After the military council meeting, Zhou Jun returned to the camp where he lived with a heavy heart.
Not long after sitting down, Wang Hong, the leader of the personal troops, came to report that he was the deputy general Li Guangbi and wanted to see the commander-in-chief.
Zhou Jun spoke up and asked him to come in.
After Li Guangbi entered the account, he was about to salute, but Zhou Jun stopped him and said: "You are injured, sit down and talk."
After Li Guangbi thanked him, he sat down on the lower peak of Zhou Jun. He hesitated for a while and then asked carefully: "Commander, I have the courage to ask you, Fan Yang, the battle is not going well. Is Your Majesty angry?"
Zhou Jun looked at Li Guangbi: "Why do you ask this?"
Li Guangbi: "Towards the end of the year last year, angels from Liangzhou came to the army and read out the imperial edict."
Zhou Jun was stunned: "There is an imperial edict coming from the palace, Fan Yang?"
Li Guangbi: "The sage issued an order to deprive me, Guo Ziyi and dozens of other generals of their authority and replace them with other generals."
Zhou Jun was startled and said in a deep voice: "Please tell me carefully what happened."
Li Guangbi: "Yes, around the beginning of October last year, a servant from the palace came to the army and brought a lot of food and supplies. He said that the battle was hard and he wanted to reward the three armies. The generals did not doubt that he was there and thanked him one after another. However, he wanted to reward the sergeants.
After that, the angel did not leave, but stayed here, saying that the Holy One wanted to know about the war on the front line."
"Everyone thought that the chamberlain in the palace would perform the duty of supervising the army, but they didn't take it seriously. However, the chamberlain secretly contacted many generals in the camp with secret orders to discuss something secretly."
"It just so happened that at that time, Fanyang City could not be attacked for a long time, and the soldiers suffered heavy casualties. I, Guo Ziyi, and other generals were all busy fighting and did not notice anything unusual in the military camp."
"Finally, at the military council meeting one day, the angels led a large number of soldiers into the tent and read the imperial edict in public, saying that they wanted to deprive me, Guo Ziyi and all the generals of their military power."
Zhou Jun: "What then?"
Li Guangbi: "Caught off guard, we were all temporarily detained and asked about the charges, but the other party did not file a detailed complaint. Other generals in the army speculated that because Fan Yang's war was unfavorable, His Majesty was angry, so he took away our authority."
"On the twenty-second day of the first lunar month of this year, the commander-in-chief sent a military order, saying that he asked deputy commander Guo Ziyi to temporarily suspend his troops and not attack. The generals felt that something was fishy. After some discussion, they wrote a memorial,
Ask Liangzhou why the imperial edict in the palace is inconsistent with the military order of the general? What should be done with the imprisoned generals?"
"After waiting for a while, just a few days ago, another imperial edict came from the palace. We will no longer be held responsible for our crimes and our officials will be reinstated."
Zhou Jun heard this and asked: "You, Guo Ziyi and other generals were released just a few days ago? They have been detained in the army before?"
Li Guangbi: "Yes."
Zhou Jun took a breath of cold air and asked Li Guangbi where the person who came to deliver the imperial edict a few days ago was.
After the messenger who delivered the imperial edict entered the account, among the documents he brought, in addition to the imperial edict drafted by Kong You, there was also a written letter.
After reading the imperial edict and the letter, Zhou Jun suddenly realized and understood the whole story.
Zhou Jun tied everything together and went through it from beginning to end.
Last year, Fang Guan was defeated in Chang'an, and Zhou Jun received an imperial edict from the Liangzhou Palace asking him to return immediately.
When Li Longji wrote this imperial edict, he made two preparations. On the one hand, he set up a trap in Liangzhou to wait for Zhou Jun's return; on the other hand, he sent angels with secret edicts to seize military power to prevent those generals loyal to Zhou Jun from attacking.
After learning that the coach had been arrested, he took the risk and launched an army to cause chaos.
After the angel with the secret decree entered the military camp, he did not rush to declare the decree. Instead, he found many generals loyal to Li Longji and announced his plan to seize power.
