This magnificent city is caught in a strange atmosphere. Some people are fearful, some are eager to try, some are watching indifferently, but some have come forward.
Those who volunteered...such as Li Dewu.
Before Chang'an's order Li Qianyou returned to Beijing, County Lieutenant Li Dewu took charge of the city's inspections, prohibition of violence, and supervision of rape. He received support from the East Palace, and even Prince Li Jiancheng allowed him to mobilize the Changlin Army.
The Changlin Army was formed by Prince Li Jiancheng after receiving Wei Ting's suggestion. The number was about 2,000 and they were stationed at the left and right Changlin gates. They were named Changlin Army.
More than a year after returning to Chang'an, Li Dewu finally became famous and could be called the Tang Dynasty version of Zhi Jinwu.
If Li Shan, who was still undergoing surgeries every day in Guantao City, knew about this scene, he would definitely feel relieved and maybe even give Li Dewu a few rounds of applause.
Such as today's incident.
On the fifth day of the tenth month, Li Daoxuan, king of Huaiyang, was defeated in the army. On the eighth day of the tenth month, the battle report came to the capital, and the whole city was shaken. It was said that Liu Heitai would return to Hebei.
The atmosphere in the court was strange. Some courtiers once wrote a letter asking the King of Qin to attack again, but the sage Li Yuan ignored it... After that, the news gradually spread that Li Jiancheng, the prince of the East Palace, wanted to fight in person.
On the surface, no one said anything, but behind the scenes, anyone who is not confused can see it... Obviously, this has become the focus of the battle for the throne in the East Palace and King Qin.
King Qin's military exploits were unparalleled, but they also caused shock to the court... Liu Heitai made such a fuss last year. If all the armies had not been defeated, the saint would never use King Qin again.
This time, Li Shimin followed Du Ruhui's strategy and did not invite himself to go to war. Instead, he promised to use others to control Daxingtai of Shaanxi Province... This was considered cooperative enough, but Li Jiancheng did not write a letter to invite himself to lead the army to attack Hebei.
Obviously, this is stalling for time, until the weather gets colder and until the Turks return north.
But the problem is, reports of the defeat came one after another. Jizhou, Xingzhou, Beizhou, Cangzhou, Dezhou were lost one after another, and even Luozhou was lost. The saint was furious. If the East Palace hadn't protected him, he would have been punished. Li Yuan, Prince of Lujiang County.
Li Dewu didn't want to worry about any of this. What he wanted to know most now was whether Li Shan was alive or dead.
But Li Dewu couldn't pry, and he didn't dare to pry... He could only pray silently in his heart that he would never return to Beijing alive.
Li Dewu could not even imagine that if Li Shan returned to Beijing alive, the prince would groom Wei Zheng, and the prince's close friend Wei Ting would recommend him to the East Palace... Well, Li Shan can actually guarantee that this scene will never happen.
Looking at the time, Li Dewu put down his pen, changed his sweater, left the county office and went to the East Palace. Today, the East Palace was discussing matters, and someone sent a letter early in the morning.
Before arriving at the East Palace, Li Dewu stopped in surprise and turned his head to look at the crowded shop, "Why are you gathering?"
Follower Wu Zhong went up to take a look at it, then came back and whispered a few words.
Li Dewu's face darkened and he went to see it in person... The pipa was playing like thunder, the drums were beating loudly, and more than a dozen big men were dancing and singing loudly.
"Accept the law and resign the head of state, and the prime minister will punish the rebellious ministers."
"Xiange "Breaking Formation Music", let's enjoy the Taiping people together."
It was the music of King Qin breaking the formation... King Qi stopped moving forward, and the East Palace was still undecided. At this moment, someone actually openly sang the music of King Qin breaking the formation!
Li Dewu didn't even think about it and immediately sent the order. Soon dozens of Changlin soldiers came to kill him. After a period of confusion, more than a dozen big men were sent to the county prison.
When Li Dewu entered the East Palace, he unexpectedly discovered that this matter had been spread to the East Palace, and Wei Ting was using a mocking tone to accuse the Prince of Qin's palace of only playing such small tricks.
Xu Shimo, Zhao Hongzhi, Li Zhi'an and others all agreed. Wang Gui maintained his identity and remained silent. Only Wei Zheng slowly shook his head, "It was definitely not the work of King Qin."
"How come Brother Xuancheng can see you?"
"The King of Qin should know that it will be difficult for him to go on an expedition again." Wei Zheng said slowly: "What's more, King Xudonggong of Qin controls Daxingtai of Shaanxi Province. If he does such things again, it will only attract the attention of the saint."
