The western suburbs of Chang'an, on the banks of the Weishui River.
Flags are fluttering, and there are many swords and guns.
Countless soldiers stood on both sides of the Wei River to welcome Liu Rengui back to court.
Li Xuan stood in the center of the crowd, and Li Xian was still sleeping soundly in the carriage behind.
The Crown Princess suddenly felt unwell last night, and the news even reached Prince Peng's Mansion. Just when Li Xuan was about to go out, the news came back that the Crown Princess was fine.
Li Xuan was awakened, and Li Xian stayed up all night.
Now he had to go out of the city to pick up Liu Rengui. After waiting, Li Xian fell asleep.
Looking back, Li Xuan's eyes flashed with a hint of gloom.
He may have made a mistake.
When Di Renjie was assassinated a few days ago, Li Xuan focused on Li Jingye as the culprit from the beginning, which made him ignore a lot.
Li Jingye is not a stupid person, he will not do such stupid things easily.
Once Empress Wu and the emperor were offended, a glass of poisonous wine would be given to him without even waiting for him to go to Liuzhou.
However, after this action, Empress Wu was not that angry, and just told Li Xuan and Di Renjie that this matter needed to be dealt with slowly.
Of course, it will take time to deal with Li Jingye and his party.
But under this situation, Li Jingye also won a buffer.
So what does Li Jingye want to do during this time?
Also, if Di Renjie had not made any arrangements in advance that night, who would be the first target to be suspected once he died?
North Gate Bachelor.
Liu Yizhi had just died, and the assassin who assassinated Di Renjie was related to the secret guards, so he was not a bachelor of the North Gate, but also a bachelor of the North Gate.
The North Gate bachelors were hit, but they were innocent. Who would they suspect?
Prince.
It must be the prince.
It just so happens that Li Xian and Li Jingye have a certain relationship.
In the previous turmoil, Li Xian had already shown his skills. He was not as easy to deal with as people thought.
He was not completely ignorant of the secret guards.
And this must come from the emperor's permission.
Invisibly, it showed the emperor's trust in the prince.
The emperor also began to transfer part of the authority of the secret guards to the prince.
Li Xuan doesn't know what the real situation is. He won't test it easily because these things have nothing to do with him.
With the threat of Tibet, no one would touch him easily, but if the Tibetans were defeated, Li Xuan might be unlucky.
But the conflict between the prince and the North Gate bachelor will intensify.
Li Xuan has a feeling that Li Jingye's methods will not stop there.
His real purpose was to keep the Crown Prince and Beimen Scholars in constant struggle, and to involve the Emperor and Empress Wu.
As a result, no one will pay attention to him anymore.
The emperor's body was only a few years away, and Li Jingye could not afford to wait for this time.
Li Xuan saw Li Jingye's thoughts, but he couldn't do anything.
At this time, the emperor and Empress Wu were staring at all the forces approaching Li Jingye. Anyone approaching would be unlucky.
Li Xuan had to admit that Li Jingye's vision was indeed somewhat unique.
But unfortunately, no matter how perfect Li Jingye's calculation was, he probably never expected that Li Xian would make a fatal mistake.
A mistake that no one can undo.
…
After retracting his thoughts, Li Xuan looked at the left and right sides. On the left were his father-in-law Liu Yuanlang, uncles Liu Yuanshen, Liu Yuanqi, and Liu Yuanqing, including the Liu family; on the right were the officials of the Shangshu Province under Cui Zhiwen, the minister Zuocheng.
After all, Liu Rengui did not defeat Tubo. Although he recovered most of the Tuyuhun territory and killed tens of thousands of Tubo cavalry, it was only a small victory after all.
Even welcoming the prince out of town is considered beyond courtesy.
As for the banquet meeting with hundreds of officials, wait until he destroys Tubo and captures Tubo Zanpu and returns to the capital.
A fast horse came crazily from a distance, and the small flag on it was waving rapidly.
Li Xuan immediately understood that Liu Rengui was back, and he couldn't help but get excited.
