This time Li Xian was forced to return to the court. Although he killed He Lan Minzhi and added fuel to the conflict between the Crown Prince and Empress Wu, which made him feel bad, his losses were definitely not small.
First of all, the imperial court wiped out all the credit for his battle against Tibet on the charge of killing and surrendering, so as to balance the merits and demerits. In addition, at the suggestion of Empress Wu, he was also dismissed from his position as the Governor of the Anxi Protectorate.
, appointed him again as the Grand Governor of the Bingzhou Governor's Office. Because Bingzhou is a non-combatant place, and there is also a long history in charge of specific affairs, his current position is still equivalent to a false position.
Of course, Xue Rengui, another general who went on the expedition with him, was in the same situation. However, in view of the unstable situation in his hometown of Goguryeo, Xue Rengui was still transferred to the Chief Protector of the Andong Protectorate and continued to guard Liaodong.
However, what is gratifying is that Xue Na, the son of Tang Xiujing and Xue Rengui, was promoted because of his great achievements.
Tang Xiujing served as the Sima of the Anxi Protectorate under the fifth rank, and was awarded the title of General Dingyuan (casual official, above the fifth rank).
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In addition to Tang Xiujing and Xue Na, dozens of meritorious officers and soldiers in Prince Li Xian's palace were also awarded official positions for their meritorious service. However, most of these officers and soldiers were transferred out of Prince Zhou's palace, which made Li Xian feel very angry.
The combat power he had cultivated was dispersed by Empress Wu.
Fortunately, Li Xian is relatively confident about the loyalty of the guards under his command. He believes that after years of wooing and hard training, especially the battle affection of experiencing the test of life and death together, these soldiers are still full of loyalty to him.
Of course, Li Xian also knew that if he wanted to continue to gain their loyalty, he needed to continue to win over them. In fact, he did not relax his win over those palace guards who kept leaving due to meritorious service or other reasons. In addition to material things, he also often
I would meet with them for a while when they had some free time.
But no matter what, the departure of these guards is still quite depressing for Li Xian, who has been relieved of military power. After all, he no longer has a legitimate name to recruit new guards, and in order to prevent him from continuing to cultivate cronies
, Empress Wu allocated some soldiers from Qiu Shenji's command to fill the vacancies in the palace guards, and most of these soldiers were Qiu Shenji's confidants before. It was not easy to win over and transform them.
Another loss caused by Li Xian, or something detrimental to him, is that Wu Chengsi brothers finally made a comeback.
Not long after He Lan Minzhi was killed, Empress Wu announced that the Wu family's nephews and their families would be exempted from their crimes, and ordered them to end the "Vis" surname and restore their original surnames. She also ordered Wu Chengsi to inherit the title of Zhou Guogong and appointed him
Serving the emperor as a chariot (from the fifth rank). Although it seems that the rank is not high, it is definitely a step to the sky for Wu Chengsi. You must know that in the Tang Dynasty, the fifth rank official was considered an aristocratic class and could enjoy the privilege of being exempt from exemption.
Privileges such as taxation and commutation of sentences for the whole family are the dividing line between ordinary officials and mid-level officials. Many people struggle to achieve this level for a lifetime. For example, Tang Xiujing fought with Li Xian for many days and fought dozens of bloody battles.
, had just obtained the rank of fifth-rank official, and Xue Ne had put down the Goguryeo rebellion, fought more than fifty times, annihilated more than 30,000 enemies, and captured more than 100,000 prisoners. He had made great achievements in quelling the rebellion, and was only promoted to one rank.
What's more, Wu Chengsi is still a Beijing official and has a natural advantage for promotion. Unlike Tang Xiujing and Xue Na, although their positions are not low, they are sent to the frontiers to serve. Unless they have achieved military merit, it is very difficult to be promoted again.
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In addition to Wu Chengsi, Wu Sansi and Wu Yizong and Wu Youji, who were missing at first, also appeared one after another. Wu Chengsi was appointed as Zuo Jinwu Guard Zuo Sijie (the sixth rank) and was awarded the title of Imperial Councilor (Wensanguan).
, from the fifth rank), Wu Yizong and Wu Youji were appointed as the prince's personal guards and Yiwei Xiaowei, and became the military attachés of the East Palace under the sixth rank. The purpose was obviously to disgust the prince Li Hong and form a kind of supervision and restriction on him.
function.
The Wu brothers deserved to be the dandies among the dandies, and they also deserved to be the villains. Once they gained power, they immediately became rampant. After they regained power, they immediately visited the Crown Prince Li Hong and the King of Zhou Li Xian arrogantly.
They first went to show off their power in front of Li Hong. Because there was a tradition in the Tang Dynasty that whenever a new official took office, he would invite his colleagues to a banquet called a Shaowei Banquet. Because Wu Yizong and Wu Youji served in the East Palace, they invited all
The prince and other officials from the East Palace below came to the banquet. The prince Li Hong was originally unwilling to go, but because these two people were Empress Wu's nephews, he could not refuse, so he had to endure his nausea and go to the banquet. Who knew that these two
This guy actually got drunk at the banquet and went crazy, saying that they were both the prince's subjects and the prince's cousins, and the affairs of the East Palace would be their business from now on. He hoped that the prince and his colleagues in the East Palace would regard them as the masters of the East Palace, and
Not treated as a guest.
