Song Guogong Xiao Yu naturally understood the dissatisfaction hidden in Ma Zhou's words. He smiled slightly awkwardly and nodded: "Your Highness is right. When I look back, the old minister will urge all yamen again to ensure limited protection for the Anxi Army and Youtun."
We will provide food, fodder, and supplies to the army to ensure worry-free logistics."
He could understand Ma Zhou's implication, and he could also feel the prince's dissatisfaction, and this was the reason why he had never given all his allegiance to the East Palace.
Fang Junzhi is really too important to the prince. His help in times of need when the prince is about to be doomed is unmatched by others. Whether it is Xiao Yu, Ma Zhou or Li Daozong, no matter how they
Even his wholehearted loyalty could not compare to Fang Jun's status in the heart of the prince.
When I think that when the prince succeeds to the throne in the future, Fang Jun will definitely be the most outstanding official in the court, and he will be the most favored in the world. However, no matter how hard others try and how loyal they are, they will still be inferior to Fang Jun. This will inevitably make people feel a little jealous and resentful...
…
It is natural to have reservations or play some tricks at this moment.
Li Chengqian nodded and said warmly: "The situation is tense at the moment. I still need to rely on your help. When we work together to stabilize the country, when my father returns to the capital, he will be rewarded for his merits."
Although he is a bit more honest, he has been trained as a prince by His Majesty Li Er for many years. He is used to seeing court battles and political competitions. He also has a sufficient understanding of people's hearts and can feel the seeming alienation of Xiao Yu and others.
, and also understand the reasons for this alienation.
However, in his heart, Fang Junzhi's status is unmatched by anyone.
During the darkest period of his life, he almost gave up on himself, intending to express his protest to His Majesty Li Er with a ridiculous performance, and even thought of using his own life to protest against His Majesty Li Er!
At that time, Li Chengqian was almost on the verge of despair. If he took one step forward, he would be doomed.
Fortunately, at that time, Fang Jun stepped forward and supported Li Chengqian as the prince with a sincere and resolute expression, and stood behind Li Chengqian without reservation, helping him step by step to stabilize his position as prince, and gradually get out of the situation where he was almost on the verge of death.
the abyss.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that Fang Jun was "a gift of reinvention" to Li Chengqian.
Li Chengqian is a kind-hearted person, and Fang Jun is so sincere and unreserved, how can he not regard Fang Jun as a humerus sibling and entrust him with important responsibilities?
In his opinion, only Fang Jun is the pillar of the East Palace and can advance and retreat together with him, Li Chengqian, regardless of gains and losses, while the others, no matter how great their contributions are, are just icing on the cake...
But he spoke beautifully, and several ministers also smiled, and even said words such as "I don't dare to take credit for things that are my duty," and the atmosphere at the banquet was lively.
Ma Zhou took a sip of wine, looked at the crowd, and said: "As the saying goes, 'A person who travels a hundred miles is half a mile'. The closer you get to the day of success, the more careful you must be to avoid being negligent and ruining a major event. Others
Not to mention, it is just the garrison inside and outside Chang'an City. Your Highness should still give some serious warnings to prevent others from taking advantage of them and causing the great situation to collapse."
Li Chengqian: "..."
Xiao Yu: "..."
Everyone felt helpless towards Ma Zhou's rigorous and somewhat inhumane character. Because your words just now have made the atmosphere subtle, don't you really feel that you can't feel it, and you still have to keep up the good work?
Li Daozong was about to open his mouth to change the atmosphere when he suddenly heard rapid footsteps outside the palace. After a moment, a chamberlain quickly walked in and said quickly: "Your Highness, a British secret report has arrived. It is extremely urgent!"
The hall fell silent for a moment, and everyone's heart skipped a beat.
Generally speaking, any news from Liaodong sent back to Chang'an must be sent to the capital through regular channels via war horses and various post stations. As the deputy commander-in-chief of the Eastern Expedition, Li Ji seemed to be more powerful than his Majesty, but his status was very subtle.
, a slight overstep can cause His Majesty's dissatisfaction, and Li Ji is an extremely well-behaved person. If it is not an urgent matter, how can he go beyond His Majesty, instead of going to the military station, but directly submit the secret report to Li Chengqian?
To be able to ask Li Ji, who always values rules and is cautious, to directly submit a secret report, this is probably more than just "urgent"...
Li Chengqian quickly stood up and said, "Everyone, sit down for a moment. I'll come back as soon as I go."
He got up and quickly entered the Li Zheng Hall with his chamberlain to receive the messenger.
It’s not that he doesn’t trust everyone here, but it’s true that Li Ji can ignore the rules and pass the “extremely urgent” matter back to Beijing. It must be of great importance. It’s not known whether it can be made public, so he should handle it carefully and wait until he sees it and thinks
You can inform others, and then everyone will be convened for discussion.