The current turmoil in Chang'an continues, and it seems that there are plans to get worse, and no one in the court seems to be able to suppress the situation.
When Liu Rengui returned to the court, the hearts of the people in the court and Li Xuan's heart calmed down in an instant.
…
"Left Prime Minister!" Li Xian bowed his hands gravely to Liu Rengui who got off the horse. Liu Rengui immediately supported Li Xian and said with a smile: "Your Highness is ashamed of my old minister."
"The left minister is worthy." Li Xian smiled, stood up, and then stretched out his hand to invite Liu Rengui into his prince's carriage.
Li Xuan and Cui Zhiwen looked at each other and waved their hands to both sides.
The next moment, the personnel from the Ministry of War and the palace had already begun to take over the half-chao Luanjia of the Marching Marshal of the Northwest Road brought back by Liu Rengui.
At this point, Liu Rengui's mission as the general marshal of the Northwest Road March ended.
The prince drove Liu Rengui to the Daming Palace.
The emperor, the queen, and the important civil and military officials in the court were all waiting for Liu Rengui to report on his duties.
Li Xuan and Cui Zhiwen rode on horseback and followed each other on both sides of the carriage. Although they could not hear the sounds coming from inside clearly, the laughter that sounded from time to time made people feel happy.
From Xicheng to Daming Palace and then to Hanyuan Palace, there were no accidents along the way.
In the main hall, Liu Rengui unexpectedly did not mention a word about Li Jingye and Liu Yizhi.
He just described in detail the details of the war in Qinghai for more than half a year in front of the ministers.
Li Xuan also heard his own evaluation of this battle from another perspective.
Liu Rengui restrained Li Xuan's sharpness very much, and he took care of many things in one stroke.
Under his words, Li Xuan was just a somewhat talented warrior.
Compared to Li Duozuo, Hei Chi Changzhi, Wang Xiaojie and others, they are far behind.
This made Li Xuan really relieved.
From the first battle in Xinghai, Liu Rengui had deliberately asked Li Xuan to temper his temper to avoid being jealous of too many people.
The war merit list has been collected by the Ministry of War, and it won't take long before the rewards for more than a year's meritorious service will be distributed.
Likewise, preparations for next year's battle will begin.
Liu Rengui will step down and the coach of the army who will take over next year will be the core of determining the victory of the first game next year.
…
The emperor gave a banquet and talked alone.
By the time Liu Rengui left the palace, the sky was already getting dark.
After getting on his carriage, Liu Rengui left all his sons behind and called Li Xuan up alone.
"You were a little rash this time." Liu Rengui began, then looked at Li Xuan with a serious face.
"What Yue Weng said is true." Li Xuan nodded in agreement and said with emotion: "My son-in-law should not have intervened too much in the British public case, causing him to be clearly opposed."
"It's good if you can figure it out." Liu Rengui breathed a sigh of relief. He was really worried that Li Xuan didn't see his mistake.
After a slight pause, Liu Rengui continued: "You are targeting the British Duke this time. It's fine that you are from the British Duke family, but other courtiers have also begun to alienate you, which will make it more difficult for you to do things in the future."
Li Xuan nodded. He had taken too many risks this time. A clan that was too radical would not be liked by most courtiers.
This is not a matter of character, it is a matter of position.
"I'm also at fault. I didn't expect that Li Jingye would take advantage of him. This person's methods are so powerful." Liu Rengui couldn't help but sigh. He didn't have much contact with Li Jingye. He didn't expect that there was someone under the water. There is such a crocodile lurking.
If Li Xuan hadn't taken action desperately, Li Jingye would have been able to escape punishment.
Li Jingye has only one purpose in escaping punishment, and that is next year's Tubo War.
Li Jingye didn't catch up with this year's battle, so he doesn't want to miss next year's battle either.
Once Li Jingye is allowed to gain momentum, the consequences will be disastrous.
There are already a lot of crocodiles in the pond, and suddenly a big crocodile rushes in, and everyone will feel their scalp numb.
Li Xuan nodded, and then said: "Actually, the one who really doesn't want Li Jingye to do anything is His Majesty."
