He was under house arrest in the palace for several days. On this day, Zhou Jun was reading in the study. Suddenly, a chamberlain came to visit, saying that His Majesty had hosted a banquet and invited him to attend the banquet.
After packing some clothes, Zhou Jun followed the chamberlain and went out to the inner garden.
After entering the garden gate, there is a flower field and stream inside, and the banquet was arranged in a small pavilion beside the stream.
Zhou Jun walked towards the small pavilion and saw that many people had gathered in the pavilion.
Li Longji, with a sallow complexion, was lying on a folding chair, covered with a thin blanket. Although he was ill, his expression was cheerful, and he must be in a good mood.
Yang Yuhuan is dressed in a long jacket and a phoenix crown with clouds. Although she is nearly forty years old, she has shed her youthfulness and is only left with a delicate and charming figure. She has become the most eye-catching presence in the pavilion.
In addition to these two people, there were also chamberlain Fan Jinian in the pavilion, as well as some officials whom Zhou Jun had never seen before.
When Li Longji saw Zhou Jun arriving, he smiled and waved to him to sit next to him.
The latter bowed, followed the instructions, went to the side table, and sat down.
Li Longji was weak and pointed at the officials in the pavilion, while looking at Fan Jinian beside him.
Fan Jinian understood the idea and said: "Prince-in-law, I am here to introduce you. This is Pang Chaoming from Yangzhou Prefecture on the east side of the Yangtze River. I am an imperial censor. This is..."
After listening around, Zhou Jun heard that these officials were all from Jiangnan, and he roughly understood the purpose of this banquet.
After the introductions were completed, Li Longji waved his hand.
Fan Jinian bowed and said to the maids: "Go down first."
After the servants dispersed, Pang Chaoming said to Li Longji: "Your Majesty, the rebel army's march south has now been completely repulsed by the prince. The rebel army has lost 40,000 elite troops and countless supplies of food and grass. The prince is currently planning and plans to lead the army in person.
Soldiers, go north to attack Chenliu, so as to cut off the main road between Hebei and Guanzhong."
Li Longji nodded slightly and said only two words: "Very good."
Pang Chaoming looked at Zhou Jun, cupped his hands and said, "The prince has long heard that the commander is like a god with his troops. He has been thinking about it for a long time. He just wishes he could come to Liangzhou to meet you as soon as possible..."
Zhou Jun interrupted Pang Chaoming: "I heard that the prince falsely preached the imperial edict in Xiangyang and proclaimed himself emperor privately without His Majesty's approval. Is this possible?"
Pang Chaoming was stunned, hesitating and speechless.
Zhou Jun added: "I also heard that the prince made his capital in Jiankang, not only set up a private court, but also changed the reign name?"
Pang Chaoming looked embarrassed and tried his best to think of a reason: "When the prince went south to Xiangyang, the bandit army was attacking Nanyang and Yongqiu. People in the south of the Yangtze River were divided. The various states had no backbone and refused to help each other. The situation was critical. For the sake of the overall situation, the prince decided to
This is why he had no choice but to proclaim himself emperor in order to unite people's hearts."
Zhou Jun sneered: "Are you trying to use this reason to deceive a three-year-old child?"
Li Longji, who had been silent at first, now spoke up and said: "The prince has merit in repelling the bandit army; he has fault in not following the etiquette. In this way, the merits and demerits are offset by the merits."
After Zhou Jun heard this, he remained silent and did not speak again.
Pang Chaoming wiped his forehead with his sleeves and said to Li Longji: "Your Majesty, the bandit army is powerful. Now the Tang Dynasty is divided into two parts, the north and the south. It is a time of crisis. I boldly say that now we should abandon the past grudges and work together.
It’s the army that seeks to defeat thieves.”
Li Longji opened his eyes and said: "Jiangnan is a key point for paying tribute to the Tang Dynasty. If this place falls into the hands of thieves, the Tang Dynasty will be in danger. The prince has kept Jiangnan intact, which shows his talent in leading troops. I am quite pleased.
"
Although Li Longji said this to Pang Chaoming, it was Zhou Jun who was looking at him.
Seeing this, Pang Chaoming hurriedly said: "What your Majesty said is absolutely true. The prince has both political integrity and talent, and he has the role of a wise king. If the troops in the north and south are all led by the prince, the rebellion will be in chaos in less than a year.
It will definitely calm down.”
When Zhou Jun heard this, he couldn't help shaking his head and asked Pang Chaoming: "The bandit army went south and was divided into two armies. Among them, the West Route Army Tian Chengsi led 40,000 people, and the East Route Army Yin Ziqi led 60,000 people. Here.
Among the 100,000 troops, do you know how many old soldiers from Hebei are among them?"
Pang Chaoming was not familiar with military affairs. Hearing this, he could only shake his head and say that he didn't know.
Zhou Jun: "When An Lushan rebelled in Hebei, he had 150,000 old soldiers from Hebei under his command. These sergeants were the elite of the rebel army. They fought bravely and were not afraid of death. Often, thousands of them could withstand an army of tens of thousands.
The attack can even force a way out of it and turn defeat into victory."
When Li Longji and Pang Chaoming heard this, they were both stunned.