Finally, at the military council meeting one day, the chamberlain and his soldiers rushed into the tent, read in public the imperial edict depriving Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi and others of their military power, and replaced them with others.
Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi and other generals had not heard about the Liangzhou Incident at that time and mistakenly thought it was the Battle of Fanyang in Hebei Province. It lasted for several months without any success, which made His Majesty angry, so he issued an order to replace the generals.
Zhou Jun was under house arrest in the palace at this time, and the counselors and generals in Liangzhou City were busy launching a mutiny, so naturally they had no time to pay attention to Hebei.
It wasn't until Zhou Jun successfully launched the Chengyu Palace Incident and controlled Li Longji that the political situation became clear.
Zhou Jun, who also knew the Three Dukes, did not know that Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi and other generals were taken into custody at the time. Later, when he had some free time, he saw the long-stored Hebei war report, which was already the eighth day of the first lunar month.
Seeing that the Tang army suffered heavy losses in the Hebei war, Zhou Jun, as a general, ordered Guo Ziyi to postpone the attack on the city and lead his army to encircle it instead of attacking.
When this military order arrived at the Tang army's camp on the 22nd of the first lunar month, the generals discovered that Zhou Jun, who also knew the Three Dukes and was supervising the country on his behalf, named Guo Ziyi to gather the Tang army. However, the previous emperor's imperial decree had ordered that Guo Ziyi and other generals be detained.
There are obvious contradictions between the two, and I can't help but wonder.
The commander-in-chief or the emperor, who should you listen to?
Therefore, the Hebei Chinese Army made a comprehensive calculation and, for the sake of safety, directly submitted a memorial to the Liangzhou court, asking whether the imprisoned generals such as Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi should be released? And should these people be reinstated to their posts?
When this imperial edict arrived in Liangzhou, Zhou Jun had already led his troops to leave Liangzhou City and was on his way to Fan Yang.
After Kong You received this memorial, he immediately realized that something had changed in the army. He quickly issued another decree to Hebei in the name of the palace. It said that Guo Ziyi, Li Guangbi and others should be released and restored to their original posts. They should be conveyed before they were detained again.
The angels of the imperial edict, as well as the generals who took over the military power, were waiting for Zhou Jun to arrive in Fan Yang before dealing with it.
Not only that, Kong You sent two groups of fast horses, one group rushed directly to Fan Yang with the imperial edict, demanding that the Chinese army rush to the Chinese army as quickly as possible; the other group searched for Zhou Jun's convoy along the way and reported the matter to him.
Unexpectedly, there was heavy snowfall, and the group of fast horses that went to report the message to Zhou Jun lost their way. Instead, the messenger who rushed to Fan Yang with the imperial edict arrived at the Tang Army's middle camp a few days earlier than Zhou Jun.
Therefore, when Zhou Jun arrived at the Central Army, generals such as Guo Ziyi and Li Guangbi had just been released. Therefore, when the generals saw the commander, they were all doubtful and had complicated expressions.
As the saying goes, if Li Guangbi had not asked Zhou Jun for confirmation of the twists and turns, the latter would have been kept in the dark for a long time.
Zhou Jun thought of this, shook his head, and told Li Guangbi everything that happened in Liangzhou from beginning to end.
The more Li Guangbi listened, the more frightened he became, and finally he exclaimed: "The commander-in-chief is saying that His Majesty wants the Zen throne, so he plans to get rid of us people?"
Zhou Jun: "The prince's foundation is unstable, and he once launched a mutiny in Maweipo, so he is unpopular in the court. Once he ascends the throne, he will inevitably clean up the world and stabilize the regime. What Li Longji is doing now is just helping his son
It’s just paving the way.”
Li Guangbi was shocked and didn't even care when Zhou Jun called His Majesty by his first name.
Zhou Jun asked Li Guangbi: "Years ago, the palace issued an order to take away your military power and replaced you with other generals. Is the angel who delivered the order in the camp now?"
Li Guangbi: "A few days ago, when we were released, our soldiers surrounded the angel's camp and prohibited him from leaving the camp."
Zhou Jun: "Where are the generals who took over your military power? Where are they now?"
