Aspiring to the Ten Kingdoms

Guazhou.

Cao Yanlu was drinking alone, and the bloodstain on his face was very conspicuous when his wife scratched him.

Self-pity.

A man who wants power but has no power, and returns it to his wife at home, is really boring to live.

Cao Yanlu is the son of Cao Yuanzhong. As the longest-serving warlord of the Guiyi Army, he has a very clear view of the situation.

In order to maintain the peace between Guazhou and Shazhou, he allowed his nephew to take the daughter of the most powerful Murong family in Guazhou, and let his son Cao Yanlu take the daughter of Li Shengtian, the king of Khotan, to consolidate the power of the Cao family.

This move is indeed a clever political method in troubled times, but in peacetime, it has caused internal divisions invisibly.

Since the Cao family seized the power of the Guiyi Army from the Zhang family, they have been adhering to the succession law of brother and brother.

After the earliest Cao Yijin died of illness, the eldest son Cao Yuande was passed on to the position. Three Cao Yuanzhong's hands.

According to the rules, after Cao Yuanzhong died of illness, his seat will be passed on to Cao Yanjing, the son of the boss Cao Yuande.

But people's hearts are fleshy, no nephew can compare to a son.

During Cao Yuanzhong's reign, he did not clearly announce who would inherit his position, and he gave Cao Yanjing and Cao Yanlu similar treatment.

During Cao Yuanzhong's reign, he was exquisite in all aspects and survived in the cracks. He was a lifelong hero, but when faced with the choice between his nephew and son, he still couldn't help but hesitate.

This act made Cao Yanlu see hope, and also made Cao Yanjing aware of the crisis.

But in fact, even if the two brothers respect each other as guests, the Murong family behind Cao Yanjing, and the Khotan behind Cao Yanlu will not sit back and watch the accident happen.

The brothers have been fighting openly and secretly for many years. Cao Yuanzhong even sent Cao Yanlu to the Central Plains in order to get the support of the Central Plains, and let Cao Yanlu, who was not in the line of succession, replace Cao Yanjing.

However, in the end Cao Yuanzhong still chose his elder brother's son Cao Yanjing to take his place. He had already noticed Li Shengtian's resistance to the Central Plains, and he knew that if his son who was close to Khotan really wanted to take over, he would die without a place to die.

After Cao Yanjing succeeded Cao Yuanzhong as the Jiedu envoy of the Guiyi Army, the first thing he did was to appoint Cao Yanlu as the deputy envoy of the Guiyi Army Jiedu. He had the right to know the affairs of Guazhou. The power has always been controlled by the local powerful Murong family, and Cao Yanlu is a puppet in Guazhou.

The Kingdom of Khotan is now retreating steadily, and has asked the Guiyi Army for help many times.

Cao Yanjing didn't have a good impression of the country of Tian. Although he thought of the friendship for many years and did not refuse, there was no sign of sending troops.

The news reached the ears of Khotan Shengtian Princess Li, who fought with her husband in a rage.

Cao Yanlu felt that he was at a disadvantage and did not dare to fight back, so he could only drink dull wine alone in desperation.

After drinking several cups in a row, his mouth was tasteless. Cao Yanlu seemed to have thought of something, and walked quickly to the shelf on the right, took out a brocade box from it like a baby, returned to his seat, and opened the brocade box with a bit of reverence. box, but there are small black and white fruits... betel nuts.

Cao Yanlu took one as if he was a baby, put it in his mouth and chewed it. After a while, he felt hot all over his body, and the boredom in his heart was swept away.

People in this era do not know what carcinogens are. Betel nuts are produced in the tropics, and Tianzhu is also the main production area.

This thing is an extremely important offering in Buddhism, and most people can't eat it.When Master Xuanzang of the Tang Dynasty was in Tianzhu, he could get twenty pills every day...

During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, with the prevalence of Buddhism, betel nuts also prevailed in the upper class of the Central Plains.

Several generations of the Cao family believed in Buddhism. Although the Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes began in the Jianyuan period of the former Qin Dynasty, they were fully expanded under the hands of the Cao family of the Guiyi Army.

This betel nut is also a favorite of the Cao family.

While Cao Yanlu was enjoying betel nuts to stimulate his brain, Shengtian Princess Li walked into the house with a person.

Cao Yanlu drank a few glasses of wine, and he became more courageous. Thinking of the scratches on his face, he said with a dark face: "What are you doing here..." He hadn't asked the teacher to ask the crime, and he noticed that Sheng Tian was bewildered. The person behind the princess exclaimed, "Mr. Ge, why are you here?"

The person who came was none other than Ge Zhuoxi, an important minister of Khotan. When Cao Yanlu went to Beijing to ask for a reward from the saint, he was on the same road with him and had a very good relationship.

He reacted and ran out of the house with strides. Seeing that there was no one around, he went in with confidence, and said in a low voice: "Mr. Ge is too courageous. My brother's eyeliner is everywhere here. Let them notice, you and I I'm afraid my life is in danger."

Shengtian Princess Li looked at her unworthy husband and said: "Look at you, a dying person scares you like this, what a great weapon you can be."

Cao Yanlu was completely dumbfounded: "What's going on? Brother is in good health, why is he dying?"

Shengtian Princess Li smelled the other party's alcohol smell and the unique smell of betel nuts, and said angrily: "Eating betel nuts will kill you."

Cao Yanlu's reaction was a little slow, thinking that he still had a betel nut in his mouth, his internal organs were about to turn over, and he spit it out with a "wow".

