In August, the lake is horizontal, but the water is too clear.
The steam is rising over the Yunmengze, and the waves are shaking Yueyang City.
Yueyang was the capital of Yuezhou during the Holy Tang Dynasty. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, it was established as Baling County and later changed to a prefectural city. Yueyang City rests on the river in the north, embraces the Three Hunan and Four Rivers in the south, and embraces the waves of Dongting. It can be said that the rivers and lakes meet and the people are outstanding.
With Yueyang as the core, Tan Changsha County is more than 200 miles south, overlooking Chaisang Poyang to the east, and controlling the Miao territory to the west. Since ancient times, this place has been one of the important towns on the south bank of the Yangtze River, with great strategic radiation value. .
With Yueyang in hand, if half of the Hunan border is captured, it will help cut off the communication between Bashu and the southeast.
After twenty-one days of fierce fighting, the Green Dragon Army finally captured Yueyang, annihilating more than 8,000 defenders and capturing alive the rebel left governor Chen Jian.
However, before Qinglong General Murong Xue could breathe a sigh of relief, he unexpectedly received an order from the imperial court, asking him to leave quickly and return to the imperial capital to attend important court meetings.
Murong Xue faintly felt something was wrong about calling her back so urgently. A few days ago, he received news that the Suzaku Legion, which was fighting fiercely with Xie Bao, was suddenly transferred by the court with half of its troops to go west to conquer Bashu, which almost made Ma Hongjie unable to defend the line. Now that the imperial capital has acted like a monster again, it is simply inexplicable that he, the leader of the army, is asked to leave the army and go back to hold some bullshit court meeting.
Combined with the previous rumors about a coup in the imperial capital, Murong Xue couldn't help but hesitate.
Are you being ordered to return to Beijing immediately? Or should we delay it for a while and wait to see what happens?
Just as he was hesitating, Shen Lie and Yuan Bin suddenly came to Yueyang and brought a letter from Li Jiangyao.
After reading it, Murong Xue was shocked and looked at Shen Lie in disbelief: "Lord Chang Shi, are you sure? The Imperial Capital is really..."
"Shen has no concrete evidence, it's just speculation." Shen Lie said calmly: "However, Jiang Yao and I have the same judgment. The imperial capital has completely fallen into the control of Queen Cheng Wen, including Li Bing."
Of course Murong Xue believed in the judgment of Li Jiangyao and Shen Lie, she couldn't help but frown and said in a deep voice: "I don't know what kind of destiny our emperor has. He has had a rough life, full of twists and turns. He was either coerced by powerful ministers or plotted against by his wife. There is no quiet day.”
As he said that, he shook the letter in his hand: "I was just thinking about whether to go back to the imperial capital, and you came. But Jiang Yao's letter said, let me try to delay it, and don't easily go into danger alone, so as not to fall into the opponent's plot. . Oh, it’s really difficult to handle.”
"You have to do this even if it's difficult." Shen Lie said loudly: "The imperial court insists on asking you to go back at this time, obviously it has no good intentions. Murong Xue, you must not be confused. Personal life and death are small, and the stability of the Qinglong Legion is big."
Murong Xue nodded: "Of course I understand what you are saying, so I am not in a hurry to go back. Damn it, Cheng Wen treats me as a fool and wants to play with me with just a piece of imperial edict. It's simply ridiculous."
Hearing what he said, Shen Lie finally felt relieved: "It's good if you think so. I was worried before that you would act according to the order. In this case, why do you find it difficult to handle it?"
Murong Xue gave him a helpless look and responded: "When I say it's difficult, I don't mean myself, but the crisis in the imperial capital is difficult to handle."
He paused and sighed: "Well, we finally saw hope in countering the rebellion, but now we have a more troublesome situation. Chang Shi, what should we do next? Should we lead our troops back to the imperial capital to rescue the emperor? ?”
Shen Lie smiled faintly: "Do you have this idea?"
"It's not a question of whether I have it or not, but..." Murong Xue shook her head: "If the war breaks out, the world will be in chaos again."
Yuan Bin couldn't help but said: "General Murong, this is the enemy's initiative to stir up trouble. There is nothing we can do about the chaos. We can only try to quell it!"
Murong Xue smiled bitterly and said: "Brother Yuan Bin, this is the truth, but after all, the country is in trouble and the people are suffering, which makes me feel very upset. Besides, when I said I would lead my troops to fight back, I was just saying it out of anger. There is something involved in this. There are too many things, and even you, the Chief Protector, haven’t made up your mind yet, so it’s too early to talk about starting an army.”
Yuan Bin said quickly: "It's not that the Protector has not made up his mind, but he is determined to eliminate the rebels in the south of the Yangtze River first, and then turn around to deal with the rebels in the court."
Shen Lie also nodded slightly: "Xiao Yuan is right. What Jiang Yao means is that if Cheng Wen makes trouble, let her make trouble, and she is not afraid of making trouble. Right now, Lao Jianhua, Li Zhang and the rebels are our primary targets. During this period, as long as your troops can be maintained, we will have the initiative. Oh, and we must try to protect the princess, Concubine Hui, Dong Tianxing and others, and we must not let Cheng Wen get hurt."
"This is another issue I'm worried about." Murong Xue said solemnly: "The imperial capital and Jiangnan are separated by thousands of rivers and mountains. We are beyond our reach. How can we protect them?"
"It's simple." Yuan Bin said: "Before we came, the Great Protector specifically said that as long as the army is in our hands, Cheng Wen will not dare to touch the princess and the others easily. The reason is simple, they are hostages."
