Li Chengqian frowned, holding the tea cup in his hand, feeling solemn.
Li Ji's choice is indeed puzzling.
He is the leader of the prime ministers and has hundreds of thousands of troops at his disposal. As long as he leads troops into the pass and reaches Chang'an, he is enough to influence the situation in Chang'an. Whether it is supporting the East Palace to wipe out the rebels, or complying with Guan Long's dethronement of the East Palace, no one can resist. Otherwise, under the fierce attack of hundreds of thousands of troops, his will would be turned into powder in an instant.
However, after the withdrawal from Liaodong, the army marched slowly and slowly. It still did not arrive in Guanzhong for several months. It was completely indifferent and watched the fire from the other side. It was unpredictable and unpredictable.
What on earth does he want to do?
Li Daozong said: "The British Lord is upright. It stands to reason that Chang'an is now in constant trouble and fierce fighting. In any case, he should make a decision to end the mutiny as soon as possible. His current attitude is unclear and has no tendency. It is really inappropriate. Common sense.”
He had fought side by side with Li Ji and had a deep understanding of each other. He believed that although Li Ji was restrained and calm and did not want to fight for power and gain, he was by no means someone who dared not take responsibility. The current Eastern Expedition army is enough to resolve the chaos, and Li Ji, who controls this army, will never remain indifferent.
The reason why we did not do anything and watched the fire from the other side must be because of another plan.
Fang Jun glanced at Li Daozong and nodded in approval: "What the prince said is true. I went to Luoyang to meet the British Duke this time, and after a conversation, I had this feeling in my heart. Your Majesty's ability to recognize people is rare in the world. Since you accept the fate of the British As the prime minister of the dynasty, how can he be a person who has no responsibility? It's just that we can't know what he is planning in his heart."
Li Chengqian shook his head and sighed, put the tea cup on the table, and said slowly: "Do your best and listen to fate. No matter what the British government intends, and no matter which side he is on, we must maintain the integrity of the empire and cannot let it go. The rebels seize the government and bring disaster to the country and the people. Otherwise, how can we live up to the spirit of our father in heaven?"
When he said this, his sadness was fully visible, his eyes were moist and his eye sockets were red.
When he learned from Fang Jun that he had seen his father's coffin, he suppressed the grief in his heart. After all, the rebels are now powerful and the situation is critical. Rather than burying his father in his coffin, it is more important to defeat the rebels and maintain the country.
Fang Jun, Ma Zhou, and Li Daozong all turned sideways and knelt on the ground.
Fang Jun said solemnly: "Your Majesty passed away, and the world and the earth are sad. We should uphold your Majesty's legacy, defeat the rebels, maintain Zhengshuo, and work hard to extend the Zhenguan era and create a glorious and prosperous era unprecedented in the ages to comfort your Majesty." The spirit in heaven.”
Ma Zhou couldn't hide his sorrow and choked up: "Your Majesty had great talents and great strategies, but he died young and his ambitions were not fulfilled. We have been greatly favored by the Emperor. We should uphold His Majesty's legacy and be fearless of hardships, dangers, life and death, and vow to maintain justice." Shuo, bring things right out of chaos. Only in this way can we repay the emperor's kindness in case of any eventuality."
He went from a humble commoner and a retainer in the palace of a high official to now holding the power of the central government. His majesty, Li Er, did it all by one hand and against all opinions. This is simply unique in this era. In his heart, he was as loyal to His Majesty Li Er as a mountain, and he had no regrets or regrets no matter how much he was hurt.
Several people were in uncontrollable grief, with ups and downs in their hearts, and it took a long time before they calmed down.
Fang Jun knelt down behind the desk and said in a deep voice: "At the moment, regardless of the British Duke's tendency, everyone in the East Palace must be determined to die and never allow the rebels to flourish. As His Highness said, we will do our best. Use all your strength, listen to destiny, and never give up even if you fight until the last moment."
Ma Zhou and Li Daozong both nodded heavily: "That's how it should be!"
Li Chengqian was still in a state of emotion. He stood up and left the table. He bowed his hands to the ground and said loudly: "I am a mediocre person. My talents are not as good as those of my father. I would not dare to covet the position of the foundation of the country. However, my father was conferred by the Golden Code and was never deposed. To this day, I can only fight through thorns and thorns to maintain my father's legacy! Fortunately, I have all the virtuous people to help me, to tide over the difficulties and sacrifice my life. This is so easy, I will never forget it! If the sky has eyes, it will be able to defeat the rebellion in the future. , cleanse the world, and I will definitely share wealth and honor with you all!"
As he spoke, he took off the sword from his waist, pulled out a section of the scabbard, held the tail in his hands, bent his knees, and the sword broke into two pieces with a "click".
"If you break this oath, there will be such a sword!"
Fang Jun and the other three hurriedly stood up and returned the gift, crying with gratitude.