Cao Yanlu regained some energy, and hurriedly whispered: "What's going on?"

Ge Zhuoxi explained the situation in detail with a bit of embarrassment: "In the past, the Eldest Young Master used illegal means to seize the position of Commander-in-Chief of the Guiyi Army from Mr. Lang, and my Majesty was upset by Mr. Lang, so he made people move a little bit in the betel nut. hands and feet."

Although Cao Yanlu and Cao Yanjing had opposing positions, it was the Cao family after all, and even Ge Zhuoxi himself felt that it was inappropriate for him to drug the other party without anyone noticing.

Cao Yanlu's expression was really unnatural. It is forbidden for others to interfere in the internal affairs of the Cao family, let alone this kind of method.

If Cao Yanjing can be harmed today, does it mean that Cao Yanlu will be harmed tomorrow?

Betel nuts are addictive, and Cao Yanlu would chew some every day. If he really wanted to do something about it, he really had no defenses at all.

Because betel nuts are the offerings of the Buddhist family, the betel nuts they chewed were not defective products circulating in the market, they were all holy products brought from the Buddhist kingdom of Tianzhu, and presented to them by eminent monks supported by the Guiyi Army.

Cao Yanlu, who is in a position of superiority in a land of chaotic warfare, is usually very careful about eating, but he is not very wary of offerings like betel nuts.

It was fear, anger, rejoicing, and sadness.

If I had turned against Khotan, maybe I would be the one who died today.

The Guiyi Army has long since lost its heyday during the Zhang Yi Dynasty. It is controlled by Khotan in the west and Uighurs in Ganzhou in the east.

Seeing Cao Yanlu's expression was wrong, Ge Zhuoxi also knew that they had gone too far this time, but it was helpless.

They originally wanted to use chronic medicine to slowly remove Cao Yanjing, and make things happen without anyone noticing, so that Cao Yanlu could take over the Guiyi Army without any psychological burden, but the situation could not wait for that time.

Khotan is now losing ground on the main gate battlefield, retreating every step of the way, and the national power has been greatly damaged, so it must receive strong support.

Faced with this situation, the Khotan Kingdom had no choice but to take risks and increase the dose.

Being so aggressive would inevitably have hidden dangers and would lead to serious consequences. Ge Zhuoxi could only notify Cao Yanlu in advance to make preparations.

Seeing the embarrassing atmosphere, Princess Li of Shengtian said softly, "Husband, father is also thinking of you. Cao Yanjing colluded with Uighur and Murong clan to force father-in-law to do something against his will, and stole your seat. Cao Yanjing chose to stand aside as soon as he took office. Husband, do you still expect him to hand over the Guiyi Army to Husband in the future?"

Cao Yanlu put away the fear in his heart and said: "The arrow is on the line, what else can I say? How is brother now?"

Ge Zhuoxi said in a deep voice: "No accident, it's just these two days."

As Ge Zhuoxi said, at dusk on the second day, Cao Yanjing died suddenly, vomiting blood and dying.

In an instant, Shazhou was in turmoil.

Cao Yanjing was in his prime of life, and he had never thought about arranging funeral arrangements. His sudden sudden death triggered a series of follow-up reactions.

At that time, Cao Yuanzhong wanted his own son Cao Yanlu to take over his seat, because if he followed the brother-in-law and this succession system, the Guiyi Army might never return to his lineage.

Cao Yuanzhong is the third child, besides the eldest brother Cao Yuande's lineage, there is also Cao Yuanshen's lineage, even if the brother and the future will only be handed over to Cao Yuanshen's son, not his Cao Yuanzhong's descendants.

Cao Yuanzhong made many arrangements in Shazhou, just wanting to support his son, but Cao Yanjing was forced to get the support of the Murong family and the Uighurs, and Li Shengtian in Khotan plotted against him, so he had to let Cao Yanjing take over.

Since Cao Yanjing came to power, he has been liquidating Cao Yuanzhong's arrangements for Cao Yanlu's successors, which has hurt the interests of most people. Now that he died suddenly, these people immediately emerged.

Although according to the law, it should be the turn of Cao Yuanshen's son Cao Yanqi after Cao Yanjing, but Cao Yuanzhong didn't train Cao Yanqi at all back then. At this critical time, of course no one paid attention to him.

As for whether Cao Yanjing's death was suspicious or not, no one cared to pursue it at this time.

Li An, a veteran general of the Guiyi Army, immediately sent troops to welcome Cao Yanlu back from Guazhou, and pushed him to the position of Jiedushi of the Guiyi Army.

Cao Yanjing's death was so sudden that the Murong family who were close at hand didn't react, let alone the Uighur who was farther away?

By the time they tried to stop it, it was too late.

Originally, the Guiyi Army was divided into two factions, Shazhou and Guazhou. Shazhou was pro-Khotan, and Guazhou was pro-Uyghur.

Cao Yanlu returned to Shazhou like a dragon entering the sea, the sky is wide and the land is wide, without any obstacles, he took over the Guiyi Army as expected.

Looking at the familiar faces around him, Cao Yanlu was in a turbulent mood, sweeping away his depression in Guazhou.

However, as a politician, Cao Yanlu was extremely calm, with a sad face, and said in a deep voice: "The eldest brother is like a father, and Cao is deeply saddened by the death of his brother. Yan Changshi, you immediately leave for Bianjing to report the funeral, tell the imperial court about your elder brother, and show the imperial court that the Guiyi Army will always be loyal to the imperial court."