Liu Rengui nodded silently.
In the final analysis, Li Xuan was just treated as a chess piece at the forefront by the emperor.
The person who really wants to completely suppress Li Jingye is the emperor.
If the emperor had not had an obvious tendency, as long as Li Jingye had said a word in Hanyuan Hall, the emperor would not have stripped him of all his family property and exiled him to Liuzhou in disguise, leaving him with only a vague hope.
"Next year's war will still see a shortage of food and grass. Now, it will be easier to confiscate the British government's property to the national treasury." Liu Rengui gently revealed the most critical point: Datang was short of money.
Li Jingye showed up at this moment.
All of a sudden, he was targeted by the emperor, the queen of heaven, and all the ministers.
This is why, during the whole incident, no one from the ministers helped Li Jingye speak.
Even among the six ministers, only Pei Yan, who had a good relationship with Li Jingye, came out and said half a sentence, but only half a sentence. This is the reason.
…
"It will still be difficult to fight next year." Li Xuan frowned tightly and whispered: "When I think of going to Wuhai to fight, my son-in-law feels a little uneasy."
The terrain of Wuhai is too high, and even the altitude sickness and Li Xuan's methods cannot be resisted, let alone the stable occupation of Wuhai.
Liu Rengui smiled softly and said: "Everything about next year will be a matter for the virtuous son-in-law... But having said that, your layout in Changzhou is really good."
"My son-in-law has no choice. There are already too many people in Changzhou who want to help. Instead of letting people interfere randomly, it is better to hire people without much background." Li Xuan sighed helplessly.
The people he asked Empress Wu for, Yao Yi's background was much simpler. Other places such as Sinong Temple, Taipu Temple, General Supervisor, Dali Temple, etc. are places with extremely high professionalism and high requirements. These people are very important in politics. There is less intention on it and not much connection.
In this way, it can also greatly prevent others from interfering.
Similarly, this group of people had little relationship with Li Xuan, which could also reassure Empress Wu and the Emperor.
For Li Xuan, loyalty to him is very important, and loyalty to Datang can also be used.
As long as he is not secretly loyal to Empress Wu, he can still use him as a bachelor from Beimen.
"You are recruiting a team for yourself." Liu Rengui made Li Xuan's intention clear in one sentence.
Once these people with no background fall into Li Xuan's hands, they will inevitably be deeply imprinted with his background.
Li Xuan didn't seem to recommend any of his own people here, but after a thorough selection process, all the people who finally fell into his hands were all his people.
Li Xuan laughed twice, and then whispered: "This matter needs more attention from Yue Weng."
There are definitely still people who want to do something about this matter, but now that Liu Rengui is back, everything others want to do must go through him.
Why did Empress Wu insist on talking to Li Xuan about the history of Changzhou that day? It was also because she didn't want Liu Rengui to object again after returning to the court.
Fortunately, Li Xuan dealt with it pretty well.
Although Li Yi was not promoted to the top of Sima, he did get Yao Yi, who was Yao Chong's father, and was definitely worth the price of admission.
Maybe one day, Li Xuan will be able to take Yao Chong under his command.
Liu Rengui nodded calmly and said: "If Xinghai is stable, the entire Qinghai will be stable. There is no need to worry too much about next year's war."
After a slight pause, Liu Rengui said in a deep voice: "As I said before, the result of next year's battle still depends on who is the coach of next year's battle?"
Li Xuan nodded seriously.
Whether he can lead troops next year, what kind of troops he will lead, and in what position will also depend on who will be the head coach next year?
Li Xuan then said: "Who does Yue Weng think it could be?"
"The minister of the Ministry of Industry, Duke Liu Shenli of Pengcheng County, will be back tomorrow." Liu Rengui took a breath and said, "If it is him, there will be some trouble, but the overall situation will be fine."
Liu Shenli has a close relationship with the prince, so there is some trouble.
"I'm afraid this won't be easy." Li Xuan looked up at Liu Rengui.
Empress Wu would not easily let someone close to the prince be the commander of the army.
Liu Rengui nodded silently.
(End of chapter)
