The Flourishing Tang Dynasty: Beginning with Marrying Yang Yuhuan

Chapter 165: Three Towns Military Governor

"It doesn't matter to the Saint where Your Highness lives. What's important is that Your Highness be loyal and filial to the Saint. Sometimes being too cautious may make the Saint think that Your Highness has ulterior motives." Zhang said.

Zhang's words were so insightful that Li Heng was stunned.

The relationship between the crown prince and the emperor is already very delicate. He cannot be extra cautious and give in just because of the matter of Li Ying and the Ten Princes' Mansion, otherwise Li Longji will only think that he is cowardly, or even has ulterior motives.

He must strike the right balance.

Moreover, since he lived in the Eastern Palace, it would be difficult for him to have the power of Li Ying in a short period of time, and he could not pose any threat to Li Longji at all.

Li Heng thought for a moment and said, "If that's the case, then I will move to the East Palace."

Zhang said, "Your Highness can stay here for a while, and then contact a few people to impeach you."

"Why is this?" Li Heng wondered.

Zhang said, "Let them impeach His Highness for not observing etiquette and delaying moving to the Eastern Palace."

"What a brilliant idea!" Li Heng suddenly realized, picked up Zhang and said, "It is my blessing to be able to take you as my concubine."

Since Li Heng became the crown prince, Concubine Wei became the crown princess and Zhang became a concubine.

But the title of Liangdi sounded very harsh to Zhang.

Because she wanted more than that.

Although she felt uncomfortable, Zhang did not show it at all. Instead, she smiled and said, "Your Highness, I am too kind. I just said what you were thinking."

Li Heng asked: "What do you think?"

"What I want in my heart is to serve His Highness." Zhang smiled sweetly, and at the same time she was thinking, "I need to get rid of Concubine Wei first, become the Crown Princess, and then plot against Li Yu. Li Yu was born to a palace maid, how can he inherit the Tang Dynasty?"

Li Heng didn't know what Zhang was thinking. He was very happy just by listening to her words and hugged her to bed.

……

……

……

Hexi, Liangzhou.

Due to Li Heng's previous victory, Tubo missed the great opportunity for plunder in autumn and did not advance into Hexi again afterwards.

Li Heng was able to catch his breath and began to vigorously regulate the military and political situation in Hexi.

In the military, Li Heng appointed Gao Xianzhi as the military commander and Feng Chang Qing as the military commander to strengthen the control over the army in Hexi.

In addition, Li Heng summoned the military envoys of each army in turn, including Geshu Han and Kang Taihe.

Relying on the victory in Dadouba Valley and some other tricks, Li Heng quickly stabilized the situation in Hexi.

The next step is to train the soldiers.

Li Heng said, "Liangzhou City is a little low in terrain. I want to select some young soldiers and send them to the southern Qilian Mountains for training."

Li Heng wanted these soldiers to adapt to the altitude sickness and prepare for the attack on Shibao City. At that time, people did not know the reason for altitude sickness, but only knew that every time the soldiers arrived at the territory of Tubo, they would feel uncomfortable. Most of the Tubo soldiers now believed in Bon religion, and they would perform rituals before each expedition. They would bring Bon priests with them during the march, and some soldiers even had talismans on their bodies. Therefore, some Tang soldiers even thought that they felt uncomfortable in Tubo because they were bewitched by Tubo.

Feng Changqing didn't quite understand the significance of Li Heng's training, and said, "Your Highness, the Qilian Mountains in the south are high and cold, and once the soldiers arrive, they will get sick. If we train there, I'm afraid it will hurt the soldiers."

Li Heng said: "General Feng, you don't know that it is precisely because our soldiers are prone to diseases when they arrive in high and cold places that we need to train them in advance to let them adapt."

Feng Changqing asked in confusion: "Your Highness, are you saying that after our army adapts, the soldiers will suffer fewer diseases?"

