Neon Clothes and Iron Clothes

Chapter 570
"Wen Zong, you don't understand, the more it is at this time, the less you can hurt Ashina Daozhen, otherwise, if even he can't protect himself, which Turkic would still feel safe?" Horse, you have a knife in your hand, and you feel that you are in danger, what would you do if it was changed?"

Cao Wenzong clenched his fists and was speechless. After a while, he said: "Since this is the case, then we can only hold the sword tightly!"

"Yes! I thought I could fight without bloodshed, but now it seems that I am still too arrogant!" Wang Wenzuo looked at the cloudy sky: "Let's go, it's going to rain, let's go back to the city early!"

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Chang'an, Xuanwu Gate.

Lightning pierced the northern sky, and the dark blue sky set off the black cornices of the Xuanwu Gate Tower.After six heartbeats came thunder, like the beat of a distant drum.

The guards of the Yulin Army escorted Xue Rengui through the Xuanwu Gate, and passed under the solid iron-leaf oak city gate. The water rushed into the gate hole, washed the bluestone at the foot of the city wall, and made a huge roar. He couldn't help looking north. The pouring rain was like a huge curtain, covering the whole world, and the familiar Longshouyuan and Daming Palace were left with only a huge blurred shadow.He couldn't help thinking of a past event in his mind, and subconsciously stopped in his tracks.

"General Xue!"

The escort's voice brought Xue Rengui back to the truth, he smiled wryly and shook his head: "I just remembered something from the past, please forgive me for the delay! Let's go!"

"Wait a moment, general!" The escort took a cloak from the soldier next to him, and put it on Xue Rengui: "There is still a long way to Daming Palace, and it is raining heavily, so the general will use it!"

"No need!" Xue Rengui threw off his cloak and said in a deep voice, "I am no longer a general. I have lost a hundred thousand soldiers. This is what I deserve. If I was not afraid that others would say that I escaped the punishment of the national law, I would have committed suicide halfway. !"

Seeing this, the escort knew that Xue Rengui couldn't be dealt with, so he sighed and escorted Xue Rengui out of the Xuanwu Gate with his subordinates.

When he walked out of the city gate, heavy rain poured down his head immediately. Because he was a guilty minister, Xue Rengui had his hands tied behind his back, and stumbled across the open space between Daming Palace and Xuanwu Gate. The cold rain stung his eyes.The soldiers of the Yulin Army escorted him to the Longshouyuan and entered the magnificent Daming Palace.

As soon as he walked into the palace corridor, the escort took Xue Rengui to the Hanyuan Hall. Xue Rengui tried his best to recall the etiquette when he entered the palace and thought about how he should apologize to the emperor.

When Xue Rengui walked into the apse of Hanyuan Hall, he found that the emperor was sitting alone in the dark hall, with food and wine placed in front of him. On the dozens of candle holders on the wall of the apse, only candles were placed around, and only candles were placed. There are two places where two whale oil candles emit weak and flickering candlelight. Xue Rengui can hear the sound of raindrops beating on the iron horses hanging from the cornices, and rainwater is constantly leaking from a gap in the corridor.

"Untie the rope and give me a seat!"

Xue Rengui stood there like a dog in the water, his wrists were tightly strangled by the wet rope and had already frayed.He was about to kneel down to plead guilty, but when he heard the voice of the emperor, he was overwhelmed by great pain and shame. He immediately fell to his knees, his face pressed against the ground, and wept: "The sinners lost a hundred thousand troops, I will not be punished, and I will meet the Son of Heaven with no face!"

Li Zhi sighed, stood up after a few cases, walked slowly to Xue Rengui, took off his coat and put it on Xue Rengui, and sighed: "Do you still remember the summer of the fifth year of Yonghui (654), the widow Going out on a tour, staying overnight at the Wannian Palace (in today’s Baoji), at that time, it was the same as tonight, with heavy rain, and the water rose several feet on the ground. By the way, the north gate of the Wannian Palace is also called Xuanwu Gate, and you happened to be the guard at that time ,do you remember?"

"Why doesn't the guilty minister remember!" Xue Rengui said suddenly, "But that's just the duty of a minister!"

"Hehe!" Li Zhi laughed twice: "At that time, the mountain torrent broke out, and the water rushed to the north gate, and all the guards and soldiers fled. Jie, by the way, the widow seems to have given you a horse later, right?"

"I am ashamed to be a guilty minister!"

"Xue Aiqing saved the lives of the widows at that time, and the credit is naturally not rewarded by a single horse!" Li Zhi smiled: "So, you don't need to worry too much!"

