At the beginning of the Mao hour, the sky and the earth were dark.
In the Huangniwan military camp in Hezhou, soldiers patrolled back and forth holding torches, and there was silence all around.
In the deputy commander's tent, Li Xuan was lying flat on the bed, breathing at a steady pace, as if he was sleeping.
Suddenly, his eyes opened suddenly. Without looking, he said directly: "What's the matter?"
A figure came out of the dark corner and said to Li Xuan, "Just at midnight last night, someone came into contact with the No. 2 hidden stake. Half an hour ago, that person entered the Hezhou Governor's Mansion."
Li Xuan closed her eyes and then opened them: "Is he the shameless one from the Yuan family?"
"Yes!" Li Mo stood solemnly.
Those old aristocratic families have always had several branches. For example, the Hedong Pei family has East Juan Pei, Xi Juan Pei, and Xi Ma Pei.
Pei Guangxiao, minister of Zongzheng Temple, was born in Dongjuan Pei, Pei Xingjian, minister of the Ministry of War, was born in Zhongjuan Pei, and Pei Yan, minister of the Ministry of Punishment, was born in Xima Pei.
Top-level aristocratic families can produce top-notch talents in every housing budget, but second- and third-rate aristocratic families are far inferior.
For example, the Yuan clan of Longyou, the Yuan and Ming clan, are now the governors. Although the Yuanxu clan is less powerful, it is also in charge of the family's financial power. However, in a family, it is not enough to have officials and wealth, but also to have soldiers.
Soldiers can be divided into light and dark. The bright ones are private soldiers of the family, which are allowed by the imperial court and belong to the rural soldiers; the dark ones are secret guards, operating in invisible corners all year round.
Even these people are no longer included in the family's genealogy records.
But this group of people holds the most sophisticated killing weapons in this family, not because they are strong, but because they kill enough people.
Moreover, with the support of their family and no need to be bound by clan rules and Tang laws, the wealth these people can obtain is absolutely considerable.
The money can even be laundered through the family.
However, these people have always been those who bet on failure in the political struggles of the court. Although they are not tolerated by the family, some of them may stand up in the future.
But the vast majority will disappear from the stage of history forever. This is cruel politics.
These family elites, even if they are removed from the family tree, are still elites. The family will not give up easily and will make the best use of their talents.
And if it can be removed from the family tree, it can naturally be added back.
"Hongmen Banquet!" Li Xuan sighed softly, and then said coldly: "How many of our people are there in the Governor's Mansion now?"
"Three, but all on the periphery." Li Mo lowered his head slightly. It wasn't that he didn't want to do more, but he had no choice. His time in Hezhou was too short.
"Tell Yan Tao to immediately select thirty good men, all armed with crossbows, to sneak into the Governor's Mansion, find those people tonight, and then kill them all."
"Here!" Li Mo bowed and accepted the order.
Li Xuan's breathing became a little heavier, and then she heard him continue: "There is also hidden stake No. 2. Since he has already made a move, don't leave him alone and get rid of him."
"Here!" Li Mo bowed slightly, and then retreated into the darkness.
In the darkness, Li Xuan's eyes were bright, as bright as stars.
…
He wears a black robe with gold threads, a familiar attire, with a white jade crown on his head, a black belt around his waist, and a belt buckle shaped like a slender sword hilt.
Li Xuan stood in front of the bronze mirror with a noble look that made people dare not look up.
Standing next to him was Yu Ze.
Only Yu Ze.
"We are leaving tomorrow. Are the Yuan family crazy if they come here at this time?" Yu Ze couldn't help but frowned.
Li Xuan smiled softly and said: "Of course the Yuan family is not crazy, because most of them don't know what happened, such as the Yuan governor and his cousin, who are used to enjoying power and wealth. , it’s not that easy to give up everything and fight for your life, especially since we didn’t press hard enough, so they had no need to take action, so the person who took action didn’t tell anyone at all.”
Although Li Xuan did a lot in Hezhou and basically controlled the situation in Hezhou, he had no intention of seizing power.
For example, in the government affairs of Hezhou, he did not participate in anything other than the food supply.
What's more, he is leaving tomorrow, so it would be crazy for Yuan Ming to attack him at this time.
Besides, is it that easy to attack Li Xuan?
Almost every corner of the entire Hezhou City was under Li Xuan's surveillance. Even the few people in the Governor's Mansion were under Li Xuan's surveillance. Yuan Ming was crazy to do this.
Once something happens to Li Xuan, although Youwei will not massacre the entire Hezhou city, it is still no problem for the Hangzhou soldiers to massacre the governor's office.
Li Xuan doesn't believe that Yuan Ming can't see this clearly, and the same goes for Yuan Xu. The Yuan family's caravan is still making money, but it's just less money.
Yuan Xu did not dare to move because all the people who had connections with him on his business road had been imprisoned, but fortunately, internal relations revealed that these people were just imprisoned, and no one even interrogated them.
This meant that the King of Nanchang did not want to start a big war, and Yuan Xu immediately calmed down.
But among the entire Yuan family, there was one person who was really anxious.
Both Yuan Ming and Yuan Xu at least have serious futures, but there are still people in the Yuan family who have been cornered by Li Xuan.
All the open stakes, news brokers, and one hidden stake of the Tubo people in Hezhou were all killed by Li Xuan. They were even actively tracing the existence of the dead stake. Once the dead stake was exposed, the Tubo people's secret stakes in Hezhou would be destroyed. The layout will all fail.
There are people in the Yuan family who have very deep connections with the Tubo people.
Because they are the ones who smuggle the most green salt in the entire Hezhou. They transport the green salt from the plateau, and then through the operation of the governor's office, it is turned into legal salt and transported to all parts of the country.
