Late Tang

(Thanks to Xiaoao Suifeng, the people from Sanshanshui, and Moer Tudou for their rewards and monthly tickets! The first ten days of September will be over again, and Muzi has updated [-] words by the [-]th. The update is awesome, please Book friends can strongly support!) The rain stopped and fell again, the sky was cloudy, the sun was not seen for more than half a month, and the whole air was cold and humid.It's only August, but it's already chilling.Especially at night, hugging the wet quilt can make people sleep restlessly in the middle of the night.

Early in the morning, Zhu Li, the deputy tenth admiral of the Rage Fleet stationed in the Daxie Islands, came to Shamen Town and brought someone Li Jing didn't want to see at this time. "This is an angel from Chang'an, saying that the emperor has a decree for you!" Julie said in her usual cold tone.Li Jing and Zhang Chengye, who were discussing the matter, looked at each other and almost guessed what the Chang'an envoy was going to issue.

If there is no accident, it must be a matter of asking him to send troops to deal with Li Keyong or Wang Ying's rebels.

"Let's go, let's greet the angel together!" Li Jing's face was calm, making it impossible to guess what was going on in his heart at this moment.

As soon as he went out, he happened to see a group of people standing in front of the stone statue of Sirius outside the mansion. It turned out that there was a stone statue of a blue wolf.However, after Li Jing was promoted to the governor of Dengzhou, the Duke of Zhendong, the guard of Anton, the champion general, and the envoy of the Zhendong Army, Zhang Hong took the initiative to find a group of stonemasons with better craftsmanship, and replaced the green wolf with ribs. Winged Sirius.Moreover, compared with the previous one-foot-high blue wolf stone statue, this new Sirius stone statue is a full three feet high, and its location has also been moved from the entrance of the mansion to the small square in front of the mansion.The small square was also expanded after the demolition of some surrounding houses.

The houses around the mansion were demolished and converted into a square. According to the generals, this also increased Li Jing's safety.Let the front of the mansion have a wide view, which can effectively prevent assassins and other situations.And the three-foot-high giant Sirius stone statue standing in the square is not just a stone statue.

This winged Sirius made of marble is actually a hidden fortress.The inside is hollow and divided into three layers.The wolf's mouth, eyes, and nostrils are all arrow holes.Sirius Fortress has three floors on the ground and two floors underground.And there is a tunnel leading directly to the General's Mansion.This fortress is a secret, it is usually guarded by Li Jing's bodyguard battalion, and the entry and exit are all through tunnels, outsiders don't know about it.

According to Zhang Hong and others, this is just in case.If it weren't for the official taboo of the dragon and the tiger, Zhang Hong would have directly left the two strongholds of the green dragon and the right white tiger.But even if it was changed to a wolf, the three-foot-tall giant winged Sirius standing in front of the mansion was still full of deterrent power.

Right now, the group of envoys from Chang'an are all sizing up this huge winged Sirius, tsk-tsk in amazement.

There were more than a hundred people in this group, among them was an old man in purple robes with gray beard, who looked like the head of this pedestrian.Beside him, surrounded by two middle-aged eunuchs in vermilion robes, behind were eight eunuchs in yellow clothes, and then about a hundred majestic soldiers in Zhajia.Li Jing saw the exquisite and gorgeous armor of these people, the Bu Shuo in their hands, and the horizontal knife in their waists, and guessed that these people might be the Imperial Guards.Although these people wore good equipment and were majestic, they lacked a sense of arrogance.It obviously smells like a silver-like wax gun tip.

On the contrary, the old man in the purple robe had a frightening look in his eyes.While Li Jing was looking at him, the old man also looked at Li Jing, with a slight smile on his lips.

Li Jing was about to step forward, but Zhang Chengye who was beside him suddenly took a few steps, knelt down in front of the old man with a plop, and said respectfully: "Why did the adoptive father come to Dengzhou in person without notifying the child in advance, so the child can go in person Welcome on the road."

The old man helped Zhang Chengye up with a smile, and said gently: "Although we are over fifty years old, we are still in good health. What's more, His Majesty is still short of a hundred Shence Army escorts, so what will happen."

Only then did Li Jing know that this old man was Zhang Tai, Zhang Chengye's adoptive father, and now he was appointed as the right supervisor, gate guard, and guarding the army, and he was also a powerful eunuch in the palace.Moreover, the relationship between him and Zhang Chengye is indeed very good.

In the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the most powerful eunuchs in the history of the Tang Dynasty, like the gentry of the Tang Dynasty, formed a family of eunuchs in the palace.Eunuchs could not have children, but the young eunuchs who were adopted into the palace finally reached an adoption relationship, and then connected into families.

In the late Tang Dynasty, the most powerful families in Chang'an Palace were the Qiu family of the great eunuch Qiu Shiliang, the Liang family of Liang Shouqian, the Yang family of Yang Fugong, and the Ximen family of Ximen Sigong.

These four families are also known as the four powerful families in the palace. For several generations, they have always held the important positions of the so-called four nobles, the envoy of the Privy Council and the lieutenant of the left and right Shence, thus controlling the government.

Such a powerful eunuch like Tian Lingzi, in fact, after entering the palace in the early years, when the eunuch Tian who worshiped him was a righteous child, the old eunuch Tian was just a little eunuch head.Therefore, for a long time, Tian Lingzi only climbed to the official position of raising horses in Xiaomafangshi.Later, relying on his close relationship with the emperor, Tian Lingzi relied on Ximen Sigong, the great eunuch in the palace, to defeat Shence lieutenant Yang Fugong, and finally was able to sit on the No. 1 position of eunuch.

