After returning to the palace from the next court, Li Mi felt really helpless. The decree issued in the afternoon made him see the weakness of the emperor's heart. Faced with the aggressive and powerful warlord, he finally chose to compromise.
What worries Li Mi is that once this hole is opened, more and more warlords will follow suit. How will the court choose?
At this time, a family member reported at the door of the study: "Xiangguo, Hexi Jiedu envoy Guo Shijun sent someone to deliver an urgent letter to Xiangguo."
Li Mi was startled and ordered: "Invite him in!"
After a while, a sergeant came in, knelt down on one knee and saluted, "Guo Shijun sent a letter to the Prime Minister from his humble position!"
After speaking, he presented the letter with both hands. Li Mi took the letter and asked, "How is Commander Guo doing now?"
"I reported to the Prime Minister that the relationship between Guo Shijun and Tian Jianjun was very bad. Tian Jianjun was very domineering, but Guo Shijun refused to condone it. The two sides had tit-for-tat confrontations several times."
Li Mi was surprised and quickly opened the letter and read it carefully. In the letter, Guo Song described the origins of various conflicts between him and the supervisor Tian Wenxiu, as well as the fact that his wife was currently pregnant with Liujia and could not come to Beijing, and he begged the court to take care of him.
After reading the letter, Li Mi probably understood that it must be Tian Wenxiu who wanted to report something to the emperor, and Guo Song hoped that he would intercede on his behalf.
Li Mi sighed secretly in his heart and said to the sergeant who delivered the message: "Go back and tell Ambassador Guo that the truth will be reported to the Duke and dealt with based on facts and will not take sides. Of course, his wife's special situation,
The court will also consider it as appropriate."
"Thank you, Prime Minister!"
The sergeant who delivered the letter bowed and retreated. Li Mi read the letter again and shook his head secretly. He had known for a long time that sending the supervisory army to Hexi would have such consequences. With Guo Song's character, how could he tolerate the supervision army in his presence?
Is it really difficult to deal with the arrogant and domineering people in front of me? The supervisory army reports directly to the emperor, and the imperial court cannot interfere at will.
At this time, the housekeeper reported outside the door again, "Xiangguo, someone is coming to the palace. The emperor summons you to enter the palace immediately!"
Li Bi'an was surprised that he was summoned into the palace so late. Could it be that some emergency military situation had occurred?
He did not dare to delay and immediately ordered: "Prepare the carriage, I want to enter the palace immediately!"
...........
Li Mi was led by two eunuchs to the Qilin Hall, and walked into the emperor's inner study. He saw Lu Qi standing beside him. Emperor Li Shi's face was full of anger, and there were several broken inkstones on the ground.
What happened? Was the imperial army defeated?
"Your Majesty, what happened?" Li Mi stepped forward and saluted.
Li Shi was furious and said: "It's a shame that I still trust him so much and promoted him to Hexi Jiedushi within two years. He actually betrayed my trust in him and wanted to rebel!"
Li Mi was stunned for a moment and asked: "Is your Majesty talking about Guo Song?"
"Who else could it be besides him?"
Li Mi asked again: "Your Majesty, he led his army into Longyou or Shuofang. Your Majesty received an urgent military report?"
Next to him, Lu Qi said coldly: "Li Xiangguo, if the court doesn't get the news of his rebellion until then, it will be too late."
Li Shi restrained his anger and said: "I received a report from the supervisory army that Guo Song secretly colluded with Li Na and was preparing to separatist forces and establish himself as the king of Xiliang. The supervisory army said that all the signs are obvious. Guo Song is in Zhangye
There is a lot of construction work in the north of the city to build a royal palace, and the generals and officials in Hexi have sworn allegiance to him and no longer be loyal to the imperial court."
"Did your Majesty receive the flying pigeon express message from the Supervisory Army?"
Li Shi shook his head, "It's a fast horse delivering a message!"
Lu Qi said impatiently: "It's obvious that Guo Song wants to rebel. Why does Li Xiangguo still ask all kinds of questions?"
Li Mi ignored him and said to Li Shi: "Your Majesty, first of all, this is a bit unreasonable. If Guo Song wants to rebel, the supervisory army must be closely monitored. How can his express message be delivered?
Secondly, Wei Chen can’t figure it out. What’s the point of collusion between Guo Song and Li Na? If Wei Chen remembers correctly, Guo Song defeated Li Na’s army in Xuzhou a few years ago. Even Li Na was almost killed. The two only had hatred.
How can we collude without friendship? Besides, Li Na surrendered to the court as soon as he came to power. Even birds know how to choose a good tree to rest on, but Guo Song eagerly climbed up a rotten tree. Is he so stupid?"
Li Shi was also stunned by Li Mi's series of questions. He had not rested well in the past few days and was out of control emotionally. He exploded as soon as he received Tian Wenxiu's express report. With Lu Qi fanning the flames on the side, he completely lost control of his emotions.
