Marry Changle in Datang

He secretly cursed these officials who did not know how to act step by step and slowly penetrated to unify the army's thinking and achieve the purpose of supervising the army, but caused the current situation: "Idiots!"

After hearing Wu Sansi's words, Di Renjie said: "The imperial court allowed it to be easy for generals such as Qin Xiaole and Xue Dingshan to resign, but it made it difficult for them to lead the army. Especially the Jinwu Guards were an army that had fought on the battlefield several times. If a general without military merit was allowed to succeed him, I'm afraid If you cannot subdue the masses, and if there is a war, who should lead the army in battle?"

After Di Renjie finished speaking, Yao Chong, Minister of War, continued.

"What Mr. Di said is true. Qin Xiaole led his army to the battlefield several times to save the empire from danger. His prestige in the army is now comparable to that of the two military gods Li Jing and Qin Shiji. If he resigns, it will definitely shake the morale of the army. , if it is not handled well, it may even trigger a mutiny. The top priority is that I believe that the supervisors sent to the Sixteenth Guards Army should pay attention to methods and methods to slowly calm down the resistance of the army. In the process, the court should appease Qin Xiaole and others. To help the general, we must not take the simple method of granting resignation."

When Lou Shide heard this, he said with disdain.

"Master Yao's words are alarmist. I think the generals who are proficient in the art of war in my court are not Xu Xiaole and others. As far as I know, Li Jingxuan and General Heizhichangzhi who are stationed on the front line of Heyuan are also generals who are good at fighting. There are also many nobles and descendants of generals who can be generals in the army and can completely replace Xu Xiaole and others to lead the army. I think that if His Majesty puts a little trust in these generals, they can be used for their own use."

After hearing the suggestions and concerns of Wu Sansi, Di Renjie, Yao Chong and Lou Shide, Wu Zetian did not make a statement. Instead, she named Shangguan Wan'er who was standing beside her and Li Zhaode and Zhang Jianzhi, who had been deep in thought but did not speak.

"Li Zhaode, Zhang Jianzhi, Shangguan Wan'er, what do you think about this matter? You can speak freely in the palace today and don't hold anything back."

Hearing the Queen's roll call, the three ministers cheered up and thought about how to respond to the Queen's questioning...

However, in the Ziwei Palace, Li Zhaode, Zhang Jianzhi and Shangguan Wan'er heard the Queen's questioning. Shangguan Wan'er, a person in the palace who was known as the heroine prime minister, said first.

"As you all have said, I believe that Lord Di's concerns are not unreasonable. Qin Xiaole has been a general in the army for many years and has great prestige, and his father, King Xu Tian of Qi, is famous for being unfathomable. During the two dynasties of Taizong and Gaozong, During the reign of Prince Qi, the power of the Xu family was not weakened. Instead, the power of the Xu family was like an iron wall that prevented the court from intervening in the military affairs of Northeast China and Qizhou. One of the descendants of the Qin family, Qin Xiaole, entered the court as an official. This was because the Prince of Qi was loyal to the court and did not want to be criticized. Qin Xiaole resigned and returned to his hometown due to his ambition to treason. The imperial court and the Qin family are no longer involved. How do you think we should deal with the serious relationship between them? In summary, I think that I will now accept Qin Xiaole and other generals in the army. It is not a good time to resign, I hope His Majesty will judge."

Li Zhaode and Zhang Jianzhi both agreed with Shangguan Wan'er's opinion.

Wu Zetian listened to what all the confidants said, pondered for a long time, and said with a cold face.

"Wu Sansi, Yao Chong, Lou Shide, you and others will from now on restrain the military supervisors assigned to the Sixteenth Guards to keep a low profile and be more gentle with the middle and lower-level generals in the army. At the same time, convey my decree and make the imperial court All nobles, heirs of generals, and those who practice martial arts report to the Ministry of War. Li Zhaode is an imperial envoy to inspect the troops stationed in the border towns. This is obviously to commend the meritorious soldiers, but in fact it is to select generals who are loyal to me to serve in the court."

