Training Wu Zhou

Chang'an, Tai Chi Palace.

Since Daming Palace was newly built and the political center was shifted, the place where the founding palace of the Tang Dynasty was located has also become a city within a city.

But there are a few special buildings, although they have not been used for many years, they are often repaired and carefully preserved. These places are called "national pulse". The pulse of a country's pacing is placed on the buildings. Some things are not so.

Taiji Palace is located in an inconspicuous pavilion, the pavilion is not big, only two floors, it cannot compare with the grandeur of Daming Palace, but the front and back yards are clean and tidy.

There is a tall bronze tripod with engraved seal characters on it. The incense ash in the furnace is full of pots, and the incense burns continuously on the furnace. No matter it is windy or rainy, dust, fog or rain, the incense cannot be broken.

This small building is still lower than the surrounding old buildings, why is it so well preserved?

There is no other reason, because its name is "Lingyan Pavilion".

There are 24 founding gods and generals enshrined inside, some of them are well-known to the household, and some of them are puzzled by the common people. Among them, Cheng Zhijie, Qin Qiong, and Yuchi Jingde all belong to this place.

At the end of the Sui Dynasty, although Tang Guan was sure that Emperor Yang of Sui Dynasty was not a faint emperor, he did not deny the harm he caused to the people due to his rejoicing.

Rebel armies from all over the country competed in the Central Plains, and the Tang Emperor was the leader of the world. Since then, he has established the foundation of the prosperous Tang Dynasty. Tang Guan dare not draw conclusions on what kind of person Tang Taizong was described by historical textbooks as a model Mingjun. .

Because he witnessed with his own eyes how complicated Wu Zhao's psychology is, who is called "upon the Zhenguan, and down to Kaiyuan". Sometimes she makes Tang Guan feel sorry for her, and sometimes he can't wait to tear her into pieces.

In the preface, we talked about the truth of entertainment and jade.It is said that the comparison between people is not in strength or weakness, but in negligence.Let's summarize the preface as saying that no one is perfect, then Tang Taizong, as Wu Zhao, has served the man before.But with today's Wu Zhao, doesn't that make sense?

In fact, no, Tang Taizong is like many founding emperors. He is an immediate country, with strong generals like clouds and wise men like forests. He puts on his own armor and goes into battle, but a strong general who has fought with him for many years.

Then compare Wu Zhao, the eternal female emperor, with Tang Taizong, the founding hero of the country.Of course, we tentatively call him the founding king, because Guocheng soon changed hands, and Datang radiated more vitality than Li Yuan in his hands.

The current Wu Zhao is naturally very familiar with the emperor's mind, and he can do it at his fingertips. Pei Yan, a powerful minister who is close to overthrowing him by one step, can only be forced by conspiracy and conspiracy to know that he has lost the moment he moves the chess, so he can only silently Take one step at a time.

What about the little girl who entered the palace cautiously decades ago?

There is no doubt that at that time she had nothing but her appearance and some ruthlessness in her bones.The first time she met Taizong, she had already lost. Let's not talk about the words of the Buddha's words and Taoism, that Ziwei I belongs to only one person.

You can see a thing or two just by talking about how Tang Taizong treated this unremarkable girl.As for whether Tang Taizong saw Wu Zhao's potential, we will not discuss it.

But what is certain is that he doesn't like Wu Zhao inexplicably, except for Wu Zhao's occasional strong character.Can't find any reason.

For the time being, we attribute this subconscious rejection to the emperor's intuition.So much so that Wu Zhao went through the ups and downs of human relationships, and every step was a coincidence.That's how people are, each person is creating another person's life, and then they are related to each other.

But Emperor Taizong of Tang never imagined that the salted fish turned over is not a story, nor a joke. Wu Zhao, the salted fish, really turned over, and stepped on his own son Li Zhi to turn up the Li family.

It is worth mentioning that during the reign of Tang Taizong, it was the most difficult period for Wu Zhao, and it was also the period when her personality was completely subverted. I don't think anyone knows what happened, including Tang Guan, who occasionally claims to know everything about this era. .

After talking about so many past events to compare the two emperors with distinctive personalities, Tang Taizong has returned to the underworld after all. Compared with Wu Zhao who is only one name away from today, he is actually nothing.

When she stepped on the throne for the first time, she could even be called poor and white. This poverty does not refer to the country, but to herself. She did not have many available people. The famous generals of the Wu Zhou Dynasty fell in numbers. , to die.