…
Leaving everyone looking at each other in shock, Li Chengqian quickly walked out of the side hall and walked around a section of the corridor in front of the door. Heavy snow like goose feathers was falling from the sky. It was quiet and windless. Snowflakes were falling one after another, covering the space between the two palaces.
The garden is decorated with silver and is extremely beautiful.
Li Chengqian was in a hurry, how could he be in the mood to enjoy the beautiful scenery?
He quickly came to Li Zheng Hall, sat behind the main desk and wrote, and said: "Bring the person here!"
"Here!"
The imperial guard of the East Palace went out, turned around after a moment, and brought a haggard and dusty soldier into the palace.
The soldier knelt down on one knee, took out a letter from his arms, and presented it with both hands.
The chamberlain stepped forward to take the letter, returned to the desk, and presented it to Li Chengqian.
Li Chengqian reached out and took it, carefully inspected the lacquer seal, took out a silver knife to cut the seal, and asked: "Does the British Duke still have a message?"
The soldier shook his head and said: "Replying to Your Highness, no. The head of the family just repeatedly told us to hurry up and submit the letter to His Highness as soon as possible. He must hand it over to His Highness himself and there is no room for mistakes."
Li Chengqian nodded, cut the seal, took out the letter, and after reading only a few lines, he took a deep breath. When he finished reading the entire letter, he was a little confused. If the seal of the letter had not been intact, the handwriting would have been Li Chengqian's.
It was written by Ji himself, and he almost suspected that it was forged by someone else.
When hundreds of thousands of troops stormed Pingrang City, my father was actually surrounded by enemy troops, fell off his horse and was frightened, and is still unconscious until now?
It’s really too sensational…
After a long while, Li Chengqian finally regained his composure, put the letter back into the envelope, pondered for a long time, and asked people to take the soldiers down, and then asked Xiao Yu, Li Daozong, and Ma Zhou to come to Li Zheng Hall.
When the three people arrived, they saw Li Chengqian looking anxious, worried and angry, and cursing: "Cheng Yaojin and Xue Wanche are simply evil thieves of the country. I want to punish them to death in order to relieve the hatred in my heart!"
Several people were greatly surprised, thinking that Cheng Yaojin and Xue Wanche were far away in Liaodong, how could they offend His Highness the Crown Prince so much?
Li Chengqian took out the letter and circulated it to the three of them.
"hiss!"
"How can it be?"
"Isn't it fake news?"
After the three people saw it, they were all shocked and exclaimed.
Li Chengqian covered his face with his hands and cried uncontrollably.
Who would have thought that His Majesty Li Er, who was in his prime during the Spring and Autumn Period, personally conquered Goguryeo and was frightened and fell from his horse in the midst of hundreds of thousands of troops, and fell into a coma?
It's okay to be frightened and fall off the horse, but this "unconscious" indicates too many possibilities...
Although the three of them were all outstanding men of the moment, with rich experience and strong minds, they were panicked and had ups and downs in their hearts when suddenly faced with this news.
After a long time, Ma Zhou was the first to react. He said in a deep voice: "It is unknown whether His Majesty is getting better at this time. Your Majesty, please do not lose your mind. You should be careful to prevent some people from taking risks and committing a mutiny!"
As soon as these words came out, everyone else was shocked.
Li Daozong hurriedly said: "What King Bin said is true. Since the British Duke was able to send the news back to Chang'an, Zhao Guogong naturally also has the possibility... There was an undercurrent in Chang'an City before, and the news that His Majesty fell from his horse and fell into coma was leaked by some people.
Knowing this, there is no guarantee that other thoughts will not arise."
Xiao Yu thought deeper, frowned and said: "Your Majesty's fall from the horse is naturally caused by the negligence of Cheng Yaojin and Xue Wanche. However, the root cause is that Changsun Chong failed to do so.
As planned, he took over the Seven Star Sect so smoothly, and was manipulated by Yeon Gaesumun. He mistakenly believed that the "Wang Zhuang Army" had assembled in the south of Pingrang City and was ready to abandon the city and flee... The culprit was
Changsun Chong. This matter must be held accountable. District Chief Sun Chong is just a guilty person, how can he bear this serious crime? Naturally, the Changsun family will have to bear this crime."
In fact, this was only half of what he said, but everyone including Li Chengqian already understood what Xiao Yu meant.
His Majesty Li Er has already regarded suppressing the Guanlong clan as a national policy. Once His Majesty returns to Chang'an to settle the matter and investigate the responsibility, he will naturally follow the trend and severely cut off the wings of the Changsun family.
And how could Changsun Wuji sit back and wait for death?