After talking about these arrangements, Wu Zetian continued.

"Next year, the imperial examination will include martial arts subjects to select young people from all over the world who are interested in serving in the army. After being educated, they will become generals at all levels in the army."

What Wu Zetian said today is that she is determined to do her best to rectify the army so that there are people in the army who can use it and no longer be hijacked by others.

……

Qin Xiaole returned to the army from the palace, summoned Liu Lang, Shan Sijing, Xue Yinglong and other confidant generals for a secret discussion, and asked them to pull the [-] Jinwu Guard elite cavalry out of the barracks for training from now on. This move was for the army to be stationed there. The Lord Supervisor of the Army created a regular operation of bringing the army out of the camp for training, so that one day without anyone noticing, the cavalry could leave the city safely, completely breaking away from the control of the court and becoming Xu Xiaole's private army. .

After planning the army, Qin Xiaole returned to the palace. In the hall, he told several ladies about his resignation at the court meeting, told his worries and possible troubles, and persuaded Princess Taiping to take care of her children. Leave Luoyang first and return to Licheng, Qizhou.

In order to ensure the safety of mother and son and ensure the safety of things, Qin Xiaole ordered his bodyguard to send a report to Licheng, Qizhou, asking his father and brother to send troops to respond.

Princess Taiping had witnessed what her mother had done over the years, and she was deeply aware of her husband's worries. In order to make her husband worry-free, she left Wang Feng'er and Fan Lihua in the palace to help her husband deal with what was about to happen, and left a letter to her mother asking her to The husband forwarded the letter and told him to return as soon as possible, and then quietly left the capital with his children, surrounded by dozens of personal guards.

Not long after Princess Taiping left the capital, Qin Xiaole mentioned in a letter to Princess Taiping that Taiping would return to her hometown to worship her ancestors. Wu Zetian was very angry and realized that this was Qin Xiaole's plan to make the princess leave the capital first, so as not to be caught in the process. It is difficult to deal with the conflict between the queen mother and her husband.

She knew that after her daughter passed away, it would be difficult to see her again in this life, and she couldn't help feeling a little sad.

Although she didn't see any clues from her daughter's letter, with her shrewdness, she realized that Qin Xiaole would probably leave the capital soon.

With this in mind, Wu Zetian ordered Wu Sansi to strengthen monitoring of the movements of the Jinwu Guard army, and sent an order for Li Jingxuan, the governor of Heyuan, to return to Beijing to take over the post of General Jinwu Guard.

At this time, Xu Tian, ​​who was meditating on the Taoist scriptures at the "Qingfeng Temple" in Licheng, Qizhou, had recently shown signs of breaking through the seven levels of the "Pangu Heart Sutra". He had already faintly felt the oppression from "heaven". I'm afraid This caused a natural disaster, and he was worried that the day he would break through would be when he would be separated from his family, so he thought of breaking through to the Kunlun Mountains to prevent his family from experiencing the unpredictable outcome of his breakthrough.

With this premonition, Qin Wenyuan made the plan to summon his sons back home to meet him before leaving.

On this day, Qin Wenyuan finished his practice, left "Qingfeng Temple" and returned to his home. He gathered with his family all day long to enjoy family happiness, and did not talk about his practice. His abnormal behavior caused Yue'er, Xiangcheng, Murphy, Minmin, Yun Xia and the other wives were really uneasy, because these ladies practiced with him and had a deep understanding of Taoist affairs. This situation showed that the husband's Taoism had reached a certain critical point, and they had a premonition that he would leave soon. In the mansion, I am afraid that leaving here will mean separation.