The rope was untied, and regaining his freedom made him feel relaxed for a long time, but the shame and pain did not disappear. On the contrary, the magnanimity of the emperor made Xue Rengui feel more painful. He didn't know what to do to make up for his sins. And the favor of the emperor, yes, this favor has far exceeded what he deserves. As a warrior, the only thing he can do is to kill more enemies and conquer the enemies of the emperor in return, but he is now Do you still have this ability?

"Speak!" Li Zhi said: "Tell me about the situation at that time, and I will hear everything from you!"

"I obey!" Xue Rengui took a deep breath. He knew that this was a good opportunity to shirk his responsibility. Among the three people who were appointed to lead this army: Ashina Daozhen is dead, and Guo Daifeng lives and dies now. I don't know, now I am the only one who is still alive and has the honor of directly reporting to the emperor. What better opportunity is there than this?However, Xue Rengui did not intend to do this. The emperor appointed him at the beginning, not the other two as the general manager of the Luosuo Road march. To deceive the emperor.

After hearing Xue Rengui's report, Li Zhi fell into silence. Xue Rengui bowed his head and waited for the emperor's ruling.After a long period of time, Li Zhi's voice sounded again in the hall: "Xue Qing, what you said is a little different from what I heard from other people. According to what others said, the reason why our army was defeated was a big one. The reason is that Guo Daifeng violated the rules, did not stay in Dafeiling to guard the luggage, and led the army to attack without authorization, which led to the defeat, isn't that the case?"

Xue Rengui hesitated for a moment. It is not surprising that the emperor knew this. After all, the Tubo people kept their oath and did not attack the remnants of the Tang army who left the Dafeiling camp. There were 9000 or [-] people who returned to Longyou. They knew the battle situation at that time. There are just too many of them.He nodded: "Is that true?"

"Then why don't you tell the truth to the widow? This is deceiving the emperor!"

A gust of gloomy wind passed through the palace, Xue Rengui couldn't help shivering, this is a crime that scares people to death, he is more unwilling to bear the crime of deceiving the monarch than a defeated general.

"Since His Majesty ordered the guilty minister to be the general manager of the Luosuo road march, the success or failure is the responsibility of the guilty minister alone! The one who ordered Guo Daifeng to lead the rear army was also the guilty minister. Shi Nadao really ordered the rear army, so there will be no such disaster!"

"What a joke!" Li Zhi sneered, "The Turkic cavalry who went out together are all in the front army. How could it be reasonable to put Ashina Daozhen in the rear army and Guo Daifeng in the front army? Besides, how dare Guo Daifeng If you blatantly disrespect your order, if you put it in the front army, I'm afraid it will be more troublesome, and then it will be the front army instead of the rear army that will have the accident!"

Xue Rengui was stunned, he didn't expect the emperor to say such a thing, he knelt down and said: "Your Majesty said it!"

"So your fault is not to put Guo Daifeng in the rear army, but to take him down immediately after you find out that he disobeyed orders, and then write a letter to the widow to clarify the truth! This is the best way!"

"Your Majesty said it!" Xue Rengui was convinced this time: "The guilty minister should really do this!"

Li Zhi looked at Xue Rengui, who was kneeling on the ground, and his eyes gradually softened: "But I really can't blame you. After Guo Daifeng became a famous general, he walked around the widow all the year round. This time, the widow asked him to be you." How dare you be so bold when you are loyal and diligent? Hey, in the final analysis, this is my fault!"

Xue Rengui never expected that Li Zhi went around in a big circle and took the blame on himself, so he couldn't help being stunned, obviously the emperor still wanted to use him, so he did this.

"However, as the chief executive this time, you still cannot escape the crime of overthrowing the army, and dismissal is still unavoidable. After leaving the palace, let's reflect behind closed doors for a while!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty, thank you, Your Majesty!" Xue Rengui hastily kowtowed repeatedly. Of course, he knew that Li Zhi had done a great favor outside the law. Although he was about to be removed from office, he could still live in Chang'an, and his title was still there. As long as two years pass, the emperor can use him, and his reinstatement is just a matter of one sentence.Compared with the exile or even execution that I had expected, it really is a mighty gift from God!

"Forget it, you are a loyal minister of the widow, and you once had the nine surnames of Tie Le and Goguryeo, and made Mobei and Liaodong bow their heads. I will never forget the great achievements you made." Li Zhi sighed: "There is one more thing, How did Ashina Dao really die? You tell the widow carefully from the beginning to the end!"