And Li Mi's series of questions were like a ladle of cold water, cooling down Li Shi's emotions that were about to burst.
Li Shi was speechless for a long time. Li Mi's question was indeed reasonable. If Guo Song was determined to rebel, how could Tian Wenxiu send the letter out so easily? And Li Na, who was the head coach of the Tang Army at the time, knew that scene very well.
There was a great battle, and Li Na almost died at the hands of Guo Song.
Li Shi slowly sat down and was silent in thought.
Lu Qi was a little anxious. If he couldn't defeat Guo Song at such a good opportunity, he would never think of defeating him in the future.
"Your Majesty, everything is possible. There are some things that Tian Jianjun didn't say, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. Even if someone monitors Tian Jianjun, Tian Jianjun can buy the monitor with a lot of money and send his men to escape from Zhangye City.
To deliver a letter, of course these things will not be written on the report.
As for the possibility of colluding with Li Na, aren't Tian Yue, Wang Wujun, and Zhu Tao all colluding with Li Na? They don't regard Li Na as a piece of rotten wood, and how many times have Li Na and Tian Yue killed each other?
Year, isn’t it the same alliance?”
Lu Qi's analysis also made sense. Li Shi was a little confused for a while. He took out the report and looked at it carefully. The report of more than 10,000 words was divided into many contents and recorded in detail what Guo Song did in Hexi.
"Also, I ordered him to send his wife and daughter to Chang'an, but he lied and made his wife pretend to be pregnant and refused to go on the journey. This is blatant deception!"
Li Bi sighed secretly and said: "Your Majesty, Wei Chen also received a letter from Guo Song. He told me that he and Tian Jianjun had a deep conflict. Tian Jianjun was arrogant and domineering in Hexi, humiliating officials at will, and slandering him out of nothing.
He and officials embezzled military salaries. These things led to tit-for-tat confrontation between him and Tian Jianjun. He told the minister in his letter that his wife was indeed pregnant with Liujia and could not travel long distances, and he begged the court to tolerate it. "
Lu Qi sneered continuously: "I asked Li Xiangguo how to say good things for Guo Song. It turned out that he had received Guo Song's care in advance, and I suddenly realized it."
Li Bi glared at Lu Qi angrily, "Lu Xiangguo, what do you mean by this? Are you implying that I accepted Guo Song's benefits?"
"I don't know whether Li Xiangguo has any benefits from accepting Guo Song. I guess only Li Xiangguo knows it. But what you said is Guo Song's one-sided statement. Of course, the Holy One must believe the words of the supervisor. If you don't believe the supervisor, then
What’s the point of sending supervisory troops?”
Lu Qi understood Li Shi's thoughts very well and could always talk about Li Shi's heart. Li Shi trusted Tian Wenxiu and appointed him as the supervisor of the army. If he didn't even believe the words of the supervisor, who else could he trust?
Lu Qi continued to say to Li Shi: "Your Majesty, Tian Jianjun is a eunuch with a physical disability. From ancient times to the present, few generals who lead troops will like eunuchs. In addition, Tian Jianjun's exercise of supervisory power makes Hexi officials even more hostile. Guo Song
It is normal to have conflicts with him, but this is not the main issue. What we are discussing today is that Guo Song has ambitions and wants to separatist power with troops. This is the report of the supervisory army. We have to believe it. If you don’t even believe the report of the supervisory army, how can your majesty still do it?
Who do you believe?"
Li Shi's heart was shaken again. Li Bi sighed and said, "Your Majesty, the Hidden Sword Pavilion should also be monitoring Guo Song. What did they say?"
This sentence reminded Li Shi, and he quickly found the daily report of Cangjiange and flipped through it for a while. Zangjiange did not mention that Guo Song was going to rebel. The focus was on his family situation, his food expenses, and that he was relatively luxurious.
, saying that his carriage was pulled by eight horses and was extremely gorgeous, but Li Shi still discovered a place. The latest report from the Hidden Sword Pavilion mentioned that Guo Song's wife was six months pregnant.
This is different from Tian Wenxiu's report. Tian Wenxiu said that Guo Song's wife was pretending to be pregnant, but Zangjiange was sure that Guo Song's wife was six months pregnant.
This made Li Shi have doubts again. Logically speaking, Tian Wenxiu should not know about Guo Song's wife's pregnancy, so the report from Zangjian Pavilion is convincing.
Li Bi flipped through Tian Wenxiu's report and said to Li Shi: "Your Majesty, the report said that Guo Song built a palace in the north of Zhangye City. This can be verified. As far as Wei Chen knows, many big Sogdian businessmen in the capital have branches in Zhangye. They
There must be pigeon letters, or you can ask about the caravan that just came from Zhangye. If your Majesty doesn't believe in the merchants, you can also ask An Tinggui, the young minister of Guanglu Temple, isn't the An family in Zhangye?"
Li Shi nodded, "What Li Xiangguo said makes sense. If anyone comes, Xuan Guanglu Shaoqing An Tinggui will come to see me immediately!"