Chapter 221: Obtaining a decree in danger

The autumn wind in Chang'an in October is bleak, and the north wind swept across the land of Guanzhong. The dead leaves are flying in the air with rolls. The chill is already full of coldness. But what really makes Chang'an in winter are two extremely unfavorable news. One is from the Western Regions. Gao Xianzhi was defeated in Tocharo. Four thousand Tang soldiers were cut off from Tocharo. The Souls of the Thunder Leaf City were captured by the Dashi Army. Duan Xiushi fought a bloody road and led the remaining troops to retreat to Yuegong City.

Just when the bad news in the Western Regions shocked the whole city of Chang'an, Nanzhao also heard the unfortunate news that Luo Feng of Nanzhao Ge rebelled again a month ago and baptized Yaozhou. His son, who was a charity in Chengdu Prefecture, had been rescued in advance.

Xian Yu Zhongtong, the governor of Jiannan, led 100,000 soldiers to fight south, but was attacked by the Nanzhao army and the Tubo army. The 80,000 army died in Nanzhao. Nanzhao officially defected to Tubo. Geluofeng was named Zanpu Zhong, meaning Zanpu's younger brother. Although Tubo Zanpu Chisong Dezan was still young, Geluofeng still happily accepted the title and recognized Nanzhao as Tubo's younger brother.

The two crushing defeats shocked the Tang Dynasty. Not only did the newly recaptured leaves be lost, but Nanzhao and Tubo joined forces to directly threaten Shu, and the court was worried inside and outside.

Right Prime Minister Li Linfu, Left Prime Minister Chen Xilie, Minister of Revenue Zhang Yun, Minister of Works Yang Shenjin and other senior officials condemned Yang Guozhong for his misunderstanding of the country. The disastrous defeats of these two battles were directly responsible for him, and he concealed the news of Nanzhao's rebellion for a month.

In desperation, Li Longji dismissed Yang Guozhong's other positions except the Minister of War, and issued an edict to the world to mourn the fallen soldiers of the Tang Dynasty.

After an emergency meeting of the Political Affairs Hall, Li Longji made another major decision to remove Xian Yu Zhongtong's Jiannan Jiedushi and be imprisoned for concealing the rebellion of Nanzhao.

Wang Gong was promoted to the Minister of War, and Gao Xianzhi was promoted to the Minister of War. At Li Linfu's suggestion, he formally merged the Beiting Jiedushi and the Anxi Jiedushi, and was still called the Anxi Jiedushi. However, Li Linfu's suggestion that he appointed Changqing as the Anxi Jiedushi's military governor was not realized. Li Longji adopted Gao Lishi's suggestion and transferred Li Qing'an to the merged Anxi Jiedushi's military governor and deputy guru of Anxi, and Li Linfu served as the Anxi Great Guardian.

To the east of Ba Bridge, three hundred knights surrounded Li Qing'an and came at lightning. Li Qing'an received his appointment as the governor of Anxi in Tongguan when he returned to Beijing to report his duties. Although Gao Xianzhi's defeat was as expected, the death of thousands of Tang soldiers still made him feel heavy.

Especially Duan Xiushi's three thousand troops guarding Saiye, less than a thousand people were defeated and returned to Yuegong City, which made him sigh.

Li Qing'an immediately stared at the majestic Chang'an City in the distance for a moment. After half a year, he once returned to the power center of the Tang Dynasty. Li Qing'an whipped his horse and rushed towards Chang'an City.

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"The emperor has an order to summon Li Qing'an to meet!"

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"The emperor has an order to summon Li Qing'an to meet!"

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High-pitched shouts echoed in the empty hall of Zichen Hall of Daming Palace, and spread to the upper cabinet gate next to Xuanzheng Hall. Two eunuchs led Li Qing'an to wait here for a long time.

"Envoy Li, please follow us!"

Two eunuchs took Li Qing'an quickly through the corridor and walked into the Zichen side hall where a meeting of the government affairs hall was being held in the side hall. Li Linfu, Chen Xilie, Yang Guozhong, Wei Jiansu, Yang Shenjin, Wang Gong, and six prime ministers sat on both sides.

