful, and then tell Wen Jiang, if in case, Chang'an cannot be saved, let her leave immediately, don't hesitate, and don't worry about the things outside of the Prince An's mansion, life Keeping safe is the most important thing.”

Zhang Ze complied solemnly, turned around and strode away. The afterglow of the setting sun dyed orange on the edge of the raised corner of his robe, but it brought a gloomy and unpredictable.

Xue Tan seemed to be able to sense He Rong's uneasiness, so he comforted him: "Now the city of Lingzhou is stable, the soldiers practice every day without slack, and their morale is even higher. Even if the Turkic people come, they can fight with them. Your Highness don't have to worry. .”

He Rong nodded slightly.

I hope so.In everyone's heart, this sentence emerged in unison at this moment.