As for Zhang Tai, although he now holds the actual position of the guard of the right prison, he is still far behind the positions of the envoy of the left and right privy councils, the lieutenant of the left and right shences, and the envoys of the six army and twelve guards.

In today's palace, Tian Lingzi is the biggest eunuch, and Ximen Sigong is also very powerful. Although Yang Fugong was jointly suppressed, he is also very powerful.Zhang Tai, who was originally just a regular attendant, also took advantage of Li Jing and his adopted son Zhang Chengye to be promoted to the position of General of the Right Prison Gate.

The eunuchs are very powerful in the palace, but they are also actively cultivating their own power outside the palace.For example, Lu Xie, the current Prime Minister of the DPRK and China, is actually a member of Tian Lingzi.The prime minister, Zheng Tian, ​​who has been at odds with Lu Xie, is Simon Sigong's man.When Zheng Ya, Zheng Tian's father, was the observer envoy of Gui Guan, Ximen Sigong was the envoy of the military supervisor.Later Zheng Ya died early, Simon Sigong took great pains to find Zheng Zi, brought him up in the mansion, and treated him like a nephew.And when he was in Zheng Tian, ​​he helped Zheng Tian obtain the Jinshi position, setting a record for the young Jinshi in the Tang Dynasty.

Zhang Tai was not from a family of powerful eunuchs in the palace, nor did he have any firm allies and backers in the court. After all the calculations, only Li Jing, the current Zhendong Army envoy, can be regarded as his strong ally.

Without waiting for Li Jing to step forward, after supporting Zhang Chengye, Zhang Tai took the initiative to step forward, took Li Jing's hand and said with a smile: "Sword eyebrows, star eyes, and a heroic posture, this must be Megatron Zi Qing, defeated the rebel Wang Jingwu in the first battle by the Zishui River, and now he has regained Li Jing and Li Jiyu in southern Liaoning. Although we are far away in Chang'an Palace, we have heard the reputation of Yong Sanlang several times. In the palace, even the emperor praised the general's bravery several times, and sighed several times that he wished to call the general into Beijing immediately."

Li Jing smiled slightly: "Li Jing has seen the general, and he was late to greet you, so please forgive me."

"Chengye is my righteous son, and Ji Yu is the official who assists Chengye, why should you and I be so polite." While speaking, he still held Li Jing's hand and refused to let go.Li Jing is not disgusted with Zhang Tai's enthusiasm.Zhang Tai is not only Zhang Chengye's adoptive father, but also a great eunuch in the palace.Now that he has turned his back on Tian Lingzi, it would be nice to have a backup in the palace.

Zhang Chengye greeted a few other eunuchs and a group of soldiers from the back. He also knew that although these people were little ghosts, they were the last to offend.Therefore, after greeting them to enter the mansion, they immediately gave each person ten taels of silver collars.After receiving such a generous gift as soon as they arrived, all the soldiers of the Shence Army and the eunuchs sat down to drink tea and rest very satisfied.

Entering the hall, Zhang Tai let go of Li Jing's hand and said: "This time we are here to announce the decree, so let's set up the incense table to welcome the imperial decree!"

Li Jing ordered people to set up the incense table, and called all the generals and civil officials in Shamen town to listen to the order.

After everyone got together and knelt down, Zhang Tai took out a yellow silk imperial decree from a box, and with his back facing south, read aloud: "The Duke of Zhendong, General Champion, General Jinwu, Military Envoy of Zhendong, Inspector of Dengzhou , Anton protects Li Jing and listens to the order!"

"Minister Li Jing listens to the order!"

"The emperor of the Tang Dynasty ordered this, and Li Jing accepted the order!"

"Li Jing accepts the decree, long live my emperor!" Li Jing stepped forward to receive the imperial decree with both hands.

After the ceremony was over, Zhang Tai took Li Jing's hand and said, "This matter is entirely caused by Lieutenant Tian Zhong to slander the emperor. We also spoke to His Majesty and wanted to stop it, but our family is not as good as Lieutenant Tian Zhong."

Li Jing was silent, the imperial decree brought by Zhang Tai was as expected by Li Jing, and even exceeded his expectations.Tian Lingzi advised the emperor to divide the Zhendong army into two groups, one of which crossed the border from Youzhou, crossed Guxing along the Sanggan River, and entered Weizhou, the defensive envoy of Datong in Hedong, to attack Li Keyong.For this reason, in the imperial decree, Li Jing was specially added an official position as the commander of the east camp.Not only that, but in the imperial decree, Li Jing was also asked to mobilize the navy fleet of the Zhendong Army and some infantry and horses to go to the east and west of Zhejiang to quell Wang Ying's rebellion, and added a northern camp for Li Jing to crusade against Wang Ying. unified post.

Datong is in the northwest of Dengzhou, and Zhedong is in the southeast of Dengzhou. The two places are thousands of miles away. If the imperial court only transferred him and the Zhendong Army to quell the rebels along the way, it would be reasonable.Now it is actually necessary to transfer Li Jing's troops to send two troops, and send troops to the south and north at the same time.What made him laugh even more angrily was that Tian Lingzi actually gave him the post of commander of the two camps, one in the south and one in the north.He, Li Jing, is not superhuman, nor does he know how to avatar.How to command both battles at the same time.

Tian Lingzi, it is true that those who come are not kind, and those who are kind do not come.

(To be continued)