In the Western Region, An Yanyan was sitting on the sand with blank eyes at the moment, watching the Tang army and Gaochang soldiers rushing into the village in front of him, capturing his clan members one by one.
His hands were grasping the yellow sand, his eyes were red with anger in his heart, he raised his head and shouted, venting his dissatisfaction.
All this was caused by that person named Zhang Yang! And Tian Khan, he doesn’t want to let go of the nine surnames of Zhaowu at all!
They are all evil people! They're all bastards! At first, I thought that I could return to the Western Regions to report Tian Khan's intentions to the people, but who knew that the troops were always following behind me.
Seeing that his tribesmen were all shackled, he knew it was too late to say anything. All this is Zhang Yang’s conspiracy!
He was escorted to Gaochang City. The Guanzhong envoy stationed in Gaochang City recorded what happened to him these days.
He didn't resist stubbornly. He used to be tight-lipped in Chang'an City, but now he told everything. After writing down all these words, the official took out another letter,
"This is what you have to do next. Your tribe is in our hands. The Foreign Affairs Council means that the previous commitments are valid. You must continue to complete the arrangements of the Foreign Affairs Council."
"Can you let my people go first?" An Yanyan asked nervously.
"We in the Tang Dynasty have always done things fairly, but you violated the agreement first, and you also escaped privately. You are responsible for all this. Who can you blame?"
"This is all a trap between Tian Khan and Zhang Yang!" The official stood up and said
"You can go out of the city to do business now. If you sell enough food, you can release your people." Just as he was about to walk out of the cell, he came back and said to Anyanyan: "Let's talk about this. It was you who betrayed your trust first, so we had no choice but to take this step."
"It's all a trap!" An Yanyan yelled even louder, but no one paid him any attention. There were three officials who came to Gaochang from the Tang Dynasty, and this one came from the Foreign Affairs Academy.
He is the most respected in Gaochang City. Previously, Gaochang was a military city. One year after the conquest of the Western Turks, Zhang Yang handed over Gaochang City to Tian Khan.
Tian Khan sent officials and gathered 17 small tribes in villages and counties around Gaochang. Only then did Gaochang begin to pay attention to people's livelihood, and there were fewer external wars than before.
After two years of governance, the population of Gaochang has reached 80,000. This is the only place in the Western Region with such a large population.
With the presence of officials who are good at governing, Gaochang's wealth is also the envy of other places in the Western Regions. It is also an outpost of the Silk Road.
In addition to the 20,000 Gaochang troops stationed in the Western Turks, there were also 30,000 troops stationed in Gaochang City. Although there is governance, all the men in the city are the same ones who overthrew King Gaochang and his son. They go home to rest at night, and they can also change their defenses. In wartime, they pick up weapons and become soldiers.
From the uprising in Gaochang City to the subsequent conquest of the Western Turks, all the people were soldiers. These were all problems left over from the early years.
I also talked about this issue with Adalan, but this man only obeyed Lishan's arrangements. He always dealt with matters in the DPRK as he could, and would not take the initiative to make arrangements.
He kept a record of what Any Yanyan had told him, and had people ride fast horses to leave Gaochang and send them to Chang'an City.
At this moment, in Chang'an City, it was still the cold winter season. On a rare sunny day, the warm sun was shining brightly. Zhang Yang was sitting in Qujiang Pond reading a book with Li Shimin's family. After studying it for a long time, he said: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wrote..." Li Anyan stood respectfully, looking forward to it. Zhang Shilang’s next words.
Zhang Yang sighed: "The prince's plan is too simple. What does it mean to send a scholar to the local area to cooperate with the government to open an official school, and each scholar is given three hundred yuan a year? This is too little. As for one year later, He didn’t say anything about the future arrangements. The prince didn’t even receive preferential treatment for these scholars who devoted themselves to teaching. How could I give him money? I still asked for two thousand guan more than last time..." The prince said this After complaining about a teaching plan, Zhang Yang returned the scroll.
"Take it back and ask His Majesty the Crown Prince to rewrite it." Li Anyan looked at His Majesty's eyes and then at Minister Zhang.
Zhang Yang described His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's strategy in such a disgraceful way, full of loopholes, that His Majesty did not even speak for the Crown Prince... Li Anyan felt a little unconvinced by the Crown Prince's injustice.
"How many times has this happened to Minister Zhang?" Zhang Yang frowned and said, "It's the third time, what's wrong?"
"Okay, I'll take it back to the prince now." Li Anyan left with the others. Li Shimin was sitting there. This was news from Gaochang.