Pang Chaoming didn't believe it and said: "The commander's words are exaggerated. Deng Guogong (Zhang Xun) relied on 6,000 Tang troops to resist Yin Ziqi's tens of thousands of rebels for half a year, but he never saw any strong soldiers among the rebels.
."
Zhou Jun ignored Pang Chaoming and sighed to Li Longji: "Your Majesty, there are 150,000 old soldiers from Hebei, of which 50,000 are stationed in Hebei, and 100,000 are stationed in Chang'an and Luoyang. And among the 100,000 soldiers who invaded Jiangnan,
, there were less than a thousand old soldiers from Hebei... When I led the army to attack Boling, my subordinates ambushed Shi Siming. According to Guo Ziyi's report after the battle, 10,000 Shuofang elites ambushed the enemy, and Shi Siming left 4,000 old soldiers from Hebei to cut off the rear. That battle was fought
It was so tragic that even though Guo Ziyi took advantage of the right time and place, he was almost defeated by the bandit army, causing a catastrophe."
Seeing the surprised look on Li Longji's face, Pang Chaoming knew something was wrong and gritted his teeth and said: "In order to boast about his achievements, the commander deliberately exalted the rebel army and belittled his own sons. I don't know what his intentions were... Could it be that he valued the military power in his hands and deliberately lied?
To deceive Your Majesty?"
On the battlefield in Hebei, in order to defeat the rebels, many soldiers of the Tang Dynasty buried their bones in other places.
And Pang Chaoming's light words were tantamount to obliterating the sacrifices of all the soldiers.
These heart-breaking words made Zhou Jun furious.
He stood up suddenly, glared at Pang Chaoming, and shouted on the spot: "You can't wait to go to the battlefield, you think too highly of yourself, and you underestimate the enemy for no reason! The Tang army has been fighting to this day, but it still cannot eradicate the traitors. You incompetent people who only know how to talk,
He is truly the chief cause of harm to the country and should be killed!"
Zhou Jun was still young and handsome, and he was born in a slave and had no aristocratic background. Pang Chaoming, who came from the officialdom of Jiangnan, had never had any dealings with him. Therefore, when they first met, there was a certain amount of disdain in their hearts.
.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! However, Zhou Jun, who has been in the military for a long time, although he is usually tolerant to his subordinates and rarely looks angry, once he really gets angry, he will
The power was as powerful as shaking mountains and uprooting trees. Even those generals who were used to seeing life and death were frightened and dared not look directly.
What's more, these Jiangnan officials in the pavilion have been at ease for too long.
As soon as Zhou Jun said this, everyone in the pavilion turned pale and trembled. They wanted to refute, but they did not dare to speak at all.
After Li Longji was shocked, he knew that today's banquet would not be able to continue, so he said to Fan Jinian: "Take Pang Fu and the others down."
After all the officials from Jiangnan dispersed, there were only three people in the pavilion, Li Longji, Yang Yuhuan and Zhou Jun.
Li Longji looked at Zhou Jun and said: "Mr. Zhou, I intend to meditate on the crown prince, what do you think?"
Zhou Jun paid homage to Li Longji: "Your Majesty, the current war situation in Fanyang is at a critical moment. If the prince ascends the throne, there may be internal turmoil in the court, which will not be conducive to suppressing the rebellion."
Li Longji looked at Zhou Jun's head and said quietly: "If we wait for Fan Yang to be pacified, it will be too late."
Yang Yuhuan on the side looked puzzled when he heard this.
But Zhou Jun understood in his heart the profound meaning of Li Longji's words.
Once Fan Yang is captured by Zhou Jun, it will be difficult to shake Zhou Jun's momentum in the court.
At that time, it would be even more difficult for Li Longji to remove Zhou Jun from his position as commander-in-chief and then transfer all of his generals. Even if Li Longji abdicated the throne to Li Heng, the latter would not be able to do so.
They dare not shake the military town group headed by Zhou Jun.
Therefore, the profound meaning of Li Longji's words was that he would rather temporarily give up the Tang army's current advantage in Hebei, but also cut off the military power of Zhou Jun and other generals to ensure the smooth handover of the throne.
After Zhou Jun thought about this, he knelt on the ground and persuaded Li Longji: "Your Majesty, the Tang army attacked Hebei and sacrificed the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers. The people of the prefectures and counties were also devastated by the war. The army and the people worked together and made huge sacrifices.
At the cost of this, we have achieved the current results. At present, the generals under my command, Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi, Pugu Huaien, etc., are leading an army of hundreds of thousands to besiege Fan Yang. As long as you give me another half year... no, three months.
Time. As long as Fan Yang is pacified, the rebels will inevitably be in civil strife, the war situation will turn around, and peace and tranquility will be around the corner!"
Li Longji shook his head and said softly: "Mr. Zhou, the world can wait for you for these three months, but the Tang Dynasty cannot wait."
As soon as he said this, Zhou Jun, who was kneeling on the ground, clenched his hands into fists, dug his nails deeply into his flesh, and closed his eyes in pain.
He wanted to take this opportunity to advise Li Longji one last time, to put the overall situation first and not to do anything wrong.
However, in the heart of this emperor, the people, the soldiers, the country... may all be secondary. Only the continuation of Li Tang is the only thing in his eyes.
It was at this moment that the string in Zhou Jun's mind called retaining the Tang Dynasty was completely broken.