The ladies all had a premonition that they were about to part with their husbands. Although they were reluctant to part with them, they did not say anything. They were also practitioners and had long regarded life and death as indifferent. They thought that if they did not practice Taoism with their husbands, they might not I became a cup of loess in the world early, but I am still alive today because of God's blessing. After several dynasties and generations, there is nothing I can't see through.

In the next few months, Qin Wenyuan began to summon his sons who were leading troops from various places to return to "Xuanyuan".

In Luoyang Capital, since Princess Taiping left with her children, Qin Xiaole, although still holding the post of commander of the Jinwu Guard, rarely went to the army to deal with military affairs, and most of the affairs in the army were handed over to the supervisory army.Li Jingxuan returned to the capital, and was first given the title of General Zuo Xiaowei. The court allowed Xue Dingshan, Luo Zhang, Qin Meng, and Zhe Delu to resign and return to their hometowns, leaving the power of Yulinwei and Qianniuwei in the hands of officials appointed by Wu Zetian. .

During this period, Cheng Yaojin, Duke of the State of Lu, was dissatisfied with Wu Zetian's dictatorship, and was first relegated to the governor of Qizhou because of his inappropriate words. He petitioned the imperial court to become an official, and was allowed by the imperial court to return to the "Gong Lu's" mansion in Chang'an City for retirement. Soon he passed away peacefully in the mansion at the age of [-].

When Cheng Yaojin passed away, the imperial court named him General Hussar and Governor of Yizhou, with the posthumous title "Xiang" and allowed him to be buried in Zhaoling.

After attending Cheng Yaojin's funeral and returning to the capital Luoyang, Qin Xiaole asked to resign from the military. At the court meeting, Wu Zetian accepted his resignation and made Li Jingxuan take over the post of General Jinwuwei.

Before Qin Xiaole resigned, the last military order issued by the Jinwu Guard was to order Liu Lang, Shan Sijing, and Xue Yinglong to lead [-] elite cavalry to lead troops out of the city for training according to the training plan.

Because the cavalry under General Jinwuwei had been following this training plan, the supervising army in the barracks didn't feel anything unusual.

A few days after the army left the city, Qin Xiaole received a telegram from his father to recall his children, and asked his own soldiers to notify the [-] troops hidden in the dense forests outside Luoyang City to disperse and rendezvous outside the "Yizhou" city. Then he took his wife Wang Feng'er, Fan Lihua and a group of The attendants and servants quietly left the capital.

At the end of February (June 692), the first year of "Ruyi" in the Wu Zhou Dynasty, Li Jingxuan, the new general of the Jinwu Guard, urgently reported to the court that 6 Jinwu Guard cavalry elites had gone out for training and had not returned for more than a time. After looking at the traces, they found that the scout camp was already an empty camp.

When Wu Zetian heard about this military situation, she immediately knew that the soldier's failure to return was definitely related to Xu Xiaole.

He ordered the eunuch to quickly go to "Zhong Guo Gong"'s house to summon Xu Xiaole into the palace. The eunuch went there according to the order, but soon reported that "Zhong Guo Gong"'s house was empty.

Wu Zetian was furious when she heard that Qin Xiaole had quietly left the capital and that there was no trace of the [-] Jinwu Guards cavalry.

"It was announced that the journey from Luoyang to Qizhou must pass through the city government. If Qin Xiaole's traces are found, he will be arrested on the spot. Lou Shide will lead his army to follow him along the way and must capture Xu Xiaole and return to Beijing."

Lou Shide led the order and ordered thousands of cavalry to gallop out of the east toward "Yizhou". This guy wanted to intercept and capture Xu Xiaole here, but it coincided with the place where Xu Xiaole and Jinwu's cavalry met.

Qin Xiaole, Wang Feng'er, Fan Lihua, the couple and their foster sister Diao Yue'e all wore full body armor and led hundreds of soldiers to protect the accompanying servants. They marched along the official road to "Yizhou", hoping to join the [-]-strong army here. , passing "Yizhou" and entering the boundary of "Qizhou".