Empress Changsun and Li Yue were sitting together, and it was a rare occasion for them to take the princes and princesses to Qujiang Pond to visit the garden. It was a rare warm sunny day in the winter.
The queen originally wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to take a break from the court, so that the two families could move around, and the children were also thinking about the emperor's sister and brother-in-law.
Now looking at His Majesty and Zhang Yang, the two families came to play in Qujiang Pool. The situation in front of them still made the Queen sigh. In such a good time, the father-in-law and his son-in-law did not accompany the children, and they dealt with it here. political affairs.
Li Shimin looked at the letter in his hand,
"You just pushed back the prince's plan?" Zhang Yang dipped some ink on his pen and said,
"If the plan doesn't work, you have to take it back and make it again."
"You can't keep embarrassing the prince all the time." Continuing to write down his future plans for Tubo, Zhang Yang added: "Those who chop firewood must be careful when sharpening their swords. The planning in advance must be rigorous. If there are any changes in the future, it will be difficult." It’s very troublesome.”
"Look at this." Li Shimin put down a volume of letters. The letters were made of yellowed sheepskin and had a strange smell.
Zhang Yang frowned and looked at the record, which looked like an interrogation record. Xu Jingzong was promised to buy 100,000 stones of grain and grass from the Tang Dynasty, but he did not pay the money or take away the grain and grass after leaving customs.
The escorting soldiers and horses did not leave after leaving the customs, but followed him all the time. Anyanyan tried to persuade them to leave several times, but they didn't listen at all.
There were more than a hundred soldiers in this army. The achievements of the Tang army in Tubo had already shocked the Western Regions, and even some bandits in the Western Regions did not dare to offend them.
Everyone stayed in a small town in Shazhou. While everyone was resting, An Yanyan covered his face with a black cloth and quietly left the small town alone.
Those Datang soldiers were all drunk, and they would probably not wake up yet. Anyan Yanxin was glad that he had saved a hand and pretended to be drunk and fell asleep.
The small town was quiet at the moment. After leaving Shazhou, I hid in a next door for a day. I only felt relieved after making sure that the officers and soldiers did not catch up.
He carried some dried meat and a water bag with him to walk to the place where his people gathered. Judging from his experience in the desert, this small amount of water and food was enough for him.
After walking in the desert for half a month, Anyanyan was still very vigilant. But he never thought that this army would find the Gaochang people.
In fact, these are nothing. The nine surnames of Zhaowu have always been low-key in life. An Yan Yanyan bought a pot of grape wine from a Gaochang man, and then his whereabouts were exposed.
Zhang Yang looked at the torture record and saw that there were many words in which Anyan cursed himself and His Majesty.
"Your Majesty, this person surnamed An insulted Tian Khan and his crime is punishable." Zhang Yang put the record away again and said,
"We need to keep good evidence. He dared to curse like this. We can keep it for next time to blackmail him."
"blackmail?"
"Blackmail." Zhang Yang cleared his throat and changed his words: "Yes, blackmail!" Anyway, Tian Khan does not have a bad reputation at all. No matter how vicious the sage and benevolent Tian Khan is, in the eyes of the people of the world, this Tian Khan is still majestic.
This is an emperor who cherishes his reputation. It is also very tiring to deal with this kind of emperor. All good things are his, and all bad things are blamed on his ministers.
Zhang Yang had already had a premonition in his heart that if he could not protect himself in the future, he would die in the hands of the emperor sooner or later. Li Shimin drank tea and seemed to be smiling.
Queen Changsun came over with tea. Seeing the strange expressions of Weng and son-in-law, she couldn't help but wonder what they had said.
Li Shimin took another bowl of hot tea, because the tea he had just received was already cold because he was busy reviewing the memorial.
"Thank you, Queen." Zhang Yang also took the tea and drank it silently. There were still many memorials in front of the emperor. Zhang Yang continued to look at the files sent by the Diplomatic Academy. Da'an had stationed a group of officers and soldiers in Liaodong. After the Japanese envoys returned, they were ready to come to congratulate them. They had just passed through Goguryeo by road. Only then did they enter the territory of Liaodong.
Judging from the distance traveled, it would take at least two months for them to reach Chang'an City. The envoy who came was still the Fujiwara clan and the same group of people.
Zhang Yang put down this volume and picked up another one. It said that Tang Xuanzang had passed the Zigala Mountain, which is near Uzbekistan.
I don’t know how Xu Jingzong found out about the whereabouts of the monk Tang Xuanzang. You even know where others have gone.
Zhang Yang picked up another file and opened it. Xu Jingzong wrote about Wang Xuance. He didn't expect that there was a person like him who could not be defeated by a social gangster.