Li Linfu's expression was calm, with his signature smile. No one could tell what he was thinking from his face, but the unconcealed complexion on his face revealed the secrets in his heart.

The darkness and pathological color of several months have been wiped out. Although it is still thin, his cheeks have a luster that has not been seen for many years. After Li Shizhi stopped his face in the early years of Tianbao, this brilliance once entrenched on his face for a long time, and now it has appeared again.

It is no wonder that from Cui Qiao's resignation to Yang Guozhong's resignation of Minister of War and Xian Yu Zhongtong's resignation of Jiannan Jiedushi, Yang Party suffered a heavy blow in just a few months. He glanced at Yang Guozhong. Yang Guozhong looked dejected and sat down at his lower head with a look of disappointment and frustration on his face.

Li Linfu snorted softly in his heart. This mediocre person who climbed up with nepotism could handle the most complex and strategic frontier affairs in the Tang Dynasty that needed the most strategic vision? The Tang Dynasty had been repeatedly fighting with Dashi for decades, but he turned a blind eye to Gao Xianzhi and agreed to go to Tochar.

The new master of Nanzhao was playing with fire last year. Seeing that the Tang Dynasty could solve the century-old problem of Nanzhao's growth in one fell swoop, Yang Guozhong actually insisted on agreeing to Nanzhao's peace, which gave Nanzhao a chance to breathe. Now Nanzhao is ready and has defected to Tubo again. The situation in Nanzhao is even more complicated, and the situation in Jiannan, which has always been stable, is in danger.

Li Linfu couldn't help but sneer. Li Longji had to rely on him to turn the tide in the end. Of course, Li Longji, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, would not admit his mistake, but he appointed Wang Gong as prime minister and Gao Xianzhi and Jiannan Jiedushi. These appointments showed his concessions from another perspective.

He couldn't help but glance at Li Longji again, and his haggard appearance was undoubtedly revealed on his face. Li Linfu, who had a sharp-eyed look, suddenly found a coin-sized old spot on Li Longji's neck. He was extremely shocked. After looking at Li Longji's hand carefully, two old spots were obviously on the back of his hand. However, a month ago, Li Linfu had not seen Li Longji's age spots appear. It was only a month before, and Li Longji showed up in his old state.

Li Linfu became secretly alert. Li Longji was old, and the position of the Eastern Palace was empty, and the Tang Dynasty was most likely in a turmoil with no successors.

At this time, a eunuch appeared at the door and reported: "Your Majesty, Li Qing'an has been brought here!"

Li Longji waved his hand, "Xuan him into the palace!"

As Li Linfu guessed, Li Longji was indeed exhausted. Since he moved back to the Daming Palace, he immediately fell into the singing of concubines in the harem. His past favorite concubines and past lovers appeared in his life one after another. Perhaps because he knew that he had not had much time to enjoy himself, he had fallen into an extreme desire for carnal desire in the past few months, and he searched for fun every night until all night. Yang Guifei, who was once crazy, also broke a thin line in their relationship because of the incident of leaving the palace. It turned out that they had less time to live together.

The uncontrollable squandering of physical strength and energy made Li Longji no longer have the energy to deal with the two major frontier crises that came abruptly. This was also the reason why he fell into a passive position. The Prime Minister and Zhang Party jointly strangled Yang Guozhong, and he was forced to agree.

He also accepted Li Linfu's suggestion to promote Xianzhi to become the governor of Jiannan and to activate Li Qing'an. In addition, he could not have thought of a better response plan.

At this moment, Li Longji pressed his forehead with his hand and was half leaning on the dragon pedestal. He heard footsteps coming. He raised his head slightly and saw Li Qing'an's agile and heroic posture again. Li Longji couldn't help but sigh secretly. Li Qing'an's young and powerful steps made him think of the time when he was the crown prince. It was forty years or thirty years.

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He can't remember it any more.

"My minister Li Qing'an meets His Majesty the Emperor, long live His Majesty!"

Li Qingan bowed and saluted, and a powerful voice echoed in the hall.

"Your dear, please do not give me a gift!"