On the way, Diao Yue'e said goodbye to her adopted brother and sister-in-law because she cared about her old father at home, and agreed to return to Xiliang with dozens of followers after a reunion someday.

However, it was said that Liu Lang and other generals led [-] Jinwu cavalry to bypass the state capital and marched day and night. Qin Xiaole arrived outside the city of "Yizhou" and waited for two days before finally rejoining the army. Talking about the situation along the way, he was lucky to reach these three places smoothly. The purpose of Wan Dajun's departure from the imperial court.

At this time, Lou Shide led thousands of cavalry to enter the "Yizhou" city ahead of Qin Xiaole. Following the Queen's order, they successfully took over the "Yizhou" city defense, mobilized the troops stationed in the city to strengthen the city defense, and strictly checked the people passing by the city gate. Business travelers and pedestrians.

After Qin Xiaole joined the army, with Fan Lihua as the commander-in-chief of the front army and Xue Yinglong as his deputy, he led five thousand cavalry to attack "Yizhou" city. Wang Feng'er, the commander-in-chief of the rear army, led five thousand troops to protect dozens of carriages and a number of families. Servant, Xu Xiaole led his own army, with Liu Lang and Shan Sijing as his deputies, and formed the main army to advance. Before entering "Yizhou", he first asked the leader of the army to lead the soldiers of the scout battalion to sneak into the city to inquire about the military situation.

Fan Lihua's forward troops arrived at the city of "Yizhou". A scout under Jia Tou'er reported that there were thousands of cavalry sent by the imperial court to capture the marshal in the city. With Lou Shide as the main general, tens of thousands of "Yizhou" defenders were mobilized to prepare for the attack. "Yizhou" city surrounded and suppressed [-] Jinwu Guards cavalry.

After receiving this report, Fan Lihua led her army under the city and did not dare to make a sudden advance of the five thousand troops. She waited for most of her husband to arrive and reported the situation.

Lou Shide received a report in "Yizhou" city that Qin Xiaole and his army had arrived outside "Yizhou" city. He quickly ordered the four gates of "Yizhou" city to be closed tightly, and many bows, arrows and artillery were prepared on the city tower for defense.

The man watched from the city tower and saw that the troops outside the city were all dressed in Jinwu Guards cavalry uniforms. He said angrily to the officials and generals on the left and right.

"Qin Xiaole has long had the heart of rebellion, and under the guise of Jinwu Guard training, he turned the imperial court into his private army. In the current situation, we must stop Qin Xiaole from crossing Yizhou, arrest him and punish him. Thirty thousand All the generals of the rebel army will be punished and beheaded."

After saying this, Lou Shide continued to send an order from the tower.

"The Governor of Yizhou listens to the order and asks you to hold on to the city and send people to Weizhou, Yingzhou, and Youzhou to ask for reinforcements. When Lou goes to meet Xu Xiaole outside the city, we will see how capable he is."

Mr. Li, the then governor of "Yizhou", was not optimistic about Lou Shide's desire to fight Qin Xiaole. Based on what he saw and heard while stationed in "Yizhou" adjacent to the jurisdiction of "Qizhou", he was well aware of the difficulty of the Qin family's army. If they send personnel to "Youzhou" and other cities along the line to ask for help, the changes in troops and horses will cause the Xu Army to take corresponding countermeasures. If they are not careful, several peaceful cities along the line from "Yizhou" to "Youzhou" will fall into war. This responsibility is not He can afford it.

No way!Lou Shide holds the Queen's will, and he should follow it. However, this situation is not what he wants to see.

Thinking of this, Mr. Li became more thoughtful. After receiving the order, in addition to having his subordinates strengthen the city defense, he delayed sending personnel to "Youzhou" and other cities to ask for help before making any plans until the situation in "Yizhou" Of the policy.

I must praise Mr. Li for being cautious, otherwise, the situation will deteriorate further.

(End of this chapter)