"That's right." Li Heng nodded. "I named the condition where my soldiers get sick when they go to high and cold places as altitude sickness. The severity of this reaction will vary depending on the individual's physical condition. For healthy people, they will be fine after staying there for a while. Therefore, as long as we select strong and young soldiers to go for training, there won't be much impact."

Gao Xianzhi, who was standing by, recalled that Li Heng had said something similar when he went to Xiaobolü before, and said, "Your Highness has said this before, so we will do as he says. However, we can only rely on the Hexi soldiers to take Shibao City, which is a little too few after all. If we can train together with the Longyou soldiers, our chances of winning will be much greater."

As soon as Gao Xianzhi finished speaking, Shen Zhongjian arrived with Li Longji's imperial edict. He immediately read out the edict appointing Li Heng as the governor of Longyou, and at the same time mentioned that Li Heng was made the crown prince.

Shen Zhongjian talked about the serious matters and said to Li Ying: "Congratulations, Your Highness. In just five years, Your Highness has become the governor of three towns."

Shen Zhongjian witnessed Li Ying's rise all the way. Li Ying habitually wanted Yang Yuhuan to give money to Shen Zhongjian, but when he looked back, he remembered that Yang Yuhuan was still in Anxi.

Li Heng was a little surprised. After a while, he said, "It's all thanks to the grace of my father. Shen Zhongjian has worked hard on the way. Please go to the inner room to rest."

"Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness. I must go back and report immediately. I dare not stay any longer." After saying this, Shen Zhongjian was about to take his leave.

Li Heng saw Shen Zhongjian out and stuffed some money into his pocket as usual.

Shen Zhongjian took the money and said with a smile: "Your Highness, Lu Xiang has already impeached Your Highness for killing General Lu before, but the Saint ignored it. Your Highness does not need to worry for the time being."

"Thank you for telling me." Li Ying said sincerely.

Shen Zhongjian said, "Forgive me for being so nosy. Although the Saint has not investigated this matter, I am afraid that others will find it out one day, which will be disadvantageous to Your Highness. It is better for Your Highness to report to the Saint in the morning to explain the matter."

How could Li Heng not know about this? He should have explained everything to Li Longji. He had his reasons for leaving some evidence on purpose, but he couldn't tell others about it. He just said, "Thank you, Shen Zhongjian, for reminding me."

After bidding farewell to Supervisor Shen, Li Ying stood there for a while.

Li Heng was in a daze. He was not lamenting that he had finally obtained the power of the three towns, nor was he surprised that Li Heng became the crown prince. Instead, he was lamenting that Yang Yuhuan had stayed by his side for so long that he did not realize that Yang Yuhuan had considered many small matters for him very thoughtfully.

Gao Xianzhi and Feng Changqing, who were standing behind Li Heng, had different ideas from Li Heng. They all felt that Li Heng was in a daze because he was worried about the future.

Feng Changqing even felt unfair for Li Heng, and whispered to Gao Xianzhi: "It is indeed easy to be an official in the court. His Royal Highness Prince Shou has made many military achievements, but His Royal Highness Prince Zhong is better at saying a few nice words in front of the saint."

Hearing this, Gao Xianzhi glared at Feng Changqing and whispered, "Don't talk nonsense."

Li Heng did not hear the conversation between the two people behind him. He remained silent for a long time before he came to his senses and turned to Gao Xianzhi and the others and said, "As General Gao said, we can now train together with the soldiers in Longyou."

"Congratulations, Your Highness." Gao Xianzhi congratulated him and then asked, "Then will Your Highness be stationed in Longyou?"

Li Heng's original plan was to stay in Hexi for a while, thoroughly grasp the situation in Hexi, and then slowly think about the affairs of Longyou.

But not everything will happen until you are ready. Li Longji appointed him as the governor of Longyou so quickly, so he had to go to Longyou first.

Otherwise, if anything happens in Longyou, it will be related to him.

(End of this chapter)