This also caused a very interesting phenomenon under the powerful appearance of the Tang Dynasty, that is, foreign wars were rarely won, excluding the self-respect of individual warlords who supported their troops, and the central army that could be directly mobilized alone would not be defeated in a row.

Since ancient times, literati have often compared soldiers to wolves. Wolves are very ferocious animals. They live in groups and are good at cooperating. There is a wolf in the wolf pack. The strength of the wolf pack is related to the strength of the wolf pack. In the same way, some generals have also experienced hundreds of battles, but they have been defeated repeatedly. This does not mean that this is a person who does not understand the art of war.

There are many deeds that can be proved, not to mention the events of later generations, but to mention what has already happened. Most of the generals who rose up and gathered under the banner of the Tang Emperor at the end of the Sui Dynasty were either for the sake of prosperity or for other reasons, but they They all have one thing in common, most of them are illiterate and reckless, and naturally know nothing about books and art of war.

But one more thing is the same, they are not afraid of death, that is, what we often call life-hunters, they are more terrifying than desperadoes, and conquerors are all different, that is, simple, effective, and not afraid of death.

This is also the combat method of the Chinese fighting nation. There is no formation of troops. It is as simple as I kill you two before you kill me. In the troubled times, this method of the Han people occasionally catches a glimpse, and then quickly corrupts and recovers. nature.

The years of wars and wars have passed away quietly, and what is left is a piece of peace and superficial prosperity.

Regardless of the general's past, this usually deserted Lingyan Pavilion now has a person standing here.

Looking at the back, it is a woman, wearing a phoenix robe that has not faded, and there is no one around, only this woman stands quietly.

Wu Zhao, who was about to overthrow the Li family, actually came here at this time to help the Li family settle down in the "General's Temple".

It is advisable to say that this is a temple, after all, although this Lingyan Pavilion is hand-picked by the country.But its nature is no different from the general temples erected by some ancient generals.

It's just that this temple has become a holy place in the hearts of soldiers today, and everyone yearns for it.But no one coveted it. After all, even Xue Rengui, who had made great military exploits, could not be carried into the holy place of the founding of the country.

Although Lingyan Pavilion is jokingly called "General Temple".But not all of them are warriors, I saw Wu Zhao looking around, there are long portraits hanging on the four pillars in this small pavilion, there are portraits of people depicted on the portraits, some of them are not wearing armor, but A literati dressed as a counselor.

The painting is large, it is life-size standing on the pillar, Wu Zhao glanced left and right, and turned his gaze away.Look straight at one of them.

Most of the people here, in fact, she has never met a real person, but there is one person who is her old friend, and the past is worth studying, but after all, it is all past, so we won't go into details.

But the one Wu Zhao was looking at read out the small seal characters on it.I'm afraid everyone knows it too.

"Changsun Wuji." Wu Zhao looked at the person in the painting and muttered to himself first, a flash of remembrance flashed in her beautiful eyes, and then turned from dazed to cold.

"Hmph." After a long time, Wu Zhao snorted coldly.Looking away, when Emperor Gaozong was in power, she still visited Lingyan Pavilion with him from time to time.Since the second sage came to the court, he rarely came here.

This is the glory of his old Li family, and has nothing to do with her.

Wu Zhao seems to be scanning around aimlessly.Pause at a few of the portraits, then sigh and shake your head.Then turn to another one, and start again and again.

It looked like he was looking for something. In Lingyan Pavilion, there were portraits of counselors, such as Fang Xuanling, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Changsun Wuji, Wei Zheng, these were all famous civil servants.

But Wu Zhao waited and watched for a long time, only shaking her head, and occasionally sighed with pity. If she wants to climb to the pinnacle of power, she must need someone who can help keep everything she owns.

"Hey." A deep sigh echoed, Wu Zhao didn't turn around for a long time, just stood there quietly, she cast a big net, but she couldn't catch a fish, and she couldn't utter the high-spirited words like Emperor Taizong of Tang Dynasty." All the heroes of the world are in my urn."

"Tang Guan." Wu Zhao looked back at Fang Xuanling's portrait and muttered to himself, as if he wanted to see from his current favorite minister whether he was the same as Li Shimin's favorite prime minister.

But obviously, there was nothing the same, Wu Zhao shook his head, ignored the portraits of generals, glanced at the portraits of civil servants one by one, and remained silent.