The words of these two guys immediately aroused the dissatisfaction of some colleagues in the East Palace. At that time, Dr. Yuan Sigu, a Taichang doctor, stood up and said seriously: "Two generals, please pay attention to your status and speech. How can you talk carelessly in front of the prince?"
As a result, the two of them beat Yuan Sigu severely and then walked away. As a result, Li Hong was furious and ordered the censor to write a letter to the emperor. Gaozong was furious after seeing the case and wanted to punish those two people.
The arrogant people were intercepted by Empress Wu, who used them as an excuse for drunken mischief. She just scolded the two of them and asked them to apologize to the prince, but she lightly exposed the matter.
The final result was naturally that the two of them became more and more proud. Although Prince Li Hong felt disgusted, he had no choice but to ignore them as they were two mad dogs.
After the Wu brothers severely cut the prince's face, they became more and more proud, and then they set their sights on Li Xian's house. So one day, the four brothers went to Li Xian's Zhou Prince's house to ask Li Xian for help.
Show off and ask for wine.
Of course, they asked for drinking and personal leave mainly because they wanted to show off their authority and repay their hatred for being beaten up by Li Xian.
Li Xian had long heard about the arrogance of the Wu brothers, and he was holding back a lot of energy in his heart. He wanted to find an opportunity to teach them a lesson. Now that he saw them coming to his door, he was naturally playing into his ambitions.
When the four of them arrived at the door of Li Xian's Mansion, they were first rejected. The guards in front of the mansion refused to let them in, saying that they had to inform the King of Zhou first, and they could only enter the Mansion with the consent of the King of Zhou.
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As a result, these four Tai Sui actually beat up the guard and then forced their way into the house!
This result naturally aroused the anger of everyone. Thirty or forty palace guards surrounded the four guys in the center and refused to let them leave. Even their personal guards were knocked to the ground.
Although Wu Yizong was relatively small among the group, he was the most arrogant. He directly shouted Li Xian's name and asked Li Xian to come out and chase away such a slave who did not understand the superiority of others. Otherwise, he would kill someone.
Wu Yizong had no idea how angry Li Xian was at this time. When he saw Li Xian actually showing up, he looked impatient and shouted to Li Xian: "Seventh brother, it's not the younger brother who said
You, these slaves in your house are also in need of discipline and discipline. They don't distinguish between superior and inferior at all. They even dare to stop us brothers. Who are we? We are the cousins of the seventh brother and the current queen.
My nephew, not to mention in the seventh brother's house, or in the prince's east palace, which servant dares to interfere in the affairs between our brothers?"
"Oh?" Li Xian was furious when he heard this, but he said calmly on the surface: "Brother Yizong is right, these slaves in Xiaowang's Mansion should really be taken care of. Let me discipline them well and vent my anger for you brothers.
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Then Li Xian glanced at the palace guards, glared and said: "You guys are really hateful and unworthy things. What did I tell you at the beginning? All the officers and men in my palace are brothers, as long as there are
When one person is wronged, what should others do? Well, now that brothers are being wronged, and you don’t even dare to retaliate, can you still be considered brothers? I’m so blind that I asked you to be my prince’s palace.
Guards, it’s not too late now. Wait until tomorrow and send them all to feed the dogs! When will you learn how to be loyal and never come back!”
When Wu Yizong heard Li Xian reprimanding the guards, he felt very proud and thought to himself: "What does Li Xian have to do with him? Isn't he still a master who bullies the weak and fears the strong? At first, my two brothers had no official positions and were allowed to bully me. Now I
The four brothers are all officials, so he still shows weakness to us?"
But the more he listened, the more he felt it was wrong. Li Xian was not venting his anger for them, but because he felt that the guards under his command did not take action to vent their anger for the brother who was beaten. The four brothers who were guarding them said so. It was really
It's like a slap in the face to them.
"Li Xian, what do you mean?" Wu Yizong immediately darkened his face after reacting and asked coldly.
But Li Xian smiled lightly and said: "It's not interesting. It's just that Brother Yu saw that these slaves were not living up to expectations, so he just scolded them to relieve their anger. Haha, brothers, don't be angry. Xiao Wang will send them to feed the dogs now. When will they
Learn to treat your brother as being bitten by a dog, and immediately rush up and bite the dog to vent your anger on your brother, and then I will let them back."
"You, hum, you are very good! You have the guts! Let's see you in the future, hehe." Wu Chengsi and others looked at Li Xian, their faces suddenly turned red, and they said coldly, then turned around and prepared to leave.
But suddenly he heard Li Xian shout loudly: "What did I just say? Do you really want to raise a dog?"
Then I saw the guards came forward in Meng's eyes, surrounded the Wu brothers and beat them up so hard that they were so frightened that they no longer care about their demeanor and ran away.
At this time, Li Xian's rich laughter came from behind them: "Four brothers, why do you have to leave? Xiao Wang hasn't invited you to drink yet. Today's reception is not good, please don't laugh..." (To be continued)