Whether he pretends to be kind and invites people to win people's hearts, or whether he expresses his true feelings and expresses his emotions, with Li Chengqian's weak, cowardly and submissive character, being able to utter such an oath as the prince means that as long as this mutiny succeeds, the three of them will live forever. Being at the center, holding great power.
As long as he does not participate in rebellion in the future, Li Chengqian will be treated favorably and favorably throughout his life.
Of course, there are many emperors in history who "were able to share adversity but not prosperity". They promised all kinds of benefits in times of crisis, but then turned around and killed them once they endangered the imperial power. But all three of them knew that Li Chengqian was absolutely Not included in this list.
This is a prince with a relatively straightforward personality, but he also lacks the ability to make decisive decisions...
…
The monarch and his ministers vented their emotions, and they felt more and more that they were treating each other sincerely, without any barriers, and they got much closer to each other.
The chamberlain changed the tea again, and Fang Jun remonstrated: "Now that Po Zan has been invited to lead more than ten thousand barbarian cavalry to help the battle, but he is wary and hostile from the top and bottom of the army, your highness should be kind and praise him, and take it into his heart." , and can also make him work hard to help the East Palace."
The Tang Dynasty and Tibet clashed several times, with more victories and defeats. It was normal for the armies of the two countries to be hostile to each other. However, this time Zanpo led 10,000 Hu cavalry to Chang'an, but because of the wariness and hostility of the Tang army, her morale was low, she was worried, and she was unwilling to fight with all her strength. It was a pity.
As long as Li Chengqian can praise him, the Tang army will definitely put away its hostility, and the Tubo Huqi will also feel their own importance and fight to the death with all their strength. This will be an extremely obvious improvement in the strength of the East Palace.
A few kind words and a few gestures can make tens of thousands of Tubo horsemen fight to the death, so why not...
Li Chengqian hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said, "I'll just follow what Erlang said... It's just that the Tubo people are always eyeing the Tang Dynasty, so we still have to be on guard when necessary."
If someone is not of my race, their mentality must be different, let alone a hostile country?
Fang Jun shook his head and said: "Your Highness, it is clear to you that the Gar family is now being ostracized, and Songtsen Gampo has shown no scruples in his oppressive attitude, which has caused the Gar family to be in great danger and prone to overthrow. As a result, the Gar family is in danger. Therefore, the whole family was forced to move to Qinghai Lake because Songtsan Gampo wanted to make it a buffer between Tubo and Tang Dynasty. Therefore, although the Gar family was a part of Tubo, they had no grievances and hatred with Luoxe City. , but it is already irreparable. Instead of letting the Gar family have to endure the oppression of Luoche City and become the enemy of the Tang Dynasty, why take the opportunity to show kindness and win them over? Not to mention that the tens of thousands of Tubo Huqi can greatly improve the East Palace. If His Highness still has the ambition to expand the territory, he must win over the Gar family. After all, for at least the next fifty years, the safety of the counties in Hexi may depend on the Gar family."
Li Chengqian was moved: "Lu Dongzan is certainly an outstanding figure of his generation, but since he is not tolerated by Songtsan Gampo, his status and power will be greatly reduced. How can he still be so important?"
Ma Zhou and Li Daozong also looked at Fang Jun with puzzled expressions on their faces.
These two are both powerful figures who will go down in history, but due to their lack of knowledge, they failed to realize the importance of the Western Regions.
In fact, although many dynasties have worked hard to manage the Western Regions, except for a handful of contemporary figures with strategic vision, how many people can clearly understand the importance of the Western Regions to the Central Plains?
The most recent one must be the one who managed the Western Regions in the late Sui and early Tang Dynasties and devoted himself to the trade and cultural exchanges between China and the West. He made forty countries in the Western Regions submit and pay tribute to the Sui Dynasty, and expanded the territory for thousands of miles. He was known as the "Transportation between China and the West, and the Contribution to the West". Pei Ju who is better than Zhang Qian...
Fang Jun felt that it was necessary to popularize the strategic status of the Western Regions to the monarchs and ministers in front of him, so that the importance of the Western Regions could be spread and continued in the court, so as to avoid the frequent deployment of the elite of the Anxi Army in the future, resulting in empty troops and insufficient supplies in the Western Regions. , and eventually fell under the iron heel of the foreigners, causing generations of Han people who passed through the Western Regions to lose their blood and regret for the rest of their lives.
…
The times have great limitations, especially in ancient times when information flow was poor. People would never leave the place where they lived for almost their whole lives. They had extremely little knowledge of the outside world and relied almost entirely on books to gain their limited knowledge.
However, in ancient times, how many books were there in total?
It is no exaggeration to say that the amount of reading a great Confucian in ancient times might have done in his lifetime was not as much as that of a primary school student in later generations... Of course, understanding and mastering knowledge is another matter.