Murong Xue thought for a while and nodded: "That's true. Although Cheng Wen controls the imperial capital, outside the imperial capital, our world is actually ours. If the issue of military power is not resolved for one day, Cheng Wen will not dare to completely let go and do whatever he wants. Li Xi, If my sister and Lao Dong fall into her hands alive, they will pose a greater threat to us."
Shen Lie responded: "That's why I rushed here to help you stabilize the Azure Dragon Army first, and then go to the Imperial Capital to secretly rescue the princess and the others."
After hearing this, Murong Xue said quickly: "Then you go quickly. There will be no problem with me, please don't worry."
Shen Lie smiled slightly: "If the imperial capital issues another decree, or sends someone to take over your military power like it did with Ma Hongjie, how do you plan to deal with it?"
Murong Xue couldn't help but sneered: "I'm not Ma Hongjie! As long as I don't want to, who dares to do anything to me? Mr. Chang Shi, I'm not bragging. Do you think Gong Chengze dares to come and take over the military power of the Blue Dragon Army? If you offend me, you will call him There’s no coming back!”
"I feel relieved when you say that." Shen Lie laughed loudly and said, "Murong, you have changed over the years. You are much more decisive and cruel than before."
Murong Xue knew what he was referring to, and said embarrassedly: "Chang Shi is laughing at me. In fact, it's not me who has changed, but the circumstances. There is no essential difference between the Murong Xue of that year and the Murong Xue of today. I have grown up since I was a child. In a wealthy family, I didn't have much desire to win since I was a child. Later, because I learned about my special life experience, I attached great importance to relationships, and it was inevitable that I would act like a woman at some point. Now that I know the enemy's Naturally, I don’t have any scruples about my intentions, just do it with her and that’s it!”
Shen Lie knew that Murong Xue was actually the illegitimate son of Grand Tutor Nian Jinsong, but was fostered under Murong Qianqiu's knees. It is not an exaggeration to say that his fate had twists and turns, so he nodded and said: "No matter what, if you can control the rudder of the Qinglong Army, it will be the blessing of Shengtang." . Shen will not say any more, Yuan Bin and I will set off for the imperial capital immediately!"
Murong Xue stood up to see them off. As he walked away, he earnestly warned: "Lord Chang Shi, we have come a long way, so we must cherish it. The current imperial capital is no less than a dragon's pond and a tiger's den. If something cannot be done, please come back as soon as possible with brother Yuan Bin and join the army." Together."
"Definitely, farewell!" Shen Lie smiled casually, got on his horse, and under Murong Xue's gaze, he and Yuan Bin rode into the distance, one behind the other.
-
Just when Shen Lie was riding a horse and Lao Jianhua was taking a boat, heading to the northwest at the same time, the coup d'etat storm in the imperial capital entered a new stage.
The various unscrupulous and bad practices of Beiya Nilinsi finally aroused strong resistance from the courtiers. The starting point of this resistance began at Yushitai.
Su Shunzhi, the censor of the eighth rank, was dissatisfied with the queen's conspiracy to cut off the connection between the emperor and ministers, and ordered the Imperial Army and the Nilin Division to continuously expand the scope of the investigation, implicate innocent officials in jail, in order to attack political opponents and disrupt the government, so he wrote angrily He wrote a powerful article directly denounced Cheng Wen and his party members for their ten major crimes.
Suddenly, Su Yushi's article spread throughout the government and the public, and received responses and recognition from many courtiers.
However, how can a writing brush defeat a sword? Not long after, Nilinsi came directly to Su Shunzhi's door and imprisoned him, his wife, daughter, and the only old servant in the family into Beiya Prison.
There, Tian Mu charged Su Shunzhi with defaming the royal family and conspiring to rebel. He broke his legs on the spot and sentenced Su Shunzhi to be executed. Mr. Su's wife and children were sent to the Jiaofang to serve as official prostitutes.
When the news came, everyone was excited.
Xu Zhao and Dou Xuhan were arrested, but everyone tolerated it; Li Xiuming was arrested, and everyone tolerated it; dozens of court officials were arrested, but everyone tolerated it.
However, now that Su Shunzhi has been arrested, everyone can no longer bear it.
Because he is just a low-ranking official of the eighth rank, because he only performs his duties impartially and speaks uprightly, he should not be hurt like this, and his wife and daughter should not suffer like this!
More and more officials gathered together to stand up for Su Shunzhi. On the fifty-ninth day when the court meeting was suspended, more than 200 officials at all levels in Beijing gathered at Chengtianmen, shouting loudly, demanding an audience with the emperor!
This kind of scene had not been seen many times in the more than 800 years since the founding of the Holy Tang Dynasty. The imperial guards on duty immediately panicked and quickly formed a formation to block it while notifying the inner court and asking the queen to make a decision.
After listening to the stammering report from the chamberlain, Cheng Wen calmly put down the brush, picked up the memorial and blew it gently, and then said leisurely: "While the emperor is recuperating, all ministers should be considerate of the holy bow and stay safe." points. To gather such a crowd to make noise, there must be someone with ulterior motives, secretly instigating it, and trying to harm His Majesty. What should be done to these rebellious officials and traitors?"
Tian Mu, who was standing aside, glanced at Cheng Dong, the governor of the country, and tried to say: "The imperial army should be sent to drive them away, and the people behind the scenes should be strictly investigated."
"It's okay." Cheng Wen raised her head and glanced at him: "Think again."
Tian Mu did not dare to look directly into the Queen's eyes, he lowered his head and responded: "Disturbing the imperial city is a crime of gross disrespect and should be punished with the imperial rod."
Cheng Wen smiled and nodded, then turned to ask Cheng Dong: "Mr. Zhen Guo, look at it, has my calligraphy improved recently?"