The imperial court was happy to see this. After all, these private salts from Qinghai Lake entering the Tang Dynasty would further reduce the people's pressure on salt, which would be beneficial to the entire country.
But they ignored that some of the people who walked on the plateau all year round had nothing to do with the Tubo people.
Some were even direct spies of the Tubo people. After all, even the Tubo people needed porcelain, tea, and ironware from the Tang Dynasty.
Although there are iron ores on the plateau, and they can even obtain iron ore from Tianzhu and the Western Regions, the flame temperature on the plateau is dozens of degrees lower than that on the plains. Coupled with the thin oxygen, Tubo has various problems in iron smelting, so it is difficult to Most ironware needs to be purchased from Datang.
Ironware was prohibited for sale to foreigners in the Tang Dynasty. It was the same for Tibetan and Turkic people, and it was prohibited to sell it.
But just like some people are smuggling green salt, there are also people who are smuggling iron items into Tibet. There are huge benefits in this, and it has been banned repeatedly.
It is precisely because of this that Tubo was deeply impressed by these people, and even threatened to control them and became agents.
Li Jinxing and Li Xuan led their armies into Hezhou one after another. Didn't the Tubo people know that they were going to make a big move, and they had already ordered people to steal Datang's military plan.
However, before they could finish this matter, all three thousand cavalrymen of Brenzan Blade had been lost in Taozhou.
The Tibetans even sent a hysterical message, asking them to find and rescue the Brenzan Blade. However, before they could do anything, Li Xuan had already led his men into Hezhou.
In just a few days, most of Hezhou's Tibetan intelligence system had been torn apart by Li Xuan, leaving only pieces in pieces.
"Let General Qiu Lang follow us today, or should we let Cui Ding lead the people?" Yu Ze asked in a low voice. It was impossible for him to let Li Xuan take risks with only a few people.
Li Xuan smiled and said, "Let Cui Ding lead a team of Jinwu Guards. Pi Jiangrui still wants to watch the Jinwu Guards. Brother Qiu will patrol the outside with Qianniu Guards. Li Yi will lead 500 people to guard the city." Outside the gate, Dugu Zhonglang will guard the camp and be on alert at all times."
"what about me?"
"Please ask Uncle Yu to sit in the central watchtower, and then arrange for a team of crossbowmen to be placed in the southeast, northwest, and northwest watchtowers." At this point, Li Xuan said calmly: "After I entered the Governor's Mansion, the entire Hezhou was put under a curfew in advance. Our people will be killed whenever they appear on the street."
"What about Di Renjie and the others?"
"Di Renjie has a token." Li Xuan shook his head. How could something happen to someone like Di Renjie? He has now lurked around the Governor's Mansion.
"But there are still many state government agents and guards in the governor's mansion." Yu Ze was still a little worried.
Li Xuan waved her hand and said softly: "Don't worry, these agents and guards won't do anything at all."
Yu Ze raised his eyebrows, seeming to understand something.
Li Xuan looked up to the southwest and said softly: "I hope everything will end tonight."
After saying that, Li Xuan turned around and strode towards the door.
…
The black carriage, escorted by a group of Jinwu guards, crossed the central watchtower and headed towards the governor's mansion.
When passing by a bustling neighborhood, there were many police officers running back and forth.
Deep in the neighborhood, the east courtyard of a brothel had been burned to ashes at some point, and three corpses were brought out.
The black-framed carriage drove slowly by, but in the light and darkness, no one knew how many people were watching it with surprise and suspicion.
In the corner of the street, Di Renjie's brows were furrowed. He had just touched his tail when he was already thrown away by Qian Niuwei.
But even if this is true, then his other guess has also been confirmed.
A moment later, Di Renjie appeared outside the gate of the Governor's Mansion, watched Li Xuan walk into the Governor's Mansion, and then turned and walked towards the opposite side.
This time, what Di Renjie showed was the token of the Hezhou Fa Cao.
At the gate of the Governor's Mansion, Yuan Wei followed Yuan Ming. He was dressed in a green robe and had his hair bound in silver hoops. Although he was walking in a graceful manner, he was somewhat shy.
Li Xuan glanced at him in surprise, then looked at Yuan Ming, smiled and praised: "In the past few days, among the military documents, Erlang's official documents have been written properly and compliantly. I think in the future, even the lock office of the Ministry of Personnel It should be easy to pass the exam."
"His level is still far behind. It's okay to touch unimportant things occasionally. If you really want him to touch the core content, if you make a mistake in a word, the whole family will probably suffer." Yuan Ming asked. Li Xuan entered and shook his head directly. He was too aware of the cruelty of the power struggle in the imperial court.
"This time the army conquers Tubo, the allocation of food and grass in every place is very important. If you can master the mysteries of it, not to mention other things, in the future the Yuanwailang and Langzhong of the Ministry of Revenue will also be able to do it, and even go one step further. It’s not a bad idea.”
Above the number of Hubu doctors is the Hubu minister.
When the minister of household affairs is sent abroad, he becomes the governor of a state.
Yuan Ming glanced at Yuan Wei, looking at Yuan Wei's expectant eyes, Yuan Ming's expression flashed, he looked at Li Xuan, and asked softly, seemingly casually: "Now that the war is coming, the prince has judged that in this battle, our Datang has What are the chances of winning?"
Seeing Yuan Ming's solemn look, Li Xuan's eyes flashed slightly, and then finally said: "In a large army battle, victory or defeat can only be determined by a thought. No one can be 100% sure. If I have to tell each other, I can only say that in the final battle, the further you go, the greater the chance of victory for the Tang Dynasty, and the less chance for Tubo. .”
Yuan Ming said with a solemn expression: "Can we delay it until that time?"
Li Xuan smiled softly and said calmly: "The Tubo people are more anxious than us."
(End of chapter)
