Amid the wind and rain, all armies pulled out of their camps. The three armies of Cheng Mingzhen, Yuchi Gong, and Ashina Simo were ready to go. Cheng Yaojin, as the vanguard of the army, had already taken the lead and led his Zuowuwei to attack Chang'an through wind and rain. Li Jing then Lead the army to the rear and will not set out until tomorrow.
In the festival hall, Li Ji stood in front of the window and looked at the cars and horses outside. He was busy and felt a little heavy in his heart.
Wang Shoushi once again appeared silently at the door behind him.
Li Ji didn't have the slightest fondness for this poisonous snake hiding in the grass, choosing people to eat. He turned around and frowned: "This is the Military Festival Hall, a secret place. The servants should not be so unscrupulous all the time." It’s best to come over.”
This eunuch holds His Majesty's seal, and no one in the world dares to stop him...
Wang Shoushi seemed unable to hear the dissatisfaction and threats in Li Ji's words. His face was expressionless and he said calmly: "Why did the British Lord send Cheng Yaojin as the vanguard? Previously, the secret of Guanlong's troop deployment into the city was still under suspicion. This time He was also ordered to serve as a vanguard. What should he do if he returns to Chang'an and turns his heart towards the East Palace, causing major trouble?"
The situation has developed to this point, the mutiny is coming to an end, and what needs to be considered now is no longer who wins and who loses.
Guanlong had to take the blame for this mutiny. It would have been fine if he had won in the end, but now he was defeated and lost. As the saying goes, the winner is the king and the loser is the enemy, and all responsibilities must be shouldered.
Even if Guan Long couldn't bear it at all.
Not to mention anything else, more than half of Chang'an City was destroyed by the war, as well as a year's cultivation in the entire Guanzhong area, and the longer-term commercial impact. Even if all the properties of the Longmen clan were confiscated, it would not be able to make up for this huge loss.
Therefore, it is no longer important whether Guan Long bears the blame. How to look forward to the distribution of power in the court after the war is the most important thing.
In fact, no matter who is ultimately in charge of the court, it is necessary to retain Guanlong's place. Not only will uprooting Guanlong cause huge damage to the foundation of the empire, but also in the face of the powerful families in Shandong and Jiangnan after the war. The influx of people will create a situation where the upper and lower factions in the court are at odds with those in power. Conflicts will intensify and turmoil will deepen, because the disputes over interests are irreconcilable.
Under such a situation, Guan Long's existence is the best buffer.
There is no fault of your own, you deserve it. In the court, interests always come first. This is the case for ministers, the same for the clan, even for the emperor.
If you are really happy with your grudges and do whatever you want, you will end up like the Emperor of Qin and Sui Yang, with the government divided and everyone betrayed and separated from their relatives...
Governing means constant compromise, compromising with political opponents and compromising with interests.
If you are really determined to make progress and spend every penny, the end will not be too good...
Therefore, Wang Shoushi's worries are not unreasonable. If Cheng Yaojin's heart goes to the East Palace, he returns to Chang'an first and then attacks Guan Long. Although he expresses his loyalty to the East Palace, the prince will also take him as a humerus, but it will ruin the overall situation.
Li Ji raised his eyebrows and looked at Wang Shoushi: "You are just a chamberlain. You rely on His Majesty's trust, so you can come in and out of my palace. But you still need to remember that at any time, you are just a chamberlain, nothing more. .Where do you have any room to comment on major military and national affairs?"
Without waiting for Wang Shoushi to speak, he turned around and took out a box from under the desk, opened it, took out the tiger talisman and threw it on the desk with a bang. He said coldly: "Either you ask His Majesty to take back this tiger talisman, and I will take it off as the commander of the army." You can take the lead in military affairs. Or, stand aside and stop gesticulating on military affairs. If you dare to break into the Chinese Army Festival Hall again, you will be punished according to military law!"
Since ancient times, all civil servants and generals have been extremely wary of eunuchs and eunuchs. Due to their physical disability, these eunuchs have extreme ambitions. They only see their own interests and have no thoughts about the country. They have no burden to do things that harm the country and the people, let alone care about them. own reputation.
Moreover, if an eunuch disrupts the government, he will inevitably gain power, which will lead to conflicts with ministers. They have all climbed up through ups and downs in the official career. Who is willing to succumb to an eunuch?
These words were not polite at all, and were even more harsh than the words he said the day before. However, Wang Shoushi just stared at his eyes with too much white, looked at Li Ji full of resentment, turned around and walked out without saying another word.
As Li Ji said, no matter how favored he is, he is just a eunuch. How can his status and importance be compared with that of Li Ji, the most famous commander in the world?
Li Ji looked at Wang Shoushi's retreating back with dark and gloomy eyes.
