Tibet

While Li Ye and Dugu Ming were having a drink at noon, in a restaurant in Chongrenfang, Wen Jingnian was also reunited with an old friend, Yang Yan, who is currently the registrar of Taifu Temple. They were not only classmates when they were young, but also later Another Jinshi in the same subject, and later one went to Hanzhong and the other to Hedong.

However, Yang Yan only served as a staff officer in Hedong for one year. After his father passed away, he went home to observe mourning. He stayed at home for four years and only became an official again last year.

The two sat in front of the second-floor window. Yang Yan poured Wen Jingnian a glass of wine and asked with a smile: "How long will you stay in Chang'an this time?"

Wen Jingnian shook his head, "I don't know, but it won't be more than a month at most."

"I went to Hanzhong at the beginning of the year and wanted to see you, but I was surprised to learn that you resigned and became a staff member!"

Yang Yan asked in confusion: "If you don't become a good local official, why do you want to be a staff officer?"

Generally, the purpose of scribes becoming staff officers is to obtain local officials, but Wen Jingnian went against the grain of other officials. Seeing that he was about to be promoted to county magistrate, he resigned to become a staff officer.

Wen Jingnian took a sip of wine and smiled slightly: "Of course it is for a better future."

"Do you think there is a future for following King Qi?"

"Why not?" Wen Jingnian asked.

"Prince Qi is very popular now, but many people in the court feel that he will become the second in Anlu Mountain. If he..., my brother is a descendant of the Wen family in Hedong!"

Wen Jingnian smiled and said: "Now that King Yong has also separated Bashu, why is no one worried about him becoming the second in Anlu Mountain? Not only that, the emperor is also planning to make him the crown prince."

"That's because of the Supreme Emperor. With the Supreme Emperor's will, it is reasonable and legal for King Yong to appoint the Emperor's younger brother."

"But His Royal Highness King Qi also reached an agreement with the imperial court in running Longyou Hexi. The emperor and the political affairs hall have stamped their seals and approved it. It is completely reasonable and legal. Why do the imperial officials think it is a separatist regime?"

Yang Yan was speechless for a moment, and Wen Jingnian shook his head again and said: "The reason why the emperor and the imperial court agreed to this is because Longyou and Hexi were occupied by Tubo. They needed to defeat Tubo and take back every inch of land from Tubo, but the imperial court couldn't do it. , we went and fought bloody battles with Tubo, and how many soldiers were killed, leading to today's situation. The court became jealous again and said we were a separatist regime."

Yang Yan retorted: "His Royal Highness King Qi is a minister after all. It is his duty to regain the lost land for the Tang Dynasty. He should return the land to the court. It's like you see bandits robbing people's property. You fight the bandits away." It’s the same thing, but he has taken over the people’s property, which is morally wrong!”

Wen Jingnian smiled slightly and said: "But have you ever thought about it, if it were not His Highness King Qi, but Guo Ziyi or Li Guangbi, would the emperor sign this agreement with him? Will the Political Affairs Hall recognize this agreement?"

Yang Yan was puzzled and asked: "Then what's your reason?"

"This involves a struggle for imperial power. Because King Qi is also a member of the Li clan, he can also inherit the throne. The Supreme Emperor once approached King Qi. If King Qi is willing to support his restoration, he promised to make King Qi the crown prince. The emperor knows this He was worried that King Qi would be dragged away by the Supreme Emperor, so he agreed to hand over Longyou Hexi to King Qi."

Yang Yan was shocked, "Is there such a thing?"

Wen Jingnian nodded, "So many things are not as simple as officials think. The struggle for imperial power at the top level has been going on. It's just that some things are not spoken out and people are not aware of it. In fact, you will understand if I wake up a little. "

Yang Yan was interested and quickly said with a smile: "Brother, please tell me more?"

Wen Jingnian smiled and said: "Think about how King Yong entered Bashu? Without the consent of His Highness King Qi, his army could pass through Jingxiang? And where did King Yong's fleet come from?"

Yang Yan felt like he was waking up from a dream. Wen Jingnian said lightly: "These ordinary officials cannot see it, but the prime minister and the emperor understand that once King Qi is pulled over by the Supreme Emperor, Bashu, Jingxiang and Jiangnan West Road will be connected. The entire south of the Yangtze River is the territory of the Supreme Emperor, and the emperor and the political affairs hall are very clear about which is more important and which is less important."

Yang Yan is very shrewd. Once he was told everything, the rest of the story suddenly became clear.