Li Guangbi: "At first they were unwilling to hand over their military power. Later, Vice Admiral Guo took the imperial edict and confronted him, and those people were captured without mercy."
Zhou Jun nodded: "Well, you can find someone here now. I have something to ask him."
Li Guangbi: "Who does the commander want to see?"
Zhou Jun: "Guo Ziyi."
Half a quarter of an hour later, Guo Ziyi walked into Zhou Jun's tent.
Finding that Li Guangbi was also in the tent, Guo Ziyi was stunned for a moment, and then greeted Zhou Jun.
Zhou Jun sat behind the desk and smiled at Guo Ziyi and said: "At the end of last year, the three of us all walked through the gate of hell. Can you guess why?"
Hearing this, Guo Ziyi seemed to have expected it. He lowered his head and said: "Changing commanders before battle is a taboo in the army. Not only will it shake the morale of the army, it may also cause internal strife. Now is the critical moment to conquer Fan Yang. Logically speaking, the imperial court
This should not be done. However, not only did the palace issue an imperial edict to seize power, but it also contradicted the military order from the commander... Ziyi was speculating at that time about the reasons why I, Li Guangbi and a group of generals were deprived of military power.
, I’m afraid it’s not that the war is unfavorable, but that the Holy One intends to be unfavorable to the commander-in-chief.”
Zhou Jun nodded, Guo Ziyi's political sensitivity was far stronger than others, and this was what he relied on to have a good death in the future.
Zhou Jun stared at Guo Ziyi and said softly: "Your Majesty planned to give the throne to the prince a few years ago."
Guo Ziyi was shocked when he heard this.
After thinking for a while, Guo Ziyi figured out all the links and sighed.
Zhou Jun: "Once Prince Li Heng takes the throne, he will definitely seize military power and clean up the court, and among the people he wants to deal with, I will be the first to deal with it."
Guo Ziyi: "Li Guangbi and I, as well as those generals, have always had an old relationship with the commander-in-chief. Your Majesty is worried that after the throne, the new emperor will not be able to control the situation, so why did you use an excuse to attack us?"
Zhou Jun nodded.
Guo Ziyi: "In the first month of the Liangzhou court meeting, His Majesty was absent due to illness, but the commander-in-chief also knew the three princes and supervised the country on his behalf. This means that the Zen throne was not successful. If I am not mistaken, I am afraid that Your Majesty has been replaced by the commander-in-chief.
Under house arrest in the palace."
Zhou Jun nodded again and said: "Since you can guess this, then I have to ask, how do you... Guo Ziyi plan to deal with yourself next?"
Guo Ziyi understood the deep meaning of Zhou Jun's words and replied: "Commander, Ziyi only has one question."
Zhou Jun: "Just ask."
Guo Ziyi looked solemn, gritted his teeth, and asked in a deep voice: "Commander, please tell me the truth, do you have the ambition to dethrone the emperor and establish yourself on your own?"
Zhou Jun knew in his heart that with Guo Ziyi's character, destroying the Tang Dynasty and usurping the country would be tantamount to violating his final bottom line.
Zhou Jun did not answer directly, but calmly replied: "I am not An Lushan, but I am not Wang Zhongsi either."
Guo Ziyi was startled, lowered his head and began to think.
Li Guangbi advised from the side: "Deputy Commander Guo, the imperial court deeply hates military men and is also afraid of military towns. Wang Zhongsi, Gao Xianzhi, Ge Shuhan and others are all under suspicion and will not end well in the end. Marshal and you and me.
, has now become a stumbling block for the new emperor to ascend the throne. If we don’t protect ourselves, we will be dead sooner or later.”
Guo Ziyi said to Zhou Jun: "Guo cherishes his life, but he cherishes loyalty even more. If the commander-in-chief is suspected of usurping the throne, I will protect Datang even if I risk my life!"
Zhou Jun smiled slightly and said comfortingly: "Don't worry, Jun knows how to deal with it."
Hearing this, Guo Ziyi nodded, opened his lower robe, and bowed to Zhou Jun: "As long as the commander-in-chief cares about the Tang Dynasty, Guo is willing to follow his lead."