So far he still hasn't captured Wang Xuance. The most important thing is that Xue Rengui has obsessions in his heart, but this Wang Xuance is simply an insufferable person. To be precise, this person has no purpose or wants.
It's like seeing flowers in a fog, with no way to start or find a solution. What's more, Changsun Wuji is also wooing him now.
Zhang Yang turned his head and looked to one side. Li Shimin was sitting on the table nearby, engrossed in reviewing memorials.
"Your Majesty, I am confused about something."
"Say." The emperor wrote without raising his head with the pen in his hand. Being able to have the rare warm sunshine in the dead of winter and review memorials in the sunshine is a beautiful thing in a busy life.
Zhang Yang looked at the distant scenery, trying to relax his tired eyes,
"Your Majesty, you said that we are all mortals. Why do some people like to pretend to be saints in front of others?" Li Shimin turned the side of the memorial to the sun, looked at it sideways for a long time, struggled to distinguish the handwriting, and replied: "Nothing else, only Among the four words of fame, fame and wealth, name comes first. If they want to be beneficial, they will definitely need name."
"I just don't understand. There are many people in this world who dress in rags and pretend to be arhats. They keep saying that they will not be stained with mud or dust."
"Only by becoming sages can they win people's trust." Zhang Yang moved his cushion and simply sat at the emperor's table.
"To be honest with your Majesty, I discovered something recently." Li Shimin's mind was all on the memorial, and he was very annoyed by it.
"Just tell me." Zhang Yang frowned and said, "I recently discovered that some people have three faces and two hearts. They look like a person in front of them, but behind them there is a ghost."
"I think you've gone crazy writing about Liaozhai."
"Maybe." Zhang Yang straightened his sleeves and stood up. Seeing that his wife had almost finished cleaning up, he stood up and said, "There are still books hanging to dry at home, so I will leave first."
"Yeah." Li Shimin nodded slightly. The emperor was still sitting by Qujiang Pond reviewing memorials. People's livelihood and construction must not be left behind, especially after the elderly people left, they had to keep an eye on the actions of the nobles.
After Zhang Yang and his family left Qujiang Pool, Li Shimin stood up and relaxed his sore back.
A gust of cold wind blew by, and Li Shimin suddenly came to his senses and thought again, and asked: "Who did Zhang Yang just say pretend to be a sage in front of others?" Wang Gonggong quickly replied: "I haven't read any books, and I don't understand this very well. What's going on?" Seeing that His Majesty's expression was not so good, Wang Gonggong said again: "Shilang Zhang's speech is really profound." Li Shimin felt bad, gritted his teeth and said to himself: "Who did he say was wearing ragged clothes and pretending to be an Arhat?" Wang Gonggong said. He lowered his head and didn't dare to say anything.
"Who is he talking about with three faces? Two hearts?"
"..."
"You are a human in front of you, but a ghost behind your back?" Li Shimin kicked the table over and said,
"What a fool! How dare you criticize me?" Wang Gonggong felt bitter and hurriedly picked up the memorial on the ground. This Minister Zhang is really good at talking.
After scolding His Majesty for a few times, His Majesty didn't come back to his senses for a long time, and then he became so angry again. These memorials are of great concern to the country, and it would be a big deal if even one volume was missing.
The prince picked them all up, wiped them clean, lifted the table and put it back in its place. Seeing that her father was suddenly angry, Li Lizhi came with her young slaves.
"Why is Father angry?" Li Shimin said solemnly: "Because of your brother-in-law."
"Did brother-in-law make a mistake again?"
"Yes!" Li Shimin said solemnly,
"Your brother-in-law has three faces and two hearts." As soon as he finished speaking, Li Zhi suddenly raised his hand and said, "Father, I understand! My brother-in-law is not a human being." Li Lizhi was silent for a moment, and felt speechless again. He pulled Zhinu and stamped his feet anxiously, and then said: "How could my brother-in-law not be a human being?"
"But my father said that my brother-in-law has three faces! Two hearts." Li Zhi said and gestured. Raising hands to answer questions was a habit developed during class by the emperor's sister and her brother-in-law, and Li Zhi couldn't change it for a while.
Fortunately it's not a bad habit. His father was scolding his brother-in-law, but Li Zhi couldn't understand. As the imperial sister, she became more and more worried about the relationship between her father and her brother-in-law.
Maybe after my brother-in-law left, he said some unpleasant things to his father. Mostly it is a state matter, and it is hard for a minister to say much. Li Lizhi bowed slightly and said,
"My daughter will make tea for my father." Li Shimin nodded.
"I've sent people to see your brother-in-law's new home, which is almost ready."