"So now the Supreme Emperor and the Emperor are still fighting for King Qi, and the situation has not actually changed."

Wen Jingnian smiled slightly, "That's true!"

After a pause, Wen Jingnian whispered again: "When today's emperor is in an unfair position and favors the eunuchs, I believe there will be big changes in the future."

Yang Yan finally understood, "Brother, are you betting on King Qi to ascend the throne?"

Wen Jingnian waved his hands and said with a smile: "You can't say this nonsense. There are some things that we only need to understand in our hearts. It's taboo to say them out."

Yang Yan was silent for a moment and let out a long sigh, "It is really disgusting that the eunuchs are in power. They are destroying the Tang Dynasty step by step. I only hate that I am unable to change!"

Yang Yan said this a little louder, and a person standing at the top of the stairs suddenly came over and asked sternly: "What did you just say?"

Yang Yan's expression suddenly changed, and he secretly cried out that it was bad. He knew that he had encountered a spy from Tianji Tower and was in trouble.

He said coldly: "I didn't say anything, please don't disturb our fun!"

"Nonsense! I clearly heard you say the word eunuch."

With a wave of his hand, seven or eight more samurai with swords surrounded them. Just as the leader of the spies was about to order the arrest, Wen Jingnian took out a silver medal and put it on the table, "We are the subordinates of His Highness King Qi. I am Helong Jiedu." Wen Jingnian, who joins the army in the Registrar’s Office, this is my colleague, we don’t quite understand your rules, so please bear with me!”

The leading spy was slightly startled, and quickly waved his hand to stop his men. There was an order from above not to provoke King Qi's people during this period.

The leading spy looked at the silver medal, then clasped his fists and said, "Since you are from His Highness King Qi, we will not be in trouble, but please be careful with your words and avoid causing unnecessary misunderstandings."

Wen Jingnian nodded, "We will be careful! Thank you for the reminder."

Wen Jingnian was very polite and waved his head to the spy, "Let's go!"

The Tianji Tower spies left with a group of men.

Yang Yan's face turned red with embarrassment and anger. He grabbed Wen Jingnian's hand and said, "Brother, can you recommend me to take up a position in Longyou!"

Wen Jingnian was startled, "Brother, calm down!"

Yang Yan gritted his teeth and said: "This is not a matter of being cold or not. You have seen this humiliation. If my brother refuses to help me, then I will resign and go back to my hometown to farm."

"Do you really want to go to Longyou?"

"I've had this plan for a long time."

Wen Jingnian nodded, "In that case, I will mention it to His Highness later, and I will tell you whether it is successful or not."

"Thank you, brother!"

The Dugu family is having a big banquet today. They have invited more than 20 families to the Dugu family. They all have one thing in common. They are all former Guanlong nobles. After the emperors of the Sui and Tang dynasties spared no effort to suppress them, especially those in the Tang Dynasty. After the founding of the Tang Dynasty, in order to suppress the Guanlong nobles, the rulers of the Tang Dynasty supported meritorious groups to fight against them. The Lingyan Pavilion Meritorious Officials Record was the product of this idea.

It was not that the rulers of the Tang Dynasty treated the founding heroes well, but the need to balance internal forces. Today, the Guanlong aristocracy is far from being compared with the Northern Wei and Sui Dynasties, and has declined.

But this decline is also compared to its heyday. Now the Guanlong nobles still have great influence in the military, and their financial resources are even stronger. They have a monopoly position in the Tang Dynasty in terms of land and business.

The Dugu family's big banquet tonight is also to welcome their son-in-law Li Ye. Starting from the afternoon, guests have been arriving one after another, including the Dou family, Changsun family, Helan family, Yuan family, Zhao family, Yu family, Hou Mo, Chen family, Dou family Lu family, Yuchi family, Daxi family, Li family and so on.

More than two hundred guests gathered together, and the middle hall and back hall were full of guests, making it extremely lively.

Li Ye is the protagonist today. He is sitting in the main hall, and everyone is sitting in a circle, just like stars holding the moon.

The topic of everyone's concern was naturally the rebellion of An Lushan and Shi Siming. Since An Lushan's rebellion, the properties of the Guanlong nobles had been repeatedly attacked and suffered heavy losses. Almost all their manors in Hebei and the Central Plains were gone. Tens of thousands of slaves fled, granaries and shops were robbed, stewards were killed, and various buildings were burned to the ground.

They were also extremely concerned about Li Ye's negotiations with the imperial court about sending troops this time.