"Minister obeys the order!" Xue Rengui carefully told himself that after learning that the rear army was destroyed, he hurriedly led a small number of cavalry to escort Gong Ren back to the camp in Dafeiling. Soon after arriving at the camp, he learned that the Turkic people in the front army had defected and rebelled. Snardo was also captured.Then the Tubo people proposed to exchange Gongren with Ashina Daozhen and the Tang army, and the two armies made an oath of alliance, on the condition that the Tang people recognized Tubo's control over Tuyuhun, they released the remnants of the Tang army and fled back to Longyou.Then Ashina Daozhen fell ill soon on the way home, and died of illness.

"Hmm!" Li Zhi nodded, "I remember that Xue Qing found out that the Tubo people had made an oath with the Turkic people and colluded with the rebellion before going out, and sent Ashina Daozhen to the Turkic people to deal with it?"

"That's right, there is indeed such a thing!" Xue Rengui nodded, "But I discussed this matter with Ashina Daozhen later, it should be that these Turkic rebels played tricks to hide Ashina Daozhen from it."

"Do you think it's really just a secret?" Li Zhi said coldly.

"It's really hidden?" Xue Rengui was taken aback when he heard the words, and then he understood the meaning behind the emperor's words, and his body trembled suddenly: "This, how is this possible? Your Majesty, Ashina Tao is really loyal to my Tang Dynasty! He His father was buried with the late emperor, and his mother was the daughter of Emperor Gaozu, how could he do such a thing?"

Li Zhi didn't speak, his face was cloudy and uncertain, obviously what Xue Rengui said just now didn't convince him, Xue Rengui didn't dare to say more, just waited carefully.A few minutes later, Li Zhi asked, "How do you think he died?"

"The situation was very urgent at that time, and we didn't dare to wait for long, so we cremated his body immediately! According to the doctor's judgment, he should have been poisoned by the Tibetans, and then he had an attack on the way back, and died of the poison!"

"The Tubo people poisoned him to death!" Li Zhi snorted coldly: "So, the Tubo people want to throw the responsibility for killing Ashina Daozhen on Datang!"

"That's right!" Xue Rengui quickly seized the opportunity to complain for his colleagues: "Ashina Tao's true father is a Turkic king, and his mother is a princess of the Tang Dynasty. The only way for the Tibetans to do this is to destroy the mutual trust between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks for decades. If Ashina Daozhen was really related to the rebellion, how could he be exchanged? How could he be poisoned to death by the Tibetans?"

"Maybe the Tubo people think that his tail is too big to lose. If he lives, he will be a disaster for himself in the future?" Li Zhi sneered, and continued without waiting for Xue Rengui's defense: "But everyone is dead, and it is meaningless to pursue these things. For the sake of the Tang Dynasty For the sake of the Turks, he must be a loyal minister of our Tang Dynasty!"

"Yes, yes, what your Majesty said is true!" Xue Rengui hurriedly replied, although he didn't quite agree with Li Zhi's opinion, but anyway, his colleagues can be rectified, and it would be meaningless to argue about other details, after all, he is the emperor who promises everything .

"Give it to the General of the Fuguo, and posthumously become the Governor of Bingzhou! The funeral expenses will all be paid by the palace!"

When he left the Hanyuan Hall, Xue Rengui felt that his whole body was cold. This terrible weather, such a heavy rain, such a strong wind, even a man like iron can't stand it!

"Here!" He called to the soldiers of the Habayashi Army beside him: "Get me some dry clothes! I can't stand the wind blowing in wet clothes!"

Inside the Hanyuan Hall.

Li Zhi started to eat his own dinner. The servants and maids replaced the cold dishes on the tables with hot ones. Li Zhi didn't eat fast. The defeat had already ruined his appetite. He just Force yourself to eat for your health.

As the ruler of the empire, he sees farther than Xue Rengui. In the 20 years since he ascended the throne, Datang's iron hooves have been constantly advancing, and large tracts of land have become Datang's land And vassals, along the mainland business road, the rolling Jin River continues to flow into Chang'an and Luoyang, and everything seems to be fine.Until the summer of the first year of Xianheng, Datang's iron hoof finally hit a rock with a hardness similar to his own, and blood gushed out.

"Damn idiot!" Li Zhi suddenly swept away all the dishes on the case: "You want someone to suffer for him!"

　Thanks to the host of the galaxy for eating steak, dragons fight in the wild, no worries and other book friends for their rewards
　　
　
(End of this chapter)