Li Longji sat upright, with a gentle smile on his tired face. He had obtained a book of ten thousand words, which was the book of ten thousand words given to him when Li Qingan was demoted. All the worries in the book were verified one by one in the book of ten thousand words.

It is unquestionable to transfer Gao Xianzhi from Anxi, not because of his failure in the Battle of Tochar. After all, it was not entirely his responsibility, but losing the Broken Leaf was Gao Xianzhi's unshirkable responsibility. His lack of prior estimates of Dashi made him fail to dispatch troops to protect Broken Leaf in time, resulting in Broken Leaf falling, so Gao Xianzhi must bear this responsibility.

However, the re-appointment of whom is the governor of Xibeiting in Xin'an caused a controversy. Li Linfu suggested appointing deputy governor Feng Changqing as the governor of Anxi. It was obvious that Gao Xianzhi was Li Linfu's person, and he could continue to influence Feng Changqing through Gao Xianzhi.

Zhang Yun suggested that the Hedong Jiedushi Zhang Qiqiu be the Jiedushi Anxi Jiedushi, but Li Longji thought of Li Qing'an's Wanyan Book, and he ordered people to find the dusty Wanyan Book from the library.

‘Together with the vertical and horizontal lines, and attack the big food together!’

This is the essence of Li Qing'an's ten thousand words book. Last time, Li Longji just read it out loud, and he ignored many of the contents in it. This time he read the ten thousand words book again and again. The book defines Dashi as a great country that is as powerful as the Tang Dynasty and has a territory of thousands of miles.

‘You must not be regarded as Kang Shi and other Hu Kingdoms and belittled.

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’A sentence in the book points out the root of Gao Xianzhi’s failure. It was this ten thousand words book that made Li Longji stand against the public and re-activate Li Qing'an.

"This time my dear is appointed as the governor of Anxi Beiting, and I have been ordered to be in danger. Now my Tang Dynasty has lost all its interests in Lingxi. The king of Ningyuan, who was pro-Tang, was killed, and Princess Heyi, was missing. The whereabouts of the Shattered Leaf fell into the hands of Dumozhi again. All the forces of the Tang Dynasty were slaughtered. I am extremely heartbroken. I hope my dear will turn the tide and change the decline of the Tang Dynasty."

Li Qingan nodded slightly and said, "When I was in Beiting, I entrusted the Han merchants who had entrusted the Saiye Han Dynasty to investigate the situation of the Dashi. At that time, I knew that the Dashi civil war was coming to an end, so I did not like that I used military force against Tocharo, but now I believe that the situation may not be completely on the Dashi side, and our Tang Dynasty still has a chance."

Li Qing'an's last words cheered up the spirit of the six important officials and Li Longji. Li Longji hurriedly said: "Why do you have any chance? My dear, please tell me!"

Li Qing'an gave a bow and nodded slightly to the six prime ministers. Then he said, "Your Majesty, all prime ministers, only by knowing yourself and your enemy can you win every battle. If you want to fight against Dashi, you must first have a deep understanding of Dashi. I not only inquire from the Suiye Merchant, but also sent Pei Yu, the eldest grandson of Pei's prime minister, to go deep into Dashi as a merchant, to understand the politics, religion, geography and other detailed information of Dashi. As far as I know, during the Dashi civil war, three major forces participated in the war on the uprising side. Shi'ye

, Khorasans and Abbasids, at the beginning of the uprising, everyone agreed that the Shiite leader Sharik would be the new caliph, but in the end it was Abbasid leader Abu Abbas seized the throne of the caliph, so the seeds of civil war had been planted between the Shiites and Abbasids. I don’t know when the civil war between them broke out, but this is an opportunity. The main sphere of influence of the Shiites is in the river area. Once the civil war breaks out, Abbas will have no time to take care of the Shattered Leaf. This is our opportunity to re-snatch Shattered Leaf."

Li Qing'an's words made everyone look at each other. Li Longji nodded slowly. This was the person he wanted to use to thoroughly understand the national conditions of the food. At this time, Li Linfu asked: "Eunuch Li, what if the internal strife you said in the black-clad food strife has subsided?"