This eunuch seems to have no official position, but in fact he is highly favored by His Majesty and has a powerful team of dead soldiers. If he is killed by a sniper, the consequences will be too great. Otherwise, with his character, how can he let this eunuch survive? Pointing fingers in front of yourself?
Walking to the door, he looked at the dark and quiet courtyard in the wind and rain, and sighed slightly.
The Tang Dynasty has been established for a long time, and the court has long been on the right track. The remnants of the former Sui Dynasty either died in battle or died of old age. The prosperous age has quietly arrived, the treasury is abundant, the people live in peace, the borders are stable, and foreign countries are subdued.
Under such a good situation, it is not really important whether the prince is wise and courageous, and has the appearance of a wise king. It is enough as long as he has a calm temperament and has the style to defend the city.
Why go through all the trouble?
Not to mention that the prince's performance in the past few years has been considered excellent, even if it is slightly worse, compared with the Guanlong mutiny that caused the entire Guanzhong to be almost in ruins, there is nothing intolerable...
Having said that, even if the King of Wei or Jin comes to the throne, will he definitely do better than the Crown Prince?
Your Majesty, this annoying obsession...
Li Ji sighed again, called his soldiers in, and passed down the order, ordering Wei Chigong, Cheng Mingzhen, and Ashina Simo to lead their respective headquarters and rush to Chang'an to meet Cheng Yaojin.
As for Wang Shoushi's concern, whether Cheng Yaojin's role as forward would be detrimental to Guan Long after arriving in Chang'an first... so what?
He, Li Ji, was the chief minister and the commander-in-chief of the army. He had reached the pinnacle of civil and military affairs, and his qualifications, status, and power were enough to bear such a consequence.
Not to mention a mere eunuch, even if His Majesty stands in front of him and accuses him, what will happen?
*****
In the Tai Chi Palace, it was stormy and war-torn.
The more than 10,000 elite Guanlong troops who invaded Taiji Palace received Changsun Wuji's order and immediately realized that the situation was unfavorable. They were afraid that the Youtun Guards would suddenly attack Chengtian Gate and block the retreat, so they immediately had no intention of fighting again. Morale was depleted.
Fortunately, the storm all the way to Neizhongmen was quite smooth, and the morale of the army was relatively stable. At this moment, it was difficult to remain rational after receiving the order to retreat. Knowing that we could not retreat all at once, the generals and commanders commanded their troops to cover alternately and retreat in an orderly manner without retreating. chaos.
However, Li Jing had been waiting for this moment for a long time. How could he allow the Guanlong army to evacuate calmly?
After giving an order, Donggong Liu, who had been holding back for a long time, led his soldiers to abandon their defensive positions and launched a full-scale counterattack. Countless soldiers poured out from behind the city wall and from under the palace gates, converging into a powerful torrent and rushing towards the rear of the Guanlong army that was preventing their retreat.
, the Guanlong army did not expect that Donggong Liuli, who had been beaten to a crawl, would launch a counterattack so bravely and resolutely. They were caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties.
What is particularly important is that Donggong Sixth Army was chasing after them, making it difficult for the Guanlong army to retreat calmly. They had just deployed an army to try to stop Donggong Sixth Army, but in the blink of an eye they were annihilated by the Donggong Sixth Army who were madly counterattacking...
The Guanlong army had no choice but to deploy another army to intercept the counterattack led by Donggong Liu. However, the counterattack led by Donggong Liu was like a tide, and one army was separated to fight with the Guanlong army. The remaining troops surrounded them from both sides.
We must always stay behind the Guanlong army.
The Guanlong army was eager to withdraw from the Taiji Palace, but the Sixth Army of the East Palace behind them were chasing after them. If they ignored them, they would catch up and bite them to death bit by bit. Before reaching Chengtianmen, only the remnants of the defeated generals would be left. Even though they knew it.
Stopping to block the attack was exactly what Dong Gong Liu led was trying to do, but he had to grit his teeth and delay his retreat to prevent the army from stabilizing its position and fighting with Dong Gong Liu led from behind.
…
Gao Kan led the heavily armored infantry into the city from Jinguang Gate, advanced along the long street, and ran into the Guanlong army coming for reinforcements outside the West Market. After severely injuring the Yu family's private soldiers in Luoyang, he killed Yu in Suigu.
In the chaos of the army, the morale of the rebels plummeted and their morale was disorganized.
Youtunwei took the opportunity to strengthen their offensive. Gao Kan sent Sun Renshi to lead an army to the north between Boshu Temple and Buzhengfang, then rushed eastward from the north of Buzhengfang, and turned towards Shunyi Gate on the west side of the imperial city.
From the south, they rushed directly to the east side of Yanshoufang, forming a pincer attack from the east and west with Gao Kan's troops.
Yanshoufang was attacked, and the Guanlong army outside the West City was attacked from both sides and was defeated like a mountain.