At this time, outside Lingyan Pavilion, several officials in purple robes were gathering here.

Among them, several faces were very familiar, and one was quite obscene, stroking his goatee, not participating in the whispers of colleagues around him, but silently looking not far away, as if waiting for something.

This person was Wu Chengsi, and the rest of the people could tell by their looks that they were from the pavilion, and there was an acquaintance among them, but Zhang Shaoyun, Minister of the Ministry of Punishment.

"Duke Zhou, Duke Zhou."

Zhang Shaoyun saw Wu Chengsi's fascination, he opened his mouth to call, and called twice, Wu Chengsi still looked like he was thinking, so he couldn't help stepping forward to pat him.

Only then did Wu Chengsi come back to his senses, turned his head and said, "Oh, yes."

"Haha, there is an old saying that Duke Zhou is a dream god, but unexpectedly Duke Zhou is also the same."

The rest of the people saw the appearance of the two, one of them laughed out loud, Wu Chengsi didn't take it seriously, most of these people were the same as Zhang Shaoyun, they were the heads of various ministries, they got the news early in the morning that they were called into the palace.

Except for the Right Prime Minister Wu Sansifuture, the principals of the six departments in the pavilion are basically already here, but Wu Chengsi is absent-minded, and it is rare that he does not greet these people.

Seeing the appearance of this old colleague who didn't get along very well, Zhang Shaoyun felt a little puzzled, but he didn't call him for anything else, so he immediately said, "You know, Mr. Zhou..."

Before Zhang Shaoyun finished speaking, the rest of the people also looked over. They knew that Zhang Shaoyun wanted to ask what was going on today, and it was hard to see a few gatherings in spare time. In front of Lingyan Pavilion, it is really puzzling.

Unexpectedly, before Zhang Shaoyun finished speaking, Wu Chengsi waved his hand and said, "I don't know."

This is true, he doesn't know what Wu Zhao wants to do, but he knows what he wants to do.

Turning his head to look at the people in front of him, he was secretly happy. At first he didn't think the timing was right, but he didn't expect that his aunt seemed to have a good understanding and provided such a good opportunity.

He originally wanted to handle that matter alone, but it is better now, thinking of this, Wu Chengsi glanced at the corner not far away without any trace.

"Here we come!" Wu Chengsi took a closer look and saw a few people passing by over there, he was overjoyed, but when he saw who was coming, he was slightly taken aback.

Zhang Shaoyun and the others also stopped talking and looked this way.

"Why is it him?" Wu Chengsi looked at the person coming, his brows frowned, Zhang Shaoyun and others were also stunned.

"General Cheng." Fortunately, one person broke the silence and stepped forward to clap his hands.

When the visitor saw the group of people in front of Lingyan Pavilion, he also stopped in his tracks, a little surprised, he saw that this person was wearing armor, with an empty sheath hanging from his waist, it was expected that he had put down his saber when he entered the palace.

Looking at the style of the armor, at the very least, he was a military general with the title of a regular general. Unlike other generals in the middle of the court who were in their prime, this man was a little old, with gray temples, black and white hair, and a pair of big hands full of calluses.

However, his appearance is also heroic. It can be seen that he was also a high-spirited warrior when he was young.

"General Cheng, why are you back?" Zhang Shaoyun was very surprised when he saw this person. There was no one else in this person, it was Cheng Wuting who had been guarding the front line all this time!

"Yesterday." Cheng Wuting responded when he heard the words, and looked at the people present without any trace, and his heart shivered.

Although a few of them returned the gift, they were not enthusiastic about it. When Cheng Wuting saw the clothes on Wu Chengsi's body, his eyes turned cold. Fortunately, Wu Chengsi was absent-minded. Although he was a little puzzled about his arrival, he didn't take it too seriously. .

"Brother Wu Ting, the treasured sword is not old yet." Although Wu Chengsi was absent-minded, it could be seen that the person who should come was still in the future, and he did not forget to chat with him even though he was anxious.

Cheng Wuting replied with a smile that was not a smile: "I haven't seen the Duke for many years, and I will be polite at the end."

"Hey." Wu Chengsi laughed dryly, stopped talking, Cheng Wuting also ignored him, turned his head and stood still.

It seemed that his arrival did not surprise these people, and everyone was silent for a while, only Wu Chengsi looked around the corner from time to time. (to be continued..)