This was reasonable. Everyone was silent. Li Jiancheng nodded slightly. He did not believe that his second brother would do such a stupid thing... This would only make his father even more afraid.
Wei Zheng continued: "I'm afraid it has something to do with yesterday's battle report. Turkic soldiers invaded Beizhou..."
"Xuan Cheng is right." Wang Gui nodded and said: "Even with Dou Jiande and Liu Heitai rebelling against Hebei, they dare not invade Beizhou, and they are all from Beizhou... Now that the Turks are invading Beizhou, what happened today is just
I'm afraid it has something to do with the Cui family in Qinghe."
This time everyone nodded, hearing that the Turkic soldiers were marching into Beizhou... Who among the Qinghe Cui clan in Beijing was not frightened, maybe in a few days, there would be continuous news of death.
Today's move is likely to be the Cui family of Qinghe's behind the scenes... I hope the imperial court will send troops to assist Hebei as soon as possible.
Li Jiancheng had a headache. He had discussed this matter countless times, but the Turkic soldiers had not yet returned north, so he really did not have the courage to send troops.
We can't blame Li Jianjun for being cowardly. Li Shimin wouldn't be much better.
At the beginning of the year, there was a great victory at Luoshui. Liu Heitai led a hundred cavalry and headed north. We must know that going north from Luozhou, we have to pass through Xingzhou, Zhaozhou and Dingzhou before we can border the Turks.
Cheng Mingzhen led his troops in pursuit and had already caught Liu Heitai's tail in Dingzhou... But Li Shimin strictly ordered Cheng Mingzhen to withdraw his troops because he was afraid of provoking the Turks.
Looking at the questioning look from the prince, Wang Gui shook his head and said: "We have sent more Changlin soldiers to Dingzhou and Zhaozhou to inquire, but the Turkic soldiers were still in Beizhou a few days ago, and it is said that they may go south to attack Weizhou."
Li Jiancheng sighed and refused to let his second brother go on an expedition, so he, the crown prince of the East Palace, could only go into battle himself. However, with the fall of the Hebei provinces, the pressure was increasing... Even his father was dissatisfied.
"When the army goes out for an expedition, food and grass come first." Wei Zhengjian said: "The Shangshu of the Household Department of Daxingtai in Shaanxi Province is concurrently served by Shangshu Youcheng Han Liang, and the Duzhi Langzhong is concurrently served by Shangshu Zuocheng Yu Zhining..."
Li Dewu understood it as soon as he heard it, but he just sat there without saying a word. He knew his weight very well. Although he could participate in the East Palace discussion, it was mainly because he had two big bosses, Pei Ji and Pei Shiju, behind him.
Wei Zheng's words are actually easy to understand. Han Liang and Yu Zhining were both lieutenants in the Qin Palace. The latter was also one of the eighteen bachelors, and they were both direct descendants of Li Shimin.
If Li Jiancheng used these two people as an excuse to delay for a while, it would be reasonable... Father, if my son leads the army to attack Hebei, I am afraid that in the end he will fail due to lack of food and grass!
After a rough discussion for half an hour, Li Jiancheng stood up and sent everyone off. He never lacked this courtesy.
"By the way, hard work Dewu, I'll ask you more about today's matters later."
Li Dewu stepped forward to accept the order, his heart moved, and he said with a smile: "The county government's accounts are quite chaotic today, and I will go back to do a detailed calculation later."
Wei Ting said casually: "The abacus came from the county government, but it's still not clear?"
"Ashamed, ashamed." Li Dewu cupped his hands and smiled bitterly, "I am not good at arithmetic. The officials and staff in the county government who are good at arithmetic all went south with the army and have not returned yet."
"Oh, by the way, Li Shan hasn't..." Wei Ting turned his head and asked, "Brother Xuancheng, then Li Shan hasn't returned to Shaanxi Province yet?"
Li Dewu was a little nervous... He succeeded in making innuendoes, just because he wanted to hear this sentence.
Wei Zheng shook his head slightly, "Rong Jiusi, who joined the army in the press office of the Prince of Qi, has a good relationship with Li Shan. He has already replied to the letter, but there is no news at all. I heard that Li Shan left for Jizhou that day."
Li Dewu was overjoyed. King Xiabo of Huaiyang was defeated. All 30,000 Tang troops were wiped out. Li Daoxuan himself did not know whether he was alive or dead. How could you, Li Shan, escape the pursuit of the Turkic cavalry?