Tibet

Just two days after the Shangyuan Festival, some fine-tuning took place in the army. Empress Zhang issued an order to restore the Third Army of the Longwu Army to the Qianniu Guard and appointed Zhang Qingming as the General of the Qianniu Guard.

The Longwu Army suffered heavy casualties against the Pugu Huai'en rebels. In order to defend Chang'an, Emperor Li Heng issued an order to temporarily merge the 13,000 Qianniu Guards into the Longwu Army and reorganize it into the Third Army of the Longwu Army. , transferred Left Guard General Wang Hongmin to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Third Army.

Because the decree at that time was to merge temporarily, this created conditions for Queen Zhang to restore Qianniuwei, and she canceled the temporary decision at that time.

Empress Zhang immediately issued an order to appoint Wang Hongmin as General Jinwuwei.

The merger of Jinwu Guard and Meihua Guard was an institutional decision-making change. Only the emperor had this power. Even if the queen acted as emperor, it must be unanimously approved by the political hall before it could be implemented.

Obviously, it is impossible for the political hall to pass this merger resolution, so Queen Zhang did the next best thing and appointed Li Fuguo's confidant Wang Hongmin as the general of Jinwu Guard. This was her authority, but it also achieved Li Fuguo's intention of controlling Jinwu Guard. .

When this appointment came out, there was an uproar in the government and the public. Everyone realized that Queen Zhang and Li Fuguo had formed an alliance.

"Bang!" There was a crisp sound, and a teapot was smashed against the wall and shattered into pieces.

Peng Wang Li only roared like thunder, and couldn't help but curse: "You ungrateful bitch, how did my father treat her? He entrusted the country to her, and she actually colluded with the eunuchs to destroy our country!"

Prince Peng Li was only about thirty years old. He was the fifth prince of Emperor Li Heng. He was tall, majestic and mighty.

Before, he secretly visited his father in the palace and was named General of the Longwu Army by his father. At the same time, his father also gave him the edict to inherit the throne, which made Li Zhi almost fainted with joy.

During this period of time, he had been training the Longwu Army, but he soon discovered that the only Longwu Army he could control was 10,000 people from the First Army. Cui Fang, the commander of the First Army, was loyal to the emperor and willing to accept his command.

Li Shanwu, the commander of the Second Army, accepted his leadership on the surface and could discuss small matters, but he had to report to the Dugu family on major matters. In other words, Li Shanwu was a member of the Dugu family.

Although Li Shanwu would not obey his orders on major matters, everyone got along well with each other and absolutely obeyed his orders on minor matters.

But Wang Hongmin, the commander of the Third Army, was completely different. He usually ignored him at all, didn't listen to his military orders, and regarded him as useless. Li Jin also knew that he was Li Fuguo's confidant. Although he hated him in his heart, there was nothing he could do about him. .

At this time, Zou Zhi, the chief staff officer, smiled slightly and said: "Your Highness, isn't it a good thing that Wang Hongmin is gone? He hated him for causing trouble and disobeying military orders. Now that he is gone and the thorns are gone, Your Highness should be happy. Why? Are you still angry?"

Li Ji sighed and said: "I am very happy that he left, but I feel sad for the 10,000 troops. I originally hoped to drive Wang Hongmin away and keep the troops, but now I have no hope!"

Zou Zhi shook his head, "You are thinking too simply. Those 10,000 people are Li Fuguo's army. Unless he is willing to give the army to you, you will never take it away. It is useless to kill Wang Hongmin. He will send a new general over immediately. At the same time, he will kill your people, how can you fight him? "

Li Ji was immediately discouraged and unable to sit down. He said after a while: "It's so cowardly to transfer my troops away without my consent!"

"Cowardly?"

Zou Zhi squinted his small eyes, with a cold light flashing in his eyes, "A blessing in disguise? Your Highness, this is your opportunity, and you are not a coward!"

"What opportunity?" Li Zhi asked quickly.

Zou Zhi said calmly: "The establishment of the Longwu Army is 30,000, and now there are 10,000 less. Don't you want to apply to fill up the number?"

"However, increasing the army requires the approval of the Zhengshitang and Queen Zhang. The Zhengshitang is easy to say, but how can Queen Zhang agree?"

"Hmph! The Qianniu Guards' establishment was 20,000 people, but now it's only 10,000. His Highness thinks that Queen Zhang doesn't want to recruit all the people. If she doesn't agree with His Highness's application, the Political Affairs Hall will also reject her application, so Your Highness doesn't have to worry. , I estimate that the Longwu Army and the Qianniu Guard will each recruit 10,000 people, so His Highness must submit the report to the Political Hall in time, which is the most important thing at the moment. "

Li just nodded silently, "Thank you sir for your teaching. I would also like to ask you to draft an application for additional troops for me."

Li Ji left, and one of his men came forward to clean up the debris on the ground. Zou Zhi looked at the broken porcelain pieces on the ground, and he was really worried. A man in his thirties was still so restless that he would throw cups and bowls at every turn. Can a person achieve great things? "

Compared with the liveliness of the Shangyuan Festival in Chang'an and Luoyang, the Shangyuan Festival in Taiyuan, the northern capital, is much deserted.

Taiyuan was the land of Longxing in the Tang Dynasty. It was named the northern capital and had a high status, second only to Chang'an and the eastern capital Luoyang.

Therefore, there are many high-ranking officials here. Since Taiyuan is left behind in charge of the security of the northern capital, there are also Taiyuan governors in charge of government affairs, Hedong Road observation envoys in charge of Hedong supervision, and Hedong Road transfer envoys in charge of money and finance.

Of course, in the end, the Hedong Jiedushi, who was also responsible for the defense of the entire Hedong Road, was the vassal town that truly held power.

At present, both Hedong Jiedushi and Taiyuan left behind are Tian Shengong, Hedong Road observer is Yuan Zai, and Taiyuan Prefect is Li Yi, the elder brother of former Prime Minister Li Xian.

Tian Shengong currently has 50,000 troops in his hands, including 30,000 regular troops and the other 20,000 troops he recruited in the name of state soldiers. He is responsible for raising this army.

Tian Shengong can be regarded as half of the vassal town. Of course, Tian Shengong is also a hero and has brains. Like Li Ye, he wants to be a hero recognized by the court.

Therefore, he had a good relationship with the court. If the court was in trouble, he would step forward. The court wanted him to withdraw from Jianghuai, so he did not hesitate to hand over military power to the court and become an official in the court, using retreat as advancement.

It was this that made the emperor Li Heng admire him very much. He not only made him the king of Gaomi County, but also married him. The fourth prince Li Bai married Tian Shengong's eldest daughter and named him Princess Wei. Fengtian Shengong was the governor of Hedong and stayed in Taiyuan to defend the ambitions of Hebei feudal towns towards Hedong.

Tian Shengong has been keeping an eye on the court during this period. Seeing that the emperor's time is running out and the crown prince is still undecided, Tian Shengong certainly hopes that his son-in-law, King Wei Li Bai, will ascend to the throne, especially since he has obtained the Flying Eagle Legend of his brother Tian Shengqi. I believe that King Wei indeed has the succession edict given to him by the Crown Prince.

This made Tian Shengong even more excited. During this period, he was thinking about how to get his son-in-law and his family to Taiyuan. The son-in-law must be safe by his side. Otherwise, once the emperor dies, the first person the eunuchs will kill will be the son-in-law. .

However, in the past two days, Tian Shengong had another worry. He received an express letter from his brother Tian Shenyu, the governor of Yunzhou. King Li Ye of Qi sent General Lei Wanchun to lead an army of 50,000 to pass through Yunzhou.