Li Qingan bowed and smiled and said, "Please give a clear explanation to the Prime Minister. If the internal strife in Black-clothed Dashi subsided, General Gao would not have swept Tochar at one time. Black-clothed Dashi had already sent heavy troops to garrison Tochar. Moreover, Bei Zhi had asked the Hu Shangshang of Kangguo in Luoyang. Three months ago, the Shiites were not suppressed. Of course, they might have resolved the internal strife in a peaceful way, but in any case, the dissatisfaction of the Shiites must be a spark within the Dashi."

"Well said!"

Li Longji praised: "Whether it is the opportunity to take advantage of the big food or the impeccable, these are not important. What is important is Li Aiqing's understanding of the big food and the situation in the river. You cannot be competent for this. I wonder what kind of support does your love need from the court?"

"Your Majesty, I have three expectations!"

"My dear, please speak."

Li Qing'an had a vain case, and he said loudly: "First, I hope to deal with the dangerous situation in the river. Please authorize your majesty to give me the authority."

"I firmly oppose it!" Zhang Yun stood up and opposed: "The Jiedushi launched a large-scale battle to the outside world. If the Jiedushi delegated power, it will cause the Jiedushi to have too much power and it will be difficult for the court to control. I object!"

Li Linfu also said: "I also think it is inappropriate. If the power is delegated to the north of Xi, and if Fan Yang makes the same request, how will the court deal with it? Shuofang, Jiannan, Longyou and Hexi are all the same problems. I also hope to handle the delegated to the north of Xi."

The two important officials opposed it. Li Longji, who had originally wanted to agree, also hesitated for a moment. He thought for a while and said, "What Li Aiqing said is the truth. The broken leaves are too far away from Chang'an. Reporting will miss the opportunity for the fight. The so-called general is outside, and the king's orders are not accepted. This is the reason. In this way, I can delegate power in part. Li Aiqing can handle all the affairs of the big food. Other major matters such as the involvement of the Uighurs, Tubo, etc., should still report to the court and not make decisions without authorization. Do you have any opinions?"

Some of Li Longji's delegated power also thought it was necessary, so everyone agreed. At this time, Li Qing'an said: "My second hope is military supplies and food logistics. If transported from the Central Plains, it will be laborious and difficult for the troops to travel. I hope that you can collect the recruitment on the spot. I hope that Your Majesty will give me the power to manage Anxi Beiting."

Li Longji nodded and said without waiting for other ministers to object, "It is not a day to manage the defense of Hezhong. I have appointed you as the Anxi Yingtian Branch Envoy, and you can fully handle the internal affairs of Anxi."

It is definitely a big deal for the governor to have the right to deal with local government affairs. The reason why An Lushan was able to rebel successfully was because he obtained the right to deal with local government affairs, and his military and government were united, and his strength increased greatly. Generally speaking, he would not be invited to grant him. However, when Li Qing'an was the governor of Beiting, he had already obtained the right to deal with local government affairs. Therefore, his request was actually to restore the power of the past. Li Longji was eager to restore the sacred Ye, so he generously agreed.

But there is one thing that cannot be vague, that is, the right to appoint personnel, but Li Longji will never hand it over to Li Qing'an. Any appointment by Li Qing'an must be approved by the court.

Li Qing'an got military and political power, and he felt relieved and smiled: "I have two small requests. I hope that Your Majesty and all the ministers can agree."

This is his third requirement. In fact, it is two requirements, combined into one, and played a verge of only three. Since Li Longji has fully appointed him to handle major food affairs, as long as it is not an excessive request, he should be able to accept it. He smiled and said, "Tell me! What other small requirements are there."

"Your Majesty, Anxi is actually attacked from three sides, with Tubo in the south and Uighur in the north. And against Dashi, he has to defend against thousands of miles from Tocharo to Saiye. Gao Xianzhi's defeat was largely due to the lack of military command. Therefore, I refer to the old rules of the 18th year of Kaiyuan, and hope that Your Majesty can tune the Tianwei Army to assist me in seizing Saiye."
To be continued...